A Tie to Die For

I love this challenge (and its prize). The “no pacification”, suit only, SA fiber wire kill make it one of the cleanest, most old school mission runs possible.

To really make it old school I add the “no emetic” challenge and have been doing every main story mission successfully up until The Ark Society, which I’m doing now. One of the more challenging so far but I’m confident I’ll find a solution.

I’ve got two snags though:

  • Soders, because he can’t be killed by fiber wire.
  • Ken Morgan: his route is too short and his bodyguard is scripted in such a way he never leaves his side. Even if I can get a distance between them by bumping into the guard repeatedly, it seems Ken always has eyes on him. But I still believe it can work, around the food tasting area. Theoretically his body could be hidden there but timing is everything.

Colorado and Mumbai were surprisingly easy, Whittleton Creek and Miami were especially fun to figure out, as well as Paris, but honestly each run was memorable in its way. The coin and some specific scripts are your friends, and I’m sure there are plenty of ways to approach it.

What was your Favorite map for this challenge? Cheesing it with Nightcall or up for a puzzle?

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Not true. If you get the note from Dexy Barrat from the member of the Class crew on the third floor, and leave it at the front desk in the lobby, Morgan will go into the basement and everyone will leave the room as he calls Dexy. This is where I fiber wire him whenever I use this method.

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How do you get the letter without pacifying the crew member though?

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I was talking solely about there not being a situation where Morgan’s bodyguard leaves him. This method is not usable for this challenge. For that, unless I’m forgetting this not being an option, bring an emetic device or Sieker and get Morgan and his guard together, and then deal with Morgan when they’re both in the bathroom.

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Guilty. I just wanted to be done with it, since it’s “just another fiber wire”.

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@Franz

I’m not sure if you like speedrunning but this is a tactic i figured out from the start.

loadout needed for entire mission:

Kruger/fiber wire/bomb/hacker keycard

After getting to the steps where i stop the video, just make yourself up the stairs and through the doors that go to the top of the atrium. Go across to the far doors on the left that go across the other side and shoot the camera and bullet distract the guys inside the tv room.

Enter there and take the pipe up that leads to the top floor and then get to Jordan’s mic room. Wait for him. Easy kill.

Bullet distract guys outside the room and make your way back to the stairs the same way you got there with more bullet distractions.

took me less than 7 minutes.

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That is awesome! Thank you for sharing. I always thought bomb reactions were inconsistent so I never really considered it as a strategy.

Jordan Cross I got by isolating him with his cake, but I prefer your method.

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Oh you can also bribe Morgan’s bodyguard. Fyi. :joy:

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@Franz you inspired me to do the same but I’m starting with the Sarajevo Six.

I think the toughest challenge for me will be the guy in Bangkok. I haven’t tried yet but from what i remember, i don’t have a strategy to isolate him or open an opportunity to FW him like it did with Morgan.

Here are 3 i just did. I just Fwd to the kills basically.

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Got him with my Upstairs/Downstairs trick. Lol

Here’s the mercenary and the controller (in 2 parts)

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Great stuff! I love this kind of runs!

Great job on the Mercenary. Seemed like a real head scratcher to me.

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It’s surprising to see how easy some targets actually are to get to in your suit. The biggest example is Vanya Shah isolating herself in an easy to reach area was the biggest surprise, I always dreaded that old station area. My approaches so far, all on Professional. Will try on Master later.

Freeform training: just wait for the meeting between Ritter and the white hat guy, in the room right behind Ritter’s computer. Note: Getting upstairs required a flashbang

Cuban airbase: before Knight enters the study, drop a weapon on the floor for his escorting guard to keep busy with while you wire Knight and hide his body. The weapon trick will feature often. Note: Time it so the General is not in the room.

Paris: Novikov was difficult to figure out. In the end I got him in the hallway between the diorama room and the stairwell, by Luring Kurt in the diorama room with coins and dragging Novikov into the stairwell. Note: they pass that hallway only once to make a phone call if you are in the area when they are backstage. Dalia was easy, just sit down as Rieper at the auction and she’ll isolate herself on her easy to reach bathroom. Note: this will be harder on Master as that bathroom is guarded. Will probably need the fireworks.

