Strike Force
A Strike Force is a large-scale story arc in City of Villains. Strike forces are equivalent to Task Forces in City of Heroes.
Strike forces are similar to Story Arcs in that they are a set of missions that tell a story. Strike forces are started by talking to a strike force contact, which is typically a unique NPC or signature villain. Unlike story arcs, strike force contacts cannot be outleveled. Strike forces can be started at any time, provided a team meets the strike force's requirements, and characters may run them more than once.
Restrictions
Each strike force has a minimum level requirement and a minimum team size requirement that must be met before the strike force can be started. Each strike force also has a maximum level associated with it; team members who exceed the maximum automatically malefactor down.
While running a strike force, none of the team's other missions are available to them, and normal contacts won't interact with the player. This means that most stores are unavailable; however, Arena stores, Pocket D, and the Black Market are still accessible to purchase (often much needed) inspirations. Once the strike force has formed, you must continue to run the strike force until you finish it or drop from it. Strike force missions can be run over several play sessions; the game allows you to log out without dropping from the strike force.
As of 2008-03-05 strike forces will always spawn according to the number of members associated with the team, no matter if they are online or not. If 4 people start the Virgil Tarikoss Strike Force, and one logs out, the groups will still spawn as if for 4 people on the team. If the person instead quit the SF, then the spawns will scale for 3 people.
Strike Forces by Level
| Strike Force Name | Contact | Min Size |
Level Range | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| The Beast Beneath the Mountain | Virgil Tarikoss | 4 | 15 to 20 | |
| Pirates of the Sky | Silver Mantis | 4 | 20 to 25 | Only Accessible via the SG Mission computer in villain Bases. |
| The Temple of the Waters | Strike Force Operative Renault | 4 | 25 to 30 | |
| The Spider Weaves his Web | Mender Tesseract | 1 | 25 to 34 | Minor Strike Force, no recipe reward option. |
| The 5th Column Overthrow | Mender Lazarus | 1 | 30 to 39 | Minor Strike Force, no recipe reward option. |
| The Crystal of Serafina | Ice Mistral | 4 | 35 to 40 | Grants the Enchantment of Serafina temp power upon completion. SF required for Megalomaniac Accolade. |
| Time's Arrow | Imperious | 6 | 35 to 50 | takes place entirely in Cimerora |
| Lord Recluse's Strike Force | Lord Recluse | 8 | 45 to 50 | Reward choices include a Random Synthetic Hamidon Origin Enhancement. |
| The Lady Grey Strike Force | Lady Grey | 8 | 45 to 50 | Takes place in Rikti War Zone, Heroes and Villains have opportunity to team together |
| Trading Places | Mender Silos | 1 | 46 to 50 | Minor Strike Force, no recipe reward option. |
Rewards
Strike forces typically have badges associated with them and often have unique mobs.
Unlike Story Arcs, every team member receives a completion reward at the end of a Strike Force, not just the leader. Major Strike Forces (i.e. not Ouroboros) offer the option for a Pool C Recipe drop instead of the usual origin-appropriate enhancement.
All members Notoriety level settings will affect enemy spawns in accordance to the maximum level range of the Strike Force. It will also affect the completion reward at the end, with a same-level rare recipe (if chosen) on Heroic, +1 level on Rugged, and +2 level on Invincible. This obviously does not apply if the character's true level is 49 (for the +2 level) or 50 (+1 or +2), as level 51 and level 52 recipes do not exist.
Hardcore Badges
Complete the hardest Task/Strike Forces in the game without temporary powers and without any deaths.
3 Hour Recipe Timer
After claiming a recipe reward from a Strike Force, a player cannot receive another recipe from the same Strike Force for the next 3 hours. Players can still receive other rewards from it, or earn recipes from other Strike Forces. Or, you can wait out the timer, e.g. by leaving the reward window up while you play or logging out and logging in back later.