Digital security offline. Preparing for analog failure. Let's Play Invisible, Inc.

YOU WASTE MY TIME.



Let's just get this out of the way and relocate it for now, I guess.



That must be the camera drone from earlier. More importantly, that's the final databank!



This will start resetting mainframe devices, so the sooner I hit it the better, since most of the stuff we've hacked is nice and out of the way. But let's see what everyone else can do first.



That looks like an ordinary camera room.



I'm not quite willing to start a shopping spree adjacent to a drone that's literally about to reactivate, so I let it do its thing first.



Hey look it's alarm level 3 now.



A Hunter, a Buster Chip, and two Mercenaries later, it's neutered for one more turn.



Only problem is, there's still a lot of hacking left to do.



Right, if we're gonna access this thing, now's the time.

Lot of new augments, exactly one of which we are interested in. The Physiology Brain Chip is the Strength-type chip and therefore not one I want to bother with at all. The Holocircuit Overloaders will knockout guards within a short range whenever the agent using them cloaks, and the Chameleon Movement gives an agent an AP boost when they cloak, so both of those are useless since we have no cloaking methods anyway. But the real one we want is that Penetration Scanner, which gives the agent an extra point of armor-piercing with all melee attacks. That one's getting bought.

The weapons selection is either garbage or duplicates, so I'm ignoring it. The gadgets, you may notice, are by and large Mk IV items. This happens a lot in extended endgame. I can't really justify buying any of this with the possible exception of the Stim IV, which is the other big way to cheat around the Flurry Gun's limitation. Not only does the Stim IV give 10 AP when used, it allows the agent that uses it to have unlimited attacks for that turn.

The first time I did extended endgame, I had an opportunity for Shalem 11 (of course I had him HE WILL NOT LEAVE ME ALONE) to use a Stim IV and the Flurry Gun as well as the Anatomy Analysis on the final mission. He literally crossed the field and killed half the floor without a pip of alarm level. Cost me my entire PWR reserves to do, but eh.

But even so, it's still a once per mission thing, and the Flurry Gun already cuts way too harshly into our (very limited) PWR reserves just with its two shots from Nika.



As much as I'd like to install this on Nika literally right now, she's already at her augment limit for now. So we'll probably give this to Sharp, who also really wants it, has room for it, and can also milk it for +1 KO point.



The corporation decides taking all those cameras watching over the tech graveyard is the best use of their resources.



Hold this, Sharp. Dr. Xu has things he must do.



Banks finally gets past the camera room, only to discover HELLO, IT IS ANOTHER CAMERA.



The good news is that the camera drone moved right onto the null drone's ending space when it dropped where it was, so it will stay there and keep the null drone pinned for another turn while it activates its scanners. Totally accidental, mind you, but pretty beneficial!



Get the server back up Sharp WE KINDA REALLY NEED IT.



Fine, you get to stand up again. I GUESS.



Tagging this thing before I go.



Look at all this AP you can use now, Sharp!



Oh and the elite from earlier is about to wake up. Things are about to get FUN.



The elite's basically wasting his turn, but the Obake is closing in on Sharp's position.



Dr. Xu kills our third drone of the mission, ruining the hell out of our cleanup score. I DON'T CARE.



This is even more troll than that empty room back in our first real FTM mission. That's a facility database (we've already seen everything the facility has anyway), a secondary server terminal (our programs are full and suited nicely anyway), and our mystery safe. That safe better be worth it.



We need this database wiped like YESTERDAY. Banks cracks it with her Buster Chip because 3 firewalls is REALLY EXPENSIVE RIGHT NOW

Speaking of REALLY EXPENSIVE RIGHT NOW, the Obake's firewalls are just too high for us to stop it from getting into the teleporter room. We can weaken it, but not finish it off.



Nika runs down behind the guard, closes the door, and then keeps an eye on the Obake while it runs off. Sharp takes cover as far away as he can get, to avoid the scanners catching him.



So what did we finally earn on this wild goose chase?



A slight recharge of the ability we used upon entering the room.

WORTHWHILE ENDEAVOR.



Oddly enough, the nanofab vestibule is really safe right now. If I had less inventory clutter paranoia, I could use this time to buy one of the Stim IVs for later (Nika's Reactive Moyomers are doing their best to offset the encumbrance penalty).



The scanner only detects living things, so the portable server totally misses the Obake's notice, and Parasite converts it before it has a chance to further ruin our day. On the other hand, the elite security is coming into Sharp's current room. That's a problem.



Banks closes the door behind Dr. Xu, leading to this oddball graphical bug. Turns out she's a good enough hacker to break through the databank while just air-keyboarding off to the side.



I spring Aces a bit early assuming Nika can ambush the guard heading for Sharp...



But then I forgot that he can already break through his armor with his Thermal Disruptor, and Nika doesn't have the AP to reach the guy anyway. Whoops.



ohboyohboyohboyohboyohboy



Nika's gonna pin down the Obake in its new corner instead, while Sharp will stick to good old ambush strats. Remember when we could do that, because we were facing enemies made of meat?



Sharp LOVES those times.



Right, let's speed this up. Hacking this Sound Bug so my agents can safely sprint to the elevator.



Totally missing the sound bug in the teleporter room, which totally picks up Dr. Xu's running.



Meh. At this point, we pretty much have all our ducks lined up, we just need to herd them into the exit before the robot heads crush them all.



More sales fodder.



See? Still the same as ever.



Welcome to the level, I guess.



Right, we're done here. Let's go complain about the fact that I basically bungled that and made very little profit.



Well... that's not QUITE true.



Y'know, it's kind of amazing. Not many people would stick to their anachronistic character schtick so hard they get sacked from their job and a warrant placed on their brain tissue. But yeah, this is what Decker was up to before drinking himself into a coma when Central found him. He was actually pretty highly placed on the K&O ladder!



Hey Monst3r. Got some garbage for you.



Look, circumstances are rough for us, and Nika can't just politely ask the guards to hand over their infiltration gear they've confiscated.



Anyway, cleaning house and selling things means I can spend the cash I would've used for gear on agents.



FRIGGIN' FINALLY. Banks' inventory space has been an Achilles heel since day 1.

