In Marvel's Midnight Suns, XCOM's turn-based strategy is married to deck-building and the Marvel superhero universe. Your time away from fighting Lilith's armies should be spent bonding with your squad and funding improvements. Without worrying about losing troops in combat, there are several systems worth funding. The Marvel licence will undoubtedly attract new players to tactical RPGs like Marvel's Midnight Suns; for those unfamiliar with the genre or the heroes, here are some pointers to get you started.
1. Master a variety of techniques and use them effectively
Maximizing your cards and movements to eliminate the most foes every turn is crucial in battle in Marvel's Midnight Suns. On most turns, you'll get three card plays, two redraws, and one step. This is often the case, however it might change as you earn various bonuses and enhancements. If a card does damage, it will specify how much damage it deals and what kind of card it is.Quick, which returns a card played if it eliminates an opponent, and Knockback, which sends an opponent flying in a direction on impact, are two examples of such effects. Using rapid cards to their full potential can increase the number of hands you can play. Furthermore, the Heroism tally is a major factor. Playing a card with an orange number in the bottom corner results in heroism, whereas playing a card with an orange number in the top corner results in heroism. Heroism may be spent on more powerful abilities and utilised to undertake environmental assaults. Maintaining a high heroism level is crucial, since there are several quests that can't be completed without it.
2. Learn as much as you can
When you return to the abbey, you may use the forge there to learn about and perhaps implement various changes. With this, you may enhance the abbey's surrounding infrastructure. These enhancements may improve the efficiency of learning, making, and upgrading. You will need to raise your research level if you want to look into more advanced enhancements. In order to do this, it is necessary to acquire artefacts from missions. Search for missions that promise an artefact as a prize instead than hoping for a fortunate break to earn one.Research levels are increased by one with each item found, so it doesn't take too many missions to unlock them all. The supplementary prerequisite of various projects usually involves one of the heroes you have available. In order to access a given project, you may need to complete a certain number of missions involving Ironman or create a certain number of Ms. Marvel cards, for instance. Be aware that after a research project has been unlocked, the resulting upgrade to the Abbey's facilities will usually cost credits to acquire.
3. Put the shove to good use
The push is one of the game's most adaptable skills, and it can be obtained by studying and purchasing the Training Dummies improvement for the yard at the beginning of the game. It does exactly what it says it will, enabling one of your heroes to push an opponent during battle. It's very useful since it doesn't rely on Heroism or a specific card, but rather on your turn's single action. You can push an opponent if you don't need to relocate any heroes out of harm's path.The actual act of pushing someone doesn't hurt them, but it might be rather useful if you're trying to force them into anything. Pushing two ordinary adversaries (the ones who usually go down with a single assault) near to each other may knock them out with a single push, saving you a card play. Tougher foes may be pushed into the environment for more damage, stun, or even quick death by throwing them into explosives, generators, or over a cliff, respectively. The push may be as effective as any other ability in the game, depending on the circumstance, and it doesn't even cost anything.
4. Try out various formations, but remember to always carry a healer
In most missions, our heroes will work in teams of three, yet on rare occasions, we may split into two groups. It is recommended, but not needed, to bring the Hunter, a predetermined companion, and a character of your own choice on narrative missions. You'll usually need the mission's designated main hero plus another hero and a support hero if you're not doing a tale mission.With one notable exception, this opens you a lot of room for innovation in terms of squad composition. Every task, without fail, requires a healer to be present. Regrettably, your first selection of therapeutic choices is somewhat restricted. Outside of life-steal powers like Blade's, the Hunter is the only hero that has healing abilities from the outset. It's a good idea to send Nico out on missions early on so she can start collecting healing-themed cards. Healing goods may help, but at the beginning of the game, you can usually only carry one or two things with you on each quest, so it's tough to succeed without a healer.
5. Wander about the Abbey
You'll be staying in the Abbey, the Midnight Suns' main base of operations, in between missions. Although the Forge, the Yard, Hero Ops, and the Mirror Table—four of the game's primary mechanisms—are likely to be immediately apparent to you, there is a vast amount of explorable area outside the Abbey. You may discover cosmetics, components for crafting combat gear, and club advancement materials in the Arcane chests strewn across the grounds. In addition, there are other puzzles to solve throughout the premises, each of which may provide significant keys. Don't expect to explore every inch of the grounds in a single day, since the grounds are vast and certain attractions are locked behind story gates.6. Don't stress about raising the levels of every hero
You can only bring a certain number of heroes with you on any one assignment, but that doesn't mean you have to spend additional time levelling everyone up to max. The whole roster of heroes will be levelled up to match the Hunter after a set number of missions or a large enough level difference. Instead of having fixed levels, missions scale dependent on the complexity of the objective and the experience of the heroes participating in it.Once you've gotten several yardage improvements under your belt, you may give a roster member a boost by engaging in daily sparring and sometimes raising the level of the hero you spar with, either by one level or by an entire tier.
7. Materials for crafts
In the early going of the game, you'll have access to two stations, the Item Station and Agatha's Cauldron, where you may create things that can be used in combat. At the Item Station, you may make new Battle Items by exchanging essence, which you get from completing missions or by scrapping unneeded cards, for those materials. When used during a mission, Battle Items may provide a variety of bonuses and advantages without counting as a card use. The one drawback is that each item has a limited lifespan, so you'll have to continually making replacements.Agatha's Cauldron serves a similar purpose, but instead of essence, it makes use of whatever is available to be foraged on the Abbey Grounds. Both stations need different ingredients, so it's important to have enough on hand.
8. Extra Tips
- Keep your eye on the prize; most confrontations will continue to hurl foes at you until you accomplish your primary goal.
- You may still send injured heroes on missions, but it's best to send someone else and give them time to recuperate.
- There is no limit to the number of side quests you may do in the downtime between main plot objectives, so feel free to take on a few more if you're running short on resources.
- You may earn fighting skills and Arcane Experience by petting Charlie and Ebony, whom you can find on the map.
- Learn which heroes you want to be friends with and what they want to hear from you. Even if you don't want to, you may find yourself in a discussion where you need to choose either the Light or Dark choice.
- Keep your keys safe, since Arcane chests regenerate after a while and you get extra loot each time you open one as your Arcane level increases.
