WORK IN PROGRESS
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This article is a work in progress. If you have anything constructive to add, please do so, and if you're not sure about the information, just bring it up in the comments. |
"Writing the Abnormality Encyclopedia is a pain in the neck. Nobody’ll know if I just fudge the details and make some stuff up, right?"
- An employee
Employees are the people working for Lobotomy Corporation and are the player's main tool to interact with Abnormalities. There are 2 types of employees: Agents and Clerks.
Agents, also called in-game as 'Employees', are controlled workers that can be identified by their suits depending on what Equipment they are given, and by their name and ranks above their heads. The player can order them to do each of the four works to manage the Abnormalities, move, and suppress hostile entities. Agents can be promoted and can suppress other Agents or breaching Abnormalities when needed. They have stats that must be considered when sending them to work with an Abnormality and losing all of them will cause a Game Over.
Agents can be hired at the start of a new day for 1 LOB Point or the player can hire a Custom Agent for a higher price. Their Stats can be improved during hiring or during the Management Phase by spending LOB Points.
Clerks or Office Workers are randomly generated employees, wearing other suits so as to not confuse them with Agents, who wander around, taking care of the facility instead of interacting with the Abnormalities. The player cannot control the Clerks but Abnormalities can affect them, such as when an Abnormality is attacking, or a Clerk becoming the target of an effect or receiving damage.
The Clerks provide passive functions depending on the amount of them that are alive/sane in the department they work in.
Basic Stats
Main article: Stats
This is a summary of the Stats of the employees, and considering them is crucial to perform a good management. Both Agents and Clerks possess these stats, with the Agents using more stats than Clerks. To see the stats of an Agent, hover the mouse over them, click on the Agent or see them in the Deployment Phase. The stats are:
- Health Points (HP): The amount of physical damage that the employee can take before they Die. This gauge becomes visible when sending an employee to work and when unlocking a research from the Information Team. This gauge can be healed by the Main Room's regenerators, as well as by other effects. Red and Black Damage subtract a fixed value of this bar, and Pale Damage subtracts a percentage of their HP according to their Max HP.
- Sanity Points (SP): The amount of mental damage that the employee can take. When depleted, the employee Panics. A panicking employee reacts according to their Panic State (See below in the Panic section) and do different actions to harm other employees and the facility. This gauge becomes visible when sending an employee to work and when unlocking a research from the Information Team. This gauge can be healed by the Main Room's regenerators, as well other effects. White and Black Damage subtract a fixed value of this bar.
When panicked, the bar will remain depleted and can be healed by dealing White and Black Damage to the panicked employee. Once the bar is full, the employee will return to normal.
- Agent/Stats Level: Agents have a Main Level and Stat Levels, which start at Level 1 up to 5. The Agent's Level is determinated by the sum of their Level Stats. Every Agent has 4 Level Stats with respective values to each one, which control different stats of the Agent. They can start at Level 1, but can be upgraded by working or improving them by spending LOB Points; up to a maximum of Level 5 (Or Level EX, which is treated as Level 5). These are:
- Fortitude: Increases the HP of the employee and is upgraded by performing Instinct.
- Prudence: Increases the SP of the employee and is upgraded by performing Insight.
- Temperance: Increases the Work Success, which help in getting more PE-Boxes with Abnormalities, and Work Speed, which reduce the time spent in works, and is upgraded by performing Attachment.
- Justice: Increases the Attack Speed, which decreases the delay between attacks, and Movement Speed, which increases the speed that the employee travel across the facility, and is upgraded by performing Repression.
To increase the Level of these stats, their basic value of their stat must be increased in ~25. The limit of the values is up to 100 (106-110) by default.
- Damage and Resistances: Depending of the equipment used by the employee, their resistance and base damage will vary, but depending of the equipment's Risk Level or Grade, it will also change the effectiveness of the damage and resistance against the target.