Guys I think our mission is going really well.



I mean, that one run was a bust, but we can do better. And with one set of Penetration Scanners, suddenly that Cybernetics Lab isn't quite as attractive as it once was. I mean, we can still try it, but the Executive Terminals aren't a bad idea either. Could fish up a couple Security Dispatch or Nanofab Vestibule missions, or even a Vault for TRUE DOOM DOSHHEADS.

Next Time: Infiltration

So why not buy that strength augment instead of shelling out for the two points? Did you have other plans for the augment slot, or do you plan to give her more strength down the line?

The reason for that is the same reason I didn't buy Sharp the EMP Pack IV when I only ever use one of his two packs per level, and that is because I am a tactical genius who never makes a mistake ever.

This mission selection was honestly pretty legit hard. The main reason I went here rather than to the Cybernetics Lab was because either one would put me to Day 6, and if I'm about to spike the difficulty even further I want to have a lot of options to do so with.



Thread title drop! Or it would be if I remembered the exact thing. WHATEVER THE PUNCHLINE WAS INTACT.



So we've seen Sankaku at postgame level quite a bit, but how does K&O fare?



Huh, interesting room layout. I'm gonna hack that thing just for the hell of it.



I have no idea if that turret was actually overlooking anything important, but eh.



Can't actually get over there yet for reasons. Get ready to ambush, Sharp.



Huh, teleporter's right next to the start. Y'ALL KNOW WHAT THAT MEANS



Probably for the best that I got a clean hit on this guy before things started spiraling out of control.



Oh right, this thing. Sorry Nika, as much as I'd like you to have this thing, Sharp can actively use it a touch more effectively than you without requiring an extra mission of prep time.



The laser beams are lethal. MAYBE DON'T DO THAT THING I DID EARLIER AND ACCIDENTALLY SHOOT YOURSELF WITH IT.



Here you go, jerk.



That not only gives Sharp an extra point of armor-piercing on all his punches, but gives him his second extra point of KO damage!



Banks might loot some stuff off of this guy later, but I don't really feel like risking her that much for the extra bits.



Should be an ideal place to set this thing up.



Not much in here worth grabbing... but I CAN sell off Sharp's old EMP and get a Mk IV. And if I get enough cash after, I can pick up the Stim IV because it'd be hilarious.



What am I supposed to do with this useless thing? I guess I can sell it?



Not a lot of opposition so far...



I like how this camera is overlooking this one solitary safe. And by "like" I mean "why is it at 4 firewalls what's wrong with you".



Well, we can handle that later. Right now is scouting while the parasite finishes it off.



Let's start tagging, too. Remember, tags do double duty for us by reducing enemy armor thanks to Aces.



Nothing down here, but I just HAD to check.



Elite security, okay. That isn't honestly too bad for us right now...



But K&O doesn't stop there, no sir. Say hello to Heavy Security. These guys pack 2 armor by default, putting them just behind OMNI Soldiers in terms of durability. And it's not even that big a gulf either, because Heavy Security also reduces KO damage dealt to them by 1. The first time I learned this, Prism had one in Overwatch, so she shot him, he went down, and then stood up literally at the end of that same turn.



Kind of glad that all these turrets are in supremely useless positions.



Right, safety baby scouting time is over. Now we gotta think on our feet.

This is a problem because where did the Heavy Security go.



MISSION STATUS: SICK



Ah, there they are. Tag, you're it.



Anyway, most of this isn't too bad, but Sharp needs to backtrack quite a bit.



Here's the area of effect on his new EMP, by the way. That is kind of completely insane. It might not seem that great with the EMP effect, but don't forget that it affects guards' heart monitors too. I can use this to bait out some guards to where Nika is parked in Overwatch with her Flurry Gun and clean house quite effectively.



Petty theft is more my style.



Pulse drones are blind, true story!



Oh hey, this guy, where could he be going?



Not sure, but he sure is taking a route.

Also, someone's going into the teleporter room, which means the portable server's probably gonna get seen. Oh well.



Here Sharp, you need a quick AP boost, right?



He sure did. And now his punches have a default of 4 KO damage with this Thermal Disrupter. That's a really good number to have, especially with as high as his armor-piercing can get now. (He can potentially hit up to 4 points if Aces is in play!)



Banks has to set this guy to a high KO count the old fashioned way. Not just letting Spec Ops roam around willy-nilly.



Here Banks, you can use this. I don't know why you WOULD, but you can.



Dr. Xu hurries into this room before the Heavy Security comes back. That guy's patrol path is basically set now.



The pulse drone I'd prefer to put to work for us, so I spare a bit of PWR to hack it.



Quick payoff. We get the site data from there and the power cell from wherever it is, we're set.



Note to self: Hunter that daemon next turn.



Carefully parking the drone well out of everyone's sight.



Nobody's headed to this long corridor, so I'll have Nika head that way, since she's our best long-range character at the moment.



Hm. Sharp can't stay there, but he wasn't going to anyway. Banks will probably have to deal with the guy heading for the telprot, but last I checked he wasn't the most heavily armored of the bunch, and even if he is, we still have Aces and the alarm level shouldn't take things too out of control just yet.



Ding!



Okay so Dr. Xu is kind of in a rough spot. His D.A.R.T. CAN take down one of the two guards, but then the other will be all over him.



Also yeah our server's gonna be noticed.



Oh right, I gave him a point of Hacking. Cool. Okay, so plan is to snag the terminal, then step out the door, well out of the way of both heavies.



I'll be wanting that soon.

The elite found our portable server and shut it down. Which means...



You're up, Banks. Move fast.



Nice! I guess the guard that discovers your portable server confiscates it, so we take that back, as well as his money and the charge pack. That, we'll be using very shortly.



But I'm jumping ahead a bit.



I throw the Charge Pack onto the Paralyzer, recharging it enough to instantly use it on the guard. Yay!



Oh cool Nika found the cell.



That wasn't too bad.



Meanwhile over here, Sharp decides what mission to add to our list. The only one really worth going for is the Security Dispatch, so that's what we'll do.



Yoink.



Good thing the entire map is tagged right now.



Dr. Xu makes his exit as quickly and quietly as possible.



