Missionary positions
So you’ve taken the red pill, given the smack down to a bunch of Choppers, stolen their keys and got your self decked out with some new kit. Cool. But now what do you do as a new operative in the Matrix? The answer is simple, you need to prove yourself and earn some info all at the same time. Your best bet for this is to start running your “Introduction” missions, this is a set of eight missions that are given to you by Tyndall. To start a mission, either press the phone icon to the right of your compass and select, “Mission” or press “N” to bring up the mission window. Once the window is open, you’ll see a list of available contacts, right now there is only Tyndall so click on her contact information and a list of available missions will be displayed.
For now you will see only one mission listed under the “Critical Missions” heading, click on its name, “Welcome to the Matrix” to select it and you’ll now be able to change the difficulty setting for that mission and to start it by pressing “download”.
Piece of cake
There are three levels of difficulty for missions: Easy, medium and hard. And the difficulty primarily dictates the level of the enemies and some of friendly NPCs that you will encounter. The basic calculation for this is as follows:
Easy – Enemies are one level lower than the player
Medium – Enemies are the same level as the player
Hard – Enemies are one level higher than the player
When running in a team (of up to six players) this calculation will take the total of all player levels in the team and divide it by the number of players in the team before applying the above level difference. For an example, you are in a team of four players who levels are 12, 26, 33 and 5. The total of those levels is 76. This is then divided by our four players to arrive at 19. If the team captain then selects hard mission, the enemies will be level 20.
[Under the current combat system, this means that the NPCs will be deadly for the level 5 and 12 players (and will give them maximum XP) but will be a pushover for the level 26 and 33 players (and will not award them any XP) – this is probably going to change with the upcoming combat revision]
You should chose the level of the mission wisely, bellow are some points to keep in mind when doing just that::
Hard missions are best if you want to level quickly, but you’ll need a lot of health pills, tactic boosters and antibiotics. Death comes fast at this setting for low level characters. Hard missions also reward you the least overall amount of info per level (making paying for levelling up abilities a bit of a pain).
Medium missions are pretty much the average bunch. You’ll get average XP and overall info for the level. But again, you’ll need to be very careful in battles especially if you are under level 20.
Easy missions will get you the least amount of XP and will be the slowest way of levelling. But you’ll die a lot less often at lower levels if you keep your abilities maxed out to your level. And you’ll have the largest overall amount of info waiting for you when you level (making getting the abilities you need and levelling them a whole lot easier).
For your introductory and seduction missions, it is recommended to run these on easy and solo. This will not only allow you to get the hang of the game with the lowest risk of dieing (although you can still die so care is needed), but you’ll have completed all of these missions before you are pushed into the more dangerous areas of the game. And to top all that off, you’ll have earnt yourself a good amount of info to level up those abilities you couldn’t level up before.
Once again, let me stress that for low level players (up until around level 20 or 22) missions on medium and hard settings are going to be very challenging. You should make very sure that you are carrying lots of health pills, tactic boosters and antibiotics. Never be afraid to use them and never be afraid to run from a fight back to the mission entrance. If you are in danger of dying, sitting (/sit) in an elevator will do wonders to bring your health back – although rather slowly.
Team work
If you wish to run missions with other players you’ll need to find some players to ask. You’ll usually find some players hanging around the hardlines. Please remember that when approaching a player to mission with, you should be polite. Do not just “invite” players to your mission team but actually take the time out to ask them if they would like to join you. A simple, “Hi, I’m a new player. Would you like to run a mission or two with me?” spoken to a player in area chat, or via a tell (whisper) is far more likely to find someone to help you than simply right-clicking on the character and selecting “invite to mission” without asking. Another way to invite players is to type /invite [player name] in the chat window. Where [player name] is the name of player you are inviting.
There is a Team seeking function built into the game that you can access by pressing “J”. However, this system is suffering from a bit of a Catch 22 scenario. The problem is that no one uses it simply because, no one uses it. I advise that all new players try using it first as the more people who start using it, the more useful it will be. Simply press “J” to bring up the team window and press “Find”. A new window will list all players currently “seeking” a mission team. If no one displays, press “Advanced Find” at the bottom to further control your search. You can select minimum and maximum character levels, discipline of the player (such as Operative, Hacker) and organization (Zion, Machine, Merovingian). If you still don’t find anyone, then try flagging yourself as seeking by pressing the “Seek” button in the Team window. This will change to yellow to show it is active. Remember, the more people who start to use this system, the more useful it will become.
However for critical missions, introductory missions, seduction missions and any other one time only missions, it is always best to run these solo. This not ensures that you can enjoy the storyline contained within at your own pace, but it also ensures that you actually get to play them all! (Once you run a critical mission regardless of whether you are the team leader or not, is it marked as complete and will not be available for you to play again).
