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	Message: : TOUR OF DUTY : 11 – The Hard Stuff Rules... : The name. The Story page for what’s in a name covers it well: Yet another : Beavis and Butthead reference. : Steve Wood writes: “They say this when they manage to get some alcohol off : of a bum in an alley. It’s this gross pond water, but B + B stand around : talking about how the hard stuff (liquor) rules.” : Rodrigo GirGirãoo [sic] writes: In Marathon Trilogy’s Scrapbook Greg : Kirkpatrick said: “This level was named for the fact that it was : incredibly difficult to make. In fact it was a triumph of mind over : computer. My machine crashed every 5 minutes while making it, and I had to : move each point at least ten times to get to the underlying areas.” : One source for the name itself, the other, straight from the horse’s mouth, : as to why it was so named. No further mystery! As I alluded to last time, : although that’s ages ago now, this one takes map overlap to a new level, : if you’ll excuse the pun. I can fully understand Greg’s story – the fact : that developers, moviemakers and graphic designers got the work done that : they did in those days on that hardware always amazes me. Especially : considering that the LC III that we had at home at the time couldn’t even : run M2, and was purchased in 1994. : ... : Last time on Tour of Duty we learnt that a darkened section of wall can : conceal all manner of bountiful things! This is the only level I can think : of where missing something like that makes things so much harder – well, : there’s the switch on KYT but that’s only for a Pattern Buffer, and it’s : such an awesome level that one should want to have to start again many : times :). Anyway, we met compilers en masse, explored some quite complex : structures, found that we could take multiple approaches to some areas, : and eventually found another fusion pistol, and a somewhat secret shotgun : in an area drained of lava – also apparently a couple of other weapons, : but I’ve never seen those myself! We got berated by Durandal for hanging : around, and ultimately entered the Citadel of Antiquity. : Durandal then said he would teleport us to the higher levels of the Citadel : to search for more information on the S’pht clans and what happened to : them, and especially the eleventh, during the S’pht-Pfhor conflict. This : level has us climb up several further levels, and the automap is much less : useful than normal. Let’s have a look: : Another absolute work of art, but the problems are obvious. It’s no use at : all for trying to remember how the level goes, as most of it is in a : massive jumble, with only the three wings that we explore later on in the : level separately visible. Let’s see if we can’t do a bit better. : We start in a little hidey hole – one of many in the early rooms on this : level, and it was pointed out in Volunteers that they are similar to the : final room of Eat It, Vid Boi! Sensible as we are going up the tower, and : they actually make sense, to a point, when we look at the image of the : tower in the Terminals. Actually the whole structure of this level does – : the three wings at the top are clearly visible in the pictures. We step : out into a courtyard filled with sleeping F’lickta. The ones in this first : room actually won’t wake up unless you get right up close and personal : with them. Handy! There are also several Ticks around, in the same state. : The ambient sound is what I described on What About Bob? as repeatedly : trying to start a car. Exploring the room, we ultimately find a way out: : an opening in the structure in the middle, which lifts us up to a : corridor, which ends with a Terminal and a small amount of ammo, with a : window out to the left to where will soon get to. As we head into the : lift, the car sound mixes with my definitive mechanical sound, and quite : the chorus they create. Then as we move on, the sounds seem to take turns : in different rooms. : Exploring only this first floor, you can actually see things quite well – in : my first map image below: : One would be hard pressed to see that room on the overall map, to the point : that I’m not even sure where that Terminal is on it – okay I think you can : just see half of it, about a centimetre up from the End one. This first : Terminal has some interesting history: : So, the Pfhor didn’t attack this place with force, but with chemical warfare. : Did they perhaps have some issue with taking out a place of cultural : significance? Something in their own boring religion ? Nothing more on : the progress of Battle Group Seven yet. : Well anyway, our search for yellow text continues (and hopefully no more of : that sneaky blue stuff from the previous level!). An opening from this : corridor leads us to another open area, with more F’lickta, if we hadn’t : already woken them up along the way – I guess they don't mind the : lingering radiation ... and neither do we! This floor is divided into four : parts, including the initial corridor. We can see the walls in the next : map image: : Most of the rest of the floor matches the one below. In the area next to the : corridor, we see a raised bright red square area over a bright blue floor : texture – like a teleporter for tiny people. The next room has one as : well, and something more interesting: as we leave it, a large amount of : ammo appears in the corner behind, along with a 2x recharge canister! The : final room on this floor has not one but two lifts leading further up ... : don’t worry, I won’t say it! : This time we arrive at a room with a Pattern Buffer, yay. But first, we have : our first encounter with the Lava F’lickta outside of that demonstration : on Slings & Arrows, and our first encounter with the Water F’lickta – : these soak up much more damage than the Sewer F’lickta, as I guess we’ll : call them, but they don’t have any projectile attack, just the slaps. Here : there are a few barred windows through to the next room, and in the : corner, a series of box platforms, via which we can climb up and jump out : an open window. It’s not that straightforward though, as the boxes are not : in ascending order! We have to go from the middle one to the first one and : then run across to the last. : Through the window, there are a few Ticks and F’lickta running around at : ground level, and a series of raised platforms around the place. If we run : between the raised platforms, we end up on a viewing platform outside the : main tower structure, at point B on PS’s map, which nets us a Fusion : Pistol, some ammo, and a wonderful view, if it weren’t for the S’pht bars : on the window. : : We have generally been looking up at the Lh’owon sky – now we see the red : landscape as well! When we can pull ourselves away, we should head back to : the Pattern Buffer, as once we jump down from the raised platforms, we : can’t really get back there. We do find a 1x charger down here, which is : very handy for what is to come, but it’s no PB. Anyway, once again we can : get some idea of how this level looks, below: : Next, we're going up again, on a huge lift! Approaching it causes some of the : lava in the room above to spill onto the map view – very odd the rules : governing the map! Are those polygon boundaries where they do appear? : We rise up to find ourselves looking out at lava pools. As was said in : Volunteers, what is lava doing up here? The S’pht Citadel is presumably a : built structure, so why add lava? Maybe an effect of the chemical weapons : used by the Pfhor? There are raised platforms around the edges of the : lava, with Sewer F’lickta, and plenty of Lava F’lickta in their natural : environment. The lava pools go right across this floor, and partially : underneath the staircase that is our next path. We can kind of see that in : my last map image, with me at the top of the staircase heading to the : Terminal at the end: : I remember on my first playthrough on TC in the ’90s being much more afraid : of this area than I needed to be – taking the lift back down several times : and trying to coax F’lickta down as well – I think I might have been quite : low on ammo at the time. In my most recent playthrough I just tore up the : place, dropping F’lickta like flies, and eventually coaxing the lava ones : up onto the platforms to make my job easier. : With the area cleared, we follow the paths around the lava pools to the : staircase, and follow it up to a Terminal as already mentioned. Its : contents just the same as the first one for now. A couple of Cyborgs come : towards us, a real pain in a narrow corridor! In fact, for much of the : rest of this level there seem to be phantom Cyborg sounds and indicators : on the scanner. Probably to do with all the overlap, and some of the : indicators will be the Ticks, but whatever, it all certainly helps to : create a watch-your-back atmosphere! These Cyborgs don’t follow us back : down the stairs, so we can retreat and recharge, and even if we just step : out briefly, the Cyborgs seem to really sprint out of there and out of : sight! To the point that they don’t always even come back when we do, and : with the layout of the level around here, I actually have no idea where : they go! This time I ended up with a bunch of Sewer F’lickta coming down : the corridor instead – don’t really remember that from before. : From here, there is a path that leads around to behind the Terminal, where we : look out barred windows at the view again – that is part of the problem : with the map, as it extends