-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Unreal 2: The Awakening
In-Depth FAQ and Walkthrough v. 0.95
By Jonathan Soule
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Contents:
1. Version History
2. Legal and Contact Information
A: Legal Information
B: Contact Information
C: Other Version of the Guide
3. Introduction
4. Weapons Guide
A: Weapons Group 1
B: Weapons Group 2
C: Weapons Group 3
D: Weapons Group 4
E: Special Weapons
F: Weapons Comparison Chart
5. Difficulty Distinctions
6. Mission Guide
A: Preface
B: Sanctuary
B1: Mining Complex Entrance
B2: Mining Complex
B3: Power Plant
C: Swamp
C1: Speedship Crash Site
D: Hell
D1: Descent
D2: Discovery
D3: Desolation
D4: Disclosure
E: Acheron
E1: Outside the Terreforming Plant
F: Severnya
F1: Waterfront
G: Kalydon
G1: Obolus Repair Facility
H: Sulferon
H1: Secret Izanagi Facility
H2: Defend
I: Janus
I1: Outside Polaris
I2: Polaris Entrance
I3: Polaris Geological Research
I4: Polaris Geological Research Exterior
I5: Polaris Geological Research Rooftop
J: Na Koja Abad
J1: Na Koja Abad
J2: Na Koja Abad- Izanagi Xeno Research Facility
J3: Na Koja Abad- Excavation Site
K: The Drakk Hive Planet
K1: NC962VIII Scrutiny
K2: NC962VIII Subjugation
K3: NC962VIII Subordination
K4: NC962VIII Solitude
L: Avalon
L1: Avalon
M: The Dorian Grey Starship
7. Cheats
A: General Codes
B: Summoning Codes
C: Secrets and Easter Eggs
8. Appendices
A: Organizations and Alien Races
B: Collected Enemy Strategies
C: Questions and Answers
C1: Weapons
C2: Enemies
C3: Levels and Strategies
\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\
1: Version History
/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/
0.1- Contents layed out, comprehensive plan devised, weapons guide
completed and other sections started.
0.71- First 6 missions completed, all other sections completed
(but
not necessarily finalized).
0.73- First 9 missions completed now, a few touch-ups made on
mistakes that were pointed out by E-Mail.
0.80- First 10 missions are completed and the formatting has been
improved and made more consistent. Section 8 (appendices)
added.
0.95- First 12 missions done now and a new appendix has been added-
8C: Questions and Answers.
Future Plans:
1- Finish the final mission. This is my top priority and I'm in
the
process of doing it now.
2- Respond to any E-Mail suggestions and use that information,
along
with anything I catch myself, to revise and touch up this
guide.
3- Flesh out certain sections of the guide, particularly the
cheats,
which isn't very comprehensive right now.
\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\
2: Legal and Contact Information
/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/
-----------------------------------------------------------
2A: Legal information
-----------------------------------------------------------
This guide is Copyright 2003 by Jonathan Soule, all right reserved. It is
illegal to reproduce it, in part or whole, without my permission. If you
want
to post it somewhere, please be SURE to E-Mail me first (see below) and I’ll
be willing to consider it. The following sites have every right in the world
to post this:
-www.artandentropy.com
-www.gamefaqs.com.
-www.neoseeker.com
-www.megagames.com
-www.dlh.net
If you see this guide anywhere else, please E-Mail me.
Unreal 2: The Awakening is a copyright possessed by Legend Entertainment,
among others, as detailed in the manual and on Legends’ Unreal 2 website
(http://www.legendent.com/games/unreal2.html). Use of the games’ title and
other text in this guide is not intended as a challenge to any registered
copyright or trademark.
-----------------------------------------------------------
B: Contact Information
-----------------------------------------------------------
You can contact me at LunarZenith@hotmail.com. Any comments, suggestions,
corrections, etc. that you might have are welcome. I'll credit anyone who
offers
helpful advice that I end up using to enhance this guide. Also, I’m
interested in
adding a “frequently asked questions” section to this guide in a later
version,
so feel free to E-Mail me questions about the game, under one condition:
Please
make sure the question isn’t isn’t answerable by a section of the guide that
I
haven’t written yet but plan on writing. If you have a question about a
mission I haven’t finished yet, wait until I finish it first. Also, if you
think it's
probably in the guide somewhere, look for it there first. Other than that,
E-Mail of any sort is greatly appreciated.
Except, of course, for flames. Just for the record, any flames about this
guide
will be ignored; they WILL NOT BE REPLIED TO, just straight to the trash and
the block list. Don’t waste your time. I haven't gotten any yet and don't
expect to, but I just wanted to state that. I'll also state, though, that
criticism made reasonably respectfully is cool. You don't have to like my
guide, just don't be a jerk about it.
So far I haven't gotten a whole lot of mail about the guide, but I
appreciate
any kind of help I do get, even something as small as pointing out a typo.
I'd
like to thank the following people, though, for helpful suggestions they've
provided me with:
-Rampage88 (author of the first Unreal 2: The Awakening unofficial
online FAQ and guide)
-Evil Man
-Nemesis
-White_Pointer (another author or an Unreal 2: The Awakening uniffial
ground
If you offer me any help that I choose to implement in a future version of
this
guide, I'll make sure to credit you as well.
-----------------------------------------------------------
C: Other Version of the Guide
-----------------------------------------------------------
Another version of this guide can be found on my website, Art and Entropy,
at
www.artandentropy.com/other/unreal2guide.htm. It’s done a little less
formally,
uses a lot of HTML formatting rather than a standard ASCII layout, and it
includes new appendices intended solely for humor that aren't actually
useful
for gameplay. Just thought I'd let you know... Back to the actual guide.
\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\
3: Introduction
/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/
I’ve written a lot of things for a long time: Stories, poetry, prose. And
I’ve
been hooked on video games since I got a Nintendo at age 5. But I’ve never
written a game guide before; this is my first. I’ve thought about it, but
time
was always a concern. Why I felt the need to write up a guide about Unreal
2,
I don’t honestly know. But that doesn’t mean I made a half-hearted effort.
I made sure that this came out as what I’ve always considered a good guide
to
be, and if it hadn’t, I wouldn’t have wasted your time by posting it. I've
tried to be as absolutely comprehensive as possible; I want this to be *at
least* as good of a guide as what you'd buy in a store (except that I can't
match their maps and graphics, due to the limitations of the ASCII format).
I
hope you'll find this guide helpful.
I've chosen to leave out a couple possible sections that a lot of guides
include but that I've never found useful. For example, many guides provide
information about the weapons... not tactical information, mind you, but
background information in the context of the plot (something to the effect
of
"This gun is the standard rifle of the TCA and was used in the Strider Wars,
it's popular due to its low cost and ease of use for new recruits", or
something like that). This kind of information is all in the instruction
manual, so I see no reason to include it. Everything here should be useful
in
the game at some level and after reading this whole guide and playing the
game
for a while you should be able to beat every level on Unreal difficulty with
relative ease; that's my ultimate goal. I also didn't include any ASCII art,
not so much because I don't like it (I think it looks nice, if it's not
overused) but because I'm not very good at it and it's in no way, shape or
form
necessary for making an excellent guide. This
guide will look much more professional with no ASCII art than with ASCII art
that is poorly done.
A couple rather boring quick notes about the format of the guide: I chose to
capitalize the names of all the weapons you can wield, the types of
ammunition
those weapons use and the names of all enemies, as a way of highlighting
them
as key elements of the game. When listing a set of 5 or more types of items
found together in a location (or any other group of 5 of something) I list
them line by line with dashes in front of them to seperate that treasure
trove, or whatever it may be, as its own highly important element as well.
And
all enemy tips and major plot points in the missions get their own indented
areas, as well as any other individual, large segment of the guide that is
important, such as ASCII-drawn maps of various areas.
Until version 1.0 is complete, at which point every mission will be in here,
I'll be updating pretty regularly so you might want to check back once in a
while. After 1.0 I'll still update, but probably more irregularly.
Once again, back on with the guide.
\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\
4: Weapons Guide
/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/
I decided to make this a lengthy section for a few reasons. One is that I
love
most of the weapons in this game. Another is that with double triggers all
around, there’s a lot you can do with them. I find that they have a lot of
strategic potential. And then, of course, there *are* 13 of them, plus Drone
Guns and a super weapon.
To avoid insulting the readers intelligence, the only reasons I list all the
trigger functions is as a spoiler for people interested in knowing what
weapons they don’t have yet do and to occasionally indicate features some
people might not realize.
-----------------------------------------------------------
4A: Weapons Group 1- Power Weapons
-----------------------------------------------------------
M700 “Crowdpleaser” Shotgun
Trigger 1: Standard pattern-spread shotgun shell. At close range, it can do
heavy damage *and* knock some enemies off their feet.
Trigger 2: Incendiary ammunition. Uses the same ammunition as Trigger 1 for
game purposes; you don’t pick it up separately. Fires slightly slower,
but
the spread is greater and it ignites enemies.
Tips: The two triggers of the Shotgun work well together. The first makes
easy
hits due to the enhanced spread and renders the enemy helpless long
enough
to kill him with the first trigger. If his few seconds of helplessness
are
almost up, light ‘em up again! This doesn’t work against heavy-armored
troops, though; they’ll just keep coming, even though they’re on fire.
Also,
make sure to use Trigger 1 for point-blank shots or you’ll incinerate
yourself!
UA69 “Vulcan” Flamethrower
Trigger 1: Sprays a continuous jet of flames.
Trigger 2: Sprays raw napalm that can stick to walls. It can be ignited with
the first trigger or certain other weapons (see below). After several
seconds without activity it will self-ignite.
Tips: First of all, these are the weapons you can use to ignite raw napalm:
-The flamethrower (of course) or any other incendiary attack (i.e.
incendiary grenades, incendiary Shotgun shells, Drekk Laser Cannon’s
second trigger etc.)
