Headscratchers / Watch Dogs: Legion

Why can't Spiderbots Climb?

• Why can't the Spider Bots wall climb? In Watch Dogs 2, we take control of a spider bot larger than a human being capable of climbing on the walls and ceilings, so why wouldn't the Legion spider bots, which are significantly smaller, and therefore lighter, be able to do the same?
  • Reason 1: gameplay balance. Reason 2, the spider-tank's legs being bigger probably allows them to house more machinery like the heavy duty hydraulics required to puncture into and anchor into concrete walls. 3, probably sticking on the wall could induce motion sickness especially if a hypothetical puzzle requires it, and 4, whatever required for it to stick on walls might be punching holes through walls.

Why isn't there more resistance to Albion?

• The whole way Albion and their relationship to the rest of the world is presented in the game. From what we see, almost nobody beside Albion employees, Clan Kelley, and a few corporate suits and workers profiting from Albion actually likes Albion. Other than them, every Londoner, including the GBB (the universe's equivalent of BBC), hates Albion for very good and very obvious reasons; police brutality, suspended democracy, poverty-inducing policies; London is basically under occupation by a hostile military force, but outside of Ded Sec's antics, which are mostly focused on exposing a company that makes little secret of its evil, Londoners only response are protests (that the supposedly totalitarian Albion does not respond to with brutal force why?) Why are mobs of Londoners not beating Albion soldiers to death in the streets and burning their buildings? Albion doesn't appear to have the resources to put down a large scale revolt, and the UK government's options in such a situation would be A. terminate Albion's contracts and downplay their complicity or B. call in the army to battle their own citizens, causing their approval rating to drop to zero, mass desertions and mutiny, and probably a civil war.
  • Uh, mobs of Londoners are beating down the police. They do that by joining DedSec.
    • Your DedSec cell's max size is around 20; hardly a mob. And most people wouldn't need DedSec coming to them to recruit them to be able to take action against Albion. Plus, as stated above, Dedsec generally only uses violence as a mean to gain more intel on Albion, even though exposing such intel shouldn't do much; everyone either already hates Albion, or profits from whatever immorality Dedsec exposes. Given their current situation, Dedsec should probably be more focused on insurgent tactics of inflicting max Albion casualties and sabotaging their logistics.
    • I suppose we disagree on just how much is necessary to get people to start resisting. Getting recruited to the local resistance (DedSec) seems like it would be the requirement to get people to want to rise up against the dangerous fascist government versus creating their own.
    • In real life, things nowhere near as bad as the shit Albion gets up to (without or barely hiding it) have sparked massive protests and riots; it's a much easier, or at least more direct way of resisting than waiting for a tiny terrorist cell to come to you. Sure, we don't live under Albion rule, but since the UK's democratic government has been suspended and replaced indefinitely in this universe, direct resistance is the only feasible way to change things. If Albion's trying to rule solely through fear, they should start by getting the resources to put down at least a sizable revolt and doing something about the protests on every corner that all basically shout, "Albion is bad, but there are no consequences for organizing against them."
  • Albion is a Police State that people have been only now getting sick of after the events of Zero Day. Part of what needs to be understood is that This is All According to Plan for Sabine. She knew that Albion would crack down heavily and overreach. She just knew she needed to give them time to make themselves hated by the public at large. The government isn't firing Albion because so much money is involved with their plans.
    • True, but I suppose it's more the timeline that doesn't make sense. By the time the game proper begins, Albion has been in power for quite some time, making the average Londoner's life hell, and most of the public already hates them, yet the only resistance before Dedsec sets up are sporadic protests and talks shows (that again, Albion doesn't seem to care about despite such brazen defiance being antithetical to their totalitarian ethos). The mobs should already be on the streets (and the point of such violent resistance is that the government would be forced to choose between maintaining power or extra cash) Turing all districts "defiant" doesn't change much nor does completing the campaign (though Gameplay and Story Segregation is likely a partial culprit here).
    • Well things take some time to happen. Nigel Cass is willing to go full fascist in order to bring "order" but it seems like the entirety of the organization hasn't embraced that ideology nor the government. It's still primarily a security company and has limitations. I also do think that while you can recruit "everyone", I'm inclined to think that we're meant to think not everyone is chomping at the bit to join but it's more a reflection of Gameplay and Story Segregation that we can learn what would get them to help.
    • I concede your first point about time, especially since Gameplay and Story Segregation means there's no definitive timeline after the prologue and neither turning districts defiant, nor the endgame can effect the game world much, but I dispute that Albion or their corporate and criminal allies have any effective checks on their power; the UK government seems happy to let them implement massively unpopular and unconstitutional policies (and there are no more elections while Albion's in power, so they don't have to worry about their own popularity). And we see what happens when someone else in power disagrees with Nigel Cass; he shoots them, suffers no consequences, and proceeds.
    • It should also be noted that while DeadSec's main operatives are only about 20 in the main hub, it has a large number of supporters and informants spread out the city that it's organizing. The Hammet mission has you distract them so they can rob a warehouse of supplies. There's also a bunch of protestors and anger in the streets with people being arrested all the time. The revolution is just beginning but plenty of people are starting to attack, they just are mostly getting arrested and killed until DedSec comes along.
• While an amount of obvious Gameplay and Story Segregation is inevitable in these sorts of games, it just doesn't seem very good storytelling or world-building to have your central mechanic (you can recruit anyone by helping them with some problem they're having with the new regime) be at odds with what your setting and protagonists are supposed to be (a tiny resistance/activist group against a superpower), and the most harrowing conflict that seems inevitable to your setting (a violent street revolution or civil war that will change the first-world's politics forever) go unacknowledged, let alone experienced.

