Deus Ex Beginner FAQ.txt

8/20/2019 Deus Ex Beginner FAQ.txt

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Deus Ex Beginner FAQBy Korasoff ([email protected])Version 1.0 8/12/2004

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FAQ history:

1.0, 8/12/2004: FAQ created! The sections are Introduction, GeneralConcepts, Skills, Weapons, Augmentations, Items, Enemies, and Security.

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Note: the random strings of 3 characters after each section in theTable of Contents are bookmarks for quickly jumping to thecorresponding section in this FAQ. If you're using WordPad, just hitControl + F, type in the relevant string, and press Enter. It willhighlight the string in the Table and then, if you press Enter again,bring you to the section itself.

Table of Contents:

1) Introduction (kzx)2) General Concepts (ajg)3) Skills (ioq)4) Weapons (paa)5) Augmentations (wrz)6) Items (uyx)7) Enemies (mnb)8) Security (pgh)

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1) INTRODUCTION (kzx)

I keep a handful of games installed on my hard drive for years aftertheir release. One of them is Blizzard's StarCraft: at about 130 megs,it's not worth worrying about, and whenever I get a craving for thebest RTS of all time it's there. Same thing with Fallout 2, Quake, andthe first XCOM. They're the pantheon of gaming in my opinion. And atthe top of that list is Deus Ex, the best role-playing/first-personshooter/adventure hybrid of all time.

The genre was not exactly new when Deus Ex was released in 2000: acouple of years earlier Looking Glass Studios had released theexcellent System Shock 2, a game from which Deus Ex takes a lot ofpointers. Not surprising, since most of the developers who worked onSS2 migrated to Ion Storm to create Deus Ex. Many elements combine tomake Deus Ex outstanding: a great story that puts the most intricateconspiracy theories to shame, tons of quality, well-voiced, andinteresting dialogue (save for Hong Kong), and a gameplay that revolvesaround stealth and brains more than mere brawn.


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In Deus Ex, you play JC Denton, a nano-augmented agent of UNATCO, theUnited Nation's anti-terrorist organization. Your older brother, Paul,is already a well-respected top-ranking agent at UNATCO so you'rehungry for some action. Which, by the way, you *do* get very fast, asyou have to confront terrorist attacks on New York. Moreover, thedevastating plague known as the Gray Death looms over humanity and someunscrupulous forces would use it to plunge the world into a chaos theywould then reshape to their liking... How will you stand against them?Who will believe you when you discover the truth about the conspiracy?

I've created this FAQ as a helpful document for beginners. This meansthat the FAQ is *not* a complete list of every single tidbit ofinformation in the game; it does *not* contain a single spoiler aboutthe story, which is the best part of the game; and I do *not* pretendto know everything about Deus Ex. Rather, this FAQ is the product of myinformed opinion regarding what a beginning player should know in orderto survive in the world of Deus Ex. I've played through the game abouthalf a dozen times as thoroughly as I could, not counting all the timesI began a game without finishing it to try a new combination of skills,augmentations, weapons, or to just screw around with new ideas. Andafter 3 years of playing Deus Ex, I'm still finding new stuff in thegame.

(Oh, a quick note: make sure you download the last patch for Deus Ex

and install it before trying to play the game. The unpatched version ofDeus Ex runs like a turd even on today's machines.)

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2) GENERAL CONCEPTS (ajg)

Deus Ex is very different from other first-person shooters, in thatbrute force and direct destruction of your enemies is not necessarilythe easiest path to victory. Instead, Deus Ex often rewards stealth(hiding from your enemies) or alternative solutions (incapacitating

your enemies otherwise).

This is not readily apparent at the Easy and Medium difficulty levels.At these levels, your enemies will deal low damage to you in direct,open fighting, enabling you to dispose of them with minimal tactical orweapon advantages. On the Hard and Realistic difficulty levels,however, enemy damage output skyrockets, with a Realistic NSF trooperbeing able to kill you from 40 feet away with a single lethal Pistolshot to the head before you can even react. Needless to say, taking onmore than one Realistic enemy at a time in a straight battle is akin tosuicide.

Moreover, the objectives in Deus Ex go beyond "exterminate everything

and anything that moves." There are a lot of friendly or otherwiseneutral NPCs whose innocent lives you'll have to consider. The simplestway of verifying a person or robot's stance towards you is to use theIntegrated Friend or Foe (IFF) system, a default augmentation JC startsout with. Just drag the crosshairs in the middle of the screen over aperson, animal, or robot. If the crosshairs turn green, then thatperson/etc... is friendly, in other words an ally (for the moment). Ifit turns red, then that person/etc.. is an enemy, and will thereforerespond in quite a hostile fashion if it sees you: all enemies in theworld of Deus Ex obey the old "shoot first, ask questions later" rule.


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But back to objectives. Deus Ex rewards what I call "original problem-solving". Let's say you're faced with the following fictional,spoilers-free objective:

*** Make your way to the top of the skyscraper and find the hiddenexplosives cache.***

How would you go around solving that problem? Well, there's always thestraightforward way: find a staircase and walk up 30 stories or so,shooting everything in sight along the way. Then again, since theterrorists disabled the elevators, they'll probably expect an attackcoming that way, so it won't be as easy as it sounds. Getting insidethe basement and turning the elevator power back on so you can ride tothe top might be a better solution, provided you can deal with thesecurity cameras and gun turrets the terrorists have set up to foilthat particular plan. But hey, what about climbing up the building nextdoor, shooting through a few windows, and then jumping to theskyscraper using your Speed Enhancement nano-augmentation? Of course,that second building might be alarmed too, and it might contain somesecurity robots on patrol for intruders...

As you can see, no matter your style of play, there's almost always asolution tailored exactly for it already in the game. This is what's so

great about Deus Ex: finding new, original, and interesting ways aroundobstacles.

Anyway, here are the five best pieces of advice I can give a beginner.

#1: You don't have to kill or incapacitate every enemy you come across!In fact, I strongly discourage it, since it's often a waste of ammo.Which leads us to the next tip...

#2: Sneak! Find ways around your obstacles and enemies. There are tonsof maintenance tunnels, shafts, and ledges in the world of Deus Ex.Take advantage of them.

#3: If you need to deal with an enemy, do so intelligently! Wait untilhe's alone and strike from behind. If you have to face a group, thendeal with all of them at once by using explosives.

#4: Observe your surroundings and explore them! Often, valuableDatacubes, computers, or items lie in out-of-the-way locations. It's agood idea to stop when you enter a new location and just look around.You're almost always bound to find something you hadn't noticed atfirst. This is also true for patrol routes: watch enemies and the roadsthey take to discover the optimal time for striking at them or sneakingby.

#5: Use your items! Multitools and lockpicks were meant to open new

passages for you, not to be collected. Grenades have a variety oftactical applications you should remember. Hazmat suits, ballisticarmor, and thermoptic camouflage can be tremendously useful inparticular situations. When faced with a problem, check your inventoryfirst, there's surely an item that can help you.

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3) SKILLS (ioq)

When you create a new game, the first menu you'll see is the CharacterCreation menu. It lists some very important abilities, called skills,which you should grow familiar with in time.

You learn new skills and improve old ones throughout the game byinvesting skill points in them. How do you get more skill points? Well,you start out with a pool of 5000 points that you can spend right offthe bat at the character creation menu, and you earn more by completingprimary and secondary mission objectives, getting to criticallocations, meeting important characters, and so on. In other words, asJC completes missions and gains experience, he becomes a better, moredangerous agent. All skills have 4 levels: Untrained (default),Trained, Advanced, and Master. Some skills require a lot of points toimprove, others fewer. I've listed the number of skill points requiredto improve each skill next to the skill's name. Invested skill pointsare *not* cumulative; in other words, if you want to raise Computersfrom Untrained to Trained, you need to invest 1125 skill points, and toraise it to Advanced from there, you need to invest 2250, not just thedifference between 2250 and 1125.

Note that the Pistols skill starts out at Trained by default. You canDowngrade to recoup 1575 skill points, however, which you may then

spend on other skills. You can only Downgrade skills at the CharacterCreation menu so take advantage of it!

I've divided the 11 skills to which you get access in 3 broadcategories: Interaction, Support, and Weapons.

a) Interaction skills

These are the skills that allow JC to manipulate certain objects anddevices in his environment. They are some of the most important skillsof all: paradoxically, you shouldn't invest too many skill points inthem because the benefits drop off very quickly. I know, I know. You'll

understand soon.

*COMPUTERS*Untrained: Can use bulletin boards freely, and ATMs, security consoles,and computers with a login/password.Trained (1125): Can hack ATMs, security consoles, and computers.Advanced (2250): Can hack ATMs, security consoles, and computersfaster. Can now control gun turrets.Master (3750): Can hack ATMs, security consoles, and computers fastest.

In my opinion, Computers is the single best skill in the game. Not onlydoes it remove the tedious search for logins/passwords, but it allows

you to deactivate security grids remotely, on top of "convincing" ATMmachines to send some extra cash your way! I often raise Computers allthe way up to Advanced in the Character Creation menu because of itstremendous usefulness from beginning to end. It's also relatively cheapto improve compared to the other Interaction skills and most Weaponsskills.

