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Prison Break guide - June 14, 2024 This guide covers Prison Break, a gameplay mode added to The Demon Rush: Legends Corrupt with its Into The Past expansion. This guide will cover the basics, the specifics of player actions, the prison layout, character analyses and planning an escape. Introduction Prison Break is a new mode for The Demon Rush: Legends Corrupt, where the player forms a party of 3 characters and attempts to break out of the heavily-guarded prison they are all stuck in. The player has 1 week to plan and carry out an escape plan before their party is executed. Prison Break is an Adventure Mode that aims to be both restrictive (due to the player being in a prison with daily schedules to contend with) and sandbox (due to the wide range of options that can be done with actions, items, character-based abilities and escape methods). Due to the overall complexity of the Prison Break mode and the number of approaches that can be taken in securing a successful escape, this guide intends to cover a very wide range of specifics. Basics In Prison Break, the player will be placed in a prison consisting of 18 rooms or areas and will need to navigate a daily schedule divided into timed sections (Showers, Shift Work, Lunch, Free Time, Nighttime) while working out plans using character abilities and unique actions specific to rooms in order to escape within 7 days. As is typical of a prison, the player is restricted to where they can go and when, as each room requires permission to be in or else the party members risk arrest or death. The schedule loop for a day in Prison Break goes as follows: Showers (Transition) -> Showers -> Shift Work (Transition) -> Shift Work -> Lunch (Transition) -> Lunch -> Free Time -> Nighttime (Transition) -> Nighttime
Though the player party is expected to follow the above schedule, the priority in Prison Break is to find ways to break out of the schedule forced on them to put the player's escape plans into action. Each party member, if not in the courtyard, wearing a guard uniform, or hiding in a box fort, laundry basket or barricaded room, will be forced out of player control during the Transition schedule sections and escorted to their required destination. As such, the party's actions are limited and timed to some capacity. When the Nighttime schedule section is reached, the player is able to save their game and party members can craft items (if that specific character is in their cell). It is the goal of the player to try and aim for victory either through exiting the Front Gate themselves (typically requiring a Front Gate keycard) or by triggering a cinematic escape (all of which goes into further detail in the "Escape methods" section further down). Party Stats Each party member has the following stats that are important for successfully winning Prison Break: Life Points Each character starts with 3 Life Points, which are used to help survive against shivvings from gang inmates. If a character is shivved by a gang inmate (and not stabbed by a guard or attacked by a dog), the doctor will take the character to the doctor's office to heal them up -- 1 Life Point will be expended when the doctor picks the character up, and if that brings the character's Life Points to 0 at that point, the doctor will take the dead character to a gurney and wheel them out in a bodybag. Life Points cannot be raised, but a character with a Medkit in their inventory will expend a Medkit rather than a Life Point when the doctor reaches them. Life Points do nothing against guards and dogs, as their attacks are instant death. Health Health affects movement speed when the party member is capable of being controlled (such as not being escorted during a transition schedule section or being arrested and taken back to their cell). When Health drops under 80%, movement speed will decrease as Health gets lower, reaching 50% of standard movement speed when Health hits 0%. Health can be raised through the following actions:
Health decreases by 20% when the next day begins. If a character's Health drops too much and their movement speed decreases as a result, that character will likely be a liability in terms of the limited time available to the player during schedule sections, especially if their destination is the other side of the prison. Hygiene Hygiene primarily affects a character being detected. More specifically, it amplifies the range that gang inmates detect and target party members at (when Unity is under 80%), the range that guards will detect a character wearing a guard uniform (when Hygiene is under 80%), and decreases guard leeway per guard per schedule section by 0.0166 seconds per Hygiene point under 100%. Hygiene can be raised by standing under an active shower, and can be decreased from lifting weights. Hygiene also decreases by 35% when the next day begins. If a character's Hygiene drops too much, they will have a harder time doing stealthier tasks or may end up drawing attacks from gang inmates. Since showers can be accessed at any time (though the character can suffer a penalty if caught going into the Showers outside of the Showers schedule section), the character can take some time to use the Showers later if they are needed elsewhere during the Showers schedule section. Unity Unity prevents gang inmates from targetting party members just for being near them, if Unity is 80% or higher. If Unity is under 80%, then the range at which gang inmates will target party members will rise as Unity falls, and will also use lower Hygiene and higher Riot Level for greater detection range. Unity can be raised through the following actions:
Unity decreases by 20% when the next day begins. If a character's Unity drops too much, they will be targetted by gang inmates frequently, which can make it harder to do basic things, such as shift work or eating lunch. Since gang inmates will often be in the Cafeteria during Lunch and Recreation during Free Time, it can be difficult to raise Unity back up if it drops too much -- it would be best to aim for at least 100% Unity for each character each day to prevent gang inmates from messing up plans, regardless of the current escape goal. Behaviour Behaviour determines how much the guards think of a character as a good inmate. At 0%, guards will not only kill a character instead of arresting a character for arrest-worthy penalties, but they will attack a character on sight ("enough is enough", in their eyes). Behaviour can be raised through the following actions:
Behaviour can decrease through the following actions:
A character's Behaviour typically means little so long as it does not hit 0% -- Alberto is also an exception in that he thrives on maintaining low Behaviour in order to grant his teammates stealth capabilities. So long as a character does not spend the entire day hiding (unless they are Jimmy) or in a guard uniform dodging all transition schedule sections, keeping Behaviour high is typically pretty straightforward to do. If Behaviour does hit 0%, getting it back up will be difficult, as guards will attack the character on sight in their work room. Ironically, in order to boost Behaviour and get on the guards' good side again, the player will have to defend themselves and countershiv the guard in order to do their shift work in peace (unless they have a Cleaning shift in a non-work room, like the Doctor's Office, Administration or Kennels). Putting it all together If all of the party members follow the schedule the AI sets out for them, they can easily keep all stats maxed at 100% -- they can get Hygiene from Showers, Behaviour from Shift Work, and Health and Unity from Lunch. All 4 stats start at 80%, so they are easy to maintain through the basic daily schedule. Some stats will drop overnight -- Health will drop by 20%, Hygiene will drop by 35% and Unity will drop by 20%. If Unity was 100% the day before, it will drop to 80%, which is still enough to not have gang inmates target a party member just for being nearby, same with Health keeping the top movement speed when dropping from 100% to 80%. Hygiene can be easily handled through Showers at the very start of the day, and if Unity is 80% or higher, the only issue from the Hygiene drop are guards being able to target a character in a guard uniform with execution. Behaviour does not drop at all from advancing to the next day, so staying out of trouble and doing shift work can keep it high easily. However, since Prison Break requires the player to go outside of the day-to-day routine to engineer their escape plan (or face execution in 7 days), there are times when the player might need to operate outside of the routine and will need to decide what characters and what stats will take a hit. Inventory The player can find a variety of items throughout Prison Break: Food - Eating food through the "Eat food on hand" action or from eating food in the character's cell at night will raise their Health by 10% for each Food serving they consume. Shiv - Allows the character to attack and kill another non-dog NPC. Attacking anybody will have guards target your aggressor (arrest if killing any inmate, execution if killing any guards, doctors or technicians) and attacking gang inmates will have all other present gang inmates target the attacker. Bloodbag - The character spills the contents of the bloodbag on the floor, leaving a bloodsplatter to distract guards. Each bloodsplatter adds 1 second of distraction time per bloodbag, so having 10 spilled bloodbags will distract guards that see all 10 bloodsplatters for 10 seconds total. Blood spilled from shiv fights functions the same as bloodbags. Blood can be cleaned up if the room is flooded to max level or the player spends some time mopping the area while on cleaning duty, so be mindful of that if aiming to make use of bloodstains as a distraction. Medkit - If a character has a Medkit in their inventory when they are stabbed by a gang inmate, the Medkit will automatically be used in place of expending a Life Point when the doctor picks up the character. Though this sounds like it is not particularly useful, since Life Point loss can be easily avoided by not angering gang inmates or countershivving them, this can be used as a way to get of the current room (such as the current shift work room) to gain access to the Doctor's Office and the Hallways instead for the schedule section. Guard Uniform - Allows a player to disguise themselves as a guard, protecting them from standard detection from both gang inmates and guards (but not dogs) until the player stands under an active shower (which ends guard uniform usage). If Hygiene is under 80%, guards will detect the player based on distance and not sight, and they will execute the player when detecting them this way -- due to this, the player cannot just equip a single guard uniform for the entire Prison Break without penalty. Behaviour will also drop 20% for every transition schedule section that the guard uniform prevents, so it can drain Behaviour very quickly if the player relies too much on the uniform. Guard uniforms will not drop targetting from guards and inmates, but it will prevent it. Doctor Scrubs - Only obtainable if Cook is a party member, and is used only as a requirement for the "Fake Cook's Death" escape method. Dog Leash - Allows the player to take out a dog from the Kennels (when Dog Affection is 100%), with up to 2 dogs able to follow the party at one time. The dog will stay with the player until the player dies, they return to their cell, the dog successfully attacks a guard or inmate targetting the player, or the dog is finished distracting an opposing dog in the courtyard. Piece of Wood - Crafting item used for making Shivs or barricades. Metal Scrap - Crafting item used for making Lights, Alarms or barricades. Can also be placed in a washer or dryer in the Laundry room to create a loud distraction to draw guards into the room. Blank Keycard - Only obtainable if Pound is a party member. Crafting item used by Pound in conjunction with passwords found in Administration to craft keycards when in his cell at night. Light Bulb - Only obtainable if Pound is a party member. Crafting item used by Pound to craft Lights when in his cell at night. Buzzer - Only obtainable if Pound is a party member. Crafting item used by Pound to craft Alarms when in his cell at night. Light - An item