Welcome to the Matrix
Once you have decided on your difficulty setting, “download” the mission titled “Welcome to the Matrix” and you’ll be given a brief overview of the mission along with estimated distances to both the first location and for the overall mission. Click “Accept” and then press “M” to bring up your map window. The map window is your friend, it will show you where your mission is (displayed as a green door). Later, when you have the “Download Mission Map” ability your map will also have the chance to display starting locations of NPCs within the mission, computers, security devices and possible locked doors. But right now, it’ll only show you the door, while a way point with green numbers will show the general heading and distance to the mission building. When you reach the building, the way point numbers will turn yellow, then red as you get nearer to the actual mission floor/room.
A brief overview of all the introductory missions and some tips for running missions will wrap up this little guide.
Introductory Overview:
Welcome to the Matrix – Meet some Zion operatives and get basic advice and training.
Exile Extermination – Get your hands dirty doing some assassination work.
The Internuncio – Protect an item for Zion as you take it from A to B.
Network Tampering – Get some help for another Zion operative.
Computer Crackdown – Steal some information.
The Potential – Recruit your first red pill.
Transcendence – Help a blue pill in distress.
Meet Niobe – Meet and greet.
Points to remember:
When making your way to missions always use your map (M) – you can press the blue button next to the red X to “sticky” the map to the screen so it doesn’t close unless you press M again.
Stick to the main roads and avoid back alleys if you don’t want to risk dieing. NPC gangs will usually hide from the blue pills in the quieter corners of the Matrix, use this to your advantage. This is especially useful when you need to escort other characters as they can be killed all too easily by the gangs.
When you reach level 10, buy and level up, Hyper jump. This will be your new best friend when you are not escorting NPCs.
When escorting characters make sure you select them (left click on them) so their name shows in the top left and Press “B” to look behind you frequently. This will allow you to keep check on their health. If you need to lead more than one NPC, choose the weakest one to monitor (usually Hacker based characters are the weakest in terms of hit points).
When in a fight, open your inventory window (I) to the page with your health pills, tactical boosters and so forth in it. To make this easier, store them all in the first page. You can now simply double click on the item in your inventory to use it. This will save you hotbar space.
Press V to highlight all interactive elements in a room. This will show you which filing cabinets, cupboards, boxes safes and so on, that you can search. You’ll find some useful items this way and can always sell the stuff you don’t want at a vendor for some much needed info.
Choice and Consequence
Once you’ve met Niobe you’ll be contacted by both Flood and Agent Gray. It is now time for you to decide where your loyalties lie. Part three will look at the seduction missions for each organization and open your eyes to some other aspects of life in the Matrix.
So you’ve taken the red pill, given the smack down to a bunch of Choppers, stolen their keys and got your self decked out with some new kit. Cool. But now what do you do as a new operative in the Matrix? The answer is simple, you need to prove yourself and earn some info all at the same time. Your best bet for this is to start running your “Introduction” missions, this is a set of eight missions that are given to you by Tyndall. To start a mission, either press the phone icon to the right of your compass and select, “Mission” or press “N” to bring up the mission window. Once the window is open, you’ll see a list of available contacts, right now there is only Tyndall so click on her contact information and a list of available missions will be displayed.
For now you will see only one mission listed under the “Critical Missions” heading, click on its name, “Welcome to the Matrix” to select it and you’ll now be able to change the difficulty setting for that mission and to start it by pressing “download”.
Piece of cake
There are three levels of difficulty for missions: Easy, medium and hard. And the difficulty primarily dictates the level of the enemies and some of friendly NPCs that you will encounter. The basic calculation for this is as follows:
Easy – Enemies are one level lower than the player
Medium – Enemies are the same level as the player
Hard – Enemies are one level higher than the player
When running in a team (of up to six players) this calculation will take the total of all player levels in the team and divide it by the number of players in the team before applying the above level difference. For an example, you are in a team of four players who levels are 12, 26, 33 and 5. The total of those levels is 76. This is then divided by our four players to arrive at 19. If the team captain then selects hard mission, the enemies will be level 20.
[Under the current combat system, this means that the NPCs will be deadly for the level 5 and 12 players (and will give them maximum XP) but will be a pushover for the level 26 and 33 players (and will not award them any XP) – this is probably going to change with the upcoming combat revision]
You should chose the level of the mission wisely, bellow are some points to keep in mind when doing just that::
Hard missions are best if you want to level quickly, but you’ll need a lot of health pills, tactic boosters and antibiotics. Death comes fast at this setting for low level characters. Hard missions also reward you the least overall amount of info per level (making paying for levelling up abilities a bit of a pain).
Medium missions are pretty much the average bunch. You’ll get average XP and overall info for the level. But again, you’ll need to be very careful in battles especially if you are under level 20.
Easy missions will get you the least amount of XP and will be the slowest way of levelling. But you’ll die a lot less often at lower levels if you keep your abilities maxed out to your level. And you’ll have the largest overall amount of info waiting for you when you level (making getting the abilities you need and levelling them a whole lot easier).
