Solid towers and vertical routes

Towers block packets, weapons and IDS sight-lines. Use streets, alleys and corners for cover. Traversable towers have data lifts and purposeful rooftop activity markers. Press I near a lift; player-built bridges provide optional rooftop links. Generic stepping platforms have been retired to keep safehouse approaches clear.

Signature and trace

Pings, weapons, loud repairs and construction increase signature. Scanner cones correlate visible traffic through unseen, fingerprint, correlated and traced stages. Break line of sight, stop broadcasting, use Packet Hold or a safehouse, deploy a decoy, jam a scanner, or press V to spoof your fingerprint.

Live operations and rooftop route trials

Multi-stage incidents send players to different terminals to investigate, carry evidence and make a final choice. Autonomous units patrol, intercept, corrupt nodes and fight for sector influence.

When an operation package has been decrypted, Field Guidance shows its delivery terminal’s distance and compass heading. Follow the tall amber beam or the amber route on the M map, enter the orange landing ring and press I. The delivery terminal takes priority over nearby RSS or archive interactions, and encrypted material cannot be delivered.

1. Reach a rooftop marker labelled ROUTE TRIAL · I START and press I.
2. You have 150 seconds. Field Guidance gives the next checkpoint’s distance and compass direction. Press M to see its gold minimap target.
3. Travel to the tall gold beam and floating diamond. Its destination roof is reserved for the trial, so Route Repair, Encryption Cache, RSS, Fortune and Operator archive actions cannot take over I.
4. Land inside the gold checkpoint pad and press I. Complete every checkpoint to earn 2 bandwidth, 1 compute and 1 trust. Failed or expired trials can be restarted; completed trial terminals replenish after 15 minutes.

Connected operational networks

Earn compute, bandwidth, trust and components from repairs, rooftop work, operations and salvage. Deploy nodes with O; open the Network Builder with B to link nearby nodes, construct temporary bridges, deploy scanner decoys, jam patrols and establish quantum channels.

Looking Glass + Route Collector gives trace warning. Package Cache + NTP Source makes repairs trusted and quieter. Other links act as encrypted relays.

Encryption Cache and payload custody

1. On a roof, stand beside ENCRYPTION CACHE · I RECOVER and press I. You can carry one payload at a time for 30 minutes.
2. For safe decryption, return to a faction safehouse, Package Cache, or linked encrypted relay.
3. Once inside, press B to open the Network Builder, then choose Trusted decrypt; entering the safehouse does not decrypt it automatically.
4. Read the recovered plaintext. Payloads vary by source and may contain operational evidence, faction intelligence, Operator history, a numbered message thread, or an actionable field lead.
5. Choose Archive and release payload. The item is retained in Recovered Intel, thread progress is updated, and your custody slot is freed. If it contains a lead, Field Guidance and the map will mark a violet objective; reach it and press I.
6. Alternatively choose Brute-force payload anywhere for 2 compute, but it creates a large IDS signature.

Exact payloads are not repeated until the wider catalogue has been explored. Quantum-Secured Channels alert endpoints when observed and can collapse before an interceptor learns the payload.

Controls