Part 4: Cash City and Abner's Basement

Main Walkthrough

Head back to Bright Town once you've trekked through Abner's Basement. Pay Ryder a visit and Noa will drop off her little spider friend to terrorize her partner. She'll also decide that her uncle has answers when it comes to a next destination. Nothing new has cropped up in Bright Town since you departed for the Slums, aside from relocated NPCs and new conversations, so you might as well head to The Strix.

V-Sync Missions

Check out the purple-haired guy on the lower floor of The Strix before you speak to Guin. This is V-Sync, and he has a mission for you: Find the Monomind Stash somewhere in the Slums. The hint he provides is pretty obvious if you've been admiring the scenery. Head to the Slums and you'll see a gleaming box down and to the left of the Bright City entrance, in front of a chain-link fence. The box contains three Data Packets.

Head back to V-Sync. He'll tell you about a Mafia drop. Get to the Mafia drop in Bright Town for a cheeky win! This one's behind the Model Mayhem shop in the northwest of Bright Town, on the same screen as Deck Lord, and it contains three Health Packets.

Go back to V-Sync one more time. He has another mission, but... you're not ready. Yet. We'll come back to him. That's all for now.

Head upstairs in The Strix. Uncle Guin is waiting, and he'll open a spy-proof room. Pop inside for a discussion of Noa's father. Guin doesn't know what to do with Abner's MiniMem, and he sends Noa on a trip to the nearby Scrapyard for answers. He'll also give you the Wormhole Jack Move, which will prove handy when Killerwatt does not. Check the box in Guin's spy-proof room for a Deflektor Packet on your way out.

Head back to the Slums, to the south of The Strix. On the south end of the first screen you'll hit an east-west intersection. Go east and you'll find the gate to the Scrapyard. Ryder will pop the gate open this time, granting Noa access.

Pigdog's Scrapyard

Upon arrival Guin will call Noa and give her a target: The Advanced Decryption Module of an M-30 Tank. These tanks aren't exactly modern, so she'll need to go digging - and there will be baddies getting in the way, every step of the journey. The fun begins with two Goons and a Weldmaster, who attack Noa right after Noa enters the area. The Weldmaster is the only new target, and he's allergic to Wetware attacks. Memory Leak will do nicely.

With the goons out of the way you can explore. Start by checking the building on your left. Inside is a box containing a Data Packet. (The sign also gets a bit cheeky if you watch the flashing letters.) North of here you'll enter the Scrapyard in earnest, and begin running into random enemies. Most are familiar, but there are a few new ones:

  • Drone - 400 HP. Hits pretty hard but doesn't have a ton of health.
  • Mini Mech - 1,200 HP. Weak to Cyberware. Has a fair amount of HP and hits reasonably hard. Can wait until you've dispatched more dangerous foes.
  • Punk - 1,000 HP. An upgraded Goon that can take more abuse, but doesn't hit much harder. Anything besides normal physical attacks will work fine.
  • Weld Maser - 1,000 HP. Weak to Wetware. Does Electroware damage and has lots of health. Nothing special.
You'll start off in a small maze made of old cars. Check the side passage to the north of the starting point for a box containing a Mini Ware Chip. Near this box is a crusher that you'll need to activate to head north, though the control box is out of reach.


Follow the path to the east and it will bring you back around to the crusher's power box. Use it to get an obstructive car out of your way, then move past the crusher and head north. You'll wind up in a much larger section of the Scrapyard. Begin your investigation of the area in the northeast, where the path loops on itself. There's a box up here, partially hidden behind a tree, that contains a Health Packet.

Head southwest, until you can use wooden planks to get onto the shipping crates littering the area. Follow the debris path until it takes you to the east side of the area, where the path splits. On your right is a box containing 500 credits. The left path will lead you to the west, where you'll find planks that will take you back to the ground. Check the north end of the shipping crates for a box containing a Data Packet before you descend to ground level again. The box beneath the ramps contains a Health Packet.


To the north you'll run into Pigdog, the owner of the Scrapyard. He's still miffed that Noa is invading his turf - understandably - and will fight to protect his junk.


Pigdog

9,666 HP

Pigdog's an oddball. Accompanied by two near-inconsequential Goons, he uses his tanklike robot armor to slam into you. Once he does he'll go into hiding, increasing his defenses to every type of attack... at the expense of doing nothing. After a turn or two Pigdog will emerge and use Super Electroniweld to do a fair amount of Electroware damage, and will do it a few times before ramming and hiding again. Once enough time passes he'll summon in a random enemy. The most dangerous among them are Troni-Dogs which will buff Pigdog's attacks if allowed to get a turn in.

Most of the damage Pigdog does will be Electroware in nature, so buff your defenses against it and use Cyberware attacks whenever Pigdog emerges from his vehicle. Use his moments of hiding to heal Noa and buff her attributes. The only potential hiccup in this fight is the Troni-Dog, and so long as you destroy it immediately after it spawns the pooch shouldn't get the chance to buff Pigdog's attacks. Pigdog is swap between vulnerable to Cyberware when he's out and nothing when he's in hiding, so swap back and forth between Cyberware Software and physical attacks depending on what he's doing.

Pigdog will give up once you beat him, allowing Noa to retrieve the Advanced Decryption Module from the nearby tank. Follow the northern path out of Pigdog's Scrapyard and you'll find a secret path back to Bright Town. Handy.

Part 6: The Virtual Construct

Main Walkthrough