Fun fact: you can freely toggle whether you're sprinting or not as long as your AP is above your maximum. Which means if you get an AP boost due to stims or augments, you can use that to sneak the first part of your turn, then turn on sprinting at the last second.



This does not work in reverse.



Please remain where you are, an associate will be here to help you shortly.



So Banks and Dr. Xu made it back okay, but neither of them has the objectives, so they'll stand by to lend support if need be.



Oh, good, this guy's back up.



Not especially willing to move Nika much further up at the moment.



HEY BUDDY GUESS WHAT



Huh, got enough creds to buy a Stim IV. Cool, why not.



Sharp hands off the stuff he doesn't need to personally keep to Banks, who gives him his Portable Server back.



She in turn gives the stim to Dr. Xu, who isn't quite fast enough to use it yet. The reason I gave it to him rather than Nika is because if he uses it, he can literally perform infinite EMPunches for one turn. WHICH IS AWESOME.



But with the heavy on the way and his Thermal Disrupter still charging, we're in a tight spot, Master.



Nika continues to ruin the Spec Ops' day.



And as it turns out, she has enough Speed to use Dr. Xu's old stim, so rather than selling it, Sharp leaves it with her.



Also: you don't have to self-apply stims. By selecting it in your item list, a prompt comes up over adjacent agents, so you can totally stick your buddy with one for an AP boost.

Sharp doesn't need the AP boost, he just needs a slightly better angle is all.



OH NO



And there we go. Simple. And Sharp doesn't even need Aces support!



MISSION COMPLETE



Not a bad haul, honestly.



I really want Dr. Xu to be able to use this, but that'd cost us a little more than I'm comfortable with using right now.



But hey, we got a bit of vendor trash earlier.



Thanks, buddy.



Not perfect, but it'll work.



DAWN OF ANOTHER DAY

24 HOURS REMAIN



Not a problem for us, but at this point, yeah, if you don't have a good set of armor-piercing weapons, your day will go real bad, real quick.



Lot of mission choices available to us, most of which we don't care about (haha you think we're hitting Detention Centers with a full four agents, hell no, those escort missions aren't worth the trouble). Also yeah, the difficulty is all over the map right now. I think our plan here will be to hit the Security Dispatch we just turned up, followed by the new Sankaku Cybernetics Lab to finally get Banks a new toy and see if we can get Nika a Penetration Scanner of her own.

Next Time: Shipment from Kaguya

The stat requirement is only checked on the person using the item, right? So Xu could stim Nika if you wanted?

Also, I don't know what screenshotting utility you're using, but the JPG compression renders red text completely unreadable. If it's got an option to do PNG instead, you should really go with that.

I'll see what I can do about that yeah.

(For those of you that care, it says "ENCUMBERED -1 AP".)

I'm not entirely sure what kit we need at this point, but the more missions we survive, the cooler our gear stockpile at the end of the day. And even if we don't strictly upgrade our gear, hey, we always get money for stats.



Can do!



I'm more interested in how our high-end EMP pack can bring it down.



Off to a good start. Yeah that's a lot of the room seen, but NOT our entrance.



Whoa, okay, hope you're up for a hike, guys.



Can't get there yet. We don't need it, but I'd like to showcase things. Y'know, just in case.



Everyone get behind cover in case someone walks in.



Nope, we're good.



Interesting. Going by this map, the safe Nika discovered is arguably closer to where we were when we used Rogue. I guess this means it doesn't always use the closest safe automatically.



Not hacking this thing until I absolutely need to.



There's the objective. Now, while I COULD have Sharp drop his EMP pack there to drop the barrier, then have Banks open the door, run in, grab the thing, and run out, that'd require a lot of coordination, and I'd prefer to hang onto that EMP Pack. Remember, Sankaku facilities are like 100% drone, so this can wipe out a wide swath of guards if we need to.



But for now, tagging will suffice.



Oh hey, new daemon type. Kind of amazed we didn't find Authority sooner, but it's a pretty mean one. While Authority is active, all safes are alarmed, both incrementing the alarm counter and triggering a guard nearby to investigate. The real killer on this is the long time it stays active. Usually, you just grab stuff from safes as you go, especially if Dr. Xu is on your team. But with Authority, you either have to make the daemon time out, or ensure there's no guards nearby that could ruin your pillaging.



Anyway, I have a plan. But it's not perfect. We'll try it, though, and if it works, this area here becomes way safer. First step is for Banks to hack the Obake.



Next, we hack the sound bugs. My plan here is to get the Obake to shoot the Akuma without anyone else noticing, which means no sound bugs.



And finally, we use Aces to bring the Akuma's armor down a little more.



But as it just so happens, Obakes don't have innate armor-piercing. So all that setup was just a huge waste of PWR. Should've checked with just Aces first.

This seems like less of a wild goose chase when you learn that Akuma Drones CAN pierce through 1 level of armor. I just mixed the two up is all.



Oh well, live and learn. Incidentally this guy is being a huge pain right now.



I'm not quite so upset about safes being a ways off, because this time the game has the decency to not group them behind literally every single guard generated.



Anyway, time to correct my overspending of PWR by spending even more PWR. I hack this camera so Banks has a clear shot...



To get to the Obake and pin it down. We DON'T want that thing getting back up in this area.



Alarm level 1 rolls around and all the guards start heading in all kinds of wacky directions. Thankfully, the Akuma isn't going to discover Banks now or ever where she remains, but I still don't want her staying there.



Seems like it's heading to the vault area. Annoying, but tolerable.



Unfortunately, the security from earlier is headed across its path, so that area will be quite innavigable for some time.



Meh, Dr. Xu isn't getting to any safes any time soon.

Looks like the elite security is headed for Nika's room, which is currently fine because she has the perfect amount of cover for handling them.



Over at the nanofab, not much is new. The Piercing Scanner I didn't buy, and as I write this I'm kicking myself for this (we're headed to a cybernetics lab literally after this mission GENIUS). It's the ranged companion to the Penetration Scanner, giving ranged weapons 1 extra point of armor-piercing. The Flurry Gun has armor-piercing 2, but that won't be enough for OMNI Soldiers even with Aces support later on.



