Deceive Inc. – Ultimate Stealth Guide (How to Become an NPC)

This guide will walk you through how to behave like, embody, and become an NPC. Through the course of the guide you’ll learn basic and advanced information about NPCs- what they often do, rarely do, and never do. This information will hopefully give you an edge in dececting your rivals, while ensuring they never see you coming.

Guide to Stealth Walkthrough

All credit goes to Cookienotch!

Introduction

Welcome to the NPC behavior guide for Deceive Inc! This guide will walk you through how to not be sussy, and to figure out who is the impostors (rival agents), ensuring that your opponents will not see you coming.

The guide is divided into three sections:

• General NPC behavior guidelines (things to keep in mind while trying to blend in).
• Advanced in-depth guide about exactly what some could consider ‘player-ish behavior’.
• A list of things NOT to do, things NPCs never do that you should be wary of doing yourself and keeping a lookout for in other people.

Do as the NPCs Do: What Different Types of NPCs Get Up to

The art of not just pretending to be an NPC, but embodying one with mind, soul and body, is a delicate one, but it’s easy enough to learn.

The general behavior of an NPC depends on what kind of NPC they are- civilian, staff, guard, technician, and VIP.

Civilians, the bulk of the herd, are easy enough to blend in with due to their sheer numbers. They will wander the public areas of the map, engaging in lively conversation, partying, sitting on benches, etc. If disturbed by a spy attacking near them, they will either run away or sit and cower in fear. Keep this in mind if you’re disguised as one, as a civilian calmly walking through a gunfight is a dead giveaway.

You can mimic the ‘cowering in fear’ by crouching near panicked civilians, which is a good way to hide if you need to blend in in an emergency, or to line up a shot on a nearby fighting spy.

Civilians frequently sit on chairs, benches and sofas, and can be seen getting a drink sometimes, both of which you can mimic. Keep in mind civilians never wander into areas they don’t have clearance for, so if you see a civilian in a guard room, for instance, that’s a guaranteed spy.

Civilians frequently run around for no reason, so feel free to run around, just make sure your movement patterns aren’t wonky. Civilians wear a lot of different colors of clothes, but never blue, green, purple, or gold.

Staff members can be a good disguise, as they are quite numerous and have access to staff rooms. Their behavior is very similar to civilians, wandering around the map, occasionally sitting down, but staff members will go into staff rooms, and are the most common NPC in staff rooms.

Staff are the only NPCs that can open drawers. If you see anyone else open a drawer, that’s a guaranteed player. Remember also that staff members going into staff rooms open the door perfectly, and will never just stand awkwardly in front of it for a few seconds before going in, a sure sign of a player hacking the door. Staff members, unlike civilians, can revive knocked-out NPCs of any kind by splashing water on their face, which you can also do if you crouch over them as a staff member. NPCs that do this, however, often stay crouched for a few seconds afterwards, so be wary of people who stand back up immediately, especially if they revive more NPCs quickly afterwards. Staff members have the same reaction to spies fighting around them as civilians, although they may run into staff rooms to hide. Staff always wear green uniforms.

Guards are a unique type of NPC. They’re a popular disguise due to being allowed in guard rooms, so be extra wary of guards behaving suspiciously. Besides the occasional VIP, guards are the only NPCs that will ever go into guard rooms- no civilians or staff allowed. Guards have a different reaction to fighting spies- instead of fleeing or cowering, guards will draw their weapon and pursue any spy they see, de-aggroing after line of sight has been broken for a few seconds. Be very wary trying to hide as a guard if there are nearby fighting players, as you’ll be very suspicious if you don’t walk in a straight line towards the fight.

Guards never enter vault terminal/technician rooms unless pursuing a player, with the exception of one room in Operation Hard Sell which they occasionally path through to reach another guard room. Guards rarely run unless pursuing players, so try not to run too much while disguised as a guard, and be very wary of running guards, who have a good chance of being players.

Guards will go into staff rooms, but be aware they will never open drawers. If you see one doing so, that’s a player, and if you see open drawers in a guard room, that’s the work of a player, as staff members are the only NPCs who touch drawers, and staff aren’t allowed in guard rooms.

