User:Cement Plant

S P O I L E R S

Combos
As the game helpfully explains, combos are essential when facing the Typhon, at least in early and midgame. What the game doesn't seem to explain, especially given that horrible release trailer, is that it's a stealth game.

Weapons
Wrench is... disappointing(compared to equivalents in SS2 and Bioshock) Most Typhon have strong melee attacks which cannot be dodged, and you're limited by your stamina. As if that wasn't enough, Wrench upgrades are ridiculously expensive - while Impact Calibration is nice especially against Greater Mimics, both damage upgrades require a whooping 11 Neuromods to get. Needless to say, unless you're doing a challenge melee-only run, don't invest in your Wrench.

GLOO Gun is a tool, not a weapon. You can use it to stop broken electric junctions from zapping you, climbing walls, and walking on electrified floors. You can use it to immobilize enemies, hovewer the GLOO will break in two hits, and some enemies have a way of breaking it themselves. You cannot use it to block passages because GLOO doesn't stick to GLOO.

Upgrade priority: zero.

Disruptor Stun Gun is amazing. It's your primary way of setting up combos against enemies and becomes your primary weapon against Military Operators late in the game. It starts extremely weak hovewer, and requires a lot of upgrading to reach its full potential as a weapon. To give you an idea how good it can get, fully upgraded Stun Gun can three-shot a Technopath in less than a second.

Upgrade priority: Power, Shots, Range, Recharge Rate in that order. You might be wondering about "Shots" being so high on the list. This is because, contrary to what the game says, Recharge Rate does not decrease ammo used - Shots do. Stun Gun always loads 100 charges - meaning the default Shots value of 4 uses up 25 charges per shot, while the maximum Shots value of 15 uses only 7 charges per shot! Upgrading Shots saves you a shitload of ammo.

Silenced Pistol is more tool than a weapon, because Artemis Golden Pistol found in Crew Quarters is strictly superior and therefore you shouldn't waste upgrade kits on the regular version. Use it to pull enemies, trigger explosives, pierce pipes, pop Cystoids, push items around(watch out though - too many shots and you'll break them) and finish off almost dead enemies from a distance.

Artemis Golden Pistol is Silenced Pistol with a damage boost. Aside from all the uses listed above, once you upgrade it it can deal nice damage when spammed. The problem is, spamming means you'll quickly run out of ammo, so you shouldn't rely on it as main way of combat.

Upgrade priority: Firepower, Range, Accuracy. You can forget about Magazine Size, the default 15 is plenty. Damage is self-explanatory and Range is more damage at a distance. Accuracy only becomes important when spamming.

Shotgun is your replacement for Wrench against stronger enemies, which is most of them. Unlike Artemis there is no difference between regular and "golden" Margrave in stats. Not much to say about the Shotgun - get close to the enemy and keep clicking the left mouse button.

Upgrade priority: Firepower is all the Shotgun needs. If you can't kill whatever you're shooting in 4 shots, you probably shouldn't be using the Shotgun against it to begin with. That makes Magazine Size and Reload Speed obsolete. Recoil is a joke.

Huntress Boltcaster is another tool(wow is this a stealth game or what) - with few very specific uses. Most notably, it can press buttons from a distance, including buttons on computer screens, which often lets you get into areas where you "shouldn't". The Foam Bolts make noise when striking a surface, so you can use them to lure enemies without wasting the Typhon Lure, or lure non-Typhon enemies. Finally, since Cystoids are attracted to movement, firing bolts at them will cause them to detonate harmlessly away from you. Especially effective in zero-g.

Oddly enough, sometimes after firing one bolt, when you pick it back you get two. Yay.

Q-Beam is the only real ranged weapon in the game. In fact it seems to have no range cap at all, and you can damage enemies even at a distance where your crosshair stops turning red anymore. Unfortunately it also drastically decreases your movement speed, so unless you somehow immobilized or disabled whatever you're shooting at, you'll be trading HP.

It is your go-to weapon against many "minibosses" in the game, and ammo is actually not that rare since it drops from every destroyed Operator.

Upgrade priority: Power, Firing Time. Power is self-explanatory, Firing Time saves you ammo in the same way Shots on Stun Gun does - Q-Beam always loads 100 charges, if you fire for 5 seconds you use 20 charges/second, if you fire for 10 seconds you use 10 charges/second.

