That's all way too much for hostage situations. I have never seen one where I can't deal with it with two officers. Most days, I pull it off with a single one. It can be done very easily, just enter, and arrest. Yes the other ones use plans and the new objects, but they aren't needed. I put out 4 patrol cars, send two out from the station, with about 2 minute delay between them, send one to the south east corner and send on patrol and one in north east, and patrol The rest is all merry. I have three games running, my overkill game where I station units all over, and it's very much overkill, then one where I'm a minimalist and don't barely run anything, just what's on the map and two police cars, that's it aside from an engineer and tows as needed, as well as once I needed a crane. Then there is one where it's like minimalist but with around 4-6 police cars on map. Also, for the fires, foam tenders are sort of useless.. one truck with two FF's spraying, or one engine with 4 FF's spraying, what does more damage? This is why I almost always use engines only