: in MK I, it was challanding an normal, that made it fun to play. with five
: minets or whatever, i proposly wasted two miets or so fighting all the
: monsters at the beginning at once, so i could see what you did to the
: failing brach. with seven minets, maybe i'll take to playing that level on
: major damage.
: what i'm saying is, don't let this become like hairy legs from rubicon, the
: first time i did that level, i had no idea what i was doing, and no
: teminal picts to guide me, but i was still able to get out in time. i
: realize that it's much harder on TC, and it sounds like for that it needs
: another minet or two. i don't supose that thare's any way to have the time
: limit differant for different difficulty levels?
There probably is a way but it wouldn't be pretty, and it would be a Marathon first. You can't change the speed of a platform, but the change in the firing rate of the monsters is a given, so you would have to somehow take advantage of that factor - a trooper firing grenades at a switch that momentarily stops a platform, for example. Frankly, it would be too much of a kludge and prone to problems.
One thing about Hairy Legs - you were told from the beginning that there was a time limit, approximately how long the time limit was and that it was critical that you complete your task within that time. It was a true Marathon first, but everyone got it. With Moontanning, however, you are only told to hurry - how many times have we heard that before in a Marathon scenario? Yeah, right, like it'll make a difference? Well, this time it does, but the player isn't likely to realize it until their second time through. Of course we know :) I suppose one alternative would be to have two separate, nearly identical Moontanning levels with a very fast, almost impossible time limit in the first one, but I think that Forrest wants the time jumps to seem real. I think that using monster impassable polys could help level things out - it will keep the monsters from getting in your way on TC, while making it harder to simply dodge them on normal.
And maybe it is time to move up to Major Damage - there comes a time for every player when playing on Normal becomes too easy. The jump to MD may seem scary at first, but eventually you'll wonder what you got out of playing on Normal. Your mind eventually compensates and your timing improves. Then it's time to move up to TC. TC is a totally different game. Some things are easier - monsters are prone to killing each other and you can carry as much ammo as you can find (no limits) - but you have to be incredibly fast on your feet and the monsters are incredibly aggressive. As for me, I can't play it any other way now - my Marathon neurons are hard-wired.
