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PREVIOUS MISSION THIEF
2 NEXT MISSION Mission 12: Kidnap [This
report has recently been verified with TFix/NewDark 1.27. No changes exist between OldDark and NewDark for this
mission, as far as ghosting is concerned. Keep in mind that there is a
difference between playing the game in NewDark with
or without TFix. TFix
updates the core mission files, as well as applies .dml
files that tweak the environment in numerous ways. These changes aren’t
supposed to have a significant impact on gameplay, but when ghosting, slight
changes could occur. If wanting as close to the “vanilla” experience as
possible, install just NewDark, without any further
patches. I have ghosted the game 1) in OldDark, 2)
in plain NewDark, and 3) in NewDark
with TFix.] Believe
it or not, Kidnap is one of my favorite missions in the game. I rank it in
the top 5, along with ‘Precious Cargo’, ‘First City Bank and Trust’, ‘Life of
the Party’ and ‘Sabotage at Soulforge’. It is very
hard, especially if going for all the loot and gear, and even more so if
Supreme Ghosting. But as I’ve alluded to before, many missions in Thief 2 are
just too easy, which in my eyes make them boring. Kidnap also has one of the
niftiest Ghost moves in history. I’m of course talking about Sneak’s
‘Unhooking the Caboose’. I can’t even imagine how much experimentation lies
behind that endeavor. Situations like such make missions memorable, and
that’s exactly what Kidnap is. Overall score: 8.7/10 Not much had changed
objective-wise since the start of Precious Cargo. The instructions said to
“find and kidnap Brother Cavador, and take him with
you when you escape”. Kidnapping implies blackjacking, and I obviously
couldn’t take him with me unless he was unconscious. The 1 damage was
therefore excused, but no other busts could be incurred in the process. As of
now, the only other important objective was to find a sample of Karras’ New Scripture. I am happy I read Sneak’s archived report of this mission before I
started my Ghost run. I had failed to realize that Cavador’s
trio doesn’t start patrolling until you read the papyrus revealing his route.
I thought they started patrolling as you enter the K.D. site, or even at the
start of the mission. The fact that you can control their patrol like this
makes the entire mission a lot more attractive. I absolutely hate (with extreme and utter passion)
timed video games. I enjoy doing things at my own pace, being as thorough as
I can, until I feel comfortable moving on. If I would’ve had to find Cavador within a certain amount of time, this mission
would have plunged to the bottom of my list. I know that wouldn’t have done
the mission justice, but that simply reflects my revulsion of time
requirements. I’ll take Yoshi’s Island over Super Mario World any day of the
week. This also meant my way through the mission changed. I planned on
clearing the sites first and then unhook Cavador
towards the end. The main reason being the green lights that turn on at each
site as the trio passes through. Not having to deal with those would make
eliminating first alerts easier, or should I say less excruciating. Although
I knew Supreme would be busted during the kidnapping (due to engine
exploits), I was determined to reduce other busts (first alerts and
consumables) to an absolute minimum. The main base was simple. Nothing to report there. I dropped the
papyrus map back for Supreme right away. The site numbers remained on my map.
