シグマ理論 – 遊び方

Sigma Theory:Global Cold War は非常に楽しい小さなゲームですが、その多くの要素と概念が十分に説明されておらず、本質的に常にアイアンマン モードがオンになっているゲームにとってはかなり許しがたいものです。これにより、この小さなガイドを作成して、新規または経験の浅いプレイヤーに何を期待し、どのように機能するかを知ってもらいたいと思いました.

はじめに

エージェントの採用と科学者の割り当てを開始する前に、まずゲームプレイの基本を説明する必要があります。これにより、より自信を持って採用できるようになります。私にとって非常にうまく機能するエージェントをいくつか提案しますが、ゲームについて知れば知るほど、自分のプレイスタイルに最適なエージェントを選ぶことができるようになります.

このガイドはストーリー モードに合わせて作成されていますが、ほぼすべての情報は通常モードにも当てはまります。

ゲームと勝つ方法 (そして負けない方法)

シグマ理論は、シグマ研究と終末時計という 2 つの主要な要素を中心に展開しています。あなたはすべてのシグマ研究を完了することで勝利を収めますが、他国がそうするのを許すか、終末時計が真夜中に達するのを許すことで敗北し、世界を核火の大変動に陥れます。

シグマ理論では、他国を打ち負かすことは、少なくとも負けないことに比べれば、それほど難しいことではありません。少なくとも直接的には、他の国は最大の脅威ではありません。ただし、彼らはあなたの最大の敵である終末時計に影響を与えます.このゲームでプレイヤーが被るほぼすべての敗北は、Doomsday によるものです。敵国がより壊滅的な技術を発見し始めると、カウンターは非常に急速に上昇する可能性があるため、カウンターを可能な限り低く保つことが重要です。

カウンターを低く保つために、世界の平和、安定、透明性を含むできるだけ多くの決定を下すようにしてください.ただし、結果として他の関係が悪化する可能性があり、すべての人を常に幸せに保つことは不可能であり、自分の政府、つまり雇用主の承認を得て、ゼロに低下することも、ゲームから外れることを意味することに注意してください.しかし、ハルマゲドンを助長するような決定を下すことなく、ライバル国とあなた自身の雇用主を満足させ続ける方法があります。それについては以下で説明します.

もちろん、Doomsday Clock が最大の脅威であるとしても、Sigma Research を見失うべきではありません。究極のテクノロジーのロックを解除する前に、あなたまたは敵に与えることができる、より小規模で専門的なテクノロジーを研究する必要があります! – 最初に発見された場合、非常に大きな利点があります。特にゲームの序盤では、ライバル国があなたよりも多くの技術を発見することを心に留めておいてください。最初の嵐を乗り切り、何人かの科学者を亡命させて初めて、積極的に優位性を追求し始めることができます。

ゲームプレイ要素

ありがたいことに、このゲームは障害物を投げるだけではなく、息抜きの余地を確保したら、目標を達成し始めることができます.これには多くの方法がありますが、1 つの方法だけでゲームに勝つことはできません。いくつかの側面を管理する必要があります。ただし、エージェントの設定と自分の好みによっては、一部の領域に重点を置き、他の領域をあまり開拓しないことに気付くでしょう.最終的な目標を達成するために探索できる重要なゲームプレイ要素がいくつかあります。

調査

自分で調べないと勝てません。シグマの技術を手に入れるには他にも方法があり、それらも確実に活用する必要がありますが、独自の調査を行ってうまく行う必要があります。そうしないと、永遠に遅れをとることになります.研究は、科学者を特定の研究分野に割り当てて実施されます。彼らは毎ターン研究ポイントを蓄積し、新しいテクノロジーに到達すると、あなたの国でその使用をロック解除し (最初にロックを解除した場合、最初はそうではありません)、シグマ カウンターにポイントを追加します。 、うまくいけば、あなたの勝利に貢献します。

外交

ライバル国は、壁に囲まれた庭に座っている隠者ではありません。彼らには、あなたと同じように、シグマ プロジェクトを担当する外交官がいます。これらの外交官との交渉を通じて、より良い関係を築き、金銭的優位性を確保し、警戒レベルを緩和し、シグマの研究を交換し、捕らえられたエージェントの解放を交渉し、さらには協力してあなたを悲しませているテロリストの細胞を倒すことができます. –そして悲しみ、彼らはあなたに与えるでしょう。常に可能であるとは限りませんが、外交関係をリラックスして友好的に保つことは常にあなたの最善の利益になります.

秘密作戦

これがゲームの大部分であり、プレイヤーは積極的に参加し、真に勝利に向かって前進することができます。少なくとも私の知る限りでは、外交と研究だけで勝つことはできません。秘密作戦とは、エージェント、国際的なスパイ、および執行者によって実行されるすべての行動を示すために私が使用する総称です。秘密作戦には、偵察、調査、身元確認、敵科学者の改宗、流出、対スパイ活動、ハッキングなどが含まれます。これこそが、あなたが本当に違いを生み出せる場所であり、そうしなければならない場所です。

イベント

ときどき、イベントが発生します。トリガーされるものもありますが、ほとんどは気が向いたときに発生します。あなたが対応する方法が結果を決定し、あなたがそうするにつれて、外交関係、終末カウンター、またはあなたの職員の忠誠さえも変化する可能性があります.あなたの配偶者も、援助やアドバイスを求めてあなたに連絡することがあります。

ゲーム要素の紹介はこれで終わりです。次に、実際にどのようにしたら迷子になったり混乱したりせずにプレイできるか、またゲーム序盤の目のかすみを勝利に変える方法を見ていきましょう。

ゲームのセットアップ

私はストーリーが苦手なので、普段はストーリーモードで遊んでいますが、そうでない場合は、まずどの国で働きたいかを決めてください。いくつかの選択肢は他の選択肢より優れています。私がお勧めするストーリーモードでは、ライバルの科学者に亡命を説得するのがより簡単な米国が自動的に割り当てられますが、通常モードでは選択することができます.いくつかの興味深い選択肢は次のとおりです:

ロシア - 最初に獲得した科学者は平均よりも優れています。これにより、技術研究がすぐに促進され、初期の技術を確保する可能性が高くなり、初期のゲームが「ビルジポンプの男」でなくなる可能性があります。

私は通常、エージェントに特別な特性を与える国を避けます.特性は便利ですが、ほとんどの場合、エージェントは出入りする傾向があるため、国のボーナスを無駄にするよりも、すでに有用な特性を備えたエージェントを選択する方がはるかに優れています。ゲーム全体を通してあなたの心に残るボーナスを選択してください。

次は配偶者の選択です。これは、実際のゲームにはほとんど影響しませんが、配偶者がある時点で母国に外交ボーナスを与えるという事実と、もちろん、敵 (または自分自身) が決して外交を行うことができないという事実を除けば、この特定のエージェントを募集します。 AI はすべての可能なエージェントにアクセスできるため、ロックされているエージェントも含めて、この影響は小さいので、顔や性格が最も気に入っている、使用しないエージェントを選択する必要があります。ですから、毎回キム・ジュソンを選ぶことに気を悪くしないでください。

ゲームプレイ要素 (続き)

次のステップは、私が言及したエージェントを実際に採用することです。ゲームをプレイする最善かつ最も信頼できる方法は、外交関係を高く維持し、終末時計を低く保つことであるため、私たちは主に秘密作戦と「ソフト」な介入に焦点を当て、科学者に彼ら自身の同意で私たちのために働くよう説得し、それらを静かに素早く。これを念頭に置いて、理想的なセットアップとその仕事に適した候補者は次のようになります:

エリート: 私は常に、エリートの役割を担うコマンドー スタイルのエージェントを選択します。これは、流出を実行するための頼りになる工作員になります。彼らはほとんどの危険を回避するのに十分なほど賢くある必要がありますが、必要に応じて脅威を無力化できるほど強力である必要があります.一部の打席候補:

マエストロ: 工作員のジェームズ・ボンドであるマエストロは、非常に用途が広く、能力が高く、揺るぎない忠誠心を持っています。彼は脱出に最適です。操舵手と火器の専門家の特性は、作戦が悪化した場合に非常に役立ちます。彼の誘惑者の特性と彼の高い筋力は、すべての男性愛好家の科学者が彼のためにひざまずいて弱くなることを意味します。彼が偵察を行っている間に科学者を嗅ぎつけることができる優れたハッカーにサポートされている場合は特に、彼だけがどの国でも問題なく活動できます。彼の唯一の「マイナス」の特徴である正直さは、それほど問題ではありません。幸運にも LIGHTNING Implant のロックを解除できた場合は、必ず彼に渡してください。そうすれば、彼は非致死的にパトロールをより簡単に無力化できるため、特に監視ドローンの場合は、脱出作戦がほぼ確実になります。

最前線に立って撃たれるのを待っている彼のスキルは無駄だと言って、参加するよう説得してください。

エスポワール： Espoir は、Maestro ほど肉体的に威圧的ではありませんが、ほとんどの場合、私たちがやりたいと思っていることである、卑劣な情報漏えいを目的としています。彼女の黒帯の特性は、彼女のまともな強さと相まって、無力化パトロールを容易にします。これは、遭遇することを余儀なくされた場合に常に最善の方法です.彼女が平和主義者であるという事実は大した問題ではないはずです.とにかく私たちの焦点は致命的ではないopsにあるからです,彼女は正直な特性も持っています. .それでも、彼女は堅実な選択です。

より良い世界を構築したいと彼女に伝えて、参加するよう説得してください。

マジシャン: エリートの中で最も穏やかな選択であるマジシャンは、大脳手術に非常に適していて、仕事のほぼすべての側面を自分で実行できます。彼の高い知性は、誘惑者と抽出の専門家と組み合わされて、科学者を募集し、それらを静かに出します。残念ながら、作戦が手に負えなくなった場合に備えて、彼が自由に使えることはほとんどありませんが、彼のジェイルブレイカーとオメルタの特性により、秘密を明かすことなく逃げるチャンスが得られます.あるいは、敵は彼を尋問して死ぬかもしれません。いずれにせよ、エリートとしてマジシャンを目指すなら、チームの残りの部分にさらに力を加えてください。

ハッカー: ハッカーを正しく選択すれば、彼らはあなたの基地に静かに座って、安全で手に負えない間にあらゆる種類の機会を作り出すことができます.彼らの仕事はかなり狭いですが、彼らが引き起こす効果は非常に用途が広く有用です.ハッカーを海外に派遣することはできますが、その場合、彼らは逮捕される危険にさらされるか (対象国で活動している場合)、劣悪なハードウェアを使用することを余儀なくされます (第三国で活動している場合)。どちらも特に興味深いものではないため、在宅ハッカーが最適です。気の毒なハッカーは、仕事を失敗させて警戒レベルを上げるだけでなく、彼らの努力があなたにまでさかのぼるため、外交上の影響も引き起こします。価値のあるハッカー:

ガメラ: 彼は注目に値するものではありませんが、ゲームの開始時に役立つ唯一の専用ハッカーです。彼の特徴は (ハッカーを除けば) 特別なものではなく、彼に本当の利点をもたらすものではありませんが、彼の仕事を妨げるものでもありません.

あなたが持っているすべてのドローンとロボットで彼を感動させて、彼に参加するよう説得してください。

スラビック: Slavik は便利そうに見えますが、彼の Hasty 特性は実際には大きなハンディキャップです。それは彼をより速くしますが、彼がかなり頻繁に追跡され、外交事件を引き起こすことも保証します.これを我慢するなら、Slavik はゲームで最速のハッカーです。彼は優れた知性とハッカーの特性を持っていますが、よく考えてください。

謎: 専用のハッカーではありませんが、ミステリーは仕事をうまくこなすことができ、ガメラとは異なり、必要に応じて他の操作にも使用できます.知性はガメ​​ラより高いが、純粋なハッキングという点ではガメラがハッカーの特性を持っているため優位に立っている。どのエージェントを好むかはあなた次第です。私はミステリーの方が汎用性が高いため、ミステリーを選ぶ傾向があります.

トロイの木馬: トロイの木馬は究極のハッカーです。ウィキを信じないでください。Double K は、彼女に比べてスクリプト キディです (さらに、彼女にはエリート ハンディキャップがありません)。彼女は、敵のコンピューターをくすぶっている金属の山に減らしながら、パジャマを着て家に座ってマウンテンデューを飲み、チートスを食べて、ゲーム全体を過ごすことができます。彼女は最初は利用できませんが、彼女のロックを解除すると、別のハッカーが必要になることはなくなるため、言及する価値があります.彼女は仕事が得意なだけでなく、追跡不可能であるため、改ざんによって外交上の問題が発生することはありません。彼女の高い知性はまた、敵のエージェントを簡単に識別し、自分で対抗するか、他の工作員にさらして簡単に捕まえることができることを意味します.彼女はそれ以外の点ではまったく価値がありませんが、それを気にする人はいません.

ゲームプレイ要素 (続き)

ソフト工作員: あなたのエリートはある程度確実にライバルの科学者に影響を与えることができるかもしれませんが、より穏やかな説得術に専念しているエージェントは、より多くの成功を収め、警告を発することははるかに少なくなります.高い知性を持つこのエージェントは、ハッカーが別の場所で忙しい場合、シグマ科学者を嗅ぎ分けて特定することもできます。知性スコアに加えて、いくつかの有用な説得特性も必要になります。注目すべき第 1 ゲームの候補:

謎: 彼女をハッカーとしてまだ選択していない場合は、今すぐ選択することを検討してください。彼女の特性は特に特別ではありませんが、知性は優れています。しかし、彼女は意志の弱さと一匹狼の両方を持っているため、信頼できる結果で変換または誘惑を使用することはできません.彼女は科学者と外交官を特定するのに最もよく使用され、マエストロを牽引しており、マエストロはほとんどの科学者を誘惑することができます.私の 3 番目のゲームでは、Mystery と Maestro が 2 人でハーレムを作成しました。彼女の知性が高いということは、彼女がまだあなたの熱心なハッカーではない場合、彼女が退屈している場合に時折ハックを実行できることを意味します.

88888888: 用途が広く、非常に忠実で、優れた誘惑者である 88888888 (64?) は、特にマエストロ以外のエリートを選んだ場合は、チームに追加する価値があります。彼は頑固な特性を持っているため、脱出中の柔軟性が低下しますが、とにかくそのために彼を使用するのではなく、エリートとして使用する必要があります.とはいえ、彼の高い筋力と知性により、彼の時折の独立したストリークを許容できれば、ピンチでこれらの操作をうまく実行できます.

危険なことをすれば大金が手に入ると言って、参加するよう説得してください。

アフロディーテ： 説得テクニックの多様性が必要な場合は、いつでもアフロディーテを選ぶことができますが、彼女の特徴は少し奇妙で、ハイプロファイルと変装の達人は積極的に互いに反対し、誘惑者は役に立ちますが、 88888888 とマエストロ、力と知性が低いため。女性愛好家の科学者は彼女の魅力に抵抗できないかもしれませんが、代わりに 88888888 を選んだほうがよいでしょう。それに、とにかく、あなたがすでに彼女をあなたの配偶者として選んでいることは誰もが知っています.

