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The lore and fluff really paint the custodes as adept at stealth and infiltration. Who would you consider stealthier? A custodes or a member of the raven guard?

Custodes.

"Anything you can do, I can do better!"

Their gold armor is excellent camouflage.

The callidus assassin who was actually disguised as a member of the tactical squad to your left.
Didn't even know she was there!

I suppose it varies between individual Custodes and Ravenguard. And in different circumstances, missions and terrains. But overall it would probably end up being a Custodes. As Sgt_Smudge said, the Custodes are the ultimate, anything anyone can do, the Custodes have either done better or can be retconned to do better. Though if we're being serious and taking away the plot advantages of the Custodes, I'd probably give it to the Raven Guard. Decades or Centuries of experience, almost entirely stealth based and at a slightly smaller size. vs a giant warrior who has been active just as long, but far less of his career has been stealth oriented. You'd hope experience would have a sway.

 Lion of Caliban wrote:
I suppose it varies between individual Custodes and Ravenguard. And in different circumstances, missions and terrains. But overall it would probably end up being a Custodes. As Sgt_Smudge said, the Custodes are the ultimate, anything anyone can do, the Custodes have either done better or can be retconned to do better. Though if we're being serious and taking away the plot advantages of the Custodes, I'd probably give it to the Raven Guard. Decades or Centuries of experience, almost entirely stealth based and at a slightly smaller size. vs a giant warrior who has been active just as long, but far less of his career has been stealth oriented. You'd hope experience would have a sway.

Even in experience, the Custodes are probably better. Their "Blood Games" involve them having to infiltrate Terra itself and it's defences to test both their abilities, and those of the Terran/Solar defences. Considering that Trajann Valoris is the only Custodes to make two successful runs of the Blood Games, I doubt many individual Raven Guard could do this, that would put the Custodes better.

 Sgt_Smudge wrote:

 Lion of Caliban wrote:
I suppose it varies between individual Custodes and Ravenguard. And in different circumstances, missions and terrains. But overall it would probably end up being a Custodes. As Sgt_Smudge said, the Custodes are the ultimate, anything anyone can do, the Custodes have either done better or can be retconned to do better. Though if we're being serious and taking away the plot advantages of the Custodes, I'd probably give it to the Raven Guard. Decades or Centuries of experience, almost entirely stealth based and at a slightly smaller size. vs a giant warrior who has been active just as long, but far less of his career has been stealth oriented. You'd hope experience would have a sway.

Even in experience, the Custodes are probably better. Their "Blood Games" involve them having to infiltrate Terra itself and it's defences to test both their abilities, and those of the Terran/Solar defences. Considering that Trajann Valoris is the only Custodes to make two successful runs of the Blood Games, I doubt many individual Raven Guard could do this, that would put the Custodes better.

True but the question was average vs average. Not Average vs Trajann Valoris. But yes I'm aware of the Blood Games and their other espionage activities and can see them being very good at it. And I expect they'd be just as good as the Raven Guard on average. I just think there may be a slight edge to the guys whose whole MO is stealth over the guys who do it a lot but have other focusses. I may well be wrong. But like I also said different situations apply. For example, no I'm sure most raven guard would fail the blood games, but get out into the field and deal with more rural terrain for example and I expect the Raven Guard would out perform the custodes. And there are many other different scenarios that could be played out. The Blood Games aren't the be all and end all of stealth and are the home turf of one of the sides so not really a fair test.

So to recap. In that one example yes Custodes win. But in general I think the raven guard will have experience in a wider range of experience in different terrains, mission briefs and such which could provide them an edge. Again I could be totally Wrong but that's my best assessment with the information I have.

That edge would need to be pretty damn big to overcome genetical advantage. Being able to see, hear and smell way better while thinking faster has it's own advantage. Not to mention what help custodian gets from better gear.

tneva82 wrote:
That edge would need to be pretty damn big to overcome genetical advantage. Being able to see, hear and smell way better while thinking faster has it's own advantage. Not to mention what help custodian gets from better gear.

While true its not like Space Marines have bad sight or smell at all. Plus I don't know what stealth gear Custodes have so I can't comment, you may well be right.

