They Are Billions

They Are Billions

246 ratings
Hero/Tactical Missions - Empire and Research points
By Tactical Goldfish
A hair preservation guide

So you found the artifact in a tactical (hero) mission. You can leave, but you're missing 30 empire points. You've spent the last 20 minutes hovering over every suspicious piece of trash on the floor, but you can't find it. Ugh.

Don't tear your hair out, hopefully something in this guide can help you save it.

Couple of things before we begin:
1) This guide isn't going to show you all locations - some of the loot is randomly generated, and won't be in the same place every time you run the mission. Instead, this guide will show you some of the more annoying ones - hidden secret areas, tiny near-invisible trinkets, and very blended-in items.
As such, I recommend only using this guide if you're having trouble locating the last couple of points.
2) As of writing this, I haven't yet finished the full campaign, so I'll be adding more things that I find.
3) I might not catch all of the annoying locations. If you come across some hidden loot box that gave you trouble and isn't in this guide, please share it in the comments (no matter how silly it might be) - I'll add it to the guide and give you a shout-out.
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Alpha Communications Center
This is a mid-sized map with some generic rooms, including a kitchen, a barracks with bunkbeds, pipework rooms, etc. The couple of locations in which it stands out are a massive gore room in the middle of the map, and a big open area at the end with a bunch of huge radar installations. Here are some of the annoying trinket locations:

Bunk Beds

There is a tiny pile of coins or something beside one of the bunk beds. In the following screenshot I'd already picked it up, so you can't see it, but it was located just a bit to top-left of Calliope (the hero unit):

note: this one appears to be randomly generated, so it might not always be there. Still, try to check here if you didn't manage to find all of the points.

Radar Towers

There is a hidden secret area outside the walls. You can get there by going through a tiny hidden break in the wall at the bottom corner of the walled off area. In the following screenshot, the sniper is standing beside the break in the wall, and where Calliope is standing, there was a painting which gave 30 empire points:

This one was found by a user named Mr Plainview in the following discussion: https://steamproxy.net/app/644930/discussions/0/1645418448921883969/
Originally posted by Mr Plainview:
Also some maps have hidden areas. There is one mission with a large area with a bunch of radar towers and a hidden break in the wall on the lower left section that leads out into a wooded area where some items are.

Kitchen corner

Originally posted by brown29knight:
Tiny pocket watch in kitchen, Upper left corner of room
A tiny yellow glimmer in front of the box that's right in the corner.

Kitchen barrel
Originally posted by brown29knight:
Barrel hidden behind wall in kitchen
Originally posted by brown29knight:
See the tiny fraction of a barrel on the right side? there is actually ANOTHER barrel hidden completely behind the wall there that items can spawn in.
I've circled the one that I think brown29knight is referring to, but I'm not sure. If that's not it, simply hover your cursor around that area and see if it turns into a cog wheel.
The Weapons Factory
This is a mid-sized map with some notable fun features, such as a hallway full of wasp turrets, and a minefield. Some of the locations are dark, so that makes spotting items initially difficult, but it also means that when they flash-pulse (the highlight that happens every 10-15 seconds or so) they are easier to spot. Here are some of the more annoying spots:

Outside barracks

After you get to the barracks, there's a break in the wall, leading to an area outside the compound. If you follow the wall downwards, you can get around the trees to a small hidden area. For me, this area contained a small chest with 20 empire points, but it was behind a tree, so it was difficult to spot. It's beside Calliope in the following screenshot:

It helps to see if you flatten the terrain using middle mouse or F4

Camp site outside conveyor belt area

Originally posted by BrewBreuw (Slurr):
On the weapon factory map: Directly to the right of the character there is a hidden box https://i.imgur.com/utQraf6.jpg
The bottle at this site can be easy to miss too, as noted below.

Bottles at camp site and artifact room

Originally posted by Admiral Crumpkin:

Originally posted by Professor H. Farnsworth:
With that in mind, while the "hidden" object in the Weapons Factory could be the "hard to find" minor artifact, the one most people will likely struggle with are the Bottles. They can be in (at least) two places varying in-between 1 and two bottles that you need to pick up.
So far I've had; One at the outdoor campsite with the skeleton close to the cook pot & Two in the room before the Artifact around a trash bin/globe.
Hydra Power Plant
This is a dangerous map with a lot of shocky towers that can get you killed. It does involve a lot of running outside the map, but no real secrets here.

Steam Generator room

I assume that's what this room is. It's the room with the wasp turrets. Once you clear it, behind the generator there's a half-hidden box that can contain some research. You can see it to the left of the rising steam:


This one didn't baffle me personally, but I can see how someone might miss it.
The Foundry
Originally posted by Sinivar:
Spent 25 min trying to find my last 20 points on the one map you didn't include - finally found it barely peeking from behind a desk.
Gamma Medical Center
This is a map with a great deal of gardens that sometimes have some loot - if you're having trouble locating the entrances to these gardens, simply switch to flat mode (F4 or middle mouse), and you'll easily see how to get into them. This map also has some harpies that will tear you up fairly quickly if you are playing Calliope like me, and some hordes of executive zombies that can do the same. As such, it's a good idea to always have 2-3 grenades reserved for them.

