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{{Stub}}{{For|the breakout heist in [[PAYDAY 3]]|PAYDAY 2 breakout heist|Hoxton Breakout}}
{{Infobox Heist PD3|image=Houston breakout courthouse.jpg|contract=1|loud or stealth=3|loot=Houston's evidence<br>Physical evidence<br>Server<br>Optional evidence<br>Optional server|baglimit=19|contractpayout=$20,000-$800,000 <b>(Normal)</b><br>$40,000-$900,000 <b>(Hard)</b><br>$60,000-$1,200,000<b> (Very Hard)</b><br>$80,000-$1,400,000 <b>(Overkill)</b>|int_name=Courthouse|realcontractpayout=$1,746,000 <b>(Overkill)</b>|bagbonus=+600|loudstealthbonus=TBA (Loud)<br>+300 (Stealth)}}

'''Houston Breakout''' (formerly known as '''Land of the Free''') is the third DLC Heist added to ''[[PAYDAY 3]]''. The heist involves the PAYDAY gang rescuing [[Houston]] by breaking him out of court during his trial, while erasing or stealing any evidence (likely planted by [[John Concord|John Concord]]) the persecution has on Houston.

After the events of [[Boys In Blue]], Vlad provides information he found interesting based on an exchange Concord had with Captain Blythe, a corrupt police officer that the PAYDAY gang targets the office of during that heist. Upon discovering the exchange involves Concord attempting to get Blythe to plant evidence in order to get a specific prisoner -  who is none other than Houston, Dallas' brother - from Rikers Island transferred to a private prison owned by Concord, the PAYDAY gang immediately plans a way to break Houston out of court.

==Mission Briefing==

===Shade's dialogue===
''[[Houston]] is set to appear before the Supreme Judicial Court in New York. [[John Concord|Concord]] wants to move him to a private prison and have him killed, but we're not gonna let that happen. Break him out with brute force or put pressure on the judge. Whatever it takes. Snagging a press pass will get you into the courtroom. Bullets work, too. The prosecution doesn't realise Houston's connection to us, so while you take care of any on-site evidence against him, I'll nuke the servers over at the forensic lab. Houston is family. Let's clean the slate and bring him home.''

==Overview==
Taking place in the Supreme Judicial Court, the location consists of three levels: the basement, the main floor, and the upper floor.

The main floor is where the main entrance leading into the rotunda is located, split into three wings that leads into the jury room, the courtroom, the clerk offices, and the physical evidence room.

The upper floor contains two possible locations for the security camera room, the meeting rooms, and the digital evidence room.

The basement has the garage, the lower area's two camera rooms (operated by two different guards), a metal detector controlled by a separate power unit (which can be lockpicked open and have its wires cut to disable the detectors), and the holding cells.

==Objectives==
<tabber>
Stealth=
#Bypass the metal detectors  
#*Optional: Disable the lobby's metal detectors
#*Optional: Return to the lobby and disable the metal detectors
#Enter the courtroom
#*Acquire press credentials
#*Identify the evidence
#Gain access to the judge's chambers
#*Find a QR code
#Find blackmail material
#*Hack the computer
#*Crack open the judge's safe
#* Upload the USB content
#*Gain access to the court clerk's office
#*Locate the court clerk's computer
#Find the evidence
#*Gain access to the evidence room/server room
#**Find a red keycard (evidence room)/fingerprint (server room)/code (both)
#*Find evidence with the barcode scanner (evidence room)
#*Optional (Triggers alarm): Find an accelerant to burn evidence (evidence room)/Find the EMP to fry evidence (server room)
# Blackmail the judge
#*Connect Shade to a landline
#Optional: Return to the courtroom
#Free Houston
#*Locate a blue keycard
#*Distract the guards with donuts
#*Clear the area
#* Open the cell door
#* Escort Houston to the garage
#*Disable the metal detector or open the counter
#Open the garage gate
#Wait for twitch to park
#Secure the evidence for Houston's case
#Escape
#*Optional: secure all loot
|-|Loud=
#Enter the courtroom
#*Override the lockdown (0/3)
# Free Houston
#*Get the thermal lance parts
#**Bolt the drill down
#**Start up the drill
#*Defend the drill
#*Disassemble the drill
#*Gather in the courtroom
#*Bring Houston to the rotunda
#Find the evidence 
#*Gain access to the evidence room/server room
#Assemble the loot cage
#Secure the evidence for Houston's case
#Escape
#*OPTIONAL: Secure all loot
#Hold out until getaway arrives
</tabber>

==Favors==

*'''Elevator Access:''' An elevator can be used to zipline between floors.
*'''Press Badge:''' A press badge needed to access Houston's courtroom spawns near the main entrance.
*'''Closer Oxygen Canisters:''' Extra oxygen tanks will spawn in the jury room next to the main courtroom.
*'''Start In The Garage:''' A stolen police van will be used and players will spawn inside the garage instead of the main entrance. The garage also becomes a public area. During stealth, there is no need to wait for Twitch to park.