スパイハンター： あなたの最後のエージェントは、スパイハンティングを専門とする別のコマンドースタイルの工作員でなければなりません.これは、彼らが絶対にスパイ ハンターの特性を持っていなければならないという意味ではありません (開始時に利用可能なエージェントはありません)、または彼らが常に反スパイ活動に従事しているという意味ではありませんが、敵のスパイを捕まえるのに熟達している必要があります。これは主に高強度を意味します。まともな知性は、自宅にいるハッカーが優先ミッションを持っている場合に敵対スパイを特定するのにプラスですが、通常、スパイ ハンターが汚い仕事をすることができるように、敵スパイを特定するために後者に頼ることになります。

キャッチ: キャッチは非常に高い強度を持ち、彼の黒帯特性により、敵の工作員を非常に簡単に捕まえることができます.識別されると、キャッチはことわざの朝食のために敵のスパイを食べます。ただし、敵のスパイが活動していない場合、Catch の有用性は多少低下しますが、致死的でない窃盗には引き続き使用できます。ただし、できるだけ頻繁に筋力オプションを選択するようにしてください。また、彼の平和主義者の特性により、銃器を携帯したり、致命的な力を使用したりすることは禁止されていることに注意してください.通常はやりたくないことですが、殺されるか殺される時が来るかもしれません。できることなら、彼を厳重警戒作戦に出さないでください。

自由: Liberty の強さは Catch に匹敵し、彼女の Firearms Expert 特性は Black Belt と同じように敵のスパイを捕まえるのに役立ちます。彼女はキャッチと同じように、あなたが投げたすべてのスパイを捕まえますが、彼女の銃器の専門家は黒帯よりも好ましくないため、この専門以外ではおそらくあまり役​​に立ちません。つまり、彼女が保護している人々は時々不幸な結末を迎えます.これは、明らかに避けるべきです。

最初のチーム: すぐに利用できるエージェントから、エリートとしてマエストロ、ハッカーとしてミステリー、ソフトオペレーティブとして88888888、スパイハンターとしてキャッチを選びます。他の組み合わせも可能ですが、これがミッションを迅速かつ静かに完了する可能性が最も高いと思います.その後、2 番目のエリート (できればレッド ソード) と交換できるようになるまで、マエストロ、またはおそらくウルフをエリートとして、トロイの木馬をハッカーとして、グリーン クレセントをソフト オペラティブとして、そしておそらく 9413 をスパイ ハンターとして使用します。

注目すべきアンロックされたエージェントと、それらをリクルートする方法を以下にリストします。

チームを選択したら、準備完了です。出かける前にセットアップを最後に確認し、必要に応じてナックルを鳴らして、シグマ部門のディレクターに就任してください。

ゲームを始めましょう

最初は、すべてのエージェントが本拠地にあり、ミッションに派遣される準備ができています。何かをする前に、ゲームボードを見てみましょう。自分の国だけでなく、ライバル国も表示されます。ライバル国のアイコンの周りに青のメーターと赤のメーターがあることに気付くでしょう。これらについては後で説明しますが、まず、最大の敵である終末時計に注意を向けてください。現在-15です。世界的な不安定性、パラノイア、敵意、あからさまな戦争は、それをゼロに向けてさらに押し進めます。それがこのレベルに達すると、緊張は壊滅的なレベルにまで上昇し、誰かがどこかでかゆみと汗をかいた指を大きな赤いボタンに押し込み、世界的に確実な核破壊の連鎖反応が始まります.これは一般に、ほとんどの人にとって、やや望ましくない結果と見なされます。

ただし、時計を進めたり遅らせたりしないようにする手段があるため、心配する必要はありません。

では、ライバル国を見てみましょう。アイコンの周りの青と赤のメーターは、それぞれ関係と警戒レベルです。青いメーターは、敵国があなたをどれだけ好意的に見ているかを表します。これは通常、50% から開始されます。より良い関係は交渉の成功を意味し、戦争に行って終末時計を進める危険性が少なくなるため、これをできるだけ高くしたいと思うでしょう.これを行う最も実行可能な方法は外交によるものですが、一部のイベントやミッションも役立ちます。赤のレベルは、国のアラート メーターを表します。これが高ければ高いほど、ライバル国はあなたを止めようとしています。ミッションを失敗させたり、ハックをぶち壊したり、脱出をカオスに陥らせたりすると、これは増加します。ただし、外交に従事し、敵のセキュリティをハッキングすることで、このメーターを下げることができます。脱出ミッションを開始する前に、これを可能な限り低く (できれば 0%) 取得してください。

また、十字線アイコンと目のアイコンがホームベースで利用できることにも気付くでしょう。これらは戦闘ドローンと監視ドローンです。政府の支持を失うと、政府はこれらの使用許可を取り消します。非常に価値があるので注意してください。私たちのゴースト プレイスタイルでは、監視ドローンは主にミッション、特に脱出ミッションでエージェントを支援するために使用しますが、コンバット ドローンは主に外交上の手段として使用されます。

上に、プロジェクトに関する進捗状況を確認できるメニューがあります。 1 つ目はシグマ研究メニューで、科学者を優先技術に、または専門分野に応じて再割り当てできます。ゲームは科学者を専門分野に自動的に割り当てるので、最初はあまり心配する必要はありません。すべてのスタッフと関係を概観するメニューと、閉じた通知を呼び出すメニューもあります.最後は設定メニューです。これらがどのように機能するかはご存知でしょう。また、上には Σ 記号があり、その隣に 0/15 があります。テクノロジーを研究すると、次のようにシグマ スコアが発生します。

• 最初に研究され、秘密にされた、または公開された技術:3∑
• 最初に研究され、世界的な関心事に与えられた技術:2∑
• 他国がすでに所有している研究済みの技術:1∑

∑15 に到達すると、究極のシグマ技術の研究を開始できます。これには、科学の 5 つの分野すべてでポイントが必要です。以下で詳しく説明します。

すべての国は ∑0 から始まりますが、たとえばロシアのように有利なスタートを切る国もあります。多くの場合、秘密作戦を最初にそれらに集中させて、天才科学者を盗むことをお勧めします。あなたがロシア人でない限り、その場合、私たちはあなたの領土で活動している疑いのあるエージェントの知識を否認します.

最初にどの国で活動することを選択したかに関係なく、操作が実際に開始されたら、必ずそこにドローンを送ってください。ただし、監視ドローンを数ターン家に留まらせて、ハードウェアボーナスを与えることで、ハッカーが最初の重要な仕事を遂行するのを支援します。その後、監視ドローンがエージェントを支援し、戦闘ドローンが彼らの街の上空を威嚇するようにホバリングするので、彼らの外交官は私たちの提案をより受け入れやすくなります。不思議なことに、コンバット ドローンをライバルの領土にホバリングさせても関係が悪化することはありません。

次に、エージェントを送信します。ファスト トラベル モードで軟式工作員をそこに派遣することをお勧めします。このようにして、彼女はより早くテリトリーに到達します。これは、彼女が銃器を捨てなければならないことを意味しますが、とにかくそれは必要ありません.直後にコマンドーを送信しますが、今回は潜入モードで、万が一に備えて彼の銃器を利用できるようにします。

その間、あなたのハッカーはライバル国の警戒レベルを下げ始めるはずです。この最初のハッキングの成功に大きく依存しているため、成功することを期待しましょう.監視ドローンは、ハードウェア レベルを 2 つ星から 3 つ星に上げることで役立ちます。これは、初期のハッキング操作で非常に役立ちます。スパイ ハンターを同じライバル国に派遣することをお勧めします。そうすれば、スパイ ハンターはライバルの外交官に関する情報を収集し、交渉が容易になります。同時に、すぐに外交の約束をしてください。会議が始まるまでに数日かかります。

これらすべてが進行中なので、エージェントがオンサイトでできるすべてのことを見てみましょう。これは非常に広範囲にわたるため、新しい章が必要です.

秘密工作:笑顔と突き刺しで

繰り返しになりますが、エージェントのすべての操作を秘密工作として分類しますが、そうではない場合もあります。エージェントはあらゆる操作を実行できます。個別に説明します。

偵察: 通常、最初に実行する操作であり、エージェントが操作範囲を偵察するため、エージェントは 3 日間使用できなくなります。これにより、工作員が去って戻ったとしても、この国での将来のすべての作戦に永続的なボーナスが与えられます。時間に追われている場合を除き、ソフト オペレーティブとコマンドーは常に偵察を行う必要があります。偵察は常に成功し、リスクはありません。

銃器の入手: エージェントが…武器を置き忘れた場合、闇市場で再取得を試みることができます。これは筋力に依存するため、ソフト オペラティブにこのミッションを実行させることは考えないでください。失敗すると国家の警戒レベルが上がります。コマンドが関係する場合は、高速移動するよりも浸透する方がはるかに優れているため、この操作を実行する必要はありません。潜入には時間がかかりますが、ファスト トラベルとは、エージェントの銃器を置き去りにすることを意味します。ソフト・オペレーティブは通常ファスト・トラベルが可能で、コマンドーは潜入する必要があります。なぜなら、ソフト・オペレーティブはフィールドの準備を整えるのに通常数ターン必要だからです.

ハック: これについては後で詳しく説明します。自宅に優れたハッカーがいる場合、フィールド エージェントは、他に何もすることがなく座っている場合を除き、とにかくこれを行うべきではありません。

科学者を探す: 敵対する政府は、首都の中心部にある巨大なネオンに照らされた建物で科学者に研究を行わせるだけではありません。エージェントは、敵のラボの場所を明らかにする必要があります。多くの場合、これは、偵察の後、ソフト オペラティブが最初に行うことです。このミッションには一定のリスクがあります。失敗すると、国家の警戒レベルが上がります。エージェントが非常に知的で、監視ドローンでカバーされていない限り、これを試みる前に警戒レベルを下げてください。 If successful, your Agent will discover the location of one or more Sigma Scientists working for the rival nation. Be advised that mission success does not mean all of the Scientists have been located – there may be more you don’t yet know about. Also, this operation can also be performed by a skilled Hacker, and usually your Hacker will get much more information upon success, and even identify the Scientists individually, so if your Hacker is available and Alert Level is suitably low, delegate this job to him instead while your Soft Operative establishes a Recon network or investigates the diplomat.

Investigate Diplomat: Rival diplomats have their own personalities, and some may be more receptive to certain approaches than others. Addressing the diplomat in a way she relates to will increase your chances of proposals succeeding. Your operatives can get to know these personality traits by investigating the rival Diplomats. This carries no risk, so any Agent can do it, although high Intelligence will increase the odds of effective investigation. If you’re especially lucky, you can even uncover an incriminating dossier to pressure the diplomat into finding your proposal more attractive.

Identify Scientist: Another job for your Soft Operative if your Hacker hasn’t done this already, this orders the Agent to investigate individual scientists, establishing their identity, exact location, and personality. This is dependent on Intelligence. Upon success, you will learn everything there is to learn about the Scientist and can determine the best way to approach them. Upon failure, your Agent will increase the Alert level.

Approach Scientist: This is where you can finally start getting concrete results. If a Scientist is identified, your Agent can secure their allegiance by several means. All methods are viable, but your Agent make-up, as well as the identity of their target, will make some more efficient and less risky than others. The four methods are:

• Abduct:This only takes a single day and is guaranteed to work. However, this automatically requires an exfiltration (see below) and bestows the Prisoner trait on the Scientist, making them only half as effective. This also does not render them a Double Agent. If you can avoid using Abduction, do so, since it also impacts your score at the end of the game.
• Seduce:Through charm, wiles, batted eyelashes, and perhaps a few surreptitious kissy faces, your Agent causes the Scientist to fall in love (or lust) with him, and convinces them to defect to your cause. This is dependent on Strength or Intelligence, whichever is higher, making it a good method for Commando Agents, especially if they also have Seducer, though the Loner trait will handicap this tactic. Bear in mind compatibility. Male agents trying to Seduce gynophile Scientists will likely find themselves barking up the wrong tree, and vice versa. Scientists who are Chaste might also cause embarrassment for your charmer, on the other hand, Flighty Scientists will drop their undies like they were on fire.
• Bribe:The Agent offers a gift of hard currency to make the Scientist decide it’s more attractive to work for you than for the cheap tinpot country they used to work for. This requires high Intelligence. Incorruptible Scientists will be much less susceptible to this approach, but Corruptible ones quickly get dollar-sign pupils. Honest Agents are flat-out unable to use this tactic.
• Convert:Through rational and emotional persuasion, the Agent convinces the Scientist that working for you is simply better, more fulfilling, safer, more interesting, more fun. This also requires high Intelligence. Loyal Scientists may tell your Agent to talk to the hand, but those Without Ties will gladly listen. Weak-Willed Agents cannot Convert Scientists, although Agents with the Puppet Master trait will certainly be very effective at doing so.

Upon success, Scientists influenced through all methods apart from Abduction will become a Double Agent for your country, sharing some of the rival research with you. If your Agent occasionally visits, they will remain so and provide you with free research without risk. However, it does not have to end there. You can go the extra mile (and you often really should) and perform the final step in the Agent’s operations chain, which is an Exfiltration. I will explain more in-depth below, but every Agent can perform the Exfiltration, regardless of which Agent actually converted the Scientist. This makes it possible to have Scientists converted by your Soft Operative to be extracted by your Commando, leaving your Soft Operative free of arrest warrants (see below) and able to remain in the country and work another target for the Commando to extract upon return.

Hacking:Never, Ever Cut a Deal with a Dragon

While you can probably win the game without Hacking, you really shouldn’t make the attempt lightly, and certainly not on your first try. Hacking is extremely powerful and useful and, if the right operator is selected, very low-risk. Your Hacker can work from three locations:

Hacking from Home. This is generally preferable since your Hacker will benefit from improved hardware and all the technology she needs to perform her duties. Failed Hack attempts may be traced back to you, however, and you will incur a relations hit.

Hacking On-Site. Hacking inside the rival nation’s borders will make some things easier due to proximity, but the risk is rather high:if your Hacker fails, she may get captured, and this will cause an additional relations hit, as well as costing you an Agent, obviously. Not recommended.

Hacking from a Third Country. This offers the great advantage that your operative remains untraceable, even in the case of a failed or detected hack, so you can go to town and not worry about detection, but on the other hand, your Hacker needs to work with little more than two cans connected with twine, so expect to waste many turns on failed operations, turns you do not have.

When you’ve decided where you’ll be hacking from, you can initiate the operation. There are some things to consider. Your Hacker will have some benefits, and will need to overcome obstacles. What determines success is your Hacker’s skill, obviously, plus the hardware at her disposal, overcoming the target country’s security. In the home country, the Hacker’s hardware is high (maxed if a Surveillance Drone is present), but discretion is low. In a third country, hardware is low, but discretion is high. The target’s security is determined almost entirely by Alert Level.

Alert level between 0% and 33% gives the target only a single point. 33% – 66% gives a second point, and security is maxed on 66% and up. This means that Hacking is a positive feedback loop:Hacking to reduce the Alert Level will also reduce security, and make future hacks easier. This is why this first Alert-lowering Hack is so important.

Your Hacker can perform more operations than this, and should never, ever be idle. The full complement of Hacking actions is as follows. Failures will always increase the rival Alert Level.

Steal Sigma Data. The Hacker funnels research results to your labs. This steals a portion of their Sigma tech and adds it to yours in case of a complete success. If the Hacker achieves a partial success, she will create chaos in the target’s systems and deal a significant setback to their research attempts, though you will gain nothing directly.

Lower the Alert Level. Always a useful operation to undertake, unless Alert is already at minimum, of course. As already described above, and further explained below, low Alert Level is critical to all operations’ success, and Hacking, along with Diplomacy, offers the best way to reduce this.

Install Ransomware. The Hacker corrupts the target’s system with blocking software that requires a key to unlock. This gives you diplomatic leverage to secure more favourable diplomacy deals, see below.

Delete an Arrest Warrant. Only available if the target nation has in fact issued a warrant for one of your Agents’ arrest. Some Agents start the game with a warrant here and there, but most of the time, they are ‘earned’ after completing Exfiltrations, see below. Agents with outstanding Arrest Warrants may be captured upon entering the nation’s territory, though once they are in, they may move about freely.

Locate Sigma Scientists. This operation will often expose and identify all the rival nation’s Sigma Scientists. It is the most efficient way to locate targets. This option may also be used to locate your abducted or captured staff.

Once you’re a few days underway, your first diplomatic meeting will occur, if you’ve scheduled one – and you have scheduled one, right? Let’s go over how Diplomacy works.

Diplomacy:The Gentle Art of Making Frenemies

As mentioned earlier, friendly relations with diplomats is a good thing for you, and for the world. We want to keep them that way. Good relations will also help us reduce alert levels, negotiate trade deals, and even gain research or Scientists. If you’re engaging in diplomacy and are trying to complete ops peacefully and non-lethally, always have your Combat Drone hovering over the rival you’re negotiating with. This makes for a very powerful bargaining chip. Perhaps if you’re lucky, your Agents will have uncovered an incriminating dossier, or your Hacker will have installed Ransomware on their systems and you’ll have an even more favourable position.

You can meet with diplomats around once a week, and there is no limit to how many diplomats you can negotiate with, though you can only meet with one each day and overlapping schedules means you’ll have to make a choice.

First, address the rival diplomat, preferably not with “Sup ♥♥♥”. If you know which traits they possess, greet them accordingly. Praise narcissists, intimidate cowards, be conspiratorial with tin-foil-hatters, etcetera. If you don’t know the diplomat’s traits and prefer not to guess, you can always greet them with a neutral “how are things on your end?”, but if not, go ahead and try your luck, a faux-pas does not permanently damage relations, it just reduces the chances of this particular negotiation. This is also the point where you can throw incriminating dossiers in their face, but don’t be too quick to do so, since you only get one chance to use your leverage, and if the diplomat refuses your suggestion, the dossier is lost, so keep it for times you really need it – usually the correct form of address can already give you a decent advantage as is.

Then, you will need to tell them what you require of them. Some requests will be more palatable than others. Asking a diplomat to improve relations will go over rather well, especially if they are already friendly, while demanding them to hand over scientists will be met with much more stubbornness. Bear in mind that not reaching an agreement will never damage relations, and diplomats will forget insults as soon as the talks are over, so be as bold as you want to be. Things you can ask include:

Improve relations: always a good idea if you have nothing concrete to ask, improving relations can often even succeed without a counter-offer, but will of course benefit from one. A critical proposal to make if you’re at war, since you absolutely must stop the Doomsday Counter from degrading at all costs, and this is the only way to secure a truce. If you’re at this point, throw all your dossiers and ransomware into the fray, since failure will mean waiting another week for new negotiations, and another 7 ticks on the clock.

Reduce the Alert Level: you’ll often want to do this, especially if your Hacker has botched a few attempts. This might require a counter-offer, and sending away your Combat Drone (for a few turns at least, heh) will usually help in making them see things your way.

Secure Economic Advantage: this is a good way to improve relations with your own government, i.e. your employer, by getting the rival government to provide your government with an economically favourable agreement. This is the quickest and easiest way to improve relations with your own government. Waiting for events is unreliable and inefficient.

Release Captured Agent: if one of your Agents has been captured, you can negotiate their release. This is best done quick, since rival governments are more than capable of torturing your Agents to death to get them to reveal information. Of course, since the rival government knows you’ll just use your freed Agent against them anyway, they tend to demand considerable recompense for their release.

Request Sigma Research: if successful, the rival nation provides you with a one-time portion of their Sigma research. They are usually not very enthusiastic about this, so make sure you have some kind of leverage if you’re determined to do this. Then again, your means of applying diplomatic pressure are much better used in other requests, so you might wish to think twice before attempting this, since the advantage isn’t that great and your hacker will be able to do this for free after alert levels are reduced.

Request Sigma Scientist: this asks the rival Sigma Division to transfer a Scientist to your laboratories peacefully, instantly, and permanently. Governments will usually not welcome this request with champagne and confetti, so if you wish to stand any chance at all of this succeeding, make sure relations are very friendly, and you have some means of persuading your ‘friend’ to give you one of their keys to winning the game. Be advised that you cannot ask for the transfer of unidentified Scientists, so some wetwork will be necessary, either locally, or at a distance through hacking.

Once you’ve made your request, the diplomat will ask you what you’re offering in return. You can provide several commodities in return.

Future Considerations. This is really nothing more than a hand-written ‘thank you’-note without even a box of chocolates, you cheap bastard, and will make the diplomat less inclined to agree with your proposal. You can still succeed, however, and if you’re just asking for better relations or a lower alert level with a rival that you’re already on good standing with, you can get away with this response. You can ‘offer’ this in return in negotiations where you have nothing to lose.

Financial Compensation. You offer economical incentives to the rival nation. This is rarely a good idea, since your government will not be pleased that you’re giving away its money and will lose faith in you accordingly. I would suggest against using this, since your employer is already a fickle enough element on its own, and did I mention that being fired means game over? I probably did.

Offer Sigma Research. You transfer a portion of your research to the rival government. I would also suggest against offering this since research will be hard-fought enough to begin with, without actually handing it over to rivals as well. Still, it can be a means of convincing a rival who no longer has much hope of pioneering technologies, but who does have interesting things to offer regardless, or if you absolutely must secure a truce and have no other means. Still, don’t.

Offer a Scientist. Unless you’re laughably comfortable in your position as leader of the game, don’t do this. Your rivals will do enough damage to your Scientist contingent on their own without you actually giving them away as well. And if you’re so ludicrously in the lead, then why even conduct any more negotiations? Just… never do this. Ever.

Recall Combat Drone. This is where you can exploit the diplomacy system with glee and pleasure. By offering to recall your Combat Drone to your own territory, you will get a considerable edge in negotiations, and this alone is often enough to make the less bold requests succeed. The kicker is that you are not promising to keep your Combat Drones away in the future, so you can just recall your drone, then send it back, over and over again, using this as leverage every time. In fact, using this to consistently reduce Alert Levels or Improve Relations is a key strategy. To make this even more fun, if your rival refuses, your Combat Drone will stay put, allowing it to be used as leverage again right away during the next negotiations. This is also why you should never let relations with your employer degrade to the point that they revoke your drone licence.

