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	Message: : TOUR OF DUTY : 22 - Pfhoraphobia : Previously on Tour of Duty, we killed some aliens, discovered we could use : imgur (oh no wait, that was just me), killed some more aliens, discovered : not one, but two window oddities, killed some more aliens, passed : through some Incredibly Narrow Areas™... and killed some more aliens. : We appear in a very unique area with two ledges (one of which we are standing : on, the other of which has a door on it), a massive drop, and a platform : going up and down between the two ledges. If you're not careful, you'll be : seeing this area again, and again, and again. : For safety, let's look at the map before continuing our quest at all: : A lot of people will go through the door on the other ledge and progress : their way to point A on the map before continuing through the rest of the : level. I generally do it the other way around, however, and that's how I'm : going to talk about it. If you turn around and go right, you'll find a : small room containing a few enemies and a [?dead?unconscious] BoB : sitting on a test bed. : If you turned around and went left at the start, you'll have thought you had : reached a dead end. However, if you tap the wall a bit, you'll realize : there's a secret door here that leads to some dark corridors filled with : Fighters. One of them is a Blue that's overlooking a staircase, behind : whom is a Purple waiting to support him. Interestingly, if I remember : correctly, shooting the Purple dead will not wake the Blue up, and the : same goes for vice versa. : If you head down the staircase, you'll encounter a well-lit offshoot of these : organic corridors, filled with Fighters, some Enforcers, and... : : If you were attentive on Unpfhorgiven , you'll have noticed one or two of : these near a pillar, and you'll know that they contain BoBs put in stasis. : If you weren't attentive, however, you'll only just be finding out about : these horrors. What's worse, if you look in the M1A1 shape files (which, : while they are not used for the recent betas, probably reflect the : contents of the old M1 shapes fairly well), under the 'Scenery 5 (Pfhor)' : directory, you'll find something more horrific than anything we've seen : thus far: a BoB strapped to the ceiling by his arms, with his lower half : ripped off, seemingly without care for what it did to the upper half. I : admit, when I first saw this, I was quite shocked. But here's a question - : was it ever used in the game? If the answer is 'no' (and I think that's a : reasonable answer, as I've never encountered any such scenery in my many : playthroughs, praise be to god), then why is it there? : Moving along through the dark organic corridor, you'll probably miss one of : the secrets on this level: an alcove hidden in the wall at point B on the : map above, containing a Scatter Rifle and an Invisibility. Not the most : useful thing, but still worth noting. Eventually you'll reach the end of : this corridor, and pop out to find three Green Fighters and one Major : Compiler. But hold on one second. Let's head back to the start of the : level real quick. If you jumped down off the first ledge, you'll have : found a small room with a bunch of invisible Compilers sitting on a : transporter. Interestingly, if you look at the auto-map, you'll find the : transporter is only half-complete (in other words, it doesn't completely : cover all the polygons it seems like it ought to): : If you step on the transporter, you'll find yourself appearing behind the : three Fighters we encountered a moment ago. Apparently they don't hear : you. Why don't you give them a good whack about the noggan? Just be : careful with that whack - if you fail to kill them in one blow, they might : retaliate, the sound of which will activate all the other enemies here, : including the Compiler, and if you happen to accidentally bump into : another Fighter, or stand in his vision for a split second, the result : might be the same. : Once you've cleared those enemies, look around for a second. You'll suddenly : realize the room you're in is a lot like the 'sleeping Hound' room of the : last level. The only big difference? The ceiling is open: : Very weird. Last level we were on the bottom deck of the ship (or a part of : it) - now we're on the top deck of the ship. What gives? : If you head down the large corridor connected to this room, you'll reach a : large door, connected to a large room, with a large... breach? : : Curiouser and curiouser... ;) : Attached to this same room is another, smaller one with another transporter : and a Compiler. This transporter just takes you back to the start of the : level, so don't take it just yet. Instead, jump down the breach. : Interestingly, an Invisible Compiler is start inside this breach - : generally he joins the fight as soon as you enter the room, but sometimes : he inexplicably misses his cue and fails to activate. As such, you can : drop down the breach and land right next to him: : I don't even know what causes it - maybe somebody can open up SheepShaver, : pop the old M1 Map file into Pfhorte and take a look