• Your Undercover officers can serve as scouts or assassins.
  
• Your Black Ops are like very flexible Rangers that can wear a poncho. They can't Play Civilian again once they go loud.
  
  
• Both classes have the ability to lockpick by hand*.
  
• They also have access to the Lockpick Gun, which allows for 4 second lockpicking.
  
• Undercover Officers can Play Civilian, reestablishing their Concealment. Make sure they aren't spotted or interrupted while doing this action.
  
  
• The CIA's main strength is their ability to use Concealment/Covert mechanics.
  
• Concealment can be broken if you choose to change weapons while Concealed.
  
• Leaving your Concealment state requires a few seconds of unholstering time.
  
• Officers will have their concealment broken if they are seen performing a suspicious or overt action.
  
• Concealment can also be broken if Officers with a Covert rating of "Suspicious" are left in the Line of Sight of a terrorist for too long.
  
• Concealment can be easily broken thanks to Suspicion Zones. These are generated by dead bodies and the point of origin for grenades, rockets, and fired weapons.

Be mindful of the field of vision that's present on insurgent units. Mouse over an insurgent to verify what they're seeing.

*In exchange, the Rangers have had their Lockpick training taken away in order to differentiate between the two units. Either adapt to this, or get creative with a COOP Ranger-CIA squad.

Covert
You can safely move around in front of the insurgents.
But be mindful of the areas that have red crosshatching. If you're spotted in those areas, you've been exposed as an impostor. infiltrator.

Suspicious
You can move around, but insurgents will quickly recognize that something is off.
You'll have to break line of sight constantly and avoid rubbing elbows with insurgents in order to avoid a shootout. Otherwise, same rules with the red areas.

Overt
Were you expecting a quiet walk while you're out here, double cheeked up, wearing a plate carrier and open-carrying a Gucci M4?
The insurgents are hostile to you. Only reach this level of concealment if you really have a good plan on hand.

an appropriate indicator will show when an Undercover or Black Ops officer is performing them. Make sure your agent isn't seen doing any suspicious or overt actions by insurgents.
Civilians don't seem to mind whatever your CIA team is doing in front of them.

However, if the insurgents spot your agents in the white-red area of their field of vision, they'll begin to see through the disguise and move to engage them. Once spotted, your CIA agents won't go down without a fight.

They'll begin street sweeping.




hanging around spots that have a suspicion zone* will have your CIA agents stand out.
Suspicion zones are created when you:

• Throw a grenade
  
• Fire a rocket
  
• Be near a dead body

For the duration of the mission, the suspicion zone will not go away. Unfortunately this may have an effect where a suspicion zone will bleed into a wall; or awkward angle that does not match up with your agent's line of sight.

Here's a quick cheat sheet to blending in.

Suspicious:

• Sprinting (No one in Nowherkistan believes in cardio)
  
• Lockpicking
  
• Standing around*

Overt:

• Unholstering a weapon
  
• Being in a restricted area
  
• Using equipment like slap charges or grenades
  
• Vaulting objects (No one in Nowherkistan does crossfit or parkour)

Playing Civilian allows Undercover officers to re-enter a Concealed or Suspicious state while holstering their weapon.

If they get interrupted or spotted by an insurgent while activating the Play Civilian ability, they won't be considered Playing Civilian. This also has the consequence of having their weapon holstered.
They will be shot on sight until you attempt the action again with no interruptions.

particularly in the primary slot. The weapons that they can equip in that slot consist of:

• AK-47 Underfolder
  
• AKS-74U
  
• SVD-63
  
• VSS Vintorez

But the real bulk of their firepower is in the secondary slot. With that slot, Undercover officers can carry:

• PM-63 RAK
  
• Mini Uzi
  
• MP5K
  
• Custom Glock 19
  
• Mk. IV "Hush Puppy" (.22 LR)

The rest of the class's equipment loadout:

• The Undercover can equip up to IIIA vests.
  
• Black Ops and Undercover officers share the same equipment pool as the Rangers. However, they'll have to unlock some of the same gear again.
  
• They can only carry the RPG-26 in their backpack slot.

Pistols, PDWs, and compact SMGs are something of an Undercover's dagger. Sure you can fight with it in front, but they're better meant for the enemy's back.

to put it simply. In more definite terms, they can be the heavy lifters or back-up to a CIA operation.

Their primary slot support a number of firearms like SMGs, ARs, DMRs, and LMGs associated with the Rangers & Insurgents.
They can also use rare finds like the MP7 or the AK-105 "Alpha".

However, they cannot equip:

• The Undercover officer's SMGs or PDWs in the secondary slot.
  
• ARs with M203s.
  
• The wall breach charge.
  
