Extinction: Point of Contact. An extensive guide.

This guide covers the basics of the Extinction: Point of Contact mission/survival.
It will include all factual information as well as viable tactics.

Introduction

Due to low interest in Ghosts and me switching over to other games, this guide is now abandonware and will not (regularly) be updated. If you want to continue this guide, please contact me and I'll make you an editor!

Hello guys, girls, fellow Call of Duty players, this will be my extensive guide on the first mission of Extinction. I say first, because we can expect more than one mission (taking this from the fact that it says Chapter One in the menus).

Below I will add any changes, updates, or messages from me to you.

Please leave some feedback and/or a rating! Please let me know what to add in/change! This helps a TON!

V1.0 - release - Guys, as you can understand, this will be a work in progress. There is a lot not yet in here!

V1.01 - Wrote the 'Relics' section and started adding screenshots. The Class section is fully fitted with screenshots now.

V1.02 - Redid the Ammo section (thanks to Xeno for showing us Default Ammo upgrades were different!).

Unlocking Extinction mode

How to Unlock Extinction Mode

Extinction is not unlocked by default. Players must play at least one mission of the campaign or play multiplayer before it will appear. Simply play through the first level of the game, which takes only 10-15 minutes. After doing so, return to the main menu to find it along with Campaign, Multiplayer and Squads.

Some players have also been finding that Extinction will unlock if they play a few rounds of Multiplayer. Each case seems to be slightly different, but either way does unlock Extinction mode in the end.

(Taken from the IGN Extinction Guide)

The Basics

Allright. So, you are fed up with being shot around corners in multiplayer, you are not feeling Squads yet, so you want to try Extinction? Okay!

Extinction is an alien survival/mission gametype. The goal is to destroy 14 hives, then to arm a nuke and run back to where you started. Sounds simple enough, right? Well... No.

There are aliens in your way and well... They'll make it a lot harder on you.

So, you go to extinction, and join a game. It will load the map, and you are off!

As soon as you enter a game, you will find yourself in a small area, surrounded by trucks, a reddish 'flower' type of thing and rocks. This is the starting area.

After a few seconds, the chopper will leave you and your teammates with a drill. This is your baby. Protect it at ALL costs. If the drill-health goes to 0, you will fail your mission and you game will be over. One of you must pick up the drill and place it a few metres further, at the flower, and start drilling your first hive.

This is where your first 'wave' of aliens will attack you, but not before you get a challenge. Challenges are important as, if completed, they will provide you with a skill point which you can use to level up skills. Challenges are team-wide and can consist of many things. Completing them will be key to surviving and completing the mission.

After you've slain your first wave of aliens, the hive has been destroyed, and your challenge completed or failed, you will get a breather. This will allow you to pick up the drill and move it to the next hive, spend your skillpoints and hard-earned cash, and buy weapons and scavenge the area for loot.

The breather ends either after a certain amount of time (depending on the hive you just cleared, for the first 3 hives it is about 60 seconds), after which aliens will start spawning. Get the drill down as soon as aliens start spawning at the latest, or you will be fighting a never-ending spawn of aliens, without making any progress.

After 3 hives you will encounter a barrier hive. This hive will prevent you from walking past it into the next area, and requires air support to be destroyed. The drill is useless while fighting this barrier, so you can leave it on the ground. However, at the first barrier hive, a new enemy will appear, a Scorpion. They will attack the helicopter and you by 'spitting' yellow goo from their tails which creates a puddle of gas which harms and slows players. Keep the chopper safe from them by killing them as soon as possible - otherwise the chopper will go on an evasive run and will not engage the barrierhive, making the wave of aliens harder to complete.

Allright, I think those are the real basics of Extinction mode.

Money

You will start off the game with $500 in your wallet.

A couple of important things to note:

• The maximum amount of money is $6000 unless you are an engineer (with level 4 upgrades).
  
  
• After every barrier hive you will receive $3000 by a 'box' that you can interact within the barrier hive.
  
  
• Every hunter is worth a total of $90. If two players hit one hunter, that amount is spreaded to $30 to one player hit the hunter and $60 to the player who delivered the final blow.
  
  
• Every scorpion is worth a total of $300. If two players hit one hunter, that amount is spreaded to $100 to one player hit the hunter and $200 to the player who delivered the final blow.
  