==Walkthrough==

===Garage Equipment ===
Across all playthroughs of Houston Breakout, the same unchanging aspect of this heist is the equipment that spawns in van inside the garage of the courtroom, located beneath the lobby. Inside this van contains the following items:

#2 Oxygen cans
#Flammable liquid
#EMP bomb

All the items are needed during the loud portion of the heist.
<tabber>
Stealth=
Before starting, it is highly recommended that players attempt this heist without ever masking up. The significant presence of civilians, employees and guards makes masked attempts at stealth extremely difficult without the aid of other players, with some rooms containing more than two guards present at once, with some guards remaining stationary and not patrolling around the area.

Entering the heist stealth will be the same, regardless of whether players have the Start In The Garage favor selected or not. Beginning the heist, players are confronted by metal detectors, both in the basement and in the main lobby. The players are given two options to enter the courthouse: 

#Disable the lobby metal detectors by cutting corresponding colored wires after interacting with the screen nearby, or bypass the metal detectors in the basement with a similar but shorter method (with a guard watching nearby).
#* Alternatively, if there are more than 1 players on a session, someone can mask up through the bathroom and disable the metal detectors by shooting a glowing box on the metal detectors from above
#Mask up through the nearby bathroom and infiltrate via the ceiling
Once the atrium has been accessed, players will be directed to enter the courtroom, where Houston's hearing is in recess currently. It can be reached via the second floor or the first floor, where civilians will be watching Houston's case. A guard will always be stationed nearby, preventing those without authorization entry into the courtroom. To access this maskless, players must find a reporter's press badge. Without the titular favor, the press badge will always spawn on two reporters on the second floor, but with the Press Badge favor active, an extra badge will spawn near the entrance before the metal detectors.

Upon entering the courtroom and identifying whether the evidence is physical or digital, the player is directed to access Judge Green's chambers. '''Keep in mind that while most of the courtroom is a private area accessible with a stolen press badge, there is a small portion of the courtroom that is considered a secure area.''' A QR code is needed to access Judge Green's chamber, and there are two ways to access his room:

# Through a corridor in an adjacent hallway (requires lockpicking)
# Directly from the courtroom, though this is a nigh-impossible task as that portion of the courtroom is considered a secure area

'''Remember to have a QR code at hand. The chamber's door is locked with a QR code.'''

When entering through the much more feasible corridor, this is a task easier said than done, as a camera will spawn in the corridor where Judge Green's chambers is located. Ordinarily, a savvy heister with Hacker skills can circumvent this, secure looping a camera and then accessing Judge Green's chambers. However, on Very Hard and above, a guard will patrol the corridor, making this gambit an extremely difficult task. It is highly recommend timing the entry into Judge Green's chambers; secure looping is impractical as it requires players to get close to the camera before hacking, especially with the Cerberus Core modifier which resets hacked cameras after 5 seconds. The guard has a recognisable pattern of inspecting the broken coffee machine nearby and alternating between spots, allowing players to walk around him while he is distracted.

Upon unlocking Judge Green's chambers, players are directed to locating a USB stick that is hiding in a safe next on a shelf, and to hack the computer. Remember to grab the USB stick and use it on the computer. The computer screen will indicate a name from the clerk's offices that Judge Green is having an affair with. Remember the name.

Leaving the room is considerably easier than entering; simply exit through the corridor, but rather than timing the guard, it is easier to just sprint to cause a noise distraction for the guard to investigate, especially if one sprints inside the Judge's chambers while the guard is nearby. While the guard begins an investigation, close the door before he enters. When the guard opens the door, he will close it behind him, allowing players to freely open the door and close it behind, then sprint out of the chambers, as guards cannot hear suspicious noises through walls. '''Be wary of the employee who often sits in front of the corridor, as he can see players trespassing.'''

