Integrated Strategies

Integrated Strategies

Guide

Integrated Strategies (I.S.; not to be confused with Il Siracusano) is a roguelike game mode in Arknights. It is accessible once 3-8 is cleared.

Overview

The player must complete one "adventure" or "run" by clearing various operations and events divided through branching paths with different possibilities, hence the player must be ready for literally any situation although this is not always the case due to the intrinsic nature of the mode.

• Various items, referred to as "Collectibles", can be obtained to help the player and their team by providing various advantages, although some have disadvantages. More will be detailed below.
• The player does not have access to all of their Operators. Instead, Operators must be recruited by using Rec. Vouchers and HR Dispatch Letters at a cost of Hope which increases as the Operator's rarity increases; see below for further information. As both Hope and Rec. Vouchers/HR Dispatch Letters are scarce resources, this means one must carefully consider which Operators to add into their I.S. roster.
• A leveling system that is unique to each run (see below).
• Life Points also act as the player's "lives" and a resource; if one's LP reaches zero, the run ends in failure, although certain Collectibles can prevent this under specific circumstances.

The player may pause the run by returning to the main I.S. menu and resume it anytime (the run's time still counts while it is being paused), and abandon the run from the main I.S. menu when it is paused or quitting out of an I.S. operation; in both cases (the former since Phantom & Crimson Solitaire), the run will end in failure.

Take caution that since an operation will be considered to end in a mission failure when the player is disconnected or the game is forcefully shut down while in the middle of one, an I.S. run will end in failure when it is resumed if the aforementioned happens in the middle of an I.S. operation!

If the run is abandoned during its starting up sequence (see below), the player must wait for one minute before they can start another run.

Themes

I.S. content are divided into distinct themes, of which there are five as of July 16, 2024:

Theme	Release/completion dates
	CN	Global	TW
#1: Ceobe's Fungimist	2020/8/25 2020/9/15	2021/2/25 2021/3/18	2021/6/21 2021/7/12
#2: Phantom & Crimson Solitaire	2022/1/5 2022/9/1	2022/7/14 2023/3/1	2022/10/13 2023/6/1
#3: Mizuki & Caerula Arbor	2022/9/27 2023/6/1	2023/5/23 2024/2/1	2023/7/27 2024/5/1
#4: Expeditioner's Jǫklumarkar	2023/7/13 2024/3/1	2024/3/5 2024/10/1	2024/6/20 2025/2/1
#5: Sarkaz's Furnaceside Fables	2024/7/16 2025/3/1	2025/2/14	TBA

Ceobe's Fungimist is the only theme that is not permanently available, akin to a temporary event; all other themes from Crimson Solitaire are permanently available in the Terminal. This also extends to the respective theme's Path to Glory medals, which has no time constraints in obtaining them!

Operators

Recruitment and promotion

“	Select Operators that fit your squad to make combat easier.	”
	—Loading screen tip in Integrated Strategies

Operators are recruited through Rec. Vouchers and HR Dispatch Letters, which gives the player an opportunity to pick one Operator to be added into their I.S. roster or promoting Operators already added to the roster. Only Operators in the player's roster and I.S.-exclusive Operators (see below) that can be recruited through regular Rec. Vouchers; Operators not present in the player's roster may be available as Temporary Recruitment ones (explained below).

“	Training more Operators and developing the possibilities between them can grant you a greater advantage during combat.	”
	—Loading screen tip in Integrated Strategies

Keep in mind that Operators' level, Potential, skill level/Specialization level, and Modules in I.S. will match with that in the player's own roster (e.g. if the player have SilverAsh at Elite 1 Level 60, their SilverAsh in I.S. will be at the same level and unable to use Truesilver Slash even when promoted; conversely, if the player have Exusiai at Elite 2 Level 50 and with the MAR-X Module unlocked, their Exusiai in I.S. will be at Elite 1 Level 80 when recruited and will reach the same level, and can use Overloading Mode, and have her Module activated once promoted); newly recruited Operators will be in at most Elite 1 maximum level with the skill level of 7 when recruited, and 4★ or above Elite 2 Operators will reach their highest level (and skill Specialization training, if one had done so) when promoted. Therefore, don't neglect on building non-core Operators (especially low-rarity ones) because they can (and will) be useful in a pinch during I.S. runs!