Diplomacy (Cont’d)

Recall Surveillance Drone. Identical to the previous offer, except it’s your espionage device you’re sending back home. Your Surveillance Drone is more valuable than your Combat Drone in a low-violence playstyle, and you shouldn’t offer to recall it lightly, but if you can comfortably do so, why not. It’ll be back in a few days anyway.

Ransomware Decryption Key. If your Hacker’s been chummy enough to install some Ransomware on the opponent’s systems, you can offer to decrypt this ransomware for him. Most governments don’t function well with crippled IT systems, so this provides a substantial bonus. Like recalling the drone, it can be done over and over, installing new Ransomware every time, and the Ransomware will not disappear if the rival refuses the offer.

Release Captured Agent. If you’ve got one or more of their underhanded backstabbers behind bars, you can release them to encourage a more favourable outcome. You should think twice about this, since a released enemy Agent will usually come back for more naughtiness, plus interrogations can reveal many secrets and give you many interesting advantages, like reduced rival security and dirt on diplomats.

Once more, it is important to keep diplomatic relations relaxed and friendly. The more the rivals like your winning smile and jovial banter, the more agreements you’ll be able to make. The less they can stand the ugly sight of you, the more you’ll need to pay through the nose for precious little, and the greater the chance the other nation will go to war with you. This does not mean the game is over, but unless you can very quickly mend the broken pieces, it might as well be.

So, the rival nation’s alert level is suitably low, they think you’re the bee’s knees and one or more of their Scientists is just dying to work for you. You can keep them as a Double Agent, but a much more profitable course of action is to get them out of the rival country and into one of your laboratories. You can just stick a G36 in Maestro’s hands, direct him at the nearest police patrol and hope he won’t get too much blood on his suit, but other nations tend not to be amused by foreign agents stealing their scientists, shooting their lawmen and causing havoc in the streets, so let’s try and keep things quiet, so no one will be the wiser and you’ll still be invited to champagne and caviar at the embassy.

Exfiltration:Getting to the Choppa

If Alert Levels are suitably low, your Surveillance Drone is in place, and your Scientist is bouncing off the walls in excitement to work for you, it’s time to get them out. As said numerous times, stealth is vastly preferable to combat, so hush-hush.

To perform a quiet exfiltration, a few elements are highly encouraged to ensure success. If at all possible, have the following in place:

A capable Agent with high Strength. High Intelligence is certainly useful if possible, but good Strength is the only way to successfully neutralize patrols in a non-lethal fashion. Great traits to have are Exfiltration Expert, Black Belt, LIGHTNING Implant, and Wheelman. Other circumstantially useful traits are Firearms Expert and Knife Fighter. Traits to avoid are Temperamental, Stubborn, Bloodlust, Nag, Anvil and Reckless, as well as Jinxed. You should always avoid hiring Agents in a Commando role with these traits. These will not serve you, even if it all snowballs into a colossal firefight.

A low Alert Level , as low as you can get it. Low Alert levels means the Exfiltration will start with enemy Awareness low, and will mean the distance to be travelled is far lower. The difference in travelled distance between 0% and 100% alert is vast, 1.20 km against 3.60 km. This makes the operation three times as long, and makes it begin at max awareness, meaning all hostile patrols will result in enemy contact, even with a Surveillance Drone in place.

A Surveillance Drone. Unless you absolutely need it elsewhere, have it in place. The Drone can occasionally (rarely) come in handy during encounters, but its main use is to alert your Agent to enemy patrols blocking the way. If Awareness is suitably low, your Agent can simply bypass the enemy patrols entirely, reducing the risk of capture or death by an enormous amount.

When the Exfiltration begins, the camera will pan across the city, from the destination towards your Agent, and the operation commences. You can see the distance towards the evac in the top right. If this is 1.20 km, great. If it’s 3.60 km, not so great. It can still be done, but will almost certainly result in bloodshed, relations hits, high alerts and reduced trust from your government.

At the top centre is the Awareness Level. As this increases, encounters become more violent and patrols become more alert. When it reaches around half, it will no longer be possible for your Surveillance Drone to let your Agent bypass patrols. Awareness level increases by failed encounters and open hostilities. It decreases with successful encounters and nonlethal subdual of patrols. This is why Black Belt is so useful. If it’s all the way in the red, there is no avoiding violence and the operation will become a shoot-out unless your Agent surrenders.

Your Agent will be able to move a small distance between every encounter, putting him closer to the evac vehicle. If he reaches it, the exfiltration is a success. As he moves, however, encounters will trigger, and you will need to give the Agent orders on how to deal with them. These encounters are not always very clear, and responses aren’t very predictable, often blowing up in your Agent’s face because the game decides to test against an unintuitive score.

Never count on encounters to lower an already extreme Awareness level, and always expect them to increase enemy Awareness rather than reducing it. Awareness reduction should be seen as a bonus, not a necessity. That said, seize opportunities to turn them into an advantage. If your Wheelman can take possession of a vehicle, let him do so. If your Agent sees a diplomatic vehicle from your embassy and you have a good relation with your government, let him hide in it. If your Agent has a Black Belt and asks if she should knock out a patrolling cop, let her do so. If your 1-Intelligence Agent asks if he should try to outsmart a security guard asking for his press ID, for the love of God tell him not to ask stupid questions. Be smart, and consider your strengths and the ones of your Agent.

Enemy patrols, represented by an armed police icon, will also provide obstacles, and will need to be dealt with. A Surveillance Drone can simply render them non-existent if Awareness is suitably low, or a Wheelman in a vehicle can avoid them entirely. A Combat Drone can be ordered to perform an airstrike, resulting in downed tangos but also in civilian casualties. If the threat cannot be avoided or completely neutralized by a drone strike, enemy contact will ensue and your Agent will need to resort to one of four responses:

Flee. This is usually the least risky, and failure ‘only’ results in capture, but even if successful, the enemy patrol remains on the map and actively pursues, often creating additional enemy contact as they catch up. Low-strength Agents will often have very little choice but to Flee.

Neutralize. Your Agent subdues the enemy in a stealthy and non-lethal manner. Failure results in capture. Absolutely the preferable option, since it removes the enemy patrol from the map, reduces Awareness, and does not cause any casualties. High Strength is a must, and traits like Black Belt and Lightning Implant will significantly increase your Agent’s chances of success.

Eliminate. The Agent either opens fire or openly engages in melee with his knife. All hope of a stealth operation will be lost, but this might be the only reliable way to secure your Agent’s survival and the success of the operation. If this response fails, the Agent will be injured (and enemy contact will continue) or killed. Avoid this unless you have no other viable option. Firearms Expert or Knife Fighter will go a long way towards ensuring your Agent’s survival.

Surrender. This spares your Agent’s life and that of any bystanders, but causes the mission to fail. Sometimes this is the better response as it will reduce civilian casualties, diplomacy hits and Doomsday advancement. Know, however, that when you select this response, your Agent and all his knowledge will be in the hands of the enemy.

If the response is listed as Risky, there’s actually a rather good chance of success. Everything listed as Very Risky and up should be carefully considered.

A successful Ghost Operation will exfiltrate the Scientist, cause no damage to diplomatic relations, keep your Agent out of the hospital or the morgue, leave the Doomsday Clock where it is, and provide you with a hefty +20% bonus to approval from your own government. It will leave you with no negative consequences apart from the minor inconvenience of an arrest warrant for your Agent, and even that apparently is a bug and will be addressed in the next patch.

A good Agent operating at 0% Alert Level, supported by a Surveillance Drone, and guided by a competent Director ensures that Exfiltrations are as good as a sure bet. We like sure bets over here at Sigma.

Science and How to Blind Them with It

The last big chunk of the game that needs to be discussed is Science, or Sigma Research as this game calls it. Researching a technology awards ∑ points, as mentioned before. Reaching 15∑ will unlock the ultimate technology, discussed below. The amount gained depends on when the tech is researched and what you do with it.