Damage depends on the E.G.O. Weapon of the Agent. Depending on the Damage Type, it can deal one or more of the 4 types of damage: Red, White, Black, Pale. Against Abnormalities, Ordeals and Minions, these values are subtracted directly from their HP bar, taking into account their defenses.
Resistances depends of the E.G.O. Suit of the Agent, which change the resistance of the user against each damage individually, in a percentage. The defenses can be: Absorb (-2.0 ~ -0.1), Immune (0.0), Resistant (0.1 ~ 0.4), Endured (0.5 ~ 0.9), Normal (1.0), Weak (1.1 ~ 1.9), Vulnerable (2.0)
Departments
Main article: Departments
The Agents are assigned to different Departments and Teams during the Deployment Phase, where they will work with the Abnormalities. The player can choose where an Agent is assigned in the available Departments when starting a new day. At least 1 Agent must be in each Department to proceed to the Management Phase. 9 of the current Departments can have 5 employees, while the Central Command Team can have a maximum of 10 employees.
Depending of the Department that the Agents are assigned to, they get a 'Service Time', that will boost a specific Stat or add a minor effect to them. It will be improved as the Agent continues to be assigned to the same Department consecutively. If the employee is assigned to another Department in another day, the progress will be lost and reset back to 1. Additionally, the Clerks of each Department contribute to the 'Office Worker Effect', which for each Clerk sane/alive of their Department, will provide a continuous boost to the Agents or facility of different levels depending of the amount of Clerks still sane/alive.
There are 10 Departments/Teams currently, and are unlocked in the next order: Control Team, Information Team, Training Team, Security Team, Central Command Team, Welfare Team, Disciplinary Team, Record Team, Extraction Team, Architecture Team.
Works
There are 4 different works to interact with Abnormalities. These works are Instinct, Insight, Attachment and Repression. These works affect the success chance of getting PE-Boxes of the Abnormality, improving them or decreasing them. They can also get NE-Boxes that make the Abnormality damage them with their Damage Type. At the end of the work, it will give a 'Mental Result' depending of the amount of PE-Boxes collected, which can be Bad, Normal or Good, and can vary between Abnormalities. It always happen when the work is finished, even when interrupted by the employee getting out of the containment unit or by not being sane/alive anymore. The preferences of the works also vary between Abnormalities.
To order a work, the player must click on the Containment Unit of the Abnormality, where the work options will appear. After selecting one work, they can select the agent to sent into the containment to perform said work. The player can cancel the work they are going to do by clicking on the room of the Abnormality before the agent arrives at the room.
Icon | Work | Description |
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Instinct (Nourishing/Cleaning) | "A work to satiate physiological needs; it requires physical contact. As it involves touching the Abnormality frequently, Agents will need to display a high level of bravery and Fortitude to perform high level Instinct Work. Employees who conduct this work will benefit from increased HP." |
Flavour Text | ||
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*Checking Vitals
*Checking Nutrition Demands *Activating Nourishing Sequence *Allocating 37% Cogito *Examine Fear Indices *Adjusting Fluid Intake *Checking Epidermal Strength *Adjusting Homeostatic Integrity *Repairing Collapsed Tissues |
*Analyzing Nervous System
*Analyzing Decomposition Rate *Analyzing Organic Composition *Checking Innate Traits *Empowering Self-Preservation *Adopting Ethological Approach *Relieving Instinctual Needs *Suppressing Static Bodily Responses |
*Checking Innate Inducers
*Analyzing Environmental Stimulation *Classically Conditioning *Instrumentally Conditioning *Testing Conditioned Stimulus *Reinforcing Neutral Stimulation *Alleviating Physiological Needs *Inducing Physiological Satisfaction *Operantly Conditioning |
Icon | Work | Description |
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Insight (Cleaning) | "A work to improve the Abnormality’s living conditions. As it involves realizing what environment each Abnormality favors the most and making appropriate adjustments to ensure optimal conditions, meticulous observation is required; Agents need to show a high level of intellect and Prudence to perform high level Insight Work. Employees who conduct this work will benefit from increased SP." |