[[File:Houston breakout clerk office names.jpeg|thumb|319x319px|'''The clerk office names required for accessing Judge Green's blackmail or the fingerprint to the digital evidence room. Made by u/deftoast''']]When reaching the clerk offices, which is also locked behind a QR code, players will have to locate the correct clerk desk. '''Do not indiscriminantly hack every computer, as there is a guard patrolling the offices, and every non-important computer is likely to contain useless information.''' The guard can spot hacked devices, and will immediately enact search mode, making stealth much more difficult, as every guard will begin roaming through the offices.
<br>
The names on the clerk desks never alternate between each heist start, allowing players to memorize the location of each name. The attached image contains a map of every single corresponding desk and name for accessibility.

While the main objective of scanning Houston's evidence must be completed before progressing, scanning the correct evidence can be done at any point during stealth. Depending on whether it is digital or physical, the player may have to do the following tasks that spawns randomly on heist start to unlock the doors to the digital and physical server room:

# '''Digital Evidence room:''' a thumbprint from one of the clerks must be obtained and used on a thumbprint scanner.
# '''Digital Evidence room:''' a numerical code input with the correct combination must be found.
# '''Physical Evidence room:''' a red keycard spawning in a random safe must be found.
# '''Physical Evidence room:''' a numerical code input with the correct combination must be found.

The way to unlock both room's doors are indicated on a notepad attached near the door. The codes will either spawn inside safes or be written on a second floor's meeting room whiteboard, while the red keycard will always spawn inside a random safe. '''If you wish to continue stealth, do NOT use the flammable liquid in the physical evidence room or an EMP in the digital evidence room.''' Using either item will instantly trigger the alarm.

Upon accessing and locating Houston's evidence, players are then prompted to find a landline, either located inside one of the second floor meeting rooms or within the clerk office, to get Shade to blackmail Judge Green. Upon doing so, the Judge will promptly suspend the court and have Houston escorted out of the courtroom, with a guard following nearby.

Houston will then be escorted to his holding cell in the basement (near the parking garage), which happens to have a holding cell office with a guard overlooking that section's cameras. '''DO NOT, AT ANY POINT AFTER HOUSTON HAS REACHED THE BASEMENT, ALERT OR KILL THE GUARDS. THIS WILL NOT TRIGGER THE ALARM, BUT IT WILL MAKE STEALTH UNFEASIBLE, ESPECIALLY ON DIFFICULTIES HIGHER THAN VERY HARD.''' Once Houston has been sent back to his holding cell and the escorting guard now accompanying the office's guard, Shade will point players toward finding a distraction.

This distraction is relatively easy to obtain; next to the courtroom is the jury's canteen, which holds a donut box and - in a similar gimmick to [[Boys In Blue]] - must be used to distract the guards with donuts. The jury canteen and meeting room is patrolled by a single guard with two employees nearby, and the canteen has a camera inside, necessitating proper timing to grab the donuts without being noticed. An audio lure in the meeting room can be used, distracting the guard momentarily and allowing players to freely grab the donuts (as long as the employees nearby and the camera doesn't spot you).

Return to the holding cell office and place the donuts on the table nearby; this may be difficult as one of the cameras outside the office can notice you placing down the donuts, which is considered an illegal activity. '''UPON PLACING THE DONUTS, WAIT A MOMENT FOR A GUARD NEAR THE GARAGE METAL DETECTORS TO ENTER THE OFFICE.''' When all three guards are distracted, the holding cell cameras will now be disabled, allowing players to unlock Houston's holding cell (either by a corresponding button or with a code) and escape into the garage. When reaching the garage and bypassing the metal detectors, the garage door must be opened to allow Twitch to enter, which is held inside of the garage's parking booth watched over by a single guard. This is extremely easy, and although an illegal activity, one can simply stand behind the guard and press the button unnoticed.

|-|Loud=

==== Before Houston has left his courtroom cell or before the courtroom has been accessed====
Should at any point the heist go loud before Houston is out of his courtroom cell, players must gather the parts required to build the thermal lance once Bile arrives and delivers the parts through the atrium's skylight. If the alarm is triggered before even reaching the courtroom, then three power boxes must be hacked in order to open the courtroom doors. Each power box takes 10 seconds to hack.

