TRS2 Guide v1.0.4

I'm sure I'll end up going over some of the same information included in other guides.

My hope for this guide is it will consolidate useful information, to improve the gameplay experience for those starting out in the game, & those who may come across nuggets of information they were not aware of.

-- Contents --

Starting Out
- General
- Levelling up / Ranking up

Elysium Campaign Part 1
- What to focus on early

Mission Setup
- Overview

Gameplay Part 1
- Controls
- Tac Map

Gameplay Part 2
- The Loop
- Minute to Minute
- Biomass / Biomass Whales

Elysium Campaign Part 2
- Delaying Strol Spread across Mars
- Followers
- Vivisection Research

Loadout / Builds
- Overview
- Sample Builds From me
- Sample Builds from other players

Items
- Common & Useful
- Weapon Systems

Gameplay Part 3
- Damage Types
- Bunker Entry

Misc Info Part 1
- Ziplines
- Power Orbs
- Power Plant
- Radar Stations

Misc Info Part 2
- Calibration & Data Terminals
- Comm Relay
- Emergency Evac
- Extra Ammo, Look for Marine Bodies

Misc Info Part 3
- GAR System Designate
- Hastac Bunker
- Sword Base
- Fluffy Hunt

High Level Play (WIP)
- General
- Single Player w/Bots
- Multiplayer
- Some Examples of Class Ability Synergies

Starting Out

General

Ok, so you've just got the game & would like a start point?

NB : If you have the Howell Barrex DLC, I do not recommend you start with that campaign, as it is significantly harder.

After completing the tutorial & the first story mission......

Levelling up / Ranking up

Levelling up
As you play, you will naturally level up from gaining xp, pretty much everything you do on the field (Skirmish, or Campaign) will contribute towards your level.

Each level will provide you with skill points, which can be distributed as you see fit.
The skill tree is shared between the campaign & skirmish, but some skills are skirmish only.

Ranking up
Ranks are separate, ranking up requires a certain level of xp & certain challenges to be completed
This unlocks new colours for customizing your combat suit, & increases combat suit power (Bar on the left) by 0.5 per rank

NB : If a rank challenge has a multiple primary requirement, this can only be achieved in Skirmish at this time.
In the screenshot above, to achieve the rank of Sergeant, you would need to

• Have gained 250,000 XP
  
• To date, have expended 1000 energy in a single deployment
  
• To date, killed 20 monsters with a secondary weapon
  
• To date, have at least one deployment, where 0 teammates were killed

Then, complete both of the below, in a single deployment

• Survived to wave 8
  
• Expend 3000 energy

NB : Some ways to achieve the expend energy requirement more quickly are

• Play the medic & spam abilities
  
• Play the assault with the Energy Blade (Green ability) & spam it
  
• Play while using the Viking primary (consumes energy per shot)

You can see your progress during the mission (or your best in a single previous deployment), by hovering over your rank icon in the bottom left.

-- Minor Spoilers throughout, from here --

Elysium Campaign Part 1

What to focus on early

When you start out, it's not easy to decide what to do straight away, your main limiting factors are 'Supply', 'Deployment' & 'Visibility'.

For Visibility, I mean visibility on the map, to gain this, you need to build outposts, or move your HQ (landship), this is because missions can spawn in sectors you have not mapped out yet.
Early on, you usually want to leapfrog, building in one sector, skipping the next & so on.
More info in the "Campaign - Delaying Strol Spread across Mars" section, if you don't mind minor spoilers.

Early game, it is best to focus on Research & Upgrades that will help you make the most of what you have & expand as much as possible, as quickly as possible.

