Witnesses and pursuit
Witnesses and pursuit describes how a guard moves from a visible event to suspicion, approach and dialogue. The same-release sources confirm the guard trigger conditions, two-stage random checks, stolen-item inspection branch, low-reputation branch, and panic or hostility escalation; the guard's exact vision value, a complete pursuit distance and every case's decay rules are not closed.
Contents
When the witness check runs
A guard does not search every turn unconditionally. The source continues only when the guard has just become visible, its field-of-view log timer is 0, the room allows punishment, and the guard is still neutral and working or idle. The player must also pass the guard's vision check and be within the guard's own vision radius. The current material does not provide a safe universal table of vision values.
| Condition | Player-facing meaning |
|---|---|
| Becomes visible while the visibility log timer is 0 | The same guard does not open a new check every turn |
| Room allows punishment dialogue | Some special rooms do not enter this guard path |
| Vision check passes and tile distance is within the guard's own vision radius | This check does not hit through a failed line-of-sight or beyond the guard's own radius |
The two suspicion checks
After the prerequisites pass, the source tries the stolen-item branch first: it supplies a base chance input of 5 times a modifier and also requires a marked stolen item to be found. If that does not make the guard suspicious, it checks whether settlement reputation is below 2000 and performs a second check with 0.5 times the same modifier. The modifier starts at 1; a reinforcements situation adds one condition and an equipped burglar backpack adds another, then the modifier is the condition count times 3 with a minimum of 1. The random helper treats inputs of 100 or more as guaranteed; this article keeps the source inputs instead of rewriting them as unverified fixed percentages.
| Branch | Additional condition | Chance input used by the source |
|---|---|---|
| Stolen-item inspection | A marked stolen item is found | 5 × modifier |
| Low-reputation suspicion | Owning settlement reputation < 2000; first branch did not resolve suspicion | 0.5 × modifier |
| Modifier | Reinforcements +1 condition; equipped burglar backpack +1 condition | max(1, condition count × 3) |
What the guard does after suspicion
When either branch resolves suspicion, the guard marks the player as a suspect and moves toward them. At interaction distance, a faction crime status above 0 opens the crime-punishment dialogue; otherwise the guard opens the crime-inventory check dialogue. After the dialogue, the guard clears the suspect flag and returns to its work route. A guard walking over is therefore not itself a fine or jail result; the punishment split is decided by the crime record and the following dialogue.
| Stage | Entry | Confirmed result |
|---|---|---|
| Mark suspect | Stolen-item or low-reputation branch resolves | Guard sets the suspect flag and approaches |
| Existing crime record | Reaches interaction distance with crime status > 0 | Opens the crime-punishment dialogue |
| Inspect items | Reaches interaction distance without a usable crime record | Opens the crime-inventory check dialogue |
Panic and hostility escalation
Some escalation paths turn on settlement panic: the map state becomes panic and simple NPCs no longer remain neutral. When a guard or another NPC becomes hostile, the player is added to enemy lists and the NPC begins attacking or pursuing. Panic does not disappear merely because the player moves one tile away. The source can pre-clear panic in a safe room when there is no active crime record and no enemy still pursuing the player; the normal pay-fine and jail paths also clear panic.
| State | Player impact |
|---|---|
| Settlement enters panic | Simple NPCs lose neutrality; enemy lists can spread |
| Settlement panic is cleared | Enemy lists and targets are cleared and non-work states restore neutrality |
| Safe room, no active crime and no enemy still pursuing | Panic may be cleared early |
How an active crime changes pursuit
When an active crime tracker or settlement panic exists, the NPC crime validator adds the player to enemy lists; non-guard NPC work states can also be interrupted. This check explains who treats the player as an enemy, but it does not replace the crime article's status, penalty and disposition flow. After the crime record is cleared, NPCs can recalculate their state from the map's panic and neutrality state.
- Crime and punishment
- Enemy behaviour · In development
Rules not yet closed
The same-release export does not provide a fixed vision value applicable to every guard, a complete pursuit distance and break-off rule, a full list of events that can trigger the witness check, or one table for time decay and pursuit duration for every offence. Do not read a guard seeing the player as a completed punishment; first check whether the stolen-item or low-reputation branch resolved, then follow the dialogue path after the guard arrives.