what's more profitable in non lethal playthroug?

[q51]

so i've just started to play this game for the 1st time. will try to get all the achievements in one playthrough* so i need to do the best possible... everything. and, as someone who doesn't know basics of the game, i have this dilema.

will the game award me somehow if i even won't knock down any anemy?
if i knock down enemy, i can loot him and i get xp points. will i have something instead after the mission if i avoid any action with any anemy? cause that would is super stealthy, isn't it?

by now i knocked down 1 enemy in 1st mission and got 750 points "ghost bonus". would it be bigger without the one?

* i know i need some knock outs for achievements, i will do this with load / save.

[talgaby]

Nope. The most profitable option in this game is to faff around, melee takedown every enemy (preferably in pairs after you unlock the reflex booster), and hack everything. Literally everything.

Ghost means you were not seen. If you bonk them hard in the head without them seeing you, you still get Ghost.

By the way, it is nigh impossible to do all achievements in one run, even with saves. You would spend more time on reading guides and trying to understand what they mean than just doing the required 2-3 full runs.

[q51]

thank u for reply, talgaby. :)

so there's nothing like 'super ghost' in the game, a pity. imho it's harder to pass them all without any interactions.
i'll have to go through 1st mission for the 3rd time.

any other advices for newbie?

[laff]

You won't be able to get them all in the same play through. I'd save pacifist for the second play through and go for stuff like doctorate on the first (also give you a chance to learn the game). For pacifist, I think headshots with tranquilizer darts end up being lethal, you really want to avoid as much contact as possible and avoid moving bodies if possible.

If you have missing link and are going for those achievements, don't even bother picking up any weapons for Factory Zero (immediately drop them if you do).

[talgaby]

Advices for a newbie?

Pick non-lethal or lethal right from the bat and stick to it. Make sure your augs accompany that.

Make sure to spend 3 praxis points on a fully upgraded Typhoon before leaving Derelict Row through its helipad, if you play stealthy. You will need that to kill the first boss (and all other bosses).

Try to level hacking to at least level 4 as soon as you finish the tutorial hostage rescue mission.

If you want pacifist, you cannot kill anyone but the bosses. This includes the soldiers in the pre-credits tutorial—you have to sneak through all rooms.

The Icarus and high-jump augs are your best friends in traversing any map and looking for stuff. They are mandatory for 100%, too. So is level 5 hacking.

If you move around furniture so NPCs do not have a direct line of sight to you, you can hack anything without raising suspicion. This includes the police station armoury too.

[_Soj_]

Also,

1. For a first run, go with "Give Me Deus Ex", so you can go ballz out and get most achmnts that way

2. Then go stealth to get "Pacifist" and "Foxiest" in the same run (just make sure you read up on all the pitfalls first )

3. Regardless of the type of run, always choose "non-lethal" so you get the relatively expensive Tranq Rifle right off the bat, so you can sell it a little while later for something else, if need be...

4. Typhoon isn't necessary to kill the first boss. Lots of strategic nades and gas tanks will do it. Unless you're in a hurry...

[talgaby]

There are enough weapons around him, but let's just say, on my first run, I already did my usual DX "no weapons" approach and it was a bit funny taking him on with exactly one SMG and the three grenades. Had to load the level starting save to get a few weapons from the downed soldiers.
Typhoon is just easier, even if 3 praxis points is a bit of a waste in the first half of the game.

[q51]

thanks guys for advices. i think i will try to get 100% anyway, still i can change my mind. by now i'm doing 'detroit 1' for the 2nd time, to get it better. :)
i have a question, though: what about knocking down cops (i need to remove some of them in order to hack some doors). if i drag them to vent shafts and noone will find them 'sleeping', will the game punish me somehow at the end?

[_Soj_]

Regarding getting 'Pacifist', avoid dragging them too far or stuffing them in vents -- both tend to cause them to die...

[talgaby]

Nah, I often put the entire station to sleep. If you have tons of time to drag stuff around a trusty reflex to hit that quick load button, then you can even knock out the entire first floor without being detected.

[red255]

easiest way to get ghost is to knock everyone out before the game checks for you being in a ghost scenario.

but yeah the non-lethal takedown is 50 XP as I recall, 125 for a double takedown, so 10 or so takedowns would meet the non-lethal approach.

though not all areas give you XP for takedowns. the first city it starts with you raiding the police station then taking on a gang, if you take on the gang first, knock them all out, then do the police station before the gang quest starts, you wander over to the gang area and complete its objective, you'll get ghost for it because all the people who would detect you are knocked out.

Gotta haul all their guns back individually to sell them though, so you can buy the praxis kits. I'm normally nearly maxed by the end of the game. I usually max the things I use pretty early, I get all the cash I need in the first area. knowing where the hidden praxis kits in the map are is important.

hacking everything and getting the XP bonuses during the hacks is important. those can be hundreds of XP. couple hacks are more than the ghost bonus.

[Drain]

The game was made for pacifist. You get more XP for non lethal takedowns, and it's quieter to do. The stun weapons are quiet, and 2 of the grenades don't kill people. There's also several quests where you are required not to kill anyone. These quests are more difficult if you're not built for pacifist.

Lethal takedowns reward less XP, and make noise. Every lethal gun instantly alerts every enemy in the area with its noise. Even if its silenced, you usually can't shoot anyone without still being detected. Where you really get the stick is with rifles. The silenced rifle is capped with pitiful damage, making it pretty much worthless. The good damage rifle however cannot have a silencer put on it. Naturally stealth with a grenade launcher or minigun is out of the question.

But the reason why the game is so good is because unlike other stealth games, you don't have to play it that way. You can turn your character into a terminator if you want, and slaughter everyone. By the end of the game, you can have every aim aug, full armor, cloaking, typhoon, carrying around a gatling gun with several crates of bullets. Once you get the gatling gun, put ALL your weapon mods into that, especially capacity, because the ammo crates are huge. You could switch to the laser or plasma near the end, but you won't get as much ammo for them, and by then, your gatling is covered in mods.

[q51]

so i did it. 100% in my 1st playthrough (in my 1st dx ever)!
thank u guys so much!
i also used 2 steam guides, 2 youtube.com videos for boss fights (1st and last) and my suspiciousness (about some medical invitation).
i think i could write my own '100 in 1 walkthrough (with minimum spoilers) guide', but it's a big job, not sure i got so much time and zeal. will see.