Evil Genius FAQ

HENCHMEN

Select a henchman, then hit ENTER to see their stats, or give them new 
abilities when they've earned them.  Some henchmen don't have their special 
abilities when you get them, including your starting henchman.  They can 
gain experience by killing agents or participating in missions.  All henchmen
have three 'Lives'.  They can be K/Od unlimited times by generic enemies or
die on the world map, but they lose a life when they're killed by a super-
agent.  After being killed 3 times by super-agents, they're permanently dead.

EXPERIENCE:

XP per kill is somewhat complicated, but you can calculate the XP gained 
with this formula: 

 Value  Rating       Country   Agent Type
 --------------------------------------------
  -10                SMASH     
   -5                ANVIL
    0                SABRE
    5   Pathetic     HAMMER    Investigator
   10   Poor         PATRIOT   Agent
   15   Good                   Burglar
   20   Exceptional            Thief
   25                          Infiltrator
   30                          Saboteur
   35                          Soldier
   40                          Veteran

Add up the numbers for the rating, country & type to get how much xp killing 
that agent will be worth.  You get 0 for killing a pathetic SMASH investigator
and 70 for whacking an Exceptional PATRIOT Veteran.  For knocking out a 
super-agent, you get:

  Katerina Frostonova  - Mariana Mamba - Jet Chan - Dirk Masters - John Steele
          150          -       200     -   240    -    300       -     300

Missions are more consistent XP;

Risk 0-2 missions: 25 xp
Risk 3-5 missions: 50 xp
Risk 6-7 missions: 75 xp

They get 100 xp for participating in an uber-loot mission, or the three world
map missions that are part of defeating the super-agents.

The 'crates' missions are 0-risk and very fast.  If you have any henchmen that
don't have all their skills, send them along to these.  They will attempt them
over and over again till you tell them to hide or they die (they'll also rack 
up tons of notoriety too)

Since you can't attack or defend your base yourself, you rely on your henchmen
to do it.  You can control them, use their special abilities and attack or 
capture anything you want through them.  They also act as guards, scientists
and social minions when sent to the map, often all three at once.  That said,
the biggest threats to your plans are super agents and the squads of 
soldiers/veterans the alliances send after you when you piss them off.  The 
better a henchman can help you deal with those threats, the better their 
rating here.


Moko
  Rating: D
  Ability 1: Feral Roar -- Alert all minions in range to tagged enemies
  Ability 2: Monkey Pound -- Stun everyone in range
  Available at: 175 notoriety, 300 notoriety on Island 2, 400

  'Feral Roar' is just an upgraded 'summon minions', so he basically has a 
  wasted skill right there.  Monkey pound is most helpful when he's alone,
  and that's not saying much.  He's a strong attacker though;

  "For all intensive purposes is a meat tank with a hefty 120 health.
  This means that he can afford to wade into groups of agents and have a
  good chance of remaining conscious long enough to crack some skulls.  Roar
  is only questionably useful as an ability, but Monkey Pound is worth its
  experience: Mariana Mamba and Jet Chan can't do much lying flat on their
  asses, and if they get hit by it they stay down for a long time.  The only
  downside is that you'll knock your own minions down, but they should
  survive if they're fairly healthy."

  [Thanks Reed Brooks!]

Jubei 
  Rating: A
  Ability 1: Wind Walk  -- Teleport to any location
  Ability 2: Eviscerate -- Insta-kill
  Available at: 225 Notoriety [Max starts with him], 360 + Island 2
  
  Jubei starts out strong, and with his teleport ability will be able to 
  instantly jump to a trouble spot on the map at your command.  He can take 
  out a full squad of any non-soldiers on his own.  If he tries to solo fight 
  any enemies with guns, they'll split up and mow him down while he tries to 
  attack them one by one.

  He's great against thieves & burglars, and for protecting your avatar in an
  emergency.

Eli Barracuda
  Rating: B
  Ability 1: Super Headshot -- Mega ranged damage
  Ability 2: Ghetto Posse -- Entice agents to dance with Eli
  Available at: 225 notoriety [Alexis starts with him],  360 + Island 2

  Ranged attackers are always handy, and Eli, Ivan and Monty are it.  His 
  special ability is good for taking out a running enemy.  Of the three
  starting henchmen, he gets a 'B' because he's the only one that can't
  solo a super-agent or instantly react to a threat to you.

Red Ivan
  Rating: C
  Ability 1: Cossack Dance -- Massive area-effect damage around Ivan
  Ability 2: Minefield -- Lay down a trap 
  Available at: 75,175 notoriety, 300 notoriety on Island 2, 400

  Red Ivan is a hazard.  His regular attacks consist of lobbing grenades and 
  firing a rocket launcher at the enemies he fights.  Both of these cause 
  huge explosions.

  While this is good for taking out a squad of enemies, he'll cheerfully use 
  this to take out enemies in your base, your hotel, or enemies 5 feet away 
  from him that your other minions are fighting.  This often results in you 
  having to rebuild your hotel, or replacing a bunch of guards or workers 
  that died from collateral damage.