As mentioned before, recruiting and promoting Operators cost Hope; initially the player starts with 6 and can gain more throughout the run.

Furnaceside FablesCrimson Solitaire to JoklumarkarFungimist

Grade	Cost to recruit	Cost to promote
6★	6	3
5★	2	1
4★	Free	1
3★ and below	Free	N/A

Grade	Cost to recruit	Cost to promote
6★	6	3
5★	3	2
4★	2	1
3★ and below	Free	N/A

Grade	Cost to recruit	Cost to promote
6★	6	3
5★	4	2
4★	2	1
3★ and below	Free	N/A

Certain Collectibles and items can be used to promote Operators without spending Hope.

“	Operators recruited via "Temporary Recruitment" will not consume Hope. Do not miss the opportunity.	”
	—Loading screen tip in Integrated Strategies

Temporary Recruitment Operators may be available on occasion when using Rec. Vouchers/HR Dispatch Letters, which costs no Hope to recruit (but still costs Hope to be promoted), have maxed out stats (which extends to Potential, skill level/Specialization level, and Modules), and could be those that are not in the player's roster including Elite Operators (Pith, Sharp, Stormeye, Touch, Tulip); Temp. Recruitment Operators in the player's roster, however, will always wear their default outfit. Reserve Operators are always available as Temporary Recruitment Operators.

Support Unit

“	During your initial recruitment, you can recruit your friends' Operators via Support Recruitment.	”
	—Loading screen tip in Integrated Strategies

Since Crimson Solitaire, the player can pick one Support Unit to help them throughout the run, but this must be done during the run's startup and the Support Unit cannot be changed for the remainder of the run.

The Support Unit still have to be recruited as with the player's own Operators before they can be used, and their stats will match with when the player uses them (e.g. if the owner raises the Support Unit during the run, their stats will only be updated after the run).

Floors and nodes

“	Carefully plan out your route. The decisions you make at each step along the way are very important.	”
	—Loading screen tip in Integrated Strategies

An Integrated Strategies run is split into various nodes divided into six floors with the sixth can only be entered after certain conditions are fulfilled. The first five floors have a node which will always appear at the end, while the nodes in 6F are always in a fixed order.

In addition to the standard six floors, a secret floor is introduced in Caerula Arbor, which can only be entered through a specific event. Clearing the secret floor takes the player back to the floor where they entered it and proceed into the node succeeding the event. Joklumarkar also introduces a special floor which can only be entered after fulfilling certain requirements.

Since Caerula Arbor, there may be nodes connected vertically by a dashed line, which can be entered at the cost of 1 (Caerula Arbor)/1 Anti-Interference Index (Joklumarkar)/2 Plan (Furnaceside Fables).

Since Furnaceside Fables, nodes can be refreshed in which it will be changed into a different one at the cost of 1 Plan.

Collectibles

“	Combining different collectibles can lead to unexpected results.	”
	—Loading screen tip in Integrated Strategies

Colloquially known as Artifacts or Relics, Collectibles are items exclusive to Integrated Strategies which helps the player in various ways, although some have drawbacks and a few even apply handicaps that make things harder.

The Collectibles' effects stack with other Collectibles and skills/talents that provide similar effects; in fact, Collectibles that increase SP recovery rate actually stacks with talents that do the same.

Collectibles are divided into three grades:

• Normal Collectibles are the most common.
• Rare Collectibles are rarer than Normal ones but more common than Super Rare ones.
• Super Rare Collectibles are the rarest.

Collectibles can be obtained during an I.S. run by clearing certain operations, from certain events, and purchased at the Rogue Trader for Originium Ingots; the rarer the Collectible, the more expensive it is. Not all Collectibles are available from the start, however; some are initially locked and must be unlocked by meeting a certain condition during a run, after which it can be obtained from future runs.