For your introductory and seduction missions, it is recommended to run these on easy and solo. This will not only allow you to get the hang of the game with the lowest risk of dieing (although you can still die so care is needed), but you’ll have completed all of these missions before you are pushed into the more dangerous areas of the game. And to top all that off, you’ll have earnt yourself a good amount of info to level up those abilities you couldn’t level up before.
Once again, let me stress that for low level players (up until around level 20 or 22) missions on medium and hard settings are going to be very challenging. You should make very sure that you are carrying lots of health pills, tactic boosters and antibiotics. Never be afraid to use them and never be afraid to run from a fight back to the mission entrance. If you are in danger of dying, sitting (/sit) in an elevator will do wonders to bring your health back – although rather slowly.
Team work
If you wish to run missions with other players you’ll need to find some players to ask. You’ll usually find some players hanging around the hardlines. Please remember that when approaching a player to mission with, you should be polite. Do not just “invite” players to your mission team but actually take the time out to ask them if they would like to join you. A simple, “Hi, I’m a new player. Would you like to run a mission or two with me?” spoken to a player in area chat, or via a tell (whisper) is far more likely to find someone to help you than simply right-clicking on the character and selecting “invite to mission” without asking. Another way to invite players is to type /invite [player name] in the chat window. Where [player name] is the name of player you are inviting.
There is a Team seeking function built into the game that you can access by pressing “J”. However, this system is suffering from a bit of a Catch 22 scenario. The problem is that no one uses it simply because, no one uses it. I advise that all new players try using it first as the more people who start using it, the more useful it will be. Simply press “J” to bring up the team window and press “Find”. A new window will list all players currently “seeking” a mission team. If no one displays, press “Advanced Find” at the bottom to further control your search. You can select minimum and maximum character levels, discipline of the player (such as Operative, Hacker) and organization (Zion, Machine, Merovingian). If you still don’t find anyone, then try flagging yourself as seeking by pressing the “Seek” button in the Team window. This will change to yellow to show it is active. Remember, the more people who start to use this system, the more useful it will become.
However for critical missions, introductory missions, seduction missions and any other one time only missions, it is always best to run these solo. This not ensures that you can enjoy the storyline contained within at your own pace, but it also ensures that you actually get to play them all! (Once you run a critical mission regardless of whether you are the team leader or not, is it marked as complete and will not be available for you to play again).
Welcome to the Matrix
Once you have decided on your difficulty setting, “download” the mission titled “Welcome to the Matrix” and you’ll be given a brief overview of the mission along with estimated distances to both the first location and for the overall mission. Click “Accept” and then press “M” to bring up your map window. The map window is your friend, it will show you where your mission is (displayed as a green door). Later, when you have the “Download Mission Map” ability your map will also have the chance to display starting locations of NPCs within the mission, computers, security devices and possible locked doors. But right now, it’ll only show you the door, while a way point with green numbers will show the general heading and distance to the mission building. When you reach the building, the way point numbers will turn yellow, then red as you get nearer to the actual mission floor/room.
A brief overview of all the introductory missions and some tips for running missions will wrap up this little guide.
Introductory Overview:
Welcome to the Matrix – Meet some Zion operatives and get basic advice and training.
Exile Extermination – Get your hands dirty doing some assassination work.
The Internuncio – Protect an item for Zion as you take it from A to B.
Network Tampering – Get some help for another Zion operative.
Computer Crackdown – Steal some information.
The Potential – Recruit your first red pill.
Transcendence – Help a blue pill in distress.
Meet Niobe – Meet and greet.
Points to remember:
When making your way to missions always use your map (M) – you can press the blue button next to the red X to “sticky” the map to the screen so it doesn’t close unless you press M again.
Stick to the main roads and avoid back alleys if you don’t want to risk dieing. NPC gangs will usually hide from the blue pills in the quieter corners of the Matrix, use this to your advantage. This is especially useful when you need to escort other characters as they can be killed all too easily by the gangs.
When you reach level 10, buy and level up, Hyper jump. This will be your new best friend when you are not escorting NPCs.
When escorting characters make sure you select them (left click on them) so their name shows in the top left and Press “B” to look behind you frequently. This will allow you to keep check on their health. If you need to lead more than one NPC, choose the weakest one to monitor (usually Hacker based characters are the weakest in terms of hit points).
When in a fight, open your inventory window (I) to the page with your health pills, tactical boosters and so forth in it. To make this easier, store them all in the first page. You can now simply double click on the item in your inventory to use it. This will save you hotbar space.
Press V to highlight all interactive elements in a room. This will show you which filing cabinets, cupboards, boxes safes and so on, that you can search. You’ll find some useful items this way and can always sell the stuff you don’t want at a vendor for some much needed info.
Choice and Consequence
Once you’ve met Niobe you’ll be contacted by both Flood and Agent Gray. It is now time for you to decide where your loyalties lie. Part three will look at the seduction missions for each organization and open your eyes to some other aspects of life in the Matrix.