TPN Campus Trial

This article is about the Incarnate System Trial. For the Praetorian TV network, see Total Praetorian Network.

Overview

The T.P.N. Campus Trial
Team Size	12-24 players
Badge	Spin Doctor
Enemy Groups	Imperial Defense Force Imperial Special Forces

The T.P.N. Campus Trial (T.P.N. or TPN) is one of the Incarnate Trials connected to the release of Issue 21.5 which takes place in Praetoria. A minimum of 12 and a maximum of 24 players can raid the T.P.N. Campus.

During the mission, a voice will "radio in" information about your progress. While there is no specific contact (the trial is entered entirely through the LFG menu), it is possible that your unseen helper is meant to be Prometheus as he was added in Issue 20 to recruit Incarnate-capable players to wage a war against Emperor Cole and end his quest to become more in-tune with the Well of the Furies.

All Issue 20 Incarnate Components will drop during this trial, and Physical Incarnate Experience is gained towards unlocking the Alpha, Interface and Destiny Incarnate Slots.

In Detail

The T.P.N. Trial is an incarnate Trial that takes place in Praetoria, on the TPN Campus. There is no contact for this trial, though it could be argued that Prometheus is your contact. However, rather than going to anyone for a mission, the players use the Team-Up Teleporter to find other interested players. The trial consists of a single mission, broken into four distinct phases. A timer begins after the first phase, and the trial will be failed if the timer expires.

Phase 1

Players must first defeat 5 IDF trops and then 50 IDF troops scattered about the grounds, without harming the cameras sent to monitor their progress. The cameras are level 1 mobs and very small, so multi-target attacks are strongly discouraged. Any IDF killed after the nearby camera is destroyed will not count toward the goal, as they will not sway Praetoria's Public Opinion.

Phase 2

The players must enter the main building at the center of the campus and activate 4 terminals to begin the broadcast. Each terminal is surrounded by a number of IDF guards, as well as a single technician. The technician will be out of phase as long as IDF remain nearby. After defeating each technician, players must click on the terminal to activate it.

After all 4 terminals have been activated, Maelstrom will spawn in the room, along with a brief cutscene. While fighting Maelstrom, the technicians and IDF guards will respawn at each terminal. Repeating the above steps to activate the terminals will provide a boost in public opinion. Up to 250 public opinion may be gathered during this phase.

Phase 3

After defeating Maelstrom, all players are teleported back to the campus grounds, where telepathists will spawn within groups of angry citizens. Up to 6 telepathists will spawn, depending on the size of the league. If left unchecked, the telepathists will sway the angry citizens against the players, reducing the earned public opinion.

Meanwhile, H.D. will broadcast from each of the three buildings on campus in turn (starting with T.P.N. Live to the east, then the main building in the center, then Visualcorp to the west, then repeating). During the broadcast, the players must enter the building and activate the four terminals as described in phase 2. Each terminal activation gains 30 public opinion, plus a ?? static bonus for the first terminal in each building.

The players must gain 500 public opinion to proceed. If the public opinion is reduced to 0 or the timer expires, the trial fails.

After the players successfully gain 500 public opinion, Maelstrom will spawn in the grounds and must be defeated to proceed to phase 4. During this fight, Maelstrom introduces the Mark for Death power. A red icon appears over the head of each character Maelstrom marks for death. Those characters must either break line of sight with Maelstrom or get more than 30 feet away. Failure to do so results in a one-shot kill when Maelstrom fires his AOE attack.

On defeating Maelstrom, all players receive a bonus award of 60 incarnate threads.

Phase 4

This phase is a repetition of phase 3, with the addition of Maelstrom spawning outside the buildings and continuously depleting Public Opinion. Maelstrom will withdraw for 30 seconds each time his health is depleted to 85%. The Public Opinion loss caused by Maelstrom's presence will stop during these 30 seconds.

Notable NPCs

• Maelstrom (Archvillain)

Phase 5

The final fight is against Maelstrom and his IDF reinforcements. Maelstrom will periodically use Whirlwind Blast, a PBAoE attack which deals damage and does Knockback to everyone around him.

Notable NPCs

• Maelstrom (Archvillain)

Rewards

Badges

	Spin Doctor	Complete the TPN Campus Trial.
	News Flash	Complete all three 500-point Public Opinion challenges, taking no more than 8 minutes per challenge, and then finish the trial
	Fair & Balanced	Do not allow a single Telepathist to convert 4 or more citizens for the duration of TPN Campus, and then finish the trial.
	Television Addict	Complete all four terminals in all three buildings during each 500-point Public Opinion challenge, while also keeping H.D. above 80% health at all times, and then finish the trial.
	Tonight's Top Story	Defeat Maelstrom within four minutes during each of his three encounters.
	Master of TPN Campus	Earn the Spin Doctor, News Flash, Fair & Balanced, Television Addict and Tonight's Top Story badges.

Experience

• Physical Incarnate Experience is earned, which unlocks the Alpha, Interface, and Destiny Slots, if any of those slots are locked.

Salvage

• Incarnate Threads drop instead of Incarnate Shards.
• 60 Incarnate Threads are awarded immediately for completing phase 3, regardless of the final outcome of the trial.
• Upon successful completion of this trial, each character is presented with a reward table allowing them to choose one reward from several options. There is a participation threshold that must be met in order to receive an Incarnate Component table instead of a 10 Threads or one Super-level inspiration "consolation prize".
  • If a character surpasses this threshold, the rarity of the component reward is a random roll. The options available will either be a choice of: one Common component or two Super-level inspirations, one Uncommon component or three Super-level inspirations, one Rare component or four Super-level inspirations, or one Very Rare component or five Super-level inspirations.
• The chances of receiving a Rare or Very Rare Incarnate Component upon completion of this trial are higher than in other Incarnate Trials.
• A random Uncommon Incarnate Component is awarded the first time each achievement badge is qualified for.
• A random Rare Incarnate Component is awarded the first time the Master of TPN Campus badge is qualified for.

Merits

• Two Empyrean Merits will be awarded upon successful completion of the Trial once per 20 hour period.
  • Any successive completion of the Trial within that 20 hour window will instead award one Empyrean Merit. This functionality is essentially the Incarnate Trial version of Merit Reward Diminishing Returns.
• An Astral Merit will be awarded immediately after defeating Maelstrom in phase 2.
• An Astral Merit will be awarded immediately after winning the 500 point Public Opinion Challenge in phase 3.
• An Astral Merit will be awarded immediately after defeating Maelstrom in phase 3.
• An Astral Merit will be awarded immediately after winning the 500 point Public Opinion Challenge in phase 4.
• An additional Astral Merit can be rewarded at the end of the trial for running as an Open League.
• An additional Astral Merit can be earned if the requirements for the News Flash badge are fulfilled, even if you already have the badge. It is awarded at the end of the trial.
• An additional Astral Merit can be earned if the requirements for the Fair & Balanced badge are fulfilled, even if you already have the badge. It is awarded at the end of the trial.
• An additional Astral Merit can be earned if the requirements for the Television Addict badge are fulfilled, even if you already have the badge. It is awarded at the end of the trial.
• An additional Astral Merit can be earned if the requirements for the Tonight's Top Story badge are fulfilled, even if you already have the badge. It is awarded at the end of the trial.

Strategy

• TPN Campus Trial Strategy
• Visual Guide: TPN Campus Trial
• TPN Incarnate Trial Map/Guide by Snow Globe
• TPN Campus Guide by Chris "Baryonyx" Behrens