Agent EX a review

[sparky1x]

I have just finished an experiment character. With the new job hubs being labeled and focused its made it possible to really build a specialist character. The character is close to 1000XP and i have decided to retire it and review what i have learned here.

Name: Delphi
Class: AgentEX
Diff: Normal (normally i play hard but toned it down to speed the process up)
Concept: Delphi is data courier and electronics expert, she works alone, owes loyalty to nobody and runs rather than fights.

Final Stats-
Body:8
Strength:3
Dex:8
Mind:9
Intelligence:3
Perception:9

Athletics:9
Brawling:1
Stealth:12
Firearms:4
Electronics:12
Hacking:0(1)
Negotiate:4
Intimidate:1

Equipment:
MT Mongoose Proto
Ares Gamma Mk4
Kraken Suit
Yakashima Nano-Probe Phracking kit
Dallterrix NaviComp PortaCPU

Dataport I
Memory (100MP)
Wired Nerves II

Mission Types:
Deliver message/package-
You all know how these work i ran these jobs for the LosV, street and Fennians until i could upgrade some stats and buy the wires i needed to shift data, learn to run and dont let anybody hate you too much.

Data Courier:
These are just like package or message delivery but need the hardware. The pay is great but they often have tight time frames and come with a LOT of heat. The other big issue is that only some of the heat goes away when you make the delivery (unlike an escort). If I pick up 5 of these jobs at once i will often need to bounce through 5-6 safe houses after making the last drop in order to shed the heat.

Phracking:
These are hard... really hard.... no i mean REALLY hard. I have maxed out the stats for these types of jobs and have the best equipment available and yet i still fail about 1 in 4 of these jobs (I actually kept a log and failed 28/100 phracking jobs). First you need to approach the data terminal, if you have high perception/stealth you get a +2 on the other stages... you will need it. Stage 2 involves dealing with guards about 1/2 the time they are not there (YAY!) and you go straight to stage 3, if not you need to wait them out or sneak in. Waiting them out is safer but if time is tight you have no choice but to attempt the sneak (perception/stealth helps you here). Stage 3 involves fitting the device using perception/electronics, a phracking kit gives +6 (you can also hack but i chose the electronics path). 3/4 of failures occur in phase 2. These jobs pay peanuts considering how risky and hard they are, i only take them in order to access more data courier work.

Factions:
LosV: No data haven and no ladder rewards you want (safehouse is useless as there are 3 for sale in the same zone).
Streets: Data haven is in an annoying location.
Fennian: Good data haven, ladder worth climbing for the king, safehouse is useful too.
BraveStar: 2 data havens, nice central location, gate pass is handy.
KnightHorizon: no data haven, keep em happy enough to use the thopter
Yakuza: These people are your friends, great data heaven in good location, easy work for good cash. Look up Benito in the vip room. He offers awesome jobs that are mostly data courier work.
Mars: useless, no data haven and their VIP data connector keeps offering threaten and escort jobs
Yakashima: have not worked with enough to review
Aztek: have not worked with enough to review
BlueOx: good data haven, bad location, Jobs are ok but expect to do a lot of walking, ladder has little to offer

Conclusion:
Playing an AgentEX will give you a fast sneaky character who makes a LOT of cash fast. You will alternate between short sharp rush periods where you chase tight deadlines and pop crammers like candy and slow periods where you safehouse and bar hop in order to burn off the heat from the last batch of jobs. Delphi now has 0.5 of a million in her pocket and owns EVERY safe house in the NBZ. She is going to stowaway or bribe her way onto a transport to another city and buy herself a bar.

[grävling]

Great writeup!

[Officer Genious]

I agree that phracking is difficult. I couldn't do them more than half the time on even streets until I got hacking to 5+, but that might be comparable to Negotiation (which doesn't feel consistent until 10+ or 15+). But I'm just learning how Hackers work on Hard, so it may be me.