In my defense, I had a lot of stuff on my mind at the time.



Sharp can't risk heading out into that area just yet.



At least, not without suitable cover. Good luck spotting him over here, nerds.



Unfortunately, everyone's wanderings basically pinned down three of my four agents. Banks has unexplored areas she can access, but Sharp and Dr. Xu are stuck in this room, and Nika isn't much better off.



Not to say they're doomed, far from it. Dr. Xu's EMPunch could bring down even a mighty Akuma for a single turn. But he has an EMP Pack on hand, albeit a weak one, so that'll let him disable the Akuma and the Obake with one shot.



As for Sharp, there's a very small, but significant, blind spot that lets him get into the area the elite security was formerly surveying.



Teleporter and camera drone. Nowhere good to deploy the Portable Server around here, though. Too easy for someone to discover it.



Oh, Banks' progress IS halted. That's not an impassable barrier, though, but we REALLY want Sharp to back up to here so we can hack all these consoles.



Nika, unfortunately, is still sharply limited in what she can do, but that should change next turn.



The EMP Pack brings down the drones as planned, but it doesn't have the kick to keep them down for more than a single turn. Image unrelated, where Banks discovers a second, more annoying camera.



Nope, we're not letting you run amok in here.



But yeah, we don't have the PWR to handle that camera just yet, and the drones will be back online very soon.



Time to do a personnel shuffle while we can. Green light...



Red light.



Right, Sharp, start getting us that PWR we need.



Banks puts her Buster Chip to use to get this safe handled without worrying about Dr. Xu having to hoof it all the way over here.



Bleeeeeeeeh.



Oh, while we're in the neighborhood, may as well check this.



Root is an answer to Wildfire that, for most players, is by far the preferable choice. When you use it, you gain 6 PWR, which is a pretty excellent amount. However, not only does Root have a huge cooldown, but while it's on cooldown you gradually lose PWR. It's kind of the opposite of Fusion. If you're already running on empty, though, Root can save your neck.



No idea what the crew in there plans to do, but I'm not letting them catch half my agents undefended.



Hm... well, I did just pick this thing up, may as well put it to good use. That'll also unlock the case containing the power cell, so Banks doesn't have to wait five years to get it.



EMP primed, so Sharp gets in place to sprint into the vault room. Still haven't gotten the laser grid disabled yet, but baby steps.



Nika will keep an eye on things.

Look at that. That is a beautiful, beautiful one-man power outage. And best of all, unlike Dr. Xu's entry-level EMP, this sucker KO'd the drones for a full three turns. That's UNBELIEVABLY STRONG against drones!



PARTY AT THE JET AND ER'BODY'S INVITED



Sharp pulls a Nika for the AP boost...



Which is good because Dr. Xu found the PWR supply. Yeah we'll trip a daemon to trigger it, but that's an acceptable cost at this point: everything we want hacked is either already hacked or EMP'd.



Portcullis slams down ages after we've run through it.



Oh, I guess there's one exception.



Gotta get in here first.



Fortunately, Portcullis does nothing to affect Parasite, and Sharp has no problems waiting where he is for a few turns.



Let's make sure that camera drone doesn't decide to ruin things while Dr. Xu gets the last few safes.



Spoilers: I hacked it earlier for some reason. Probably just to scout out the room. You know how it is.



The sound bugs have called in sick, so Banks has nothing stopping her from sprinting like crazy.



Oh. Well that's disappointing. It's just another EMP Pack IV. Still, that means a free mid-mission recharge, and 200 creds ain't nothin'.



Psh, okay Central. I'm sure they'll be very upset at us when they see the locker, as opposed to the pile of drones.



Given the incoming guard, Banks doesn't sprint as far as she could, stopping just behind cover.



Dr. Xu can go make sure things aren't gonna get TOO crazy.



Oh no they discovered a guard body, causing the alarm level to raise. THIS IS SO INCONSISTENT. I guess if that happens with a guard that was merely investigating rather than hunting, it raises alarm level? But how often does that really happen, honestly.



Drones are back online, even if nothing else is.



Nobody ever expects the aftershocks.



Important: EMPs also make noise in the area they affect, so any guards hit by one will notice and zero in on where it originated from. So Sharp's going to hide on the other side of the door, since his Thermal Disrupter isn't ready yet.



Camera drone's coming in, so Dr. Xu steps up the game with his own Mk IV item.







Kill the drone, loot the safe, loot the safe...



I GOTTA GO FAST



"OVERDOSE" IS A TERM USED BY THE WEAK TO EXCUSE THEIR OWN LACK OF FAST



And the drones are down for another three turns, because that is completely reasonable.

And now Sharp and Banks are home free!



Course, she's still going to loot everything for everyone.



Dr. Xu goes to the teleporter and makes sure his heart's still beating.



EMP Packs: because you want to sprint in Sankaku facilities.



Here Sharp, let me get that for you. (Why didn't I disable the shock trap and head off that way? BECAUSE IT'LL BE FUNNY WHEN SOMEONE TRIGGERS IT LONG AFTER THE MISSION HAS ENDED)



Yeah we're done bye.



New toy, same as the old toy.



Yeah the only thing we actually gained from that was a bunch of creds and a stim. IF I WASN'T AN IDIOT WE'D HAVE A PIERCING SCANNER TO GIVE NIKA NEXT MISSION.



Here, have a consolation prize.



It's probably not a problem, probably.



So yeah, even though I am a huge bonehead, we're still going for the Cybernetics Lab. Worst case scenario, we can't use the vault card there so we rob Sankaku blind at their vault. Best case scenario, Nika gets EVEN MORE ARMOR PIERCING



Oh and I decided to max Sharp's Hacking score. The last rank of this gives +2 PWR rather than the +1 from each prior rank, which is only fitting as nothing in the game requires a stat of 5 to use.

Next Time: Bioroid Efficiency Research

What'd you do with the second EMP IV? Seems like it'd be good times to haul two of those around.

Threw it back in the locker to avoid encumbering myself. The whole reason I got rid of Sharp's original EMPs is because in MOST missions I don't need more than one. And frankly that second one here was overkill anyway.

As is right and proper.