Flavour Text | ||
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*Analyzing Air Quality
*Filtering Air *Beginning Grooming Procedure *Decontaminating Floor *Adjusting Light Intensity *Commencing Multilateral Bioanalysis *Analyzing Behavioural Patterns *Checking Containment Unit Functions |
*Checking Aesthetic Pleasing of Environment
*Reviewing Optimum Environment *Checking Sound System *Assessing Calming Sound Efficiency *Examining Stressors *Analyzing Existential Awareness *Analyzing Environment-Cognition Model *Checking Sentience and Selective Memory *Testing Heuristic Skills |
*Testing Objective Thinking
*Testing Cognitive Development *Analyzing Perceptive Reactions *Checking Voluntary Motives *Checking Intellectual Demand *Checking Formative Estimation *Commencing Phenomenological Observation *Monitoring Gestalt Indices *Analyzing Psychological and Physical Isomorphism *Checking Methodical Gradient |
Icon | Work | Description |
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Attachment (Communing/Amusements) | "A work to satiate social needs. All Abnormalities carry desires and a will, and as such social needs are included. As this work involves acting as a playmate or companion, great care is required as only limited interaction is allowed; to avoid crossing the line, Agents need to show a high level of caution and Temperance to perform high level Attachment Work. Employees who conduct this work will benefit from increased Work Speed and Success Rates." |
Flavour Text | ||
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*Analyzing Emotional State
*Analyzing Individual Preferences *Listing Friendly Behaviours *Testing Stress *Attempting Direct Contact *Attempting Emotional Communion *Attempting Rational Conversation |
*Checking Attachment Level
*Adjusting Target of Attachment Behaviours *Analyzing Attachment Type *Checking Level of Attachment as Means to Escape Insecurity *Checking Attachment Stability Levels *Checking Level of Attachment as Means to Resist Insecurity *Analyzing Psychological Mechanisms *Checking Internal Working Model |
*Attempting to Materialize Internal Representations
*Analyzing Relation Formation Mechanics *Applying Cognitive Theory *Checking Oxytocin and Vasopressin Receptor Activities *Testing Mutual Trust Levels *Testing Alternative Estrangement *Examining Awareness *Analyzing Active Expression Traits *Reinforcing the Ego |
Icon | Work | Description |
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Repression (Violence) | "A work to restrain existence. While the other works focus on handling desires, this one stifles them. As this work involves regulating various emotions and desires, careful and objective decision making as well as strong rationality is needed to control the pace of the work; Agents need to show a high level of Justice—the ability to make definite judgements—to perform high level Repression work. Employees who conduct this work will benefit from increased Attack and Movement Speed." |
Flavour Text | ||
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*Upgrading Qliphoth Deterrence
*Deleting Memories *Evicting Consciousness *Repressing Abstraction *Repressing Neurosis *Repressing Regression *Performing Secondary Repression *Performing Eradication of Desire |
*Evicting Impulsive Behaviors
*Repressing Instinct *Disrupting Attachment *Dualizing Desires *Eliminating Impulsive Circuits *Repressing Death Drive *Terminating Desires *Imprinting Superego |
*Repressing Archetype
*Attempting Ideological Isolation *Neutralizing Origin Configuration *Treating Hysteria *Disassembling Complex Ideas *Evicting Symbolism *Breaking Recursive Chains *Differentiating Libido *Accelerating Single-Point Regression |
Behaviour and Functions
Basic Behavior
Employees will wander through the facility, in the designated area where they are assigned, waiting in the Main Department Room while 'chatting'. They always start in the Main Room of their department. Agents will always go to where they were last designated at the end of a work. If an agent notice a dangerous Abnormality or hostile employee (except panicked Clerks), they will start to suppress the closer target to itself.
To order an Agent to move to another room, click on the employee or drag and make a square around a group to select them, and then select another room where you want them to move. They will remain in that zone until another work order is assigned to them.
Names
All the Agents have a specific name, that is chosen at random from a list when being hired. A player can change their names when hiring them. There are 346 Names in total, 162 being normal names and 184 being Backer Names, from people who supported the game.