-The Combat Assault Rifle’s second trigger (Rifle-Launched Grenades)
-Explosives such as Rockets and Fragmentation Grenades
-The Dispersion Pistol (either trigger).
Other tips: Against weaker enemies, preserve fuel by tapping the trigger to
fire quick jets of flame. Against powerful enemies, holding a continuous
jet of flame on them kills tough enemies quicker than almost any other
attack you can make. Enemies are completely blind to seeing napalm so
don’t
worry about whether your Trigger 2 trap will work based on that... it
will.
Try getting enemies attention, then retreating and trailing napalm to
ignite when they follow you into it. This works particularly well when
you
find yourself outgunned; run out a door into a hallway backwards, laying
your trap as you go. You can use Trigger 2 to attack enemies from above
that are too far away to normally attack with a Flamethrower, but it’s
rarely useful.
P400 “Avenger” .50 Caliber Magnum Pistol
Trigger 1: Fires a single shot. Accurate and very powerful.
Trigger 2: Fires a three-round burst with no penalty to the accuracy.
Tips: In most levels, .50 Pistol ammunition is very limited, so keep that in
mind. A headshot with this kills most weaker enemies; a couple bursts
does
wonders on the really tough ones.
-----------------------------------------------------------
4B: Weapons Group 2- Rifles
-----------------------------------------------------------
Drakk Laser Cannon
Trigger 1: A high-powered, slow-firing energy burst very comparable to a
railgun shot. Uses 5 rounds of ammunition.
Trigger 2: A continuous beam of laser energy that can ignite enemies like a
Flamethrower.
Tips: Trigger 1 is frequently useful, especially at medium to long range,
but
it doesn’t really lend itself to strategy. Do keep in mind that outside
of
the Drekk Hive Planet you won’t be finding any ammunition refills for
this.
Trigger 2 acts like a flamethrower with unlimited range; I’d suggest
using
it in very short sweeping bursts to ignite enemies and render them
helpless
temporarily. While they run around screaming, they’re sitting ducks for
Trigger 1 shots. Be careful not to fire Trigger 2 for too long since it
gobbles up ammo so quickly.
M32 5.56mm Combat Assault Rifle
Trigger 1: Fully-automatic rifle fire.
Trigger 2: Launches a grenade of sorts consisting of five bullets fused
together. The grenade breaks apart on impact, sending bullets ricocheting
off of surfaces-except, of course, if it hits an enemy directly.
Tips: Trigger 1 is pretty self-explanatory and pretty useful for the first
few
missions, and occasionally after that. Trigger 2 makes the gun highly
versatile, though. At closer ranges, it’s usually a better choice for
direct attacks since it knocks weaker enemies off their feet, can be
fired
quickly before you retreat behind cover, and can’t be blocked by a
charging
Skaarj’s arm blades (although it can be dodged). Bouncing it around
corners
is useful in many situations. It can be used to blow up turrets without
exposing yourself to danger, and if you know where an enemy is, are
fairly
close, and have a fair amount of ammo, repeatedly launching grenades off
walls to strike around corners is very effective. Still, this is
definitely
one of the weaker weapons… when heavy-armored troops come stomping along,
put it away!
Izarian Shock Lance
Trigger 1: (Sort of) Rapid fires two slow-moving energy bolts at a time that
pack a fair punch (after the limiter is removed by Isaak after the Swamp
mission) and bounce off walls.
Trigger 2: Fires a slow-moving EMP pulse along a straight trajectory.
Tips: Tip number 1 for this would have to be, realize that until your
mission
on Hell, you’re using a cheapo Shock Lance with a limiter. The first
trigger will be pathetic and I’d recommend not using it until Hell; even
the Dispersion Pistol was more useful to me until that point. From then
on
out, the first trigger’s energy bolts are surprisingly powerful, but so
slow moving that it’s almost impossible to hit most enemies. If you do
use
them, fire at a fairly close range or against slow targets. Personally, I
still never use them. Theoretically, you could use the wall-bouncing
ability for anything suggested above under the Assault Rifle’s second
trigger, but even then the shots tend to ricochet into some strange
places
since they’ll bounce off several surfaces before they dissipate. The
second
trigger can be very useful, so I’ll lay out below everything you can do
with an EMP:
-Destroy drone guns (generally in one direct hit)
-Destroy plasma barriers (again, in one direct hit) by shooting either
the posts that generate them or the barriers themselves.
-Destroy Drakk enemies of any type, *especially* Overlords which, sure
enough, go down in one direct hit.
-Damage any power-armored enemy, although usually not severely. There
are usually better uses for EMPs than this.
You can also sap away huge amounts of shield energy and sometimes even
small amounts of health from yourself if an EMP goes off close enough to
you, so make sure to give yourself some space for it to burst.
-----------------------------------------------------------
4C: Weapons Group 3- Explosives and One Odd, Odd Weapon
-----------------------------------------------------------
MP3 “Shark” Rocket Launcher
Trigger 1: Fires a single rocket with four explosives connected to form its
warhead.
Trigger 2: Fires a rocket that breaks apart after leaving the barrel,
launching four mini-rockets. By default these are “drunken” rockets with
very little accuracy, but by holding down the trigger and sweeping the
crosshairs over enemies, you can lock the mini-rockets on one by one to
anywhere from one to four enemies, then release the trigger to fire and
they will home in on their target or targets.
Tips: When using the Rocket Launcher against a tough enemy like a
heavy-armored troop, if you’re pretty sure you can hit him with the first
trigger than use it so you can pump out ammo as quickly as possible.
Locking on becomes more useful at longer ranges, especially as multiple
weaker enemies advance on you (you can guess what to do there). In Unreal
2
your character wears a heavy suit of power armor, so DO NOT bother trying
to
rocket-jump.
M406 “Hydra” 40mm Grenade Launcher
Trigger 1: Tap to launch a grenade that explodes on contact or click, hold
and
release to set a delayed fuse. Delayed grenades take the same length of
time
to explode (a few seconds) regardless of how long the trigger is held.
Trigger 2: Switch to the next of 6 types of grenades.
Tips: The Grenade Launcher is one of the most versatile weapons in the game.
The majority of the time you will use it for direct attacks with no delay
to
the blast but it can also be used for firing over barriers, bouncing
grenades off walls to strike from behind cover, or occasionally striking
slow enemies from far away by utilizing the grenades’ arc or delayed fuse
(or both!) although beyond mid-range there is usually a better weapon to
use. The six grenade types are:
Fragmentation: A simple explosive. Usually available in large enough numbers
that you can use it quite liberally and against weak or low-priority
enemies.
Incendiary: Damages enemies and ignites them, usually resulting in temporary
disorientation. It’s a little more damaging than a Fragmentation Grenade
in
damage dealt.
Toxic Gas: Bursts into a lingering green gas cloud. Potentially the
strongest
of all the grenade types. If you can keep an enemy in the gas cloud for
awhile, they will suffer massive damage. Great against big slow enemies,
enemies confined to fairly small areas and, of course, groups of weak
enemies.
EMP: This is identical in effect to the EMPs launched by the Shock Lance,
but a
little more powerful. See the Shock Lance (above in Weapons Group 2) for
a
list of all its uses.
Concussion: Emits a shock wave and a concussive blast. This grenade does
literally NO DAMAGE. The shock wave trips up enemies, but only for a
second.
The only major use I’ve found for these is that if one goes off right at
the
feet of an enemy they’ll go flying. Therefore, if your aim is good
enough,
you can use it to knock enemies off of precarious edges. It is possible
to
do a “concussion jump” using concussion grenades, but you can’t get very
much more air than a regular jump gives you so I wouldn’t recommend it.
If
you do want to mess around with the idea, fire the grenades straight at
your
feet without jumping. Personally, I never use concussion grenades.
Smoke Grenades: These emit a small cloud of thick smoke for several seconds.
They’re supposed to help you escape from fights or something, but as far
as
I can tell they do nothing. Enemies *will* fire through a smokescreen and
enemies *will* run through a smokescreen to pursue you. I suspect that
firing through smoke might slightly diminish an enemy’s aim, but I
actually
even doubt that. I never, ever use smoke grenades. If anybody knows
something worthwhile or otherwise that smoke grenades do, please E-Mail
me
(LunarZenith@hotmail.com).
Spidergun
Trigger 1: Launches a spore pod that bursts on enemies, covering them in
spiders. This does no damage, but it disorients them for a while as if
they
were on fire (except for heavy-armored troops and other badasses that are
immune to fire disorientation).
Trigger 2: A quick trigger pull launches a small pod of slime that sticks to
any surface and later, when an enemy comes near, bursts, launching a
spore
pod at them (identical in effect to Trigger 1). Holding down and
releasing
the trigger launches a bigger slime pod that hatches after several
seconds
into a spider who crawls around and (theoretically) attacks nearby
enemies.
You can also fire a small pod of slime and shoot it with Trigger 1 to
make
it enlarge into a pod that will hatch into a spider. Either function of
Trigger 2 uses up 5 shots.
Tips: I’m gonna be honest with you. I think this weapon is worthless. To
make
any use of the first trigger you need to fire and hit (tough to begin
with
most of the time since the spores are slow moving) and then switch over
to a
real weapon to do some damage with. Needless to say this tends to get you
hurt. The second trigger isn’t much better; it’s possible to make use of
the
spiders, but not enough use in any situation that I even bother. I’ve
found
the Spiderguns spiders a bit finicky, especially after they’ve fought one
enemy and another is nearby. If an enemy is busy dealing with you, the
spiders’ attacks will add up and eventually kill it, making it moderately
useful. If the enemy fights the spider, though, the spider is as good as
gone. Creating multiple spiders may cause them to fight each other… not
kill, mind you, they just sort of go next to each other and poke back and
forth. If anybody has an explanation of how to use the Spidergun
effectively, please E-Mail me (LunarZenith@hotmail.com).
