Quests, Contracts and Comms Guide

How XP and levels work

You level up automatically when your XP bar fills. Each level costs 50% more than the last, and a level-up also refills your HP and stamina and gives one neural point.

Every normal victory pays 25 to 45 XP plus 2 per day of the campaign, 5 to 15 Scrip and 2 to 5 Reputation. The payout is per fight, not per enemy (enemies that arrive as a pack multiply the XP and Scrip). Binding a weakened enemy with Reinforced Rope adds another 25 to 40 XP each, so a multi-enemy fight with rope in your pack pays far more than the same fight without it. You start with 2 Rope.

The Quests terminal

The terminal lists one main quest and several side quests. Progress bars show exactly how far you are.

• Meet Cipher. Reach her in the Katowice Tunnels, which are a Reptilian ambush zone (at the moment the tunnels no longer lead to her, so this step cannot be finished yet). Reward: 150 XP and 25 Reputation, which also opens many class-or-Reputation options (see the class guide).
• Free the Captives. Rescue 10 enslaved humans from convoys (next section). A survivor then asks you to free his family from the Slaughterhouse, a four-wave assault: guards, elites, gas drones, then the Abattoir Warden. Spoiler: the ending offers a choice between calling Grom for 5,000 Scrip, or freeing the captives for 50 followers and the Svietlok title, which raises daily production by 25%.
• The Scholar's Archive. Break 5 convoys to find the first relic, meet Dr. Maya at the Silesian Library Ruins, then commission the Archive Wing and hand her relics. Once Maya has joined, relics drop on scavenging trips (12% chance, with a cooldown) and from the Bone-Sower contract.

Below those sit six repeatable turn-ins. The terminal shows no cooldown or cap on them.

Comms, the Bar and the Bounty Board

The Comms terminal does not turn Tech Data directly into Scrip. Uploading 1 Tech Data decrypts one new rumor lead, marks it on your Sector Map and lists it on the Bounty Board. The Scrip comes from clearing the lead. If the board already holds 5 leads, or nothing new exists, the upload is refused and no Tech Data is spent.

The board holds up to 5 rumors, which fade after 6 days, and up to 2 boss contracts, which never expire. Abandoning a contract refunds nothing.

Tips last three days: one raises convoy chance to 95%, one makes paid roadside offers 40% cheaper, one adds 25% boss damage.

The one place Tech Data really becomes Scrip is the Flipped Supply Caravan, a bar rumor. Spending 5 Tech Data at its terminal pays 120 to 180 Scrip and 60 to 90 Scrap, roughly 30 Scrip per Tech Data. The alternative is a loud crowbar fight.

Rumor sites and boss contracts

Each lead opens a short encounter at a marked spot on the map, with a fight option and often a cheaper one. The Bar sells the first two below, Kaelen's rumors the third, and Kaelen's intel the last three; decrypting at Comms can produce any of them. Sites pay in full.

Boss contracts are harder and pay better. Each can be taken again 10 days after you finish it.

A separate "Reptilian Warlord" contract can also appear. He has 5,000 HP and hits for 40 to 80, but pays 1,000 Scrip, 500 XP, 25 Reputation and 2 Global Broadcast Passes. Do not take him on at low level.

Roadside encounters

From level 2, finishing a trip that involves scavenging, hunting or fishing may trigger one. The chance is 30% before your base exists, then depends on weather: Fog 45%, Clear, Rain and High Heat 30%, Overcast 24%, Storm 15%, Rad-Storm 12%. After one fires, the next trip is safe.

Encounter fights are tuned hard: enemies have 25% more HP and deal 15% more damage, and lost Reputation is multiplied by 1.5. Roadside rewards are also cut to 55% for fight wins and for free choices. Paid choices that end without a fight pay in full.

Worked example: the Stranded Convoy lists 25 Scrip and 10 Medicine for killing the scouts, but the 55% cut leaves you 13 Scrip and 5 Medicine. Reputation and survivors are never cut, which is why the Courier is such a good deal: pay 1 Medicine, get 5 back and a Reputation point. The class-only options are listed in the class guide.

The Reptilian Convoy rescue

After you win a battle, a Reptilian Convoy appears on the map 50% of the time, at one of eight spots. It is three Reptilian Scrapper guards (about 35 to 50 HP each before scaling) plus an Enslaved Human with 30 HP, forced to fight you. The human does not count as an enemy: kill the guards and, if the prisoner is still alive, he joins your camp as a survivor. If he dies, nobody is saved.

The guards drop 1 to 3 Tech Data, and the win pays normal XP and Scrip. Two counters matter: rescues (10 starts the Slaughterhouse quest) and convoy wins, which count even if the prisoner died (5 opens the Scholar's Archive). Passive damage can kill the prisoner: the Mutated background's Toxic Blood hurts every enemy including him, so a Mutated Operator should end convoy fights fast.

Efficient routes

Every trip uses part of a day, so compare Scrip per trip: a contract pays 90 to 180, a rumor site 25 to 100. For deeper reading see the combat guide, the base guide and the bestiary.

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