I used to try for PvE placement so hitting max progression was never an issue, but now I need to cut back PvE playing time and I can’t always guarantee I can play right when a sub opens or right before it closes. So, I want to throw placement out the window and find out how to play when I want each 24 hour period and spend the least amount of time playing while still maximizing progression rewards including the final CP reward.
I did some searching but can’t tell for sure exactly how many clears it takes. One thread seemed to suggest 5 with optimal timing or 6 with suboptimal. But the time to clear and point values vary per node, so for example maybe clearing the first 3 nodes 7 times but only doing 4 clears on every other one is good enough. That’s where I’m asking for some veteran advice.
I’m a 4* player with 21 champed, most of the rest at level 209, and all but 11 fully covered. I have at least 1 cover for every 5* though none are champed, fully covered, or leveled. Most of the best ones have too few covers to be of much use (Thor at 2, Okoye at 2, Kitty at 2, Thanos at 1, etc). I typically play SCL 8.
Aside from magically champing Thor/Okoye/Thanos/Kitty, what is your suggestion for the best strategy to cut play time to a minimum but still get max prog rewards?
First off I clear the three easy nodes and then two of the harder nodes to unlock all the nodes on the board. Then I hit each node from the highest point value to the lowest so each one is 4/6. That’s the point where the points will refresh in 24 hours.
When a sub event’s going to end, I hit each node three more times to reduce them to 0 starting at the lowest point value and working my way up to the highest.
You have to time yourself when doing the first clear to see how long it takes you and then give yourself about that much time for the clear through at the end. It’ll be easier due to having to only hit each node 3 times instead of 4, but also harder because they’ll be a higher level. It kinda balances out.
I’ve found out (during the last few events) that if you manage to do four clears on every node, including the 5E, you can get full progression by just doing a few extra nodes on the last sub.
This may vary per event and possibly won’t work for 7 day events, but it’s worked so far.
You can skip a day of pve for 3 day events, and still hit max progression and usually top 50 in scl9. In the last simulator event, I joined midway through day 2, and played optimally on the end of day 2, as well as the start, and end, of day 3. I reached max progression right before the final set of clears on day 3, and finished with around 1.2x pts so there’s some leeway about playing optimally. The 5* fight makes up a lot of ground for missing the first day, so this wouldn’t work in scl7 because that fight’s not worth much.
If you want to reduce time/number of matches, then the principle is prob not too different - do 4 clears of each node as early as you can in sub and leave as long as you can before picking off a few later.
You don’t need to play the 5E, but prob worth doing the first few clears if you can and if the points are worth it.
One thing that’s worth bearing in mind is that later subs have more points available, so you can probably be more lax early on.
It depends whether you wish to cut total or daily playing time more.
Playing daily, it’s probably easiest to do 4 clears of every node (except maybe the 5E, if it’s too difficult) whenever during a sub, and then add a little extra on the last sub to cover for the skipped points.
If you’re ok with grinding the latter subs more optimally, you could skip some more early on. It depends on pve - how many subs there are in total, if there’s a 48 hour sub, are there wave nodes.
Except for the DP vs. MPQ, all pve’s have the last sub with double the points of the first sub, and the rest in between progress linearly.
EDIT:
Hmm, on 2nd thought, only 4 clears without touching the 5E the whole event would not be enough to cover just with the final sub. Not without pretty optimal timing on the last sub and if pve was the short one (3 subs). Which is what you’re trying to avoid.
Progression is 4 clears each node except 5E, every sub, and then 1/6 of that more. You can choose how to add that 1/6 extra, either doing the 5th clears of all nodes right away (that would cover it exactly) or by adding some points with 5E, or giving the nodes some time to regenerate points before doing the 5th/6th clear (that can reduce the number of nodes you need to play).
Max progression is based on 5 clears of clears of regular nodes, 3 clears of wave nodes, not including the 5* essential, and not counting for any point regen on the last clear. So if you do the 5* essential, or allow some time for the last clear to recharge, then you don’t need to do 5 clears on everything.
I suggest 4 clears of each node, including the 5* essential. Add a few hits on the easy nodes with 3* Thanos, since those are very fast. If you find a particular node tough (probably the 4* or 5* essential), do other nodes a 5th time instead to make up the points.
Every event will be a little different because of wave nodes, boosted list, etc., so aim a little higher than needed just in case you have problems, and then stop once you hit max progression.
For the easy nodes I usually recommend Gamora and Rocket & Groot. The strike tiles will assist in fast clears and no damage (unlike 3* Thanos which results in using health packs).
I actually think there is an interesting question at the heart of the OPs question.
What is the minimum amount of work that can accomplish max prog. or simply what is the least number of matches that can finish max progression. i.e. can you do another play path that = 4 2/3 full points in under (5matches x 9 nodes or 45 matches)
There are some important caveats to consider in this question.
I’l l use the default assumption of std nodes that can be played a max of 7 matches (if we allowed more than 7 matches, the solution is differentent and its essentially tapping ), 3e, 3h, 4 esential, 0 join forces. ignore the main screen.
The least num of matches solution is UNSOLVABLE without knowing the existing point relationships between all 9 nodes and really subs 1, 2,3 . I.e. In subs, The points are not uniformly distributed from easy 1 to hard 3 to essential 5. Yes, we can calculate an minimum optimal for each event, but I’m not going to bother to do it for each one. Specifically, some events have more points concentrated in the harder nodes than others.
Realize that minimum matches has 2 different solutions based upon
a. You can use the timer to regenerate points or b;
b. You don’t rely on the timer to assist in boosting points.
