Mt. Threshold Research Center

**Mt. Threshold Research Center** is the final mission in both SWAT 4 and in SWAT: Elite Force. The SWAT team must secure a research facility occupied by a milita group called the Army of Faith. The milita group had initially planned to bomb the facility but was trapped inside by nearby police officers.

## Mission Briefing

If you haven't heard of the Army of Faith, here's your introduction. A bit after 20 hundred hours a group of them broke into the Hologen research facility at Mount Threshold, closely affiliated with Mount Threshold University. A couple of patrol cars responded quickly to the initial alarm, and the activists were trapped inside. Unfortunately, trapped along with them are the building's late working scientists and graduate students. The suspects have already released a statement declaring their willingness to become martyrs, and we have evidence of their willingness to make martyrs out of others. It's a very touchy situation, with the potential to get worse.

About the ''Army of Faith.'' They've been around for about two years, and have claimed credit for bombing research facilities doing work with stem cells and cloning technology. Don't make the mistake of thinking of them as kooks. Whatever they believe, they are also well armed, well trained, and dedicated to their cause. They've sent - and acted on - death threats to leading researchers in both fields, and this is not the first institution they've invaded.

We think they intended the same sort of high damage, high speed raid at Hologen. However, university police were nearby, and acted quickly to contain them. Things are still confused enough that we don't know how many civilians are still in there, and we only have rough estimates on the number of suspects.

Hologen is active in DNA cloning research, and we believe that is why they were targeted. Our suspects are led by Jean Trouffant. He is one of the major operatives in the Army of Faith. Trouffant was wanted for bombing abortion clinics, before going underground and reappearing with the Army of Faith. We don't have an accurate count of how many gunmen he has with him, but it's at least seven or eight, from eyewitness reports.

One of the first things the Army of Faith did was take down the security system, so we don't know how many civilians are inside. The suspects have named so far only Dr. Theodore Sturgeon as a hostage. We believe he is in imminent danger from the suspects, as one of Hologen's key researchers. As always, your first priority is to rescue him and get any other civilians out of there safely. However, you should also keep your eyes open for Sturgeon's briefcase, which has contacts for other researchers around the world. In the Army of Faith's hands, those documents become an open season list. Study the location and your opponents, choose your gear carefully, and get in there. There's a lot riding on this one.

## Timeline

* **20:12: Alarm wires cut** - The security system connection to University Police is lost. Patrol car is dispatched to investigate.
* **20:19: Cruiser arrives** - University Police arrive and investigate, finding wires cut. Shots are fired at Police from inside the building. Dispatch is notified. SWAT is requested.
* **20:28: SWAT arrives** - Containment perimeter and high ground are established.
* **22:43: Negotiations begun** - CNT contacts suspects.
* **23:27: CNT IDs Trouffant** - CNT contacts suspects and is able to identify Jean Trouffant. Army of Faith manifesto is read to CNT over the phone, confirming connection to the group.
* **00:12: Suspects make demands** - Suspects demand additional supplies including food and ammunition. CNT agrees to food, but not to ammunition. Suspects unsatisfied and verbally threaten hostages.
* **00:45: Tactical entry approved** - Repeated attempts to contact Trouffant fail. CNT believes that the hostages may be in danger based on the last contact. CNT suggests that it is time for a tactical entry.

## Entries and Snipers

The research facility allows the team to enter through two different entry locations, one that accesses the building through the front door to the main foyer on side 1, and the other that accesses the upper floor hallway of the building through the service entrance on side 2. The choice of entry lies entirely with the player to suit their preference and convenience.

This map does not possess any valuable sniper vantage points.

Side 1, level 1 Entry through the front doors and foyer.Side 2, level 2 Service Entrance.Map of the first floor.Map of the second floor.Map from the briefing.
## Map Layout

The intel of this mission provides a very accurate and detailed floor plan for the entire building. However it is worth noting that the intel is presented with the side 4 on the bottom of the screen as oppose to the side 1.

