The Cyber Knight's Team

[Cory Trese]

One of the fastest ways to get ahead in CyberKnights RPG is to build a team of Allies and Runners.

What's your strategy -- do you like to build alliances with similar classes (team GunSlinger?) or mix and match (Sniper + CyberSword) or is it all about specialty Runners (Hackers, Negotiator Face, etc.)

How do you contrast Runners and Allies? As the Knight you pick -- XP or Credits.

Or is your Knight a solo predator, stalking the shadows of the NBZ alone and free of the constraints of managing a team?

[grävling]

Hiring a martial artist is always a priority for me. If I am playing female 2, it is a priority before getting armour, even. I am not sure about this ally vs runner stuff. I only made my first ally today. Since I have no intention of ever dismissing my ally, I think that it makes sense to make an ally of her very early -- and then keep her forever. But am I correct that only allies you want to re-recruit cost you XP to hire?

Runners that I intend to swap in and out I'd rather spend the cash for. A hacker that cannot earn his own recruiting fees in short order isn't worth having.

But I am still new enough at this that my thinking may evolve.

[Cory Trese]

Recruiting Allies back into the team costs 1 XP.

[grävling]

Dec 11, 2012 22:59:44 GMT -5 Cory Trese said:

Recruiting Allies back into the team costs 1 XP.

Oho! Seems incredibly cheap then. ;D

[Jeremy Stokes]

I just got the Elite version of the game! How do I get members and recruit them. I know i can hire some from different gangs, but they only stick around for a certain time. I wanna know how to get the permanent allies.

[fallen]

@jeremy - you can find Runners (who will join for 7 days) in Backrooms if you find Persona Fixers. You can find gangers (stay until you sleep at a hotel again) at the gang-princes. In either case, if you have enough XP stored up, you can "Convert" them up a level (a ganger becomes a Runner, a Runner becomes an Ally). An Ally is permanently on your team. You can find the Convert button on your team status page!

[forkbeard]

I have a Gunslinger team leader with one Gunslinger ally who I worked up from a ganger. I like to think that I felt sorry for the kid and helped him through the ranks.

I have tried a Hacker on the team but he was a liability as too weak if we got stuck in a fire fight in the Corp areas. I really like the Sniper build as well because the long distance shots are useful.

I just wish the gunslinger could use a gun with auto ammo and then my two man team would be irrepressible!

Cheers,
Forkbeard

[Ahab]

I have found that having a weak runners are too difficult to keep alive in any zones other than the southern gangs. My character ends up rescuing them as they lag behind or become targets, and they die frequently. So I usually try to get a sniper and a cybersword as allies as early in the game as I can. Then I play conservatively, building up their skills and gear until they are contributors to defense rather than a burden. Then I start working a hacker up, and doing more dangerous missions into outer Corp land, with the sniper and cybersword protecting the hacker when necessary, and my main character (usually a cybersword) wrecking havoc among the enemy. The sniper also gets point on assassination missions.

[Ahab]

I might change strategy somewhat if runner skills contribute passively to random encounters. Then having a Face or AgentEx along (but not leading) would be more useful when I don't expect to be hacking. But the last I heard, they don't contribute passively yet. Still true?

[fallen]

@ahab and forkbeard - thanks for the great feedback about Runners and how a team is built. We know there is more work to be done to make Runners / Allies as awesome as they could be, so it is great to hear your thoughts on what is missing or could be better.

@ahab - currently, only the skills of the character who is currently in the lead are used to job negotiation, Hacking, Encounters, etc. So, there is no "passive add" but that is an interesting idea, depending on the type of skill and the actual roll involved.

[grävling]

Your total team xperience counts in terms of what monsters get sent to whack you. So if you are carrying a hacker just around for the ride, then the fights will be harder by the factor of the hacker's experience. So when I want do do some hacking, but do not have that skill handy, I prefer to train up a martial artist in hacking skills. That way I get somebody who is useful in a fight, as well. Same thing with Face skills. Indeed, as runners I really only recruit snipers and martial artists.

[fallen]

grävling - interesting loophole. Thanks for sharing your veteran secrets! You certainly spend more XP to get the Martial Artist up to the Hacker's capabilities, but as the biggest challenge with Runners today is keeping them alive, I can see why you take this approach!

[Cory Trese]

And it will remain a good approach, even after the class specific advantages and skill specializations are added. They will just never be as good a hacker as a Hacker

[forkbeard]

I have recently hired a third member to my team. The setup is Gunslinger as team leader, Gunslinger ally, and a new addition Sniper as a runner.

So far it’s working well except when it’s time to get patched up at the local Doctor.

I don’t know if I am doing it right but each time I have to walk out change character then go back in to access healing.

A possible solution could be a group heal button or a way to access the other team members without exiting and then re-entering the building.

Same thing goes for buying guns or armour as well.

Cheers,
Forkbeard

[vindalloo]

I back that one up Forkbeard, is a pain in the Johnny having to heal one point by one per person.