Looking for agent ideas to round out a set

[Yitzi]

I've come up with some ideas for modifications to the existing agents, but have decided to remove Rush and Draco (they seem to have been captured in the Istanbul Run and executed), and am wondering if anyone here has ideas for replacements (with on-file and archive versions).  Already-posted new agents are possible (and even preferable), if they fit the general principles of the agent mod.  Said principles are:

1. Every agent should have something game-changing that they alone can do, and gives them a role in your team.  So weak abilities like Decker and Shalem get significant boosts, and passive abilities like archive Internationale and on-file Prism are changed so that they require specific actions from that agent.

2. No abilities should encourage combat; the role of combatant abilities is to make combat more feasible when necessary, but never actually desirable.  In particular, archive Nika and Olivia are completely redone.

3. Unique character items should not be the primary draw of the agent, except when that is their main ability (i.e. Derek, Archive Prism).

So I'm wondering what would be some good ideas for on-file and archive versions of agents that fit those conditions?

 

[PrismaticPhoton]

I'm not entirely sure what you're trying to accomplish. Are you trying to rebalance the game or do you just have a personal vision of the game you want to try and implement? The bullet points in and of themselves seem to present restrictions without much explanation as to why one might want to adhere to them.

[SteelCrow]

Sounds like a Mod Compilation mod that reuses art assets as much as possible while still overhauling the agents, which I understand.  I feel inadequate making simple icons for programs.  Are you interested in making original agents, then?  Shirsh should have good advice on making art, and I thought of an agent idea recently I'm not sure I'll pursue, if you want that.

[Yitzi]

7 hours ago, PrismaticPhoton said:

I'm not entirely sure what you're trying to accomplish. Are you trying to rebalance the game or do you just have a personal vision of the game you want to try and implement? The bullet points in and of themselves seem to present restrictions without much explanation as to why one might want to adhere to them.

Sorry I wasn't clear about that.  It's mainly for a personal vision, #1 and #3 are not so much of the game as a whole, but just to make things more interesting by giving each agent a role.  (If you're playing with standard Prism and Central, for instance, that will certainly affect your overall strategy, but you won't decide to particularly have one of them rather than the other do a certain action, since both of their abilities are passive.)  #2 is of making it more of a stealth game (toward which I also have some other ideas, most notably additional alarm effects past level 6).

4 hours ago, SteelCrow said:

Sounds like a Mod Compilation mod that reuses art assets as much as possible while still overhauling the agents, which I understand.  I feel inadequate making simple icons for programs.  Are you interested in making original agents, then?  Shirsh should have good advice on making art, and I thought of an agent idea recently I'm not sure I'll pursue, if you want that.

I'd be happy to hear your agent idea, particularly if it would pair well (as an archive/on file pair) with something else.  My own artistic ability is so weak that I'd rather get someone else to help with that if at all possible, but if I need to do it myself, I'll make sure to ask Shirsh for advice.

[Yitzi]

I've been looking over the new agents already posted, and I think Mist will work fairly well here.  Of course she'd need an archive version (perhaps to keep up with the psi theme a good ability might be pickpocketing at range).

[SteelCrow]

2 hours ago, Yitzi said:

I'd be happy to hear your agent idea, particularly if it would pair well (as an archive/on file pair) with something else.

An agent that specializes in Paralyzers and poison/venom.  You may not like it, since using a Paralyzer means a guard has already been attacked.

Paralyzer specialist: A bio-scientist on the run after escaping from research confinement developing top-secret bio-agents.  S/he has put biochemical knowledge to use thwarting pursuers who would cage his/her genius in a Corporate lab.  Anarchy Skill +1.

OnFile:

• When pinning a KO'd guard, the guard's KO count increases by 1 at the end of each turn.  Agent has -1 KO to melee attack.
• Also starts with a Shock Trap 1 and a gun that KO's for 1 turn on 3 turn cooldown.
• This version operates slowly and methodically, setting snares and ambushes like a spider.  Drag bodies around to help maintain pins.

Archive:

• Once per turn, using any Paralyzer item decreases all of "Paralyzer specialist"s item cooldowns by 1.
• Also starts with a Neural Disruptor and Paralyzer 1.
• This version injects venom into foes who get in the way, and hastens on to objectives.  Mobile and flighty like a wasp.

I got the idea after realizing that Banks has no proper reason to have a Paralyzer.  A Buster Chip makes more sense for her OnFile version.  Or I'm just biased.  Anyway, no agents currently have any strong connection with the item set, so these two interpretations popped into my mind.