Ways of Gaining Supply

• Resupply day is reached
  (In the example SS above, +60 Supply in 6 days, 23 hours)
  
• Completing main missions that provide supply as a reward
  
• Completing side missions that provide supply as a reward
  ("Supply Cache" being the most impactful)

Ways of Gaining Deployment

• Resupply day is reached
  (In the example SS above, resets to 10 deployment in 6 days, 23 hours)
  
• You can increase maximum deployment through Energy Pods Upgrades
  
• You can increase maximum deployment via a Tier 2 Outpost on some sectors
  
• You can increase maximum deployment via a Tier 3 Outpost on a certain sector

Mission Setup

Overview

The main difference between campaign and skirmish, is that making a mission easier, indicated by the skulls (other than difficulty) in the campaign will cost deployment. I usually aim for 3 skulls.
Hovering over each of these items, will provide a tool tip, explaining what they do in more detail.
Increasing Artillery support is the most noticeable ingame, bringing down walls all over the map.
More options are available in the campaign via research,

Gameplay Part 1

Controls

Out of the myriad of controls available, the below are what I personally use


General

• Rotate camera left / right - B / N
  
• Minimap - Esc
  (Pauses the game if playing solo, at least in campaign (Not 100% sure on skirmish))
  
• Toggle labels on items & interactive objects - O
  
• Center / Return camera to default rotation - Space
  
• Camera scroll - W / A / S / D
  
• Toggle Chat - Enter

Skills and Items, basic

• Utility skill 1 / 2 - F / V
  (Personally, I always take a movement skill on 'V', with 'F' being utility)
  
• Skill 1 / 2 / 3 / 4 - 1 / 2 / 3 / 4

Skills and Items, useful for high level play

• Level Down Skill 1 / 2 / 3 / 4 - Ctrl + 1 / 2 / 3 / 4
  (To change round max level of skills for the situation)
  
• Use Inventory slot 1 / 2 / 3 / 4 / 5 / 6 / 7 / 8 - Ctrl + O / A / W / S / E / D / R / F
  (If you move your items into specific slots, you probably only need to remember the first 4 of these)

Player

• Move to / Interact - RMB
  
• Attack Target / Fire - LMB
  
• Select / Detonate Explosive - G / GG

Weapons

• Toggle Overwatch - E
  (Reserves 30 energy, lower crit chance than manual)
  
• Manual Aim - Left Shift (Held down)
  
• Toggle / Switch Weapon Selected - Q
  (Heavy secondaries will slow your movement if selected)
  
• Reload - R (If you have ammo left in the clip, it will be wasted, use sparingly)
  
• Toggle Weapon Mode - C
  (Noting that the secondary fire mode usually uses suit energy per shot)
  
• Drop Primary Ammo - X
  (Useful in co-op if squadmate has low / no ammo)

Followers

• Have follower Move / Interact command - F1
  
• Follow me command - F2
  
• Radial Menu - Left Alt
  (Usually used for Rez (Right) or Fire Secondary (Top))

Note From Keyce :
If your AI follower ever stops taking orders, and stands in place, even if you move around
You can Ctrl + Click on them, to get them to follow orders again

Tac Map

The map in TRS2 is pretty good & I find it very intuitive personally.
When setting up a match, increasing the amount of artillery will put holes in walls across the map, giving Strol creatures more routes into / through buildings as well as your squad.

• You can add waypoints using LMB
  
• Clear these using RMB
  
• Ctrl + Left Click to move your view

The above is an example of how I would do waypoints in the early game, when you want to move through the different areas and loot as you go (Gathering Ammo & Items for lategame).
In the lategame you would probably stick to the streets alot more & do less looting.

Gameplay Part 2

The Loop

The standard gameplay loop within TRS2 goes something like this :

• You are dropped into the combat zone with a few ability points to spend, spend these before moving, so you can uttilize your abilities
  
• A primary mission is triggered straight away, which you usually want to do asap
  (For Skirmish, this will be a primary mission chain, with multiple primaries)
  
• Hit 'Esc' & have a look at the map to choose your route
  
  
• Make sure to loot as you go, turn on power nodes etc. which all give xp.
  (in campaign, followers can be told to do this for you with F1)
  
• Once the primary mission is complete, an evac mission will trigger, you can leave at any time after you have reached this location & even if you go down, will be a partial victory
  
• Secondary missions will trigger on different waves, which you can choose to do, these give you various bonuses, including a speed boost
  (In Campaign, these are essential for building up your economy quickly)
  
• The longer you stay deployed, the harder it gets, but the more you can do
  (You won't always be able to stay deployed until wave 16)
  
• Choosing when to bug out is a skill in of itself & will be on you to determine when to do so!
  (Noting that you can choose to camp the evac for a while, to train your followers)

Minute to Minute

Ok, so for me personally while I'm playing, I am constantly (unless in combat) setting a point for my character to move to (overwatch on, if the situation calls for it), then moving the map away to look for crates / lockers / energy batteries / terminals / ways into buildings etc. then hitting 'Space' to move back to my character.

