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	Message: : TOUR OF DUTY : 06 - We're Everywhere : Previously on Tour of Duty, we encountered the (not so) mysterious initials : " gjk ", were confined to a limited path when we could explore : the entire map, encountered the "N-Cannon" for the first time, : explored the mystery of the Sixth Panel and the Pfhor Door, and : encountered F'tha, a Compiler who we get to kill before we read what he : has to say. : The meaning of the title is obvious in hindsight: it's an appropriate : inversal of the (in)famous line "They're Everywhere!" I say : 'appropriate' because BoBs are indeed everywhere ! Indeed, when we first : start the level, we are in the midst of a group of BoBs of all shapes and : sizes. Well, not so much shapes or sizes - more just colors. Greens, : blues, and pinks, oh my! Indeed, this is quite valuable to the : scratch-starter or the intrepid Vidmaster, as it allows you to start : dual-wielding quite quickly. : Looking around, you'll find that you and the BoBs are on a small ledge in the : middle of a massive T-shaped river of sewage. There's a mass of Compilers : floating above the sewage, and another new foe (!) on a ledge way up high: : meet the Hunter. You know, the guys that sucked up all your grenades on : Neither High Nor Low ? Their look has changed drastically, but they still : fire the same old green bolts of energy. The combination of the Hunter and : the Compilers will probably overpower the BoBs on anything higher than : Normal - this isn't helped by the fact that the clustering of the BoBs : will cause a lot of friendly fire. Suddenly they start to feel a lot : more like Halo Marines than the old BoBs we knew and hated! : The result of all this is that a lot of ammo and weaponry will be dropped on : the ledge, but some of the BoBs will fall in the water (generally because : they were killed by the ones behind them), dropping their goods there : instead. Once you've grabbed whatever you can from the ledge, you'll have : to drop into the sewage. From here, head to the east side of the river : (left from the ledge). You'll find a Fusion Pistol and some batteries : teleporting in underwater, along with a 2x Shield Charger. There's some : octagonal steps leading up to a switch. This switch raises the ground : beneath it to form steps leading to a door that, unfortunately, is : textured to look almost like a wall. I wonder how many newcomers thought : it was a wall? : Before proceeding, it's time we glance at a map: : (Author's Note: Yes, I added an exclamation point when there shouldn't have : been one. My bad. I really ought to be more attentive !) : Presently, we're just southwest of point A. Passing through the door, we : encounter a Hunter teleporting in just ahead of us. Based on our : experience in M1, our first reaction may be to use an AR-grenade combo, : but this isn't the way to go in M2: instead, pull out your Fusion Pistol : and lay a few bolts into him. An overcharge also works quite nicely. : Unlike in M1, Hunters have a soft spot for Fusion, and as a consequence, : they explode when killed with it. Could come in handy, I'd say! : Along this ledge, there are some more Hunters that teleport in, along with a : few BoBs. Humorously, using the Fusion Pistol can often cause the Hunters : to explode next to the BoBs, sending them flying. I once actually caused : this to happen to a BoB on the opposite ledge: he flew quite vertically : before falling into the sewage and splattering out of view. There's also a : small switch here, which drops down a bridge we can use to get to the : other side. This actually presents a first lesson in '5D' architecture: : Marathon will only glitch when it can see a particular vertical line on : the map being occupied by two polygons - seeing overlapping polygons does : not in and of itself cause the game to crash. : It's easy to miss the exit from here - it's a small passageway near a large : pillar that can make it hard to see. Heading through, you'll find a large : room with a small pool of sewage and a bunch of BoBs and Hunters : teleporting in. It is interesting how both sides can teleport into the : same room all at once - somehow I didn't *cough* and still don't : *uncough* believe that was possible! Of course, the Hunters have a nasty : habit of blowing up when we 'fuse' them to death - this can often cause : BoBs to find themselves temporarily in mid-air without the need for wings. : Shame they can't enjoy the experience - being dead really is quite : problematic, don't you think? ;) : Before proceeding north, it's advisable to save your game with the Pattern : Buffer here and then head southeast. Unfortunately, I have a habit of : forgetting to do this, thereby missing a nice little segment of the level. : Don't make the same mistake as me - it is you duty to explore everything, : so do it! Down here is a corridor with a bunch of off-shooting