Upon reaching Houston with the thermal lance parts, oxygen tanks from underneath the garage must be used to keep the thermal lance active. Only 2 cans will spawn (as stated above), but it is enough fuel to keep the thermal lance going before it finishes drilling Houston's locked doors open.

Depending on which route Houston takes, Houston will either escape through the second floor stairwell and into the atrium, or attempt to beeline to the corridor that has the clerk offices and the physical evidence room. The first route is often swarming with cops spawning from the elevators, but there is nothing blocking Houston's way, making escorting him through this route somewhat risky. However, the second route - through the corridor - has the doors automatically lock, forcing a drill that takes more than a minute to break open, making this route shorter.

==== After Houston has left his courtroom cell and is either being escorted or is already in his holding cell====
If stealth is broken after Houston has left the courtroom and is being escorted or is in his holding cell, then Houston will immediately book to the garage.

Similar to stealth, Twitch will arrive and serve as the secure loot and escape point. Any and all evidence must be secured by delivering them to the garage, which there is a zipline shortcut that can be accessed near the basement's metal detectors.

Once the evidence type has been identified - either physical or digital - the room containing the evidence can be accessed by players. Due to the alarm disabling the unlocking mechanisms, the digital evidence room's door must be drilled open, which takes 1 minute, while the physical evidence room has a power box that must be hacked open, taking 2 minutes. Only the corresponding evidence room door can be opened first, while the room that doesn't have Houston's evidence can only be cracked open once Houston is freed from his courtroom cell. Players can use the EMP or flammable liquid to destroy Houston's evidence, but doing so will reduce payout significantly and miss out on obtaining extra loot.

|-|Scanning the Evidence=
Among the ''PAYDAY'' community is the common notion that scanning evidence that doesn't belong to Houston isn't worth the effort. This is an entirely false assumption and there has been attempts to determine how valuable the evidence gets when scanned, some of which inaccurately describes physical evidence has having no additional value added once scanned. In essence, should one (or a team) desire to receive the highest payout from this heist, '''every single evidence must be scanned.''' The highest value players can reach on Overkill difficulty is $1,660,000 with all evidence scanned.

The police will never interrupt the scanning process for either physical or digital evidence, but are able to steal the bags, so defending any loose evidence bags is important.

If Houston's evidence is physical, it is highly recommended you scan the shelf that indicates where Houston's evidence is, then once the correct evidence has been identified, all other evidence should be scanned immediately. There are approximately 15 bags of physical evidence that must be scanned, each taking 30 seconds to complete, making this an inconveniently long time for players who don't scan physical evidence straight away.

If Houston's evidence is digital, then scanning will be significantly faster as there are only 4 servers to scan. Although digital evidence also take 30 seconds to complete, this is considerably faster and the objective can be completed at a faster pace.

During loud, upon obtaining Houston's evidence, if players wish to continue scanning without creating too many issues, it is advised to '''avoid securing Houston's evidence'''. Securing Houston's evidence will instantly trigger the Final Charge phase of an assault, causing the police to spawn forever and swarm unprepared heisters. As long as Houston's evidence is ''not'' secured, the assault wave will not go into final charge.

Regardless of whether Houston's evidence is physical or digital, if players don't want to hang around during a final charge or wants to get the full payout faster, it is highly recommended that all physical evidence must be scanned right away. This is especially poignant if the heist starts stealth but eventually goes loud; if the physical evidence room has already been opened (either by code or keycard), then the need to hack the nearby power box is unneeded, and players can scan the physical evidence straight away, making the process somewhat alleviated by the lack of police constantly swarming players.
</tabber>
==Variations==
*Houston's evidence will change locations depending on whether it is physical or digital.
*The evidence needed to be scanned will change from servers/physical evidence depending which room it is in.
*The lock to the physical/digital evidence will have a different lock, either requiring a red keycard, a code, or a thumbprint. 
**The red keycard will either spawn in a specified safe in the clerk offices, the west wing meeting room, or in the holding cell office.
**The thumbprint name will be randomized, corresponding with a desk name.
**The code's spawn location will be randomized, either being written in the west wing meeting room's whiteboard or in a safe.
*The holding cell buttons needed to free Houston either be a selection of buttons correlating to each holding cell or a corresponding code on keypads.
*The route Houston takes to get to the atrium during loud will alternate, either going through the corridor that contains the physical evidence room or beelining to the second floor.
*In the evidence room, a VIP invitation of the Neon Cradle can be found in one of the crates. It's unconfirmed wether or not it is the same from the mission. 
==Difficulty Changes/[[Modifiers (Payday 3)|Modifiers]]== 

*A lead guard will spawn if the modifier is active, patrolling all of the second floor and first floor. He will not enter the basement.
*On Very Hard and above, a guard will spawn near the judge's chambers.

