That would probably be a good balance. Likewise, I rarely ever use lockpicks - hardly any doors are locked to begin with, and in almost all cases there's another way through (e.g. a window right next to the door). I think I've seen maybe one or two doors that didn't have another way into the room that was either only slightly longer or even easier.

I got a shed with two loot boxes inside and I thought I would get extra goodies. I didn't. :(

Being able to just casually break glass within the hearing range of NPCs or often right next to them and not getting the expected reaction is probably the biggest pet peeve I have with Phantom Doctrine. There should be limitations in place to make it something the agents only resort to in cases of emergency or if it just can't be avoided at all. Like a noise radius and NPCs being able to spot the glass shards lying on the floor, and the infiltration phase immediately ending if either is triggered.
Make those restrictions exclusive to Hard difficulty and everyone's a winner.

It's been mentioned a few times already but agents being able to drop from the first to the ground floor while carrying another agent and not sustaining any damage doing that is also a bit too unrealistic for my taste. It either shouldn't be possible at all or could be done but with serious repercussions, like the already suggested reasonable reduction of the agent's health points and/or movement range.
Could be a Hard difficulty-only restriction too.

With respect to breaking glass, I'd be perfectly fine if breaking glass instantly ended infiltration mode (similar to XCOM2) - either as an option or exclusive to hard mode.

Ideally we should also have waypoints, but I found that changing that pathfinding toggle (so they try not to go through windows if possible) makes a huge difference - the few times the path DID go through a window, most of the time I found I could avoid this by moving less APs at once. It's still not ideal (waypoints would be better), but it's better than I remember it being when I first started playing (could be my imagination though, since I played a fair bit with the toggle set to use shortest paths).

I wish that the 3 operatives that Tai-Pan makes available for hire (Wraith, Clover and Luna) did not permanently take 3 out of 5 spots of agent candidates. I'd prefer if they were 3 extras that don't take space. Polyus too.

I didn't mind that because Tai-Pan's offerings were much better than the others. I'm pretty sure they get overridden by higher level agents eventually - unless I just imagined that? I thought I only hired two of the three, and the third eventually disappeared - could be my imagination though (I may have actually hired him anyway).

Definitely agree about Polyus - if he doesn't disappear after completing the mission where he is an optional hire, then he should as he's only level 1. I ended up hiring him just to see what it did (not much it turns out, he's not really necessary), then firing him because he sucked so bad.

Alternatively, they could increase the available agents to hire list from 5 to 10. That way the amount of spaces they take up isn't so bad, and we get more options (typically, my agent list refreshes a lot). I know this is supposed to represent the agents being hired by the competition (or something), but we get so many agent candidates increasing this to 10 shouldn't mess with things too much.

Actually the main issue is that even on hard, it's difficult to lose an agent - one time my base got raided, three were missing, and every one of them came back without any brainwashing (though they were injured IIRC). So far I've only found one agent that had "conspiracy" programming, and a simple brainwashing solved that.

It would also be cooler if (e.g. via an option) it could be set such that it's always unknown how many "unknown" perks an agent has - so we're always paranoid about potential brainwashing, and are never quite sure about any agent unless they're explicitly "loyal".

Additionally, if a "loyal" agent is ever captured, they should end up dead since they can't be turned.

It would also be cool if it were necessary to rescue captured agents - or possibly to simply assassinate them - to stop the enemy from learning our plans (i.e. increasing danger significantly if not killed/rescued within a certain time frame). These missions should also require some investigation to find where the agent is, e.g. via following other enemies or infiltrating a cell or something.

Here's my feedback after finishing the game (CIA playthrough. Took me 33 hours)

Overall I'm pleased with it. The gameplay and setting is mostly fun and the I found it very addicting (one more mission syndrome). The spy stuff like the Intel board and MK Ultra is great. The breach mechanic is also very cool and I'd love to see it in more games.

However the following I didn't enjoy that much.

1. The game felt too long. This is mostly due to the fact that you do a lot of the same missions that usually work out in the same way. I can't count the amount of time I did the Assault on a beholder recon op. With a disguise or some minor stealth it's very easy and just a waste of time eventually. I started dreading seeing the icon pop-up ...seeing it as a chore instead of a fun mission.

The Intel board is very cool but you just have to solve way too many of em. Agents assigned to analysis are just way too slow.

