THE MARK — FIELD STRATEGY

Recommended equipment and the approach that wins — instead of guessing — for every job in the school. One shot. One exit.

The core loop — IDEA

Four phases, in order, never more:

• INTEL — study the map before you move. The Mark starts on the GOLD disc and heads to the PURPLE beacon; you end it in between. Note the police — NAVY patrol cops, MAROON SWAT snipers, cruisers. Your loadout locks here.
• DEPLOYMENT — move into position. Walk, don't run. Climb CYAN pads and ladders to rooftops. High ground is quiet ground: the street can't look up.
• ENGAGEMENT — one clean shot, taken when the lane is clear.
• ABSCOND — leave before the net closes. Reach a GREEN exit.

The systems that decide success

• Walk vs run: running and jaywalking draw eyes; walking is invisible. "Men who run in this city are men with something to hide."
• Suspicion vs Pursuit: a sound (a shot, a shout) makes police investigate — a tail that wears off. Being seen makes them chase — a sprint that doesn't stop. Once blood shows, weapons are free.
• The chaos ladder: a stray shot = +1, a killed civilian = +2. Reinforcement waves grow with chaos and level. At chaos 9 it's MANHUNT — everything turns hostile and no cordon lets you through. Keep chaos low.
• A used perch is a perch they own: if your muzzle flash is spotted, relocate — don't fire twice from the same roof.
• Range bands: pistol under ~35 m, rifle to ~90 m, sniper beyond. One city block ≈ 35 m.
• Noise is a choice: a far rooftop shot is anonymous ("just the rooves over there"); the heavyweight rifle is heard across the district and tells the city where you stood. No ears, no crime.
• Night: eyes only work in lit pools — stay unlit, and shoot lamps out to make more dark.

The arsenal — chosen at INTEL (PRIMARY + SUPPORT)

No weapon is "the best." Each wins a different moment.

Rifles (PRIMARY)

• Lightweight — wins the escape. Fastest to move, climb, and abscond. Take it when you'll have to run: crowds, parades, anything likely to go loud.
• Standard — wins the follow-up. Balanced; fastest back on target for a second shot. Take it when the first shot might not land clean, or overwatch may force a relocation.
• Heavyweight — wins the first shot. Longest reach, hardest hit — but loud. Take it for one clean far shot when anonymity doesn't matter; avoid it when you need to vanish.

Sidearms (SUPPORT — unlocks in Contract 7)

• Silenced .22 — quiet, for close silent kills; the body is found later and you're already a rumor.
• .45 Stopper — loud, maximum stopping power, for when quiet no longer helps.
• Stiletto — silent, closest range, learned last. The blade answers a hand that reaches for you; it can't answer a bullet — those you run from.

Disguises (SUPPORT — Chapter 2)

• Police Uniform — wins the cordon. Incognito — wins the crowd. Shadow Skill — wins the wait.

Chapter 1 — the Teacher's school (Contracts 1–9)

A training arc: each contract teaches one mechanic, so the "recommended equipment" is usually whatever that lesson hands you. Per contract — the lesson, the target, the loadout, and the winning line.

C1Watermelons

Teaches the scope: sway, settle, zoom, breath, trigger. No Mark, no police, no clock — a safe range. Loadout: the rifle, nothing to choose. Approach: breathe out, then hold; after the kick the sight drifts back — wait for it to settle before the next shot.

C2The Walk

Teaches the IDEA loop end to end, walk-vs-run, the ladder, the first kill and the exit. Target: a small "ward heeler" who walks the west sidewalk, north to south, in the open, at dusk. Loadout: rifle only (no sidearm yet). Approach: follow the phases; climb the single ladder to the rooftop; then wait for the sidewalk to give him to you with no civilian in the lane — "when it's clean, it's clean; don't force it." Then walk to the exit; don't run.

