Rescuing a 3rd agent is usually a bad strategy


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The problem currently with prisoner missions is that if you happen upon a third agent in the cell, he or she is probably more of a liability than an asset.

 

I just finished a failed Expert campaign where I fell into the trap of going for an early prisoner mission. I got Shalem, and since the final version decided to keep the beta nerf whereby rescued agents do not automatically re-equip their stuff, this was really bad; his skills are heavily reliant on his starting equipment

 

The standard 72 hour campaign only gives you about 8 missions to prepare for the final mission. I ended up wasting a lot of time and resources trying to get Shalem up to speed, effort which could have gone to buffing the other two agents and Incognita. Long story short, I went into the final mission with 3 mediocre agents instead of 2 properly trained agents (plus Central and Monst3r), and as a result did not make it very far.

 

In hindsight, it would have been better for me to have just used the new agent as a minimally equipped expendable scout, and not wasted resources in trying to equip and train him. Or gone on some other mission other than a prisoner rescue mission in the first place.

 

Obviously, the above analysis only applies to a standard 72 hour campaign or shorter; in a longer campaign, the prisoner mission may still be viable.

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Heh, first time I beat the campaign, I did it w/ a fully decked out Xu and Internationale and a Decker I found who I took along w/ 0 items or upgrades.

 

You don't have to go so far out of your way to equip them.  If I haven't upgraded my rescued agents, they become expendable distractions.

 

You can still string guards along pretty darn well just by playing hide and seek.

 

Oh yeah, nobody died in that mission.

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I usually doesn't upgrade anything beside strenght (if it doesn't allow me to take all I want), but before final mission I upgraded everyone to speed 2, cause have a lot of money. Prefer to invest in equipment (Is it Shalem here? Take this shiny drilling dart, man! And I bought that cool disruptor at previous mission right for you, indeed, don't be sad, it's better than your salvaged one. And what a great pockets in your suit! Right what we need to clean compromised nano-fab next day!)

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Early extra agent? You mean an infinite pinning machine? :D

 

In the champaign you should get en extra agent ASAP, or not at all. You CAN get a late extra agent if you have extra disrupters/guns/a lot of other tools in reserve (and preferably cash), but otherwise I'd focus on the main 2.

 

Timing is key I think, but preferenced differ too of course.

 

In endless, don't take shalem. Just let him sit where he is. You'll be far happier with Xu, Internationale or Nika. Or any other.

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I give my new agents anarchy 2 and speed 2 if I can afford it, and may buy them a disruptor if I can (thought volts are still no-gos for me and neurals seem to not exist in many runs :-)). Other than that, yeah. They're just there to explore faster, kite guards, and (if necessary) take a bullet for the real agents.

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I usually focus on one maxed anarchist and hacker first. Getting extra agents early gives me more choices on who becomes designated for which. As for Shalem though, I never appreciated that extra drag distance thanks to strength until I screwed up and had to drag a downed agent across the map while being hunted. Good times.

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They help a lot, honestly. Don't bother with upgrading all skills - focus on loading up primarily on equipment, useful tools, and augments. A third agent means you can almost-always loot all the safes in a mission, because they can serve as a scout, distraction, and a guard paperweight when needed.

 

Three inventory slots alone is like 1k+ worth of credits. Most of the possible spawning agents have very useful augments - Decker scans for daemons, Internationale gets great scouting, Banks breaks red doors, Xu is *ridiculous*, Shalem is a useless piece of ****, and Nika has her crazy brawling prowess for when **** goes down.

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Poor Shalem. Unloved forever in detention centers.

 

Why must every dislike Shalem? Is his augment really that useless? I mean not having to find a piercing scanner is pretty nice, don't you think? You'd think having less augment slots available would make those slots more of a premium.

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Why must every dislike Shalem? Is his augment really that useless? I mean not having to find a piercing scanner is pretty nice, don't you think? You'd think having less augment slots available would make those slots more of a premium.

 

His augment really needs to go with his starting rifle to be useful, that's why he's a bit of a deadweight when you find him in a cell.

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Some agents are great right out of the box - like Xu - but I do agree that with limited time you have re-equipping rescued agents is often a very problematic call. I guess their gear should spawn on the level so you can get a chance to make them more viable?

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His augment really needs to go with his starting rifle to be useful, that's why he's a bit of a deadweight when you find him in a cell.

 

It doesn't have to be his starting rifle, any ranged weapon might do the trick (I made a run where he got two biogenic darts, that last mission was a cakewalk).

 

Other than that, I always go for detention center when I see one, especially in the beginning where most of the tactics are basically hide and seek.

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I strongly disagree. Even an agent with no equipment is a better upgrade by his or herself than almost any equipment in the game. The extra AP for exploration alone is a godsend. The ability to pin more guards — or lead them on a merry dance away from your more powerful agents — is also irreplaceable by any item or augment.

 

Not all three agents need to be "developed" to the same level for them to be effective.

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Why must every dislike Shalem? Is his augment really that useless? I mean not having to find a piercing scanner is pretty nice, don't you think? You'd think having less augment slots available would make those slots more of a premium.

 

No, Piercing Scanner is one of the most common augments that I find, right next to Titanium Rods.  If I want one, I can install it myself.

 

Shalem w/out his rifle is seriously meh.

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No, Piercing Scanner is one of the most common augments that I find, right next to Titanium Rods.  If I want one, I can install it myself.

 

Shalem w/out his rifle is seriously meh.

 

He still isn't useless. All agents have their benefits, any agent has its benefits.

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He still isn't useless. All agents have their benefits, any agent has its benefits.

 

I never said he was useless.  I said that he was meh.

 

See that 2nd post in the thread, the one talking about how the agents are still decent distractions even if not upgraded.

 

Yeah, that's me.  : P

 

I was simply replying specifically to the poster that I quoted that no, I don't feel like Shalem is a good choice when found in a Det Center because he has a generic augment that anybody can have on top of their unique augments, immediately making literally any agent better than Shalem.

 

Even Archive Banks is better than Shalem, and she doesn't even have an augment...  because at least you can choose which generic augments you're going to use for.

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Amusingly, I've started not taking Xu on as my starting agent because it increases the chance I'll get him as a find later. His augment is great but his item is meh.

Basically, the opposite of Shalem.

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Shalem 11 does have a good augment. So what if there is one that does the same thing...his augment means he starts with +2 armor piercing with his rifle(and +1 with any other gun). I think that is quite good and even if you find him in a detention center he can still be useful if you can get him a good gun.

All agents are good...but they all have strengths and weaknesses. Shalem 11 is meant to use guns to help you get out of bad situations. I don't think he should be compared to agents like Xu because they were meant to be used for different tasks. I also think that those 2 can be good together, because Shalem starts with the ability to kill guards and Xu has the ability to disable the only reason you don't kill all guards (minus clean-up cost) the heart monitors. Just send Xu to disable it then blast their face off. And another thing...he isn't only able to kill at the start of the game...he is able to kill ARMORED guards at the start which is VERY good if unprepared. But then again...all characters are good in their own way.

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Shalem 11 does have a good augment. So what if there is one that does the same thing...

 

It means he is replaceable by literally any other agent and they will simply be better than he is because they actually bring something unique to the table.

 

So no, he doesn't have a "good augment".  He has a completely generic augment, and it's one of the 2 most common augments in the game.

 

He does have a nice rifle though.  I've started taking him as a starting agent and then storing his rifle in my inventory while I let him get KO'd on a Detention Center mission, at which point I replace him w/ the new agent.

 

Now I can have the best benefit of Shalem w/out having to put up w/ his mediocrity.

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