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	Message: : : Part 1 : Hello again! Pardon the delays, I've been quite sick this past week, and that : has prevented me from working on, well, anything really until now. : Last time on Tour of Duty, VikingBoyBilly took us on a trip through the : crash-landed UESC Santa Fe, fighting off a fair number of Cyborgs and : Troopers along the way. At the end, someone (though I'm not sure who) told : us that we needed to "Determine location of enemy home base," : whatever that means. The story hasn't been all that interesting, and at : this point I have very little idea what we're even supposed to be doing. : I've noticed I use a lot fewer images than I should in my posts, so I'll try : to use more of them this time - a picture is worth a thousand words, after : all. Also, because this level is long and full of weird little details, : I've decided to split this write-up into two parts to be posted : separately. It will take me a while to finish the whole write-up (longer : than I'd hoped), and so this will also allow me to get something out the : door in a reasonable amount of time. : Before we get into going through the level itself, I have to begin with a : warning: this level is one of those devilish constructions that will : absolutely make you want to rip your hair out in frustration. This is due : to a few main factors: 1) This is a vacuum level. 'Nuff said. : 2) Completion requires that you locate two "secret" doors. One is : fairly obvious, the other really isn't. If this doesn't count as bad level : design, I don't know what does. : 3) The relatively simple map is made massively more complicated by the fact : that you'll end up backtracking over the same areas again and again, : mostly to get through doors that were either previously locked or are : hidden and have to be located by tabbing on the walls. : To help you follow along (because this one is going to be tough to follow : otherwise), I'll show you the overview of the map to start with, and then : I'll provide updates on what the automap looks like as I go through the : level: : If the map looks confusing right now, it feels a lot more confusing when : you're actually in it . : This is not immediately apparent when you first enter the level, though. You : start in a fairly simple chamber, with two hallways looking down on you : and a window looking outside. In one of these hallways, to your south, : some Fighters will immediately teleport in - there's also a switch visible : behind them. Unfortunately, there's glass between you and them, so you : can't shoot them or activate the switch from here. To the east are two : doors: the one on the right is fake, while the left one takes you up some : stairs. : At the top of the stairs, you'll enter a room and a bunch of enemies will : teleport in to your left and right. Most of them are Fighters, only two of : whom are of the ranged variety, but there is one Trooper on the right side : - he's the main threat here. You can use Shotguns to take him down quick, : but I'd advise not using up too much Shotgun ammo - you'll probably want : to save some for the final room. Dual Pistols work well on the Fighters, : but don't be afraid to use your Fusion Pistol; there's going to be plenty : of ammo for it laying around. : With the first wave of enemies dispatched, you'll find a Pattern Buffer and a : Terminal next to a window. The window looks over a large room with a : central column and various ledges overlooking it (one of which has some : Fighters standing on it, but we can't get to them because they're behind : glass) - this is where we need to get to, roughly speaking. Let's read the : Terminal: : : : : : : : : All good information. Plus, it's worth noting that the rationale for the : vacuum here is not actually that it's a vacuum, but simply that there is : some type of toxic gas flooding the area; this is a neat idea, and I'm a : little surprised that other scenarios haven't used this excuse more often. : To the west of your present position is the room with the Oxygen Charger, : some Fusion Batteries, and a single Pistol Magazine. To the east is a : monster closet, now empty, and a single door, which does not respond to : the action key. This door is actually activated by stepping on a polygon : just in front of the closet with the oxygen charger, but it will close : after a short while. On the other side of it is a switch, which also : controls the same door - as soon as you walk through, you'll want to flip : it to 'off' so that the door becomes locked in place. Keep in mind that it : will close again if you walk over to the oxygen charger. : Let's have a quick map update: : Alright, so this map is premised around getting into the central column in : the room I'm calling the 'End Chamber'. The problem is that to get there, : you have to open a lot of locked doors, which means hunting for switches, : some of which are themselves behind locked doors that can only be opened : by other switches. Yeah, this isn't gonna be fun. : So you head south into a corridor - this goes west, but as you step through : it, you'll trigger a door to open leading south again. Inside the room : that is thus revealed are a bunch of Fighters, two Troopers, and an : invisible Compiler. The Troopers start out inside a column/closet, and may : be a bit reticent about coming out of it. The door closes after a short : delay, so you have to move around in the corridor a little bit to get off : and back on the trigger polygon. Going further west in the corridor just : leads to an empty hallway with a window overlooking the starting room. : Before continuing, I would advise going back and recharging on oxygen - you : are going to want as much as possible before heading into the room that : had all the enemies in it, because once you're in there, you won't be able : to go back; the door closes after a delay and there's no way to open it : from that side. This room also overlooks the starting area, and there's a : 1x Shield Charger in the southernmost part. A door across from it leads to : the very first switch we saw, the one we couldn't get to from the starting : room. This actually opens a door at the west end of the opposite corridor : - but we can't get there any more, at least not right now. : Inside the closet from which the Troopers came are some Fusion Batteries. To : the southeast is a small room with some barrels, some Pistol Magazines, : and some enemies who teleport in - not particularly helpful. To the : northeast is another room that appears at first to be a dead end with some : more pistol and fusion ammo. You'll probably start wondering at first : where the heck