Recycler Charge is basically the equivalent of a grenade, except it doesn't work against Phantoms who just shift out of its range. So it's mostly useful against minibosses - if you can hit them that is, since they usually float - and clearing Leverage-blocked paths.

EMP Charge disables(stuns) electric-based enemies, but does little actual damage. Use against Voltanic Phantoms and Technopaths.

Nullwave Transmitter is throwable Psychoshock. It's Super Effective against pretty much all Typhon, but they're rare so you should only use them against minibosses and the Nightmare.

Typhon Lure is exactly what it says. Typhon are incapable of avoiding environmental dangers like fire or electricity, so it potentially has a lot of use... if only you have some environmental dangers around.

Turrets
Turrets are generally speaking more trouble than they're worth.

The first problem with Turrets is that they usually don't even get a fighting chance. For example, let's say you set up some turrets in Machine Shop in Hardware Labs, and later revisit the level, entering from Lobby. When you reach Machine Shop you'll find all the turrets destoryed and the Etheric Phantom(these guys seem to always spawn in the Machine Shop) at full health. It's as if the game simply destroys far away turrets, rather than actually simulating the combat. This seriously limits Turret use, as you have to keep them close to level entry points, or undeploy them before you exit the level only to redeploy them when you come back.

Second problem is that they have rather pathetic amount of HP. "Flimsy" as January puts it, describes them quite well. You could technically double and even triple their HP using Fortify(Repair III) but almost every melee or ranged Typhon attack will also knock them around - and turrets can't fight if they're not upright. So yeah, the turret is not destroyed but it's out of combat anyway.

Third problem is their inaccuracy. They have large spread, especially at range, which is even worse when you consider all Typhon have pinpoint ranged attacks. On the other hand, if you set them close to enemies(i.e. around a corner), they get destroyed by their melee attacks.

Enemies
All this is assuming Normal difficulty and unupgraded weapons and no powers, unless stated otherwise.

Mimics
Regular Mimics can be just circlestrafed with a wrench and go down in three hits. Not really a problem even if you face several.

Greater Mimics are a pain solely because of their higher HP. Unless you invested in your wrench/stamina powers, you will get winded before you kill them even if you land every hit. At the same time, using more powerful weapons on them feels like a waste. That said you can still kill them even if you get winded, it just gets problematic if there's more than one.

Phantoms
Phantoms are barely above regular Mimics in difficulty. On paper, they seem like dangerous enemies: ability to move extremely quick combined with a strong melee attack and Kinetic Blast as a backup ranged attack. Hovewer you can simply GLOO them before they can fight back at all. Afterwards two power attacks with the wrench will ragdoll them, and you can whack them to death while they're lying helpless on the floor. Once you upgrade your wrench powers you can even skip the GLOO, just power sneak attack alone sends them flying and gives you enough time to whack them to death before they get back up.

Etheric Phantoms are more offensive version of Phantoms. They can split into two and leave a temporary Ether "puddle" when they die, which will damage you.

Hovewer, maybe to balance their splitting ability, they have the least HP of all the Phantoms, which makes killing them very easy: Stun Gun(GLOO takes too long, they might split in the meantime) then Shotgun or Q-Beam. Note that the Q-Beam will push them around, so take that into account when firing from odd angles.

Thermal Phantoms prefer ranged combat with Superthermal and once alerted "power up" which makes them deal fire damage to everything nearby. And they most likely will power up because they have second highest HP among all Phantoms, so it's hard to kill them in one combo. The good news is that their preference to stay at range, combined with the delay on Superthermal makes their attacks easy to avoid if you only keep moving and keep your distance.

Just like Etheric Phantoms, Stun Gun is recommended because they like to power up through the GLOO, breaking it instantly. Afterwards use the shotgun, because it just so happens to ragdoll them in four point blank shots, and four shells is the default mag size of the shotgun. And now you have an angry phantom on the floor which will not last long. It's always possible to just run away, hide and then sneak attack to finish it off; their powered up state will also eventually end, and you can simply repeat the combo.

Note that once they power up, the fire damage will detonate any nearby explosives.