-----------------------------------------------------------
4D: Weapons Group 4- Other Weapons
-----------------------------------------------------------
Type 72 “Widowmaker” Sniper Rifle
Trigger 1: Fires a single shot.
Trigger 2: Toggles the zoom. By default the mouse wheel zooms in and out.
Tips: For anybody who has played first person shooters before, use all the
tactics you usually use with a sniper rifle. This one (unlike almost
every
other weapon in the game) is standard-fare FPS weaponry… except that the
scope screen looks really, really cool.
LEPEW-13 Dispersion Pistol
Trigger 1: Fires bursts of energy one after another.
Trigger 2: Holding the trigger down charges up energy and releasing it fires
a
more powerful energy burst that does some splash damage as well when it
hits.
Tips: If you can find a position where you can shoot at a turret without
receiving fire back and you have some patience, taking it out with the
Dispersion Pistol is a great way to save some ammo. In fact, if you
encounter a single Rocket Turret at long range and nobody else is firing
at
you, you can take it out by firing while dodging rockets, which is not at
all difficult to do. Other than that, I’d suggest never using this weapon
unless you’re about to run completely out of ammo, and Unreal 2 tends to
provide you with plenty.
-----------------------------------------------------------
4E: Special Weapons
-----------------------------------------------------------
Takkra
(Part of Weapon Group 5)
Trigger 1: Launches the Takkra against the enemy that has been
auto-targeted.
The Takkra will circle him firing energy bolts that do minimal damage
and,
theoretically, disrupt his fighting ability.
Trigger 2: Launches the Takkra in a defense mode. It will circle you and
automatically attack any nearby enemies that attack you. Also, it will
shoot
most projectiles out of the air before they can hit you.
Tips: While this is definitely a *cool* weapon, it doesn’t seem to be a very
good one. Takkra shots do so little damage to enemies that even after
repeated hits it hardly amounts to much. For example, it takes at least
25
hits for a Takkra to kill a medium-armored Skaarj on Medium difficulty,
making it slightly weaker than Trigger 1 blasts from the Dispersion
Pistol.
That makes the first trigger sort of a waste of time. The second is
somewhat
more promising, because the Takkra can circle you potentially forever and
its ability to shoot projectiles out of the air is fairly effective.
Also,
it can be launched before battle begins so you don’t have to launch and
then
switch back to another weapon while possibly being fired upon. I’d
suggest
using Trigger 2 over Trigger 1, but personally I don’t even bother using
Takkras.
Singularity Cannon
(Included as part of Weapon Group 4 once acquired)
***WARNING: SPOILERS***
Trigger 1: Generates and projects an instance of quantum singularity- in
other
words, it shoots a black hole. A miniature one, but still incredibly
destructive. The hole slowly travels out in a straight trajectory and
draws
enemies towards it, and anything that touches the hole is sucked away
into
oblivion, destroying it instantly. Anything.
No Second Trigger.
Tips: No tips necessary with this sucker. Shoot it anywhere near an enemy
and
they’re through, it’s that simple. You even get hundreds of rounds when
you
pick this up; more than you would ever need. Of course you only get the
privilege of using the Singularity Cannon very briefly…
-----------------------------------------------------------
4F: Weapon Power Comparison Chart
-----------------------------------------------------------
The following chart should provide a general indication of the relative
capabilities of Unreal 2’s weapons. Only easily rated weapons are included,
so
a few weapons are missing, and I may add them later. Some of the values
provided may be very slightly off at this point, but I’ll continue working
on
it. The Strength Rating works like this: The number given indicates the
number
of direct hits to the torso that it takes to kill a Medium-Armored Skaarj on
Medium difficulty. Therefore, the lower the value, the more powerful it is.
--Weapon-- --Shots/Second-- --Strength Rating--
Shotgun, Trigger 1 1.1 2-5+*
Shotgun, Trigger 2 0.9 2-5+*
Flamethrower 10 15
Magnum Pistol 3.5** 6
Laser, Trigger 1 0.7 3
Laser, Trigger 2 8.5 15
Assault Rifle 10 25
Shock Lance 3.5x2*** 6
Rocket Launcher 1 2
Frag Grenade .65 2
Incendiary Grenade .65 1
Toxic Grenade .65 1
Sniper Rifle .65 2
Dispersion Pistol 4 20
*: Standing as close as possible to the enemy, 2 shots from the Shotgun
kills
the Skaarj. From a longer range that number can increase dramatically.
**: This rate of fire reflects the Magnum Pistols’ first trigger. The second
trigger pumps out ammo a little bit faster, maybe 4.5 or 5 shots per
second.
***: The Shock Lance fires about 3.5 times per second, but it fires 2 shots
with each trigger pull.
\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\
5: Difficulty Distinctions
/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/
So what does distinguish the three difficulty levels from each other? I’m
still
not totally sure about this myself and still doing various tests. Here’s
what I
*think* the distinctions are, but I can’t guarantee this information quite
yet.
What *Doesn’t* Change:
-AI. The enemies react the same to your every move on all three difficulty
levels.
-Item Placement. It seems that the same power ups are distributed in the
same
places and quantities on all 3 difficulty levels.
-Enemy Placement. I’m fairly sure that you face the same quantity of enemies
in
the same places on any difficulty level.
-Missions. You have the same mission objectives regardless of difficulty.
What Does Change:
-Enemies do more damage to you on higher difficulties. For example, on Easy,
if
you are at full health and full energy, it will take 5 direct hits from
enemy rockets to kill you. On Medium it only takes 4, and on Unreal it
drops
to 3.
-I THINK that your enemies’ aim improves slightly with each successive
difficulty level.
-I also suspect that enemies take slightly more damage to die with each
difficulty increase.
So what does all that amount to? Put it this way… you might as well use
almost
exactly the same tactics on Unreal that you use on Easy; you won’t be facing
anything new on Unreal. But realize that on Unreal there’s very little
margin
for error, whereas on “Easy” you’ll have to be pumped chock-full of holes to
die.
\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\
6: Walkthrough
/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/
Below is a step-by-step, mission-by-mission guide to Unreal 2. You’ll notice
there’s no mention of the phases in between missions when you’re on your
ship.
That’s because during those times there’s no action and everything is very
straightforward; I assume that you won’t want to bother reading about all
that.
I chose to give away all the plot points in the game in case anyone is
interested in knowing what happens later on, but to box plot information off
separate from the rest of the walkthrough and label it all with spoiler
alerts.
Since the game provides you with so much cool background information about
levels in the briefing room and at the beginnings of missions, I don’t
provide
descriptions of levels (levels as in planets, landscapes; I describe what's
going on at the beginning of each mission, though). Later, when I have more
time, I might go through and transcribe the background information word for
word from the game. Finally, Unreal 2 is a very linear game. It has few
places
to get lost, few puzzles to solve, few branching paths or decisions to make,
and lots and lots of direct physical conflict. My guide reflects that by
providing lots of tactical advice. Hopefully if you’re finding a particular
firefight here and there difficult my advice will give you an edge in
combat.
-----------------------------------------------------------
6A: Sanctuary
-----------------------------------------------------------
Mission Opening: Responding to a distress call, your first mission is to the
planet Sanctuary to discover what has disrupted the civilian activity at a
mining facility. That becomes immediately apparent when the mission starts
and
you are shown a series of brutalized bodies lying outside the base, along
with
a head on a shock lance jammed into the ground and an alien stabbing a dying
human repeatedly with his weapon. He stops when your dropship arrives, fires
an
EMP at your dropship without effect and runs inside the base to escape.
6A-1: Mining Complex Entrance
-----------------------------
After your dropship touches down, your adventure begins with you in
possession
of a Combat Assault Rifle, a Grenade Launcher with Fragmentation Grenades, a
Dispersion Pistol, and that’s it. Advance ahead and pass through the
automated
door that the alien (referred to here on out by their proper term,
“Izarians”)
ran into. Head down the stairs and through another door. At the end of a
hall,
a civilian is trapped under a door, screaming for help, with an Izarian
pulling
at him from the opposite side. Unfortunately, when (and if) you run to help
him
the Izarian pulls him through and you’ll find that the door doesn’t work.
Pass
through either hallway through the right wall; they both filter through to
the
same point. Continue advancing and you’ll soon see an open door. An Izarian
will run through the hall just past it, and you’ll see it through the door.
You
can shoot him with your rifle if you’re lightning quick, but it’s not
important.
Follow him through the door and round the corner and you’ll find a large
room
with some columns holding up the ceiling and some hatches in a grated floor
with water underneath. A civilian is being threatened at lance-point by an
Izarian, leading you into your first encounter! When you run to his aid, the
Izarian will kill him and attack you and more will spring out from behind
columns. In all, you’ll have to face a pack of 5 at once. Since it’s a new
enemy, here’s some information about Izarians and how to fight them:
/-------------------------------------\
New enemy: Izarian
Description: Izarians are small, ugly four-armed psychotic alien servants
of the Skaarj that you will only fight on Sanctuary and Sanctuary’s Swamp
(the next mission). They are quick, like to spring surprise attacks,
often
fight in packs and have very little capacity to take damage. They are
always equipped with Shock Lances.
Attacks: Izarians attack mainly by shooting you with Trigger 1 energy
bolts from the Shock Lance, described in section 4B (Weapons Group 2).
Their Lances have limiters on them, though, so the energy bolts do very
little damage. On occasion they will fire an EMP, which also is less
effective than EMP blasts from later enemies.