Lion of Caliban wrote:True but the question was average vs average. Not Average vs Trajann Valoris. But yes I'm aware of the Blood Games and their other espionage activities and can see them being very good at it. And I expect they'd be just as good as the Raven Guard on average. I just think there may be a slight edge to the guys whose whole MO is stealth over the guys who do it a lot but have other focusses. I may well be wrong. But like I also said different situations apply. For example, no I'm sure most raven guard would fail the blood games, but get out into the field and deal with more rural terrain for example and I expect the Raven Guard would out perform the custodes. And there are many other different scenarios that could be played out. The Blood Games aren't the be all and end all of stealth and are the home turf of one of the sides so not really a fair test.

So to recap. In that one example yes Custodes win. But in general I think the raven guard will have experience in a wider range of experience in different terrains, mission briefs and such which could provide them an edge. Again I could be totally Wrong but that's my best assessment with the information I have.

Average against average, that's still only a handful of Custodes who have even succeeded at the Blood Games, and one who has completed it twice. If those are the rates of success for the Custodes, then the average for the Raven Guard is going to be far far lower.

Just because the Custodes are good at everything doesn't mean they're worst against a specialist. That would be like saying "well, Horus is all round pretty amazing, but this one guardsman who is an expert duellist would beat him because he's a specialist" - unfortunately, it doesn't hold water realistically.

Why would the Raven Guard beat the Custodes in rural terrain? What indication is there of that? The Blood Games are infiltration tests that involve trying to sneak into one of the most well defended places in the entire Imperium - if not THE most defended single location - how would changing it to a rural countryside setting change the fact that the Custodes are good enough to sneak into the Imperial Palace?

Blood Games aren't the be-all-end-all, but they're the most challenging situation to infiltrate in. Plus, home turf doesn't matter if you do your research, like a good infiltrator would. Sure, the Custodes will know some things that a Raven Guard might not, but they're being pitted against other Custodes, who would also know those home turf advantages. Therefore, home turf isn't having a massive impact on this.

To be fair, they know the things they know for different reasons.

Raven Guard know infiltration for guerilla warfare purposes on a warfront.

Custodes know infiltration for the purposes of assassination. Not working in squads, but as an individual

 Sgt_Smudge wrote:

Lion of Caliban wrote:True but the question was average vs average. Not Average vs Trajann Valoris. But yes I'm aware of the Blood Games and their other espionage activities and can see them being very good at it. And I expect they'd be just as good as the Raven Guard on average. I just think there may be a slight edge to the guys whose whole MO is stealth over the guys who do it a lot but have other focusses. I may well be wrong. But like I also said different situations apply. For example, no I'm sure most raven guard would fail the blood games, but get out into the field and deal with more rural terrain for example and I expect the Raven Guard would out perform the custodes. And there are many other different scenarios that could be played out. The Blood Games aren't the be all and end all of stealth and are the home turf of one of the sides so not really a fair test.

So to recap. In that one example yes Custodes win. But in general I think the raven guard will have experience in a wider range of experience in different terrains, mission briefs and such which could provide them an edge. Again I could be totally Wrong but that's my best assessment with the information I have.

Average against average, that's still only a handful of Custodes who have even succeeded at the Blood Games, and one who has completed it twice. If those are the rates of success for the Custodes, then the average for the Raven Guard is going to be far far lower.

Just because the Custodes are good at everything doesn't mean they're worst against a specialist. That would be like saying "well, Horus is all round pretty amazing, but this one guardsman who is an expert duellist would beat him because he's a specialist" - unfortunately, it doesn't hold water realistically.

Why would the Raven Guard beat the Custodes in rural terrain? What indication is there of that? The Blood Games are infiltration tests that involve trying to sneak into one of the most well defended places in the entire Imperium - if not THE most defended single location - how would changing it to a rural countryside setting change the fact that the Custodes are good enough to sneak into the Imperial Palace?

Blood Games aren't the be-all-end-all, but they're the most challenging situation to infiltrate in. Plus, home turf doesn't matter if you do your research, like a good infiltrator would. Sure, the Custodes will know some things that a Raven Guard might not, but they're being pitted against other Custodes, who would also know those home turf advantages. Therefore, home turf isn't having a massive impact on this.

Rural terrain was an example. Because its a terrain that the Custodes would be far less likely to have had practical experience in than the Raven Guard. It was just an example. And I'm sorry but home turf doesnt matter is a silly argument, I know my house better than I know a house I read about. The Custodes live in the palace, until recently they did so almost exclusively. If that doesnt give them a boost against a raven guard whose never seen terra in a test inside the palace then I can't take the debate seriously.

