This guide will cover the capabilities of each vehicle and crew member assigned to it to better help you understand what and how many personnel you should deploy to an incident.
Guide Contents
Police – Crew
Note: Credit goes to Skeleton Man
Law enforcement crew diversity is fairly sparse, so for most small scale incidents involving a need for the law, normal Police Officers suffice. Should a tactical situation arise, Police K9’s and SWAT Specialists can supplement existing police efforts.
Police Officer
Standard beat cop. In addition to normal everyday things that most people think of when cops are mentioned (such as arresting/shooting criminals or fleeing unarmed suspects), the Police Officer is also a valuable tool to help keep civilians corralled and away from incidents. Officers are moderately resistant to all types of damage (66% to fire, 50% to gunfire, and 35% to melee), so they can hold their own in a fight as well as linger around hotspots for a little bit.
Equipment:
Caution Tape (I) – When equipped with caution tape, an Officer can be directed to set up a line of it by specifying two points on the ground. Civilians AND responders must walk around barriers created by caution tape, so it may be useful to cordon off hazardous areas from both the public and other first responders.
Signaling Disk (U) – Equipping the signaling disk and then right clicking on the Officer while they are selected causes them to stop traffic at the nearest roadway. The Officer will automatically face the direction that traffic comes from in the lane he is standing in to effectively stop them. This is a great tool to prevent civilian vehicles from clogging up areas that first responders or their vehicles need to be in.
Handcuffs (Y) – Also known as friendship bracelets. Any Officer currently equipped with handcuffs will attempt to arrest any suspects when directed to interact with them. Most suspects will attempt to put up a fight in melee before they’re cuffed, so it may be easier to incapacitate them with pepper spray or a stun grenade first. A fresh officer will typically win a fist fight or against someone armed with a melee weapon (and subsequently cuff them), but repeated beatings may make them into a casuality. Not suggested to rush those armed with firearms with handcuffs or pepper spray.
Handgun (T) – Standard-issue police firearm for subduing particularly unruly urban youths. While shooting a suspect to neutralize them is generally safer and faster, you must then heal the suspect and transport them to the hospital like any casualty. Police Officers under fire by suspects will defend themselves using their sidearm if they are not already directly doing something else, like arresting or transporting a suspect. Typically, it takes three shots from a handgun to down any revolting or fleeing suspects.
Megaphone (R) – Crowd control device. Right clicking the officer while they have it equipped will attract all civilians within the illustrated circle that appears under the Officer. The civilians will follow the officer while the megaphone is active, making it possible to lead them away from danger or out of the way of important areas (like roadways). Officers with active megaphones are reduced to a walking speed.
Pepperspray (E) – Best friends with handcuffs, also known as spicy deoderant. Dousing a suspect in pepper spray will incapacitate them and make them unable to fight back for a short time, thus allowing (typically) another officer to swoop in with handcuffs and arrest them immediately without a fight. Two officers are not required, the same officer can pepper spray and then cuff in short order, but must be told to do so. Officers in a fight cannot be directed to do anything until they are no longer fighting, but having someone else pepper spray the suspect they are fighting will instantly end the fight and result in an arrest.
Police K9 Unit
The K9 unit is a specialized team that employs a Police K9 trained in tracking and apprehension to assist other Officers. While equipped with a handgun and cuffs like a normal officer, they can also use their K9 to search for suspicious devices/suspects, as well as chase down and apprehend them. The police K9 moves much faster than his handler and other police units on foot, making them a great asset in chasing those suspects attemping to flee. Suspects apprehended by the K9 are so paralyzed with fear of being bitten by a dog that they immediately crouch down into a fetal position, waiting to be arrested.
Equipment:
Apprehend Suspects (U) – On by default. Directing the K9 unit to interact with a suspect while this is active will have the K9 handler unleash his doggo upon the suspect in question. The K9 moves at incredible hihg speed, and so suspects fleeing are usually hard pressed to get away from them. Not to say they are invincible, but I don’t think suspects remotely even try to fight K9’s, only the handler. It’s usually safe to let them loose after an armed suspect.
