Issue with high overseer collection box

[jimmyoneshot]

On the high overseer mission there is a part where an overseer is talking to 3 people and when he is finished talking he is supposed to walk away at which point they will put their money in the collection box and will all leave, leaving you free to steal from the box.

Recently though after he has finished his dialogue he just stands there staring at them and they all stand there too endlessly making it practically impossible for me to steal from the box stealthily. Is there any way around this and does this happen often?

[cyberwiz97]

Yeah, it happens to me a lot. But, there is a way to loot the box stealthfully, if you're okay with choking out all four of them, as well as a few other Overseers. Enter the lobby from the left side of the room (as you face the box). If you've cleared out the Overseers that patrol the staircases on either side of the room, you're frree to choke out each civilian, one by one without being seen. Stash the bodies in the nearby antiroom then go back for the Overseer.

On the other hand, if you're playing absolute stealth/pacifist, and don't want to choke out anyone, you'll have to figure something a bit more magical like using Bend Time to pickpocket each person and the box.

[jimmyoneshot]

Thanks Cyber. As long as I know that it's a common issue and not just to do with my install then that's fine.

The bend time method would probably be best I think. I just wish I knew what triggers him not to finish the speech.

[Bandi]

I experience it quite often as well.
Getting rid of some guards around the area and distancing yourself from him as he starts talking seems to trigger this bug.

[jimmyoneshot]

You may be right as if you leave all the guards untouched and stay right above him on one of the lights he does the full speech and they all leave.

One of the a.i. "features" in this game is that if a guard sees an empty patrol spot where a guard should be that you have knocked out or killed then they go and fill in for them and take over their route. It's quite annoying I think.

My theory though, is that when the guy giving the speech spots the missing guard routes out the corner of his vision this triggers his behaviour to go and fill in for them but he can't because he hasn't finished his speech animation and he can't finish his speech animation because he is being made to go and fill in for the other guards so it causes a conflict and "crashes" him if that makes sense.

This level seems really awkward to be so early on in the game. How do you do it when playing low chaos? I always like to knock out everyone first to clear the way for using the brand on campbell. There seem to just be too many guards that could just stumble across you if you don't sweep the place first.

[cyberwiz97]

Originally posted by jimmyoneshot:

One of the a.i. "features" in this game is that if a guard sees an empty patrol spot where a guard should be that you have knocked out or killed then they go and fill in for them and take over their route. It's quite annoying I think.

It does seem to be game design.

Originally posted by jimmyoneshot:

My theory though, is that when the guy giving the speech spots the missing guard routes out the corner of his vision this triggers his behaviour to go and fill in for them but he can't because he hasn't finished his speech animation and he can't finish his speech animation because he is being made to go and fill in for the other guards so it causes a conflict and "crashes" him if that makes sense.

Sure. Makes perfect sense to me.

Originally posted by jimmyoneshot:

This level seems really awkward to be so early on in the game. How do you do it when playing low chaos? I always like to knock out everyone first to clear the way for using the brand on campbell. There seem to just be too many guards that could just stumble across you if you don't sweep the place first.

There is another way, other than Branding, to deal with Campbell that doesn't count as a kill. It's a non-lethal lethal solution

[Eternie]

Actually it makes sense that if you leave the area his dialogue gets stuck as your not there to hear it. That could explain quite a few places in the game where dialogue doesn't complete properly... we need to stay to hear it out so that they do finish.... Perhaps good theory!

Some places in game if you try to kill guards on one patrol route stash the bodies somewhere safe before trying to continue in that patrol route ... it seems to become and endless supply of guards. I had that in the Lighthouse where I carefully took out 10 - 15 guards in one position ... my pile of bodies never exceeded 4 though. I guess to stop being able to kill 5 at once.

[cyberwiz97]

Originally posted by Eternie:

Some places in game if you try to kill guards on one patrol route stash the bodies somewhere safe before trying to continue in that patrol route ... it seems to become and endless supply of guards. I had that in the Lighthouse where I carefully took out 10 - 15 guards in one position ... my pile of bodies never exceeded 4 though. I guess to stop being able to kill 5 at once.

Kingsparrow Fort, around the Lighthouse, does spawn more replacement guards than any other mission. Without taking down any hostiles at all, there are 46 guards around the entire island, iirc. When you start eliminating them, usually in sets of three or four, replacements will spawn. I've had as many as 89 kills in that mission, which means there were 43 replacements spawned, by the time I got to save Emily.

And, the game limits how many bodies are allowed to accumulate to five - that was typically the default value. It can be change to a higher number by modifying config files..

[Eternie]

Thanks for confirming that Cyber. I always appreciate your dedication to detail.

[cyberwiz97]

yvw, Eternie

[Streamqueen]

I had this happen but the survivors spotting you doesn't count as an alert. At least not on low chaos and ghosting because they don't see you as a threat so get no alert above their heads. So, you can sneak behind them, steal their gold and then go around them (to the direction the overseer isn't facing) and take from the box. Him being stuck facing one way is actually quite convenient for the ghost and no alert.

[K4PU7Z]

I was able to choke all of them 4 guys just using a good angle.