Your entire argument is based on Custodes are good at this test. Therefore they are best at stealth no matter what. I disagree. I think different missions and different terrains would impact the result. If you want to use random cherry picked examples I can too. A raven guard marine infiltrated a white scars camp once, I've never heard of a Custodes pulling that off. Or hey Raven Guard squads have infiltrated fortresses on forest worlds. I don't know of a Custodes doing that. Using one test of stealth as a rule that a force is the best at stealth isn't a level test. We were asked average and I maintain that on average a Raven Guard marine would probably (but far from certainly) have a better chance in a wider array of tasks. But as someone else mentioned Raven Guard are team players, Custodes lone warriors. So there are a lot more variables involved than simple: this one because they can do the blood games and are the best.
But I can see that we're going to have to agree to disagree.

 Lion of Caliban wrote:

Rural terrain was an example. Because its a terrain that the Custodes would be far less likely to have had practical experience in than the Raven Guard. It was just an example. And I'm sorry but home turf doesnt matter is a silly argument, I know my house better than I know a house I read about. The Custodes live in the palace, until recently they did so almost exclusively. If that doesnt give them a boost against a raven guard whose never seen terra in a test inside the palace then I can't take the debate seriously.

Well first off you're trying to debate an ENTIRELY DIFFERENT subject from him. He's not saying that Custodes wouldn't have homefield advantage vs the Raven Guard. He's saying that in terms of the Blood Games, the Custodes Infiltrators do not have an advantage because anything they are aware of, their Opponent (Custodes) will also be aware of. It is a completely even playing field, which is not good at all for the Infiltrator. With that in mind, the fact that they CAN infiltrate something where the opponent is aware of essentially EVERY possible situation makes them better than the Raven Guard. They can infiltrate the most heavily defended palace in the Galaxy, when they know that they are coming.

Your entire argument is based on Custodes are good at this test. Therefore they are best at stealth no matter what. I disagree. I think different missions and different terrains would impact the result. If you want to use random cherry picked examples I can too. A raven guard marine infiltrated a white scars camp once, I've never heard of a Custodes pulling that off. Or hey Raven Guard squads have infiltrated fortresses on forest worlds. I don't know of a Custodes doing that. Using one test of stealth as a rule that a force is the best at stealth isn't a level test. We were asked average and I maintain that on average a Raven Guard marine would probably (but far from certainly) have a better chance in a wider array of tasks. But as someone else mentioned Raven Guard are team players, Custodes lone warriors. So there are a lot more variables involved than simple: this one because they can do the blood games and are the best.
But I can see that we're going to have to agree to disagree.

His entire argument is that since the Custodes are good at a test that is designed to be next to impossible to complete, that they are the best at Stealth. The test isnt just starting somewhere on Terra and getting to the place its infiltrating the entire system, past the battlefleets, Imperial Fists, countless Guard Forces, to get to the palace and then into the palace.

If a Custode can sneak past other Custodes, he can get past White Scars.

The Raven Guard Infiltrated a Fortress on a Forrest World? WOW... The Custodes Infitrate the most Heavily Defended Fortress on a regular basis.

I dont know if you're trying to argue whether working as a team is better for sneaking or not. Generally a Solo Operative would be better for infiltrating a target. But there are merits to infiltration as a team.

Lion of Caliban wrote:Rural terrain was an example. Because its a terrain that the Custodes would be far less likely to have had practical experience in than the Raven Guard. It was just an example. And I'm sorry but home turf doesnt matter is a silly argument, I know my house better than I know a house I read about. The Custodes live in the palace, until recently they did so almost exclusively. If that doesnt give them a boost against a raven guard whose never seen terra in a test inside the palace then I can't take the debate seriously.

The Custodes aren't just infiltrating the palace: they're having to infiltrate Terra itself, with all the security present, and the palace itself being guarded by Custodes of similar ability, who know there's going to be an infiltration.

Home turf I doubt matters here, and plus, when you're a super-engineered warrior, especially with how good Space Marine memory can be, getting the internal layout of a house is enough to count as home turf knowledge.

I'm not saying that home turf never exists - I'm saying that the Blood Games aren't easier for the Custodes due to home turf (reasons above), and that for Space Marines and Custodes, understanding tactical positioning and negating home turf advantages is easier than a normal human.

Your entire argument is based on Custodes are good at this test. Therefore they are best at stealth no matter what. I disagree.

