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Useless Useful Stealth: Difference between revisions
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* The WWII-based tactical squad game ''Hidden & Dangerous'' had a stealth mechanic that was absolutely worthless, which was probably due to the fact that the game in question was so damn buggy.
* Played with in ''[[Batman: Arkham Asylum]]''. While most of the trope applies, the game was designed around stealth-as-a-predator rather than stealth-as-hiding. Thus being sneaky is a very pro-active task in the game and is ''always'' useful, barring a handful of encounters to break up the gameplay.
* Cloe Walsh's stage in [[No More Heroes 2: Desperate Struggle]]. Right from the start, you are encouraged to hide from the stage's spotlights and guards, but getting caught only means that you have to fight all the guards instead and they each go down in 2-3 hits. Plus, the poorly implemented stealth mechanics make it far more difficult ''not'' to get caught.
== [[Adventure Game]] ==
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== [[Fighting Game]] ==
* Any fighting game that includes an invisibility, such as ''[[Mortal Kombat]]'', will end up being completely useless against A.I. opponents.
** The cloaking device from the [[Super Smash Bros.]] series is fairly useful against human enemies, but its secondary effect is much more useful against both humans and computer players. While cloaked, your character still takes knockback, but doesn't take damage. Just don't lose track of yourself and fall off a cliff.
** It's generally not that useful against human opponents either. Being a fighting game, the stage has very limited space, and thus there's not much room for you to hide.
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** Stealth was useful to take out unaware guards with single headshots, without alerting his mates. But stealthing by without killing them was a dangerous game.
** The sequel, Invisible War, kind of plays this straight as close combat weapons become virtually useless at the end as the two classes of tough enemy introduced late in the game explode and release poison gas on death respectively, making that unique new sword you just found virtually worthless against most major threats. Stealth is also of little use against armoured enemies as they have too much HP to be killed in a single sneak attack, even if you hit their ridiculously small weak(er) point, and are often placed so as to be harder to avoid than enemies in the prequel. However, using cloaking, radar invisibility, and running past them at full speed is an acceptable speedrun tactic, but doesn't work in cutscenes.
*** Stealth is actually very useful later in the game, as long as you're trying to sneak past them and not trying to use sneak attacks. Unlike the first one, you can have both invisibility and thermal cloaking, making you invisible to humans and robots. You can also use the silent stepping biomod, so they can't hear you running either. Stealth makes it entirely possible to run past an entire squad of armored enemies and mechs without them even realizing you were there.
** The prequel, ''[[Deus Ex: Human Revolution|Human Revolution]]'', brings back stealth as a viable alternative to brute force. In fact, the game emphasizes three types of gameplay: combat, hacking, and stealth. Unlike the first game, all vents are unlocked and can be used at will, although some are protected by laser grids. The game also allows the player to hug walls and hide behind covers in a ''[[Splinter Cell]]''-like manner, which is invaluable to both stealth and combat. In fact, stealth is encouraged, as [[Player Character|Jensen]] is not particularly tough in a firefight. You also get extra XP for using vents and performing non-violent takedowns, which knock out any non-boss human target instantly. Some levels pretty much require stealth, as sneaking into a police station is generally more preferrable than trying to shoot your way through.
** This, however, helped turning its boss fights into the [[Scrappy Mechanic]]: If you've been stealthing through levels using only your trusty stun gun, punches, and that stealth enhancer augment, the boss fights are going to chew you up and spit you out.
* In the ''[[Call of Duty]]'' series past the second game, the player may opt to use smoke grenades to cover movement. While not really a stealth item, this Trope is subverted in the fact that if you throw one to obscure your movements, it actually works. This is one way to approach machine gun posts. Of course, smokescreens are a double edged sword, as the enemy also uses them against you during [[Hold the Line]] segments.
* In ''[[Command
* Semi-averted in ''[[Unreal]]'' - the invisibility pickup can let you sneak by Titans without being detected (that said, half the times you encounter them are unavoidable [[Boss Battle|Boss Battles]] - natch) but the Skaarj will almost always know you're there. Then again, this might be [[Justified Trope|justified]] as Skaarj are far more intelligent and alert than Titans in terms of programming and backstory both.
