In the coming months, we will be releasing more complicated Missions, and not all of them will allow unlimited replays. Some will have prizes associated with completion. First try completion will be important for an Agent’s competitiveness.
We’ve come to learn some interesting things about Mission success. The Briefing screen has always been the source of Intelligence to help an Agent be successful. No one has attempted a Mission solo. As a result, near everyone operates as a team of at least two. When this is the case, one Agent is the Operations Lead and the other is the Intelligence Officer.
There have been very few (single digit) Missions completed on the first try. So we wanted to share some observations of those Agents that have been most successful.
Trust is key. A team of two will absorb a significant amount of data as part of the Mission prep and execution. It happens too fast for each task while operating. You have to trust your partner in their role.
Specialization has to be taken seriously. A single team member cannot do both jobs once the Mission has started. You can run in solo mode, but only if you take 5-10 minutes to prepare. Do your job and do it well.
Know your job - Operations. If you are running Ops, read each Task Directive completely. Pay attention to each word. Share the clue with your Intelligence operative. Monitor the clock. Watch the door indicators. Move quickly and set the tempo. Make decisions. Use the “Help” if you are running low on time, better to lose 10% of your points total than to fail.
Know your job - Intelligence. Intelligence operatives are the most important part of the team. Read the briefing and apply it to the Task Directive as they come up. CLICK THE LINK!!! The background information in each task link is usually critical to the success of the Mission. Try to pair the words in the Task Directive to what you see in the Briefing and link details. Provide actionable intelligence to the Ops Lead. Don’t overthink. The purpose of the clues is not to confuse the team but to provide intelligence so they can complete the tasks quickly.
THIS IS NOT AN ESCAPE ROOM. Not everything in the room is relevant or a red-herring to throw you off. These are training spaces designed to simulate real world operations. You should not see something that looks out of place for the space you are in.
Understand the actual instruction in the task directive. If it says to find something and then click “OK” to indicate that you have found it, don’t try to anticipate the next step. Trust your Tech Support team to guide you along the Mission…click OK. (but don’t click until you actually have the thing described in the task directive :) )
The purpose of a Mission is to prepare and execute well. While luck may help you, you should not rely on luck to help you through the next task or find the next clue. Missions don’t work like that. The nature of the tasks is sequential and has purpose. These are not arbitrary puzzles.
Remember, prepare smart, train hard, and have fun. Talk with your partners about the respective roles of Operations and Intelligence and learn to be a cohesive team.