Armor

Site Navigation

Pretty Basic Armor types, simple rule of thumb,

equip the armor with the best rating. The only trick
RPGClassics Main
comes between choosing between the Powered
Contact Maintainer Armor and Heavy Armor. I personally prefer the
Powered Armor, but it does require frequent trips to
the recharge station.
Shrine Navigation
Main Page
Armor
Character Creation
Chart
Easter Eggs
Exploits
Implants
Items
Links
Maps
Psionic Abilities
Skills & Upgrades
Thanks
Tips
Walkthrough
Weapons

Light
Armor

You'll find this armor fairly quickly,

and you have no reason NOT to equip
it. It has low stat requirements, takes
up only the armor slot and no item
slots in your inventory, and has no
negative points at all! It's like free
experience points or stat upgrades
Strength - 2 with none of the work!
BioHazard Great at stopping damage from
Suit
radiation or toxins. It boosts your
Radiation/Toxin resistance by 75.
Coupled with a couple of points in
Endurance, you can effectively block
out any damage you'd normally take
No Minimum from Radiation/Toxins while wearing
Requiremen this.
ts
Powered The Strongest Armor in the game, it
Armor
also has the biggest drawback.
Powered Armor has a charge that
provides the suit with defensive
power. This charge can vary from
100-160 depending on your
maintenance skill level, if this charge
runs out, so too does the defensive
power it provides. The charge drops 1
point every 5 seconds so every 10
minutes it's going to need a
recharge. This isn't a big problem
until you reach the Rickenbacker and
recharge stations are harder to come
by, but even then there are ways to
Strength - 3 recharge it, so it is possible to keep
your suit powered throughout the
entire game. Considering that this

Heavy
Armor

Found fairly late in the game, it offers

a +40 defense bonus, but with a
requirement of 6 strength. If you
have the strength, and don't want to
worry about the charge with Powered
Armor, this is the way to go. For most
people though, the Powered Armor is
Strength - 6 simply a much better choice.
Annelid
Armor

Think of this as the Jack-of-all-Trades

armor. It confers a 20% defensive
bonus, +2 to your PSI ability while
draining your psi points, and a 30%
radiation/toxin resistance as well.
This armor shows up last of all the
armors, and the PSI bonus is the only
reason to use it. Otherwise, it doesn't
have a high enough defense rating
when the enemies at this point can
kill you in 2-3 hits while wearing it, as
opposed to about 3-4 hits with the
Research - 3 Powered or Heavy Armors and the
BioHazard suit is infinitely more
effective at stopping radiation. Factor
in the fact that you need a level 3
research rating, and this armor
becomes more of an oddity than a
truly useful piece of equipment.

Character Creation Chart

Site Navigation
This

is a summary of your choices when generating a

character for System Shock 2.

RPGClassics Main

The numbers
Contact Maintainer

to the left are the equivalent cost in modules

at "normal" setting.

Shrine Navigation

Marines (47-48 modules)

1 +1 Standard Weapons
2
1 +2 Strength
1 +2 Endurance 1 +2 Agility
1
1
1

Ba
sic
Main Page
Ye
Armor
ar
1
Character Creation
Ye 1 +1 Energy Wea 1
Chart
5
Easter Eggs ar 5 pons
2
+1 CyberExploits
affinity
Laser pistol (po
Implants
or:2)
Items
Ye 1 +1 Maintenanc 1
Links
ar 0 e
0
3
1 Maintenance
Maps
Tool

+1 Heavy Wea 1 +2 Standard

pons
4 Weapons
+1 Cyberaffinity
Grenade launc
her (poor:2)
+1 Modify
1 +1 Repair
0

Psionic Abilities
Skills & Upgrades
Thanks

Navy (45-50 modules)

1 +1 Standard Weapons
2
1 +1 Hack
1 +1 Repair
1 +1 Modify
3 +1 Strength
3 +1 Strength
3 +1 Strength

Ba
sic
Walkthrough Ye
ar
Weapons
1
Ye 1 +2 Cyberar 1 affinity
2
Tips

Ye 1 +1 Research
ar 0
3

1 +1 Maintenanc
0e
1 Maintenance
Tool
1 +2 Endurance
1

1 +2 Standard We
4 apons
1 +2 Agility
1

O.S.A. (58-59 modules)

Ba
sic
Ye
ar
1

1
0
2
6

Tier 1 Psi
Psionic amplifier
Tier 2 Psi
2
Cryokinesis
6
Psychogenic Cy
ber Affinity

Ye 1 +2 Psionic
ar 1

Tier 2 Psi
2
Cryokinesis
6
Kinetic Redirect
ion

1 +1 Research
0

Tier 2 Psi
Cryokinesis
Psychoreflective Scree
n
1 +2 Endurance
1

2
Ye 1 +1 Strength
1
ar 2 +1 Agility
2
3
+1 Cyberaffinity
Psychogenic Ag
ility

+1 Strength
1 +1 Strength
+1 Agility
2 +1 Agility
+1 Cyber+1 Cyberaffinity
affinity
Neuro-Reflex D
Remote Electron
ampening
Tampering

Notes

The game structure strongly discourages generalist

characters. If you don't start in the O.S.A., you
probably shouldn't invest much in psionics early in
the game.

Marines and Navy overlap a little. The main

difference is: Marines tend to get a head-start in
weapons, while Navy tend to get a head-start in
tech.
A big thanks to Felix Lee for creating and allowing
use of this chart for this shrine.

(c)2006 RPGClassics.com. All materials are copyrighted by their respective authors. All games
mentioned in this site are copyrighted by their respective producers and publishers. No
infringement on any existing copyright is intended. All rights reserved.

Easter Eggs
Site Navigation

There's only 2 known Easter Eggs in System Shock

2. Perhaps at a later date I may include stuff other
RPGClassics Main
than Easter Eggs on this page, but for now Easter
Contact Maintainer Eggs are all that are here.
Shrine Navigation

The Dancing Robot.

