Made, Not Born Walkthrough 2.0 - Sniper, Brutal

[abysmal]

Introduction and Notes

So, I decided that I would go ahead and redo the Made, Not Born Walkthrough of Cyber Knights, now that updates have finally slowed down. While much of the core walkthrough of CyberKnights is still the same (gonna make money, gain XP, etc.) a few things have changed. Ultimately, I think that the Sniper Class is going to best teach the new changes over the years, and I'm going to cover eventually why.

A few things... Cyber Knights can be best summed up as a game about a kid who has aspirations. Sadly, these aspirations are quite small and unrealistic, and my walkthrough will eventually show this. As a Sniper starting off, I want to stress how important Survival is; on Brutal Difficulty, the amount of heat that generates with certain actions increases, the pay is ridiculously low (for now) and the game is much more harder. Some ordering of the stat gains that I did in the inital walkthrough with Tutorial Steve may stay the same, but a few things can change. Simply put, changing the Class and changing the Difficulty changes the game. I intend this Walkthrough to replace the original one that I did, and I might just copy some of what I have to say to this guide, but I will make note of anything that I believe is important, like different XP options.

In a dystopian world/cyberpunk themed game, resources are scarce. I intend on trying to save ammo unless I absolutely need it. Don't expect much of a shooting frenzy, because on Brutal not only is ammo expensive, but as I believe Gunshots generate Heat the quickest, I'm going to shoot only when needed. I do wanna check and see something on the Blasta-Gun because I'm pretty certain that it doesn't have the same Heat formula as regular guns do (and I swear if the Blasta-Gun doesn't, it really needs to stay like that, or else having a non-lethal gun option is flat out pointless).

When the Sniper walkthrough is completed, I think it would be for the best if the original Walkthrough I did either be deleted or archived. This is the highest difficulty walkthrough, and it's going to be able to hold its own on all difficulties. The only thing that will change and vary amongst players will be how much money they have (which tbf if they are following the steps that I do shouldn't be too far behind or ahead) and how much ammo they have.

I encourage any players that have questions about choices, weapon options, stat improvements, and factions to ask. I do not play Hacker characters, so if you ask me where to farm for data I'm likely to ignore it or give a snarky answer. I just plain don't know about how the Matrix works, and unless we get that long-awaited Matrix tutorial, I'm just not willing even remotely to give it a shot.

So, with my little introduction out of the way, I'm going to start playing and writing, and Part 1 will be up soon.

Edit 1: Before I start the guide, I wanna make a few notes regarding how we start as opposed to the Gunslinger. The first number next to each stat represents the stats of a Gunslinger, whereas the second number represents the Sniper. I also think it's important to know what items you are given to start the game.

Body: 2-2

Strength: 2-2
-Athletics: 4-3
-Brawling: 1-0

Dexterity: 2-2
-Stealth: 0-2
-Firearms: 3-4

Mind: 2-2

Intelligence: 1-1
-Electronics: 0-0
-Hacking: 0-1

Perception: 2-2
-Negotiation: 1-0
-Intimidation: 2-1

Sniper: Scout CarboMag Rifle, AutoRounds, Medkit x1, HedLozz x2
Gunslinger: Mars Lightfire Pistol x2, Pistol Ammo x2, Medkit x1, Stim Pax

Snipers as opposed to Gunslingers have a few interesting changes that make the game either easier or harder, depending on your playstyle. For a defensive player like myself, the big difference to note is that our Athletics takes a hit by 1 point, our Intimidation takes a hit by 1 point, and our Negotiation is non-existant. The trade-off is that we immediately have 2 points in Stealth, an extra point in Firearms, and a sole point in Hacking (just enough to get us by for now). As such, my primary goals are to finish getting Athletics and Stealth to par, then improve my Firearms, because Capture missions and Assassination missions happen pretty quickly, sometimes within the first hour or two. Again, I want to stress that the Blasta-Gun should be considered as a weapon, even moreso than for a Gunslinger according to some on the first walkthrough (although I do have bias towards the Blasta-Gun). Money is also a concern, as we will probably only be able to ask for maybe 2 more dollars as opposed to 50$-60$ and later the hundreds. Made, Not Born does not give you Medkits, HedLozz, or Stimpax when you start. Gunslingers get 50 Pistol Rounds; Snipers get 10 Pistol Rounds and 25 Auto Rounds. Don't fret about bullets though, because we aren't gonna start shooting just yet and Killshot beats Dualshot every time.

