Switch Version, Central + Ritual (program)

[BaGurpaGurpa]

Howdy,

Long time player, though the Plus difficulty still mostly kicks my ass.  Just beat Expert Plus story for the first time on the Switch (skipped easier difficulties since I had clocked probably a hundred or so hours 100%-ing it on both my PS4 and my laptop, so jumping into the deep end might not have been my smartest move).  I love having this game mobile and $20 was worth paying for the game a third time. I imagine people who have this game on their tablet know the feeling. 

 

Anyhoots, I had an observation and a request for some advice.  Since I just unlocked Central and Monster, I want Central for Endless Plus, as her +5 PWR per Daemon seems good for Endless Plus.  The program Ritual (unique to the Switch last I checked) breaks 1 Firewall for 1 PWR, but installs a Daemon in the process, but also comes with a +5% Daemon Reversal passive.  So rather than doing something like Faust and Brimstone, I decided to go with Seed + Ritual.  This makes every single firewall you hack grant you 4 PWR in the process, 5 PWR if it's the first thing you hack on your turn (thanks to Seed).  It makes PWR limitless as long as you leave things unhacked when you need PWR, but anyone trying this combo, be warned to try to buy another firewall-breaking program ASAP.  Datablast is pretty common and works well with Seed, Parasite's pretty common.  If you find Brimstone in a Server Terminal, then you have +15% Daemon Reversal passive.  Bless is also good for the times the Daemon that procs is Paradox or if something more harmful got stacked from all the Firewalls you hacked with Ritual. 

But yeah, Central + Ritual seems to be super powerful but super dangerous if you don't find something else quick, so hope for a Secondary Server Terminal in the first mission, or hope you get a Server Farm as a second mission.

My request, and I think this should be easy for most anyone who isn't me.  But I want to pair Central with On-File Tony Xu.  I know this guy has crazy potential, but I just can't for the life of me survive the first few days with him no matter who I pair up with him.  I don't use Shock Traps a lot, normally, so his Shock Trap is always so tempting for me to sell.  Him having two things on hand makes it so he can't pick up more than one thing right off the bat.  And I want to prioritize Speed with him before Strength.  I want to be better at keeping him alive, but I guess I've just come to rely too much on the handful of Agents I have the most luck with (Draco + lethal Shalem, Internationale, Nika, Derek)

 

Any tips for how to use Tony Xu most efficiently in those early missions?  Bonus points for tips when pairing Xu with Central because I really want to make this Ritual thing work. 

Thanks in advance, hope everyone is enjoying the game on whatever platform.  Would recommend getting it on the Switch for anyone who doesn't have a tablet.

[warfreak2]

Dr. Xu's Subdermal Tools ability lets him get into safes without hacking them, which can mitigate the damage done by Ritual because it means you don't have to use it on safes. Otherwise it doesn't seem like much of a combo to me; if Central + Ritual gives you +4 PWR per firewall hacked, you want some way to benefit from all that PWR, and Dr. Xu's ability tends to save PWR (since you don't need to hack safes), he doesn't give you a way to benefit from having excess PWR.

How about Archive Prism (her disguise uses a lot of PWR, and her Buster Chip saves you from hacking some things with Ritual) or Nika (for her Volt Disruptor)?

[BaGurpaGurpa]

That's good advice, thanks.  Xu does hack safes and save you from having to hack certain things with Ritual and gaining unnecessary Daemons, but yeah, his decreased speed makes it impossible to traverse the map quickly and silently.

Guess this just isn't a super cohesive team, makes sense.  I'll get better with Xu in time, I'm sure.  I've had a lot of luck with Nika in the past, and Archive Prism is another that I've had some success with, but not as much as the others.  Think I'll try Archive Prism.  Thanks!

I would like to see how better players handle Central + Ritual.  The first couple missions are brutal with all the Daemons and non-leveled Agents.  But like I said, if you get Parasite or Datablast from a Server terminal (both pretty common from my experience), Ritual is there as a guaranteed +4 PWR for every single firewall stack you break with it.  And a lot of the time the Daemon is Jolt, Siphon, Modulate, things that otherwise either don't hurt you or things the Central+Seed combo negates. Validate and Paradox are still rough.  I liked how Xu negated daemons like Felix or Castle.  So I can't say Xu didn't synergize at all with Central, but you're right and I should probably pair her with someone who utilizes the excess PWR.

So yeah, added frustration in exchange for Central being an Energizer battery from Mission 1.

[Hekateras]

General priorities for upgrades go something like this: Either Speed or Anarchy first. More Speed is always good, but expensive. However, a single upgrade to Anarchy 2 yields a qualitative change, since you can now pickpocket guards for items and cash. You can usually wait until day 2 or so before needing to upgrade strength at all, and extra Speed offsets the encumbrance penalty.

With Dr. Xu, though, it's usually a good idea to increase his Speed first just to get him to the baseline of a regular agent. Agreed regarding the synergy, though, Dr. Xu plays more into an "avoid, avoid, avoid" strategy for daemons.

Btw, since the forum is really inactive, you are highly encouraged to join the II Discord server:https://discordapp.com/invite/aQrXEse

[BaGurpaGurpa]

I'd been focusing on Speed for Xu, Anarchy 2, I think I'm just making too many rookie moves despite the hundreds of hours I've played the game.   

Thanks for the discord link.  I'll check it out.