I.M.P. Custom Merc Personality Test

[NKF]

Just splitting this off the discussion in the FAQ thread. For a brief run-down, we were talking about how most on-line guides only seem to want to concentrate on building the custom merc with various combinations of stealth and night ops. Certainly very good combinations, but not helpful for those who want to try the different available professions.

 

The answer is to obviously brew up our own set of collection of quiz answers that are the most likely to produce a custom merc with the desired skill set.

 

Thought I'd start off with ambidextrous skill. Note that this skill doesn't appear to be able to become (expert). I guess all it does is remove the penalty for firing with both hands, and doesn't have a cumulative effect like all the other skills. A mix-in skill. Anyhow this listing is just to ensure that you only get ambidextrous.

 

Bold entries are a must. Other entries with multiple choices show the "safe" choices that don't introduce any other combat/technical skill that might cause a dual skill. They do list the available personality/attitude options you can choose from.

 

Ambidextrous

Q01: Male: 2(Loner), 6 (Optimist) Female: 1 (Ambidextrous)

Q02: 3 (Psycho), 4 (Friendly)

Q03: 2 (Arrogant), 4 (Normal)

Q04: 2 (Friendly), 3 (Normal), 4 (Asshole), 5 (Loner)

 

Q05: 1 (Coward), 3 (Aggressive), 2 and 4 (Nothing)

Q06: 1 (Coward), 3 (Claustrophobic), 4 and 5 (Nothing)

Q07: 4 (Nothing)

Q08: 1 (Ambidextrous)

 

Q09: 1 (Forgetful), 2 (Nothing), 3 (Pessimist), 4 (Nervous)

Q10: 1 (Nothing), 2 (Pessimist), 3 (Asshole),4 (Nervous)

Q11: 1 (Nothing), 3 (Aggressive), 4 (Normal)

Q12: Male: 3, 7 and 8 (Nothing) Female: 1 (Ambidextrous)

 

Q13: 1 (Forgetful), 2 and 3 (Normal), 4 (Heat Intolerant)

Q14: 1 (Claustrophobic), 2 (Normal), 3 (Heat Intolerant), 4 (Nothing)

Q15: 2 (Ambidextrous)

Q16: All choices (Nothing)

 

Female custom mercenaries get a grand total of 4 ambidextrous hits in the test, while male custom mercenaries only get two. I tried setting up a merc with the above choices half a dozen times, and always got an ambidextrous mercenary. Granted this isn't much use, but it gives me a good idea of how to build the other professions.

 

Edit: Actually, looking at this, I think it's possible to set it up as list of 16 questions that only cover personality/attribute selections. That'll result in a custom merc with no skills at all. You'll mainly need to do then is decide what sort of personality and attitude you want to set up. Then use that as a base set of answers for all of your custom merc builds.

 

From there, for a merc with expert skills, answer two answers that relate to the skill you want. To get a dual skill mercenary, all you then need to do is answer one related question for either skill. For example an auto/ambixtrous merc need only answer Q4:1 and Q15:2.

 

- NKF

[FullAuto]

Next game I want an ambidextrous thrower, two knives at once.

[Knan]

Or two grenades?

 

(Does ambidextrous knifing work?)

[FullAuto]

Your merc's nickname would have to be 'Mincer'. Or perhaps 'Chopper'. But then, the former is quite effeminate and the latter is taken.

 

Hmm. I shall have to think about this.

[NKF]

Can you use two knives/machetes or throw two throwing knives or grenades at once? Never tried that.

 

I do know it works fine with pistols. Great fun with dual Glock 18's (or Glock 18 for primary and Glock 17 for secondary - you can't burst fire with two guns at once). Barrel extenders and spring-rods a must. However I think the best weapons to go ambidextrous with would probably be the Automags - you only get two in the game anyhow.

 

- NKF

[Knan]

MAC-10s are good, as FullAuto shows in the other thread.

[FullAuto]

Aye, MAC-10s or MP5ks if you want to use the more common and cheaper 9mm round.

[NKF]

I recall that most of the submachine guns were pretty good. But I guess if the mercenary is good enough, has moderate accuracy and of a sufficient level, even the S&W .38's can be quite deadly.

 

Been rediscovering the wonders that is knife throwing. Cleaned out almost the entire residential area of the Alma mine with just a pair of throwing knives thanks to some UV Goggles I found in an adjacent sector. No, can't throw two at once it seems, but then again only one is needed for a chance at a stealthy insta-kill.

 

- NKF

[Zombie]

I recall that most of the submachine guns were pretty good. But I guess if the mercenary is good enough, has moderate accuracy and of a sufficient level, even the S&W .38's can be quite deadly.

But the pistols will still lack stopping power as there is less lead getting to the target per AP. (As a side, is damage determined as a random roll within a range of the power rating sort of like in X-COM, or do Merc stats influence damage somehow)?

 

Been rediscovering the wonders that is knife throwing. Cleaned out almost the entire residential area of the Alma mine with just a pair of throwing knives thanks to some UV Goggles I found in an adjacent sector. No, can't throw two at once it seems, but then again only one is needed for a chance at a stealthy insta-kill.