On the third year of your training, before you enter

the room with your three choices for your next
Armor
year's career, look through the glass to the room
Character Creation left of you. Inside is a robot dancing, of all things
the macarena.
Main Page

Chart
Easter Eggs
Exploits

Psionic Monkeys: "Join Us!"

Implants

This is by far the more entertaining of the two

Easter Eggs. In the introduction level to the game,
where you choose the military path you want to
take, there is a basketball on one of the pillars
outside. After you get off the train, head up the
grav lift and follow the street to the right. When you
reach it's end, climb up the pillar to your right.
There is a basketball at the top which you can pick
up. Although you can't open your inventory, once
you have it I'll be in your inventory until you reach
the Vaun Braun. Once you're on the Vaun Braun,
hold on to the basketball until you reach Deck 5,
the Rec Deck. On this level is a basketball court. If
you make a shot with the basketball, you'll get an
e-mail consisting entirely of monkeys screeching
and smashing things up. However, if you open it
and read the text, you'll get an entirely different
message.

Items
Links
Maps
Psionic Abilities
Skills & Upgrades
Thanks
Tips
Walkthrough
Weapons

Exploits

These are kept separate from the Easter Eggs for the simple reason that the Easter Eggs
are intended, humorous tid-bits included by the programmers. Exploits, on the other hand,
are bugs overlooked by the programmers that you can take advantage of for your own
benefit.
The following exploits were taken from Daxim's FAQ with his permission.

The undo function of the upgrade units can be exploited in giving you temporary
abilities without paying for it. In fact you pay the cyber modules, but get them
eventually back. For example, let's assume you want to make proper use of
maintenance tools. Stand next to an upgrade station and buy some MAINT skills, but
don't leave inventory mode. Do now your weapon maintenance with the increased
skill. Click undo to receive your CMs back. The same exploit also works with repair
skills, psi abilities and lots of other interesting stuff.

When recycling implants while they are equipped, you keep their +1 bonus.

To make the laser pistol rapidly delivering overloaded shots, press the change mode
key twice in quick succession after triggering a shot. You will be able to trigger
another shot immediately without having to wait for the recharge sound to end.

Implants
Implants are very powerful. They're simple 1 space
items that can drastically alter your skills, for free.
Site Navigation
You can only have a maximum of one Implant
equipped until you get the Cybernetically Enhanced
RPGClassics Main
O/S upgrade. Once you've gotten that, you can
Contact Maintainer install two Implants.
Basic Implants
Shrine Navigation

BrawnBoost Implant - Raises STR by 1.

Main Page
Armor
Character Creation
Chart
Easter Eggs
Exploits

SwiftBoost Implant - Raises AGI by 1.

Implants

PsiBoost Implant - Raises PSI by 1.

Items
Links
Maps

EnduranceBoost Implant - Raises END by 1.

Psionic Abilities
Skills & Upgrades
Thanks

ExperTech Implant - Raises Hack, Repair, and

Tips
Walkthrough
Weapons

Modify Skills by 1.
LabAssisstant Implant - Raises Research

Ability by 1.
Researchable Implants

WormHeart Implant - Requires a research

level of 5. Stops all toxin damage, heals 1 HP every

30 seconds. When removed, it fills your Toxin meter
up. This implant is a complete waste.
WormBlood Implant - Requires a research

level of 4. While equipped, you can right click on a

worm pool and regain all your health while
destroying the worm pool. This is a surprisingly
good implant, but it only makes sense to have it
equipped when you're actually using it, otherwise
it's just a waste.
WormMind Implant - Requires a research

level of 3. While this implant is equipped, it

converts 1 of every 4 damage you take to your PSI
points. The most obvious use for this implant would
be for PSI users who have 4 times as many Psi
points as Hit Points. But this implant is also great
for people who never even touch Psi. Why? Well,

with this implant you'll finally have a use for all

those unused Psi points and Psi hypos you've been
collecting.
WormBlend Implant - Requires a research

level of 2. Annelids won't be able to recognize you

as an enemy at long range. At close range they'll
still attack you.

Items
Every RPG needs items, System Shock 2 being one, provides! While there are quite a few
items in System Shock 2, most of the are only gag items, meant as jokes, although
technically items, I will not list them here. The pre-game training does a good job explaining
the item types, so this list is mostly redundant.
(Note: To find more info about an Item or to see what I mean by jokes, just click on the
question mark while in inventory mode and then the item.)

Common Items

Health Hypo
Abundant, Useful, and a whole bunch fit into 1 item slot. You can buy these, but it's not
really necessary due to the fact that your "crew mates" usually carry one. Good for about 10
HP.

Medi Kit
Quite a bit rarer than than the Health Hypo, this heals all your health. Good if you just lost a
lot of Health in a skirmish and can't find a Medic Table, but try not to use them if you can
heal with hypos, or if you can make it to a Medic Table because they are tough to find, and
expensive if bought from a Replicator.

Food
Although tempting to blow off food as useless, it's a godsend in Hard and Impossible. There
are several different kinds of "food": Snack Food, Canned Drinks, Cigarettes, and Alcohol.
Each type heals for different points. Snack Food and Drinks for 1 point and Alcohol for 2
points as well. However, please note that Alcohol and Cigarettes both hurt you in some way.
Alcohol will take several Psi points away, but unless you are a psionic, this doesn't hurt at
all. Cigarettes are just useless. They damage, not heal, with no benefit.

Psi Hypo
This is exactly the same as the Health Hypo, except it heals Psi points instead. It's a tad
tougher to find, and, is the most common way to restore lost Psi points. Good for 20 Psi
Points.

