How are people surviving higher difficulty levels?

[Andi5000]

So me and my friends have been playing on several evenings over the last two weeks. We are between level 11 and 20. So far we have not managed to get past difficulty level 4.
There are just waves after waves after waves of enemies, never ending spawns, many big enemies with heavy armor, extrem AI aggression, especially after the last update, we very rarely make it to the extraction with more than a handful of respawns left. More often than not we just TPKd.

We are in our 30s and even 50s, we all have plenty experience in many other shooters from Battlefield to Warzone to Apex etc. for over 12 years, mind you, we're no complete morons - however, this game just completely anihilates us. Controls are sluggish, switching from granades to guns isn't snappy, reloads don't trigger (because weapon switching didn't happen), calling strategems accidentally turns into granades, etc. all of this on top of enemy clusterfkcs, which make it impossible to play tactically ...

Not being able to make it beyond level 4, I am completely confused how everybody on Youtube and in the forums dicussed playing and managing level 7 and higher. I mean - how on earth?!? How did they get there? What are we missing?

Or is there some hidden experience/difficulty/grinding curve which means you need to farm points on levels 3-5 endlessly until you can finally unlock those weapons which then make higher levels even possible at all? Is it simply a matter of "once you have spent 500 hours and spent 150.000 medals, you get the tools you need?"

Can someone enlighten me what's going on here? Apart from getgud, than you.

[Dregora]

Hard to tell without any footage of you guys playing, so at this point it's just a guessing game.


But just knowing how to take down each enemy goes a long way. Knowing which loadout to run. Your energy shield isn't useful vs bugs, but is great when you fight automatons. Different types of stratagems for different types of missions.

Mission type matters too. Defensive mission? Turrets are your friend. Are you taking down a bile titan? Bring stratagems that can deal with that.

You can use your primary gun for most smaller enemies.


Also, don't attack everything in sight. I think this is one of the biggest issues people have, especially randoms. The more you attack, the faster you'll get a breach or ship drops. Meaning you can get overwhelmed.

Try to ignore patrols, don't kill everything in sight unless they're at a spot where you have to go or want to go.

Stay together, focus fire, don't all go somewhere else. At the end of the day this is a team game. Compliment each other. Don't all run the same weapons. Make sure you have everything covered.

[Eagle_of_Fire]

Originally posted by Andi5000:

So me and my friends have been playing on several evenings over the last two weeks. We are between level 11 and 20. So far we have not managed to get past difficulty level 4.
There are just waves after waves after waves of enemies, never ending spawns, many big enemies with heavy armor, extrem AI aggression, especially after the last update, we very rarely make it to the extraction with more than a handful of respawns left. More often than not we just TPKd.

We are in our 30s and even 50s, we all have plenty experience in many other shooters from Battlefield to Warzone to Apex etc. for over 12 years, mind you, we're no complete morons - however, this game just completely anihilates us. Controls are sluggish, switching from granades to guns isn't snappy, reloads don't trigger (because weapon switching didn't happen), calling strategems accidentally turns into granades, etc. all of this on top of enemy clusterfkcs, which make it impossible to play tactically ...

Not being able to make it beyond level 4, I am completely confused how everybody on Youtube and in the forums dicussed playing and managing level 7 and higher. I mean - how on earth?!? How did they get there? What are we missing?

Or is there some hidden experience/difficulty/grinding curve which means you need to farm points on levels 3-5 endlessly until you can finally unlock those weapons which then make higher levels even possible at all? Is it simply a matter of "once you have spent 500 hours and spent 150.000 medals, you get the tools you need?"

Can someone enlighten me what's going on here? Apart from getgud, than you.

Are you fighting bugs or bots? This simple question is going to make a night and day difference on how to answer you correctly.

