Did we ever land on what the deal was with Merces? I know they’re currency for us to follow, but in-universe, which we know has actual world currencies - the dollar, the euro, the pound, the yen, pesos, etc. - are Merces actually their own, newly established currency? Or are they representations of a set amount of an established currency? Are they a cryptocurrency and when we see 47 picking them up from couriers and safes and such, is he really just grabbing items that allow him access to the crypto? If they represent set amounts of existing currency, which was my working theory about them before Freelancer released, how much does one Merc represent - $100, $1000, higher, lower?
Originally, before the release, and before IO altered the amount earned to be higher than what was in the CTT, I had thought that each one represented something like a hundred thousand to a million dollars; 47 gets 5 Merces, he gets $5 million. But with the increase, the fact that he gets paid at the end of each mission and not just the whole contract, and that even the syndicate Leaders are just street-level scum and not high-profile celebrities, government officials, mob bosses, or terrorist leaders that have high value for their contracts, I’m inclined to think now that Merces really are 1:1 currency, and Diana is releasing small parts of the overall contract payment per mission until the Leader is dead, and all the amounts paid for all objectives completed over the whole contract was the actual total the clients are paying. If not, if Merces do represent an amount of an existing currency, then I don’t think it’s a very high amount like I thought before it was changed. At best, each Merc represents $100-$500 dollars.
Their form of preferred currency could constantly change, so it may be easier to say “merces” in its place. To me, that would explain why the worth of merces seem inconsistent or weird. It would account for the fact that an emetic gas detenator is only 50 =m=, to sniper rifles being 30k+. There is no reliable guide to follow, in that sense.
In a way, the true value of the merces is well protected and shadowy, much like 47 himself is.
In one of the post CTT blog posts, IO said they were supposed to be like the coins from the John Wick movies, a special form of payment that can be converted into a set amount of currency if given to the right people (I think they even straight up say that it was essentially cryptopcurrency, but I’ll have to check), which was why they were suprised that people took issue with the amounts being too small. But since they upped the amounts, I guess it’s closer to a 1:1 conversion (though getting a couple thousand for killing a suspect is still pretty low, so I guess it can still fulfill the same purpose).
EDIT - It wasn’t a blog post, it was an interview from screenrant, here’s the quote:
What was the most surprising change made after the Closed Technical Test?
JBJ: One that really took us by surprise was that so many players hated our economy-fantasy based on low values/numbers, that was inspired by the John Wick coin and by cryptocurrency, and that we felt was also easier to navigate, because the low values are more readable in the UI.
Is there any tactical benefit to the Handyman’s Wrench? There’s always the basic Wrench in the garage that also takes two gear slots and functions in the same way.
That is one of the possibilities I’d considered, but since the targets in Freelancer are nowhere near the high-profile level of, say, Novikov or Jordan Cross, nor as well-protected as Strandberg or Rico Delgado, the clients wouldn’t be paying huge sums. They want the syndicates brought down, yes, but their members are just regular street thugs or middle class white collar criminals. Whatever total amounts they offered up for the contracts that Diana is dispensing out in portions as each mission is fulfilled, I doubt totally up to the amount 47 would have charged while he was with ICA. In a world with no more such agencies to work for and most of the top criminals already dead, 47 has to take whatever work he can for whatever amount is appropriate. If he wants to get picky, he should have thought of that before destroying the ICA.
That one actually might make a little more sense when we consider that the average hitman that the suppliers are likely selling to are more likely to go for your traditional tools of the trade, meaning there is higher demand and thus higher value for pistols, shotguns, sniper rifles, knives and such, and lesser cost for items that your run-of-the-mill assassin are not likely to think of using regularly or even know how to use, like micro-tasers and remote emetic devices and such. I can see how those items, leftover from ICA and in circulation, although more costly to make, would still be cheaper than what normally sells better.
Tools are cheaper because they’re single use (except a couple of them like the crowbar and the lockpick, which cost more). The merces economy’s just a gameplay mechanic, it doesn’t really have any other lore implications than “47’s using some kind of shadow currency to buy stuff from the black market”.
The fact that it’s called “Merces” is the gameplay mechanic, but, he’s getting paid something in the lore. Since all we have to go off of is the “Merces,” I’m trying to understand how representative of actual currencies it is.
And one-time use or not, that doesn’t really explain the huge gap in price from some tools and weapons to others. If anything, you’d think single-use items would be more expensive for that reason, because of its scarcity. Use it more wisely, it cost you a bundle.
I didn’t realize about the civilian disguises, will add that.
The assassins are deadly. Last night I attempted a showdown in WC, got a shotgun blast when I was behind a wall and one-shot kill. Need to get my collector’s dart guns back before my next attempt.
Probably need a bit more patience. Those escorts aren’t as forgiving as guards are in the main game and contracts.
I see you’ve already gotten a couple of responses, but here’s mine. Tips aren’t just for showdowns, but most apply to them as well:
To this I might add, pause the game if the shit hits the fan. Think. What are your outs? How do you achieve them? What are the risks? When chased by multiple guards shooting at me I have sometimes taken a massive detour instead of going straight for the closest exit, because I realized the path was too exposed.
Some other thoughts more specifically geared towards HC Showdowns. Nothing here is new, but this thinking is what helped me get through.
In a Showdown, you have two goals:
Identify and kill the Leader, fulfilling the prestige objective.
Do not get identified and caught (and do not cause a panic or evacuation).