When you consider that the Custodes are capable (not good, just capable - and that's seen as a good thing) of completing this test, and that test is infiltrating probably the most well-defended location in the entire galaxy, barring webway trickery like the Black Library and Commoragh, that should speak for how difficult the test is.

It would be like saying "this guy is one of the only people to have climbed the hardest mountain in the world, but it doesn't make him better than the guy who climbs "normal" mountains". By being able to complete the hardest challenge, and it not being easy for them, the Custodes are most likely better in the vast majority of situations compared to the Raven Guard.

I think different missions and different terrains would impact the result. If you want to use random cherry picked examples I can too. A raven guard marine infiltrated a white scars camp once, I've never heard of a Custodes pulling that off. Or hey Raven Guard squads have infiltrated fortresses on forest worlds. I don't know of a Custodes doing that.

And are either of those challenges as difficult as infiltrating Terra itself, when the guards are just as skilled as you, know every trick that has been pulled prior to you, and know you're coming?

Definitely not.

Using one test of stealth as a rule that a force is the best at stealth isn't a level test. We were asked average and I maintain that on average a Raven Guard marine would probably (but far from certainly) have a better chance in a wider array of tasks. But as someone else mentioned Raven Guard are team players, Custodes lone warriors. So there are a lot more variables involved than simple: this one because they can do the blood games and are the best.

Being alone would be a positive in infiltration - why is infiltration done with as small a team as possible? Force concentration - you take the best amount of skill in the fewest men you can to limit your odds of being spotted. And considering that a Custodes is individually stronger than the entire Raven Guard team that they're being compared to, they are essentially the epitome of force concentration - the power of a whole squad in the form of one individual.

On average - considering that there are more Custodes than Raven Guard, then I think it's pretty clear that the Custodes win out too. No Raven Guard that we've seen has ever done something akin to the Blood Games - the examples you cite, you seem to think are crowning achievements of Raven Guard stealth over the Custodes. If that's what's seen as exceptional stealth for the Raven Guard, then that comes nowhere near the exception stealth to partake in the Blood Games, let alone completing them.

The Blood Games isn't a "you've done this challenge, therefore you must be the best". It's more of a "you've pulled off the hardest infiltration job in the galaxy which little else compares to. You're probably one of the best infiltrators in the galaxy".

But I can see that we're going to have to agree to disagree.

That's fair enough.

No those weren't their highest achievements. Just examples as one side doing a thing wasn't something I viewed as a complete argument for an average vs average debate. Like I said at the beginning I wasn't particularly married to the idea and would just lean towards raven guard I may well be completely wrong. But I'd say we've probably run our course here. But just to add something as a note of interest. Not as an additional point. The Alpha Legion infiltrated Terra at the height of the Heresy. When Dorn himself was in charge of its defence. So its not an exclusively Custodes feat. Not entirely relevant just a note of interest. Also, even though we didn't end up agreeing, it was nice talking to you.

The Horus Heresy novels deal with this well. One on One very few marines stand a chance against a Custodes. As you scale up to a squad though, the marines start to gain ground.

 Lion of Caliban wrote:
No those weren't their highest achievements. Just examples as one side doing a thing wasn't something I viewed as a complete argument for an average vs average debate. Like I said at the beginning I wasn't particularly married to the idea and would just lean towards raven guard I may well be completely wrong. But I'd say we've probably run our course here. But just to add something as a note of interest. Not as an additional point. The Alpha Legion infiltrated Terra at the height of the Heresy. When Dorn himself was in charge of its defence. So its not an exclusively Custodes feat. Not entirely relevant just a note of interest. Also, even though we didn't end up agreeing, it was nice talking to you.

Nah, agreed. A pleasure to discuss!

Are they seriouly trying to make us believe the 9 foot tall giants in ornate power armor with tall helmets with panache (you know the armors that are supposed to be very noisy and full of servo-motors) armed with giant halberds and acting as palace guards are supposed to be good at stealth!? Seriously GW do you know what makes people good at stealth? Custodes and Space Marines are pretty much by design the opposite of stealthy. They are massive shock troopers and bodyguards. But, if I had to choose, I would say the Raven Guard are much better. They are smaller, their equipment is more appropriate and a young Space Marine in scout armor can be incredibly stealthy, especially if they have camocloaks. So I would vote for Raven Guard. But both of them are probably gakky compared to a ratling sniper.

