Super Sample Solo Guide

This is a Super Sample Solo Guide, designed to inform you about how to best get Super Samples when solo.

There are multiple reasons why you might do this. Maybe the game keeps constantly crashing at higher levels so that you can never get it the intended way. Keep in mind that you'll always have to run out the clock since you're not gonna do the main objectives, so each session will always take the full 45+ mins. Plan your time accordingly. Also, this strategy requires a lot of luck. You will not extract with Super Samples every time you load into a mission.

Loadout

• Bring some Armor with the Scout passive to reduce aggro range. Maybe a Shield Generator, too.
• Keep in mind that there's a higher chance that enemies will investigate your drop location if you call in additional Hellpods. So if you managed to drop in at a safe location, drop them all at the same time and run away.
• Sentries are situational. While they can be a distraction, enemies will also be aggroed to you as soon as the sentry dies. It takes a while to shake off enemies once they're aggroed.
• Offensive Stratagems (red beacon) will always aggro all nearby enemies to you immediately. Do not bring them.

Mission

Pick a Suicide Mission or above, 40 min Automaton mission (maybe search and destroy is better, I'll have to test it). Any mission, really. Automatons are better, because of a multitude of reasons:

• Shriekers are too fast and numerous to escape. Once you get close to a Shrieker Nest your run is over.
• Bile Titans are big, so there's a higher chance they might spot you, and are faster than Tanks and Hulks.
• Terminids are able to occupy the Extraction Point with their Nests and when there are nests, there are enemies.
• Automaton Patrols have a Marching Cadence that you can hear before you see them on the map.

Dropping In

• Avoid red zones as much as possible. Dropping into a clear zone might not be safe as well, but red zones are guaranteed bad.
• Hope you'll get lucky and don't drop into a random group of enemies.
• Whenever you move, you should be crawling unless you got into combat, then sprint away from the enemies and hide afterwards. Should be easy with any enemy except the Gunship.

Finding the Rock

• You'll have to scan the horizon to find the coveted Super Sample Rock. Maybe you'll be lucky and spot it on the map (tiny silver oval).
• Keep in mind that you can't stay at one point for long. Enemies are always approaching you.

Avoiding Patrols

• Now that you got the Super Samples, you should be working on avoiding every enemy and moving around the extraction point.
  • Crawl in a large circle around the extraction area until the mission timer runs out to make space for evasive maneuvers and to not lead enemies into the extraction point.
  • Keep in mind that crawling on uneven ground or pressing the sprint key may kick you out of your prone stance. (remember the tutorial?)
• The Game will always send a Tracking Patrol towards your location. They don't always know your location, but occasionally the Game gives them a hint. Never stand still, remember your ABCs: Always Be Crawlin'.
  • The Tracking Patrol exists, because the Game is not meant to be stealthed. The devs want to force you into combat.
• It is easier to sneak past enemies if they aren't aware of you. If you perform any offensive action near enemies or get spotted by an enemy, they will be alerted and their aggro range increases.
  • Melee attacks are silent and stagger small enemies, preventing them from alerting the group. But you'll have to spam the melee button until they die.
• Patrols spawn mostly from nearby Automaton Fabricators. If there aren't any nearby fabricators, the game will still spawn them in somewhere anyway. Locations with Fabricators are to be avoided.
• Stationary enemies defending a location will not move from their post, its safer to sneak around them than the patrols.

Gunships

• Avoid the area around Gunship Facilities like the pandemic. Gunships might not spot you immediately, but it is just a matter of time. Do not hang around the Facility or any Gunship.
• If you happen to be spotted by a Gunship, run away in one direction as far as possible, making sure to not run into any other enemies with the help of your minimap. Then, hide behind a large rock by being prone and not moving in any direction. If you're lucky the Gunship won't be able to find you, at which point it will patrol the area a bit. You should be leaving the area stealthily. You're only safe when no Gunship is nearby.
• When death by Gunship is inevitable, consider if you're close to the mission border. If you are, attempt to cross the border in your next life and be branded a traitor before you die. Afterwards, mission control will send the next reinforcement much farther away from the location of death than usual. Do keep in mind that you shouldn't carry the samples over the border, to not make retrieval impossible. Remember that you can drop samples by holding x then selecting the sample area.

Extraction

When the Extraction shuttle is called (at mission timer 0), you should be approaching the Extraction area at 2 mins left (of the extraction shuttle coming), going even closer at 1 mins, and be at the point around 30 secs left. Remember to keep circling until 30 secs left. Fingers crossed no enemies are present in the area. The extraction shuttle will always leave 20 seconds after landing, so make sure you're there on time.