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This thread is to help act as a quick reference guide for advice during play. It may extend as time goes by as requests for things are made.

AGENT INTELLIGENCE


Basics

Levels

Agents have 'levels'. The higher their level, the more powerful they are. Things that imrpvoe by level include stats, skills, armour and dodge.

However, this is not a matter of some Agents being better than others. Unless a Mr. Smith style unique Agent is devised, all Agents are the same. Instead, Levels are used to show how Agents try to mount a proportional response, but have to call in more resources and increase their power as an incident goes on, or opposition proves to be too tough.

All Agents start at Level One. They improve from the following circumstances:

1. Time passing. Every time an Ace is drawn from the card deck, all Agents improve in power.

2. Extreme situation. Should situations become noticably desperate for the System, Agents will draw in more power. The circumstances for this have to be more than a losing battle. Escaping Rebels aren't enough. A good example of an extreme situation would be Neo turning up.

3. 'Other' You may find out other ways to increase Agent level, probably the hard way. Discovered so far- repeated use of Bullet Swerve in a small amount of time; recovering from becoming Vulnerable


Agent Powers

Agents have no Downloaded powers, or any concept of Active or Inactive powers. Instead, they have their own special Agent powers.

Agent Powers do nothing unless activated. They have no static effect, unlike your Paths. This makes your Paths quite an advantage against low-level Agents. As they go up in level, their natural bonuses will at least compensate for your Path effects, and will eventually surpass them.

Activated Agent Powers give more specific effects, often as good as your taps, sometimes better. Agent Powers are not beholden to tapping, instead, they run off a pool called 'System Resources'. The more powerful the Power being used, the more SR it costs. SR available depends on level.

An Agent's System Resources pool refreshes to maximum when a Refresh card is drawn from the deck, or when an Agent goes up in level.


Showboating

If Agents have a weakness, it is that they take too much pleasure in what they do. Agents will not always use their powers and movements efficiently, instead choosing to play with their victims. Annoyed agents tend to act differently.

If an Agent is victorious in a fight, he will try to kill his target. But often, especially against a target that has been fighting hard, an Agent might try to come up with a fun away to kill him (Reference: Smith trying to 'train' Neo to death at the station). This may give players a chance to get away, or for inventive rescues to come their way. Attempts to abuse this will simply lead to a dead player; this is to allow otherwise doomed players a final chance, not to pretend that you are still fighting when you can't.


Unstoppable

Unless in an unavoidably hazardous situation (e.g. a cliff edge), Agents are almost impossible to get out of your way. It's like trying to move a mountain.

Attacks that throw Agents allow bonus pool or a disengagement as per the rules. However, they will not remove Agents from fights, over railings, across rooms etc. They will remain, more or less, where they are.


Becoming vulnerable

If an Agent takes more damage than his capacity, he does not die, and will soon recover. However, for one turn the Agent becomes vulnerable. He will not act during that turn, and furthermore at this point Throws- and other powerful moves- can be used to knock Agents out of the way, and if the scenery is appropriate, even out the fight, possibly forever if the fight is nearly done.

Agents recovering from Vulnerable status increase in Level.

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AGENT STATS

Strength: ?
Dexterity: ?
Toughness: ?

Intelligence: ?
Perception: ?
Charisma: ?

Agent stats are fixed; they do not alter by level.

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AGENT POWERS

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Bullet Swerve

"Men have emptied entire clips at them, and hit nothing but air..."

Cost: 0

Agents are almost impossible to hit with bullets as they simply move fast enough to avoid them- but the effort they make may slow them down.

Bullet Swerve is activated when an Agent is under attack from a Guns attack. It makes the attack automatically miss.

The Agent loses one pool from his next action for each success rolled on the Gun attack. There is one extra success if Burst fire is used, and one extra success if Both Guns Blazing is used.

If an Agent's MA pool is reduced to zero by a Bullet Swerve, it loses its next action.

Agents continuously forced to Bullet Swerve may increase in level.

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Agent Attack

In the Subway fight, after Neo recovers from being proned after being smashed into the wall, Smith attempts a Straight Punch, which Neo dodges. But instead of a normal punch, Smith follows up this move by grabbing Neo's arm, twisting him around and hammering blows into his back

Cost: 1

Most Agent blows are simple jabs and punches. Sometimes they pull off spectacular effects. But some attacks by Agents are more imaginative than a punch, yet not distinctive enough to warrant their own power. All of these moves are dealt with by the generic power "Agent Attack."

Agent Attack is very simple; it adds 2 to an Agent's attack pool for that turn. It is not highly efficient; Agents often use it to mitigate circumstances when opponents are using high defence or when the Agent has lost pool.

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Agent Defence

In the subway fight, Neo has driven Smith back with a hail of blows. Neo advances the distance and tries another rapid set of blows. Smith blocks Neo's right arm with his own, moving the force of the blow away and up. Neo whips away his arm quickly but then his next blow is equally blocked by Smith's left. Although Neo then blocks Smith's next blow in turn, Smith gets the better of the exchange.

Cost: 1

Agents are always keeping up a defence based around the use of their forearms- Agents almost never dodge, instead simply taking blows without seeming to notice them. Sometimes an Agent will put extra effort onto Defence, especially if pressed by a particular move. "Agent Defence" simply represents them concentrating more on this area.

Agent Defence adds +2 onto the Agent's Defence rating for this turn. Whilst this seems less powerful than path-based defence, this is actually bonus Defence, more along the lines of Walking Willow.

Power reference to be kept here

Agent intelligence updated.

Agent Intelligence updated. Two new Powers added; other areas updated with more info.