If in heavy combat, I'm focused on my character, mixing manual aim, clicking on targets to fire at specifically & skill use (1, 2, 3, 4, F, V)
(If possible, holding position, as this increases energy regen compared to moving).

You also need to have a good idea of where you 'can' go to avoid situations like this......
This usually doesn't happen out on the streets, but can easily happen if you are cornered in a building.

In campaign while moving around I target lockers etc. then use 'F1' constantly to have my followers do the majority of interactions (Followers are faster than you, & their looting adds to your inventory unless full).
This is much faster than just you looting, adds clips to your followers primary weapon & can avoid some unhelpful behaviour.
After a recent update, your followers also teleport back to you if they are far enough away.

NB : Please note, a marine will not teleport back to you if you have told them to move somewhere specific, in this situation, hit 'F2' to have them follow / teleport to you again.

Biomass / Biomass Whales

Biomass are organic structures, that spread across the map

• Spawns creep around itself, in a large radius
  
• Spawns extra enemies from the creep, even more so when threatened.
  
• Spawns Tentacles around it, which act as a defensive structure, poisoning & damaging
  
• It starts with 7500 hp, increasing over time
  
• Sometimes the biomass itself (at higher hp) will mutate into a Lyganesh
  (introduced in HB DLC)

NB : On the higher difficulties, especially in skirmish, it's best to kill the biomass right at the start of the mission, & stop the spread of biomass & creep before it reaches a saturation point.
Creep can also be temporarily cleared by fire, or the like.

The best ways to take out the Biomass are :

• Rockets
  
• Explosives
  
• Orbital abilities / items
  
• Concentrated fire attacks
  
• Followers with Ordinance support will periodically call in a hastac shot to take out biomass.
  
• For lower HP Biomass, MM with a Stinger

Biomass Whales are massive organic structures which were introduced in HB DLC.

• Has a significant amount of health & health regen
  
• Similar function to regular Biomass

NB : Unless you have the likes of the Hasroc, or a Nuke, it's best to avoid the area around a Biomass whale where possible.

-- Non-Essential, useful info below --

Elysium Campaign Part 2

Delaying Strol Spread across Mars

There are only two ways that you can permanently buff a region

Building Outposts

• Construction cost of the level 1 outpost increases each time you build one
  
• Construction cost of the level 2 / 3 outpost, is static
  
• Construction takes 3 ingame days per level, where you cannot do anything else
  
• Construction pauses if you leave the sector & will not continue without you

Black Ops

• Once you complete the appropriate research, followers can be deployed as Black Ops
  
• A follower is Black Ops ready once they hit level 7
  
• You will no longer have access to the deployed follower

Having both the Tier 3 Outpost & 3 Black Ops in a sector makes a noticeable difference

As Outposts get progressively more expensive, you want to maximise their effectiveness.
You can make a 'wall' of fortified sectors, containing the Strol virus to one side.
And / or you can prioritise sectors with the most connections first
You can move the Landship to bridge between regions & allow you to build adjacent to the Landship, wherever it is.

NB : Having the landship or outposts in Cimmeria, Hellas, Margaritifer & Daedalia provides access to all but three regions

Followers

Followers aren't constrained in the same manner as players
While they have less utility than players, followers are useful in their own ways

• They have their own levels (up to 7) & tech tree
  
• More followers can be recruited from the Engineering page
  
• They can loot on your behalf, activate consoles etc.
  
