Assorted spoilers and tips.

[Sabin Stargem]

I figure that I will leave my notes here, in case anyone wants to use them. As can be expected, the game is less difficult with this information. My playthrough was with cadet mode, so things might be different on a higher difficulty.

Much thanks to ChocolateKake, Mab, and Mostly Harmless.

TIPS



Once you get Combustion, you can freely use it to light up dark spaces. So long as you don't attack a critter with it, you don't have to worry about losing your mind. This is extremely useful for finding stuff.

If you don't acquire any PSI powers, you are exempt from the sanity mechanic. Contributed by Mab.

There is an automatic shotgun. However, it is an endgame weapon, and has a Dragon's Breath mode that can keep certain enemies dead. As such, spending Sofia ammo might be better if you want to conserve Warsaw for the Tula. Alternatively, you can use the Flare Gun, Flamethrower, or fuel cells on regenerating enemies.

You can stack boxes and barrels, the latter being slightly taller. This is used for crossing a certain spot in LV4. It is my speculation that this can be used to get on top of the LV3 Maze, provided the secret area doesn't unload the boxes. Would be tedious to prepare, and probably has nothing of interest.

The Klandet Blade is one of the best weapons IMO. It offers a melee attack and can throw phantom blades if fully charged up. This is ideal for conserving ammo in general. However, it can't attack museum pieces. You will find it on LV2.

IMO, the Priotr is the best light weapon for Prague munitions, especially since it is available on LV2. The ROF and clip size lets you handle most riff-raff without too much worrying about a reload.

Don't mess with the deer. They cause psionic damage when harmed. Your best bet is to just sneak past them and save your resources. Brute force will quickly drain your mind.

LV3 has a secret area. If you complete that area, you can access LV4 without paying the fee.

Reserve about 10 fuel cells for LV4. That area is cold, and you will need to create temporary campfires to advance to the furnace. Don't leave LV4 until you got it running, otherwise your fuel cells would be wasted.

On LV4, you can start up a furnace. This makes the level warm and unlocks two rooms. You need to get a key item from the gift storage, the get onto the upper level. It is towards the northwest corner of the map, assuming that exit from the elevator is north.

With LV4, your campfires burn out if you leave the level. Reloading a save is fine. Don't know if rebooting the game will put out the firepits. Each fireplace requires 2 fuel cells to activate. You cannot melt ice with combustion or the flamethrower.

I think the best 'A' trait is Ammo Scavenger. The lucky punch needs stat investment in luck to shine, and requires a melee approach with punches. I think scavenging ammo is much more useful in the long run. The best 'B' trait is probably Self Analysis, while 'C' should be Gourmet or Cannibal. The cannibal gets tons of replenishable health, but sometimes will take psionic damage from corpses. Gourmet uses an exhaustible source of food.

The Enemy Analysis trait can be used to detect enemies hidden in the dark, but can't see through disguises or the armor. I personally recommend Self Analysis as your 'B' trait, it lets you control your health with much more precision.

During the ascendance, there are two buttons for steering. They are mislabeled, they are actually inverted. Right goes left, and left goes right.

There is a note for Chess. No idea if this can be used in any way: d4, d5, c4, c6, c3, f6, e3

DOOR CODES



LV1 Code for the lower ATOM Offices - 769

LV1 Code for Janitor Isanov - 511. Rewards the Laser Cutter.

LV2 Code for Prototype Storage - 223. Rewards the Flamethrower.

LV2 Code for Frumin's Office - 885. Rewards the sword. Be sure to complete the Sherlock challenge for 3 microchips.

LV2 Code for Exhibition Storage - 255.

LV3 Code for Level 3 access - 917

LV3 Code for the Greatest Achievement - 314

LV4 Code for Bretzel grate - 999. Contributed by ChocolateKake.

LV5 Code for the bridge - 666.




SHERLOCK ANSWERS



Sherlock 1 Answers: Lomako, Didn't want to lose, Bludgeoned.


Sherlock 2 Answers: Frumin, 2:10.

You can skip the quest by using Frumin's door code early, which prevents getting a microchip reward.


