Agent Alone: Challenge Playstyle; Proven As Well


  

9 members have voted

  1. 1. How does this challenge apply to you?

    • I love it! The thrill of taking down corps as a one man army/Bond agent is great!
      5
    • It was tough, but I made it. There were times I felt like I was playing Mission:Impossible the Game almost. Almost ;)
      3
    • It was too easy, if anything MORE agents made missions harder. (Please comment why!)
      1
    • Are you insane? I barely beat the game as is! =S You must be great at the game! ;P
      0


Recommended Posts

Hi I just joined to post my experiences with this game, I love the tactics soooo much and cannot wait for the update. <3

So I watched the Yogscast highlight this game, then streamers that played it, then started actually playing. Experienced first, then Expert, then Endless (still on day 6, got bored). Then I decided to do something as a challenge run, and my idea was Agent Alone, and here are the rules I've made so far:

 

  • Pick an agent to effectively solo the story mode, and a second that will hand over their starting gear.
  • First mission you kill off your second agent BEFORE the first leaves (for some people having the first agent leave while the second is still alive forces a retire, not sure I haven't had it happen yet).
  • The second agent CANNOT leave the starting room, unless it is to force a guard's attention to get him killed, for above reason. You're free to run them in circles in the starting room, pin guards, etc., as long as they do not leave. (This was due to how difficult the first mission may be based on your agents of choice, if it bothers anyone then make your own limitation to the second agent's abilities)
  • Over the course of the campaign you CANNOT have anyone join you from Detention Centers. You're free to go there and even let them out to help you that mission, but they MUST die before you finish.

 

OPTIONAL (for added challenge mostly)

  • Do not use Archive Banks' Econ Chip or On-File Decker's Cloak. You can start with these characters or pass on their items, but they MUST be sold and not used, even once.
  • Score your run based on the number of safes opened total per mission per day. For standard Expert/Endless, 5 safes spawn per level. So if you had 3 missions each day in Expert (not counting Day 4) and you missed a safe each mission in Day 1 then your score would be 42/45. This rule bonus could also apply to other events (guards KO'd per level, number of distractions/overwatches, etc.)
  • Don't increase the skills of a character AT ALL. This could apply to all skills or only Strength. (Thanks to Leobarreiros for suggestion ^-^) 

 

If there's any more rules to be added hopefully I'll edit this post. I decided to finally mention this challenge as I have just finished my second run, maybe toss some ideas and strategy talk around, because I love to hear it. ^-^ I'm not entirely sure what else to post for screenshots yet, just wanted to at least get screenshots to show the agents about to be/in OMNI.

 

Also both runs are saved locally as I disabled cloud saves in the config so if needed to I could back them up, mostly for proof/screenshots, but also in case I flubbed it and wanted a re-try without starting over.

I'm pleased to say neither were ever re-loaded from backup, so both totally legit ^-^ whether you believe me or not haha.

 

The Blonde Flash and her sidekick, Shock Buddy

xHJevOt.png

First run was with Nika/Decker/Fusion/Parasite, as I wanted to really get the most out of her augment. I tried a couple times with Xu but kept being reckless and failing, so switched to the cloak for that lovely fallback plan, despite not immediately able to use it. Day 1 was the toughest missions aside from final, as initial use of disabling guards for AP meant interesting double-backing around agitated guards. Third mission Predictive Brawling was on the nano-fab, picked it up and never looked back. Her starting volt was easily the mvp item paired with her augments, as keeping a 'shock buddy' around with smart power and time management meant essentially 3 turns every turn.