To use Computers, just find an ATM, security terminal, or computer, anduse it. When the screen switches to the computer interface, hit the"Hack" button in the top-right corner of the screen (shortcut: Alt-H).


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The green bar (which represents the time you have left before thecomputer boots you out) will begin depleting, and random strings ofcharacters will appear in the background. When all the charactersdisappear you'll have succesfully hacked this machine and now have therun of the place. If it's an ATM, you can withdraw (shortcut: Alt-W)money from it up to a certain point that depends on your Computersskill. If it's a regular computer, you can read people's email andtoggle some miscellaneous security options on and off. If it's asecurity terminal, you'll be able to control and disable cameras andlock/unlock and open/close doors. If your Computers skill is atAdvanced or Master, you can also pick gun turrets' new targets ordisable them.

(For gun turrets: the "Ally" setting causes the turret to shoot you andyour allies. The "Enemies" setting will have it shoot your enemies."Everything" will... well... make it shoot everything, friend or foe."Disabled" turns the turret entirely off, so that it doesn't respondeven when an alarm is activated.)

Now, a few random tidbits of info about Computers:

- Hacking takes time. During that time, you are a sitting duck and CANbe attacked by enemies. Make sure the computer is in a safe place. Notethat there's a delay of a second or so between the time when you use a

security console and when your screen switches to the computerinterface: you can use that precious time to move back into a shadowyhiding spot.

- A quick way to log out is to hit the ESC key. Keep an eye on thatbar... When it turns red, it's time to get out.

- If you're booted out by a console, computer, or ATM, you'll getzapped as an automated defense measure. You'll lose some bioelectricityand the computer will be locked out for a time. Both the amount of BEyou lose and the lock-out time are reduced by a higher Computers skilllevel.

- Computers need some time to "recuperate" from a successful hacking.If you try to hack a computer again after just doing it, its bar willstart out almost empty.

- When hacking a regular computer to read email, you can sometimeschange accounts. There'll be a window underneath the Hack one with alist of usernames. Double-click a username to enter that account andsee if there's more email.

- ATMs have a finite amount of cash to offer you per mission. Onceyou've hacked an ATM and withdrawn all you can, move on.

- Most ATMs have a legit login/password combination you can find

somewhere in the world (usually in a Datacube). If you Hack an ATM atTrained, you'll have access to less than the amount available by thosenormal means; at Advanced, 100% of the amount; and at Master, slightlymore than the "usually" available funds.

With this said, it's my personal opinion that you should raiseComputers to Advanced and no further. Trained does not let you controlgun turrets, which is a big advantage you get at Advanced. The jump toMaster is unnecessary since a) the extra ATM cash isn't worth the skillpoints, and b) you already have more than enough time to fiddle with


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computers and security consoles at Advanced, provided you know whatyou're doing.

*ELECTRONICS*Untrained: 1 Multitool = 10%Trained (1800): 1 Multitool = 25%Advanced (3600): 1 Multitool = 40%Master (6000): 1 Multitool = 75%

Bypassing electronic systems such as cameras, gun turrets, alarm pads,and door keypads (among others) is an invaluable skill. You might befar away from turrets or cameras' security consoles, or simply unableto access it yet: why not use a couple of Multitools to take themoffline directly? There are also a lot of keypads whose codes are well-hidden or simply missing from the game, requiring you to bypass themwith Multitools if you want access to the goodies they protect. (Iguess you could also find the right combination by trial and error...If you have a lot of spare time.)

Every electronic device you can bypass has a resistance value,expressed in a percentage. To bypass the device, you must lower itsresistance to 0% using one or more Multitools. To do so, equip yourMultitools, highlight the device by facing it, and press the attack

button. JC will activate the Tool and the device's resistance willstart dropping. Check the list above to see how much resistance asingle Tool will deplete for every skill level. Once a Tool has removedall the resistance it can, it will disappear, so pack as many Tools asyou can! If the device still isn't bypassed after using a Tool simplyuse more, since there's no benefit to lowering a system's resistance toa value other than zero. Some door keypads have an infinite (INF)resistance: that means they simply can't be bypassed, and that you mustfind the relevant code.

Just like Computers, you should make sure you're in a safe locationwhen using a Tool: if you turn away from the device while a Tool isworking on it, the resistance will stop dropping, and you'll have

wasted part of your Tool.

It's a good idea to raise Electronics to at least Trained. At Trained,a Tool will be 2.5 times more powerful than at the Untrained level, andall for 1800 skill points. Further improvements are far less efficient,but you could make the case for Advanced. Master is a bit of a waste.

*LOCKPICKS*Untrained: 1 Lockpick = 10%Trained (1800): 1 Lockpick = 25%Advanced (3600): 1 Lockpick = 40%Master (6000): 1 Lockpick = 75%

Besides electronic devices and systems, you'll also meet good olddoors, lockers, drawers, and safes, which will sadly be locked to keepprying hands - such as yours - from removing their contents. Although alot of these doors and locks can be blown open, a more subtle tamperingof the locking mechanism will often be preferable and much stealthier.This is where Lockpicks comes in handy.

Lockpicks works in exactly the same way Electronics does. This time,however, instead of hunting for a security console or a door keypad's


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combination, you'll be searching for nanokeys that can open locks. Ifyou can't find them, then it's time to resort to Lockpicks. And justlike some door keypads have no known combinations, some doors have noin-game keys. That means you *have* to resort to picking the lock.

Interestingly enough, doors and the like have not one but tworesistances: lock strength and door strength. The first represents howmuch picking is required to defeat the lock. The second is the door'sphysical resistance to blows and explosions. An INF (infinite)resistance means the lock cannot be picked or that the door is blast-proof.

There are tons of goodies hidden in safes, lockers, armories, and thelike. As such, just like Electronics, you should really seek to improveLockpicks to Trained, and if you're awash in skill points, maybeAdvanced. The leap from 10% per Lockpick to 25% is huge, and 25% to 40%is not shabby either. In any case, I often save the first 1800 skillpoints I earn to improve Lockpicks.

(Still, if a door has a less than infinite door strength, then youshould consider a bit of demolition as an option.)

b) Support skills

Support skills enhance some of JC's default abilities. Although farfrom being a necessary set of skills, your style of play might verywell require the improvement of one or two of them.

*ENVIRONMENTAL TRAINING*Untrained: Can use rebreathers, thermoptic camouflage, ballistic armor,and hazmat suits.Trained (675): Can use rebs, camo, armor, and hazmats a bit longer andmore efficiently.Advanced (1350): Can use rebs, camo, armor, and hazmats even longer andeven more efficiently.

Master (2250): Can use rebs, camo, armor, and hazmats for very long andat maximum efficiency.

Lots of people don't like Environmental Training, and I can understandthem. At the lower difficulty levels, it doesn't make much of adifference. But at Realistic, I found it to be a real life-saver. Firstand foremost, thermoptic camo is an awesome item to lug around, andwhen used makes you invisible to *all* enemy units (organic androbotic) and security systems. If you're Untrained in EnvironmentalTraining it will barely last ten seconds... But if you're a Master, itlasts for over forty-five seconds! Since sneaking around undetected istremendously important at Realistic, I found it very worthwhile toinvest in Environmental Training once I'd already gotten my core skills

to their desired levels. Higher levels mean a longer duration, but alsomore damage absorbed for Hazmat suits and ballistic armor. My advice toyou: try Environmental Training at least once and see if it's yourstyle. If you do try it, I suggest you improve it to Master since it'svery cheap and effective.

(Note: Tech goggles are *not* improved in any way or shape byEnvironmental Training. But they suck anyway so we don't care.)


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*SWIMMING*Untrained: Can swim slowly.Trained (675): Can swim at average speed, increased lung capacity.Advanced (1350): Can swim faster, greatly increased lung capacity.Master (2250): Can swim the fastest, humongous lung capacity.

There are a number of underwater areas in Deus Ex, and one way toexploit them is to invest in the Swimming skill. Higher levels increasethe speed at which JC swims, and the amount of time he can spendunderwater before he starts taking "drowning" damage.

There isn't much else to say about Swimming. I personally prefer to maxout Environmental Training and depend on Rebreathers. However,investing a measly 675 skill points to improve Swimming to Trained atthe start is never a bad idea. The Aqualung augmentation goes very wellwith Swimming; one level in each can drastically improve yourunderwater performances since they stack.

*MEDICINE*Untrained: Can use a Medkit to heal 30 damage.Trained (900): Can use a Medkit to heal 60 damage.Advanced (1800): Can use a Medkit to heal 75 damage.Master (3000): Can use a Medkit to heal 90 damage.

Face it, at some point in your adventures, you're gonna get hurt.Physical damage in Deus Ex is particularly nasty. Damage to the armslowers your accuracy with weapons, as does damage to the head; anddamage to your legs or your torso will reduce your movement speed.Severe damage to the head or torso will kill you; severe damage to thearms will make it impossible to use some weapons; and severe damage toboth legs will force you to crawl around until you heal your wounds.Needless to say, you therefore want to stay in the best shape possible.Medicine helps in this regard by making Medkits more efficient athealing any damage you sustain.