  
• Every seeker is worth a total of $100. If two players hit one hunter, that amount is spreaded to $50 to one player hit the hunter and $50 to the player who delivered the final blow.
  
  
• Every Rhino will reward every player with $1000.

Hives

There are two types of alien hives in Point of Contact, regular hives and barrier hives.

• Regular hives are relatively simple. You plant the drill, defend it, and fend of any aliens trying to kill you.
  
  
• Destroying Barrier Hives, however, can be extremely frustrating if you don’t know what you need to do! For destroying these hives, you are provided support from a helicopter which continuously shoots at the hive.
  
  However, the area is always swarming with Scorpions, which can easily take out the helicopter and even you. There are certain specific spots which are used by these Scorpions. For example, top of roof and ridges, neon-signs, etc.
  
  To easily destroy these Barrier Hives, you need to pay heed to the large, yellowish Scorpions and not to the small aliens hopping around. Once you are done with the Scorpions, the rest of the Barrier Hive is easy to destroy, and you can shoot it along with the chopper to speed things up.
  
  Another thing that you could do is to stack all the propane tanks in front of the Barrier Hive and blow them up in one go to deal a massive amount of damage. You can also place a Grenade Sentry in front of the hive and shoot it.

Loot

Around the map, in all corners you will find trash or boxes which are highlighted when you come near them telling you to "Press and hold F to search". These nodes will spawn several items to help you out. They are all around the map and can contain:

• SOFLAM
  
• Trophy System
  
• Hypno Knife
  
• Flares
  
• Explosives (Bouncing Betties, Claymores, Semtex grenades, Canister bombs)
  
• Thermal Hybrid Scope
  
• ACOG Scope
  
• Holographic Sight
  
• Red Dot Sight
  
• Grip
  
• Muzzle Brake
  
• Burst Rifle Attachment
  
• Rapid Fire Attachment
  
• Specialized Ammo
  
• Ammo Clip
  
• Cash ($50 - $500)

The Hypno knife deserves special attention as it is a single throwing knife which will turn an alien, if hit, to fight on your side. Please note that the hypno knife is not working on Rhinos (the knife will get stuck on their armor).

Once you hit an alien with the Hypno knife, the friendly alien will turn blue-outlined. Don't shoot it! It is still killable by your shots!

If you miss with the Hypno knife you get a limited time to recover the knife. After this period, the knife is lost.

Skill points and upgrading

So you earned a skill point! Nice, let's go and upgrade some skills.

• Every time you destroy a hive, you will earn one skill point.
  
• Every time you complete a challenge, you will earn one skill point.

Below you can find subsections with the upgrade trees.

A lot of the trees are taken from Segmentnext's Ghosts Extinction guide [segmentnext.com] by Arslan Tufail.[segmentnext.com] I have edited them a little bit.

Skill points and upgrading your Class

As mentioned before, the four classes that you can choose from are:

• Weapon Specialist
  
• Tank
  
• Engineer
  
• Medic

Each of these classes has in-game upgrades available which can be taken by spending Skill Points. A brief overview of all the upgrades available to each of the class is given below:

Weapon Specialist

• Base level: 20% extra bullet damage
  
• Upgrade #1: Swap weapons faster, faster movement while ADS
  
• Upgrade #2: Faster ADS
  
• Upgrade #3: Faster Reloading
  
• Upgrade #4: 50% more damage done by bullets

Tank

• Base level: 25% more health
  
• Upgrade #1: 25% more damage with Melee Attacks
  
• Upgrade #2: 50% more health
  
• Upgrade #3: 50% more damage with Melee Attacks and 75% more health
  
• Upgrade #4: 100% more Melee Attacks damage and health

Engineer

• Base level: Provides 25 extra hitpoints for the drill and earns bonus cash.
  
• Upgrade #1: Repair the Drill faster
  
• Upgrade #2: Earn cash from traps
  
• Upgrade #3: Long times for traps and less damage while repairing the Drill
  
• Upgrade #4: Increased trap damage and store more cash

Medic

• Base level: Faster revival of allies.
  