Speed Hypo
Actually, although I was tempted to call this hypo useless, it's not. It's really really useful, if
you have a desire to commit suicide. Yes, you read that right, suicide. This Hypo
"supposedly" doubles your speed for 12 seconds. In reality, it makes you move at insane
speeds, causing damage whenever you hit a wall. In a spaceship with a lot of small spaces,
this is a bad thing. A very bad thing. There might be a use for it in multiplayer, but in single
player, the boost is too short and damaging to be much help. I recommend if you find it, you
just chuck it into the recycler.

Strength Hypo
Well this one isn't quite as bad as the Speed Hypo, but there aren't any real great
opportunities for using this. Because strength affects only 2 things: Wrench Damage, and
Inventory Space, there are only 2 uses for this Hypo. Transporting an item you don't have
room for, from a dangerous place to a non-dangerous place for later pickup, or more
effectively bashing in peoples' skulls. I personally used it for only one of these purposes, can
you guess which?

Anti-Radiation Hypo
When you enter a room with radioactivity, a bar will begin to build on the lower left of the
screen. As time passes, this bar will begin to shrink, and as it does, you will take some
damage. Anti-Radiation Hypos will take a large chunk out of the bar without causing
damage, effectively preventing a large amount of damage from occurring. Anti-Radiation
Hypos are quite useful during the Engineering deck, but because you don't really see to
many radioactive spots, their usefulness is limited. It's best to carry these only when you
know you'll be needing them, thus saving inventory space for other items.

Anti-Toxin Hypo
The Toxicity bar works exactly the same as the Radiatioactivity bar, but in regard to the
amount of Toxins in your blood stream. Anti-Toxin Hypos will remove a large chunk of this
bar without causing damage. Since there are several things that will cause your Toxicity
Level to rise (Spiders, Annelid Pools, the Annelid Health Augmentation) It's tough to tell
when you're going to need this Hypo, so it's best to keep some on you at all times.

Surgical Unit Activation Key

The Surgical Unit Activation Key, when coupled with an Incomplete Surgical Unit, will create
a Complete Surgical Unit (Go figure). Complete Surgical Units will restore you health to its
maximum for a small amount of Nanites, making them invaluable. Try to hold on to these
keys when there already is a Complete Surgical Unit in an area, so that you can use it in a
later area which doesn't contain any Complete Surgical Units.

MFD Game Player

This is for entertainment only. Throughout the game you'll find various MFD Cartridges
which, when used, will make a new game available for play on the MFD Game Player. All of
these games are incredibly cheesy remakes of older Computer Games, and involve pigs and
corn. This item can be hacked with a Hacking ability of Level 6, opening up all games for
play.

Disposable Maintenance Tool

If you have any maintenance skill, you'll need this tool to up the repair status on your
weapon. Because there ARE unbreakable weapons in this game, this item wont have much
use if you're using one. If you don't want to be cheap and use an unbreakable weapon, then
you'll need to have some of these to maintain your weapon and keep it from breaking.

Battery
Restores some energy to any weapon or piece of equipment that requires energy. The
amount of energy you get from a single battery goes up with your maintenance level. A
good alternative when you can't make it to a recharge station.

Item Recycler

This item is found in a replicator on the Operations Deck once the replicator has been
hacked. This single item can make every useless thing in the game suddenly very useful.
How? By converting the item into nanites, that's how. You can make quite a pretty penny
recycling things like Speed Hypos with this, more than enough to quickly pay off the price
for the Recycler. I strongly recommend that everyone attain this item.

French Epstein Device

This item instantly modifies any weapon for free, but is used up afterwards. Since there's
around 6 of these in the game, a Modify skill higher than 1 or 2 shouldn't be necessary.
Simply modify a weapon to the first level, then use the French Epstein Device to modify it to
its second level.

ICE Pick
This item instantly hacks any hackable console in the game, but is used up afterwards. I've
only managed to find 4 of them in the entire game, so make sure the console you hack is
well worth this valuable item's use. I'd recommend saving 3 of them for the final battle, as it
will make things much easier.

Auto-Repair Unit
This item instantly repairs any broken weapon in the game, but is used up afterwards. This
item is fairly common throughout the entire game. It's availability, coupled with proper
maintenance all but renders the Repair skill useless. Keep one of these on you at all times
and you'll never need the repair skill.

Researchable Items

Annelid Healing Gland

This has a small chance of appearing in an annelid egg that has been opened. Once
researched, it can heal a large portion of your health and is a useful alternative to either the
Med Kit or Health Hypo, but its rarity it a major drawback.

Annelid Psi Organ

This is another item that has a small chance of appearing in opened annelid eggs. Once it's
been researched, it can completely refill your PSI points, a major help near the end of the
game when a Psi user can have 80+ Psi points. Like the Annelid Healing Gland though, its
major drawback is its rarity.

PSI Booster
This item will raise your PSI stat by 1 for 5 minutes, a pretty long time in this game. There's
an important thing to remember when you use this though. Every time you load a new area,
all bonuses conferred by Psi Abilities and Hypos are reset. So if you decide to use this hypo,
just remember not to do it right before you load a new area.

Maps
Site Navigation

RPGClassics Main

Deck 1: Engineering

Section 1

Section 2

Contact Maintainer

Deck 2: Med/Sci
Shrine Navigation

Section 1

Main Page

Section 2

Armor
Character Creation
Chart
Easter Eggs
Exploits
Implants
Items
Links
Maps
Psionic Abilities
Skills & Upgrades
Thanks

Deck 3: Hydroponics

Section 1

Section 2

Section 3

Deck 4: Operations

Section 1

Section 2

Section 3

Deck 5: Recreational

Section 1

Tips

Section 2

Walkthrough

Section 3

Weapons

Psionic Abilities
Just like the weapons, Psionic skills come in two flavors, very useful and very useless. With
psionic skills, you must first buy the Tier, then you can buy the skills within the tier. Each
tier you buy adds to your psi point maximum. If you're a psionics specialist, you may want
to buy all the tiers, even if you don't buy any skills under some of them, just so you can
increase your psi point maximum.

