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, the Black Market, and Ouroboros 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 strike force, then the spawns will scale for 3 people.
Strike Forces by Level
A *Non-signature strike force spawns according to the highest level person on the team. The Imperious Task Force is an example of a non-signature strike force.
| Strike Force Name | Contact | Min Size |
Level Range | Merits | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| The Beast Beneath the Mountain | Virgil Tarikoss | 4 | 15 to 20 | 10 | |
| Pirates of the Sky | Silver Mantis | 4 | 20 to 25 | 35 | Only accessible via the SG mission computer in Villain bases. |
| The Temple of the Waters | Strike Force Operative Renault | 4 | 25 to 30 | 25 | Grants Coral weaponry temp powers, see Strike Force for details, currently bugged and won't give powers. |
| The Spider Weaves his Web | Mender Tesseract | 1 | 25 to 34 | 5 | |
| The 5th Column Overthrow | Mender Lazarus | 1 | 30 to 39 | 6 | |
| The Crystal of Serafina | Ice Mistral | 4 | 35 to 40 | 25 | Grants Enchantment of Serafina temp power upon completion, accolade requirement for Megalomaniac. |
| Time's Arrow | Imperious | 6 | 35 to 50 | 25 | Takes place in Cimerora, Heroes and Villains may team together, leaving the zone will auto-quit from the Task Force when there are both Heroes and Villains on the team. |
| Lord Recluse's Strike Force | Lord Recluse | 8 | 45 to 50 | 25 | Reward choices includes random Synthetic Hamidon Enhancement, accolade requirement for Marshal. |
| The Lady Grey Strike Force | Lady Grey | 8 | 45 to 50 | 30 | Takes place in Rikti War Zone, Heroes and Villains may team together, leaving the zone will auto-quit from the Strike Force when there are both Heroes and Villains on the team. |
| Trading Places | Mender Silos | 1 | 46 to 50 | 5 |
Rewards
Strike forces typically have badges associated with them and often have unique mobs.
Hardcore Badges
Complete the hardest Strike Force in the game without Temporary Powers (including Veteran Rewards) and without any deaths.
Completion of the Lord Recluse Strike Force with the above requirements will reward the team members with Master of Lord Recluse's Strike Force Badge.
Merit Rewards
As of Issue 13, rewards from Task Force consist of Merit Rewards, which can be turned in for recipes, enhancements, salvage, badges, and more.
Each Task Force has a different reward amount assigned to it, based on datamined time required to complete it.
After claiming Merit Rewards from a Strike Force, a player will receive half the amount of merits they gained the previous time for that same Strike Force each time it is completed within the next 24 hours, to a minimum of 1 merit. Players can still receive a Synthetic Hamidon Enhancement from Lord Recluse's Strike Force, or earn full merits from other Strike Forces.
The timer will reset after 24 hours, and players will again earn the full amount of merits from the Strike Force.
Completing multiple different Strike Forces in the same 24 hour period will not subject each subsequent different Strike Force to diminishing returns.
Previous Rewards
This section contains information that no longer applies to the current version of Homecoming: City of Heroes/Villains. It is provided for historical purposes.
Unlike Story Arcs, every team member received a completion reward at the end of a Strike Force, not just the leader. Major Strike Forces (i.e. not Ouroboros) offered the option for a Pool C Recipe drop, or the option to pick a standard Single Origin enhancement (out of Accuracy, Damage, Endurance, Recharge, and Range) instead.
The team leader Notoriety level setting affected enemy spawns according to specific criteria. It also affected the completion reward at the end, with a same-level rare recipe (if chosen) on Villainous, +1 level on Vicious, and +2 level on Relentless. This obviously did not apply if the character's true level was 49 (for the +2 level recipes) or 50 (for the +1 or +2 level recipes), as recipes above level 50 do not exist.
After claiming a recipe reward from a Strike Force, a player could not receive another recipe from Strike Forces for the next 3 hours. Players could still receive other rewards from it, or earn recipes from Trials, or could wait out the timer, e.g. by leaving the reward window up while playing or logging out and logging in back later.
24 Hour Diminishing Returns Timer
After claiming Merit Rewards from a Strike Force, a player will receive half the amount of merits they gained the previous time for that same Strike Force each time it is completed within the next 24 hours, to a minimum of 1 merit. Players can still receive a Synthetic Hamidon Enhancement from Lord Recluse's Strike Force, or earn full merits from other Strike Forces. The timer will reset after 24 hours, and players will again earn the full amount of merits from the Strike Force.