Recall K9 (R) – If the K9 is away from his handler, using this action will recall him to the handler’s side.
Search with K9(E) – The K9 Handler will direct his K9 to begin searching the area for nearby suspects or suspicious devices. If anything is found, the K9 will stay nearby it and bark until directed otherwise. If nothing is found, the K9 returns to his handler. Typically this will either uncover weapons and explosives in a van, or a very nice ticking timebomb for you to deal with.
SWAT Specialist
Specially trained operatives for handling high risk tactical situations, these are the units you will primarily use to deal with armed suspects and hostage situations. Like a normal officer, they are also equipped with a sidearm and cuffs. SWAT operatives are too cool for traveling in two dimensions and can only travel by helicopter. They are also much more resistant to gunfire and melee damage, allowing them to win most fist/gunfights. SWAT operatives are usually the only unit that can storm particular buildings to arrest suspects hiding inside.
Rifle (R) – Equips the operative with a Rifle, with identical purpose to the handgun. Neutralizing a suspect with the Rifle is extremely fast and painless*, however the suspect must be seen and transported by medical personnel, thereby incurring some extra work to the incident. Rifles will only require one shot to bring a suspect down and can be fired from a longer range compared to the handgun.
* – While recoil may hurt a novice shooter’s shoulder, SWAT operatives are trained in firearm usage and we assure you they are not harmed by the recoil. Suspect vital signs may vary.
Stun Grenade (E) – Equips the operative with a Stun Grenade, with similar purpose to Pepper Spray. Stun grenades can be throw from quite a distance and will incapacitate the target, as well as any other suspects nearby the target, allowing a team of officers or the SWAT specialists to move in and apprehend them with minimal risk. The number of grenades per officer is not, in fact, limited, so feel free to toss them with reckless abandon since they also do not stun your own units.
SWAT Robot
Technically a unit, this little robot is the only thing capable of defusing found explosive devices. The robot is also capable of accessing devices that detonate via proximity without any danger of setting them off. Defusing an explosive takes a short amount of time but permanently neutralizes it and makes the area safe.
Police – Vehicles
A range of police vehicles for getting Law Enforcement personnel to and from incidents, as well as transporting suspects of crimes to their new home once apprehended. All equipment that each Law Enforcement member can use is contained on their person, so there is no need to have the vehicles nearby in order to fufill equipment requirements.
Police Car
Standard police interceptor, capable of carrying two Police Officers and two suspects. This vehicle is fast and great for deploying a small number of units to a location quickly, i.e for traffic control or small scale crimes involving one or two suspects. The vehicle itself can also be useful to position in oncoming traffic to stop it as long as the vehicle remains parked at that location.
Police Van
Larger police vehicle for more heavy duty application of the law. Capable of transporting up to four Police Officers and six suspects, these are great assets to deploy to medium or large incidents involving a larger number of criminals. Not only does the extra manpower provide safety in numbers and the ability to arrest more individuals at once, the ability to carry six suspects in the vehicle makes it a great point to deposit arrested hoodlums.
Police K9 Cruiser
Specialty vehicle soley for transporting a Police K9 unit to and from an incident. Carries only one Police K9 handler, and his K9. Has no room for suspects, so other vehicles must be used to facilitate a proper arrest.
Police Helicopter
Small aircraft typically used for safe observation of suspects away from the action, capable of carrying two Police Officers, as well as one suspect if an express trip to the jail is required without passing GO and collecting 200$. The Police Helicopter can also be told to trail any suspects and illuminate them with a spotlight to keep tabs on them. If needed, the aircraft can be landed and the officers disembarked to facilitate an arrest or similar task.
In the Stolen Vehicle incident types, a police helicopter must trail the vehicle for a short time. This will cause the driver (the suspect) to eventually get out of and abandon the vehicle and attempt to flee on foot, at which point the stolen vehicle can be towed and the suspect may be arrested.