at the polygon types : to see what might cause it. My immediate thought is that it has to do with : crossing a glue trigger, much like the way you can skip the starting : ambush of Eupfhoria, but I honestly don't know what glue triggers really : even do in any depth - they manage when Monsters activate, but how : they do so is unclear to me. Anybody got a decent explanation? : If you continue from the breach, you'll find two Enforcers coming down an : ultra-fast-moving platform to meet you (near point C on the map above). : They pretty much always activate as the platform is still coming down, : causing them both to fly off of it in a weird, physics-bending way. : However, they're still close enough together to kill with one Rocket. Give : it to 'em. : As you're heading up the platform, remember to jump over to a hidden alcove : containing an Infrared Vision powerup. While it's not really that : useful, IMO, some of you might find it valuable for the rest of the level. : When you finally reach the top of the platform, you'll come through a : door... to realize it was hidden from view in the massive corridor : earlier. If you want to get back to the start quickly, use the transporter : in the breach room. : Time to head through the door we saw at the start, I think. After passing : through a small room with a Fighter and a Compiler (and some slime, IIRC), : you'll come to another small corridor. As you inch forward, you'll find a : well-lit offshoot corridor. When that happens, you'll probably hear doors : opening and enemies activating. This means you've triggered the ambush : here. When this happens, I generally jump into the offshoot and toast the : Fighters inside it with the Flamethrower before switching to the Scatter : Rifle to deal with the guys that follow me in. An alternative strategy : would probably be to retreat, using the Scatter Rifle to clear the path if : you get blocked off, and take on the advancing Pfhor from the safety of : the small room we saw a moment ago. However, I prefer the bottleneck : strategy. : If a bunch of Compilers were mixed in with the ambushing Pfhor, you'll know : you activated the enemies in the final room. If not, however, you'll know : the enemies there are still inactive, allowing you to advance up the : corridor so that you're able to look into the final room without setting : anything off, like so: : This allows you to send in a rocket to take out some of the enemies before : they have a chance to scatter. This will get them going, and you'll be hit : by a large wave of Compilers - some invisible, some not - coming up to : meet you. The Scatter Rifle works a charm on them, or at the very least : the sound it makes is quite appealing. : If you already triggered the final group of baddies along with the ambush, : you'll find that the Enforcers and Fighters will mostly bunch up near the : floor around your ledge, firing up at you despite not being able to hit : you much if at all - I would assume it's because the line between your : ledge and the polygons touching it is Transparent, causing them to think : they can 'see' you. In any case, the clustering tendencies of this bunch : (along with the fact that Pfhor Fighters fire their projectiles from very : low to the ground) means that a lot of friendly fire results here, and if : you blast the two Enforcers around that ugly thing in the slime, you can : basically wait for the Pfhor to thin their own numbers out before jumping : down and taking out the remainder with the SPNKR. : No matter how this works out, jumping down is risky - the Enforcers are : aggressive and liable to deal lots of damage if you don't take them out : fast, and the slime can hurt you even more if you're not careful. If only : we could look down further so we could blast those Pfhor from the safety : of the ledge! : When the killing stops, you'll probably start wondering what that ugly guy in : the slime waterfall is. The answer: that's the Controller you were sent to : kill. As odd as it seems, you can kill him with just a few bullets from : your Magnum. How lame is that, huh? My guess is that Reg wanted to make : sure it was possible to Vidmaster this level. In any case, killing the : Controller doesn't change the loyalties of the S'pht on this level, almost : like they still have residual commands in their system, or maybe they : don't realize they're free yet. : If you killed the Controller before exploring the rest of the level, you'd : probably do what the Spoiler Guide's map for the level suggests, and exit : from a pair of windows below the breach, which you can do by using the : teleporter in this room to return to the ledge up top and then go about : business as usual. If, on the other hand, you do what I usually do, and : explore before killing the Controller, then you can sit in this room and : be taken onto the next one. : No matter how you play this level, you'll never find a Pattern Buffer. : Basically, don't die . Then again, that's kind of the golden rule of : Marathon, in addition to 'Punch All Switches' and 'Kill Everything in : Sight'. ;) : Vale, : Perseus
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