Hostage execution

Article by [furrycat] with updates from Birdie and Beckett.

[furryclan] members tend to prefer a fast and furious style of gameplay in contrast to a slower and stealthier technique which can work successfully in other games such as SWAT3. Going in fast and hard means that you want maximum stopping power from your weapons, so clan members will usually avoid suppressors.

Inevitably, each time a mission is failed, one of our server guests will complain the hostage was killed "because the tangos heard us" and that we should "go SD" if we are to have a chance of success.

Some people also say that enemies get jumpy when they see doors flung open, and rush off to execute their prisoners.

Anecdotally, neither statement appears to be true. We've rescued hostages using all manner of pyrotechnics. Hearing frag grenades and unsuppressed primary weapons doesn't seem to cause the terrorists to run and execute hostages at all. Rather, the sight of approaching Rainbow troopers seems to be the trigger.

We've also noticed that in each level there are only a certain few individuals who will set off the bomb, release the gas, destroy the evidence or execute the hostages. Sometimes they will run from quite far away to reach and eliminate a hostage.

Who's right? [furryclan] members who say it isn't worth sacrificing stopping power for no real stealth advantage? Or the random punters who come on to our public server and complain that we should take sound suppressors, usually after charging into the hostage room and watching the bad guys eliminate them?

In the hope of finding out, I conducted two tests. First, I enabled cheats and ghosted around the map in invisible mode, to observe the reactions of tangos as I made noise and shot their buddies. Secondly, I used the Unreal Tournament Package Tool to decompile the terrorist AI controller scripts in the hope of seeing at first hand what would cause them to execute hostages.

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intro | part 1: Anecdotal evidence | part 2: AI scripts | part 3: Conclusion