Tactics

Tactics refer to one of two methods of playing a heist: stealth or loud. The two tactics are represented by the following icons:
 * Stealth:
 * Loud:

Most heists will begin in stealth, and do not always require the alarm to be raised in order for it to go loud.

Any
Heists that can be completed either stealth or loud are categorized as "any". Most heists fall under this category.

Stealth
Stealth is one of the two main tactics assigned to heists, and is frequently called "Plan A". Plan A involves the crew sneaking around, avoiding detection and completing the heist without raising the alarm. There are several notable mechanics that influence a stealth heist, including (but not limited to) keycards, cameras and pagers.

Guards
Guards refer to the various types of enemies seen patrolling various heists. The most notable of which are BrickTech security guards. Guards can detect much more than civilians can, including bagged loot and destroyed cameras.

All guards carry pagers, excluding Nightclub's thugs.

Certain heists have their own types of guards, such as Shadow Raid's interior warehouse contractors, Golden Mask Casino's casino security, Black Friday's mall guards and Gift Factory's elves.

Guards on different difficulties have varying levels of field-of-view (FOV) which determines the viewing angle guards have to spot the heisters.


 * 195 FOV
 * 180 FOV
 * 160 FOV
 * 135 FOV
 * 110 FOV
 * 75 FOV

Halt!
When a guard spots a player, they will take aim and open fire with their unsuppressed weapon oftentimes being the G17. Guards can be taken hostage with the tier 3 Mastermind skill Halt!, by shouting at them when they are alerted. Halt! is based on health, meaning a higher health value is equal to a lower halt chance. Killing a halted guard will refund the charge, making it available for use on another guard. With the aforementioned skill aced, the player can halt two guards instead of one.

It is important to note that on and below, the pager won't go off if a heister uses Halt! on a guard. On and above, the pager would go off similarly to killing a guard.

Detection
Detection refers to an NPC's ability to become alerted to something, be it a player, hostages, the sound of a drill or something else entirely. When detecting something, an NPC will gradually become more and more suspicious until they are fully alerted, calling the police and raising the alarm unless dealt with. The player's detection rate ranges from 3 to 75, and influences their rate of detection.

Detection is shared among the entire crew. If an NPC's detection meter is 90% full, and another player makes them 10% more suspicious, the NPC will become alerted.

Cameras
Cameras are stationary devices found on most heists. Their purpose is to visually detect anything suspicious. Unlike other NPCs, the camera rotates within a given area and its detection meter uses a beeping sound to represent its level of detection, beeping quicker and louder the higher its detection meter. On difficulty and below, cameras can be destroyed (whether by a firearm or melee), immediately neutralizing them as a threat even if it has detected something.

BrickTech
On difficulty and above, cameras are replaced with their BrickTech counterparts and become immune to all forms of damage. Unlike cameras below, they will stalk a heister if the camera has a line of sight at the heister. These cameras are typically disabled via the tier 3 Ghost skill Nimble, or eliminating the camera operator/disabling the keypad via keycard or interacting on it with an ECM Jammer upgraded with the aced effect of the tier 4 Ghost skill ECM Overdrive.

Pagers
Pagers are devices carried by all guards, excluding Nightclub's thugs. They activate shortly after the guard's death, requiring a response within 12 seconds. If the pager is not answered in that time, the alarm is immediately raised.

If at any point while answering a pager the player releases the interaction, the alarm is immediately raised. This can be circumvented if the player owns the tier 3 Ghost skill The Professional, allowing the player to let go without raising the alarm. (Do note that this doesn't answer the pager, but instead allows the player to re-attempt to answer it)

All heists have a limit of 4 pagers, meaning a player could have answered 1 but another 3. Answering a fifth, from any player, immediately raises the alarm.

Keycards
Keycards are items found on several heists. They are used to disable cameras, unlock vaults and open electronic doors. Keycards are typically worn by guards/civilians or found in several locations.