Agent Names (161, 346 in Total) | |||
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Acacia |
Eden |
Katya |
Pansy |
Agent Names (Backers, 185) | |||
Agmongdolae |
Haeil |
Magoyeon |
Saengseonsaeng |
Titles
Each agent has 2 Titles, a Primary Title and Secondary Title. The titles appear below the agent in the Management Phase and next to their names in the HUD. New hired employees will always have the secondary title "newbie" (if the player has Hod's boss upgrade, they will instead have the secondary title "Senior"). The Secondary Title will always change when an employee is promoted to levels 2, 3, and 5. The Primary Title will only change when an employee is promoted to levels 4. Upon promotion to the next level, the employee will receive a title linked to their highest stat. If the employee's stat levels are all the same level and the employee is promoted to level 3 or 5, they are eligible to receive the titles "Senior" for level 3 and "Grand Senior" for level 5. Each title has its own minor bonuses to the employee's maximum limit, increasing the limit by -2 to 5 depending on the level the titles is obtained at.
Research
Main article: Research
Research can affect employees in different ways, like the rate of healing in main department rooms and increase other values, like the psychological and physical gauge.
Status
The 'Status' are multiple states that an employee can be under, which might cause a handicap, inability to perform other tasks or just to announce their current action. These appear on a 'Task' window. The states are:
- Agent en Route: An Agent is moving to a containment unit to perform a task. It can be canceled by pressing the button again or clicking the containment unit of the Abnormality before they reach it.
- Working: The employee is now working in a containment unit with an Abnormality. Only in certain cases, like Tools, an Agent can get out of the containment unit prematurely by the order of the player. Otherwise, they will get out when the work finishes.
- Dead: The employee has lost all their HP, succumbed to an Insta-kill effect or transformed into another entity. Dead employees no longer are alive and thus, are lost forever. If they were carrying any E.G.O. equipment, it will be lost as well, unless having a specific research of Extraction Team.
- Uncontrollable (Possession): The Agent is now possessed or in another state that forces the employee to act outside of their usual behavior. Under this state, the player might or not be able to save the employee and free them from this status, depending on which entity or event caused the status.
- Panicking: See below.
Panic State
Panic is a state that occur once the SP of an employee is depleted. The employee will become uncontrollable and starting to act depending of their Panic State. The White Damage of the agent under panic will remain depleted and can be subdued by other agents to try to return them back to normal. Dealing White and/or Black Damage to them will heal their gauge instead and once is back to the maximum, the employee will return to normal. However, Black Damage can still cause damage to the HP of the panicked employee and the defenses against damages are still applied to the employee. The SP Healing Bullets of the Bullet Research can't heal panicked employees, but the Main Room's healing can. Clerks can also enter into 2 Panic States, but they cannot be suppressed.
To determinate the Panic State of an employee, it will depend of the their highest stat value between all the stats, and by this condition, the Clerks only can enter into 2 Panic States explained below. This count the base and additions when choosing the Panic State and in case there are 2 or more equal values of the highest stats, it will choose one of the highest ones randomly. Agents will also say things based on their level and the panic state itself(not including level 1 employees who will say the same set of lines for all states.
Level 1 Agent Panic Lines
Agent Lines |
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"Please give me an order! Please give me an order! Please give me an order! Please give me an order! Please give me an order!"
"Just let me go home, manager… I WANNA GO HOME!" "Manager, please do something about my situation if you’re seeing this. Please SAVE ME" "AAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!" |
These Panic States as follows:
Murder
Agents will enter into this Panic State, Murder, when their highest stat is Fortitude. They will seek for other
entities to damage with their own equipment. This makes high level employees very dangerous when in this state, due to them fighting back and sometimes able to kill or make panic more employees.
Agent Lines for the Murder Panic State
Level | Agent Lines |
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2 | "I won’t die alone…"
"So you’re to blame! If it weren’t for you, it wouldn’t have gone this way!" "You’re the problem. Not me, you!" |
3 | "Just end it all. This company, us, you… JUST END IT!"
