@mwperk0122 yeah I love hold-ups, definitely one of my favorite mechanics. It's also mentioned in the last sentence of the description (right below the title) but I don't blame you for missing it 😛

Though not Mentioned the third means of incapacitating a guard is to hold them up. Once told to lie down they will remain that way indefinitely unless you trigger combat you will also need to stun of sleep them to move them after lying down. It is overall a very effective way to non lethal guards so long as you can maintain your stealth.

A quick note I would like to add:
If you throw an unconscious enemy into a hiding spot (I.E. Dumpster, Toilet), then they will remain KO'd permanently.

Curious if it scales with "overkill" value (ie if you cqc chain 2/4 punches and then tranq or strangle) , and also whether soldier level has significant impact. The reason I suspect this is that from a programming perspective it is easy to imagine keeping a "stun hp" bar that when it falls into the negative begins ticking back up. I know that the skull-possessed soldiers have take significantly more nonlethal ordinance to incapacitate, and so I know such an hp bar exists to some extent, even apart from bosses like quiet who explicitly have one. It could also involve a check to see whether the strike will incapacitate and set to a certain level. If anyone knows more about the actual programming/math behind it I would be interested to hear

@Akina Complex
I understand that the enemy preparedness value can change the duration, this is why I used a duration range instead of a static duration. The ranges you see are the ones I was able to record within my game state. I thought I noted this in the guide but maybe it was in the comments early on and I never updated it. I was looking for a way to change preparedness to do more extensive testing but I couldn't find a way to do that. I haven't played in a while and don't plan on going back anytime soon, but if someone were able to record more accurate ranges I might be willing to update the guide.

the number 3% will then be recalculated to determine another expected chance and standart offset, for weapons and skills: how many ppl with assault rifles? snipers? rockets etc? how advanced should ppl react to you? walk slowly towards the scene or dash right to it? reload time, cover behavior, etc...

and this is being recalculated for every CP you go in. so the weapons/skills distribution is never really same for every CP, but they are very much alike, and a chance to meet a town full of snipers is once again, dummy low and probably even cut off in the math formula.

and apparently the ZZZ or STN timers are also dependant on this. I use Infinite Heaven, and tested "SPECIAL" skill distribution. And some people were awake in 30 seconds, others in 2. That is what i was implying

hehe, well its super gameplay design for you. prepare for some math.

the game recieves an overall prepardness value, you see those 6 or 7 icons on the map, being gray to dark red. the return values are a certain "expected chance" and "standart offset". those values are then used to determine another chance roll, for every drop off on the AO. this next chances variation decides a static chance for: equipment and skills.

example: all icons are gray. this is your first visit of say, Afganistan. this means the first chances roll should be about 0, with offset of 10%. now, as you deploy, a chance between 0 and 100 is chosen, and due to prepardness values, 3% returns (and the chance to get anything above 10% are dummy low, like 10^-34 low). restart your mission, and maybe 2% returns, or even 6% if you are lucky, but now lets stick to the 3%.

@Akina Complex
"due to experience" lol, maybe share your experience?

@serigala-x
Read the Tranquilizers section

how about sleep grenades?