Rapture Security

As Ryan’s plans for a capitalistic Utopia began to vanish, he saw to it to have an elaborate security system installed throughout Rapture. It is a multi-layered fabric of Security Cameras, Turrets, and Security Bots, all of which have been programmed to detect intruders like you and kill on sight. Luckily, all of these dastardly creations can be turned against the Splicers and Big Daddies they normally ignore, making them unlikely but vital allies.

Security System

When a Security Camera emits a bright cone of white light, it has caught a glimpse of you and is trying to focus on you. If you stay in its field of view for a few seconds it will see you clearly and sound an alarm. If you duck out of sight before the light turns red, the camera will soon return to its unalerted state.

While the alarm is on, Security Bots will seek you out and try to kill you. Alarms typically last for a while, but can be manually turned off at a Bot Shutdown Panel. If you shut off the system at a Bot Shutdown Panel, the Security Bots go dormant and can then be hacked. When the alarm ends, any active Security Bots fly away.

You can also end an Alarm by successfully hacking the device that triggered it. In this case, however, the active bots will fly home, instead of going dormant.

Cameras can be destroyed with your weapons. Armor-piercing or electrical attacks are most effective. The Security Command Plasmid can also be used to distract or retarget enemy security.

You can also Hack Security Bots, Cameras and Turrets, so think twice about destroying them.

Security Camera

Security Cameras are most commonly mounted near doorways and in the vicinity of safes and other high-value targets. The Security Cameras pan back and forth over the area, emitting a faint glowing light that betrays their presence. They can also be heard as they move as well as when they zoom on a potential intruder. It takes several seconds for a Security Camera to detect an unauthorized intruder, during which time you can take cover out of sight, hack the Security Camera, or destroy it. Failing to avoid detection results in a security alarm being sounded and a never-ending stream of Security Bots being summoned to the location until the alarm countdown ends. Although it can be tempting to destroy most Security Cameras you encounter, they are much more useful hacked. A hacked Security Camera sounds the alarm and unleashes a pair of Security Bots on the Splicer that triggered the alarm. Consult the maps throughout the walkthrough portion of this book for the locations of each Security Camera. It’s best to use the Hack Tool to distance-hack every Security Camera you see, as soon as you spot it.

Security Bot

Security Bots are only active once an alarm has been sounded, the result of either detection by a Security Camera or a failed hack attempt. When active, the Security Bot hovers around the room seeking the target that triggered the alarm in attempt to shoot it with the Security Bot’s twin machine guns. If you find yourself being pursued by Security Bots, head at once to a nearby Bot Shutdown Panel and disable the Security Bots. If no such panel is nearby, know that Security Bots can be taken out of flight with a blast of electricity, at which time they are vulnerable to hacking. You should always hack Security Bots when given the chance, as they then hover around you and automatically attack anything deemed hostile to you, namely everything you encounter. You can have up to two Security Bots protecting you at once. Upgrade the Security Command Plasmid to gain the ability to summon Security Bots at any time. Another valuable tactic is to locate a Bot Shutdown Panel near a vending machine or other hackable device and intentionally stop the needle in the red zone during the hack attempt. This triggers an alarm and sends two Security Bots your way. Pull the lever on the Bot Shutdown Panel to drop the Security Bots to the floor, hack them, and make them yours!

Turrets

Turrets are the lone gunmen of the security system. They have their own intruder-detection capability and open fire as soon as one is detected. Most Turrets are equipped with a high-caliber machine gun, but there are also those with the ability to fire rocket-propelled grenades. Although Turrets can be very dangerous, they have several drawbacks that make them somewhat easy to avoid. For starters, they are stationary. They can rotate in place but they cannot move—this makes it easy to take cover out of sight. Secondly, it’s possible to hear them starting up their motor after they detect a hostile intruder. Listen for the sound of a small engine warming up and quickly back away! Lastly, their detection system has a red light that can sometimes be seen from a moderate distance. Whenever you encounter a Turret, either fire a Hack Dart at it or quickly hit it with Electro Bolt, then rush forward and hack it. This technique makes it automatically open fire on your enemies and provides you with helpful backup. This is especially important when there is a Gather nearby, as in Ryan Amusements.

Security research bonuses