• They replenish ammo as Lockers are looted
  
• They are faster than you
  (Still quite fast when wielding heavier weapons)
  
• They have higher energy regen than you
  (Exceeding their power limit doesn't 'hurt' them as much)
  
• They are usually tougher than you
  
• They can teleport back to you
  (leading to some interesting tactics)

My personal preference for follower secondary (apart from MM) is either of the two below :

• Missile Swarm
  (Can only be fired outdoors, can be fired at the ground, results may vary 0.o)
  
• Ajax
  (Can only be fired at enemies directly, can be fired indoors)

Fired via the 'Alt' menu

Vivisection Research

The Trap disappears if the capture is successful, & there is a message on the left of the screen.
Suppression is a stat on most weapons & some abilities

Loadout / Builds

Overview

When creating your loadout / build, depending on your class, you will have a different number of slots for each of the different sections of your suit, Defense, Offense & Support.
For Skirmish builds, you usually want to take into account what you would like to 'do' with your loadout e.g Focus on armour stripping, focus on suppression, focus on trash clear etc.

This breaks down further to Modules, Systems & Upgrades.

• You can have a maximum of 4 Modules (Blue, 1-4)
  (having less than 4 will decrease maximum suit level & starting suit level)
  
• When suit level is maxed ingame, you can have 3 modules maxed + 1 at level 1 or a mix
  
• You can have a maximum of 2 Systems (Green, F & V)
  
• The rest of your slots are filled with Upgrades (Use these to balance your power limit)

There is ALOT to unlock, so your build will be constrained early on, with more options later
In campaign, more Classes, Weapons, Modules, Systems & Upgrades are unlocked through research.
In skirmish, more Classes, Weapons, Modules, Systems & Upgrades are unlocked through the skill tree.

This is an example of a pretty decent build
I would consider this build good for close in security of the team, reasonably tanky & sporting some decent Assault abilities.

Points of note :

• 3.86 m/s speed (3.7 is my absolute minimum, usually aim for around 4)
  
• Adaptive systems, for enhanced abilities while indoors
  
• 2 active & 2 passive main abilities
  
• 4/s EN regen (Pretty standard for the Assault class)
  
• Specialist, for the 1 point ability
  
• GAR primary, with the goal of finding the GAR system
  
• Assault energy blade for close encounters
  
• Missile Launcher for armour strip, range, & great fire rate if needed

This is an example of a TERRIBLE build
I would consider this to be a terrible build, for a number of reasons.

Points of note :

• 3.22 m/s speed, you are just inviting things to eat you, as the team leaves you behind
  
• Having the Rocket Launcher & Minigun will be the biggest influence on the low speed
  
• Exceeding the power limit for the suit, leading to 2.7 EN regen (Terrible) & further decreased speed
  
• The abilities in 1 & 3 work similarly to overwatch, while active they 'reserve' suit energy
  
• Due to the above, if you have both of these active, or one of them + overwatch, you will never get to use any of your other abilities.

Sample Builds From me

Tested on Very Hard, solo skirmish w/bots
NB : If a build is close to something you have posted, it may be my personal variant, & you have been credited as a contributor to the guide

Sample Builds from other players

https://steamcommunity.com/app/768520/discussions/0/3183488224888060008/
Most of the builds from other players noted above, are taken from the above post

Items

Common & Useful

Not a full item list, but these are the items I find to be the most common

Ammo :
Ammo is always useful, you can consume these early on to add to your ammo count on the right
Max stack - 20

Explosives :
Max stack - 10, 10,000 Explosive Damage, 1 Armour shred
Probably the easiest explosives to come across for bunker busting or heavy damage to bosses
Needs to be detonated by another source
Situational, feel free to use asap or drop
Max stack - 10, 500 Explosive Damage, Fire AOE DOT, 1 Armour shred
Situational, feel free to use asap or drop
Max stack - 5, 3000 Explosive Damage, 1 Armour shred
Decent damage, can be detonated remotely, taunting, 2 or so second delay for detonation
Max stack - 15, 1400 Explosive Damage, 1 Armour shred
Situational, feel free to use asap or drop
Max stack - 10, 4000 Explosive Damage, 1 Armour shred
Decent damage, can be detonated remotely, often used in conjunction with Chain Explosive