Once again, a Support skill has to compete with an augmentation: this

time it's Regeneration. Medkits act instantly but are in limitedsupply; Regeneration takes more time to act, but bioelectrical energyis more plentiful. I prefer Regeneration since I'm a BE-saving maniacwho usually goes for Power Recirculator anyway... But if you intend tocomplete the game by waltzing in and shooting everyone, Medicine is nota bad choice. Of course, if your style of play revolves around movingthrough the shadows and avoiding damage in the first place, thenMedicine will be kind of a waste. Upgrade to Trained or maybe Advancedif you want to invest in it. Master is pretty expensive in terms ofskill points for what you get in return.

c) Weapons skills

Probably the most important category at the beginning of the game.Unlike other first-person shooters, your character does not haveperfect mastery of every weapon in his arsenal right off the bat.Couple that with the virtual impossibility of getting enough skillpoints to improve each and every Weapons skill and inventory spacelimitations, and you're stuck having to choose which sets of weaponsyou want to specialize in.

A higher skill level with your weapon of choice makes a tremendous


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difference, as you'll observe with the sniper rifle if you do thetutorial. Higher skill level means higher damage, better accuracy, anda faster reload time. It also greatly increases the speed at which yourcrosshairs "zero in" when you're aiming. Despite common thinking, ahigher skill level does *not* directly affect scope stability. That's afactor of weapon accuracy, which weapon skills indirectly affectbecause they raise accuracy.

I recommend you pick two complementary skills, such as Low-tech andRifles, or Heavy and Pistols, although I've beaten the game withPistols plus Low-tech, Demolition plus Heavy, and Rifles alone.

*DEMOLITION*Untrained: Can use LAMs, EMP grenades, gas grenades, and scramblegrenades. Little time for disarming.Trained (900): LAMs do more damage. Moderate time for disarming.Advanced (1800): LAMs do even more damage. Long time for disarming.Master (3000): LAMs are devastating. Forever for disarming.

Demolition should *not* be your primary Weapons skill. Althoughgrenades are quite powerful indeed, they are limited in quantity andtake a bit of experience to throw adequately. The increase in LAMs'damage is almost unnoticeable save when you're facing some of the

bigger robots... which you should not be fighting with LAMs anyway.

This said, the main reason why you might want to improve Demolition isto increase the safety margin you have for disarming already placedgrenades. But, truth be told, there aren't that many places where it'sa factor, so feel free to pass on Demolition entirely, or at best, toimprove it to Trained but no further. I find there are better uses formy skill points.

*HEAVY*Untrained: Can use the flamethrower, GEP gun, plasma gun, and LAW butwith crouching movement speed.

Trained (1350): A bit more damage and accuracy, crouching movementspeed.Advanced (2700): More damage and accuracy, running movement speed.Master (4500): Eyebrow-singing damage and great accuracy, runningmovement speed.

The heavy weapons are damage-monsters. Unfortunately, they all havethree serious drawbacks. First, their ammo is rather limited. Second,they take *a lot* of your inventory space. Third, while equipped, theyslow you down.

The GEP gun is perhaps one of the most versatile weapons in the game,allowing you to take out troopers, robots, and obstacles with its

rockets. The rockets will also lock-on and home in on a target if youkeep the GEP gun aimed at an enemy unit for a few seconds beforefiring. The flamethrower is a close-range "silent" weapon thatguarantees a kill if you can hit somebody with it: any enemy you dousein tasty napalm will keep burning until they die. The LAW is a one-shot, disposable rocket launcher that can help take out robots ordoors. Finally, the plasma gun rips unarmored troopers apart with asingle shot.

If you decide to invest in Heavy, you should save your ammo until you


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absolutely need it and watch your inventory space carefully. Pairing itwith Pistols is a good idea: you'll get powerful long-range attackswith the GEP gun, and silent close-range sniping with the StealthPistol or Mini-Crossbow. I suggest you raise Heavy to Advanced if youplan on using any Heavy weapons at all - the movement speed penalty ishuge. Advanced offsets it, but Master only adds some damage andaccuracy.

*LOW-TECH*Untrained: Can use knives, crowbars, batons, prods, swords, and pepperspray.Trained (1350): Better accuracy, damage, rate of attack, and reloadtime.Advanced (2700): Even better accuracy, damage, rate of attack, andreload time.Master (4500): Slice and dice, shock and rock.

It's not all about the big explosions. Low-tech weapons are small,silent, and almost always lethal if used from behind. Pair that withplentiful or even infinite ammo, and you've got some cool gadgets atyour disposal to abuse. On the flip side, almost all Low-tech weaponsare melee range, save for throwing knives and the pepper spray (whichboth suck ass), and they don't do a whole lot of damage if it's not a

sneak attack.

I like Low-tech a lot, but let's face it, a knife through the nape ofthe neck is gonna be fatal no matter your skill level. It's thereforesmart to not spend too many skill points in Low-tech, unless your planis to run in and wave the the Dragon's Tooth Sword around untileveryone's been cut to pieces. (Need I mention that's a BAD plan?)

Some Low-tech tips:

-Keep at least one Low-tech weapon with infinite ammo on you at alltimes. Use it to bash open crates or other destructibles. The Dragon'sTooth Sword can destroy desk drawers and some doors!

-Sure, the Crowbar, Sword, and Dragon's Tooth Sword are all morepowerful than the puny Combat Knife... But they take more inventoryspace and don't make a back attack any easier. If you're gonna keep asingle Low-tech weapon for sneak attacks, then go for the Knife,although the Riot Prod is always useful too because of its stun.

-The Riot Prod and the Baton knock enemies unconscious instead ofkilling them. At the beginning of the game, choosing non-lethaltakedowns will make you more popular with some of the UNATCO crowd.

*PISTOLS*

Untrained: Can use the pistol, stealth pistol, mini-crossbow, and PS20.Trained (1575): Better accuracy, damage, and reload time.Advanced (3150): Even better accuracy, damage, and reload time.Master (5250): Lethal precision and damage with all pistols.

Pistols is Rifles' kid brother. The former's weapons have less rangeand power than the latter, but their ammo is slightly easier to find,especially at the beginning of the game. The stealth pistol and mini-crossbow are also both silent weapons by default, making Pistols a goodchoice for a "sneaky" style.


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Investing in Pistols right at the start will definitely make yourcharacter powerful. Nevertheless, as you complete missions, find betterweapons, and come to face tougher enemies, Pistols will lose some itsusefulness. Sure, you can take down a trooper with the StealthPistol... but a MJ12 Commando is a different matter. Focusing inPistols also leaves you defenseless against armored bots.

I suggest you pair Pistols with another skill that offers long-rangepower - either Heavy or Rifles. Pistols plus Low-tech gets ratherdifficult by the end of the game. Oh, and the Mini-Crossbow'stranquilizer darts knock enemies out without killing them, scoring youa non-lethal takedown.

*RIFLES*Untrained: Can use the sniper rifle, assault rifle, sawed-off shotgun,and assault shotgun.Trained (1575): Better accuracy, damage, and reload time.Advanced (3150): Even better accuracy, damage, and reload time.Master (5250): Sharpshootin'.

The most versatile Weapon skill of all - and probably the best one too.All rifles pack a big punch, both against unarmored enemies and bots,

on top of having good range. Their ammo is plentiful too. If you're abeginner, then you should definitely get Rifles as your main weaponskill, you can't go wrong with it.

This said, whipping out an assault rifle or a shotgun is dangerous onits own, since you're now fighting openly with your enemies. Same withthe sniper rifle, though with its terrific range, you'll have lots oftime to hide after pulling off a headshot or two. I strongly suggestyou use your first silencer weapon mod on the sniper rifle and thesecond one on the assault rifle. The bottom line with rifles: make sureyou're ready for a fight. Upgrade this one all the way to Master asyour main weapon skill.

(Note: The assault rifle and both shotguns have access to two types ofammo, a primary one for taking down regular troopers and commandos(7.62mm for the assault rifle and Buckshot for the shotguns) and asecondary one designed with bots in mind (20mm HE for the assault rifleand Sabot for the shotguns). Learn to use both and don't waste thesecondary ammo, it's much rarer than the primary one. More on theireffects in the section just below.)

So what's my personal choice when it comes to skills? At the charactercreation menu I usually start by downgrading Pistols to Untrained andupgrading Rifles, Swimming, and Demolition to Trained and Computers toAdvanced. The next 3600 skill points I acquire I spend on upgrading

both Lockpicks and Electronics (in that order) to Trained. From then onI split my earnings between Rifles and Environmental Training,upgrading both to Master. The rest of the skill points I get aredistributed among Medicine, a secondary weapon skill, and maybeComputers.

4) WEAPONS (paa)

Ah, the tools of the killing (or incapacitating) trade. Knowing your


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weapons' capabilities is a must if you want to survive. I've dividedthe list of weapons by their relevant Weapons skill category, and eachcategory is listed in the order in which you're likely to acquire theweapons.

A weapon's base damage is the damage it deals to an enemy upon asuccessful hit. It can be increased by higher skill level, and a hitfrom the back or to the head deals a whole lot more damage than thatvalue - usually killing your opponent in one blow. Base accuracy seemsto affect the starting width of the crosshairs before they startshrinking, and thus the precision of your weapon. The accurate andmaximum range are, respectively, the distance under which you areguaranteed a precise shot, and the maximum distance the weapon'sprojectile will travel. Both ranges are measured in feet. Melee weapons(all contained in the Low-tech category) must be used when standingnext to an enemy. Finally, the clip size is how many projectiles orcharges are loaded and ready to fire before you have to reload. A"disposable" marker means the weapon has only one shot and is discardedafter being fired.

