Regarding the Greenhouse in the first mission...(spoilers maybe)...

[fishhooks]

...so am I correct in assuming there's no way thru the Greenhouse wearing my suit w/o a fire-fight? No stealthy, "zero collateral damage" route w/o a disguise?

[5M0k1N]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pIzmE_yyVLg

gotta learn to use distractions properly
i dont advise you to play it suit only if its your first time playing the game

[fishhooks]

Yea, I was looking at the Challenges and the first one that caught my eye was Suit, since it unlocked when I got to the Greenhouse. So I thought I should continue, but after a few failed attempts to sneak thru, I noticed that there's a challenge for wearing all 4 disguises in the mission as well.

So, you obviously can't do both in one run, right?

[5M0k1N]

yea you cant do both in one run

[fishhooks]

So you WOULD recommend going for Suit the first time thru, or no? It kinda makes sense, since I'll probably have to do some collateral damage anyway, may as well do it looking good!

Now I'm remembering my experiences in the earlier games. I'd play the mission and try to figure out the best way thru for the SA ranking (but it was impossible to get it the first time...for me anyway). So the first time was always more of a recon run. I think I'll restart and go that route.

Thanks for the tip...and the vid, btw...I'll check it out if I have to, but I like to figure these things out for myself, if possible. That's what makes the series so fun and rewarding. But it's good to know that it CAN be done.

[5M0k1N]

it can be done but its abusing the distraction mechanic (something which i didnt enjoy from this game, it does raise the skill cap greatly if youre going with a suit only stealth run but it kills any possible realism and trivializes lots of supposedly hard encounters). id normally do a suit run first, killing everything that moves and picking up all the items and what not. after that id do runs to get all the challenges and then lastly id do the "normal" run by doing it all stealthly with the max possible score

playing only on purist will mean it will be hard to figure some stuff out by the way (i talk from experience). like if youre with a disguise but you are with your back towards the guards they wont detect you, or if you kill someone with a headshot or with a silent takedown (using a knife from behind or something) and then hide the body, you wont have a score penalty (as long as the level doesnt have a target, if it does have a target killing somebody else will negate you the silent assassin score bonus. but most maps dont have a target so you can kill as many as you want (as long as you can hide them that is) without any kind of score punishment), and a bunch more stuff

i wouldnt reccomend you stealth suit runs at all by the way (not even after you beat the game fully lol). later levels require hunderds of attempts, not to mention the planning involved which i remember reading some guy had to make drawings to help him figure out a way lol

[fishhooks]

Thanks a bunch for all those great tips. Yea, I'm thinking restart and go for suit, just for the Challenge aspect. Couple of questions...

1. What is a "Signature Kill".

2. Regarding the Stats screen...the numbers appear wonky. I'm guessing that they're cumulative stats, since the numbers keep piling up w/e I re-start a checkpoint, but even so, the numbers aren't adding up. (Like, I shot one guy inna head...ONE time, but stat shows three headshots)
And it shows "Caught Tresspassing" something like 30 times, but I was never spotted or 'caught'.

3. Why do I sometimes get the option to "Subdue" some guy I grabbed from behind, but most times I can only garrote the dude. (I'd rather be able to 'Incapacitate" than kill as many folks as possible to minimize score penalty. "Incapacitate Non-Target" is -150, while killing non-target is -375.)

4. Silent Assassin bonus only applies to the Pro levels, right?

Thanks for your great advice...it's already helping tons.

[5M0k1N]

1. using the fibre wire or accident / poisons count for signature kill

2. no idea lol. i played like 95% on purist so im not too familiar with checkpoints (that 5% on non purist were for some annoying challenges lol) but that sounds a bit odd

3. as i said, killing non targets as long as its a silent takedown (like with most melee weapons from behind, or a silent headshot) wont get you a bigger penalty than just incapacitating them. if you dont want to kill any guards make sure youre not equiping any weapons and youll get the option for non lethal takedown

4. with pro levels you mean the harder 3 difficulties?
anyways the silent assassin bonus can only be obtainable on levels where you have a target to kill which are few and far between (prologue and a few other missions dont count due to the kill being done in a cinematic). from google i got that that only these levels can give you the bonus: "The King of Chinatown", "Shaving Lenny", "Attack of the Saints" and "Countdown"

[fishhooks]

Thanks, man...that helps a lot. Regarding Signature Kills...does that only apply to Targets? 'Cuz I'm in the mansion in the prologue mission, and I poisoned 2 guys (w/ the sleeping pills), and dropped the piano cover on some guy (unlocked that challenged), but still have no Sig Kills. Haven't used the wire yet in this section.

Last question (for now, lol)...I promise.

[5M0k1N]

lol yea just for targets

[fishhooks]

Thanks 5MOK1N...yer a prince of a guy.

Now time to do some terminating.