Voltaic Phantoms permanently run "personal" Electrostatic Burst, even when not alerted. Said "personal" Electrostatic Burst will power up conductive elements(such as metal floors or water puddles) and therefore is able to damage you from quite the far away. Since it's electric damage, it will also disable any electric weapons like the Stun Gun or the Q-Beam. Fortunately, just like Thermal Phantoms they prefer ranged attacks(electric version of Kinetic Blast?) so if you want to stay at a distance they won't mind. They have highest HP of all the Phantom types and can even power up Mimics if they get close.

Hovewer a single EMP Charge disables all of their abilities - no personal Electrostatic Burst, no ranged attack, no powering up Mimics, all they will do is slowly walk towards you to try and hit you in melee. Since EMP Charges aren't exactly rare, it makes dealing with them easy if tedious, since you have to grind through all that HP.

Just like Thermal Phantoms, the Voltaic Phantom's innate Electrostatic Burst ability seems pretty indiscriminate. It's even possible for it to kill other Phantoms if they stand on same metal floor/puddle the Voltaic Phantom is electrifying.

Cystoids
Cystoids are surprisingly slow and can be outrun both in regular and zero gravity. They are actually attracted to movement, which offers an unusual but fun solution in the form of Huntress Boltcaster - in zero-g, just fire a bolt into a group of Cystoids and watch them all suicide trying to "kill" it. Otherwise, the Stealth Pistol is a great way to dispose of them safely without wasting any important resources.

Cystoid Nest spawns Cystoids when destroyed and irradiates anything that comes nearby while it exists. So don't come nearby, either throw an explosive at it or use Kinetic Blast. Both will destroy the nest along with any Cystoids inside.

Weaver & Telepath
I lump them together because strategy for both is the same. Throw a Nullwave Charge and then either Q-Beam them to death, or if you upgraded it and conditions allow, rush in with the shotgun.

Weaver has a shield that nullifies attacks and casts Fear when broken but it's disabled by the Nullwave. Telepath has a strong homing ranged attack but it's disabled by Nullwave. Both Weavers and Telepaths will try to run away once you Nullwave them, so take it into account.

Weaver can spawn Cystoids, ignore them until it's dead. It can also turn dead humans into Phantoms, but it very rarely matters. Either way, if they do it's just more Exotic Material for you.

Telepath can mind-control humans who then suicide attack you, but this never comes into play outside of the three scripted scenarios(Arboretum greenhouse and Crew Quarters Fitness Center/Cafeteria) because there are no live humans around to mind-control. In the scripted scenarios it's possible to stealth past the humans or lure the Telepath out away from them.

Technopath
These guys can be a real pain. They're always surrounded by either turrets or Operators, and themselves cast Electrostatic Burst. While the Stun Gun can technically stunlock them, unless it's almost fully upgraded it does rather pathetic damage, and it will not stunlock all the junk they control.

Either way you should open up with an EMP Charge to initially stun them and as much of their junk as you can. Afterwards it depends on what weapons you invested in. If you have seriously upgraded the Stun Gun, it's your best bet. Q-Beam is always an option too, but in general a bit of a waste because you usually encounter Technopaths in enclosed areas where range is not an advantage.

Another valid solution is to just toss Recycler Charges after the EMP. They're not that rare and don't really have another use outside of opening Leverage-blocked paths. They also have an added bonus of sucking in all the junk around the Technopath so you don't have to worry about it during or after the fight.

Poltergeist
Absolute joke. Tag it with the Psychoscope then just hit it with the wrench until it dies.

Operators
Science and Engineer Operators are simple, Stun Gun then finish them off with a wrench, if they are not dead yet.

Military Operators can be taken out in the same fashion. Upgraded Stun Gun, combined with the extra sneak attack damage powers, can actually one shot them. The problem is that they will respawn indefinitely from the hacked Dispensers and you cannot hack them back. You can, hovewer, put something big in front of the Dispenser to block the exit.

