Klei please buff Decker

[Caischcer 10]

Klei if you are reading this I first want to thank you for the buff you gave Decker. Sure, the ability to uncover daemons for free is cool, but you launched it incorrectly. How so? well you also included the daemon database and the scan chip for a very cheap cost. That totally ruins the convenient factor of using Decker in the first place! Get a scan chip and BAM! you got Decker's "unique" augment without losing the agent slot, even better get internationale and look for the daemon database and uncover every daemon on the floor, why worry? (unless it is protected by a daemon, that sucks)

 

I use Decker quite a lot, I am a big fan of him. I use him for mere sentimental reasons, he's like my salvaged neural disruptor (if you know what I mean Shalem 11), but from a totally strategic point of view there is not much use for any Decker, on-file or archived. And I can guarantee that if it weren't for me, Decker would never get out of a detention center... like never ever! People modded the game just to not find him on the detention center for crying out loud!

 

But I am not here to whine about how much he sucks. Too many people have done that already. I am here to give some ideas to make him better, more unique, and hopefully less antisocial, dang even his spy mates hate him what has he done to deserve so much hate? besides you know speaking more than he should sometimes and being a part time alcoholic.

 

1. Dah joint, dah holy joint! (bootleg joint or black market joint) I find funny how Decker still brags about how "We would have not get in here so easily if it were not for this joint" considering he no longer has the hated +1 movement point joint augment. He just won't shut up about it! I suggest that he gets the joint augment back but instead he gets half the noise radius while running. He would still produce noise but on a shorter radius. Maybe balance this by getting +3 movement points instead of the full +4 but this would turn him into a really agile agent and a really good scout, which I consider was the original idea behind Decker

 

2. This guys are amateurs (visual acceletator) Decker used to be a head of security back in the days. And he also seems fairly experienced in the business of espionage. I find myself peeking and observing a lot, but this can eat through your action points if you don't watch out. Maybe Decker's experience plus his questionable amount of augments (he never talks about how many augments he actually has and he doesn't like talking about it) allow him to observe and peek much faster than all the other agents, making it a free action. This would help him save those point for actual movement.

 

3. I hate daemons (digital signature bank) Decker should know about daemons at least the basics of them since he surely worked with them as a Head of security and as an agent. I think he could detect daemons around him but on a much larger radius than one adjacent tile. Something like an internationale that detects daemons and uncovers them too. As a plus if there is a device that has not been discovered but contains a daemon Decker should wirelessly detect it this would effectively turn him into an internationale in the case of a fractal 2.0 provided he survives to see one.

 

4. Let's just get through it (installation inhibitor or virtual environment) It is stated that Decker feels jolts of pain to tell apart subroutines, does that mean that daemons can be installed unto humans? I guess that's how labyrinth works on agents and shade on guards. I suggest Decker could trigger a Daemon on himself. He would disable the Daemon from a device for a turn (the daemon would be taken out of its device completely) for the cost of -3 movement point on Decker next turn (since he is feeling the pain of the daemon being installed on his body) after one turn however if the device was not hacked Decker would get his action points back and the daemon would return to the device it was installed.

 

5. And change your password next time! (protocol override) As a head of security it would be reasonable for Decker to know what happens when someone accesses an executive terminal or moves an object from a security locker. He should probably know how to forge a "Don't worry fake alarm everybody" signal. If Decker is the one completing the objective (stealing the item from the security dispatch, deactivating the safe boxes on the vault, accessing the main server, pinning down the executive or accessing the compromised nano fabricator) there is only a 50% chance that the countermeassure action from the head office will actually occur. Double crossing shopcat no more!

 

6. I don't like augments, really (Adaptive physiology) Who knows how may augment Decker has? maybe he could be some kind of speedy sharp. every time an augment is installed he gets +1 movement points. this would somewhat make cybernetic labs even more appealing on the early days and would turn him into this movement points powerhouse! imagine chamaleon movement, predictive brawling, and some stims, he would move insanely fast! maybe thats too much. maybe every two augments +1 movement points to balance it, but since he already has this augment if he installs an aditional augment he would get the +1 movement points, that means that for the next bonus movement point he would need to get 2 more extra augment sockets and 2 more augments.