[Onimaho]

Originally posted by Andi5000:

So me and my friends have been playing on several evenings over the last two weeks. We are between level 11 and 20. So far we have not managed to get past difficulty level 4.
There are just waves after waves after waves of enemies, never ending spawns, many big enemies with heavy armor, extrem AI aggression, especially after the last update, we very rarely make it to the extraction with more than a handful of respawns left. More often than not we just TPKd.

We are in our 30s and even 50s, we all have plenty experience in many other shooters from Battlefield to Warzone to Apex etc. for over 12 years, mind you, we're no complete morons - however, this game just completely anihilates us. Controls are sluggish, switching from granades to guns isn't snappy, reloads don't trigger (because weapon switching didn't happen), calling strategems accidentally turns into granades, etc. all of this on top of enemy clusterfkcs, which make it impossible to play tactically ...

Not being able to make it beyond level 4, I am completely confused how everybody on Youtube and in the forums dicussed playing and managing level 7 and higher. I mean - how on earth?!? How did they get there? What are we missing?

Or is there some hidden experience/difficulty/grinding curve which means you need to farm points on levels 3-5 endlessly until you can finally unlock those weapons which then make higher levels even possible at all? Is it simply a matter of "once you have spent 500 hours and spent 150.000 medals, you get the tools you need?"

Can someone enlighten me what's going on here? Apart from getgud, than you.

Gain more levels, unlock more ♥♥♥♥ and game gets much easier.

[Mr. Californication]

Run like hell, and if you get hit, DIVE! Then again! Then again! Then again! Then again! Then again! Then again! and combo that with the jetpack.

[Girthquake]

What helps is not stopping to fight every bug swarm, when one calls for help (A Bug Breach) it's best to leave the area and funnel them elsewhere so you don't get surrounded.

[Havok]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=plXIfAQ_JWw

[Kaine]

Originally posted by Andi5000:

So me and my friends have been playing on several evenings over the last two weeks. We are between level 11 and 20. So far we have not managed to get past difficulty level 4.
There are just waves after waves after waves of enemies, never ending spawns, many big enemies with heavy armor, extrem AI aggression, especially after the last update, we very rarely make it to the extraction with more than a handful of respawns left. More often than not we just TPKd.

We are in our 30s and even 50s, we all have plenty experience in many other shooters from Battlefield to Warzone to Apex etc. for over 12 years, mind you, we're no complete morons - however, this game just completely anihilates us. Controls are sluggish, switching from granades to guns isn't snappy, reloads don't trigger (because weapon switching didn't happen), calling strategems accidentally turns into granades, etc. all of this on top of enemy clusterfkcs, which make it impossible to play tactically ...

Not being able to make it beyond level 4, I am completely confused how everybody on Youtube and in the forums dicussed playing and managing level 7 and higher. I mean - how on earth?!? How did they get there? What are we missing?

Or is there some hidden experience/difficulty/grinding curve which means you need to farm points on levels 3-5 endlessly until you can finally unlock those weapons which then make higher levels even possible at all? Is it simply a matter of "once you have spent 500 hours and spent 150.000 medals, you get the tools you need?"

Can someone enlighten me what's going on here? Apart from getgud, than you.

Hey guys- Also an old Bstd (50s) add me and I'll be happy to come along and help/work out whats going wrong.
Wow its so nice to have someone say" How do I learn" rather than "game is stupid".

[Dord :---DD]

Originally posted by Andi5000:

So me and my friends have been playing on several evenings over the last two weeks. We are between level 11 and 20. So far we have not managed to get past difficulty level 4.
There are just waves after waves after waves of enemies, never ending spawns, many big enemies with heavy armor, extrem AI aggression, especially after the last update, we very rarely make it to the extraction with more than a handful of respawns left. More often than not we just TPKd.

We are in our 30s and even 50s, we all have plenty experience in many other shooters from Battlefield to Warzone to Apex etc. for over 12 years, mind you, we're no complete morons - however, this game just completely anihilates us. Controls are sluggish, switching from granades to guns isn't snappy, reloads don't trigger (because weapon switching didn't happen), calling strategems accidentally turns into granades, etc. all of this on top of enemy clusterfkcs, which make it impossible to play tactically ...

