Welcome to the NPC behavior guide for Deceive Inc! This guide will walk you through how to not be sussy, and to figure out who are the impostors (rival agents), ensuring that your opponents will not see you coming.

The guide is divided into three sections:
-general NPC behavior guidelines (things to keep in mind while trying to blend in)
-advanced in-depth guide about exactly what some could consider 'player-ish behavior'
-a list of things NOT to do, things NPCs never do that you should be wary of doing yourself and keeping a lookout for in other people.

Your holographic cover is arguably the most important tool in any agent's arsenal. It allows you to assume the form of anyone and become visually indistinguishable. As such, you should be aware of how you can safely hide with it- and what it won't stop enemy agents seeing.

If someone shoots you while in cover, your cover is your hitbox, so be aware that disguising as a larger NPC (e.g Douglas the male guard or Ernest the old civilian) may make you easier to hit- although once your cover is blown your hitbox depends on your actual agent.

Being in cover also protects you from headshots- the initial shot breaking you out of cover can never do headshot damage. This headshot protection lasts for less than two seconds, and shots to the head while you're in cover will do the next best thing and become torso damage instead. Squire's third passive, Aegis Cover, makes this headshot resistance last longer among its effects.

Your cover conceals many sounds that you make, so don't worry, rivals will never hear:
-your character's voicelines
-you swapping held item/aiming with a gun
-spyglass usage

Rivals CAN still hear:
-your held activated signal scramblers, which still function while in cover
-your held shield-brella, if opened in front of you
-the noise of your spyglass deactivating if it was blocked via signal scrambler while you were using it

Your cover can be blown via a variety of methods:
-Attacking with a weapon, or performing a melee attack
-Being attacked by another player
-Using certain abilities (such as Hans' Incapacitor Orb)
-Triggering a Tripwire
-Being caught in a restricted area by an NPC
-Staying in the package room too long without taking the package

If your cover has been blown, it can be got back by waiting a few seconds for it to recharge. Your cover recharges slower if you're moving (and even slower while running). Your cover resets recharging progress if anything that would normally blow your cover happens. The cover accelerator field upgrade increases the recharge rate. Some abilities also help recharge your cover (For example, using Red's second expertise, Sweet Embrace, gives the red and any allies nearby their cover back)

Your cover doesn't react to you hacking or picking up anything. It also doesn't react to you opening drawers unless you're in a Staff disguise. Your cover won't react to you looking around- it always faces the direction you are moving/last moved in. Depending on your cover type, it may react to enemies fighting nearby- crouching in a civilian/staff disguise near scared NPCs will make you appear to also cower. Your running animation will also change to that of a scared NPC while near fights.

While in cover as a Guard, your cover reacts to spies like a normal guard would, pulling out their weapon and following them- although you can't shoot like normal guards, so this is a bit of a giveaway.

The art of pretending to be an NPC is a delicate one, but it's easy enough to learn.
The general behavior of an NPC depends on what kind of NPC they are- civilian, staff, guard, technician, and VIP.

Civilians, the bulk of the herd, are easy enough to blend in with due to their sheer numbers. They will wander the public areas of the map, engaging in lively conversation, partying, sitting on benches, etc. If disturbed by a spy attacking near them, they will either run away or sit and cower in fear. Keep this in mind if you're disguised as one, as a civilian calmly walking through a gunfight is a dead giveaway.
You can mimic the 'cowering in fear' by crouching near panicked civilians, which is a good way to hide if you need to blend in in an emergency, or to line up a shot on a nearby fighting spy.
Civilians frequently sit on chairs, benches and sofas, and can be seen getting a drink sometimes, both of which you can mimic. Keep in mind civilians never wander into areas they don't have clearance for, so if you see a civilian in a guard room, for instance, that's a guaranteed spy.
Civilians frequently run around for no reason, so feel free to run around, just make sure your movement patterns aren't wonky. Civilians wear a lot of different colors of clothes, but never blue, green, purple, or gold.

Staff members can be a good disguise, as they are quite numerous and have access to staff rooms. Their behavior is very similar to civilians, wandering around the map, occasionally sitting down, but staff members will go into staff rooms, and are the most common NPC in staff rooms.
Staff are the only NPCs that can open drawers. If you see anyone else open a drawer, that's a guaranteed player. Remember also that staff members going into staff rooms open the door perfectly, and will never just stand awkwardly in front of it for a few seconds before going in, a sure sign of a player hacking the door. Staff members, unlike civilians, can revive knocked-out NPCs of any kind by splashing water on their face, which you can also do if you crouch over them as a staff member. NPCs that do this, however, often stay crouched for a few seconds afterwards, so be wary of people who stand back up immediately, especially if they revive more NPCs quickly afterwards. Staff members have the same reaction to spies fighting around them as civilians, although they may run into staff rooms to hide. Staff always wear green uniforms.