You can believe the rest of 40k but you have an issue thinking that 9 foot tall dudes can stealth? The Custodes when on infiltration missions aren't deployed in their Artificer Armor, which by the way is quieter than regular power armor.

But yes in general Giant dudes would not be good at stealth, particularly infiltration of a human world, if their goal was to blend in with the population.

Yeah I don't imagine using a cloak and sneaking into the palace with a crowd of pilgrims ala. Assassins Creed would be a very successful tactic

I always imagine the Custodes vs (insert other stealthy 40k subfaction) debate to be like comparing apples and oranges.

Raven Guard, Eldar Rangers, Officio Assassinorum and the like are all adept at hiding their physical form and would sneak into somewhere using shadows/unobserved entrances etc etc

Custodes on the other hand would put in place some master plan that no one had previously ever dreamed of and be at the right place at the right time by some happy accident to bypass whatever defences they aimed to circumvent.

Maybe they "infiltrate" the way exploding assassins do and just kill everything in the way and call it stealth?
Rangers always seem like they'd be way better at stealth than basically every comparable option...

Apparently in the 40k universe, there are a lot of 9 foot tall abhumans. In Blood Games, the Custodian blended in as an abhuman laborer.

Rajah wrote:
Apparently in the 40k universe, there are a lot of 9 foot tall abhumans. In Blood Games, the Custodian blended in as an abhuman laborer.

Oygans, pit fighters, you have ganger like house holiday or stomped up humans. Plenty of big guys to hide as.

 VictorVonTzeentch wrote:
You can believe the rest of 40k but you have an issue thinking that 9 foot tall dudes can stealth?

I do have some problem with 40K lore, but, at least, some of it can be handwaved away by calling in arcane science and warp magic when it comes to things like Primarchs, Space Marine and Tyranid biology, etc. Sometime, I think GW is trying to hard to make some of their factions the best at everything up to the point it just turns into a caricature. Space Marines were frequently flirting with that limit and Custodes seem to be even more vulnerable to it. It's ok for them to have clear weaknesses. Isn't why the Imperium has three other major fighting faction beside them? I don't think they are planned only to be cheerleaders and body bags; or maybe it's just me being salty.

Ravenguard, they specialize in stealth, it’s kinda their thing. Custodes are glorified bad azz bodyguards.

Raven Guard have a lot of experience about using stealth in actual wars. Until very recently, the Custodes have just LARPed war. I say the RG have an advantage here.

epronovost wrote:Are they seriouly trying to make us believe the 9 foot tall giants in ornate power armor with tall helmets with panache (you know the armors that are supposed to be very noisy and full of servo-motors) armed with giant halberds and acting as palace guards are supposed to be good at stealth!? Seriously GW do you know what makes people good at stealth? Custodes and Space Marines are pretty much by design the opposite of stealthy. They are massive shock troopers and bodyguards. But, if I had to choose, I would say the Raven Guard are much better. They are smaller, their equipment is more appropriate and a young Space Marine in scout armor can be incredibly stealthy, especially if they have camocloaks. So I would vote for Raven Guard. But both of them are probably gakky compared to a ratling sniper.

Well, seeing as the average Raven Guard aren't in Scout Armour, wearing camo-cloaks and not young, it stands to reason that the Custodes wouldn't be wearing their ornate artificer armour for this - which, by the way, is quieter than normal power armour.

Being 9 foot tall is not uncommon in 40k, especially with all the abhuman and gene-forged servants undoubtedly on Terra. A canny Custodes can blend in there without question, and their enhanced physical skills and intellect over Space Marines (read, Raven Guard) is another edge.
Raven Guard are smaller, yes, but they're still giants compared to humans. At the heights that we're talking here, a Custodes being a foot taller is hardly an issue when a normal Space Marine is probably a foot or two taller than most people.
A young Raven Guard will not have the experience a Custodes has - in fact, most Custodes will have more experience than a regular Raven Guard Battle Brother anyway.

You say that a Ratling would probably be better - I still disagree. If it were the case that these Ratlings and Raven Guard were better at stealth and infiltration than Custodes, and Custodes consider infiltrating Terra a difficult feat (remember, only one Custodes to our knowledge has done it twice), then why don't the Custodes use Ratlings and Raven Guard to test the security of Terra? A ratling is good, but lacks the intelligence and conviction in their approach. They would be good at hiding from a human, but a Space Marine or dedicated search and sweep could probably pick them up. An average Raven Guard Space Marine is very good, much better than their Space Marine brethren, and can be near invisible to a human, despite their power armour and size. But, a Custodes can probably outwit them, and especially on Terra, there's only so much a Space Marine can do.