Tier 1

Psychoreflective
Screen

Neuro-reflex
Dampening

Protects you
from 15% of
combat
damage.

This is a skill you can use through the

whole game. It's really long lasting, and
coupled with it's very low Psi point cost,
you should automatically cast this every
time you enter a new area. You'll want to
Duration: 20
pick this skill during your 3 year training at
seconds + 30
the start if you choose the O.S.A. as your
seconds per
career path.
PSI.
Eliminates all I've learned, from much use of weapons in
weapon
this game, to control kickback that
kickback.
weapons have. If you too can manage to
control the recoil, then there's not much
point in having this skill. On the other
Duration: 1
hand, if you are just having a tough time
minute + 20
getting the hang of recoil, this is a good,
seconds per
low cost method of eliminating recoil all
PSI.
together.

Kinetic
Redirection

Pulls an
object toward This skill has minimal use. There's at most
you.
1 or 2 times where this skill is the only way
you can get an item. Skip it and save the
Duration: 1
upgrade modules for something else.
second per
PSI.

Psychogenic
Agility

Increases
Some people would argue differently, but I
your Agility by really like this skill. It lasts for a really long
2.
time and costs only 1 psi point. Because
I'm an agility whore, I prefer to dodge
Duration: 2
attacks and flank enemies rather than take
minutes + 1
them head on, so every point of agility I
minute per
can get is a god-send.
PSI.
Increases
your CYB by
2.

Psychogenic
Cyber Affinity Duration: 2
minutes + 1
minute per
PSI.

I recommend this to any player trying to

go through the game as a hacker, the 2
CYB points are invaluable assets. However,
if you don't hack very often, there's not
much point to this skill.

Projected
Cryokinesis

Launches a
heat-draining
projectile at a
target. Higher
PSI increases
damage.

This is only mildly useful throughout the

game. It takes a long time to charge it, far
longer than any other attack in the game.
Add on to that the fact that it really isn't a
very strong attack, and you've got a pretty
poor weapon on your hands.

Remote
Electron
Tampering

Makes active
alarms time
I can't think of much use for this skill. With
out faster.
the fact that simply right clicking on any
Time
security console deactivates the alarms
Reduction: 5 completely and for free, there's no point in
seconds + 5 having this.
seconds per
PSI.

Tier 2

Anti-entropic
Field

While this
discipline is
active, your
ranged
weapons
cannot break,
and their
condition will
not degrade.

This is an alternative to using the

maintenance skill. Personally I'd prefer the
maintenance skill because it allows you to
put more energy into your energy based
items, armor, and weapons.

Duration: 10
seconds + 20
seconds per
PSI.
Increases
hand-to-hand
damage by a
Adrenaline
factor equal
Overproductio to PSI.
n
Duration: 10
seconds per
PSI.

This ability multiplies melee damage by a

factor of PSI. For example, if you have a
PSI of 6, all melee damage will be
multiplied by 6. With a decent melee
weapon, strength, and this skill, you can
do insane amounts of damage.

Shields you
from 80% of
radiation
damage.

Neural
Use the BioHazard suit instead and spend
Decontaminati
the upgrade modules on something better.
Duration: 10
on
seconds + 5
seconds per
PSI.
Regenerates
lost hit points. This skill is invaluable. Of all the psionic
Cerebrouser's skills, this is the most powerful. A
stimulated
Amount
lack of Health Hypos or Med Kits shouldn't
Regeneration
Healed: 2 hit be a problem if you have this skill.
points per PSI.
Psychogenic
Strength

Increases
The biggest use for this would be for hand
your Strength to hand combat. This doesn't give you
by 2.
nearly the damage bonus that Adrenaline

Duration: 2
minutes + 1
minute per
PSI.

Overproduction can, but the benefit of this

over Adrenaline Overproduction is that this
can be used later in the game when your
inventory space is getting crowded.

Increases
your Psionics
by 2. Psi point
costs are
In my opinion, the 2 extra Psi points aren't
Recursive
doubled while worth the double cost. Just use the skill
Psionic
active.
twice for the extra benefit instead of
Amplification
getting this.
Duration: 10
seconds + 10
seconds per
PSI.

Localized
Pyrokinesis

Damages all
creatures
within a five
foot radius.
Higher PSI
increases
damage to
enemies.
Duration: 15
seconds + 8
seconds per
PSI.

I really didn't like this skill until someone

on the TTLG boards pointed out some
rather enticing info about this skill. First,
this skill negates any incendiary damage
you would normally take. This means that
the really annoying protocol droids on the
Engineering bay can't damage you while
this ability is active. Second, if you activate
this ability first, then the invisibility ability
second, you can walk right up to enemies
and watch them fall to your feet dead, all
while remaining unnoticed. Quite a
powerful skill when used right.

Tier 3

Molecular
Duplication

Use some
Nanites to
duplicate one
ammo clip or This is a useful skill when you're low on an
hypo.
item, but the nanite cost is expensive, so
be careful.
Chance of
Success: 30%
+ 10% per
PSI.

Electron
Cascade

Energy
Reflection

Recharges a
single
charged item
or weapon.
This can be an invaluable lifesaver, or a
complete waste depending on how you're
Recharge
playing the game. If you're using energy
amount: 20%
based weapons, armor, or items, this skill
per point of
can be used as a fairly cheap source of
PSI, up to the
power. If you're not using energy based
maximum
stuff, just skip this skill.
allowed by
your
Maintenance
skill.
Provides 50%
immunity to
all energybased
50% is a lot of protection, but there's just
damage
not enough enemies with energy-based
sources.
attacks to justify getting this skill.
Duration: 20
seconds per
PSI.

Shields you
from 100% of
toxin
Neural Toxin- absorption.
By the time you see the spiders, it'll be too
blocker
late to use this skill. Just skip it.
Duration: 10
seconds + 5
seconds per
PSI.