Slash and bash as you like, this is a theorycrafting mock-up.

[PrismaticPhoton]

6 minutes ago, SteelCrow said:

OnFile:

• When pinning a KO'd guard, the guard's KO count increases by 1 each turn.  Agent has -1 KO to melee attack.
• Also starts with a Shock Trap 1 and a gun that KO's for 1 turn on 3 turn cooldown.
• This version operates slowly and methodically, setting snares and ambushes like a spider.  Drag bodies around to help maintain pins.

Oh hey, I actually coded a "pinning" skill (you generated power each turn you were pinning instead of increasing KO.) I could let you look at the ability code if you wanted. That being said, I moved on from the idea pretty quickly: I felt like "pinning" was a bit to situational and passive, meaning you might have to go out of your way (or rather remain inactive) more than you usually would when playing.

1 hour ago, SteelCrow said:

I got the idea after realizing that Banks has no proper reason to have a Paralyzer.  A Buster Chip makes more sense for her OnFile version.  Or I'm just biased.  Anyway, no agents currently have any strong connection with the item set, so these two interpretations popped into my mind.

Actually, the paralyzer is one of my favorite things about Banks, especially since its a tier 2. Combined with her augment, I can play gutsy right off the bat: if I'm forced to make an early KO, I can just hit them with the paralyzer. To me, she's an aggressive, ground-covering agent.

My thoughts, anyway.

[Yitzi]

On 4/25/2017 at 10:29 PM, SteelCrow said:

An agent that specializes in Paralyzers and poison/venom.  You may not like it, since using a Paralyzer means a guard has already been attacked.

Paralyzer specialist: A bio-scientist on the run after escaping from research confinement developing top-secret bio-agents.  S/he has put biochemical knowledge to use thwarting pursuers who would cage his/her genius in a Corporate lab.  Anarchy Skill +1.

OnFile:

• When pinning a KO'd guard, the guard's KO count increases by 1 at the end of each turn.  Agent has -1 KO to melee attack.
• Also starts with a Shock Trap 1 and a gun that KO's for 1 turn on 3 turn cooldown.
• This version operates slowly and methodically, setting snares and ambushes like a spider.  Drag bodies around to help maintain pins.

Archive:

• Once per turn, using any Paralyzer item decreases all of "Paralyzer specialist"s item cooldowns by 1.
• Also starts with a Neural Disruptor and Paralyzer 1.
• This version injects venom into foes who get in the way, and hastens on to objectives.  Mobile and flighty like a wasp.

I got the idea after realizing that Banks has no proper reason to have a Paralyzer.  A Buster Chip makes more sense for her OnFile version.  Or I'm just biased.  Anyway, no agents currently have any strong connection with the item set, so these two interpretations popped into my mind.

Slash and bash as you like, this is a theorycrafting mock-up.

Paralyzers is actually an interesting one; my issue isn't with there being combat, but rather with it being a viable overall strategy.

That said, having reduced cooldown for all items on using a paralyzer does get a bit too far into "reward combat" territory.  +1 KO on a pin is certainly interesting, but it overlaps too much with the role of the new archive Nika (see below) and is slow in a game that I'm trying to make more fast-paced in several ways.  However, an interesting idea along those lines might be to have:

-Both have a starting strength bonus, to help with dragging bodies.

-The on-file version specializes in nonlethal ranged weapons (D.A.R.T.'s).  When using one on a K.O.'d target he adds its KO value to the existing one rather than replacing (like a paralyzer), and he has an ability (3 turn cooldown, costs 3 power) that can act as a charge pack (but with more cooldown reduction) for nonlethal ranged weapons only.  He begins with a riot D.A.R.T.

-The archive version gets something like +2 to paralyzer cooldown, +2 to KO bonus, and the ability to use strength instead of anarchy for paralyzer requirements.  He starts with a disruptor and a custom paralyzer (works like a paralyzer 1, except 1 lower cooldown).  The increased cooldown would mean he's not that amazing at using paralyzers to keep a lot of targets down, but 2 extra turns to run away can be a big deal.

Since the basic idea was yours, I would like to invite you to name him/her.

