Auto Deploy

Auto Deploy is a feature in Arknights.

Overview

Auto Deploy allows the player to run an operation autonomously by letting the game automatically deploy units and for the operation to resolve itself this way. Auto Deploy is available after TR-6 is cleared for the first time.

Before Auto Deploy can be used, the player must clear the corresponding operation with 3 stars without using a Support Unit. Once this is done, the player will have the option to save the settings of that run for Auto Deploy; if it is done for the first time, then a message will say that the Auto Deploy feature is available for that operation.

To run an operation in Auto Deploy, the player need to enable the option from the operation's selection menu. Enabling the option, however, will prevent the player from running the operation's Practice Mode and Challenge Mode (if available).

The Auto Deploy function records the player's action which includes unit deployment/retreat and skill usage, and the game will follow the recorded actions during the operation, in order to replicate the operation's outcome. This is very helpful for farming various materials, as sometimes they may not be dropped upon clearing the operation, and frees up the player's time to do other activities outside the game.

The player can also take over an Auto Deployed operation, allowing them to play the game as usual. If the operation is cleared with 3 stars after taking over from Auto Deploy, the player can have the new gameplay record overwrite the old one.

Errors

This is what would happened if the Auto Deploy messed up

Auto Deploy, however, is not perfect: sometimes an error may occur, which could compromise the operation. If there is a mistiming during Auto Deploy (e.g. a skill fails to activate), the player will be warned of it. Should the player manage to lose a Life Point in the Auto Deploy, it will result in an error; if the operation was completed anyway, the player can either forfeit to refund most of the Sanity spent or proceed.

The following are the possible causes of an Auto Deploy error:

1. The unit's DP cost is higher than on the recorded gameplay, usually if an Operator is promoted.
2. If a unit's ATK is different than on the recorded gameplay, the following may occur.
   • Charger Vanguards fail to generate the required DP to deploy units, because another unit finishes off the enemies they did on the recorded gameplay.
   • Operators with offensive/defensive SP recovery for their skills fail to generate the required SP to use them since the enemy they attacked or which attacks them are defeated earlier. This is often fatal to Duelist Defenders since their trait stops them from generating SP while not blocking an enemy.
   • An allied unit is defeated by enemies capable of attacking them, which usually happens if the Static Roadblock in their path is destroyed earlier. This can also cause enemies to move through them earlier than intended.
   • Certain waves on some operations will only start once certain enemies are defeated; if such enemy is prematurely defeated, the wave will come earlier and disrupts the flow.
   • Enemies with on-death effects (e.g. Infused Originium Slug, Winterwisp Blood Shaman) are not defeated at the right moment.
3. Some talents and skills gain increased likelihood to trigger when upgraded through promotions and skill levels, respectively, which can cause similar effects to the higher ATK scenarios mentioned above.
4. If the values for stat buffs are different than on the recorded gameplay, the following may occur.
   • Due to Surtr's Twilight increasing her maximum HP by 5000 while active, if her level is higher than on the recorded gameplay, the HP loss rate will also be increased, which can compromise the timing of her leaving the map.
5. If an Operator that was supposed to be defeated so that another Operator can be deployed survives, the latter will not be deployed until the former leaves the map.
   • An Operator being defeated later than intended can still cause them to not be ready for redeployment later on.
6. A skill is not ready at the same time as on the recorded gameplay. This is a by-product of duration increase on certain skills, where increasing the skill level results in a larger duration increase than the SP cost decrease (e.g. Angelina's Arcane Staff - Quick Charge Mode and Anti-Gravity Mode, where the duration increases with skill level upgrades, but the SP cost stays the same).
   • Similarly, the force level of shift skills go up at certain skill levels, which can cause enemies to get shifted further than intended, causing unpredictable scenarios.
7. A static device is not activated at the right moment, usually if it fails to generate enough SP in case of L-44 Gramophones or the player do not have enough DP for Stun Generators and Imprisonment Devices.
8. The special priority of units are different than in the recorded gameplay (e.g. Adnachiel's talent Shortcoming Breakthrough makes him attack ranged enemies over the others when he is promoted to Elite 1).
9. Angelina's Distinguished Visitor and Platinum's Shimmering Dew SD05 outfits are known to give their projectiles a slightly higher speed (1 frame higher than without them), which can be an issue if the enemies have their speed modified.

Later updates attempted to address some of the above issues through the following:

• The game now tracks the interval when the Operator is deployed and activates their skill separately.
• The game now independently tracks the interval of each Operator's skill usage.
• If an Operator that were to be knocked out in Auto Deploy survives when this should be the case, they will be automatically retreated.

Auto-deploy failures are often caused by random number generation (RNG), which calculates all aspects of random elements in video games.

• What can occur is an RNG seed offset. Arknights runs at a framerate of 30FPS, meaning the image on screen is updated thirty times per second. At the same time, the logic of the game is base on an identical tick rate of 30 (clock) ticks per second. If the game, for whichever reason, such as a frame drop, is not able to calculate the game state during a tick, this will offset the timing of things, and may possibly result in a call to the RNG seed being made at a different place, and giving a different result. The most likely culprit of auto failures, therefore, is "frame dropping" – the deliberate loss of frames by a program in order to keep ahead with its current state. This can cause problems with RNG, but also with non-random components of gameplay. It is, however, more likely to compound with RNG to catastrophic results.
  • The most likely cases of frame drops besides running the game on weak hardware, is this hardware being shared by a background process, which can happen on phones. On emulators, the most common culprit is hiding the emulator window, playing a video, or putting another window at the foreground, as this will either take up the emulator's memory, or cause it to throttle its own usage.
  • Annihilation is also extremely likely to cause frame drops as the most intense waves tend to display the most on-screen enemies in Arknights. Every operator, enemy, and skill visual effect appearing on screen has to be "drawn" by the renderer, which means the most hectic the fight, the more likely frame drops are to happen.
• Updates to the game can cause the RNG seed to be flushed and started anew, which means a game update can break RNG seeds and auto deploy records.

Update

Since the update of Zwillingstürme im Herbst, players are able to use Auto Deploy to repeat an operation for up to 6 times without needing to manually start the operation again after it finishes. Instead, Auto Deploy will automatically start the operation again, until the wanted number of operations have been completed.

• Sanity needed to complete the wanted number of operations will be consumed before starting the first operation, and only one "Mission Accomplished" screen will show up after all operations has been completed or Auto Deploy is terminated, and shows all resources obtained from the operations.
• If Auto Deploy is terminated for any reason before the wanted number of operations are completed, unused Sanity for operations that are not completed will be 100% refunded.