C3The Commute

Teaches boarding a vehicle, entering a building, and the nest shot from a window. Target: an eviction "locksmith," across the street through a window. Loadout: rifle. Approach: drive to the drop, go inside and up to the window nest; don't lean out — look through the window "like a man who lives there." Leave the way you came; don't hurry on the stairs — hurrying is how they hear you.

C4The Dinner Table

Teaches reading SWAT overwatch and squad cars at INTEL, avoiding their sightlines, and relocating after your flash is seen. Target: a landlord seated at a lit apartment window at night — two SWAT snipers and one cruiser on the board. Loadout: Standard rifle (fast follow-up if you're made). Approach: mark the two snipers and the car on the Intel map first, then route around their lines — "a sniper only owns what he can see." Take the window shot; if overwatch acquires your flash, move and don't reuse the perch.

C5Loud and Quiet

Teaches the witness rule and rooftop anonymity — noise as a choice. Target: a docks foreman in the open at dusk, with both a loud close perch and a quiet far roof available. Loadout: Lightweight or Standard rifle from the far quiet roof — avoid the Heavyweight; it's heard across the water and names you. Approach: take the anonymous far shot. "Someone will find him. By then you're a rumor. Be a rumor."

C6Crowd Work

Teaches crowds as cover, panic and scatter, the chaos ladder, and escaping through responding waves. Target: a "Clean Streets" candidate in gold on a parade float in daylight, police lining both flanks. Loadout: Lightweight rifle (wins the escape). Approach: the crowd is your cover, not your obstacle. Take the shot quick, then walk into the panic and let it carry you out. Don't rack up civilian casualties — you need the crowd calm enough to disappear into.

C7Night School

Teaches night rules and unlocks the sidearm slot (Silenced .22 / Stiletto). Target: a company doctor, close, on a dark street with shootable lamps. Loadout: rifle + Silenced .22 (or the Stiletto for the closest silent kill). Approach: stay out of the lamp pools; shoot lamps to make more dark; close in for the silent kill — the body is found in the morning. If a hand reaches for you the knife answers it; from a bullet, you run.

C8No Such Thing as Free Fire

Teaches that the file can lie — the spare shot. The dossier names a man (an accountant), but he's bait: two parked sedans are watching to see who takes the shot. Loadout: any rifle (this is about precision on a small object). Approach: do not shoot the man. Put the round on the object in his hand — his cup, his phone, a lamp on his stoop — and shatter it. He flinches and lives; you walk (this is the win, "SPARED"). Fire on the man and you fail — someone in the cars just wrote your name down. "Now you know how to shoot. Next, you learn why not to."

C9Graduation

Teaches nothing new: a full solo contract, everything on, no rails — the Teacher is gone, and a new voice, Iris, comes on the radio as your contact. Loadout: a balanced kit — Standard rifle + Silenced .22. Approach: apply all of it — read the Intel, keep chaos near zero, take one clean shot, walk to a green exit.

Chapter 2 (the big city) is in development; its contracts and the disguise loadouts extend these same systems onto the larger 120-block map.

Challenge mode (endless, procedural)

Random cities, escalating heat. Every Challenge contract emits a shareable contract code — the same code reproduces the exact same city and terms, so friends can race identical ground. General tactics: at INTEL read the Mark's gold-to-purple route and the police placements; take the high, far, quiet perch; fire once; keep stray shots and civilian casualties near zero to stay under the MANHUNT threshold; move for a green exit the instant the shot lands. Bring the Lightweight if the map looks like a runner, the Standard if you expect a follow-up, the Heavyweight only when one loud far shot ends it and you already have a clean line out.

Canon quick-reference

• Colors: Contractor WHITE · civilians ("stiffs") GRAY · police NAVY · SWAT snipers MAROON · the Mark GOLD · climb pads CYAN · exits GREEN · venue beacon PURPLE. Channels: Teacher AMBER · Iris BLUE · Operator GREEN.
• Setting: Morrow City, 1991. Studio: Black Syntax. Platforms: PC via Steam first, mobile later. Modes: Story (authored chapters) and Challenge (endless procedural).