Tips and Tactics: The only dangers in Izarians are that they are fast,
attack in packs, and sometimes attack in clever ways such as shooting you
from an unexpected place or multiple Izarians attacking you from multiple
directions at once. The ideal weapon for fighting them is the Combat
Assault Rifle. It only takes a few shots to kill them and they can’t
dodge
your shots. Fire with the first trigger in short bursts for best effect,
unless you need the second trigger to shoot them around corners. A pack
of
Izarians fighting in a small to mid-sized room can send energy bolts
ricocheting around the room in massive quantities and is occasionally
almost impossible to dodge. When this happens just keep firing at them in
short, controlled bursts and KEEP MOVING (and you should really be doing
this all the time with all enemies, except on rare exceptions).
\-------------------------------------/
Kill the Izarians one by one while doing your best to dodge their shots.
Using
cover helps, and I’d advise not going near the center of the room because
you’ll take fire from so many directions that your dodging will become
completely random and largely ineffective. After the Izarians are dead, pick
up
their Shock Lances… or just leave them. The Shock Lances the Izarians use
are
so toned down from their original strength that between that and the ease
with
which all of your enemies in this level can dodge slow attacks, the Lances
are
hardly any better than a Dispersion Pistol. I suggest that you don’t use
them
unless you’re really starting to run out of Assault Rifle ammunition.
/-------------------------------------\
Plot Point/Spoiler Alert:
After you’ve killed all the Izarians in the room, you’ll get a message
over the rooms’ loudspeaker system. The same person who sent the distress
call is now speaking to you, although you can’t speak back until you
reach
him. His name is Danny Miller. From here until the end of the level Mr.
Miller will guide you to him and make various comments on what he sees
through security cameras, which are set up even more frequently than
loudspeakers. Danny informs you that all his friends are dead and that
you’ll need to travel through the water under the room to get to him. He
opens the hatches in the floor for you so that you can advance further.
\-------------------------------------/
Head down one of the now-open hatches. Don’t worry about drowning or losing
health underwater; your power armor protects you from that. Swim around
under
the room looking for powerups. You should be able to find:
-A Combat Assault Rifle with ammo next to it
-Another Assault Rifle with another box of ammo next to it
-An additional box of Rifle ammo by itself.
Once you’ve done that, find a break in the wall along the exterior of the
room
(underwater, of course). It leads out of that room and into a corridor with
pipes running along the floor, sides and ceiling. Follow the winding
corridor;
you will pass by a dead body floating in the water, prompting your character
to make a bad pun.
At the end of the corridor, pop up out of the water and enter the dark
corridor
in front of you, where a dead civilian lies. Continue further until you
reach a
ladder running up a wall.
/-------------------------------------\
Hint: How to use a ladder to your advantage.
Once you walk up to a ladder and hit “up” for a second so that your
character begins to go up the ladder, you are somehow stuck to the
ladder.
You can then turn around 180 degrees and continue to climb the ladder
somehow by pressing up while you fight at the same time.
\-------------------------------------/
While turned around backwards, climb the ladder and after a few seconds an
Izarian on a ledge will start firing at you. Fire back and kill it. With
your
Assault rifle, this shouldn’t be difficult; especially since the Izarian has
no
room to move. Continue up the ladder and eventually you will be attacked
again
by another 2 Izarians toward the top.
Continue through the door past the ladder. Pass up a dead body, head up more
stairs, and find yet another dead body. Grab the health next to the enemy.
Continue forward from here, through the gate and on, until you start to
approach a fairly large room. You’ll find in the room 3 Izarians huddled
around
a camera, while Miller yells at them over the loudspeaker to get away from
it.
You can use the distraction to your advantage, but don’t expect too many
free
shots. As soon as the first round is fired, all three Izarians will disperse
from the camera, reacting with surprising speed, and counterattack. Taking
the
defensive is probably a good idea here; move slowly away from the advancing
Izarians while firing at them and dodging. Cross the room and you will find
another gate. As soon as you go through the gate, there is an Izarian off to
the right just past the gate in the next room that will surprise attack you
from the side. Be ready to blast him. The room you’ll now be in has three
large
pillars a little up ahead, and twin staircases just past that. When you
approach the staircases, an Izarian or 2 will come up the stairs and attack
you. Take and hold the top of the stairs immediately and you’ll be able to
fire
down on advancing Izarians while they’re still at a long enough range that
you
can easily dodge their attacks. Since the stairs are the only way to advance
from there, they’ll be forced to run straight up toward you, making them
sitting ducks. If you can’t safely hold the stairs until the Izarians stop
coming (and just so you know there will be 6 of them, total) and you need to
defend yourself from further back, keep the pillars in mind- you can
ricochet
Rifle-Launched Grenades off of them to attack Izarians on the opposite side
of
a pillar from the side you’re on.
Once you’ve wasted those Izarians, go down the stairs and you will come upon
an
area where the room narrows. An Izarian will run through this crevice to
attack
you; be ready for him and he’ll never have a chance. Once you’ve killed him,
grab the health off the crate if you need it. If you’ve taken slight damage
but
don’t really need it, come back to it later.
As you continue onward, you will soon get another message from Miller saying
that he’s recovered an alien artifact, which you’ll find out later in the
game
is extremely valuable. Keep going and go up the ladder that you will soon
come
to, being sure to turn around and be reading to defend yourself as you
climb.
After a few second of climbing you will be shot at by an Izarian on a ledge;
kill him, keep going and you’ll come across two more. To fight all these
guys,
once you hear their monkey-like voices you’ll know you’re almost in range.
Try
to shoot at them before they start shooting at you. At the top of the ledge
are
several power ups: An Assault Rifle, a health pickup and 2 packs of Frag
Grenades. Grab them all and continue through the door.
You will receive a message from Miller as you continue into the next hallway
that some of the materials here are unstable (i.e. they explode when shot).
Since the Izarians don’t realize this, it is easily used to your advantage.
The
fuel tanks throughout this hallway take only a few bullets to set off and
the
explosions will kill any Izarians that are anywhere near to them. The
hallway
is long and has several places where it is interrupted by a small bunch of
crates. The crates will provide excellent cover for you to peek out, fire,
and
duck behind again. You can also get behind a crate and ricochet grenades off
the wall of the hallway to kill advancing Izarians. Be sure not to stand
next
to undetonated fuel tanks.
Most of the fighting here is pretty simple. Be aware that once you’re a ways
into the hallway, Izarians will start attacking you from behind, so watch
out
both ways. Toward the end is a point where 2 red and 2 brown crates are set
along the left side of the corridor (when you are facing in the direction
that
you are progressing through). Be ready because once you reach that point you
will be attacked from both sides at once by what adds up to 8 Izarians (4 in
front, 4 behind). Turn back and forth, keeping an eye out both ways and kill
advancing Izarians immediately so that you don’t get teamed up on by large
numbers of them and you don’t let them get too close.
At the end of the hallway are 3 boxes of rifle ammo and a door. Pass through
the door and continue forward through the next room into the Mining Complex.
6A-2: Mining Complex
--------------------
As you go forward, Miller informs you that there appear to be no creatures
up
ahead. At almost the same time, you will hear the monkey-like squeaks and
gibbers of Izarians. Two of them soon attack you. Blast them as they round
the
corner. The next area has pools of toxic chemicals to your right, forcing
you
to stay within a somewhat narrow area. To your left is a large structure.
You
will soon be attacked by 6 more Izarians, but not all at once. Three of them
will come from up ahead and fire at long range as soon as they see you;
since
they too will be confined to a narrow area, they shouldn’t be too tough to
defeat. Another 3 will run along the roof of the structure to the left
firing
down at you. If they get far enough, they will eventually jump down to your
level, possibly flanking you. Stay back as you return fire, ducking behind
cover off to the left if you need to reload. The Izarians on the roof should
probably be your main concern; they’re more difficult to hit and more likely
to
hit you. Keep holding your ground without advancing until the Izarians stop
coming. Then continue forward.
Another Izarian will be waiting for you right around the corner; don’t let
him
ambush you from the side. Continue past another acid pit and you’ll find a
broken gate with a bottom section that opens and closes while the rest of it
is
stuck. It looks as if it could potentially chomp into you and kill you, but
if
that starts to happen a clipping error will save you; the gate will
basically
go right through you without hurting you. Duck down and go through. Run down
the steps and you’ll soon receive another message saying the drainage route
ahead is “chock full of those monsters”, but that it’s the only way to get
to
Miller. Grab the health pickup before you pass through the next door. The
next
room (don’t go in yet) will be a huge area with many pits of toxic chemicals
and criss-crossing balconies forming the interior of the room, along with
huge
pillars presumably holding up the ceiling. Six Izarians will be inside in
various places. When you open the door, fire through the doorway at any
Izarians you can see and duck behind the doorway to either side to dodge
their
return fire. I’ve found the safest way to fight the Izarians in here is to
let
them come to you. If you run into the room, you’ll be attacked from multiple
sides and probably be overwhelmed. If you wait, you’ll be able to fight the
enemies one or two at a time and you’ll always have cover right alongside
you.
Gun it out with them until they stop coming, then go in and if there are
still
one or two left that didn’t come for you shoot them, too. As you fight them
you’ll receive encouragement from Miller. At the end of the room is a
security
door. Miller will open it for you and warn you that up ahead there are no
working cameras and so he won’t be able to see you and doesn’t know what’s
coming up. Lucky for you, you have this guide. Grab the 2 boxes of Assault
Rifle ammo and the energy pickup in front of the door, then enter and you’ll
go into an elevator shaft.
/-------------------------------------\
Plot Point/Spoiler Alert:
The elevator shaft starts going up, then stops abruptly. One by one the
lights go out. After a brief pause a Skaarj drops down onto the roof of
the elevator! He then slashes the cables, causing the elevator to go
skidding down the shaft very quickly. It eventually crashes into the
ground.