Sherlock 3 Message

Message 1: LOVE LETTER FROM YOUR SECRET PAL
Message 2: SEVEN PEOPLE IN TULA
Message 3: STRANGLED ONE IN TVER
Message 4: DREVV BLOOD IN GYUMRI

Sherlock 3 Answers: Tula, Tver, Gyumri


MICROCHIPS

I haven't thoroughly mapped the microchips yet, there are more to be discovered.



LV1 - While leaving the ATOM offices, quest will automatically complete. +7
LV1 - On the lit path leading to the Cafeteria, there is a chip on the ledge to the right. +1
LV1 - Cafeteria, Konbrig general. +3.
LV1 - Church pews. +1.
LV1 - Church quest. +7.
LV1 - Sherlock 1. +7.

LV1 - Sergey Quest 1. +2.
LV1 - Sergey Quest 2. +2.
LV1 - Sergey Quest 3. +4.
LV1 - Sergey Betrayal. +2 chips, +Kombridge if angry.

LV1 - Oleg Quest 1. +7. Step 1 is a upper cubicle statue bust by the hanging man, step 2 is by turbine candles inside the wall, hit globe, go to kitchen bookshelves.
LV1 - Oleg Quest 2. +3.


LV2 - Doc's Quest. +3 total after completion. Requires 10 to start.
LV2 - Bulgarin. +4.

LV2 - Sherlock 2. +3. You can skip this quest by using the door code early, losing the chips. Info donated by ChocolateKake.

LV3 - Frumin's Sword. +4. After getting the sword and speaking to Sherlock, you get them. Be sure to fully complete Sherlock 2 for the chips, before getting the sword.


LV3 - Greenhouse Office, on the desk. +1.
LV3 - Theatre, behind the bottom row. +1.
LV3 - Behind the hackable locked door on the bridge. +1.
LV3 - 2nd chamber of the cyberspace. +1.
LV3 - Speak to Ural in cyberspace. +5 chips, LV4 keycard.
LV3 - Sonar Tower. +1. By PC.
LV3 - Sonar Tower antechamber, by PC. +1
LV3 - Ashuba Quest. +4.

LV3 - Lermontov's Office desk. +1.
LV3 - Tunnels below execution chamber. +1.
LV3 - Lermontov Quest. +6.
LV3 - Sherlock 3. +7.
LV3 - Maze shortcut, by phonograph. +1
LV3 - Maze, end of passage by pillar. +1

LV4 - Guest Room comms center. +1.
LV4 - Furnace tunnels, by firepit. +1.

LV5 - After getting past the door, it is on the table by the PC. +1.


RARE WEAPONS



To afford the chip weapons, I recommend to get the LV4 card on LV3. This waives the elevator fee of 50 chips, I believe.

Tip: Use the Sofia ammo, not Warsaw. The Tula has a Dragon's Breath mode that is useful for the endgame.

LV1 - Barrikada. Small, Warsaw. When you first see a monster feasting on a corpse, go into the room to the right. There is a bookshelf that can be opened.
LV1 - Nagant 1936. Small, Sofia. Found in a vent, not far from nuclear storage. Needs to be hacked.
LV1 - Automat. Light, Sofia. Costs 40 vodka at the cafeteria.
LV1 - SMG. ???, Prague. Use code 769 to reach the Lower ATOM offices, in the maze.
LV1 - Laser Cutter. Small, fuel cell. Found in Lower ATOM office Janitor's room. Code 511.


LV2 - Kladenet Blade. Small, can be charged to throw a phantom blade. In museum, inside Frumin's office. Code 885.
LV2 - Flamethrower. Heavy, fuel cell. Found in protype weapon storage. Code 223.
LV2 - Priotr 63. Light, Prague. Found in the piano room, to the left of the missle deck entrance. Needs to be hacked.

LV3 - Harpoon. Light, Sofia. Found above the torture room, beyond the top of the stairwell.
LV3 - SKS. Go to the gazebo, then hack the door to the right.
LV3 - ???. Heavy, Prague. Once you get through the kingdom and take the vent, one of the exits leads to an walkway. Follow it, and you will find the weapon on an alcove.

LV4 - Shotgun Tula-22. Light, Warsaw. Found in a frozen bathroom by a broken wall. Need to activate furnace to reach it. Has an alt flame bullet mode, but denies cannibalism.

LV4 - Automat. Light, Sofia. Found by the GDR restruant over a chasm. Make two stacks of boxes, each finished with a barrel. ChocolateKake discovered this one.