 

7. Give me your items and get moving! (light frame) Being encumbered is such a bummer specially when you have to decide between picking the pass card now and be encumbered next turn or pick from a guard later once he is closer to a locked door. Well, how about if Decker had negative encumberment (encumberingness, encumberitude?)  what I mean is that while Decker is not encumbered he has +2 movement points, that means that at speed level 2 (which is Decker's standard speed level) he would have a total of 11 movement points instead of the normal 9 or the speed level 1's 8 movement points. Once Decker picks up just one more item than what he normally could he losses his +2 movement points and moves at standard speed (that means that at speed level 2 if he picks up 4 items supposing he has not upgraded strength he would have the normal 9 movement points) this could encourage players to keep Decker with the least amount of items to move as quick as possible, or at the very least make him a fast item carrying mule.

 

I hope some of this ideas help improve Decker's performance on future updates (assuming there is more after the PEIA DLC) and get Decker a little bit more of appreciation from everyone. Everyone deserves to have a bit of love.

 

You can vote on which suggestion you liked the most, I allowed for multiple choice in case you like more than one of this augment ideas. Feel free to post your own suggestions if you have some. But please abstain from talking about how much Decker currently sucks compared to other agents. I suggest you start another topic for Decker haters.

[Shirsh 129]

Maybe removing daemon for one (current) turn with instant 3ap cost at current turn (if less - can't be activated)? Or for power cost?

What if for cost of +2cd to all his items?

 

But I'd actually prefer to turn Daemon databases off as custom campaign options. And in "plus" difficulties by default.

[warfreak2 30]

Scan chips are not so cheap: the item itself only costs 100 credits, but you have to pay for the inventory space to hold it. Once you reach the missions where daemons start appearing, inventory slots probably have a marginal cost of 500 credits, so your scan chip ends up costing you 600.

 

Decker is fine as is. He comes with a Cloaking Rig 2 and a neural disruptor, and still gets a reasonably good augment. Being able to cloak for a whole turn is really, really good. I think Klei did a good job balancing all of the agents.

[Nxf7 84]

Decker is fine as is. He comes with a Cloaking Rig 2 and a neural disruptor, and still gets a reasonably good augment. Being able to cloak for a whole turn is really, really good. I think Klei did a good job balancing all of the agents.

The players saying that Decker's augment is bad probably aren't picking him as a starting agent; the real issue is entirely related to the Detention Centre mechanics forcing Decker onto everyone. If Detention Centre's get reworked so we can choose who we save/avoid, then I wouldn't care how bad an agent is.

 

His augment is unique, sure, but it's too inconvenient to be considered "reasonably good". If it's not going to help remove or disable the daemon then identifying it needs to somehow happen at range and this would also help with Fractal 2.0 cameras.

[Caischcer 10]

Maybe removing daemon for one (current) turn with instant 3ap cost at current turn (if less - can't be activated)? Or for power cost?

What if for cost of +2cd to all his items?

 

But I'd actually prefer to turn Daemon databases off as custom campaign options. And in "plus" difficulties by default.

 

Yeah, I thought of that too. I just felt unsure if it would be convenient to have to pay the full price on the current turn. Getting all the way there already costed you some AP.

 

I personally don't like spending power on agent abilities, although if Klei thinks paying with power to use the augment is balanced I won't question them.

 

About cool down penalties... errr  I don't  know what to say about that, I feel like +2 cooldown to everything is too harsh. Think about that when you already have Pulse 2.0 activated! good luck waiting for your neural disruptor to charge up, it will be ready for use just after the corps finish disintegrating your body in a classified far away complex.

[Caischcer 10]

Scan chips are not so cheap: the item itself only costs 100 credits, but you have to pay for the inventory space to hold it. Once you reach the missions where daemons start appearing, inventory slots probably have a marginal cost of 500 credits, so your scan chip ends up costing you 600.