beyond the walls in spots like this. Here we : also see the base of the southern wing above, nice touch. There are also : paths going back in the direction of the lava pools, to the left and right : of the Terminal. This is where the geography around here gets really : confusing – is there even 5d stuff going on? If we take a left at the : Terminal, we find a lift around to the left again. We’ll leave that for : now – there’s a corridor going on from here as well. At a corner we turn : right and see ... another Terminal, second verse the same as the first! We : can go around behind the Terminal and look out the window to see the base : of the eastern wing above, nice touch. Around to the left we find a lift : but we’ll leave that for now – there’s a corridor going on from here as : well. : Okay that last bit isn’t quite true, but I hope it served to describe the : confusion this area leads to! On the east side we have to head back away : from the terminal to find the path heading to the north, and a window : looking out at its base. No Terminal there. The rest of this area consists : of triangular rooms and odds and ends, and we ultimately find ourselves : (starting) back at the southern Terminal. : Now I’ll take us up the lift to the left from there, and use it to access the : eastern wing. In the southern part we find a few Sewer F’lickta in a maze : – or at least there are a lot of obstacles to go around. There is a window : at one point, looking across the expanse to the northern part of the wing. : At the extreme, we find a Pattern Buffer and a 2x charger! That’s why we : came this way :). In the northern part of the wing we find another odd : layout, a few more F’lickta, and a blatant deviation from the interior : decorating – a narrow alley textured like the lifts we’ve been coming up, : and netting us a few MA75-B magazines. : Heading back towards the middle, we find ourselves at the top of the left : lift from the eastern wing Terminal, and from there we have direct access : to the northern wing. The first thing we find there is a S’pht terminal. : : : Here we have a S’pht talking about tests run on the invading Pfhor – they can : survive without their armour and staffs, while S’pht have always relied on : a link to machinery to give them sentience, give them life. The Pfhor : invasion was a threat to the entire basis of their science, as well as : their lives. The mention of ‘pets’ – does he mean F’lickta? Some pet! The : poop throwing. Those teeth. And the only fetch I’d play with them would : involve grenades! Anyway, if that is the case, this suggests they did make : some smart F’lickta/Cyborg hybrid ... and I’m kind of glad we haven’t met : that. Also around the concept of there being lava on the level, perhaps : they wanted to provide an environment for their pets ? : It is quite something to think that this is basically a S’pht considering : that their science might be incorrect, and, essentially, that their : religion, their cultural beliefs, might be correct. I’m not quite sure : what evidence the equivalent for humanity would require at this point, for : a scientist, and I think that’s best not discussed here. There are : obviously many things we do not understand ... and may never be able to : :). : The door just here opens in two parts, and reveals a few Cyborgs, in a room : that appears to be some kind of S’pht test/display unit – a number of : raised platforms, one with a stationary, levitating Sewer F’lickta, and we : imagine a sort of force field, or just glass, around these display cases. : I’m never sure if all of the platforms are supposed to have things on them : – it is weird that some don’t, and keeps up the uneasy atmosphere, : especially as in one of these rooms, one of the display F’lickta has a : tendency to come to life! : Heading to the western side of the northern wing, we come across a set of : Cyborgs, including a red-back one with homing grenades – thankfully we : haven’t seen too many of them! Again, I remember this being much scarier : years ago, and having homing grenades chasing me all the way to the : eastern wing. Whatever, they’re all dead now. : In the western room, we find heaps of S’pht Terminals in one place, at point : A on PS’s overall map – “It looks like a goddamn town meeting!” : : On this side it looks like only one is working, but there are more here. We : enter through a very narrow doorway, and just now on arrival I saw this : great field of Tick corpses – is this normal? I blame the Cyborgs, but : they would have had a tight squeeze with that entry! : There is so much story stuff here in one hit that it is a bit overwhelming. : I’ll go through one by one and see if I can’t bring my own brand of : understanding to it all – I’ve already learnt