LV4 - Chauchet. Light or heavy, Sofia. Found in gift storage.
LV4 - Laos Grenade Launcher, heavy, fuel cell. Costs 35 chips.
LV4 - Steyr SMG, light, Prague. Costs 25 chips.
LV4 - Axe. Found beyond a tunnel by the furnace.
LV4 - Nagant 1936. Found through the Bretzel grate, code 999. Found by ChocolateKake.

PSI POWERS

While useful, the sanity mechanic isn't in play if you don't acquire any psionic powers. Depending on your playstyle, this might be preferable.

Contributed by ChocolateKake and Mostly Harmless.



LV2 - Spontaneous Combustion (fire). By the armory's table.
LV2 - Molecular Reconstruction (teleport). In the Stalingrad exhibit.
LV2 - Psionic Cell Reconstruction (heal) - Lv. 2 Weapons Testing Locker.


LV3 - Technomagic Infusion (lower hacking requirement). Outside the elevator.
LV3 - Somatic Mine (portable mine). In the deer forest, roughly midway. There is a hole in the wall at the beginning, go to the other side, and search from there.
LV3 - Spectral Anomaly (servant). In the doctor's office inside the barracks.

LV4 - Porphyric Complexion (lifesteal) - Circular room on South end of floor 2 Archives Appendix.

LV4 - Exanimus Projectile - Opposite of Bretzel, in the admiral's room. It is behind a bookcase.

[chocolatekake]

There is one Soviet Avtomat I have found, besides the one you can get from trading wodka.

Hint 1: It's on Level 4.

Hint 2: It's on the second floor of the level.

Hint 3: It's near GDR Bretzel, and there's no need to start the generator.

Hint 4: There's a small hallway between GDR Bretzel and the Video Archives with a hole in the floor, try to cross it.

Hint 5:The answer is nearby, think of how to create a makeshift walkway.

Solution 1:Drop barrels and crates in the hole to stack them on the floor below so you can walk over them and cross the gap. Due to the size of the hole in the floor, and the fact that I was only able to create one stack, there may be an agility requirement, but I'm not sure. It was tough to do when I got it with (I think) Agility 3, and two stacks might be possible.

Solution 2:First, you need to have the molecular reconstruction psi power (found in the museum on Lv. 2). You'll also need access to an upwards grav lift, any of the 3 on the level should work. Use molecular reconstruction just before walking into the hole in the floor so that it places the beacon in the air as you're falling. Then go to a grav lift and start holding the button a little before you walk into the lift so you'll teleport while rising up. You'll keep your vertical speed and rotation when you teleport, so you can easily just walk forward to the other side.

[Sabin Stargem]

Good job. Some thoughts on the stacking method:


I used pure crates, but that didn't work. So I tried using a barrel as a finsher. Two stacks of crates (4-5) plus a barrel for each did the trick. Your method is solid.

The molecular reconstruction power has promise as a speed running method, though limited in opportunities. Only LV4 has elevators, so far.

[chocolatekake]

Yeah, I'm not sure about using it for speedruns. Maybe there's something it'd be good for, but I can't really think of any myself.

Also, I ran through it quick and regarding Sherlock on level 2:
The answers are "Museum Director Frumin" then "2:10". He gives you 3 mikrochips for solving it, but if you find the sword first you won't get them. Talking to him after finding the sword gives you an additional 4. Those 4 are the only ones you can get if you find the sword first.

And if you wanted another door code for your list:
Level 4 - GDR Bretzel has a grate covering a vent which can be unlocked with 999. It contains a Nagant 1936.

Also of course, the bridge code being 666, but I don't know if you wanted to list that as well.

[Sabin Stargem]

I wasn't aware of the bridge code. I have been hacking the side door. Anyhow, your stuff is added to the post. (EDIT: Ah, you mean the code is for LV5. My bad.)

By the way, does Sherlock on LV4 give out chips or quests? He said that I bested Watson by the time I got to him

[chocolatekake]

Originally posted by Sabin Stargem:

By the way, does Sherlock on LV4 give out chips or quests? He said that I bested Watson by the time I got to him

Only Sherlock mysteries on Lv. 1-3, you got them all.

