GC9X #46 - Syndicate

[Deleted]

Magic Carpet has aged the worst out of the group, but I have fond memories of it from my teens. Man. These are all good choices. Guess I'll go with Syndicate, though.

[shabadage]

I went for Populous. I always hated Magic carpet. Came with my uncles p-166 Compaq. Granted I had no idea what I was doing, but I was well into Quake and MechCommander at the time.

[zerker]

So I picked this up and started playing. Here are some initial tips:

1. Obligatory GOG link: www.gog.com/game/syndicate
2. READ THE MANUAL!
3. The small bar in the middle of the four agents allows you to instantly select all.
4. Use the performance meters to actually get your agents to fight on their own. They are, from top to bottom:
   Adrenaline: Speed and reaction time
   Perception: How likely the agent is to see enemies
   Intelligence: How 'smart' the agent reacts (will also allow agents to flee if outnumbered)
   
   Press left + right mouse buttons to max all three in a pinch.
5. Buy and research gear. Medkits are cheap and very helpful. Getting something better than a pistol (e.g. shotgun/uzi) is important. Uzi is super cheap to research, so you can bring them into your first mission if you want. Chest mods will seriously help survivability.
6. Mission two REQUIRES a pursuaderton. Check the manual for requirements if you want to try persuading enemy agents.
   
7. You can buy better maps and mission info in the briefing.
8. Mission 3 requires you to enter the car before you can go into the compound.

I'm also noticing that the game seems to be using 640 x 400 for the actual game view, but running in 640 x 480 (with black bars). Dosbox doesn't seem to have trouble with any other 640 x 400 games, so it may just be a quirk of the game. I'd be curious if anyone is going to be playing this on Dos hardware and can compare.

Oh yeah, and American Revolt has multiplayer if anyone wants to play. It requires Netbios, but the GOG release bundles that and has appropriate shortcuts to start a server or connect to a server.

[zerker]

And some more info!

Persuadertron is amazing. You can persuade the whole town if you want to. Note that 'better' enemies (guards, police and enemy agents) require a certain number of lower-class individuals before they can be persuaded. Check the manual for details. This is also the only way to replenish the total stock of agents.

Also note you can stuff everyone in one car:

If you are also on a mission that requires a certain VIP to be persuaded, he MUST reach the evac point. Thankfully, he will flash white on the minimap, whereas the others do not. Don't lose track of him in the sea of followers you may have. It can also be useful to have him persuaded by a different agent than the mob.

Also, flamethrower is amazing. But it doesn't appear your units will autofire it. I suggest only having one dedicated flamer and controlling him/her directly. When the bullets start flying, roast 'em!

Also, the sniper rifle (aka 'Long Range) is super handy too, but you almost run out of ammo taking down one agent . A suitably jacked up agent will take enemies down before they get in range though, especially with the sizable knockback.

The minigun, on the other hand, will be your mainstay for a while once you research it (or steal it).


Here is a brief listing of what I've noticed is in each research category, in the order you get them. I'll update the lists as I do more research. [EDIT: Research complete]. Mod research on the other hand, is super obvious, so I won't list it.

Automatics: Uzi, Mini Gun
Heavy: Laser, Gauss Gun
Assault: Flamer, Long Range (Rifle), Time Bomb
Miscellaneous: Access Card, Energy Shield

Note there is a potential for some error amongst the Heavy and Assault categories (especially the Gauss Gun), as I may or may not have forgotten which I pressed before a mission. Let me know if I made any mistakes

[pauliegatto]

Hi, been following this podcast and trying to keep up with the games being played. I've been having some trouble with one mission, Kamchatka. I persuade a bunch of civilians, then persuade the guards, kill the target, and told to evacuate. As I head out of the city however I get a "mission failed" and I don't know why...anyone have trouble with Kamchatka?

[zerker]

I don't remember anything specifically weird about that mission. I hiked taxes in that region in the hope they'll rebel so I can redo it to confirm for you. I'll let you know if they actually DO rebel; right now they're still Content with 50% taxes.

