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Trojan Volunteers - LovePuppy 23
Posted By: Steve LevinsonDate: 11/8/05 2:13 p.m.

Goody, goody - a secret level! This is the only vacuum level in Trojan and one of 3 that lacks a pattern buffer - at least I've not found one! This is a moderately complex level and I'm going to provide a full walk-through since it's not covered in the Spoiler Guide. Sorry, but I'm too lazy to make a map for this. Please do play this one if you have the right hardware - it's easily playable (well, at least on Normal) by selecting level 22 from the vid-start screen. There are a couple of very detailed and long-winded terminals in this level that tell a story - they serve as credit terminals of sorts, but they're much, much more than that. I'm not going to cover the contents of the terminals here, but will post the full text of each terminal as separate posts on different days, without any comments on my part. I want to see what everyone else comes up with before I throw in my 2 cents worth. Once again, this level appears only in the M1 version of Trojan, so if you have a PC or don't have Classic loaded, you're out of luck. Obviously if the scenario's authors ever agree to allowing Trojan to be ported to AO, this level will have to be ported from the M1 version - making for a fair bit of work. It'll be well worth it, however, which is easy for me to say since I won't be the one doing it!

OK, we start out in a long, narrow room with the first terminal right in front of us. Although this is a vacuum environment, everything stops in the M1 engine when you read a terminal, so feel free to take your time. After reading the terminal, pick up the generous supply of ammo and head out the large door to the west. A circular stairway to the south will be important later - feel free to skip it for now and continue heading west through another large door. Soon you'll come to an octagonal room (it looks more like a pentagon for now) with some more ammo and, to your left, a 1X shield recharger and an O2 recharger - the only ones on the level that I know of. After tanking up, head through the next door to the west and up a curving stairway. A switch on the right turns on the lights. At the end is a door with a switch that opens the door momentarily. You may want to take out the monsters ahead through the open door and recharging shields and O2 before proceeding, as there's no way back for a while. Next, tab on the very large door to the west (looks more like a wall) and take out any enemies you see ahead of you - particularly the one standing by the invincibility power-up.

At this point you have some fancy footwork to do. There is a large platform in the center of the room ahead, but it rises very quickly a few seconds after you land on it, crushing you instantly. If you try to jump to the invincibility directly, you won't be able to reach it. If you're very good at this sort of thing, it should be possible to jump to it just as the platform rises. I have not been able to do this, but it should be possible with practice. Because I haven't done this myself, I haven't been able to confirm whether or not invincibilities in vacuum in M1 behave the same way they do in M2/Infinity/AO. If they do, you might want to try letting your oxygen become nearly depleted before going for the invincibility. If your O2 runs out when you're invincible, not only won't you die, but you wont need to recharge your O2 for the entire rest of the game. Now for the really fancy footwork. When you land on the platform, turn around quickly and fire your shotgun at a recessed switch that is to the left of the door through which you came. This is important, as it opens the door to the only escape from the area. Once you have activated this switch, quickly jump off the platform and down into the room below, clearing it of all the aliens. The north pillar in the room is hollow and contains a platform that can be entered from the west side. If you wind up down here without activating that switch, a switch at the north end activates a platform that takes you back up to the top, but you need to be very, very quick.

After riding the platform in the hollow pillar, follow the corridor until you come to very tall octagonal room. As tempting as it is to jump across it, don't, or you'll need to come back here. Instead take out the monster to your right and jump to his perch and grab the ammo there. Now jump down to the bottom of the room and destroy the wire panel to the east. There is a transporter to the southwest - tab on the wall to access it, but tab on it's back wall before teleporting out and you'll be able to grab some ammo. The transporter takes you back to the top of the room - now jump across and go about half-way up the curving stairs. You'll note a switch on the right and a platform on your left. Quickly flip the switch and then take the platform to a very large room with a lot of monsters and a switch on the southeast wall. The switch will only be active for a brief while, so if you take too long to kill the monsters, you'll have to go back and flip that switch across from the platform again. Once you've activated both switches, you'll be able to continue up the rest of the stairs and exit through the door to the east. You'll come to a cross-corridor - to the north is the exit room, but the door to it is only half-open for the moment. A platform straight ahead to the east is not yet active. You'll therefore have to head south and ride a platform down, which dumps you back in the first octagonal room, where you can recharge your shields and suck on the O2 recharger.