Her true shining moment (and my incredible screw-ups) was in final as things were going smoothly, aside from being forced to trip a daemon laser grid, until the moment the security hub was finished and I ran Monst3r straight into the shock trap I put there just in case. So Nika bravely carried him and her shock buddy, weaving between patrols to get to the mainframe lock. I didn't get off of him enough to bring his KO timer down fast enough, and soon, I saw the glory waiting for me... and left Monst3r one turn away from 5 guards running into the room right outside the antechamber to the lock (always a tiny room before usually the lock, sometimes the hub). Horrible way to wake up is getting shot it seems. Also kinda funny. I took a short pause to back-up this part, as I knew I'd want to look at it again later haha.

gWq1b8K.png

I had to leave him for many turns as there were 2/3 of the guards roaming around him and the one door between that room and the rest of the level. Was almost considering giving up, but there was still hope: Pass 15 OMNI guards and elite enforcers spawned due to unlucky chain of Validates to the nano-fab in the center of the other third in the level, buy a med-gel, get back in time to revive Monst3r and win. Played the patience game for quite a while, knocking out 5-6 of the guards and having to rotate double pinnings and paralyzers, until the right moment came, Nika zapped, dashed to a lonely guard, zapped again, and was one room away. Next turn made it safely but attracted a guard's attention, forcing a turn of hiding in the corner. These were a very down-to-the-wire few turns, as even one turn meant 5 guards waking up directly on top of a completely inadequately prepared Central.
Ping is a life-saver, when it's actually available and you don't use it on a non-walkable tile (which I did earlier that misison). Even encumbered, using the Drop-and-Dash trick I like to call it, dashed back to that lonely guard, zapped twice, and had just enough AP to revive Monst3r from where I earlier dragged him into a corner and then get right up to the lock's antechamber door and shock trap it. Waking guards lured by the siren song of heels went right back down... except for the ones that woke up after. Although Nika KO'd herself for a turn, two more turns of patience paid off as Monst3r opened the lock and I won the mission. Never doubt a properly built Nika, goddess of retribution, angel of mercy, and my waifu. <3

Funny thing too about that mission, earlier that same day I had commented in a stream about wanting more 'Mission:Impossible' type moments in Invisible. Be careful what you wish for. =P

Ending Build:

  • Augments: Adrenal Regulator, Predictive Brawling, Net Downlink, Torque Injectors
  • Programs: Fusion, Parasite, Data Blast, Ping, Lockpick 2
  • Items: Nika's Volt, Modded Cloaking Rig, Buster 3, Accelerator 3, Disruptor 3, Disruptor 3, Shock 3, Disruptor 3(Bought in final. Yup I needed 4 tasers to fix my mistakes =P)
  • Skils: Speed 3, Hacking 3, Strength 5, Anarchy 4
  • Rewinds Used: 7-8 (Day 1-2, Final)

Just the Two of Us

YQyCVip.png

Next up was someone I never really saw used much by streamers and I thought personally was a bit under-whelming: Monst3r. I saw this as even more of a challenge as he doesn't have Nika's Flash-like speed, no starting disruptor, a weapon that's best used as a last resort and will spawn a daemon, and only a discount shopping code to Ace Hardware in his head. Best part is you can pretend like there aren't any other agents ever involved, just Mossman and Gladstone, all the voiced parts in dialogue and the outro are theirs, plus Monst3r will occasionally "take a big risk selling to" himself. Must be some sort of pyramid scheme for his retirement ;P. Also with only Monst3r that means it's just you and starter Central in final. Good luck <3.

I decided on Monst3r/Archive Banks/Fusion/Parasite, as the program combo I just prefer as I mostly dislike the other choices (at least until the new update <3), and Archive Banks is one of the only agents also without a starting disruptor, just a neural dart, and her already strong econ chip. Turns out this is a rather under-rated combo, as the econ chip I never used 'till now, also works with hacking skill, to which Monst3r starts with lv3. Day 1 consoles are actually worth 2-3x as much as the safes, each one closer in yield to day 3 safes. The first level was easily the hardest of the run oddly enough, as the only buyable object worth anything was the Tag Pistol, also something I never used until now and extremely valuable.