The Mount Threshold Hologen Research Center is a typical two story building designed for a university, and it also contains laboratories that specialize in DNA cloning, biology and chemistry. The building has long open hallways that divides the building into four quadrants and its rooms are all big with at least two entrances per room. On the first floor the bottom right quadrant is the front entrance on side 1 and the main foyer designed for reception with many advertisements and some sofas, and it also contains stairs to the second floor balcony above the foyer. The first floor contains three labs: animal research, central workstation and cryogenics lab. Going clockwise the bottom left quadrant is the cryogenics lab but before students or scientists could enter into cryogenics laboratory they must enter into clean room and wear protective clothing. In the cryogenics laboratory there are several computer stations as well as fume hoods. However since cryogenics is the study of the production and behaviour of materials at very low temperatures the whole laboratory is covered in hoarfrost and icicles are hanging from many tables and shelves. The top left quadrants contains the cental workstation room cluttered by chemical workstations, several computer stations and fume hoods. It also serves as a chemical storage area. Finally the top right quadrants is the animal researach lab that is seperated from the cental hallways with a computer lab on side 1 and two storage rooms on side 2. The animal researach lab is where scientists as well as students could observe the behavior of rodents such as mice or rats. It contains multiple cages for rodents, three tables to perform an autopsy and two workstations. There are are various posters and diagrams explaining various biological processes of rodents. The storage rooms are where all cages and equipment is cleaned as well as food for rodents are kept.

On the second floor the bottom right quadrant is the balcony that overlooks the main foyer. The bottom left quadrant contains another cryogenics lab that connects directly to the first floor cryogenics lab below via stairs, and it also can only be accessed via a clean room. The top left quadrant is the wet bench analysis lab - wet bench analysis contains several computer stations and every of these stations are connected to fume hoods where scientists could perform experiments on living cells such as cloning them. Also there are various pictures depicting living cells - from animal to plant cells. Finally the top right quadrant is the computer analysis lab and it contains some more computer stations, but also servers as archives with photographs X-ray cells and special lamps to watch X-ray photographs. Also in whole research center there are various signs warning everybody about hazards in the laboratory such as ultraviolet light, acidic substances, biohazards, radioactivity and many others as well as signs ordering to wear protective clothing, gloves or masks.

One important thing to note here is that almost all labs have a seperate entrances to the hallways on each side. For example, the computer analysis lab on the top right quadrant has doors to both its bottom hallway on side 1 and the left hallway on side 2. Also given its nature as a public education institution, the doors on the opposite sides of a hallway tend to line up with each other to allow rooms to look into each other.

## Tactical Approach

The suspects of this level are both well equipped with body armors and well armed with combat shotguns and assault rifles. They take pride in their cause and are therefore difficult to cooperate with. Neither Jean Trouffant nor his accomplices wear gas masks which makes the usage of CS Gas a suitable choice. Although the doors appear to have narrow windows on them, they are purely for aesthetic purposes and are not like those found in St. Michael's Medical Center. Some suspects, like Jean Trouffant, may never surrender even under the effect of Taser Stun Gun, so be prepared to retaliate with lethal force even when trying to use less-lethal weapons to obtain high scores on this mission.

The layout of the facility nearly resembles that of a maze since various rooms, corridors and passageways are thoroughly interconnected. Aside from allowing the suspects to easily flee a room during clearing, this feature of the map also causes suspects get attracted by noises and interrupt the clearing of adjacent rooms. Also when ordering the team to "Fall In" while the player is around a hallway corner, the AI SWAT officers tend to get confused and take alternative routes via uncleared rooms, inadvertently tiggering gunfights and ambushes.

It is strongly recommanded to take large amounts of door wedges to deal with the doors (or lock doors as in the case of the SWAT: Elite Force) to prevent suspects from fleeing or double back and ambush the team. Also given the large size of the labs and the fact that most of them contains mutiple entries on two sides, it may be a good idea to split the team up and clear the rooms from mutiple axis to ensure adequate grenade coverage and to prevent ambushes.