So I think my full set of 12X2 (including a last-minute change to archive Mist) will then be:

1. Decker.  Augment allows him to scan a daemon (or scan any device when Mask is on, but there's no effect unless a daemon is present); this immediately rolls for reversal at a 5% bonus (if it does not reverse, it cannot be reversed on installation), and then shows the daemon or reversed daemon.  Begins with level 2 speed, a neural disruptor, and a modified cloaking device (lasts only 4 spaces, but has only 8 cooldown).

1a. Archive Decker.  Augment allows him to move into the direct vision of an unalerted guard without alerting that guard (or putting him on overwatch, though he does notice.)  If he moves from one direct-vision space into another or is in a direct-vision space on the corp's turn, the guard alerts (and enters overwatch) as normal.  Begins with level 2 speed and a neural disruptor (no gun).

Motivation: As it was, Decker's ability in both forms was quite weak (though the original archive version's ability was good for pulling guards out of position), and his starting equipment quite strong, making it desirable to give his equipment to someone else and leave him without a role.  This way, he has a solid role, and his equipment is weaker.

2. Internationale.  She is unchanged from the original.

2a. Archive Internationale.  Each alarm level, that number of used consoles (i.e. one random used console at alarm 1, 2 at alarm 2, etc.) become semi-available: They can only be used by Internationale using her augment.  (This precludes using other chips).  Begins with level 2 hacking and a disruptor, just like originally.

Motivation: This way, she has a role that requires her to do more than just be conscious.  In return, the potential payoff is significantly larger, since with maxed Hacking a single console can give far more than 2 PWR.

3. Shalem.  His augment has two effects: It can pierce armor (any amount) with any ranged weapon, and avoids alarm increases on a kill (except for OMNI harbingers).  However, it costs 2 PWR per armor pierced with a discount of 3 if the alarm increase is not avoided (if there is either insufficient power, or it was a nonlethal weapon).  He begins with level 2 strength, the Desert Eagle, and a (normal) neural disruptor.

3a. Archive Shalem.  His augment (yes, he has an augment now) also has two effects: It can pierce armor (up to 7) with any lethal weapon, and (regardless of whether there is armor) said weapon instead does KO equal to 15 minus twice the armor pierced.  Begins with level 2 strength, the Desert Eagle, and a neural disruptor.

Motivation: Shalem was also fairly weak due to the many weaknesses of most ranged weapons (and killing in particular); this removes at least some of them.  It is interesting to compare their effects; the on-file version provides a more permanent solution (though even the archive version should be enough in most cases), but the archive version (heavily inspired by the flavor text) avoids cleanup costs as well as enforcer respawns.  His focus on permanent or semi-permanent removal of obstacles at a significant cost (lethal damage isn't cheap) lets him be useful without turning the game into a combat-focused one.

4. Banks.  Her augment allows her to unlock and re-lock security doors.  She begins with level 2 anarchy, a neural disruptor and an accelerator chip 1.

Motivation: Anarchy made her ability significantly less useful; the ability to re-lock security doors makes for a lot of interesting strategic possibilities.  While it is possible to keep enemies in a loop this way (already possible, if not to the same extent, by using K&O laser beams), the clock is ticking (and, as mentioned above, I also plan for additional alarm effects past 6).

4a. Archive Banks: She can use Anarchy instead of Hacking when using econ chips.  Begins with level 2 anarchy, a neural D.A.R.T., and a customized econ chip (4 cooldown instead of 5).  Note: I also intend to provide a nerf for econ chips, with the effect that each time you turn a PWR into credits, all future PWR on that level provides 1 fewer credits (so the first PWR would be worth 50 credits, the second 49, and so on; this will leave econ chips useful without letting them get quite so strong).

5. Xu.  Unchanged from the original version.

5a. Archive Xu.  Also unchanged from the original version.

6. Nika.  Her augment has no effect until activated.  Upon activation, it installs the positive daemon Adrenaline (duration 3) that grants Nika several significant bonuses: She can attack an unlimited number of times each round.  She gets +3 movement each time she attacks.  Finally, if shot, she does not die, but it sets the daemon's duration to 1.  When the daemon expires, she is immediately KO'd for the remainder of the mission.  Begins with her special volt disruptor.

Motivation: When using the original Nika, the game tends to turn from a stealth-based one into a combat-based one.  By limiting her to 3 turns of action, this is prevented, while keeping her very useful for saving the mission when everything goes wrong.

6a. Archive Nika: Her augment can be used as a weapon, dealing 2 KO damage (subject to all the normal modifiers to melee KO damage) with no cooldown or PWR cost (though it does take her attack).  When she achieves 3 strength this weapon gets AP 1, and at 5 strength it gets AP 2.  She begins with no items.

