PC/CD Gamer UK 41/PCGAMER41.bin/walkthru/syndicw.txt

Text File | 1997-01-28 | 12KB | 196 lines

Syndicate Wars

TACTICS UPDATE
Although this guide primarily focuses on Eurocorp operatives, the strategies and
tips can be equally applied to Church of the New Epoch initiates.

Mission Preparation
Briefings are an absolutely vital component of any mission, and executives would
do well to pay close attention to the intelligence data gathered. Always check the
mission;s status to see what priority rating it has: youÆll usually discover that
missions rated priority one will prove the most beneficial to your syndicateÆs
endeavours.
Occasionally, youÆll receive a choice of several missions at the same time and you
should assess your current situation and decide where your immediate priorities
lie. If youÆre short of cash, then a bullion or bank job might be in order, but if
your research effort is lagging, then a mission to capture additional science
personnel might prove fruitful. Missions which involve the persuasion and capture
of enemy agents will provide you with tailor-made manpower to replace any
casualties and further both your own and EurocorpÆs objectives.
Once youÆve accepted a particular mission, study the map in detail and take note
of your appropriate drop and evac zones, relevant targets, local landmarks and
any other additional information supplied. This breakdown should also help you
judge the strength of the opposition and allow you to fine tune your equipment
and weaponry payloads.

Interface
The Netscan ability is an extremely useful tool and if funds permit, executives
should always take advantage of this facility. Up to the minute intelligence can
prove critical in terms of discovering bonus objectives, enemy concentrations and,
most significantly, hidden financial reserves. Netscanned information can
sometimes prove disappointing, but when you consider that risking a mere five or
ten thousand credits could buy you the location of a bank vault thatÆs worth
several million, itÆs a gamble well worth taking.

Connection
When arming your agents, try to prepare a balanced group which mixes a decent
variety of weapons and equipment. If youÆre playing a mortal game, you never
know quite what you might encounter, so itÆs as well to cover all eventualities.
YouÆll probably find youÆll need a full compliment of low energy, medium-range
weapons, such as miniguns, as general-purpose ordinance, while a couple of
heavy weapons are compulsory for laying down support fire. Explosives and
nuclear grenades are a necessity for most missions.

Data
A handy tip is to designate agents to specialise in a particular area, which will
depend on the state of their body mods. For example, the agent who has the
highest rated arm mod, will probably make your best marksman, while an agent
with advanced leg mods will make a good explosives expert, because he can lay
charges and then move quickly to escape the blast radius.

Update
Even though youÆll probably concentrate on developing four rock hard super
agents, with advanced body mods, donÆt neglect your reserve agents. If one of
your main men gets killed (especially in a mortal game) youÆll need to promote
someone for the next mission and if theyÆre significantly æunder poweredÆ, your
whole groupÆs performance will suffer

ON THE MEAN STREETS
So executive, youÆve hit the drop zone, the zealots are out in force, the citizens
are twitchy and your agents are awaiting their first instructions: where do you go
from here? Well, in spite of the large and terrifying amounts of weaponry
available, the mini map is probably the most useful piece of equipment in the
entire game. Consult it often to recce possible targets, assess incoming threats and
monitor the movement of enemy personnel and the police.
You should also practice swivelling the main view, until youÆre in perfect control
of your surroundings. During the early missions, take time after youÆve achieved
your main objective to become familiar with manipulating the view; in my case a
combination of mouse and keyboard proves the most effective.

Connection
When you beam into a new city, itÆs worth using a combination of mini and main
views to scroll around and get a feel for the place. With this overall strategic plan
committed to memory, you stand a much better chance of achieving your
objectives. And, if things should go wrong, of having some idea of where you can
run to. The better you know a place, the safer youÆll be.

Combat and Mission Tips
Here, combat is the name of the game and Syndicate Wars presents many varied
and interesting opportunities for mass mayhem. Therefore, Bath AI has issued the
following directives for manipulating agents in the field via your remote
marionette system:

1. Stick together! In the early missions, youÆll only have access to limited
weaponry and equipment. If your agents are all in one group, they can bring more
direct firepower to bear.

2. The Persuadatron will allow you to recruit a citizensÆ army. Affected citizens
will begin arming themselves and bring additional firepower to your team. The
Persuadertron Mark II is even better, allowing you to influence rival agents and
new church zealots.

3. Roadside furniture and vehicles can be used to your advantage. If enemy troops
are massed near a streetlight or van, aim to shoot it and the resulting explosion
will cause them additional damage. Beware of loitering near potentially explosive
objects yourself, as the enemy wonÆt hesitate to use the same tactic on you.

4. Loot the dead! Always search bodies thoroughly as they sometimes conceal
advanced ordinance. At the very least, youÆll be able to resell their equipment for
a bit of much-needed cash.

5. Learn to switch from high power, long range weapons to low power mediums
as the enemy closes in. For example, the LR rifle will pick off your first couple of
adversaries at range, but you should then switch to a minigun to renew hostilities
during close quarters combat, as itÆs a far more effective close-range weapon.