Edit 2: Questions, concerns, comments? Please post them here: startradersrpg.proboards.com/thread/14228/born-walkthrough-2-comments

[abysmal]

Trust and Rough Edges

The first thing that will happen is that we get a little exposition from Luka and my Character Joshua... I mean Revan (I changed his name to Revan... sue me Bioware I dare ya). Originally a Mars Runner, Revan goes under the knife to have a Quantam Computer installed in his person, and being the naive Runner he is, thinks he is going to an uphill clinic when in actuality he is going to a Black Market Clinic deep underground. A few days later, we wake up and...



OMG, my health and MP... it's soo bad. Our money... only 3 XP... we are in a very very rough spot, and it's only getting started. We get a rewind of a conversation saying we are not allowed to trust the shadow clinic that we are supposed to trust with our operation, and that we need to call her up. We get a really quick lesson on how to move and use terminals, and then the game starts. For newer players, please make note of the following indicators: The red bars on the top left represent our Health, and the Green Bars represent our Move Poin... I mean Mental Power. Health is important because when we hit 0, we die, and on Brutal that means my walkthrough has to start all the way back over. Mental Power is the same way, but keeping it high allows us to fight better, move faster, more AP... that kind of thing. We are also really really tired, as evidenced by the Exhaust bar that is full. If you were to get into a fight, and assuming you could win said fight, you wouldn't get anything save for ammo and other items. XP is really important for now, so let's just go to the terminal.



You see that rusty ATM there... we need to go there, so tap in front of it and away we go... when we get there. On the way over, we remember that we have access to the map feature (currently the box with 2 squares in the center) and if we need to go somewhere specific we can tap the box and then choose the location specifically. Note that this is not fast travel, this just makes navigation a little easier on you. Either way, we get dialogue that shows that Revan doesn't entirely like the situation that he is in (mostly the money part) and he has to stay with Luka and her friends if we intend to get anywhere; let's give her a call.



Luka seems pretty surprised we lived, implying that we were supposed to die (which less than 40% success rates imply) or that the clinic could have stabbed us in the chair (my thoughts). Either way, Luka tells us that our Fixer is actually another phone contact, and that we need to go to the End of the Road Bar and talk to Oxca to get it. As we head over there, Revan has another despair moment about him in pain, I don't trust them but I gotta work with them... not gonna lie, Revan is kinda whiny. We get to the Clinic and talk to Oxca who gives us a chip for Max Mercer as well as a warning that being in this state, we are especially vulnerable. This potentially is important much farther down the road. To install the chip, tap the Uzi icon on the bottom of the screen, and then tap on the chip that says Max Mercer; any time in the future that you want to use an item in the hub, you will do it this way. Go back to the terminal and talk to Max Mercer.



I want to point out that the game really likes redundancy, because this is the third person that pretty much tells us that the clinic is shadier than a Black Van selling ice cream in the middle of winter. Max tells us that we have a Medkit that we can use over at Heaven's Pharma. Note that he does NOT give us cash for the medkit. Go to Heaven's Pharma and pick up the Medkit; do not use it. The reason is that the game has a flag that detects when you have picked up the Medkit, but not when you use it, so grab the medkit, and go back to the terminal and talk to Max Mercer. He will acknowledge that we bandaged ourselves up with air, and give us some credits to have a night at the Gaslamp. We are also advised about the Exhaustion Penalty, and informed about how gang territory works. Revan also does a lot more complaining about how much of a leash he is really on. It's your call if you agree with him or not. He's still whiny. Go to the Gaslamp and check in.