I guess I should also mention weapon modifications here. Weapon modsare cool disposable gadgets you can use to permanently increase yourranged weapons' effectiveness. There are 8 kinds of mods: accuracy,recoil, reload, range, clip, silencer, scope, and laser. An accuracy

mod improves - what else! - a weapon's accuracy, and it can be used onalmost all ranged weapons. The recoil mod reduces the kick-back fromfiring rifles and some heavy weapons. A reload mod cuts down on thetime it takes to reload any weapon. Range mods increase all weapons'accurate range (but not their maximum range). The clip mod increases aweapon's clip size by 10%. A silencer mod turns the sniper rifle,assault rifle, or pistol into a silent weapon. The scope mod adds ascope to a pistol, rifle, GEP gun, or plasma gun for zooming in at adistance. Finally, laser mods add a targeting laser beam to show youexactly where you're aiming. You can find mods in the world byexploring nooks and crannies, searching bodies, or buying them from NPCmerchants. Quite a few MiBs and WiBs carry them: since those guysexplode on death, you'll have to incapacitate them with the prod,

tranquilizer darts, or baton to get the mods. Good luck with that. Whenyou pick up a mod, select it to highlight in green all the weapons youcan use it on, then drag the mod over your weapon of choice to applythe effect. Needless to say, all mods are disposable.

*DEMOLITION*

LAM (Lightweight Attack Munitions)Base damage: 50Base accuracy: 50%Accurate (max) range: thrownClip: 10

Your standard FPS grenade: lob at a target and take cover. Theexplosion is quite violent and will tear troopers, commandos, and allobstacles apart. It will take more than one LAM to blow up some of thetougher bots, though. You can also attach a LAM to vertical surfaces:face a wall, making sure you're perpendicular to it and as close aspossible, then press the attack button. JC will stick the LAM to thewall and arm it. It will explode if an enemy gets near.

LAMs are cool for killing groups of 2 or more enemies, but they excel


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at creating alternate paths by destroying windows, weakened walls,etc... Some enemies carry LAMs; you may also find a few attached towalls, armed and ready to blow you to bits. You may avoid thoseentirely or try to disarm them and add them to your arsenal.

Keep in mind the explosion a LAM causes will definitely arousesuspicion.

Gas grenadeBase damage: 0Base accuracy: 50%Accurate (max) range: thrownClip: 10

Gas grenades are much more subtle than LAMs. When thrown, they explodeand cover an area (approximately a 25 feet square) in tear gas. Organicenemies without protection will be incapacitated while under the cloud,allowing you to take them down from afar with minimal retaliation ontheir part. The cloud will dissipate over the course of 30 seconds orso.

I love gas grenades, particularly when I'm against a group of troopersand want to save my other explosives. The tear gas *will* damage you if

you get too close, but it's not that big a threat. Some organic units(commandos, to name them, and a few other "bosses") are immune to teargas. And, needless to say, gas grenades have zero effect on bots.

EMP grenadeBase damage: 0Base accuracy: 50%Accurate (max) range: thrownClip: 10

The opposite of gas grenades. On explosion, EMP grenades produce anelectromagnetic shockwave that damages all nearby electronic systems.

This includes gun turrets, cameras, robots, blue laser beams, and yourown bioelectrical reserves... but not regular organic enemies. Usecarefully.

At the beginning of the game, a single EMP grenade can take out a low-grade security bot if properly aimed. However, as the game progresses,the tougher bots you'll encounter require 2 or more grenades todisable, and since there aren't that many EMP grenades in the world...They're not useless, but I wouldn't depend on them too much. A GEP gunis reliable, but not an EMP grenade. Getting close enough to a bot tothrow a grenade is much too close for me. You may want to save them forweaker bots and security systems.

Scramble grenadeBase damage: 0Base accuracy: 50%Accurate (max) range: thrownClip: 10

Probably the most subtle of all grenades. Scramble grenades project onexplosion a scrambling frequency that messes with bots' AI, turningthem into your ally! For a short duration, they will therefore attack


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your enemies and pump as much lead in them as they can while ignoringyou. Like EMP grenades, scramble grenades have no effect on organicenemies.

Frankly, scramble grenades are not terribly useful. They have two mainuses: either throw one at a lone bot then run past it while it'sfriendly, or throw one at a robot near some hostile targets. The biggerthe bot, the more havoc it will cause. There's maybe a dozen scramblegrenades available in the entire game, so relying on them to defeatbots is far from a good idea. Still, watching a humongous Delta-2Peacebringer turn against its allies is tons of fun.

*HEAVY*

FlamethrowerBase damage: 2Base accuracy: 55%Accurate (max) range: 20 (20)Clip: 100 (Napalm canister)

The flamethrower is one of the funniest weapons, and the only heavyweapon with a short range. It fires a stream of napalm that sets enemyorganic units on fire: enemies on fire will keep burning on their own

until they die. Not only that, but the flamethrower is considered"silent", meaning it won't alert nearby hostiles... Even when they seea comrade running around in flames! An enemy burning up will alsototally ignore you, instead choosing to run around like a headlesschicken until he dies.

The flamethrower inflicts a humongous movement speed penalty, though,and when coupled with the necessity to get close to your opponent tokill him, makes it a dangerous weapon to use without a tacticaladvantage or lots of training in Heavy to compensate. Still, it's agood asset since it guarantees a kill on normal troopers and the like.Some enemies (again, commandos and a couple of "bosses") are resistantto its energy-based attack, so you may have to resort to another weapon

to kill those.

(Note: If you're hit by a Flamethrower, there are three ways to survivethe burning. First is to keep healing yourself until it dies down -turn on the Energy Shield augmentation if you installed it for a bit ofhelp. Second is to jump into water if there's any around. Third is toequip a fire extinguisher and use it.)

GEP (Guided Explosive Projectile) gunBase damage: 300Base accuracy: 75%Accurate (max) range: 900 (1500)

Clip: 1 (Rockets or WP rockets)

If you're going Heavy, then you *must* carry this weapon. The GEP gunis incredibly versatile and powerful. Its rockets deal a tremendousamount of damage and can home in on a target if you've got a lock -just keep your crosshairs on an enemy unit for a couple of secondsbefore firing until you hear the constant "beep". Bots? What bots?

But that's just the beginning. The GEP gun's secondary ammo, white-phosporus (WP) rockets, have a smaller explosion radius but set a large


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Accurate (max) range: meleeClip: 4 (Prod charger)

Zap! One of your first two weapons, the riot prod is quite simplyawesome, and you should keep one on you from beginning to end even ifyou have no Low-tech training. Yes, it's a melee weapon you must use atclose range; and yes, unlike all the other melee weapons, it has ammo.But it *more* than makes up for it by its effects.

See, whenever you hit an opponent with the prod, they will go into a"shock" animation and be paralyzed for 4-6 seconds. This leaves youlots of time for zapping them again until they're knocked unconscious,or, if you're concerned about ammo, for switching to a secondary weaponto strike the finishing blow. If you can catch them from behind,they're almost guaranteed to go down immediately. Just aim for thetorso (*not* the head).

Also, note that the prod is a non-lethal weapon, since it knocksopponents unconscious instead of killing them. It's sometimes a goodchoice to go gently on enemies at the beginning of the game.

CrowbarBase damage: 6

Base accuracy: 50%Accurate (max) range: meleeClip: infinite

"Hit something or someone with it. Repeat." That's pretty mucheverything it's good for. Unlike the prod, the crowbar does kill, butit takes two spaces in your inventory and doesn't stun. Not a goodweapon for a face-to-face fight, but if you're looking for a cheaptakedown from behind, it's not bad.

The crowbar can also destroy some destructibles that its weakercounterpart, the combat knife, can't. You may want to take that intoaccount before choosing your melee weapon.

BatonBase damage: 7Base accuracy: 50%Accurate (max) range: meleeClip: infinite

Meh. Like the crowbar, the baton is a melee weapon that doesn't requireany ammo: but instead of killing enemies outright it knocks theirlights out and renders them unconscious. Still, color it useless for aface-to-face fight with anyone. Use it from behind and aim for thehead. I never carry this weapon, prefering to rely on the prod for my

non-lethal melee takedowns and the knife, crowbar, or swords if I runout of prod chargers.

Combat KnifeBase damage: 5Base accuracy:Accurate (max) range: meleeClip: infinite


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Simple and effective. Sure, the combat knife won't kill an enemy in astraight-up fight, but it's always good for a stealthy takedown frombehind, and since it only takes one space in your inventory it'sdefinitely worth carrying around. Use it to open crates and bash otherdestructibles. You may eventually want to graduate to a Sword or theDragon's Tooth Sword if you specialize in Low-tech, though.

