During your first few missions, you should build up your team. This can be done in several ways. Mainly, you should get a team of 3-4 agents, a basic weapon for each (0-1 armor piercing), and some augments (recommended to be armor-piercing on melee weapons, additional AP, or power generation).

Like agents, you will only start with 2 programs installed on Incognita. You should choose them based on your team, as some agents will affect or be affected by your program choices. What you choose will also depend on the game mode, as this affects certain abilities and programs, and you may spend more or less time at low alarm levels.

Generic items you should keep on at least 1 team member are the Charge Pack and MedGel. Most missions you won't need them, but on Expert Mode (especially when set to zero rewinds), these should be available at all times. Without a MedGel, you can still drag a downed agent to a Teleporter and that agent will be revived and usable on the next mission.

Usually, you will find some NanoFab machines and plenty of Corporate Safes along the way, so don't feel pressured to go on a mission just as a shopping trip. Aim for new team members and augments first.

Mission Pros and Cons

***Once you reach the target of your mission, extra security measures are taken***

Cyber Lab - you can augment your agents here or add an augment slot in exchange for knocking them out for 2 turns. Each agent has one pre-installed augment and one free slot. Agents can have a max of 4 augments (or 6 on Agent Sharp). Once you hack into the augment grafters, you can choose to install the augment offered, or "toss it" and install one extra slot. Afterward, that machine becomes unusable.

Always a good mission option unless you are running low on other supplies, or have maxxed out the augments on your agents. Hopefully, you won't need to remove an agent's augments, but you can do that in a special room on these missions if you bring a Vault Key. Don't forget, you can buy augments at NanoFabs, and install them without a machine (given you have free augment slots). ProTip: Agents knocked out from installing an augment can often be left behind a machine alone (away from doors), while teammates explore the rest of the facility. They don't need a babysitter. :)

Detention Center - this is where you will recruit extra team members. If your team is full, you can rescue a prisoner and get a ransom $$$. Bring an extra Neural Disruptor to hand off onto your new agent, to make the escape easier. I don't suggest going here after you get a full team. The rescue missions are a bit of a pain, as hostages have low AP.

Executive Terminal - you are unlikely to need a reroll of the mission sites you are given to choose from. Only go here if you need to kill time, or haven't got a low-level selection of missions for what you need immediately (ie. getting team members from prison, augmenting your team).

Financial Suite - here you will need to locate a rich executive's office and knock him out to generate a vault card. This takes around 5 turns, and you can't move the agent who knocked him out far from his body until the brainscan is done. Make sure that agent has an "unencumbered" item slot so you can sprint to the Teleporter with your goodies in a pinch. Unused Vault cards can be sold for a profit. They are disposable on use though.

NanoFab Vestibule - these are good sites to visit when gearing up for a big mission. As Central suggests, you should bring lots of credits. While there may be common versions of the device in the building, there is a main one which Central will notify you of when you open the door to the room it's in. THAT machine holds a dozen or so items, a variety of augments and weapons.

Security Dispatch - you can easily get a few weapons or stims for free. Just look around for the door unlock... A cheaper alternative to NanoFab machine missions, if you are low on credits.

Server Farms - helpful for building up a list of programs for Incognita to use. If you have crummy programs you've acquired, this is a place you can sell them, too. Like NanoFabs, you can find basic versions of the Server Terminals on other missions.

Vault - you should always have a Vault key when visiting these to make the most of your trip. Incidentally, you can steal from the research capsules - as they are outside of the vault doors. If you REALLY need money - but don't have a Vault key - you can still go on one of these missions and bring back some goodies. Otherwise, you can steal your way through regular missions to fund team equipment, etc. Flash grenades stolen from guards can be sold $300 a pop, if you still need money. You can also steal semi-useless items like EMP packs and Accelerator chips and sell them to NanoFab machines or Monst3r for cash.

As you fail or complete campaigns, you will gain experience points and unlock new playable characters. Some characters will be unlocked by completing the game at certain difficulty levels. In your very early gameplay, you are forced to work with Decker and Internationale. After you first venture into corporate espionage, you will have a choice of whichever 2 agents you've unlocked.