that can only be obtained by having Pound craft it in his cell at night using a Metal Scrap and a Light Bulb. When placed, it blinds and slows all NPCs in the room and drops all targetting by guards/inmates blinded by the light, and lasts until a guard is able to approach the Light and break it. With correct distance from hostile targets, Lights can be excellent tools for getting enemies to drop pursuit or making it through crowded areas during a riot. Alarm - An item that can only be obtained by having Pound craft it in his cell at night using a Metal Scrap and a Buzzer. An Alarm can then be placed in the refrigerator in the kitchen or in a package mailed to a room chosen by the player. In both instances, the Alarm will be set to go off in the future, with the player specifying the day, schedule section and time (in 15 second intervals) that the Alarm will trigger. Best used in conjunction with a barricaded room to force the guards to take a long time to disable the Alarm when it goes off. If set for Nighttime and the player goes to sleep, the Alarm will expire (as the player will have slept through that schedule section). Keycards - There are 13 keycard types in Prison Break -- 3 of them are used for individual character cells (for leaving the player's cell after being arrested at anytime, or when returning to the player's cell at Nighttime only), and 9 more are used for standard doors (Storage, Laundry, Mail Room, Metal Shop, Doctor's Office, Barracks, Administration, Kennels, Lobby) in place of smashing through the door and making a lot of noise. The final Keycard is for the Front Gate, which triggers Victory for that Prison Break if the player is able to open the front gate successfully. Prison layout The layout of the prison will change up the location of 14 rooms every Prison Break, with the exceptions of the Hallways, Recreation, Lobby and the Courtyard staying the same. The Cafeteria and Kitchen will be in random positions, but will always be connected to each other, with the Cafeteria always north of the Kitchen. Each room has its own unique functions, and making use of what each room offers is necessary to a successful Prison Break. Cells - The player will typically start and end their day in the Cells, and inmates will respawn from the door at the back. Individual player cell locations are based on party order (the first 3 cell doors, with the character in slot 1 getting the door closest to the wall, slot 2 next to them and slot 3 next to slot 2), and the player is able to enter their own cell using the appropriate keycard at Nighttime, or leave their cell at anytime otherwise using the appropriate keycard. When in their cells at Nighttime, the player can save their game, craft items (but only if the character is in their cell), sneak out at night (if the player has the appropriate keycards) or sleep until the next day. During Nighttime, the player can also bang the cell door of inmates to raise the riot level. Showers (Male and Female) - 2 separate rooms that function similarly, except that at the start of the Showers section, the male characters will be taken to the Male Showers and the female characters to the Female Showers. Standing under an active shower will raise Hygiene over time. The player is also able to clog the shower drain in their current Showers room, which causes the room to start flooding if the showers in the room are active. When the flood level maxes out, blood will be cleaned up and the guards will enter the Showers to investigate and unclog the drain. When combined with a barricade, this can create a long-lasting distraction in place of an Alarm in a barricaded room for non-Pound teams, but the timing from clog to max flood (requires a bit more than 20 seconds) can be trickier to set up effectively compared to a precisely timed Alarm distraction. Cafeteria - The party will be taken to the Cafeteria for Lunch after Shift Work for the day ends, where they will sit at a table and eat together to gain both Health and Unity, though this can only be done during the Lunch schedule section. The tables in the Cafeteria can also be smashed by the player to gain 1 Piece of Wood and 1 Metal Scrap (Brooks gets 2 of each material when he does it). However, this action is not only loud and risks a penalty if caught, but if too many tables are destroyed, then there may not be enough spots for everyone to eat with 1 table left. If all cafeteria tables are smashed or the kitchen is destroyed, the riot level will rise at Lunch by 10%. If smashing a cafteria table that gang inmates are sitting at, they will target the smasher (unless Tara is the one who smashes the table). Cafeteria tables will not be fixed, so depending on the plan, it may be best to only smash cafeteria tables when wood and metal materials are needed immediately or the actual escape will happen soon. Kitchen - The Kitchen has a wide range of activities for the player to participate in. During Shift Work, they can cook food for Behaviour gains (if assigned kitchen duty during the Shift Work schedule section) and they can eat hot food right out of the pot (raises Health over time, but risks a penalty if caught by the guard). They can also take food once per schedule section to add to their inventory (also a penalty risk), set an Alarm in the refrigerator if they have an Alarm that Pound crafted for them, and they can clog the kitchen sink to flood the room to distract guards from outside the kitchen (though the time needed is longer than the Showers flooding -- about 8 seconds for the sink to fill and about 33 seconds for the room to flood). One of the most significant actions in the Kitchen is the "Start kitchen fire" action, which starts a fire and ends with the Kitchen being destroyed in the ensuing explosion. It is difficult to pull off -- it is a penalty risk, it distracts many guards to the Kitchen to put out the fire (unless they are asleep in the Barracks), and it requires 30 seconds for the explosion to occur, which kills all non-dogs in the Kitchen and destroys the Kitchen (prevents use of the Kitchen, prevents shift work in the Kitchen, causes Riot Level to rise 10% every day at Lunch). This can limit player actions, too, as it removes a source of Food for the player's inventory, one less distraction option with flooding removed, leaves only the Mail Room shift for setting Alarms (and requiring mail room duty during the Shift Work schedule section to do so) and Recreation during Free Time as the only source for Unity gains for most characters (aside from Caesara during Showers). Most of the above sounds negative for the player. The main reason to destroy the Kitchen in spite of the high costs is that every guard that is caught in the Kitchen explosion will not respawn, which if done REALLY effectively to hit most or all guards at once, can allow the player effective free reign over the prison to do what they want more often and more easily (an alternative to Cherry's zeroing out of Guard Morale for non-Cherry parties). The timing is very difficult, though, especially since blowing up the Kitchen with no guards inside provides little benefits. Guards as a group can typically tear down a barricade in under 30 seconds and can likely stop a Kitchen fire in the middle of the day with ease, but depending on the distance of the Barracks to the Kitchen, starting a Kitchen fire with 20-25 seconds to go during Nighttime could prove effective without needing a barricade altogether, since sleeping guards won't wake up to put out a Kitchen fire. Though the player is not allowed in the Kitchen unless during Shift Work AND when assigned kitchen duty, the Cafeteria and the Kitchen will always connect with one another and no guards will be present in the Cafeteria or Kitchen during Free Time -- which means the player can enter the Kitchen for free food in most cases from the Cafeteria when Lunch ends. Storage - Storage is a location that the player will not typically access due to its keycard requirement and other rooms likely being a priority, but those on Cleaning duty have free access and permission to the room. The player is able to take an item from Storage once per schedule section, which is always a crafting material (Piece of Wood or Metal Scrap in all instances, but parties with Pound can potentially find a Light Bulb or Buzzer for crafting, too), so it can be a good source of items if the player can access Storage often. The player can also build a box fort to hide in, and should be a priority for Jimmy in particular, so that he can make use of his passive ability that prevents Behaviour drops when hiding during transition sections and gains a free item when hiding (though all characters can likely benefit from it, as it drops pursuit if the character's attacker is not in Storage when they hide and it can allow them to not be pulled away for a transition schedule section). If guards catch a character building a box fort or if they witness a character enter the box fort to hide, they will not only arrest the character, but tear down the box fort at their earliest opportunity, too. Storage also has an advantage in that guards, inmates and other prison staff typically won't have a reason to enter the room, and this means that Storage can be a good location to set up a barricade, since guards won't tear it down unless non-party members try to enter. If a character has Cleaning duty, Storage will be added to the player's map when the Shift Work schedule section rolls around. Laundry - The Laundry room (requires a keycard if not on laundry duty) contains the ability for a character to do laundry for boosts in Behaviour stat (if assigned laundry duty during the Shift Work schedule section) and a metal scrap can be placed in a washer or dryer to create a very loud noise to distract guards throughout the prison (though it is best used with a barricade to keep guards distracted for a long while). The Laundry room also contains a laundry basket big enough for a character to hide in, and functions similarly to the box fort in Storage -- approaches with Jimmy will likely revolve around the Laundry room's location to some degree to take advantage of his item gains and Behaviour drop prevention. Though the laundry basket is nice in that it does not need to be built, it may not be best to use during Shift Work, as popping out when the laundry room is busy and the player has no permissions will likely lead to an arrest. Library - The Library requires no keycard, grants permission for the player during Lunch and Free Time, allows the player to sort bookshelves for boosts in Behaviour stat (if assigned library duty during the Shift Work schedule section) and the player can find a keycard hidden inside books once per day -- these keycards can be obtained even if not on library duty, but can only be obtained during the Shift Work schedule section. Since the Library is open during Free Time and the Library has no guards in it during that schedule section, the Library can be an important room for navigating to other forbidden rooms via smashed walls without any hassle from guards. The Library will also be marked on the player's map if the player makes it to the Free Time schedule section, so they will not need to hunt down the Library in order to use it for smashed wall passages during Free Time. Mail Room - The Mail Room (requires a keycard if not on mail room duty) contains a number of actions specific to it, including the ability to sort mail for boosts in Behaviour stat (if assigned mail room duty during the Shift Work schedule section), the ability to mail an Alarm to a specific room (if Pound crafted one and it is in the character's inventory), can sort mail to the wrong rooms (which causes a package with a random free item to appear in a random room, with penalty risk on opening it) and open mail on the table once per schedule section to obtain a free random item (penalty risk if caught). While the mail room does have a quite few options to it, it also has some heavy restrictions to it. With the exception of opening mail on the table, the other actions (mail an Alarm, sort mail to wrong room) have stricter requirements for the character to be on mail room duty during the Shift Work schedule section AND neither can be done when a package is still present (either a mailed Alarm that has not gone off yet or a wrongly sorted package that has not been opened by the