NPC

**NPC's**, short for **Non-Player Characters**, are techs that you will meet throughout the game as you progress through it. Each of the corporations has specific NPCs associated with it, with more being added in Updates.

## GSO

**Crafty Mike** - full name Michael Croft with "Crafty Mike" as a street name. Known con man that operates in this quadrant. He specializes in crafting-based missions, and is usually one of the first NPC's you will meet. He only appears during the eponymous Crafty Mike Missions.

**Agent Pow** (1.3.7) - Known GSO officer and administrator responsible for operations in her realm. However, the GSO has been sending unsatisfactory operatives constantly, increasing the paper work she has to do while not having any progress on her errands. She only appears during Charlie Watchtower and SAM Site Ridge.

**Almighty Minions** - Known Mighty Co. Organization Members that serves the almighty leader, acting like his muscle. Usually, they yell propaganda messages echoing the leader's quotes. Many are destroyed during the Almighty Cube mission series.

**Wheely** - A possible prospector and one of the known challengers against the Almighty Cube, though has failed miserably due to having insufficient weapons.

## GeoCorp

**Big Pete** - Known Employee of GeoCorp, and is tasked with expansions on GeoCorp operations within the off-world. He only appears during the mission Big Yellow, and requests the player to extract some resources. Impressed by their efforts, he deduces that GeoCorp can use their help. He then provides the GeoCorp license before his departure.

**Wing-Nut** (1.3.3) - Known GeoCorp employee (at least formerly) who claimed to have built Rock Creek Bridge during his only appearance, and demands the player a payment of 100,000 in exchange for permanent clearance. At the request of GeoCorp for investigation on the bridge's blocked access, the player intervenes. The player then clears the bridge by either bribing or destroying him.

**Payment Point** - A structure that appears alongside Wing-Nut during his specific mission and acts like a Payload Terminal. If the player does not want to tackle Wing-Nut by brute force, he must be bribed via the Payment Point, at which point he disappears with it. Otherwise, it will disappear on its own when Wing-Nut is provoked.

**The Almighty Leader** - A ringleader of the Mighty Co. Organization who seems to host events with his almighty cube, challenging prospectors to destroy it. He is rather confident to the strength of his cube, and will appear arrogant when the player fails to destroy it. Otherwise, he will express shock and cowardly order his minions to attack, but not doing anything himself, only to retreat every time when his minions fall too, making ineffectual threats to the player before he leaves. On the third encounter, after The Almighty Cube is destroyed, he turns on the player and attacks them, before deciding to escape after reaching critical damage. However, he is unable to escape, and is destroyed by the player.

**The Almighty Cube** - A static Tech made by The Almighty Leader for his machinations. It is an anchored tech that has a variety of power blocks and armor, but is otherwise not offensive. The player is given 20 seconds to destroy it and should they fail, it will be restored to full health with all batteries fully charged, forcing them to try again. This NPC has three variants. It gets stronger as the player participates in more difficult Almighty Cube Missions.

## Venture

**Suzie Vroom** - Full name Suzannah Vroomingdale. Known member of unknown Position in Venture. Appears during the licence acquisition mission, Race Against Time, after noticing the player's driving skills.

**Zoomer Vendor** - A structure that only appears during Plateau Run with Suzie Vroom and can be used to purchase Zoomer techs for completing the mission.

**Whimpy** (1.3.9.1) - A Venture Member who was held hostage by Gruntle during his only appearance. At the request of Venture who have received his SOS, the player intervenes and repairs him after fighting off Gruntle.

**Gruntle** (1.3.9.1) - A known kidnapper (referred by Venture as a "Nasty Bandit") who has held Whimpy hostage on an Island surrounded by landmines. The player is instructed to intervene, and Gruntle is defeated.

**Repulsor** (1.3.9.1) - A static turret that appears along with Gruntle and Whimpy, but is neutral to the player. He appears to be blocking the access to one of the stunt jumps and will unleash hate speech at the player when they get too close, and attack them with Venture Sonic Lances. Otherwise, he serves no role.

**Vana** and **Zozo** (1.4.6) - The Ice Crawlers siblings that appear in A Slippery Slope mission.

## Hawkeye

**Sergeant Smash** - Known Hawkeye officer. He is always physically seen and provides instructions on all Hawkeye "Black-Op" missions. It is subtly implied that the Mysterious Thermal Signal and the GSO Grade 4 Mission, Bird of Prey, are relevant to him, as the player managed to eliminate the Clean-Up crew, which, if not dispatched by him, would not have gotten his attention. He provides instructions on eliminating enemy Techs and expanding Hawkeye interests, as well as other types of Wet Work. Initially he is incompetent and aggressive, but as more missions are completed for him, his attitude improves, from that of a typical officer to a more tolerant one as the player's usefulness to him increases.

**Groundhog** - Known current Hawkeye Operative, appearing mid-way through Crowntop Hill Fort and is one of the many mercenaries who attempted to defeat Spider King, but failed, and was extracted by Hawkeye shorty after his encounter with the player. After the destruction of Spider King, he comes into contact one last time and provides the player with a reward.

**"Spider King"** - Formerly on Hawkeye payroll. He was tagged by Hawkeye for harassing other Techs. At their request, the player finds and destroys Spider King at his lair.

**Bomber Command** (1.3.7) - Known Hawkeye Officer. Appears only during the eponymous mission and provides the player with a suitable aircraft for purchase.