Sapienza: Snipe the virus, Caruso easy with video tape opportunity and DeSantis right after her meeting in the tunnel with the private detective as you hid in the dumpster right next to it.

Marrakesh: Coin lure Zaydan into the corner of the room next to where the guards are sleeping after having climbed up to there. Follow Strandberg as he goes into the room adjoining his office all alone.

Bangkok: Ken Morgan: https://youtu.be/qd_P-ZIdmSk?si=0w3746SGZPM7jjro (can’t take credit for this, just happy to confirm this works consistently) ; Jordan Cross: birthday cake opportunity

Colorado: Rose in his bathroom, Penelope as she watches the clock, Berg in the cellar after having put down two weapons on the ground for the two guards to find, Parvati by coin luring her in the pathway between the training hangar and the garage and strangling her in her way back, hiding her in the grass.

Hokkaido: Yamazaki with the sauna opportunity. Note: I need to block the door to the maintenance room in which I hid her body with a hammer in order not to be locked out. Solders is not possible so I just crushed his replacement heart.

Nightcall: Easiest is when Alma brushes her teeth, but plenty other opportunities.

Miami: Robert: sabotage the car, put down a weapon on his path, wire him in the open garage area where you can find a nitrobooster as his guard is distracted. Sierra: put down a briefcase in the small room next to the kitchen near the Draifganger party. She will come in, close the door behind her so her civilian stalker friend does not follow and see you strangling her.

Colombia: Andrea: window of opportunity as she leaves the meeting room in her house; Rico: put down trace of coins outside door behind two cleaning ladies near his museum (note: beware of guard and Catalina roaming outside); Franco: in the house with the helicopter guy, lure the latter outside with broken ventilation (timing is tight but doable). Guard guarding north door is surprisingly lenient.

Mumbai: Vanya Shah when she cleans her face, Maelstrom when he goes into the room to change clothes before meeting his Wife (hoist the flag), Rangan is left alone very briefly by his bodyguard when he makes a phone call on the floor where he has his prisoner. Just lure the guard in that area away with a weapon left On the ground and you have just enough time to wire Rangan and hide him in them nearby crate.

Whittleton: Janus: start the music record as he is just down the stairs. His bodyguard will stay downstairs long enough To leave you alone with Janus. Nolan similar trick by breaking his weapon glass just as he walks outside. Wire him as he stands in the doorway to the weapons room and hide him in closet nearby. His guard will be just too late, but beware the remaining guard Patrolling upstairs. The one inside the weapons room won’t notice.

Andaman Sea: Get Akka in the prison room after having placed a weapon just outside to distract her guard. Get Crest by setting Up the meeting and beating him to the meeting room (time the lighting of the antenna tower when Crest is at the restaurant or boat repair, have one of the guards in the tower area busy chasing Smith, pick the lock to the meeting room in advance) so you can wire him while he is having his whiskey.

Isle of Sgail: Sofia: put down some coins in the mercenary security room behind the couch. Zoe: pending :wink: the custodian repair room holds promise, so does the bathroom near her route (same goes for the Constant)

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I like threads like these. :slightly_smiling_face: I did a series of SASO no-KO no-loadout runs a while back; while some use accident kills that couldn’t be replaced with a fiber wiring, and some use emetics which you’re avoiding, some end with a stabbing or push that should be easy enough to replace.

It’s possible to get upstairs using only a coin or the lockpick. If using a coin, use it to lure the white-hat guy to open the gate at the right. From there you can get up to level 1 easily enough through the room at the front, then there’s a window you can climb out and get up to level 2.

Rose can also be gotten at the clock, and then you can use his body to open the convenient exit in the basement too. The tricky part is that his guard starts to come downstairs as soon as he dies, leaving only a narrow window to either hide the body or get it into the stairwell. And if going for the stairwell, if the guard in the basement is in the wrong place in his loop he’ll see you.