Pepper gunBase damage: 0Base accuracy: 65%Accurate (max) range: 6 (7)Clip: 100 (Pepper cartridge)

In my eyes, useless. The pepper gun is a kind of miniature gas grenade:aim and fire to launch a stream of tear gas that will incapacitate youropponent. It sounds good in theory, but in practice, the effect lastsjust a second or so, hardly enough time to strike a killing blow. Ontop of that the gas may fly in your *own* eyes, damaging you andmessing with your aim. The ammo for it is also pathetically scarce. Notworth the one space it takes in your inventory.

Throwing knives

Base damage: 15Base accuracy: 55%Accurate (max) range: thrownClip: 25 (Throwing knives)

It's too bad such a cool weapon is actually so bad. Throwing knivesshould only be used for stealthy headshots from behind, and even then,their lousy accuracy and slow flying speed make for many misses. Thebest angle for using them is from above, where you *can't* miss atrooper's head. Don't fight anyone head-on with those unless you likemissing a lot. Oh, and there's approximately 50 of them in the game, sodon't waste them.

SwordBase damage: 10Base accuracy: 50Accurate (max) range: meleeClip: infinite

A step up from the crowbar. Takes three inventory spaces but deals moredamage. Slice an enemy from behind for a sure takedown. It's still notrecommended to fight someone face-to-face with just a sword, however.

Dragon's Tooth Sword

Base damage: 20Base accuracy: 50%Accurate (max) range: meleeClip: infinite

The last and most powerful of the melee weapons. It's so powerful youdon't even have to use it from behind, provided you're attacking onlyone trooper - though a takedown from the back is still the way to go.On the flip side, four spaces in your inventory is a lot of room. Whenactivated (use the Force, Luke?) it also lights up your surrounding in


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a very faint blue hue, making it a flashlight of sorts if you're low onBE.

*PISTOLS*

PistolBase damage: 14Base accuracy: 65%Accurate (max) range: 150 (300)Clip: 6 (10mm ammo)

Your other starting weapon, along with the riot prod. Deals okay damageand is accurate enough. Still, you should always aim for the head.There's also 10mm ammo all over the place, so you won't be short unlessyou depend only on the pistol. I prefer to wait for its silentcounterpart, the stealth pistol.

Mini-crossbowBase damage: 25Base accuracy: 60%Accurate (max) range: 50 (100)Clip: 4 (Tranquilizer darts, Darts, or Flare Darts)

Gotta love that crossbow! Tranquilizer darts (green) inject an opponentwith a tranquilizer that deals its damage over time and eventuallyknocks them unconscious. Regular darts (gray) are your standard death-dealing projectile. Flare darts (orange) have just about the same useas regular ones, but they also illuminate the area when shot at a wall.I only use flare darts as back-up, when my regular darts count gets abit low.

The crossbow has quite a few advantages. First, it's a totally silentweapon, meaning it doesn't produce a sound when fired so that nearbyenemies won't know where you are. Second, it's the only ranged weaponyou can fire while underwater. Third, it can be used for both lethal

and non-lethal takedowns. On the flip side, its accurate range is shortand the clip ain't that big. Still, I carry a crossbow with methroughout the game as a utility weapon and for taking on some of themean-spirited fauna you meet later on. Not to mention hitting a regulartrooper with a tranquilizer dart is a guaranteed takedown! Your targetmay have enough time to sound the alarm or alert his nearby comrades,though.

PS20Base damage: 25Base accuracy: 100%Accurate (max) range: 900 (1500)

Clip: 1 (disposable)

Definitely underrated because it's a disposable. The PS20 is a one-shotplasma pistol that is lethally precise (see that 100% accuracy?), has agood range, and can kill or maim an opponent who isn't expecting it.Not exactly easy to find or depend on, but it does a fine job if youcome across one. Aim at a poor bastard's head for a one-shot kill. Likethe LAW, you can only carry one of the these at a time.


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Stealth pistolBase damage: 8Base accuracy: 60%Accurate (max) range: 150 (300)Clip: 10 (10mm ammo)

The silent version of the pistol. Yes, it deals less damage and is lessaccurate, but to compensate it has a bigger clip (much appreciated) andis much sneakier. A head shot is bound to severely injure or outrightkill a regular trooper, and with the built-in silencer, it won't giveaway your position. Like the pistol, though, it's still useless againstbots, and with its inferior damage is even worse for fighting toe-to-toe against enemies. If you didn't go with Pistols, then consider it autility weapon for shooting explosive barrels and TNT crates from afar,although the crossbow is overall cooler.

*RIFLES*

Sniper rifleBase damage: 25Base accuracy: 75%Accurate (max) range: 1800 (3000)Clip: 6 (30.06 ammo)

Arguably one of the best weapons in the game. The sniper rifle has*humongous* range and a scope by default, making it the weapon ofchoice for cleaning out an area before moving in. Nevertheless, itdoesn't really come into its own until you fit it with a silencer modand increase its accuracy to stabilize the scope's "wandering" effect -so use all the accuracy mods you find on this one! A single headshotwill kill almost any enemy, including commandos. The 30.06 ammo is alsonot that hard to hoard. No use against bots, sadly, but hey, nothing'sperfect, right?

Sawed-off shotgun

Base damage: 25Base accuracy: 70%Accurate (max) range: 75 (150)Clip: 4 (Buckshot or Sabot shells)

A basic pump-action shotgun, very effective at close range.Unfortunately it's not silent, has a tiny clip, and reloads slowly. Ifyou can get close enough to kill an enemy unit with it you can probablydo the job with a silent melee weapon too or a better rifle fromfurther away. As far as ammo is concerned: Buckshot hurts regularorganic enemies but not robots. Sabot shells damage anything that'sarmored, whether they're bots or special organic enemies with anintrinsic resistance to regular bullets.

Assault rifleBase damage: 3Base accuracy: 65%Accurate (max) range: 300 (600)Clip: 30 (7.62mm ammo or 20mm HE ammo)

Another one of those all-around great weapons: the assault rifle is soversatile you can kill anything with it, and it takes all weapon mods


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too! Its primary ammo, 7.62mm rounds, is incredibly easy to find anddeals very well with the regular troopers and such. Just watch therecoil, which will have a tendency to "kick" your aim up if you keepfiring. Although the clip seems huge, at 10 rounds a second, you'llempty it pretty fast. Clip and reload mods are much appreciated.

The assault rifle's secondary attack, with the 20mm HE ammo, is adevastating short-range grenade launcher. The ammo is very scarce, sodon't waste it, but it rapes bots and anything else so well, it'sreason enough to carry an assault rifle. I'd use all my LAMs beforewasting some 20mm HE to clear a path, though.

Assault shotgunBase damage: 20Base accuracy: 60%Accurate (max) range: 75 (150)Clip: 12 (Buckshot or Sabot shells)

Much better than its sawed-off cousin, in my opinion. Although damageand accuracy are lower, the clip is bigger (thanks!)... but moreimportantly, the assault shotgun fires faster than the sawed-off.There's a reason why the assault shotgun got the nickname "streetsweeper". Its biggest drawback is the long reload time, but you should

be wary of its recoil too.

Buckshot takes care of troopers very well, and pumping Sabot shellsinto the weaker bots from behind is never a bad idea. I'd stay awayfrom the bigger bots however, and use some heavy weaponry or theassault rifle's 20mm HE for those. A great weapon for dealing withtroopers, commandos, and the low-grade bots you'll doubtlesslyencounter (such as security and spider bots).

5) AUGMENTATIONS (wrz)

JC isn't just your run-of-the-mill spy - he's one of the only two nano-

augmented agents of UNATCO, along with his older brother, Paul. Thisgives him special powers called nano-augmentations, which range fromsuperhuman speed, strength, endurance, and senses to being able to turncompletely invisible or detonate explosives at distance. However,unlike skills, which are passive in nature, you must activateaugmentations to benefit from their effects; and while active, anaugmentation will drain your bioelectricity (BE) reserves. If your BEdrops to zero then all augmentations are turned off and you can't useany until you recharge. You can do that by using Bioelectric cells,which you may carry with you and recharge 25 BE points each, or byfinding a Repair bot who'll helpfully give you a boost of 75 BE pointsevery 60 seconds. Keep in mind that EMP attacks can drain your BE, aswill getting booted out of a computer if you hack it.

JC starts with 3 default augmentations: the IFF (Integrated Friend orFoe) system, the Infolink (through which a plethora of characters willcontact you), and Light (which turns JC's eyes into flashlights whenactivated). To acquire new augmentations, you must find installationcanisters. Each canister gives you access to two different and specificaugmentations, which you must install with the help of a Medbot.Unfortunately, you can only install one with a single canister, so ifyou want both augmentations you'll have to wait to acquire that samekind of canister again (except for Synthetic Heart or Power


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Recirculator - there's only one in the game). Every canister is alsolinked to a particular body part that can sustain a set number ofaugmentations: 1 for Legs, Arms, Cranium, and Optics, 2 for Subdermal,and 3 for Chest.

