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 the other faction will try to stop you at all costs
Should you defeat a foe, you or a teammate will take any ore or sample he's collected.
The Step-by-Step
Bloody Bay, the zone where the Shiva Strike mission takes place, is a PvP zone. This means that you will be fighting not only the local denizens, but players of the opposing faction as well. By entering this zone, you put yourself at risk of entering PvP combat and being defeated by other players.
If you try to solo the mission before you have Single Origin enhancements, failure is likely. Even if you manage to get all of the meteor chunks, it can be difficult 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, practice and inspirations will make this mission relatively easy and pain-free. Even a Dominator should have no trouble dealing enough damage to destroy the turrets before they respawn.
Talk to (Evil) Scientist
The first step to completing this mission is to get the mission from the Scientist at the zone entrance. They 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.
Close: Extract Ore
This stainless steel tool allows you to safely collect and store fragments of the Shiva meteors. Once collected, you'll need to take the shards to a processing station and transform them into Shiva samples. These are then taken to the contact who gave you the extractor. You must be in close proximity to the meteorite to extract the ore. Extracting the ore is interruptible, so if you are hit, you will need to try again.
Gathering Meteor Chunks
This is the easy part. Extract a sample from each of the six meteors: Char, Do, Ek, Jay, Panch, and Teen. But be wary of the following:
- Native creatures spawn at the meteorites as soon as you touch them. You'll have to find some way to fight them off or avoid getting hit by them, as ore extraction can take several seconds and has a long period when you can be interrupted.
- If you do manage to gather one or more meteor chunks, you will start glowing green. If other players are in the zone looking for a kill, they'll 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. Do not fear this too much, though, as there are rarely any serious PvPers in Bloody Bay.
- If you are not in the zone to engage in PvP combat, reatreat is the best option if a player attacks you: 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 two to four luck inspirations, it is very unlikely that anything else will hit you.
Also, the range at which you can collect a shard varies while on the ground. If you can hover or fly, though, you can collect shards at 59 feet or less - sometimes without aggroing the Shivans, from directly above.
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 every 5 minutes, so you must move quickly to accomplish this goal.
Once the turrets are defeated, you can check to make sure the firebase agrees with you. Go into the main building in the center can click on the base computer. If it says "Firebase defense still active" then you must find which turret has re-spawned since you left it. If it says "Firebase defenses inactive" then you can proceed to the next step, converting the ore.
Soloing a Firebase
Short Version
- Get all 8 turrets (including the Pop Up Anti-Personnel Guns) down to 10 or 5 HP
- Defeat one of the outer turrets (not the Pop Up Anti-Personnel Guns.)
- Wait for it to respawn
- Destroy it again
- Destroy other 7 turrets quickly, finishing with the Pop Up Anti-Personnel Guns.
- Quickly enter the Firebase and take it over.
Long version
As stated above, the firebase defenses can be difficult to take out solo. Here are a few things to keep in mind.
- Turrets are inorganic and have no way of repairing any damage dealt to them.
- There is a five minute timer across all of Bloody Bay. Every five minutes, any defeated turrets will respawn.
- The firebases have many hiding spots where only a few of the turrets have a clear shot at you.
- Pop Up Anti-Personnel Guns have about the same range as most other ranged powers.
- All other turrets have ranges far beyond that of a snipe power.
- When soloing, choosing which firebase to attempt can be very important.
- All turrets for a single firebase will be at the same level, but different firebases have turrets at different level.
- Level 25 firebases (the level of all players in the zone) are much easier to handle than level 26 firebases.
- Check the types of all four external turrets. If any are Boss class, or more than one is Lieutenant class, then you likely want to look for a different base to take on unless you have a fairly powerful character.
- Some of the firebases are more subject to interference by other players than others. For example, there is one firebase right on the main line between the hero and villain bases. Unless you want company, this is likely not a good choice of firebase to take on.
Rambo Version
It is possible to simply kill them all one by one before they respawn, no matter what AT. However, you may want to pack inspirations to do so, and look for the firebase with the most Minion-level turrets.
- For good measure, kill one and wait for it to respawn before attempting to attack the others.
- Pop four purples, a yellow, and as many reds as you like. Destroy them all quickly.
Convert the Ore Chunks into a Sample
The Ore Converter is on the opposite wall from the base computer, and again, simply click on it to convert your ore. You must do this quickly, or else the turrets will respawn and you must destroy them all again.
Once your ore is converted, you will now have one ore sample instead of six ore chunks. Again, avoid being killed by any other players, because if you are, you will have to start over from the beginning.
You have been part of taking over a Firebase, earning you a new nickname: 'Gunner.'
Return to the Scientist
Now that you have your ore sample, return to the Scientist at the entrance to the zone. (S)he will congratulate you and give you the Shivan Shard temporary power. This power summons a powerful Shivan Decimator who will fight for you.
Summon Shivan Decimator
Using this weird 'Shiva Shard' while near the ground allows you to summon forth a powerful Shivan Decimator to fight at your side. The Shivan can be buffed and healed, but is an unwilling companion and will not follow you through doors or into new zones. The shard can summon 5 Shivans before it is drained.
Notes
- 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.
- If you leave the zone, whether by helicopter or flier, disconnection, zone teleportation, or any other reason, you will lose all collected meteor shards.