: The Exit Door Leads In is my favorite level in Rubicon.
One of my favorites too. But then again, I'm partial to well-constructed spaceship levels. ;-)
I especially like the multiple levels at the aft of the ship.
Many of you may
: wonder why. After all, it’s a fairly compact, symmetric level that is very
: unlike Chris’ most highly regarded sprawling asymmetric levels. There are
: no real innovations here, and the mission is fairly simple. Terminal
: dialog is quite spartan, with only 3 unique sets of terminal text and no
: new term picts. And this is a rebellion level – the player starts the
: level out with no weapons and minimal shields. Unless you can fist some
: fighters, your Rubicon experience ends here.
: To me, Exit Door Leads In exemplifies near perfection in map design. The
: monster density is just right – the level is difficult, but very playable.
: It is challenging without being redundant or taxing the way that Bump and
: Grind was. There are a lot of places to explore, and more secrets than on
: any other level, as detailed in the Rubicon Secrets Guide . There is some
: excellent eye candy, too. This is a level that can be played over and over
: again, taking a different approach each time, and still seem fresh.
: BTW, according to the Spoiler Guide , this is the oldest level in the
: entire scenario. The title comes from the title of a short story of the
: same name by visionary science fiction writer Philip K. Dick , who is
: perhaps best known as the author of Blade Runner , and has had a profound
: influence on Hollywood, including the current film, Minority Report .
: Unfortunately, I have not read the short story Exit Door Leads In and am
: unsure of the connection to this level. The story is actually one of
: Dick’s latter short stories, having been written in 1979 for publication
: in the short-lived magazine, Rolling Stone College Papers . If anyone has
: read this story and could enlighten us, it would be appreciated. In any
: case, the meaning of the title is obvious in terms of the goal of the
: level – to reach the exit door to ultimately gain access back to the
: Salinger.
: As you’ll recall from 10001 Nordic Nerds , Lysander decided to deal with
: our unwanted intrusion by having us rot in prison. He apparently does this
: by transporting us directly to the brig of a nearby Pfhor vessel. This in
: and of itself raises some interesting questions. For example, how could he
: transport us onto this ship when it was surrounded by a magnetic field
: that prevented Durandal from transporting you out?
Well, in SF parlance, knowing the "frequency" of the field/shield would enable certain things to pass through it, like one's owns weapons. Lysander would know it, Durandal would not. Hey, it makes sense to me...
Was Lysander working
: with the Pfhor? If so, then why didn’t he just bypass the Dangi Board and
: give the formula for the Achilles virus directly to the Pfhor? We’ll have
: more to say about that later.
: So here you are on brig of a Pfhor ship, protected by a force field.
: Interestingly, although the force field will throw you back against the
: wall if you try to run through it, your fist will penetrate it just fine.
: The Pfhor staff, however, apparently will not. I guess this is a fluke of
: the Marathon engine, but it does make it possible to punch the guard
: outside your cell while you wait for Durandal to lower the force field,
: which he will do shortly. Pfhor fighters don’t seem to like being attacked
: without being able to attack back, either, and by punching this guard, you
: can get him to attack and kill the guard in the next cell. One less guard
: to kill! There really isn’t a lot to tell about the level itself in terms
: of it’s significance to the overall plot. There are many different ways
: that one can approach the level, but the basic goal is to flip the right
: switches and find the right path to the ship’s bridge, where destroying a
: set of wires opens the exit door. There’s plenty of ammo to be had on this
: level, easily making up for the loss of what you had – just be sure to
: look for it and don’t be afraid to jump into places that look unpleasant.
: Also, there are 2X and 3X shield regenerators as well, so long as you find
: the right secrets.
: One interesting aspect of the ship’s design itself is the stern of the
: ship, which has 3 large rooms stacked on top of each other. These are
: grand rooms whose height seems to exceed the spacing between the levels of
: the ship, resulting in an almost surreal effect. The lowest of these is
: truly surreal – a definite must-see, even though it is difficult to reach
: and filled with invisible S’pht. One interesting aside – it seems that
: even the Pfhor can’t escape those ubiquitous disks offering a free trial
: of AOL.
I used your spoiler guide and opened that closet for the first time yesterday. What a hoot. I guess he's still waiting on the next version.
: As previously mentioned, the terminal text is fairly meager. Prior to
: smashing the wires on the bridge, most of the terminals read with the
: following message:
:
: Rogue conditioned unit has escaped with assistance from artificial
: intelligence entity. Patrol units 45 & 46 have been subjected to
: (granted?) partial dismemberment in accordance with penal code subsection
: 2827-A3 of the cruiser guard unit conduct chart . . .
:
: Once you succeed in smashing the wires on the bridge, this changes to:
:
: Currently at large rogue conditioned unit . . . has damaged (abused?)
: shipwide computer interface. Offensive (irritating?) artificial
: intelligence entity has assumed partial control of Khi'Prih internal ship
: network. . . Unless rogue conditioned unit is apprehended, Khi'Prih Guard
: units 13, 17-23, 25, 29, and 80-93 will be summarily reassigned (?demoted)
: to Ship Waste Disposal Unit 8, rank management.
:
: However, on 3 of the 7 terminals, you’ll get a message from Durandal
: instead:
:
: . . . Find your way to the lower starboard airlock. It will take you to the
: exterior of the ship, where you can locate and disable the wiring that
: enables the magnetic field. . .
:
: It’s interesting that there is no communication from Durandal until after
: you have completed the mission of the level. In other words, you have to
: discover your mission on your own based solely on the layout of the level.
: Thanks for all the help, Durandal. In any case, he goes on to give you
: detailed instructions for the next level, which is a good thing since it
: is played entirely in vacuum and under fire with no other useful
: information available. It’s on to A Long Walk off a Short Pier .
These two levels make one wish for a Pfhorge that can handle >1024 polygons. I'd love to try a multi-level ship design with complex outer hull (with vacuum ala Return to Marathon).
Ben