"I can do this. I- I can kill humans just like they did." "YOU LEFT ME BEHIND!!!" |
4 | "DIE! KILL IT ALL AND DIE!"
"The smell of blood is calling me. I yearn for blood and flesh." "I’ll kill everyone. I’ll destroy everything. Nothing matters anyways." |
5 | "It’ll be fun! The tearing of flesh will create a beautiful melody!"
"Why do humans die so easily? Humans like you." "It will end quickly, so relax. I’ll free you from this prison we call flesh." |
Suicide
Employees enter into the Suicide Panic State when their highest stat is Prudence. The employee gives up and stand on their spot, waiting for a while before killing itself instantly by snapping its own neck. If they were in a containment unit, they will just remain in front the door of the hallway. They should be better saved before they commit suicide and if other employees witness the Suicide, they will receive Fear/ White Damage.
Clerks often enter into this state when their SP is depleted, instead of Wander, but they might also enter into Suicide at the end of the Wander. Unlike Agents, their time to Suicide has less delay and tend to kill themselves almost instantly.
Agent Lines for the Suicide Panic State
Level | Agent Lines |
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2 | "It’s all my fault. It’s my responsibility..."
"I don’t see any hope in this situation..." "Even if I survive, I’ll just continue to suffer because of this moment for the rest of my life..." |
3 | "The hallway is all coated with blood and brain fluid… You can see it too, right? We need a mop and bucket… We have to clean it up…"
"I saw my dead colleague yesterday. We had a nice dinner and coffee together. He seemed to be doing just fine. I might visit him soon…." |
4 | "I can hear someone. It’s the sound of back home. I just can’t stop hearing it…"
"There’s no hope left. My mind’s collapsing. Everything’s collapsing..." "We will all sink and perish, devoured by madness..." |
5 | "The whispering of the moon and the sound of the stars. And the truth beyond..."
"To the horizon of knowledge, beyond understanding..." "Their roar. The resonance between you and I. The incandescent wisdom..." |
Wander
The employee will enter into Panic State Wander if their highest stat is Temperance.They will roam the facility aimlessly while screaming, dealing constantly White Damage to anyone in the same room where they are. Agents will continue for a long time running away in this state if not suppressed, and if they aren't stopped in time or is more quick than the attackers chasing, it will make more employees to panic.
Clerks enter into this state, but don't deal damage when roaming and often recover more quickly when there is no more danger. However, they might enter into Panic State Suicide instead or after ending their Wander. If there was excessive amount of White Damage dealt to a Clerk, they will die almost instantly.
Agent Lines for the Wander Panic State
Level | Agent Lines |
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2 | "Help me! Please! I want to get out of here! Just open the emergency door!"
"Manager?! Manager! Open the emergency door! PLEASE LET ME OUT!" "I-I’m scared. Everyone’s dead… What do I do? What do I do…?" |
3 | "We’re all going to die. They’ll ravage our bodies and minds here in this miserable place..."
"I DON’T WANT TO DIE. DON’T LET ME GET KILLED LIKE THEM! Don’t let me die..." "AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" "D-DON’T SEND ME IN THERE!!! DON’T KILL ME!!!!" |
4 | "I just can’t. I swear I tried to get used to it, BUT I JUST CAN’T."
"Please let me out of here. I tried, I really tried. I tried my best. But I just can’t take it anymore!" "Nobody wants to die like this. We don’t want to die like this. We’re not here to just die like this." |
5 | "I will never get out of here..."
"We will all eventually become one in the origin." "Collectively losing our sanity is the only redemption we can find here." |
Shutdown (Open Containment Unit)
An Agent who enters into the Panic State Shutdown or Open Containment Unit, chosen because their Justice is the highest between all its values; will go after Abnormalities with Qliphoth Counters to drop, getting in front their doors and taking a while before dropping their Qliphoth Counters. After performing one, they will continue to the next closer one.