The other 2 slots can be filled in Detention Centers. You don't get to choose who appears there, so make your starting choices count. If you want to use an agent's alternate loadout or "archive" version, make sure to choose it from the start. It seems you cannot rescue the archive version of agents.

Starting Agent Suggestions

Banks - she will ensure you never have to interact with guards to get a key card. Makes gameplay a bit faster, as you won't have to pickpocket guards, or go around locked doors to find a new route. Her Custom Paralyzer helps you move around freely, knowing a room you've downed a guard in will be safe to re-enter a few turns later. +1 Anarchy lets you pilfer guards without causing a scene (same as Prism).

Central - if you have the privilege of unlocking her, she can benefit from installing daemons. You can make a diabolical power-generation combo with her and a program that Incognita can use called Faust. Besides, you'll run into alot of daemons on missions. It's just more convenient to hack into infected devices than try to play defensive. Then again, I'm lazy and hacker rhymes with slacker :)

Dr. Xu - he can disable most early-game drones, heart monitors, and corporate safes. Allows you to save power otherwise used on hacking into devices. Allows you to neutralize threats without increasing the alarm. (Warning: After the Quantum Reservoir mission, heart monitors and devices might be reinforced - making Dr. Xu less helpful).

Internationale - her wall-hacking abilities make you able to find where things like room cameras. Hack into them to get a glimpse into nearby rooms without having to use 1 AP to peer through doors. Remote Hacking helps you save AP, because you won't have to be right next to a console to gain its power.

Nika - sometimes, missions will leave you waiting a few turns shadowing a guard until your weapon recharges. Nika fixes that problem with an additional attack, and +3AP per attack. The Predictive Brawling augment makes her a great room-scouting agent.

Prism - she's a decent starter, with the ability to generate enough PWR to hack another firewall or two. Mostly, I like her +1 Anarchy, since you can pilfer guards without causing a scene (same as Banks).

Sharp, Archived version - augments aren't exactly something you purchase if you don't like them, but you can only find so many armor-piercing weapons and augments in one run. Consider getting 3 cheap, mediocre augments to unlock Sharp's ability to +1 melee weapon armor piercing, or go crazy and get 6 augments to unlock another +1.

Your main goal for now is to collect resources. You will notice a variety of missions with a difficulty level and flight time listed on each. You can try to go on many short missions, a few long ones, or somewhere inbetween. When you are down to just a few hours left on the clock, you can still go on a longer flight and get away with it. Weird, but possible.

Your standard mission will start you off with 10/20 PWR (power), which can be used to hack devices or generate electrical weapons. This power can be replenished at consoles remotely using Internationale, or by touching it with an agent in one of the cardinal directions (up, right, down, left) relative to the console. When at max PWR, don't touch anymore consoles - the meter doesn't overfill, so the PWR would be wasted.

In your normal map interface, you can control your agents using AP (action points), while Incognita's Mainframe can control devices in the building using any installed program you select. The ideal way to play missions is cautiously, without engaging any enemies. Peer through doors before entering them. In some rooms, you cannot see the source watching an area of tiles unless you open the door, THEN look around. Rotate the map as necessary, especially during combat. Hide around corners or behind objects as you end your turn. Most mission goals are able to be failed, except for obtaining the Power Cells in the extended campaign.

Cameras, guards and drones, etc. can alert the facility to your presence. Get what you need from the building while scouting out the Teleporter to exit. When you are close to completing a mission, a camera scan or guard alerted to your sprinting is no big deal. These mistakes are ones to avoid early in a mission, when you need the alarm penalties to stay low while you explore the map.

Resources such as credits and items can be stolen from Corporate Safes, guards, purchased from Nanofab "vending" machines, etc. Make sure to stockpile things to give rescued MIA agents, as they only come with their signature augment. At the end of a mission, you are given the option to purchase skill upgrades. While most skills are helpful even when spread thin on any agent, I find it's best to max Hacking and Anarchy points onto their own agent. (Preferrably, one who already has points in the respective skill slot).