Give Max's regards to Holly, and go ahead and pay the 25 credits to use the Hotel room. While you are a paid hotel user using the safe location screen, you can choose to raise your attributes and skills with XP. Here, I use the 3 XP we have and use it to increase my Negotiation by 2, so now we can actually afford a few french fries with our hamburgers. Resting here heals us to 5 HP, and 7 MP, which is a godsend. If you do not pay anything to a hotel like Holly's, then while you can reduce heat, you will not burn exhaustion or Heal, so take that into consideration. Go to the terminal and call Max Mercer. He will not give you a chance to train just yet, but he does give us 550 credits so that we may get better armor. He refers us to Tunnel Guns, and tells us to get armor. The only item we can afford is the Rapid Transit coat, which is above. Psst... we don't like being on a leash, so do NOT get the armor... we can use the money elsewhere. Go back to the terminal and call Max Mercer again, who tells us that we can start our training.



Max wires us a contact for Frederic Flynn, aka F.F., who will be our Connectors. Throughout CyberKnights, you will see Connectors as a needed evil... they pay us horribly at first but decently later, they give us jobs which improve our cash and skills, and they pave the way into the corporations much much later in the game. Use the V-Chip and go to Heaven's Pharma to pick up a few extra goodies. I advise one used Medkit, 2 StimPax, and 3 Cram Shots. Then call F.F. on the Terminal.



He tells us that our first jobs are going to be nothing more than courier messages. If we avoid staying Exhausted, we will get paid upon delivery and gain 1 XP each time that we do this. When our reputation hits a certain mark, we can ask for more and more risky jobs, which in turn gives us a better and better payout. A nice bit of exposition also includes that the message is in our contract that we can't see, and that Connectors don't really know anything, so torture and intimidation don't work on them. That doesn't really matter in the long or short runs, but it is a very nice tidbit of information. Go back to the Gaslamp and spend 3 nights; you should be at 8 health, 7 Mental Power. We are now back on our feet, and ready to hit the ground running.

[abysmal]

Long Hours, Superficial Rewards

I realize that telling new players that buying Drugs to improve their lot is silly, so I figure I would explain a little bit about how the Drugs work and why I intend to use them. As I said before, we have two kinds of Health, the Physical Health Bar (Red) and the Mental Power (Green). One important aspect that should be worth mentioning is that if we have 9 MP, we can potentially gain a single extra action during combat; if its higher, we can potentially gain 2, and that's good value since MP is lowered during combat. We also gain these same bonuses with Initiative meaning we will move faster and act quicker. However, I digress, and wholly recommend that when you get missions that take you to Los V territory (the area on the left) that you use a Stimpack for the much needed boost.

Now it's time to do jobs. We have pretty meager jobs, and I thought I would take the time to explain how the Job screen works, because it is my entire belief that some people just don't take the time to read a good help page. In order to get a job, all one must do is make a phone call to their local connector, or visit the location of the Connector out in the NBZ (remember, we are NOT in the NBZ yet) and choose the "I am here to see the Connector" Dialog Option. Here, a few things of note:





First off, updates to the CK code, as opposed to the first MnB walkthrough I did, now allow factions to acknowledge your Reputation, how much XP you have, and your Faction reputation. What this means is that the game knows how good you are, how bad you are, and how you treat the organizations. Expect prices to wildly fluctuate for your services because of this. The next thing is that the game tells you a bare minimum about the job... notably what area the job will be in, but not what building to go to. This is simply a convenience, because we don't wanna go somewhere where we have too much heat and not a lot to handle (again, more important in the NBZ then in MnB because of Corpland, but I digress). In my case, I have 4 jobs that take me to the I-93 Tunnel A6, for a total of 240 credits. More notably, only one of jobs do not impact the Los V, so we should be very careful when we meet the Los V Grunts. For now, we will accept these all and look at our map. But first, let's get a bit more information on the job. A sample one below:



In this example, the game is kind enough to tell us how we get paid in both cash and XP (we get paid and get points when we deliver this message), the target building (here it's the End of the Road Bar), and the timeframe that we have to complete it (if we do not finish in time, the mission, cash, and XP are as good or not at all present). It is worth mentioning that you can negotiate the price. Doing so means you suffer penalties much worse and that you are pretty much obligated to do the job, but you get a bigger cash payout in return based on your faction reputation. Let's look at a comparison:



Here, I was able to increase the price of the job by 20 credits. You shouldn't get too happy with Negotiation, but sometimes you can do so to your benefit. I take the job, and start making my way to the location. Eh??



