Nika + Energy Pistol

[progammer]

Since some people are saying Nika is underpowerded compared to other agents, here's an OP interaction with her:

 

Energy Pistol's description: Infinite ammo, can be fired only one turn per floor. Still consume an agent's attack.

 

Nika lets you attack twice in a single turn, which lets her rambo into any room and shoot two guards with the same pistol. After using Stim mk.3, she can take another shoot for a total of 3 in a single turn.Only until next turn, Energy Pistol become "used". $1200 is a pretty damn good investment for this reason alone.

 

I've been hacking around in Endless mode and equip Nika with Anatomy Analysis + Stim III + 5x Energy Pistol. It basically turns the game into God mode. You can neutralize anywhere from 5-15 target silently and regardless of armor, then freely roams around doing anything you want until the alarm level that spawn guards indefinitely.

Not that its easy to do it in a normal game but still OP nevertheless.

 

Another OP combination I've tried is Shalem + Anatomy Analysis + Piercing Scanner + Government Pistol. (Stim III and more ammo optional). A single ammo clip can eliminate 3 targets. Anarchy lvl 5 can easily stock you up with ammo after every kill. (Spawn rate is pretty high for ammo).

 

Maybe cleanup costs is too cheap atm but killing everyone on sight and raid every single safe isnt exactly subtle for a stealth game

 

(PS: havent found any throwing weapons after fooling with endless mode for 10-ish days)

 

[DrMeat]

I usually give only one Energy Pistol to one agent, in this new patch Nika of course, and 2 Stim III for each agent. In this case I can still reach to maximum shots of 10, but doesn't seems to be necessary. Clear the level without any (or minimum) security goes into alert mode is easy and no clean up fee, and believe me it's not that hard.

 

I only use energy pistol when is absolutely necessary and usually only for drones, for example when I make mistake and got a bunch of guards overwatching me. or annoying Akuma Drones with daemons. 

 

With this new built, Tony Xu is becoming a better solution to use his ability against drones instead of Energy Pistol. So I choose to use Energy Pistol as few times as possible, but still necessary to have at least one. 5 is too much for me, I rather have more Stim III to get as many AP as I can to clear the level asap than more shots.

 

And ... with Nika on board ... Shalem should retire

[HolyDeath]

And ... with Nika on board ... Shalem should retire

Why? Shalem grants 2 AP (weapon + aug) and has two bullets to use per mag. It's a pretty big advantage when you happen run into armored enemies. I am rarely in a situation in which I have to fire twice at the same turn, so I find Nika being less useful than Shalem.

 

[DrMeat]

Why? Shalem grants 2 AP (weapon + aug) and has two bullets to use per mag. It's a pretty big advantage when you happen run into armored enemies. I am rarely in a situation in which I have to fire twice at the same turn, so I find Nika being less useful than Shalem.

 

That would be a quite different strategy than mine. I'm always prefer to clear the level at maximum speed. So Stim III works best with Energy Pistol, and Nika just gives another boost on my strategy. So that I can usually clear a floor with only level 1 alert on an Extremely Guarded Level. Also I found a lot things that can ealisy replace Shalem, that's probably why I find him becoming less useful...

 

I rarely kill any guard unless necessary, only targeted on drones. The key to my strategy is to try my best to avoid the guards instead of KO or kill them (especially the one with Armor), to keep them in Stationary or Patrol (lure them to investigate, I hide, then guard will turn around so I can pass). So...Shalem's killing is really not my thing...

 

I always upgrade my first two agents' Anarchy to maximum to get money as quickly as possible, and save money Only for Best weapons like ND III, Bioshot Dart Gun, and Energy Pistol. Rather easy to get at least one of it by the first Heavily Guarded level. A pretty fast way to find something that can replace Shalem.

 

In early stages, I rather have Bank and Xu to start my agency (for this patch), their ability is just too powerful and nothing can replace it!!!  (But strange...I always get Nika as my third agent...luck?) I find Stun weapons like ND works better in early stages to keep alert level from going off the roof. So 2 Armor P and shoot to kill doesn't gives me any sense of security in the early stages, and also the reason I never start with Shalem.

 

Then in later stages, Bioshot Dart Gun and Energy Pistol works perfectly for any kind of level. Shalem's extra one Armor P doesn't gives me much more benefits and can always be replaced by something else, while Nika contributes a lot on speeding up the process while saving my uses of Stim III, and Xu can easily clean up any drones that I missed.

 

That's the reason I dont find Shalem useful...at all...at least for my strategy...

[progammer]

I usually give only one Energy Pistol to one agent, in this new patch Nika of course, and 2 Stim III for each agent. In this case I can still reach to maximum shots of 10, but doesn't seems to be necessary. Clear the level without any (or minimum) security goes into alert mode is easy and no clean up fee, and believe me it's not that hard.

 

I wasn't suggesting the game was impossibly hard without this strategy, its just that this combination trivialize the game too much.

 

Like you said, manage to avoid guards, carefully managing hunting/KO guards and manage to do it as fast as possible are what makes the game fun. The best moment in the game are always when you fucked something up and managed to fix it or salvage anything you could. So to me, the core fun of the game is non-lethal stealth approach. Lethal should only be the last resort type of thing.

 

Having a lethal approach become the safest (and most brainless) strategy might be something wrong as it remove a significant trunk of fun mechanics away from the game.

 

The best combination, or the most OP strategy to beat this game should be non-lethal method instead. That's why i'm saying clean up cost is too negligible, and something need to be done about duplicate item cooling down/used up separately.

[HolyDeath]

That would be a quite different strategy than mine. I'm always prefer to clear the level at maximum speed. So Stim III works best with Energy Pistol, and Nika just gives another boost on my strategy. So that I can usually clear a floor with only level 1 alert on an Extremely Guarded Level. Also I found a lot things that can ealisy replace Shalem, that's probably why I find him becoming less useful...

 

I rarely kill any guard unless necessary, only targeted on drones. The key to my strategy is to try my best to avoid the guards instead of KO or kill them (especially the one with Armor), to keep them in Stationary or Patrol (lure them to investigate, I hide, then guard will turn around so I can pass). So...Shalem's killing is really not my thing...

 

[...]

 

That's the reason I dont find Shalem useful...at all...at least for my strategy...

 

That's exactly why I find Shalem useful - he kills guards (including drones) only when necessary. I go through levels slowly, but because so I don't have to kill everyone who stands in my path as I apply stealth first and foremost to move around obstacles. Should stealth fail I still have the option to kill guards to clear the path for the team, including the strongest of them.