Enhanced
Motion
Sensitivity

Shows the
location of all
nearby
Use your god-given skill of hearing instead,
creatures.
and you'll do just as good as with this skill.
Duration: 30
seconds per
PSI.

Projected
Pyrokinesis

Launches a
This, like Projected Cryokinesis has only
fiery projectile limited usefulness. The benefit of this over
at a target.
Projected Cryokinesis is that this skill
Higher PSI
doesn't take very long to charge, and it
increases
does more damage as well. Unfortunately,
damage.
this skill can't damage mechanical
enemies, and it can drain your Psi points
very quickly. This does come in useful
against the Psi Reavers that appear late in
the game, though.

Target nonrobotic
Another ability I had my mind changed on.
creature will At high PSI levels, you can put an enemy
stand still and to sleep with this for over 2 minutes with a
docile. If the single shot, which is such a long length of
Psionic
creature takes time that they're basically as good as
Hypnogenesis damage, the
dead. This skill can be useful against the
effect ends. stronger enemies late in the game. Just
make sure you don't hit them by accident
Duration: 20
and wake them back up.
seconds per
PSI.

Tier 4

Photonic
Redirection

Renders you
invisible to all
creatures.
Firing a
weapon will
end the
effect.
Duration: 5
seconds + 5
seconds per
PSI.

Remote
Pattern
Detection

Shows the
location of
many useful
items,

By itself, this ability is useful for sneaking

past strong enemies instead of taking
them on. When coupled with the Localized
Pyrokinesis ability, this ability becomes
invaluable to a Psi user. This is one of the
most useful Psi abilities.

I've never used this skill, when I do, I'll be

sure to write something about it, but as it
stands, a keen attention to detail seems
like it would better than using upgrade

including
nanites,
ammo, hypos,
implants and
modules on this skill.
audio logs.
Duration: 1
minute per
PSI.

Electron
Suppression

Psychogenic
Endurance

Immobilizes
any robotic
target.
Duration: 3
seconds per
PSI.

Pretty much the same as Psionic

Hypnogenesis, but it works only on robotic
enemies.

Increases
your
Endurance by
2.
Endurance just isn't useful unless it's
permanent. Skip this skill.
Duration: 2
minutes + 1
minutes per
PSI.

Turns
ammunition
Molecular
and hypos
Transmutation into nanites.

Remote
Allows you to
Circuitry
hack
Manipulation psionically.
Uses half you
PSI stat
(rounded up)
in place of
both Hacking
skill and CYB
stat, and

Use the item recycler instead.

This will allow you to hack into some of the

earlier crates and consoles, and I get it for
that, but don't expect to be hacking
anything on the Rickenbaker with this skill.

costs psi
points instead
of nanites.

Cerebroenergetic
Extension

Turns your PsiAmp into a

powerful
The second strongest melee weapon in the
melee
game, but by far the most useful. With
weapon.
Adrenaline on and decent STR you can kill
a rumbler in one hit.
Duration: 10
seconds per
PSI.

Tier 5
Regenerates
lost hit points. This skill is just too powerful. CerebroAdvanced
Cerebrostimulated Regeneration can generally
Amount
stimulated
refill your entire health bar, and it costs
Healed: 5 hit
Regeneration
much less than this skill.
points + 5 hit
points per PSI.

Soma
Transference

Drains target This is an interesting skill. It takes your

non-robotic
enemy's health, and adds it to your own.
creature of hit With that use alone, this ability might have
points, and
questionable usefulness, but there's
adds those hit several neat things you can also do with
points to your this ability. This ability is the only attack
total.
that can work through a Metacreative
Barrier. That means that you can trap
strong enemies behind a barrier, then
simply kill them while they pace around
helplessly. Also, probably more as an
oversight by the developers than a true
intention for this skill, Soma Transference
can kill the mind of the Many before you
kill the protective stars that normally
prevent damage to it.

Teleports you
to a marked
location. If
there is no
marked
location, this
will set a
Instantaneous marker at
Quantum
your current
Relocation
position. You
can clear an
obsolete
teleport
marker by
hitting Alt-T.

Mildly useful if you're impatient. More

patient people can just walk to where ever
and spend the upgrade modules
elsewhere.

Causes a nonrobotic target

to become
hostile toward
all non-human This is a really fun skill to use and nailing a
Imposed
rumbler with this can really help you out
creatures.
Neural
late in the game. Just make sure you hit
Restructuring
Duration: 10 strong enemies with this skill if you get it.
seconds per
PSI, or until
damaged by a
human.
Creates a wall
of psionic
force directly
in front of
you.

The barrier has a large amount of HP and

is useful for blocking off strong enemies so
that you can ignore them instead of having
to deal with them. An added benefit is that
this ability goes hand in hand with the
Metacreative
Soma Transference ability. Rather than
Wall's Hit
Barrier
being stopped by the barrier, Soma
Points: 150 +
Transference works through the barrier,
50 per PSI
allowing you to drain away an enemies HP
over 5
while never being exploited to harm
Duration: 4
yourself.
minutes
External

Drops a

This is more of an oddity than a truly

Psionic
Detonation

psionic
proximity
mine. Does no
damage to
robots, and
useful skill. It's good for setting up
double
ambushes or traps, so that's a plus, but
damage to
then again, you can always do the same
psionically
with a trusty ol' shotgun or rifle.
sensitive
creatures.
Duration: 4
minutes

Psychoreflective
Aura

Protects you
from 60% of
all combat
damage.

This is a matter of opinion. Coupled with

the Powered armor, you can attain nearimmortal levels of protection.
Unfortunately, this skill is short lived
and very expensive. Use it with care.