The canister combinations are:

Subdermal #1: Ballistic Protection or EMP ShieldSubdermal #2: Cloak or Radar TransparencyCranium: Aggressive Defense System or Spy DroneArms: Microfibral Muscle or Combat StrengthLegs: Speed Enhancement or Run SilentOptics: Targeting or Vision EnhancementChest #1: Environmental Resistance or AqualungChest #2: Energy Shield or RegenerationChest #3: Synthetic Heart or Power Recirculator

But that's not all. Every augmentation (save the 3 default ones) have 4levels of effectiveness. To improve them, you must find upgradecanisters. You don't need a Medbot to use those: if you have one ormore upgrade canisters in your inventory, just go to your Augs Menu,select an already installed augmentation, and click the Upgrade buttonat the bottom of the menu. Like installation canisters, each upgradecanister can only be used once, but the benefits of higher-level

augmentations are definitely worth seeking these babies out.

I'll tackle augmentations by body part, analyzing each augmentation onits own and then giving my opinion on what are the best choices forthat body part (or combinations if there's more than one slot). I'vealso included the hotkeys for each body part's slots: these areassigned in the order in which you install augmentations.

*SUBDERMAL* (F3, F4)

Ballistic Protection (60 BE units/minute)Level 1: Slightly reduces bullet and blade damage.

Level 2: Fairly reduces bullet and blade damage.Level 3: Moderately reduces bullet and blade damage.Level 4: Highly reduces bullet and blade damage.

A pretty good augmentation, all things considered, especially if you'reinto fighting enemies. The BE cost is manageable, but more importantly,it could save your life if you're caught unprepared by a bunch ofenemies hunting you. Try using Ballistic Protection while wearing someballistic armor too; the results are impressive. Consider it even ifyou're playing sneaky, and remember to upgrade it. I like to be *real*sneaky, though, so I often skip it in favor of getting both Cloak andRadar Transparency.

EMP shield (10 BE units/minute)Level 1: Slightly reduces the drain of EMP attacks.Level 2: Fairly reduces the drain of EMP attacks.Level 1: Moderately reduces the drain of EMP attacks.Level 1: Highly reduces the drain of EMP attacks.

Pffff. Useless. What's the point of reducing the BE drain of EMPattacks by using an augmentation that itself drains BE? Plus, I cancount on my fingers the number of times you encounter threatening EMP


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attacks in the whole game. Skip this one, trust me.

Cloak (300 BE units/minute)Level 1: Makes you invisible to organic enemies. Power drain is normal.Level 2: Makes you invisible to organic enemies. Power drain is reducedfairly.Level 3: Makes you invisible to organic enemies. Power drain is reducedmoderately.Level 4: Makes you invisible to organic enemies. Power drain is reducedhighly.

Invisibility is a big plus when the time to be sneaky comes. Cloak'spower drain is terribly prohibitive, though: at Level 1, that's 5 BEunits a second! And it only works on organic enemies, such as troopersor commandos, not bots or security cameras. Worth upgrading to Level 4if you decide to use this one.

Radar Transparency (300 BE units/minute)Level 1: Makes you invisible to bots and cameras. Power drain isnormal.Level 2: Makes you invisible to bots and cameras. Power drain isreduced fairly.

Level 3: Makes you invisible to bots and cameras. Power drain isreduced moderately.Level 4: Makes you invisible to bots and cameras. Power drain isreduced highly.

Identical to Cloak in terms of cost and improvement, save that it makesyou invisible to electronic systems such as cameras or robots insteadof organic enemies. I like it a lot, to be honest: you can kill organicunits easily but getting rid of cameras or big robots is anothermatter. Another "sneaky" augmentation you should definitely consider ifthis is your style. Upgrade it to Level 4.

Verdict for Subdermal: EMP Shield is right out. This leaves you with 3augmentations for 2 slots. Ballistic Protection is always good whenpaired with Radar Transparency, although if you're afraid of troopersand commandos, Cloak will serve you well. I myself like to pick RadarTransparency/Cloak, but that second installation canister comes ratherlate in the game. Keep in mind that all the subdermal augmentationsrequire a lot of upgrade canisters to be useful.

CRANIUM (F5)

Aggressive Defense System (10 BE units/minute)Level 1: Detonates rockets and grenade from a bit further.

Level 2: Detonates rockets and grenade from moderately far away.Level 3: Detonates rockets and grenade from far away.Level 4: Detonates rockets and grenade from really far away.

If I were you, I'd try to avoid fights with people totting rocketlaunchers in the first place! Not a very good augmentation, at leastnot before you get it to Level 3. Some bots and the MJ12 commandos userockets so you may want to turn it on just in case when you encounterthose enemies. It's pretty cheap to use anyway.


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Spy Drone (150 BE units/minute)Level 1: Creates a Spy Drone.Level 2: Creates a slightly tougher Spy Drone with a weak EMP attack.Level 3: Creates a tougher Spy Drone with an average EMP attack.Level 4: Creates the toughest Spy Drone with a strong EMP attack.

Bleh. Remember EMP Shield? Spy Drone is worse. It has the second-highest BE cost of all augmentations (first is a tie between Cloak andRadar Transparency). It makes you immobile while you control the Dronearound. And that Drone is so slow and useless! Install VisionEnhancement (see below) to check *through* corners instead of *around*them.

Verdict for Cranium: Honestly, it's a toss-up between two fairlyuseless augmentations. In the end, I usually pick ADS because the iconlooks cooler.

ARMS (F6)

Microfibral Muscle (20 BE units/minute)Level 1: Can lift medium crates and push large crates.

Level 2: Move faster when carrying medium crates.Level 3: Can lift large crates.Level 4: Move faster when carrying large crates.

This augmentation is cooler than it sounds. A lot of crates eitherblock your passage or are needed to climb up to goodies or alternatepaths. Microfibral Muscle allows you to manipulate them to youradvantage! However, I don't think it's worth upgrading at all, sincelifting large crates isn't terribly useful. Install it but save yourupgrade canisters for other augmentations.

Combat Strength (20 BE units/minute)

Level 1: Slightly increases melee weapons' damage.Level 2: Fairly increases melee weapons' damage.Level 3: Moderately increases melee weapons' damage.Level 4: Highly increases melee weapons' damage.

More damage sounds good in theory, right? In this case though it'smisleading. First of all, you should *always* use melee weapons frombehind, where they'll take out enemies in one hit. Second, to see anydifference in effectiveness you need to upgrade this augmentation. Nota good choice at all.

Verdict for Arms: Microfibral Muscle all the way. Combat Strength

doesn't help you at all when performing a takedown from behind, andrunning up to enemies from the front to strike them is begging for alead sandwich. Moving crates is cool!

LEGS (F7)

Speed Enhancement (40 BE units/minute)Level 1: Run, walk, and crouch slightly faster. Jump a bit higher.Falling damage is slightly reduced.


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Level 2: Run, walk, and crouch faster. Jump rather higher. Fallingdamage is fairly reduced.Level 3: Run, walk, and crouch pretty fast. Jump pretty high. Fallingdamage is moderately reduced.Level 4: Run, walk, and crouch the fastest. Jump like there's notomorrow. What falling damage?

Speed Enhancement has tons and tons of uses. Window above leading acool room? Jump up. Gotta get down in a hurry? Jump down. The increasein movement speed is also great if you need to make a run for an exitor have to escape a hazardous situation. It even works when you'recrouched! I'm not sure exactly how much you should improve SpeedEnhancement; Level 3 sounds about right.

Run Silent (40 BE units/minute)Level 1: Running and walking noise is slightly reduced.Level 2: Running and walking noise is fairly reduced.Level 3: Running and walking noise is moderately reduced.Level 4: Running and walking noise is absent.

Bah. Run Silent is another augmentation that sounds really cool intheory. In practice, it requires a lot of upgrading to signifcantlyreduce the amount of noise you make. If Run Silent were a passive skill

or some such I'd jump on it, but as it is, activating it when you*think* somebody's around the corner listening is just too much of ahassle.

Verdict for Legs: Speed Enhancement 100%. There's no reason to get RunSilent at all: if you want to move silently, just crouch and turn onSpeed Enhancement! Not to mention Speed Enhancement lets you do otherthings that Run Silent can't, like getting to hard-to-reach places.

OPTICS (F8)

Targeting (40 BE units/minute)Level 1: Slightly increased accuracy. Basic info about enemies.Level 2: Fairly increased accuracy. Info about enemies' body parts.Level 3: Moderately increased accuracy. Info about enemies' weapons.Level 4: Highly increased accuracy. Telescopic vision.

This is a pretty low-profile augmentation. When I finally decided totry it I was pleasantly surprised with its usefulness. The informationabout enemies is not too fascinating, but the increase in accuracy ismore than welcome - especially if you're using a scoped weapon, such asthe sniper rifle, and are less than a Master at the relevant weaponskill. Targeting also reduces the time it takes for your aim totighten. This lets you use weapons you have little training with at

greater efficiency.

Vision Enhancement (40 BE units/minute)Level 1: Night vision.Level 2: Adds infrared vision.Level 3: Adds short-range sonar imaging.Level 4: Adds long-range sonar imaging.

Let's get one thing straight: if you install this augmentation you


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*must* upgrade it to Level 3 and *should* upgrade it to Level 4. If notit will be useless. The "night vision" effect is terrible in actuallow-light conditions, one reason why I never bother with Tech Goggles.The IR vision (which lights up units and bots in your field of vision)is marginally useful but not enough to justify installing this overTargeting. However, short- but especially long-range sonar imagingtranslates into the ability to see enemies through walls! That's atremendous asset for planning attacks or sneaking by. Short-range sonarimaging detects enemies about 10 feet away and closer; long-range sonarimaging's detection radius is approximately 30 feet.