==[[Achievements (Payday 3)|Achievements]]==
''Houston Breakout currently has no achievements.''

==[[Challenges (Payday 3)|Challenges]]==
''Houston Breakout currently has no challenges.''

==Gallery==
<gallery>
File:Pd3-houstonbreakout-keyart.jpg|Heist key art
File:Houston breakout environment 3.png|The courtroom where Houston's trial is being held.
File:Houston breakout loud.png|The Payday gang going loud in the courthouse.
</gallery>

==Videos==
<gallery>
File:PAYDAY 3- Chapter 3 - Houston Breakout - Teaser Trailer
File:PAYDAY 3- Chapter 3 - Houston Breakout - Launch Trailer
</gallery>

==Trivia==

*'''Houston Breakout''' was originally called '''Land of the Free''' according to the PAYDAY 3 roadmap.
*The trailers<ref>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Ruu0ramk9I</ref><ref>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=roMnlXp_rQA</ref> featuring the heist references a real-life incident in Las Vegas, where a judge was attacked by a defendant in court<ref>https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-01-04/judge-attacked-by-defendant-during-sentencing-in-las-vegas-court/103285544</ref><ref>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qQbEeRa6GOA</ref>.
** Unlike the real-life incident, it appears Houston was able to fight off the nearby guard, as he can be seen striking the judge multiple times right after the guard attempts to bodyslam Houston.
*Houston can actually be marked by players as if he is a civilian or enemy. However, none of the characters will have special voicelines, nor will they say anything.
* Unlike [[Hoxton Breakout]] from ''PAYDAY 2,'' '''Houston Breakout''' can be stealthed and is a single-day heist.
*The soundtrack for this heist contains the leitmotif of The Gauntlet from PAYDAY 2, which is the track that plays in Hoxton Breakout.
* Due to Houston breaking his hands during a prison brawl that occured prior to his trial, in addition to when he hurled himself at the judge and attacked him, as shown in the '''Houston Breakout''' trailer, Houston is unable to assist the gang and must be escorted.
*Houston has special voicelines depending on certain actions: 
**Whether the crew needs to use a thermal lance to break into his cell;
** Having dialogue with a guard that escorts him from the court to his holding cell'
**Discussing what weapons he'll check out during his escape; or
**Commenting on the escape route chosen, either during stealth or loud.
*Although Houston is now playable, '''you cannot play as him while playing Houston Breakout'''. Attempting to play as Houston will automatically set you to either one of your other preferred heisters or a random heister. 
**This contrasts how, in ''PAYDAY 2,'' you can play as Hoxton while playing Hoxton Breakout. In fact, the Safehouse daily challenge in that game had a special challenge titled "Spacetime Paradox" that ''specifically'' required players to play as Hoxton in his own breakout.
**You can still play as Houston in Solo Mode or by performing a glitch.
==Bugs==
*Very rarely (tested in Solo Mode), players may be locked out of opening up evidence boxes once the heist goes loud. Should any of the blocked evidence boxes contain Houston's evidence, it will be impossible to obtain the required evidence and force a restart.
* During stealth, when grabbing fingerprints from the clerk office to access the server room containing evidence of Houston's crimes, the game may not register a player who have collected the fingerprint needed to proceed. This can be possibly circumvented by simply collecting other fingerprints.
*Houston, when being escorted, has an unintended chance to get killed by enemies. Although rare, it appears the fastest way for Houston to die is to encounter a Bulldozer while he is still in the court. The game will not recognise Houston's death and carry on, although it may cause a forced restart<ref>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D7XLWZplcYc</ref>.
*In stealth, after blackmailing the judge, Houston wont move to the elevator at all, or say anything, softlocking the heist. Restarting the heist fixes this.
*In stealth, if the player kill Houston's escorter before he locks him in a cell, Houston hides in an elevator and doesn't follow the player to the van even if every guard on the floor is dead and the game is telling to escort him. He starts moving if the alarm goes.

==References==
<references />{{Navbox PD3 Heists}}

[[Category:PAYDAY 3 heists]]