Phoenix Project - Spies, Saboteurs, and Sleeper Agents?

I have expressed my concern, on the Discord channel, on the subreddit and in the Lore sub-forums on this site, about a lack of a distinctive identity for the Phoenix Project. About the concern I - and others - have voiced, that the Project may end up as simply an empty vehicle for the player to drive through the stories defined by the “big three.”

And then, while thinking over the Project’s few main appearences in the stories and briefings, it hit me.

Almost every time we have seen the Project act to influence the pre-apocalypse world, it has been through the use of subterfuge. The sleeper agent in the university. The man sent to investigate the proto-Anu cult in ‘Fragments of Knowing’. The woman who had been a sleeper agent in the dying Athenian government. And, most impressively, the infiltration of a nuclear ICBM silo to prevent a nuclear war between India and Pakistan.

So this brings to mind a question: will there be geoscape mechanics to support the infiltration of, spying on, and sabotage of other factions? Can the Project send sleeper agents to discreetly note troop mobilizations, industrial undertatings, and scientific research? Can Project agents steal technology from other factions and send it to Phoenix Point to be copied? Can agents sabotage those factions to make attacking/rading them easier?

I mean, we have heard whispers about an “infiltrator” that the player can control. Perhaps it will fulfil the funcions I muse on above? Long War 2 had a bare-bones “infiltration” mechanic that made missions easier, simulating the use of spies and sabotage to soften up a target before hitting it with military force.

And perhaps the Project’s greatest strength at the start of the game - something to set it apart from the others without restricting player direction - would be that it is really, really good at espionage?

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If there were answers to your gameplay questions, I’d love to hear them.

Before we panic about the PP lacking character, we should wait and see what happens with the Briefing vol. 6. The writing team is pretty much batting 1000 right now. I look forward to their work.

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I disagree with anyone saying the game lacks identity, and this is the first time I hear anything like that. So far from what has been shown, and discussed, this game has a lot of identity. I do agree, though, that sabotage and espionage mechanics would be really interesting, but we don’t know if they are already planned or not. Like UV said once on discord it is pretty hard for users to provide constructive feedback when they know so little about what is already planned for the game.

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PP can steal technology from the other factions, if it’s through some kind of agent-mechanic or “simply” another mission, I don’t know.

No. The Infiltrator you heard us discuss is a specialization, from a year-old backer update (so changes should be expected):

Here is an example of a specialist class we call the ‘infiltrator.’ The main abilities for this class involve stealth, evasion, reconnaissance, booby traps, target designation, close quarters combat and scaling difficult terrain.

(Source)

Off-topic: If you really like spies, saboteurs, sleeper agents, you may want to check out Phantom Doctrine. I don’t know if the game will be good or not, but its main theme is cold-war with espionage, so could be interesting.

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also, the Infiltrator is Synedrion’s special class, not the Phoenix Project’s.

Wrong.

All of the main factions have technology that is relevant to build equipment and skills for an infiltrator, but Synedrion have the most advanced tech in this area. Disciples of Anu will have some mutations which can be highly beneficial to this role.

“Main factions” usually include PP too.

Rook is actually correct. The Infiltrator is the Synedrion elite class.

But we (PP) can have it and use it with other factions’ technologies. :wink: Question is if Synedrion can trade this class with other factions? :slight_smile:

Was there a written update about it? Or just some interview/video?

[quote=“Madxav, post:3, topic:955”]
I’m not talking about the game as a whole - I agree that it has a lot of flavour to it as a whole. I’m talking about the Phoenix Project in particular - the player faction.

The reason I’m concerned is because we have recieved vanishingly little information about the Project compared to the other factions. yes, I realize that Briefing 6 has not come out yet…but even before the Briefings were released, we were given a good general idea of the Disciples/Synedrion/New Jericho through the very earliest of the short story entries - their ideals, their methods, and so on. Not so much when it comes to the Project.

I appreciate your concerns. Perhaps it’s a touch premature.

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@Mechasaurian Ohh, you mean PP itself. We know almost nothing about PP, and I’m pretty sure that is deliberately.

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I would also be interested in these mechanics. But would be fine with it coming out as a DLC with more detailed refinements.

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Its not about premature voice: this isnt an art direction school :slight_smile: No matter how many ideas we get
while playing BB3, team has its own course. Best we can hope meanwhile are bugfixes.