As per annoying loot locations, there are a couple that got me:

Treatment Room 03 - Liquid Tanks

For me, the Treatment Room 03 had one of the glass tanks (beside an operating bed) as a source of research points. It's easy to miss because it doesn't really stand out from the others. These glass tanks exist in this room, and in another treatment room, so it's possible that they are randomized and different ones will be interact-able in different runs. Here's where mine was:


Treatment Room 03 - Microscope

This one barely got highlighted when the pulse happened, so I missed it on my first run through the room. It also blends in properly, like it's supposed to be there, but i guess that's the whole point:

Generally, these tables hold a lot of very blendy items that don't initially look like loot

Treatment Room 03 - transparent vial

Originally posted by Rax Savvage:
just a none descript flask , didn't even flash went pixel hunting

The Steel Fortress
This map has a lot of sandbags, barricades, and explosive barrels scattered around. Enemies consist of runners, walkers, executives and chubbies. There are no harpies, so if you're playing Calliope, there's no enemy that can't be kited. Most of the items are inside the only room on the map (the one with the artifact), but the ones outside will be found either in chests or beside skeletons - if the below tip(s) don't help, try looking for skeletons and you might find a random trinket.

H.P.P.

H.P.P is the section at the top of the map (hydro power plant I guess?). I initially missed this one, but it is fairly visible. There's a skeleton tucked away in the top-most corner of this section, and there was a trinket beside it. The map is dark, so it's kind of hard to see, buy it's beside Calliope in this screenshot (look for her health bar):
Omicron Laboratory
This is a map full of glowing green goop. Scientists love that stuff. Enemies consist of runners, executives, harpies, spitters and chubby. There are lots of breakable vats scattered throughout the level, and if you get too close they will break to reveal a zombie. You can shoot them yourself to break the zombie out and do some initial damage, but some of them will contain harpies and even spitters, so break them from a safe distance and be ready to react as needed (kill harpy before she closes the distance, or dodge spit). Some advice, don't use grenades in the Experiment Room A.

Onto annoying collectibles. There is a decent amount here:

Southern shore

Just when you start, you can see a door into the facility, but you can also take the ledge along the green goop to either side. Go up and you'll find a box with grenades, and go right to find some research points:


If you keep going, you'll find more stuff, as well as another entrance into the facility, which will take you to the Female Specimen Gallery.

Female Specimen Gallery

Behind one of the vats you'll find a crate. Not exactly invisible, but it does slightly blend in and can be missed:


Testing and Trial Laboratory

There's... something... tucked away tucked away behind one of the horizontal vats:

Even in the screenshot it's hard to see. It's right by Calliope's feet.

Experiment Room A

Under the pipe in the top-right corner of the room, you'll find some jewelry. It looks like it might be part of the pipe assembly, so it can be missed:


External Access E2

This area is filled with flaming pipes. Behind one of them you'll find a crate that kind of blends in behind a steam column:


This area in general has a lot of tiny trinkets everywhere that can be missed, but I won't share all of them here. If any specific one gave you trouble, share it and I'll add it then.

Last Room

There is a tiny transparent beaker that can spawn on one of the tables. It's nearly invisible:
Phoenix Project
This map has a lot of forested external areas, and it's generally a good idea to keep your terrain flattened (F4) so that the trees don't prevent you from finding the secret pathways and hiding objects. In general this map gave me some trouble with some of its locations.

Forest outside Missile silos

Once you exit the missile silos into the outside area with a shore and forest, turn left. There's a pathway into the forest that you can take to find a crate - mine contained research points.



North of Alpha Bunker

Once you've found the alpha bunker and claimed the soldier, check the forest around it. Just north of it you'll find some pathways through the forest and there's a crate along the facility's wall that will contain some points



Concert Hall goodies

The concert hall has a lot of trinkets scattered about. In the following screenshot you'll see a candle stick holder under one of the chairs to the left, as well as a pocket watch and documents to the right



In addition to that, some of the books scattered on these floors will be collectible



Games and Drinks club

This room has a collapsed chandelier, and a trinket beside it blends in very well



Gamma bunker

An easy to miss trinket can be found under the table in Gamma Bunker



Courtyard Lamp post

There is a trinket behind one of the courtyard's lamp posts that I missed initially and it gave me some trouble



Skeleton on cliff

If you exit the concert hall and go to the right, circle around the situation room, you'll find a path along the cliff. There is a skeleton at the end there, and it has a trinket beside it

52 Comments
Padre MarceloHorse 6 Mar @ 8:18pm 
thanks!
Tactical Goldfish  [author] 21 Nov, 2023 @ 6:46pm 
@Serafino Severio gotta recycle
Giacomo Volpe 21 Nov, 2023 @ 6:45pm 
H.P.P is the machine that made food from human corpse before the apocalypse. Something like Human Processed Protein?
M@xD@nTe 2 Nov, 2023 @ 3:15pm 
Whats with al these points location ?? Just play and search for urself , its part of the Hero Campaign fun. If u look for where they are or where they can be , ur robbing urself of the fun !!! Its so fun searching for the final one u cant find for 20+ mins, and then finally finding it. But its jst my opinion , no hate !!!:steamthumbsup::steamlaughcry:
Shatilov 22 Oct, 2023 @ 4:15pm 
thank you very much
Quartes 28 Jun, 2023 @ 8:29am 
liked it <3
Psycho Kitsune 3 Jan, 2023 @ 6:19am 
I will add this if you don't mind the stuff isn't always there the lot is randomly on the map there are a few locations hidden which every time you find loot there like radar tower if you do them on 800% then you cannot miss anything the maps take up to 1h even more as for the last hero missions so you got time to find all of them you just need to search and keep an eye open.
If you really can't find some stuff just scroll up as you can and watch the map they will pop out more white than the other shit on the map they become transaparent which stuff you need to take.
Tactical Goldfish  [author] 22 Sep, 2022 @ 7:54pm 
Nvm, found it. Thanks for the tip, Sinivar, I added it to the guide.
Tactical Goldfish  [author] 22 Sep, 2022 @ 7:44pm 
Sorry, it's been a while since I played the game. What's the name of that map?
Sinivar 22 Sep, 2022 @ 12:09am 
Spent 25 min trying to find my last 20 points on the one map you didn't include - finally found it barely peeking from behind a desk.

https://imgur.com/yEN50CE