What goes best with archived Prism? [spoilers]

[chieftainjoe]

Hello there!

 

After a long run i've finally unlocked archived Prism - and there it is: An agent which can disguise! Really nice there, Klei!

I must say, i'm quite fascinated, this probably makes archived Prism the most unique character in II so far. And as this brings a somewhat new playstyle to the game, i'd try to utilitize it as much as possible in my next runs.

 

 

From what I experienced so far: Fusion seems like the obvious choice. Disguise IS really power hungry and will deplete programs without much power generation (like Seed) very soon.

But apart from that, i cannot really think of much. Prism is quite cool on herself, but the disguise doesn't really show a lot of synergies to other agents.

 

So what do you think, what is her best starting partner, what programs complement her the best and what items/programs/skills should you aim for in the first missions?

[Sorion]

Personally, I much prefer Dynamo to Fusion after the "bug fix". 2 power per turn at alarm level 2 means you will never run out of disguise with Prism no matter what happens. Fusion has the possibility for a Daemon or mistake to leave you without enough power to activate Fusion in the first place which can leave you dead in the water.

 

You can play Prism in two ways in my opinion. Either she's the backbone of your team and needs Strength and Speed ASAP maxed out so that she can pretty much do everything for you, or she's the best support for your team that can come in and save them from being killed by either throwing cover at them in the middle of enemies or closing doors that would otherwise require stealth to reach. Plus she's immune to cameras. In fact, often when an objective is complete, I take the other agent to the elevator and ditch Prism, leaving her to explore the rest of the facility and unlock every single console and safe. With Dynamo she can last indefinitely in her disguise (if you're careful) and her Buster Chip lets her speed up many safe hacks.

 

I play a very late game oriented build, (late game into the missions, meaning the action doesn't really start until Alarm level 2+) so I find that stealthier agents and agents that can power through the early game are the best bet. Nika might be a good choice, but I try not to use her because I leave the power reserved for Prism and her disguise and Incognita and her programs (getting Ping is a godsend).

 

Things to aim for early are: Ping, Any of the Cloaks/Hologram Cover (The second one is way more fitting given here theme). Remember, if Prism gets caught, all you have to do is >Break line of sight< which the Hologram Cover item can do, then you just turn on your disguise and walk away. When the guard picks it up, just walk behind them and steal it back. A 1 turn cooldown is way better than a 6-8 turn cooldown on Cloaks. You shouldn't need a Neural disrupter to be honest, but your other Agent can just give it to her if you need it, like for a keycard mission.

 

So. Here's what I would recommend.

 

Agents: Archive Prism + Decker/Banks

Staring Programs: Dynamo + Parasite

Important Skills: Speed and Strength

Important Programs: Ping, Shade, Wisp. Power Drip could be an option if you come across it because it would mean you gain a net 1 PWR per turn even with Prism's disguise permanently going. Keep in mind, good Archive Prisms will know when to turn off their disguise to keep on gaining PWR just in case.

 

I also aim for Weapons Facilities and Nanofab missions. Credits aren't usually a problem because you can clear every safe in the mission with Prism without being detected. Even at 6+ Alarm. They can't pinpoint her location while in disguise form.

[Nxf7]

Prism is quite cool on herself, but the disguise doesn't really show a lot of synergies to other agents.

I tend to agree. Apart from pairing her with agents with power generating augments, she's a one woman show.

 

It's not practical at all to pick her alongside Archive Banks which is a fairly big downside because I'd rate both of these agents top 3 imo. You'd start with no neural disrupter and probably need the console power to help fuel Prism's disguise rather than money. So the trade-off is the most god-mode agent or guaranteed enormous cash income.

 

First thing I'm looking for in a run with archive Prism: Fusion + Charge, or Overdrive + Emergency Reserves, or a Server3 with hacking4 on someone. I want more than enough power income to keep her in disguise permanently, starting from turn 1, because she's the safest method of scouting on expert plus.

[Sorion]

I agree. She doesn't have good synergy with the other agents. Which is why I try to choose people who are also good on their own and don't hog the power.

Ironically. The best combo of agents would be Archive Prism and Default Prism. Someone should mod that in.

[chieftainjoe]

After first being very sceptical about Dynamo, i started to love it on her! The first turns (in earlier levels at least) are more about carefully exploring and planting your parasite here and there. But after alarm level 2, you can keep the disguise up forever, given you don't have any other power expenses.

 

And yeah, archive and on-file prism would be a great setup But for obvious reasons, this is not an option.

 

On another topic: Can archive prism even have augments? She doesn't have any augment slots, which make her unique to all other agents. But does that mean that she can never have one, or does it only mean she starts with zero (but can get 4 from the cybernetic lab)?

 

I think her partner(s) should be people who can supply the power and take care of the "non-scout" stuff - these are the roles she's not meant for, i think. So she can scout and roam the map freely, take the saves and loot the guards (and do the mission objective) while the other(s) take care of the "back office", e.g. set up portable servers, keep guards pinned, carry paralizers and such, use lethal force (if necessary) and emps and such.