Neuromod Division

 * Foyer - 1, in display case. January will guide you right to it as part of main storyline


 * Foyer - 1, in destroyed December, part of Who is December? side mission
 * Skill Recorder - 1, on the body under the stairs


 * Volunteer Testing - 2, in Neuromod Installation and Testing room
 * Fabrication - 1, under Fabrication Room(access through floor grate near Recycler in Storage)
 * Neuromod Installation and Extraction - 1, as part of the Incapacitate Dahl side mission
 * Tests last room - 3, after successfully completing all three tests(needs Kinetic Blast, Mimic Matter, Remote Manipulation)

Talos 1 Lobby

 * TranStar Exhibit - 1, in display case


 * TranStar Exhibit - 1, secret safe in alarm bell. Part of Talos Smuggling Ring side mission


 * Morgan Yu's Office - 3, on your desk


 * Morgan Yu's Office - 3, in the safe with Margrave(Preorder Bonus only)


 * Morgan Yu's Office - 1, given by January after completing Through a Glass Darkly
 * Morgan Yu's Office - 2, given by Mikhaila after rescuing her


 * Psychotronics entrance - 4, in locked safe(Hack II, no code)
 * Psychotronics entrance - 1, secret safe in alarm bell. Part of Talos Smuggling Ring side mission [needs confirmation]


 * I.T. Security - 1, in cabinet on the wall in the office. Requires either Hack I or General Access Card(Through a Glass Darkly) to get into Maintenance Access and then drop through the glass floor.


 * Trauma Center - 1, on the body of Luther Glass, on the operating table


 * Trauma Center - 3, DeVries safe, code in the quarantine room on the wall, but keycard to his office not found until Arboretum(it's on Arboretum floor in main elevator)


 * Trauma Center - 3, secret safe in Kohl's office, part of a side mission Do No Harm(available as soon as the above), A C B A C
 * Sales Division - 4, behind desk of Yuri Kimura, part of side mission Stolen Neuromods


 * Security Station - 4, in case on the left of Elias Black's desk

Total amount of Neuromods available before entering Hardware Labs without "sequence breaking": 18, 15 without the Preorder bonus, -1 if no Hack I(which requires 1 Neuromod itself though)

Total Neuromods required for The Plan: 3(Materials Expert) + 5(Physician I + Necropsy) +7(Repair I, Suit Modification I, Suit Modification II) = 15

With Preorder Bonus, grab Conditioning(probably as first one in Neuromod Division Foyer), Hack I(pays for itself) and Leverage I(throwing explosive stuff is useful, but otherwise deal with blockades using Recycle Charges)

Hardware Labs

 * Thorstein's Office - 2, in a briefcase under the desk


 * Security Office checkpoint - 1, in a display case on the junction


 * Demonstration Theater - 1, on the body of Gregory Kepner, up in the rafters


 * Demonstration Stage - 1, in briefcase on the floor, dropped by ??? before he dies


 * Atrium - 1, secret safe in alarm bell near the statue on the walkway. Part of Talos Smuggling Ring side mission


 * Machine Shop - 1, on body of Peter Coleman on the center cargo lift, you can drop it using the terminal on the left


 * Machine Shop - 2, in the Storage Room


 * Machine Shop - 1, in the blocked off area below the Fabricator


 * Combustion Lab - 2, in a safe in the breach(Hack III, no code)


 * Combustion Lab - 2, on the body of Lorenzo Calvino, in the breach


 * Dr. Calvino's Lab - 2, Calvino's secret stash

The Plan: 3(Dismantle) + 4(Repair II) = 7.

Psychotronics

 * Clean Room Preparation - 2, on the body of Janos Jozef, where you find the Psychoscope


 * Director Kelstrup's Office - 2, in safe, code given by Alex


 * Behavioral Testing - 2, on table outside test chamber door


 * Annalise Gallegos Office - 1, on the desk next to her body


 * Armory - 1, on the body of Demian Linn inside


 * Morgue - 2, near the body of Sylvain Bellamy

G.U.T.S.

 * Research level - 1, in the tunnel between Hack II locked door inside a Monitor Station in a supply crate


 * Magnetosphere - 2, in the main chamber, on the body of Anders Kline
 * Fuel Storage - 3, in the security closet, card on body nearby

Arboretum

 * G.U.T.S. Access - 1, on the body of Jia Kyung-Ho


 * Crews Quarters Access(needs better location) - 1, on the chess set next to body of Iris Stein
 * Lobby access tunnel - 1, secret safe in alarm bell. Part of Talos Smuggling Ring side mission [needs confirmation]


 * Alex Yu's Office - 1, on display on Alex's desk


 * Alex Yu's Office - 2, in secret safe, code on December's remains in Neuromod Division
 * Alex Yu's Office - 2, on the desk, as part of the Before I Give You The Key main mission
 * Alex Yu's Office - 3, on the desk, as part of the Before I Give You The Key main mission


