Find the Data Cell: not possible to survive?

[Dubious Drewski]

I screwed up. When Looking for the data cell near the beginning, I alerted the girl and she went for reinforcements. Now when I load my save, the whole area is full of guys with guns. I cannot seem to sneak past them and I cannot run past them. I've died so many times. I've viewed so many Youtube vidoes and I've tried so many strategies, but I cannot get past this. do I need to restart the whole entire game?

I'm really concerned that the game was designed with hard-fail points which require complete restart. Am I wrong? How do I do this?`

[Bit]

That is normal. She always sees you. Your job is to stealth your way past the 4 of them. I just did this segment myself, and it was a bit of a challenge on Hard. The game doesn't really prepare you very intensely for this. I would suggest you try to use the "Load" function and check if you have a previous save -- there should be your last few listed there. It's best if you scout the area before you pick up the security scanner (that summons them all) and memorise the 3 electrical panels that you can rewire in that room. Practice using the rewiring controls, as you'll need to be quick at doing them later.

The enemies will be able to spot you fairly easily if they are facing you, unless you are behind some kind of cover. Crouching behind a low object between you and them will allow you to hold your Ctrl key down and you will be able to use your W, A, and D keys to peek over and around cover. Watch their movement paths. You can get up the stairs pretty easily right after you pick up the security tool before they even get into the area. If you stay in the hallway that stretches between the two staircases (with all the gas pipes), you will be safe. They don't walk back there. Once they are facing away from you and are taking a pause, you can make your way to one of the panels and rewire it.

All 3 panels in that room will let you control where you're sending the power to. There's only enough power to supply one of them at a time. Of your 3 options, one is a broken piece of gear that won't do you any good. Another action is powering the air pipes, which only creates a cloud of smoke. You can see where this happens using the map it provides. The smoke will hide you if you stand in it, but I didn't find it particularly helpful here. The only option I found practical was the speaker. It plays downstairs, causing them all to run down and try to shut it off. This gives you the entire upper area to walk through, and gives you enough time to get into the tech area that you need to go to.

Once you get through the right door, you can start going down some stairs. They will always immediately follow you down, even if you were perfectly stealthy. These are pre-scripted events and are not necessarily an indication of you doing anything wrong. You are given some lockers to hide in and you can just let them go on past you until you're clear.

[Bit]

A few other things I wish I'd known before:

You'll have more scrap than you know what to do with. The materials dropped are random, so sometimes you'll end up having to leave behind materials you can't carry (RNG gave me 8 sensors in a row, and you can only hold 3). The RNG can be stingy with certain materials, so try not to waste them.

The alien is invincible, so you better just run and hide. The game favours stealth over combat. You get a revolver immediately after the part you're on, but ammo is scarce. Make sure not to miss any blueprints laying around; you get plans to make a smoke bomb right after the revolver. It can be thrown so that it detonates on impact, or you can plant it like a mine that will be triggered when an enemy moves past it. It creates a big cloud of smoke that prevents you from being seen. You also get blueprints to make a flashbang right after that, which stuns humans that are near to it. That lets you skip right past them. If they're too far to be stunned, they're still blinded, and so are synthetics.

Distractions are important. Rewiring is free and usually lets you create a remote distraction, but if it's not available then you can just melee the floor or wall with your maintenance jack and it will create a loud noise that will draw enemies to that spot. You've got to be careful that you have an escape route planned so you can stay out of sight when they come running. Vents are intended to be used in this manner, I believe. If you need to create a distraction farther away from you than melee range, you could try throwing a flare, smoke bomb, or flashbang. It'd be costly, though, so only do it if you have to.

[♥ Barney ♥]

Crouch, stay out of view, move slowly

Throw a flare to distract some of them if you get the chance.

Use you wrench/spanner to bash them over the head if you get the chance.

Try and work your way upstairs (the cafe area side and then through the glassed area with the sofas) wait for the right moment and sneak/run to the door on the opposite side. You might get shot a couple of times if spotted but once past the door you can hide in hidey places till they go.

[NinthElement]

Originally posted by Dubious Drewski:

I'm really concerned that the game was designed with hard-fail points which require complete restart. Am I wrong? How do I do this?`

You always have the option to reload your last two saves or a mission save. Having said that, I don't think there is actually any way to save into a completely hopeless situation.

It isn't always obvious when a new mission begins, but the mission 3 auto-save is just before you reach the room with the access tuner

[Chara the Explorer]

It's a pretty vicious early-game section, especially if you're stuck with no flares, but it isn't impossible even if they're all there. I managed to sneak up to the stairs at the left of the elevator by hugging the wall and using cover, working around to the little lounge that's right above the entrance, then waiting for the black dude patrolling in there to piss off. At that point, you can probably sneak or even sprint past him: if you don't die, you're safe because they're too scared to follow you.

You can also reduce the difficulty, try "reloading a previous save", or even restarting the mission if you're really stuck without losing more than a couple of minutes of progress.

Good luck!

[PestMastah]

Dubious...