 

Decker is fine as is. He comes with a Cloaking Rig 2 and a neural disruptor, and still gets a reasonably good augment. Being able to cloak for a whole turn is really, really good. I think Klei did a good job balancing all of the agents.

 

I certainly agree on your opinion about the price for the scan chip, but you do realize every agent with a speed level 2-3 can use an invis cloak? and that it will still take 8 turns to charge up again, no matter if you are using Decker's modded cloak or a normal Invisibility Cloak II, right?

 

To me it makes no sense to be able to have an item set up that pretty much allows you to mimic another  agent's "unique" characteristics because this allows for a very monotonous mindset when playing in which you always pick the "best agents" and just get the right items to substitute for the other agents.

[warfreak2 30]

"you do realize every agent with a speed level 2-3 can use an invis cloak?"

 

Uh, yes, provided that they have a cloak, which Decker does from the start of the game. That is a big advantage because you can use it on early missions and you don't have to pay for it.

"[...] and that it will still take 8 turns to charge up again, no matter if you are using Decker's modded cloak or a normal Invisibility Cloak II, right?"

 

You'll notice that I referred to Decker's cloak as a Cloaking Rig 2, so yes, I am aware that his cloak is identical to a Cloaking Rig 2. You may also be unsurprised to learn that I do, in fact, know what a Cloaking Rig 2 does.

He starts with an item which is very good, and also has a neural disruptor, therefore he doesn't need a super-strong augment. That was the argument I made. An item does not need to be unique to be very good, nor does it necessarily need a short cooldown.

"To me it makes no sense to be able to have an item set up that pretty much allows you to mimic another  agent's "unique" characteristics [...]"

 

The title of this thread is "please buff Decker"; "buff" means make stronger. Decker should be buffed if and only if his characteristics are not strong enough; their non-uniqueness is not relevant to this question. Anyway, his ability to cloak is unique on day 1, and a lot of the time, day 2.

 

"[...] because this allows for a very monotonous mindset when playing in which you always pick the "best agents" and just get the right items to substitute for the other agents."

 

There is no game in the world which prevents you from stubbornly choosing a boring strategy. The problem would be if you were forced (or incentivised) to play a boring strategy. You are not forced to spend your first few missions finding and buying a Scan Chip and a Cloaking Rig 2, nor is that a dominant strategy; so, no problem.

 

As I said earlier, I think Klei did a good job of balancing the agents; so I don't think there are any "best agents" which you can pick.

[warfreak2 30]

The players saying that Decker's augment is bad probably aren't picking him as a starting agent; the real issue is entirely related to the Detention Centre mechanics forcing Decker onto everyone. If Detention Centre's get reworked so we can choose who we save/avoid, then I wouldn't care how bad an agent is.

 

His augment is unique, sure, but it's too inconvenient to be considered "reasonably good". If it's not going to help remove or disable the daemon then identifying it needs to somehow happen at range and this would also help with Fractal 2.0 cameras.

 

This is a reasonable point, but I don't think it would be good to balance all agents for Detention Centre missions in addition to balancing them for the starting team. To do both, all agents would need about-equal augments, and therefore about-equal items too; this would limit the variety. I think we should just accept some randomness in the usefulness of rescued agents - even if none were better than any others overall, it depends on the team you have already. I have to say most of the time I'd prefer to find Decker than Shalem, though at least once I've gone into a Detention Centre hoping to get Shalem for his Piercing Scanner.

 

Removing/disabling daemons is not the only way to play around them. Knowing what daemons are is usually enough to minimise the harm they do - you have to get the timing right, and the right timing depends on what daemons they are: eat Fractal/Paradox/Modulate/Rubiks when you've hacked everything important, or Felix/Authority when you don't see any safes yet or you've taken them all. Eat multiple Modulates/Paradoxes at the same time and it's just one Paradox. Eat Labyrinth while you're sitting around waiting for something else to happen, eat Blowfish when it won't bring new guards, eat Validate on the way to the exit, and eat Mask because who cares about Mask.