Not being able to make it beyond level 4, I am completely confused how everybody on Youtube and in the forums dicussed playing and managing level 7 and higher. I mean - how on earth?!? How did they get there? What are we missing?

Or is there some hidden experience/difficulty/grinding curve which means you need to farm points on levels 3-5 endlessly until you can finally unlock those weapons which then make higher levels even possible at all? Is it simply a matter of "once you have spent 500 hours and spent 150.000 medals, you get the tools you need?"

Can someone enlighten me what's going on here? Apart from getgud, than you.

So, it wasn't that bad at the start, so people playing with better and better equipment got out of the progression cycle sooner. Then, the main strategy emerged of having two groups split up or everybody split up and one guy/group activate bug breaches religiously away from the main group/everybody else and just kite them the entire mission while everybody else does every side and main objective, clearing hives as they are in the way or not.

It's frankly the most effective method available since it denies the main issue with bug breaches. You basically don't have to worry about being swarmed until extract, and by then everyone will have everything they need to fend off the horde until evac arrives.

[Ethanol]

Use turrets to help distract and give you some breathing room if you're being overwhelmed.

Those tiny bugs, medium bugs, and bile spewers? Gatling and sentry turrets absolute chew through them like shredding paper. Even Brood Commanders aren't safe from their wrath.

For big guys like Charger and Titan, you can use Auto Cannon turret to punch them through, while any of you use EAT or Recoilless Rifle to finish them off.

[A-94L542 Abyssal Admiral Lavelle]

The strategy of the Helldiver contingent of the SES Queen of Starlight is to abide by the democratic art of war. Do not spread democracy(engage) recklessly or unnecessarily, focus on the objectives. Fight on your terms. Cover each other. Employ strategic and supportive assets as necessary while covering a wide range of options from horde control to specialized destructive measures.

[Firecam]

No idea, don't take the game seriously maybe ? That's what i do and can clear diff 7 with a single friend and we reached lvl 18.

[Andi5000]

Originally posted by Dregora:

Hard to tell without any footage of you guys playing, so at this point it's just a guessing game.


But just knowing how to take down each enemy goes a long way. Knowing which loadout to run. Your energy shield isn't useful vs bugs, but is great when you fight automatons. Different types of stratagems for different types of missions.

Mission type matters too. Defensive mission? Turrets are your friend. Are you taking down a bile titan? Bring stratagems that can deal with that.

You can use your primary gun for most smaller enemies.


Also, don't attack everything in sight. I think this is one of the biggest issues people have, especially randoms. The more you attack, the faster you'll get a breach or ship drops. Meaning you can get overwhelmed.

Try to ignore patrols, don't kill everything in sight unless they're at a spot where you have to go or want to go.

Stay together, focus fire, don't all go somewhere else. At the end of the day this is a team game. Compliment each other. Don't all run the same weapons. Make sure you have everything covered.

It's what I wanted to point out with saying we are experinced MP shooter players for 15 years. Yes we are aware of all of this.

[Lightravenn]

People dont survive. We just complete main objectives and try to complete secondaries.. if we all die its ok for democracy.

Theres also a thing about what type of weapons/strat to use against each foe, you always want a team who is ready for the enemies ahead.

On higher levels the difficulty is the big ones, and now with the patch the swarming little ones.
So we use 500kg drop on titans, and EAT spam all over an area to destroy the chargers.
And against machines you need same type of punch but for longer distance.

[Kaine]

There are different playstyles depending on the enemy group-First off-Are you playing against Bots or Bugs-The advice will be different for each.

[A-94L542 Abyssal Admiral Lavelle]

The SES Queen of Starlight can confirm to successfully accomplish the most dangerous of missions with consistent success.