player). As a result, it is important to plan Mail Room shifts with a bit of precision -- something that is more easily done if the weekly schedule in Administration has been read, or better yet, if Cherry rewrites the weekly schedule for more Mail Room shifts. Metal Shop - The Metal Shop (requires a keycard if not on metal shop duty) allows the player to do metal shop work for boosts in Behaviour stat (if assigned metal shop duty during the Shift Work schedule section) and take a metal scrap from the conveyor belts once per schedule section (penalty risk). The Metal Shop also contains a unique cinematic escape method where the character is able to build a car, which they can then use to escape by driving through the doors and front gate (is cinematic and during Nighttime only). The downside to building a car is that it takes a very long time across schedule sections to slowly build and if caught building, guards will tear down progress on the car. However, if the player has safe and reliable access to the Metal Shop on their playthrough during Free Time and/or Nighttime, it is something that can be prepared as a backup by 1 or 2 party members at a time while the 3rd goes around and completes tasks in other rooms. Doctor's Office - The Doctor's Office (requires a keycard) allows the player to search the cabinets (if the doctor is not alive or present in the office) to randomly find a Bloodbag, a Medkit, or (if Cook is a party member) Doctor Scrubs. Like the Kitchen, the sink can be clogged, though it is just as slow as the Kitchen to flood compared to the Showers (about 8 seconds for the sink to fill and about 33 seconds for the room to flood). With the correct conditions fulfilled, a party with Cook in it can also gain access to the unique cinematic escape method, "Fake Cook's death" (which will be covered further in the "Escape methods" section). For the most part, the Doctor's Office won't be heavily focused on for most teams -- unless needing steady access to Bloodbags for a long distraction (at the cost of Shivs to get the doctor out of the way), the Doctor's Office likely won't mean much if the party isn't being stabbed by inmates. However, parties with Cook that are aiming to escape through dressing up as doctors and faking Cook's death will likely find the Doctor's Office more central to their escape plans. Between Cook's ability to fake serious injuries to locate and gain access to the Doctor's Office in the first place, this means more access to Medkits (get stabbed and taken to the Doctor's Office more often) and Doctor Scrubs for the escape. Barracks - There is little to do in the Barracks overall, as it is primarily a place for the guards to sleep at Nighttime and the only unique action the player has there is to search the cabinets for Guard Uniforms and Keycards once per schedule section, both of which are useful for escaping out the Front Gate in a standard approach. The Barracks is also a huge risk to enter, as getting caught entering the Barracks or being inside will have the guards execute a character rather than arrest them, so smashing through the door in place of having no Keycard is not recommended. If the guards are asleep, the player can enter without waking them, so long as a noise, bad hygiene in a guard uniform or other big distraction does not wake them up. Administration - Administration (requires a keycard) has very little for most parties, with the only unique option available in most instances being the ability to read the weekly schedule so that the party's shift work for the week is known. Aside from that, Administration, like Storage, is not typically accessed by guards or inmates, so it can be a good room to barricade. However, if Pound is a party member, the administration desk can be searched for 3 blank keycards and 3 unique passwords, which Pound can use at night in his cell to craft keycards for rooms. If Cherry herself interacts with the administration desk, she can craft false evaluations of guards to lower morale (and eventually get things so bad that guards are typically blind to the player and leave all doors unlocked) or can rewrite the weekly schedule so that the party can have whatever shifts the player wants on whatever days the player wants (more of this will be covered in Cherry's section of the guide). Kennels - The Kennels (requires a keycard) allows the player to search the cabinets once a day for a Dog Leash, to feed the dogs (1 Food serving from the character's inventory boosts Dog Affection by 10%), can bang on the kennels glass to create a loud distraction, and at 100% Dog Affection, the player can use a Dog Leash to let a dog out from the kennels to follow them until the character dies, returns to their cell, the dog kills an aggressive NPC or the dog distracts a courtyard dog for 15 seconds. Access to dogs is a very significant feature for the Kennels -- the dogs in the courtyard are the biggest obstacle to a standard Front Gate escape, and dogs accompanying the party to the courtyard is the safest way to deal with them. Hallways - The hallways contain nothing special for the most part, with the exception of the gurney appearing when the doctor takes a dead party member away (and if only one party member is left alive, they can use the gurney as a unique escape method if they beat the high-speed doctor there). Unlike most rooms, the hallways use cone of sight for most detection (as opposed to just being in the same room for detection), which can be important when using guard leeway for stealth against the many guards that patrol the hallways in most schedule sections. Recreation - The activities in Recreation are only available during the Free Time schedule section, so there is little purpose in being there at other times. In Recreation, the party can play basketball together (boosting Unity for all involved when 2-3 party members are playing) and can lift weights for Health boosts and Hygiene drops (and if other party members are spotting the weightlifter, the weightlifter and all spotters gain Unity). The player can also throw a basketball at gang inmates to raise the riot level by 6% (12% for Alberto), but this prevents any more basketball from being played that day and all gang inmates currently in Recreation will target the party member who threw the ball at them. Lobby - The Lobby requires a keycard to enter, and has little else in it except for one guard typically always being on duty there. Its function is mainly as a buffer between the rest of the prison and the courtyard, and the last place where the party can prepare when escaping through the Front Gate. Courtyard - The Courtyard contains the Front Gate, which can be opened if the character accessing the Front Gate has a Front Gate keycard, a riot is currently ongoing, or guard morale has dropped to 0% (only possible if Cherry is in the party). Being caught in the courtyard by guards results in execution rather than arrest, and though there are guards patrolling the courtyard, the bigger threat are the dogs -- they run at 3x speed, detect the player through guard uniforms and inflict instant death on catching a party member. If dealing with dogs, getting Dog Affection to 100% is important (for 1 second of detection leeway from courtyard dogs) and getting other dogs from the Kennels to distract the courtyard dogs for 15 seconds is even better. It is possible to get a win with Dog Affection as low as 80%, even -- but that requires the courtyard dogs' position from patrolling to be very far away. It is best to aim for 100% Dog Affection or getting the kennel dogs out into the courtyard. Permissions and penalties Party members who enter a room that they do not have the permission to enter will suffer a penalty if caught (arrest in most cases, execution if caught in the Barracks or Courtyard), and are typically made visible in the List of Actions' description when going through a door. These permissions are different across different schedule sections: Showers schedule section - Permission granted for Showers - Male and Showers - Female for all characters, permissions granted for Hallways for Caesara only Shift Work schedule section - Permission granted for assigned shift room. If assigned Cleaning duty, that character get access to their assigned cleaning room, Storage and the Hallways. Lunch and Free Time schedule sections - Permissions granted for the Cells, Cafeteria, Library, Hallways and Recreation Nighttime - No permissions granted at all There are also a couple scenarios where extra permissions can be added for a character: Doctor carries an injured character to the Doctor's Office - Permission granted for Doctor's Office and Hallways Transition schedule section interrupted due to NPC interacting with a barricaded room - Permission for Hallways and that specific party member's current room (if the room is not the Barracks, Administration, Kennels, Lobby or Courtyard) Navigating the prison In order to trigger actions in Prison Break, the player will need to make use of their List of Actions, which lists their current available actions based on the character, room, position and other factors. Most of these actions were covered above in the "Inventory" and "Prison layout" above and will be covered further in the sections on individual characters further down. There are other general actions that can be helpful in engineering a successful Prison Break: Smash through door - Allows a character to enter a door with no keycard, but the loud noise will likely draw attention and a penalty if caught. Trade Items - Can be triggered when standing near another party member (does not require them to face one another). Trading items is essential for tasks such as sharing crafted items (especially since Pound is the only character with a giant crafting list) and pooling resources for expensive items/tasks like barricades. Pick fight - Once per schedule section, a character can pick a fight with a gang inmate. Doing so will raise the riot level by 6% (12% for Alberto), the character's Behaviour stat will drop 10% (unless Alberto does it), and the gang inmate will go after the character who picked the fight (unless Tara does it). This typically won't be necessary for most Prison Breaks unless the goal is to raise the riot level or to get sent to the Doctor's Office. Stab with shiv - The player expends a Shiv from their inventory to stab a non-dog NPC, killing them and obtaining an item from them in the process (Tara will gain 2 items when stabbing somebody). If other gang inmates catch the player stabbing another gang inmate, they will all target the attacker (unless it is Tara) and the riot level will rise by 6% (12% if Alberto). If guards catch the player killing an inmate (gang or non-gang), they will arrest the attacker, but if a guard, doctor or technician is killed instead, they will execute the attacker instead. The guards will also arrest/execute a character if they are caught in the same room with the dead body of a person they killed and if that character has not left the room at any point after the killing. Different NPCs will give up different items when shivved:
Letting party members into a room - If a party member does not have a keycard to a locked room, a party member already inside the room can let a character in by interacting with the door while their target is near the door in the hallways. Smash wall - With the exception of the Cafeteria-Kitchen connection wall, a wall can be smashed if one of the 14 randomly positioned rooms is north or south of the current room and the character interacts with the part of the north/south wall nearest to the hallways door. There is a penalty risk if caught, but Brooks will also gain a Piece of Wood when smashing a wall. If caught smashing a wall or using a smashed wall to go between rooms, the guards will call in a technician to repair the wall. The entire point of smashing walls is to create different and safer methods for navigating to rooms the player is not normally allowed in. For example, rather than risk a guard seeing a character enter Administration during Free Time and suffer a penalty (or worse, smashing through a door to make a loud noise entering Administration), if Administration is connected to an unlocked room the player has permission to be in (such as the Library), the player could use the smashed wall to go from the Library to Administration. The layout of the prison and the ability to use smashed walls to safely go between rooms is important for a successful Prison Break. So long as the player is careful about not getting caught by guards when smashing a wall or using a smashed wall for passage, they can gain easier access to typically forbidden rooms. Barricades - Barricades are able to be crafted on a door connecting to the hallways when inside one of the 14 randomly positioned rooms using 2 Pieces of Wood and 4 Metal Scraps. Being inside a barricaded room will prevent a character from being pulled away during transition schedule sections. If any NPC (aside from kennel dogs) tries to access the door, the guards will try and tear down the barricade (30 seconds needed max, with the timer decreasing a little faster for each guard involved in the teardown), so combining it with an Alarm can create a long-lasting distraction that will keep guards busy and stuck to one side of the prison for a long time (especially if multiple Bloodbags are used in that room, too). Barricades can also end transition schedule sections early if an NPC tries to go through a barricaded door -- this can grant hallway permissions to the party, allowing them to head for other rooms that they normally would not be able to interact with during Showers or Shift Work (or the party getting to be out of their cells with no Behaviour drops or personal cell keycards needed if the transition section at Nighttime is interrupted). Barricades do have quite a few disadvantages to go with their advantages -- they are expensive in terms of crafting materials. They require smashed walls to make full use of, since the player cannot enter or exit through barricaded rooms themselves (unless it is Jimmy). Unless it is a room like Storage or Administration (assuming no Cleaning duty in Administration), the barricade will not be up for long, since most rooms receive some form of traffic from a player or NPC. Putting up a barricade in a room while the guard is there will also result in instant teardown. Barricades need to be used precisely, but when done correctly, they can provide further options for the player to make use of. AI Menu The AI Menu controls two important functions for Prison Break - Manual Override and Countershiv. Manual Override causes a character to stand idle when they are controllable, rather than return to their current task for that schedule section (typically showering, doing shift work, eating lunch or following the currently controlled party leader). It may typically be best to set the entire party to Manual Override when doing more precise parts of an escape plan, such as being on standby in a certain room or setting up to trigger something very specific. Countershiv requires a Shiv to use, and the character will stab their attacker before they themselves get stabbed. It can be set to "No countershiv", "Inmates only" or "Inmates and guards". By default, Countershiv is set to "Inmates only", in order to protect a character from gang inmate attacks and to not deal with consequences of permadeath if caught killing a guard that attempts to arrest a character. If dealing with a riot or the final stages of a Prison Break, it may be best to switch to "Inmates and guards" to prevent last-second arrests or guard attacks. If trying to conserve shivs or get a free trip to the Doctor's Office, setting to "No countershiv" can help with this when dealing with inmates. Inmates Inmates are divided into two types -- NPC (or non-gang) inmates and gang inmates. NPC inmates are more "set dressing" that the player will not interact with much. Knight can mug them for free items, your party can gain Food from them if they shiv them, and they can be extra targets during a riot by both guards and gang inmates (those poor NPC inmates actually have it quite rough), but aside from that, they won't really interact with your party. Gang inmates are a whole other story -- depending on the player's escape plan and their approach to it, gang inmates can either similarly be "background noise" or they can be an obstacle that needs to actively be worked around. Appearance-wise, the gang inmates wear red striped suits rather than the NPC inmates' yellow, the male gang inmates are bald (while the male NPC inmates have hair) and the female gang inmates have short hair (while the female NPC inmates have long hair). So long as Unity is 80% or higher, gang inmates will typically only go after a character if they pick a fight, throw a basketball at them, smash their cafeteria table while they are eating lunch, stab one of their friends with a shiv or a riot is underway. If Unity is under 80%, they will target characters in the same room who are too close to them. The distance is boosted as Unity decreases, as Hygiene decreases and Riot Level increases. If Cherry has caused guard morale to hit 0% through crafting enough false evaluations, then current gang inmate sight range is boosted 3x higher. Inmates will typically follow the same schedule as your party -- standing under the showers during the Showers schedule section, doing shift work during the Shift Work schedule section, eating lunch during the Lunch schedule section (assuming no tables are smashed, the NPC inmates will try and sit at the same table as your party's default table, while the gang inmates will try and take the table furthest away from the party/NPC inmate table), and they all return to their cells during the Nighttime schedule section. The inmates will split off during the Free Time schedule section, though -- the NPC inmates will head to the Library, while the gang inmates will head to Recreation (some of them will lift weights). When inmates respawn (due to no character being in the same room with a dead inmate anymore), they will respawn from the back door in the Cells. Guards Guards are the primary obstacle that the player will have to deal with in Prison Break. So long as a character does not cause any problems for the guards (typically done by not entering a room they have no permission for, not stabbing people and not doing any action in the List of Actions that risks a penalty), the guards will generally leave a character be. However, since the point of Prison Break is to break routine and start organizing a way out, that will require doing tasks that anger the guards in order to further the escape plans. Guard sight range is determined by the room type -- guards have a cone of sight in the Hallways and Courtyard, while every other area in the prison has them detect any player in the same room as them. This obviously makes committing penalty-risk actions difficult to commit, given that guards are often present with the player in most schedule sections, but there are ways around this. Guard leeway Guard leeway allows a character to not be spotted by a guard while in their sight range for a short amount of time. For example, if a character has 3 seconds of leeway and are in a guard's sight range for 1 second before disappearing from view, the countdown will continue at the 2 second point if the character re-enters the guard's sight range. Guard leeway is for stealth purposes against guards only, and the leeway is refreshed per section per guard. An example would be if Claire has 5 seconds of leeway, is in range of a guard during Showers (Transition) for 4 seconds, Claire's leeway will refresh back to 5 seconds as soon as the schedule section changes from Showers (Transition) to Showers. There are not many things that affect guard leeway, but they are obtained from the following sources and they all stack with one another:
Preventing guard sight Aside from guard leeway mentioned above, there are conditions that block guard sight altogether:
Distractions Guards can also have their attention turned away from their posts or patrol routes by distractions. Loud noises (like smashing walls or cafeteria tables) are one method of doing so, but other distractions, such as Alarms going off or kitchen fires end up being higher priority distractions. Patrol routes and schedules In general, up to 7 guards will patrol the hallways during most schedule sections.
Aside from these 7 guards, there is also a guard who will stand watch in the Lobby without going to sleep, and 2 guards that will patrol the courtyard with dogs without going to sleep. Like inmates, guards respawn when no player character is in the same room with a dead guard. They will respawn from the Barracks, though the max number of guards that can respawn may be altered if any died in an explosion caused by a kitchen fire -- this will affect who is assigned to the patrol routes/schedules mentioned above. Arrests Though some penalties, actions or scenarios (like 0% Behaviour) lead to the guards trying to execute a character, the guards will in most cases arrest a character that was caught doing something that has a penalty risk. When a character is arrested, they will lose 20% Behaviour and be taken back to their cell, where they will have to wait until the next day to get out again. While in their cell, there are no actions that the character can take aside from accessing the door to their cell IF the character has their personal cell keycard in their inventory. If the entire party is sent back to the cells on penalty AND nobody has a personal cell keycard to let themselves out, the day will automatically jump to Nighttime and bring up the Nighttime menu. If the character does have their personal cell keycard and leaves their cell, the guards will attempt to arrest the character on sight, losing another 20% Behaviour and being escorted back to their cell if caught again (and again and again). One advantage to being arrested -- if the player has their own personal cell keycard and they exit their cell, they will not get forced into transition schedule sections AND they will not lose 20% Behaviour like characters hiding in a laundry basket/box fort/barricaded room or wearing a guard uniform would. They are likely restricted to whatever rooms that line up with the smashed wall passages connecting to the Cells, but if that is precisely what is needed (like accessing the administration rooms for Blank Keycards/passwords or Cherry crafting false evaluations), there can on occasion be benefits to an arrest. Dogs There are two types of dogs: Kennel dogs and courtyard dogs. Both look the same, but serve completely different purposes. Kennel dogs - These dogs are accessible only to the player after they have increased Dog Affection to 100% and use a Dog Leash to take a dog out of the Kennels. Only 2 kennel dogs can be out at a time, and each dog will follow the character that used a leash to let them out. Kennel dogs will follow the player until the character dies, returns to their cell, the dog kills an aggressive NPC or the dog distracts a courtyard dog for 15 seconds. The main reason to deploy kennel dogs (aside from just wanting German Shepherds to follow you around for the sake of it) is to provide a reliable distraction for the courtyard dogs, where they will distract them for 15 seconds -- this gives the player plenty of time to make it to the front gate for victory. Aside from that, a kennel dog killing a guard or an inmate to protect the player also has the added benefits of not using up a shiv and not attributing the dead body to the player (as the dog killed the NPC). Courtyard dogs - Unlike kennel dogs (which are always on the player's side), courtyard dogs are always on the prison's side, and they are the biggest threat to most escape plans that involve opening the Front Gate. Courtyard dogs will attack on sight and can run at 3x the player's best movement speed, they cannot be shivved/countershivved, and they can see through any guard uniforms the player is wearing. If Dog Affection is over 0%, the dogs will have "leeway" in the same way guard leeway functions at 0.1 seconds per 10% of Dog Affection, with 1 second leeway at 100% -- 1 second does not sound like much, but a party with good Health can typically make it to the Front Gate with that short amount of leeway if the player has no dogs available, though kennel dogs are much more reliable for safely reaching the Front Gate. Courtyard dogs will also not be present during a riot. Doctors and technicians There are two other types of prison staff that can make uncommon appearances in Prison Break: Doctors respawn in the Doctor's Office as needed, and are active when a party member is either stabbed by an inmate or dead. If stabbed by an inmate, the doctor will take a character back to the Doctor's Office to get patched up. This takes 15 seconds on being placed on the bed, or 1 second if the doctor finds out that the injury was faked (Cook only). If the doctor is killed before the doctor finishes treating the character, the character will die, as well (though this could really only be done by the player). If the character is dead, the doctor will take the character to the gurney and wheel them out the Front Gate. Technicians only respawn at the Front Gate when a guard catches a player smashing a wall or using a smashed wall for passage into another room. The technician will come in, spend 15 seconds fixing the wall (removing the smashed wall passage), and then leave through the Front Gate when done. Riots To trigger a riot, the Riot Level needs to rise to 100%. There are a number of actions to raise the Riot Level:
When a riot does trigger, schedules and timers are removed, courtyard dogs are removed, and all doors (including the Front Gate) are unlocked. Guards and inmates will start killing the closest targets to them, which includes the player and NPC inmates (though guards will not target guards and gang inmates will not target gang inmates), and all stabbings from gang inmates will be instant death rather than an injury that can be healed by a doctor. Since gang inmates now target guards, characters in a guard uniform (aside from Tara) will be targetted by gang inmates during a riot. Respawning is also handled differently in the Hallways during a riot -- if the player's currently-controlled character is not in a part of the hallways where they can see a dead body, that NPC will respawn in the Cells (inmate) or Barracks (guard). Essentially, the player cannot typically wait for a riot to end due to the frequent respawning (though prison layout could potentially allow this to some degree). Since getting stabbed by an inmate causes the riot level to rise, it is possible that a riot can be triggered unintentionally when riot level is very high and the inmates target the player -- make sure to keep Unity at 100% whenever possible if aiming to use a riot or high riot level in the escape plan. Managing a riot Riots are chaotic and violent -- and your party will likely be caught in a bad spot and killed quickly if a riot is triggered at random. It is best for the player to take a few things into consideration for the riot. The prison layout is important to consider, especially the location of the Barracks and the Cells (where guards and inmates will respawn respectively). The location of these two rooms in particular may determine how a riot should be handled -- if the rooms are both at the north end of prison, then the previous advice that the player cannot wait out a riot can be ignored, since if they wait long enough in a room to the south, most of the respawning (and therefore most of the fighting) will likely be in the north and can head out to the Front Gate from there. However, if this is not the case (or worse yet, if both Barracks and Cells are in the south near the Lobby), the player will likely need greater preparation to deal with the fighting between guards and inmates there. If Pound is a party member, Lights placed on reaction to blind an aggressive guard/inmate to drop pursuit AND Lights placed far away from where guards are gathered to make them travel long distances to break the Light will be needed -- this means collecting as many metal scraps and light bulbs as possible for a planned riot. If not using Pound, guard uniforms will help keep the guards off of your party, but not the inmates. Tara, thanks to her passive, has inmates stay away from her by default, so Tara in a guard uniform is pretty much riot-immune (though the rest of the party will need a good number of shivs for defense against respawning inmates). Failing the above, a party that can get hold of a large number of Shivs (more than a dozen at minimum, such as from Brooks smashing a lot of walls and cafeteria tables) can probably try and charge through the crowds of murderous guards and inmates and brute force their way to freedom. Escape methods From a general perspective, there are two major ways to escape and win Prison Break -- going through the Front Gate or triggering a cinematic escape. In order to consider the escape a true victory and gain the "I'll Come Back For You!" triumph, all 3 party members will need to escape alive and together -- this means in the same area (Courtyard, Doctor's Office, Metal Shop -- depends on the escape method) and each party member controllable and alive. From that, there are multiple approaches to escaping through the Front Gate, and there are 3 cinematic escapes. Front Gate type escapes All manual escapes will be through the Front Gate, which in many cases requires the Front Gate Keycard to pull off. The player will also need to deal with the courtyard dogs outside to make it to the Front Gate safely. Reliable standard approaches to the Front Gate will require a Front Gate keycard, both kennel dogs out and the party in guard uniforms. The Front Gate keycard is obvious as to why it is a requirement -- the Front Gate won't open to achieve Victory without it. The kennel dogs will be needed to distract the courtyard dogs, and the guard uniforms will be needed so that the party is not targetted by guards or inmates (and therefore have one of the dogs needed for the courtyard immediately rush to defend the player and return to the kennels). This requires quite a few things -- a specific Keycard for the Front Gate, 3 guard uniforms, 2 Dog Leashes, 10 Food beforehand to get Dog Affection up to 100% and the party freshly showered to 80%+ Hygiene to avoid getting detected in their guard uniforms. Lobby Keycards could be used, but in guard uniforms, the player won't get in trouble for smashing through a door. Despite the list of requirements, this method is pretty straightforward. Front Gate rushdowns are riskier, but require less preparation than the reliable approach. Grab a Front Gate keycard, one Shiv at minimum, give the dogs as much Food as possible (100% Dog Affection still preferred), then barricade a room (to prevent the party from being escorted back to their cells to go to sleep) and have your party wait in the barricaded room until Nighttime with about an extra 10-15 seconds of waiting so that the guards have time to return to the Barracks -- this ensures that the party will only need to deal with the Lobby guard and the courtyard dogs (alternatively, a well-timed Kitchen fire that prevents a lot of guard respawn could be done instead of Nighttime and the barricaded room). When Nighttime arrives, have one party member with both the Shiv and Front Gate keycard smash through the door (or use the Lobby keycard if they have it), countershiv the Lobby guard with their one shiv, let the other two party members into the room, then make a mad dash for the Front Gate and hope the leeway from Dog Affection is enough. It has a chance of failure depending on Barracks position (if guards can hear the smashing through the Lobby door and they rush in too quickly and intercept) or if Dog Affection crossed with the dog's position in the courtyard at the time the player enters is not enough, but if any current plans for whatever reason don't pan out (can't get the right items, guards keep interfering and dismantling car progress, etc.), this can be a decent all-purpose approach with the only real maybe-tough-to-get item being the Front Gate Keycard. However, what happens if the player cannot get hold of a Front Gate Keycard, due to not having someone like Pound or Claire who can get one more easily? Cherry's Abuse of Power provides an alternative to keycards. If she can get guard morale to 0% by crafting 10 false evaluations of guards, the guards will be fully blind and all doors (including the Front Gate) will be unlocked. In this scenario, the party will need to deal with the gang inmates' triple sight range from 0% guard morale, but that won't be an issue if the party keeps Unity at 80% or higher. They will still need to deal with the courtyard dogs, but with the guards not paying attention to the party anymore, it should be easy enough to do things like visit the Kitchen every schedule section and take Food for the dogs (along with possible random Food from Open Mail) or shiv NPC inmates with no penalty for Food (Tara can get Food even faster this way). Riots provide another alternative to keycards, while also not requiring Cherry AND removing courtyard dogs as an issue. They have their own preparation requirements already covered in the "Riots" section just above, but they can be an alternative if the party does not have Cherry, Pound or Claire and can't get a Front Gate Keycard at random. Cinematic escapes have different requirements than activating the Front Gate, and trigger Victory just by activating the action without having to visit the Courtyard. When triggered, a short cutscene will play and Victory will pop up shortly after. Drive car - This requires the party to use "Build car" in the Metal Shop without getting caught by guards (who will tear down what the party has done and drop Car Progress back to 0%), and then triggering "Drive car" at Nighttime. This is a slow escape method, as it requires the party to build the car over long periods of time -- it might be best to have 2 party members with Metal Shop access (smashed wall from accessible room with permissions is best) build during Free Time and/or Nighttime while the 3rd party member is manually controlled by the player and takes care of other tasks. Despite the time requirement, its only requirement when built is for the schedule section to be Nighttime (either the whole party can sneak out with keycards or the party barricades themselves in a room beforehand), and does not require any specific party members, dealing with courtyard dogs or any specific keycards. Fake Cook's death - As the name implies, Cook as a party member is a hard requirement to trigger this escape method. This escape method also has a very strict and long list of other requirements for escape -- the doctor in his office and dead by Shiv (can't have the party leave the Doctor's Office or the doctor will respawn), Cook and at least one other party member in the Doctor's Office, the non-Cook party members all having Doctor Scrubs in their inventory, and the Lobby and Front Gate keycards being in the inventory of the characters in the room (the Keycards can be spread out among player inventories). Once this list of requirements is fulfilled, the other party members will disguise themselves as doctors, put Cook in a bodybag, and wheel him out through the Front Gate. The conditions are specific and numerous, but the method does not require a lot of time like the "Drive car" method, does not require dealing with courtyard dogs like most approaches, and does not put the party in any real danger like a riot would. Climb into bodybag - This is the last-ditch effort escape method for when things go badly. This method can only trigger when one character is left alive and the gurney is present and empty with nobody in the bodybag. The timeframe the character has to trigger this is from when their last teammate is killed to the doctor taking the corpse and placing it in the bodybag. The timeframe can be boosted by deliberately allowing a party member to die far away from the Doctor's Office (killing a guard with a shiv and letting the next guard kill the attacker, or running out into the courtyard and purposely letting the dogs kill the character) to make the doctor run further. Placing the last living party member in the Hallways near the Lobby door (where the gurney appears) is an even more reliable method to beat the doctor to the gurney. It is generally not a good plan to let a party member die deliberately, since the goal of Prison Break is to escape and a true victory means all 3 party members escape together (and this means no "I'll Come Back For You!" triumph). However, a subpar escape is better than no escape, and at least one party member can be saved rather than being left behind to suffer at the hands of gang inmates (as party members who are not Tara or Caesara will have to deal with low Unity and the consequences of it). Forming teams Unless aiming for specific