A feature request that's technically already been done

[V-Man339]

In Heart of Lone Salvation there's an optional objective that only fails if you trigger a level 1 alert, from what I can tell.

Is there a possibility to make this a permanent option of some kind? It would be incredibly helpful for trial and error perfectionists like me.

Edited January 22, 2018 by V-Man339

[jaxa]

So you basically want an enforced ghosting option that adds an invisible objective to the current map you're playing. If you get an alert, you fail the objective. I assume the mission continues rather than ends right there, which would be totally brutal.

 

This could be added as an advanced gameplay menu option, with a slider that lets you control what level of alert causes the failure. So you could set the slider from 1 to 5 or whatever it is. 5 being easier, 1 being ultimate ghosting (probably impossible on some maps).

 

As this is entirely optional and up to the player, you should be allowed to change the option mid-game, with previous alerts not counting towards the objective failure.

 

Some missions might make it impossible for this to work as intended, such as ones where there are friendly NPCs or forced cutscenes where you interact with enemy NPCs.

 

Another thing against this is that most of the time, you should be able to pick up on the auditory + visual cue that comes with a level 1 alert (such as a guard craning their head slightly and saying, "Huh?"). Once you know what actions are taken in response to each alert level, you would know that you failed even without an Objective Failed notice popping up.

[V-Man339]

So you basically want an enforced ghosting option that adds an invisible objective to the current map you're playing. If you get an alert, you fail the objective. I assume the mission continues rather than ends right there, which would be totally brutal.

 

This could be added as an advanced gameplay menu option, with a slider that lets you control what level of alert causes the failure. So you could set the slider from 1 to 5 or whatever it is. 5 being easier, 1 being ultimate ghosting (probably impossible on some maps).

 

As this is entirely optional and up to the player, you should be allowed to change the option mid-game, with previous alerts not counting towards the objective failure.

 

Some missions might make it impossible for this to work as intended, such as ones where there are friendly NPCs or forced cutscenes where you interact with enemy NPCs.

 

Another thing against this is that most of the time, you should be able to pick up on the auditory + visual cue that comes with a level 1 alert (such as a guard craning their head slightly and saying, "Huh?"). Once you know what actions are taken in response to each alert level, you would know that you failed even without an Objective Failed notice popping up.

Agreed on all of it, 100%.

This should be right next to visual and audio sensitivity if implemented.

[demagogue]

You said a level 1 alert (1 of 5), but I think you meant a suspicion alert (1 of 3).

The level 1 alerts are ridiculous and unfair, but the suspicions (which trigger from level 2) are more about what we think is you've been caught out.

(Level 1 they mumble and keep walking. In level 2 they'll stop and look over.)

[V-Man339]

You said a level 1 alert (1 of 5), but I think you meant a suspicion alert (1 of 3).

The level 1 alerts are ridiculous and unfair, but the suspicions (which trigger from level 2) are more about what we think is you've been caught out.

(Level 1 they mumble and keep walking. In level 2 they'll stop and look over.)

I mean whatever the player wants the setting altered to.

Really, anything that helps a player understand just how much they've tipped AI off is helpful as an option to include. Right now every time I make a video for a mission I end up having to either

• Finish the level using noclip, notarget and tdm_show_loot
• Use tdm_ai_showalert 1 just to test strategies being feasible or not.

An option for notifying the player of a goal they've set themselves isn't unreasonable so long as the user is in charge of setting the parameters themselves.

I would know, I've done more than a few missions without level 1 alerts and have the video evidence to back it up.

 

To be clear, I don't particularly mean this as an objective written in the screen on interface so much as a hard notifier of some kind in the background, game overs being an optional addition.

Really as a concept this is purely for perfectionist nutjobs like myself, a game over on alert of player choice isn't something I'm opposed to so long as the player actively chooses to make it that hard for themselves (With a warning that this isn't the intended play method and a disclaimer that this flat out breaks some missions, like The Transaction), because it would help a lot compared to finding out the hard way in the results screen for a lot of people.

This is largely I'd imagine a feature to make replaying levels more interesting to the majority of people.

 

Needless to say no such modifier needs to be added for knockouts or kills since the player doesn't "accidentally" knock people out in The Dark Mod.

Edited January 22, 2018 by V-Man339