Motivation: Another take on the brawler, this version of Nika is good for keeping targets down, and always being ready in an emergency.

7. Sharpe.  Unchanged from the original version, simply because augments+combat focus fits the character so well.

7a. Archive Sharpe.  Also unchanged from the original version.

8. Prism.  She has a chance to generate PWR each time a firewall is taken down, rather than only when a device is fully hacked, but the chance is inversely proportional to her distance from the device: If next to or on it, it's 100%, but at 2 spaces away it's 50%, at 3 it's 33%, and so on.  She begins with Anarchy level 2, a neural disruptor, and a custom buster chip (requires Anarchy 2, breaks 2 firewalls at a cooldown of 4).

Motivation: Same as Archive Internationale.  Her role now requires her to actively support it, but in such case it can be stronger, and the buster chip complements it well.

8a. Archive Prism.  Unchanged from the original version, except that now she begins with 2 augment slots like everybody else.  Of note: When playing with rescuable archive agents, she should start with her holo mesh when rescued.

9. Central.  Her augment now allows her to get 50% more credits when pickpocketing guards.  As before, begins with Anarchy 3 and a neural disruptor.  If, in any mission, Central dies and is not recovered, you lose the campaign.

Motivation: As Archive Internationale, I wanted a role that requires active support, but that would not compete with her special role in the last level.  Complementing her Anarchy bonus was a natural choice.  As an extra bonus, this will make the last level harder (since you're not getting oodles of PWR from the many daemons), allowing "prepare for the last level" to be that much more of a driving force.

9a. Archive Central (uses Olivia's graphics).  Her augment uses the original Central augment's flavor text, but with a different effect: If next to (or on) a device with a Daemon, she can attempt to hack the daemon, reversing it at a 5% bonus.  Whether successful or not, it is then installed (and removed from the device; the device is not hacked), and grants 3 PWR to Incognita and 2 movement to Central; it also restores 1 cooldown on all of her items.  Archive Central has all the special rules of Central: You lose the campaign if she dies, and she plays the special role of Central in the last mission; as a bonus, she can use Incognita's chip to use her augment with any visible daemon on the map.

Motivation: "Get benefits from daemons" really is a fun idea; it just needed to be made more active except on the final level.

10. Monst3r.  His augment lets him get an 15% discount when buying items or programs, and sell items back to nanofabs and programs back to servers at 80% of their value in store credit.  (Any unused store credit is turned into credits at a 5/8 ratio when the nanofab is closed.)  If he is on your team and he has an item for sale between missions, every item sold to him also decreases the cost of the for-sale item by 30% of the sold item's base cost (to a minimum of half the base cost of the item Monst3r is selling).  Like Central, you lose the campaign if he ever dies.  On the second CP level, he is the only one who can activate the door guarding the macguffin.

Motivation: A nanofab discount is a good role for Mont3r, since it's usually less important on the last level, but it was simply too weak as it was, so these are some boosts.

10a. Archive Monst3r.  Unchanged from the original Derek, except that he has Monst3r's special rules (lose the campaign if he dies, special role on the last level and the second CP level.)

11. Mist. Augment works as Shirsh's version.  Begins with speed level 2, a neural disruptor, and a stim level 1.

11a. Archive Mist. Her augment is a sensory rig: Peeking costs no AP, observing costs no AP for units she can see personally, and 0.5 AP for units she can't see personally (e.g. they're seen by cameras or drones, or are tagged; I'm planning to also nerf tag so that it gives vision of the target but not their path).  Begins with speed level 2 and a tag gun (no other weapons).

12. (Name TBD). Augment passively allows him to add D.A.R.T. KO to any existing KO, and can be actively used (3 turn cooldown, 3 PWR) to restore the charges on a D.A.R.T. or reduce its remaining cooldown by 5.  Begins with strength level 2 and a riot D.A.R.T.

12a (archive version).  Augment increases paralyzer cooldown by 2, but gives it +2 to KO, and lets him fulfill its requirement with strength instead of anarchy.  Starts with a disruptor and custom paralyzer (2 KO, 5 cooldown).

So I'm interested in a name for the paralyzer specialist, and if anybody is interested in making the graphics for archive Mist and both versions of the paralyzer specialist, that would be appreciated.

[SteelCrow]

That was a long dense read.