EDIT: I redid the mission and know what happened now. The mission has two parts: Persuade the informant, and assassinate the target. However, the game ALSO requires you to evac the informant as well. He probably got killed. The mission was pretty easy when I redid it, so I suggest just assigning one agent to babysit the informant and leave him somewhere safe (or preemptively get him back to the start). Then just take another agent (or two) and do the assassination.

Some missions I do have advice for:
There's one assassination mission in Africa where you have to take out a VIP doing a troop inspection. This is one mission where you do NOT go back to the starting point for extraction. Rather, if you wait around, an armoured car will come and pick you up right by the assassination point.

In North America, there's a weird mission where you need to blow up some armoured cars then hijack an ambulance. If you just fire some gauss rounds, you'll blow the ambulance up and fail the mission. What I did was hijack the armoured cars first then move them far enough away that blowing them up was safe. I hear lasers also work well enough for this.

Southern States has you kill someone on an island which I couldn't find a way to. You can buy info to see if there's any trick, but what I did was fire a Gauss round at her. She WAS outside on a roof

[pauliegatto]

Thanks, I hadn't realized that the informant was necessary. I used two agents to speed the mission to avoid fighting enemy agents. I guess my informant was killed at some point by someone though I'm not sure who, but I got past it and am now dealing with the fallout of high taxes. Thanks for the other tips, is there any way to see into buildings..? I didn't see anything in the manual about it.

[zerker]

No, there isn't. You are best playing from the minimap if you're in a building.

Some more mission tips:
In Peru, leave an agent with a Gauss gun at the start right outside the door. When you track down the target with anyone else, he will almost always flee too quickly. So switch back to your first agent and blow up his armoured car as soon as it leaves the compound.

In Brazil, be sure to leave the compound BEFORE you destroy the last car.

EDIT: Just finished, so here are some tips for the Atlantic Accelerator:
Outfit your squad for maximum destruction. You should have the following equipped for every agent: a Gauss gun, an Energy Shield, as many Lasers as they can hold. You can carry a Minigun as backup, but if you need to use it, you've probably lost. Don't waste space with Persuadertrons, Access cards or the like.

Once you start the mission, immediately hit the select all button, then hit the energy shield button. Manually increase the bars for each agent (do NOT hit Left + Right mouse, or they will auto-equip lasers), then... when ready, equip the Gauss gun. All four agents will start firing rockets with reckless abandon.

So long as someone survives, slowly continue the stage with lasers equipped. About midway through, a second and third wave of agents will start coming around a corner. Be sure to be far enough back so you are out of immediate minigun range, and you should be able to pick them off with lasers. I also suggest running back to the landing pad to replace empty lasers with fresh ones your less fortunate agents brought with them.

Finally, there's one stupid agent patrolling a building with a minigun. Watch his movement patterns and open the door when he is walking away from you. Maybe use two or more agents (if they survived) for redundancy if he starts firing. So long as you have the laser equipped and the bars jacked to full, you should blast him automatically.

[Discoalucard]

When are you guys recording this? I didn't get to join in playing, but I wrote the site article and am pretty familiar with the game, so I'd like to join on after giving the game a refresher.

[The Great Klaid]

Sept 7, 2015 13:45:11 GMT -5 Discoalucard said:

When are you guys recording this? I didn't get to join in playing, but I wrote the site article and am pretty familiar with the game, so I'd like to join on after giving the game a refresher.

Otherwise he's putting an end to this whole operation

I think that you just missed them actually.

[Weasel]

I admit I wasn't paying much attention in #gc9x, but I suspect that recording is already done.

[sotenga]

Sept 7, 2015 13:45:11 GMT -5 Discoalucard said:

When are you guys recording this? I didn't get to join in playing, but I wrote the site article and am pretty familiar with the game, so I'd like to join on after giving the game a refresher.

We did already record, but I'd be up for getting you in a side segment if you have the time this weekend. We might be a bit stringent on content here and we'll take any bonus we can get, even if it's just a freewheeling chat about Syndicate and/or Molyneux. If you're up for it, anyway.

[kal]

Not my best, couldn't really feel much humor in this one.