Cybernetics yaaaaaaaay!



Right, so. Hello. Let's see about more cybernetics nonsense for the crew.



Nothing new here, so let's get right into it.



Daemon database early on and unguarded, that's nice.



Two stationary drones in a completely locked room, also nice.



Guard facing the wall and easily robbed.



And Nika gets a backup security passcard cuz why not.



Unfortunately, because of the following reasons, which I'll summarize in a brief spoilerpop:



I don't have our Vault Access Card on hand, which means that secondary lab behind that curious-looking door can't be accessed. I left it in our storage with Monst3r and forgot to get it for this mission.



So what I'm going to do, most likely, is use these for adding augment slots in the hopes of hitting the second Cybernetics Lab at Plastech. And this time, before I save and exit my game, I'm giving an agent the Vault Access Card so I don't repeat the earlier mistake.



This stupid thing needs to leave though. With it there, we can't hack ANYTHING.



Much like lampposts, receded operating bays do not count as cover. Good, this mission wasn't already a failure anyway.



Moving on. The first augment grafter provides the Subdermal Cloak, which gives the user a cloaking effect until their next turn whenever they use a stim, at a cost of 5 PWR. This is one that almost looks completely genius and very much worth giving to Dr. Xu... but the problem is not only the PWR cost, but the fact that right now, he only has a Stim Mk IV, which is a once per mission thing. Yes, he could ninja his way through a Sankaku facility, but this is the last one in the game, and he's not a good enough fighter to warrant using both of these machines just for that. Even outside of that, 5 PWR is a pretty hefty investment for an item type I like just firing off and not worrying about the results.



...Huh. Mk III Accelerator Chips give +4 PWR per console? That's actually worthwhile.



Banks hacks open the other grafter because FOR REASONS we need to leave this area very quickly, revealing the Pheromone Filter. This one gives the agent 2 AP whenever a guard wakes up from KO. It's not a BAD augment per se, but it also flies quite antithetical to really any team that uses a Paralyzer or a fully-kitted Sharp. And we've got both, so I'll be using this to give someone an augment slot too. Nika, most likely.



[MUFFLED SELF-FLAGELLATION IN THE DISTANCE]



Incidentally, that way is where the beehive we just kicked is. We're still doing it, of course.



I don't know that I'll have the time for this to affect me, much less be lucrative. But I want that nanofab open just to make sure we don't have better options.



Not really, no.



OKAY DR. XU GO PUT A SHOCK TRAP ON THAT DOOR LITERALLY RIGHT NOW BEFORE WE ALL DIE.



Banks snags the Accelerator Chip because honestly that one is legit good.



That's a lot of drones on their way over here. I'm not okay with that.



So I'm going to hack the sound bug here, as well as the Obake...



And have it shoot the camera drone in the back.



Turns out those guns are WAY louder than I thought, and a sound bug just outside of Nika's sight picks it up. The good news is, that takes the heat off of the cybernetics lab.



Not getting another chance. Go visit the dentist, Nika.

I arbitrarily select Dr. Xu to receive the second augment slot. This won't leave Banks out in the long run, assuming the Plastech Cybernetics Lab actually HAS a secondary lab to it. (I really hope it does or I'm going to be dead by March from shame poisoning.)



A NEW RECORD!



Sharp takes Nika's old post and Banks keeps the personnel in the Cybernetics Lab in check.



This way, the Null Drone will wake up the same turn as my agents, and they can disable it no problem.



Good, they're headed exactly the wrong way.



Dr. Xu needs to head over to those safes while the drone beehive is distracted. The rest of the crew just needs to not be in the Cybernetics Lab anymore.



Fun fact: the Akuma didn't actually see Sharp walking across its sight lines, because designation of cover and sightlines gets fuzzy with this level of peripheral.



In here is a new daemon type, namely Mask. While daemons are ordinarily visible, if unidentified, Mask applies a limited cloaking effect to all mainframe devices so you can't even see if they have daemons or not. Mask is usually one of the least threatening daemons if you have a good memory and have already seen most of what you want to hack, but be careful if you trip it while mid-scouting.



There's literally one KO'd guard and Banks just hit him with a Paralyzer, so I have zero qualms with hitting Jolt. This frees up the path that the ladies are taking significantly.



Whateeeeeever.



Oh hey, guess that laser grid wasn't as impenetrable as I thought.



Sharp's accompanying the doctor for a short bit, mostly because of that console there.



Hacking 5 is pretty good, guys.



What is this. What the hell is this. You come to me, and you insult me, you insult my friends, you insult my company...



Hey Sharp cool hacking score but Banks can do that same thing you just did except instead of being a lame dork she's awesome.



Need to scour the level until we get that cell.



Progressing slowly but surely down here.



The slow speed of the Akuma is working in our favor. It takes ages just to do mundane investigations, which is a huge boon if it's investigating a dead end.



Keep moving, guys. I don't want to be here any longer than we have to unless you can get Monst3r to beam in our Vault Access Card. (We can not do this.)



I dunno why that 1 cred is added to all of these safes. I'm guessing it's a bug with Felix.



Guess who got so mad about the mission screwup that he forgot you could EMP these things open.



Eh, we'll break it open the normal way, no problem.



HIT ME IN THE FACE, I DON'T CARE



And anything we've already identified the daemon for is still public knowledge because EFFICIENCY!



Let's get the hell out of this wasteland.

No idea when/if the party's headed back up here, but Nika's going to tag everything that DOES head that way. (That room held one safe with a small amount of money and nothing else worth mentioning.)



This stupid thing is still standing. Yes I'm going to hit it with Mercenary, and yes that will cost me 8 PWR, and yes that is with Seed support. MERCENARY GETS REALLY EXPENSIVE IN SANKAKU.



You are a slowpoke.



There we go. Still can tag anything that enters, and everyone can book it if they need to. Just waiting on Dr. Xu.



Hey it's the sole human on the level.



Right, let's get over here. Dr. Xu's Neural Disrupter can't punch through...



Except for the part where it does.



I'm holding all the cards, and they're all the Tower. And I am throwing you off of it.



Oh, more friends.



You're too late, you're too close, and most importantly, YOU'RE TOO SLOW



EMPunch to the back of the head!