Brought Cavador’s itinerary with me without reading it. Garrett gave a
verbal acknowledgement if doing so, indicating the start of his patrol. As
mentioned, I wanted to delay that until everything was ready. I couldn’t
close the bay door leading to the K.D. site. My first Supreme bust. There
should’ve been a lever to close it on the other side. Are guards entering
just to leave it open like that? Seemed strange for a place with such tight
security. And what about people needing to leave? Site 8 I always go
for all the equipment in addition to loot. I don’t bring it with me due to
the Supreme rules (unnecessary pickups are busts), but I like the added
challenge seeing if it’s possible. My first such challenge came from the
southeast building at Site 8. The gear was in the second, slanted building (a
potion and two mines), protected by two guards and a camera (left image
below). There was a third guard in the room across the site, but he was
irrelevant for now. I could drop straight down and run into the doorway
timing only the patroller and the watcher. The female arbalist in the
building underneath was out of my view. Her range was blocked by the window
frames. Getting back to the roof was the real problem. The patroller walked a
fair bit past the camera before he pivoted. If the watcher swung away during
the last stretch of his patrol, I could make a run for it. The woman easily
made comments when stepping on the exit ramp. Both ramps had metal sides, so
I had to stay off those. The timing had to be perfect, plus the mantle onto
the roof had to be out of view of the woman inside the window (right image
below). I did need to climb the ramp some, to even be close enough for the
mantle. Tough move this, but I came clean without any alerts. I moved along the rooftops
and reached the building with the loot in the northeast corner. Unfortunately
it had to be skipped for Supreme. Picking the lock to the chest alerted the
stationary guard downstairs. There is no need to fiddle with those sorts of
busts. You just take it and move along. Plain Ghost mode was in the clear to
take the nugget, as it was only a first alert. The patroller could also alert
from this, so I picked it when he was further away, just to eliminate the
extra comment. Site 7 Entering Site 7 from the
east involved dodging two watchers and a patroller. I could rush across the
street and hide in the shadows along the wall. I inched up towards the lamp
and found the sweet spot (left image below). At the perfect moment, I could
swing around the corner and into the dark house there. No chirps from either
watcher in the process. I could reach the loot and the equipment from the south building in the main courtyard
without any trouble. All it took was a hop through the broken wall. There was
another piece of loot in the northeast building, a well-hidden stack of coins
behind a bucket (right image above). The last piece was an artifact on the
outside table. I didn’t find any way to obtain this keeping Supreme intact,
so I had to make another skip for that mode. The stationary mechanist by the
ramp on the west side always gave a comment when I leaned in for the grab. I
could wait for the gap in the watcher’s view like in the picture, but as soon
as I rounded the corner, he alerted. There was no shade around and no way to
turn off the lights (which would’ve busted Supreme anyway). I gave
getting the gear inside the west control room a real shot. There was no real
point in getting it, but it was fun trying. The guy inside had his back
turned the entire time. The closest I got was hunt mode from the female by
the outside control box. That was after mossing the
ramp and doing a running jump from the south roof (right image above). I
avoided chirps from both watchers, and only received a comment from the ramp
guard. The southwest corner beside the ramp was dark, but there was no way to
reach it as the guard was too close to the wall. I even tried squeezing in
there from directly above, but I bounced off his head into the courtyard. I
figured I might have been able to wait out the first alerts from those
shadows and then quickly mantle up the ramp and sprint inside before getting
busted. I could have tried to wait him out to see if he idled/fidgeted away
from the wall, but I decided not to bother. I managed to enter, grab the items
and leave, only spawning a first alert from the ramp guard, but it required
the use of an invisibility potion. So if you value the gear over the potion,
go right ahead. Site 2 The only viable entry
point was from the east. Plenty of patrollers in this area. Picked three
purses here, at least. Read the master builder scripture and grabbed the gold
plate. Not much more to report. The gear in the
arena again couldn’t be taken without the use of an invisibility potion (left
image below). Then it was reachable without as much as a first alert. As
before, it’s up to the individual player. Flares are pure junk, so I left
them be. There were some arrows too, but still wasn’t worth it. Site 4 Nothing to report. Piece
of cake, except for the equipment. Three water
arrows, one gas arrow and an orb lay in one of the eastern ruins (right image
above). I could drop down alert-free east of the female archer up top, then
sneak behind the buildings and peek out from the front corner of the ruin.
