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Tour of Duty - Smells Like Napalm...
Posted By: PerseusSpartacusDate: 6/2/13 5:11 p.m.

TOUR OF DUTY:

In the last level, we wandered through a part of the ship shaped like a Rose, encountered BoBs and Hulks for the first time, equipped ourselves with a second Pistol, and found two secret - and very revealing - terminals.

Now, having either A) failed at our mission because the Pfhor slaughtered the BoBs, B) performed the slaughtering ourselves, or C) succeeded in rescuing at least half the BoBs, we teleport into a room. Immediately we are set upon by a few Fighters and Wasps. Not too problematic, though, since we have both an Assault Rifle and dual-wielded Pistols. The first thing you'll notice as soon as you're safe is that this level is very dark, with the few lights on the level being incredibly bright. We head down the stairs and read the Terminal.

Time is limited. There is a large group of heavily armed
Pfhor approaching the section of the ship where I have
transported you. Their only logical destination is the
sensitive engineering areas in the aft section of the ship.

As we are not yet in a position to halt their advance by
force, I have decided to depressurize a large area in their
path in order to slow their progress. Unfortunately, I cannot
remotely seal the airlocks and isolate the zone I wish to
depressurize from the nearby living quarters. Exposing this
area to space without first isolating it would kill hundreds
of human crew.

You will have to go and close the doors.

Sounds simple. As we go along, we find that the level is not only dark, but also cramped. This can be both good and bad when facing the Wasps and Compilers on this level. You can take advantage of the plentiful corners to avoid getting zapped, but if you're not careful, you can get pinned down easily. Given that you only have 1x Health at the moment, you should avoid this as best you can.

Here's the map (borrowed from the Marathon Spoiler Guide):

For now, ignore the points A1 and A2. Those have to do with the one secret on the level, which we'll get to later.

While we explore the level in search of the airlocks, we will find a Terminal.

[Unauthorized access-alarm 2521-]
[Security Breached 49-z[3.67.299.492]-]

[Trace Prohibition Compensated]

....n 15 ~~~~~~Be~rn border of the Roman Empire to the Danube
River. During a skirmish with barbarians in Raetiain the
mountains near the borof modern France and Switzerland), 117
men under Gaius Licinius MarcW#&I~?f/f/xxfxfff`~~~
THM@#%!@#
233nce of weird and frightening monsters under his control,
many successful raidsecty the fall of the Roman Empire and
remained unmolested until the ninth un~~~
written ls into the lex vita. Clovis moved the settlement
farther south i the mountains, nearer the spring, to escape
the notice of Charlemagne and later the Holy Roman Empire.
Clovis remain````
~fxf´f`~Fxff´xf~~~~
427q3w8459806ladimir in 1902 and Frederi~just recently. Both,
however, carried out reforms before their deaths which slowly
integrated their people secretly into world society, which are
now scattered all over the globe- to meet only once every
seven years in southeast France~FFFffxfffffF?F?FF?Ff must
be chosen.

[trace mode error]
[unimplemented inline trap $A9FF]

[Spurious Interrupt- Breach Disabled]
[Further Access Denied]

[Breach Location Undetermined]

After closing both doors (behind which are a number of Wasps), we head as far north as possible. We find a room containing some raised platforms and some lowered ones, with a number of switches in the wall. After experimenting with a switch to figure out what platform it activates, we can hop on the connected platform and flip the switch with a grenade, taking us up and allowing to progress to the final puzzle on the level.

There are two switches on opposite ends of a long, square corridor. What we have to do is flip the East switch, run to the West switch, flip it, and run into an open alcove in the middle of the North corridor. If we do it fast enough, we can get on the platform with plenty of time to twiddle our thumbs while we wait for the platform to rise. Once it stops, we hop on another one, which takes us up to a small room containing two Fighters and the final Terminal.

Good work. I will begin the decompression process in a
moment.

I have finished debriefing the civilian crew you rescued a few
hours ago. They are the only group to survive prolonged
contact with the Aliens that I have been able to talk with.

They maintain that the Aliens were loading as many humans as
possible onto shuttle craft and flying them to the Pfhor
mother ship. I have watched many such shuttles bringing
supplies to the Aliens, but had no idea they were carrying
humans back to the alien ship.

I will brief you more on your next mission when you arrive.
You may not go exactly where I want you to end up because
there is interference in the Computer
Net. Good luck.

What's odd is Leela says we successfully rescued the crew earlier whether or not we actually succeeded in our mission last level. So even if we personally kill every single Bob and Leela says we've failed, somehow we still rescued the crew? I guess Leela was debriefing thin air.

And with that, we teleport out and to the next level. But not yet! We have to find the secret on this level! And yes, there is only one.