[Nxf7 84]

This is a reasonable point, but I don't think it would be good to balance all agents for Detention Centre missions in addition to balancing them for the starting team.

 

Removing/disabling daemons is not the only way to play around them.

I want them to rework detention centre mechanics so that it fixes the underlying problem. My next point bringing up Decker is only to give my perspective on why disliking Decker's augment is justified. They can do something about detention centres, or they can buff Decker's augment, or I'm going back to ini edits.

 

My only point in mentioning that his augment could remove/disable daemons is that its melee range would then be justified. I know there's benefits of purely identifying daemons but melee range isn't good enough. For safes, Xu already does the same thing but better, in melee range. By all means though, keep Decker's augment how it is except make it ranged.

[Lemonymous 4]

@warfreak2: Are you just defending Decker for the sake of it? I really like the game too, and the cloak is admittedly a very strong item to start with (I believe all cloaks are too powerful); however, something doesn't ring right when so many different people just let Decker rot in prison. If I see him, I breathe a sigh of relief that my mission suddenly became a lot easier; since I just need to get to the elevator.

 

His detect Daemon ability leaves a lot to be desired. It seems like the ability is there to teach new players about Daemons. I still went through my whole first playthrough not using it once, since I had forgotten he had this augment that I didn't understand when I started the game. Detect Daemon and remove Daemon were unknown concepts at the time, so I just ignored them.

 

On later runs, I've tried having Decker as my Daemon identifier, but having to be next to the mainframe makes his ability very situational, and not a reliable tool, so you will need something else regardless. At which point you might as well not have Decker to begin with. His unreliability in detecting important Daemons is what makes the ability so lackluster in my opinion. If he could detect Daemons at a distance that would be a whole different matter. Sure he might become very strong; but strong and unique agents is what makes new playthroughs so fun. If all agents bring something special, choosing your two agents becomes more difficult and shapes your game in a bigger way. Not a bad thing I would say.

[warfreak2 30]

@warfreak2: Are you just defending Decker for the sake of it? I really like the game too, and the cloak is admittedly a very strong item to start with (I believe all cloaks are too powerful); however, something doesn't ring right when so many different people just let Decker rot in prison. If I see him, I breathe a sigh of relief that my mission suddenly became a lot easier; since I just need to get to the elevator.

 

I realise that my opinion is not shared by many (otherwise there wouldn't be a poll in this thread where every response requires agreeing Decker needs a buff), but I have stated it plus my reasons for it. Your question is "is that honestly my opinion?", and a) saying "I am honest" is not going to convince anyone who doubts my honesty, b) reasoning can be valid or invalid but not honest or dishonest.

 

If you deliberately leave Decker behind in the detention centre when you find him, you must have an extremely low opinion of him. Something indeed doesn't seem right - your strategy. Getting any extra agent on your team is a huge deal, and if it's because you're waiting to find a "better" agent then you're doing even more detention centre missions when you could be doing vaults/cyberlabs/&c. (which have bigger payoffs than missions where you ignore the objective); the countdown timer is running out and you need to stay ahead of the difficulty curve.

I just can't see it ever being a good move to leave an agent behind deliberately, unless it's day 10 on Endless mode and survival is already guaranteed, so "good" doesn't make sense because there is no longer any defined goal.

[Lemonymous 4]

I realise that my opinion is not shared by many (otherwise there wouldn't be a poll in this thread where every response requires agreeing Decker needs a buff), but I have stated it plus my reasons for it. Your question is "is that honestly my opinion?", and a) saying "I am honest" is not going to convince anyone who doubts my honesty, b) reasoning can be valid or invalid but not honest or dishonest.

