In Hiding

Participants in a Criminal Plot who have completed their mission or find that they cannot complete their mission for any reason will attempt to Go Into Hiding. Once an enemy agent has gone into hiding, they cannot be located anywhere in the game until the end of the mission.
The hiding agent's Suspect File will list them as being "In Hiding".
==Causes==
Enemy agents can go into hiding for two reasons:
#The agent has completed his mission.
#The agent cannot perform his next task in the mission.
Only agents who Participate in the current Criminal Plot can go into Hiding. Red Herring Agents will never go into hiding.
===Mission Completed===
Any Participant who has completed the set of tasks he was supposed to perform during the current Criminal Plot will attempt to go into hiding. This can occur any time after the last task on the agent's list is performed successfully, but usually occurs within 12 or 24 hours of the last performed task.
Due to the delay between the last task and going into hiding, there may be a way to prevent an agent from going into hiding other than arresting him: by confiscating an item that this agent had acquired by performing a Minor Crime. If, upon trying to go into hiding, an agent discovers that the item has been confiscated by Max and no longer exists anywhere, instead of going into hiding the agent will perform the Minor Crime again to re-acquire the item. Read more on this below.
===Cannot Complete Mission===
If at any time a Participant discovers that he cannot possibly perform the next task on his list, he will attempt to go into hiding.
For most participants, this may only occur when the next task on the list is one of the following:
#Send a message to another agent.
#Receive a message from another agent.
#Meet with another agent.
If the agent needs to send/receive a message or meet another agent, and that other agent is currently Arrested or In Hiding, the task will fail immediately.
====Primary Crime Failure====
Major Agents are a special case. While they will also fail to continue their mission if they encounter a "Send/Receive/Meet" failure (see above), their mission can also fail if they cannot perform the plot's Primary Crime.
This occurs when the Major Agent finds that he does not have all the items required to do so, and that at least one of the agents who is responsible for acquiring those missing items/info is currently Arrested or In Hiding.
Example:
:Lets assume that the Major Agent needs items A and B to perform the primary crime.
:As long as the agents responsible for acquiring items A and B are still At Large, the Major Agent still has hope that the items will eventually arrive.
:Max can repeatedly confiscate these items, but this won't prevent the Primary Crime from taking place as long as those items can be re-acquired by the low-level agents.
:However, if an item is confiscated and the agent responsible for acquiring that item is Arrested, or has Gone into Hiding for any reason, then that item can no longer reappear. There is now no hope that it will ever reach the Major Agent, and therefore no hope for the Primary Crime to succeed. The Major Agent then attempts to Go into Hiding at the next opportunity.
==Delay==
Most non-player-driven events, such as Message Traffic and Crimes, can only occur at either 12:00 AM or 12:00 PM. At these hours, the game randomly determines whether any Participant will attempt his next task in the plot. If it determines that an agent should make his next move, only then will it check whether the task list is empty, or whether the next task can be performed.
Therefore, there is a certain time gap between the moment an agent performs his last task in the plot, or the moment his next task becomes impossible to perform, and the moment he realizes this and goes into hiding.
This period of time can extend from 1 hour to several dozen. It is Max's last chance to arrest that agent as well.
==Effects==
When an agent goes into Hiding, several things occur.
Firstly, the words "In Hiding" appear clearly below that agent's Role in his Suspect File. It also appears on the Suspects List so that it would be easier to see.
Also, the agent goes into hiding with all Items he or she may have been in posession of at the time. Neither the Agent nor the Item(s) can be arrested/confiscated from that point onward.
Finally, if that agent still has tasks left to perform (I.E. went into hiding due to inability to complete his mission), other participants may now also be unable to complete their missions, and may go into hiding at the next opportunity.
==Breaking the Plot==
As with Arrests, allowing a participant to go into hiding due to failure to complete their mission will inevitable cause the plot to break, if it hasn't already been broken.
This means that agents will begin going into hiding one by one until none remain to be captured. It's a ticking clock, with Max trying to Arrest or Turn all of them before they can hide.
For this reason, it is important not to allow agents to go into hiding until there is no other option.
One good way to do so is to confiscate the item they are supposed to acquire, so that they would need to grab it again, delaying their mission by a few dozen hours at best. Naturally, this only works with agents whose duties include acquiring items.
Another, far more reliable method is to Turn the agent. Once turned, he/she cannot go into Hiding at all, even if one or more of the tasks on their list cannot be accomplished.
==Coming Out of Hiding==
It is possible, in extremely rare circumstances, for an agent to Go Into Hiding prematurely, and then come back out of hiding. This is a glitch that hardly ever occurs, but is possible during the Kidnapping Plot, and possibly a few others. It should not be expected to happen during normal play.
If this occurs, you will be notified by Bulletin from CIA Surveillance.
Category:Agent States
Category:Events