SWAT Background:

In the United States, a SWAT (special weapons and tactics) team is generic term for a law enforcement unit that uses specialized or military equipment and tactics. Although they were first created in the 1960s to handle riot control or violent confrontations with criminals, the number and usage of SWAT teams increased in the 1980s and 1990s during the War on Drugs and later in the aftermath of the September 11 attacks. In the United States as of 2005, SWAT teams were deployed 50,000 times every year, almost 80% of the time to serve search warrants, most often for narcotics. SWAT teams are increasingly equipped with military-type hardware and trained to deploy against threats of terrorism, for crowd control, hostage taking, and in situations beyond the capabilities of ordinary law enforcement, sometimes deemed "high-risk". Other countries have developed their own paramilitary police units (PPUs) that are also described as or comparable to SWAT forces.

SWAT units are often equipped with automatic and specialized firearms, including submachine guns, assault rifles, riot shotguns, sniper rifles, riot guns, riot control agents, smoke, and stun grenades. In addition, they may use specialized equipment including heavy body armor, ballistic shields, entry tools, armored vehicles, thermal and night vision devices, and motion detectors for covertly determining the positions of hostages or hostage takers, inside enclosed structures


Gas-Mask Background:


A gas mask is a mask used to protect the wearer from inhaling airborne pollutants and toxic gases. The mask forms a sealed cover over the nose and mouth, but may also cover the eyes and other vulnerable soft tissues of the face. Most gas masks are also respirators, though the word gas mask is often used to refer to military equipment (such as a field protective mask), the scope used in this article. The gas mask only protects the user from digesting, inhaling and contact through the eyes (many agents affect through eye contact). Most combined gas mask filters will last around 8 hours in a nuclear biological chemical (NBC) situation. Chemical specific filters can last up to 20 hours in an NBC situation.

Airborne toxic materials may be gaseous (for example, mustard gas and chlorine gas) or particulates (such as biological agents). Many filters include protection from both types.

The first gas masks mostly used circular lenses made either of glass, mica or cellulose acetate. With the exception of the latter, these materials were quite brittle and needed frequent replacement. Later on, the Triplex lense style (two layers of glass and one layer of cellulose acetate in between)became more popular, and alongside the simpler cellulose acetate they became the standard into the 1930s. Panoramic lenses were not popular until the 1930s, but there are some examples of those being used even during the war (Austro-Hungarian 15M). Later, polycarbonate started being used for its strength.

Some have one or two filters screwed (via inlets) onto to the gas mask while others have a large filter (coffee can filter) connected to the gas mask with a hose that is sometimes confused with an air-supplied respirator in which an alternate supply of fresh air (oxygen tanks) is delivered.

Night-Vision Background:

Night vision is the ability to see in low-light conditions. Whether by biological or technological means, night vision is made possible by a combination of two approaches: sufficient spectral range, and sufficient intensity range. Humans have poor night vision compared to many animals, in part because the human eye lacks a tapetum lucidum.


Cloaker Background:

The Cloaker is a special unit who has great agility and can instantly incapacitate a player with his melee attack. He wields a Compact-5 sub-machine gun and wears dark blue attire, night vision goggles and a gas mask.


Behavior:



The Cloaker moves fast, often rolls laterally, and can briefly run on walls. When close enough, he may decide to charge his target and unleash a kick that instantly incapacitates the victim. If no crewmates are nearby after the melee attack, then the Cloaker will beat his victim with a nightstick (although this is purely aesthetic). The Cloaker can kick AI-controlled crew members, but this kick will cuff them instead of incapacitating them.

The Cloaker is especially dangerous when behind smoke grenades and around corners. The Cloaker sometimes comes out of vents and holes in the ceiling.

Cloakers may sometimes emit a hissing or whistling sound when they are nearby.