Reupped by Tomelyr

How The Respawning Guard Really Works...
Hi guys,
I decided to do some testing about the new respawning guard feature. In particular i've analyzed how it works, so you can really predict when it will come.
As you may know it comes after you kill some guards... But how many?
Someone says 3, others says 2... There are rumours about even just 1.
And you know what? They are ALL right.

(Now i'm not going to discuss about how much sense it does, i'm just stating how this mechanic actually works)

Let's start by "dispelling the myths":
- Killing and Dominating are equal on the rules that spawn the guard. It doesn't matter if you dominate or kill a guard, the results are the same.
- It doesn't matter which guard you kill, it can be both a stationary guard or a patrolling guard, they all are considered the same. Except for the security room guard!
- Difficulties doesn't matter. If you play on Normal or Death Wish, the rules are the same.

So now that we have those myths/legends out of our mind let's go on.

Why for some people "that" guard spawn after different amount of kills/domination?
It's because there is an hidden meter that once filled spawn the guard. And to fill it up there have to be some incidents. So what constitute an incident? Well, obviously killing or dominating a guard. But there are other incidents that were hidden and so confused people on finding a general rule. One of those is destroying a camera. Yep, destroying a camera fills up this meter*. Another incident is any report from an alerted guard.** This means that even under an ECM Jammer, when a guard report something suspicious, it instantly fill up the meter.
On this note, it's important to say that once a guard started reporting in, the meter fills up instantly, and killing him does NOT increase the meter again. So killing a guard that already reported in, increase the meter the same as killing a guard who didn't report in. So there is no reason not to kill a guard who is reporting in something... The meter already filled up and won't fill up again if you kill that guard.

*Cameras destroyed after the security room guard is dispatched DO NOT count as incidents. So on Framing Frame Day 1 if you kill/dominate the security room guard, you can destroy all other cameras without it counting as multiple incidents. (Now, why would you do that anyway? I don't know, but i did in my tests. lol)

**Always on Framing Frame Day 1, guards that hear the hand dryer and change their path to go inside the bathroom count as guard who report in something suspicious.

So to summarize it:
The "Spawn Guard Meter" fills up with these following incidents:
- Killing or Dominating a guard.
- Destroying a Security Camera.
- A guard report in for any reason, or is lured by something (hand dryer)

Now, this meter totally fills up with 4 "incidents", and there is no way to reduce its "fill up amount".

As you may know there are 3 maps that had this feature implemented:
Framing Frame Day 1, Framing Frame Day 3, Big Oil Day 2.

I highly suspect that there is a fourth map, Firestarter Day 2, since it has a guard spawning on the street (added to the classic elevator spawns) if you fill up this meter, but i'm not sure if it had it even before Update 24. (I never had any reason to kill or destroy cameras on that day.)

So let's focus on these 3 maps.

Framing Frame Day 1:
Respawning Guard Meter Full at a value of 4.
- Destroying a Camera = Fill up the meter by 1.
- Killing/Dominating the Security Room Guard = DOES NOT fill up the meter.
- Killing/Dominating the Extra Guard who opens the door of the bathroom (Rare Event) =
DOES NOT fill up the meter.
- Killing/Dominating a Guard = Fill up the meter by 1.
- Guard Reporting anything = Fill up the meter by 1.
- Guard Lured by the Hand Dryer = Fill up the meter by 1
(A single guard won't in any way fill up the meter by more than 1. So let's say if a guard get lured in the bathroom, see a dead body and report in, and then is killed by you, it would still count as the meter filled up by 1, not 3... I know it's an exagerated example, but i think it will make things clearer)
Also, on this map there is a Security Room Guard. Killing/Dominating him DOES NOT count as an incident, and it doesn't fill up the meter. So you can actually take out 4 guards, if one of these guards is the Security Room guy. It also disables all the cameras, so you don't have to deal with them anymore.
If you get the random event where there is an Extra Guard in the bathroom that open the door, you can dispatch him too without filling the meter, so in that particular case you can have UP to 5 guards dispatched without the infamous guard spawning:
The Extra Guard in the bathroom, the Security Room Guard, and 3 other Guards as normal.

Framing Frame Day 3:
Respawning Guard Meter Full at a value of 4.
- Destroying a Camera = Fill up the meter by 1.
- Killing/Dominating a Guard = Fill up the meter by 1.
- Guard Reporting anything = Fill up the meter by 1.

So to speak you can avoid the spawn of a guard having a combinations of:
- 3 Cameras destroyed.
- 2 Cameras destroyed, 1 Guard taken out.
- 1 Camera destroyed, 2 Guards taken out.
- 3 Guards taken out.

Big Oil Day 2 has some differences... It was a pain in the beginning to understand how this map worked (with the correct engine), and it was AGAIN a pain to understand how it works with this new mechanic. What a coincidence eh?
Respawning Guard Meter Full at a value of 4.
- Destroying the 1st Camera = Fill up the meter by 1.
- Destroying the 2nd Camera = Fill up the meter by 3.
- Killing/Dominating a Guard = Fill up the meter by 1.
- Guard Reporting anything = Fill up the meter by 1.

So to speak you can avoid the spawn of a guard having a combinations of:
- 1 Camera.
- 1 Camera, 2 Guards taken out.
- 3 Guards taken out.

When the meter is filled, the guard spawn near instantly... Within 5 seconds for sure, but he takes his time from his spawn point to reach the area where the actual stealth is going on. (Except for Framing Frame Day 3).

The spawned guard will respawn everytime he will be killed. but it WON'T respawn if you dominate him.

So there it is... As a general rule, if you don't touch Security Cameras (and you can't anyway on Death Wish), you can take out 3 guards safely.

I hope this guide clarified how the new system works, so players can now 100% predict when a guard will spawn, so they can more efficiently handle this new stealth system, without having the burden of "not knowing" when the new guard will come.

It is now actually possible to go dominating the spawned guard safely before it enters the stealthing area. Just keep in mind how filled up this "hidden meter" is and when you counted your last infraction that triggers the guard you can go to dispatch him safely.

As a last note, i'm sure most of you now know the spawn points of the guards, but for those who don't:

Framing Frame Day 1:
From both the ends of the street in front of the gallery.

Framing Frame Day 3:
From the bottom of the stairs.

-Big Oil Day 2:
From the far ends of the path that leads to the house. (That path that goes down from the front gate)

Forgive me for my not perfect English and if you don't understand something, tell me and i'll try to edit this guide to better explain it! ;)

Gcarrara

EDITS:
- Forgot about the Hand Dryer on Framing Frame Day 1. Thanks to Seven who reminded me!
- Forgot about Disabled Security Cameras (Security Room Guard dispatched) NOT filling up the meter.
- Fixed an error about the Security Room Guard filling up the meter if killed. It actually DOES NOT. I don't know how i didn't notice it before. Also included an event where there might be an extra guard in the bathroom that opens the door that is usually pick-locked. Killing/Dominating that Guard DOES NOT fill up the meter. For some reason during my 30 tests on this map it never spawned, so i totally forgot to test how it would change when he spawn.



TO DO TESTS:
See if guards lured by drills count towards filling up the meter like the Hand Dryer does.
(Pretty difficult and time consuming, it might take some time, since by the time the guard spawned and started walking in a visible area, the lured guards might already have seen the drill, and not counting it anymore as a "luring" but as a "saw something suspicious and reporting in". Also doubtfully doable alone. Probably 2 players minimum needed.