An Inside Contact is one of the role archtypes that a participant in a plot can have. They work from inside Allied Organizations. Their primary task is to send a message to an agent, allowing that agent to commit a Crime. However, they sometimes have other tasks to perform as well.
Definition[]
An Inside Contact has a very unique property: He is the only plot participant who is not affiliated with any Criminal Organization. Instead, he is affiliated with either the Mossad or the MI6, who are normally the CIA's allies.
Though they do serve one common function, the definition of an Inside Contact is based mostly on his affiliation, not his actions, which tend to vary and are described below.
Appearance in Plots[]
Several plots will contain an Inside Contact who is expected to supply insider information to another participant. This is the Inside Contact's primary function in every plot he's in.
The delivery of this info occurs shortly after the Inside Contact has been activated. The receiver varies from plot to plot, but it is always either one of the Minor Agents or the Major Agent, and that participant is usually already activated by the time he receives the info.
The inside info is always required for the receiver to perform his Crimes - he will neither perform the crime nor be able to complete his mission until that info is received. In fact, arresting the Inside Contact or sending him into hiding before he can deliver this info will always cause the plot to break.
Most Inside Contacts have at least one additional action they need to perform before their part in the plot is over. This varies from plot to plot, but in at least two plots an Inside Contact is called upon to commit a Minor Crime himself, acquire an item, and deliver it to an agent. In another plot, the Inside Contact awaits reception of a Payoff from a Paymaster before he considers his mission complete. Note that in all cases, the Insider is still called upon to deliver info to an agent first!
Rank and Scoring[]
Inside contacts may not be the most valuable members of a Master Plan, but they are considered a major threat to the CIA and therefore worth a relatively high number of points, comparable to an Organizer. If the Inside Contact receives or delivers any item during a particular plot, confiscating that item for the first time will award you an extra 50 points.
Strategy[]
Arresting an Inside Contact can be very tricky, and doing so without breaking the plot often requires intimate knowledge with the plot's chronology. If the Insider is called upon to provide another service other than sending info, which they often do, arresting him at the correct time becomes very difficult. Therefore, we need to explain things in more specific terms.
Basic Inside Contacts send info to Agents - info without which the Agent cannot complete his mission or perform his crime. Therefore, if the Inside Contact cannot deliver that info, the plot falls apart once the Agent realizes he can't acquire it. Therefore, if this is the Inside Contact's only task, he can safely be arrested immediately after delivering this info. There is no purpose to allowing the Inside Contact to stay at large at this point.
Sometimes, Inside Contacts need to perform a Minor Crime of their own, to acquire an Item and deliver it to the same or another Agent. If this is the case, the Inside Contact has basically become a Minor Agent and should be treated as such. This can form a link chain where one Minor Agent supplies an item to a second Minor Agent who uses it to commit a Minor Crime and acquire a second Item. Very confusing, especially when you try to confiscate these items to delay the plot. In fact, unless you can turn the Inside Contact, this can easily lead to situations where the Inside Contact completes his mission and goes into hiding, making it impossible for you to confiscate the second item without causing the plot to collapse. This is because, if the both items are confiscated and the Insider is in hiding, the Minor Agent cannot perform his Minor Crime a second time because he needs what the Inside Contact was supposed to supply. Yeah, it's that complicated.
There are two more special cases regarding Inside Contacts. In one, the Insider is supposed to receive payment for his effort from a Paymaster or Courier. In a second similar situation, the Insider is supposed to receive a confirmation message from a Major Agent, halfway through the plot. If you understand the chronology of such missions, you can find the correct timing to arrest him - just before he goes into hiding, but having already completed his mission. Arrest at the wrong time will send at least one other participant into hiding, if not break the the remainder of the plot.