• Upgrade #1: Move faster and take less damage while reviving teammates
  
• Upgrade #2: Sprint for long and teammates near you will gain health more quickly
  
• Upgrade #3: Less damage from gas clouds
  
• Upgrade #4: Fast movement and unlimited health for teammates near you

Please note that:

• Upgrade #1 and #2 will cost one skill point
  
• Upgrade #3 will cost two skill points
  
• Upgrade #4 will cost three skill points.

Skill points and upgrading your Pistol

As mentioned before, the pistols available are:

• P226 - a semi-automatic pistol
  
• .44 Magnum - a high-power revolver
  
• M9A1 - a 3-round burst pistol
  
• MP-443 Grach - a fully automatic pistol

P226 Pistol: Your starting pistol and is a good all around type pistol. Decent accuracy with a good clip size and decent stopping power for the first area.

.44 Magnum Pistol: The next pistol/revolver that you unlock. Best stopping power, slowest firing rate, slowest reload time, and touchy accuracy that it takes a while to get used to so that you can actually hit the aliens.

M9A1 Pistol: The third pistol that you unlock. 3 round burst fire, better than average stopping power, decent accuracy and okay reload time.

MP-443 Grach Pistol: The last pistol that you unlock. Fully automatic, best starting clip size, decent stopping power, great accuracy despite it being automatic, and quick reload time.

(The gun descriptions are taken from the IGN Ghosts Extinction guide and slightly edited by me.)

Upgrading your pistol will reap you the following rewards:

• Upgrade #1: 1 Skill point: Muzzle Break (increased damage over range) and faster movement when the pistol is equipped.
  
• Upgrade #2: 1 Skill point: 50% extra ammo in each magazine (extended mags).
  
• Upgrade #3: 2 Skill points: Ability to carry two primary weapons instead of one.
  
• Upgrade #4: 3 Skill points: Akimbo two pistols for twice the firepower and twice the ammo capacity.

Skill points and upgrading your Ammo

Just like the pistols, there is a variety of ammo that you can choose from:

• Regular Ammo – Default
  
• Stun Ammo – Unlocked at Level 2
  
• Incendiary Ammo – Unlocked at Level 12
  
• Explosive Ammo – Unlocked at Level 20
  
• Armor Piercing Ammo – Unlocked at Level 25

The special ammo upgrades are all the same, however, the default ammo is different:

• Base level: Gives 40% of max ammo (bullet weapons only) to the player
  
• Upgrade #1: 1 skill point: Gives 70% of max ammo to the player
  
• Upgrade #2: 1 skill point: Gives 100% of max ammo to the player
  
• Upgrade #3: 2 skill point: Gives 100% of max ammo to the player and fills the current clip
  
• Upgrade #4: 3 skill point: Ammo regenerates for all players within 20ft radius of the box

Upgrading your special ammo will reap you the following rewards:

• Base level: Gives 30% of max ammo to the player
  
• Upgrade #1: 1 skill point: Gives 40% of max ammo to the player
  
• Upgrade #2: 1 skill point: Gives 50% of max ammo to the player
  
• Upgrade #3: 1 skill point: Gives 60% of max ammo to the player
  
• Upgrade #4: 1 skill point: Gives 70% of max ammo to the player

Skill points and upgrading your Strike Packages

The Strike Packages and Equalizers do not last forever and aliens will take them out eventually. All of these Strike Packages have their very own upgrades which increases their different attributes like damage and operation duration.

I.M.S
IMS launches an air grenade whenever aliens come near it, which inflicts a significant amount of damage to them. Regular IMS have four canisters, which can be upgraded to a total of six. The IMS is a great tool to defend your Drill, and it can also take out large aliens such as a Rhino in an instant.

Unlocking Level: 1
Cost: $1,250

• Upgrade #1: 1 Skill Point (Large blast radius)
  
• Upgrade #2: 1 Skill Points (Rapid firing)
  
• Upgrade #3: 2 Skill Points (Increased damage)
  
• Upgrade #4: 3 Skill Points (Six canisters)

Mortar Strike
Mortar Strike can easily be regarded as one of the most difficult things to use. It is very hard to aim effectively using a Mortar Strike and should only be used when you are targeting a large group of aliens. Mortar Strike works really well against large aliens such as Rhino and Scorpions and can also destroy Barrier Hives. However, they can also damage you and they do hefty damage.

