The ARGUS Corporation Mercenaries

The mercenaries prefer weapons and brute force over sneaking around. The mercenaries boast a much better firearm than the spies, have tough armor, and a couple explosives in their gadget arsenal. Protect the ND133 from the spies--it’s the mercenary’s primary goal. Time is on the mercenary’s side. Prevent the spies from neutralizing, extracting, or sabotaging the ND133 and achieve victory. This section provides tips on assuming the role of an ARGUS mercenary.

• The mercenary boasts plenty of vision and auditory tools to counter the spy’s stealth techniques. First, the motion vision mode can be used to detect a spy’s movements through dark areas. Scan toward dark corners and entrance routes to spot a spy’s infiltration. Note that motion tracking works through smoke. Second, the mercenary can switch on EMF (electromagnetic field vision) to locate interference given off by electric devices. This enables the mercenary to spot a spy using night or thermal vision. Finally, arrows around the targeting reticle reveal the direction of nearby sounds. In a team game, it’s important to know the location of your teammate so you can discern between spy sound indications and your teammate’s noise.
• The mercenary’s flashlight helps scope out dark areas for hiding spies but it also brightly reveals your location. A spy just has to look for the bobbing cone of light moving around the map to track your movement and direction. Using the flashlight is important but don’t rely on it completely.
• Maintain awareness around you at all time. It can be useful to camp at times to monitor a spy’s movement with a motion tracker or to allow your placed spy traps or mines to do their work but if you’re on the move, turn around and check your back occasionally or look up and check above you occasionally. Watch the sound indicator and face that location immediately. Be prepared to fire your weapon, use a tazer, or a melee attack if a spy is approaching at close-range.
• The mercenary carries two items that can be stuck to surfaces to counter the spy: the spy trap and the mine. Spy traps mark a passing spy and allow you to see the enemy on your own radar (and you can also hear his communications). Place them near heavily trafficked areas, such as entrances or dark paths through a section of the map. Don’t waste them near ND133. It’s better to mark a spy as he’s moving in, especially on a neutralization game. You may want to just place one or two because if a spy does disable the trap, you’re told. If you only placed one out there then you know exactly where the spy is! You can plant mines similarly. Though you could certainly protect the ND133 by placing mines nearby, it can be powerful to mine popular routes through each map. Remember you can shoot mines to set them off. Watch for a spy to try and disable a mine and shoot it using your sniper view.
• If you spot a spy ahead of you, don’t wildly fire your weapon in the spy’s direction. Increase your accuracy with short-controlled bursts instead of full automatic spray. Don’t forget to utilize your stash of frag grenades or phosphorous grenades as well. Toss the grenades where you think the spy is moving toward so the spy moves into the grenade’s path. The frag grenade’s blast is enough to kill the spy; the phosphorous grenade clothes the spy in phosphorous making him visible to your EMF vision mode.

Mercenary Gadgets

The following list provides tips on using the mercenary’s gadget selections against the enemy spies in a multiplayer match.

• Frag Grenade - This grenade inflicts area effect damage to anyone in its blast radius. Its uses are obvious: toss at the feet of a spy to eliminate the spy in an explosion. Best used when you’ve found the spy in a tight area, such as a tunnel or vent shaft.
• Tazer - Short range electrical shock that freezes a spy if it hits him. Useful if you’ve caught a spy sneaking up on you or spot one at close-range. He’s pretty much a sitting duck at that point. Note that the mercenary also has a close-range attack that can be used to repel the spy instead. The mercenary’s firearm is weak and hard to use at close-range so the charge or the tazer becomes an option.
• Spy Trap - Marks on the radar the enemy who cut its detection laser beam. Can also listen to the spy’s communications. Obviously place on areas you think the spy will certainly move through. Don’t place right next to an ND133. It’s better to place them on the routes toward the ND133 so you gain the trap’s benefit as early as possible. Try to conceal the trap as best as possible. You also must place it in a somewhat narrow area so the trap’s beam can hit another wall.
• Mine - Double trigger system mines (proximity or laser beam) inflicting damage in its blast radius. Like the spy trap, place on areas you believe the spy will move through.
• Phosphorous Grenade - Marks an enemy with phosphorescent particles in its blast radius. Toss a phosphorous grenade in an area you think the spy is currently located and turn on your EMF to track the spy easily. The effect wears off quickly so make your move as quickly as possible. To track the spy, look for green footprints left from the phosphorous effect.
• Flare - Very bright but temporary short range throwable and stickable source lights. Illuminates an area of the map to help track spy incursion. Toss in the darkest zones where a spy might hide from your view.