Expeditions are the one system where condensing a Pal matters more than levelling it — the rank multiplier is squared, so a four-star Pal contributes 25 times the firepower of the same Pal at zero stars.
The Pal Expedition Station
Built inside a Palbox base. Materials: 10 Wooden Board, 100 Stone, 20 Paldium Fragment, 20 Cement, at 10,000 workload and 4,000 HP.
Two sources list the station at level 22, 2 points. A third puts it at Tier 15. Two against one, so 22 is what we publish — but if it appears earlier than expected in your tree, that is why.
Firepower, properly explained
Expeditions ignore Pal level and work suitability entirely. What they measure is firepower:
firepower = (attack + defense + health / 5) × rank²where rank is the condensation multiplier, scaling from 1x at base up to 25x at four stars. Because it is squared, condensation dominates everything else in the formula. If your expedition numbers look impossibly far away, the answer is almost always the Pal Essence Condenser, not more levels.
Each destination lists a minimum recommended firepower. Missing it does not fail the run — it reduces the rewards. Beating it increases the quantity of items returned. Since 0.6.4, exceeding the minimum no longer shortens the duration, so there is no reason to overshoot dramatically.
Most destinations additionally require a set number of Pals of a specific element. You can send up to 100 Pals per expedition. Party Pals and base-assigned Pals are ineligible, and a dispatched Pal cannot be condensed while it is away.
The Pal Labor Research Laboratory reduces expedition duration and can increase rewards, primarily through its Mining research branch.
Every expedition destination
| Expedition | Time | Min firepower | Requires | Unlocked by |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Verdant Hollow | 30m | 25,000 | — | Zoe & Grizzbolt |
| Secret Realm of the Forest | 30m | 56,000 | 15x Grass | Lily & Lyleen |
| Blazing Cavern | 45m | 144,000 | 20x Fire | Axel & Orserk |
| Hidden Sanctum of the Desert | 45m | 209,000 | 20x Ground | Marcus & Faleris |
| Astral Frost Cavern | 60m | 286,000 | 20x Ice | Victor & Shadowbeak |
| Celestial Sakura Cavern | 60m | 375,000 | 20x Water | Saya & Selyne |
| Dark Cave of Feybreak | 60m | 476,000 | 20x Dark | Bjorn & Bastigor |
| Sunreach Isle | 60m | 589,000 | 20x Dragon | Auri & Shaolong |
| World Tree Subterranean City Ruins | 60m | 851,000 | — | Zenara & Astralym |
Every destination is gated behind the matching tower boss, so expedition access tracks story progress exactly.
Hard mode
Nine mirrored destinations, all at 120 minutes and 1,600,000 minimum firepower, each still requiring 20 Pals of the matching element. Each unlocks by defeating the corresponding faction leader on hard mode.
That 1.6 million figure is the same for all nine, which makes hard mode a single capability threshold rather than a ladder: once you can clear one, you can clear them all.
Because the requirement is "20 Pals of element X" rather than "20 good Pals of element X", the efficient play is a wide bench of cheap, heavily condensed Pals of each element rather than a handful of strong ones. Use the work finder and Paldex filters to find common Pals of an element you can farm duplicates of easily.
Normal-mode expeditions return Ancient Pal Manuscripts, spheres, ores and Pal Souls; hard mode returns training manuals, coins, Lotus items and slab fragments for raid summons. Patch 1.0.3 added World Tree Holy Water to the World Tree expedition rewards.
Quests in 1.0
Missions split into Main Missions, Sub Missions, Basecamp Missions (Base Camp Task 1–34) and a few hidden ones triggered by flags. Main missions are largely order-independent and mostly reward EXP only; sub missions are one-offs that also give items.
The main story spine now ends in the World Tree arc: The Rayne Syndicate → The Key Sphere → Zoe Rayne → Gathering the Key Spheres → Ruler of the Sands → The Sunreacher → The Calamity → Panthalus → To the World Tree → Sin → The Sealed Calamity → Awakening.
The Zoe questline
Unlocks after you beat Zoe and Grizzbolt at the Windswept Hills tower. She then appears at the Desolate Church, (-312, 187), which acts as the quest hub.
| Mission | Objective | Reward |
|---|---|---|
| Don't Get Cocky | Capture an Alpha Grizzbolt at (-312, 187) and a regular one at (-456, 197) | 940 EXP |
| I Still Don't Trust You | Defeat or capture 5 Free Pal Alliance members, return to Zoe | 1,015 EXP |
| A Warm Memory | Find Zoe's Tattered Memento at (-298, 242), deliver 2 to Zoe | 1,090 EXP |
| Zoe's Sphere | Defeat 30 Believer faction members, then talk to Zoe | A Sphere — exact item unverified |
The payoff: completing the chain recruits Zoe. You can take her as a level 1 mountable "Zoe & Grizzbolt" unit, or as a level 15 human companion with Handiwork and an assault rifle.
One account describes the first mission as capturing a Grizzbolt from No. 1 Wildlife Sanctuary; the extracted mission data gives the two coordinates above and requires an Alpha plus a regular. Worth checking in-game before you commit to a route — and remember that capturing inside a Sanctuary is a poaching charge.
The Kitsun Noct questline
Two linked sub missions that most references for the Pal itself do not mention. Both give unusually large EXP rewards for side content.
| Mission | Objectives | Reward |
|---|---|---|
| The Sable Loner | Find a wounded Kitsun Noct at (-18, -130) — treat it, feed it, then check the dropped bag | 25,350 EXP |
| Reminiscent Wandering | Track the master's steps in Feybreak at (-544, -227), defeat Jormuntide Ignis (Predator) at (-544, -231), then check on the Kitsun Noct | 35,490 EXP |
These come from a community database built from extracted 1.0 files, and no reference documentation covers either mission, so treat the detail as community-reported rather than confirmed. Whether either grants an item beyond EXP is not documented.
Other side content worth knowing
A Fine Day for Fishing — The Angler at (-331, 335) wants 3x Jelliette Bell Flesh. Rewards 940 EXP and 15 Simple Bait, which pairs neatly with the fishing guide.
Other named 1.0 sub missions include Surviving the World Tree, The Rookie Expedition Team, Farewell Under the Sakura Tree, The Knight's Last Stand, The Unsheathed Katana, Formidable Faleris Aqua, and the Stockpiling series for Hardwood, Hexolite Quartz, Pure Quartz, Soralite and Sulfur. Rewards for these are not documented.
There are no per-mission reference pages to be found, and the one general listing is a stub covering 31 main and 14 sub missions, while extracted lists run to 58 main and 59 sub including placeholders. Anything specific about a quest's steps or rewards on any site is coming from file extraction, not from documentation.