Now we're ready for the next phase. Head back east and return to that circular stairway to the south, back at the very beginning of the level. You can now head down the stairway and the way should be clear - that is after dealing with the aliens down here, including the pair that sneak up from behind you. Head through the door to the north and enter a very large and complex-looking room. Beware - the monsters in this area regenerate. On the west wall is a switch that activates a very narrow, nearly invisible platform on the east wall. Note that it's here for now - we'll take it the next time we return to this room. Head to the north and exit through a door on the east side of the north end. Head up a snake-like stairway and read the second part of the story on a terminal that is about half-way up. Hit the switch on your right as you pass it and hightail it up the rest of the stairway to the large rectangular room to the west. There are 4 switches in this room two of which are necessary to continue. The first one is on your right, on the east end of the north wall, and can be shot at with your shotgun, saving you the trouble of trying to get back up on the walkway that traverses the room from east to west. This switch activates the platform at the west end of this room The other one is on the south end of the west wall, and can be very difficult to impossible to hit with your shotgun. This switch opens a panel back in the room with the crushing platform. If you have to jump down off the walkway, there are a couple of switches that activate a platform in the center of the walkway, making it possible to get back up. These are at the west end of the north wall and the east end of the south wall. Unfortunately, it's virtually impossible to flip either switch and make it to the platform in time. The only way to do it is to shoot the switch with your shotgun and then hightail it, getting there just as it's rising. Once the two switches have been activated, head on up the platform at the west end of the room. Surprise, this brings you back to the corridor that leads to the exit room to the north and the shield/O2 recharge room to the south. Darn - the exit room is still blocked!

After recharging, return to the room with the crushing platform and head for the southeast pillar in the room. You'll now find that a panel has opened on the south side of the pillar, exposing a switch. Flip the switch and head back up the platform in the in the north pillar, returning to the corridor that leads to the exit room. Damn - it's STILL blocked! Instead, head to the south yet again, recharge if necessary, and return to the start of the level, taking that circular stairway to the south. Now, remember that very narrow platform on the west wall? Now it's time to take it up to a very narrow ledge that runs along the wall. Head to the north and prepare to jump across to a ledge on the north wall - a fairly difficult jump because of the narrowness of the ledge. But wait! Before jumping across, tab on the west wall at the end of the ledge - there's a nice stash of ammo behind a secret door. It's also much easier to make the jump from this secret alcove. After jumping across, head along the next ledge until it ends, then look to the north and jump across to an open door. There's a very narrow corridor that's too narrow to get through, but you can shoot at a switch at the end of the corridor. BTW, if you failed to flip the switch in the southeast pillar of the room with the crushing platform, the door to this last switch will not be open. Now you can return to the exit room, and it's finally open! Read the terminal to be taken to Have Gun Will Travel. But first we'll discuss the terminals on LovePuppy 23.

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Pre-2004 Posts

Replies:

Trojan Volunteers - LovePuppy 23Steve Levinson 11/8/05 2:13 p.m.
     Re: Trojan Volunteers - LovePuppy 23kyjel 11/8/05 3:19 p.m.
     Re: Trojan Volunteers - LovePuppy 23Dr. John Sumner 11/10/05 2:57 a.m.
           Re: Trojan Volunteers - LovePuppy 23Forrest of B.org 11/10/05 6:30 a.m.
                 Re: Trojan Volunteers - LovePuppy 23Dr. John Sumner 11/10/05 7:12 a.m.
                       Re: Trojan Volunteers - LovePuppy 23Steve Levinson 11/10/05 9:46 a.m.
                             Re: Trojan Volunteers - LovePuppy 23kyjel 11/10/05 10:07 a.m.
                             Re: Trojan Volunteers - LovePuppy 23Dr. John Sumner 11/10/05 10:55 a.m.
           Re: Trojan Volunteers - LovePuppy 23Dr. John Sumner 11/12/05 5:53 a.m.
                 Re: Trojan Volunteers - LovePuppy 23Steve Levinson 11/12/05 9:13 a.m.
                       Re: Trojan Volunteers - LovePuppy 23kyjel 11/12/05 3:20 p.m.

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Pre-2004 Posts

 

 

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