9 hours ago, Yitzi said:

Paralyzers is actually an interesting one; my issue isn't with there being combat, but rather with it being a viable overall strategy.

That said, having reduced cooldown for all items on using a paralyzer does get a bit too far into "reward combat" territory.  +1 KO on a pin is certainly interesting, but it overlaps too much with the role of the new archive Nika (see below) and is slow in a game that I'm trying to make more fast-paced in several ways.  However, an interesting idea along those lines might be to have:

-Both have a starting strength bonus, to help with dragging bodies.

-The on-file version specializes in nonlethal ranged weapons (D.A.R.T.'s).  When using one on a K.O.'d target he adds its KO value to the existing one rather than replacing (like a paralyzer), and he has an ability (3 turn cooldown, costs 3 power) that can act as a charge pack (but with more cooldown reduction) for nonlethal ranged weapons only.  He begins with a riot D.A.R.T.

-The archive version gets something like +2 to paralyzer cooldown, +2 to KO bonus, and the ability to use strength instead of anarchy for paralyzer requirements.  He starts with a disruptor and a custom paralyzer (works like a paralyzer 1, except 1 lower cooldown).  The increased cooldown would mean he's not that amazing at using paralyzers to keep a lot of targets down, but 2 extra turns to run away can be a big deal.

Since the basic idea was yours, I would like to invite you to name him/her.

Huh... names.  They are hard for me.  Unless I find one I strongly resonate with, I typically name characters based on their role.  I thought of one I like, but first, I have more description in mind:

I think of the agent as male, with a mad scientist look: tall, thin, lanky physique, intense eyes, simple, low-maintenance hair (probably cut short), and long light-toned coat (not quite a typical white lab coat, but close to it, probably tan) with lots of hidden pockets.  He has prowess at evading capture, so he needs practical traveling clothes.  I think of his OnFile version as an older man with white or gray hair, and his Archive as a younger version with brown or blonde hair.

Code Name: I want something simple, memorable, powerful, with a venomous connotation.  I could go with the commonly used "Viper", but I like the Latin name for wasps/hornets: "Vespa", changed to "Vespen" or shortened to "Ves". 

Real name: can be anything, but Allen sounds good to me.

A scientist guy having a Strength bonus sounded bizarre to me at first, but if his Paralyzers don't require Anarchy, it solves a lot of problems.  Maybe that can add to a mad scientist mystique: He gets his strength, THROUGH SCIENCE!  A thin, wiry body should feel more alien and threatening that way, I like it   >=]   The vision I'm getting now reminds me of General Grievous from Star Wars.

OnFile: I like the DART "ranged Paralyzers" a lot.  It's a much less passive loadout than I had in mind, and that reloader should scale nicely at all stages of the game (plus shooting and overwatch can be done while pinning!).  It could convince me to finally use ranged weapons.  My only issue is I don't see how it can work without both an augment - make DARTs stack KO values - and exclusive item - to recharge DARTs (and Paralyzers?).  I don't see the augment passive as strong enough to warrant a whole augment slot.  If the two can be combined, then I recommend starting him with a Neural DART to balance.

Archive: I'm not convinced a buff to Paralyzers needs more cooldown time to balance it.  I can see the intent to focus knockout power onto one target and move on to other things, but I would just +1 KO time to all Paralyzers.  That and his starting Paralyzer should be an easy buff/nerf balancing call later on.  Otherwise, these loadouts are looking good!

Quote

So I think my full set of 12X2 (including a last-minute change to archive Mist) will then be:

[cut]

These are a lot of interesting and ambitious changes. I will likely take some of these and mix them into my personal mod folder.  Here is feedback:

Spoiler

Quote

1. Decker.  ...  this immediately rolls for reversal at a 5% bonus (if it does not reverse, it cannot be reversed on installation), and then shows the daemon or reversed daemon.

I don't think this caveat is needed: "(if it does not reverse, it cannot be reversed on installation)".  5% is a modest bonus.  Allowing the daemon to reverse afterwards shouldn't skew balance, in my opinion.  Decker's vanilla augment is just that weak, lol!

Quote

3. Shalem.

3a. Archive Shalem.

OnFile sounds really insane if PWR is abundant.  Don't forget to subtract whatever armor pierce Shalem and his weapon(s) have from those calculations.

