Scoring

Each Mission in Covert Action is rated with a score. The score is calculated based on which Participants have been Arrested (or Turned) during the mission, how many Items were Confiscated, how many CIA Double Agents remained unexposed, and whether or not Major Crimes have been prevented.
This is calculated together to give a final value which is regarded as the "Score" for the entire Mission, and added to Max's overall score for comparison.
Also, based on the score she achieved, Max will receive a Weekend Cutscene showing how her professional success has affected her personal life - basically a visual representation of the score.
==Maximum Score==
To understand how the score is calculated, we must first understand the idea of the "Maximum Score".
Each mission allows up to a certain amount of points to be accumulated. That number is based on several factors:
*How many Participants are involved in the Plot.
*The Rank of each Participant in the Plot.
*How many Items are involved in the Plot.
To know the "Basic" Maximum Score for a given Plot, you can work out the following:
#Add up the number of points for each Participant based on their Rank. For example, each Technician involved in the Plot raises the Maximum Score by 25 points.
#Multiply the number of Items involved in the Plot by 50 points. Add this to the Maximum Score. For example, a Theft Plot has 3 items, raising the Maximum Score by 150 points.
Together, these usually amount to roughly 400-500 points.
Note however that the Maximum Score is usually increased further based on specific things that occur (or rather, do not occur) during the Mission. This is explained below.
==Mission Score==
Once the Mission is concluded, the game will calculate Max's score compared to the Maximum Score available for the mission.
Points are accumulated for performing specific actions, like Arresting Participants and Confiscating Items.
Conversely, the Maximum Score can also be altered. For instance, it increases for failure to prevent the Primary Crime, or failure to expose Double Agents within the CIA.
===Gaining Points===
The following actions increase Max's score during the mission:
#Gaining specific information about various Participants.
#Arresting Participants.
#Turning Participants.
#Confiscating Items.
#Thwarting the Primary Crime or preventing the product Item of that crime from reaching the Mastermind.
====Agent Information and Arrest====
:Each agent has a specific "Point Value", which is based directly on that agent's Rank:
:*Operative: 20 Points.
:*Technician: 25 Points.
:*Agent: 30 Points.
:*Organizer: 35 Points.
:*Special Agent: 40 Points.
:*Group Leader: 45 Points.
:*Mastermind: 200 Points.
:Any Agent who is Arrested will give Max the full amount of points listed above - assuming they remain arrested until the end of the mission.
:Turning a Double Agent will instead give twice as many points as listed above. For instance, a turned Organizer will give 70 points instead of only 35. Note that it is impossible to Turn the Mastermind of a Plot.
:Even if an Agent is not arrested, it's possible to get partial points by discovering crucial information about that agent - particularly their Rank, Location and Affiliation. This can get you up to about 33% of the above-listed score for that agent.
====Item Confiscation====
:Each Item that has been Confiscated during the Mission will add 50 points to your score.
:Note that it is possible to Confiscate the same Item several times during the same Mission. This occurs when an Item is Confiscated, but the person responsible for acquiring it remains At Large - the agent will re-acquire the item, meaning it can be confiscated again.
:However, confiscating the same Item more than once during a Mission does not grant you more than the basic 50 points for that item!
====Thwarting the Plot====
:If Max manages to prevent the Primary Crime of the Plot from occuring, by any means, she receives 100 points to her score. The same bonus is also applied if the Primary Crime was allowed to happen, but an Item created during that crime has failed to reach the Mastermind of the plot. You can only receive this "Plot Thwarted" bonus once per mission.
:Unfortuantely, the "Thwarting" bonus also increases the Maximum Score for the mission by 100 points, so it's not really a bonus per-se. Naturally, the benefit is that you've actually avoided getting the massive Maximum Score increase associated with allowing Primary Crimes to occur (they can be as high as 400 in some Plots).
===Maximum Score Increase===
Additionally, failure to perform some actions will increase the Maximum Score beyond the basic amount (as calculated above).
Increasing the Maximum Score is a bad thing - it basically diminishes the value of each score Point you collect, as we'll see in the last part of this article.
====Failure to Stop the Plot====
:If Max fails to prevent the Primary Crime from occuring, she will suffer a Maximum Score increase of anywhere between 120 and 400 points - depending on the specific Plot of this Mission.
:The 400 Point Increase is used when the Primary Crime marks the "end" of the plot. One example is the Armed Assault Plot.
:Alternately, in Plots where the Primary Crime produces an Item, that item must always be transferred from the Major Agent who committed to Crime all the way to the Mastermind before the Plot is truly completed. In such a case, allowing the Primary Crime itself to occur will only increase the Maximum Score by a certain amount (usually 120 points), while allowing the Item to reach the Mastermind will increase the Maximum Score by the remaining amount of points to make 400.
:In the case of Primary Plots involving the creation of an Item as explained above, it is possible, through Confiscation, to cause the Primary Crime to be commited again. This happens if the Item is Confiscated before it can reach the Mastermind, and before the Major Agent (and the Courier responsible for the delivery to the Mastermind, if there is one) goes into hiding. This is a very bad situation, as you will be penalized the same number of points for each time the Primary Crime is allowed to occur. This can potentially increase your Maximum Score so high that any actual achievement during the Mission is dwarfed, ending with a poor score even if all Participants have been properly Arrested after the fact.
====CIA Double Agents====
:In addition to the above, the Maximum Score is also affected by CIA Double Agents.
:Each CIA Double Agent that goes unexposed by Max by the end of the Mission will raise the Maximum Score by 50 points.
:This is based largely on Difficulty, since there are more CIA Double Agents appearing at the start of Missions played on the higher Difficulty settings.
:Also, if you are ever forced into an Exchange of agents, it's possible for more CIA Double Agents to appear.
:Exposing a Double Agent eliminates the 50-point Maximum Score increase for that agent.
==Final Score==
Once the game has finished tallying up all the Points max has earned during the mission, and calculating the Maximum Score based on the above conditions, the game can generate the Final Tally by comparing these two.
The approximate formula for calculating the Final Score is:
(Points Acquired / Maximum Score) * 1000
Therefore, if Max accumulates 800 points, and the Maximum Score for the mission is 800, the Final Score is 1000 points. This is referred to as the "Perfect Score".
Note that the above formula is not precise. For some reason, the actual Final Score is very close to, but not exactly equal to the result of the above formula. It is currently unknown which factor is missing - perhaps this depends on Difficulty, or possibly the formula itself runs with a value other than 1000 (like 1050 or somesuch).
Also note that it is quite possible to get an "Above-Perfect" score - I.E. a Final Score higher than 1000 points. This is possible by Turning enemy agents into Double Agents, earning twice as many points for the agent as normally acquired for Arresting them. If no adverse effects increase the Maximum Score, Max will have gained more points than the Maximum Score this way.