\-------------------------------------/
Exit the elevator immediately; the Medium-Armored Skaarj will soon break
into
it. You should probably equip yourself with your Grenade Launcher for this
encounter.
/-------------------------------------\
New Enemy: Skaarj (Light/Medium-Armored)
Description: Light and Medium Skaarj are similar enemies. They are fast,
skillful and smart tribal aliens that often plot cunning surprise
attacks.
They are very aggressive and known to have enslaved several alien races,
including the Izarians. The main differences between Light-Armored and
Medium-Armored Skaarj are that Medium-Armored ones do much more damage
with each attack and require more damage to kill. For example, about 12
Assault Rifle rounds or 1 direct hit from a Fragmentation Grenade will
kill a Light-Armored Skaarj on Medium difficulty. A Medium-Armored one
will take about 20 rifle rounds or 2 direct Frag-Grenade hits.
Attacks: Skaarj will attack first by firing energy bolts at you from
devices mounted on their arms while charging toward you. The energy bolts
aren’t particularly powerful, especially from Light-Armored Skaarj which
are only about a half to a third as powerful as Medium-Armored ones. Once
they are close enough, they will slash at you with the blades mounted on
their arms. They sometimes run up, slash a few times, then step back a
bit, but other times they will leap at you, doing about double their
usual slashing damage if they hit and rolling to avoid crashing into the
ground if they miss.
Tips and Tactics: Don’t bother shooting Skaarj with Trigger 1 of your
Assault Rifle while they’re facing you. They can block the Rifle fire
with
their arm blades, which Medium-Armored Skaarj do with more frequency than
Light-Armored ones but both do a large portion of the time. If they’re
close enough, Trigger 2 can be effective, but they are excellent at
dodging projectile attacks, usually by diving and rolling, so it can take
some getting used to. Rockets and grenades are decent against them;
Skaarj
may be able to dodge them, but the splash damage ensures that if you’re a
good shot your efforts won’t be completely wasted. Weapons that hit
instantly tend to be the best things to use, though. This includes
Shotguns, Flamethrowers, Magnum Pistols, Laser Cannons and Sniper Rifles.
Incendiary attacks can be very useful since they negate the cunning and
agility that make Skaarj such difficult targets. Get used to dodging
their
diving lunges; it’ll save you a lot of health. It’s usually a good idea
to
back away from Skaarj while you fire at them, since it decreases the
number of chances they’ll get to make close-up attacks with their blades.
\-------------------------------------/
Unfortunately, at this point in the game you don’t have any of the weapons
that
work best against Skaarj. I’d suggest using your Fragmentation Grenades;
they
kill in two hits (against this Medium-Armored Skaarj), the splash damage is
great when the Skaarj try to dodge by diving, and you sure as Hell won’t
need
the Grenades for fighting Izarians. For fighting this first Skaarj,
immediately launch 2 Frag grenades directly at him while he’s still in the
elevator shaft, tapping the trigger as opposed to holding it, and you should
be able to kill him before he gets a chance to do anything beyond giving you
a bit of a scare. If he does manage to get out and start fighting you, don’t
panic, just back away from him and give him another pop.
After you kill the Skaarj, Aida and Dalton will exchange a few words. The
room
you’re in now is mid-sized, with raised areas along the left and right and a
door at the end that doesn’t work. To the right of the elevator, though, is
a
lift. Take the lift up and you’ll get out into a small room with a stairway
and
a health pickup and energy pickup behind it. Grab them, go up the stairs and
Miller will tell you quite ignorantly that he’s glad nothing happened in the
previous area.
In the area at the top of the stairs you should see a door. Not far past it
are
a Skaarj and an Izarian who will attack you in a huge courtyard with an
archway
and door at the end and netting overhead. Blast the Skaarj with Grenades
while
backing away, then kill the Izarian. In the left half of the courtyard is a
small concrete bunker of some sort with ammo inside. Another box of ammo can
be
found on the ground toward the end of the courtyard, to the left of the door
and next to a severed human hand. Grab them and go through the next door
into a
cramped corridor that leads into the power plant.
6A-3: Power Plant
-----------------
Open the doors and you’ll receive a message from Miller that he is up ahead
and, although he won’t be able to see you while you’re outdoors, he’ll pick
you
up when you get near the Power Plant’s generator. Up ahead is a door, two
fuel
tanks, a dead body, and two boxes of ammo. Grab the ammunition, load up your
Grenade Launcher and open the door. You’ll find yourself in a grassy valley,
with hills to the left and right. A Light Skaarj will come at you from up
ahead. Either take him out with a Fragmentation Grenade or retreat back
through
the door and further back a bit, let him follow you, and shoot the fuel
tanks
when he runs near them. Then step outside a bit and you’ll start taking fire
from an Izarian at the top of each hill, to your left and right, shooting
like
very ineffective snipers. From their positions they’re stuck in one place,
unable to dodge your own attacks so either take them out one by one with
short
bursts of Trigger 1 Assault Rifle fire or by firing a Rifle-Launched Grenade
at
each of them, immediately going back to dodging as soon as the shot leaves
the
barrel. When the Izarian on the left is killed, a second one will run up and
take his place. Off him, too, then advance forward through the narrow
opening
between the hills and over a bridge.
You’ll see a base up ahead in the distance, a man impaled on a stick just
ahead
of you, and a circular structure is toward the left with a smokestack
protruding from it and emitting a jet of flames. As soon as you pass through
the narrow area between the hills a Light-Armored Skaarj will attack you
from
the left. Take him out with a quick Frag Grenade and if he’s still alive
after
the blast and starts to get close, switch to the Assault Rifle (to avoid
blasting yourself) and continue fighting him. Next, advance just a little
more
and a Medium-Armored Skaarj will run to attack you from your right side. Do
the
same routine with him, firing Frag Grenades until he gets close, then
switching
to your Assault Rifle. There is one more Light Skaarj in the general area
and
you’ll soon run into him one way or another. Run forward alongside the
circular
structure to the left, past the stream and in the direction of a dead
civilian.
As you near him you should hear the roar of the Skaarj nearby. Kill the
Skaarj
when he approaches through your usual means; you should be getting used to
fighting them by now. Then grab the Assault Rifle and rifle ammunition
sitting
next to the dead human.
The area you need to go to next is toward the right, quite a distance away.
Go
in that direction, keeping an eye out for a circular structure with a small
stairway running partway up to a balcony that runs around the perimeter of
the
structure. Head towards it. When you start to get near to it, you’ll get
another message from Miller. He’s excited to see that you made it and tells
you
he’s heading out. Dalton replies, trying to warn him that the area isn’t
clear
yet and he needs to stay put, but Miller can’t hear you. Keep heading
further
in the direction you were already going until the game shifts into a cut
scene.
/-------------------------------------\
Plot Point/Spoiler Alert:
Miller, just outside the generator control building, is approached by an
angry Izarian while carrying the artifact in his arms. He backs away
slowly. Suddenly, a Heavy-Armored Skaarj marches out from behind the
Izarian, waving for him to step aside. The Skaarj approaches Miller and
is about to kill him when Miller falls over the rail of the walkway he’s
on, plummeting to his death at the bottom of the generator shaft. The
generator detects the “foreign object” and begins to shut down and close
off the shaft with a protective barrier. Determined to get his hands on
the artifact, the Skaarj leaps over the railing and falls down the
generator shaft just before the barrier shuts completely over the top.
Aida tells you to abort the mission at this point, but Dalton refuses.
Aida reluctantly informs you that you need to go to the control room of
the power plant if you want to open the generator again, but says that
“You’d better hope that the Skaarj kill you, because if they don’t, I
will.”
\-------------------------------------/
There are a few things you can do now, because there are 2 routes that will
take you to the control room, and there is a room that you technically could
skip, but that contains important powerups. I assume you will want them, so
I’ll tell you the way I recommend going, then I’ll tell you briefly about
the
alternate route.
Go to the stairs of the circular structure and go up them to the top of the
structure. Keep going and you will find an emergency hatch. Open it up,
giving
you a view of the room below, which contains a single Izarian. Fire through
the
hatch at him, killing him before he can do much to react. Once he’s dead,
drop
down through the hatch. You are now in a small room containing a dead body,
a
crate, a Grenade Launcher (which gives you 5 Fragmentation Grenades when you
pick it up), an Assault Rifle and a health pickup. Grab all the goodies,
then
go through the only door out of the room. You’ll find yourself on a walkway
which leads to another door a little further along.
The alternate way of doing what you just did is as follows: Go around the
structure instead of up it. You’ll soon find the generator, which is covered
with a grating that you can walk across. Walk in the direction of the
walkways,
jump up onto the raised perimeter of the generator shaft and from there jump
up
to the walkways. To enter the room with the Izarian and the power ups, walk
over to the door with an opening button to its right and hit the button to
go
in. Otherwise go straight to the automatic door; it’ll save you the slight
trouble of an easy fight, but it’ll deprive you of valuable powerups.
Through the automatic door is a narrow hallway with a door at the end. Go
down
the hallway and open the door and you’ll see a small to mid-sized room with
an
elevator on the opposite side, a dead body near it and something dripping
from
the roof. Up above the entrance, perched on piping, are 2 Izarians waiting
to
surprise attack you. Rather than accepting a straight fight, very slowly
advance forward until you see movement up above. That’s the Izarians. Try to
shoot them from where you are, using Assault Rifle Trigger 1 if possible and
Trigger 2 shots ricocheting off of walls if necessary. Once they’re dead,
enter
the lift and go up.
You’ll see an angularly shaped hallway stretching ahead of you. Notice the
window on the left side of the hall, and switch to your Grenade Launcher.
The
glass will soon shatter and a Light-Armored Skaarj will jump through. Fire a
Grenade at him the second he lands (or even a split-second before he lands)
and
you should be able to take him out before he has a chance to cause any harm.
