So I’ve decided to make a list of the perks in EP:FC and explain where and when each rank of each skill is useful.
Lockpick artist:
Rank 1: it isn’t necessary for lockpicking but it can be really useful when you can only lockpick for a small amount of time before you need to stop.
Rank 2: adds a lot more utility than the previous rank due to this rank granting you the ability to pick reinforced locks and small safes, very useful for courteous criminal and undisturbed occupants challenges.
Rank 3: allows you to crack safes without the code, this ranges from being very useful to being borderline useless when other skills can allow you to get the same result at a far cheaper rank, also helps in loud by allowing players to open the safes without bringing c4.
Advanced protocols:
Rank 1: can range from being very useful to be somewhat useful depending on the hacks in the mission you can access with that rank, interception allows you to keep an eye on guards and also rotate cameras and force them into a certain direction for something like 20 seconds, useful for courteous criminal and undisturbed occupants challenges.
Rank 2: grants arguably the best selection of hacks, with hacks such as camera loops on the camera sever computer, interception on network switches, and more, it also seems to have a few alternative hacks unlocked at this level that allows you to get the same results in different ways.
Rank 3: currently it isn’t that good, as the only non-mission-specific hack you can deploy is kill switch that allows you to permanently disable network switches and access points via a hack that generates a fairly large amount of risk, this can help in some cases but only in very niche situations, also mission specific hacks are currently fairly rare to require rank 3.
Electrical engineering:
Rank 1: grants access to the rewire kit and allows basic electrical equipment to be rewired and also allows you to use special interactions in certain missions without the rewire kit, overall fairly good.
Rank 2: allows players to overload power boxes which allows for the alert level to only rise by one if an npc investigates it… but we also get to use the emp at this level which is essentially a tool that disables power to anything nearby, so you can disable security systems from the outside remotely, overall a really useful skill to have if you have the emp unlocked.
Rank 3: allows for even more advanced systems to be rewired, this unlocks a large range of uses allowing you to sometimes disable multiple security systems with the use of one rewire kit, really useful but still slightly situational.
Intimidation:
Rank 1: allows for any npc that can be hostaged to be hostaged, but specifically via stealth holdups if they normally require rank 2 or 3 intimidation, also halves the sound radius for both stealthy and loud holdups, a really good skill to have even at rank 1.
Rank 2: allows you to hostage npcs who require rank 2 to intimidate via a loud holdup, also increases the speed of disarming and also searches npcs when disarming them, lastly it allows for civilians to become cooperative hostages temporarily via conversation holdups.
Rank 3: allows for any hostage-able npc to be hostaged via loud holdups, also allows for intimidation rank 1-2 guards to become cooperative via conversation holdups.
Note that each rank of intimidation increases the range of loud and quiet holdups by 20%, excluding conversation holdups, primary weapons increase the range by 40%, so you can double your intimidation range.
Social engineering:
Ranks 1-3 all unlock mission specific interactions that can range from obtaining information to distracting npcs, and even gaining access to certain areas, it also allows you to reach the requirements to reduce or reset the alert level using a radio on certain missions.
Each rank of social engineering also increases the time that you can hold a “conversation” with an npc, this is useful if you want to chat to a camera operator while your teammates do stuff in front of the cameras, this increased time doesn’t apply to confrontations such as when you’re caught in a minor trespassing area.
Okay that was all of the starting major skills you can get, I’ll eventually get around to covering the other major skills that you can’t get as your starting skill.
also i just realized rose and iris (boss) look the same