Agent Lines for the Shutdown Panic State
Level | Agent Lines |
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2 | "Watch me, manager! I didn’t fail! I swear I didn’t fail!"
"I’m not like all these idiots around me! LOOK AT ME! LOOK AT WHAT I DO!" "Why the long face? Don’t worry, just you wait! I’ll make you happy again!" |
3 | "ManagerIJustWantToApologizeToMyDeadFriendsI’mSorryIDon’tWannaDieLikeThisIMissMomAndDadSoMuchPleaseHelp."
"Let me introduce you to my imaginary friends! They asked me to! They’re screaming to be let out!" |
4 | "Let us find peace from them."
"I’m so sorry dear friends, I’ll let you out now." "Come on out everyone! Step out and free us from this accursed place!" |
5 | "We will find our redemption through the Abnormalities."
"Abnormalities are the true essence of humans. Let us reach them and find redemption." "Let us reach the paradise beyond death, together with the Abnormalities." |
Fear Level
Fear Level, also called Fear Damage, is a status that affects the sanity of the employees, which is determined by a combination of the abnormality's Risk Level, starting from Level 1 ( ZAYIN) to Level 5 ( ALEPH) and the level of the employee working on it. When an employee encounters an Abnormality, contained or breaching, the Fear Level will subtract a percentage of the employee's SP. The higher the employee's level, the less fear damage that employee will take. This only occurs once per Abnormality breaching, up until it's contained again. By default, clerks tend to panic almost instantly when meeting an abnormality of level TETH or higher. However, unlocking the "Abnormality Countermeasure Manual" research from the Information Team can increase their Fear Level resistance towards up to WAW Abnormalities.
Employees also suffer from Fear Damage when witnessing the death or panicking of another Agent. The higher the level of the dying/panicked Agent, the higher the Fear Level damage. Witnessing Agents only receive this damage once per Agent, they must witness the death of the Agent; see said Agent in panic once, and will not repeat until is back to normal and the agent panics again.
The way to calculate Fear Level is via the formula below: Abnormality/Ordeal Risk Level or Dead/Panicking Employee Level - Employee's Level.
The subtraction of SP percentage depends of the previous value and follow the next results.
Abnormality Risk Level - Employee Level | Fear Level | Fear Damage |
Under 0 | Relaxed | None |
0 | Calm | None |
1 | Nervous | 10% of Max SP |
2 | Terrified | 30% of Max SP |
3 | Hopeless | 60% of Max SP |
4 | Overwhelmed | 100% of Max SP (Insta-Panic) |
5 (Exclusive to WhiteNight) | Reverence | 100% of Max SP (Insta-Panic) |
Agent Lines Relating to Fear Level (Abnormality Encountered)
Agent Lines Relating to Fear Level (Death Witnessed)
Agent Lines Relating to Fear Level (Insanity Witnessed)
Trivia
- All the Clerks' names are randomized, by using first a letter of the greek alphabet and being followed by a number.
- In the Legacy teaser trailer of Lobotomy Corporation, in some point of the video (After the scene of Singing Machine), employees start to appear under the chaos of the facility. Actually, seem like they are representing the Panic Responses of the (old version of the) game in the next order: Wander, Suicide, Shutdown and Murder.
Gallery
Facility X-394
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Mechanics | Abnormalities - Bullet Research - Challenge Mode - Daily Cycle - Damage Type - Emergency Level - Employees - Equipment - Hiring - LOB Points - Missions - Ordeals - Qliphoth Meltdown - Rabbit Team - Research - Risk Level - Sephirah Meltdown - Stats |
Departments | Asiyah: Control Team - Information Team - Safety Team - Training Team Briah: Central Command Team - Disciplinary Team - Welfare Team Atziluth: Record Team - Extraction Team - Architecture Team |
Characters | X - Angela - A - B - C - Malkuth - Yesod - Netzach - Hod - Tiphereth - Chesed - Gebura - Hokma - Binah |