Verdict for Optics: I think Vision Enhancement is better thanTargeting... *if* you upgrade it to level 4 almost as soon as youinstall it. If you won't or can't do that, then install Targetinginstead. The increase in accuracy allows you to wield weapons you don'thave any training with better.

CHEST (F9, F10, F11)

Environmental Resistance (20 BE units/minute)Level 1: Slightly reduces damage from toxins and radiation.Level 2: Fairly reduces amage from toxins and radiation.

Level 3: Moderately reduces damage from toxins and radiation.Level 4: Highly reduces damage from toxins and radiation.

Environmental Resistance does the same job as a hazmat suit at a low BEcost. Of course, the first couple of levels don't reduce damage bymuch; but do you want to invest 2-3 upgrade canisters in anaugmentation that's only useful at a handful of locations in the game?I personally prefer to upgrade my Environmental Training skill toMaster and depend on hazmat suits, which are usually available nearthose toxic, dangerous areas anyway; it also allows me to userebreathers, ballistic armor, and thermoptic camo efficiently. Do keepin mind Environmental Resistance reduces the damage you suffer fromtoxic attacks such as venom or tranquilizer darts.

Aqualung (10 BE units/minute)Level 1: Extends lung capacity slightly.Level 2: Extends lung capacity moderately.Level 3: Extends lung capacity highly.Level 4: Extends lung capacity indefinitely.

I admit it: I'm a fan of Aqualung. I always install it whenever Idecide to skip on the Environmental Training skill. Needless to say,it's a bit of a waste to upgrade an augmentation that's not useful atall in combat to Level 4, but if you upgrade your Swimming skill toTrained and use Aqualung at Level 1 or 2, you'll be able to stay

submerged long enough to explore all the underwater areas in the game.Its BE cost is also terrific.

Energy Shield (40 BE units/minute)Level 1: Slightly reduces damage from energy attacks.Level 2: Fairly reduces damage from energy attacks.Level 3: Moderately reduces damage from energy attacks.Level 4: Highly reduces damage from energy attacks.


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Energy-based attacks include electricity, plasma, and fire attacks. Thelatter two are particularly nasty so you might think that Energy Shieldis a good idea. You're partly right. The problem is that there are veryfew enemies who use these attacks at all, and a lot of them can beavoided or disabled by other means. To add insult to injury, it's inthe same install canister as Regeneration, a truly kick-ass aug youshould always get over Energy Shield anyway. If you happen to find thatcanister again and still have a free torso slot then go for it, butotherwise I'd advise you to pass.

Regeneration (120 BE units/minute)Level 1: Heals 5 hit points per second. (2.5 HPs/BE)Level 2: Heals 10 hit points per second. (5 HPs/BE)Level 3: Heals 25 hit points per second. (12.5 HPs/BE)Level 4: Heals 40 hit points per second. (20 HPs/BE)

Healing on the go? Awesome. Regeneration has a high BE cost (2 unitsper second) but allows you to heal even the most grievous wounds giventime and a sufficient BE reserve. Face it, you're gonna eat a bullet ortwo in your adventures or fall from a rooftop a bit higher than yougauged. Since Medkits are in limited supply and depend on investingskill points in Medicine to become more efficient, Regeneration makes alot of sense. Pair it with Level 4 Power Recirculator to almost double

the amount of hit points healed per BE unit.

Synthetic Heart (100 BE units/minute)Level 1: All other active augmentations have their level increased byone.

I honestly don't consider Synthetic Heart a worthwhile augmentation.First of all, its BE cost is rather prohibitive, and is added to thecost of whatever aug(s) you've already activated and want to improve.Second, its very nature is self-defeating: since it has only one level,it frees up upgrade canisters to improve other augmentations... butthat's its job in the first place! Considering there are some

augmentations you'll never use (*cough*Cranium*cough*) and others youdon't need to use at high levels (like Microfibral Muscle), andprovided you make a thorough search for all the upgrade canisters,Synthetic Heart will be useless. I suggest you get the nextaugmentation instead.

Power Recirculator (10 BE units/minute)Level 1: Power drain of other active augmentations is reduced by 10%.Level 2: Power drain of other active augmentations is reduced by 20%.Level 3: Power drain of other active augmentations is reduced by 33%.Level 4: Power drain of other active augmentations is reduced by 50%.

I love this little sucker. It's a life-saver if you're constantly usingother costly augmentations - Cloak, Radar Transparency, Regeneration,or even Vision Enhancement. However, to get a noticeable effect, youneed to upgrade this augmentation all the way to Level 4, and fast.Remember that Power Recirculator has a BE cost too, and that it doesn'taffect itself: therefore, only use it when the reduction to otheraugmentations is greater than 10 BE units per minute.

Verdict for Chest: Three slots means a lot of options. I tend to stay


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away from Environmental Resistance and Energy Shield. Regeneration is amust. Take into consideration that you can't get both Synthetic Heartand Power Recirculator since there's only one installation canister inthe whole game. Aqualung is useful but not overly so. Bottom line:since I myself often max out the Environmental Training skill, whichremoves the need for both Environmental Resistance and Aqualung, I gowith Regeneration, Power Recirculator, and Energy Shield. If you don'tinvest in Environmental Training then drop Energy Shield and get eitherAqualung or Environmental Resistance. I've personally never seen muchuse for Synthetic Heart.

6) ITEMS (uyc)

There are lots and lots of items in the world! Most of them have anobvious use, which I will chronicle here. Every item in this list takesone space in your inventory: remember, you have 30 spaces (5 by 6) tocarry these things around, so select your weapons and gear carefully.

I've organized the item list in 3 categories. A value in parenthesesnext to the item name is how many items of that kind you can carry atonce - but don't worry, they all stack in the same inventory space.

Disposables are items that disappear after you use them, either in a

menu or in the game world. Equipment are items you must use to grant JCa bonus for a certain period of time, and which also disappear whentheir effect expires. Finally, Miscellaneous items are just that:random items, some useful some not. Needless to say, I didn't list allthe items you'll come across: gotta leave some surprises...

*DISPOSABLES*

Multitool (20)Reduces an electronic system's resistance, allowing you to bypass it.The lowered resistance is a factor of your Electronics skill. Youshould seek those out and use them with enthusiasm.

Lockpick (20)Reduces a lock's resistance, allowing you to unlock it. The loweredresistance is a factor of your Lockpicks skill. Like Multitools,collect those and use them when you can't find a key or blow up a door.

Medkit (15)Heals injured body parts to restore functionality. There are 2 ways touse Medkits: either consume them directly in the Inventory screen, orswitch to the health menu and click the "Heal" buttons by each bodypart to use a Medkit on that particular body part. The "Heal All"

button at the bottom will use as many Medkits as needed to heal all thedamge you've suffered. This allows you to use your Medkits to maximumefficiency: if you use the standard "Heal" button on an arm with 90health, the 20 extra healing will be lost, but if you use "Heal All"that extra healing will carry over to the next damaged body part. Ahigher Medicine skill will increase the damage each Medkit can heal.

Bioelectric cell (30)Restores 25 points of bioelectricity per cell. Use them directly in the


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Inventory menu or in the Augs menu.

*EQUIPMENT*

Ballistic armorWhen equipped, reduces the damage you suffer from blades or bullets.The higher your Environmental Training skill, the more damage ballisticarmor absorbs and the longer it lasts.

Thermoptic camouflageA truly kick-ass item: wearing camo makes you totally invisible to*everything*, organic and robotic alike! It barely lasts ten seconds,though, so you really want to improve your Environmental Training skillto get more mileage out of these babies. Oh, and while camo makes youinvisible, it doesn't affect the noise you make by running or jumping.Enemies can pinpoint you by sound so be smart.

Hazmat suitMakes wading into a pool of radioactive materials easy as pie! Thehazmat suit protects you from toxins and radioactivity. Again,Environmental Training makes hazmat suits much better.

RebreatherA mask that replenishes your O2 constantly for a short period of time.Doesn't last too long at first, but with Master in EnvironmentalTraining, grants you 200 seconds of underwater time! If you plan toswim a lot carrying a rebreather around is a good idea.

Tech gogglesGrant you night vision for a short while. Truth be told, goggles areuseless. Night vision actually doesn't do much in truly dark areas,since all it does is amplify already existing light sources. It's also

*not* improved by Environmental Training. Don't bother.

*MISCELLANEOUS*

BinocularsQuite nifty! Equip them then press the attack button to zoom in. Thislets you observe targets and areas from far away. If you carry a weaponwith a scope throughout the game, you might not want to waste 1inventory space with Binoculars.

Flares (30)

For the dedicated tactician, Flares can be useful. When you throw themthey light up a small area for a period of time, and also produce a bitof smoke. However, if thrown from far or high enough, they make a soundupon landing that will draw enemies' attention. Not a necessary item byany means but still useful at times.

Fire extinguisherIf you catch on fire, using this on yourself will put it out. But Isuggest you avoid getting doused in napalm in the first place!


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7) ENEMIES (mnb)

Okay, so you've got your gear, your skills, and your augmentations.That doesn't mean it's gonna be a walk in the park, though! Between youand your objectives stand a couple of armies of terrorists andconspirators hell-bent on taking over the world. In this section I'llgive you some pointers for dealing with them.