And we out. Banks has to clean up after Sharp because he has no concept of resource conservation.



I was so mad at myself that I skipped the results screen outright and THIS THING. THIS STUPID THING.



NIKA HOLD THIS.



Yeah yeah yeah. Okay, this time, we're doing this right.



BRING YOUR A GAME AND THEN SOME PLASTECH BECAUSE I SURE AS HELL WILL

Next Time: Déj� Vu

IT IS THE FUTURE.



Pretty sure our daemon bodycount is higher than our guard bodycount.



Sharp confirmed for perpetual teenager.



That was quick. And good news, my screwup last mission didn't waste the prep time from earlier.



Everybody pile in while we can. Nobody's going to spot us this early, and if they do, Sharp can handle them.



Hit it, Nika.



No daemons on any of these, so we're under very little pressure for hacking them.



I send Dr. Xu down to scout things out and discover an ordinary guard overlooking a room that most likely has a camera in it.



Nika gets this.



Yup, camera. No biggie, we'll just hack that right open.



And now Nika can punch through at least 2 points of armor no problem. She's still not as strong at armor-punching as Sharp, but she also isn't limited to one punch every three turns.



Nope. Both my dedicated melee characters already have this, we can do better.



Hm. We need a cloaking rig to use that. And the other one had a Chameleon Movement augment, so we can't just abuse stims via Subdermal Cloak. I'm gonna try to find the nanofab on this level and see if it has a cloaking rig. If it does, great, we're in business. If not, this was a massive waste of time and resources.



While that goes on, I'll use Parasite instead of Mercenary for breaking things. We'll be slow on this anyway.



Nika got what she came for, so she'll go help Dr. Xu with scouting duty. Banks and Sharp will stay behind for now.



Side room with a laser grid blocking further exploration, but lots of cameras and a database for them too.



Might as well get this up and running.



Wait a tic. That camera was captured, but now it's back on the corp's side again.

Guys. Do you know what this means?



PLASTECH FINALLY DECIDED TO ACTUALLY PLAY THE GAME AND BRING OUT THEIR SIGNATURE GUARD TYPE



So yeah. Start of each turn, Modded Mk I guards recapture something within 6 spaces, usually (but not always) a camera. These guys are the whole reason Plastech facilities are supposed to be dangerous at all. At this stage, it's too little too late, but we'll see what they can do.



Also, I literally just noticed this, but you see those squares of blue in the hidden areas of the level? Those turn red during the corp's turn. Check the prior screenshot and you'll see what I mean. Really minor thing, but SO COOL.



Oh right, I guess I should move the other agents out of the lab for now.



Sharp sure as hell doesn't need to be there anymore, and Banks can't even use most of the contents in there.



May as well take a look.



Oh hey.

Wrench 5.0 is the last in a line of Wrench class programs. Each of these programs is incredibly specialized, boasting a 1 PWR per firewall break rate... but ONLY against specific firewall counts. 5.0 is even more efficient than that, but it only works against firewalls with an exact strength of 5. Used with Parasite (and optionally Wildfire), a good Wrench program can break through an entire level's worth of mainframe devices with stupid levels of efficiency: just tick down (or up) the device until it hits the target number for your Wrench!

Needless to say, we will not be getting this. We barely encounter anything with 5 firewalls and have no good way of artificially increasing them.

Banks is stuck for this turn, but next turn she'll be headed for that security door Dr. Xu found.



I hack the camera database and find two undiscovered cameras. Needless to say, I throw Parasites on them immediately.



Not much in this room except for the camera. Good.



This guy's settled into a new patrol route, so I'm gonna just park Dr. Xu right here, where it's safest.



Needless to say, we won't be keeping that camera for very long.



Unfortunately, I don't see a good way through without taking down this guy. The Modded guards will be keeping that camera under control for too long, and they're too widely spaced for us to reliably reach them.



I can still totally rob them blind, of course.



Also, they closed the laser grid up behind the crew. Not that it matters, the guard's patrol route out there has become very easy to avoid.



Still, we need a good route.



I see the Plastech guard strategy is still alive and well.



Found it. Let's take a look when we can.



That could've gone very, VERY badly.



I don't see any need to get this guy up in our grill just yet, so I'll just tag him and move on.



Hm. A Piercing Scanner, that we can use. And a Cloaking Rig III, that we can DEFINITELY use. Okay, I think I have a plan, but it has a few steps to it.



This plan necessitates inventory space. Sorry Nika, you can duplicate that by shooting or punching anyway.



First, I buy both bits of gear. Nika's kind of stuck for now, and she can't use them anyway, but they're not for her.



One of these is for Banks: namely, the Piercing Scanner. True, she doesn't have a gun yet, but we'll get to that.



That's convenient.



Mostly I hacked this thing so Sharp could get the console hijacked. We're gaining AND spending PWR at a pretty insane rate.



The Cloaking Rig is, unsurprisingly, for Dr. Xu. He has a high enough speed to make full use of it. In exchange, he hands over his Biogenic D.A.R.T., since he wouldn't have the inventory space for both items anyway.



Nika's not going to be in the thick of things for a while, but Sharp sure is, so she gives him the keycard.



No you don't get to wake up that fast.



Banks heads back to rendezvous with Nika.



Meanwhile, Dr. Xu cleans up a few loose ends before hurrying back to the augment grafters.



Y'know what, the nanofab is literally right there, I'm gonna sell them.

Have to use my Stim IV to do it, but it's fine.



With the money from selling these, I can pick up a Charge Pack to restore my Stim. In a nutshell, that safe basically contained 10 AP.



Not surprising at all. What IS surprising is that they're reclaiming the daemon database of all things.



Sharp's keeping our constant hacking up and running with his Hacking score.



The guard hit the Shock Trap, yeah, but it didn't give him as much KO points as I'd like. Sharp is going to help with that.



Yeah, this puts Banks way over her inventory limit. But that's okay.



First, of course, we install the Piercing Scanner. Now her new D.A.R.T. can even punch through the armor of an OMNI Soldier.



Second, she hands off her trusty Paralyzer to Nika, who is skilled enough to use it and will likely get far more opportunities to actually do so.



