Conglomerate 451: Strategic Guide (Tips & Tricks)

Conglomerate 451 is a Grid-based Roguelike in a Cyberpunk world. You will be the Director of a special Agency and your mission is to eradicate the corrupted Corporations forces from sector 451. In order to achieve this goal, you must send a squad formed by special agents to the field, to accomplish different missions.

• The game is divided in weeks: every time you come back from a mission (with success or not), a week will end.
• If you are playing the story mode, you will have only 75 weeks to complete your mission: defeat the corporations.
  • There are different endings, based on the player’s choices during the story mode.
• There are three different currencies in the game: Credits, Tech and Lifeine.
  • Credits are mostly used as “common currency” for the everyday expenses
  • Tech are used to complete technology researches
  • Lifeine is an illegal and very rare currency.
• To unlock some part of the game you need a specific value of Reputation: you can gain reputation completing with success the missions.
• To unlock some parts of the game you need to complete researches.
  • The first research you should complete is the Healing Tech, to unlock the Regeneration Tank in the Healing Center.
• After a mission, if an agent has gained pain or intoxication, he can gain also trauma or disorders. Pay attention: you need to heal him as soon as you can because after some weeks a trauma or a disorder will become permanent.
• Completing with success a mission, an agent will gain rank points and collecting them he can be promoted to next rank. In this case, you need to promote the agent in the quarters, choosing bonuses or perks.

The tutorial mission is straightforward: following the Ego’s instructions, you should defeat the first three enemies met on the city’s streets.

After the first combat, you need to find an elevator: using it you will reach the Lab, where the mission is set.

In the Lab you need to:

• Hack a door – to complete the minigame you need to match the circle’s shapes three times.
• Hack an enemy – in your second combat, Ego will teach you how to hack an enemy. In short, hacking in combat is a powerful action your agents can perform during their turn. Unlike the combat skills, you can use the combat hacking many times in the same turn but pay attention: using the plugins will drain your battery.
• Find an SPU – while Ego will work to open the final door, you need to find a device to loot. Use the scanner (by pressing left shift if you are using the keyboard + mouse setup), you will see a monitor highlighted with an outline. Interact with it to start a second minigame.

Congratulations: now you are graduated as Agency Director!

Note: if you select to skip the tutorial some of the points above will be slightly different for narrative purpose.

After the tutorial, you will meet a bunch of NPCs.

The first is Clarisse, a protocol droid acting as your personal assistant. She will ask you to choose a cool name for your Agency and a logo.

The second one will be Elise Delacroix, the chief of staff of your cloning center. She will explain to you what the battle clones are and how to create them.

If you want to skip this section quickly, you can ask her to do in “Auto Mode” your first three agents.

Note: in any case, an Agent is always slightly different when you clone it. That’s because cloning technology is not perfect.

After you assemble your first squad, you can go around freely in your agency and meet the other NPCs who are working for you.

• Soldier: The Soldier is an agent trained in mid-range combat. He has advanced tactical skills and can provide support to his allies. His equipment allows him to absorb large amounts of damage.
  • Strengths: great flexibility, good defensive stats
  • Weaknesses: limited range
• Infiltrator: The Infiltrator is a lethal agent skilled in ranged combat. She has an exceptional aim, and her weapon allows her to perform deadly attacks. She has enhanced reflexes and is always among the first to act in combat.
  • Strengths: high damage, long-range
  • Weaknesses: physically weak
• Techie: The Techie is an agent with excellent knowledge of hardware. He is able to extract any type of SPU from devices during missions. His weapon of choice is combat drones.
  • Strengths: can easily extract any type of SPU
  • Weaknesses: poor resistance
• Splicer: The Splicer is an agent specialized in healing her companions. She has the ability to heal wounds and relieve pain, reducing the chance of physical injury. Her offensive and defensive capabilities are very limited.
  • Strengths: healing and pain relief
  • Weaknesses: limited offensive and defensive capabilities
• Bodyguard: The Bodyguard is an agent in charge of defending his allies. His skills allow him to guard the weakest members of the squad. His attacks have reduced range and, in order to be effective as a fighter, he needs support from other agents.
  • Strengths: defending his allies
  • Weaknesses: very limited range
• Drifter: The Drifter is an agent trained to support his allies. His skills allow him to increase the stats of other agents, and he has good knowledge of both hardware and software.
  • Strengths: enhancing the strengths of allies
  • Weaknesses: very low defence
• Juicer: The Juicer is an agent who uses drugs to gain superhuman abilities. He is in constant balance between madness and sanity, and his body is so intoxicated that it doesn’t allow the installation of cyber limbs.
  • Strengths: using drugs allows him to obtain superhuman abilities
  • Weaknesses: constantly risks developing mental disorders
• Binary: The Binary is an agent whose brain has been modified with neural speedware that allows her to connect to the Net. Her hacking abilities are excellent, and she can use them to jam the systems installed in enemies’ bodies.
  • Strengths: excellent hacking ability, above-average offensive skills
  • Weaknesses: very low defence and resistance