Healing :
Max stack - 5. +2 HP Regen, Removes poison / infestation, 1min
Situational, feel free to use asap or drop
Max stack - 3. +100 HP Regen, 3s (May be 2s, hard to tell)
Strong healing if you need it, useful
Max stack - 5. +8 HP Regen, 30s
Slower healing over time, can be useful to carry if a medic is not available

Utility :
Useful when holding position, unless you have a couple, you shouldn't prioritise holding these
Max stack - 3, +Energy Regen, Increase Suit level etc.
Very handy, if you don't want to carry it round, use asap for an energy boost
Have been updated, now work like a flare gun, feel free to use asap or drop
Max stack - 5, Cures fractures & slows, Reduces reload time by 15%, Increase crit chance, Increase speed
A nice to have if you have room, feel free to use asap or drop

Weapon Systems

Useful, if you can find them

NB : The GAR system (also the most common) is in a different section, due to it's ability

Gameplay Part 3

Damage Types

copy / paste straight out of the game

NB : Armour shred (to get rid of the grey bars above enemy HP) is especially important on the higher difficulties vs. the stronger enemies

Bunker Entry

Around the map in TRS2 you will come across Bunkers.
They usually have Blast Doors with 35,000 HP & 50 Kinetic resist.

I'm not 100% sure, but I believe most bunker walls have 15,000 HP

To access these there are a number of options :

Good ol' Explosives
Blow out a wall
Increase the level of Artillery for the mission (SS is from max Artillery)
Demo 'Wallbreaker'
Recon / Marksman / Engineer "Security Bypass"
Assault 'Thrusters' (Situational, the bunker needs to have a second floor entry)

Misc Info Part 1

Ziplines

There is at least one zipline in most bunkers / Military buildings, knowing where these are, can be the difference between a wipe & a great escape down the zipline

Power Orbs

Power orbs increase everyone's suit level & power regeneration when picked up

Power Plant

Some maps have power plants, powering these up, activates every power node on the map
For spiral plant, you can get in using the entrance on the right in the SS.
For the square shaped plant, I'm pretty sure you need to contend with a blast door to enter.

Radar Stations

Most maps have radar stations, powering these up, provides
+3 Energy per active Radar, maximum 5 stacks

Misc Info Part 2

Calibration & Data Terminals

These provide minor buffs for the mission duration, these buffs can stack
The buffs themselves, will display to the right of your picture, in the bottom left e.g
Big Capacitor +5 Energy
Suit Calibration +10% Damage
Tissue Regeneration +1/HPs regen

Comm Relay

+1 Intel when completed in campaign
+1 Energy Regen
The extra energy regeneration is a flat addition, and thus doesn't suffer from the movement penalty, so is often overlooked, but is very useful for any class with low energy regen, or for abilities such as Wired Ammo on the Heavy.

Emergency Evac

If you get into trouble, & find you need to bug out early, emergency evac can be triggered from a local helipad.
NB : If you need to evac in a hurry, recommend looking for one of the smaller options, as you will likely have a blast door in the way, with the larger one.

Extra Ammo, Look for Marine Bodies

Some of the marine bodies on the ground can provide a significant amount of primary ammo

Misc Info Part 3

GAR System Designate

If you can find the GAR system (when using the GAR), it comes with a Free Designate ability
'Designated' provides a -30% Kinetic Resistance debuff to the target
Especially useful vs. higher tier enemies / harder difficulties

Hastac Bunker

The Hastac bunker lets you load shells & fire from the main console

• There is another console in that same facility, to get the Hastac item, to use the shots on the move (After loading), if you need
  
• Hellfire Equalizer skill can consume Hastac shells, as well as barrels

Sword Base

The sword base has a number of useful consoles, but the most recent addition was a console to bring in the UBAS item (The mech suit added during the Howell Barrex DLC) which can be found at the hilt of the 'sword'.

