by skidmarx » Thu Jan 15, 2015 8:57 pm
The apartment building at the far side of Central Square has given me a lot of trouble to work out, but there is too much good stuff on offer to ignore it.
In short, I do scavenge the building, but always take spare lockpicks and a shovel with me, clearing the tunnel access in the first visit for an easy and safe escape later. I am finding that if I am careful enough, I only need the one lockpick to get in. Secret is, don't push it. be slow and careful. I take 3 or 4 visits to clear the building.
Here's what I know:
If the occupant sees your character anywhere beyond the first locked door, the survivor will be asked to leave, and the door will be relocked. If you dare to go in again, you will be killed.
If you are trapped, and can safely hide until morning, then the survivor will be caught by the dawn, but will return safely.
You are safe if you exit immediately, OR GO INTO THE TUNNEL UNDER THE SQUARE. You have to dig the rubble pile blocking it, but if you have the shovel, you can do that quickly enough to save yourself, especially if it is the digging noise that alerts the occupant. As soon as you pass the building line (ie the vertical wall) of the building, the occupant will be satisfied you have left, and ignore you. You can wait out until dawn from there, if you have no means to re-open the front door (lockpick or crowbar). If you dare to trespass again and are seen (or take too long exiting), you will trigger a hostile reaction from the occupant.
Scavenging that tunnel is always my first target. There are up to three gemstones in it, so you can visit the market armed with nothing but a lockpick and shovel, and come away with significant traded goods.
I wait until the occupant goes to scavenge on the top floor, then pick the lock and walk down to clear the rubble with my shovel. Once I am in the tunnel I am safe from reaction. When done, I then wait a few yards into the tunnel, until the occupant returns to his flat, before walking to the exit.
I don't run, because if he hears a noise to investigate, the door will be relocked.
Oh, and it feels like the occupant is programmed to visit the top floor, once I peek through the keyhole at the front door.
Other things:
The location is public, not private. Everything apart from the ground floor flat is publically scavengable, and not stealing, including the grated and barricaded top two floors. But that occupant seems to perceive the building as his, and will first threaten, then turn hostile, if you intrude on his space.
The front door remains unlocked until the occupant sees you. If you enter and exit without being seen or heard, the door will still be unlocked when you visit the market on subsequent days.
You will be seen by market goers outside, if any have walked to the far left of the market region. You need to time your lockpicking not just for the occupant inside, but the marketgoers as well. I have even had the food trader chase me to go away, before I had finished picking the door.
The occupant does not seem to notice the sawn through grate, nor the unblocked top floor door. You could potentially hide in there, unless the occupant sees you fleeing. I have watched the occupant scavenging the top floor loot pile, peering through the keyhole from inside the top floor room, and been safe from detection. I waited until the occupant had re-entered his apartment before exiting.
The occupant only seems to scavenge one site near the door in the basement flat. You can go through the flat, to hide one floor up in the bathroom, if need be. But only if you have not caught his attention. Remember to walk, and close doors behind you. An open door triggers an alert the same way as hearing a noise, and the occupant investigates, and relocks the front door.
I find it helps to walk to the front door. Running seems to attract everyone's attention.
There was one instance, where the occupant was smoking outside, and I managed to exit the building behind him. By walking, and closing the door behind me, I was quiet and not seen, so I got away with it completely. Now I know better, I would not try that again.
Despite his locking actions, the door remains unlocked until the occupant knows you have been inside, after which it will be physically locked again. So even though I closed the door almost within touching distance of the guy, the door remained unlocked for me to visit again later!
I have resisted the option, but you could attack and kill the occupant easily enough. He shoots you with a pistol if you annoy him enough, so be careful. But if you cannot get through the rubble pile into the tunnel to escape his warnings to leave, a pre-emptive strike before he tries to kill you is probably your only chance of surviving. You might be able to beat him down enough that he begs for mercy and ceases fighting. That option never comes quickly enough for me - I always seem to fight to the death once a fight begins, missing the momentary pleas to stop in time to spare my victim.
Also, as already mentioned, killing the occupant outright turns the entire marketplace hostile.
If you really feel it is a no-way-out situation, then Escaping, and Continuing to restart the game from the previous morning is your only solution, as already mentioned.