A way that I like is to get the car bomb and note, drop the bomb in the upstairs elevator room, then call him from a pay phone to set up the meeting, like in this video. His guard will take the car bomb away, leaving him alone for an easy kill.

You may also be able to do the hippo opportunity: throw in a meaty bone, then fiber wire him instead of pushing him in. Unless a guard returns too quickly after he dies?

UPDATE: Works fine.

Fixing the cocaine machine should also work, then fiber wire him instead of pushing him in. This one should give you plenty of time to hide (or process) the body. This video includes both of those methods.

I wonder if you could also do it by winning the slap game and having his guards find guns near the meeting spot, or if that breaks the meeting script.

UPDATE: This one is tricky to get to work. Crest has guard AI too, so he’ll take a gun if he’s the one to see it. But if you get past that, it doesn’t break the script.

For Sofia, the radio in the room next to the stairwell provides another good opportunity (video). Her guard may or may not follow her in; a pre-placed gun can handle that. P.S. The ledge to the mercenary security room’s window is blocked on Master, but if you bring a keycard hacker you should be able to get in the door.

For Zoe, you can light the money pit and she’ll isolate herself near the phoenix statue as shown later on in that same video.

As for the Constant, I know of two reasonably straightforward ways to capture him SASO without KO-ing him first, although one relies on one of those spots between areas that are incorrectly not-trespassing to work around it being impossible to talk to him while trespassing (which logically you should be able to do IMO) and the other takes advantage of an oddity in thrown-object investigation claiming. The descriptions of those videos link to others that show some more involved methods like extended coin luring.

Or if you meant fiber wiring him instead of capturing him, the first method there is also a good way to isolate him. :grinning_face:

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You just made me realize he also falls under the No KO rule. Somehow that escaped my attention. That’s a nifty puzzle I’m looking forward to! Thanks :smiley:

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I haven’t played Paris Master in ages but i believe the fireworks is on an npc which would mean a ko would need to be done in order to get it.

Correct me if I’m wrong

Consider yourself corrected. :slightly_smiling_face: The fireworks remote is still on the table in Master difficulty.

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For novikov, i went into that stairwell beside the diorama from the basement kitchen and placed a micro bomb beside the statue on the right (opposite side from the stage) and then went back into the stairwell where i place the briefcase on the floor so when Novikov passed by, he would go to pick it up. Just before he enters, i detonate the bomb so i can close the doors behind him and leave guards searching the area for the explosion while i FW novikov and drag him down the stairs and into the closet.

For Dalia, i went back to the main floor and got to the back yard where i went to the pipe to climb all the way to the top floor balcony. When i got to the top, i timed it where guards would be out of the way so when i enter that trespassing area that leads to Dalias bathroom, i shoot the railing so that guard comes search my spot. When he leaves, i jump over and get into the bathroom and hide into the closet for the guard to return. When he does, he faces outside so nothing to worry about. When dalia and his follower enter her office and start the conversation, i open the door from the bathroom to her office and place the gun i have just enough so the guard will see it, pick it up and take it away. So for Dalia, i use the big one firecracker and toss it behind the guy and then quickly FW Dalia and shove her in the closet. Then i make my way out the door that leads to the auction room and safety exit the mission.

You could start at the auction but then you lose your gun to shoot cameras so that’s why i chose to deal with novikov first. It just took a little longer but i felt it was safer.

In the end the custodian room wasn’t helpful because it’s also where found weapons get stashed. But the small kitchenette near the reception area where the cowboy is, a weapon for Zoe’s bodyguard and some placed coins made her an easy wire kill with a fridge to stash her in right next to it.

And I noticed the Constant is completely optional so I left him alone. The fact you can’t talk to him in trespassing areas is BS.

On to New York. The target should be doable but getting into that safe without KO’s and emetics will be sure to give me a headache! Those flashbang grenades in the guard room could come in handy though :slight_smile:

Oh, I thought you were planning on going for him for the extra challenge, not just because you forgot he was optional. :grinning_face:

It’s really not bad if you find the right thing to do. :wink: No flashbangs needed, and no tricky timing either.

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this tie surely is to die for