Almost during the whole first season of the show, there are no other scenarios than capturing life or death situations between prisoners and puppets. Occasional encounters with wild animals or former island residents are presented as well, but it’s only at the end of the first season that the producers decide to spice things up with custom-based scenarios. The main reason for interfering in the lives of the prisoners on the island is to keep under control the faction that threatens to take over the island. A special tactics group is deployed directly at the HQ. The audience welcomes this outer interference and for the next season, the producers arrange several scenarios to pump up the tensions on the island.
Firstly, the puppets are upgraded with a new kind of software and become capable of performing more actions – group movement and action. Now it’s possible to carry out a large-scale attack on a certain area, or route a horde of puppets to roam in certain directions. These hordes then serve as moving walls that can block or redirect the prisoners’ movements, even split large groups into smaller ones if necessary.
For the purposes of the show, the producers also arrange the control over the weather conditions. Most of the time they leave it as it is, but sometimes, when it’s necessary for the atmosphere, they change the ambience setting by pulling on clouds and starting storms.
Large-scale disasters such as forest fires, earthquakes and floods can be initiated at will. Even genetically modified pests (mosquitos, killer bees) can be released on certain areas – upon request.
Companies have invested large sums of money on bioengineering; years of research and development have been spent to create special animal breeds for military purposes and attacks. These animals wear implants with the last generation of BCUs, have a natural body armor, some of them even possess bioweapons, while others are genetically modified crossbreeds. It is not unusual for these species to be tested on the island. Company would drop a few of those creatures on a certain area and leave them to cause havoc until they are dead. Each generation of these bio-animals gets improved until the perfect killer is created.
In the second season, Company will introduce special hunting session episodes featuring viewers as participants of the show. Some of them are rich citizens and others are picked as lottery winners. They are deployed on the island for a limited period – 1-3 days and left there to hunt for the prisoners. The hunters with high scores are given wealthy rewards, usually money or stocks, but most of them are there for fun and glory. Their goal is to track down popular convicts and kill them. The more popular victims will assure more praise from the audience. All the hunters choose their weapons and armor. They are usually heavily equipped but that does not guarantee that they will get out of the island alive. Actually, the mortality rate among them is high because most of them come to the island unprepared. Also, the convicts see in them a fantastic opportunity to get hold of weapons, armor and other tech toys. It is not unusual that the convicts turn the tables and hunt the hunters down to get their goodies. And guess what? That is what the viewers like the best! Once their deployment time runs out, the hunters have to pick a zone where some sort of transportation awaits them. If they miss their ride, they remain on the island until the next group of hunters is deployed.
On several occasions, special military squads can be deployed on the island. The purpose of their deployment is to destabilize larger and organized groups of prisoners or to eliminate popular convicts who pose a threat to national security. These black ops are usually hidden from the TV cameras. The last known black op happens during the first season and is a rescue mission for the survivors of the flight MB324, the plane that crashes on the island. Apparently, the producers have deliberately crashed the plane to boost the number of viewers.