Guards are a unique type of NPC. They're a popular disguise due to being allowed in guard rooms, so be extra wary of guards behaving suspiciously. Besides the occasional VIP, guards are the only NPCs that will ever go into guard rooms- no civilians or staff allowed. Guards have a different reaction to fighting spies- instead of fleeing or cowering, guards will draw their weapon and pursue any spy they see, de-aggroing after line of sight has been broken for a few seconds. Be very wary trying to hide as a guard if there are nearby fighting players, as you'll be very suspicious if you don't walk in a straight line towards the fight.
Guards never enter vault terminal/technician rooms unless pursuing a player, with the exception of one room in Operation Hard Sell which they occasionally path through to reach another guard room. Guards rarely run unless pursuing players, so try not to run too much while disguised as a guard, and be very wary of running guards, who have a good chance of being players.
Guards will go into staff rooms, but be aware they will never open drawers. If you see one doing so, that's a player, and if you see open drawers in a guard room, that's the work of a player, as staff members are the only NPCs who touch drawers, and staff aren't allowed in guard rooms.
Guards will sit down on chairs and benches in public, in staff rooms, and in guard rooms, and they also will stand outside of important locations with their arms crossed, something you can mimic in a guard disguise. Guards wear blue uniforms.

Elite Guards are stronger guards with elevated security clearance. They have higher health and damage and can frequently be found going into vault terminal rooms and patrolling the technician rooms in the vault, although they will go more or less anywhere. Elite Guards are a VERY popular disguise, so be very wary of them.

Technicians are a type of NPC who are only found in the vault area. They behave like civilians, running and cowering from gunfire, walking around the vault area, occasionally sitting down or inspecting samples/looking through a microscope. Be aware that technicians will never leave the vault area under any circumstances, so if you see one outside of the vault, that's a player. Aside from that, there's not much to say about them. Technicians wear white lab coats, with purple underclothes.

VIPs are the final type of NPC, and have several quirks compared to other NPCs. For a start, there is only ever one VIP per map- with the exception of Operation Silver Reef, where there are two (Although the Evensen twins aren't identical- their hair are different colours). This makes disguising as one inherently dangerous, as you make yourself stand out- and if you see two identical VIPs, at least one of them's a player.
VIPs will go pretty much everywhere. They path around public areas, into staff rooms, into guard rooms. They'll go into vault terminal rooms, and are the only NPC to naturally do this. If the vault has been opened, they'll even go there, although be wary as it is rare for the VIP to go deep into the vault, despite them being allowed there. The only VIP exclusive room on the map is the package room. Despite this, no NPC, not even the VIP, will ever go into the package room. VIPs almost never run unless there are gunshots near them, so a VIP running around the map is almost certainly a player. VIPs wear gold/orange.

This section is more about very advanced things that might give you a hint that someone could be a rival agent- things that by no means constitute proof of spyship but show up on an experienced player's radar nonetheless.

NPC movement is rarely deliberate. They wander around doing whatever for most of their time, and don't care about progressing the game, so an NPC that goes from important area to important area with no downtime in between may not be an NPC at all.

NPCs often stand still for a few moments before continuing to move. They rarely dramatically change the direction of their movement while walking- a sudden U-turn is a warning light on the sus-o-meter. To avoid 'wiggling', a community term for players mispathing and looking suspicious, whenever you want to change the direction of your movement, stop for a few seconds to face the correct direction.

NPCs obviously don't have to hack doors to walk through them. Standing next to a door for a few seconds before walking through could be a sign of a player.

If NPCs start a social interaction eg. sitting down or watering a plant, they usually spend at least a few seconds doing it. Someone sitting down and then immediately getting back up, or worse, canceling the animation of sitting down, is worthy of some degree of suspicion.

The NPCs are well programmed to behave suspiciously rather often, but nevertheless, there are some things they are simply not capable of. It's important to be aware of these, lest you miss out on identifying a spy, or get sussed out yourself.

NPCs will never, under any circumstances, jump. Someone jumping? That's a player. Simple as.
In the same line of logic, try not to jump unless it's necessary to surmount some obstacle and you're sure no one can see you.

NPCs never go into rooms they don't have the security clearance for. A staff member in a guard room? That's a player. There are only two exceptions:
- Madame Xiu's clone decoys, which behave like NPCs, can be spawned by her shifting into a different NPC. This may leave, for example, what is effectively an NPC guard, in a vault technician room, although they will quickly leave.
-Guard NPCs chasing a player will follow them into a room they don't have clearance for if the door is opened for them.

NPCs don't ever pick up items, intel, or ammo. If someone walks past an ammo box and it mysteriously empties itself, that someone is a spy. Someone walking in a room going to all the intel devices is highly suspicious, but not necessarily a player.

NPCs, if they do run, don't stop and start running, they run in long stretches. Someone running for short distances, walking for a bit, then starting to run again, is a player.

I hope this information has helped, Agents. Keep in mind this is stuff I've picked up on during my playtime for the most part, so I might be wrong about something, or I could have missed stuff. If this is the case, feel free to disclose the classified information in the comments. I'll also edit parts of the guide and try to keep it updated as the game updates.

Happy deceiving!