Excavation

Excavation is a new game mode introduced in Update 14.5 for the Operation Cryotic Front event, and formally introduced as a standard mission type in Update 14.10. This game mode tasks players with searching and then extracting various artifacts buried deep within a planet's surface. This game mode is slated to replace Survival missions that take place on planet surfaces in the future.

Excavation game modes are currently available on Earth, Venus, Europa, Neptune and Phobos where survival missions used to be.

Mechanics
Initially, players are tasked with locating a Scanner, which will make landfall upon players approaching its landing site somewhere on the map. Once established, the Scanner will begin to scan the entire map for the location of buried artifacts. Scanners will detect a buried artifact every 25 seconds of scanning, which reveals the artifact's location on another part of the map; but no more than 2 excavators can be active or waiting for deployment at a time.

Players will then need to locate said dig site, which will drop in an Excavator on the location once players step within the dig site. This Excavator requires 100 seconds to accomplish its task, and must be protected from enemy fire during the duration of its operation; failure to do so will result in the artifact not being recovered. Once its task is successfully completed, all players will receive a random reward, along with a small amount of Cryotics. Additionally, the mission's extraction point will be revealed after the first artifact of the mission is successfully excavated.

Both the Scanner and the Excavator require Power in order to maintain operation, as both machines have a limited operating time determined by their Power level; 1% point of Power equals 1 second of operating time, with the Scanner and Excavators initially starting with 50 Power. If the Power levels for these machines reach 0, the machines will stop functioning until additional Power is provided. Power levels for both machines can be replenished by giving them Power Cells, special items that restore 20% Energy each, which are dropped by designated Power Carrier enemies which visibly carry the Cells on their backs. Like the Datamasses found on Mobile Defense, Deception and Spy missions, Power Cells are large items that must be carried by hand to the appropriate machine, restricting the player carrying it to using their Secondary or Melee weapons. Power Cells are consumed simply by delivering them within a small radius of the desired machine, which will automatically consume the Power Cell to replenish the machine's Power.

Similar to Survival missions, the rewards for every successful excavation stack, and players can claim all artifacts that have been recovered upon extraction. Also, multiple Excavators can be active at once if desired, up to a maximum of two, limited only by the player's ability to defend them.

Rewards
Excavation rewards follow a similar logic to Survival missions and draw from the same pools of possible rewards, with each excavator successfully deployed counting as a 5-minute interval.

As an example of a possible reward sequence, successfully deploying four excavators in Cambria, Earth, could result in players receiving a batch of 1500 credits, a Rare 5 Fusion Core, a T3 Mobile Defense Void key, and finally a Fast Deflection mod, in that order.

Dark Sector Excavation
Excavation missions that take place in Dark Sectors but unlike other Dark Sector missions the Excavation missions do not involve the Infested. These Excavation missons have a higher level range (and thus, higher difficulty) than the planet they're found on, but give out larger quantities of experience, including the experience bonuses inherent in Dark Sectors.

Bugs

 * If attempting to pick up a power cell while sliding, you may get stuck and will be unable to shoot or move. This may be fixed upon dying and using a revive.
 * Sometimes when a host migration occurs, Power Carriers will stop spawning, and the ones that were already spawned in the area will not drop a power cell when killed. Any Power cells left on the ground before the migration occurs will remain, however.