rooms, : containing another 2x Shield Charger, some ammo, and a bunch of BoBs and : Hunters teleporting in. Also, if you head straight south, you'll find : this: : There's two switches high up on either side as well as a half-submerged : switch (the latter being visible in the image). The high-up switches cause : the blue platform on the left (in the image) to raise up, though it won't : lower until you shoot one of the switches again. The half-submerged switch : activates the blue platform on the right and opens a door near the first : 2x Shield Charger which leads through a massive passageway to this room. : Once the platform on the right raises up (which you may have to get it to : by tapping the half-submerged switch again; I'm really not that acquainted : with this secret, having never done it myself - this is all my own : guesswork based on what I've read from the Marathon Story Page), you can : probably jump over to the other platform (you'll probably need to be : forward-strafing to get across) and then shoot the high switches to take : you up to a secret ammo cache that eventually drops you back in one of the : rooms in the south-east part of the map. : Be careful when shooting the switches, however, because there's a breakable : panel next to each one: : : : If you shoot those instead of the switch, it'll make the switches inoperable, : thereby making it impossible to complete the secret. Also remember to : always use a Fusion Pistol for activating the switches from through the : bars: the Grenades have a nasty habit of exploding in your face if they : don't touch the right part of the bar texture (and they usually don't). : Martin, Hamish, feel free to correct me on anything I've said here: you've : probably made it through this secret, while I never have, so you would : know how I have sinned in my description. : Continuing north from the first pool room, we find another similar room, this : time with just Hunters and an Oxygen Charger - after all the swimming : between this level and the last one, we're probably gasping for air! After : going through another passageway, there's a room with stairs leading to : ledges way up high. A bunch of Compilers and BoBs will teleport in, but : the BoBs seem to usually win on Normal or below. Put it on Total Carnage, : though, and the BoBs will probably find themselves staring at the stars : and wondering "Where the Hell's my roof?" ;) : Proceeding up the stairs, you'll find that you're on the ledge with the : Hunter that sniped you and the BoBs at the very start. At last, there's a : terminal here: : : This goes with the ending text from the last level: The humans have run into : some trouble : capturing their new command center. ... : You will assist them. : Proceeding through groups of Hunters, Compilers and BoBs teleporting in, : you'll come to the western section of the map. Dropping down into the : sewage river again, you'll find that at point D, there's a small shelf : with ammo that's just a little too high out of the sewage to reach. You'll : have to either get a Compiler to shoot you up there at the very start or : blast yourself up with a grenade while your head is above the surface. The : latter option isn't open to scratch-starters or Vidmasters, unfortunately, : so you'll have to head west instead of east when you first drop into the : river and get a Compiler to blast you up - easier said than done! : Returning to the western ledges via an elevator inside a pillar, continue : south until you find the switches Durandal was talking about. : Interestingly, next to the first one you find is a breakable panel: : Contrary to what you may believe, you don't have to hit both switches to open : the doors - punching the panel will do the trick in and of itself: : So why put in the two switches? It's a mystery . Also, next to the second : switch is a terminal: : At this stage in the game, you don't really know what this is. Later on, : however, you find that the boxy symbol on the left, along with white text, : are associated with Thoth, the mysterious S'pht AI left by the Eleventh : Clan. However, he's supposed to be deactivated at this point, and we only : activate him later. So what is this message? Did he leave it for us? It : sure seems like it, considering the use of 'our'. This is all up for : debate , of course. : Returning to the terminal from earlier, we find an amusing little exit : message left for us by Durandal: : As I said, quite amusing. It's also our first look into Pfhor bureaucracy - : there's more to come on that subject, especially when we get to Infinity! : In the meantime, *woosh!* : Vale, : Perseus : P.S. - Feel free to rage at me for committing blasphemy in my descriptions : of the secrets of this level; I've never personally accessed either one, : and it says something that I often miss the entire sectrion to the : south-east.
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