Attacking a beholder cell also takes a long time and isn't that challenging unless you get swamped in reinforcements if you trip an alarm. After a while I got so bored of stealthing the entire thing that I just went in gun blazing just for a change of gameplay.

2. The game clearly favors stealth due to the reinforcement mechanic, which is fine. But there is such a wealth of guns, speciale abilities, enemy types and stuff that only plays a part during combat scenario's (which are discouraged). I wouldn't mind a few all-out combat missions to actually get to use all those nice toys.

3. Disguises overall feel too powerful in the game (even after the actor nerf). Maybe a mechanic where every guard has a small range in which he uncovers a disguised spy would help. Now you mostly just sweep through the level, easily disabling camera's and other security stuff. And while it's a sort of a random factor when the Agents come looking for you after you take out too many guards but at the same time it's very easily exploitable... since they just go to every spot that had a guard that you knocked out so you can just camp the area until he or she arrives and just take him out.

4. The ending scenario was a big letdown. I decked out my guys in the best armor and guns since I expected a fierce battle but there just a few guards and a few easily breached rooms. The 'final' battle was a huge anti-climax ... I entered the control room and put my guys on overwatch. The 4-5 bad guys breached the room and got killed one by one... Evacuate and that was it! A 'beholder cell'attack mission is so much more tense when you are desperately trying to kill all the baddies before another reinforcement arrives. So yeah, a few more rooms filled to the brim with bad guys would have been fun.

Like I said, I still love it. Can't wait to see what you guys will do next :-)

The original Die Hard was on TV the other day and the later bit towards the end where the FBI foolishly cuts off power to Nakatomi Plaza/the vault in the basement got me thinking - how about being able to do something similar to a building or even an entire compound in Phantom Doctrine?

Could be something that would become available after prior completion of tactical recon along the spotting ability/opportunity, for instance.
As usual, before the actual assault you'd be able to assign one or multiple agents to support role(s) and additionally could select "Cut off power" for the assigned agent's job.

To balance things out a few restrictions should be applied:

- cutting off power would only be temporary (in most cases) before the building's or compound's emergency power supply kicks in (grace period of X rounds)
- depending on the mission/objective and the opposing force on site infiltration would either end immediately the moment power is cut off and everything goes dark or after said grace period
- both your and the enemy agents/spec ops' awareness (as well as its regeneration rate) would be drastically reduced in the dark but could be countered by equipping a newly introduced type of support item granting the wearer some sort of night vision (complete with the respective switch to a dark green color scheme if equipped)
- the night vision device (some sort of goggles I guess) would be available to Cabal as well as Beholder of course
- cutting off power would also (temporarily) disable (most) cameras and other security measures such as laser barriers, as long as they're not running on a separate power supply off the public power grid, in which case you'd have to seek out and switch off the respective terminals as usual

I posted the following comments in a small series of posts about the subject of agents not being available for tactical missions when I placed them there. And assuming that three main agents are always the first three chosen, no matter where in the world they are. I initially wondered if it was a bug or not. But as it turned out to be actual design, I feel the comments are best put here.

I am playing KGB story. I found that when I went to a tactical mission it chose two of my staring agents. I actually scum saved and reloaded and the agents who were actually at the location sometimes swapped as support agents. On the second occasion I found Kodiak who had been compromised and was currently forging was put as first choice for tactical mission. Surely, he ought not to have been available for three reasons.

This so far is by biggest bug bear as I am deliberately training and choosing agents for certain missions, and neither being able to level them up or make use of them. Can't see how this is a deliberate design.
Well, it is not just that the agent not on location warps there. It is that the agent I choose to be there is ignored. I don't mind so much about equipping gear. So long as it is not being used by an agent in a different location. If it is unused I am fine with that.

Also, worth pointing out that the agents who actually ARE there, are not accessible to me, as it says they are away!?! As said, these are the agents I put there in order to do these tactical missions. They are however able to do map missions and get XP for them. But come tactical missions they are pushed out and treated as not being at the site in place of agents who are not.

As for Indigo being Russian naturalised. Yes, makes sense. What doesn't make sense is her working for the East German Secret police and not speaking a word of German. I feel it must be an oversight or mistake.
To be plain I am not half as fussed about a teleport of my agents once finished a tactical mission. Or at least an automatic travel by plane like XCom does. It is the picking and choosing of tactical agents and the teleportation of agents nowhere near the mission area.