• If you are the first to research a technology and decide to keep it for yourself, you earn 3∑ and the benefits the technology bestows.
• If you are the first to research a technology and decide to share it with the world, you receive 3∑, a Doomsday reduction and a worldwide boost to relations, but you do not receive the technology’s direct benefits.
• If you are the first to research the technology, but you decide to hand it over to a lobby (see below), you will receive 2∑, along with some miscellaneous benefits. The lobby may also contact you later to give you a specific bonus advantage.
• If you reverse-engineer a technology, i.e., research it after another nation has already discovered it, you will gain 1∑ and not much else.

If another nation researches the tech first, and they often will, they will always turn the effects against you, and they’re never pleasant, though some are less threatening than others. A few technologies can give the Doomsday Clock a firm kick in the backside, sending it forward by a full ten minutes. If two of those techs get discovered in rapid succession, you may suddenly find yourself faced with instant defeat.

Science is divided into five fields:

Neuroscience is the science that influences mental states. Its technologies tend to affect their targets’ minds, either boosting mental power or reducing their resistance. The five technologies are as follows.

Mentalis

Boosts the target’s intellectual capacity. Bestows the Super-Intelligence trait on one or more of your Agents if kept for yourself. Rival nations will make it much harder for you to mentally influence their scientists.

Hypnos

Can facilitate the persuasion and suggestion capacities. Makes it easier for you to Convert scientists. If used against you, expect a number of your scientists to suddenly defect.

Fidelis

Inspires fierce loyalty in individuals. Grants one or more Agents the Loyal trait. Rival nations will be able to cause one of your Agents to instantly defect.

Soma

This technology can instantly inspire an entire nation to revolt, plunging it into anarchy and eliminating it from the game. Rival nations will eliminate a random rival. Regardless if it’s you or a rival, the Doomsday Clock will advance by 10 minutes, so if you discover this tech, by all means share it with the world so the Clock is pushed back ten minutes rather than forward, unless you absolutely must annihilate a rival who is about to win.

Control

Control can instantly and completely dominate another individual mentally and can reduce all people to mind-controlled puppets.

Health is the field that focuses on physical integrity and healing of the body. It goes beyond this, but improving its subjects’ health is its prime focus. Technologies are as follows.

Panacea

A universal cure with myriad applications, but primarily the cure for cancer.

Chameleon

A technology that allows people to change their appearance and even bone structure, the applications of which should be obvious in the game of espionage. The rival nation discovering this technology will have nigh-undetectable Agents.

Miracle

A healing aid that can be applied to wounds to heal them almost instantly, including battlefield injuries. If operations against a rival nation with this technology become violent, expect opposition to be almost unconquerable.

Psychoflux

Enables the transfer of a mind into a new, different body. Rival nations who discover this will have, in essence, immortal Agents.

Lazarus

A process that effectively halts aging forever, which is for all intents and purposes immortality.

Robotics concerns itself primarily with the invention and construction of autonomous machines, mainly as applied to warfare. Its technologies are the following.

Lightning

Enhances reflexes, strength and speed through nano-technology, granting soldiers superhuman close combat ability. If you choose to keep its benefits, you may apply the lightning implant to one or more Agents, rendering them all but invincible in hand-to-hand encounters. If a rival researches this tech first, they will do the same.

Switch

An autonomous AI that can make battlefield decisions faster, smarter, and more reliably, allowing it to direct troops better than any human tactician could.

Ares

An exoskeleton that, when worn, turns the user into what amounts to a walking tank.

Force 1

The replacement of human soldiers, these combat robots can deploy autonomously to any battlesite, reducing human casualties to zero.

Abaddon

A self-replicating, ultra-resistant drone capable of multiplying into a swarm of thousands in a few days.

The field of Finance occupies itself with improving economic gain, minimizing bureaucracy and creating profitable trade systems.

Stability

A program that can predict markets and stock trading with infallible accuracy.

Share

All financial administration and management can be left to this AI, eliminating the need for bureaucracy and accountancy.

Clear Coins

Equalizing the footing of all nations when it comes to trade, this technology gives developing countries the ability to participate in the global economy.

E-Coins

Abolishing national currencies, this project replaces all these with a single tender, creating total transparency and eliminating income inequality, as well as financial privacy.

Zero

This system instantly balances demand with supply and thus creates a counter to all local scarcity of goods. Effectively, this system eliminates all poverty and economical inequality and eliminates the need for currency.

Astrophysics, finally, works to improve humanity’s understanding of physics, more specifically ways of travel and transfer across great distances.

Solar Network

Satisfying the Earth’s energy needs and eliminating pollution and economical consequences of non-renewable energy, the country researching this tech can provide the world with limitless energy. If a rival nation discovers this, they will put you at the very last in the queue to be upgraded, slowing your research efforts significantly.

Geoforce

This technology reveals all valuable resources beneath the Earth’s surface, ensuring vast wealth and materials for the nation that can harness it.

Stratos

More than just an aircraft, this vessel can ensure extremely quick transport across the globe by low-orbit space flight. The first nation to discover this, will have Agents with greatly reduced travel times.

Dimensional Gate

Eliminating the need for all transportation vehicles, these devices allow instant transportation of all matter across vast distances, to anywhere on the planet.

Infinity Gates

Going even beyond the Earth, these machines can teleport anything across any conceivable distance, and mark the beginning of humanity’s colonization of the galaxy.

Once you’ve earned your 15 Sigma points, you will be able to begin research on the final technology, the discovery that will forever change humanity. This requires five meters to be filled to 100%, each representing one of the fields of science. Having the scientist with the correct specialization in every field will speed up research immensely, so much in fact, that going all-out on the Sigma technology will often allow you to overtake rival nations that started far earlier. So don’t panic once you see a rival’s % meter fill, they’ll still have a long way to go and you can still catch up to them, especially with some creative diplomacy and not-so-overt operations.

How to Be a Winner and Not Radioactive Ash

This chapter covers some general hints and tips. Some have been mentioned already, but I’ll list them again here for the sake of completeness. They’re just loosely organized thoughts and insights I had during play, so don’t expect much structure, just a collection of small helpful things.

New Agents are unlocked all the time, by your own actions. Go ahead and experiment and try new things, whether you win the game or not, the Agents remain unlocked permanently. The starting Agents are… fair, but the unlocked ones are the ones that’ll win you the game. At the very end of this chapter, I’ll tell you how to unlock some key Agents.

Don’t panic when a rival reaches 15∑ and starts accruing percentiles towards victory. They’ll take a long time to do so, and in the meantime, you might be able to catch up or even overtake them on your own, and sabotaging them and stealing their scientists will make it even easier. Losing the game almost never happens due to rivals winning, so don’t be alarmed when they’re ahead. That said…

… watch the Doomsday Clock. This cannot be stressed enough. Nearly all games that are lost, are undone by the Doomsday Clock reaching zero. This is your greatest enemy in the game, and unless it is treated with extreme care, it will vomit nuclear Armageddon all over you. To keep it low, always choose options that promote world peace, transparency, and stability. Share techs with the world if it helps, the Doomsday reduction is more important than gaining on your rivals. The only justified reasons to allow the Doomsday Clock to advance (apart from staving off an immediate Game Over) is if one of your Agents or your Spouse is in serious trouble and you need to silence someone… permanently. Even then, only do so if you have a comfortable margin, -20 or less. Some techs can advance the Clock by a whopping 10, and if those are discovered by rivals in quick succession, well… Good l_ck, yo_’re f_cked.

