A History of Onslaughts

A Titan looms above NewHome, the outpost walls splintered beneath its feet. Monsters have discovered the power of friendship - small swarms combining into large packs combining into outright armies. The Watcher barks commands via loudspeaker as guards fire shots into the trees. And you've just knocked yourself out with a rebounding hammer. Things are looking grim. Surely, this must be the end of the outpost, right?

Well, yes! …But actually no.

The Onslaught Module was a feature of early Season Two that brought the war to the doorstep of the contestants. Swarms of monsters were capable of invading outposts, rendering them inhospitable to players. The actual invasion¹⁾ part of the module is currently disabled, meaning you have absolutely nothing to fear. But several adjacent features have stuck around, providing flavor text for the Island and scaring the shit out of many an uninformed rookie.

On December 30th, 2009, a redder-than-usual Watcher stomped into Common Ground to inform contestants that monsters were now roaming in packs. One week later, guards began patrolling the outpost walls - but further reinforcements never came. And we got stuck on janitor duty.

Without getting too into the nitty gritty nerdshit technical specifics, the average onslaught went a little something like this:

• First, the module looked at the amount of players who had been online over the past week, and had obtained at least one Drive Kill.
• The more players that were online, the more monsters it would spawn outside each outpost.
• If players repeatedly killed monsters in an outpost's jungle, then number go down, and all was well for that outpost.
• If not enough players were killing monsters, then number go up. The outpost's threat level started to increase. One by one the locals went oh fuck lads and hightailed it to somewhere safer, causing the bank, shops, and other facilities to close down.
• If the threat level got high enough, the monsters would begin to attack the outpost's walls themselves.
• If the outpost walls were destroyed, nothing immediately happened. The guards were still doing their jobs. But…
• If the threat level maxed out while the walls are still down, the guards were overwhelmed and the outpost became overrun. Monsters here! Hover leeches there! Lions in your underwear! You wouldn't be able to step foot in the outpost without getting into combat.
• And so things remained that way, until enough brave contestants came through to mop the place up.

Rinse and repeat.

Onslaughts had their ups and downs. They were certainly flavorful - adding to the chaotic warzone feel of the island, and giving a story hook for roleplayers. They were also quite profitable, as the network cameras would dish out more requisition and experience points to contestants doing their part. But they were also punishing, and it was common for less popular outposts to be rendered inaccessible for several real days at a time.

The module has since been partially disabled, bringing (relative) peace back to the outposts. But the less lethal parts have stuck around. Here's some you may have noticed.

“NewHome seems quiet at the moment - by which you mean there are no monsters actively banging on the gates. The people manning the turret-mounted machine guns are chatting jovially with each other and sharing cigarettes. For now at least, NewHome is safe.”

- Flavor text you probably didn't realize was dynamic until now

Outposts still have threat levels, despite the current lack of danger. Mostly, this affects the description of the guards in the outpost. If they're getting twitchy, or the Watcher starts broadcasting instructions, then it's probably hit Level 4 - but that's as far as it goes. No matter how bad it sounds, no matter how strongly the game urges you to reinforce the defenses, don't panic! Things can't get bad enough to close down shops or the bank.

The guards would still appreciate the help, so jungling in less-peaceful areas will net you more req. Pop into the Council Offices for a quick summary of what's going on Island-wide and then head over to moneyville.

If you're curious what each Outpost looked like under siege, you can read an archive of the flavor text on the Old Wiki here.

Once upon a time, these were the first line of defense against oncoming hordes. These days, they're a fashion accessory.

You can reinforce the defenses of any outpost you're currently at, free of charge. No tools or supplies necessary! It'll drain your stamina a bit, but it'll make the wall's hitpoints go up. Is it useful? Not in the slightest.²⁾ But who doesn't like seeing a big number?

Those mindbogglingly big brutes you've seen stomping all over the map originally existed to make our lives hell, trampling outpost walls in an instant and speeding up the time until an onslaught. And they still do that, kinda. They very much will flatten everything you love, including the aforementioned big number that are the walls' hitpoints.

But monsters have gotten tired of following these bastards around so now when a Titan destroys an outpost, it just stands there. Menacingly. Doing complete fuck-all until someone politely escorts it back to the sea where it belongs.

Like all onslaught stuff, killing Titans can be fun and profitable. But unlike all this other crap we've talked about here there's already a guide for that. So here you go: Titan Hunting!