 

If you deliberately leave Decker behind in the detention centre when you find him, you must have an extremely low opinion of him. Something indeed doesn't seem right - your strategy. Getting any extra agent on your team is a huge deal, and if it's because you're waiting to find a "better" agent then you're doing even more detention centre missions when you could be doing vaults/cyberlabs/&c. (which have bigger payoffs than missions where you ignore the objective); the countdown timer is running out and you need to stay ahead of the difficulty curve.

I just can't see it ever being a good move to leave an agent behind deliberately, unless it's day 10 on Endless mode and survival is already guaranteed, so "good" doesn't make sense because there is no longer any defined goal.

I believe you're being honest if you say so. I just got the feeling you find this game so awesome (and it is), that you can't see any fault with any of the balance anywhere. Which is fine of course. It's not like Decker being bad is a huge deal, so I can understand you defending him. I just personally wish I would have more options of agents I actually wanted on my team when playing endless.

 

To clarify my remark about leaving Decker in detention; yes, that is indeed in endless. In story mode I usually only do 0-1 detention missions, so I will of course take whoever I can get. Decker starts with speed 2, so that's already money saved.

 

Maybe why we disagree is because I think about endless, while you story. Starting gear matters more for story since it's useful throughout the game. In endless, augments are what make each agent unique, apart from a few select unique items. I suppose the game isn't balanced with endless in mind though. Still, it's pretty close, so why not ask for a few nudges on a few agents to help it get there? Do you think it would hurt story mode if Decker's augment was slightly more useful?

[warfreak2 30]

I play both story and endless, but in my experience if you get the first 5 days of Endless right then the rest is a cakewalk, and the starting items don't stop mattering until after that. If you don't want Decker on your team in the long term, you should still pick him up at a detention centre when you see him - kill him off later, if that's what floats your boat.

There are certainly strategy games I greatly enjoy which do have a few balance issues. Invisible, Inc. has some in the programs and items, but IMO the agents are well-balanced such that the differences between agents' strengths is microscopic compared to the differences between teams with synergy and teams without. (Try Archive Internationale, Central, Faust and Parasite, for example, and you'll see what I mean about teams without synergy.)

Still, if your main concern is getting the best unique stuff, surely Shalem is the short straw? If you find him in a detention centre then all he has is a Piercing Scanner and a strength upgrade. You would start with Archive Prism and Archive Banks for the holorig and 4-turn-cooldown econ chip, and then try to pick up Internationale and Dr. Xu from detention centres for their unique augments. But that doesn't single out On-File Decker as particularly bad amongst the 10 agents who aren't Archive Prism, Archive Banks, On-File Internationale and On-File Dr. Xu. That doesn't mean that those four are the best, never mind if they form the best team, just that the best unique abilities belong to them. (If you disagree with this ranking, substitute whichever four you think have the best unique abilities; they're clearly not all as good as each other, but balancing the game doesn't require them to be.)

[Caischcer 10]

I realise that my opinion is not shared by many (otherwise there wouldn't be a poll in this thread where every response requires agreeing Decker needs a buff), but I have stated it plus my reasons for it. 

 

Wow, wow. Everybody settle down. I did not mean to offend anyone with the poll, in fact I do admit that I assumed that EVERYONE  hated Decker as he is. I do respect the opinions of all people and I think everyone should be allowed to think whatever they want and have their own opinions. 

 

If I offended you warfreak2 please accept my apologies. I also edited the poll so that those who wish for Decker to stay as he is can express their opinion too.

 

I do respect your opinion warfreak2, but unfortunately I do not share your opinion as you said, and as Lemmonymous stated:

 

[...] I've tried having Decker as my Daemon identifier, but having to be next to the mainframe makes his ability very situational, and not a reliable tool, so you will need something else regardless. At which point you might as well not have Decker to begin with. His unreliability in detecting important Daemons is what makes the ability so lackluster in my opinion. If he could detect Daemons at a distance that would be a whole different matter. Sure he might become very strong; but strong and unique agents is what makes new playthroughs so fun. If all agents bring something special, choosing your two agents becomes more difficult and shapes your game in a bigger way. Not a bad thing I would say.

 

I also think that Decker's augment is a good pair of training wheels for the new players, but I did find myself forgetting about his ability quite a lot since I would concentrate on avoiding daemons and looking for the database to know which daemons were safe to trigger and when.

 

Lets just share our opinions on this topic and avoid fighting about a character (either defending it or attacking it) try to keep your suggestions neutral. I opened this topic so that the devs could hear our opinions and receive useful feedback if we are all arguing about "best", "too powerful" or "sucks" or whatever they won't be able to retrieve any useful data.

 

I would like to see (because I know there must be more) how many people share warfreak2's opinion and how many people don't. In the case most people feel Decker is ok as he is then I won't whine about it, there is no need to do that, and I encourage everybody to do that too in case that is what happens (you can't always have what you want besides you can mod your game if you wish to do that)

 

In case most people feel like Decker should be buffed I suggest we all politely and orderly ask Klei to do that. I am sure they will do it if we ask them nicely.

 

As I said please forgive me warfreak2 if I offended you.

[Lemonymous 4]

I play both story and endless, but in my experience if you get the first 5 days of Endless right then the rest is a cakewalk, and the starting items don't stop mattering until after that. If you don't want Decker on your team in the long term, you should still pick him up at a detention centre when you see him - kill him off later, if that's what floats your boat.

I realize we just have a very different experience and take on the game. I actually find it quite the opposite. Up til day ~5 is the calm before the storm. After firewalls go up too high, elite units become too frequent and daemons become commonplace, etc; that's when you get tested if you've managed to put together something viable to still handle the threat. Given this, it's no wonder we have so different opinions about what's balanced and what's not.

 

Still, if your main concern is getting the best unique stuff, surely Shalem is the short straw? If you find him in a detention centre then all he has is a Piercing Scanner and a strength upgrade. [...]

It's not that I really have a special main concern about unique stuff. Sure, I'd pick up Shalem for the piercing scanner. He makes an excellent gunner with Pierce x3, Anatomy Analysis, Hand Cannon for example. Pierce gives something to build upon. Armor 1 is very common for reinforcements as well. Just one pierce is great.

 

Anyways, I was just trying to argue about Decker, one of several agents I find somewhat subpar among the rest. Can't argue them all in a topic about Decker.

 

I respect that you don't share my view. I'm sorry if it seemed I attacked you and you had to defend yourself initially. That wasn't my intention.

 

 

About your poll Caischcer, I like both option 2 and 3.

 

2. Being able to peek for free seems very strong overall. Might have to nerf his cloak for that one.

 

3. A variant of this is what I think he should have. Either auto scan as he goes with a short radius, or once a turn scan with slightly larger radius. Single targetable with a decent range would be my favorite though.

[warfreak2 30]

"If I offended you warfreak2 please accept my apologies. I also edited the poll so that those who wish for Decker to stay as he is can express their opinion too."
 
Ha, I think you got the wrong end of the stick. Don't worry, I don't mind at all if my opinion is an option on the poll or not, I was just citing this as evidence that my opinion must be unpopular. In the grand scheme of things, having my vote counted on this online poll is not going to make a difference in my life (though from the number of posts I'm making in this thread, I might make it appear otherwise...)

With trollface mask firmly on, I note that the poll still has no "Decker needs a nerf" option...

 

 

"I respect that you don't share my view. I'm sorry if it seemed I attacked you and you had to defend yourself initially. That wasn't my intention."

 

Same goes, don't worry, you didn't offend me.

 

 

 

Regarding automatic scanning, one improvement I'd like to see is autoscan in adjacent tiles - there would be no strategic difference since scanning adjacent tiles is free already, but it would deal with those times you walk past a daemon and forget to scan it. It doesn't make sense for strategy games to offer choices (e.g. scan this adjacent device, or don't scan it) where one option is always obviously correct; the game should just make the correct choice without player intervention.

I guess then making the radius slightly larger wouldn't be a big deal, so long as it only discovers daemons on devices which are already known about, but it doesn't seem necessary to me.

[Caischcer 10]

With trollface mask firmly on, I note that the poll still has no "Decker needs a nerf" option...

 

 

don't say anything just have it...

[Caischcer 10]

"About your poll Caischcer, I like both option 2 and 3.

2. Being able to peek for free seems very strong overall. Might have to nerf his cloak for that one."

 

 

How about a 9 turn cd and the cloak keeps its stats? maybe even 10 cd, considering the fact it does not have the speed level requirement. by the way, why "speed"?? I miss the good old "stealth" 

[HMV 28]

by the way, why "speed"?? I miss the good old "stealth" 

Makes more sense. It's how fast they can go while remaining stealthy. "Stealth" does not imply they can go faster.

[Zafiro2jol 1]

Hello there !

 

I have to say Decker is not very valuable in the current version. This is why i've modded personnaly this agent to make it relevant.

One other thing is , I Think, Cloaks are just too good !

So i've made these changes :

 

Cloak I : 4 tiles invisible  7CD

Cloak II : invisibility 1 turn , 8CD

Cloak III :Invisibility 2 turn , 10CD

Decker Cloak : Invisibility 1turn , 5CD , can't be used by anyone but Decker .

 

So, yeah, it's a nerf on cloak AND a great buff on Decker.

I've played a lot, and i can assure you it is not broken.

 

 

For the Archived , it was tricky , i first tried the 6 hand gun beeing able to reload.

It was OK, but contradict with  the "invaluable and unique hand crafted ammo.

The +1  piercing and even  2, both on the weapon and augment, but it was like shalem11...

So, i've finally decided something odd ; the decker's handgun reload 1 ammo after every ended mission ; up to 6 ofc ; and shooting with it don't increase the alarme lvl. BUT it makes a lot of noise , like someone runing with a sound of 12 tiles radius !

 

[Caischcer 10]

One other thing is , I Think, Cloaks are just too good !

So i've made these changes :

 

Cloak I : 4 tiles invisible  7CD

Cloak II : invisibility 1 turn , 8CD

Cloak III :Invisibility 2 turn , 10CD

Decker Cloak : Invisibility 1turn , 5CD , can't be used by anyone but Decker .

 

So, yeah, it's a nerf on cloak AND a great buff on Decker.

I've played a lot, and i can assure you it is not broken.

 

I agree on you about cloaks. I have always felt like all cloaks need a rebalance specially cloak I and cloak III.

I mean 10 turns for a 4 tile invisibility you serious? and only 8 turns cd for a device that can potencially cloak your whole crew?!? It does not make sense. cloak I just outright kind of sucks and cloak III is OP and I mean freaking O dang P! 

 

I think that your rebalance of Decker's modded cloak would make his special cloak even more special and Decker too, but what about his augment? should it stay as it is? How about a visual accelerator + your rebalances on Decker's cloak and all other cloaks? Or maybe just extend his daemon uncover radius and rebalance all cloaks.

 

"So, i've finally decided something odd ; the decker's handgun reload 1 ammo after every ended mission ; up to 6 ofc ; and shooting with it don't increase the alarme lvl. BUT it makes a lot of noise , like someone runing with a sound of 12 tiles radius !"

 

I also like that idea, although I don't feel like archive Decker needs a buff as badly as on-file Decker. However I have a few questions. Is this version of Decker's revolver also exclusive to him (only he can use it?) this version makes sense even with the lore. the plasma gun's descriptions explains that normal guns are noisy, and that those are not in use since the gun powder would be quickly detecte by the security  sensors, but since this one uses a special plasma/solid bullet hybrid for ammo it would not trigger this alarms although it still uses an outdated mechanism so it would make sense it produces a lot of noise. 

 

All of this changes are good for Decker, but how do they relate to team synergy? It worries me that the changes on Decker's revolver would make Shalem 11 even more lackluster than he is now. Maybe archive Decker does not need the buff. I am thinking shalem could be buffed by giving him an augment that ignores all armor at the cost of Action Points, but a whole lot of AP. like 6 AP for +1 armor piercing or maybe 8 AP for +1 armor piercing. 

