- "Cuffed or in a bag, I'm comin' for your HVT"
- — A Universal Petroleum extraction pilot
High Value Targets, or more commonly referred as HVTs, are side contracts and a special type of infantry featured in Mercenaries 2: World in Flames.
Overview
HVT contracts are given by every single faction except the Venezuelan Army after earning their trust. These will reward the player with increasing amounts of money often accompanied with stockpile rewards and shop unlocks per verification.
HVTs themselves are a special class type of soldiers from every faction except the Pirates that show up on the map as a blue triangle with a ✓ (tick or checkmark). HVTs will always be accompanied by soldiers of their faction and it is common for HVTs to be near barracks that spawn enemy rocket infantry when an alarm is sounded.
There is a total of 55 story and non story related HVTs. HVTs are tougher infantry units that get knocked down by the player's melee bashes, but do not take damage from them unless they are subdued.
Some HVTs may lay down and stop fighting when facing the mercenary. When they do this they effectively surrender to the mercenary, though this will not stop their escort from fighting.
Some HVTs have backstory explained by Fiona as to why they are wanted, however, this does not affect the story in any significant manner.
There are two methods when completing a HVT contract (completion is known as 'verifying'). This consists of killing or capturing.
Cuffed (Alive)
Capture of an HVT requires melee bashing, subduing and extracting the HVT. This is often much more challenging because many HVTs' guards are terrible shots and often hit the HVT they are supposed to protect, or sometimes the HVTs walk into or off hazardous areas such as cliffs, fires and die by themselves. This approach also risks turning a friendly faction into a hostile one. Though it rewards the full bounty.
In a Bag (Dead)
If the player either fails to capture the HVT alive or simply is not interested, it is possible to verify an HVT after being killed. When the HVT is killed, the player will have to photograph the corpse as proof to the employers. Killing a HVT is the most straightforward and is the easiest way to verify but only rewards half the bounty.
Note
- Subdued HVTs can be put in cars, exiting the car when it is moving fast will leave the HVT in the car but could cause glitches which may kill the HVT if left in the car for a while or if the car is winched.
- HVTs are invincible when being carried.
- Leaving a dead or subdued HVT and coming back later after a game re-load or simply going very far away will result in a dead HVT.
- It is almost impossible to capture all HVTs without having autosave turned off.
- Killing a HVT out of the NPC visual range of the HVT's faction will result in the death going unnoticed.
- Capturing all HVTs alive will reward the player with an achievement or trophy and will result in the live capture of Solano.
Extraction Helicopter facts
- Extraction helicopters cannot be called in when the faction is hostile.
- Extraction helicopters bring the HVT back to the extracting faction HQ main helipad before it disappears.
- Extraction helicopters cannot be hijacked, the pilot is also invulnerable to harm unless the helicopter is blown up.
- Extraction helicopters can be shot down after being loaded with a HVT, but as long as the HVT photographing option does not appear, the HVT will count as a live capture.
Trivia
- The People's Liberation Army of Venezuela is the only faction to have a female HVT.
- Some HVTs may assume the 'escort submission position' and will often say that out as they do it. This is possibly a reference to Portal, a 2007 puzzle game by Valve.