* Hiding used to be an effective strategy in ''[[Left 4 Dead]]'', until tanks gained the [[The Computer Is a Cheating Bastard|ability to detect players]] who should be ''invisible''.
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* In the small but loyal fan community of the original ''[[Doom (series)|Doom]]'', most players see the "partial invisibility" powerup as more of a burden than anything else. This is because monsters fire much less accurately at invisible players, which sounds like a good thing, except that's it's usually harder to dodge projectiles when they're scattering all around you than when they're flying predictably towards you in a straight line (to the point that the sphere seems to make enemies ''[[The Computer Is a Cheating Bastard|more adept at leading their shots]]'' rather than making you harder to hit). Also, partial invisibility doesn't really make it harder for the enemies to actually SEE you and thus start attacking (and even if it did, your gunfire alerts them anyway). This is abused in some user-made levels where the player is required to pick up an invisibility sphere, just to make a fight ''harder''.
* The Spy of [[Team Fortress 2]] manages to subvert this, but Spy is still inarguably one of the three hardest classes in the game to play well, up with Scout and Sniper. The Spy can do truly horrifying amounts of damage to Sentry nests with Sappers and to enemies (especially the feared Heavy-Medic combo), so the difficulty is worth it. The Spy combines various kinds of invisibility with disguising as the enemy team's players for maximum effectiveness. All forms of disguise hide the spy from sentry guns. The Spy's disguise options are as follows:
** '''Invisi-watch''' allows the player to go invisible at will. Features: invisible, strategic latitude, ammo recharges invisibility. Drawbacks: Doesn't last a long time. The barest outline can be seen at close range. Can be decloaked by: fire, any projectile, [[Urine Trouble|jar-based karate]], Milk, bumping into an enemy, or just running out of invisibility.
** '''Dead Ringer''' allows the player to appear to have died, while really simultaneously going invisible. Features: invisible, most players don't double-check 'kills', user will not be [[Visible Invisibility|visibly invisible]] if touched by an enemy. Drawbacks: can't cloak at will. Can be revealed by: fire, Jarate, Milk.
** '''Cloak and Dagger''' is like the invisi-watch, but favors camping by reducing the amount of invisibility, making one unable to recharge invisibility with metal, and makes standing still recharge invisibility. Makes defensive spying much more viable.
** '''Disguise''' allows the user to appear as a teammate to the enemy. Originated as a glitch, [[Ascended Glitch|but became canonized]]. Lasts forever. Appears as a spy wearing a literal [[Paper-Thin Disguise]] to teammates.
** Note, though, all of the spy strategies have to get around one major factor: spy-checking. Since there's no friendly fire and everyone has lots of ammo, spy-checking comes at almost no cost. It's a de-facto job of the Pyro class to spy-check, because setting someone on fire means they stay on fire, and each time that being on fire does damage, the spy is revealed with a team-colored damage aura. This makes Pyros the spy-paranoia class of choice.
** There are some items that affect the spy's disguise - trading off damage for cloak, or allowing instant disguising as a victim (Your Eternal Reward), or temporary protection from fire (Spy-Cicle).
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** That's not to say it's completely useless though. Within the large community, tactics have arisen for "stealth runs", which generally consist out of sneaking through large parts of an instance, therefore saving time, to kill a specific target for valuable [[Randomly Drops|drops]]. Since druids are passable stealthers in addition to also being able to tank and heal, even tougher bosses can be done in that manner. Rogues can also use ''Vanish'' to stealth in combat for a nearly guaranteed survival in dire situations.
** To say nothing of PvP, where it is the furthest thing from uselessness conceivable.
** Once upon the time when the game was new, stealth runs were feasible in many dungeons. Dungeons in the original, vanilla game were huge, taking hours for even a dedicated, competent group to completely clear. Some had potential shortcuts built in, some didn't. So if a group of rogues and/or druids could go for just two or three predetermined bosses, quests or other goals and get that in a fraction of the time it would take without stealthing. However, that has been scaled back more and more in later expansions of the game. Almost every dungeon from the Burning Crusade on has at least one early boss which [[Load-Bearing Boss|makes a gate open when it dies]], can't be skipped because it patrols a chokepoint, or calls all previous [[Elite Mooks]] you haven't already killed them, and/or some guards with [[The All-Seeing AI|All Seeing AIs]]. Fortunately, almost every dungeon since the original vanilla game is also significantly smaller than original ones, so stealth runs wouldn't save as much time anyway.
