Laser beams

[Apollo11]

I noticed today on a vault mission that the guards will not cross laser beams.
I had thought before that they were just for detection, not denial of access.

Now I am wondering if being hit by them is a knock out.

Has anyone turned one on while standing over it, or activated it while a guard was standing in the laser path?

[A-Mac]

yes it instakills both you and guards

[obliviondoll]

There are beams which kill, and others which only stun.

Supposedly there are ones which just raise alarm level as well, but I haven't seen them (yet).

[Gekkibi]

Sometimes guards are able to walk through defenses, but I've noticed that it's not the case with vaults. To lure the guard(s) from the vault you have to hack the laser defense(s) or otherwise he /they just stand(s) there. <?> marker is there, so he's on his way to investigate but the path is blocked. I'm quite sure this is not the case with other laser walls and certain that it's not the case with IR walls.

Probably a bug / not intended "feature". Create a ticket.

[diji]

Laser beams kill, infrared beams increase the alarm, and the big infrared emitters (looks like a red wall) KO.

I feel like they need more visual distinction.

[David]

Guards can cross infrared walls if they are not hacked just fine, they are basically forcefields that are attuned to the guards and keep intruders out (this is clear because you will often come across a room with a infrared wall and nothing behind or just a camera- it's like a mini detention centre, maybe left over from the alpha when you could get arrested).

I haven't tried yet walking into a hacked one when it was switched on but its possible they act reverse when hacked and let your agents through safely. They can't cross laser walls and neither can your agents as they are always lethal when switched on. Beams are just for detection I think, I'm not sure what happens if a guard crosses a hacked one, either nothing or it alerts you instead.

I think it's all working as intended. The only thing that seems an issue to me is the balance problems with some of the mechanics and guard behaviour.

[Gekkibi]

I stand corrected. Never actually realized that there are two different kind of beam security systems. They look too much alike. Now I understand why the guards inside a vault can't walk through the laser wall. However, in my opinion they should. This would also create Mark of the Ninja -kind game mechanic solutions where you can drag enemy and get past a defense system.

[McGoodGreen]

I as well was unaware there were multiple kinds of red laser walls. A tutorial pointing this out or better visual seperation would be much appreciated.

[David]

I think one says laser emitter, and the other says infrared beam emitter. The wall says infrared emitter. I do think that is pretty confusing, and the only real difference between the red beams is the shade/brightness of red, and the other end (input end) will always say the same thing.

[obliviondoll]

I remember one of the devs mentioning on their Twitch stream that they want the lasers to turn off and back on again to let guards walk through. Not currently implemented though.

[David]

I use the laser beams to trap guards in the vault sometimes haha, guess that might not be an option later on.

[Gekkibi]

Originally posted by Dragondave17:

I use the laser beams to trap guards in the vault sometimes haha, guess that might not be an option later on.

Actually, that should be an option if you ask me. When the guards control the system it should automatically shutdown when they pass through, but not when you have tampered with it.

[David]

Ah true, when you hack the laser beams, the guards can't operate them, that would work for me.

[tolshortte]

pro tip:

if a guard walks into an infrared wall (not the laser beams) that youve hacked it ko's them for one round. if you turn the wall off, then back on every turn you can keep them ko'd indefinitely. in fact if enough time passes you can ko every guard on the board and keep them there until you see fit in leaving.

i found this out as i hunted through a board looking for a med gel to revive a fallen comrade. at level 6 alarm and a few virus' that spawned guards, i counted 11 guards trapped in the infra red wall of eternal sleep.

[Rufus]

Originally posted by Dragondave17:

I think one says laser emitter, and the other says infrared beam emitter. The wall says infrared emitter. I do think that is pretty confusing, and the only real difference between the red beams is the shade/brightness of red, and the other end (input end) will always say the same thing.

Apart from looking different there is a sub-tooltip that tells you what kind of laser it is. The lethal ones say 'laser', the alarmed ones say 'infrared laser' and the walls say 'infrared wall'.

I'm not sure how people could be confused by that; there's both a visual indication and explanatory text.

[Den]

Originally posted by Dragondave17:

Beams are just for detection I think, I'm not sure what happens if a guard crosses a hacked one, either nothing or it alerts you instead.

My sole experience about that is activating by mistake the beam while having a hacked drone standing on it. It raised the alarm level, even though I hacked it. So it still "works for the enemy". I suppose a guard crossing one wouldn't do anything.

So I guess there's no other purpose to hack them than to deactivate it.