Skills & Upgrades

Site Navigation

RPGClassics Main
Contact Maintainer

Statistics

Tech Skills

CMBT Skills

O/S Upgrades
Statistics

Shrine Navigation

Strength
Main Page

Strength affects two factors, the damage you

cause with Mele attacks and your inventory
Armor
space. For every point of strength you have, you
Character Creation
gain 3 extra inventory spaces, enough for one
Chart
weapon, or three items. Strength is important for

Easter Eggs
Exploits
Implants
Items
Links
Maps
Psionic Abilities
Skills & Upgrades
Thanks
Tips
Walkthrough
Weapons

Marines, because of the many different types of

weapons that they need to carry. OSA agents, on
the other hand, have little use for Strength
because they only need their Psi Adapter and a
Pistol, not needing to lug around many types of
weapons or the Ammo for them. Strength also
determines whether you are able to use the
heaviest armor, and a couple of the biggest
weapons. I recommend getting 4-6 points of
strength if you are a Marine, 3-6 if you are a
Technician, and 2-4 points if you are an OSA agent.
Endurance

Endurance gives you hit points and determines

your resistance to radiation and toxins. There are
better ways of gaining a resistance to
radiation/toxins, but the hit points are nice, so put
a couple of points here.
Psionics

Psionics affect the power of your psionic abilities.

Put as many points in here as possible if you use
psionic abilities a lot, if you use one or two spells
only, 2 points is fine. If you never touch psionic
abilities, don't put any points in this.
Agility

Agility increases your running speed, reduces fall

damage, and reduces weapon kickback. You'll want
to put some points in to this, no matter what class
you are, for the increase in running speed
increase. With enough Agility, none of the Mele
range attackers will be able to touch you. The
reduction to fall damage isn't really helpful, as
there aren't many areas you can fall from that will
cause damage in the first place, while the
reduction to Weapon Kickback helps with the
stronger weapons which tend to have stronger
kickback. Marines should have this maxed out,
OSA agents should have 3-4 points, and Techies
should have this anywhere from 3-6 depending on
how they're playing.
Cyber Affinity

Cyber Affinity (Labeled simply "Cyber" in your

MFD display) eliminates one filled node for each
level of Cyber Affinity you have during any Tech
Skill "hacking" sequence. It doesn't become too
helpful until about halfway through, and really only
if you do a lot of computer hacking. However, near
the end of the game, you'd better have some
points in this skill if you plan on doing any hacking
at all as sometimes entire grids can be filled with
white nodes unless you have some Cyber Affinity.
Tech Skills
Hack

This is one of the more powerful skills in the

game. Having a high hack ability allows you to
hack into the many Security Stations across the
Vaun Braun and Rickenbacker, disabling the
cameras, and more importantly, any turrets. When
you've disabled the turrets, you're able to
approach them, and with a level 3 hacking ability
or higher, you can actually gain control of the
turret. Considering that most turrets are in
important areas, they can be a great help.
Repair

This is a completely useless skill. As long as you

keep an eye on your maintenance level for you
weapons, they won't break down. And in the rare
event that they do break, there are plenty of autorepair items that can fix it right back up for you.
The same goes for weapons that you find. If you
find a really good weapon that you just want to try
out, but can't wait till you find an unbroken one,
just use an auto-repair item instead of wasting
your upgrade points here.
Modify

This is a moderately useful skill. I'd recommend

getting level 1 or 2 in it so you can modify the
pistol, shotgun, and laser pistol to level 1. After
you've modified them to level 1, simply use a
French Epstein device to upgrade them to level 2.
It'll be well worth the handful of upgrade points

you spend. However, I wouldn't recommend

upgrading skill past level 2, as you'll find plenty of
French Epstein devices to upgrade your weapons
to level 2 if you're judicious in their use.
Maintain

This is another very important skill. Every weapon

in System Shock 2, with the exception of the
melee weapons and the Psi Amp, has a
maintenance level. When a weapons Maintenance
level gets to 1, there's a chance with every use
that the weapon will break if you use it. Having
your gun break in the middle of a fire fight is not
fun. Try to get this up to level 4, because at that
level you can perform maintenance on every
weapon and you'll raise the maintenance level on
a weapon by 4 with every use of a maintenance
tool, which will save you a lot of money. In
addition, the maintenance skill raises the
maximum you can charge stuff to, which will help
save you trips to the recharge station and back.
Research

There's some use in this, as it allows you to use

certain items, and give you bonus damage against
enemies. However, the only benefit from putting
more points in this is lowering the time required to
research. Instead of putting your points in here,
just equip the lab assistant to get level 1 research,
and run off and continue with your mission while
your research takes place. Then put the points you
saved towards a more useful purpose.
CMBT Skills
Standard

The standard weapons skill is the most important

Combat skill. Your first weapons will be fall under
the Standard category, and all of the Standard
weapons are quite useful. If you get this up to level
6, you'll be able to use the Assault rifle, which is
the best weapon in the game. Investing your
points here is both a good short and long term
investment.

Energy

Energy weapons are the most effective weapon

class against mechs. However, the laser pistol is
the biggest reason to put points into this skill. It's
extremely effective against all robot class
enemies, and is moderately effective against most
flesh based creatures as well. This is another
weapon skill that will serve you well throughout
the game.
Heavy

The only reason you should bother with this class

at all is for the grenade launcher. It's a powerful
weapon, and ammo for it is very plentiful.
However, because the other weapons in this skill
as so worthless, and because the grenade
launcher already does plenty of damage, there's
not much reason to get more than level 1 or 2 in
this skill level.
Exotic

The exotic weapons class is a major

disappointment. All the weapons show up too late
to be useful, and require not only Exotic Weapons
skill, but research skill as well. Of special note is
the ammo that the weapons in this class use.
Throughout the game are many various empty
glass jars. For the longest time, I couldn't figure
out what they were for, I figured they were just
clutter like the plants scattered throughout the
game. Through trial and error, however, I found
that the glass jars are actually ammo containers
for the exotic weapons. By dragging an empty
glass jar from your inventory on to one of the
many flat annelid pools throughout the game, you
can actually fill the jar with annelid worms which
can be used as ammo for your exotic weapons.
Nice of them to explain this somewhere. The only
redeeming thing about the exotic weapons is the
Crystal Shard, which is the most powerful melee
weapon in the game, however, by the time you
find the crystal shard, you really shouldn't be using
melee attacks. This class is just a waste, don't sink

your upgrade modules here.