Unlock Level: 9
Cost: $1,300

• Upgrade #1: 1 Skill Point (Increased damage)
  
• Upgrade #2: 1 Skill Point (Even more damage than upgrade #1)
  
• Upgrade #3: 2 Skill Points (Five Mortar Strikes)
  
• Upgrade #4: 3 Skill Points (Six Mortar Strikes)

Trinity Rocket
One of the best ways of taking out a Leaper and completing ‘Find and kill a Leaper in 30 seconds’ challenge is by using Trinity Rocket.

This Strike Package will let you take out a laptop and strike aliens with small rockets before causing the big bang with a large missile. However, you remain vulnerable to every alien attack while using it.

Should you encounter a large group of aliens destroying your Drill; this is your best bet.

Unlock Level: 18
Cost: $1,800

• Upgrade #1: 1 Skill Point (Better targeting)
  
• Upgrade #2: 1 Skill Point (Fire a small drone)
  
• Upgrade #3: 2 Skill Point (Fire two small drones)
  
• Upgrade #4: 3 Skill Points (Fire four small drones)

Sentry Gun
One of the best tips that I can kill you for playing solo is to have a Sentry Gun with you all the time. This can easily cause devastation of heavily armored aliens and get you some extra kills. Placing it can be a tricky thing and you should consider placing it at some point within your gun range.

Hunters and Rhino can easily get behind it and cut it in half; so make sure to protect it.

Unlock Level: 22
Cost: $2,200

• Upgrade #1: 1 Skill Point (Increased range and wider angle)
  
• Upgrade #2: 1 Skill Point (Increased rate of fire)
  
• Upgrade #3: 2 Skill Points (Increased armor-piercing ability and more ammo)
  
• Upgrade #4: 3 Skill Points (Have two turrets)

Vulture
The only reason I prefer Sentry Guns over vultures is because vultures are over-priced and last for a shorter duration of time. Other than that, it is almost identical as having a teammate with you all the time.

You can also upgrade the Vulture which throws in some Incendiary Grenades at random intervals with which you can destroy Barrier Hives pretty easily.

Unlock Level: 28
Cost: $2,200

• Upgrade #1: 1 Skill Point (Increased damage)
  
• Upgrade #2: 1 Skill Point (Increased range)
  
• Upgrade #3: 2 Skill Point (Longer operating time)
  
• Upgrade #4: 3 Skill Points (Throws an incendiary rocket occasionally)

Skill points and upgrading your Equalizers

Portable Minigun Turret
Since you have to control the Minigun Turret, the positioning is really very important. You will often experience aliens getting behind you while you are controlling it. This does a lot of damage, and you will have a little response time. The best way to avoid this is to place it in a corner and take out the aliens.

However, you will still receive damage from the Scorpion’s acid attacks. These upgrades on these Minigun Turrets are really good, and you should definitely consider using them.

Unlock Level: 1
Cost: $1,100

• Upgrade #1: 1 Skill Point (Increased ammo capacity)
  
• Upgrade #2: 1 Skill Point (Increased damage)
  
• Upgrade #3: 2 Skill Points (Armor-piercing ammo)
  
• Upgrade #4: 3 Skill Points (Maximum ammo capacity)

Grenade Turret
Using a Grenade Turret too early in the game is not recommended at all. The reason being; it is too weak in the beginning. This is also a controllable gun and can destroy Barrier Hives if you upgrade it to the highest possible level.

As you progress through the game, the enemies begin spawning in from every nook and corner, and it becomes difficult to protect yourself.

Unlock Level: 6
Cost: $1,000

• Upgrade #1: 1 Skill Point (Rapid fire)
  
• Upgrade #2: 1 Skill Point (Increased blast radius)
  
• Upgrade #3: 2 Skill Points (Increased ammo capacity)
  
• Upgrade #4: 3 Skill Points (Incendiary Grenades)

Crowd Control
Crowd Control gives you a Riot Shield, which is not great to be honest, but it certainly works as Armor when you place it on your back and switch to your primary weapon. When equipped with Riot Shield, you will see a small icon on top of your screen, which will display its health.

Have a Riot Shield and some fully upgraded Armor and you will become almost a walking tank.

