Conrad Marburg is the Chief of Operations for the Veteran Combat Initiative. He is also an elite member of Halbech's inner circle, working directly for Henry Leland. He travels to Rome on behalf of Halbech to help carry out their plans to start a global conflict for profit.
Marburg encounters Michael Thorton in Rome during Operation Deus Vult. He and Thorton quickly become adversaries as they fight to meet their opposing goals.
Dossier[]
Marburg was Chief of Security for Halbech a year ago before he resigned and took up the job of Chief of Operations for the Veteran Combat Initiative. Whatever his reasons for the transfer, it is unlikely he has given up his commitment to Halbech, so the career change is something of a mystery.
Judging from employee reports from his tenure at Halbech, Marburg doesn't have a good read on people - in almost all respects except for military hires, he's chosen employees poorly. He assumes professionalism and loyalty, yet doesn't test for it... but once an employee has proven themselves disloyal, he is quick to let them go and sever all ties. He gives people one chance to prove themselves, and if they let him down, he lets them go abruptly.
Marburg still carries out VCI field operations, and judging from the debriefings, he's a one-man army. He's carried out operations in Kuwait, South Africa, and was believed to have been involved in an oil refinery explosion in Moscow... in each instance, he was in and out, quickly and efficiently.
Marburg keeps his mission in mind - he has no sense of bravado or chivalry, and will retreat from a battle if a prolonged firefight is jeopardizing his mission. He expects the same of his subordinates, and they all understand the nature of sacrifice when it comes to accomplishing an objective.
Marburg is getting along in years, but he still trains in martial arts almost every morning after his ten mile run - opponents who think that getting in close is enough to take him down will be in for a shock. Marburg is exceptionally skilled in hand-to-hand combat, so unless an attacker is confident in their hand to hand skills, a firefight with Marburg has a chance of turning out better than a brawl will. The only time he is unlikely to outmaneuver or block an opponent is when he is reloading his pistol - any other time will have him ready and on his guard to take down opponents.
Records indicate Marburg did not officially survive whatever happened in Pakistan, but he was clearly on a United States operation when the Pakistani incident took place. Whatever the mission's official name, someone matching Conrad's profile was serving a role for a black ops agency named "Deus Vult." The results of the mission were disastrous enough that the files and all trace of the operation were destroyed. An entire Delta Force team was lost, relations with Pakistan were nearly destroyed - whatever took place could've embarrassed the military and the administration to the world.
Secret Fact: Leland uncovered Marburg's past and used it to his benefit. Once Leland discovered Marburg worked in a black operations division with little or no accountability (and prone to disposing of agents), he quickly accessed his contacts within the government to see if a current iteration of Deus Vult existed... leading him to Alpha Protocol, and to its agent roster.
Dossier Locations[]
- Automatically gained on arrival in Rome
- Found in a briefcase during Bug CIA Listening Post
- E-mail after Intercept NSA Intelligence
- Clearinghouse intel for Contact Jibril Al-Bara/Halbech Informant
- Clearinghouse intel for Investigate Marburg's Villa
- During Intercept Marburg at the Museum of Art, in the secret passage (only with Security Information intel)
- Secret Fact: Found on a computer near the interrogation room in the Infiltrate Alpha Protocol mission
Interactions with Michael Thorton[]
Killing Marburg in Rome[]
If you want to kill Marburg during Intercept Marburg at the Museum of Art, you need to fulfil two criteria:
- Have a low reputation with Marburg (-4 or less). There are several steps to achieve that:
- Meet SIE during Investigate Weapon Shipments in Moscow, and get a positive reputation with her (at least +1), before meeting with Marburg, which will result in his disapproval (-1).
- Most importantly, you have to select the correct Suave and Aggressive responses during the conversation with him in Contact Jibril Al-Bara/Halbech Informant — see the mission page for exact details. There are enough negative points to get at least -5 approval total through dialogue choices alone, and another -1 if Suave is your globally preferred response choice. Marburg always reacts positively to Professional choices, so avoid them completely.
- If you still couldn't get him to -4, then there will two more opportunities: for at least -1 in Investigate Marburg's Villa, and for -2 in the museum if you choose to disarm the bombs.
- Have more Suave responses in total throughout the game than Aggressive or Professional responses at the time of the final conversation in the museum.
- The types of responses to Marburg himself and total Suave count at the time of your first conversation with him at the café do not matter here — only the count in the museum does. While these counts cannot be accessed directly in-game, you can gauge them during the first conversation with Marburg when he performs a psych evaluation on Thorton. His assessment will change depending on your preferred response type.
- For preferred Suave type he should say: "Reports place you as someone who prefers talk over action". If you get another line ("action over tactics" or "loyal to his country") then that means that your preferred response type is either Aggressive or Professional. Although it should be possible to change the preferred type after this mission, since there are quite a few other missions before the museum in Rome and elsewhere, you will have no way of checking if you succeeded. So, to be on the safer side, it is recommended to try to stick exclusively to Suave options until you confront Marburg.
On PC you can open your save file with a hex editor and search for these variables: TotalTimesSuaveChosen, TotalTimesProfessionalChosen, TotalTimesAgressiveChosen — and look at the addresses after 4 double zeroes to learn the actual counts. Typically, for TotalTimesSuaveChosen it should look like this: 54 6F 74 61 6C 54 69 6D 65 73 53 75 61 76 65 43 68 6F 73 65 6E 00 00 00 00 4B 00 00 00 with 4B in hex notation being 75 in decimal notation in this example. Then do the same check for the other 2 variables: TotalTimesSuaveChosen should be higher than either of them.
