What does getting hostages actually do?

[Theos 🪐]

Everytime I turn a civilian into a hostage the guy in the radio says that it's good and it will slow the cops down. Does it actually do something?

[wetandtactical]

Delays cops so they have to free them and you can trade them if a teammate goes into custody.

[wetandtactical]

Originally posted by CornDog MilkShake:

Delays cops so they have to free them and you can trade them if a teammate goes into custody.

And the guys name is "Bain" atleast i think

[Unknown Knight]

Having a hostage before a new assault starts, extends the assault break by 30/10 seconds (OVK-/MH+).

[Seal]

Originally posted by YouTube: Unknown Knight:

Having a hostage before a new assault starts, extends the assault break by 30/10 seconds (OVK-/MH+).

OP (original poster, aka the person who started the thread) looks new, especially with under 100 hours, so how about we don't make this too technical.

Hostage taking consequences

OP, if you take a hostage, the following basic things will happen:

• Police will be more inclined to free the hostage, most easily seen by the fact that they now spawn hostage rescue teams (HRTs) in between assault waves. These fellas are basically glass cannons; high damage, low defense (health).
  
  
• If a member of the gang (another player) ends up in custody, you can use the hostage to trade your mate out. Just note that you can only do this in between assault waves (if you have contractor voices on, Bain/Locke will tell you when the assault is over) and you best hope your friend isn't Jacket who decided it would be a good idea to unleash utter-LMG-destruction at the bank.

Outcome of any civilian death(s)

Every civilian killed will slightly increase the special enemy spawn limit, as well as increasing the trade delay for whoever scored that civilian death... plus immediately taking away spendable cash directly from that person's wallet. Even if you restart, you cannot get that collateral damage money back.

Conclusion

Taking hostages is a good thing, even if it's a non-special enemy. Civilians, dominated regular cops and converted enemies (blue outline, friendly towards the PAYDAY Gang) all count as hostages, although the police will most likely choose to negotiate over the independence of the civilian over men that were legally authorized to carry a firearm/sidearm.

[NoctisTH]

having hostages with forced friendship skill on aced level also increasing your damage absorpation what works very well with Crew Chief, Maniac and Tag Team Perk Deck. I preffer you defend max 9 or 10 hostages for max limit of damage absorpation.

[Mantis Toboggan, M.D.]

Originally posted by єtєгภคl קคเภ:

]Police will be more inclined to free the hostage, most easily seen by the fact that they now spawn hostage rescue teams (HRTs) in between assault waves. These fellas are basically glass cannons; high damage, low defense (health).

I thought HRT units were removed in an update long ago. Were they reverted back in a recent update?

[Theos 🪐]

Originally posted by єtєгภคl קคเภ:

Originally posted by YouTube: Unknown Knight:

Having a hostage before a new assault starts, extends the assault break by 30/10 seconds (OVK-/MH+).

OP (original poster, aka the person who started the thread) looks new, especially with under 100 hours, so how about we don't make this too technical.

Hostage taking consequences

OP, if you take a hostage, the following basic things will happen:

• Police will be more inclined to free the hostage, most easily seen by the fact that they now spawn hostage rescue teams (HRTs) in between assault waves. These fellas are basically glass cannons; high damage, low defense (health).
  
  
• If a member of the gang (another player) ends up in custody, you can use the hostage to trade your mate out. Just note that you can only do this in between assault waves (if you have contractor voices on, Bain/Locke will tell you when the assault is over) and you best hope your friend isn't Jacket who decided it would be a good idea to unleash utter-LMG-destruction at the bank.

Outcome of any civilian death(s)

Every civilian killed will slightly increase the special enemy spawn limit, as well as increasing the trade delay for whoever scored that civilian death... plus immediately taking away spendable cash directly from that person's wallet. Even if you restart, you cannot get that collateral damage money back.

Conclusion

Taking hostages is a good thing, even if it's a non-special enemy. Civilians, dominated regular cops and converted enemies (blue outline, friendly towards the PAYDAY Gang) all count as hostages, although the police will most likely choose to negotiate over the independence of the civilian over men that were legally authorized to carry a firearm/sidearm.

:soviet::awkward::soviet:

Thank you for the elaborated answer.
And also thanks everyone else.

Just one more thing. Is there any benefit for dominating cops instead of just killing them? Because it seems I can't move them around like regular hostages so they will just be seen by others since they stay in the same spot.

[Nighthawk]

Originally posted by hollerbach:

Originally posted by єtєгภคl קคเภ:

]Police will be more inclined to free the hostage, most easily seen by the fact that they now spawn hostage rescue teams (HRTs) in between assault waves. These fellas are basically glass cannons; high damage, low defense (health).

I thought HRT units were removed in an update long ago. Were they reverted back in a recent update?

They were not, the white shirts don't come in for the rescue anymore.

[tsukareta]

Originally posted by Theus:

Just one more thing. Is there any benefit for dominating cops instead of just killing them? Because it seems I can't move them around like regular hostages so they will just be seen by others since they stay in the same spot.

Other than being able to convert them to fight for you (if you own the skill(s) for that), no.

[The British Wolf]

Originally posted by LxyalCony:

Originally posted by Theus:

Just one more thing. Is there any benefit for dominating cops instead of just killing them? Because it seems I can't move them around like regular hostages so they will just be seen by others since they stay in the same spot.

Other than being able to convert them to fight for you (if you own the skill(s) for that), no.

Actually, if you use a Joker build, dominating cops will give you a supply of health regeneration as well as having them fight for you. This allows a player who doms often to rely less on medikits and doctor bags, sparing them for other players. I've even seen squads of Jokers before, though their success varies depending on heist and it's useless in stealth (unless stealth is broken).

[tsukareta]

Originally posted by The British Wolf:

Originally posted by LxyalCony:

Other than being able to convert them to fight for you (if you own the skill(s) for that), no.

Actually, if you use a Joker build, dominating cops will give you a supply of health regeneration as well as having them fight for you. This allows a player who doms often to rely less on medikits and doctor bags, sparing them for other players. I've even seen squads of Jokers before, though their success varies depending on heist and it's useless in stealth (unless stealth is broken).

Right, forgot about it.

Maybe because health regen never was useful for me.

[Seal]

Another thing to note about hostages, especially on higher difficultes:
Don't take them in the middle of nowhere; as in, an area that is prone to become full of enemies in a short time... or one that is in the sight of a sniper. This is because, simply, you don't want to go out all that way just to trade your mate; you'll probably end up getting shot anyway.

Tips

If you are the last player alive, not including AI bots, cloakers cannot charge nor jumpkick you.

If you have an ammo inefficient weapon, try using single fire if available. Only use fully automatic on tough enemies like bulldozers; you can just call them 'dozers'.

If more than 20 ammo boxes are on the ground at the same time when a new one spawns (enemy death), the oldest one will disappear.[citation needed] This is also why it is important to never waste ammo, therefore giving you the upper hand in battle.

Tactically reload every so often. What I mean by 'tactical reload' is simple: Reload when you have yet to completely drain your weapon's magazine. By doing this, you will not only save time on reloading (tactical reload is faster than empty magazine reload on most weapons, not including the Judge Shotgun), but you might even save a bullet or two.