Hi All,

Thought I’d share what I figured out by playing the game. A lot of things are not explained in-game, so thoughts I’d share these “advanced tips and tricks.”

Feel free to add your own in the comments below.

*** Last updated April 4, 2021 ***

Avoiding game-breaking bugs

#0. Save before accepting every side mission

Unfortunately the game shipped with severe bugs that can put your save in an “unwinnable” state if you happen to accept a side mission which generates schemes for which you don’t have the tech, and can’t acquire the tech for.

Since side-missions CANNOT be canceled, the end result is an unwinnable game; until we figure out console commands which can act as workarounds, the ONLY solution to this is reverting to a previous save.

General Gameplay / Basic Stuff

#1. You can micromanage minions

The “Minion Management” window has a second “tab” in which you can set priorities for individual minions, including selecting which ones you want to handle world-map schemes (read: get rid of.)

The window above is actually the only way to take advantage of minion “perks.”

#2. You can set up “auto tag” zones (after doing some research)

The research description clearly states this but I struggled to find where to actually apply it – it’s one of the buttons that pops up when you click the main “menu” button on bottom-left of the screen.

This is particularly useful especially in setting your casino / front as a “distract” zone – this way valets and socialites will actually do what they are supposed to.

Be careful though if setting a tag for the area between your base and the helipad; I have not found a way to clear a tag from that area once set – probably a bug.

#3. You have the option of setting casino items to “scam tourists.”

It will let you generate money from tourism, although it prevents them from being used to distract agents.

Good if no agents are around and/or a truckload of tourists just landed.

#4. Several stations have the option of being manned by a general worker or by a specialized minion class

I find this most useful by having security stations (for cameras) set to be manned by muscle minions.

In addition, the advanced guard table can be toggle between guards/mercs and hitmen/MAs. Useful later on to keep guard/mercs next to hitmen/MA training area for faster training, while deploying the hardier hitmen/MAs to sensitive areas in the base.

#5. Repeater stations don’t actually need to be manned

Not sure if manning those does anything. Do note that the computer stations that generate intel actually need to be manned.

#6. Your genius “work harder” actually reduces minion salaries for a while

If your genius is not otherwise occupied, it doesn’t hurt to leave him/her in the middle of the cafeteria with the work harder aura on, for the salary reduction.

#7. You need multiple (at least 4-5x) incinerators

Each incinerator can only handle one “haul” job at a time, so to deal with the inevitable mass of body bags that will eventually occur, you’ll need 4-5x active incinerators.

Note they are very suspicious however, so you may want to keep those buried deep within your base.

#8. Use the genius “execute minion” task with witnesses to prevent “body bag tantrum spiral”

Body bags can have a deleterious effect on morale, to the point of your entire base acquiring the “low morale” moodlet and eventually starting to desert en-masse.

I’ve found that an effective way of dealing with such situation is by executing minions with witnesses – that instantly maximizes morale and solves most of the problem.

Note this is the “right click on minion while having the genius selected” execute and NOT the “tag to kill” version.

Dealing with agents

#9. Super agents can leave nasty items in your base.

Symmetry will attach a device to walls which scrambles your security cameras.

John Steele clones will plant incriminating evidence which other agents can use to generate suspicion.

I don’t know what the other super agents do yet in terms of “leave behind gifts.”

#10. Soldiers can’t be distracted

If you stir up enough trouble to have soldiers sent your way, note they can’t be distracted – only captured or killed.

Soldiers entering your casino is likely a good trigger for a red alert condition.

#11. Each weapon rack holds 5 weapons

So if you have 20 guards, you’ll need 4 stun gun racks. And, yes, guns are dropped and restocked when minions die.

Also note, guards can’t use any of the “advanced” items, so keeping a couple of the basic item racks around is not a bad idea.

Finally, while using the “stun” gear feels more natural as you’ll generally want to capture rather than kill, the “lethal” ones are universally more effective given how capture mechanic works – as you need to reduce vitality to 10 even for capture.

In short, “stun” weapons are comparatively useless. Only and always use the lethal ones even in capture scenarios – they will serve you best.

#12. You can use pretty much any trap to “interrogate” agents

So you’ll probably ever need to build a single interrogation chair even if you have a large number of cells. Careful not to get minions accidentally caught up though!

Also, did you know your genius can "goad" prisoners in their cell? Removes 50 resolve for each "goading." Not particularly useful, except in one particularly case of an SA interrogation (you'll know which when you get there.)

#13. Using your genius in combat can help reduce casualties

Your genius can fight, too, and is usually better than most early-game minions at it. Just don’t let a pod of soldiers corner you or it’s game over!