O/S Upgrades
Strong Metabolism

Damage from radiation and toxins reduced by

25%.
Pharmo-Friendly

Extra 20% Benefit from all Hypos.

Pack-Rat

Adds three extra inventory slots.

Speedy

Movement speed increased by 15%.

Sharpshooter

Each shot with a ranged (Non-Psionic) weapon

does 15% more damage.
Naturally Able

One time bonus of 8 Cyber Enhancement Units.

Cybernetically Enhanced

Allows the use of two implants at once.

Tank

Increases maximum hit points by 5.

Lethal Weapon

Increases all hand-to-hand damage by 35%.

Security Expert

+2 hacking skill (If you already have at least 1

point of skill) applied only to security computers.
Smasher

You can execute overhand attacks with Mele

weapons.
Cyber Assimilation

You can extract a diagnostic/repair module from

any destroyed robot. You can use this item to heal
15 hit points.
Replicator Expert

All items in replicators cost 20% less.

Power Psi

Psionic burnout no longer damages you.

Tinker

Nanite cost for making weapon modifications is

50% cheaper.
Spatially Aware

Automap for each level is automatically filled in.

Tips
Site Navigation
RPGClassics Main
Contact Maintainer
Shrine Navigation
Main Page
Armor
Character Creation
Chart
Easter Eggs
Exploits
Implants
Items
Links
Maps
Psionic Abilities
Skills & Upgrades
Thanks
Tips

This section just contains

tips that me and various
others have found to help
while playing System Shock
2. Hopefully even someone
who's played through System
Shock 2 can pick up a thing
or two from here.

One of the most important

things I can recommend is
activate the mini-map. To
do so, open up the ingame map, and then check
the box next to
"Minimap". This will open
a small version of the
map in the upper right
hand corner of the screen
that shows your immediate

Walkthrough

vicinity. This really

helps navigation in areas
that you're still new to
and will show you the
names of nearby Areas, as
well as the location of
nearby Power Regenerators
and Upgrade Centers.

Weapons

If you've ever come

across a crate or a ledge
that is just a bit too
high for you to jump
onto, but you want to
check the area out for
goodies, then simply walk
up to the object then
press and hold both the
forward and jump buttons.
This will cause your
character to climb onto
the ledge, allowing you
access to a larger number
of areas. If you want to
get to areas that are
just out of your range
for climbing, then jump
and while you're mid-air,
press and hold the
forward and jump buttons.
This will cause your

character to do a mid-air
climb. This skill
probably has it's largest
use on the Engineering
Level as there's a large
number of crates there.

This doesn't have too

much use in System Shock
2, but because this game
uses the same engine as
Thief, you can lean
forward by pressing and
holding alt+shift+
(forward button). The
only use for this skill
in System Shock 2 that
comes to mind is in the
Engineering bay. There's
some nanites on an
elevator that will
collapse and kill you if
you walk onto it. How do
you get them then? Simply
lean forward and you can
pick them up.

There is a way to take

screen shots in System
Shock 2. While in-game,
simply press Ctrl-F9. The
game will freeze for a

bit while it processes

the picture, then will
continue on as normal. To
see the screen shot you
took, go to your System
Shock 2 directory. The
picture should be in
there as a PCX file,
named "dumpXXX" where XXX
is the number of the
screen shot.

Every time you exit an

area and load a new area,
all the bonuses you get
from Psi Abilities and
Hypos are reset, so don't
use your abilities or
hypos right before you
enter a new area or
you'll just be wasting
them.

If you find yourself

constantly heading back
to the recharge station
to recharge the Laser
Pistol, try carrying more
than just one. When one
loses its charge, simply
equip a different one!

Weapons
Site Navigation

The meat & bones of System Shock 2. Without

them, you wouldn't be able defend justice! The
RPGClassics Main
weapons of System Shock 2 are not very well
Contact Maintainer balanced. Contrary to common sense, most "strong"
weapons really don't have much of a purpose for
various reasons. For example, although you can find
Shrine Navigation
some exotic type weapons early on, the ammo for
them doesn't become available until much later on,
Main Page
and by that time, most your Upgrades have been
Armor
distributed elsewhere. I'll post a list of weapons and
Character Creation information about them so you can form your own
opinions about them.

Chart
Easter Eggs
Exploits
Implants
Items
Links
Maps

Psionic Abilities
Skills & Upgrades
Thanks
Tips
Walkthrough
Weapons

Standard Weapons
Talon M2A3
Handgun

This WILL
BE your best
Standard - 1
weapon until
you gain
enough skill to
use the Assault
Anti Pers.:
Rifle. It is the
Damage
first ranged
bonus
weapon
against
available to
fleshies.
you, ammo is
Mode 1:
fairly plentiful,
Standard:
Single
Weak Shots and because
Shot
the Assault Rifle
that do
is available at
about the
Mode 2:
level 6 standard
same dmg
Three
all around. skill, this
Shot
weapon only
Burst
gets better with
AP:
time. Love it,
Damage
feel it, be it.
bonus
against
Useful for
armored
killing: Anythin
units.
g in your way.
Shotgun
Standard - 3 The Shotgun has

Mode
1:
Single
Shot

Slug:
Standard
Shotgun
Rounds.

plenty of ammo
through the game,
especially when you
don't use it early on
like me. Don't let
this discourage you
however, the
Shotgun is a very
formidable weapon
and ammo really IS
abundant. I
recommend using
the standard mode
for a while when
you first find it, and
then switching to
the secondary later
when you have a
surplus of Shotgun
shells.