The funny thing is that safe didn't even properly recoup the costs. Oh well, creds don't do a whole lot for us after this mission anyway.



So, uh.

Nika tried tagging the Pulse Drone, which caused a game crash. This was, of course, quite annoying for me on account of the fact that SCREW YOU THAT RUN WAS GOING EXCELLENTLY.



No harm done, though. The game's autosave mechanics in case of crashing appear to be quite diligent, as it took me to exactly the point of the game where I attempted the action with zero consequences.



Anyway, Sharp and Nika need to do something about the guard cluster or we're stuck here.



But in my haste to get started, I forgot that Sharp's Thermal Disrupter was still on cooldown. This makes things hairy.



But we can fix this. Kinda. First, the EMP. Yeah this only gets the power cell container and the camera drone disabled, but it ALSO disables the guards' heart monitors and makes a noise.



I could beam Sharp out literally right now, but that'd leave Nika to solo literally everything else, something I'm not quite happy with doing. So I just use his Stim to get him to the least deadly spot he can reach.



HEY GUYS WHAT WAS THAT HORRIBLE ELECTRICAL CACOPHONY



cyborg fight cyborg fight cyborg fight



What's that, your heart monitors have been disabled?



That's a real shame.



And this is why Sharp stuck around. Without him, Nika's Volt Disrupter would cost a bit too much PWR.



Meanwhile, Dr. Xu puts on his Sonic playlist again.



I, uh... don't really know why I sent Banks over here. But she is! Which means she can take Sharp's server once we're done using it if we need to.



Sharp, of course, is a bit too busy to get it himself.



Those eyes are still glowing even when they're dead. Creepy.



Well, that was messy, but certainly effective. That chokepoint just got a lot more breathing room.

Okay, NOW Sharp can leave.



And now Dr. Xu can join the augment-laden crew.



Now that he has a cloaking device, he can put both this and the new Chameleon Movement to use.



Just need a bit more space is all, nothing major.



Nika's just gonna keep the one unconscious guard left here in check until they come back.



See, Banks IS helping!



Here we go. Now Dr. Xu is Dr. McNinja.



And since his base AP is higher than Banks', he's gonna carry the server.



Both of the level's remaining guards are now hunting proper.



This probably won't cause lasting damage.



Crew moves up, but the guard is posing a bit of a problem here.



So here's our plan. We can't stop the elite for very long, but we can delay him slightly by one turn. And that's all we need.



Dr. Xu, for his part, puts his shiny new augments to use by doing a NINJA VANISH to KO the guard for Banks.



While attacking will break the cloak, using items or interacting with anything nearby will not. So setting a Shock Trap on this door doesn't break the cloak at all (not that we presently need it).



Banks takes the longer but safer side route in the meantime.



Right, I think the other two can handle themselves. You can go home now, Nika.



Wow, it's been a while since this time, hasn't it?



Elite Enforcer, ooh noooooo



Dr. Xu was pinpointed OOH NOOOOOO



Yeah they'll never reach us in time, not least because the unconscious guard distracted him from the last known agent location.



This isn't pointless because Net Downlink. With this, we give Dr. Xu enough of a boost to hit the exit at the same time as Banks.



Now THAT is how it's done.



Look at that beautiful haul. ABSORB ITS DETAILS WITH YOUR EYEBALLS IN YOUR HEAD.



And since Banks got the short end this run for crazy cybernetics, we're going to make her an exemplar of humanity and just give her loads more stats that everyone else with the creds we have left.



4 Minutes Until Death

OMNI Mainframe 2:18 PM

Found our final boss for the week, everyone.



Here we are. Security off the charts, with guard types we KNOW will wreck us if we let up for even a second. But we do this, and we may finally get the solar levels of heat off our backs long enough to survive.

Next Time: Satellite Uplink

Recommended reading for anybody who wants to know what Dr. Future Nerd is referring to - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Endianness.

You'll kill us all, Central, or die trying. But hey, we committed.



Fair warning: this is gonna be a huge update.



This mission has two parts. The first is getting to the security hub with Monst3r, and that's the harder of the two.



The second part is not "be alive", that is completely optional. After we hit the security hub, we need to use access from there to reach the actual server to upload our AI.



Right, so, before we begin, a quick rundown of not just the new crew, but our entire team.

Dr. Xu: Black Market Academic
Dr. Xu is the least suited to fighting anybody here since only his Shock Trap can affect anybody, and completely out of his element as there are no safes to loot in this mission. That said, his new augments and cloaking rig earn him a proud spot on this team, and the Stim and Net Downlink ensure he's as good at scouting as he ever was. His main job will be to find our locations as fast as he can.



Banks: Burn-Out Wire Thief
Banks will be contributing support to the team both by robbing everyone blind to procure new gear if we can, and providing long-range KOs and emergency PWR generation otherwise. She hasn't taken the spotlight the way the other three have for much of the game, but her help is of a much subtler type, and no less handy than the rest.



Sharp: More Machine Than Man
Sharp has done two things all game: get us lots of PWR, and beat the hell out of our toughest enemies. He will continue to do these two things, and do them well. He's the only member of our team who can take down an OMNI Soldier in melee, which deserves special mention.



Nika: Blunt Instrument
Nika's M.O. is probably the least changed out of anybody here. She'll spend the early part of the mission tagging literally everything she can see, provide melee KOs whenever possible, and probably save everyone's bacon with the Flurry Gun at a critical moment. Her game is guard mitigation, and she is very good at this game.



Central: The Leader
Central joins our team for this last mission, but she will spend 90% of it hiding in the starting room until we find the server room. Just like in chess, she is the weakest yet most important piece on our board. She does come with a unique Antiviral Proxy that should help take the edge off of daemons we encounter, since it generates 5 PWR whenever we trigger a daemon. But that doesn't require her to get into the meat of things, nor should we put her there.



Monst3r: The Information Broker
What the hell did you do with our grenade, Monst3r? WE COULD'VE REALLY USED THAT HERE. That aside, if Central is our team's king, Monst3r is our queen: a very powerful piece, but one we can't afford to overextend with. The two work together really well, with the Antiviral Proxy making his Overclocked Neural D.A.R.T. much more reasonable to use, and even OMNI Soldiers can't take a shot from that thing. But even with that, we need to get him to the security hub before we can get anywhere.