Agent Rank Levels

Every time an agent will gain enough rank points, you can promote him/her to the next rank level. Based on the level reached, you need to choose an Archetype or a Path. Both will unlock special perks for the agents, passive skills used during combat phase in mission.

• Rookie – the starting rank
• Private I – you must choose the first Archetype
• Private II – you must choose a Path
• Private III – you must choose a Path
• Specialist – you must choose a Path
• Corporal – you must choose the second Archetype
• Sergeant – you must choose a Path
• Lieutenant – you must choose a Path
• Captain – you must choose a Path
• Major – you must choose a Path
• Colonel – you must choose the third Archetype

• Striker Archetype: A Striker is an agent specialized in improving themselves by hitting enemies.
• Vanguard Archetype: A Vanguard is an agent capable of helping their allies by hitting enemies.
• Defender Archetype: A Defender is an agent who defends their allies by sacrificing themselves.
• Brawler Archetype: A Brawler is an agent who is most effective when risking their lives.
• Sentinel Archetype: A Sentinel is an agent who exploits enemy attacks to help their squad.
• Chemist Archetype: A Chemist is an agent who uses toxic substances injected into their body to help their allies.
• Apothecary Archetype: An Apothecary is an agent who corrupts their own body with toxic substances to help the squad.
• Tactician Archetype: A Tactician is an agent who can fill different roles during the mission because they have a wide range of skills.

Please note: some Archetypes are available only for certain classes.

• Defence Path: It confers bonuses to a group of stats suitable for an agent who wants to play a DEFENSIVE ROLE in the squad.
• Offense Path: It confers bonuses to a group of stats suitable for an agent who wants to play an OFFENSIVE ROLE in the squad.
• Supporter Path: It confers bonuses to a group of stats suitable for an agent who wants to play a SUPPORTING ROLE in the squad.

Every agent has a chance, at the end of a mission, to master one of his skills. A mastered skill is a more powerful version of the basic skill.
After unlocking a mastered skill, it will become available for all other agents (both new clones or the older).

In order to level up your agents, you can upgrade their Skills, their Weapons, their Shields, their Cypher Decks or you can install Cyber Limbs on their bodies.

Note: to reach higher levels, you need to complete specific researches. For example, if you want to upgrade a Weapon to rank 3, you need to complete the research “Weapon Technology I” in the Military Research Area.

After a mission there is a chance that the Diplomat will contact the player, to ask him for some favors. Sometimes, instead, it will be Clarisse to ask the player to solve management issues in the agency.

When you will be ready, it’s time to jump in your first real mission!

The missions, in Conglomerate, are divided into 5 different types. Completing the first 4 types you will “attack” one or more corporations, weakening their influence on the city.

Also, a mission has a different difficulty level (1 = easy, 2 = medium, 3 = hard).

• Kill em all – easy to understand: you need to find every enemy in the mission’s location and obliterate them.
• Kill a specific target – you have only one important target to kill. But, of course, it will be protected by other minions.
• Find an item – you need to search inside the crates around the rooms.
• Special assignment – whether you are playing in endless mode or story mode, sometimes the Diplomat will ask you to complete a special assignment. Pay attention: these assignments have a limited time to be completed.
• Kill a Corporation’s boss – when you weaken enough a corporation, you can try to defeat a boss. There are 4 different bosses in the game and everyone is a tough challenge so… be careful.

