Operation: Cryotic Front

Operation Cryotic Front is an event introduced with Update 14.5 as the start of a new mission type that will be replacing all Survival missions that take place on a terrestrial tileset (Survival missions not in space). It started Wednesday, August 27 and ends Wednesday, September 3 at 12 PM EDT. In this event, Tenno are instructed follow intel the Lotus provides in order to locate artifacts hidden underground.

"A message from a Mystery Associate: Tenno, I do hope you will forgive my concealed identity but dealing in these unsavoury circles demands unusual discretion. I’m such a big fan of the Tenno, you’ve accomplished so much and with such rudimentary equipment. That’s why I’m concerned about the coming Balor Fomorians. I think we both know your Warframes are simply not sophisticated enough to stop them. But I can help you... for a price. You see, I have an appetite for the rare and extraordinary and I’ve recently learned of a fine substance known as Cryotic. If you are willing, I will supply the necessary equipment and coordinates for its extraction. In return, I will enlighten you with what I know about technology that could defeat this Balor threat. To sweeten the deal I am even willing award bonuses to those of you who exhibit outstanding performance. I must say, some of you display the inklings of good taste, if our partnership is a success perhaps we will get to know each other better.

Regards,

Your New Associate"

What You'll Need to Do

 * Play the new Excavation missions!
 * The Location of a ‘Scanning Device’ will appear on your minimap for you to locate.
 * Collect Power Cells dropped by enemies, and bring them to the Scanner to activate it and keep it powered. You can track your Scanner’s power in the map on your HUD. If it reaches 0%, the process will stall until power is restored.
 * Defend the Scanner as it searches for a dig site. It does not have a life pool, but does require constant power. Once the Scanner has found a site, it will appear on your map as an objective waypoint. Proceed to that location to find an Excavator that is digging for artifacts.
 * Take caution! Enemy waves will attempt to destroy the Excavator, and you must defend it. The Excavator will also continue to lose power. As with the Scanner, you must collect Power Cells to keep it activated.
 * Once the Excavator has uncovered the artifact, you may choose to Extract from the operation or wait for another Scanner and repeat the process.
 * There are three available Tilesets for this Operation.
 * Earth (Automatically unlocked as first mission of the event).
 * Phobos (Unlocks at a personal best of 500 score).
 * Europa's new Corpus Ice Planet tileset (Unlocks at a personal best of 1000 score).
 * Note: Each player must unlock each mission with their own personal best score. One player cannot taxi another to missions which both have not unlocked via their personal bests for this event

What You Need to Know

 * If the Excavator is destroyed before it recovers an item, the mission is a failure.
 * Possible Bug: Extractors being destroyed will not end in mission failure.
 * This Operation introduces Cryotic, a new resource that will only be available in the Excavation game mode.
 * At each of the point levels below and you’ll unlock a new Tileset in the Operation. It’s your choice – continue to dig on Earth or take your efforts to these new areas. Note that each new Tileset will hold more difficult enemies but will provide the opportunity to earn points faster.

Scoring and Rewards
With each successful dig, you will receive an amount of Cryotic based on your performance (100 max.) The more Cryotic you earn, the better the Reward – so dig on! Note: The basis for the rewards is your best score in one single run.
 * More than 500 pts = Event Badge
 * More than 1000 pts = Ice Mod Set (4 dual-stat Cold and Status Effect)
 * Melee: Cold Touch
 * Pistol: Frostbite
 * Rifle: Rime Rounds
 * Shotgun Frigid Blast
 * More than 3000 pts = Latron Wraith and the Polar Glaxion skin

Notes, Tips, and Tricks

 * 1% of energy is enough to operate for 1 full second, for any given structure.
 * This means that once the % of energy is greater than the number of seconds until the structure completes its task, any further energy used on the structure will be wasted.
 * Since the scanner never goes away and is constantly in use, energy will never be wasted on it.
 * It takes 25% power (1 and 1/4th power cells) to scan new excavation site. With 100% power (5 power cells) it is enough to scan for 4 different sites.
 * The scanner can only collect energy while it is active.
 * An effective way to circumvent this is to drop off energy capsules next to the scanner while it is not active and immediately pick them up to fill up its energy for a while.
 * It takes exactly 2 and half power cell to fill out completely excavator; each power cell gives 20%, each excavator starts at 50%;
 * Drop energy capsules on or near known extractor spawn points in anticipation of their spawns to prevent needing to run back and forth after the extractor has already spawned.
 * Level of enemies, as of now does not change with planet, nor does amount of points. At both cases it's same level of enemies progression and 100 points per full reactor. (50 units of new resource as well)
 * Needs confirmation

Trivia

 * The point of obtaining Cryotic, apparently, is to better preserve the "Martian Oasis Jellyfish" during transport, according to the 'Mystery Associate' when obtaining the Polar Glaxion skin.
 * Derf Anyo is a possible choice for who the mystery associate could be, due to him being a 'big fan' of the Tenno, although this is just speculation.