Nuclear Operative

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Congratulations! You have been chosen to be a member of [insert random organisation here]. You, brave agent, must move the nuclear weapon we've provided you with to the main station and activate it. Did we mention this was a suicide mission? No? Whoops!

Red Mean Syndicate Machine

You and your fellow operatives spawn on the Syndicate shuttle. Here, you have a load of gear to help you kill everyone. Noteworthy starting gear:

• A revolver and some ammunition
• A teleporter remote
• A poison pill
• An agent card
• Your very own uplink disguised as a station bounced radio
• You are also implanted with a microbomb

Toys for big boys

In addition to the gear everybody spawns with, Syndicate operatives have access to other free goodies:

Cockpit:

• A sleepy pen.
• A box of Syndicate donk pockets

Corridor:

• One set of command armor
• Sunglasses and thermals
• A crate of gas grenades. Filled with sarin gas and very lethal. Try not to let one go off in your hand or immediate vicinity. Sarin poisoning can be cured by an injection of atropine
• An uniform manufacturer to make less conspicuous clothing with

Equipment room:

• Standard-issue red space suits and jetpacks in personal closets
• A PDA with a built-in Detomatrix cartridge, a box of flashbangs and multiple green pinpointers (solitary closet)
• Several breaching charges and land mines

Medical bay:

• Medical supplies and sturdier robot limbs (run faster, rip apart handcuffs)

Storage room:

• Several rocket launchers. Will absolutely ruin someone's day if used correctly. Don't stand too close to what you're shooting at!
• A couple of fanny packs and utility belts
• A crate of emergency oxygen tanks
• A pile of frag grenades. Explodes in a burst of shrapnel, giving everyone in the blast radius nasty brute damage and lodging shrapnel in their chests, causing further brute damage. More can be found in Tactical Grenades boxes.
• Pairs of night vision goggles, on the cell charger.
• Miscellaneous supplies, such as regular tools and all the components required to craft stun gloves (power cells are stored in the equipment closets)

Hangar:

• A large Syndicate pod. It's heavily armored and seats two. Can be locked with a 4 digit keycode
• Two Syndicate miniputs. They seat one and are armored fairly well. Can be locked with a 4 digit keycode
• Multiple twin-linked shotgun cannons and SEED modules to upgrade the pods with
• An O2 canister to top off your jetpack from

Now what?

Take off your helmet and body armor and put on one of the red spacesuits from the lockers. Also take a jetpack and breath mask, and make sure you turn on your jetpack's air supply. From another locker, you should get a green pinpointer and turn it on. An arrow will appear on it, pointing in the general direction of the nuclear bomb. There's also a station bounced radio in your pocket that will let you request a limited selection of Syndicate gear to help you or your teammates.

You've also got a secure radio channel for speaking to your comrades. The specific channel used is randomized every round, so there's a slim chance of some meta-gaming nerd snooping in on you. To use it, simply type:

• say ;I'm about to activate the nuke in security. Let's do this, boys!

The authentication disk

An entirely optional objective that can nevertheless be vital to your planning. When used on an armed bomb, it modifies the countdown depending on who inserted it: 3 minutes less (operative) or 3 minutes more (crew member). Needless to say, the first outcome is vastly preferable from your perspective. The disk can generally be found in the captain's pocket and if your team decides to send somebody after him (be it undercover or not) in preparation for the main strike, remember that he is armed and likely to expect trouble.

The Syndicate team leader spawns with a special red pinpointer in his backpack. It tracks the location of the authentication disk and should be given to the operative who has been tasked with obtaining it.

The listening post

Grab the audio log in the bottom left corner of your shuttle. Play it. It will tell you where to move to nuke to. There's no need to rush, though! Teamplay is key in this game mode! Discuss the mission ahead with your comrades and come up with a solid plan before anybody heads out.

All set? To exit the shuttle, stand on the teleporter pad and use your teleporter remote. This will take you to the listening post. You return to the shuttle in the same way. The station is to the north-west of the listening post. Fly left until you're clear of the asteroids, and then fly north. This should take you close to escape wing.

The listening post is your only safe-zone on the station z-level. Only people with an agent card can access it. Make sure you have everything in order the way you like it before leaving. It has some spare clothing and supplies in case you forgot something on the shuttle, but there's no real weaponry to speak of there.

Don't leave the listening post without the teleporter remote and agent card, or you won't be able to get back in. Also bring a green pinpointer for locating the nuke when necessary. The crew might steal the pod it's loaded in or the bomb itself, you never know! This is also why you should lock all of your pods!

Remember: the green () pinpointer tracks the nuclear bomb, the red () model the authentication disk.