 

Due to FTM's scanners, forced to discard the neural dart early on (although with hindsight I suppose I may have been able to hold it, doubtful though) since encumberment is a huge deal at this point in the game, I was only barely able to find a solid pillar to camp for a dozen turns as scanners were thrown like snowballs on a winter vacation. After managing to slink through the tagged patrols to the exit, despite failing to carry the site list and working on limited choices, the money flow was phenomenal. Fast skill upgrades meant every mission after was almost too easy, as long as the right decisions are made.

I was ideally hoping to get a financial suite into a cyber-lab, as I needed sockets while nanofab vestibules could provide the augments. However there was not a single executive terminal, cyber-lab, and one financial suite on day 3 (pointless). So I ended up just going through 2 nanofab vestibules on day 3 to cherry-pick the final build.

 

The two Security Dispatch missions I did, Day 2 provided a wireless scanner, which was somewhat helpful, would be better on a multi-agent run. Last mission Day 3 yielded a prototype chip, while my first encounter with it in my own game, was just shelved as it wasn't going to be helpful in final compared to the gear I set up.

Final itself was rather quick and painless. I actually feel cheated almost as I went a direction and found both hub and lock before 5 turns passed. 5 turns later and I won. Didn't even need the shock trap I wired to the hub door (At least this time I forced myself to remember to disarm it xP)

 

Final Build:

  • Augments: Fabricator Multithreading, Torque Injectors
  • Programs: Fusion, Parasite, Emergency Reserve, Lockpick 1, Hammer
  • Items: Tag Pistol, Disruptor 3, Stim 3, Stim 3, Cloak 3, Cloak 3, Shock 3 (not even used), Ventricular Lance (not even used)
  • Skills: Speed 5, Hacking 5, Strength 5, Anarchy 4
  • Rewinds Used: 3 (Once each Day, not in final)

So I think that concludes it for now. Let me know if you have any questions, comments, pie, suggestions, tacos, brownies, burgers,... I got distracted by hunger. Time for brunch, I spent waaaay too much time on this. ^-^

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I love it, I'm going to try this one!

 

Anyone else ever played NetHack?  It actually keeps track of a large number of "voluntary challeges" aka "conducts" that do not affect your score, such as "vegetarian", "vegan", "atheist", "never hit with a wielded weapon", etc.  (see here for bigger list: http://nethackwiki.com/wiki/Conduct).  When your game ends (by winning or dying), it reports any of the conducts that you met.

 

It would be cool to have something similar in Invisible, Inc..  Some other ideas:

"never kill a guard"

"never KO a guard"

"never use Incognita"

"never steal from a safe"

"never steal from a guard"

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

"never kill a guard"

"never KO a guard"

"never use Incognita"

"never steal from a safe"

"never steal from a guard"

 

When I enjoy a game enough to make a challenge run for it, I much prefer mechanical differences over stats. Can be tricky to do right at times depending on what the game allows, but it makes for the most interesting replays I feel. Sometimes restrictions just create tedium over a dynamic change though, and I avoid that like plague.

 

Never killing is a mechanical change, as you can't resort to any lethal weapons, even hacking a turret over a power supply for example, because the supply has a daemon and the turret doesn't, you have to swallow that daemon. Never stealing is more a stat change, but at least with how Invisible plays it tightens your budget and decision making, which is still a decent change of pace.

No Incognita without a more interesting form of hacking then only buster chips (Xu aside) I just see as tedium, as it's not much more interesting as it is just every mission being dragged out by chip cd. Would be nice to see some curiously different hacking tools though.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

So, great challenge, enjoyed it a lot, did it to the Omni mainframe, started with Sharp and arch. Banks, finished first mission with dead Banks and a really blood-thirsty terminator. Could not figure out how to make a spoiler, so here's the link to my screenshot: http://i.imgur.com/2QgS4LS.jpg .

Final augments: Starting one; Torque injectors;Penetration scanner; Disturbed processing; Anatomy analisis; Microslam apparatus.

