The most important starting stats

[Minor Annoyance]

When picking new agents to hire, what stats should I be looking for? I've seen agents with very low starting accuracy get extremely high so despite how important that stat is, it doesn't seem to be important that it start that way. Looking at the game guide it says health, stamina, reactions, bravery and accuracy can all increase as a result of combat, which leaves out speed and strength which are only increased by training. So it seems like they should be a priority. I left psi-attack/energy out of the poll because it rarely seems effective enough to have more than a few agents use it, unless I've been doing it wrong.

 

By the way, does anyone else thing bravery should be increased by psi-training?

[NKF]

Speed (aka TUs) also increases through combat. Only Strength will not raise in any way except through the combat gym. So that makes it a very good high starting stat to go after, but it's not the be-all-end-all stat.

 

Stats increase quickly enough just as long as you let your agents participate in combat and get lots of confirmed hits in to increase their stats (ala, abusing the M4000). Ideally though, to give them a good running start, a generous amount of strength, endurance and speed is definitely the way to go. More strength lets you carry more and helps with the inevitable encumberance penalty. Speed just makes you move faster. Endurace is so that you can keep running for extended periods of time before needing to rest. A long distance marathon runner basically. Very handy to be able to zip from cover to cover without suddenly dropping to walking speed, or even race up to the enemy and go full-auto and not have to worry about too many misses.

 

Again, none of these are that important that a bit of clever tactics and teamwork cannot overcome.

 

Bravery probably wouldn't increase through the mental exercises and games your agents would have to perform in the psi lab, though being brave and surviving tough ordeals would.

 

Psi stats in general are a specialized set of stats, and are of concern only to hybrids. Since they will only improve up to 3 times their starting stat, the higher the stat the better. Of the three, I'd rank energy and skill being the most important. Skill to make a successful attack, and energy to fuel the attack. I'd probably rate energy higher as you go through it really fast, and the only enemies that you can mind control are easy enough that you don't need a perfect maxed skill score to control. Defense is by far the least of your worries. As there are few psi enemies to combat, you'll generally have to cut them down at the source post haste. If possible, with the ever-handy androids that get ignored by psi enemies.

 

- NKF