Almost immediately after he’s dead another Skaarj will come running down the
hallway toward you. Because of the narrowness of the corridor the Skaarj
can’t
maneuver effectively. You should be able to take him out easily. Run down
the
hall, past the dead body, until you reach a door, then go through it. The
hallway continues a bit further past the door you just went through and to
your
right is another doorway. Behind the new door a couple of Skaarj are killing
a
screaming civilian in the generator control room. Unfortunately, the button
that opens the door is broken, so you’ll need to take an alternate route.
Go to the end of the corridor. On the left side is a severed hand, an
Assault
Rifle and a box of Rifle ammo. Grab the ammo and Rifle, then look for a hole
in
the floor right next to the where the Rifle and all were. This is a
passageway
that leads underneath the generator control room, providing you with the
alternate route that you need. The passageway contains a Skaarj, though; if
you
jump straight down the hole he’ll be almost right in front of you. Switch to
your Grenade Launcher, aim at the wall adjacent to the hole, press and hold
Trigger 1 and release it to launch a Grenade off the wall, down the hole and
into the underground passageway. When it goes off you should hear the Skaarj
growl. Two grenades will most likely be enough to kill him. An alternative
way
of doing basically the same thing is to use Trigger 2 of the Assault Rifle,
but
the danger here is that a shard or two of the grenade could bounce back at
you.
If you use rifle-launched grenades, angle the Assault Rifle downwards, jump
and
fire. You could do the same thing with the Shock Lance, but it might take
quite
a while. Anyway, once you hear the long growl indicating that the Skaarj is
dead, go down the hole, duck and continue on under the floor.
You’ll eventually find a gap toward the right that leads under the floor of
the
generator control room, with a Skaarj still there above you. You can shoot
him
through the floorboards with Trigger 1 of your Assault Rifle (firing Trigger
2
may result in an unexpected ricochet back at you), or just go straight up
into
the room through the gap in the floor. If you do the latter, be prepared for
an
immediate close-quarter fight; I’d suggest using Trigger 2 of the Assault
Rifle.
The control room contains the broken door from earlier on, a computer system
on
the opposite side of the room, and raised areas along either side of the
room.
On the area with the computers you’ll find an Assault Rifle, a box of Rifle
ammo and an energy pickup. Grab them all. Then look for a health pickup on
one
of the raised side sections of the room. Grab it. Directly behind the health
pickup is a switch labeled “Energy Override 1”. Hit it, then follow the same
raised area further to find “Energy Override 2” and hit it as well. The
computers will turn on, generating a holographic display. You’ll receive a
message indicating that the main terminal is now online, that a “foreign
object” and an “alien life form” have been detected in the generator and
that
if you want to terminate the shutdown process you can do so by hitting the
generator restart button. A chamber near the computers opens up, revealing
the
button. Press it and the generator shield will open.
Now retrace your steps until you’re back outside the power plant. In the
hallway just after you pass by the broken door from outside the control room
and go through the working door next to it you’ll run into 2 new Izarians.
Further in, when you’re approaching the broken window that a Light-Armored
Skaarj jumped through earlier you’ll be attacked by 1 more Izarian. Keep on
going and eventually you’ll reach the generator, which is now online and
open.
With rotating plasma beams all over the place, the generator looks very
menacing. Whatever you do, *don’t* try to jump straight down to the bottom
of
the generator. The plasma beams actually do very little damage, despite
their
appearances, and long falls are more likely to damage you than anything else
here. You’ll notice that in addition to the rotating sets of 3 beams there
are
also hydraulic devices that move from the perimeter of the generator toward
the
core, pause, then return. Line yourself up with one of them, wait until it’s
pushed against the core or above to reach that point, and walk off the top
edge
of the generator, dropping down onto the large metal contraption. From
there,
jump onto the ring of grating running across the perimeter of the generator
just below you. Plasma beams will be moving right past your head once you
are
standing on the grating but they won’t quite touch you unless you jump. Now
line yourself up with another hydraulic device and drop down again, then
from
there hop over to the next ring of grating. Repeat these 2 steps… dropping
down
to a piston-like thing, then hopping to a ring of grating… one more time,
then
jump down to the floor of the generator. Go over to Millers body and grab
the
artifact from him. In a few seconds you will find yourself forced to face
the
level’s "boss", a Heavy-Armored Skaarj.
/-------------------------------------\
New Enemy: Skaarj (Heavy-Armored)
Description: Slightly larger than normal Skaarj covered head to toe in
metal armor, Heavy-Armored Skaarj are the premier Skaarj forces and are
potentially much more dangerous than other Skaarj are. Unlike lighter
Skaarj, Heavy-Armored ones are slow and tend to rely on brute force.
Attacks: Heavy-Armored Skaarj have three attacks. They can fire blue
energy bolts one after another rapidly for a string of five shots, each
doing damage comparable to the shots fired by Medium-Armored Skaarj,
although the shots are faster moving. They can also fire huge, red,
slow-moving energy bolts that explode massively on contact, doing at
least
as much damage as an entire string of 5 blue energy bolts together would
do (assuming that it hits you directly). They can also slash with their
arm blades, but due to their lack of speed and inability to dive they
rarely do slash and, strangely, their arm blades do no more damage than
Medium Skaarj's blades do.
Tips and Tactics: You absolutely cannot afford to be hit by red energy
bolts. you can tell a Heavy-Armored Skaarj is about to fire one because
he
brings his hands together for about half a second in preparation. Keep
some distance from Heavy-Armored Skaarj if possible or else it will be
very difficult to dodge all of their blue bolts. Otherwise, just pound
them with your heaviest weapons that are well-suited for your current
range. Heavy-Armored Skaarj will not block Assault Rifle fire, but I
assume that’s because it does so little damage to them that they could
care less. Heavy-Armored Skaarj take about as much damage to kill as 3
Medium-Armored Skaarj combined; on Medium difficulty they take about 75
Assault Rifle hits or 5 direct hits with Fragmentation Grenades to kill.
Some weapons that work particularly well include Toxic Gas Grenades,
since
Heavy-Armored Skaarj are too slow to get out of gas clouds until it’s
often too late, the Magnum Pistol, since their speed makes them such easy
targets at longer ranges, and Rocket Launchers, since you can directly
hit Heavy-Armored Skaarj at medium to long range without locking on
first.
Heavy-Armored Skaarj are immune to the disorienting effects of Incendiary
attacks.
\-------------------------------------/
I’d suggest sticking close to the generator’s core and shooting a Grenade at
the Heavy-Armored Skaarj, then ducking behind cover a and repeating the
process. This will eventually kill the enemy, and if you run out of Frag
Grenades you can substitute Rifle-Launched Grenades from Trigger 2 of your
Assault Rifle. The best part is that the generator core is circular, so
you’ll
never get backed against a wall and have to quickly think of another
strategy!
Once you’ve killed the Heavy-Armored Skaarj, look for an opening in the
column
at the center of the generator and go inside. Use the lift to get back up to
the surface.
/-------------------------------------\
Plot Point/Spoiler Alert:
Marines arrive, touching down in their dropship. After running to meet
you, they commend you for your work and take the artifact, commenting
that
it doesn’t look like much. They then leave you with a warning that the
area is “still plenty hot”.
\-------------------------------------/
-----------------------------------------------------------
6C: Swamp (Sanctuary Revisited)
-----------------------------------------------------------
Mission Opening: You are informed that the marines you gave the artifact to
at
the end of your last mission were shot down while leaving the planet. They
crashed in a forest on the far side of the planet. They still have the
artifact
and they have set up a defensive perimeter to hold their position. It is now
your job to find the marines and escort them to a clearing big enough to
land
the Atlantis and evacuate. Beacons have been set up to help guide you to
their
current position.
6C-1: Speedship Crash Site
--------------------------
The swamp contains numerous alien animals, such as Seagoats (small greenish
hopping creatures) and Rammers (dinosaur-looking bipedal creatures).
Although
these animals are capable of hurting you, they won’t as long as you don’t
hurt
them first, so don’t. If you accidentally fire at one and engage it in a
fight,
the Dispersion Pistol is probably sufficient to kill it. None of the alien
animals do very much damage and they all have to touch you directly to do
any.
Head forward from the front of your dropship and look around until you find
the
first beacon on the ground. Line yourself up with the beam that it casts and
follow it straight forward until you see another beacon. Then line yourself
up
with that and go forward again. After the 5th beacon and final you’ll have
to
head off to the right a little from where it indicates to find the clearing
the
marines are in. Find it and talk to the marines there, saying anything you
want
(your choices won’t affect anything). Essentially you’ll end up learning
that
the Skaarj shot them down, that they already know where a larger clearing is
and that they are all alive. You tell them that the entire Atlantis will be
coming down, which surprises them. Pick up the powerups; there are a small
treasure trove of them here, including:
-An Assault Rifle and a box of ammo for it
-A Shotgun and a box of shells for it
-Two health pickups
-Three energy pickups
There are 3 Marines in the clearing: 2 Light-Armored Marines with Combat
Assault Rifles and 1 Medium-Armored Marine with a Shotgun. Their armor
doesn’t
matter, though. The key to your strategies when fighting alongside these
marines is realizing that they are invincible. No amount of injury will ever
kill any of them. Follow them as they run towards the larger clearing. While
you are approaching 2 boulders, positioned to the left and right of a strip
of
land, a marine will say to you, “Shhh… Something’s out there; get down.” I’d
suggest taking this opportunity to jump up on top of the boulder on the left
and look out for enemies. About 8 or so Izarians will soon attack you. Fight
them with your Assault Rifle as usual while the Marines below tie them up on
ground level. As you continue to fight Izarians throughout the level, if you
are running out of Assault Rifle ammo, either get behind the Marines and
just
provide some “cover fire” with your Dispersion Pistol or switch to your
Shotgun. The Shotgun is a bit overkill for Izarians, but you should have
plenty
of ammunition for it as long as you don’t use it very much.
