Attributes
- Agility – Determines maximum stamina and how fast a merc can move and react to orders issued to them.
- Dexterity – Used for aiming, repairing weapons, and explosives.
- Strength – Determines maximum health, damage dealt with melee weapons, and the likelihood of forcing a locked door with a crowbar.
- Intelligence – Used for medical checks and defusing land lines, and determines how quickly your merc gains experience.
- Perception – Determines how far your merc can hear and see. Used to notice enemies and landmines and to determine the extent of their field of vision in Guard Mode.
Skills
- Medical –What healing items a merc can use and how successful he or she will be.
- Explosives –What explosives a merc can plant or disarm and how successful he or she will be at handling explosives.
- Mechanical – Determines what tools a merc can use to repair weapons and restore their durability. Also affects success of using lock picks to unlock doors.
- Stealth – How much noise a merc makes when he or she is moving.
- Marksmanship – How well a merc can aim and the likelihood of hitting the target.
Other Stats
Although each of the skills and attributes are very important to consider when deciding to hire mercs and how to use them, there are some very basic stats that are important to a merc's survival:
- Health – Determined by the merc’s strength value. Health is reduced when you take damage. If it is reduced to zero, the merc is in critical condition and near death. If the merc isn't healed or his condition can’t be stabilized, he will die. Death is permanent in this game, and if a merc is lost he is gone forever! Different healing items can restore health as well as treat wounds.
- Stamina – This is represented by a merc’s agility value. Stamina decreases when a merc moves. The rate at which it decreases depends on the type of movement. For example, slow movement such as crawling (prone) will decrease stamina a lot more slowly than running. Stamina is also affected by traits that can hinder or enhance the stamina depletion rate. Stamina will regenerate whenever a merc stands still for a while. If a merc completely depletes his stamina, he will move very slowly and will continue to complain until you let him catch his breath. Moving on the World Map often involves trekking across great distances. This will reduce mercs’ stamina if they don’t rest before entering a combat area. If a merc is not allowed to rest prior to entering a location, his stamina bar can be permanently reduced until he returns to the World Map.
- Load Weight – This is the maximum amount a merc can carry. If the merc is carrying too much, she won’t regain stamina and will only be able to move very slowly.
- Camouflage – There are four types of camo: woods, urban, desert, and night. A swatch is shown for each type with the current amount in the character details view. This is directly determined by the type of clothing and armor you give your merc. Matching similar types of camo increases its overall percentage and thus your effectiveness to remain unseen on that terrain or at that time of day.
- Experience – This represents the current experience points your merc has earned. Experience is gained through several activities, such as eliminating enemies and using your skills with various pieces of equipment. The number in parenthesis is the goal you must achieve to increase the merc to the next level. When a merc has leveled up, he gets 7 training points that can be placed into any skill or attribute to improve the merc.