Command Level

Integrated Strategies feature a leveling mechanic separate from the regular leveling system and unique to each run called Command Level.

Players start at Command Level 1 and gains additional Command EXP for clearing operations. The player's Command Level will rise at certain Command EXP thresholds.

Operations

“	The combat nodes in [Integrated Strategies] change at random. Understanding the rules of their changes will make your combats easier.	”
	—Loading screen tip in Integrated Strategies

• Initially the player can only include 6 Operators in their squad, which is increased by one at Command Levels 6, 9, and 10, for a total of 9 Operators. The maximum possible amount of Operators that can be included in the squad is 13.
• One particular (Emergency) Operation can appear more than once in the same floor, but will never be twice in a row. Furthermore, the enemy lineup in I.S. operations may be different in every instance.
• Since Crimson Solitaire:
  • One particular (Emergency) Operation will never appear more than once in a single branch.
  • It is possible to identify and view the information of Dreadful Foes upon entering the floor where it appears.
• There are no penalties for losing Life Points in an operation, such as if an enemy managed to enter an Protection Objective; clearing an operation without losing LP will mark it as a "perfect" clear which is relevant for certain situations. In Caerula Arbor and Joklumarkar however, clearing an operation after losing LP will punish the player by making things more difficult, so exercise caution!
  • Objective Shields will prevent LP loss from leaking enemies.
  • Watch out for the I.S.-exclusive bosses in Dreadful Foes, as they will deduct more LP than usual when leaked; the final bosses will even deduct a grand 30 LP!
• Sometimes the player can encounter the Duck Lord, Gopnik, (Caerula Arbor onward) Crying Thief, or (Furnaceside Fables onward) Fatty in (Emergency) Operations who acts as a "bonus enemy" that will not reduce Life Points when leaked but awards a free Collectible when defeated.

Endings

Integrated Strategies is notable for having multiple different endings; Ceobe's Fungimist has three and Sarkaz's Furnaceside Fables has five, while other themes have four.

From Caerula Arbor, each ending have three "endbooks" which provides additional information related to the respective ending and are unlocked by carrying out specific actions related to the ending.

• The first ending is the default, reached by simply clearing the 5F Dreadful Foe.
• The second ending is reached by changing the 5F Dreadful Foe by doing certain steps during a run and skipping those that would cause the player to enter 6F, and then simply clearing it.
• The third to fifth endings are reached by doing certain steps during a run which will cause the player to enter 6F (or a special floor) upon clearing 5F, and then clearing the Dreadful Foe there.
  • The third ending is available from the theme's introduction; the fourth is added on the theme's Expansion II except for Furnaceside Fables where it is added in its Expansion I; the fifth is added in Expansion II.
  • The requirements to reach the third and fifth endings, especially the fourth and fifth, often results in giving the player severe handicaps in one way or another that makes actually reaching the ending a very difficult affair.

Other features

Monthly Contract

Introduced in Crimson Solitaire, Monthly Contracts are missions that awards the corresponding theme's currency when completed. They are updated at the first day of every month while the theme is being updated; the player must complete the Contracts before then, as otherwise all of their progressions will be reset!

The player will have four Monthly Contracts to complete in each month, divided into one A-rank and B-rank Contracts, and two C-rank Contracts, each awarding 500, 250, and 125, respectively, of the season's currency for a total of 1000. Each Contract can only be completed once per month.

The player can also refresh one of the Contracts if it is too difficult for them, changing it to a new one, which can be done four times per month.

In the event the player's seasonal milestone progress reached the current limit, Monthly Contracts will be disabled.

Once the theme's updates are concluded, their respective Monthly Contracts will no longer be available.

Deep Exploration

“

A challenge mode that provides a unique experience.

”

Introduced in Crimson Solitaire, Deep Exploration is a special mode added in the respective themes' Expansion I apart from Sarkaz's Furnaceside Fables, which is available at the last content update instead.

