Struggling against the conspiracy? I don’t blame you. When you’re a small group of secret agents fighting a vast global network, bent on mind-controlling the population, you’re going to have a slight disadvantage.
That’s why I’ve put together 12 tips to help you survive the campaign in Phantom Doctrine. In this XCOM-like strategy game, you play as a cabal of spies as they investigate an uncover a deadly group of conspirators called the Beholder Initiative. Whether in your base, or fighting on the streets in turn-based combat, you’ll have to build your cabal while the Initiative tries to hunt you down.
There’s a lot of information to keep track of, and if you’re not careful you can get caught in a death spiral as your wounded agents don’t heal, your base is raided, and the Doomsday Clock counts down to zero. Here’s everything you need to know to conquer the conspiracy.
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1: Build The Forger Facility ASAP
Fighting the conspiracy requires cash, and if you want to keep the cash flowing, you’ll need the Forger. With the Forger, you can assign agents to print money. The more agents you assign to the forger the better, and the more money you have stocked up, the faster you can expand your operations.
2: Remain in Infiltration Mode As Long As Possible
For many of the early missions, you’ll have to enter the area completely blind, with only a pair of plainclothes agents to locate the enemy and neutralize them. The trick is — never, ever get into a firefight unless it is absolutely necessary. Your goal isn’t to kill everyone.
Every mission can be completely with stealth. Even if there are cameras, laser grids, guards and civilians. It’s up to you to find the path. You’re not on a time limit, and plainclothes agents can explore freely — as long as you aren’t seen in a restricted area.
3: Stealth Tips | Disguises, Projected Paths & Body Disposal
Stealth is your most important tool. Use it wisely. Here’s a few things you need to know about staying in stealth that will make your life much, much easier.
- Unlock the Forger to gain 2 disguise slots. You can use disguises on large missions, or missions to wipe out Beholder Cells.
- You can knock out enemies with Takedown as long as you have more HP than your target.
- Send disguised agents to scout buildings out first. Only Beholder agents can see through disguises — unless you have the Disguise perk, which makes your disguised agents completely invisible, even in restricted areas.
- After knocking out an enemy or civilian, you can use the Dispose Of Body command to remove the body completely from the map.
- Mouse over an enemy, and you’ll see their projected movement path on the next turn. If you check these wisely, you can easily sneak by standard civilians / enemies.
- Find surveillance terminals to disable cameras and laser grids on the map. Sometimes there are multiple terminals.
- Bring a Lockpick on plainclothes agents to get through all locked doors on the map. You can build these at the workshop.
4: Lure Beholder Agents Out Of Hiding In Missions
When you’re hunting Beholder Agents, you’ll often find that they’re hiding in a hard-to-reach area, usually with lots of security and NPC coverage. If you’re struggling to reach them, you can lure them out.
How? Takedown enemy agents — these can include mercenaries and local police. Take enough down and wait awhile, and the enemy agent will begin searching the map. They move around unpredictably, so move carefully so they don’t spot you.
Find more tips to help you master Phantom Doctrine on the next page.
