History VideoGame / PhantomDoctrine

** Machineguns cause massive damage and suppress enemies at the cost of being unable to move and fire in the same turn.

* LittleUselessGun: The French DAO is one of your starting weapons. It's also pathetically underpowered, being only a .25 calibre pistol.

** Taking down enemy units silently by melee combat requires the attacker to have higher HP. Unless an agent "gets lucky" and acquires the HP increasing survivor perk, it is unlikely this silent option for dealing with agents will be available in the early game.

** Agents incur heat relatively quickly and are typically compromised after two non-stealthy missions. This increases travel time and the risk of ambush. Heat will decrease over time - unless the agent is compromised, in which case the only way to remove this status is by forging a new identity.

* TheGuardsMustBeCrazy: Played with. If you haven't sound the alarm, guards have rather short view range implying they are not paying so much attention. There's also several actions which aren't considered suspicious by the AI (jumping through windows, opening-closing doors leading to restricted areas, following people, being seen ''leaving a restricted area'', etc.) as long as agents are spotted doing them in unrestricted areas. Once they get alerted however, they can see your agents as far as your agents can see them.

** The tutorial mission contains a few to the CIA campaign. Kingfish refers to Deadpan as a "CIA wash-out", alluding to [[spoiler:Deadpan turning rogue after being betrayed]]. He also steals documents locating Beholder Initiative goods seized by the British, and once he evacuates the map he states he's going straigth to Glasgow; [[spoiler:a story mission for all campaigns is set in Glasgow, which consists in looking for this very cargo, and Kingfish himself is present onsite as a hostile agent.]]
** [[spoiler:When you examine Tai-Pan's dossier, the cover says "Tai-Pan appears to be a small time gangster and information broker from Hong Kong. However, the extent of his operations and allies surprises us at every step." He is revealed to be TheManBehindTheMan in the unlockable extended campaign.]]

* RagtagBunchOfMisfits: The available recruits have backgrounds in various special forces units, intelligence services, terrorist groups, gangs, and freelancers. Note that all origins are available regardless of the campaign, thus CIA agent Deadpan can recruit former {{Yakuza}} or [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_Army_Faction Red Army Faction]][[note]]Western Germany communist terrorist group[[/note]] members, former Spetsnaz[[note]]Soviet special forces[[/note]] and Navy [=SEALs=] operatives, former [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stasi Stasi]] and [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ministry_of_State_Security_(China) MSS]][[note]]respectively, intelligence services of Eastern Germany and People Republic of China[[/note]], along [[SecretIntelligenceService MI6]], UsefulNotes/{{Mossad}}, or [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Federal_Intelligence_Service_(Germany) BND]][[note]]Western Germany intelligence service[[/note]], etc. There's an achievement earned by starting a tactical mission which agents from CIA, KGB, Mossad, Stasi, and SB[[note]]Poland intelligence service[[/note]] in the team.

* {{Foreshadowing}}: The tutorial mission contains a few to the CIA campaign. Kingfish refers to Deadpan as a "CIA wash-out", alluding to [[spoiler:Deadpan turning rogue after being betrayed]]. He also steals documents locating Beholder Initiative goods seized by the British, and once he evacuates the map he states he's going straigth to Glasgow; [[spoiler:a story mission for all campaigns is set in Glasgow, which consists in looking for this very cargo, and Kingfish himself is present onsite as a hostile agent.]]

''Phantom Doctrine'' is a TurnBasedTactics game developed by [[http://www.creativeforge.pl/ CreativeForge Games]] (whose previous credits include ''VideoGame/HardWest'') and published by [[http://www.goodshepherd.games/ Good Sheperd Games]], released for the [[UsefulNotes/IBMPersonalComputer PC]], UsefulNotes/PlayStation4 and UsefulNotes/XboxONE on August 14, 2018.

* BoringButPractical: Enemy units have 'realistic' line of sight and can see Cabal agents across the map. One useful tactic if an alarm has been raised is to close doors (a free action) to restrict firing opportunities.

** The "Vietnam Veteran" perk can be taken by agents of any nationality, even those from nations that did not have any involvement in the Vietnam War.

* BaseOnWheels: Your hideout is mobile, since it's mostly run out of a bunch of portable equipment that can be boxed up and shipped at a moment's notice if the heat is on. This is the only way to stay ahead of the Beholder Initiative when it's hunting down your cabal.

** As demonstrated in the tutorial, it's possible to turn opposing agents to your side through use of a code phrase [[spoiler: implanted using the MK Ultra facility]]. This improves stealth options as these personnel will not arouse suspicion even in restricted areas - essentially working as a disguise. However, enemy agents will raise the alarm if they spot the controlled agent outside their designated patrol area.

*** The difficulty setting option is represented by [[Film/JamesBond a tuxedo-clad man holding a gun]]. In the easiest setting, the man holds a compact pistol exactly like the classical Bond pose. The icon for medium difficulty is a mashup of two posters for ''Film/QuantumOfSolace'' ([[https://www.amazon.fr/Quantum-Solace-USA-Zone-1/dp/B001PPLIEQ the assault rifle pose]] and [[https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/qos.jpg the suit]].) And the hard difficulty icon resembles the end of the Bond gun barrel opening, complete with dripping blood.

* TheHandler: In the CIA campaign your handler is Fender, in the KGB campaign your handler is Cyclone, [[in the Mossad campaign your handler is Delilah. All three of the handlers turn out to be traitors who were brainwashed in the 1970s at an MKULTRA black site.]]