Continue following the Marines; you have a couple more encounters to go. The
next one pits you against 2 or 3 Izarians while you’re under a rock
formation
forming a tunnel over you. Don’t stay fighting in this corridor for long;
there
isn’t sufficient room to maneuver. After killing them, you will soon be
attacked by 8 Izarians at once, coming both from in front of you and behind.
Just stay alive here and stay on the defensive most of the time; the Marines
will take care of most of the enemies before they get to you.
Continue fighting your way forward through one more major encounter with a
good dozen or so Izarians. After that you and the marines will reach the
second
clearing. Grab the powerups in another little treasure trove of them here;
you’ll find the following:
-An Assault Rifle and a box of Rifle ammo
-A Shotgun and a box of shells
-Three health pickups
-An energy recharging station.
While you’re grabbing the goodies the Marines will start to set up a
defensive
perimeter. Basically the clearing is a curved area with 2 entrances, each of
which has a boulder on either side of it framing a corridor to enter
through.
The Marines will block that corridor on each side with Plasma fields and set
up
Auto Turrets, one at each entrance, on the boulders. You won’t receive much
of
a description in-game about how these defenses work until a later level, so
here’s a quick run-down of their features:
The Plasma fields are generated between generator poles in the ground and
absorb all damage from weapons fired into them for quite a while. It takes
about 50 Assault Rifle rounds or 2 Fragmentation Grenades to break through a
Plasma barrier. They can be destroyed a lot quicker with EMPs, but luckily
the
Izarians are too stupid to figure that out. If the generators were put into
the
ground by allies (as in this case), you can pass through them by walking up
to
the field, hitting the “use” button and walking through, and it will resume
activity behind you. Enemies have to destroy the field to get through,
though.
Auto Turrets constantly scan for enemies in a 90 degree field in front of
them.
They fire what’s essentially a Trigger 1 Combat Assault Rifle at enemies,
but
they won’t fire at whoever set them up or on any of his allies. They take
around 30 Assault Rifle rounds or 2 Fragmentation Grenades to blow up, and
they’re also weak against EMP blasts (again, Izarians don’t know).
You will receive a message from Aida telling you that her ship will touch
down
in 5 minutes. She’ll continue to warn you every minute, and then again at 30
seconds. All you need to do here is survive until she arrives. Keep in mind
that the Marines never die! If you’re getting low on life, back away and let
them pick up the heat. You have a few main options as to how you want to
defend
the clearing against the onslaught that will soon arrive. You could go to
either entrance area, get up on one of the boulders and fire on anything
that
comes at you. Or you could stay somewhere in the middle and wait for enemies
to
breech the barriers and get to you (which is actually not a bad idea;
remember,
this is all about survival, not actually defending the area from intrusion).
I’d suggest either the latter idea or going to the entrance to your right,
relative to the direction you’d be facing if you went to the powerup area
and
turned facing away from the powerups. The other entry area has little room
to
maneuver if you get up on one of the boulders. On the opposite side, getting
onto a boulder works to your advantage; you have a height advantage, and you
can fall back to the edge of the boulder and duck when you need to reload
and
no enemies can hit you. Of course on either side you can also step through
the
Plasma barrier, fight enemies, and fall back through it when you need to,
but
you’ll have to face Skaarj head-on, giving them a chance to slash you with
their arm blades, and you’ll have to turn your back on the enemy to pass
through the plasma barrier.
Make your choice as to where to station yourself and wait for the enemies to
arrive. At first it’ll just be a few Izarians; nothing tough. But later
Skaarj
will come, first one, then a break, then one a while later, and eventually a
couple almost simultaneously. The Marines will run around mostly in the
middle
area, fighting and shouting various battle phrases. If you need health or
shields, you can return to the power up area for them. If you run out of
ammo
for the Assault Rifle, I’d use the Shotgun on Izarians. Frag Grenades are
best
against Skaarj, unless they get close to you… then just fall back while
using
the Shotgun. This whole fight shouldn’t be too tough. When the five minutes
are
up, the level ends.
/-------------------------------------\
Plot Point/Spoiler Alert:
Skaarj growl at the Marines and you from atop a boulder, having breeched
your position, and Izarians swarm about. Suddenly, the Atlantis arrives,
its thrusters blazing as it begins to touch down. The Skaarj fire on it
innefectively, and the Atlantis returns fire, killing them immediately.
Aida says, “Someone call for a taxi? More on the way, let’s get out of
here. Move it, let’s go!” Dalton and the Marines begin evacuating… and
the
camera centers in on a lone Seagoat.
\-------------------------------------/
-----------------------------------------------------------
6D: Hell
-----------------------------------------------------------
Mission Opening: Responding to a distress call from a group of scientists at
a
remote weapons research facility on the bleak ice-covered moon known as
Hell,
your dropship touches down. You have no information about what incited the
distress call, but you do know that the research facility is underground
with
an entrance at the end of a long bridge.
6D-1: Descent
-------------
As soon as the mission starts, the facility and bridge will be in plain view
a
fairly short distance away. Some of the alien animals on this planet are
hostile, so don’t hesitate to waste them from a distance with your
Dispersion
Pistol.
When you reach the bridge and start to cross it you'll notice parked in the
middle of the bridge is a huge, sleeping, boar-like animal called a Mukhog!
This is a potentially dangerous enemy and there are 2 ways to go about
crossing the bridge.
1: Walk up close to the sleeping Mukhog and carefully walk, do *not* run,
alongside it without touching it. You'll be able to cross the
bridge
without waking it up.
2: Fight the Mukhog. This enemy is probably worth using your Combat
Assault Rifle rather than your Dispersion Pistol on; it
can take a fair amount of punishment. Fall back as it attempts to
charge at you and fire until it groans, slumps against the ground
and
dies.
Advance to the end of the bridge and pass through the portal into an
elevator-like chamber that will take you down into the facility.
An automated voice message will tell you, “Welcome to Elysium research
facility. Have your green identification badge displayed at all times.” Aida
and Dalton will exchange a few snide remarks, in which Aida informs you that
she’ll hack the security systems and you have no need to worry. When you
arrive
at the bottom, head through the door in front of you and keep going.
Suddenly,
plasma barriers will engage themselves, trapping you in a small chamber. A
weapons scan will run, generate a 3-D hologram of your power armor,
determine
that you are carrying weapons and set off an alarm. Automated defenses will
activate. Aida will end up hacking the security system just in time, though
(huge surprise there). Continue forward through the circular door at the end
of
the hall.
6D-2: Discovery
---------------
You will now be standing on a grated balcony in a huge room with 2 doors to
your left and workstations, a huge but broken display screen and a large
fire
on the ground level of the room, below you. The second door on your left
will
not function (yet), so go to the first and take the lift behind it down to
ground level. Among the wreckage and chaos on the main floor are 2 dead
scientists and a dead Kai (a peaceful, nomadic race of intelligent humanoid
aliens that become important toward the end of the game). You’ll also find
your
first Flamethrower, complete with 120 “rounds” of ammunition! Despite the
fact
that weapons are forbidden to non-scientists in the research facility,
you’ll
find that the scientists here are armed to the teeth. Grab the gun and head
through the circular gate up ahead. Go forward through the hall, passing
through 2 more gates and you’ll end up in a room with another gate on the
left
and your path in front of you blocked by another huge fire. Go through the
gate, into a room with 4 medical stations. Two of the stations have dead
scientists laying in them, and operating the stations with the “use” button
will only play you the sound of a flatline heartbeat monitor. Another
medical
station has a dead Kai laying on it. The fourth station has a scientist
laying
on it who is only injured and still moving. Operate the medical station and
a
"healing light" of some sort will “scan” his body, reviving him somehow.
/-------------------------------------\
Plot Point/Spoiler Alert:
After you revive the scientist, he and Dalton exchange words. John Dalton
identifies himself and the scientist, whose name is “Jenson”, does the
same. He informs you that all the other scientists are dead, that after
an
alarm went off he barricaded a door, and that there was an explosion that
injured him and other scientists. He crawled back to the medical station
but passed out before he could operate the "healing light" (see above).
He
says he can still walk and that he will help you get past the fire in the
“ops area” that blocked your path towards the beginning of part 2 of the
level (Discovery). He says to bypass it you’ll need to go through a
control room, which he has the security code for. The two of you set off
for the control room.
\-------------------------------------/
Head back to the lift up to the second floor. When you are nearing the lift,
you will receive a message from Aida that there are some sort of life forms
up
ahead. Go up the lift with Dr. Jenson and go through the second gate on that
floor, which previously was inoperable. In the control room, you’ll find a
box
of Rifle ammo to your right and a set of audio log controls on the control
boards. Run them.
/-------------------------------------\
Plot Point/Spoiler Alert:
The last audio log plays. A distressed scientists says “Help, emergency!
This is Elysium, we need military support. The experiments went bad; some
of them got out and now they’re everywhere. We built a blockade but don’t
know how long it’ll last. Please send help!” Another scientist than says,
“They’re coming through!” “Those containers are flammable!” replies the
first. The other one persists: “Come on, you bastards, eat flame!” An
explosion and shouts can then be heard in the background.
\-------------------------------------/
Keep going into the next area. Pass up the next door here and keep going all
the way down the grated balcony. You’ll find another Flamethrower and some
Shotgun shells at the end. *Now* go through the door that you passed up and
down the lift behind it. Keep going through the next gate into the next
room,
with Dr. Jenson following you all the while. Just for the record, you don’t
need Jenson anymore, so if you lose him somehow, don’t worry about it. This
next room, however, has dead scientists laying everywhere, prompting Jenson
(if he’s still with you) to be a whiny nuisance. You should be able to hear
a
creaking sound, foreshadowing danger in the next room. Continue on to the
next
room and watch the grating in the ceiling on the right side of the room.
