What are the rewards for rescuing a hostage / courier?

Question

I came across a courier in a mission who was all tied up, as seen here:

I looked forward to getting some reward at the end of the mission, but unfortunately I failed the mission due to interference by @TimStone, so now I'm left wondering exactly what the reward would have been if I had manage to both finish the mission and rescue the hostage. Given the risk/reward nature of the game understanding what the reward would have been goes a long way to deciding how much trouble I should go through to rescue these hostages when I come across them.

Some internet digging reveals that another name for a courier is a hostage, but I can't find any information on what the reward is for successfully saving a hostage.

What are the rewards for rescuing a hostage or courier?

Answer 1

In order to get a definite answer, let's have a look at the Lua files in scripts.zip. We'll find the following lines (line numbers added for completeness):

scripts\sim\missions\mission_detention_centre.lua:
  172   script:waitFor( PRISONER_ESCAPED )
  173      mission.prisoner_escape = true
  174:  sim:setMissionReward( simquery.scaleCredits( sim, 800 ))

scripts\sim\missions\mission_security.lua:
  128   script:waitFor( PRISONER_ESCAPED )
  129      mission.prisoner_escape = true
  130:  sim:setMissionReward( simquery.scaleCredits( sim, 400 ))

The function simquery.scaleCredits can be found in scripts\sim\simquery.lua:

function _M.scaleCredits( sim, amount )
    local s1 = simdefs.MONEY_SCALAR[ sim:getParams().difficulty ]
    local s2 = sim:getParams().difficultyOptions.creditMultiplier

    return math.ceil( amount * s1 * s2 / 10 ) * 10
end

Therefore, you get 800 * <difficulty> * <credit multiplier> (rounded to the next multiple of 10) for a hostage (or prisoner) in a detention centre, and you get 400 * <difficulty> * <credit multiplier> (rounded to the next multiple of 10) for a hostage (or prisoner) in a top gear facility (called "secret mission").