Hidden Stage: Down the Rabbit Hole
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Hidden Stage: Down the Rabbit Hole is first "PvP" event, in which players in the server compete to give it a shot at limited reward based on point percentile. Let's look at the rewards based on KR/CN stage.
Hidden Ranking Rewards
- Top 5%: KSTSP x2
- Top 10%: KSTSP, KST1P8
- Top 15%: KST1P8 x2
- Top 30%: KST1P7 x2
- Top 40%: KST1P7
- Top 50%: AK47 Costume "King of War"
Besides the Special Rewards, there are other additional rewards based on your ranking, which includes Gems and Resources (Bottom table). Now how important are these gears? Considering AK-47 is not used in CN/KR post AW, it's more of bragging right than meta builds.
Now Let's take a Look at the Scoring method. In order to do so, we need to look at the enemy composition list.
Here is majority of the unit minus the boss units. Points per kill are 10% of unit's Combat Effectiveness. Table above shows CE on each unit in green. They are randomly generated from the map on helipad and this will have small impact on your final score. If you are aiming for the top rank, dinnergates are your worst possible scenario since it has lowest CE.
For the turns limit, originally Hidden was 50 turns for the CN, which was heavily criticized from the players due to extensive play hours and had been adjusted to 20 turns in later updates [AW+]. So I'm going to base my math on 20 turns.
20 Turns x 8 Helipad units + 4 Boss unit = MAX KILL of 164.
The only catch to this number is that, because enemy unit movement is random in the early turns, enemy units can block spawn of units in the helipad when path is blocked and unable to move off the helipad post spawn. So this number will be theoretical, or highly unlikely.
There are other things that impacts scores:
- Every repair per doll: -200 Pt.
- Echelon Retreat/Defeat: -1500 Pt.
So consider your options carefully before making next move.
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Now let's take a look at the map. Map is large file, so if you need to look into more in detail, click image to enlarge.
There are total 12 enemy helipad surrounding the HQ, but Helipad with Starting Boss units on top will not generate enemy units (circled in red). So places you have to pay attention are fewer and can be grouped (green circles).
Depending on your Echelon capabilities and numbers, following choke points can be established to kill all enemies that generates from 8 helipads if you set it up correctly. You will be looking to kill boss units in first 6~8 turns and establish these chock points and spending rest of the turns killing spawned units. This is your main goal.
I have annotated the map for easier viewing. Purple boxes are your choke points where you kill units as they spawn from helipad. Purple Star marked helipads are the temporary helipads that opens every few turns and use it for resupplying units. Green circles with blue highlight is path where units will move to clear the spawning units. Unless you have the MGSG echelon, I do not recommend you putting units on these green circles because if worst match for your echelon spawns, that's -1500 points right away or least few -200 points for repair.
Only exception to the rule rule above is the last turn on turn 20, where enemy units will have one more turn of spawning before turn is over, this allows you to gather more points. Again, use echelon you think will be able to handle any unit that comes out of the helipad as retreat can be costly.
Only exception to the rule rule above is the last turn on turn 20, where enemy units will have one more turn of spawning before turn is over, this allows you to gather more points. Again, use echelon you think will be able to handle any unit that comes out of the helipad as retreat can be costly.
For the advanced players: Helipad just North West of the HQ can also generate enemy units if you let it be taken by the SF units. (At least it was during the KR/CN campaign) This increases number of units you can kill at a cost of additional move points earned and one less supply spot so attempt at your own risk as managing this spot can be tricky without strong set up.
Now that we talked about map set ups and tactics, lets talk about what works and what doesn't work in terms of Echelon set ups.
If you refer back to the SF unit list above, normal units are mostly under 10k CE strength. Yet there are lot of armor units with higher CE value. As result AR SMG combo isn't as going to be effective in this map since they don't use AP ammo. This is where RFHG and MGSG echelons can fill the gap.
I am not going to list specific dolls for the set up as everyone will be in different point in terms of game progression, but from past experience I can say that AR group will be mostly dedicated to catching initial boss spawns and relegated to killing normal unit types so you do not need many of them; I would not worry about having more than 2 if you are not serious about the Ranking. Focus on Self buff ARs and avoid adding too much grenade/AoE skills to the mix as it is going to be not a good choice against boss unit match ups. If you do have more ARs sitting around however, forming AoE skill Echelon to clear non-boss units are not a bad idea.
Your main focus should be raising MGSG echelons for each choke point [3 or 4 if you split bottom area in half] to cover the grounds, which puts 6 Echelons as ideal number for mix of RFHG and MGSG [4 MGSG + 2 RFHG]. If you are either very confident with your echelon set up and control or short on echelon slot, it can be done with 4 echelon to hold the choke points after boss units has been taken care of. You also have option to mix the RF and MG in the same echelon to make an effective team, but this will demand best out of both gears and skills as buff tiles will be not as effective as dedicated team compositions.
For the mixed Echelons, I recommend 2SG 2MG 1RF as one of the composition as 2SG will be able to tank just about anything along with 3 AP ammo in the back to shred all opposition. Other mixes include AR MG SMG echelon, or AR SMG RF echelon to increase combat effectiveness of AR echelons vs armor units.
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Now that we talked about map set ups and tactics, lets talk about what works and what doesn't work in terms of Echelon set ups.
If you refer back to the SF unit list above, normal units are mostly under 10k CE strength. Yet there are lot of armor units with higher CE value. As result AR SMG combo isn't as going to be effective in this map since they don't use AP ammo. This is where RFHG and MGSG echelons can fill the gap.
I am not going to list specific dolls for the set up as everyone will be in different point in terms of game progression, but from past experience I can say that AR group will be mostly dedicated to catching initial boss spawns and relegated to killing normal unit types so you do not need many of them; I would not worry about having more than 2 if you are not serious about the Ranking. Focus on Self buff ARs and avoid adding too much grenade/AoE skills to the mix as it is going to be not a good choice against boss unit match ups. If you do have more ARs sitting around however, forming AoE skill Echelon to clear non-boss units are not a bad idea.
Your main focus should be raising MGSG echelons for each choke point [3 or 4 if you split bottom area in half] to cover the grounds, which puts 6 Echelons as ideal number for mix of RFHG and MGSG [4 MGSG + 2 RFHG]. If you are either very confident with your echelon set up and control or short on echelon slot, it can be done with 4 echelon to hold the choke points after boss units has been taken care of. You also have option to mix the RF and MG in the same echelon to make an effective team, but this will demand best out of both gears and skills as buff tiles will be not as effective as dedicated team compositions.
For the mixed Echelons, I recommend 2SG 2MG 1RF as one of the composition as 2SG will be able to tank just about anything along with 3 AP ammo in the back to shred all opposition. Other mixes include AR MG SMG echelon, or AR SMG RF echelon to increase combat effectiveness of AR echelons vs armor units.
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Helpful Tips/videos/etc.
There will be more information added here as event progresses and actual in-game captures are collected. Stay tuned!
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