For 1, okay, use the standard tips n’ tricks:
If a suspect has all 4 looks, that does not necessarily mean they are the leader. However, if a suspect has ANY tell that is not one of the two Leader Tells, you can rule them out.
The purple icon above their heads doesn’t change in HC whenever they’re performing a Tell, so learn to identify them. Smoking is an easy one to notice. “Nervous” and “allergies” take a little more observation.
Similarly, the icon doesn’t change whenever they’re doing their Meeting. Listen to Diana in these cases – she will straight up tell you which of the 3 meeting types the suspect is doing. You can also learn to recognize the NPC arm movements.
You can easily unmark half of the suspects in the first few minutes of a showdown by process of elimination. For the rest, USE PATIENCE.
Suspects and their assassins WILL go into areas that in the main game would be “safe” for you. I was often hiding in a trespassing area, knowing no NPCs would come to me, but the Freelancer ones would stroll right through, trapping me and making things go to shit. Be aware of this and have an exit plan.
Civilian and servant disguises are your friend. Don’t try to do SASO unless you absolutely have to.
If you knock out or kill an Assassin, the associated Suspect won’t freak out unless your crime has been noticed. So, slowly and patiently, take care of the assassins when the correct opportunity presents itself.
Arranging NON-Leader specific meetings is a good way to X out suspects that aren’t the leader. If you take out (pacify or kill) a suspect whose Meeting is different from your clue, find a safe, isolated location that no regular map NPCs go to and arrange a meeting for all the rest of these suspects. If you time it right and proactively take out the assassins, you can whittle your suspect list down.
Lookouts are the worst. Be constantly vigilant. Run around in circles. Duck into crowds. Do whatever you can to avoid the stupid ass Lookout. They’re the worst, and their behavior should be modified for this mode, but this is what we have to work with for now. Avoid Lookouts at all costs.
Jumping off that: Use your minimap. I play with minimal HUD in the regular game, but minimap is crucial in HC Freelancer. Even if you’re in a waiter disguise at a party, you need to know where that white dot is at all times.
DO NOT USE EXPLOSIVES ANYWHERE. I can’t tell you how many times I screwed this up. Since using explosives is fine and fun in the takedown missions, I’d then get into Showdowns and use an explosive to open a door or something, and then the whole damn map would go nuts and my target would be notified from across the map and run away. The same applies to loud guns: DO NOT GO LOUD in Showdowns
Civilian and servant disguises are your friend.
Don’t use explosives.
Don’t use bombs.
Don’t blow anything up until after you’ve killed the Leader.
Actually don’t blow anything up at all because even if you’ve killed the Leader, you’re still in the map and you run the risk of getting caught and gunned down and those 3,000 merces in that safe are NOT worth it – the only thing that matters is getting out alive.
I chose SASO. Not because I’m a masochist, but because the other two are almost certain failure.
Timed Get Disguises, during a hardcore showdown with 12 suspects, where going back to a previously used disguise doesn’t reset the timer? Hell no. I will fail. You would most likely fail too. Some of you would not fail. Most of us would fail.
Perfect Run? Where some optional objectives aren’t in-game verified until after the mission end objectives screen (or something like that, right?)… It’s bugged when cross-referencing certain optional objectives, and therefore it should not be picked in Hardcore.
This is literally the worst 3-PO combo there is. Which is why I felt SO HARDCORE when I finally beat it.
Just a couple of clarifications to make here because everything else that’s been said is good advice:
Be very wary of Perfect Run in HC - never take it if any of the objectives has a fail state (and that includes stuff like suit only, which is technically impossible to fail if you don’t purposefully change disguises) for two reasons. The first one’s obvious, if you fail any of the objectives during the mission it will fail Perfect Run. The second one’s more of a bug - some objectives (suit only, no recordings, target kills only, etc etc) only get checked after the mission ends. Currently this will make you fail your campaign because the prestige objective will not be completed yet when you exit the mission.
For any other objectives that you can check off during the mission (poison guard, melee kill etc), it’s safe to take Perfect Run.
Melee kill prestige objectives also work with thrown weapons, so if you can’t isolate a target, throwing something in their face when hidden from view is also an option - just don’t run away too fast or you’ll cause panic.
While this could be a problem if you’re in a suit or guard disguise, when you’re in a civilian disguise suspects will never enforce it even if you’re in a trespassing area. As far as I know assassins are never enforcers for anything.
They’re actually extremely useful in maps that would otherwise be death traps like Marrakesh or Ambrose (where you can get free explosives), but yeah don’t use them during showdowns unless you’re absolutely certain that whoever you’re targeting is the leader and you’re far away from them.
I have not yet done any prestige levels, can you clarify this? What do you mean by “headstart?” Prestige levels can be done while a campaign is already in progress?
Yeah you can activate it at any point of a campaign, which I find is kind of an odd design choice (if that’s actually intended that is). So if you finish a campaign but don’t take the reward crate at once, you can activate prestige, then get a free legendary item from the crate since it somehow doesn’t disappear.
Yep, it takes away all your weapons and mercers but not your campaign progress. Now I have the best sniper in the game and enough mercers to buy a legendary pistol right off the bat.
An excellent strategy. However, I think once I’ve completed all mastery levels and defeated hardcore once, and other challenges I can get, then eventually turn my attention to prestige levels, I’m probably going to want to enjoy the challenge of getting everything again from scratch, so I think I’ll just activate it before starting a campaign.