SWAT Helicopter
Medium-sized aircraft whose sole purpose is to transport a SWAT team to and from an incident. Capable of carrying six SWAT Specialists, and one suspect if the SWAT team would like to have a particularly long interrogation session with them (possibly followed by free skydiving lessons without equipment). In addition to the normal action of landing and disembarking the team, the helicopter can also fastrope all on board SWAT operatives into any location the helicopter is able to fly over, facilitating deploying the operatives in areas that are hard to reach for conventional aircraft.
SWAT Drone Transport Vehicle
A vehicle with only one purpose, which is to transport a SWAT drone to an incident location. The SWAT Drone, once deployed, will automatically seek out and maintain contact with any suspects on the map until they are arrested. The SWAT drone is particularly useful for locating criminals attempting to hide, as their location will be revealed once the SWAT drone finds them. The drone will return to the Transport Vehicle once all suspects have been neutralized, or it is manually called back.
SWAT Robot Transport Vehicle
A vehicle that only serves the purpose of ferrying they very important celeberty, the bomb defusal robot, to and from an incident. The bomb defusal robot is the only thing in the game capable of safely getting rid of explosives, so anything that may involve a bomb should have this vehicle on standby somewhere nearby.
EMS – Crew
Emergency Medical Services personnel have the grisly job of plugging the wounds of all individuals, regardless of affiliation (though the oath doesn’t say you have to treat suspects with holes in them before treating your own personnel with holes in them). The primary job of this branch of personnel is stabalizing and removing casulaies from an incident.
Emergency Doctor
The Doctor’s task is all about diagnosing, stabalizing, and healing the injured. They are an extremely important unit to have close by, as any and all casualites slowly deteroirate while they are left unchecked, until eventually they die of their wounds. Casualties are marked with a green shield and cross, indicating they are in need of medical aid. Deceased individuals evaluated by a Doctor are marked with a black shield and white “X”. Occasionally, they may be revived by the Doctor using an AED, however this is rare.
Doctors (in solo play) will automatically attempt to render aid to any nearby casualties that require it after a short time of being idle. Once directed to aid a casualty, they will kneel down and prepare their equipment while they diagnose the subject. Once the healing process begins, a bar representing the health of the individual will be displayed above them. Once this occurs, that bar will remain on the individual, even if the medical doctor leaves before they are healed. This represents assessing a casualty’s condition, thereby allowing you to determine if there are other victims that need aid more urgently. A casualty’s general condition can be evauluated before a doctor checks on them: casualties that are crouched or standing typically do not need immediate aid. Those laying down, but moving, still have some life in them but will demand attention sooner than those who are ‘walking wounded’. Casualties that have reduced movement are probably close to death. Casualties that are not spontaneously moving are most likely deceased, but if they have stopped moving recently enough a Doctor may whip out an AED and revive them back into a live casualty. If this doesn’t work, the doctor will cease interacting with them and leave them for dead. Even if a person is deceased, they still must be transported from the scene by an ambulance.
Once a casualty is fully healed, their health bar will turn green and will lack any arrows indicating its progression. A casualty at this point is considered stable and may be transported from the scene by Paramedics in some form of ambulance. Stable casualties do not deteriorate health once stabalized, so you can have the doctor leave them and attend to other injured individuals. If a Doctor stops healing a casualty before they are stabalized, their health will again begin to slowly regress (though you will still have the bar showing the health, so if others need aid you can still keep tabs on them).
Doctors are only slightly resistant to melee damage (10%) and take full damage from gunfire, so keep them away from suspects until Law Enforcement units can handle them. They have 66% fire resistance, so they can treat a casualty close to a fire if the need is urgent and the fire is not too hot. Otherwise, consider using a Fire Fighter to remove the casualty from the hot zone to a Casualty Collection Point so they can be seen to safely. If Doctors are set to automatically aid the nearby injured, they may inadvertantly run into a dangerous situation. Avoid placing them near casualties that are still in a dangerous area.
In certain missions, Doctors can escort those who are infected (but still standing) to an ambulance directly without the need of paramedics, similar to Hazmat personnel escorting those who are lightly contaminated and walking wounded to the Decontamination Truck.
Paramedics
A team of paramedics is considered one unit, and consists of two paramedics and a stretcher. Their purpose is to move those injured who are unable to move themselves into an ambulance or similar vehicle. Notoriously they are slow, which can be excrabated by poor pathfinding, so make sure to park the vehicle near casualties that need to be taken away to minimize time spent carting them to the ambulance. The use of Paramedics is the only way to transport a casualty incapable of walking to the hospital.
Idle Paramedics will automatically try to pick up stabalized, injured persons. Once picked up (and after being idle a short while more), they will automatically cart that person to the nearest ambulance capable of taking the injured to the Hospital. Paramedics will not ‘remember’ which vehicle they arrived on and can sometimes annoyingly fight over the nearest ambulance. They also have a habit of gunning the gas pedal to the hospital once they have loaded the injured into an Air Ambulance and will leave the doctor that arrived on it in the dust.
Search & Rescue (SAR) K9 Handler
The SAR K9 unit is specifically used for locating missing persons (not suspects, that’s reserved for the SWAT drone and Police K9). Typically, the missing individuals will be buried under something heavy and will almost always require medical attention. Usually, this will require tag-team cooperation with a Heavy Duty Tow Truck and medical personnel. The SAR handler himself is not able to treat the injured.
Otherwise, the SAR K9 can find persons reported as missing and will reveal their location for you once found, so they can be helped and interacted with by other personnel. It is important to find missing individuals quickly so you can keep tabs on them — they will 99% of the time be injured and a ticking clock for death while they are not located. Lest you forget about them, you’ll have demobilized everything from the incident only to find out that you need to redeploy doctors, a SAR K9, and a heavy duty tow truck to dig some bodies out of rubble.
Search with K9 – The handler will direct his K9 to begin looking for individuals. Once they are found, the K9 will stop and bark at the location the individual is at. The handler will not follow the K9 on his own.
Recall K9 – If desired, the K9 can be called back manually to his handler using this button.
EMS – Vehicles
EMS vehicles are used to get the injured out of the incident location and into a comfy, sterile bed at the local hospital. These can be some of your most used units next to the Fire Department, and frequently require redeployment after arriving at the base with a casualty due to the sheer number of them.
Emergency Doctor’s Vehicle
Similar to the Police Car, this is a fast and agile car that carries one Emergency Doctor to and from a scene. Unlike ambulances, this vehicle does not need to be directly nearby the casulties, so it is beneficial to move them off to the side away from the incident to make way for other traffic once the doctors have been unloaded. It can be useful to unload the doctor very close to the casualties and then have the car drive a block or two away to wait nearby.
Ambulance
These vehicles will be the bane of your existence and will always manage to cause major traffic jams. An ambulance carries a team of paramedics and is capable of transporting one casualty from the scene of the incident. Since it is easy to have casualties up into the tens, you will frequently have to cart off whoever is stable and then redeploy the ambulance back to the incident so they can accept another casualty.
Paramedics load and unload from the back of the ambulance, so it can be useful to park them in such a way where the back doors face the casualty for quicker loading and unloading. Avoid deploying too many of them at once ontop of the same location as they can easily jam themselves and other traffic in the area. Also avoid making them drive through an area with casualties or other personnel, as this can further cause issues while the vehicles and paramedics try to path find around one another very slowly.
Search & Rescue (SAR) K9 Vehicle
Transports the SAR K9 Unit to and from an incident. Once the K9 is deployed, it can be moved off to the side somewhere. Once the K9 has found all missing persons, it can typically be demobilized and sent back to HQ.
Air Ambulance
Small aircraft carrying a Medical Doctor and a team of Paramedics. The Air Ambulance is very useful to either supplement larger incidents or handle smaller incidents on its own. Given that it transports both a Doctor and Paramedics, it can be deployed by itself to incidents with a single casualty. If needed, the doctor can be left on the ground should the number of injured be great enough, while the Paramedics fly casualties back to base. Unfortunately, it cannot as easily access the wounded as an ambulance can due to the fact that it must land to load or unload personnel.
Intensive Care Transport Vehicle
Essentially a very spacious ambulance. The ICTV carries a Doctor, a team of Paramedics, and can transport up to six wounded at a time. Unlike an ambulance, the ICTV must be installed prior to being able to accept casualties, using its specialty action (or quick key T). The vehicle still loads and unloads from the back, so make sure you install it with the back facing those that require transportation. Loading and unloading speed is still slow, so you may want more than one team of paramedics (borrow one from an ambulance on scene) to help load the injured.
Technical Units – Crew
Technical units don’t really fit in any other category, and there’s really only one crewman who is only needed for very specific scenarios.
Engineer
The engineer assists responders with technical expertise. Much like Gordon Freeman he is the only one who can remove plugs from sockets or flip switches on devices to solve complex problems that nobody else can, because he has a degree and they don’t.
The engineer is only needed for very specific purposes and will usually interface with specific objects to complete them. Usually this involves repairing switch boxes, turning off power to damaged electrical systems, or turning off a gas line that’s shooting jets of fire into a nuclear reactor. Once an engineer has done what he needs to typically he can demobilize, unless you’d rather have him around for another incredibly specific task.
If a responder’s vehicle suffers damage, the Engineer can repair it to get it back to full strength, though this is a rare occurance.
Technical Units – Vehicles
Technical units are needed for specific scenarios and only operate in the realm of urgency around half the time. Barring the Engineer, they do not require any crew.
Engineer’s Vehicle
Much like the Emergency Doctor’s Vehicle, it just transports the Engineer to and from the incident. Typically it is not needed in the immediate vicinity of the disaster.
Tow Truck
The Tow Truck removes damaged vehicles that have been in a Motor Vehicle Collision or have caught on fire from the scene of the incident. Once directed to pick a vehicle up, they’ll park nearby it and lift it onto the bed of the truck using their boom, then will transport the vehicle back to HQ to get rid of it. While tow trucks need to interact directly with the incident, typically they are a step that comes last as there is not much timed urgency in getting the vehicles out of the way. If you have spare time you may want to deploy as many trucks as you’ll need to a nearby but out of the way area so they can swooce in and grab the cars once other responders are done. It may complicate things or the vehicle may be unable to access the wreck if responders or the injured are still in the immediate vicinity.
If you’re unable to tow a vehicle, make sure that it isn’t on fire. Failing that, make sure nobody is still trapped inside it by having a Firefighter take a look at it with Hydrualic Cutters.
Heavy Duty Tow Truck
Contrary to my belieif, this is not just for towing more or heavier vehicles. The Heavy Duty Tow Truck is used for freeing persons that are trapped by rubble or objects that are too heavy to move by hand like trees or slabs of concrete. It will automatically move the offending object off the person (at which point they can be rendered aid) and move it somewhere safe nearby. Otherwise, it does not tow vehicles nor do anything else cool.
Recovery Helicopter
Recovery Choppers are large aircraft equipped with a crane for lifting people from certain death. They are able to transport up to six uninjured civilians from a place of danger back to safety. They are also able to carry, one at a time, any casualty to a safe location via stretcher where they can be seen by medical personnel. Once the person has been lifted onto the aircraft, they can be set back down (without landing) by using the specialty action on its hotbar or its corresponding key (T). Uninjured persons riding in the back must be let off by landing first.
This aircraft will typically be needed to rescue the injured from locations inaccessable to normal personnel, however they are also able to move injured persons even if they can be accessed normally to another location.
Fire & Rescue – Crew
The Fire Crew are the stalwart defenders of all that is not on fire, and they fight the good fight (against the fire). Not only are they capable themselves of directly extinguishing fires, they also have a myriad of equipment and vehicles that can assist in that endeavor as well as rescue trapped individauls. Fire personnel are usually numerous, so don’t forget to deploy them to help battle fires in addition to the vehicles themselves. Remember that even Water Tenders, which can fight fires without crew dismounting, still have three firefighters aboard by default that can help.
All fire personnel are naturally 100% resistant to fires, and thus can remove those who are not from hot areas.
Firefighter
A jack of almost all trades, the firefighter’s versitality comes from his ability to weild different firefighting equipment. Unfortunately, it is unfeasable for the unit to carry all of this equipment himself. Units must first grab the desired equipment from a Heavy Rescue Vehicle before they can use it. If no vehicle is nearby, they simply will be unable to use those tools. They will, however, hold onto the equipment when they embark a vehicle, which can then be used when they disembark at another location without having to re-equip.
Firefighters are also extremely valuable in moving casualties from dangerous areas. If an area is too hot for an emergency doctor to safely treat a casualty, a firefighter can remove them from the danger zone and into safety where they can be seen to.
Jaws of Life/Hydrualic Cutters (U) – Large, heavy duty, non-safety sicssors. This device is equipped by a firefighter then used to free the entrapped from vehicles so they can be seen by medical personnel. Firefighters equipped with cutters will automatically try to seek out vehicles that have entrapment if they are idle. This process takes some time before the firefighter is ready for another action.
Axe (Y) – The ever-present firefighter’s axe is used to brutalize locked doors to free those trapped inside a building. Once equipped, just click on the offending building and the firefighter will go to town. The newly freed citizens will usually pour out of their own accord, but occasionally you may have to send more units in to remove injured or people unable to free themselves.
Chainsaw (T) – The chainsaw is used, naturally, to cut down trees, as well as shrubs and bushes. This can be useful if you want to prevent a fire from spreading in a specific direction via trees and bushes, which are all easily flammable and can quickly propogate flames to other nearby objects.
Hose (R) – The ubiquitous hose must be attached to a nearby fire hydrant to work properly. Once equipped with a hose, the firefighter will take a moment to don a mask and gas tank. He will then seek out the nearest (unoccupied) hydrant and hook up, then blast any nearby offending blazes. The use of hydrants is very effective against fires, but they come in limited supply. Equipping all firefighters with hoses will usually leave a few of them jobless as there are no hydrants in the area to use. Some areas are very sparse with hydrants, and thus fires must be fought by other means. The Water Tender also has some attachment points for hoses, but this will prevent the Water Tender from moving once they are attached.
Fire Extinguisher (E) – An all-purpose fire extinguisher for fighting smaller-scale blazes. The extinguisher is sometimes the only option for a firefighter without any task due to shortage of hydrants, but never the less it is still effective against small fires, or larger ones when deployed en-masse. Firefighters require less direction when equipped with extinguishers and will automatically flow to nearby blazes to assist in putting them out. While it can be used on structure fires, it is best used as a supplement and not on its own.
Firefighter (HAZMAT)
The HazMat firefighter comes in limited supply, and only aboard decontamination trucks. Due to SCBA gear and a full body suit, they are capable of accessing areas that are contaminated with radiation or biological hazards, and in additon can use all equipment that normal Firefighters can use.
Principally, you will use them to evacuate the contaminated from the area of contamination, then delouse them in the back of the HazMat truck so they can be seen by medical personnel. Normal personnel attemping to enter a contaminated area will be rendered immobilized until they are removed from the area. If left for too long, they will become a casualty and eventually die.
Diver
The Diver arrives in the Diver Transport vehicle. He is extremely slow on land, and somewhat slow in water. However he serves the important purpose of rescuing those in the water (if a boat cannot reach them), as well as investigating under the water for vehicles or people trapped at the bottom of the waterway. Once vehicles are located, they are marked with a bouy and can be recovered by a Heavy Duty Tow Truck.
The Diver can also ride inside a Motorboat if he is needed further out from shore.