Final items: Neural disruptor; Bank's custom Econ chip; Neural dart; Neural disrupter mk.2; Biogenic dart; (Cloaking rig mk.3)x2

Final upgrades: Stealth lvl4; Hacking lvl3; Strength lvl5; Anarchy lvl3;

Comments: Cloaking rigs were found quite early, tho i swapped them in only in the final two missions due to not having enough slots and\or speed upgrades. Got lucky on drops.

Archived Banks is extremely good as a sacrifice agent in this one. Ranged weapon and an income engine,right off the bat. Though got me hovering over last words button a couple of times, all in all weapons I got made the whole run not that hard. Sharp is quite good due to being able to snatch all those augs available. Also, innate hacking with Banks' econ chip did bring me several hundreds of credits 50 at a time. A pity, this topic is not that lively. ;)

Kazaaakplethkilik

shutting off!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

So, great challenge, enjoyed it a lot, did it to the Omni mainframe, started with Sharp and arch. Banks, finished first mission with dead Banks and a really blood-thirsty terminator. Could not figure out how to make a spoiler, so here's the link to my screenshot: http://i.imgur.com/2QgS4LS.jpg .

Final augments: Starting one; Torque injectors;Penetration scanner; Disturbed processing; Anatomy analisis; Microslam apparatus.

Final items: Neural disruptor; Bank's custom Econ chip; Neural dart; Neural disrupter mk.2; Biogenic dart; (Cloaking rig mk.3)x2

Final upgrades: Stealth lvl4; Hacking lvl3; Strength lvl5; Anarchy lvl3;

Comments: Cloaking rigs were found quite early, tho i swapped them in only in the final two missions due to not having enough slots and\or speed upgrades. Got lucky on drops.

Archived Banks is extremely good as a sacrifice agent in this one. Ranged weapon and an income engine,right off the bat. Though got me hovering over last words button a couple of times, all in all weapons I got made the whole run not that hard. Sharp is quite good due to being able to snatch all those augs available. Also, innate hacking with Banks' econ chip did bring me several hundreds of credits 50 at a time. A pity, this topic is not that lively. ;)

Kazaaakplethkilik

shutting off!

 

I know right? Was really hoping to see some strategies and run-suggestions thought up  :frown-new:

Sharp is definitely very strong when focused on, when I was doing Nika a friendly streamer did the challenge as well with Sharp. Took him a few tries after making mistakes but did it pretty well.

I'm thinking Archive Banks is too good, may have to restrict using her. xD Econ chip plus microslam? how did you not have maxed everything just because there was so much money? Lol.

 

How well did you do through the run? Smooth all the way, 100% collection of all safes, etc.?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'm thinking Archive Banks is too good, may have to restrict using her. xD Econ chip plus microslam? how did you not have maxed everything just because there was so much money? Lol.

 

How well did you do through the run? Smooth all the way, 100% collection of all safes, etc.?

I got Microslam too late in the game so it was active like 2 full missions :/

 

About all safes - I did leave some behind, one time I even left behind a mission's objective just to survive (couldn't risk it with only 1 agent lol) - it totally wasn't a walk in the park, more like running from a dinasaur in the jungle, but finding a jetpack on the mid-way to safety.

 

Banks is 100% broken. Her starting stash is so good, any agent goes well, when given chip and Dartgun at a start ;)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

This was a brilliant challenge, I just did a run as solo Sharp with Banks custom paralyzer and Disrupter, basically, with all of my augments and gear, I knock guards into a coma :), completing the missions was satisfying along the run and the last mission was indeed a huge challenge, But i barely managed to succeed.

 

Thanks for the challenge !

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Very nice idea! Decided to acept this challenge on endless plus. 

 

What makes endless runs "easy" on late levels, in my opinion is high grade equipments. Stim 3 and cloack rigs are OP. Four agents can cary too much quality gear on a run but with one agent, you have to ponder well what are the crucial gear for surviving.

 

On the other hand, you have only one agent to focus on stats. It is possible to max stats an agent before day 5. Having a maxed agent soon made the first days easier. It was harder to find the mission objective and the exit with one agent but haking camera drones always helped a lot.

