Signature & Detection

Light, noise, radio and electronics make you visible to the machines.

The machines don't look for people – they look for signals. Everything that glows, makes noise, transmits or computes raises your signature (0–100). The HUD shows how conspicuous you are right now.

What raises your signature

• Light: flashlight, torch, work lamp, campfire. Light carries far at night. A fire is less conspicuous behind walls.
• Noise: running, gunshots, tools, engines, generators – see Noise.
• Carried tech: switched-on batteries, circuit boards, radios, chips and similar parts in your inventory constantly emit a little. A Faraday pouch shields them; the Electronics perk Shielding cuts emissions by 40%.
• Going online: every external connection – terminals, hacking, satellite, modern vehicles – asks CONNECT? first. Saying yes creates signal heat.

Signal heat – the network's memory

Networked activity accumulates per region (128 m cells). It seeps into neighbouring cells and only fades slowly once a region stays quiet. There is no bar for it, only signs: radio crackle, distant drones, flickering mast lights. If heat keeps rising, reconnaissance drones follow, then patrols with search patterns and finally specialised search squads. They search near your last conspicuous activity, not exactly where you are. In cold zones with little network coverage, activity goes almost unnoticed, and thunderstorms disturb the network's communication.

How machines perceive you

Every machine type has its own sensors (strengths: see Machines):

Tips: Crouching roughly halves your visibility; lying prone reduces it much further. Jammers blind nearby machines. The AI learns: if you always use the same tactic, you will meet adapted machines (world setting Learning AI).