** This is also averted for many quests. A Rogue can do certain gathering quests very very easily by stealthing, using Sap on any nearby mobs, looting the item, and restealthing. You miss out on XP and loot this way, but it lets you get the quests done much faster than they would be if you fight every enemy,<ref>(and XP rewards for questing generally outweigh XP gained from grinding mobs, as a function of player time invested so it tends to balance out in the player's favor)</ref> and stealthing also lets you fight enemies on your terms and control the opening.
* ''[[City of Villains]]'' has an entire archetype, the Stalker, who gets the best stealth in the game at level one and relies on it as they are designed to be a sneak attack class. Unfortunately, anti-stealth powers become ridiculously commonplace in the late game amongst both players and [[NPC|NPCs]]. The Rikti War Zone is the worst example, as nearly every group of Rikti has Drones that can see through stealth, making Stalkers aggravatingly difficult to play. Recently, however, a patch increased the power of Stalkers, with increased damage, increased criticals, and status effects on their best attack while also increasing their base HP considerably.
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* ''[[Perfect World]]'' puts a spin on this; all non-Assassin characters and mobs have an Awareness Level equal to their level if they're not using pots. Assassins have, as an added stat, a Stealth Level, which, discounting other skills/pots, is equal to Character Level+Stealth Skill Level. Any character that has an Awareness Level higher than or equal to an Assassin's Stealth Level can see and target the Assassin, but if it's lower, you're dead. However, making Stealth slightly more (and less, at the same time) useful are the Catlike Tread and Sharp Observer skills: the former increases Stealth Level by 2*Skill Level, and the latter increases Awareness Level by 3*Skill Level.
** Don't forget the mana cost of stealth that decreases when you level your skill, going from 24 to 15 mana/second.
*** Further complications arise when you take into account the fact that early-game "Sins" can only use stealth outside of combat mode, until they reach Level 29, when they get the Shadow Escape skill, allowing them to activate stealth in combat.
* In ''[[Ace Online]]'', B-Gears gain the ability to stay Invisible, emulating a stealth bomber. Other Gears are able to do this through Stealth Cards as well. In the case of B-Gears' invisibility, it allows B-Gears to be untargetable by opponents. To attack, B-Gears forcefully decloak. However, due to B-Gears' nature to be able to kill almost anything in one hit most of the time, a successful sneak attack is a devastating tactic. Furthermore, anti-stealth countermeasures rely on the M-Gears' Scan ability or the Search Eye semi-rare item, making Invisible very useful to briefly elude pursuit to be able to return later to execute an attack when the opponent least expects it.
* One of the biggest complaints from Federation players in [[Star Trek Online]] in regards to the Klingon faction is the cloaking device. Per [[Canon]], the Federation is not supposed to use stealth technology. Since Klingons are primarily a PVP faction, what this ends up meaning is that you go into a match with the Klingon team automatically cloaked and the Federation team sitting ducks, with no way to know where the Klingon attack will come from. This led to the "Fedball" tactic, where Federation players would sit in a sphere shape so as to cover everyone's backs, and hope someone's finger would slip on their cloak button. Naturally, this makes for very boring matches. Klingon versus Klingon was even worse, because both teams would spend the entire match cloaked, so people would end up wandering around fruitlessly searching for an exposed player to pounce on. This has been fixed to some extent with enhanced Cloak detection techniques and a Federation starship with a cloaking device, but it can still be quite frustrating.
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* Averted hard in [[Achron]]. The units need energy to cloak, but being cloaked drains the energy so slowly that it doesn't matter most of the time. Each of the three races has one unit that can cloak and while those units are not the most powerful, they still pack quite a punch, especially the Grekim Tier 2 bomber unit. They all can attack without giving up their cloak and the enemy units can't see or attack them. They are still balanced because there's three units on each race that can detect cloak (one Tier 1 infantry unit, one Tier 2 aircraft and the turret equivalent).