Heist-specific uses

 * 1) In Diamond Store, the keycard is held by the Manager and is used to disable the glass alarm, allowing players to secure loot without raising the alarm.
 * 2) In Four Stores, multiple keycards are scattered throughout the map and are used to open the Butcher Shop, Cafe and Convenience Store backrooms to get extra loot or open a new route.
 * 3) In R&B Bank, the keycard spawns within the bank and is used to open the camera room to disable the cameras.
 * 4) In Shadow Raid, two keycards are required to open the vault and gain access to the Samurai Armor. These keycards are worn by guards, typically one interior and one exterior. The second keycard must be inserted within 30 seconds after the first, else the vault locks itself for the remainder of the heist.
 * 5) In RO-Bank, two keycards are required to open the vault. The player must then wait 5 minutes before it opens. one key is always worn by one of the guards, and the other is located somewhere on the map.
 * 6) In World Bank, a keycard was required to access the upstairs maintenance room and acquire thermal paste/disable the breakers.
 * 7) In Art Gallery, an keycard is required to deactivate the security cameras, these security rooms appear randomly throughout the building.

Civilians
Civilians are harmless NPCs found on almost every heist, and are most abundant on bank heists. Unlike guards, they do not become alerted by being pushed/bumping into players. Civilians can be intimidated by shouting at them, acing the tier 2 Mastermind skill Intimidator allow you to intimidate them by firing unsuppressed weapon.

Alerted, untied civilians will remain on the ground. After some time, they will get back up and attempt to raise the alarm. A civilian getting back up does not have the ! icon. Shouting at the civilian will put them back down.

Hostages
Civilians can be taken hostage by cable tying them, which takes 3 seconds. With the tier 1 Mastermind skill Cable Guy, this time is cut in half. Acing the skill gives the player double their starting cable ties, from 3 to 6. Cable tied civilians can be moved, with an interaction time of 2 seconds. Civilians being moved will follow the player who interacted with them, at a rate of 7 studs per second.

Killing civilians
Killing a civilian immediately takes away some of the killer's money, depending on heist and difficulty. Additionally, Jade does not approve of the killing of civilians playing one of her several lines upon a civilian's death. The base cleanup cost per civilian is as follows:

Loud
Loud is the second main tactic assigned to all heists excluding Shadow Raid and The Ozela Heist, and is frequently called "Plan B". Plan B involves the crew having to complete the heist with the alarm raised. This means the crew will fight off Enemies through enemy assaults and sometimes escape through different methods.

In some heists, if the alarm is raised, the objective will be changed either that the heist cannot be completed in the stealth method or it is not necessary to finish the heist in the stealth method. Shadow Raid and The Ozela Heist are the only missions where loud cannot be a tactic, but they are the only missions with that objective.

It is not recommended to finish the heist in loud(except for Golden Mask Casino as you get double Experience for finishing the heist in loud.), especially if the difficulty is harder as more and tougher enemies will attempt to ruin the heist. In some heists, the loud tactic is much harder and longer to complete. (e.g. RO-Bank)

Enemies can also take your bags, so try to protect your bags. For non-infinite bag heists (for example Transport, or R&B Bank), cops can take your bags, however, instead of destroying the bag, the cops will move the bags to a set location where players can get the bag back. For infinite bag heists (such as Cook Off or Gift Factory), cops will destroy bags. Jade will notify you when a bag is destroyed by saying: "Agh, I don't think we're getting that bag back. You need to be careful with your bags!".

Police Assault
When an assault begins, a police badge with text that reads "UNDER ASSAULT" (both in the color of the selected difficulty) will appear at the top of the screen, flashing between 0% and 100% opacity at 2-second intervals. Waves of enemies will constantly attack the player, with their health values, damage output and types scaling with difficulty.

Once the assault ends, the police badge shown at the top of the screen disappears.

Control
Control is the initial stage that begins immediately after raising the alarm or the conclusion of the Fade stage. First Responders will arrive on the scene, followed by the off-screen spawning of riot shields and groups of officers called "assault teams".

This stage can be made to last 30 seconds longer with the Delayed Response asset.

Anticipation
Anticipation is the second stage that begins after assault teams have spawned beyond invisible walls. It lasts for 30 seconds, depending on difficulty. Assault teams cease spawning, with riot shields starting to move in. If playing on  difficulty or above, cloakers will begin spawning in dark, obscure locations.(e.g. outside of the mall near the van on the Black Friday map)

Assault
Assault is the third and main stage of a police assault. It begins after the Anticipation stage. All enemies will begin charging at the player, with a majority of non-special enemies part of assault teams. This stage lasts for about 5 minutes.

Fade
Fade is the fourth and final stage, taking place immediately after the Assault stage ends. Main forces will retreat while Hostage Rescue Teams will try to free Hostages and Technicians will try to retrieve bagged loot. If there is at least one cable tied civilian, this stage will last longer.