Historical Firefighter
World War 1 veterans equipped with firefighting gear, they only arrive on the Historical Heavy Rescue Vehicle. While not the first choice to deploy to an incident, they can still use the Historical Hose and Historical Fire Extinguisher to supplement a fight on a blaze and can still be useful if extra manpower is needed.
Fire & Rescue – Vehicles
A large fleet of fire vehicles are available, and typically you’ll deploy a few of each to any moderate to major blaze.
Heavy Rescue Vehicle
An important vehicle to have nearby on any scene. This vehicle transports three firefighters, as well as all the gear they are capable of using, to the scene of an incident. This vehicle should remain nearby as any firefighter needing equipment will have to find it. The vehicle is not only required on fires, you may also need the cutters or axe to rescue trapped citizens at incidents lacking a fire.
Water Tender
A mainstay of firefighting power, the Water Tender has a turret atop it that it can blast any offending fires with for powerful effect. As the crew is not needed for the vehicle to fight fires on its own, it is a useful asset to have during any blaze. The three firefighters it transports can also assist by grabbing gear from a Heavy Rescue Vehicle.
The Water Tender also has four attachment points for hoses in the back, which firefighters equipped with one can use to provide more extinguishing power against a fire. The vehicle will be immobilized as long as the hoses are attached.
Turntable Ladder
A ladder truck that is primarly deployed to perform high-angle rescues on top of buildings. Once it has rescued everyone it needs to, the ladder also has a turret that is capable of fighting fires on its own, similar to the Water Tender. This turret, however, is very slow to set up and change targets, so it should only be used to supplement putting out a building or similar large target. The ladder also transports three firefighters that can dismount and help on foot with larger blazes.
Decontamination Vehicle
Transports the three HazMat Firefighters to and from an incident, and all the gear they need to decontaminate citizens and personnel in the field. Once a contaminated person is grabbed by a Hazmat Firefighter, they can be moved into the decontamination vehicle. After a short while, they will be spat back out and ready to be attended to by medical personnel.
Motorboat Transport Vehicle/Motorboat
The Motorboat Transport vehicle drives a boat to a nearby dock so it can begin waterborne operations. Once the boat is deployed, the boat itself can carry one crew member and three passengers, usually drowning victims. Once the victims are aboard, they can be deposited back on shore by right clicking on an appropriate dock. After the boat has expired its usefulness, it can be loaded back onto the Transport Vehicle and demobilized back to base.
Firefighting Plane Command Vehicle
A truck with a high-gain satilite dish on the back for contacting whoever is in charge of firefighting planes. Adept at fighting blazes where many objects are burning in close proximity, this can essentially call in a water airstrike to help cool down or extinguish many objects at once, on a long cooldown.
Request Firefighting Plane (R) – Shows a targeting reticule. Right click to confirm target. A large plane will spawn on the edge of the map and fly to the target, releasing water overhead. The water can usually extinguish many trees/bushes/etc, in one fell swoop, making it adept at controlling forest fires. The command vehicle must be in the general vicinity of the target area in order to make a request. Once called, the blue bar above the command vehicle represents the cooldown until the aircraft is recharged and again ready for use. Be aware as the force of the water can injure civilians and personnel that are in the target area at the time of drop.
Firefighting Drone Transport Vehicle
A truck that transports a firefighting drone, which helps keep tabs on active blazes. Other than that I dont really know what it does.
Historical Heavy Rescue Vehicle
A very old car carrying a bunch of very old people in very old gear. Unlike the Heavy Rescue Vehicle, only the Historical Firefighters can use the gear contained in the Historical Heavy Rescue Vehicle. Can be useful to supplement the fight against medium or large blazes.
Automated Tasking
The following will breifly attempt to explain any tasks that particular personnel will try to undertake by themselves in solo play if left idle. This can help you plan around certain incidents, and eventually you will be able to determine if an incident will require no further interaction once you learn what actions the AI will automatically take during certain circumstances.
