Gene Tonics

introduction

The word plasmid refers to the active attack serums. There are also passive serums that come as a series of gene tonics. These enhance the player's health, Eve usage, and combat or cracking capacities. Tonics are grouped into engineering (boosts intellect and dexterity for cracking), combat (improves fighting skills and resistance to harm), and physical (health and resistance enhancements).

first gene tonics

The number of existing gene tonics is hugh. This list gives you what tonics you can get in the first three levels.

Name	Type	How Gotten	Properties
Armored Shell	c	At Medical Pavilion, in the lone functional Gatherers Garden.	Your skin is made tougher, reducing the damage your enemies can do to you.
Static Discharge	c	At Medical Pavilion, in hall of the Surgery wing near the Surgical Savings, in the water next to charred corpse.	You become a walking Van de Graaff generator. Anyone foolish enough to hit you gets zapped.
Static Discharge 2	c	At Port Nepture, if you have been diligent enough to research the leadheads.	Your power as a Van de Graaff generator almost doubles. Anyone foolish enough to hit you does the involuntary hula.
Wrench Jockey	c	At Medical Pavilion, in the inner office of Kure-All clinic, accessible only through a vent.	You get a lot more bang for your wrench hit.
Wrench Lurker	c	At Port Neptune, on ledge of dock in front of Fontaine Fisheries after your photographic mission.	You get more bang for your wrench hit, and your footsteps are silented, letting you sneak up on unsuspecting enemies.
Focused Hacker	e	At Port Neptune, just past the steel door of Fontaine Fisheries, frozen in ice next to the Pneumo Tube.	Cracking puzzles have two fewer overload tiles.
Security Expert	e	At Medical Pavilion, in the back room of the funeral home, on the cabinet next to the preparation table.	Cracking security device puzzles have two fewer overload and alarm tiles, plus one resistor tile.
Shorten Alarms	e	At Port Neptune, in room #7 of the Fighting McDonagh's tavern, behind the Jolene poster that falls to the floor as the Lutz tape ends and the TV shorts out.	Security alarms are reduced by twenty seconds.
Speedy Hacker	e	At Medical Pavilion, on the desk at Painless Dental. Watch out as you take it!	Flow in cracking puzzles slows down by 1½ seconds per tile.
Vending Expert	e	At Port Nepture and beyond, in Gatherers Gardens.	Prices at vending machines are reduced. This is available on the 1.1 patch.
EVE Link	p	At Medical Pavilion, in the lone Gatherers Garden.	You get Eve (a quarter-hypo more) with every first-aid kit.
Hacker's Delight	p	At Medical Pavilion, in the crematorium, after you cremate the body in the furnace.	Every time you crack a security device, vending machine or safe, you get some health and Eve.
Medical Expert	p	At Port Neptune, in the mud of the Lower Docks near the Fontaine Fisheries.	This enhances first-aid kits by one fifth.

All the above tonics are upgradable.

availability

There are a variety of ways to get gene tonics.

Some lie there, free to pick up.
Some must be bought at Gatherers Gardens.
Some become available after research.
A few become available as gifts from Dr. Tenenbaum for saving Little Sisters.
Three must be built in U-Invents.

Gene tonics that are just lying around, lie there for a reason. Taking them sets off traps. Taking the Wrench Jockey traps you in the office with a thug outside the vent. Taking the Speedy Hacker envelopes you in steam; when it breaks, hello! A thug — in your face!! And taking the Wrench Lurker brings you into a showdown with the Rose Splicer. The morale: Watch yourself as you help yourself.

research tonics

As you progress in the game you acquire more tonics by various means. The most useful are:

Name	Type	How Gotten	Properties
Frozen Field	c	Taken from the corpse of Martin Finnegan in Fort Frolic.	Every tenth blow (at first) of your wrench freezes your enemy. Its upgrade is in the side office/barracks of the grisly trophy room at Hephæstus.
Natural Camoflage	p	Awarded after taking pictures of four Houdinis in Arcadia.	Standing perfectly still blends you in the background, making you invisible to aggressors, security devices, and even Big Daddies. The invisibility field breaks if you move back and forth or side to side (you can still turn), or if you fire a weapon or take a picture, or if your enemy walks into you. Still, this is the most useful tonic in the game, IMHO.
Scrounger	p	Awarded after taking pictures of four leadheads.	Lets you search a fallen enemy or a container further for more booty. You have to choose between what is first offered or what is offered next: You can't have both, and all choices are final.
SportBoost	p	Awarded after taking pictures of four thugs.	You run 10% faster and swing your wrench 25% faster. For players who like to pound people into the pavement, this tonic is a must. Further thug research yields its upgrade, with double the effects.
Spider Splicer Organ	–	Awarded after taking pictures of four spiders.	Although not a tonic in itself, this gives you the ability to use spider splicer organs like first-aid kits.

gene tonic combos

Combat	Wrench Jockey 1, 2; Wrench Lurker 1, 2; Armored Shell 1, 2.
Physical	SportBoost 1, 2; Eve Saver; Natural Camouflage; two electives.

The best combination of gene tonics is a source of debate. My favorite combination, in this table, is the ultimate for wrench swinging, as the wrench saves on ammo that is better used on Big Daddies.

Of course, any tonic that is more helpful, or is no longer needed, I switch out. In the table, for example, I switch out Armored Shell 1 for Damage Research 2 when I find it in Point Prometheus' Mendel Library. And, once I become a Big Daddy there, I drop Natural Camoflage as unnecessary: Since the security and splicers will not bother me anymore, there is no reason to hide from them.