How do they recognize you?

• I understand Albion and Clan Kelly thugs recognizing that you aren't supposed to be there if you use uniformed access with a uniform that bears your face but several character types, including captains and enforcers, wear suits with masks or helmets that obscure the entire face and rendering you totally indistinguishable from thugs in the same uniform, so how can enemies recognize that you don't belong there?
  • Again, gameplay balance. But also, a mask can only do so much. Assuming they're relatively familiar with the other people who guard the location, they might consciously or subconsciously not recognize your body language or see you're too fat or tall. And they'll probably eventually become suspicious of you never talk.

What is Zero Day's goal?

• I'm trying to figure out what they hoped to accomplish by allying with Albion given that it proceeds to drastically empower their stated enemies.
  • Zero-Day's initial goal was to use FILAMENT to perform the "Drool Britannia" attack they use Bagley to do in the climax.^note We can assume that if FILAMENT can access any file in any computer, it can also upload files to any computer. They only promised things to Mary and Nigel to get them to help the plan, though initially they didn't plan on delivering. Then, when Cass betrayed her Sabine reassembled DedSec in order to acquire the resources she needed to create a substitute for FILAMENT, ultimately using Bagley.

DedSec 2.0

• Why does Bagley refer to DedSec before and after the Zero-Day bombings as 1.0 and 2.0 respectively, while I understand identifying them as separate entities as they are almost entirely new operatives, but pre bombings London DedSec was far from DedSec 1.0, that would be the Daves-Led, Chicago Chapter, followed by the San Francisco cell and numerous other Cells, to say nothing of the fact that DedSec had existed for at least 15 years.
  • Bagley may be facetiously claiming that DedSec was nothing before him, so the first "real" DedSec was the first one that used him. In other words, it was a joke.
  • He was likely just exclusively referring to the London cell. DedSec cells are highly compartmentalized and rarely interact with each other. At least not directly.

The Assassin's Tomb

I know it's non-canonical but how exactly did they build a massive tomb to the Fryes and Edward Kenway underneath Buckingham Palace? I know a Precursor tomb was there but not all the statues and bric a brac. It seems the Assassins have serious waste of resources problems.

Why can only News Drones take photos?

Pretty much what I wrote above, if you need to take a photograph of evidence, your options are either to hijack a news drone or infiltrate a combat zone directly, since the spider bot and all the other aerial drones are unable to take photos, but why? While it stands to reason that News Drones would have the best cameras, but in order to permit the other drones to operate by remote outside of the line of sight of the character controlling it, every drone type, including the Spider Bot has to have an onboard camera, even if they are not specifically programmed to take photographs, at minimum the operative would be able to take a screen shot of the feed they are using to direct the drone.

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