6. If you need to be somewhere in a hurry, hijack an empty car, itÆs much quicker
than moving your agents around on foot. Receive extra bonus points and a
considerable cool factor rating by joyriding in police cars. For the discerning
sinister agent, itÆs the only way to travel!

7. If you want to stay out of trouble with the local law, make sure your weapons
are concealed. A nifty double click on the left mouse button, will result in all your
agents drawing simultaneously, so you wonÆt lose too much time when engaging
the enemy.

8. Every agent should be equipped with a medikit. With appropriate body mods,
you might not use it often, but it could mean the difference between life and death
for your guys when theyÆre under heavy fire.

9. Churcher flying vehicles are an extreme pain and will try to hunt you down
relentlessly. Shelter beneath buildings and retaliate with launcher and projectile
based attacks.

THE SCIENTIFIC PATH TO POWER
Research is a critical element of Syndicate strategy and fuels discovery of new
weapons, devices and body mods which will weld your agents into an irresistible
force. Your ability to research and manufacture new technologies is dependant on
the amount of cash and scientists you can allocate to an individual project. If you
feel youÆre falling behind in the research race, you should choose missions which
involve persuading and capturing science personnel to redress your shortfall.
Moving onto the wider question of what to research and in which order, well apart
from high explosives as a first choice, thereÆs no definitive route through the
weapons and body mods on offer. However, itÆs fairly safe to say that some of the
minor weapons such as the flamer, arenÆt really worth concentrating on and you
should perhaps shovel funds into the bigger, meatier projectile weapons. The
weapon chart on the previous two pages should help you decide which are the
most useful investment.
Remember, when youÆre setting a projectÆs budget, the cash you invest is a per
day allowance. Committing substantial resources to a project can rapidly deplete
your financial reserves and you should bear in mind that the recommended figure
(on the right), indicates the amount of cash needed per day, to finish that project
in ten days with your current science team. Sometimes it can be worthwhile
suspending projects between missions, until youÆve actually captured extra
scientists. This additional, augmented brain power on the research team will mean
that the money you eventually invest will be spent more cost effectively.
Intelligence reports indicate science personnel can be found in the following
cities: Adelaide, Santiago, Cape Town and Reykjavik.

Modification
In the race to develop new and terrifying weaponry, itÆs easy to forget body
modifications as a way of improving the performance of your agents. But you
shouldnÆt neglect them, as they can play a vital role in helping your agents survive
the rigours of the battlefield. The body mod is the basic building block, and offers
improved overall survival and performance, but the brain mod is equally
important, boosting intelligence and making your agents much easier to control.
Bionic arms will definitely improve your agentÆs targeting and weapons functions,
while the leg mod will substantially increase speed and manoeuvrability, an
invaluable asset in the urban warfare environment
When your technology permits you to move up to a new cybernetic level always
research the body implant first, as this mod is required before any other can be
fitted.

Finance
For the erstwhile executive, cold, hard cash is one of the most difficult, yet most
desirable commodities to acquire and considerable guile is required to keep a
healthy credit balance. YouÆll need dollars to fuel extra research, discover new
body mods and develop all that fascinating and destructive weaponry.
Nevertheless, with a little ingenuity, financial solvency is possible and can be
broken down into two distinct strategies.
Early on, youÆll find difficulty raising money and the quickest solution is to
collect and recycle weapons from enemy casualties, then sell them once the
missionÆs complete. Unfortunately, you can only carry one of each weapon type,
which is a pain, but the somewhat radical solution is to under-arm your group in
ops and then scavenge weapons from the opposition in the field. Before the
missionÆs complete, make sure each agent is crammed to capacity with surplus
weapons, then unload everything except your hardest armaments or new
technologies to make a workable profit. Remember, youÆll only receive half of
what youÆd pay for the same weapon new, but it should allow you to survive the
early financial hardships and keep your research lines ticking over.
If youÆre looking for a more immediate and satisfying way to make quick, easy
money then a life in armed robbery is for you. YouÆll need to research high
explosives, but once that breakthroughÆs been made, the worldÆs financial centres
are ripe for the plucking. The location of bank facilities and vaults are often
revealed by a netscan (see above) and once their presence has been established,
no matter what your primary mission is, you should make a bank job a high
priority. Local police forces donÆt take these things lightly, so expect a swift,
armed response. However with a cool half a million as a minimum payout the
rewards are worth the risk.
The presence of bank vaults and cash opportunities will usually be signalled by a
$ sign on the map. When these are detected, make credit transfer a high priority.
ItÆll prove worthwhile to search the map and particularly enemy casualties for
hidden briefcases. These bonus discoveries will often yield substantial cash
rewards.
Bank and vault facilities have been detected in the following cities world-wide:
Singapore, Rome, New York, Christchurch, Tokyo and Bahrain.