I can broadcast this portion if it wil help you.

There is a good timing moment to toss a flare and it's from the upperdeck (after you grab the hack tool).
The trigger is grabbing the hacktool. So feel free to walk around (even upstairs) to learn the layout and also pickup stuff.
Then go back down and grab the hacktool .. immediately turn around 180 degrees (Facing out of the elevator area) and hang a right up the first flight of stairs (the people will be upstairs and to the left of this viewpoint)
Go up in crouch mode... this gives you time (and them time to start heading parallel to you on the other side).
They will always leave behind one guy... he's usually the black guy with a pistol I think...
Before you get to the center room that connects the two upperdecks...
go into that area where there is a "warning wet floor" sign...
That is where you need to light up a flare... stand up and toss the flare towards the other balcony area... hopefully the other 3 will be on the floor by this time... and the last guard will go towards that flare.
You will have to watch because you wont have the tracker yet (or better yet... listen for his footsteps after someone says: "hey we got a flare over here".
He will usually halt... go into alarm mode... and then begin walking towards the flare...

[PestMastah]

Oh yeah... and sneak mode straight to the exit... even if you are a few feet behind him (which is good)... he won't see you... and he won't hear you if you stay in sneak mode...
DO NOT RUN

[Bit]

Rewiring the speaker costs you nothing, though.

[Dayve]

Easiest way to do this - pick up the hack tool, immediately walk up the same stairs the woman ran up when she shouted "Someone's here!" and hide behind the boxes at the top to the right. 3 of them will walk right by you and downstairs. When they're down, walk toward the final guy who stayed upstairs (wait until he's not looking, obviously) and run past him or cave his head in with the wrench.

Don't kill them, something neat happens on your way back through that area if you don't kill them but if you do kill them you miss it.

[Diddle Schnitz]

There’s always the “Load Previous Save” option, although it doesn’t apply to this particular scenario

[hibbidy_jibbidy]

I DID THE SAME THING, ITS SO EARLY IN THE LEVEL JUST RESTART 3. oops sorry about caps.

anyway go in stay away from the elevator, explore the place and grab whatever you find, then go back to elevator, after the cut scene, turn around and run up the stairs to the right, then crutch your way to the terminal directly in front of yo on the other side, use the speaker system, then crothch again, wait for the guy to inspect it, then make your way to the door on the other side of that observation room. good to go, no flares ar mele needed

[cteidegnaro]

I just started playing it and now I am stuck in this section as well. I managed to kill two of them(a guy and the woman). Now the rest two know I am there and they ambush me near the entrance of the hall. I threw a flare but they wouldn't come because they know it was my trap. I don't have any guns yet they can easily shoot me. I have no way to sneak around. They just stay where they are, waiting for me.

[Max Headshot]

Originally posted by cteidegnaro:

I just started playing it and now I am stuck in this section as well. I managed to kill two of them(a guy and the woman). Now the rest two know I am there and they ambush me near the entrance of the hall. I threw a flare but they wouldn't come because they know it was my trap. I don't have any guns yet they can easily shoot me. I have no way to sneak around. They just stay where they are, waiting for me.

Start mission 3 again and play it this way
https://youtu.be/vWkBrkJdQpk
My theory is that it was originally intended to use the rewire system to make your way through because it's introduced shortly before. Funnily enough almost no one takes advantage of that especially at that point (they are placed all around Systech Lobby).
Another funny observation in this game is that people always fear to loose huge progress but in most cases they can't do that. In fact they never had made much progress, they had only wasted horrendously much time in lockers, for hiding and more stuff which doesn't work. That's not the same as progress.
Same here, start mission 3 again and play it right, it's a matter of 5 minutes.

[Dayve]

Originally posted by cteidegnaro:

I just started playing it and now I am stuck in this section as well. I managed to kill two of them(a guy and the woman). Now the rest two know I am there and they ambush me near the entrance of the hall. I threw a flare but they wouldn't come because they know it was my trap. I don't have any guns yet they can easily shoot me. I have no way to sneak around. They just stay where they are, waiting for me.

Follow the guide in that video Max Headshot posted and don't kill any of them. Killing them spoils something which happens later :)

[Chara the Explorer]

Originally posted by Max Headshot:

My theory is that it was originally intended to use the rewire system to make your way through because it's introduced shortly before. Funnily enough almost no one takes advantage of that especially at that point (they are placed all around Systech Lobby).
Another funny observation in this game is that people always fear to loose huge progress but in most cases they can't do that. In fact they never had made much progress, they had only wasted horrendously much time in lockers, for hiding and more stuff which doesn't work. That's not the same as progress.

To be fair the game doesn't really encourage the rewire system much, aside from unlocking a door here and there. Not that I'm saying the game needed to hold people's hands even more (e.g. the whole "here's a new mechanic and the only way to get through this room is to use it" deal)", but I sure as hell didn't use the rewire system through most of the game because it just didn't really register as hugely relevant for me.

Maybe if the opening animation didn't take so bloody long I'd consider it.