This is only my personal theory inc after a few runs with her (which none got far, just saying) - but i'm pretty sure her main advantage is the possibility to roam the level freely - and this is what SHE should do in a team, if you want to utilitize her.

[ik1ne]

Fusion+Charge obviously.

With that program set, I can keep Prism disguised for the entire level.

Faust+Central can also hold the constant power cost, but I hate daemon installations.

[leonseye]

I tend to agree. Apart from pairing her with agents with power generating augments, she's a one woman show.

 

It's not practical at all to pick her alongside Archive Banks which is a fairly big downside because I'd rate both of these agents top 3 imo. You'd start with no neural disrupter and probably need the console power to help fuel Prism's disguise rather than money. So the trade-off is the most god-mode agent or guaranteed enormous cash income.

 

First thing I'm looking for in a run with archive Prism: Fusion + Charge, or Overdrive + Emergency Reserves, or a Server3 with hacking4 on someone. I want more than enough power income to keep her in disguise permanently, starting from turn 1, because she's the safest method of scouting on expert plus.

 

I dunno, I pretty much always start her w/ Archive Banks because Prism doesn't actually need a disruptor and I'm good at playing cat and mouse w/ the guards anyway.

 

Banks' Econ Chip fuels early upgrading for Prism, then I pick up somebody else from a Det Center and generally ditch Banks, leaving Prism w/ her dart gun and econ chip (after upgrading hacking, strength, speed to 4).

 

Haven't had any issues w/ the 3-4 playthroughs I've done this w/, and it pretty much sets her up to be a complete powerhouse by Day 3 (I play on Endless, others may not want to use the agent swapping strategy if they are playing limited campaigns).

 

Then again, I also play w/ vision cones on, so I generally don't need to use Prism's disguise as a permanently-on crutch.  I tend to just use her for scouting / hacking consoles for cash / saving people from sticky situations.  For that, she only needs to use her disguise very briefly (to break LOS and then get out of dodge).

 

That pretty much allows me to go w/ Seed from the start, which is still my favorite starting PWR generator because it's just SO good lategame.

 

To answer the OP, I pair Prism w/ Central at start if I'm not using the Fully Equipped Agents mod.  If I am using it, I start her w/ Archive Banks and then ditch Banks later for Central.

 

Central is still just that damn good.

[leonseye]

 

On another topic: Can archive prism even have augments? She doesn't have any augment slots, which make her unique to all other agents. But does that mean that she can never have one, or does it only mean she starts with zero (but can get 4 from the cybernetic lab)?

 

Sorry for back to back posts, but I saw that nobody had answered this.

 

She can most definitely have augments, she just doesn't start out w/ any open slots (making her the opposite to Sharp, which makes sense).

 

She starts w/ zero, but can get 4 from adding slots at Cyber labs, like you said.  : )

[AaronAlphaNexus1]

I beat the game on experienced difficult with a combo Internationale and Prism archive.

 

Internationale's wireless hacking is excellent to keep on Prism's holo rig

[Nxf7]

Then again, I also play w/ vision cones on, so I generally don't need to use Prism's disguise as a permanently-on crutch.

Well I wouldn't call it a crutch, it's the price of efficiency. I want the mission done with the lowest alarm level possible and the least chance chance of failure. It's rare that there's a turn that Prism doesn't need to be in disguise since I need her face-checking every new room which saves a lot of AP (plus AP you save by leaving her in plain sight) and the fact that guards don't get lured by her opening doors is amazing, I'd rather see what their patrol is before deciding if I want to lure.

 

On my previous endless+ run I was getting around 11-12 turns for a full map clear, and that was pre-update without archive Prism so hopefully my new run ends up shaving a couple turns off that due to superior scouting.

[Maxwell1234]

I like having Archive Dr. Xu with Archive Prism. His augment Provides a bit of extra PWR when you need it (to activate Fusion), and his EMP lets him get the safes Prism can't. 

 

Since they kinda don't need any breaking programs, I've been playing with the Starting Programs Plus mod and taking Fusion and Charge in the beginning.

[BenjaminLewis]

I did my solo Archive Prism run using Faust + Brimstone as starting programs.  I found a wrench 3 pretty early on which was nice supplement to Brimstone.  The extra Faust-spawned daemons didn't really pose a huge problem for the most part.

 

Some more details over in that thread.

 

Before going into that final mission I also maxed out Prism's Speed, bumped Hacking up to 2, and took along the medgel to give to Central (never got used).

[Leobarreiros]

I'm currently using Archive Prism + Central at day 5. Starting Programs where Faust + Parasite.

Faust can maintain her disguise as long as you need right from the start and Central for getting power from Faust's drawback. For arguments, the Holocircuit Overloader can help you when a guard patrolling bumps into you. My prism carry one buster chip, 2 shock traps, a cloack and her disguise.

[AaronAlphaNexus1]

I just used a combination of archived Prism and archived Internationale

 

Her network siphon is even better than the wireless hacking system when paired with Prism

 

I managed to beat the game on experienced again thanks to it

 

I started with power drip and Parassite