[Idea] Class: Agent

[NephilimNexus]

Not to be confused with already existing Agent class which is not compatible with LW2. And I know this idea (and name) has been done to death, but I like to think that this is actually a fairly fresh take on the idea. So please bear with me. I'm no modder, so I'm just throwing it out here for actual modders to consider/tweak/play around with.

Base Character:
Tradecraft perk (reduces infiltration time).
Primary Weapon: SMG only (can change, see below).
Secondary Weapon: Knife (same as gunner).
Special Restriction: Begins with only 2 equipment slots and can't use offensive grenades in either.

Three perk trees are Infiltration, Sabotage and Assassination, as follows:

Infiltration Tree
1 - Phantom: Same as Shinobi default ability.
2 - Violin Case: Suppressors gain double normal bonus.
3 - Ghostwalker: Same as Shinobi ability.
4 - Blanked: Passive ability. Reduces detection radius of mechanical enemies & lamp post scanners by 60%.
5 - Misdirection: Passive ability. Having the Agent on a mission adds 1 turn to the timer. Stacks.
6 - Conceal: Same as normal.
7 - Shadowstep: Same as normal.

Sabotage Tree
1 - Hack: Same as Specialist ability, 50 base skill and +10 per level. However lack of a Gremlin complicates things.
2 - TacVest: Opens 3rd equipment slot, which can be used for ammo or an offensive grenade only.
3 - Redirect: Any successful hack adds +3 to the mission timer.
4 - DemoCharge: Once per mission the Agent may place a demo charge in the same square they are in as a free action that does not break concealment. It may then be detonated at any time (this costs an action and breaks concealment). The explosion is the same as a Rocket, and is upgraded along with that tech (if any).
5 - PlanB: Passive ability. Having the Agent on the mission lowers the evac timer by 2. Does not stack.
6 - Failsafe: No penalty for failed hacks.
7 - GPSScramble: Passive ability. Enemy reinforcement pods will be delayed by an extra turn. Stacks up to +2 turns.

Assassin Tree
1 - HollowPoint: Pistols do +2 damage to unarmored, organic enemies.
2 - ToolKit: Opens 3rd equipment slot, which can be used for ammo or wearable only.
3 - Hitman: Ignore armor on organic foes and +20 critical, if flanking them. Stacks with HollowPoint (i.e. treats them as unarmored for +2 pistol damage). Works with all weapons.
4 - Executioner: Same as normal perk.
5 - Long Arm: Can now equip a Sniper Rifle instead of SMG if desired. Does not confer any other bonuses, however.
6 - Precision Shot: Same as normal perk.
7 - Shadowfall: Same as the weapon perk, but can be used with normal pistols.


So as you can see, the real purpose of this unit is as background support more than anything else. With very limited weaponry and a lack of real "power kill" options (relative to other classes) and nothing in the way of damage mitigation perks, this is and always will be a very fragile unit in combat terms.

In the end, the Agent is a weak character who makes your other characters more powerful. They infiltrate fast, give you more time on missions, evac you faster, and provide distractions from your main group with carefully placed charges and the occasional well-placed shot in someone's back. This is the core of the difference: The Agent isn't about managing enemies, rather they're about managing the everything else going on.

[ShockmasterFred]

Some good thought put into this, one major problem though is that first you limited the class to 2 inventory slots, and then second, you put a bunch of pistol perks in one of the trees, which means they have to use one of the 2 inventory slots on a pistol. That would make me not use this class. Just something to think about. Not saying it's a bad class, I like some of your ideas and appreciate the thought you put into it. Just taking the time to write it out and share it is very cool, and appreciated by me. The pistol thing though would be a big stumbling block for me, as far as using the class however.

[Zerikin]

Interesting idea. I'd like to see a something similar to this only with a holo targetter as the secondary.

[Arcalane]

I'm seeing too much overlap with the Shinobi and Officer perks, myself. I mean, I could train a Shinobi up as an Officer and get more or less the same end effect in several cases. Nevermind that if this class was an Officer and/or ran alongside an Officer, you'd have this ridiculous level of combining abilities that are specifically not meant to be combined -- you are capped at one effective Officer per mission for a reason.

Also there's a slight problem in that the SMG uses the same base weapontype as the Assault Rifle, afaik. If a class can use an AR, it can use an SMG - and vice versa. Seperating the two out is surely possible, but would be a lot of under-the-hood work.

Your Infiltration tree also makes it possible to obtain 0% or even negative concealment radius vs mechs (SMG is an automatic -20%, Ghostwalker is -40%, Blanked is -60% = -120%) which is also pretty silly.

Unlocking Hack as the first level of Sabotage is also more or less pointless -- every soldier with a Hack skill of at least 1 can hack into objects, and as far as I'm aware you can't hack adjacent mechs or towers -- otherwise it would be possible to have missions you can't actually complete. You could swap this out with something else and just bake the hack bonuses into general class progression. Redirect is also pretty strong -- and there's that officer overlap again. There's a reason you only get one officer on a team.

[Manifest]

I'm seeing too much overlap with the Shinobi and Officer perks, myself. I mean, I could train a Shinobi up as an Officer and get more or less the same end effect in several cases.

Definitely overlaps in a lot of design space.

[Devon_v]

Yeah, gotta say I already use Shinobi that way. Most missions my Shinobi never actually attack anything, and yet they are the most important member of the team.

[NephilimNexus]

Interesting idea. I'd like to see a something similar to this only with a holo targetter as the secondary.

That's a very good idea, actually.

As for the overlap thing: It only overlaps if you go all-stealth. It is entirely possible to build an Agent with no real stealth perks at all. The emphasis on pistol and restricted item slots in intentional to emphasize not being a direct-combat role. It is basically a non-medical support class, which is something lacking outside of the Officer branch. Keep in mind that if you don't make your first room a Guerrilla Tactics School then you probably aren't going to see officers on your roster for a long time. This can help mitigate that somewhat.