While I understand the reasons given to a point. But, in a day an age where games are getting too mundane and full of instant gratification and even too easy, I see little reason why a game inspired by the turned based strategies of old, goes this route. Not a smart choice. But if possible to make this an option I would jump at switching it off.

Also any word yet on if a Stasi Agent will have German included as a language? I understand why they make speak Russian and English, but not have the native tongue for a country they are a member of secret police for.

I will add here, I was having a tidy up and removed GOG Galaxy temporarily. I then reinstalled and thought about installing Phantom Doctrine again, which I have not played since first week of release. Then, I remembered this issue, and developed an aversion to play. It puts me off THAT much.
I have to second this. Of course it ought to have consequences being seen using one.

I agree and hate this probably more than anyone (as can be seen by my many posts on the subject); however, from your post I take it you think it's not possible to replace the game's choice of agents with ones that are already there?

You can actually do this - simply choose "Remove Agent" from all agents and support agents on the mission to clear them, then select whoever you want. You'll then be able to select any agent you want, no matter where they are - if you want only agents on-site, you'll have to select each "Away" agent in turn to find out where they are (unless you can remember which agents are where), then select that agent.

The only agents you cannot select for a tactical mission (or support) are agents that are "travelling" - agents that are "available" or "away" are always able to be selected for tactical missions (which is good, since as you know "away" means "away from HQ" and doesn't acknowledge that they're actually on-site at the mission location). In some cases "busy" agents can also be selected, generally ones that are forging or something else at base - I think (though cannot remember for sure) that "busy" agents doing some other mission type, such as tailing, scouting, etc. may not be selectable either, since it's not possible to cancel those missions once they start.

Some story missions do require the main character to be part of the tactical team, in which case you cannot deselect that agent - but for those cases I just make sure my PC is on-site prior to the mission (those missions generally have no expiry so this is easily achievable).

I do this every tactical mission - deselect every agent in turn, then individually pick all agents for each slot, making sure to only choose those that are actually on-site at the time.

Oh we will see about who hates it most. It put me off playing since after first week of launch. At least you play. Thanks for the workaround though. I will try that soon enough.

OK yeah you got me there - I did play, albeit grumbling every time I had to do tactical misions since I'd spend around a minute painstakingly ensuring that only agents on-site were there, plus also attempting to match up at least one of the disguised agents with the language of the region, if possible (yeah this is rarely needed, but to me it made the idea of almost-impervious disguises more logical if they can speak the local language).

Prior to that of course was the manual moving to get them there in the first place, which generally involved sending as many agents as could potentially be on a mission (including support). As a result I never had any non-scripted ambushes (which IMO should also be changed - even if they just do something lame like randomly choose one agent of the team who happened to get separated from the others or something).

Should have been dialed back a bit instead of making it pulse and glow even more (assuming that's what "increased visibility" means). I can't really tell the difference since to my eyes it's been too intrusive even before 1.07.

Is an option to decrease or turn off the pulsing "glowiness" as well as to hide the floating markers (the "camera" one for terminals, the "skull" for hitmen, the "cuffs" for informers, "cogs" for interactables/bombs to defuse, etc) too much to ask for?

For instance, I do tactical recon ONLY for unlocking the non-combat support assignments and couldn't care less about the "increased visibility" of secret containers or interactables/hitmen/informers being tagged with those floating markers on top of pulsing and glowing like it's christmas anyway (terminals being the main offender: unmissable pulsing glow + floating "camera" marker).

Said option to make the screen a lot less busy in regards to pulsing "glowiness" and a lot less cluttered with unnecessary pointers (see the attached screenshot) if you opt for tactical recon prior to the actual assault just to be able to assign agents to support roles would be really appreciated.

Totally agree with this, even though I'd most likely leave the glow on for the loot/docs (since they were a massive pain to locate (and re-locate) during planning/mission prior to a few patches ago).

Definitely could do with removing those locator markers - but ideally I'd like them to be there before you can visibly "see" the object in question, and then disappear at that point. Either that or a toggle option - possibly with associated hot key so it's possible to toggle without having to jump to the options each time.