When you take out security in stealthmode, there is a number limit when they start out activly searching for an intruder because some guys do not report back.
Do civilians count to that limit or can you take them out without consequences?

I`ve taken out civilians no problem. It seems only taking out too many soldiers causes a problem. They`ll go checking the area and switching cameras back on, etc. I do like this mechanic.

Yeah, no-one seems to care about civvies unless they see you knocking one out or finding an unconscious one.

Agreed - it makes sense in the context of the game. Especially the fact that they effectively consider themselves compromised so they go around destroying intel etc.

BTW is the limit actually a total number of soldiers knocked out? I thought that even knocking one out can cause this, but that it simply takes a few turns before this effect is triggered - which would make sense, since even hard-core secure areas wouldn't have soldiers reporting every few seconds. Unless of course they explain it away with heartbeat sensors ala Invisible Inc. (which IMO wouldn't really fit the setting that well).

I also thought it had something to do with the soldiers bleeding out or something - since apparently they bleed out and eventually die from the chop, unlike civvies who our agents presumably go easier on. So I guess they took sensitivity training along with their Chuck Norris martial arts.

Come to think of it, I think that every time I got that message that the guards were more alert was immediately after taking out a guard - and it's always happened when I took out more than one. And there may have been one mission where I only took out one guard, but this wasn't triggered - at the time I put this down to evac'ing before they noticed...

Kind of disappointed, since if it related to bleeding out (or number of turns since a guard was taken out at any rate) it would make more sense. Though there isn't a huge difference between the two approaches, knowing that you get two free silent guard takedowns (unless it IS dynamic) with no consequences (unless the body is found) makes stealth easier than it needs to be - which I guess can be seen as offsetting the fact that combat mode activates the instant anyone is spotted.

Glad that civvies aren't counted - it wouldn't really make sense, guards wouldn't generally share comms procedures with civvies (unless the "civvy" in question is important, in which case they would be a target).