When you fight Marburg in the museum, he will interrupt the battle once his health gets low enough, and will try to escape. You have to choose Suave option twice (shown as "Taunt") during this dialogue. If all the conditions are met, after a lengthy string of insults from Thorton, Marburg will change his mind and stay to fight to the end, allowing you to kill him. Using non-lethal methods, martial arts included, will also result in his death. Defeating him here will earn you the perk You Talking to Me? (Reduced Cooldown: Fury) and Marburg's unique pistol.
Note that having or not having the Suave perk, which you can get by selecting Suave as your first two responses during the Prologue, is irrelevant here. The perk doesn't track your Suave responses after those first two choices and plays no role in the interactions with Marburg.
Also worth mentioning that the percentage of the dossier you have unlocked on Marburg doesn't matter in this instance. It does, however, matter for the certain choices involving Marburg, Parker and Leland in the endgame, if you let him escape.
Killing Marburg during the Endgame[]
If you couldn't get Marburg to fight you to the end in the museum, then you will get another chance for that in the Infiltrate Alpha Protocol mission. It requires you unlocking either Marburg's and Alan Parker's or Madison Saint James' dossiers, which can be tricky for Parker — see the Dossier page for help.
In order to kill Marburg in the endgame, you can take two approaches:
- Make Parker attack Marburg
- Discover that Madison Saint James is Alan Parker's daughter, through obtaining her secret fact.
- When talking to Marburg, choose only regular options or the "Dossier" option.
- Contact Parker when given the objective, and inform him that Madison is his daughter and that she was killed/almost killed by Marburg in Rome.
- This leads to Parker unsuccessfully attempting to kill Marburg in the Server Room. Marburg will then fight you with in a weakened state, with reduced health.
- Make Marburg attack Parker
- Unlock at least 83% of Marburg's dossier.
- Unlock 80% of Alan Parker's dossier (maximum available before the endgame).
- This will unlock a special "Deus Vult" option when talking with Marburg.
- Choosing it will lead to Marburg seeking revenge against his former handler and then fighting you for the access to Alpha Protocol's data. Unlike option #1, he will be at full health.
Turning Marburg neutral[]
You can make Marburg change his allegiance to Halbech, and appear in the ending cutscene with a very specific set of choices:
- Get the special "Dossier" option to appear in the final conversation with Marburg by unlocking at least 83% of Marburg's dossier, but no more than 60% of Alan Parker's dossier (as it will get replaced by the "Deus Vult" option).
- Go through the conversation with Leland normally or decline his offer (if your reputation with him is at least +6).
- Choose the "Dossier" option in conversation with Marburg.
- Do not tell Parker about Madison.
- Meet with Scarlet Lake before the mission and visit her in the interrogation room (any choice will do). Otherwise her scene will replace Marburg's.
- Defeat Leland in the boss fight.
- After you execute or spare Leland, Marburg will appear, with different dialogue for each of the two choices. He will either part ways with Thorton amicably or refuse to listen to Leland's orders to kill Thorton and simply walk away.
Mission Appearances[]
Rome
- Contact Jibril Al-Bara/Halbech Informant
- Investigate Marburg's Villa
- Intercept Marburg at the Museum of Art (can be killed)
Endgame
- Infiltrate Alpha Protocol (may appear; can be killed)
Notable Quotes[]
- "Leave Rome. If we see each other again, it will be the last time."
- — Conrad Marburg
- "Leave, you live. Stay, you die."
- — Conrad Marburg
Trivia[]
- It is implied by Madison that Marburg is gay when she says that he has never serviced a female guest, if you choose Madison as your handler during Investigate Marburg's Villa.
- Marburg is never fought alone for more than a few seconds. Unlike the other bosses, he will continue to call on his henchmen.
- It is never specifically clarified why Marburg and SIE hate each other, with the strongest specification being Marburg's comment that it is a "contractual dispute" or that SIE rarely acts professional. He obviously keeps her on the VCI payroll because they need her skills, despite his personal reservations.
- If you either reveal to Marburg that Parker betrayed him as his handler or let Parker know that Marburg killed/endangered his daughter, then Marburg will face you in a fight during the final mission of the game. This makes Marburg the only boss that can be fought twice throughout the game. Every other boss is only fought once.
Gallery[]
Videos[]
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Graybox Alan Parker, Henry Leland, Michael Thorton, Mina Tang, Sean Darcy, Yancy Westridge |
Graybox Factions Alpha Protocol, Halbech Corporation, U.S. Military Alpha Protocol |
Saudi Arabia Ali Shaheed, Omar Mohammed bin Nasri, Al-Samad Lieutenant, Scarlet Lake |
Saudi Arabia Factions Al-Samad |
Rome Conrad Marburg, Gelateria Nico Proprietor, Jibril Al-Bara, Madison Saint James |
Rome Factions CIA, Deus Vult |
Moscow Albatross, Championchik, Grigori Pazinhov, Konstantin Brayko, SIE, Sergei Surkov, Sis |
Moscow Factions G22, Russian Mafia, Surkov's Guards, VCI |
Taipei Hong Shi, Omen Deng, Ronald Sung, Steven Heck, Wen Shu |
Taipei Factions Chinese Secret Police, NSB, White Oak Mountain Triad |