Quote

10. Monst3r.  His augment lets him get an 85% discount when buying items or programs, and sell items back to nanofabs and programs back to servers at 80% of their value in store credit.  (Any unused store credit is turned into credits at a 5/8 ratio when the nanofab is closed.)  If he is on your team and he has an item for sale between missions, every item sold to him also decreases the cost of the for-sale item by 30% of the sold item's base cost (to a minimum of half the base cost of the item Monst3r is selling).  Like Central, you lose the campaign if he ever dies.  On the second CP level, he is the only one who can activate the door guarding the macguffin.

Do you mean that a Neural Disruptor 1 would cost 500*0.15=75CR, and when I sell it back I'll get 500*0.8=400CR back to use in that shop?  I know that sounds silly, I just want to be sure.  A bonus for selling items is already an excellent improvement.  I think extending the same benefits in the program shop could be an ability for a completely new agent.  Now, his gun, I would sell off immediately...

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I'm planning to also nerf tag so that it gives vision of the target but not their path

My first thought was two different kinds of tags.  The TAG Pistol is another of my favorite items: I always buy one if my team doesn't have one already.  I think Klei underestimates how amazing it is to know where an alerted guard will wander to.  So I agree that Tags are a little too powerful.

[SteelCrow]

On 4/25/2017 at 8:45 PM, PrismaticPhoton said:

Oh hey, I actually coded a "pinning" skill (you generated power each turn you were pinning instead of increasing KO.) I could let you look at the ability code if you wanted. That being said, I moved on from the idea pretty quickly: I felt like "pinning" was a bit to situational and passive, meaning you might have to go out of your way (or rather remain inactive) more than you usually would when playing.

I would like that.  The idea is very interesting even if it's not practical.

Quote

I can play gutsy right off the bat

This is why I think it's not a good fit for her, especially lore-wise.  She's described as a "Robin Hood" with genius for breaking into finance accounts.  To me that means vault and database infiltration, avoiding combat at all times possible.

My paralyzer specialist "Ves" (pending for acceptance/ my getting used to it) is turning out to be highly combative.  I prefer to focus characters on certain roles, rather than generalists who can do everything.

[Yitzi]

19 minutes ago, SteelCrow said:

That was a long dense read.

Huh... names.  They are hard for me.  Unless I find one I strongly resonate with, I typically name characters based on their role.  I thought of one I like, but first, I have more description in mind:

I think of the agent as male, with a mad scientist look: tall, thin, lanky physique, intense eyes, simple, low-maintenance hair (probably cut short), and long light-toned coat (not quite a typical white lab coat, but close to it, probably tan) with lots of hidden pockets.  He has prowess at evading capture, so he needs practical traveling clothes.  I think of his OnFile version as an older man with white or gray hair, and his Archive as a younger version with brown or blonde hair.

Code Name: I want something simple, memorable, powerful, with a venomous connotation.  I could go with the commonly used "Viper", but I like the Latin name for wasps/hornets: "Vespa", changed to "Vespen" or shortened to "Ves". 

Real name: can be anything, but Allen sounds good to me.

A scientist guy having a Strength bonus sounded bizarre to me at first, but if his Paralyzers don't require Anarchy, it solves a lot of problems.  Maybe that can add to a mad scientist mystique: He gets his strength, THROUGH SCIENCE!  A thin, wiry body should feel more alien and threatening that way, I like it   >=]   The vision I'm getting now reminds me of General Grievous from Star Wars.

OnFile: I like the DART "ranged Paralyzers" a lot.  It's a much less passive loadout than I had in mind, and that reloader should scale nicely at all stages of the game (plus shooting and overwatch can be done while pinning!).  It could convince me to finally use ranged weapons.  My only issue is I don't see how it can work without both an augment - make DARTs stack KO values - and exclusive item - to recharge DARTs (and Paralyzers?).  I don't see the augment passive as strong enough to warrant a whole augment slot.  If the two can be combined, then I recommend starting him with a Neural DART to balance.

Archive: I'm not convinced a buff to Paralyzers needs more cooldown time to balance it.  I can see the intent to focus knockout power onto one target and move on to other things, but I would just +1 KO time to all Paralyzers.  That and his starting Paralyzer should be an easy buff/nerf balancing call later on.  Otherwise, these loadouts are looking good!

These are a lot of interesting and ambitious changes. I will likely take some of these and mix them into my personal mod folder.  Here is feedback:

  Reveal hidden contents

I don't think this caveat is needed: "(if it does not reverse, it cannot be reversed on installation)".  5% is a modest bonus.  Allowing the daemon to reverse afterwards shouldn't skew balance, in my opinion.  Decker's vanilla augment is just that weak, lol!