Going in hot

Eliminate all hostiles, secure and fortify the target area. How you accomplish this is up to you and your team - a coordinated infiltration can work just as well as the Rambo approach. Either way, security and the crew in general will be all over your asses as soon as they hear about red spacesuits, so be quick and strike true. Work together with your allies, since a lone operative will be very hard-pressed to fend off an armed, angry mob for any period of time.

Trigger the nuke

Your side has the upper hand? Great! Now trigger the nuke:

• Load the nuke into one of your pods and drop it off near the station.
• Move the nuke to the designated area. If you haven't done so already, play the audio log on the Syndicate shuttle or use the notes command, which contains the same information.
• Click on the nuke with an empty hand to activate it. That will prompt a station-wide red alert, stating your exact location. Needless to say, stealth is no longer an option at this point.
• Insert the authentication disk if you have it.
• Defend the nuke for 8 (resp. 5) long minutes. It's all or nothing!
• Gloat over the radio and vanish in a cloud of radioactive fire!

Sound Syndicate strategies

• It's redundant but worth repeating: defend the bomb! So many rounds were lost because the operatives were too occupied with wandering about and hunting for kills to notice the lone Staff Assistant slowly but surely destroying the nuke with a fire extinguisher or the cyborg unscrewing the nuke's bolts and loading it into a Space Pod.
• Feel like going undercover? Consider ordering a voice changer, chameleon suit and DNA scrambler. Use the scrambler and make the agent card match your new identity. Try to keep a low profile. A greyshirt walking around with a jetpack and insulated gloves tends to catch the attention of any competent security officer.
  • Should you go undercover, dress sensibly. Walking around with military boots while not disguised as Captain or Head of Security is suspicious, and walking around with SWAT gloves on is very suspicious.
• Don't set a name on your agent card until you are already on the station. If you are spotted in your approach and the AI catches your fake name, your cover is busted and you don't get another chance to change it.
• Feeling unsubtle? Consider buying extra ammo for your revolver or a shotgun. You'll be glad you did!
• Be careful with the RPG, you don't want to hit your comrades with friendly fire or splash damage.
• Don't forget your donk pocket or medical supplies! You are going to need them, guaranteed.
• Need more inventory space? If the fanny pack isn't sufficient to store all of your gear, consider stealth containers. They can hold as many items as a regular box, yet are small enough to fit in jumpsuit pockets. Remember to use drag and drop (its icon onto yourself) to quickly access the goodies inside!
• Riot storage lockers, located in the armory, contain handy shotguns and flashbangs. Even if you do nothing with that stuff but to space it, looting the armory deprives your foes of weapons they could use against you.
• Consider turning the AI to your side, if you have the time and ability to do so.
• Beware of security or vigilantes in space suits or pods! They can really ruin your day.
• Using a power sink can be a double-edged sword. On one hand, they'll turn your run-of-the-mill crowbars into all-access cards, because you can bypass any access-locked doors by crowbarring them open, and you'll get a tactical darkness advantage. On the other hand, they'll also turn the crew's run-of-the-mill crowbars into all-access cards, getting a tactical darkness advantage is useless if you can't see in the dark either (and it's nullified if you plant the bomb next to the power-sink), and robbing them of their power is a great way to get the entire crew coming for your red-suited ass.
  • If your are going to utilize a power sink, consider putting on some night vision goggles or optical thermal scanners, found on the table near the cockpit. That way, you can actually use the darkness to your advantage, since you'll be able to see through the darkness while most of the crew generally won't.

Sound crew strategies

Please be aware of the special guidelines regarding Syndicate facilities.

• If possible, try to get into a group to increase your odds of fending off the Syndicates. Their guns aren't very useful if you have enough bodies to soak up the ammo!
• Watch out for suspicious behaviour or items. That greyshirt wearing insulated gloves and a gas mask might be an operative in disguise if they appear to be scouting the perimeter or trailing the disk holder (typically the captain).
• Don't wear Syndicate clothing, like red space suits and tactical turtlenecks, as doing so will likely get you killed.
• Try everything in your power to destroy that nuke. Best case, the Syndicates should be unable to even get the bomb onto the main station - engage enemy pods on sight, as the nuke might be in one of their cargo holds.
• If the weapon has already been deployed, eliminate all redsuits defending it or at least drive them away. Insert the authentication disk if available to buy you three more minutes. Now dispose of the nuke in some manner:
  • The bomb can be destroyed by brute force alone, but it takes a lot of effort and high-powered gear (such as eswords, multiple laser guns or revolvers) to do so. It is also susceptible to EMPs.
  • Alternatively, get someone with screwdriver to loosen the bomb's floor bolts, which will trigger a motion alert and halve the countdown. Move the nuke off the main z-level (via mass driver, pod or teleportation) or destroy it (e.g. with the crusher) as soon as possible to avert certain death.
  • Don't try to blast or rocket the nuke, it is invulnerable to explosions.