**Blackbird Vendor** - A structure that acts like a payload terminal, similar to Hubl. It only appears in Bomber Command. The player is instructed to purchase the MX 14 Blackbird plane for 50,000 BB from it in order to continue the mission. It also appears in the second part of the mission so the player can repurchase it if the tech is destroyed.

## Better Future

**Hubl** - The lead sales representative of Better Future. Appears only in the starting few missions of Better Future, and acts as a payload terminal for buying the license and some sample techs for the relevant BF missions. Hubl is also an instructor of Better Future's Hover Training Program after 1.3.7.1.

**BUBL &** TRUBL **appear in HUBL, BUBL & TRUBL! after 1.4.5.**

## Reticule Research

**Atom** - Formally known as Reticule Research Science Officer AT-0M RRv1313, he holds an unknown position in RR and is responsible for doing research for unknown purposes. He is first encountered on a search ordered by GSO and later on employs the player's assistance in carrying out tests regarding prototypes, as well as miscellaneous issues. His appearances include In Search of Science, Laser Laboratory, Blaster Battle, and Tesla Base.

**Proto Buggy Vendor** - A structure that can sell Proto Buggies for 100,000 BB to complete the mission. It appears in Blaster Battle only.

**Hacked Turret** - Multiple turrets that appear in Reticule Research's labs. They are normally invincible and can only be attacked when the room's charger is destroyed. They are armed with various weapons and have different firing patterns based on them. These appearances include Laser Laboratory and Tesla Base.

## Trivia

* Suzie Vroom and Agent Pow are the only known female NPCs.
* Sergeant Smash, Agent Pow, Groundhog, and Bomber Command are the only NPCs that can communicate with the player even when off-screen.
* Smash's quote, "Don't dare you salute to me soldier! You'll mark me out to the snipers!" is a reference to Lt. Dan Taylor in Forest Gump, who is a former military officer and superior to Gump. The quote itself was said by Dan to Forest before combat in the Vietnam War.
* Like other allied techs, all NPCs are airdropped with a blue bombshell icon, though Sergeant Smash uses the red counterpart typically seen before enemies arrive.
* Sergeant Smash and Agent Pow are the only NPCs with entire sets of alternate quotes.
	+ While on a mission supervised by him, if the player eliminates the target before they go to Smash, he will react differently and scold the player for not following his orders.
	+ On Agent Pow's missions, if the player goes too far away from Agent Pow while she is briefing the player, her entire speech will be skipped and she will commend on how rude the player is. Additionally, if the player does not follow her instructions when doing the assault part of her missions, she will also scold the player.
	+ Some other NPCs may have hidden quotes that only appear when specific actions are done. For example, Wing-Nut, when provoked by the player, will open fire while telling them not to go across the line, while Hubl will ask the player to reconsider if they did not buy the BF license immediately.
* Crafty Mike, Agent Pow, Wing-Nut, Suzie Vroom, Whimpy, Gruntle, Repulsor, Bomber Command, Groundhog, The Almighty Leader, Almighty Minions and Spider King are the only NPCs to have unique usable blocks associated with them.
	+ Of them, Wing-Nut, Groundhog, and Spider King are the earliest one to have these.
* Suzie Vroom is the first NPC whose in-game alias is an abridged version of her full name. This was, however, only discovered from external sources and not in-game campaign.
* All NPCs are anchored with Groundhog, Gruntle, and Wing-Nut as exceptions. Additionally, most neutral NPCs are equipped with boosters to allow flight. When they leave, they just unanchor themselves, fly up for a certain distance, then despawn. This does not apply for some NPCs that are not always neutral, such as Spider King, and in Wing-Nut's case he will only display his boosters only if he was bribed.
	+ This is the first known case where an AI Tech has control of it's anchors and boosters.
	+ All permanent-neutral NPCs additionally cannot be harmed by explosive bolts in their in-game appearance, similar to how the player can become invincible in Creative Mode via game settings.
	+ Some NPCs, such as Sergeant Smash, may glitch and remain in the player's world as a neutral NPC.
* Since all Venture race missions are absent from Co-Op campaign, Suzie Vroom will never appear in multiplayer, as the license acquisition mission is also a time trial. Instead, when the player accepts the license mission, they will instantly gain the Venture License.
	+ Hubl's hover and anti-gravity race tracks will also not appear for the same reason.
		- Bomber Command also did not appear along with his Blackbird Vendor when his eponymous mission was added, as the mission itself was absent before a fix that reintroduced him properly.
* Some NPCs have a unique block that is otherwise unobtainable in campaign (Unlike Wing-Nut, Spider King, and Groundhog). However, they can still be loaded from hacked snapshots on the steam workshop. These blocks can be a tech on their own, in a similar fashion to all known control blocks. Known NPCs with such blocks include:
	+ Crafty Mike (Pre-1.3.9.1)
	+ Big Pete (only functions when anchored or attached to another anchored tech)
	+ Agent Pow (Pre-1.3.9.1)
	+ Suzie Vroom (Pre-1.3.9.1)
	+ Bomber Command (Pre-1.3.9.1)
	+ Hubl

* Bomber Command is the only NPC that is stylized as a building. Particularly, he resembles an AC Tower.
	+ As cabs are implied to be occupied by prospectors and other operators that are smaller than most other blocks, this implies that there is more than one operator within the tower.