• Mk. IV "Hush Puppy" (.22 LR)

In terms of armor, Black Ops can equip up to Level IV plate carriers.
Black Ops and Undercover officers share the same equipment pool as the Rangers. However, they'll have to unlock some of the same gear again.

You can equip a Poncho that provides enough concealment to keep your Black Ops covert or suspicious.

Once you have them unholster and take off the poncho, Black Ops cannot re-conceal themselves.

From that point on, their best asset is surprise and location. It's up to you to make sure that your Black Ops are in the best possible position to support the mission.

Sure, you can have your glow-in-the-dark hitman strap on a Level IV vest with an LMG. But respect the fact that you only have two Undercovers and two Black Ops on hand.

The last image of Black Operator "REAMETARU" before we lost contact with her during a scouting mission to TORA BORA. Allegedly the hard drives we seized from NEPTUNE SPEAR revealed that she was captured and then recruited into being a part of OSAMA'S harem, before she was set free to an open range catgirl ranch in UZBEKISTAN.

This is why you have a plan before sending in Black Ops officers with Overt loadouts into an operation.

"NOD" - Night vision device.
"NVG" - Night vision goggles.



Here's what changed with the Helmet and NVG Update.

• Traditional Hat
  A generic Pakol. Helps you fit in.
  
  
• Baseball Cap
  Reduces your Covert rating by 1 pip, when equipped with at least a G17. Must be because Nowherakis are jealous of your drip.
  
  
• Santa Hat
  A festive beanie that attracts the ire of the heathen population of Nowherkistan. Reduces Covert rating by 4 pips, when equipped with at least a G17.

Black Ops can also equip the Undercover's headgear.
In addition, they can equip:

• Bump Helmet
  A repurposed sports helmet. No ballistic protection. Lets you mount PVS-14 (single-tube) and PVS-31 (dual-tube) NVGs. Reduces your Covert rating by 3 pips when equipped with only a Poncho and a standard M4A1.
  
  
• Ballistic Helmet
  Visibly a high-cut helmet, this helmet has IIIA level protection. Thereby on par with the Low-cut Helmet for the rangers. Allows NVG mounts. Reduces your Covert rating by 3 pips when equipped with only a Poncho and a standard M4A1.

Fun fact: Undercovers pull up their AK-pattern rifles faster than their secondaries.

Coming from the latest mini-update from the developers, the Mk. IV "Hush Puppy" target pistol brings a silent secondary with a 2 meter radius.

Its main niche is that it's an ultra-silent secondary exclusive to the CIA. Most of its damage comes from the critical damage multiplier that occurs to unaware enemies.
The main drawback is its middle and long range inaccuracy and low damage.

With the way that the CIA are right now, it is very clear that it's best to use the CIA's classes in ways that embody "High Risk, High Impact".

Circumstances permitting, the CIA team's use of Concealment mechanics allows you to set the pace of an operation via covert scouting and infiltration.

When your CIA team gets into a fight, they handle like a scalpel. They can easily tear through enemies in the right hands and circumstances. But when wielded like a fighting knife, that scalpel falls apart in the face of sheer numbers and firepower.

Don't start an operation overtly if you can help it.

If you find your choice of consumables brings up your concealment to Suspicious, then don't fret. Upon using a consumable, like an RPG, those items stop contributing to your concealment level.

Therefore, you can totally make up a plan where your Undercover brings an RPG, a level II vest, and a secondary.

With how concealment works, you can equip Undercover and Black Ops officers to become Nedeljko Čabrinović reborn.
The method is simple.

1. Make sure your officers' loadouts have frag grenades and a concealment rating of covert.
   
2. When throwing grenades, make sure that insurgents do not have line of sight on your agents.
   
3. Calculate the throwing angle of the grenade.
   
4. ?????
   
5. Walk away until they leave the suspicion zone centered around the spot used to throw the grenade.
   
6. Profit.

At the current build of the game, the intended reaction of the AI is to investigate the site of the explosion, as well as patrol while in an alert state.

They WON'T suspect your agent, so long as no witnessed your agent in the act; or as long as your agent stays away from the suspicion zone.

Worse case scenario?
For Black Ops, begin street sweeping and get off the X.
For Undercover officers, get off the X and Play Civilian in a safe spot.

Undercover Senior Agent YOSHIKAGE KIRA enjoying a sandwich, shortly before participating in an operation that needed his skills as a Covert Bomber.

ALCON 10/17/2024:
With 1.0 on the horizon, I may get back to mass updating everything.
Everything will still be based on this shaky knowledge, I won't bother to datamine and look at exact values, that's not how I play games.
The intent is still about clarifying mechanics and providing my opinion on the intended game design for the CIA.

I won't mind if you remix this guide or steal the format. You don't need to ask for permission.
Feel free to provide any criticisms.

Thank you for reading.