 

The agent of choice was Archive Xu. His argument have a fantastic synergy with Stin 3 and Subdermal Cloak. Everytime i got cornered, using a stin 3 allowed him to be invisible and have 14 extra AP (Chameleon movement included) for 2 PWR.

 

This game change for me made the first days easier and the folowing days after day 5 harder on endless mode.

Going to try on story mode some day and add a time atack to spice things up.

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I am currently trying this challenge on standard Expert campaign.

 

Running with on-file-Internationale, on-file-Decker was the sacrificial lamb.

 

There were no guards near starting room, so Decker followed behind Internationale through first 4 rooms or so until I located first guard.

 

Guard was a little sleepy, Decker had to run up right next to him and dance around before getting shot.

 

I'm currently on final mission (in a bit of a hairy spot, so I saved there to get some breathing room).

 

It's pretty cool how much more you can max out a single agent in this challenge.  Internationale is now maxed out on strength, 4 on speed and anarchy, and 3 on hacking.  She's equipped with the initial 2 disrupters and Decker's cloak, a shock trap iii, a stim ii, and if recollection serves, a recharge pack.  She also has torque injectors and holocircuit overloaders installed.

 

On Incognita I have just Seed, Lockpick 1, and Ping (particularly useful for this challenge I think).

 

I had no real troubles throughout the run, prior to the aforementioned "hairy spot".  I did skip out on a number of daemon-befouled safes.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Feels great to see some feedback on everyone's experiences ^-^ I hope we find more ways of making this interesting. Can't wait for new possibilities with the update, and who knows maybe in the future we'll get an achievement for it =P just because that would be neat imo haha.

 

 I just did a run as solo Sharp with Banks custom paralyzer and Disrupter

 

Sharp is incredible I agree, he's practically made to be the super soldier on this challenge. 

 

This game change for me made the first days easier and the folowing days after day 5 harder on endless mode.

 

I haven't played since that last run with Monst3r so I'm interested in trying endless/expert plus at some point. Glad you decided to try it this way, please do let me know how far you get before killed/bored. =P

 

I had no real troubles throughout the run, prior to the aforementioned "hairy spot".  I did skip out on a number of daemon-befouled safes.

 

I'm thinking I'll exclude on-file Decker and Archive Banks as starting options because a free get-out-of-being-shot card or 3x usual income econ chip is quite strong. Maybe there'll be some option tweaking or new starting loadouts to balance it, but I haven't looked at it much.

 

Yeah, I think I want to add an optional bonus of scoring based on how many safes per level you were able to get to >=P

So if you managed 3 missions per day (not counting day 4 story ofc) and there's 5 safes each, you missed 2 of them each mission on day 3, then bonus score would be 39/45 for example. Something to think about.

 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I haven't played since that last run with Monst3r so I'm interested in trying endless/expert plus at some point. Glad you decided to try it this way, please do let me know how far you get before killed/bored. =P

 

By the end of day 6 i got all itens i wanted (Neural Disruptor 3, Monst3r gun, tag gun, 2 Stim III, Shock Trap III and Buster Chip III). Going to try surviving until day 10 where firewall lvls are huge. Something i have been struggling is lack of PWR. With 4 agents, one of then awalys cary a portable server for emergencies. Now i an using seed and emergency reserve to have enough PWR. Hope shopcat sells Fusion!

 

I think the next level of this challenge would not allow buy stat upgrades. It would be very hard to bring only 3 itens on a mission knowing that the fourth item would reduce your already limited AP and would limit the quality of itens used( goodbye cloak rig III and stin III)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

No stats upgrades meaning only the most basic items on most agents. I think the whole idea with limited item slots may see light, but i doubt NO STATS at all. :razz:

 

What about "no strength upgrades"?  I can't think of any items that require upgraded strength.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

No stats upgrades meaning only the most basic items on most agents. 