Fluffy Hunt

Activating Fluffy Hunt (Only available on higher difficulties)

For detailed info, please consult the Guide below :
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2684447317

High Level Play (WIP)

If you are just playing to muck around & have fun, I would recommend sticking to Hard, or below.

Personally, I have soloed (w/bots) most of the ranks up to General, & attempting to solo Aetriden rank up, at the time of writing this section.

General

(Some of this is pretty basic, but increasingly important at high level play)

• Higher tier enemies have higher resistances, so using skills like Designate, to reduce these resistances is ideal
  
• The faster you are / the team is, the less likely you are to get cornered, & swarmed
  
• The faster you are / the team is, the quicker you can get primary, & secondary missions completed
  
• Biomass being destroyed, stops the wave timer for a few seconds, similar to the console in sword base
  
• When creating a loadout / build for your character, think about how it will contribute to the team, what is the role/s you wish to take (Armour shred, High single target damage, Healing, Energy Regen, Energy Damage, Heavy Suppression etc.)
  
• Enemies like the Hellspawn & Specimen can set off unprotected explosives
  
• High tier enemies are best fought at range where possible, as some of them will make short work of you, regardless of kinetic resistance

Single Player w/Bots

• Mobility abilities which only work for you, are great, as bots will just teleport to catch up
  
• Hellfire bot with high profile is incredibly useful for this type of play
  
• Early on, you can send bots to go turn on important consoles / power relays / radar etc.
  
• Taking the time to level bots up, is necessary, best done through Daily Tasks, & Daily Challenge (Enemy wave generation)

Multiplayer

• Splitting up into small groups early, is ideal, then grouping back up for later waves
  
• The groups should have assigned goals e.g scavenge, destroy biomass, destroy strol substance, turn on interactables, & complete missions
  
• Certain abilities are even stronger in a large team, such as Terminator combat exhaust, or Heavy HSLF (Grab immunity for the team in range, even at 1 point)

Some Examples of Class Ability Synergies

• Heavy wired ammo + Terminator energy exhaust
  
• Marksman Ensnare + any targeted abilities, missile swarm secondary etc.
  
• Psychic Gravity + any nuke ability
  
• Marksman Reaper (Teleport) + Bots
  
• Recon Seeker Mines + Designate

Most of the information from this section, has been taken from the post below
https://steamcommunity.com/app/768520/discussions/0/3279194170696004664/

Changelog & Contributors

*/08/21
- Added Controls section
- Added Tac Map section
- Added Loadout Overview section
- Added Common Items - What's useful section
- Added Bunker entry section
- Added Campaign - Followers section
- Added the Miscellaneous useful info section
- Ordered guide into sections
- Added all the planned sections that had not been added
- Renamed Guide to TRS2 Beginners Guide
- Removed WIP, changed to v1.0.0

*/09/2021
- Added Campaign - Vivisection Research section
- Added Gameplay - The Loop section
- Added Starting Out Section
- Changed to v1.0.1
- Minor extra information added throughout the guide
- Emphasized the importance of Secondary missions for the campaign in "The Loop" section
- Changed to v1.0.2

*/11/2021
- Minor changes throughout guide
- Added "Starting Out - Levelling up / Ranking up" section
- Separated out miscellaneous sections for readability
- Added "Gameplay - Biomass / Biomass Whales" section
- Added "Loadout - Sample Builds" section
- Changed TRS2 Guide v1.0.3 & marked as final

*/04/2022
- Unlocked the guide for comments, & removed 'final' tag
- Minor changes throughout guide
- Added Loadouts / builds from myself & other players
- Amended the layout of the sections
- Few more changes to come around prefab SS's
- Changed TRS2 Guide v1.0.4

*/05/2022
- Added High Level Play (WIP) section


Contributors

• BigRockWall
  
• Seyton
  
• Datau
  
• Triglass
  
• Keyce
  
• Kill with Fire
  
• SH3200
  
• q4TEKS
  
• Goldymires
  
• Open!698
  
• Exarch
  
• Combat Medic
  
• Andux
  
• NotYourFlanker