A Call to Arms

Spoiler Warning: This article contains information normally only found in the course of advancing the main quest line.

This article is a stub. You can help Caves of Qud Wiki by expanding it.

This article is a stub. You can help Caves of Qud Wiki by expanding it.

A Call to Arms

	20
	The Assessment

Ereshkigal has detected an imminent attack by the Putus Templar on Grit Gate.

Journal

Optional: Prepare Defenses

XP: 0

• Power laser emplacements, power force projectors, overclock chromelings, and activate Rodanis Y in preparation for the Putus Templar attack.

Defend Grit Gate

XP: 0

• Defend Grit Gate from its assailants.

Once all members of the attacking party have been killed or removed from the zone, the quest will be completed.

Rewards

• New quest available: The Assessment

Accomplishment

You valiantly defended Grit Gate from an attack by the Putus Templar.

Notes

This information is reliable as of patch 2.0.209.41.

This article has information that is missing or not up to par.
Reason: missing the specific probability of Templar war parties EMPing on arrival; missing info on how long it takes for the war parties to arrive; missing info on where the war parties are spawned

• The game will attempt to spawn two parties, drawing in part from a generic table consisting of a Banner-Knight Templar, a Knight Templar, a phylactery squire, a newfather, and a Gunner-Knight Templar. The first party should consist of one legendary Knight Commander of the Holy Temple, one randomly-chosen Banner-Knight Templar, Knight Templar, or Gunner-Knight Templar, and a mix of six randomly-chosen Gunner-Knight Templars and Knight Templars (with a 15% chance each to choose from the aforementioned generic table instead). The second party rolls for members three times, each time with an 80% chance to pick one entry from the generic table and a 20% chance of picking four Templar squires.
• The Putus Templar will sometimes spawn in conjunction with a localized 30-turn EMP pulse with a radius of 4, making relying too heavily on the force projectors or any deployed turrets and mines risky.
• If the player has a neutral reputation with the Putus Templar, they will not spawn hostile towards the player. Note that any turrets or mines deployed by the player through Deploy Turret or Lay Mine / Set Bomb will not target non-hostile creatures.
• For details on how the aftermath of the attack is scored, see The Assessment.

Tips

This section is opinion-based. Your mileage may vary.

The difficulty of the defense can vary wildly based on the composition and equipment of the war parties and the different potential breach locations. Certain equipment or capabilities can be invaluable to controlling the engagement.

• Using portable walls can create tactical advantages both in advance and during combat. They can be used to shield the more vulnerable Barathrumites such as Shem -1, isolate the war party drop points from the rest of Grit Gate, and obstruct the thrown grenades carried by most Templars. The Force Wall mutation can supplement the foamcrete walls while being more resistant to most grenades. Keep in mind that Wraith-Knight Templars of the Binary Honorum can pass through walls.

• Using the 3D cobblers you can create narrow chokepoints to prevent the invaders from swarming in, or, with clever use of walls that can be shot over like the low wall, you can create a shooting gallery that the invaders are mostly not equipped to escape.

• High or complete resistances to heat and cold are recommended, as Gunner-Knight Templars may carry freeze rays or flamethrowers, and most Templars may carry freeze grenades and thermal grenades.

• Avoid relying on any source of electrical, acid, or heat damage, including certain plants spawned through Burgeoning, as they risk causing collateral damage. Also, be aware that damaged power lines and wired fulcrete walls will release electricity into the surrounding area, and the four fusion power stations in the center of Grit Gate are close enough together that if one explodes, all four will break.

• EMP-insensitive means of crowd control are invaluable due to the war parties' localized EMPs and their variable number of EMP grenades. Such means include:
  • The Freezing Ray and Cryokinesis mutations, and/or freeze grenades; the former two deal cold damage, the latter only changes an area's temperature.
  • Sleep Gas Generation and/or sleep gas grenades
  • stun gas grenades
  • flashbang grenades
  • Time Dilation, although Templars wearing ontological anchors will be unaffected.
  • time dilation grenades; unless the player character is astrally tethered, these are best used at range.

• For more complex, EMP-sensitive tools, such as hologram bracelets or freeze rays, modifying them to be electromagnetically-shielded will protect them from EMPs. Any turrets the player plans to deploy should ideally have electromagnetic shielding modded onto them as well.

• EMPs used by the player can drastically change the outcome in either direction. They will disable any unshielded missile weapons held by Gunner-Knight Templars, shut down Templar phylacteries, and leave Templars wearing an ontological anchor vulnerable to psychic attack. However, zero of Grit Gate's defenses are electromagnetically-shielded, and every Barathrumite other than Sparafucile and Dardi relies exclusively on EMP-vulnerable weapons, and the life loops worn by Q Girl and Otho are EMP-sensitive.

• While such a modification is rarely found randomly and requires Tinker III to create, the morphogenetic item mod may stun every member of the war parties, excluding Templars wearing a functioning ontological anchor and many of a newfather's potential "domesticated" followers.

• While they are not guaranteed to appear in any of the war parties, the variability of the enslaved followers of newfathers make them the least predictable aspect of Grit Gate defense. Of special note are dervishes of the Sightless Way, fire ant queens, twinning lampreys, and rimewyks.

• As True Kin, the Putus Templar are heavily dependent on their equipment. Disarming a Templar or dis-arming them via dismemberment will make them drastically less threatening. With both hands empty or missing, they will be unable to throw grenades or use Shield Slam.

• Techscanning will reveal the natures of any grenades, missile weapons, and implants carried by the invaders, allowing the player to adjust their tactical priorities accordingly. A telemetric visor or VISAGE will be vulnerable to EMPs unless it has been modded to be electromagnetically-shielded.

• Teleportation is very useful for moving between incursion points swiftly, especially if the invaders have been walled off completely. Player characters without the mutation can still teleport via eating voider glands or yondercanes, gaining the mutation temporarily through teleport-based cooking effects, or booting up a pair of ninefold boots. If the war parties target the front entrance, a Grit Gate recoiler will teleport the player character to them.

• Most Barathrumites won't restock their inventories, which means that they will retain any ammo, salve injectors, or urberries traded to them and use them as needed. Healing items should be traded to Mafeo, Sparafucile, and Jacobo immediately before the invasion or they risk being cycled out.

• Too much sorrow to bear? Try a time loop! Precognition for mutants, sphynx salt injectors for True Kin, or settlement checkpointing for player characters using Wander Mode or Roleplay Mode can let you try it all over again. Be warned - the incursion points are non-deterministic. Reloading like this can change the locations of war party drop points. This can be better or worse for you and the Barathrumites.

References

This information is reliable as of patch 2.0.209.41.