Shiva Strike Mission

Overview

Shiva Strike is a mission that takes place in the Bloody Bay PvP zone in City of Heroes and City of Villains.

If you successfully complete it, you will receive the Shivan Shard temporary power.

Description

Shiva was a massive asteroid that was headed directly toward Earth. A NASA scientist named it 'Shiva,' after the Hindu 'Destroyer of Worlds.' The meteor broke up over 20 years ago--some say thanks to a top-secret multinational project that cost five heroes their lives--but its remains struck the earth just a few weeks ago.

Bloody Bay bore the brunt of the 'Shiva Strike,' and Arachnos callously abandoned it. This gave Freedom Corps an excuse to move in.

The Shiva meteor fragments are demonstrating remarkable properties, including spawning alien horrors and causing the dead to rise, and both Arachnos and Freedom Corps want samples. To get those sample, you need to visit your base and get an Ore Extractor from the scientist there. You can use the Ore Extractor on the six meteors--numbered one through six in Hindi.

When you have ore from all six asteroids, take them to a Firebase and knock out its automated defenses. You can then process your six shards into a 'sample'. Take the sample to your base and your scientist will reward you with a special power available only here in Bloody Bay.

Be warned! While fighting for the Shiva Strike, you'll find that any team can fight any other team--hero teams can fight other hero teams, and villain teams can fight other villains. We think it is because of the meteors.

Should you defeat a foe, you or a teammate will take any ore or sample he's collected.

The Step-by-Step

Important Notes

First of all, players need to realize that Bloody Bay, the zone where the Shiva Strike mission takes place, is a very dangerous place. It is a PvP zone, which means that you will be fighting not only the local denizens, but other heroes and villains as well. It is literally a free-for-all, and there are player killers (PK'ers) that hang out at vital areas to complete this mission.

Worse, may of these PK'ers are Stalkers, or villains that can remain completely invisible and undetectable until they one-shot kill you from behind. And yes, these PK'ers tend to team up and kill anyone that comes near their group, and they will taunt you in the global chat channel. If you have a thin skin, you would do well to avoid this zone, as you will never be able to complete this mission for arguing in the global chat channel with other people.

If you try to solo the mission, you will inevitably fail and get frustrated at the number of times you get killed. Even if you manage to get all of the meteor chunks, it is almost impossible to take out a firebase solo, because each one has eight turrets that must all be destroyed before they respawn, and they respawn quickly.

That being said, here is how one completes this mission in spite of the chaos that goes on in this zone.

Talk to Scientist

The first step to completing this mission is to get the mission from the Scientist at the zone entrance. She will give you a temporary power, the Ore Extractor. After talking to the scientist, you'll notice that there are six blank slots below your navbar where the mission description normally appears. These slots will fill up as you gather meteor chunks.

Gathering Meteor Chunks

This is the hard part of this mission. Why? Several reasons:

• Native creatures spawn at the meteorites as soon as you touch them, and they aren't pansies. You'll have to find some way to fight them off or avoid getting hit by them, as ore extraction is an interruptible power.
• PK'ers tend to gather around meteorites, since they know that players eventually must visit that location to complete the mission. Oftentimes, a player will be simultaneously attacked by native villains and other players.
• If you do manage to gather one or more meteor chunks, you will start glowing green. Other players know you've got pieces of meteorite, and that draws them to you. If they kill you, they will get your meteorite pieces and you will have to start over.
• That last point bears repeating: If you get killed by another player, you will lose all of your meteor rocks and have to start over! Unfortuantely, if you think you may be killed, the best policy is cowardice: Run away to fight again another day.

There are two useful strategies that work very well in gathering meteor rocks. First is to use stealth. If the enemies can't see you, they won't attack you. Second is to stock up on luck inspirations before visiting the meteorite. If you buff yourself with eight to ten luck inspirations, it is very unlikely that anything else will hit you.

Taking over a Firebase

After gathering meteor chunks, you must completely take over a firebase. To do so, you must defeat all turrets outside the firebase. If so much as one single turret is standing, you cannot complete the mission until it is defeated. The turrets respawn, so you must move quickly to accomplish this goal.

Once the turrets are defeated, you must deactivate the defenses using the computer inside. If you try to do so before the turrets are defeated, you will receive a message that says, "Access Denied." To deactivate the defenses using the computer, click on it as you would any mission objective.

Convert the Ore Chunks into a Sample

Once you activate the computer, you will see a message saying that the base defenses have been deactivated. At this point, you control the firebase and you are free to use the Ore Converter. The Ore Converter is on the opposite wall from the base computer, and again, simply click on it to convert your ore.

Once your ore is converted, you will now have one ore sample instead of six ore chunks. Again, avoid being killed by any PK'ers, because if you are, you will have to start over from the beginning.

Return to the Scientist

Now that you have your ore sample, return to the Scientist at the entrance to the zone. She will congratulate you and give you the Shivan Shard temporary power. This power summons a powerful Shivan Decimator who will fight for you.

Notes

• Again, if at any time you get killed by another player, you will lose all of the pieces of ore or the ore sample you have gathered. If you are running this mission with the intention of completing it, you should avoid other players in this zone at all costs!
• If you are killed by another player, you will not accrue debt.
• If a zone villain defeats you (e.g. a Freakshow or Circle of Thorns villain), you will not lose your ore shards, but you will accrue debt.
• There are several firebases thoughout the map. If one is proving difficult to take over due to other players fighting at the scene, move to another.