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	Rubicon Volunteers - Sodding the Logs
	Posted By: Steve Levinson	Date: 6/30/02 12:10 a.m.
	Now that I've finally caught up with the chapter screens and terminal picts, it's time to get back to the real work of the Rubicon Volunteers series – detailed analysis of the story. This'll probably be my last post of the weekend - that is unless I find myself with some more time on my hands. Sodding the Logs might be considered part 3 of ‘helping Tycho’, our Faustian agreement to free Tycho from Pfhor prime so that Durandal can gain access to the Pfhor network and help us to win the war. In Okefenokee Tourist Trail, we removed the hardware and software locks that prevented Tycho from moving freely within the Pfhor network. In Frog Blasting/Blasted Frogs, we obtained a chip that will allow Tycho to replicate himself outside of the Pfhor network. In Sodding the Logs, we’ll install that chip, allowing him to gain his freedom. Durandal, are you sure you really want to do this? This is one of the most difficult levels in Rubicon and it was one of the last to be successfully vid. It’s also one of my favorite levels, in spite of the number of times I died trying to get through it. The first task at hand is to infiltrate a Pfhor compound from the surrounding swampland. The area is heavily guarded, with troopers and fighters firing at you from above from inside the compound, hunters firing at you from all around the swamp and lookers and PCMs attacking you as well. To make things even more difficult, the entrance is the last place you’d look for it, in the center of the compound. Very clever. It is guarded by 2 major troopers, but they’re easy to sneak up on if you catch them from behind. The Dangi maser is also an effective weapon in sniping them. If you think that life will be easy once you’re inside, you have another thing coming. All of those fighters and troopers that fired down on you are still here, and you still have to deal with them if you want to survive. You’ll also still be dealing with those hunters, now firing up at you from below (unless, of course you took all of them out - yeah, right). Even the PCMs will try to come after you, and there are a few ambushes along the way to keep you occupied while you try to make your way to the chip insertion point. The most interesting thing about this level, however, is a series of terminals that contain an essay on Pfhor experience with artificial intelligence. It seems that, up until their encounter with the Marathon, they had virtually no experience with constructs as sophisticated as Durandal and Tycho: Up until the acquiring of Tycho by the Pfhor, all artificial intelligence used was based around the initial x395-20 standard integrated processing technology as developed during the Nar slave revolt (see stamp: failure). This processing architecture can hardly be classified as a processor at all, because it was little more than a simple set of predefined instruction sets buried within a looping procedure. . . So even with all of that plundered Jjaro technology and direct contact with advanced civilizations such as the S’pht, the Pfhor didn’t develop true artificial intelligence until they plundered it from humankind, a species that hadn’t even mastered FTL travel at the time of their encounter. On the other hand, given the overreaching bureaucracy of the Pfhor hierarchy and the single-minded focus on enslavement, it’s actually quite possible that they had AI constructs right under their collective noses, or whatever passes for a nose on the Pfhor, and didn’t even recognize it for what it was. Perhaps it did take Durandal’s signaling them for them to wake up and realize that true artificial intelligence was possible. After Tycho joined the hindmost creche, the x395-20 architecture was reconfigured to handle exobyte core images. Due to an engineering error, the bus paths for the reconfigured exobyte core images would constantly overheat and kill (cook?) garrisons assigned to maintain the data paths. The engineer, whose name has been expunged from all bureaucratic documents as per punishment order ID 453627.82A, was summarily executed. Why’d they even bother, given their lack of interest in safety? I guess even the Pfhor must punish the particularly inept, What little was learned about Rampancy came from Tycho's generous descriptions (segmentation faults?) of another exobyte core AI named Durandal. In accordance with Tycho's initial advisements (insistance?), Durandal was immediately classified by tactical command as a class-1 removal priority. This designation was later downgraded to a class-6 removal priority without Tycho's knowledge. How typical of the Pfhor. It looks like they should have never downgraded Durandal’s priority! The human board of directors (betrayers?) has provided us with ample armaments, as well as intercepted tactical memos from the human fleets. It is likely that we will be able to delay further human advancements upon the front line. Unfortunately, the directors (betrayers?) were unable to provide any information about the aforementioned rogue conditioned unit or his supervisor (translation failed!) ../377=& Woa! Now we have confirmation from the Pfhor that he Dangi board of directors has been providing them with intelligence. And the Pfhor are still looking for you, but they apparently have no idea that Durandal is your supervisor. That’s strange – Tycho certainly knows. In any case, once you do get around to the chip insertion point, you’ll find a bunch of compilers and a thinker – an appropriate complement for a computer network facility as important as this one. The terminal by the thinker is a secret terminal, as detailed in my Rubicon Secrets Guide. Both this terminal and the one you can use to return after transport contain the same hex message: $"0000 0000 000F F800 001F FF00 0071 FF80" $"00C1 FFE0 0181 FDF0 0901 FCF8 1203 FE78" $"3A01 FF7C 3C07 FF7C 7C0B FF3E 7CFF FF3E" $"FCFF FF7E FCFF FF7E FE7F FE7F FE7F FEFF" $"FF3F FCFF FF9F F9FE FFE7 C7FF 7FF8 1FFE" $"7FFE 7FFE 7FFE 7FFE 3FFE 7FFC 3FFE 7FFC" $"1FFE 7FF8 1FFE 7FF8 0FFE 7FF0 07FE 7FE0" $"01FE 7F80 00FE 7F00 001E 7800 0000 0000" $"0007 F000 003F FE00 00FF FF80 03FF FFC0" $"07FF FFE0 0FFF FFF0 1FFF FFF8 3FFF FFFC" $"3FFF FFFC 7FFF FFFE 7FFF FFFE FFFF FFFF" $"FFFF FFFF FFFF FFFF FFFF FFFF FFFF FFFF" $"FFFF FFFF FFFF FFFF FFFF FFFF FFFF FFFF" $"FFFF FFFF 7FFF FFFE 7FFF FFFE 3FFF FFFC" $"3FFF FFFC 1FFF FFF8 0FFF FFF8 07FF FFE0" $"03FF FFC0 01FF FF80 007F FE00 0000 0000" Well, I tried decoding this using ResEdit, but all I got was gibberish. Anyone have any ideas on how to decode this? Chis? Scott? We may need some hints, here. Anyway, once the numerous troopers guarding the chip insertion slot are dealt with, inserting the chip and reading any terminal takes the player to Rozinante IX, and then Bump and Grind.

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Replies:

	Rubicon Volunteers - Sodding the Logs	Steve Levinson	6/30/02 12:10 a.m.
	Re: Rubicon Volunteers - Sodding the Logs	Inverted Sock Puppet	6/30/02 4:57 a.m.
	Re: Rubicon Volunteers - Sodding the Logs	Agent Cletus	6/30/02 7:50 a.m.
	Re: Rubicon Volunteers - Sodding - Help Needed	Steve Levinson	7/12/02 6:35 p.m.
	Re: Rubicon Volunteers - Sodding - Help Needed	C Lund	7/13/02 11:03 a.m.
	Re: Rubicon Volunteers - Sodding - Help Needed	Inverted Sock Puppet	7/14/02 8:57 p.m.

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