[sparky1x]

Hacking the terminal is much easier than using electronics. Unless things are changed I recommend anybody playing an agentEX like mine put points in hacking over electronics, it also lets you dig for paydata and gives your head memory and expensive cpu more use. Sadly that renders the electronics skill useless apart from disarming the odd bomb/trap and striping a downed drone.

[fallen]

sparky1x - you're feedback is great! Phracking is intended to put Electronics over Hacking, so it seems we did something wrong. Are there other things about the mission type we should balance better?

The next two job types - Surveillance & Sabotage - will require Electronics, so that may help as well. Both are made for AgentEX players.

[sparky1x]

When it came to dealing with guards at a data terminal sneaking in is also very tricky, it would also be great if it told you how many hours it took to "wait them out". I think it a about 3.

I also encountered a critical botch on a phracking attempt once, it told me I had burnt out my phracking kit. It was still in my inventory and still worked.

[Bohrson]

fallen Right when I start thinking about creating a solo-AgentEx as my next character, new job types and opportunities for them appears. I love your work. Now I must choose between Face and AgentEx.

And I also think, as sparky1x said, that the time elapsed while waiting or, when in ANY event we choose to do something long to doge a complicated situation, the time spent should be indicated. Like when we choose to go round a corporate check in the street or something.

[fallen]

Apr 11, 2014 11:24:15 GMT -5 sparky1x said:

When it came to dealing with guards at a data terminal sneaking in is also very tricky, it would also be great if it told you how many hours it took to "wait them out". I think it a about 3.

I also encountered a critical botch on a phracking attempt once, it told me I had burnt out my phracking kit. It was still in my inventory and still worked.

The "critical botch" should be working again as of next release.

Phracking job payments will increase, and the difficulty is a little down balanced.

[Officer Genious]

Apr 11, 2014 11:27:34 GMT -5 Bohrson said:

fallen Right when I start thinking about creating a solo-AgentEx as my next character, new job types and opportunities for them appears. I love your work. Now I must choose between Face and AgentEx.

And I also think, as sparky1x said, that the time elapsed while waiting or, when in ANY event we choose to do something long to doge a complicated situation, the time spent should be indicated. Like when we choose to go round a corporate check in the street or something.

Lemme know if you do a Face since the first few hours are basically hell camp for them...

[fallen]

Officer Genious - what could we do better?

[Officer Genious]

Apr 11, 2014 12:47:52 GMT -5 fallen said:

Officer Genious - what could we do better?

Its mostly just the checks for Negotiate/Threaten missions. They mostly fail even early on, but shy of boosting negotiation bonuses for starter Faces I dunno what would help. Lemme roll another Face and get back to you on that. My Hacker is probably sick of me sucking so much at Hard mode right now...

[grävling]

Apr 11, 2014 12:51:14 GMT -5 Officer Genious said:

Apr 11, 2014 12:47:52 GMT -5 fallen said:

Officer Genious - what could we do better?

Its mostly just the checks for Negotiate/Threaten missions. They mostly fail even early on, but shy of boosting negotiation bonuses for starter Faces I dunno what would help. Lemme roll another Face and get back to you on that. My Hacker is probably sick of me sucking so much at Hard mode right now...

I'd rather make the jobs easier for low XP characters.

[Bohrson]

Officer Genious That's exactly why I already talked to you about that. I'll PM you when I get started with them ; as I said, non-fighting characters are really interesting me a lot since a few weeks.

[Officer Genious]

Apr 11, 2014 14:44:26 GMT -5 Bohrson said:

Officer Genious That's exactly why I already talked to you about that. I'll PM you when I get started with them ; as I said, non-fighting characters are really interesting me a lot since a few weeks.

Sure thing! Good luck!!

grävling Being the coward that I am, I'm down for easier starts. Still much better than v1: No dammit, I'm NOT going on an escort mission to the Mars Core.

[Bohrson]

Officer Genious Thanks !