5.0 The Final Approach Part 3 – The ARK

[h2]Intro[/h2]

And so we come to the third part of our final approach to the release of 5.0, which is on course for this month, and this time I am going to focus on the ARK, the big button that has been sitting at the bottom of the main menu for a few years tempting us with the mystery of just what it holds.





[h2]ARK Points
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Right from when the game released back in 2018 if we finished a mission we were rewarded with up to 5 Stars for our performance but what wasn’t known was that we were also rewarded with ARK points. The amount of ARK points we got from succeeding at a Mission was based on the number of Stars earned multiplied by the Skill level we had played the mission at, so if we got 3 Stars from a Mission we could have earned between 3 and 15 ARK points depending on the Skill level chosen. With 5.0 the total ARK points we have earned will be shown in the ARK and also on the Overseer Profile.


[h2]Meta Game
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So what is the ARK and what does it bring to Siberian Dawn? In the previous 2 Final Approaches I mentioned how we need to win Mission V3 to unlock the ARK and how beating a Boss in Skirmish mode unlocked the Nemesis in the ARK and these are examples of how the ARK stretches over the whole game to give the Meta game.

Playing Siberian Dawn is like we are playing the memories of the Overseer going through these missions over and over uncovering the past but with recollections changing slightly with repeat play. The ARK is an extension of these memories giving us ways to alter our memories and also offering clusters of these memories to unlock.





[h2]The Memory Clusters
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The main portion of the ARK is made up of Clusters containing several content pods that can be unlocked using ARK points, although some will be already open for free. These content pods will vary in what is inside but with 5.0 these will be Lore for the game, so will take a card from the game and show the original painting for the card along with where we can find the card and a narrative text about it. I have nearly finished adding these into the game for all the character cards in Siberian Dawn and this will come to 84 unique content pods, so a lot of content to be unlocked with playing the game.





[h2]Echoes
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The other type of content in the ARK are things that modify the game and this is where the Echoes come in. Turning on Echoes replaces the "All Systems Normal" event with an Echo event where we are given the choice to pay 2 ARK points to gain 8 Glory or just resolve it as an "All Systems Normal" event where nothing happens. Echoes let us get a helping hand in the mission and as this will always be the first event in a Mission we can get an early boost, and they are more likely to be drawn again at lower skill levels. So if we want to get that elusive 5 Star ranking or get a better time in a Skirmish then Echoes could help for a price of ARK points.


[h2]Nemesis[/h2]

And the final feature that the ARK adds with 5.0 is the Nemesis. When we defeat a Boss in Skirmish mode their Nemesis will be unlocked in the ARK, and if we activate Nemesis mode then one of the Nemesis we have unlocked could turn up in a Mission or Skirmish. When we then kill a Nemesis we will earn 16 ARK points along with the normal Glory for killing a unit. A trophy wall is also contained in the Nemesis section of the ARK where it will show all the Nemesis we have unlocked and the number of times we have killed them.



And there we have the ARK, a big addition to the game that offers you ways to change the game or to unlock content relating to the lore of Siberian Dawn. Post 5.0 the ARK could expand as new content is added but there is a considerable amount there when it opens. I could have decided to only do a few content pods covering a handful of cards but thought it was better to try and get all of the character cards in there with 5.0 regardless of how many there were, I just wasn’t expecting 84 at that point, but I am nearly there.

The ARK adds a lot of replay value to the game and to unlock all the content could be over 50 hours. So that ends the coverage of what is coming in 5.0. I hope you are all getting excited about these additions and that you enjoy playing Siberian Dawn when it gets this update soon.

Winterflood