Under those assumptions.
Max prog is 4 2/3 (FP full points) i.e. 5 matches (which means in any sub, maximum of required matches = 5x 9 nodes or 45matches. So the question is really can you get to max progression in under 45matches? (yes, of course you can, I think you can reach max prog in 34-38 matches)
1a. So in essence, we just need to construct optimal path that equal 4 2/3 FP or those 5 matches.
Because nodes are revealed to us from smallest to greatest, we can make some default assumptions on that path. Namely, every node is opened at least once or 9matches are required to start.
2a. Once we have access to all the nodes, work BACKWARDS from the biggest nodes to the smallest nodes. At this points, solutions will diverge based upon whether you can wait between 5hit and 6 hit for points to regenerate or you intend to do it all at once. In addition, points are not uniformly distributed between the nodes. That means we have to consider the relative value of each node in the sub.
In any case this is an interesting question because the comp players only does 63 matches, its just a mattter of when they do those 63 matches. None of the comp pve players ever bothered to figure out the smallest number of matches that can finish max progression.
One other element you may not be considering is how points intersect with difficulty. Ex: today the H4, a high point node, has no movers and could be cleared more times, more quickly than a lower point node with more movers.
I would try to pick the fastest nodes, esp after sub 1, and try to hit them 6x on a somewhat optimal basis if at all possible. At minimum, I would try hit the fast clear nodes 6x even if it was all at once. The rest hit 4-5 times.
Also: loaner nodes are generally awful and you should avoid repeating them if you want to maximize the points / time spent ratio.
Some events will take a long time because they are filled with movers (Sim) and I’d drop an SCL for those or expect more playtime.
Even if you aren’t looking up prior event point distribution, it’s pretty easy to see the point value of a 4-clear, just look at the top of the leaderboard 30 minutes after sub start. If you get 1.25 x that, you know you are on track each day.
You would do each easy/hard node once, and then figure out the value/difficulty of hitting them again. Eg goon nodes easier, 3 x dark avengers, 3 x tile movers in HOD more annoying.
But the real optimisation would be in looking at historical data of how much each sub is worth overall. If you knew that, you could (for example) 4-clear the first two subs anytime during the sub, and optimally 7-clear the final sub IF it had enough of a point boost over them to get you to progression.
There is a indexed spreadsheet that has all the points from the existing pve events. I can’t share the source but its easy to compile on your own and ask around on line, someone can give you a copy of the spreadsheet..
Main
Arctic Circle
Mediterranean
The Americas
3 days
24 hours
24 hours
24 hours
Node
Points
Node
Points
Node
Points
Node
Points
Unstable Iso-8 (t)
200
Cold Combat
102
Iso-8 Hoarders*
195
Gulf Transport
210
Bullseye*
130
Greenland Ops
162
Heist in Spain*
195
Government Raid
324
Relationship Issues*
(opens 1st sub)
130
Winter Soldiers
222
Maggia in Greece*
195
West Coast Smugglers
444
Red Iso-8 On The Snow
282
Coastal Piracy
150
Iso-8 Heist
564
Ms. Marvel*
130
Too Cold for Comfort
312
Trouble in Paradise
240
Battle in Brazil
624
Daken and Yelena*
(opens 2nd sub)
130
Freeze, Buddy!
372
Seaside Caper
330
Stolen Goods
744
2* Essential
280
Dockside Deal
420
2* Essential
560
Switching Teams*
130
3* Essential
310
Crossing Borders
468
3* Essential
620
Follow Up Visit*
130
4* Essential
340
Nights in Tunisia
555
4* Essential
680
Moonstone*
(opens 3rd sub)
130
5* Essential (not req’d.)
70
2* Essential
420
5* Essential (not req’d.)
140
3* Essential
465
Stateside*
260
4* Essential
510
5* Essential (not req’d.)
105
anyway, you will need to know those values for each event to be be able to optimize the minumum number of matches to achieve max progression.
Specifically you want to optimize Artic circle, mediterranean, and the america.s
Here is the optimized path for Sub 1 Artic cat. I don’t have the time to do the other pve events, but its super easy to calculate the min number of matches to make progression.
Reminder: I only did this for sub 1 cause there are no one time nodes, wave nodes etc. just the stand 10 nodes 3e, 3hard, 4 essential. The 5th match is only worth 2/3 of 4th, 6th match is 2/3 of 5th. etc…
I know from some other sources that max progression for this sub is around 11,780. So feel free to come up with a different path.
caveat: if you factor in the later subs with are worth more points, you can reoptimize this path with those later points in mind.
Node
1st match
2nd match
3rd
4th
5th
6th
7th
Cold Combat
102
102
102
102
68
45
30
Greenland Ops
162
162
162
162
108
72
48
Winter Soldiers
222
222
222
222
148
99
66
Red Iso-8 On The Snow
282
282
282
282
188
125
84
Too Cold for Comfort
312
312
312
312
208
139
92
Freeze, Buddy!
372
372
372
372
248
165
110
2* Essential
280
280
280
280
187
124
83
3* Essential
310
310
310
310
207
138
92
4* Essential
340
340
340
340
227
151
101
5* Essential (not req’d.)
430
430
430
430
287
191
127
Basically you can get by with just doing the Bolded matches or every match worth more than 191 points.
That optimizes by number of matches played, but I don’t think it optimizes by amount of time spent playing. I’m pretty sure I can clear an easy node 6 times faster than I can do the last three clears that are bolded on the 5* Essential there.