Police
Self-Defense (Melee) – Some suspects will automatically seek out and attempt to fight first responders once they come within a certain distance. Any Law Enforcement Personnel that are confronted in melee by a suspect will automatically try to fight back. A light blue icon with a white fist overtop of a unit indicates it is taking melee damage, which will occur during a fistfight reguardless of duration. Occasionally, some suspects may be armed with melee weapons like bats or knives, which increases the damage they do per turn in melee, making it more dangerous to fight them head on.
A melee fight can be ended prematurely by incapacitating the assaulting suspect using the spicy deoderant (pepper spray) or the bangy-wangy flashy-bashies (flashbangs) deployed by the appropriate personnel. After winning a melee fight, the Officer being assaulted will automatically arrest the attacking individual.
Self-Defense (Ranged) – Any Law Enforcement unit engaged by a suspect with a firearm will automatically defend themselves using their handgun if they are not already explicitly performing another action you’ve directed them to. Units taking damage from gunfire will have an orange icon with a white belt of ammunition in it.
Transport Arrested – Law Enforcement units that have a suspect in their custody will automatically attempt to load the suspect into a nearby Law Enforcement vehicle that has free space for suspects.
Demobilization – Law Enforcement units that transport a suspect into a vehicle and detect no other suspects nearby (or if the vehicle has no more room for additional suspects) will automatically attempt to get into the vehicle they loaded the suspects into and return to HQ. Typically, the game will try to fill the vehicle with as many LE personnel as it can fit, though this isn’t always the case and it may sometimes leave personnel behind without a ride. This may also sometimes accidentally demobilize important assets like Police/SWAT Helicopters.
EMS
Treat Injured – Emergency Doctors in the vicinity of casualties that are not stable will automatically attempt to render them aid. This can sometimes be inappropriate if the injured is still in a dangerous area, for instance near a strong fire or active suspects. Once their current casualtiy is stabalized, they will automatically become idle and trigger this same behavior again for other casualties in the immediate area.
Load Injured – Teams of Paramedics that are nearby stable casualties will automatically path to them and load them onto their stretcher.
Transport Injured – Teams of Paramedics with a stabalized casualty loaded onto a stretcher will automatically try to load the casualty and themselves into the nearest vehicle capable of accepting them (empty Ambulance, Air Ambulance, or Intensive Care Transport Vehicle). If the vehicle they enter can accept no more casualties (Ambulance or Air Ambulance), they will automatically return to HQ. Otherwise, they will disembark and become idle again (ICTV). This is a useful behavior to have paramedics automatically remove casualties from the area once they are stable by having them standby outside ambulances nearby, though this typically results in the Air Ambulance leaving an Emergency Doctor behind on the ground.
Technical
Transport Wreck – Tow Trucks that have finished loading a vehicle will automatically attempt to return to HQ.
Fire & Rescue
Use Extinguisher – Firefighters with a fire extinguisher nearby active blazes will automatically attempt to help put them out. This can be very useful during forest fires or fires in urban areas with many small blazes, as a small group of firefighters will move from fire to nearby fire and put most of them out, while the larger blazes are tackled by firefighting vehicles or other firefighters with hoses.
Extinguish Fire – Firefighting vehicles and personnel equipped with hoses that are instructed to put out a fire will automatically attempt to extinguish other nearby fires once their current target has been extinguished. They will not, however, move to new locations to extinguish fires. They must manually be moved to new locations in order to attack blazes out of their current reach.
Free Trapped Civilians – Firefighters equipped with hydraulic cutters will automatically seek out nearby vehicles with trapped civilians and free them if left idle.
Decontaminate – Hazmat personnel that are currently escorting a contaminated person will automatically attempt to decontaminate them if they are nearby a Decontamination Truck. Unfortunately they will not automatically attempt to grab contaminated persons and must be instructed to do so first.
Rescue Waterborne Casualty – Motorboats in the area of swimmers in distress will automatically try to move to and rescue them from the water.
Perform High-Angle Rescue – Turntable Ladder trucks in the vicinity of persons in distress located in a high area (i.e building balcony) will automatically attempt to rescue them.
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