* In ''[[Warcraft]]'' and ''WarCraft 2'', Invisibility spells are useless against computer opponents due to [[The All-Seeing AI]].
* The ''[[Command
** Slightly more useful is the spy, which can disguise himself as an enemy unit and infiltrate buildings for a variety of effects. Though more useful against computer opponents, who can't detect spies unless they wander into a dog, the spy's abilities range from cutting the power in the enemy base for a while-- effectively halting production and disabling automated defenses-- to stealing tech and money.
{{quote|However the enemy AI has disturbing luck sending a tank to "scout" (read: flatten) the exact location your invisible unit is, even if they are across the map. Play CnC Generals for the most blatant examples.}}
** In [[Command
** Stealth tanks can actually be useful in ''Tiberium Wars'', as vehicles take increased damage when attacked from the rear. However, combat in that game is so quick and chaotic that by the time you've maneuvered the tanks around to the back of an enemy column, the fight is likely already over. Also, stealth tanks are ''very'' useful for ambushing unsuspecting aircraft. And harvesters.
** Somewhat averted in ''Tiberian Sun'': Stealth was a mechanism with a pretty strong influence on tactics, at least in multi-player. One rather basic-yet-cheeky technique for a one-on-one quick win was to build an engineer-laden Subterranean APC and shoot straight for the opponents' Construction Yard/War Factory; this in turn would be quickly countered by concrete/walls/MSAs, but these themselves would take resources/concentration away from army building to do thoroughly. Late-game, similar cheep-ish flame tanks could be used to wipe out power (and thus radar/base defence), whilst the battle rages elsewhere, or used as a distraction for an opponent who you know will be looking out for them. And not to mention the expansions' stealth generator/arty combo...
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** Stealth is also useful for clearing minefields because of the way party AI is handled: normally, if there are enemies behind the mines, your companions will [[Leeroy Jenkins|charge straight ahead]] and blow themselves up on the way.
* ''[[Neverwinter Nights 2]]'' falls squarely into this trope. Most of the enemies are simply cannon fodder that your party should have little trouble dealing with, and in the event you're up against a challenging one (i.e., a red dragon), stealth isn't an option anyways. It's [[Egregious]] if you take the Shadow Thief line of quests; for one mission, for which you're encouraged to remain stealthy to break into a house, it makes zero difference if you just barge in waving your sword, and you might even get complimented more for doing so.
** Unless you use Hide in Plain Sight, an ability that [[Exactly What It Says on the Tin|hide in front of enemies]], and by hide in front of enemies, we mean "step back to disengage form combat, hide under the enemies nose". While hiding you can't be targeted, leaving you vulnerable only to area of effect attacks and letting you attack for sneak attack.
** Stealth is doubly useless in ''Neverwinter Nights 2'' due to the fact that the game pits you against a disproportionate number of undead opponents - which are immune to critical damage inflicted by sneak attacks made while in stealth mode.
** It does, however, have one very useful application: If you play an evil assassin and {{spoiler|join the King of Shadows}} at the end, you have to {{spoiler|fight your entire party singlehanded}}. Hide in plain sight, Death Attack, lather, rinse, repeat.
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* ''[[Nintendo Wars]]'': The submarine cannot be targeted once submerged, except by a unit whose only purpose is to kill subs. You cannot see a sub unless you are right next to it, and it blocks your path, wasting time. On the flip side, submersion costs a lot of fuel and the sub must return to base frequently to fuel up. ''Dual Strike'' added stealth jets, which can hit land, sea and air units while cloaked but have even worse fuel consumption.
* In the ''[[Total War]]'' series, units ''do'' get tactical advantages from ambushes, as being charged in the side or back (especially when already engaged) incurs a massive morale penalty. A good ambush can break armies, but it takes a very good commander to do so and it's usually pointless against the AI, who will either rush at you with all his units in a big mob or break into a defensive formation and stand still (depending on its numbers compared to yours); ambushes are very seldom applicable in either scenario.
