| Preceded by |
|---|
| Spy 1.0 since Update 15.13 |
Spy (ver 2.0) is a Mission type where players are tasked with extracting confidential data from enemy data servers.
Mechanics
Corpus Data Vault on alarm.
Spy missions require players to locate consoles found in Data Vaults, which are special rooms featuring heavy security and advanced defense mechanisms guarding the console access terminals. Each mission will have three separate Data Vaults, of which all three must be breached and attempted before extraction becomes available. Players must breach the Data Vault rooms and then hack the access console in order to extract the data. If a Tenno trips over the Data Vault's security features, or an enemy activates the Data Vault's alarm, the Data Vault's defense mechanisms and enemy reinforcements become active, and a countdown timer will initiate indicating the time until the data is wiped off the server, giving players 20 to 50 seconds (depending on difficulty) in which to attempt to reach the console and hack it.
Similar to Rescue Prison Complexes, Data Vaults often feature alternate paths and tunnels that can be used to stealthily bypass the Data Vault's defenses, allowing for stealthy completion of a Data Vault.
End-of-mission rewards for Spy missions depends on the number of Data Vaults successfully hacked, with at least one vault hack needing to be successful in order to accomplish the mission.
Variations
- Spy Alert missions will require a minimum number of vaults successfully hacked in order to be complete the mission: Normal Alert missions require a minimum of 2 vaults hacked, while Corpus Merchant Ship Alerts require all 3 vaults hacked.
Defenses
Apart from enemies patrolling the rooms, the Corpus and Grineer have different emplaced defenses set up around their Data Vaults, with the defenses present depending on the variant of Data Vault. The defenses present will initiate each vault's alarm if tripped. Some security measures can be disabled if nearby panels are hacked.
Corpus
- Security Camera: Security Cameras in Data Vaults will trigger alarms if they spot the player. It is possible to instantly destroy them without triggering the alarm.
- Laser Barriers: Tripping over laser barriers in Data Vaults triggers the alarms. Unlike the normal Laser Barriers, those found in Data Vaults have a variety of mechanisms to confuse players, such as laser barriers that move, and barriers that periodically deactivate. Invisible players will still activate the alarms, but players in the Rift Plane will not.
Grineer
- Sensor Bar: Data Vault alarms can be triggered by passing through energy doors that deal Script error: The function "Proc" does not exist. proc. Some energy doors in a Data Vault may not have Sensor Bars attached to them, making them impossible to deactivate, while others may blink on and off periodically, which can catch players unaware. Invisible players will still activate the alarms if they pass through.
- Motion Detector: Some Grineer vaults have defenses involving scanners that sweep a yellow energy curtain across the console, triggering the alarm if the curtain is touched. These scanners have to be deactivated using consoles within the Data Vault to ensure safe hacking.
- Sensor Regulator: These mobile Regulator variants patrol Data Vaults, and will trigger alarms if they spot a player or take damage and survive.
- Spark - A unique variant of the Bombard can appear as reinforcements if multiple Data Vault alarms have been tripped.
- Lynx - One particular vault layout for Grineer Spy missions has an idle Lynx suspended from the ceiling of the terminal room. Should the players trip the alarm the Lynx will activate and begin attacking nearby players (only if alerting the regulators before retrieving data).
Some Data Vaults may also feature security doors and pit traps that will engage and close upon alarms being triggered, which can impede a player's movement through the vault.
Whether a player succeeds or fails in retrieving the data inside the Data Vault, the vault itself will become easier to exit from: Corpus Data Vaults will have their laser defenses and any pit traps deactivated, while Grineer Data Vaults can open alternate passages that lead to the exit.
Notes
- Upon successfully hacking a Data Vault without triggering an alarm or alerting enemies the affinity bonus is tripled.
- If all three Data Vaults have had their alarms triggered and data successfully retrieved, the objective will change into an Exterminate mission, where all remaining enemies must be killed before extraction. This change will not occur if only two or less vaults had their alarms triggered, or if two or fewer data consoles have been successfully hacked.
- Every Data Vault alarm tripped will cause subsequent vaults to implement enemy patrols with tougher enemies, or activate additional defensive systems.
- Data Vaults can randomly have variations on their alternate passages, where some passages may be impassable on a particular mission. Certain defenses may also be active in some missions while inactive in others.
- Failing or canceling the hack on the server access panel will set off the vault's alarm.
- If one alarm is triggered by a player in a Data Vault while their teammate is inside another separate Data Vault, the alarms for both those Data Vaults will trigger and start a simultaneous countdown. (May depend on difficulty or was removed 2015-08-21.)
- With the exception of the server access panel, hackable consoles inside the vaults will be one difficulty easier than the rest of the level's consoles.
- Data Vaults are unaffected by external alarms, i.e. alarms initiated outside of them. Enemies inside Data Vaults will not be alerted even if a map-wide alarm has been initiated before the player has initiated the entrance hack. However, if the player has initiated the entrance hack and an enemy on the map raised the alarm after that, guards inside the vault will be alerted and may subsequently trigger the vault's alarm if the player doesn't dispose of them.
- Rare Storage Containers have a chance to spawn inside Data Vaults, and even the console terminal rooms.
- Syndicates and Assassins have a decreased chance to attack compared to normal missions. [citation needed]
- Syndicate Death Squads are able to attack when the target is in a Data Vault without dialog and won't spawn until they leave the Data Vault, leaving only the flickering red effect to warn the target about it.
- The Stalker, Zanuka Hunter and The Grustrag Three can spawn and attack when the target is in the Data Vault.
- If the Cryogenic Leakage hazard is active on a Spy mission, certain ice formations may block some of the alternate passages leading to the data console.
- Since Phobos does not normally have Cryogenic Leakage, the ice will not reduce shields or affect the rest of the level, but will still block alternate passages. It seems Phobos has a higher likelihood of having this ice effect than other planets.
Missions
Template:DisplayMissiontype
Rewards
Each Data Vault will reward from 1000 to 4000 Affinity for a successful hack, which will be tripled if completed without triggering the alarms. The Affinity earned is dependent on the complexity of the Vault, and corresponds with enemy level.
Spy missions can reward the following items upon successful completion. Each Vault hacked will reward one item, regardless if done stealthily or not.
- Arrow Mutation
- Blunderbuss
- Continuity
- Covert Lethality
- Credit Cache
- Cryo Rounds
- Deep Freeze
- Fast Deflection
- Fast Hands
- Frigid Blast
- Frostbite
- Fury
- Fusion Cores (All rarities)
- Hell's Chamber
- Hornet Strike
- Metal Auger
- No Return
- North Wind
- Parry
- Piercing Hit
- Pistol Ammo Mutation
- Point Blank
- Point Strike
- Power Throw
- Pressure Point
- Quick Rest
- Reflection
- Reflex Coil
- Reflex Guard
- Rifle Ammo Mutation
- Rime Rounds
- Rush
- Scattering Inferno
- Scorch
- Serration
- Shotgun Ammo Mutation
- Sniper Ammo Mutation
- Stabilizer
- Steady Hands
- Streamline
- Stretch
- Target Cracker
- Thermite Rounds
- Trick Mag
- Tower I Capture Key
- Tower I Exterminate Key
- Tower I Mobile Defense Key
- Tower I Sabotage Key
- Tower II Capture Key
- Tower II Defense Key
- Tower II Exterminate Key
- Tower II Mobile Defense Key
- Tower II Sabotage Key
- Tower II Survival Key
- Tower III Capture Key
- Tower III Defense Key
- Tower III Exterminate Key
- Tower III Mobile Defense Key
- Tower III Sabotage Key
- Tower III Survival Key
- Tower IV Sabotage Key
- Vicious Frost
- Vitality
- Volcanic Edge
| Level | Mods | Planets |
|---|---|---|
| Tier 1 (Level 1-15) |
File:ViciousFrostModU145.pngFile:VolcanicEdgeModU145.png | Mercury (Suisei) Script error: The function "Faction" does not exist. Earth (Cambria) Script error: The function "Faction" does not exist. |
| Tier 2 (Level 15-25) |
File:RimeRoundsModU145.pngFile:ScatteringInfernoModU145.png | Saturn (Aegaeon) Script error: The function "Faction" does not exist. Phobos (Grildrig, Shklovsky) Script error: The function "Faction" does not exist. |
| Tier 3 (Level ≥ 25) |
 File:FrostbiteModU145.pngFile:ThermiteRoundsModU145.pngFile:ScorchModU145.png
|
Eris (Cyath) Script error: The function "Faction" does not exist. Eris (Gnathos) Script error: The function "Faction" does not exist. |
Tips
- If there is a general alarm as you traverse the level, wait until you arrive at a vault to disable it. Any previously alerted enemies won't reactivate the alarm unless they were already in the process of doing so.
- When you enter a vault, the alertness levels of most enemies outside it will drop, and they will not follow you in (though they may patrol through the now unlocked doors.) It is advisable to wait a moment in the vault's antechamber in case you unknowingly encounter one of the exceptions. Exceptions include:
- Drahk
- Drahk Masters
- Rollers
- Latchers
- Melee units (ex. Scorpions, Butchers, Prod Crewmen)
- Shockwave MOAs
- Timing in the vaults is based on when you begin to hack the door. If you take longer on your hack, enemies will have progressed along their patrol routes.
- When enemies set off the alarms in the vault themselves, their trigger functioning is similar to that of a regular alarm, meaning if the map dedicated alarms haven't been activated in a while then they will have a good chance to raise the vault alarms.
- Sentinels and Kubrows do not trigger Sensor Regulators or Laser Barriers, allowing free usage inside Data Vaults, however they can still trigger the alarms if they attack enemies.
- Various Frames can make the vault easy.
- Limbo can make various parts of the Corpus spy vaults trivial, as being in the Rift Plane allows you to walk through laser barriers without triggering an alarm.
- Loki can use Decoy and then Switch Teleport to bypass barriers and obstacles.
- However, Decoy appears to be able to trigger Grineer's energy door, if it passes through them, ie. when placed on the conveyor belt.
- Valkyr can use Rip Line to quickly navigate obstacles, as well as silently destroy Security Cameras.
- Mirage's Sleight Of Hand can be used to disable Cameras in Corpus vaults. This will also affect consoles however (on both Corpus and Grineer maps), prompting enemies to try and raise the alarm, which may be an intended effect, as the resulting explosion may kill the guard, or at least prevent them to use the console until Sleight of Hand expires. Note that Sleight of Hand does NOT affect laser barriers in Corpus vaults. It also seems that activating sleight of Hand too close to a Sensor Regulator can cause it to trigger the alarm.
- A Nova using Worm Hole can also easily bypass parts of various vaults, especially Corpus ones, as going through Worm Holes does not trigger Laser Barriers or Sensor Bars.
- An Equinox in Night Aspect using Rest can put Sensor Regulators to sleep, allowing for easy evasion during the duration of the ability.
- If you are having trouble solving advanced Corpus consoles, try this user guide.
Trivia
- Oddly, the Spy Codex entry still shows the previous Grineer Spy 1.0 terminal, although it has been completely discarded from the game.
Bugs
- Spy missions sometimes fail even if no data is lost.
- Occasionally hitting a barrier directly outside the vault will trip the alarm.
- Occasionally, in the Grineer "conveyor belt" vault, the visual effect for the blast effect walls will not render. They still behave normally. Their location can be identified by the frame in place where it normally is, with a yellow tint to it.
- In solo mode, triggering the alarm, then dying and using revive will freeze the timer, giving unlimited time to hack the console.
- Before Update 16.4, the reward from the first would be duplicated at the end, giving the impression that a 4th extra reward would be given if the vaults were stealthily hacked.
Media