 

This would mean he would be less mobile but it also means that having enough AP can substitute for piercing scanners in the case of shalem 11.

 

The other option I have in mind is to just give him an augment that costs less power to kill silently. It would make sense considering he is an experienced sharp shooter not any kind of sniper. This would be at the cost of loosing his +2 armor piercing. his rifle would keep +1 armor piercing but instead of getting a piercing scanner he would get a -2 PWR (or -1 PWR) anatomy analysis.

 

Or even better give him an anatomy analysis (anatomy analysis 2.0) that consumes the normal amount of PWR but it also is the only anatomy analysis in the game capable of ignoring heart monitor 2.0 even if meleeing. this would make shalem excellent for long run endless games.  

[Lemonymous 4]

 

"About your poll Caischcer, I like both option 2 and 3.

2. Being able to peek for free seems very strong overall. Might have to nerf his cloak for that one."

 

 

How about a 9 turn cd and the cloak keeps its stats? maybe even 10 cd, considering the fact it does not have the speed level requirement. by the way, why "speed"?? I miss the good old "stealth" 

 

Actually, for story mode it's just fine. With the limited time you won't get to the critical mass where things start getting super powerful anyways.

 

Regarding your cloak discussion, I think cloak only becomes overpowered once you get enough AP to take full use of it. With high AP, your ability to ignore both cameras and guards allows you to see just about everything from the very beginning, with confidence you will find a spot to rest in once the cloak runs out. I think maybe guards should react slightly to having a blur pass through their visibility cone. Just like they react when they hear someone running or step into their peripheral vision. Or maybe have cloaks require charge packs after every use, to prevent it from being something you can use over and over again without cost.

 

I don't know though. Seeing as the game is balanced with mostly story mode in mind, nothing is really broken, so I don't expect any change.

[Shirsh 129]

It's not broken, and as starting characters Decker and Shalem are cool. But something really special (ok, Decker's aug is special, just not useful because of Daemon Databases everywhere) could be something really special. Actually I like current Decker's augment, I just have no need to use it at all.

[Caischcer 10]

Actually I like current Decker's augment, I just have no need to use it at all.

 

I also really like it, and although I gave several different suggestions on how to balance Decker I am still a very conservative Decker user. I mainly support balances that are very similar to what decker originally had, like visual accelerator (which I consider an upgraded joint augment, remember the +1 movement points augment? well how about that but saving the movement points from peeking) or the daemon signature base (which is his same exact augment he currently has, but combined with internationale's wireless range)

 

I would like Decker to have a special ability that is usable and practical.

[Kuirem 231]

1. Dah joint, dah holy joint! (bootleg joint or black market joint)

 

I really like the idea of sprint doing less noise because it has advantage and disadvantage. It is harder to get guards attention which can play against you. It seems also quite fit with his Archive Augment, like he use to be hot-headed and keep getting attention and while getting older he learn to be more careful.

 

2. This guys are amateurs (visual acceletator)

 

Interesting idea but too strong. Maybe give him only one or two free Observe per turn. Or a special Peak with a cooldown that will also Observe all visible guards.

 

3. I hate daemons (digital signature bank) 

 

So an increased version of his current augment. I would probably not give him detection on non-discovered device though.

 

4. Let's just get through it (installation inhibitor or virtual environment) 

 

Some kind of opposite Modded MKI. I like the idea but I would see it more on some kind of hacker character

 

5. And change your password next time! (protocol override)

 

My favorite! It is still a "hacker" thingy but more fitted for Decker because of how dumb the idea is. Maybe he could also finish the solitary game while at it.

 

6. I don't like augments, really (Adaptive physiology)

 

Probably +1 AP per two augments. Sharp already fill the role of Agents you want to augment asap, I would rather have Decker fill a more original role.

 

7. Give me your items and get moving! (light frame)

 

I rarely get uncumbered so I see it just as a +2 AP.