Guards will sit down on chairs and benches in public, in staff rooms, and in guard rooms, and they also will stand outside of important locations with their arms crossed, something you can mimic in a guard disguise. Guards wear blue uniforms.

Technicians are a type of NPC who are only found in the vault area. They behave like civilians, running and cowering from gunfire, walking around the vault area, occasionally sitting down or inspecting samples/looking through a microscope. Be aware that technicians will never leave the vault area under any circumstances, so if you see one outside of the vault, that’s a player. Aside from that, there’s not much to say about them. Technicians wear white lab coats, with purple underclothes.

VIPs are the final type of NPC, and have several quirks compared to other NPCs. For a start, there is only ever one VIP per map- with the exception of Operation Silver Reef, where there are two. This makes disguising as one inherently dangerous, as you make yourself stand out- and if you see two Sebastian Garcia’s, one of them’s a player.

VIPs will go pretty much everywhere. They path around public areas, into staff rooms, into guard rooms. They’ll go into vault terminal rooms, and are the only NPC to naturally do this. If the vault has been opened, they’ll even go there, although be wary as it is rare for the VIP to go deep into the vault, despite them being allowed there. The only VIP exclusive room on the map is the package room. Despite this, no NPC, not even the VIP, will ever go into the package room. VIPs almost never run unless there are gunshots near them, so a VIP running around the map is almost certainly a player. VIPs wear gold/orange.

Advanced Signs of a Player: Movement Patterns and Quirks to Be on Your Guard for

This section is more about very advanced things that might give you a hint that someone could be a rival agent- things that by no means constitute proof of spyship but show up on an experienced player’s radar nonetheless.

NPC movement is rarely deliberate. They wander around doing whatever for most of their time, and don’t care about useful items like keycards, intel, or ammo. I reccommend the spyglass gadget for more incognito grabbing of intel, as otherwise you look a bit obvious walking through a room stopping for a second at every intel device.

NPCs often stand still for a few moments before continuing to move. They rarely dramatically change the direction of their movement while walking- a sudden U-turn is a warning light on the sus-o-meter. To avoid ‘wiggling’, a community term for players mispathing and looking suspicious, whenever you want to change the direction of your movement, stop for a few seconds to face the correct direction.

NPCs obviously don’t have to hack doors to walk through them. Standing next to a door for a few seconds before walking through could be a sign of a player, although it could still be an NPC.

NPCs don’t pick up items, period. If someone walks past a keycard and it mysteriously disappears, you can guess what happened there. Likewise, be vigilant for enemy spies if you’ve taken a keycard recently. An empty ammo box or safe is also a sure sign of player involvement.

If NPCs start a social interaction eg. sitting down or watering a plant, they usually spend at least a few seconds doing it. Someone sitting down and then immediately getting back up, or worse, canceling the animation of sitting down, is worthy of some degree of suspicion.

NPCs never use health stations or ammo dispensers. Both make distinctive, audible noises and have a visual indicator of use, something you need to be aware of whether you’re the one using these devices or not.

Dead Giveaways: Sure Signs of a Spy

The NPCs are well programmed to behave suspiciously rather often, but nevertheless, there are some things they are simply not capable of. It’s important to be aware of these, lest you miss out on identifying a spy, or get sussed out yourself.

NPCs will never, under any circumstances, jump. Someone jumping? That’s a player. Simple as.

In the same line of logic, try not to jump unless it’s necessary to surmount some obstacle and you’re sure no one can see you.

NPCs never go into rooms they don’t have the security clearance for. A staff member in a guard room? That’s a player. There are only two exceptions:

• Madame Xiu’s clone decoys, which behave like NPCs, can be spawned by her shifting into a different NPC. This may leave, for example, what is effectively an NPC guard, in a vault technician room, although they will quickly leave.

NPCs don’t ever pick up items, intel, or ammo. If someone walks past an ammo box and it mysteriously empties itself, that someone is a spy. Someone walking in a room going to all the intel devices is highly suspicious, but not necessarily a player.

NPCs, if they do run, don’t stop and start running, they run in long stretches. Someone running for short distances, walking for a bit, then starting to run again, is a player.