 

The idea is to make the endless mode something like a survival mode. With high grade equipment, you can survive indefinitely and the game would become boring at some point.

 

Now, if you restrict yourself not upgrading agents stats, with the difficulty increasing day after day , there will come a time where you will fail due to a situation with no escape for lack of quality equipment.

 

Not upgrading stats would give each agent a unique and unchanging quality. Decker would be the only agent capable of cloacking because of his 2 points in speed. Shalen would be the best to drag corpses and not all agents would be able to pickpocket. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The idea is to make the endless mode something like a survival mode. With high grade equipment, you can survive indefinitely and the game would become boring at some point.

 

Now, if you restrict yourself not upgrading agents stats, with the difficulty increasing day after day , there will come a time where you will fail due to a situation with no escape for lack of quality equipment.

 

Not upgrading stats would give each agent a unique and unchanging quality. Decker would be the only agent capable of cloacking because of his 2 points in speed. Shalen would be the best to drag corpses and not all agents would be able to pickpocket. 

 

I like this, should try it myself as well. Endless to me as is feels like CoD Zombies, great fun and dynamic in the early days/waves, but then it gets to a point that there isn't any mechanical change anymore and you either just can't do anything or you figure out the method that higher numbers just involves more tedium doing the exact same thing.

Finding ways to scale it down like that could actually form a ranking of how far one can go before it's simply overwhelming, maybe.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Some other ideas:

"never kill a guard"

"never KO a guard"

"never use Incognita"

"never steal from a safe"

"never steal from a guard"

 

 

Not upgrading stats would give each agent a unique and unchanging quality. Decker would be the only agent capable of cloacking because of his 2 points in speed. Shalen would be the best to drag corpses and not all agents would be able to pickpocket. 

 

...

"never upgrade any stats"

"never upgrade any non-primary stat" (where perhaps "primary" means "starting above 1")

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I bet we could make this into a mod to "officialize" the rules. :-)

Hmmm, there also exist a unused training bot-manequin model in game files, that can be used as a new completely useless pseudo-agent (hmmm, max movement points is 1 or 0 for example) that can be abandoned without any regrets and can be used as "one agent start" or combined with no agents spawn in detention centers.

(I mean maybe it's not a problem for everyone else, but I have some "role-play" problem to abandon agents)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hmm, because all your programmer's magic is beyond me, I just make this:

1."Empty" animation in scripts\client\animdefs.lua:

kanim_empty ={wireframe = { },build = { },grp_build = { }, anims = commonanims.male.default_anims_1h,anims_1h = commonanims.male.default_anims_1h,anims_2h = commonanims.male.default_anims_2h,animMap = FLOAT_DRONE_ANIMS,symbol = "character",anim = "idle",shouldFlip = true,shouldFlipOverrides = {{anim="peek_fwrd", shouldFlip=false},{anim="peek_pst_fwrd", shouldFlip=false},},scale = 0.25,layer = Layer.Unit,boundType = BoundType.Character,boundTypeOverrides = { {anim="idle_ko" ,boundType= BoundType.CharacterFloor},{anim="dead" ,boundType= BoundType.CharacterFloor},}, }, 

2."Empty" agent in scripts\sim\unitdefs\agentdefs.lua:

 
empty ={type = "simunit",        agentID = 78,name =  "",file =  "",fullname =  "",loadoutName = " ",yearsOfService =  "",age = "",homeTown = "",gender = "",class = "",toolTip = "",--onWorldTooltip = commondefs.onAgentTooltip,splash_image = "",profile_anim = "", team_select_img = {"",},kanim = "kanim_empty",hireText = "",centralHireSpeech = "",traits = util.extend( DEFAULT_TRAITS ) { mp=0, mpMax = 0, inventoryMaxSize = 0, augmentMaxSize = 0, augmentMaxCapacity = 0, dynamicImpass = false, invisible = true, hasHearing=false, LOSarc = 0},skills = util.extend( DEFAULT_SKILLS ) {}, startingSkills = {  },abilities = util.tconcat( {  }, DEFAULT_ABILITIES ),children = {}, sounds = {speech="SpySociety/Agents/dialogue_player",  step = simdefs.SOUNDPATH_FOOTSTEP_MALE_HARDWOOD_NORMAL, stealthStep = simdefs.SOUNDPATH_FOOTSTEP_MALE_HARDWOOD_SOFT,wallcover = "SpySociety/Movement/foley_cyborg/wallcover", crouchcover = "SpySociety/Movement/foley_cyborg/crouchcover",fall = "SpySociety/Movement/foley_cyborg/fall", land = "SpySociety/Movement/deathfall_agent_hardwood",land_frame = 35, getup = "SpySociety/Movement/foley_cyborg/getup",grab = "SpySociety/Movement/foley_cyborg/grab_guard",pin = "SpySociety/Movement/foley_cyborg/pin_guard",pinned = "SpySociety/Movement/foley_cyborg/pinned",peek_fwd = "SpySociety/Movement/foley_cyborg/peek_forward", peek_bwd = "SpySociety/Movement/foley_cyborg/peek_back",move = "SpySociety/Movement/foley_cyborg/move", hit = "SpySociety/HitResponse/hitby_ballistic_cyborg",},speech = {START ={"",}, FINAL_WORDS ={"",},}, blurb = "",upgrades = {  }, },
3. in serverdefs.lua:
 
local SELECTABLE_AGENTS = {..."empty",        }local LOADOUTS = {...empty = {"empty"},} 

 

Now I have "Empty" space in game, with 0 ap, without ears and eyes, invisible and untouchable for enemies, that will be MIA after first mission ("abort mission" after escape of real agent)

Problem: it probably will be in first Detention Center

but Courier and Prisoner can't, interesting, what piece of code define it =\

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Phew, that was pretty cool! I went with the basic rules and on Expert dififculty. My agent was on-fIle Dr. Xu, and my preparations packmule was on-file Shalem. Programs: Seed+Rapier. The plan was to sweep as much of the map as early as possible, with energy-reservation backups. I was hoping to find Oracle, but ended up with Seed+Rapier+Lockpick v.2+Dagger+Wrench 5. Shalem's pew-pew was for added safety, and I ended up needing it several times during the run.

 

Attached files are proof of victory and loadout overview. Door traps are awesome. As it stands, door trap IIIs are super overpowered, so I ended up getting two of them (Xu's trap was later traded for the second one). Buster chip II is a "well, haven't found anything better"-item that actually was pretty useful for hacking non-EMPable devices. I went trough the whole game with neural distruptor I, lol. Got no money for v.II and didn't even really need it anyways. Doortraps XD

 

Augments: Net Downlink and Torque Injectors.

 

The greatest challenge was lack of inventory space early on and poor scouting ability. Almost every mission I ended up leaving plenty of safes behind. Thankfully, I got an Econ Chip early on, which I used a lot and sold just before the final mission.

 

I once again noticed the general gameplay pattern in this game: the game gets easier the further you get. Development of equipment outpaces the development of corporations. Then, if you're playing Endless, you'll eventually suddenly lose to a buttrape superfest stack of worst daemons possible. I hope the tomorrow's Free Stuff update smooths out the pattern.

 

Challenge was refreshing.

Cons: weak scouting, no pinning, low inventory total, losing so many safes (and Vault artifacts) negates the benefits of needing to only upgrade one agent.

Pros: last mission wasn't totally cluttered.

 

Sorry for the huge-ass images, couldn't figure out how to put them in spoilers. EDIT: Also, they don't show properly. Whops. I'll attempt to fix this if someone is nice enough to point me to instructions.

post-276049-0-05014500-1438786073_thumb.

post-276049-0-61207300-1438786080_thumb.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Well, I failed my first attempt (mentioned above, using "overpowered" Internationale+DeckerEquipment start).  I got through the "hairy situation" I mentioned, pretty much had it in the bag, and then made a couple stupid mistakes.