  I find that getting him means you have to micro-manage every attack on your 
  base.  If you don't mind this, then Ivan is great for taking out those pesky
  squads of soldiers with rifles.  They bunch up and he nukes them from a 
  distance.  He'll still probably get killed unless you nuke a couple times,
  then have him run away and send in someone else to finish the job.

  This strategy for containing Ivan till you need him comes from the message
  boards: Build a topside shack or 2x2 room with a level 3 door.  Put him in
  it.  It seems he won't leave unless ordered to.  Just remember to send him
  back when you're done blowing up the good guys.

Motezuma
  Rating: B
  Ability 1: Voodoo Puppetry -- Make agents attack each other
  Ability 2: Voodoo Mind Fog -- Make agents forget what they've seen and leave
  Available at: 175 notoriety, 300 notoriety on Island 2, 400

  Monty's mind fog is nifty, and he's a good fighter too.  Unfortunately it
  looks like the fog only works on one agent at a time, and has a long 
  recharge.  Tag a super-agent for weakening, then hit them with Mind Fog; be
  careful though, if it fails they'll attack and probably kill him.  You'll be
  glad every time it works and gets rid of a super-agent right as soon as they
  land on the island though.

  Monty's attack is ranged (he stabs a voodoo doll to hurt the agent), but it's
  not as powerful as Eli's guns.  Monty will get cremated if there's more than
  1-2 agents to fight solo, especially if they have guns.  Don't even think of 
  trying to use Puppetry on hostiles that are attacking you.  It makes a better
  stealth attack on agents that are sneaking around.

  [Thanks Lance Druger for pointing out that Monty's not a hand-to-hand guy]

The Matron
  Rating: A
  Ability 1: Motherly Love -- Recharge another henchman's special abilities
  Ability 2: Electo-Shock treatment -- Proximity Enemy-only high damage
  Available at: 75,175 notoriety, 300 notoriety on Island 2, 400
  
  Okay, the Matron just rocks.  If you see a bunch of soldiers that won't shoot
  first, or a bunch of enemies at your front door, send the Matron to give them
  some Electro-Shock treatment.  It's nasty stuff.  You can also use her to
  replenish someone else's special ability, like refreshing Monty's mind fog or
  Jubei's ghost walk...  She also has some of the funniest lines she'll scream
  when commanded to kill or capture, including:
    'A spoonful of whoop-ass!'
    'You have to be cruel, to be... cruel!'
    'This is going to hurt THEM a lot more than it will hurt ME!'

Lord Kane
  Rating: A
  Ability 1: Psychic Terror -- Area effect: Panic agents.
  Ability 2: Smooth Operator -- Cause agent to lose all heat
  Available at: 225 notoriety [Shen Yu starts with him],  360 + Island 2

  Lord Kane works very well, especially against super agents to make them
  forget what they've seen and his fear gaze can cause panic attacks and makes
  super agents beg while minions attack them.  One oddity lord Kane can attack
  them while they are pleading for their lives (on their knees), but must be
  manually commanded to do so.

  [From Lance Druger]

  Smooth operator makes whoever you use it on stop and wait while Kane runs up
  to them to use it.  In the meantime, the target is completely vulnerable to
  other attacks.  This is probably a bug.  Psychic terror is great on groups of
  soldiers; it makes them all stop fighting, beg for mercy, then run around
  like panicked tourists.

The Butcher
  Rating: C
  Ability 1: Facade of Normalcy -- Lets him approach hostile targets
  Ability 2: Terror Tactics -- Nearby minions ignore low stats and fight
  Available at: 175 notoriety, 300 notoriety on Island 2, 400

  Well... this guy is one vicious cuisinart of a henchman.  His attacks are
  brutal and fast, though all are melee-range.  The Facade lets him get up
  close to enemies that might otherwise attack on sight, like an agent or
  group of soldiers.  Other than his melee skills though, his special 
  abilities aren't much to write home about.  If you're dying to turn the
  agents into mush, and don't want the indiscriminate destruction of Ivan,
  he's a good choice.
  
The Great Mesmero
  Rating: B
  Ability 1: Telepathic Mind Control -- Take control of agent
  Ability 2: Willpower Drain -- Saps loyalty of agents
  Available at: 300 notoriety on Island 2

  This is the last henchman available, and all his abilities take forever to
  get (1100 for Mind Control, 600 for Willpower).  Willpower drain acts like
  Kane's 'Psychic Terror', it affects all agents within a large radius and
  disables them so that your other minions can attack them in peace.  I'm not
  sure how to use 'Telepathic Mind Control', it either fails a lot or there's
  some non-obvious way to use it.  

Dr Neurocide
  Rating: D
  Ability 1: Hallucinogen Powder -- Temp. Reduces heat of items in area
  Ability 2: Poisonous Perfume -- Area-effect endurance drain
  Available at: 75,175 notoriety, 300 notoriety on Island 2

  She and Jubei will hang out together.  She's OK at plotting, but sucks at
  everything else.  Her special abilities suck too.