: That chip is dropped by one of the Turtles. One of them is minor and the
: other major. The minor one drops the chip. But it's actually not needed to
: access the airlock. The "chip insertion" switch on the left is
: really just a tag switch in disguise.
Hmm - your right about that. Now there is a chip slot in a couple of levels hence, but another chip is dropped there as well, so I guess Ian changed his mind.
: Also, on this level you have only your Pulse Rifle available. That weapon
: does not seem to provide any lift to launch the player onto the ledge
: containing the oxygen canister, despite this also being a low gravity
: level.
No, all your weapons seem to work in vacuum. The flame thrower can provide a hell of a lot of lift with the primary trigger (secondary for this weapon), but I haven't found a way to use this without getting killed. Unlike rockets or grenades, there is no recoil - just an explosion and as per the Marathon engine you're either inside or outside the blast radius. I've tried strafe running and even atacking the ledge from the back side to no avail - just can't seem to reach that O2 canister. Wait a minute . . . fires up AO . . . Yes! It can be done! Wait a minute . . . I'm trapped, and here comes a beast! Argh!!!!
There is a way to get to the O2 canister, but it's a trap. If you hit the first switch and then back away, there is a very fine point at which you can flip the second switch and still be outside, thus riding the door up to the O2 canister! The problem with this is there is no way to lower the door to get back inside, leaving you trapped. I don't think that Ian thought anyone would ever reach that O2 canister, as there is an untextured poly up on top. The door trick also brings up another very significant bug on this level. None of your weapons can trigger those door switches, but the turtle's grenades can. In one of my numerous attempts to finish the level, I managed to kill the turtles and beasts and still had a sliver of O2 left, only to find that door was up and I couldn't get inside. The turtle's grenades had obviously triggered both switches, leaving me trapped. Ironically, this probably wouldn't have been a problem had you still needed that uplink chip. IMO Ian chose the wrong fix, if that's what it was, to solve the out of O2 on Deathwish problem. Rather than replacing the chip slot with a tag switch, he should have placed an O2 canister somwhere else further back in the G3 Sunbathing series.
Oh, BTW, I'm still working on finishing the series on Deathwish. I've gotten as far as just reaching Ian as I take my last dieing breath. Definitely doable, but barely, even using all my skills.