Never let Agents sit idle unless you absolutely need them to be available the next turn (for instance, if they’re waiting for another Agent to identify a spy so they can capture them). Turns wasted are just that, wasted, while your rivals can advance. Let them dig up dirt on a diplomat if they’re bored, or simply recon another nation. You can also let them make a quick jaunt to the country your Double Agents are working from, to keep them loyal.

Fulfill Agents’ requests when/if possible. If an Agent requests a few days off for personal reasons, go ahead and allow it if you can, unless your game hinges on this particular Agent at this particular moment. If you refuse their requests, they might resign or gain unfavourable traits, while allowing them the time to conduct their personal business may give you rewards like increased relations with a nation, or good traits, or the like.

Your Spouse brings only marginal benefits to the table, and mostly functions as a bit of a nag, but keeping her alive and happy will give you the best ending. At some point, she will be captured. If this happens, the rival nation that abducted her will make itself known. Best thing to do is to comply with their first demand, to give them all your Sigma research (they’re usually not in danger of winning the game anyway), and then to launch a rescue operation once you know where to look. These function the same way as a scientist exfiltration, except that you only need to locate your spouse and exfiltrate them. She’ll usually be pretty receptive towards the idea of coming with you, so no conversion is necessary.

Don’t give your scientists stimulants if they ask for it. Sending them to rehab might make them unable to work for a bit, and give them a negative trait, but every time I allowed them to snort, it resulted in a heart attack.

Scientists that have the Heartbroken trait will work at 50%, but can lose this trait if successfully Seduced. Scientists that have the Prisoner trait will likewise work more slowly, but they will lose this trait if Abducted back to the home country, or converted by any country through peaceful means. It’s a bit strange that they are prisoners but can still defect through persuasion, but there you go. Scientists that have the Charlatan trait cannot be cured of their incompetence.

You will lose favour with your own government rather often since you need to make many decisions that place world peace above national interests, but if you conduct enough Ghost operations, you’ll win it back very easily, since every silent operation rewards a whopping +20% favour with your government. Diplomacy can also help, you can offer things you can spare to nations that don’t really have much hope of winning in return for financial advantages. You can even offer nothing and nag all the nations every chance you get, even if you only succeed 10% of the time, you’ll still lose nothing but your time, but this might get tedious.

Combat drones make for excellent diplomatic leverage, and offering to recall them in exchange for diplomatic relations is often faster than sending them to hover over a conflict zone for days on end.

If your Spouse or Government ask for a Drone or an Agent, best to let them borrow it. They’ll be out of commission for a few days, but favour will rise and you’ll often get rewards. If your team make-up is solid and you’re playing the right way, your other assets will usually be able to fill the gap for a short time.

Terrorist groups are extremely annoying. They will make demands of you without offering anything in return, but threaten you with extreme measures if you don’t comply. There are three ways to deal with them. Firstly, you can play their game. This is not recommended, since armed groups as exfil assets are useless for your playstyle, plus you’ll darken relations and advance the Doomsday Clock. You can also take it to the chin and simply refuse to negotiate with them flat-out as soon as they contact you. They will make good on their threat, and you’ll be hobbled during the early game with nothing to show for it apart from some small favour with your government and a small Doomsday reduction. The third option is usually the most beneficial:accept their initial proposal and execute their mission, it’s usually something harmless, like planting ransomware or the like. A little later, another nation will contact you, telling you they know you’re entangled with terrorists. Admit you’re being strong-armed and say you want out. They will offer a mission chain of their own, take it. This will end with the capture of the terrorist leader, giving you bonus relations with the assisting nation, plus reducing the Doomsday Clock – which you want. The terrorists will still execute their threat, but at least this way you’ll get something out of it.

Lobbies are far less annoying than terrorist groups, thankfully, but they can also impose sanctions if neglected. Usually, they’re rather benign and simply offer you incentives to hand technology over to them. Don’t worry, they won’t use it for anything evil… that we know of. When discovering a technology, you can hand it over to them and receive immediate benefits, usually in terms of international relations and employer trust, but they will also call back later and offer you something nice as gratitude as well. If you don’t really need a technology’s benefits and aren’t too far behind in Sigma research, consider turning it over to the lobby.

If a rival nation drops out of the Sigma race, fly one or two Agents over there immediately if you can. The scientists the nation had working for them will be free for the taking, and will join your voluntarily, flying to your labs with your Agent in only a single turn. Hurry before rivals snatch them up, they tend to do so within a turn or three, four.

Notable Agents and How to Unlock Them

Red Sword packs a whopping 7/7 score and no drawbacks apart from her Elite status. Her Knife Fighter and Spy Hunter traits make her the single best Spy Hunter in the game, and she has the versatility, stats-wise, to be able to handle all other missions.

She can be unlocked by discovering a Finance technology, but sharing it with the world instead of keeping it for yourself. To recruit her, just mention income inequality.

Green Crescent is likely to be the best Agent for Soft Operations. Her 7 Intelligence is further enhanced by her Seducer and Negotiator skills, and her only drawback is High Profile, which shouldn’t be a problem since she won’t be accruing arrest warrants anyway.

She can be unlocked by simply performing a diplomatic negotiation with Turkey.

Durak is a good choice as Commando or Spy Hunter, with his Black Belt and Firearms Expert giving him an additional bonus to his 6 Strength. He has no drawbacks, since Methodical won’t slow exfiltrations or spy hunting down. Master of Disguise lets him slip back into countries where he’s got an outstanding arrest warrant.

To unlock him, simply have an Agent obtain a weapon in another country.

Double K is one of the game’s best Hackers, but he is hobbled by the Elite trait. Methodical increases time spent hacking, but does ensure a successful outcome, and his Anonymous trait means his work can never be traced back to you. Pacifist and Loner are irrelevant drawbacks since he’ll be sitting at home hacking anyway.

To unlock him, fly your hacker to a rival nation and successfully locate that country’s Sigma scientists from there.

Domingo has an impressive 6/6, and the Hacker and Knife Fighter trait, which makes him a double-whammy of Hacking and Spy Hunting.

However, he is not Anonymous and his Methodical trait makes his work better, but slower. He’s a very good choice if you can tolerate having a Twitch streamer on your team.

Unlocking him requires an exfiltration to be performed successfully on France’s territory.

Trojan is the Miss Universe of Hackers, a staggering 9 Intelligence, combined with Hacker and Anonymous means she is hands-down the best specialized Hacker in the game. She will succeed at almost all of the hack attempts you order her to do, and her 9 Intelligence means she can easily expose enemy spies, and Counter them if necessary. Her Firearms Expert is a bit irrelevant, and she’s pretty worthless at most other tasks though, due to her Loner and Weak-Willed traits, but what does that even matter?

Unlocking her requires playing Story Mode, locating Daedalus, and completing the questline. Always side with her and make sure to rescue the President of the United States by keeping him safe from the Vice President and his own security detail. When this is done, Trojan will join your team and your handler will be dismissed, replaced by someone… a bit higher-up.

Wolf/Laika has a ball-bouncing 8/8 in stats, plus the Loyal and Knife Fighter traits, giving him/her unmatched versatility and letting him/her excel in nearly all roles. The Weak-Willed and Honest traits do diminish his use for conversion, but he/she can still Seduce like a good boy or girl. The implications are… best not pondered for too long. The Elite status is somewhat bothersome, but it’s only fair.

Wolf can be unlocked when one of your scientists requests assistance in animal research. Give that scientist all the time and resources he or she needs and accept that you will have one less scientist. Ten days later, the scientist will return, his or her brain transferred, somehow, into a dog’s body. You can then recruit him or her as Wolf.