Despite rushing, I couldn’t enter the doorway leading to the gear without
raising havoc. Yet again, an invisibility potion made it available within
Supreme rules (except the potion being a bust of course). Site 6 The only piece of loot here was the drill bit on top of the lift. It
was an objective, but not mandatory since the objective wasn’t in the task
list yet. I could reach it easily enough, by roping up a hole in the south
ruins and dropping to a slope behind a lava pool. Getting back without alerts
was the problem. Sliding down east of the lift was safe, but sneaking behind
the bot into the aforementioned ruins ticked off the female sentry. I could
jump onto and past the robot with only a first alert, but I wanted to keep
Supreme intact for this one. I reloaded and brought a crate from close to
site 3 to experiment. I found it was possible to mantle back up the ruin wall
despite the ground being sloped. I couldn’t leave the crate though, so I had
to grab it during the mantle. Garrett can actually grab the crate, then quickly jump and still make the mantle successfully (left image
below). It was a little tricky to find the correct placement and angle, but
also well worth it. No comments from the guard at all. Site 1 The only
objects in here worth mentioning were weapons. A mine and two fire arrows on
the ground in the deep pit. There were more arrows and a piece of loot on the
upper walkways, but they were all reachable without much trouble. I thought
long and hard about how to approach the pit before I realized one of the
switch mechanisms down there was operational. Most of the sites had similar
machines either nonfunctional or just setting off the alarm. Operating the
lights would obviously go against Supreme, but getting the gear within those
rules wasn’t reasonable anyway. Reaching the switch from the dark tunnel
proved difficult, so I thought of a different maneuver. The two closest guards
have a conversation early on. One is muttering about extra work and the other
is adjusting his attitude. They didn’t talk that long, but it was enough.
From the high ledge to the west I could drop onto the alarm lights, and
further onto the antenna machine underneath. From the corner on its south
side I could reach the light switch out of view of the mech
priest still talking (right image above). This enabled me to move around a
lot more freely. Timing the female patroller I could sneak along the wall where
the light was now off and grab the mine. Totally without comments. The fire
arrows were tougher, as they were still lit up by the spot lights east of the
big engine. I dropped onto it from the big silo above and this luckily kept
me away from said lights. Inching to the engine’s west margin I could drop to
the ground, snag the arrows and mantle back up directly. I got chatter from
the whole bunch, but all within plain Ghost rules. I put auto-equip to ‘off’
first just to be sure. I could mantle back up via the lights and the pipe.
Although it wasn’t necessary, I like to return everything to how it was, so I
turned the lights back on. Received some more comments in the process. On my
way out I heard another settling remark from the southeastern guard down
below. I realized he must have alerted from the sound of the switch being
operated. Sometimes they give delayed settling remarks from those alerts. Unhooking the
Caboose Ok, it was time for the
big move. For those of you unfamiliar with the problem, I’ll quickly break it
down for you. Cavador and his two buddies don’t patrol
in the traditional fashion. In fact, the only one with the “normal” patrol is
the guy in the front. He is vulnerable to knockouts of any kind. Cavador’s patrol is linked to his. He follows him
wherever he goes. Cavador can be blackjacked but
not gassed. The backmost guard has Cavador as his
lead, following him in the same fashion as the two in front. He is
susceptible to gas arrows but not the blackjack. In addition, blackjacking Cavador makes a lot of noise, enough to alert anyone
within a 10 meter distance or so. That whole setup makes for a very difficult
kidnap. There is thus a dire need to separate the three of them, and therein
lies the conundrum. Sneak found the best place to do so at the northern end
of site 3. There is a small hole in the wall directly above a gas lamp. Close
to this location is an earthen ramp. This is the perfect place to block the
patrolling iron beast and consequently the Cavador-trio.
It was necessary to douse the lamp from the ledge of the hole first. There
was no way to complete the “unhooking” without that lamp being out. With that
light source gone, it was possible to get the equipment from the footlockers
below without any alerts. I had to time all the patrollers and both watchers,
but I could drop to the alarm machine below via the various ledges on the
north side (right image above). The eastern wall down there was fairly dark,
although it could set off the watcher on the level above. I mantled the
engine and dropped onto the footlocker on the opposite side. From here I
snuck over to the ladder and waited at the top. When the coast was clear I
rushed and hid in the corner to the east of this next footlocker, grabbing
the gas mines on the way. I was safe from any alerts here if crouching (left
image below). The male patroller came close, but his route was just far
enough away not to notice. I could escape by encircling counterclockwise, but
that always spawned a first alert from the female patroller. She never had
her back fully turned, and the east wall was very bright. Instead I waited
until they both headed north like in the picture. With a little luck, the
iron beast was also facing away. Timing the watcher I then climbed the ladder
in the southwest corner and rushed along the south wall to exit. Not a single
peep from anyone. Great! I hauled three boxes from
the site 4 train tracks and one from the site 2 storage room. They were the
closest I could find. What made this entire upcoming set of moves a lot easier is when I found you could mantle the
aforesaid gas lamp directly from the ground. Then I could mantle up the hole
while staying completely dark. This meant I didn’t have to think about
running around the room or making a box-staircase once the opportunity to
blackjack Cavador presented itself. I could wait on
top of the lamp and observe their movements. To prep the stage I placed a
stack of two boxes a good crate-length out from the corner, right at the top
of the ramp. I needed two because, although the iron beast only needed one to
be blocked, human enemies passes straight through single boxes and needs a
double stack to get jammed. This was a very safe obstruction for the robot. I
didn’t ever see him budge and squeeze through. The third box was placed by
his left foot close to the wall. This was to force the patrollers around the
bot so they didn’t get stuck in the corner by his furnace. The box didn’t block
them, but AIs do attempt to move around objects of this kind. Anyway, this
was enough to lead them around on the right. The fourth and last was put at
an angle out from the robots right leg. This was only to prevent him from
moving around and letting the trio through too easily when they came back.