The advice I gave in the General Concepts section still stands: ingeneral, you should avoid confrontation altogether. Sure, it's temptingto shoot everything that moves to be able to search the bodies andclear the streets... But often you won't find much in terms of ammo orcool items, and are putting your life in great danger - especially atthe Realistic difficulty level. If you're on Easy, feel free to fightthe largest security bots if you so desire, but otherwise you're betteroff staying put.

The first thing you'll notice about enemies is that they either have apatrol route or stand in the same spot without budging. If the latter,then they're pretty easy to sneak by or surprise. If the former, youmust observe their movements and get a feel for when will be the besttime for action. Some guards have extremely short patrol routes that

take them from one side of a small room to the opposite one; otherenemies' routes can cover half a base's grounds. Again, observation iskey.

There are two classes of enemies: organic and robotic. Organic enemiesinclude animals (such as guard dogs) and regular humanoid soldiers,such as troopers, MJ12 commandos, and Men/Women in Black. Organicenemies are unaffected by EMP attacks but most can be incapacitated bygas. They can be killed with regular ammo, or knocked unconscious withtranquilizer darts, the riot prod, or the baton. Lastly, the Cloakaugmentation can render you invisible to them.

Overall, organic enemies are easier to deal with than bots but are much

more common in the world: there's more than ten organic enemies forevery bot in the game. Nevertheless, organic units can be killed ratherquickly. The first and easiest way to deal with them is with a meleeweapon at close range from behind: a knife, sword, or prod strike tothe torso from behind will dispose of regular troopers in one blowguaranteed, but not MiBs or commandos. For those guys you should resortto the second method, the headshot: aim at an enemy's head with aranged weapon that deals lethal damage (i.e. not tranquilizer darts).Again, one hit from pistols and rifles will kill troopers. A sniperrifle shot might kill commandos and MiBs too, but definitely not apistol one - you'll need at least 2 of those. Lastly, pumping anyonefull of 7.62mm or Buckshot for a couple of seconds always does thetrick, but be wary of the response.

The second class of enemies are none other than robots. Robots areinvulnerable to gas and nearly invincible to low-grade ammo. However,they can be hurt by EMP attacks and affected by scramble grenades.Secondary ammo such as 20mm HE and Sabot shells will hurt them, as willany explosives - LAMs, LAWs, GEP rockets, TNT crates, you name it.Robots can be "incapacitated" by frying their internal circuits withEMP attacks (usually via EMP grenades), but otherwise they alwaysexplode on death. Lastly, the Radar Transparency augmentation willcompletely defeat their sensory equipment, allowing you to sneak by


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undetected. (In some levels you might discover security consoles orcomputers that allow you to tamper with nearby security bots - takeadvantage of any such opportunities!)

Robots are far tougher to deal with than organic enemies. They havenear-perfect aim and are very resistant to regular bullets, not tomention Low-tech weapons. They also lack "body parts" like the onesorganic enemies have.

The best way to tackle robots depends on their power. The weakest botof all, the security bot, looks like a miniature tank with 4 guns. Itcan be destroyed with one well-placed explosive or EMP grenade. You'llsee those guys a lot in the early missions. They should still beavoided but won't kill you outright the moment they notice you.

The other low-grade bot is the spider bot. Need I describe what itlooks like? All it has is a close-range electric attack, so it's not abig threat. LAMs, grenades, or a couple of Sabot shells will take careof those. Listen for quick metallic steps.

The medium bot, the Bravo-3 Peacebringer, is a bipedal military-gradebot equipped with a 7.62mm gun that *will* put the hurt on you ifyou're not careful. You'll need two EMP grenades or LAMs to kill those,or a single GEP rocket or LAW. They're definitely a bigger threat than

the puny security bot and present from beginning to end.

The heavy bot is called the Delta-2 Peacebringer. It's a humongousmonster reminiscent of ED-209 from the movie RoboCop. Its armamentsinclude a rocket-propelled grenade launcher and twin chain gunsdesigned to make minced meat out of any target in seconds - thatincludes you. Avoid facing this guy at all costs. On the flip side, dueto its slow movement and turning speed, you can very easily sneak by aDelta-2 by crawling after it until it reaches the end of its patrolroute and turns around. Just make sure you stay in its six and don'tmake any noise! Terrible things will ensue if other units spot youwhile you're pulling off this stunt, so plan ahead. Lobbing LAMs or EMPgrenades at a Delta-2 isn't the best idea, since it will take quite a

few direct hits to disable or destroy them. I suggest dealing with themat the longest possible range with a GEP gun or a LAW. (Although usingscramble grenades on a Delta-2 does make for hilarious results.)

Lastly, I should mention the topic of detection. Enemies have two waysof detecting you: by sight or by sound. Enemy units have a field ofvision roughly 120 degrees wide and approximately 40 feet long. Stayout of it whenever you can by hiding behind obstacles. If an organicenemy gets a glimpse of you, it will pause for a few seconds to verifythe threat then either open fire or run to sound the alarm. Nearbyenemies will be automatically be alerted to your position too, whateverthe detecting unit does.

The detection range for sounds is much shorter; I'd say it's about 20feet in all directions. Sounds that will get you detected includerunning, walking, jumping/landing, dropping items on the ground, andfiring a non-silent weapon. Reloading or turning augmentations on/offwill *not*. When an enemy hears a sound - any sound at all you made -it will turn to face the sound's direction and pause for a few secondsto find its source. If it sees you, it will open fire or sound thealarm. Paradoxically, sound is both more and less forgiving than sight:while you can distract enemies with well-placed sounds (such asthrowing an object far away to divert their attention), enemies can


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hear you through walls, floors, and ceilings, making even the slightestmovement dangerous. I suggest you spend a lot of time crouched, whichdoes not produce any noise and makes you a smaller target.

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8) SECURITY (pgh)

Besides enemies, you'll also have to tackle security systems on thelookout for you. Security systems are much harder to outsmart buteasier to bypass. If you want to make security your forte, then Isuggest you improve your Electronics and Computer skills. The RadarTransparency augmentation is also wonderful since it makes youinvisible to cameras, although you should also consider BallisticProtection (protects you from gun turrets) and Speed Enhancement (zipby cameras before they can sound the alarm).

All security systems start with the basics: a security consoleterminal, one or more cameras, one or more gun turrets, and alarm padsscattered around. The security console is like a regular computer: touse it you need to either find the correct username/passwordcombination or hack it with your Computers skill. Once you're in,

you'll have control over the console's dependent cameras, gun turrets,and doors. You might also get special security options that enable youto tamper with security bots or other features of the environment.

It's a *very* good idea to seek out security consoles in order to turnoff cameras and turrets. Otherwise, you'll have to resort to avoidingthe areas they cover, using augs or items to bypass them, or risksetting off the alarm.

After the security console, the most basic device is the camera. Allcameras have two states: On (characterized by a green hue surroundingits lens and a tell-tale sound you'll soon recognize) and Off (no greenhue, no sound). You can turn cameras off by finding their security

console or bypassing them with Multitools.

A camera's field of view is slightly narrower than an organic unit: I'dsay it's about 90 degrees. Some cameras are immobile, always coveringthe same area, but others pan left and right (or up and down). Immobilecameras can be bypassed simply by avoiding their field of viewentirely; panning cameras can be bypassed by staying in their "blindspot", i.e. out of their field of view, as they pan back and forth. Aneasy way to bypass a panning camera watching a room from overhead is torun to the spot right underneath it. Then wait for it to pan away fromyour destination, and make a break for it!

When a security camera spots you, it will go into "confirmation" mode.

Its eye will start tracking you (even if you go into one of itsprevious blind spots) and blink red and green. This lasts about 5seconds; the only way to stop "confirmation" is to run away from thecamera's possible field of view, such as by hiding behind something, orto quickly bypass it with a Tool or console. "Confirmation" modeactivates any gun turrets near the camera, so be careful about beingspotted.

If the camera still sees you after 5 seconds of "confirmation" mode, itwill sound the alarm. Needless to say, that's *bad*. All gun turrets on


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the level will activate and shoot you whether a camera sees you or not.Organic enemies will also investigate the threat so try to find a goodhiding spot until the alarm passes. Alarms usually last about 30seconds or so, sometimes longer.

Alarms can also be triggered by organic enemies if they see you;instead of shooting you, they'll run for the nearest alarm pad. You caneither shoot the offender before he gets there or, if you're feeling*real* sneaky, deactivate the alarm pad with Multitools beforehand.

Lastly, all of those electronic systems I've mentioned above - cameras,turrets, and alarm pads - can be blown up with explosives or messedwith by using EMP grenades. Have fun finding out what works with what!

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Well, that's it! Thanks for reading. If you have any questions notanswered in this FAQ (***READ IT FIRST!***), then feel free to email meat [email protected].

The original content of this FAQ is copyrighted to me, Korasoff. Thename Deus Ex and the names of games, characters, etc... are copyrighted

to Ion Storm. You can distribute this FAQ in its entirety and for freewithout my permission; all other distributions are prohibited.

Documents

Deus Ex Beginner FAQ.txt