But don't get too down-trodden, because this is by far the hardest secret in the whole game. Look at the map again:

Head to point A1 on the map. As you enter the alcove, an elevator back at the start will activate, though you may not be able to hear it. Now, as fast as possible, run back to the start, and on the left side (as you enter), a platform will have dropped down. Jump in the hole, run forward a ways, grab the Flamethrower on the ground, and run back to the platform. If you're not fast enough, you'll get trapped down there with no way to escape other than to blow yourself up and go back to the last save. Unless you do get trapped, DO NOT READ THE TERMINAL. If you waste time reading the Terminal, you're certain to get trapped.

But if you happen to be fast enough to get down there and not fast enough to escape, then by all means, read the Terminal. You know you want to.

[durandal.652.586.34.2]

Here I am, sulking about on a ship which used to be my slave.
Chased by a narrow-minded AI who thinks I'm rampant with only
the cybernetic toys of these so-called invaders to play with.

And here you are, stuck at the bottom of a hole. How droll.
It's really too bad- we could have had so much fun together.

Vale,
Durandal

This is our first chance to witness Durandal's snarky, clever humor. And it is wonderful in our eyes. ;)

With this secret, it helps if you use Forward-Sidestep. If you hold down one of your Sidestep keys while you move forward, you'll move much faster. It may take a little getting used to, but it's incredibly useful, especially in multiplayer, where moving just a little faster can give you the edge you need to avoid getting blown to bits with a SPNKr and get off that last shot needed to bring down that formerly-blue-now-covered-in-red guy. In truth, it really isn't terribly hard once you figure out what to do: I pulled it off on my second try, with my first try failing by just a split second.

This secret, unlike the ones on the previous level, is actually hidden from view in the Terminal graphics:

I actually wonder how anybody could've first discovered this secret without a map editor. Speaking of which, does anybody here know what the first third-party map editor for Marathon 1 was?

With the gameplay and story covered, time to move briefly to the aesthetics. This is the first and only level in the single-player that uses the song 'Chomber'. An odd fit, in my opinion, but oh well. The level's lighting is very harsh and starkly-contrasted. Dark corridors with bright lights scattered throughout. Granted, this is a constant feature of the original Marathon, but this level epitomizes this tendency. The only other levels I can think of that exemplify this feature in the way that Smells Like Napalm... does are Arrival and Bob-B-Q. Intriguingly, all three levels were made by Jason Jones, or at least I presume he made them, based on the deduction on the Level Credits page in the FAPTA... section.

Now, in all fairness, I think this level may be my second-least favorite of the game, just behind Couch Fishing. Something about the darkness and the cramped corridors just gets to me, giving it a tedious feeling. Though I must admit, playing with Software graphics and the Classic HUD (which is how I usually play, just for the sake of giving the game a more retro feeling) helps alleviate some of the trouble there. Dunno why. Something about harsh realism makes everything more dark and depressed, I guess.

With all that out of the way, we can teleport out and on to the next level, wrapping up the Seventh Edition of Tour of Duty.

Vale,
Perseus

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Pre-2004 Posts

Replies:

Tour of Duty - Smells Like Napalm...PerseusSpartacus 6/2/13 5:11 p.m.
     Re: Tour of Duty - Smells Like Napalm...Dispatcher 6/2/13 5:49 p.m.
           Re: Tour of Duty - Smells Like Napalm...Godot 6/3/13 12:01 a.m.
     Re: Tour of Duty - Smells Like Napalm...Bo Lindbergh 6/2/13 10:06 p.m.
           Re: Tour of Duty - Smells Like Napalm...PerseusSpartacus 6/2/13 10:52 p.m.
                 Re: Tour of Duty - Smells Like Napalm...Godot 6/3/13 12:18 a.m.
                       Re: Tour of Duty - Smells Like Napalm...treellama 7/4/13 4:18 p.m.
                             Re: Tour of Duty - Smells Like Napalm...Godot 7/4/13 10:46 p.m.
                                   Re: Tour of Duty - Smells Like Napalm...poena.dare 7/5/13 11:24 a.m.
                                         Re: Tour of Duty - Smells Like Napalm...Godot 7/5/13 2:23 p.m.
           Re: Tour of Duty - Smells Like Napalm...Godot 6/3/13 1:45 a.m.
     Re: Tour of Duty - Smells Like Napalm...Godot 6/2/13 11:58 p.m.
           Re: Tour of Duty - Smells Like Napalm...Dispatcher 6/3/13 6:15 a.m.
                 Re: Tour of Duty - Smells Like Napalm...PerseusSpartacus 6/3/13 9:09 a.m.
     Re: Tour of Duty - Smells Like Napalm...PerseusSpartacus 6/3/13 7:47 p.m.

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