things in this series that I : hadn’t taken in even from Volunteers! : : Essentially a confirmation of what Durandal told us earlier. The invading : Pfhor were told that the chemical weapons were inbound, and headed for the : hills, while the S'pht began to realise it was too late for them but were : still intending to head for the cover of the lower levels of the Citadel. : Sad stuff! : : : Is this documenting the procedure the Pfhor used to enslave the S’pht? Taking : advantage of their normal mechanical links to help further their own ends, : and turning them into the hostile compilers we know so well – allowing : them access to the computer systems of whatever other race they wanted to : wipe out. Clearly they saw no such benefits to be gained by enslaving : humans – from humans they made only simulacrums ... totally expendable. : Also, unusual that we have a different picture in a S’pht terminal! : : : This suggests that the S’pht had held off the Pfhor, and in their minds : permanently, previously – just earlier in that invasion? Or much longer : ago? Or maybe they were different bipeds? No, the Pfhor couldn’t take this : place by force, it was too great a fortification, and hence they resorted : to chemical weapons, just as they ultimately resort to using the Trih : Xeem. To breathe here is to understand unity. I’m guessing this is just : before the gassing starts? Although the rest sounds like it has passed, : with the angry air cleansed. : I feel this is getting into the more hardcore stuff, with Olders melding. I : couldn’t find discussion of this particular passage on the Story page, : although naturally the S’pht terminals are dissected at some length there : :), they just seem to skip this level – the Olders show up again next : level, in addressing all the clans. Was this melding a defence against the : radiation? It is heavily associated with the angry air being cleansed. The : last paragraph identifies this S’pht as one of the S’pht’Mnr, and “the : seven of mine” refers to family? Children? It is somewhat minimal : sentiment/grief, but I guess one doesn’t write such things down; still, : nice to see. : Heading south we find a lift, our access point to the very top of the tower. : A Cyborg lies in wait at the top, which can be a pain. This time I got him : to come on to the lift and then he was frozen in place for the trip down : :). Up the top we get to complete the picture, with a view of each wing in : turn from above, with Cyborgs and ammo teleporting in at various points. : Now to the southern wing! : After saving in the east, we find that some 6 or 7 Cyborgs are waiting for : us to the south. This really is Cyborg City. In fact the eastern side of : this wing has little more to offer than Cyborgs. Well, there is the one : window where we can look across to part of the eastern wing, but we’ve : seen things more impressive than that! The western side of the southern : wing is another S’pht test room, where we meet a Cyborg, and a Sewer : F’lickta that seems to appear from nowhere, or wakes up off the testbed, : as I mentioned earlier. Tucked into the western corner outside this test : room is a stealthy Pattern Buffer, but the way we’ve come, we’re probably : going to head back to the one with the 2x charger handy :). : So, this level is the ultimate test for the newcomer – figuring out where the : hell one is is an annoying task, and only in doing a complete guide like : this do I feel that I have got a handle on the upper floors, especially : around the dual terminal confusion and the mess of a map, so this was all : worthwhile :). And hopefully the rampancy guys will find it all useful : when they get this far! : I assume we could have checked out of this level right after reading the : S’pht Terminals, but we needed to do a proper exploration job, and I think : we’ve done that now, and we deserve a pat on the back. Either of the : south- and east-facing Terminals will take us out, and I’m guessing the : very first one would too, but I just blew myself up several times trying : to get back there, so I can’t say for sure. : : So we’re going off to plumb the depths while Durandal readies for battle. : Often during the last minutes of life, the truth is revealed. Perhaps : before their annihilation the S’pht realized something that would help us. : Indeed, and perhaps that line has some significance in Infinity as well, : in the last minutes of Durandal’s life ... hmmm. : Okay I’m in charge for the next two levels as well, and I haven’t done the : writing for them yet. Must devote some time to that. I’m away all of : October; maybe planes would be good places to prepare further writings! : I’ll try to get those two up before then anyway.
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