Thedore Sturgeon, one of the notable civilians that must be rescued, will normally be found in either the computer lab adjacent to animal research lab on the first floor or the computer analysis lab on the upper floor. The briefcase that the team must secure will *always be found in the same room where the Professor is located*.

## Bugs

* The maximum morale value a suspect could spawn with on this mission is 9.0 - almost nine times as high when compared with other suspects in the game while making it almost impossible to subdue such suspect using less-lethal methods. As a benchmark, the maximum morale value the player can assign to suspects and civilians using the quick mission maker is 2.0.

## Changes in Elite Force

* Fixed the morale bug noted above by setting the suspect's max morale value to 1.2.
* Incapacitated civilians can bleed out and become DOA if not reported in time, which results in forfeiting the "All civilians unharmed" score bonus.
* All of the suspects are made Insane i.e. they will not hesitant to shoot civilians after threatening to do so.
* The suspects now carry weapons such as M249 SAW Light Machine Gun, SCAR-H, SG552 Commando and MP5KA4 Machine Pistol in addition to the default loadouts. Skorpion and Suppressed Uzi machine pistols have also been removed.
* The suspects now start to wear medium and heavy armors that offers significantly better protection than the vanilla light armors worn by other suspects. Taking the AP ammo introduced in SWAT: Elite Force is now a must.
* The morale of graduate students and Dr. Theodore Sturgeon have been raised, with the graduate students have a chance to become very stubborn when encountering police officers.
* Dr. Sturgeon now has a 10% chance to suffer cardiac arrest.

## ​Trivia

* Although the game reveals that the militia had intended to bomb the facility, there are no traces of any attempt made to carry out such threat. Perhaps the developers believed that if such a feature was introduced, it would be a replica of a preceding mission - the Old Granite Hotel.
* The suspects, through their speech, seem to have a distaste for the students and the researchers by referring to them as "eggheads". In response, the students would sometimes reply saying, "Did you even go to college?".
* Jean Trouffant, unlike his other accomplices, does not wear a hockey mask to conceal his identity.
* With the exception of bugs and quick mission maker, Jean Trouffant has the highest possible morale value out of all characters in SWAT 4 and The Stetchkov Syndicate expansion pack. If Jean Trouffant manages to spawn with his max possible morale value of 1.5, he still stands a good chance to resist arrest even after being stunned by Taser Stun Gun.
* Dr. Theodore Sturgeon's last name was originally meant to be "Sterling" or "Stylins" per the comments in the game code. If the player turns on the subtitles in the game, Dr. Theodore Sturgeon will still be referred to as "Theodore Stylins" for his dialogues.

## Gallery

The main lobby of Mount Threshold Hologen Research Center.An advertisement found inside the research center's main lobby.An advertisement found inside the research center's main lobby.An advertisement found inside the research center's main lobby.An advertisement found inside the research center's main lobby.An advertisement found inside the research center's main lobby.An animal research lab.One of computer workstations.Another workstation.A room in animal research section for practical classes.Central workstation.A cryogenics lab.Lab for wetbench analysis.A diagram showing the molecular structure of the octanoic acid.Lab for computer analysis.Big lamps for watching X-Rays.Animal research lab.Warning signs.Storage used for cleaning equipment.Another warning signs.Entrance to the cryogenics lab.One of the clean rooms.Another cryogenics lab.A workstation.More warning signs.Interior of the research center.Another warning signs.Wetbench analysis.Computer analysis.The front entrance leads to main foyer.Jean Trouffant forced to comply by use of less lethal force.An arrested suspect equipped with body armour but devoid of his firearm.One of the Animal Research rooms. Theodore Sturgeon may be found here at some occassions.
## Soundtrack

Mt. Threshold Research Center - Ambience:
Mt. Threshold Research Center - Dynamic 1:
Mt. Threshold Research Center - Dynamic 2:
Mt. Threshold Research Center - Dynamic 3: