Rumors about Tech is one of the early side missions tied to the Hub area of Valley IV in Arknights: Endfield. It appears in the Region 1 mission list for Valley IV under “The Hub” alongside Had to Be Done, The Road is Rough, Alluvial Cleaning, AIC Manager, Morale Booster, and Cog in the Wheel. That placement alone already tells you a lot about what the quest is and what it is not.
Where Rumors about Tech sits in the campaign
Valley IV is the first major region after the opening story sequence and early Chapter 1 processes. By the time you reach its Hub, you will already have cleared several main missions, such as Break the Siege, Valley Reboot, and Building an Outpost, and you will have unlocked the basic AIC Factory loop, outpost management, and free exploration across the Valley IV zones.
The Hub missions in Valley IV act as your onboarding layer for that region’s side content. Rumors about Tech is listed as the first Hub mission there, which positions it as an introductory task that eases you into how side missions around OMV Dijiang and the Valley IV Hub are structured. Expect it to be accessible as soon as you are given freedom to move around the Hub and interact with local NPCs and terminals.
Because the overall quest list marks Rumors about Tech as a side or exploration mission rather than a main mission, it does not block storyline progression. Instead, it contributes to your regional development, resource income, and early familiarity with how technology and rumors about old devices or facilities are used as hooks for side content in Talos-II.
What Rumors about Tech is likely asking from you
The exact objectives for Rumors about Tech are not listed in the mission overview, but the surrounding context in Valley IV gives a clear pattern. Early side missions in this region tend to revolve around three pillars: talking to Hub characters, inspecting or activating technology in the environment, and tying those discoveries back into your AIC Factory and outpost systems.
With that in mind, Rumors about Tech is best understood as a small investigation around the Hub. You can expect to be asked to track down a piece of equipment that locals are gossiping about, check up on a malfunctioning device, or confirm whether some experimental tech out in the Valley is real or just a rumor. Practically, this often translates into following markers to one or more points of interest, interacting with objects in the field, and potentially clearing a short combat encounter that guards an installation or cache.
Because it sits in the Hub mission list, the quest is also a good opportunity to see how side missions now tie more directly into the broader Regional Development System. Completing even simple Hub errands can grant Regional Development Metrics, AIC-related schematics, or small amounts of currency that flow back into your production lines.
How to get ready before starting Rumors about Tech
Even though Rumors about Tech is an early mission, going in prepared saves time and lets you take better advantage of the rewards it feeds into your wider progression.
Stabilize your combat team first. By Valley IV, you should already have a four-operator squad you are comfortable piloting. A solid mix usually includes your Endministrator, at least one Defender or Guard to take pressure in melee, one ranged damage dealer (Striker, Caster, or long-range Guard), and reliable support or healing such as Fjall. Side missions can be deceptive; they look like errands but occasionally spike in difficulty with elite enemies or environmental hazards.
Bring a team that can both control and react to enemy attacks. The current combat system hinges on timely dodges, stagger windows, and stacking Physical Status or Arts Reaction effects. Operators can now chain two dodges, and Perfect Dodge refunds stamina and a small amount of SP, so treating dodge timing as part of your rotation locks in survivability even during a casual Hub mission.
Have your basic AIC Factory loop running. Valley IV is where base-building stops being a tutorial and starts being a constant background task. Before you get lost in side content, go back to your Core AIC Area and confirm that core raw materials, intermediate products, and a few early gear recipes are flowing without manual babysitting. That way, the time you spend on Rumors about Tech doubles as free factory uptime.
What to pay attention to while you are on the quest
Arknights: Endfield treats side missions as a way to quietly teach systems without heavy-handed tutorials. Rumors about Tech is likely to surface several mechanics that keep paying dividends later.
Interaction prompts around equipment and ruins. Anytime the objective pushes you toward machinery, terminals, or strange structures in Valley IV, watch closely for what the game lets you do. Activating abandoned devices, patching them into your power grid, or linking them back to your outpost all echo what the AIC Factory does at scale. The quest teaches you visually how “rumored tech” becomes deployable infrastructure.
Power and connectivity hints. Even if Rumors about Tech does not explicitly ask you to lay power lines, look at how any discovered facility is already connected. Later, the Depot Bus and power relay systems in regions like Wuling build directly on this same language of connectivity, and understanding the visual cues early makes later optimization much easier.
NPC dialogue about old-era technology. Conversations in Hub missions routinely provide small worldbuilding details and forward references to future systems. Rumors about Tech, by its name, is likely to contain throwaway lines that foreshadow later devices, materials, or facilities that only become buildable once your Regional Development Level climbs or when you enter later regions.
Using side missions like Rumors about Tech to support your factory and exploration
Side missions in Valley IV, including Rumors about Tech, fit into the larger loop described for Beta Test II and beyond: explore, discover or supply regional facilities, earn Regional Stock Bills or other rewards, and use those rewards to expand your production and outposts.
Feed the rewards back into your AIC Factory. Even early Hub quests can yield materials, credits, or unlocks that accelerate your factory growth. That might be as simple as a new recipe for low-level gear or as indirect as a bump in Regional Development Metrics that unlocks better AIC Factory Plan phases and their associated simulations. Once those phases are open, simulations then give System Blueprints, which massively speed up construction of production lines.
Think in terms of sustainable loops. As you advance, the game encourages setups like the Seed Picker and Planter loop for Aketine: one plant yields two seeds, the planter turns those seeds back into plants, and routing the outputs correctly gives you effectively infinite stock for Industrial Explosives. Rumors about Tech may not be about Aketine specifically, but it exists in the same design philosophy. The tech you verify now often becomes the tech you automate later.
Tie side missions to regional completion. Many blocked chests, Aurylenes, and puzzles across Valley IV require consumables like explosives or a well-developed power network to access safely. Finishing a Hub mission that unlocks or clarifies some piece of technology often makes it simpler to go back and clear those obstacles. Even if Rumors about Tech itself is short, treat it as part of a slow, region-wide 100 percent plan rather than a throwaway distraction.
Rumors about Tech sits early, but it points directly at how Arknights: Endfield wants you to play: move between story, side errands, and base-building, and then let them all reinforce one another. Treat it as your chance to read how the game frames technology, rumors, and facilities in Valley IV. The habits you build there—keeping a balanced team ready, watching how devices hook into your infrastructure, and looping rewards into your factory—carry cleanly into every later region and side mission.