Players can opt to perform a Deep Exploration run as long as they have completed a run in the Normal difficulty or higher at least once, which have various conditions that affects the gameplay in various ways, including certain restrictions. Each Deep Exploration also have their own Mission Objectives and rewards from achieving it (given at the end of the Deep Exploration run). Once a Deep Exploration run's Mission Objective is achieved regardless of the outcome, that Exploration will be marked as "Investigation Completed" and can be started again anytime.

The player will be able to start Deep Exploration runs where the player starts with certain Collectibles even if the said Collectibles haven't been unlocked yet, but the Exploration run's progression will not be counted to unlock new content in the theme (including the Collectibles) and its Path to Glory medals.

Starting up

Difficulty levels

In Fungimist and Crimson Solitaire, the player must choose one of three difficulty levels before starting a run: Easy, Normal, and Hard (named differently in each theme).

Easy	The player starts with a Collectible that buffs their units, but will only receive half the rewards and their progression will not be counted to unlock new Collectibles and Squads.
Normal	The baseline difficulty.
Hard	The player starts with a random "cursed" Collectible that buffs enemies and/or applies various handicaps in return for starting with a random positive Collectible as well and receiving 20% more rewards. The Hard difficulty is only available after completing a Normal run for the first time.

From Caerula Arbor, there are multiple ascending levels of difficulty, colloquially called ascension by the community, with progressively increasing handicaps and rewards; higher levels are available by completing a run in the preceding level.

• Caerula Arbor has Easy, Normal, and 1 to 15. Three more levels are added in Mizuki & Caerula Arbor Another Tides, giving it the highest difficulty of 18.
• Joklumarkar removes Easy in favor of Normal and 1 to 15. Normal and 1 have positive handicaps but reduced rewards.
• Furnaceside Fables follow the similar difficulty levels as in Joklumarkar, but Normal no longer has reduced rewards. At Expansion II, three more levels are added, giving it the highest difficulty of 18.

Squads

After choosing a difficulty level, the player should choose a Squad to help them throughout the run. Not all Squads are available initially; most are available after certain conditions are fulfilled.

Using a Squad to complete a run will mark it with a small icon in the squad selection menu that varies on the ending reached.

The available Squads differ with the I.S. theme.

Operation Rewards

“

You overcame at least two floors in your last exploration. You'll be able to receive more assistance this time.

”

If the player cleared at least two floors on the previous run regardless of its outcome, an Operation Reward from three randomly given options can be chosen at the player's discretion upon starting the next run.

Starting Operators

After choosing the difficulty level, Operation Reward (if available), and Squad, the player should choose the following Rec. Voucher options to recruit their initial three Operators before properly starting the run.

First Move Advantage	Sniper Rec. Voucher	Specialist Rec. Voucher	Vanguard Rec. Voucher
Slow and Steady Wins the Race⁎ Steadily, Surely⁎	Caster Rec. Voucher	Defender Rec. Voucher	Sniper Rec. Voucher
Overcoming Your Weaknesses	Guard Rec. Voucher	Medic Rec. Voucher	Supporter Rec. Voucher
As Your Heart Desires	Two Rec. Vouchers and one Elite Rec. Voucher, all of which are of random Operator classes. The classes are usually different with each other, but rarely more than one Rec. Voucher will be of the same class.

As Your Heart Desires is the only Rec. Voucher option in Ceobe's Fungimist. Since Crimson Solitaire, it is available by completing a run with any of the other three Rec. Voucher options.

Trivia

• Each of the I.S. themes has a theme of color in their titles. For example, Caerula Arbor is a theme of blue and Joklumarkar is a theme of white.
• Since Crimson Solitaire, clearing I.S. operations counts towards missions. This can help if the player is choosing to invest their Sanity in high Sanity cost Operations, as Integrated Strategies does not cost any Sanity to play.
• Joklumarkar is the first I.S. theme that does not introduce new Elite Operators, likely owing to the fact that the setting of said theme is Sami where Rhodes Island has yet to establish a branch office.
• Since Caerula Arbor, the Global server only releases a new I.S. theme after the release of its Expansion II or last monthly update in the CN server instead of matching its CN release order. See each respective theme's Trivia section for more information.