Otherwise, if average Raven Guard were that good (better than Custodes Blood Games good), then surely an exceptional infiltrator of a traitor legion (say, Emperor's Children, Night Lord or Alpha Legionnaire) during or after the Heresy could have got into Terra and assassinated the Emperor or other high ranking personnel. And considering that the "target" of the Custodes Blood Games for them to assassinate is usually the Emperor himself, if average Raven Guard were better than Custodes, then why couldn't an exceptional infiltrator from a traitor legion do it and end the Imperium there and then.

Logically, it makes sense for Custodes to be the best, as it is most consistent with the universe as we know it in 40k - the only things I can think better which are human would be the Assassins of the Assassinorum.

usmcmidn wrote:Ravenguard, they specialize in stealth, it’s kinda their thing. Custodes are glorified bad azz bodyguards.

Is it "their thing"? It's their speciality, yes, but they're not "stealth first, Space Marine second". That kind of thinking leads to people thinking that the White Scars only ride bikes, that the Iron Hands are all Dreadnoughts or Techmarines, that the Blood Angels have no Devastators, that the Salamanders only use flame weapons.
The Raven Guard are better at it than other Space Marines, yes, but they don't specialise in stealth as their primary function.

The Custodes in general are closer to Primarch tier than Space Marines, and they often take part in more clandestine operations on Terra itself. They're bodyguards first, but a large part of their duty is infiltration and testing Terra's defences. The Raven Guard are Space Marines who are very good at stealth.



Automatically Appended Next Post:

 Crimson wrote:
Raven Guard have a lot of experience about using stealth in actual wars. Until very recently, the Custodes have just LARPed war. I say the RG have an advantage here.

The Custodes have still been testing the defences of Terra, which wouldn't be "LARPed" in any situation. If they can infiltrate Terra itself, in any situation, I'd say they're pretty formidable.

The Raven Guard have been fighting in more battles, this is true - but most Raven Guard don't live as long as a Custodes. A Custodes may have attempted the Blood Games multiple times, and gotten to varying degrees of success.
Experience is good, but comparing a mountain climber who's been climbing for ten years versus a climber who scaled the most difficult mountain in one year should speak more about the abilities of the "least experienced" one. And considering that we've never seen a Raven Guard pull off anything like the Blood Games (aka, infiltrating one of the most heavily defended places in the galaxy), I don't think their experience is enough here.

I am sure the Custodes know the Imperial Palace and the Terra insanely well, and excel in operations in that environment, and are thus able to stop intruders of considerable skill. This does not translate being able to operate in unknown environment in similar capacity, that is where the Raven Guard would excel.

 Crimson wrote:
I am sure the Custodes know the Imperial Palace and the Terra insanely well, and excel in operations in that environment, and are thus able to stop intruders of considerable skill. This does not translate being able to operate in unknown environment in similar capacity, that is where the Raven Guard would excel.

However, when that one environment is probably the single most difficult environment in the galaxy, it makes the other unknown ones look easy by comparison. Again, they might know Terra, but they're going up against other Custodes, who know the previous routes that other Custodes have tried, successfully and unsuccessfully. If they have any hope of success, they need to keep finding new loopholes in Terran security - aka, unknown environments.

 Sgt_Smudge wrote:

 Crimson wrote:
I am sure the Custodes know the Imperial Palace and the Terra insanely well, and excel in operations in that environment, and are thus able to stop intruders of considerable skill. This does not translate being able to operate in unknown environment in similar capacity, that is where the Raven Guard would excel.

However, when that one environment is probably the single most difficult environment in the galaxy, it makes the other unknown ones look easy by comparison. Again, they might know Terra, but they're going up against other Custodes, who know the previous routes that other Custodes have tried, successfully and unsuccessfully. If they have any hope of success, they need to keep finding new loopholes in Terran security - aka, unknown environments.

I really don't buy that this is at all the same situation than being in completely new environment. And they're practising against people they know. It is more about mind games at that point, really, guessing what the other Custodes team would do. Stealth really is not an important niche for the Custodes. They don't have any stealth related units or rules in the game, which tells me that GW doesn't consider this to be a significant facet of their skill set.