Pellet:
Does
Mode
extra
2:
damage
Triple
to
Shot
fleshies,
(Uses 3
but at
shells;
only at a
does 2x
very
dmg.)
close
range.
Useful for
killing: Does fairly
well against any
enemy type.
M22 Assault
Simply put, a Pistol
Rifle
Standard - 6 with a 25% Dmg
Strength - 4 bonus and an
Automatic
Secondary mode.
Being the best
Mode
weapon in the game,
1:
it can take down a
Single
Same
huge Rumbler in 3
Shot
ammo hits.
as the
Mode
pistol. Useful for
2:
killing: Everything
Automat
AND the kitchen
ic
sink.

Energy Weapons

Apollo H4
Laser Pistol

Laser
Sabre

Mode
This
1:
weapo
Regular
n
Shot
doesn'
t(Does
have
little
any
damage
weapo
)n

Mode
1:

This is one
nice little
Energy - 1
weapon. In
fact, the first
time I played
SS2, I maxed
out my
Energy
Weapons
skills simply
to make
better use of
this baby.
However,
there are a
few things to
know while
using this
weapon.
First, the
regular shot
just doesn't
do much
damage at
all, and even
when you've
maxed out
the possible
damage this
thing
causes, it
takes 8This is astill
semi-useful
weapon.12
It shots
first to
Energy - 4
take
appears earlydown
on in
Agility - 3
basic
the game, so if
enemies.
you've put
some If
youenergy
plan on
Doesn't
points into
using
use
weapons, andthis
are
weapon,
ammo.
still using melee it's
best
to keep
weapons,
then
it on
the
switch the
wrench
'charged
for this, as the laser
shot'
setting
sabre does
more
at
all
times.
damage.
Second, this
Gun doesn't
use ammo

modes
.
EMP Rifle

Mode
1:
Regular
Shot

Mode
1:
Overcha
rged
Shot

Useful for
killing: Everything
This weapon
is a major let
Energy - 6
down. It does
only slightly
more
damage than
the laser
pistol, but it
doesn't affect
flesh based
creatures,
only mechs.
Considering
that your
laser pistol
does almost
exactly the
same amount
of damage as
this weapon,
and the laser
Rechargeable pistol can
Energy
also hurt
flesh
creatures,
there's no
reason to
have this
weapon. Just
skip it, it's a
waste of
inventory
space.
Useful for
killing: Mech
s, robots, and
any other
non-flesh
menace.

Heavy Weapons
TC-11 'Brick'
grenade
launcher

Stasis Field
Generator

Mode
1:
Normal
(Explod

This weapon
is the only
reason to
Heavy - 1
get any skill
in Heavy
Weapons at
all. Marines
have this
weapon
from the
get-go, and
it's one of
the most
useful
weapons in
the game.
On the
'Normal'
Mode, it acts
a lot like a
Rocket
Launcher
with an arc,
on the
'Bounce'
mode, you
can bounce
grenades
around
corners to
take down
any enemies
waiting in
Fragmentation
ambush.
Grenades:
This weapon
Good all-around
A piece of crap for a
has the
damage.
weapon. This
Heavy
-3
most variety
weapon can
Strength
3
of ammo
Incendiary
"...freeze in place a
types out of
Grenades:target for
a variable
any weapon,
Great damage
amount of time."
Prisms
and these
against fleshy
Wow, and then
grenades
units.
will likely
EMP Grenades: take down

1:
...

Mode
1:
...

what? This weapon

eats up ammo like
candy, depleting
your ammo supply
rapidly. If 40
minions from hell
were attacking me,
this definitely
wouldn't be my

Fusion
Cannon

Mode
1:
...

Mode
1:
...

Heavy - 6
Strength - 4

Prisms

Exotic Weapons
Crystal
Shard

This
weapo
n
doesn'
t have
any

Exotic - 1
Research - 4

Doesn't
use
ammo.

This is the strongest

melee weapon in the
game.
Unfortunately, it
comes far, far too
late and it's not
really worth the
upgrade modules
required to gain the
ability to use it. Stick
to the wrench or

weapo
n
modes
.
Viral
Proliferator

Mode
1:
Human
Mode
1:
Annelid

laser sabre instead.

Exotic - 4
Research - 5

Annelid
Worms

This, just like the

rest of the exotic
weapons has no
practical use. In its
normal mode, it
can kill you quite
quickly, if you're
interested in doing
so. In its secondary
mode, it can kill
any of the spiders
in the game very
quickly.
Unfortunately
there's only around
20 spiders in the
entire game. Just
stick to the pistol
instead of wasting
upgrade modules
to get this.
Useful for
killing: Spiders
and Yourself.

Annelid
Worm
Launcher

Exotic - 6
Research
-6
Other Weapons
Strength - 3
The
Agility - 3
No
Wrench
The wrench will be
Requirements your best friend for
Mode
much of the game, I
1:
named mine
This
Doesn't
Human
Annelid Susanne I spent so
weapo
use
Worms much time with it.
Mode
n
ammo.
But seriously, in the
1:
doesn'
beginning where
Annelid
t have
ammo conservation

any
weapo
n
modes
.

Black Ops
Psi Amp

This
weapo
n
doesn'
t have
any
weapo
n
modes
.

is a must, you
should be neardependent on this
weapon.

Psi - 1

Useful for
killing: Disabled
If you want to use your
mad psionic skillz, then
you'd better have one of
these babies! This isn't a
weapon per se, in that it
doesn't actually do any
damage itself, but it
enables you to use your
latent psionic powers. A
must have for most.

Psi
Point
Useful for killing: A lot
s.
of enemies early and
mid-game, but not so
much late-game. Also
allows you to boost your
own stats.

(c)2006 RPGClassics.com. All materials are copyrighted by their respective authors.

All games mentioned in this site are copyrighted by their respective producers and
publishers. No infringement on any existing copyright is intended. All rights
reserved.