so ive got 25 hours logged into the co-op exo survival mode (pc via steam), and i thought id share some, what i thought to be, crucial information ive gathered that isnt explained in the game, or any wiki ive seen online. this was written on 11/7/2014, so if youre reading this long after that, things may or may have not changed.

classes:

-can be swapped at any point in the game

-changing classes will completely refill your exo power bar. switching back to the previous class will cause your exo power bar to return to whatever state it was in before you switched classes the first time. ex: if you have the heavy class and switch to the specialist after your power bar is depleted, the power bar of the specialist class will be full, but if you return back to the heavy, your bar wil be empty as it was before you switched to the specialist.

-scorestreaks can be activated in one class, then if you switch classes, the previously activated scorestreak will remain active until it is depleted. ex: you can call in a UAV with the light class, then switch to the heavy, and the UAV will remain up..or call in your mech, switch classes, then hop into your mech in the new class, etc. switching classes while a scorestreak is active will not result in a new scorestreak, as players will still have to wait until the cooldown timer is over before accessing the new scorestreak.

-the heavy and specialist exo movement abilities are the same. the language used in the description leads you to believe the specialist class has more exo maneuverability, and while the player movement speed is quicker, it has no effect on the exo movement abilities available to you.

-classes originally only have access to certain guns as per their class. however, there is a perk titled "weapons free" that does unlock all weapons, regardless of class. the perk only applies to the player that has it. 'weapons free' does not unlock all guns for all players.

maps:

-organized into tiers. lower tiers generally mean easier, more player-friendly maps. this has no effect on the difficulty of the ai, only used as a guide to how "survivable" the maps are.

-all maps (except for riot) are available to the player in public games from the start. however, if you wish to play a specific map in private, you must unlock the tier it is in first.

-maps of higher tiers are unlocked by playing lower tiered maps. you must survive a certain amount of rounds in maps of lower tiers, to unlock maps of higher tiers for private play. there is currently no way to manually choose what maps you play in public matchmaking (outside of the 3 options you are allowed to vote for in the pre-game lobby)

-rounds played on higher tiered maps do not count towards the lower tiered maps. ex:if you need 30 rounds on a tier 1 map to unlock access to the tier 2 maps, and play 30 rounds on a tier 3 map in public matchmaking, you will still need to play those 30 rounds on a tier 2 map in order to unlock the tier 3 maps for private play.

rounds/enemies:

-round progress is not saved if you quit the game early. you need to finish the game and return to the lobby in order for your completed rounds played in that game to be saved. does not matter if you manually quit or if the games ends early as a fault of something else (connection issues, game crashes etc.)

-joining a game already in progress will not result in you accumulating the rounds survived up to that point. you have to be in the game while the round is in progress in order to receive credit for that round. you dont need to be there when it starts, just there before it is over. this applies to both public and private matches.

-games played in private matches do count toward your total rounds played, as well as the counting towards rounds survived to unlock higher tiered maps.

-each map has 25 rounds. after surviving the initial 25, the locations of the upgrade stations will flip, and the rounds will reset back to one, only now the round count will have a mark indicating the number of times the map has flipped. ex: after you have finished your first 25, the next rounds will be marked as '1 squared' (written how you would in a math class). after the next 25, the 3rd set of rounds will be marked as '1 cubed', then '1 to the fourth power' etc.

-continuing to play a map after it has flipped will still count toward your overall rounds survived. ex:if you play up to round '25 sqaured' and die on '1 cubed', the number of rounds survived will be counted as '50'. (25 rounds of each flip up to that point survived)

-after flipping a map, the guns/equipment used by the enemies will be stronger. does not only effect the amount of health points given to enemies, but also increases their weapons and equipment power, as well as the frequency of use of the equipment (grunts on first 25 rounds will have a semi-auto shotgun and only boost to when needed. grunts on the next 25 will have the energy shotgun and boost more often, shoot while mid-air, and use grenades more frequently etc.)

-the seeker drones (drones that shadow enemy ast mechs and 'drone handlers') pursue the player around corners and into buildings. players can flee them if they run far away quickly enough. at that point the drone will return to its ai partner or seek another player. they can be shot down, but cannot be blocked with the exo shield ability. if the player attempts to destroy the seeker drone with a melee attack or by bashing with the exo shield, the player will still take damage as if the seeker drone had hit you. (cannot 100% confirm this, but it has happened enough times that i feel safe saying it here.)