Unlock Level: 15
Cost: $700

• Upgrade #1: 1 Skill Point (Increased speed and 15 Shield)
  
• Upgrade #2: 1 Skill Point (Increased speed and 15 Shield)
  
• Upgrade #3: 2 Skill Points (Increased melee speed and 20 Shield)
  
• Upgrade #4: 3 Skill Points (Fire melee and 25 Shield)

MK32 Launcher
MK32 Launcher can easily be considered as one of the best Equalizers to use; second to the Death Machine. This thing has amazing accuracy and inflicts high damage.

Certainly, you cannot expect to kill a Rhino with a single shot but it does make it weak. A must have at higher hives where you can expect yourself overwhelmed by aliens.

Unlock Level: 23
Cost: $1,500

• Upgrade #1: 1 Skill Point (Blast shield to save you from the damage)
  
• Upgrade #2: 1 Skill Point (Increased blast radius and faster movement)
  
• Upgrade #3: 2 Skill Points (Increased damage)
  
• Upgrade #4: 3 Skill Points (Increased ammo capacity)

Death Machine
The best Equalizer to use in the game, hands down! A Death Machine can easily kill every alien that crosses paths with you. Unlike the Minigun Turret, you do not have to worry about overheating but it does cost you a lot and have little ammo capacity.

The best way to use a Death Machine is to focus fire and do not go spraying and hunting. A fully upgraded Death Machine is an alien cutting machine and you should definitely use it against Barrier Hives and Rhino.

Unlock Level: 29
Cost: $2,200

• Upgrade #1: 1 Skill Point (Less recoil)
  
• Upgrade #2: 1 Skill Point (Increased movement speed)
  
• Upgrade #3: 2 Skill Points (Increased damage for first bursts)
  
• Upgrade #4: 3 Skill Points (Increased clip size)

Skill points and upgrading your Team Support

This part has yet to be written. More time with the game is needed to get this part done.

Levels, prestiges and relics

While you are playing Extinction, you rank up. As you rank up, you unlock new choices for killstreaks, new pistols and new ammo types. Eventually you will get to the level cap (the level cap is 30).

As soon as you level up past thirty, you will find yourself being level 1 again. You'll think, huh? Everything stays unlocked (so prestiging doesn't make you lose anything). But what are the actual gains?

Well, you will unlock a new section in your loadout...


As it states above... You will get increased scores, but you lose a 'perk'.

There are 5 relics to chose from:
- Take More Damage - "Aliens do increased damage with their attacks."
- Pistols Only - "Weapons purchases are not allowed."
- Smaller Wallet - "Earn and carry less cash."
- Mortal - "No Class selection available."
- Do Less Damage - "Inflict less damage against the aliens."

As you can imagine, these perks increase the difficulty level of your Extinction experience by a considerable amount. Depending on your team setup, Smaller Wallet and Do Less Damage seem to be the 'easier' perks, whereas for me Mortal would be definitely the hardest one to deal with.

Why would you use the relics?
Well, first of all, because of the achievements. There are 5 relic achievements - these will be implemented later to this guide.
On the other hand, you and your friend might be kind of bored - if you know what to do and communicate well, Extinction mode is fairly well completable and you will seek more challenges. This will provide that.

Tactics

This part of the guide has yet to be written.

Sources

If something is already well-written, I won't write it again.

Below you will find the sources I used.

http://www.ign.com/wikis/call-of-duty-ghosts/Extinction

[GoofyGuy]

damn, this is really old, but still helpful

[koos193]

Very help full :D

[koos193]

Ty for the guide
I just started playing :D

[zidj]

This guide was super helpful, thanks for the info!

[ZombieBoss]

Me too :( Anyone play Ghosts in Australia?

[Mr. Super Sayan]

im looking for some people to play with :)

[Spooky Poo]

If anyone still plays this mode lemme know and add me because I miss Extinction

[Cairna ♥]

I've noticed some things wrong, such as in the money section. Hunters are worth $200, not $90. Scouts are worth 60$.

[Ninja Gaijin]

you can hypno the rhino, with a teeth upgrade.

[**@mphet@min**]

respect. . it looks like that you spend a lot of time to wrote this guide. .
but i have one question. . WHERE DID YOU FIND ANY THERMAL HYBRID SCOPE