escape methods (like Cherry's false evaluations or Cook's fake death), the character-specific abilities and traits that each party member brings can be used for a wide variety of scenarios, and the prison layout itself can influence how a character makes use of their capabilities. Due to this, the requirements for having certain characters team up with one another are not overly strict, which can allow for some flexibility in preparing alternative escape plans midway through a Prison Break as needed. Cherry Crime - Abuse of Power Cherry can access the desk in Administration. When she does, she is able to rewrite the weekly shift schedule for the entire party, and she can craft false evaluations for guards once per schedule section, lowering guard morale (affects leeway for being spotted by guards). When 10 false evaluations have been sent out, morale will be zeroed out (guards have no sight) and all doors (including the front gate) will be unlocked. Analysis Cherry's ability allows for schedule control, guard sight removal and removing the need for keycards -- however, all of this requires Cherry to be in Administration to trigger and removing guard sight and keycard necessity requires Cherry to be in Administration for at least 10 schedule sections. If Cherry does not have access to Administration. she does not provide anything unique for her teammates otherwise. If bringing Cherry just for schedule rewrites, she can provide a lot of control for the Shift Work schedule section. She can not only write herself in for every single shift being Cleaning - Administration if going for zero guard morale, but just assigning Cleaning to anyone every day of the week means that somebody will always get to access the Hallways during Shift Work. If Pound is a party member, frequent Mail Room shifts can allow for Alarms to be mailed out regularly for timed distractions. If a particular room is connected via smashed wall to a room that can be used for shift work, Cherry's rescheduling can make that room easier to access during the Shift Work schedule section. If utilizing Cherry for zeroing out guard morale, she will need constant access to the Administration room, at a total of 10 schedule sections (which can include transition schedule sections) to craft 10 false evaluations. An obvious approach to this would be for Cherry to barricade herself into the Administration room for more than a day, since nobody goes into Administration except those with the Cleaning - Administration shift (which Cherry can reassign in the Administration room to herself) and she can use the transition schedule sections to craft additional evaluations (as she won't be forced into being escorted to a new destination when she's inside a barricaded room). However, if Cherry does barricade herself inside the Administration room with the goal of crafting all 10 false evaluations as quickly as possible, she will be away from her teammates for a long time as a result and likely won't have good Unity or good Hygiene, which makes her a more likely target of gang inmates (who have 3x sight range when guard morale hits 0%), and her other two teammates will likely have to work more at maintaining Unity during both Lunch and Free Time with only 2 party members together instead of 3 for Unity-boosting actions. It may be best to have Cherry at least leave Administration (through already-existing smashed wall passages, so as not to tear down the Administration barricade) so that she and the others can gain Unity together during Lunch or Free Time. Knight Crime - Highway Robbery Once per schedule section, Knight can threaten a non-gang inmate to give him a random item (excludes non-blank keycards). While being escorted in a transition schedule section, Knight will get a free Mug use if he is near a non-gang inmate while being escorted (does not use up his standard Mug Inmate ability use). Knight will not be punished for mugging an inmate. Analysis Knight's ability allows for frequent item gains, at a rate higher than other characters when used effectively. His "Mug inmate" action can be used in most schedule sections easily, as NPC inmates are frequently accessible during Showers, Lunch and Free Time, as well as most Shift Work (except Metal Shop or Cleaning in other non-work rooms). Knight's free Mug can be triggered frequently by having Knight stand next to an NPC inmate at the end of Showers, Shift Work and Free Time just before a transition section triggers and if Knight is in party slot 2 or 3 on New Game or when Nighttime ends (if the inmates had enough time to return to their cells). Knight is able to get any item except non-blank keycards. With Pound and/or Claire as teammates (who specialize in obtaining keycards), every type of item can be obtained frequently and in good numbers. However, unlike Pound who can craft rare items or Claire who has stealth, Knight has nothing aside from his item gains. Knight is probably the overall best character for obtaining a large number and wide variety of items in Prison Break, but he has no other unique characteristics. Alberto Crime - Mouthing Off (to the wrong authority) Alberto's actions that raise the Riot Level double Riot Level gains, and he does not lose Behaviour when picking fights with inmates. If Alberto's Behaviour is under 100%, he grants his teammates (but not himself) 0.05 seconds of guard leeway per guard per schedule section for every 1% of Behaviour under 100%, and his teammates' Behaviour drops reduce as Alberto's own Behaviour lowers. This guard leeway is multiplied by (100 + Riot Level)%. Analysis This prison is really harsh, scheduling an execution after one week for the crime of mouthing off. Alberto's ability consists of riot enabling, party stealth and reducing Behaviour drops for the party. The riot enabling is useful if planning to go for a riot from the start or needing to change plans on the fly and build up riot level quickly, but unlike Tara, Alberto cannot provoke inmates safely. If he is not wearing a guard uniform or picking fights in the last couple seconds before a schedule section ends and is replaced with a transition schedule section, he'll either need to expend a Shiv, a Medkit or a Life Point to get that riot level up. Despite this, Alberto is good at raising the riot level quickly if the player is aiming for a riot and the high riot level also works well with Alberto's party stealth mechanic. Alberto's party stealth does not apply to him, but if his Behaviour is kept low and the Riot Level is high, Alberto can grant the party close to 10 seconds of stealth at his best (it can't hit 10 seconds, since at 100% riot level it's a chaotic everyone-kills-everyone scenario and 0% Behaviour means the guards will try and execute Alberto). This is a degree of stealth greater than Claire's personal stealth (and stacks with hers), but also requires risk to Alberto, since he has to keep his Behaviour low (one wrong move and the guards will aim to kill him) and increased sight range by inmates if Unity is under 80% for anyone due to the high riot level. Alberto's ability to reduce Behaviour drops allows his teammates to risk arrest more casually if they have their personal cell keycards, though like his party stealth, the reductions for Behaviour drops do not apply to Alberto. The Behaviour drop reductions are based on Alberto's Behaviour -- if his own Behaviour is at 20%, party Behaviour drops will reduce by 80%, as the formula is (100 - Alberto's Behaviour)%. Using these values, if a party member is arrested, they will suffer only a 4% drop in Behaviour compared to the usual 20% -- this means that Alberto's teammates can be enabled to break out of the usual prison routine much more easily by commiting more arrest-worthy actions, hiding in a box fort/laundry basket/barricaded room or wearing a guard uniform while suffering lesser penalties. However, despite the high risk, when Alberto is used at his best, he allows for more party members to go into places they normally cannot for long periods than Claire can personally and for more schedule sections than Caesara's similar party stealth would function during the Showers section, and he allows them to suffer less severe penalties when arrested. While Alberto himself does not benefit much from his own ability, his teammates can gain quite a bit from his support. Tara Crime - Axe Murder Gang inmates are too intimidated by Tara to go after her, even if she stabs another inmate with a shiv (Tara will still suffer a penalty for the murder if caught by a guard). Gang inmates will also not target Tara during a riot. Tara will also gain 2 items for shivving somebody rather than 1 item. Analysis Tara's ability provides protection from inmates, riot control and extra items when shivving. Her innate protection from inmates means that Tara can go near them during low Unity or during a riot, stab gang inmates in front of their friends, or smash their cafeteria table during lunch and they will not react to her at all. This makes her good at safely raising the riot level, and Tara in a guard uniform is ignored by both guards and inmates during a riot (which allows her to step outside and assess the state of the riot before the other 2 party members follow her out). Tara's double item gain from shivving NPCs is good for obtaining specific items (such as stabbing NPC inmates for 2 Food, gang inmates for 2 Metal scraps, guards for a shot at 2 Guard Uniforms), but Shivs are valuable for protection/most escape methods and not always timely to obtain. Unless Knight gets a lucky mug, Jimmy gets lucky when hiding or someone gets lucky opening the mail, Shivs will need to be made from Pieces of Wood at night in the player's cell. Tara's double item gain is a nice bonus and can be good at getting some items that the player needs -- however, if looking to use someone solely for consistent item gain, the likes of Knight, Claire, Jimmy or Brooks would be better. If Tara is used primarily for picking fights to boost riot levels safely, she will likely not be a good character to go into hiding (box fort, laundry basket, barricaded room) or using a guard uniform outside of a riot, as her Behaviour will likely be quite low if she does it in front of guards too often. Pound Crime - Illegal Manufacturing Pound has additional crafting options in his cell at night: Keycard -- Allows unrestricted access to a specific room or door Light -- Distracts/blinds guards as they slowly go to shut it off Alarm -- Timed loud noise item for refrigerator/mail package that distracts guards Analysis Pound's ability is focused entirely on crafting unique items. Like Cherry, Pound is more reliant on his teammates to get things done before he can provide anything, as his sole purpose for being on a team is to craft items made from Blank Keycards/passwords found in Administration, as well as light bulbs, buzzers and a good number of metal scraps. Not only does he need his teammates to deliver these items to him (he is the only one capable of unique crafting, so the items must be in his Inventory), he will need to wait until Nighttime to craft these items. As a result, he is probably more dependent on others early on and requires more time to get set up. However, once Pound gets these materials and gets the time to craft, his unique crafting allows him to cover reliable keycard access (especially for the Front Gate), riot control, on-demand party stealth, and precisely-timed mass distraction. A total of 5 visits to the Administration desk (does not need to be Pound doing this) will grant a total of 15 Blank Keycards and all 13 passwords -- this might be the quickest and most reliable way to obtain a Front Gate Keycard, as Claire needs at most 13 pickpockets to get a Front Gate Keycard off of a guard, and other methods for random item gains like shivving guards or looking in the barracks cabinet may never turn up a Front Gate Keycard. Alarms can be placed in the Kitchen refrigerator or mailed to another room during the Mail Room shift (character with the Alarm must have active mail room duty) and are disabled as soon as the guard reaches it, so extra preparation like a barricade for the room will be needed to have the Alarm last another 20-30 seconds. It takes a fair bit of planning and extra work, but if this method is done with precision and takes prison layout into account (picking a room on the other side of the prison