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	Message: : TOUR OF DUTY : 10 - Bob-B-Q : Previously on Tour of Duty, we escaped the claws of Durandal, massacred : Hulks and Fighters, crossed a string of elevators, found evidence of : Tycho's rebirth, and rejoined Leela. : We now find ourselves staring at a rather hideous (or is it delightful) image : of two Bobs being brutally tortured by a Pfhor Trooper: : Evidently the Pfhor are out for blood, thus the chapter title 'Reprisal'. : Our mission now, according to Leela, is to rescue a 'security detachment' : that is being overrun by Pfhor troops. Don't get your hopes up about : finding armed BoBs - they're still the same old walking barriers we know : and hate. : Given the relaxed nature of the previous level, we're probably unprepared for : the tumultuous slaughter-house that is Bob-B-Q . While the chapter screen : is still there, look at that Pfhor. Picture it being pulverized with : grenades. Specifically your grenades. Now look at the BoBs. Imagine them : as brilliant distractions while you sneak up behind and blast Fighters : with your Assault Rifle. The BoBs won't like it, but it'll sure give you a : laugh as they die in the ensuing explosions, their little corpses flying : elegantly towards the ceiling. : And no, I'm not a psychopath. ;) : As soon as the screen fades out, be ready to move, 'cause the start of this : level is more visceral than any other level in the game. From the moment : your feet hit the floor, you'll have a bunch of Fighters around you, : baying for blood. In the distance, Hunters and more Fighters will be : engaged in slaughtering BoBs. Don't worry about them. Just kill the first : Fighters and get moving. You need to find a 2x Health Charger; it's the : key to beating the level. Indeed, I died twice because I couldn't find it : and had to consult the Marathon Spoiler Guide. To help orient you, here's : the map: : Basically, what you want to do is run out the door, turn right, go down the : corridor, and go through the third door you find. Be cautious of Fighter : ambushes. Eventually you'll find a small, seemingly empty room. If you tap : the wall a bit, you'll reveal 2x Health Charger. Without this, the level : is nigh-impossible unless you are some kind of demi-god, and even with : it, you're gonna need insane persistence or immense skill, or both. : The key to this level is Grenades. Why, you ask? This level has more Hunters : than just about any other, beaten only by Neither High Nor Low ( Bob-B-Q : has 25 Minor Hunters placed on it, while Neither High Nor Low has 29). : Without Grenades, you're doomed. Nevertheless, this level is very : ammo-deficient, meaning you'll have to make due pretty much with what you : have when you start the level. For this reason, you should do whatever you : can to conserve your Grenades. Here's some tips on doing that: 1) Never : use your Grenades on Fighters, only Hunters. : 2) Use bullets or Fusion to finish off lone Hunters, saving your Grenades : for stunning Hunters or for getting them to blow up near other enemies. : 3) Try to get as many Grenades as possible to damage not only the target : Hunter, but other enemies as well, particularly other Hunters, thereby : allowing you to do more with less. : Even while obeying all these tricks, it's very difficult to avoid running out : of Grenades. I actually ran out at the worst possible moment: there's an : area where you reach a 3/4s closed door, and the corridor behind you : closes for a few seconds. When it opens back up, a group of Hunters : (including two Majors) and Fighters come in from the sides, ambushing you. : While running circles around the bunch (and yet still getting blasted a : bunch), I ran out of Grenades, forcing me to take the remaining Major : Hunter and Fighters with bullets. I barely had any health left whatsoever : after that encounter. : After any encounter where you lose more than a half-bar of health, it may be : wise to return to the 2x Charger and fill up again. Also remember to save : constantly, else one mistake can send you back to the very first parts of : the level. The two Pattern Buffers are at opposite ends of the map: the : one to the far east (right on the map) comes just after the encounter I : described just a moment ago, and the one to the far west (left on the map) : is situated on a ledge with an Oxygen Charger and a 1x Health Charger, : which you can get to by jumping across from a high corridor to a ledge, : and then to a few more ledges. : Eventually, you'll reach a room containing a few Fighters and four Platforms : that will squish you if you stay on them too long. The Platforms are all : located in different corners of the room, and the basic concept is that : you have to get on the lowest one, jump to the next-lowest one before : getting squished, then the next, etc., until you finally reach the highest : platform, which will allow you to enter an alcove containing the only : Terminal on the map. : Now, in the original Marathon , it didn't matter if you had finished the : mission; Leela would still either say you had succeeded or failed and : teleport you out to Shake Before Using... However, in the current : version of M1A1, they added an 'Unfinished' message and removed the : 'Success' message, making the level impossible to 'win'. For canon-lovers, : there is no worse crime than this. Luckily, since the next version of M1A1 : will be using more of the original Marathon assets, including terminal : text files, this will be fixed. As such, the tips on the Vidmaster page : will become truthful again. : Given that we have no choice but to fail (in the current version of M1A1), : we'll invariably see this when we read the Terminal upon completing the : level: ***INCOMING MESSAGE FROM LEELA*** : You let too many crew members die. You have failed in your mission. : I was unable to gain any useful information from the rescued : .&2` : We must head off the Pfhor threat to the Engineering section. : I am going to send you into the primary re~Tick : Count=> first_thought #49 . : You must clear the area of all aliens before they destroy the : Primary Reactors. : ~[p[]]*kc3sla/.U : ***MESSAGE INTERRUPTED*** : ***JUMP PAD ACTIVATION INITIATION START*** : ***TRANSPORT WHEN READY*** : It is becoming increasingly obvious that Leela cannot hold her own against : the S'pht cybernetic onslaught. If we don't push the Pfhor back soon, : Leela is probably going to be destroyed or rendered inactive, sort of like : Tycho was earlier in the game. Given that the Pfhor don't seem to be : letting up (indeed, things are just warming up it seems), we have to : wonder who will take charge of the defense of the Marathon when she is : gone. Durandal, perhaps? (Of course we all know the answer, but it's more : fun playing ignorant.) : Also, if you didn't notice the Seven reference in that terminal, here's a : hint: it's underlined. ;) : You'll also notice something very interesting just a short while before that. : An odd error in the text says ' I am going to send you to the primary : re~Tick Count=> first_thought '. If you've ever dealt with Marathon : mapping, Physics editing, or coding, you'll know that a ' Tick Count ' : refers to some kind of timing thing, sort of like 'Frames' but more of an : internal unit. Then there's a reference to ' first_thought '. If you'll : recall HAL's final moments in 2001: A Space Odyssey , you'll know that ' : first_thought ' probably refers to the first moments of an AI's memory, : specifically the first thoughts it ever had. Which makes me wonder; what : were Leela's first thoughts? Even more puzzling, what were Durandal's : first thoughts? : Which reminds me of a quote from Rubicon X (which I just started over : recently): "Durandal, what color is hate?" : Bernhard always liked playing mind games with me. He'd give me 'unsolvable' : riddles, or tease me with incomplete or incorrect information about the : world of humanity. I'd sit there and humor him for hours, pretending not : to understand. Sometimes he would laugh an almost fatherly laugh as he : allowed me more information, a clearer explanation, or the like. Sometimes : the laugh was of an altogether different nature. - ' Honk If You're An : Underpaid Cyborg ', (Term 9, 'Finished') : Perhaps Durandal's first thoughts had to do with Bernhard. I'm getting all : teary-eyed just thinking about it. ;) : And with that, we move on to the next level, Shake Before Using... Will : Durandal rear his head again? Will Leela's breakdown reach its conclusion? : All your questions (except those answered by other levels) will be : answered, next time on Tour of Duty. : Vale, : Perseus
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