** There is one unit of ninja equivalents that can hide in open country. However for scouting it is better to spend the money on cavalry (almost never in the game does it matter that the enemy knows you have spotted them) and it is difficult to effectively ambush as there are only six men in the unit (most infantry have 60-100). Also you are only allowed to have 16 units in a battle so picking any number of these means you will be heavily outnumbered.
* Stealth appears in ''[[Sword of the Stars]]''. While it can be potentially devastating for a first strike, stealth-detection is a universal tech available to all races (in a game where the tech tree is randomized) and is easier to acquire than stealth is. Furthermore, stealth takes up the command section on a cruiser and slows down the ship, in comparison to the detector that is only needed on a single ship in the enemy fleet to reveal your entire stealthed fleet.
** On the other hand, you can tell which enemy ship(s) have stealth detection command sections. If you kill them first, you can restore your stealth advantage. And with the right techs, your ships can shoot while remaining stealthed. So, not so useless after all...
** Even without stealth detection, the AI always tries to shoot at the last location your invisible ship fired from, making it important to stay on the move. If you don't, then the enemy will zero in and blast you. You can do the same, by the way (i.e. force-fire at a location).
* In ''[[Battle for Wesnoth]]'''s basic head-to-head multiplayer stealth abilities tend to be impractical. Firstly, most stealth-able units can only be acquired by leveling them in combat, so the enemy knows exactly when and where you got them. The only recruitable stealth units in default play are Rebel faction's Wose - a slow-moving highly specialized unit used against only a few specific enemies (so they're easy to see coming) - and the Undead faction's two Skeleton units, which can move unseen in deep water - a terrain which cuts down their movement rate and defense so much that it's difficult to actually ever take advantage of this ability. And secondly, the abilities themselves only function under specific conditions, either keyed to certain terrain types like forests(in case of the aforementioned Wose), which tend to be mostly isolated and make fairly obvious hiding locations, or a particular time of day, such as nighttime in case of the Shadow unit... which also happens to be the time when it's most advantageous for the Shadow to fight instead of hide.
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* While you typically don't get the opportunity to use stealth in the Jagged Alliance series, similar to the [[Army of Two]] example your meaty healthy gunner guys can draw fire with their machinegun bursts while your medic swaps to a rifle and spends extra AP on aiming. Amusingly, this can even work in an open field if the sniper is BEHIND the enemy soldiers and lying down. They will continue to spray&pray at your SMG squad while not noticing the entry wounds are coming from the opposite side.
* ''[[Fallout Tactics]]'' grants no XP for sneaking past enemies and most maps can only be solved by fighting: Sneak is (in the long run) only useful for positioning units before engaging in combat. While this is hardly that useful against your average raider or tribal, once you hit St. Louis and your enemies start toting rocket launchers or M2 brownings that can kill your entire party from halfway off the map with a lucky shot, you ''will'' learn to love a high stealth skill on every character you have.
** In addition, there's also a map involving a hostage situation (Springfield) where stealth ([[Luck-Based Mission|and a great deal of luck]]) is mandatory to save the town.
== [[Wide Open Sandbox]] ==
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== [[Tabletop Games]] ==
* ''[[Dungeons and Dragons]]'' has had sneaky rogue classes and invisibility spells since the beginning. Whether or not these powers will come in handy depends purely on the [[Dungeon Master]] and the kinds of situations he throws the party into. A high-level rogue with good stealth can get a massive sneak attack damage bonus if they aren't noticed, often doing more damage in that shot than the designated heavy-hitters.
* ''[[Mutants and Masterminds]]'' allows for impressive levels of stealth, including a "hide in plain sight" feat that can be taken even at the lowest levels and allows one to hide without cover and while being observed. On the other hand, the system is supposed to model [[Comic Book]] superheroes who commonly have such abilities. Becoming invisible (or unable to be perceived by other senses) is similarly easy to do. On the flip side of things, there's often [[Internet Backdraft|heated discussions]] on the Atomic Think Tank message board about whether the vanilla stealth skill applies to super-senses with or without some degree of preparation for said skills, and it's similarly cheap to buy powers that will counter any and all invisibility effects.
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