so guards cannot see the player), this basically gives the party free reign to enter any room during any schedule section. Emptying several Bloodbags in the Alarm room can also extend the length of the distraction. Lights are excellent due to their wide-area blinding capabilities, which can be great for dropping pursuit and allowing for party stealth in some scenarios, and they last up until a guard slowly approaches and breaks the Light. Where Lights function at their best, though, is during riots -- they stop all guards and inmates from attacking one another until the Light is destroyed, and can be used as both a reaction to a nearby guard/inmate and as a distance tool to let the player pass through a chaotic area unharmed. As a result, Lights can GREATLY reduce the number of Shivs needed to survive a riot. If using Lights for a riot, it may be best to prepare a large number of them OR use Tara in a guard uniform to get the Light to a place in the Hallways that will require a long time for a guard to reach. Cook Crime - Falsifying Own Death Cook can instantly fake a grievous injury and be taken to the Doctor's Office. If the party is able to kill the doctor in his office, acquire doctor scrubs and the lobby and front gate keycards, they can fake Cook's death as a unique escape method. Fake injuries can be used up to 3 times per Prison Break. Analysis Cook's ability provides faster prison layout discovery, pursuit escape and a unique escape method. His unique escape method, "Fake Cook's death", was covered earlier in the "Escape methods" section of this guide -- even if not going for it initially, it can be a useful backup if current plans go badly. Cook's "Fake serious injury" ability can be used up to 3 times, and can be used to find the Doctor's Office straightaway and/or to get out of Showers/Shift Work to start learning more of the prison layout quicker, especially since there are no guards in the Doctor's Office (unlike work rooms during Shift Work), so unless a guard is investigating the room the player is in at the time, they won't be caught/the technician won't be called when smashing walls and the player can start discovering more of the prison layout earlier. Cook's pursuit escape from "Fake serious injury" can also allow for some additional recklessness while playing, allowing escape from gang stabbings, arrests and executions. Want to see if a Guard Uniform or Front Gate Keycard can be scored from the barracks cabinet while smashing through the barracks door loudly? Cook can do that -- smash through, rush in, check the cabinet, then fake an injury before the guards reach him to get out of the permadeath. Keep in mind that Cook can only fake injuries 3 times per Prison Break -- whatever it's used for, be it Doctor's Office access, emergency pursuit escapes or reckless endeavours, make sure to have a rough plan as to how and when to spend those uses. Claire Crime - Espionage Claire has 5 seconds of leeway per schedule section per guard before a guard spots her (Hygiene decreases this leeway the lower it is). This leeway is refreshed for every guard per schedule section. Claire is able to pickpocket guards for keycards or food once per schedule section (Claire cannot be caught pickpocketing). Analysis Claire's ability allows her to focus on personal stealth and steady access to Keycards and Food. Claire getting 5 seconds of being in a guard's sight range per guard per schedule section before she is detected allows her to leave the Showers or shift work room she's in and smash through doors as she pleases, so long as she doesn't go over the 5 seconds of sight for a guard. This gives Claire a good amount of freedom, but she needs to be quick about it and she may not be able to return to her original room without getting caught if it takes too long to go between rooms. Early on, Claire's stealth can be an excellent tool for mapping the prison layout, though she may have to leave her Shift Work immediately so that her leeway with the guard in her work room does not expire. Claire's pickpocketing allows her to get a random keycard that she does not currently have, or if she has all 13 types of Keycard, she can gain Food. This allows Claire to help a team push towards a standard Front Gate approach to escaping, since she can not only eventually get the Front Gate Keycard after enough pickpockets, but she can also reliably gain Food afterwards for the kennel dogs. If Pound is a party member and is crafting Keycards, Claire can get a steady supply of Food for the dogs and get to 100% Dog Affection quickly and with little risks involved. Claire typically won't gain Keycards as fast as Pound or Food as fast as Caesara, but she can take care of both effectively if she makes use of pickpocketing as often as possible. So long as Claire pickpockets idle guards during Shift Work (so long as she is not on cleaning duty in a non-work room), Lunch, Free Time, and Nighttime (when the guards are asleep in the Barracks), she should be able to secure a Front Gate keycard in decent time. Though Claire can step out of the showers to try and use her stealth to pickpocket guards as they walk by, their walking speed might be too fast to pickpocket reliably and the Hallways size can be long enough that Claire's stealth may run out before they get close. During Showers, it may be safer for Claire to poke her head out to see if a guard is nearby, then go back in, smash a wall if they are near the Showers and pickpocket them when they enter the Showers to investigate the noise. Jimmy Crime - Breaking and Entering Jimmy can freely enter any room without a keycard or needing to smash through the door, and he can move through active barricades without removing them (though he will still need keycards for his personal cell and the Front Gate). If a transition schedule section triggers and Jimmy is hiding in a box fort, laundry basket or barricaded room, he does not lose any Behaviour stat and he finds a random item. Analysis Jimmy's ability gives him a focus on free roaming and hiding with some item gains. While Jimmy does not have stealth, once he finds Storage (box fort) or Laundry (laundry basket), he never has to return to Shift Work (since he has no Behaviour stat drops when hiding like everyone else) and he has no reason to return to his cell, especially with hiding providing free items. When then are enough resources for barricades, Jimmy can add the Doctor's Office, Administration and Kennels as additional hiding places. So long as there is no Cleaning duty for those rooms (Jimmy can go into Administration and check the weekly schedule), nobody getting stabbed by inmates (Doctor's Office) and no immediate need for dogs (Kennels), Jimmy can use these rooms for extra hiding spots since he can enter and exit barricaded doors, unlike every other character and NPC in Prison Break. So long as Jimmy shows up to eat lunch and/or spend time in Recreation with his teammates to keep Unity up to protect from gang inmates, he can be more free in his schedule, such as using the Showers for Hygiene at Nighttime rather than the Showers schedule section, if the player wished it so. So long as Jimmy doesn't get in any trouble with guards and lose Behaviour stat, he is pretty well free to do what he wants during most schedule sections. His free roaming is excellent for the early game -- if he has a hiding place at night, he can map out the remainder of the prison layout for the party, since the guards are asleep and he does not need a keycard to enter locked rooms quietly. Brooks Crime - Drunken Vandalism Brooks can smash a wall or cafeteria table without penalty (gang inmates will still go after Brooks if he smashes a cafeteria table while they are eating lunch at that table). Brooks also gains a Piece of Wood when smashing a wall, and 2 Pieces of Wood and 2 Metal Scraps total when smashing a cafeteria table. Analysis Brooks' ability allows him to specialize in procuring large amounts of wood and metal for crafting. In particular, Brooks can be very good at acquiring wood for a steady supply of Shivs and barricades through smashing both walls and cafeteria tables. The amount of metal scraps he can gain is limited, up to a maximum of 14 metal scraps, but that involves smashing all tables and preventing the party from eating lunch (no Health/Unity gains at Lunch) and the inmates not getting lunch would cause the riot level to rise every lunch by 10%. Those tables are still there, though, if the Prison Break is coming to a close and the party needs emergency wood and metal in a short time (for example, a riot is upcoming and Shivs/Lights need to be crafted for the next day or the party needs to barricade themselves into a room soon for something). Brooks also does not suffer penalties for smashing walls or tables. This is not a particularly big thing for cafeteria tables, as the player can just wait until Free Time starts and the guard leaves the room if they did not want to be seen (unless the party absolutely must have the materials for barricades during Lunch) -- however, for walls, if the guards catch Brooks smashing a wall (gaining Brooks a piece of wood), they will call a technician who can be stabbed for another piece of wood (2 if Tara does the shivving), allowing Brooks to be one of the best teammates for ensuring the party has more than enough pieces of wood for Shivs and barricades. While this looks like it could be an "infinite Shiv glitch", the player will have to deal with time constraints and not using the always-getting-smashed wall for passage. Caesara Crime - Public Nudity Caesara has permission to be in the hallways during the Showers schedule section, and if she goes out into the hallways during it, she will draw the attention of all guards in the hallways. While they are near her, she will slowly gain Unity and Behaviour. If Showers ends and Caesara is near the guards, she will gain 1 Food if Unity is 100% and 1 Food if Behaviour is 100%. Cannot be done on riot, on penalty, when being chased or wearing a guard uniform. Analysis Caesara's ability allows for personal stat maintenance, party stealth during the Showers schedule section and a steady Food supply. In particular, Caesara is the only character who can gain Unity without needing another party member and can gain Behaviour without doing shift work -- combining this with quick Hygiene gains from the Showers and the Health gains from the two Food servings gained from the guards at the end of Showers means that Caesara already has her stat maintenance taken care of when everyone else normally is done this by mid-Lunch. Like Jimmy once he gets his hiding spots established, this gives Caesara a lot of personal freedom to ignore most of the prison routine and do her own thing (assuming she avoids trouble). Even though Caesara can keep her own stats high throughout, it still might be best to join her teammates for Lunch or meet up in Recreation during Free Time for the sake of her teammates, at least for a short while -- the Unity boosts for 2 characters is slower compared to a full party of 3 spending time together. If Caesara stays out of trouble and keeps her Unity and Behaviour in good shape (no giant Behaviour drops from hiding/guard uniforms), then Caesara can reliably obtain 2 Food servings every Showers section, making it much easier to get Dog Affection to 100%, whether it be for standard Front Gate escapes or just deploying dogs to follow the party around. She can gain Food at a speed even higher than Claire in most scenarios, so Caesara can be a good party member for this purpose alone. While Caesara herself cannot go anywhere outside of the Showers and Hallways with the guards focusing on her, Caesara's teammates can. Though it is limited to the Showers schedule section, the rest of the party can leave the Showers once their Hygiene is back up to 100% to explore the prison layout early and take care of whatever tasks they wish (take food from the Kitchen, take metal scraps from Metal Shop, open mail in the Mail Room, take supplies from the Barracks/Doctor's Office cabinets, and so on). Note that 0% Behaviour will override Caesara's ability -- she can hit single digits for Behaviour stat and have her ability trigger, but if she falls to 0%, the guards will come after her to execute her. The Prison Break in action When it comes to carrying out a Prison Break, it may be best to have multiple