Kinda figured that you couldn't use two knives at once. By the way, stupid question, but is there a difference between a normal throwing knife and one that is bloody? (Besides the obvious coating of blood, smartypants).

 

- Zombie

[Veki]

Been rediscovering the wonders that is knife throwing. Cleaned out almost the entire residential area of the Alma mine with just a pair of throwing knives thanks to some UV Goggles I found in an adjacent sector. No, can't throw two at once it seems, but then again only one is needed for a chance at a stealthy insta-kill.

I love knife throwing. Night missions are my favorite because of knife throwing. Me and Dimitri + UV goggles and a couple of knives = lots of fun. And it's way faster to clear a sector duting the night with knives than with guns.

 

But the pistols will still lack stopping power as there is less lead getting to the target per AP. (As a side, is damage determined as a random roll within a range of the power rating sort of like in X-COM, or do Merc stats influence damage somehow)?

From my experience I think damage is slightly influenced by mercs stats, but I don't have any solid evidence to support my opinion.

 

Kinda figured that you couldn't use two knives at once. By the way, stupid question, but is there a difference between a normal throwing knife and one that is bloody? (Besides the obvious coating of blood, smartypants).

I think there is no dofference, at least I don't see any.

[NKF]

The clean and bloody knives function the same way. About the only difference is that having both types forces you to make two knife piles. Not normally a problem except for a merc who is packed for every eventually. Such as first aid kits, spare gas mask, sunglasses, UV goggles, spare ammo, clippers, lockpick, a rock, another rock, regen boost. etc.

 

There's lots of hidden factors in the to-hit and damage rates that I couldn't say for certain how it all works. However, a higher level merc does appear to function a lot better than a lower level merc with identical or greater stats. A higher level does influence the interrupt rate though, so that may be part of it.

 

Just going back to the merc generation, here's are the selections that lead to a no-skill custom merc.

 

Q01: 2(Loner), 6 (Optimist)

Q02: 3 (Psycho), 4 (Friendly)

Q03: 2 (Arrogant), 4 (Normal)

Q04: 2 (Friendly), 3 (Normal), 4 (Asshole), 5 (Loner)

 

Q05: 1 (Coward), 3 (Aggressive), 2 and 4 (Nothing)

Q06: 1 (Coward), 3 (Claustrophobic), 4 and 5 (Nothing)

Q07: 4 (Nothing)

Q08: 2 (Nothing), 3 (Optimist), 4 (Psycho)

 

Q09: 1 (Forgetful), 2 (Nothing), 3 (Pessimist), 4 (Nervous)

Q10: 1 (Nothing), 2 (Pessimist), 3 (Asshole),4 (Nervous)

Q11: 1 (Nothing), 3 (Aggressive), 4 (Normal)

Q12: 3, 7 and 8 (Nothing)

 

Q13: 1 (Forgetful), 2 and 3 (Normal), 4 (Heat Intolerant)

Q14: 1 (Claustrophobic), 2 (Normal), 3 (Heat Intolerant), 4 (Nothing)

Q15: 3 (Nothing), 4 (Arrogant)

Q16: All choices (Nothing)

 

Obviously we don't want a no-skill merc, but this is just the start of it. Here you try to decide on the personality and attitude of your mercenary. It's probably not as easy to decide this than it is with the skills.

 

And the skills and the question/answer that net you the skill:

 

• Ambidextrous: Q8: 1, Q15: 2 (Female Mercs can also choose Q1: 1 , Q12: 1)
  
• Auto weapons: Q4: 1, Q12: 4
  
• Electronics: Q7: 1, Q12: 6
  
• Hand-to-hand: Q1: 3, Q12: 5
  
• Knifing: Q7: 2, Q12: 2
  
• Lock picking: Q1: 4, Q3: 1
  
• Martial arts: Q1: 1, Q12: 1 (Male only. Str
• Night ops: Q6: 2, Q7: 3
  
• Stealthy: Q2:2 , Q3: 3
  
• Teaching Q2: 1, Q11: 2
  
• Throwing Q1: 5, Q15: 1
  

 

Basically, to create an expert in skills that can reach expert level, substitute two of the questions with that skill and add no other. To create a dual-skill, substitute the answer for one question from each respective skill type. For example To create a Stealthy/Electronics merc, replace Q7 and Q2 accordingly.

 

- NKF

[FullAuto]

My latest effort:

https://i62.photobucket.com/albums/h109/FullAuto_2006/orly.jpg

 

Turned up with an impressive load of equipment, MP5k, knucks, first aid kit. No complaints here, and he's a close combat monster.

[Zombie]

Aye. My HTH/Night Ops custom merc came with a Beretta 93R, 2 clips of 9mm ammo, a canteen, steel helmet, flak jacket, knuckle dusters and 2 break lights. Of course, I left my marksmanship at only 55 so that's probably the reason for not getting the MP5k.

 

Thanks NKF, this saves me a bunch of time creating a custom merc.

 

- Zombie

[NKF]

There seems to be some caveats with the female merc generation when you pick the ambidextrous answer for the first question (and I assume the other gender based answer).