The mission is divided into two different phases: in the District and in the Mission’s Location. In the District, you must go around the city’s streets in order to find an Elevator that will bring you to the mission’s location.
Note: after the first mission (the real one, not the tutorial mission) you can choose if starting the mission directly in the target area or in one of the city’s parts.

The Black Markets
Around the city, you can find the black markets where you can meet strange sellers.

• Software – you can rent illegal software for Ego, your drone: she will become an active member of the squad, gaining special powers.
• Drugs – you can buy drugs for your agents. But pay attention: using drugs will increase the intoxication level of the agents. Also, drugs are illegal so you will automatically sell the drugs after a mission.
• SPUs – you can buy and sell SPUs, add-on for your equipment.
• Plugins – you can buy and sell plugins, add-on for your cypher deck (the plugins are used for the Combat Hacking).

Also, in the city you can find a Terminal: by using it you can buy services to gain advantages during the mission (like, i.e., unlocking the whole map).

You will spend a lot of time during the mission in combat. The combat system is turn-based so you will have a lot of time to think about your moves.

At the start of a turn, the game will create the battle’s timeline to establish the action order. The Initiative stat will determine this order.

Note: if you attack from behind an enemy, he will be ambushed and you will gain an initiative bonus!

During his turn an agent can use:

• Attack Skill* (red icon)
• Defensive Skill* (blue icon)
• Healing Skill* (green icon)
• Special Action – the special actions list is accessible with the right mouse button, in the Special Action Wheel:
  • Move Squad*: you can move the squad together, during combat BUT only as your first action in the turn
  • Shield Recharge*: you consume battery to recharge the shield
  • Character Sheet: open the character sheet
  • Drugs: open the drug contextual menu
  • Skip Turn*: skip a turn during combat
  • Combat Hacking*: open the combat hacking contextual menu

* After these actions, the turn will end.

Each agent has five different resources:

1. HP: Agent’s max. HP; if they reach 0, the agent will enter in a dying status
2. Shield: Agent’s max. Shield; every time an agent is hit, the shield absorbs the damage. If the shield is 0 or the damage has a special effect PIERCING, the damage is directed on the HP.
3. Battery: is used to hack doors, loot devices (in order to extract SPUs) or perform combat hacking. Also, used to recharge the shield.
4. Pain: the pain bar is incremented every time the agent loses HP. Increasing the pain will trigger physical trauma (light, medium or heavy, based on the total pain amount).
5. Intoxication: the intoxication bar is incremented every time the agent uses a drug. Increasing the intoxication will trigger mental disorder (light, medium or heavy based on the total intoxication amount).

Pay attention: in C451 there is a permadeath mechanic. If an agent dies, he will be lost forever. Luckily, if an agent reaches 0 HP, he will not die immediately. He will enter in a dying status. In this status, you can heal him. Or you can rely on luck: every character in C451 has a stat called Survival Instinct that can save him if he will enter in the dying status.

The combat system is based around synergies between skills.

A very easy example is Mark status:

• The Drifter has a skill “Death Mark”, that will add the Mark status to a target.
• The Infiltrator has a skill “Death Shot”, that has +35% damage bonus versus marked target

To exploit this synergy, you should use on the same target the Death Mark and then the Death Shot.

Of course, there are a lot of different strategies like that: part of the game experience is to discover them.

There are a lot of special effects triggered by different skills, or perks (passive skills), drugs, etc.
A special category are the DOTs (damage over time):

• Radiation – every turn the target will lose a small amount of HP.
• Shock – every turn the target will lose a small amount of HP.
• Drain – every turn the target will accumulate a small amount of Pain.
• Poison – every turn the target will accumulate a small amount of Intoxication.

The first two (Radiation and Shock) have a Resistance stats linked to them; if an agent is hit with an attack triggering one of these two DOTs, there is a chance (based on the Radiation Resistance or Shock Resistance) to cancel this effect without consequences.

There are no Resistances to Drain or Poison.