you're supposed to go from here - there's no obvious exit : from this section of the level! Actually, this is where the first : "secret" door comes into play. On the north side of this room is : a bright red slit in the wall - if you tab on it or right next to it, : nothing happens. But if you tab a few inches further to the right, you'll : open a door. : To illustrate, here are photos of the room with the door closed and with it : open (note - I turned up the brightness on these two photos to make them : more illustrative; most of the level is so dark that photos are not : particularly helpful): : : Now, I should point out that if you look through the red slit to the left of : the secret door, you can see what looks like the wall of another corridor : on the opposite side - the automap helps confirm that that is in fact : another hallway that you are looking at through there. That should give : you at least some clue that a door is supposed to be around here. : This takes you into a strange room with some winding stairs and a ton of : scenery cylinders scattered around it: : On the upper level of this room, an invisible Compiler teleports in. His : tracking shot is very difficult to dodge with so many cylinders sitting : around to block your movement. To the left, however, something else : teleports in: a S'pht'Kr! : : Well, at least in the original Marathon universe we'd call that a S'pht'Kr or : a Defender - but in the DiaBD universe... actually, I don't know what this : is supposed to be, canon-wise. Is this another Ygn'oml (aka Galaxan)? : Regardless, it's friendly, and it may even take a few shots at the : invisible Compiler. : The Defender can't really go anywhere, as it is trapped by the cylinders, and : will just pace back and forth in its little corner. In fact, if you go : around its corner and step into the nook that it guards, you'll trigger a : platform inside the closet that contained the Troopers and Fighters a : short while ago. You can actually go back there and reach a lower part of : the level - the "Basement", if you will. However, I think I'll : save that part for later; for now, let's just keep moving forward and : looking for the 2x Charger and Oxygen Charger that are supposed to be : located up north. : You walk south, past a locked door, around a corridor that loops back north. : This leads to a brightly lit section of the corridor - if you step on this : section, it will begin to descend after several seconds... directly into : lava! Yes, there's a trap hallway here that you have to run through fairly : quickly in order to not get dunked in lava. I told you the designer of : this map was wicked! : This brings us to a fork. Heading left (i.e. south) actually opens a locked : door, leading us back to the stairs just outside the room with the : Terminal and the Pattern Buffer! Unfortunately, the door that we tried so : hard to keep open appears to have been shut again regardless of our : efforts. Don't worry, you don't have to go back there again - though it : might have been nice to be able to return to the Pattern Buffer. Heading : back the other way (i.e. north) leads to some Fighters and another : Defender - and we are now overlooking the End Chamber again, this time : from its east side. There's a switch here, but we'll come back to that. : Continuing north leads to the room with the 2x Shield Charger and the : Oxygen Charger; very nice! What's not so nice is that on the right side of : the room is a narrow window, behind which is a room with two drones and : some Fusion Batteries - though it is unclear how to get in there: : Okay, time to get our bearings again: : As you can see, things are beginning to get a bit more complicated - but : we're not really even halfway through the level yet! : Now fully recharged, you head back the way you came, and encounter that : switch from a moment ago. Pressing it causes one face of the central : column in the End Chamber to slowly open, unleashing what can only be : described as a horde of Drones. Thankfully, there's glass between you : and them, and there are even a few Defenders in the End Chamber to shoot : some of them down, but there's just too many Drones for them to handle. : The column does not stay open, though - you need to turn the switch off : once you can see that the side is open enough for your liking. I say you : need to because you don't want to leave that horde inside the column - : you're going to need to go in there at some point, and if they stay in : there, you'll have no chance of fighting them off. : Now, you might be inclined to say something like "Ha! What are a few : Drones to the likes of me?" In that case, I must show you the sheer : number of Drones we're talking about here: : : You can see why I called it a "horde" and not merely a gaggle. :) : And the worst part is, the Drones actually respawn - albeit somewhat : slowly, and there is a limit to how many can ever spawn in the course of : the level, but the point is that if you just leave them to their own : devices, they should continue to spawn until there are about 25 of them in : that area. Now, that number might be manageable in an open area where : you're given lots of room to dodge their shots, but that's not how it's : going to be when you actually fight them. In short, just know that the : horde is waiting for you... : It's no longer obvious where to go anymore, so time to start going back over : old ground. You head south again, back down the stairs past the : now-forever-sealed door, and turn west, into the corridor just north of : your original starting position. You open a door, and find a group of : Fighters and a Hunter are waiting for you - those weren't there before! : These were unleashed by the first major switch we hit, across the way, : also allowing you to progress further westward. This leads you north : again, now on the west side of the End Chamber, and you find a Pattern : Buffer and a Switch. What does the switch do? Well, oddly enough, it opens : a door revealing a ledge on the other side of the End Chamber: : Well, with the Pattern Buffer, we get to save our position and gather : ourselves: : The purple circles are the main switches we've encountered, and the arrows : coming off of them point to the platforms they control. : As I said at the beginning, I'm splitting this write-up into two parts so : that it doesn't run on too long. This is a good place to pause, as we've : just encountered a Pattern Buffer and now need to find somewhere new to : go. Next time, we'll explore the basement, locate secret doors, and ascend : to victory! Until then... : To Be Continued...
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