[Sabin Stargem]

Thanks for the info. :)

[mab]

Random tip to add
If you never touch a psi power, then your UI never gets updated to show the psi powers menu
This is also tied to when the sanity percentage shows up on screen. So if you never interact with the system, then you never have to deal with the sanity mechanic

Therefore, according to this game, the easiest way to stay sane is to be an atheist

[Sabin Stargem]

Hm. That might actually mean that the player should skip PSI until LV3 has been wrapped up, then collect the PSI powers. The fungal deer are seriously punishing if you go Rambo on them. If I do another run of the game, I will have to jot down the PSI locations.

Let's see...I can't quite recall all the details, here is what I vaguely recall.

LV2 - By the armory's table.
LV2 - In the Stalingrad exhibit.

LV3 - Outside the elevator.
LV3 - In the deer forest, roughly midway. There is a hole in the wall at the beginning, go to the other side, and search from there.

Anyone find something special about the hedge maze on LV3? I thought there might be something where the blood splotch was on the maps, but no dice.

[chocolatekake]

Originally posted by Sabin Stargem:

Hm. That might actually mean that the player should skip PSI until LV3 has been wrapped up, then collect the PSI powers. The fungal deer are seriously punishing if you go Rambo on them.

I usually just skip them entirely, for speedruns at least. Specifically for that area, but also because I think one ending path is faster, but it results in your sanity being forced to 0. I haven't actually timed the different endings, but it's also much easier to take the forced sanity drop in my opinion.

Originally posted by Sabin Stargem:

LV2 - By the armory's table.
LV2 - In the Stalingrad exhibit.

LV3 - Outside the elevator.
LV3 - In the deer forest, roughly midway. There is a hole in the wall at the beginning, go to the other side, and search from there.

In order, those are:
Spontaneous Combustion (fire)
Molecular Reconstruction (teleport)

Technomagic Infusion (lower hacking requirement)
Somatic Mine (portable mine)

There's also
Psionic Cell Reconstruction (heal) - Lv. 2 Weapons Testing Locker
Porphyric Complexion (lifesteal) - Lv. 4 Circular room on South end of floor 2 Archives Appendix

I don't remember where the other 2 are though.

Originally posted by Sabin Stargem:

Anyone find something special about the hedge maze on LV3? I thought there might be something where the blood splotch was on the maps, but no dice.

I found nothing in the few times I've run through there. It's a bit hard to track your location since the glonass map isn't quite aligned properly though, so I'm not 100% sure I've seen all the branches.

[Sabin Stargem]

A thought: without PSI powers, the downside of the Cannibalism trait is nulled. Aside from using Combustion to light up the dark, I wouldn't miss PSI.

Seems like you are speedrunning the game, ChocolateKake. Did your runs ever include the secret area on LV3? I was wondering if Ural does something special if you fulfill his request of not shutting down the game.

[chocolatekake]

Originally posted by Sabin Stargem:

Seems like you are speedrunning the game, ChocolateKake. Did your runs ever include the secret area on LV3? I was wondering if Ural does something special if you fulfill his request of not shutting down the game.

Only so far as to get the achievement so I could make a guide for it, not going for world records or anything (though I haven't seen anyone else with a single segment playthrough and it's not on any speedrunning sites I've seen, so I suppose I could claim it by default lol)

Regarding your question, yes, I think it's faster than running around for the other side quests and such. My route completes four side quests with that being one of them. There were some exploits that allowed for multiple mikrochip rewards from the same source, but they were patched out.

And Ural doesn't show up again after he leaves, just has the one appearance.

[Sabin Stargem]

Darn. Was hoping that Ural allowed for a special ending.

[Saedriss]

Wow, despite finishing the game twice I did not know about the LEVEL 4 Furnace, I went through it twice, dealing the cold all long (minor level 4 spoiler)

[Sabin Stargem]

Kinda strange location where that part was found. You would think it would be on LV2 or LV1 in the late game, where such items are expected to be found. Furnaces and libraries are not things that I would put next to each other, let alone on a sub, far away from engineering.

[Mostly Harmless]

Just want to mention that the final psi power, Exanimus Projectile, is in the admiral's office directly across from the Pretzel shop (where the security camera is). It's in a secret room behind a bookcase in the office to the left of the piano. It's directly above the bookcase entrance, so it's easy to miss.