#14. Use a henchman to break the tougher disguises

For example, Agent X’s disguise will fool most minions. Move a henchman close to him to break that disguise.

Alternatively, cameras with enough spotting power can do the trick.

Finally, minions with the tag “former hammer/anvil/etc.” are never fooled by that particular agent type disguises, though that particular feat is tougher to us in practice in larger bases.

Base Design

Note: In general, dividing your base so you have intrigue minions upfront, guards in the middle, workers behind them, and scientists in the back is probably best; you’ll want a long, windy “maze” of a casino with a few “trap-only” side doors.

#15. Rooms generally don’t need walls

You can absolutely build a cafeteria with a single dining table inside your science lab to feed your hungry scientists.

You can build a “corridor” inside a room, which then you can trap.

You can get creative in many other similar ways.

Some items need walls to be placed against (e.g., beds) – you can always create a one-row dirt wall within a room to build these, or even get creative with “pillars.”

#16. Doors aren’t all that useful

Especially in frequent-passage spaces, doors slow your minions down while doing next to nothing to hinder agents.

More than anything, doors can be used to segment the base so that tagging rules can be applied, and to “draw agents in” as lures.

Another good use of doors is to “bait” agents. E.g., have a dead-end corridor right off of your casino with a hallway will with nothing but traps.

By the way, did you notice you can configure doors so that they are faster vs harder/slower to open? Doesn’t help much but nice to have the option theoretically I guess.

Other than that, your base is probably bet off without doors entirely.

#17. The maximum number of minions in your base is 300

Considering there’s research that gives you “free” minion capacity, you won’t ever need more than about ~80 lockers. Plan accordingly.

Furthermore lockers can be placed literally anywhere as minions don’t need to access them nor repair them. Some creative uses for them include an “agents mouse maze” where you have agents walk through a spiral of out-of-the-way lockers with nothing to find for it, just wasting their time.

As to how you distribute them, it’s really up to you but what I’ve personally found is that very few scientists are generally needed, while intrigue minions are universally useful (heat reduction missions use workers at T1, valets at T2, spin doctors at T3, and presumably counter-agents at T4), with muscle falling somewhere in between. I personally have 100 intrigue, 80 muscle, 60 science (of which 30 technicians), and 60 workers. Most of the time I feel 80 muscle is overkill, until I get a triple raid, then I’m happy I have them.

#18. Know what generates suspicion

This one is an inexplicable step back from the first game. In the first game, items had a “heat” rating that told you if they would generate suspicion. Now you are entirely left to guess.

In general though, the casino, barracks, mess hall, infirmary, and I believe also the staff room are “suspicion free.” Research devices and incinerators will generate heat though as will of course control room items – so bury those deeper into your base.

Traps do NOT generate heat, but they WILL trigger agent to disguise themselves – just bear that in mind.

World Map and Schemes

#19. As a general rule, scout every location before bothering upgrading networks to lv2

Lv1 networks are just cheaper/easier to manage, though in the long term lv2 networks are a better use of minions (as 3 valets reduce 100 heat vs 3 workers reducing 50.)

#20. Passive income is the best income

Pretty much all “active” yellow-circle $-sign schemes come with high heat generation which you then need to reduce (or eat up the lockdown time and higher threat it brings) and are thus not worth it.

The exception are the “green triangle” $-sign schemes, which I believe are generated by interrogating agents – those have very high payouts and having 1 or 2 running can bring a big boost in come.

#21. Check heat before running a scheme

Some schemes are impossible to complete at a given network level. For example, a scheme may say “75 heat generated” but be in a lv1 network location (50 heat max.) Such a scheme will always fail, and you will be just wasting resources. Upgrade the network first or pick a different scheme.

#22. Watch for super agents

Never ever run schemes with a super agent present in the same region (not even a “paid” purple “heat reduction” one!) That will attract the agent to your base forcing you to deal with them.

The only things you can safely do when an agent is present are A) Run a “workers/valets/spindoctors/CA” heat-reduction scheme (ones that take time and cost no money, only agents) – these will NOT trigger a SuperAgent response; and B) Pay for the “quick” heat reduction scheme and cancel it before it completes, that way you can get maybe 90% of the benefit while still avoiding the super agent response.

Base management tricks

#23. Turn off unnecessary equipment

Only ONE type of equipment is used for any given research item. You can safely turn off all over research devices which, given how power hungry they can be, can help immensely with base power-management.

Similarly, you can e.g., build 20 incinerators out of the way, and turn them on only when bodybags need removal.

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