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strategy:financial_investment [2020/07/27 13:38] andrewstrategy:financial_investment [2022/01/19 22:06] (current) – [Anarchy upgrades] andrew
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 Some strategic decisions are **financial investments** in the sense that they cost [[:credits]] in the present but give back more credits in the future. Financial investments can be compared by how many [[:missions:]] it takes for them to break even and then start producing a profit. Some strategic decisions are **financial investments** in the sense that they cost [[:credits]] in the present but give back more credits in the future. Financial investments can be compared by how many [[:missions:]] it takes for them to break even and then start producing a profit.
  
-Investments are generally best made early in the campaign, so that there is more time to receive a bigger return on the investment, and because credits are generally more valuable the earlier you get them.+Investments are generally best made early in the campaign, so that there is more time to receive a bigger return on the investment, and because credits are generally more valuable the earlier you get them. When making multiple financial investments, each investment starts paying for itself as soon as you make it, even if one investment is a prerequisite for another; for example, if you pay for two [[#Anarchy upgrades]] at the same time, then they pay for themselves in parallel.
  
 +Note that most financial investments also have non-financial costs, such as inventory space, [[:augment]] sockets, or [[:AP]]. The analysis here ignores these costs since it is not feasible to assign them values in credits.
 ===== Anarchy upgrades ===== ===== Anarchy upgrades =====
  
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 Upgrading an agent's Anarchy skill is therefore not good as a purely financial investment, but can be worth it so that the agent can also use [[:items:]] with an Anarchy skill level requirement, such as [[:items:Buster Chips]] or [[:items:Paralyzers]]. Investments in Anarchy\ 3 and 4 are better if you choose [[:missions:Chief Financial Suite]] missions, where the [[:guards:Financial Executive]] has many more credits to steal than typical guards; and an investment in Anarchy\ 5 is also better if you steal [[:items:Charge Packs]] or [[:items:Med Gels]] to use them rather than sell them, and you otherwise would be buying them. Upgrading an agent's Anarchy skill is therefore not good as a purely financial investment, but can be worth it so that the agent can also use [[:items:]] with an Anarchy skill level requirement, such as [[:items:Buster Chips]] or [[:items:Paralyzers]]. Investments in Anarchy\ 3 and 4 are better if you choose [[:missions:Chief Financial Suite]] missions, where the [[:guards:Financial Executive]] has many more credits to steal than typical guards; and an investment in Anarchy\ 5 is also better if you steal [[:items:Charge Packs]] or [[:items:Med Gels]] to use them rather than sell them, and you otherwise would be buying them.
  
-If you do not already have an agent with Anarchy 2, then upgrading to Anarchy 3 is more expensive and takes even longer to pay off; if you have more than one agent with an Anarchy 2 or higher, then it is financially best to upgrade just one of them, and use that agent to steal.+If you do not already have an agent with Anarchy2, then upgrading to Anarchy3 is more expensive and takes even longer to pay off; if you have more than one agent with Anarchy2 or higher, then it is financially best to upgrade just one of them, and use that agent to steal.
  
 ===== Econ Chip ===== ===== Econ Chip =====
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 ===== Vault Access Card ===== ===== Vault Access Card =====
  
-A [[:items:Vault Access Card]] can sometimes be [[:buying from Monst3r|bought from Monst3r]] after the first mission in the campaign for 400\ [[:credits]]. This can be a purely financial investment, if the Vault Access Card is used in a [[:missions:Vault]] mission to get more [[:credits]] from [[:mainframe devices:Deposit Boxes]] or [[:items:Research Experiments]].+A [[:items:Vault Access Card]] can sometimes be [[:buying from Monst3r|bought from Monst3r]] after the first mission in the campaign for 400\ [[:credits]]. This can be a purely financial investment, if the Vault Access Card is used in a [[:missions:Vault]] mission to get more [[:credits]] from [[:mainframe devices:Deposit Boxes]] or [[:items:Research Experiments]] in the inner vault.
  
-Having a Vault Access Card to loot the inner vault is worth an extra 800--1100\ credits in [[:modes:Beginner]] or [[:modes:Experienced]] modes, or 600--825\ credits in [[:modes:Expert]] or [[:modes:Expert Plus]] modes, compared to just looting the outer vault. Therefore, if there is a Vault mission on the [[:world map]] already, then the Vault Access Card takes 0.4 or 0.6 missions respectively to pay for itself; this is one of the best possible financial investments in the game. If there is no Vault on the world map then it may take a few missions to find one, but buying the Vault Access Card is still generally a good investment, although it is a much higher-variance one than other investments.+Having a Vault Access Card to loot the inner vault is worth an extra 800--1100\ credits in [[:modes:Beginner]] or [[:modes:Experienced]] modes, or 600--825\ credits in [[:modes:Expert]] or [[:modes:Expert Plus]] modes, compared to just looting the outer vault. Therefore, if there is a Vault mission on the [[:world map]] already, then the Vault Access Card takes 0.4 or 0.6 missions respectively to pay for itself; this is one of the best possible financial investments in the game. If there is no Vault on the world map then it may take a few missions to find one, but buying the Vault Access Card is still generally a good investment, although it is a much higher-variance one than most other investments.
  
 The Vault Access Card can alternatively be used in a [[:missions:Cybernetics Lab]] mission, but buying it for this purpose is not a financial investment. The Vault Access Card can alternatively be used in a [[:missions:Cybernetics Lab]] mission, but buying it for this purpose is not a financial investment.
 +
 +===== Brimstone =====
 +
 +The program [[:programs:Brimstone]] passively gives a +10% chance of [[:daemons:#daemon reversal]], so that the [[:algorithms:Fortune]] algorithm is triggered more often when Brimstone is installed. Each Fortune gives the agency 200\ [[:credits]], so in principle buying Brimstone for 450\ credits can be partly a financial investment in addition to the other benefits of having Brimstone installed.
 +
 +On average, 67.5 [[:daemons:]] will be triggered before Brimstone pays for itself via Fortune. If the agency triggers an average of 3--7 daemons per mission, then Brimstone breaks even as a financial investment after roughly 10--23 missions. This makes Brimstone a poor choice for a purely financial investment, but it is comparable to [[#Anarchy upgrades]]. Of course, Brimstone also has the non-financial benefits of breaking firewalls and protecting against harmful daemons.
 +
 +When playing with [[:programs:Ritual]] from the [[:Nintendo Switch edition]] of the game as a [[:loadout#programs|starting program]], the agency might trigger many more daemons; more than 20 per mission is not unlikely. In this case, Brimstone is expected to pay for itself in about 3 missions, and its other benefits are also significantly more useful.
  
strategy/financial_investment.1595857086.txt.gz · Last modified: 2020/07/27 13:38 by andrew