 * Talos Lobby Access - 1, secret safe in alarm bell. Part of Talos Smuggling Ring side mission
 * Crew Quarters Access - 2, in the Storage Room(part of lovers something side mission)
 * Alex Yu's Escape Pod - 1, next to the pod
 * Alex Yu - 2, on him after Apex Typhon descends

Crew Quarters

 * Concierge - ?, in the Mail Room, code to mail room in Kilne's habitation pod(Crew Cabins B)
 * Locker Room - 1, secret safe in alarm bell. Part of Talos Smuggling Ring side mission [needs confirmation]
 * Fitness Center - 1, on the desk in the running room overlooking the pool
 * Fitness Center - 1, secret safe in alarm bell. Part of Talos Smuggling Ring side mission
 * Crew Cabins A - 2, Igwe's suite, one in the secret safe(part of Gustav Leitner side mission)
 * Crew Cabins B - 3, Bellamy's suite
 * Crew Cabins B - 1, Sho's suite
 * Crew Cabins B - 1, Foy's Suite
 * Crew Cabins B - 3, Calvino's Suite, in safe behind Looking Glass, code on desk(the date)
 * Cafeteria - 3, in the Freezer after helping the Cook
 * Executive Suites - 2, Morgan Yu's office
 * Executive Suites - 2, Alex Yu's office

Bridge

 * Briefing Room - 2, in Bridge Safe(Hack I)
 * Captain's Loft - 1, on Captain's body
 * Escape Pods - 2, in pod with "Will Mitchell", part of Danielle Sho side mission?

Shuttle Bay

 * Information Booth - 1, near the body
 * Pilot Lounge - 1, on the desk
 * Mechanic Facilities - 2, Locker Room, on the ceiling, part of Escape Attempt side mission
 * Mechanic Facilities - 1, Maintenance Access, on the console
 * Employee Entrance - 1, crawlspace above, easy access through plant window next to Grav Shafts on Level 3
 * Control Tower - 1, next to the body
 * Dahl's Shuttle - 3, one inside as part of Repo Man main storyline mission, two in locked cargo bay, requires keycard off of Dahl

Deep Storage

 * Entrance - 1, in Zachary West's desk
 * Command Center - 2, on the desk
 * Data Vaults - 1, next to the body of ???
 * Confidential Records - 1, in Deep Storage Safe(Hack IV required)

Cargo Bay

 * Hull Breach - 1, in one of the containers in the breach
 * Hull Breach - 2, in the office Safe with Turret Fabrication plans
 * Shipping and Receiving - 2, upstairs, from Dayo Igwe if you saved him
 * Shipping and Receiving - 1, upstairs, secret safe in alarm bell. Part of Talos Smuggling Ring side mission
 * Shipping and Receiving - 4, upstairs, next to Sarah Elazar
 * Shipping and Receiving - 1, in the locked side storage(only accessible with Mimic?)
 * Cargo Bay B - 1, on the body before the G.U.T.S. Loading Bay door
 * G.U.T.S. Loading Bay - 2, in the container, part of the Whistleblower side mission

Life Support

 * Medical Bay - 1, in "Shelves"
 * Security Station - 2, in safe, code on body just outside
 * Water Treatment Facility - 2, in office with one broken door
 * Waste Processing - 1, on the body of Price Broadway, part of the Drunk Tank side mission
 * Supply Closet - 3, code in Oxygen Flow Control
 * Air Filtration Control - 1, in the locked side area, keycard available as part of the Missing Engineer side mission

Power Plant

 * Monitoring - 1, on the body on the far end
 * Parts Storage - 1, on the shelf
 * Coolant Chamber - 1, tunnel under Maintenance Access
 * Coolant Chamber - 1, on body with Coolant Chamber key
 * Reactor Operator Office - 3, on the desk next to Mikhaila
 * Reactor - 1, on the body on the broken lift
 * Reactor - 2, on body of Jean Faure and in the supply crate(part of Missing Engineer side mission)
 * Hull Breach - 3, one in Mikhaila's Office and two in corridor

Talos I Exterior

 * Grant Lockwood - 1, in a suitcase next to his body, part of Disgruntled Employee side mission
 * Shuttle Exalt - 2, one in cabin and the other in cargo bay, part of Derelict Shuttle side mission
 * Coral Node - 1, in Supply crate next to one of the nodes