-enemies using stealth can be seen through your sights if using the 'target finder' attachment. drones will not be highlighted in your sights while using 'target finder' attachment . ast mechs will also be highlighted in your target finder.

-ast mechs are always shown on the mini-map.

-dog attacks and enemy melee attacks do a significant amount of damage to player ast mech suits. (yea, its dumb right? a doberman biting a mech is super effective, because reasons!)

supply drops:

-supply drops will randomly drop a pod containing a set of perks, or a set of scorestreaks to choose one from. drops will never give the player a choice of both in one drop pod. drops either have one set of scorestreaks to choose from or one set of perks to choose from.

-the number of supply drops after each successful fill of the supply drop bar is 1:1 to the amount of players in the game at the time. ex: if there are 4 players, there will be 4 drop pods after each successful filling of the supply drop bar.. 3 drop pods for 3 players, etc.

-if a player joins while a supply drop is in progress, the number of drop pods will be equal to the amount of players present at the time of the successful filling of the supply drop bar. ex:if there are 2 players present when the bar is filled, then the other 2 join before the pods hit the ground, the number of drop pods will still only be 2. conversely,if there are 4 when the bar is filled and 2 leave before they land, the amount of pods dropped will still be 4.

-players can take as many drop pods as they like, regardless of how many players are in the game. ex:if 4 players are playing, and 4 pods are dropped, it is possible for one player to use all 4 pods. (but you probably shouldnt do that because its not very nice)

-upon accessing a drop pod, players can choose to not select a perk/scorestreak, and instead will be granted one upgrade point.

-once the pod is accessed, the player does not have the option to not use the drop pod. you cannot access a drop pod, then decide you do not want to use it. backing out of the prompt will result in you being rewarded one upgrade point as stated above.

other:

-players cannot revive downed team mates while in mech suits. players also cannot access supply drop pods, upgrade stations, disarm bombs or collect enemy intel while in mech suits.

-players cannot jump or acces higher ground in mech suits. however, mech suits can navigate up stairs and ramps . (the exception being the large stairs in the 'instinct' stage, as they are steeper than normal stairs.)

-players cannot reload while using exo boost abilities. if you are in the reloading animation and decide to boost-dodge/air-boost/air-boost dodge, the reloading animation will cancel itself. this also applies to sliding. if you have the "fast hands" perk, you can continue to reload, or begin the reload animation while using the exo boost abilities. the "fast hands" perk does not apply to sliding.

-the animation reload cancel trick (sprint-canceling the reload animation before it ends, but after the ammo has been put into the gun) does not work in this mode. (or in single player, cannot confirm for multiplayer)

-when the enemy calls in a hacking attack, in addition to not being able to use exo boost abilites, players will also not be able to call in scorestreaks.

-when the enemy disables your primary weapons, it has no effect on your scorestreak weapons. players can still use turrets/mech weapons etc. as normal.

-the grenade launcher weapon under the heavy weapons category, works exactly the same as your standard grenade in the exo launcher.

-single player exo survival allows for players to have one free revive. after you have been revived once, the next down will end the game. this does not matter if you originally started the game by yourself, or if you end up by yourself as a result of players disconnecting. note 1:if you start a single player game, get downed and self-revived, then a player joins your game, if after the player leaves and you get downed again, you will not receive a second free down, the game will end. note 2:if you are already down in a game with other players, and end up alone in the game mid-down before you can be revived, the game will end and you will not be revived. you need to be up before the players leave in order to receive your free down.

-upgrading your exo battery amount will result in a full refill of your exo battery.

-the homing missiles in the goliath scorestreak do not follow enemies around corners or behind cover. enemies using the exo shield will still be hit.

-the ping upgrade in the goliath scorestreak is limited to a small area around the goliath. does not effect all enemies on the map.(language used in pompt implies otherwise)

-players are not granted full health after being revived. players will still need to heal some damage after being revived.

-points currently mean nothing other than a way to gauge how well a player is playing.

im am not claiming to have any inside knowledge, just my observations during my extensive play so far, as well as testing things out, because of the large amount of bugs in the pc version, some things stated may not apply to other platforms.

anyway, hope this info helps some players get the hang of it. this mode has some potential, but some silly design choices keep it from being great, but thats another conversation for another thread i suppose. good luck and have fun getting your mech suits chewed to death by superhuman dobermans pinschers! =]