It seems that the message is a hot message... do not worry, for the most part this will be normal regardless of whom you are actually working for. The point of this though is that when you are in a bad rep area, this increase will be more of a liability, but for now, we are in neutral territory, and the heat is only due to the message, not because of a fight. Let's Drop off the message. In my case, it's at the Oxca's bar.



Note that when you go to your target, it gives you an option to turn the job in; you don't get to further negotiate with the recipient, and to be fair that's probably for the best. Cash and XP are paid out immediately. With that in mind, I go and do the next few jobs; bear in mind though that with our crappy computer that we nearly got killed for, we only can take one job at a time... eventually we will be able to take two jobs, then three, and then four jobs. For now, be grateful the jobs are relatively close.



As you can see, turning in missions also changes how factions view us... Now I went from being an Unknown to being a Probate Member. Personally I would rather it say Probationary Member, but beggars can't be choosers right? It's also worth noting that while I do have the XP, I'm not using it up right away. There are stats that I specifically want to be successful, so improving my Electronics right away isn't going to do much for me. Save your XP; I will note when I make my stat changes.



I didn't notice this at first, but while turning in the third job, I made an observation. Do you see it, if not, allow me to explain. My reputation with Fennian was non-existant, and they had me carrying hot packages. Now that I'm gaining reputation with Fennians (Green is good), the Heat from the package is less than normal. Positive reputation will decrease the amount of heat you generate, meaning that potential Fennian encounters will not be so bad; Negative reputation will cause organizations to hate us, and send more deadly hit squads after us. Just wait till we have to go to Los V.

After turning in all four jobs that F.F. gave me, I have 390 credits (remember, I was able to negotiate for 78 credits per job) and 4 XP. We still are not going to spend any of the cash or the XP just yet. If you contact him, checking his job offers show jobs of higher payout, but they may be going to Canal Tunnels. Before I take on these Jobs, let's see what he has to say about our current jobs: pick-up and delivery eh?



These are interestingly enough one of my favorite job types in Cyber Knights when starting off. To explain, in CK the first thing you have to realize is that XP is waaayyyyy more important in the beginning than pay. You can get money anywhere, but getting XP is tedious. These kind of jobs offer you 2 XP per mission as a base, and that's not including any encounters you have along the way. If you get these missions, you should always take them, irregardless of easier "closer-to-home" jobs. Plus they pay more (usually) then being a mailman. Now, currently I'm not showing delivery jobs, so I'm going to take these normal mailman jobs as I work to gain more XP. This time though, I need to be a little more careful because I'm going into Canal Tunnels, which is Los V territory. But, how do I know this? Well, let's bring up the map (to be fair, you guys should already know about this, but I'm only mentioning this now in case you never decided to bring it up).

If you get a job that is in a different section, looking at the box with squares in it will show a square as Red. That square is an indication of where we must go. If you tap on it and then navigate to the Left (which is where the mission is) the screen will show Los V on the top. You can use the buttons on the right to put a pointer where building is that we are going to. I wholely don't endorse that until you hit the NBZ. Now, I could do a very long sequence of map scrolling and screen tapping to go to the left screen, but since we have a green arrow, let's use that to get us where we are going eh? Just hold the arrow when it is green, and Revan/Joshua will make his way over to a predetermined point on the map screen. This is much more useful on the NBZ, but sometimes you just wanna move quickly, and not get distracted by all the goodies.



Uh oh... our Heat is actually in the Orange now. This isn't really a worrying point, but we need to take a few precautions. We are being watched, and sooner or later Los V thugs will come to check us out; more likely than not they may try to kill us, but we have a few tricks of our own. First, I go into my items, and I use a StimPax. With my Mental Power at 9, I will be able to move one tile farther, and take one additional action. This is really really important. Let's go ahead and turn in that job and get the hell out of here.