This was the hooking juncture, so I didn’t want the setup to give them too
much of an opportunity to wedge between him and the corner. The image above
to the right shows my final system. This would prove to be the successful
one. Cavador
and his team came strolling about 7.5 minutes after reading the papyrus. The
lead guard (Sneak calls him the Engine) pushed past the robot on his way back
fairly easily. It didn’t take more than 20 seconds or so for him to continue
his patrol. Cavador started running once the lead
got a fair bit away. I quicksaved, and every time
10 seconds or so passed by without Cavador getting
through, I saved again. Occasionally he would get through on the south side,
around the two-box stack. As the lead passed in the tunnel behind me, Cavador finally crammed past the robot and kept running
around the site (left image above). The hind guard (the Caboose) was still
stuck. I saved here and waited for Cavador to come
by. He did and then conveniently stopped in the sloping cave to the west
(right image above). This wasn’t a fluke as replaying the scenario several
times generated the same outcome. I happily clobbered him. The Caboose had
gotten through at this point, but too late to hear the thump. He stopped in
the site’s southern ramp once Cavador was out of
commission (left image below). I deposited Cavador’s
body in the empty ruins to the west of the path leading to site 5. I had to
go rob his quarters before the lead guard returned. [Update May 9th, 2021: Huge news!! Cavador’s kidnapping situation has had a major
breakthrough! If triggering his patrol from the north side of the hallway
just outside his quarters, you can block his patrol in order to distance him
from the lead. This is a perfect shadow, so Garrett will not get caught in
the process. With a bit of luck, the door will shut behind Cavador and the caboose will not hear the knockout (right
image above), however it can be done even if the door remains open, as long
as the caboose opens the door after
the knockout blow. Furthermore, the caboose will station himself facing
southwest just inside the bedroom door, so you can approach the quarters from
the north in order to get the candlesticks and Cavador’s
diary (left image below). It is a bit difficult to get Cavador
out of Site 5 undetected, but it can be done by dropping to the lower level
between the watcher and the pivoting guard, timing the downstairs patroller.
Although blocking Cavador in the doorway is an
engine exploit and still a Supreme bust, this is a massive improvement on
Sneak’s original method. It eliminates the need to douse the gas lamp,
stacking boxes on a patrol route, or getting a first alert from the lead if
he spots the lamp being out. Big thanks to noname
for discovering this!] Site 5 The only real issue was getting to the upper floor unseen. I couldn’t
fool the watcher and had to rope up the beam in the hall to its west. There
was a stationary guard and a watcher upstairs. The guard turned frequently,
but I could safely monitor him from downstairs. I managed to avoid a comment
by keeping a loose drawstring and placing the arrow as horizontally as
possible. If it hung straight down, the guard would see it and say something
like: “This is not the work of a mechanist!” Those comments don’t have
settling remarks, but counts as first alerts nonetheless. Climbing the line I
could hide from the guard’s view behind the beam (right image above). Timing
the watcher I then hopped northwest and hid behind the pillars. Cavador’s room had a single patroller, but she was no problem to deal with. I
could follow her and stop at the end of her patrol as she turned. Took the
loot from this floor and headed downstairs. The purse and the flash bomb in the southeast bedroom were inaccessible for Supreme. The sleeping
guard awoke when picking the footlocker. I could still avoid hunt mode by
picking it from on top of the other chest (left image below). Had to
backtrack upstairs, through Cavador’s, and slip
down from the north side behind the camera. Went back to site 3 and returned all the crates to their original
location. Relit the gas lamp as I mantled up the hole for the last time. The
iron beast was happily back at his patrol. I replaced Cavador’s
key and the itinerary papyrus for Supreme. Picked up his body back at the
ruins and headed for the exit. [Update May 9th,
2021: WheretIB2 discovered a very neat method for blocking the bay door from
shutting, thus eliminating the Supreme bust! You can toss a crate into the
south corner from atop the ramp on the door’s west side (right image above).