OnFile sounds really insane if PWR is abundant.  Don't forget to subtract whatever armor pierce Shalem and his weapon(s) have from those calculations.

Do you mean that a Neural Disruptor 1 would cost 500*0.15=75CR, and when I sell it back I'll get 500*0.8=400CR back to use in that shop?  I know that sounds silly, I just want to be sure.  A bonus for selling items is already an excellent improvement.  I think extending the same benefits in the program shop could be an ability for a completely new agent.  Now, his gun, I would sell off immediately...

My first thought was two different kinds of tags.  The TAG Pistol is another of my favorite items: I always buy one if my team doesn't have one already.  I think Klei underestimates how amazing it is to know where an alerted guard will wander to.  So I agree that Tags are a little too powerful.

On-file Ves: The idea was indeed to combine them as a single augment.  And often starting items are a bit above baseline, hence riot D.A.R.T.  I don't think it's significantly stronger than many other items, particularly since D.A.R.T.'s of all types are limited to 2 KO with no ability to boost them.

Archive Ves: The increase to cooldown isn't so much to balance, as to discourage it from being used for getting the run of the place; it's more to make sure that if you do need to knock someone out, it's longer until the consequences catch up with you.

As for the other feedback:

On-file Decker: The issue isn't so much balance as that letting it make another reverse attempt doesn't fit my image of how the ability plays (in particular, that it lets you find the daemons that will reverse, and install them when you can best use the bonus, and conversely know when something won't reverse and plan accordingly; he's more about information than daemon control).  If he is underpowered with the caveat (possible, though a 5% bonus is enough to make Brimstone feasible) I'd rather boost the bonus instead.

On-file Shalem: If PWR is super-abundant he can get good at piercing armor...but there aren't that many enemies with such high armor that it becomes ridiculous (ammo is still more of a limiting factor).  And of course pierce from other sources would be subtracted, just like for thermal disruptors (a major inspiration for this).

On-file Monst3r: No, I accidentally typed 85% discount when I meant 85% cost (15% discount) like he already has.  Fixed.  And I'm not so sure I'd agree about his gun; it is one of the few sources of armor piercing 3.

[PrismaticPhoton]

1 hour ago, SteelCrow said:

I would like that.  The idea is very interesting even if it's not practical.

Here you go. Shouldn't be too hard to retrofit it to your needs, methinks:

Spoiler

local AUGMENT_TXT_COLOR = {r=255/255,g=255/255,b=51/255,a=1 }

local pinCPU =
{
    name = STRINGS.TEST_MOD.ITEMS.TEST_AUG,
    cpuBonus = 2,
    
    getName = function( self, sim, unit )
        return self.name
    end,
    
    onSpawnAbility = function( self, sim, unit )
        self.abilityOwner = unit
        sim:addTrigger( simdefs.TRG_START_TURN, self )
    end,
        
    onDespawnAbility = function( self, sim, unit )
        sim:removeTrigger( simdefs.TRG_START_TURN, self )
        self.abilityOwner = nil
    end,

    onTrigger = function( self, sim, evType, evData )
        if evType == simdefs.TRG_START_TURN and evData:isPC() then
            local x0, y0 = self.abilityOwner:getLocation()
            
            --This part is actually ripped from the simquery:isUnitPinning() function, but adds the stipulation of the pinned target not being a drone (KO immune)
            local cell = sim:getCell( self.abilityOwner:getLocation() )
            if cell then
                for i, cellUnit in ipairs(cell.units) do
                    --if simquery.isUnitPinning(sim, self.abilityOwner) then
                    if cellUnit:isKO() and not cellUnit:isDead() and not cellUnit:getTraits().isDrone and simquery.isEnemyAgent( self.abilityOwner:getPlayerOwner(), cellUnit ) then
                        self.abilityOwner:getPlayerOwner():addCPUs( self.cpuBonus )                    
                        sim:dispatchEvent( simdefs.EV_UNIT_FLOAT_TXT, { unit = self.abilityOwner , txt=self.name, x=x0,y=y0,color=AUGMENT_TXT_COLOR } )
                        
                        sim:dispatchEvent( simdefs.EV_UNIT_REFRESH, { unit = self.abilityOwner } )
                    end
                end
            end
        end
    end,
}

return pinCPU