Fortunately for me, I was able to get in and get out really quickly, and I was not intercepted by Los V. If you manage to get intercepted... my advice is to run for it... get really far away and out of sight, and then use escape. Save ammo, and it'll attract less heat. Continue doing Jobs that you are issued, and save that XP until you have 10 XP. If you get tired, I recommend using one of the Cramshots... pretend its a caffeine pill. (on a side note fallen, can we get a little bit of Clarification on how Cramshots work, since at Dog-Tired one cramshot still leaves me at Dog-Tired but another cramshot put me at Stimmed up)

It is worth noting that as you continue to perform missions, Fatigue will set in. If you do not have a mission from Flynn, use the Gaslamp or use the Canalside Hotels to heal, and try and alternate between the two to reduce your overall heat. While taking an encoded mission, I notice that I'm starting to get package missions. So, what I like to do in this case is take the mission from the Fennian Side, go to the Canalside Hotels after turning in a mission like that, and then doing the Package mission if it initiates from Los V territory. If my last resting spot was the Gaslamp, this gives me the added bonus of losing heat, plus I can look at my stats. At the Hotels, I determine that I actually need 14 XP to get two key stat boosts I want.



Sadly during one of the missions part of the Dome exploded. When I chose the Seek Shelter option, I failed the roll and took 1 Health Damage and 2 Mental Power damage. On the way to the Hotel, I get into a confrontation, but with again I try the pacifist route and evade them (heat means I'm likely to get ambushed). Again, I fail, and I get into a fight.



When you get into a fight, the game first rolls initiative and determines combat order. In this case, I get a higher initiative roll then the Los V Riff Raff, and because I have 5 AP to his 3 AP, this means I'll be able to move farther from him. However, Combat is initiated around the same area as the map, so if I move too far from the hotels, I will be just as far when combat is over. For now, let's look at our current positions.



Here, the Riff Raff is about 6 spots away from me... Going all the way south is the best option, but I need to be mindful that he does have a gun. I may get shot here, so I elect to move only a few tiles away, and then Stimming up so I can get more AP the next turn (Remember that because I lost the Dome Roll I lost 1 AP... not cool game).



During that round, I was able to move a little more because of the extra AP I kept, and I used that to move a little bit more. During round two, I used a StimPax, and then decided to move towards the East... this time Los V Riff Raff got his roll a bit better than I did; fortunately he ran out of action points which meant that his Initiative means nothing. That should change next round with the Stimpax bonus.



After several rounds of moving, I was able to escape the combat. Note that if I was a Gunslinger, this would have been much harder to do because of the Gunslingers lack of a Stealth stat early on. However, we still don't have as good of an Athletics stat, so again, make sure to save your points until we hit 14 points. On the bright side... 1 more XP

After this fight, I went to Canalside Hotels. This lowered my Heat with Los V, which is good for me because I'm gonna immediately raise it back up again by doing some deliveries. With luck, I should be able to survive until I get the remaining 5 XP I need to make some much needed adjustments.



Since I'm staying at the Canalside Hotel, I make a choice to grab the package already here in Los V territory... aren't I a sneaky one? Don't forget that the Canalside Hotel has a phone allowing you to contact F.F.

By picking up the package, I gained 1 XP, but I am generating heat. I also determine that I have been trailed twice now between the Canalsides and back on the I-93. I both times I was able to lose my followers, but I generated heat, so I take a detour to the Gaslamp to lower the extra heat. No one said this was gonna be cheap. After doing several of these jobs, I finally end up with 14 XP. At the Gaslamp, I increase my Athletics from 3-->4 and my Stealth from 2-->3. The next XP goal is 23 XP, but that is for another time.







At this point, the main thing that new players should be seeing is that I'm prioritizing stats that are not allowing me to kill faster, but stats that encourage me to survive encounters. By improving Athletics, I can move farther per turn, and Stealth allows me to get farther away from thugs before I can escape (I tried to get a screenshot of where I was after the first encounter ended... I was at least a block south of the Hotel I was trying to get to).

Until next time, have fun

[abysmal]

I'll Taze You Bro!!!