 

See I tried creating a parallell campaign on the hardest difficulty (nets you tons of loot! Plus the more-guns option to get some of the nicer early pistols like the colt .45), and thought I'd give a ambidextrous/stealth merc a go. Did a male custom merc last, so thought I'd try a female merc for this one. However, when I picked the first ambidextrous question and a stealth question and nothing else, I always got a Stealthy(expert). Every time. It shouldn't reach expert level with only one hit.

 

Then I redid the test a few more times and only picked the first question and no other skills, and sure enough it was ambidextrous.

 

So I decided to redo the whole thing, but this time I selected one of the standard ambidextrous answers and a stealth answer, and got the set up I was after.

 

Really peculiar but I thought I'd best mention that. Almost looks like the gender based answers morph? I guess it's similar to how the male gender based answers for martial arts changes to hand-to-hand if you have 80 or better strength (resulting in a buff torso) .

 

- NKF

 

P. S: Zombie, if you're reading this, the Crowbar is your one-stop shop for knocking out enemies. Basically the game's stun-rod, lot of energy loss but minimal health reduction. Two hits and almost any enemy is knocked over. Follow through with a bare handed punch and the enemy stays down for the next turn. Haven't found enough silencers to make the dual colt .45's worthwhile, but the crowbar from Omerta's first map has been a very-very handy tool.

[Zombie]

There seems to be some caveats with the female merc generation when you pick the ambidextrous answer for the first question (and I assume the other gender based answer).

 

See I tried creating a parallell campaign on the hardest difficulty (nets you tons of loot! Plus the more-guns option to get some of the nicer early pistols like the colt .45), and thought I'd give a ambidextrous/stealth merc a go. Did a male custom merc last, so thought I'd try a female merc for this one. However, when I picked the first ambidextrous question and a stealth question and nothing else, I always got a Stealthy(expert). Every time. It shouldn't reach expert level with only one hit.

 

Then I redid the test a few more times and only picked the first question and no other skills, and sure enough it was ambidextrous.

 

So I decided to redo the whole thing, but this time I selected one of the standard ambidextrous answers and a stealth answer, and got the set up I was after.

 

Really peculiar but I thought I'd best mention that. Almost looks like the gender based answers morph? I guess it's similar to how the male gender based answers for martial arts changes to hand-to-hand if you have 80 or better strength (resulting in a buff torso) .

I'm a little confused. First paragraph says the same as the third (basically) yet different results. Is the 3rd paragraph using a male merc?

 

P. S: Zombie, if you're reading this, the Crowbar is your one-stop shop for knocking out enemies. Basically the game's stun-rod, lot of energy loss but minimal health reduction. Two hits and almost any enemy is knocked over. Follow through with a bare handed punch and the enemy stays down for the next turn. Haven't found enough silencers to make the dual colt .45's worthwhile, but the crowbar from Omerta's first map has been a very-very handy tool.

I've been using Steroid for a lot of my campaigns so far and because of his strength/lockpicking I usually give him the crowbar to use as a backup tool (when all else fails, use brute force... and the principal of leverage). Tried using it as a weapon a few times but wasn't particularly impressed since it seemed to miss a lot (a lot more often than say a punch or even a grab). It takes quite a bit of APs to swing as well. So I can't see using it unless the enemy is already down and even then it's a hard sell since I can pull a revolver out and shoot the baddie in the legs for the same cost. Maybe I didn't give it enough use to see the benefits though.

 

- Zombie

[NKF]

I mean the third attempt I selected one of the normal ambidextrous selections that's common to both genders. That worked out with the outcome I was after.

 

As for the crowbar, I don't know if they've changed the usage costs between 1.7 and 1.12 and above, but I find it swings at the same cost as an ordinary punch. 4 APs (unaimed). I'd been using it on my custom merc with 60 strength (and 85 dexterity), and was regularly knocking tough enemies down with just two swings (followed by a punch to complete the stun). I know knives and machetes cost a lot to swing. Maybe the updates have lined the crowbar up to match them?

 

- NKF

[Zombie]

As for the crowbar, I don't know if they've changed the usage costs between 1.7 and 1.12 and above, but I find it swings at the same cost as an ordinary punch. 4 APs (unaimed). I'd been using it on my custom merc with 60 strength (and 85 dexterity), and was regularly knocking tough enemies down with just two swings (followed by a punch to complete the stun). I know knives and machetes cost a lot to swing. Maybe the updates have lined the crowbar up to match them?

My mistake, the crowbar does take the same APs as a punch. Maybe I was thinking of the machete.

 

Hmmm... tried out the crowbar again and this time it seemed to work a little better than before. I could have been trying to aim for the head in my previous game (which for some reason is more inaccurate than the torso even though a swinging arc would put it on target to hit the head every time - especially for huge mercs like Bull and Steroid). Like you mentioned, two hits are enough to knock a unit down and the enemy may even drop the weapon as a bonus. Could be useful if I could get more crowbars from Bobby Ray's.

 

- Zombie

[NKF]

Jake in Estoni and Tony's in San Mona might be good places to check for crowbars. Can't remember what was in the general store in Balime - but that town has some top notch stuff for sale.

 

- NKF