This one's always a nail-biter. In a 2-part mission, you need to retrieve a new house for the AI. Both parts will require you to let Monst3r leave first, though the teleporter is immediately ready to transport everyone else. After this expedition, every subsequent mission will require you to bring back a Universal Power Cell in addition to the other mission goals.

Part 1

Goal: hack into 2 switches & unlock the Teleporter.

Your success in Part 1 will rely on scouting rooms to see which ones have a switch. If you look through a door, and don't see a switch or connecting door, move onto the next room. There's no point in camping out in the Teleporter room, unless you are very confident you don't need Monst3r to engage anyone in combat. Internationale is very handy in part 1, as the target is hackable. In a way, you may see through walls - instead of needing to peek through every door.

Part 2

Goal: hack into the laboratory security, unlock the Quantum Reservoir, and return it to the jet.

You must wait until Turn 20 before anyone can leave the building. Try hitting hard and fast. Pinning threats and dragging them slowly to the Teleporter room can help avoid alerting guards and sending them on a hunt all around the complex. Just...not the Omni Harbingers. More on that later. Camping out in the Teleporter room is a very bad idea, as you will probably need Monst3r's weapon with Armor Piercing 3 (see notes about Omni Soldiers below).

You need to keep the alarm low as long as possible. Avoid wasting resources poking around at Corporate Safes unless you've sent Monst3r away with the Quantum Reservoir (again, around Turn 20, which is around Alarm level 4, at least). Once the Elite Enforcers latch onto your location, you will need to forget about getting back to the Teleporter, and keep a watchful eye on guard patrol patterns. It's safe to hide behind most objects without being spotted. Just make sure to take control of drones, as they are cheap to hack, but can easily blow your cover.

Beware of Omni Soldiers as their heavy armor cannot be hacked. Avoid daemons and alarm penalties that increase guard armor - the Soldiers' armor can easily get bumped up to level 4, which is often beyond your weapons' penetration abilities. Soldiers already pinned will still be pinned while their armor increases. Omni Protectors are not as scary as they look. Their armor can be completely stripped, and will no longer be increased with firewall-toting daemons, however, generic armor increases will still apply when installed by daemons. Hacking Omni Protectors down to an armor level of 2-3 is advised. Avoid engaging Omni Harbingers, as they increase the alarm too much. Just let them be, their patrol pattern takes a few turns to complete.

When you get to the laboratory, make sure to end your turn, replenish your AP, and ready a Sprint before hacking into the security terminal and Quantum Reservoir case. This way, any daemons installed (and those devices USUALLY contain daemons) will not hurt your agents' AP. This is assuming no enemies or sound bugs are nearby to penalize you dashing around the facility!

Alarm levels have become more dangerous, as you may have noticed in the Quantum Reservoir Mission. You will notice it may be hard to get what you need and leave, though you should do just that - get the goods and leave. Almost every mission will have sound bugs around the level, making it tricky to sprint. Check Incognita's interface to find nearby sound bugs. Sounds detected will increase the alarm - including those from firearms.

Be cautious and make sure to peer through doors before opening them (unless you can otherwise predict what's behind them). Don't get too greedy with the Corporate Safes, as dawdling around can often cost you an agent. If you need to stick around longer to collect non-mission goal resources, pass off the Power Cell to an agent, send that agent (or two) back to the jet, and play Lone Ranger.

The mission goal states your agents' survival is optional, though they actually need to play bodyguard. Monst3r & Central should be sent to scout separate areas, with at least one agent in tow, or one agent waiting around behind each in the halls to smack investigating guards. Leave Central near the Mainframe terminal while Monst3r hacks the door codes at a terminal elsewhere in the facility.

You should have 6 agents in all, so the mission shouldn't be too hard to handle. The enemies are no worse than you've seen in the Quantum Reservoir Mission (see tips on that, above). Just be cautious - most guards have patrol routes, so don't leave agents out in the open when you end your turn.

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