About the 'kill-an-agent' missions

**Caini**

I was wondering why does Zion send us to kill agents? Aren't they somehow inmune to death? With eternal respawns and coming back to life everytime. So why killing them?

It's like:
Well done killing Agent Stewart, Operative; your efforts have bring Zion to... oh! Nevermind, he just pop out into another bluepill.

**SolidRevolver**

With EJP this applies to every enemy ingame

**ZippyTheSquirrel**

Yes, plot holes, aren't they just GRAND?

**cloudwolf**

"I've seen men shoot whole clips at them and hit nothing but air"

"When you see an agent you do what we do... run... run your *CENSORED* off"

"Oh wait, theres a game now, having people be able to kill agents at a whim would be cool...right?"

**Kemy**

I always thought it was more of a joke, for level 49 players to have a little fun with their last level.

**FrozenFyre**

SolidRevolver wrote:

With EJP this applies to every enemy ingame

Only human ones, most enemies we face are programs who, with a few exceptions, are permanantly terminated when they get a bullet through the brain.

ThePigeonKing · 03/05/2008 12:07:36

This is how I see it:

If a human is breaking the truce (pre-war) or a human is doing something assassination-worthy, then the Machines can lock their RSI so that they can only jack out through a hardline, and if they are killed their EJP does not save them and they die fo' reelz. This was shown to us in the chapter 8 critical missions. They don't say it in regular missions but I like to think that those are such cases.

Programs are usually rebuilt every time you kill them but this takes a lot of effort and resources which are still limited in our little simulation. See: Agent Gray, Hypatia, both killed by the Intruder and later re-coded. Hypatia was re-coded partially/wrong in said case, which leads me to believe that it's not so easy and quick to do it.

I'd like to think that Agents, when killed en mass, still decrease their numbers significantly. See: Unlimit chapters, when Machinists are told "resources are low" as a reason to why Agent programs could not be deployed so often.

I don't really see any plot holes here. I think the vague and background parts of the Matrix Online story is open and a lot is unexplained so you can work out an explanation for yourself.

-Collbard-

well, except that most programs have back-ups. I don't really see killing an agent as that much of a problem (aside from the fact that it is essentially useless except in certain situations). Morpheus put up a (somewhat) decent fight against an agent, and Trinity killed an agent in the first movie. I believe Niobe and Ghost killed agents (ETM) but I could be mistaken (and admittedly I don't think it was with martial arts - had something to do with wrecking cars/electricity/etc.). Now we have a lot more time to hone our skills within the Matrix, so we have a lot more potential against agents than redpills did Pre-Truce. (I almost said during the war, but that would imply now...right? That whole war still happening?)

**Balletic** · 03/05/2008 12:42:30

cloudwolf wrote:

"I've seen men shoot whole clips at them and hit nothing but air"

"When you see an agent you do what we do... run... run your *CENSORED* off"

Could the next line instead be something about Zion wanting to send a message to the Machines within the Matrix post-truce? That as Zion operatives reach their 50th spike, they've apparently become so powerful that they can not only prove a match for an agent but even win the fight (which only Neo could previously pull off, right?)?

**ZippyTheSquirrel** · 03/05/2008 13:11:42

FrozenFyre wrote:

SolidRevolver wrote:
With EJP this applies to every enemy ingame
Only human ones, most enemies we face are programs who, with a few exceptions, are permanantly terminated when they get a bullet through the brain.

Oh, no, no, haven't you heard? Any program or Exile can easily be backed up like a normal file.

In essence, YOU CANNOT KILL ANYONE IN THE MATRIX ONLINE WORLD. I hate it.

The only true and permanent death that I've seen so far is when the character's soul is encased inside a Halloween Mask... like the Apothecary, Anome, Trainman...

-Collbard-

Well Unlimits were actually killable, and I'm sure there have been a few cases where characters (maybe not major ones) have had their EJP disabled and killed. Also Agent Skinner was completely deleted if I'm not mistaken.

**Caini** · 03/05/2008 13:22:17

-Collbard- wrote:

well, except that most programs have back-ups. I don't really see killing an agent as that much of a problem (aside from the fact that it is essentially useless except in certain situations). Morpheus put up a (somewhat) decent fight against an agent, and Trinity killed an agent in the first movie. I believe Niobe and Ghost killed agents (ETM) but I could be mistaken (and admittedly I don't think it was with martial arts - had something to do with wrecking cars/electricity/etc.). Now we have a lot more time to hone our skills within the Matrix, so we have a lot more potential against agents than redpills did Pre-Truce. (I almost said during the war, but that would imply now...right? That whole war still happening?)

They killed them to defend themselves. Because it was the agents who attacked first, so they run, or fought.
It the case of the missions, it is Us who go hunting them with no aparently reason to do so. The agents are used to protect the simulation, so why go for them?

About the EJP, I also think that it is a tool used only in redpills, something to do with the plug. Nor exiles nor agents have a plug, so they don't have EJP.

The only reason I see to [try] to kill any agent is for the $info they drop, but this is not the mission objetive, is it?
Does the Matrix really have limited resourses and they loose some 'something' when an Agent respawns? I hardly think so.
I just feel like hitting the water when I am sent to kill an agent. I think is useless kill something that comes back to life at will.

**ZippyTheSquirrel**

-Collbard- wrote:

Well Unlimits were actually killable, and I'm sure there have been a few cases where characters (maybe not major ones) have had their EJP disabled and killed. Also Agent Skinner was completely deleted if I'm not mistaken.

I like to refer to that as Pre Plot-hole-ridden MxO. Times were good then. Now? Hah.

-Collbard-

Caini wrote:

-Collbard- wrote:
well, except that most programs have back-ups. I don't really see killing an agent as that much of a problem (aside from the fact that it is essentially useless except in certain situations). Morpheus put up a (somewhat) decent fight against an agent, and Trinity killed an agent in the first movie. I believe Niobe and Ghost killed agents (ETM) but I could be mistaken (and admittedly I don't think it was with martial arts - had something to do with wrecking cars/electricity/etc.). Now we have a lot more time to hone our skills within the Matrix, so we have a lot more potential against agents than redpills did Pre-Truce. (I almost said during the war, but that would imply now...right? That whole war still happening?)

They killed them to defend themselves. Because it was the agents who attacked first, so they run, or fought.
It the case of the missions, it is Us who go hunting them with no aparently reason to do so. The agents are used to protect the simulation, so why go for them?

About the EJP, I also think that it is a tool used only in redpills, something to do with the plug. Nor exiles nor agents have a plug, so they don't have EJP.

The only reason I see to [try] to kill any agent is for the $info they drop, but this is not the mission objetive, is it?
Does the Matrix really have limited resourses and they loose some 'something' when an Agent respawns? I hardly think so.
I just feel like hitting the water when I am sent to kill an agent. I think is useless kill something that comes back to life at will.

Yes I agree with you about movie characters killing agents for a reason rather than arbitrarily. The only possible way I could see, "Go here and kill the agent" as useful would be as a distraction (By the way, I haven't played these kill an agent missions), as in, "go kill this agent as a distraction while so and so hacks a mainframe elsewhere", but my impression from you guys is that this is not the case.

ThePigeonKing · 03/05/2008 14:22:17

Ahem... I thought my explanations sounded very plausible. Anyone agree, disagree?