So, a few things I feel I should cover due to some technical difficulties on my phone. First, I had to do a full reset on my phone because of an issue that told my phone I had headphones plugged in even though my headphones were plugged into my computer. So, in order to get this part of the walkthrough ready, I had to rush through and play for about an hour straight just to get back to where I was. Then, while doing said rush, I triggered a tiny tidbit from F.F., got 300$ extra credits (I think, I would like fallen to correct me on this; it's the combat training one), and still somehow managed to have less money than I did originally. My tradeoff is that I ended up with two out of 23XP that I need, so I think it's still ok.

So, if you want, I would go ahead and talk to FF and ask him What's Next, and I think I did this around 15 Rep. It'll give you a little extra cash, and more importantly, it gets you to where I was due to a tiny little error on my part. Whoops.

Another thing worth mentioning is that F.F. also let's you know that some missions are now going to start going into the Los V side. I kinda feel that this is a tad bit redundant. You usually get that happening anyways before this point in the game, so telling me that I'm going to do something I'm already doing is still kinda silly. Personally, I think that the dialogue should change to say that I could be getting jobs that start in Los V territory, as opposed to saying I'm going to Los V territory.

I go ahead I start doing a few more package jobs. As I said before, I personally prefer package mission as opposed to message delivery missions because they offer 2 XP per mission; if you did not notice, this is simply because picking up the package results in 1 XP, and then successfully delivering the package gives you the second XP. At the cost of a little extra Heat, I wholeheartedly encourage any player to consider doing more package delivery than any other type.

At about 20 Rep, F.F. opens up about getting our promised combat training. He tells us that we should check out Tunnel Guns to see about additional weapons, as well as him bringing a friend from the NBZ to teach us how to fight (kinda?). The man is Mallor True, and he is at the Gaslamp. We are also advised that this isn't dummy training, so our training is going to take place against live targets. You know, because on Brutal Difficulty I totally haven't seen a single enemy . Now, to be completely fair, on Normal difficulty, I would not mind stopping by the Gaslamp to speak to Mallor. But, seeing as we are on Brutal Difficulty, I still want to get my 23XP total so I can bump up a few more stats before doing this. But for now, let's stop by Tunnel Guns before I start a few more missions.

[Combat Training Dialogue]

Here at Tunnel Guns, choosing the first option is going to have the owner tell you about the weapon stats and how they work. Now, I would encourage a new player to listen to what he tells you, and if you get confused, reread the weapon stats section in the rules. I will however tell you about what types of weapons one should consider. First off, as grävling said in the comments section, there are no Non-lethal gloves in MnB, so the first major investment we are going to make is essentially a taser, and this offers a few amazing benefits that a few players may or may not be aware of. HOWEVER, one should note that while the Blasta-Gun is in Tunnel Guns, in Los V territory there is Underground Arms that sells the A9 Defender, which is the same exact gun but cheaper. Remember, always shop around before you buy.

[A9 Defender]

First off, the Defender has really good stopping power for a Non-Lethal weapon, and has a pretty good Accuracy rating to boot. In Gangland territory (any territory in the sandbox or MnB setting where you are pitted against Los V, Streets, Fennians, and arguably Yakuza), human and Hund targets tend to have a lot of Health, but a very low amount of Mental Power. You can use the Defender to remove targets with less shots (and therefore less money) than with the rifle we have. Secondly, Heat is easily generated in Combat, and the ways that I know in combat that generate Heat are that a Ranged Weapon must be used, and that a target must be Killed. This means that while the Defender isn't the quietest thing around, the Defender will not generate as much Heat overall as your rifle will, simply because you don't kill your targets. Thirdly, the Defender can still be used in Assassination Missions, as well as Capture missions (in short, imagine that in Assassination missions your character calmly walks over to the target and puts a primed grenade in his hand or something; Cool Guys definitely don't look at explosions). Gunslingers should definitely invest in two of these, but as a Sniper, only one will do. Lastly, do not use Defender against Drones of any kind. They suffer the opposite problem, where they have little Health, but a lot of Mental Power (um... hmm... I have a snarky comment about drones and Mental Power... I just don't know how to word it because it might slow down the Drone Master's arrival _) so bullets actually work a lot more.