This is not a good start for this mission.



6 firewalls on that camera? They REALLY aren't gonna be making this one easy, are they.



Side room is just as dangerous.



We'll clearly be needing every bit of PWR we can manage.

Note that if I was SMART, I'd deploy the portable server instantly. This map has no teleporter exit: we're doing this mission right, or we're losing.



Get everyone behind cover in the starting room, because the last thing you need in this mission is an early discovery because some Protector or Harbinger rolled in unannounced.



Hands up everyone who is surprised by this revelation and also missed me constantly spoiling it anyway.



Right, let's see. Those two can be tagged right off, so that's nice.



And that should give Nika enough AP to begin scouting for the crew.



Hey that's a completely reasonable amount of firewalls for a lategame camera to have.



Oh good, Harbinger patrolling in that half of the world, that'll be a problem.



Whoops, big mistake here. Yeah the Protector can't see her with their current patrol route.



But she didn't get out of range of the pulse drone.



Nope, not having the entire facility dumped on my head by turn 3.

I don't think I've had to use any rewinds yet? But in a nutshell, this is a once-per-mission "go back to the previous turn's beginning". Once you know the game well enough, rewinds shouldn't be a thing you ever really need, but hey, I have one for being on Expert, I'll take it.



Let's try a much more cautious approach.



Hack this thing open, no real reason not to.

Right, should be another camera in here too.



Six more firewalls. We're never getting out of here at this rate.



Wasn't 100% sure about the safes, so I asked Rogue. It confirms as much.



Screw it, we need more intel, and we aren't gonna get it hiding in our starting room. Dr. Xu's the only one fast enough to avoid the pulse drone's scans and get into cover, so off he goes.



Oh dear, did not expect a Harbinger to come out of that room. That could be a mild issue.



Sounds like she's been hanging out with Sharp a bit too much.



Anyway, the good news is that Harbinger stops right outside of our room and doesn't pose much of a threat.



Let's get started on the cameras in there, too. Camera placement this mission is BRUTAL.



Not many good places for the doctor to escape to. And needless to say, until we get that camera down south hacked, everyone else is locked up tight.



No wait, that's not something Sharp would say or agree with. Dude is Randian as hell. This is some other bizarre philosophical quagmire.



That is just enough cameras to make that room taxing. Seriously, this is almost masterfully designed, which is funny because RNG.



Can you imagine me trying to do the cover dance with multiple agents? Especially agents without Dr. Xu's Speed score?



Yeah no don't touch that thing, leave that to Banks or Sharp when (if) they get there.



I FINALLY figure that if Sharp's gonna be stuck in the same room for several turns, may as well get the server up and running.



Time for wacky fun shenanigans!



Let's see if the crew can't get out of where they are NOW.



Seriously, top tier camera placement.



Thankfully that Harbinger should be out of our hair for now.



Don't have the PWR to hack the camera in there yet, so I'll just put Dr. Xu somewhere safe.



Could use the EMP to sneak in, but that'd make a LOT of noise, and I kinda want to save it for combo-ing with the Flurry Gun if I can.



Whoa, narrow miss. If that Soldier up there had walked merely one extra space forward, Dr. Xu would be toast right now.



An opening! Get moving, crew.



I don't see us getting to the nanofab any time soon, but hey, why not.



Oh man but we needed that.



Dr. Xu might be safe right NOW, but he can't move without being noticed.

So screw it, stealth up. Good luck catching me now, nerds. This lasts until the start of the turn after his next.

I saw someone new playing the game expecting that the cloaking rig would work differently than it does. What he did was activate it near the end of his turn, then let the enemy advance, hoping he would be able to adjust to their new position and then sneak out. Spoilers: do not do this. The cloak dissolved in plain view of an enforcer.

If you're going to be seen one way or another, let the enemy see you FIRST, then cloak. Yes, the alarm level gets raised, but if that happens either way, better to take the way that doesn't let the agent get shot, y'know?



Anyway, that plus his augment giving him a speed boost ensures that Dr. Xu can skip merrily out of danger's way and scout that door at the far end. He also discovers a laser grid we really don't care about.



Needs more cameras.



Now that we have the map narrowed down to two possible spots for Monst3r to head to, he starts heading for the midpoint.



Banks and Sharp see the Harbinger head in and reveal one type of room...



Namely, mainframe access. Good, that means Central can sit still for the entire mission.



Monst3r, on the other hand, has to do what Dr. Xu only could with a Cloaking Rig Mk III.



Naturally, both sides have firewalls and daemons.



PWR is kind of tight right now, so let's not go in blindly.



Dr. Xu then has time to observe the guards from his current position. Ordinarily we'd just tag them and call it good, but Nika can't open the door for a clean shot without getting their attention.



Sharp's gotten to a better vantage point, at least.



Guard routes have more or less settled in at this point, so we don't have much to worry about.



This guy's patrolling the mainframe access entryway, which isn't a big deal since he only overlooks one door we don't care about.



The daemon on that one is Jolt, is it? That's easy.



Sharp is joined by Monst3r, and figures hey, he can make it to the console over there without any problems.



NOPE, patrolling Harbinger. That's a pretty big problem to handle. I could've probably had him Stim and go get it anyway, but that kind of just shocked be back into retreating. Oh well.



LOOK AT ALL THESE KO'D GUARDS I DON'T CARE ABOUT



Nika finally gets an opening to start tagging guards.



And aside from the obvious benefit of information...



This gives her the AP necessary to cross their blind spots.



BASE.

That still requires far too much AP for everyone else to do. They'd have to take a break at that midpoint, which isn't really the safest spot in the world to stop.



I've reached that point where I've hacked more or less everything in the map anyway, but I'm still gonna hack the power supply so Nika can safely reach Dr. Xu. I have a plan.



This makes things tricky, of course. I'll need Aces for most of my crew to get anywhere close to taking on Soldiers.



But that'll come later down the line.



Monst3r isn't totally walled off here, he can leave the room without attracting notice. But once he does, he has nowhere he can reasonably go.