Garrison
Network of corridors linking Complex 0b10 zones to facilitate movement of combat squads responding to threats. Major entrances are reinforced Garrison Access points. Garrisons also house the relays responsible for transmitting commands and remotely augmenting the system defenses of activated squads.
What does a Garrison Access Machine do?
Dispatched combat squads may now instead come from a garrison instead of a regular access point, especially if located closer to the target area. So for those of you being bad robots (all of you!), you’ll notice enemy response times have gone down. Also, unlike normal access points where the game has been nice about not allowing hostiles to enter through them when you’re nearby, hostiles can emerge from a garrison even if you’re sitting right next to it! No loitering, please. But wait, there’s more…
Combat robots being attacked in the vicinity of a garrison may call for backup. Knowing this you probably don’t want to engage targets stationed at or passing by one these places. Unless of course… you’re carrying a Signal Jammer ;).
Even unarmed non-hostile robots might report you and call a nearby garrison for rescue if you shoot them (and they survive =p) while close enough. If you can leave the area quickly enough that won’t be a problem, though, since the garrison squad will only head to and monitor the area around the reported disturbance.
Of course, garrisons can’t spit out hostiles indefinitely. There is a delay before a given garrison will respond to another event, and even some types of responses don’t come all at once--a single response might be spread out over time, another reason to not hang around, unless your plan is to attack it :D
Hacking a Garrison
Like everything Cogmind, there are always multiple strategic aspects to a feature, and hacking helps add more dimensions to this reinforcement mechanic, or as you’ll eventually discover, even turn it on the enemy! This is where things really get interesting…
- Seal: This locks the access point permanently (or at least for the while you’ll be on that floor), originally meant as a native command to enable containment of a threat on one side or the other. It is difficult to pull off, but is the preferred way to effectively disabled one of these access points, since it won’t attract any attention. (Unlike opening fire on it =p)
- Unlock: If you really, really (really) want to, you can unlock the door yourself! Now why would someone go and do that?
Attacking a Garrison
Garrisons are a flavorful addition to the world that come with a number of unique mechanics, benefits, and drawbacks. They’re your chance to take the battle to the enemy--think of it as you entering that building lobby in The Matrix :D
Some beneficial reasons to visit a garrison:
- Gain allies, possibly raise and maintain a little army of your own.
- Engage in robot hacking in the subsequent area.
- Impair defensive capabilities in the following area. Didn’t mention this one yet :D. Having created a distraction by mounting a direct attack on a garrison, the enemy will be forced to recall some combat robots, thereby shrinking the average squad size by 1. This only applies if you end up back on the same map you left, not when advancing to a new area, but it’s pretty significant!
- Obtain better parts, if you’re lucky…
- Have a chance to advance to another depth/area without searching for a normal exit in the main complex where floors might be sprawling and dangerous.
- No Programmer dispatches, though you’ll still have to deal with additional assault Carriers if you’re causing enough trouble.
- Earn bonus points for wreaking havoc.
There are two types of machines you might want to destroy:
- Phase Generator: Causes sensor scrambling and powers phase walls. On top of it the machine makes very entertaining kaboom.
- Garrison Relay: Each broken relay lowers robot hacking resistance in the garrison, the floor garrison was and also the next one but with reduced effectivity.
And the top reasons to avoid garrisons:
- Possibly very dangerous unless well-prepared! Again, this is to be expected; you’re in a place where freaking everyone is packing guns, cannons, and other nasty things, quite extreme compared to most other areas of the world. It’s also not exactly a huge space. There’s less leeway for retreating and tactical positioning, limited sensor support, and a high probability of being ambushed.
- Instead of gradually going down over time like in other floors, your security level goes up for as long as you stay inside a garrison! (Every time you see the “ALERT: Garrison interior compromised” announcement, your influence just rose again.) Leaving a garrison also does not drop your influence rating as much as leaving other floors does.
- If you’re running a speed/stealth build, my guess is you’ll be heading into a death trap (I’m also guessing someone will attempt to prove me wrong here…). While maps are rather small and you might think you can fly your way past everything, one wrong or unlucky move and you could start feeling the pain.
- Did I mention there are quite a few stasis traps?