What do the three small bars behind someones Reputation tell me?

Question

There are three small bars that show up in the lobby just behind a player's reputation - what do they mean?

Asked by Ingmar

Answer

The bars correspond to the number of levels/upgrades the person has in the three upgrade trees. The bars are Assault, Sharpshooter, and Support from top to bottom.

For example, with the person you circled, you can see that that person (you, I presume) is about 2/3 of the way through the Assault tree, but only 1/5th of the way through Sharpshooter and barely begun leveling Support.

In contrast, the person beneath them (Landy), has barely any levels in Assault and Sharpshooter, but they're about halfway through Support.

It's basically an "at a glance" way to see how your companions have leveled and what skills/weapons they may have available to them. You should probably discuss what you have, regardless, so you know you have enough (or don't have too many of) Ammo/Doctor bags and the like.

Answered by FallenAngelEyes

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What is the point of taking hostages in Payday?

Question

I'm playing Payday for steam's free weekend, and notice that I can take civilians hostage. Other than preventing them from getting up and getting shot, is there any point to doing so?

Asked by Kexlox

Answer

The hostages system gives you the opportunity to free one of your teamates from jail. Since you can't really "die" in Payday, this is their "revival" system.

You can take civilians as hostages (just by shouting at them and handcuffing them) or even cops. Taking cops as hostages is a bit more tricky: you must hit them first (with a non-lethal shoot or with your melee attack) and then shout at them until they handcuff themselves (which will save you a pair of handcuffs).
Also note that you cannot accomplish that during an assault (indicated by the red triangle at the bottom of the screen).

If one of your teammates gets arrested, you'll have to wait the end of the assault plus the eventual time malus (if they killed civilians) to proceed to the trade.

Be careful with your hostages, because you cannot make them move. So if you leave them without surveilance, they can be freed by the cops.

Answered by Anto

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What's the exact effect of the security cameras in First World Bank?

Question

Does anyone know what's the exact effect of security cameras in the First World Bank mission? We played the mission with and without destroying the cameras, and we're not sure it's making a real difference. The Payday's wiki says this:

By the time you start heading to a room with a copier you probably have killed or tied up most of the bank security personnel and shoot some cameras to weaken future SWAT assaults on your team a bit.

But I doubt it. The only difference we noticed is that only two elevators' doors will open if you destroy the four cameras in the security hall. If you don't, the four gates will open.

Asked by Anto

Answer

The Payday's wiki now has more information about security cameras in general (and I confirm that from my own observations):

Destroying the cameras will "Reduce police intel" on your team, which will make it harder for the police to group up and find your squad, as they are forced to spread out and search for you. More often than not, if you or your team is within viewing distance of a camera, they will home in on you directly.

Answered by Gnoupi

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Is there enough XP to unlock every upgrade in Payday: The Heist?

Question

I've been playing Payday: The Heist, which has three upgrade trees (assault, sharpshooter, support).

Each time you gain a level, you proceed one step further up one of the trees. You can only ever be on one tree at any one time, though you can change which tree you're on instantly at any moment.

Right now I've been upgrading each tree equally. However, I'm starting to wonder: is there enough XP in the game to allow me to fully upgrade every tree, or should I pick the one I like most and upgrade only that tree?

Answer

Yes, there are currently 144 "levels" each level giving you the next upgrade in your currently selected leveling tree.

I'm pretty sure you can select which tree you're leveling by hitting tab + 1, 2, or 3, depending on which tree you want to level.

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How do you get the “But How?” achievement?

Question

There's an achievement for getting the armoured car to drop without shooting at it in the Slaughterhouse mission. Like the achievement says, but how?

Answer

It seems like you just have to survive three waves when the van is hanging, without shooting the wires that hold it up. The van will drop without you having to do anything.

This video might also be helpful:

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Does a trip mine's functionality change if you turn off the laser beam?

Question

I was reading Destructoid's interview with the developers of Payday: The Heist where they go through the arsenal of weapons. One of the devs had this to say regarding the trip mine weapon:

Insider hint: Put a trip mine on the ground, switch off the laser beam (yeah you can switch it on and off as you please) and then when some enemy who can take a LOT of damage (cough Bulldozer cough) stands near it, shoot at the trip mine (preferably with a weapon that has some spread, so that you know you'll hit it) and BAM! That sucker is GONE!

This seemed to imply to me that if you turn off the laser beam, the AI may be less likely to notice and/or react to the trip mine. Is this actually the case? Or does turning off the laser sight just make it so the trip mine must be manually detonated, allowing you to be more precise about its explosion?

I don't have trip mines yet, so I cannot test this myself.

Answer

The AI isn't particularly clever regarding trip mines anyway. With or without the detection beam, enemies will run through it. But the advice given in the interview works pretty well: put trip mines on the floor, turn off the detection beams and simply wait to have several enemis around it before you shoot it. There are even challenges/achievements for this ("Three guys went on a trip", etc).

However, some players think that trip mines can modify the path that police take to get to you:

It appears that the trip mine might be able to somewhat control the path that police take to reach you, as they can at times prefer to take alternate routes rather than detonating the mine. Though they will at some point push through the mine regardless.

Source: http://payday.wikia.com/wiki/Trip_Mine

But I sincerely doubt it. Maybe it only works in some simple or obvious cases. What I know: if you plant mines everywhere in Panic Room stairwells, police will use it anyway and trigger the mines...

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In Payday: The Heist, how do you get the “But How?” achievement?

Question

There's an achievement for getting the armoured car to drop without shooting at it in the Slaughterhouse mission. Like the achievement says, but how?

Answer

It seems like you just have to survive three waves when the van is hanging, without shooting the wires that hold it up. The van will drop without you having to do anything.

This video might also be helpful:

Check more discussion of this question.

What do the starred upgrades mean?

Question

Some of the upgrades in the Payday: The Heist have a star next to them. What does this mean? Is there some kind of prerequisite for it different from upgrading normally?

Answer

Starred upgrades can be toggled on and off by clicking on the star.

The reason is that these upgrades change the appearance of the weapon in a way that some players might not prefer. For example, if you'd prefer to use the simpler iron sights instead of the upgraded reflex sight on your M4 / AMCAR, you still can, even after passing the point in the upgrade tree where the reflex sight is applied to the weapon.

Cosmetic changes to weapons do not affect the underlying stat - for example, if you toggle off the damage upgrade for the revolver, the graphic will show the old style bullets, but you will still deal increased damage as if you had hollowpoints loaded. If you toggle off a functional upgrade (such as a reflex sight), your accuracy will still be increased, but obviously, you will lose the ability to use the sight.

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Is there enough XP in Payday: The Heist to unlock every upgrade?

Question

I've been playing Payday: The Heist, which has three upgrade trees (assault, sharpshooter, support).

Each time you gain a level, you proceed one step further up one of the trees. You can only ever be on one tree at any one time, though you can change which tree you're on instantly at any moment.

Right now I've been upgrading each tree equally. However, I'm starting to wonder: is there enough XP in the game to allow me to fully upgrade every tree, or should I pick the one I like most and upgrade only that tree?

Answer

Yes, there are currently 144 "levels" each level giving you the next upgrade in your currently selected leveling tree.

I'm pretty sure you can select which tree you're leveling by hitting tab + 1, 2, or 3, depending on which tree you want to level.

Check more discussion of this question.