 

My current Expert+ run has unintentionally almost become a candidate.  I started with Prism+Xu, Prism left first level early, and then Xu died with the corporate data AND all his starting equipment.

 

I'm currently on Day 3 with solo Prism :-)

 

(Also, that was first time I ever finished the first mission without retrieving the data.  Turns out you can keep going anyway, you just have crappy mission choice.)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'm running another attempt now with Archive Prism, which has been a major change of pace.  I've done all but the final mission now, so far with no guards killed or KO'd (I did KO an exec for a keycard).

 

I used archive Xu as my fallguy this time, and never did a single move with him (I just took his equipment and left him standing in his original starting spot, eventually the guards found and shot him).  I never ended up using his EMP much because of the noise, and I've used the disrupter once.

 

Wisp + Archive Prism disguise is pretty OP (and I'm enjoying every minute of it).

 

I have one rewind per level allowed, and I've used many of them, mostly due to dumb mistakes and some unexpected mechanics.

 

One of the more exciting moments in solo runs is installing new augment slots, and Archive Prism starts with none.  I managed to get 2 installed (on the same mission), but one remains empty.  I pray to the RNG for a nice nanofab with torque injectors.

 

Here's what I have right before final mission (still a little room for some tweaking):

 

Archive Prism
-------------
 
Speed 4
Hacking 1
Strength 5 (Max)
Anarchy 3
 
2 augment slots
(+1 armor piercing ranged weapons)
(empty)
 
disguise
buster chip 1 (x2)
disrupter (from Xu, used once to get an exec keycard)
stim 2
biogenic dart (2 armor piercing, not yet used)
cloak 2 (not yet used)
 
1537 CR
 
stashed:
medgel (will probably take on final mission)
Xu's EMP (noisy)
charge pack
 
Incognita
---------
 
Faust
Brimstone
Wrench 3
Wisp
Ping (got rid of dagger 2 for this one)

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

More agents made the mission harder. Because you have to split your micromanaging skills in half. Not only this, but the Alarm Tracker is global, not tied to only one agent. This is means if either of your TWO agents gets spotted or makes a mistake, it will affect he entire team, including your other safe agent. Putting the guards on high alert will further the tracker making it harder for everyone involved.

 

Additionally, you don't need skills to use the Holographic Cover and the Deployable Camera which I believe are underrated great items, and with only one agent you can ALWAYS escape no matter what with these two items. Of course this depends on which Agent you use as well.

 

But it could go the other way. It's all dependent on Agent choice. This mode makes it apparent which agents are OP enough to be amazing on their own (Archive Prism/Nika/Tony).

Link to comment
Share on other sites

More agents made the mission harder. Because you have to split your micromanaging skills in half. Not only this, but the Alarm Tracker is global, not tied to only one agent. This is means if either of your TWO agents gets spotted or makes a mistake, it will affect he entire team, including your other safe agent. Putting the guards on high alert will further the tracker making it harder for everyone involved.

 

Additionally, you don't need skills to use the Holographic Cover and the Deployable Camera which I believe are underrated great items, and with only one agent you can ALWAYS escape no matter what with these two items. Of course this depends on which Agent you use as well.

 

But it could go the other way. It's all dependent on Agent choice. This mode makes it apparent which agents are OP enough to be amazing on their own (Archive Prism/Nika/Tony).

Splitting micro? Doesn't matter unless you're playing on time attack. The alarm level is global but with only 1 agent it takes longer to scout and loot the map so it gets insanely hard to do full map clears with a conventional agent (not archive Prism) because of alarm increment.

 

Admittedly I haven't used Hologram projector or Camera canister but you must be joking. How does the Hologram let you *always* escape? I assumed that when thrown it's like Ping but even if it blocks vision it doesn't guarantee your escape when there's guards everywhere.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

Please be aware that the content of this thread may be outdated and no longer applicable.