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	Message: : TOUR OF DUTY : 19 - Two Times Two Equals... : Previously on Tour of Duty we might have found Bernhard Strauss. We also : might have killed him, early reports are sketchy on the details. He may : even have been among those prone on test beds. Either way, we did our best : to leave no respawning Pfhor alive, and Durandal obligingly let us : leave.... : So we're still on the Pfhor ship. We start in a long corridor with views to : outside, a locked door behind us and an unlocked one in front. This leads : to a dropoff quite a long way down, and to a door, and a pink polygon on : the map, but this doesn't seem to do anything teleporty!? Through the door : we find an extensive raised walkway with slime filling the gaps and : troopers standing in wait. So nice that Pfhor doors close really quickly! : If continuing from previous levels, hopefully we saved just before leaving : Unpfhorgiven; while there is a pattern buffer in sight across the way, the : troopers kind of want to stop us getting to it, it can bring us into line : of sight of enforcers around the corner, and of course the slime is a : hazard to the careless/lazy always-runner in all of us, and that is : certainly one convenience of which I will always avail myself. : Let us at this point examine the map: : The progression here is essentially linear. The walkway I've been describing : is around point A, and there is just one offshoot in the exploration : (leading to End on the map), which is the task at hand. But is there more? : What are we doing here? Still just killing more Pfhor ... yes it makes us : happy, but What About Bernhard (Bob)? He's certainly not around here; this : place is strictly Pfhor only. We can only hope for some answers (tru7h) : soon.... : Back to that walkway. Who builds such a thing? When it is purely to : (literally) trip up the player, I'm reminded of Sigourney Weaver in Galaxy : Quest, on encountering "the chomper": "What is this : thing? I mean, it serves no useful purpose for there to be a bunch of : chompy, crushy things in the middle of a hallway. No, I mean we shouldn't : have to do this, it makes no logical sense, why is it here?" : I've certainly fallen in the slime my fair share of times. Of course it : didn't used to be such a big deal thanks to Tozt-style takeoff! And given : that I tend to relax and get a bit careless after checking in at the : pattern buffer, that was quite an asset...! : There's one main path for the rest of the level, and one offshoot, which is : actually the much more obvious way to continue. We first have to deal with : more troopers and a few enforcers, who try to trip us up from rather : distant platforms on the walkway, under cover of darkness. The alien : weapon hurts! And that's why the enforcers, in my book, really deserve a : SPNKR in the face. I don't fancy the idea of having to deal with those : guys with a magnum! And it would be nowhere near as satisfying. : Especially as we move forward along the walkway, and through a large set of : doors - there is the wonderful chance of sending to Pfhor heaven the two : enforcers at the end of the following corridor, without their even waking : up :). : This path ends somewhat surprisingly with a very large room with yet more : enforcers and troopers. Again M1A1 was incredibly strict with exploration : on this level, and that was especially the case with this room. I trust : this is better in the beta (which is said as beater, just so you know). : At this point we have a bit of a "huh" moment as it looks : suspiciously like that's it for this level. Of course that would make it : very small, there's the memory of that other door from the start, and : running around trying to exit by exploration will yield nothing. It's time : to jump some slime. On the far platform from which we previously got : peppered by a trooper, we find a door! : I've always loved the Pfhor door graphic and associated sound. First knew : them from Waldo World Arena, where I spent much time getting killed by my : brother back in the day, and of course my favourite part, suiciding with a : SPNKR into a just closed door - good times! And the sound was used in : another of my all- time favourite games, Escape Velocity: Override, for : the launching of Azdgari fighters. That game still holds the record for : the longest I've accepted waiting for a game to load up, at over 5 : minutes, while RAM Doubler did its best to convince it we had more than : 8MB. : Anyway, through the current door, we find a small Fighter ambush from a : dead-end room with some freaky wall textures as Hamish recently mentioned. : More importantly, we find a 2x charger! Clear, after the first : playthrough, this is where we come first. Otherwise we always run the : risk, also recently discussed, of carelessly saving with too little health : to make the slime jump ... or is it? I have made a similar mistake on Eat : The Path, twice! But more on that ... in a few months' time at this rate. : Further on we find more fighters and enforcers around a central pillar with : four slime streams coming out from it, and it turns out that Pfhor don't : cross over even the very narrow slime channels, which makes the enforcers : all the more annoying. It is an interesting design - what is this : structure? What is this place overall, and again, what is the slime for? I : was reading the story page a few weeks ago, as one does, and was reminded : of the idea that the egg room on Ain't Got Time Pfhor This represents a : reactor - I know that's still a few levels hence, but could this be along : those lines as well? With the slime providing power to whatever systems. : Of course the question really has to be asked, why is it kept uncovered!? : Carrying on, through another door, a trooper snipes at us from a much higher : vantage point, or we just SPNKR him before he wakes, as he deserves. : Indeed, "he". Troopers have always been male as far as I'm : concerned. Enforcers are really the only Pfhor I've always considered : female. Not sure why originally, but they do seem to be wearing green (yes : green) dresses. : A bit more jumping over slime follows, and then more enforcers and troopers : shooting at us from side platforms, and one of these, again, has a hidden : door. This makes things easier, as the door along the central platform : brings quite a lot of Pfhor our way, and of course that alien weapon : stings like a magnum-toting bob as we run back down the platform. Forget : scratchstarting, I have enough trouble with just being too brave / not : bothering to go back to the charger or buffer often enough, especially on : such a dull level. : After wiping off the dirt and glue (need to get back to Tempus Irae, Civ V : expansion claiming too much time!) we have our second? encounter with : deactivated hunters. They are deactivated, and we may know this from their : brown "shell", for want of a better word at this point. I guess : green means going :D. : Ultimately, we find ourselves starting back. There is a lift that leads us to : the other side of our locked door from the start, and a switch for it. : Now, I have memories of exiting from this point in the original game, or : at least up on the start platform, but M1A1 required me to drop back down : and revisit the offshoot room. -That- Durandal was so picky! : So ... what have we gained from our time here? I say more mysteries/ : questions, and so much for answers/tru7h. And we don't get them next time : either. We're headed back to more familiar territory to recharge and : resupply. : Thanks to PS for the opportunity to practice such a post before hitting the : hard stuff in M2 :). I'll be back for the next level as well - bonus!
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