plans on the go -- some item gains are random and some methods that require certain rooms may be harder to access based on prison layout and/or the weekly schedule. The strategies listed here are not the only way to go for Prison Break, but they are intended to allow any team to build up any approach and switch out to something else if they find they cannot pull off their original plan. Early game (Day 1) The general goal for the first day is to try and learn the prison layout while keeping stats at 100% from the daily routine and staying out of trouble. Though it is possible for Knight or Jimmy to find Shivs while mugging/hiding, or to find a Shiv when opening the mail (a penalty risk that is unlikely to be worth it at this point), your party will likely not have Shivs to defend themselves until they can get a hold of some Wood and craft it in their cells at night -- which also means they would benefit from not hiding at Night if they have Wood. Discovering the prison layout is also an important step -- if the player has no idea what rooms are where, they will not be able to take advantage of what those rooms have to offer or what series of smashed wall passages are easy to make use of during certain schedule sections. As a result, it is best to GENERALLY stick to the prison routine that the AI sets out, and only go outside of the routine to make use of the penalty-risk actions when the player is guaranteed to not get caught (guards not in the room and not smashing walls when player has no permission to be in a room). Cook and Caesara can get the ball rolling for prison layout discovery -- Cook can fake an injury to get immediate access to the Doctor's Office and see what smashed wall passages can be created from there, and Caesara can distract the guards while another party member does the exploring (after both hit 100% Hygiene). Knight should always be mugging NPC inmates and ensuring he stands near them when the schedule section ends to trigger his free mug. Claire should always be pickpocketing guards for Keycards (and maybe using Caesara's mass distraction or smashing a wall to get a guard to come in to investigate during Showers for an easier pickpocket), and Brooks should always be smashing walls for more Wood. If aiming for a riot, Tara can safely pick fights without needing to worry about defending herself (unlike Alberto, who has better gains, but will need to time picking fights to the last couple seconds of a schedule section). Jimmy will need to rely on Laundry and Storage (and build a box fort as soon as he can) for his hiding and item gains -- if these rooms are not found or Jimmy cannot access them early on, he won't be able to make use of his skillset. Alberto should also avoid doing Shift Work where possible to keep his Behaviour stat low. Cherry and Pound are also reliant on their teammates at this point -- they cannot do much during the day if Administration is still not discovered, and even if a large number of materials has been found, Pound must still wait for Nighttime to craft items. With guards patrolling the Hallways during the Showers section, the party can not go outside unless it is Caesara, or if Cook fakes an injury (a party member can also pick a fight in the Showers and get stabbed to go to the Doctor's Office if Cook is not a party member, if losing 1 Life Point on one party member is not an issue). At minimum, your party can smash whatever walls they can in the Showers, wait for the guards to come in and leave, then go through the smashed wall passages to determine what rooms the Showers are connected to. It is not recommended to smash walls in the connected rooms at this point, though, even as Brooks, since your party members will not have permission to be in the non-Showers rooms at that point -- the party won't have personal cell keycards at this point to break out and they need to work together to determine the prison layout and collect whatever items they can at this point. Once Claire's Hygiene is 100%, she might be able to try and rush to a nearby room and smash open the door, thanks to her 5 seconds of stealth -- this can also open up some early exploration on top of Cook/Caesara's. During Shift Work, your party may not be able to do much outside of their routine (unless smashed walls connect to Storage so that Jimmy can build/ hide in a box fort). Claire might be able to use her stealth to take food from the Kitchen, steal a metal scrap from the Metal Shop, open mail in the mail room or rush out to another room for more exploring, but she might not get to do more than that. She should keep pickpocketing, Brooks should keep smashing walls, Knight should keep mugging, and Alberto or Tara should keep picking fights (if a riot is a potential plan). If Alberto and Tara are in the party together, he should take priority over Tara for picking fights, though he should wait until the last couple of seconds to avoid getting stabbed in retaliation -- the exception to this would be if it is Lunch, as there is no transition section between Lunch and Free Time, which makes Tara a safer option here. During Lunch, the player won't be able to do much out of the ordinary aside from the usual Knight/Tara/Claire/Brooks unique actions and traits. Free Time has a bit more leeway, though -- the Cafeteria guard will leave for Recreation, so there is nobody to watch the player go into the Kitchen and steal some extra food or smash a wall or table in the Cafeteria (if Brooks is a party member he should do ALL of the smashing). The player will also have permission to go into the Library, which will be unguarded, so walls can be smashed and their passages used in the Library during Free Time (though it would be best to wait until the guards finish investigating before using the passages or smashing another wall). Before Free Time ends, it is best to finish up required miscellaneous tasks -- give all craftable items to Pound if he is a party member, have Knight stand near an NPC inmate for a free mug, and ESPECIALLY make sure Jimmy has a place to hide (even if this means waiting outside a room for guards to not have Jimmy in their cone of sight to enter Storage or Laundry). If Brooks is on the same team as Jimmy, he could smash 2 cafeteria tables to give Jimmy the supplies for a barricade if Storage or Laundry has not been discovered. If Jimmy is able to hide at this point, he can sneak into the Barracks at Nighttime to try and gain a Guard Uniform or Front Gate Keycard from their cabinets (AFTER waiting for the guards to return to the Barracks, if his teammates arrived at the cells too quickly). From there, Jimmy can quietly map out the rest of the prison for the party while grabbing Food from the Kitchen, grabbing a Metal Scrap from the Metal Shop, opening mail from the mail room and maybe spending some time building the car in the Metal Shop before returning to his hiding place. Mid game Once more of the prison layout has been determined and more items have been collected (especially Shivs and/or Guard Uniforms), the player can start taking bigger risks. Shivs can be used to kill guards in the Shift Work room so that penalty-risk actions can be done or the Shivs can be stockpiled for an upcoming riot. If a Guard Uniform has been obtained, the player can map out the rest of the prison, which is especially important for Cherry and Pound, who need the Administration room to be found and accessible. The exception to this would be if the player has relied on Tara to pick fights in front of guards -- she might need to spend more time doing Shift Work to make up for her Behaviour drops if Alberto is not a party member. Even if the rest of the prison is not mapped out by the end of Day 2, try to at least make sure it is by Day 3 -- the earlier, the better. At that point, Cherry should be able to rewrite the weekly schedule and start crafting false evaluations, while if Pound is a party member, he can start getting Blank Keycards and passwords from Administration, as well as light bulbs and buzzers from Storage and opening the mail. If Jimmy is a party member, he should have hopefully steady access to Storage through his box fort, which has a higher chance of obtaining Pound's unique crafting materials than opening the mail does. Knight, Claire, Brooks and Caesara should keep up their item gains, while Alberto/Tara can keep the riot levels high if that is the player's desire -- if Alberto has a guard uniform on, he can raise riot levels safely and quickly. If not going for a riot, Tara can shiv NPCs for extra items. If going for the "Fake Cook's death" method, going to the Doctor's Office to try and get Doctor Scrubs out of the cabinet is an important step to aim for (though the doctor will need to be shivved to access the cabinet). If the prison layout is mapped out and the weekly schedule in Administration has been read, it may benefit some characters to leave the Showers early and go to their shift work before the Shift Work (Transition) schedule section starts, if they can get there without getting caught. Since "once per schedule section" for actions includes transition sections, this means that a character can take food from the Kitchen twice in a row, open mail in the Mail Room twice in a row, and take metal scraps from the Metal Shop twice in a row (assuming it is someone who will not get caught, like Claire or the party with Alberto's low Behaviour/high riot level). As much as possible at this point, the player should also try and make sure they can explore at night -- exploring provides an extra 2 minutes of time per day for the character to gain extra items or take on other tasks (like building the car), so it is worth making use of as much as possible. Late game By this point, the player should have a good idea as to what final plan to pursue for their Prison Break. If they have a Front Gate Keycard (should be definitely obtained after a few days if Pound or Claire is a party member and are used effectively), a standard Front Gate approach or a Front Gate rushdown is open to them, and "Fake Cook's death" is doable, as well. If the Front Gate Keycard has not been obtained after a few days, it would be best to consider other options. "Other options" does not just mean considering other escape methods, but also more reliably focusing down where the Front Gate Keycard can be obtained -- namely the Barracks. There is a risk of permadeath here if caught inside it, but if the player has Claire's stealth or Alberto's party stealth/reduced Behaviour penalties, extra Guard Uniforms, or the Barracks connect neatly to an accessible area (like the Library), they can take that as an option. If that STILL is not enough, the player can unlock the Front Gate if Cherry crafts enough false evaluations to have guard morale hit 0%. If Cherry is not a party member and no Front Gate keycard is found, there are still two options left to the player -- the slow but safe "Build car"/"Drive car" option in the Metal Shop or triggering a riot. Alberto can help speed up the rate of riot, Tara can increase it safely, and smashing ALL the cafeteria tables will also raise riot levels at Lunch, but if done too early, will leave the player short on Health (lower movement speed during the riot is not good when you need to hurry past large groups of aggressive NPCs) and Unity (which might cause the inmates to attack your party way too much before a riot starts). The player can also have 2 of their teammates die permanently while the 3rd waits in the hallways for the gurney, so that they can pull off the "Climb into bodybag" escape method, but this will also not get the player the "I'll Come Back For You!" triumph or a true victory. If these don't matter to the player and/or the triumph is obtained, this is also a good option. Whatever method is decided on, give yourself time to go through the steps of the Prison Break in moderation -- more specifically, make sure you keep your Party Stats in good shape. Unity can be very difficult to get back up once it drops under 80%, especially if inmates keep attacking your party members (even if the character countershivs, they will likely be arrested by a guard or have to countershiv them, too) and Behaviour at 0% is practically a death sentence if the player is not able to kill the guard in their work room during the Shift Work schedule section so that they can build their Behaviour back up to at least 1%. |