It has to be sitting up straight and not at an angle, and it has to be as far
south as possible. As the bay door closes, the crate snags on the metal frame
and starts spinning, and thus slows down the door’s closing mechanism (left
image below). The door should still be on its way down once you get there, if
you are quick after flipping the switch, enough for Garrett to squeeze
underneath it before it closes. When the door shuts, the crate will fall to
the ground so you can return it.] Site 9 The watcher at the entrance proved difficult until I found the right
method, then it was a walk in the park. I simply sprinted from the left
opening as the watcher started to swing away (right image above). It turned
all the way to the back wall, giving plenty of time for me to enter the room
around the left corner. I spent a long time trying to hide directly
underneath the watcher and run straight along the wall here, but could never
get that to work. The first method proved better. Finished the mission upstairs. Supreme failed, but without a single
first alert! Statistics: Time: 2:28:24 Loot: 2988 out of 2988 [Supreme: 2738 out of 2958] Pickpockets: 10 out of 11 Locks Picked: 7 Secrets: 1 out of 1 Back Stabs: 0 Knockouts: 1 Damage Dealt: 1 Damage Taken: 0 Consumables: None Ghost: Success! Perfect Thief: Success! Supreme Thief: Failed! Perfect Supreme Thief:
Failed! (Norwegian
Thief: Failed!) Notes: -
Had to skip the gold nugget (100)
in the chest at Site 8 for Supreme. The stationary mechanist on the floor
below alerted from the lockpicks. -
Skipped another piece of loot
(20) on the outside table at Site 7 for Supreme. The stationary mechanist in
the yard commented, and I wasn’t able to find a way around it. -
Skipped the
equipment (noisemaker, flash bomb and healing potion) inside the western control
room at Site 7. It busted even plain Ghost trying to get in there. -
Skipped 4 flares
and 3 broadheads in the arena at site 2. There was
no way to get it without a bust. -
More gear was
skipped at site 4 (water arrows, gas arrow and scouting orb) for the same
reasons as above. -
Site 1 had one mine
and two fire arrows that couldn’t be taken within Supreme rules. I had to
turn off the light to reach either, and received first alerts from all four
stationary guards when taking the fire arrows. Received further first alerts
when turning the lights back on, although this isn’t required following plain
Ghost rules. -
(Had to stack four boxes on the
patrol route of the site 3 iron beast to “unhook” Cavador
and the Caboose and thus complete the kidnapping objective. This is a Supreme
bust. It is also considered an engine exploit, but that is allowed as a last
resort for plain Ghost. One water arrow was needed to douse the gas lamp
nearby. Another Supreme bust. All the crates were returned and the lamp
relit.) Update May 9th,
2021: The above note is now obsolete! The only Supreme bust from
kidnapping Cavador is blocking him when he comes
out of his quarters at Site 5. This is an engine exploit, but allowed as a
last resort for Ghost. This method has been verified to work both in NewDark and OldDark. -
Knocking out Cavador
is implied by the objective. No bust of any kind. -
Skipped a purse (100) and a flash bomb in the southwest bedroom at site 5
for Supreme. The sleeping guard alerted from the lockpicks. -
Couldn’t close the bay door to
the K.D. site. Supreme bust. Update
May 9th, 2021: WheretIB2 discovered you can block the bay door
with a crate, as shown in the images above. The Supreme bust is thus avoided! -
Supreme Ghost’s loot total is 30
less, since I skipped a purse worth 30 in Precious Cargo. |