The choice of when to pick up this beauty is up to you. I prefer sooner rather than later, so I make a point to pick up the gun, and buy an AmmoBatt so that I can use it effectively. Make sure you also equip it. Do do this, go and tap the gun icon on the bottom of the screen, and then tap the Defender to equip it. If you don't have any missions, this is also a good time to discuss the extra benefit of being near the Canalside Hotels... not only does it provide housing service to lower heat, but it has a phone so you can talk to F.F. (or whatever connector you need to). Remember this for future NBZ endeavors.

While heading towards the Canalside Hotels, I get into another fight and I figure now is a good time to showcase the benefits of a Non-lethal weapon.

[Fight 1]
[Fight 2]

As shown above, I am up against two armed combatants, but they are both thugs, meaning the Defender is going to be the primary weapon of choice here. If in combat the rifle is selected, make sure that before you shoot you switch weapons so that you have a fighting chance. With two thugs having 3 MP, I should easily be able to make quick work of this fight. So, first off, I take a look at my surroundings and notice that I do not have an easy way to go. I can't go all the way to the left or I will be in range of the guns. This isn't as bad as a problem as one could thing, and I instead elect to move 2 spots to the west. As obvious, the thug next to me gets closer, but because I only used 2 AP to move, I get a chance to fire at him.

[Fight 3]

By the time the first round has ended, I was able to hit that first thug for 3 MP, which immediately takes him out of the fight. Already, the Defender has Proven itself to be very reliable. A few more phases later, I manage to get the second thug into prime position for the Defender; notice in this round I have 6 AP. That's because at the start of each round, having more than 7 MP gives you a chance of having extra AP, meaning right now, if I spend my 3 AP to shoot the Thug that spend all of his AP to move, even if I miss I have a second chance. That's pretty good for me.

[Fight 4]

We take the shot and also get him on the first try. Now, I don't like wasting ammunition if I can help it, so I make sure to search the bodies (I ended up with a HedLozz) and get Ammo (AmmoPak) from the thugs. Bear in mind that as a Sniper, we also have an inherent advantage in doing a Stealth Exit, which allows us to leave without generating Heat; if you search for ammo though you lose that chance. If you elected to raise Intimidation, you can try and intimidate witnesses that can do the same thing, or make things worse. It's your choice; I just want some bullets. And my greatest reward for doing this; I get a mission from Canalside Hotels using the phone to deliver a message to Canalside Hotels. Best day ever.

[Silly Mission]

After doing a few missions in the Canals, I get a random encounter because I failed (yet again) on a Perception+Athletics Roll. I'm going to have to do something about that. but, I did notice after resting at the Gaslamp that Los V for one reason or another likes me, because I have 1 Reputation with them. I didn't know they cared :/ (fallen, have any idea why I went from -4 reputation to 1 reputation with Los V?) At Canalside, I decide that I should go ahead and up my AP by investing 8 XP into Intelligence. This will give me 6 AP throughout combat as a baseline, and improve our AP by a small margin. While doing more missions, I also see this gem:

[Dorchester]

fallen, I don't think I can go here yet haha. I also started gaining Rep with Los V again, but I figure I might as well grab the missions I can do. The Dorchester mission went away after a while, and at Reputation 28 I started to recieve Escort Mission jobs. For the combat type, these missions are just about as good as package delivery, because you are most definitely going from one zone to another, you aren't allowed to take taxi's with your escort, and there is almost certainly combat where you have to keep your escort alive. Remember, your Defender is your best friend.

Finally, I manage to hit my total XP amount, closing out with 16. With these points, I invest in Mind and Perception, mainly to deal with some very problematic rolls as of late. Right now, we are now starting to become very powerful in our own right, and from here on out it's only going to get better. I talk to Mallor over at the Gaslamp, and it turns out that we have ourselves a mission involving a really mad person, a drunk guy, and Shady Dusty... to be continued.

[STAT SCREENSHOTS]

Major changes since the last part:
+1 Mind, +1 Perception, +1 Intelligence
Bought A9 Defender
Los V really really hates me.
**Pictures will be up a bit later, Photobucket is giving me some really bad issues

[grävling]

Actually, there are non-lethal gloves in MnB. Just not in the first 2 starting neighbourhoods.