Before
you know it, it’ll bust through and Araknids will start pouring out into the
room. Here’s a quick rundown on Araknids:
/-------------------------------------\
New Enemies: Light and Medium Araknids
Description: Light Araknids are quick-moving and aggressive yellow
spiders
that tend to attack in huge hordes. Medium Araknids are colored in
obnoxious neon reds and oranges, are much larger than Light Araknids
(more
along the lines of Skaarj in size), and are just aggressive as their
smaller relations.
Attacks: Light Araknids can only attack by crawling right up to you and
stabbing you with their sharp-ended legs. This does almost no damage, but
repeated hits by groups of Light Araknids can add up. Medium Araknids
have
two attacks. They can do a similar close-up attack that does more damage,
or they can leap at you, cutting you with their legs on contact.
Tips and Tactics: Light Araknids can be killed in one hit from any
weapon.
If they aren’t accompanied by Medium Araknids, the Dispersion Pistol is
generally sufficient; its second trigger can even kill small groups of
them in one shot. If you are being overwhelmed by Light Araknids up
close,
a jet or two of fire from the Flamethrower can do wonders to waste them
quickly. Medium Araknids are tougher to put down; they take about 15
Assault Rifle rounds or a Fragmentation Grenade. A Flamethrower can do
wonders on them, too, requiring just a couple quick jets of flame and
some
time. Also, a single Trigger 2 shot from the Shotgun at an almost close
enough range to ignite yourself can put one down in one shot. This works
well if they jump at you; if a Medium Araknid dies in midair, then
crashes
into you, you will not be harmed. In open areas, jumping lets Medium
Araknids get close to you in a hurry, so once they spot you don’t get
careless, even if they seem distanced. Also, if you can dodge a leaping
Medium Araknid, they’ll take a second to recover and attack again
afterwards, opening them up to a Rifle-Launched or conventional grenade
or a Shotgun blast. Between the Light Araknid’s ability to climb over
almost any obstacle and the Medium Araknid’s jumping ability, hiding or
sneaking into an out of the way area usually won’t do much good. Falling
back while firing is usually good, though; Light Araknids in particular
can’t move any faster than you do. One last thing to keep in mind is that
as mobile as they may be, Araknids are too stupid to open doors. You can
occasionally use this to your advantage.
\-------------------------------------/
Right here you’ll face 10 Light and 2 Medium Araknids at once. Against
combinations such as this, the Flamethrower often works very well. Just make
sure you only fire short, brief jets of flame so that you don’t eat through
napalm too quickly. You have plenty of open space behind you, so you may
want
to run backwards while firing at the advancing Araknids. If you do this and
react quickly enough to the onslaught, you may be able to pull this area off
unharmed using your Assault Rifle. In any case, once you’ve defeated the
Araknids in this area, go through the next hallway, past more dead bodies.
You’ll hear a hissing sound coming from the next room. The next room will
pit
you in a very similar fight, this time against about 4 Light and 2 Medium
Araknids. In fact, almost every encounter in this level will be pretty
similar,
and literally every one will be against spiders, so I sure hope you like
‘em!
The next area has some Shotgun shells next to a grate. The next room after
that
has about 15 or Light Araknids and about 4 Medium ones; a fairly serious
battle, actually. Note the explosive cylinder up ahead; it’s powerful and
can
easily take out a Medium Araknid and a couple Light ones as they pass by.
After
you’ve laid waste to all the Arachnids here (falling back while fighting is,
again, very useful here, and keep moving!) you’ll need to go through another
door into an area that has about 13 Light Araknids to face. By now you
should
generally be able to handle Light Araknids alone with your Dispersion
Pistol,
but Hell’s Rambo-scientists do supply you with plenty of ammunition so don’t
sweat it too much. After they’re all done with, head forward more through a
gate to enter the next area.
6D-3: Desolation
---------------
You will arrive in a large room, dominated by a cylindrical industrial
device
at the center. Moving around it, you will see 2 doors- one opposite the
entrance that can’t be opened and another to the right of it. When you open
the
door to the right a stream of 8 or 10 Light Araknids will attack. Stand your
ground there and you should be able to pick them off before they reach you.
A
distance away you’ll see 3 Medium Araknids. They may be far away at the
time,
but remember that they can jump. I recommend that you start shooting them
with
either trigger of the Assault Rifle as soon as possible, assuming the small
spiders have been taken care of. Advance and you’ll find yourself on another
grated balcony above what is essentially a bottomless pit. Another
cylinder-shaped device in the center (this time a laser-generator looking
thing) forces the balcony to wind around in a circle.
As you advance into the new area, Dalton informs Aida about the “high-energy
ion beam”. She wonders why they’d need that much power and that she’ll see
“what I can pry out of Axon” (a company allied to the TCA military that
researches weapons and provides intel). The gate to the next area is to the
right, but first go around to the opposite side of the room from the entry
door
and pick up an Assault Rifle and a box of ammo for it from next to a dead
scientist. Then go through the gate and up a lift to an even higher balcony.
This floor sticks to the same circular design and has 2 Medium Araknids to
your
immediate right. Take them out quickly with the Shotgun or Flamethrower and
continue on forward, making sure to grab the health pickup and energy
pickups.
You can now go either left or right. To your left is a stream of “plasma
gas”
blocking your way, and if you go near it Aida will tell you that you need to
find a way to vent it or blow it away from the grated path, which continues
on
behind it. Disregard the fact that the existence of “plasma gas” is a
physical
impossibility and head right. You’ll run into an odd opening in the wall
that
looks like a stationary airplane propeller. Crouch and begin crawling up the
narrow corridor beyond it.
As you start to reach the top, you’ll find yourself in an air duct with the
path to the left blocked. You’ll be immediately attacked by 5 Light
Araknids,
but that shouldn’t be much of a problem. In fact, it would be no problem
except
that Dalton then has to go and say, “Heh. Little buggers… they ain’t so
bad.”
Of course this jinxes him, automatically ensuring that he will soon be
attacked
by an overwhelming swarm of them. I’d recommend dealing with the
soon-to-arrive
horde of 20+ Light Araknids in one of 2 ways: Either 1, line yourself up
with
the entrance to the duct and start firing Trigger 2 blasts from your
Dispersion
Pistol at the skittering crowd in the distance, then firing Trigger 1 and
backing down into the previous room as they get closer. Once you’re out of
the
air duct entirely you’ll have all the space you’ll need to continually back
up
while firing. The other option, for those of you with a little less
patience,
is to bring out the big weapons; more specifically, your Flamethrower. In
such
a confined area the Flamethrower is extremely efficient against them.
Once the Light Araknids are dead, continue forward and around the corner.
You
may soon be attacked by a stray Araknid or 2 in the next stretch of air duct
but nothing significant is waiting for you… except for the solution to the
“plasma gas” problem. A set of ventilation controls are located on the right
side of the passageway. With the push of a button a fan will activate,
sucking
away enough of the toxic/caustic/fictional plasma gas for you to get by. To
save some time, now you can just blast the glass in front of you and jump
back
down- it’ll shatter in one shot from anything.
Carefully pass through the previously-blocked corridor. You’ll run into a
scientist, who will say, “Thank God you’re here!” Those will be his final
words, as a spofre pod fires out at him from a glob of slime and covers him
in
tiny spiders. Dalton than says, “Great, something else to look out for.”
Indeed
there is. The level will feature oodles of those things in it from now on.
Luckily, whereas they instantly killed the scientist, they hardly do
anything
to you, and often miss entirely. Still, when you see them, give ‘em a pop of
your Dispersion Pistol or Assault Rifle, and be aware that they’ll often be
located in places that are tough to spot. I won’t point them all out because
they’re a minor threat and there are LOTS of the little things.
Head through the next door. You’ll run into 2 Medium and 3 Light Araknids
here.
Since it’s a narrow corridor as well as mixed enemies, the Flamethrower is a
good choice of weapons for this conflict. There should be a crate around
here
with a napalm canister; grab it and round the corner. Down the hall, grab a
Shotgun from next to another dead scientist. Then, before heading further
down
the hall, go through a door to your left. You’ll find a stockpile of
weapons,
some shelves and a huge number of slime pods in this room. Some of them will
shoot spores at you while others will soon hatch and Light Araknids will
emerge. Shoot every slime pod and Araknid you see until you feel safe
traversing the room. Grab all the weapons now; they should consist of the
following:
-Two boxes of Shotgun shells
-A Shotgun
-Two boxes of Assault Rifle rounds (one is on a crate behind a shelf on
the
right side of the room)
-An Assault Rifle
-Two health pickups
-Two energy pickups
-A Dispersion Pistol. Why, I have absolutely no idea, but it’s there.
Don’t
expect anything to happen when you grab it.
Grab your goodies and head back out into the hall.
A jet of flame shooting out of a broken pipe somewhat blocks your path, but
if
you crouch down you can get under it. You might want to save first just in
case
because it will hurt you very rapidly. Don’t stop as you pass under it
because
an out-of-the-way slime pod will fire a spore at you but as long as you’re
moving it shouldn’t hit you. Keep progressing forward; you’ll face a few
more
Araknids, both Light and Medium. Eventually you’ll reach a door leading out
into another circular balcony area. As soon as you go through the door
you’ll
be attacked by a swarm of Light Araknids that seems to just keep coming and
coming. About 16 total will attack; the trick here is to just wait at the
entryway and not go out into the room, where you can be surrounded or
overwhelmed with little time to notice the Araknids gathering. I’d start the
fight using your Dispersion pistol and switch to the Assault Rifle or
Flamethrower if you find it insufficient.
Once those guys are done with, pick up the Assault Rifle ammo to the right
and
head through the next door. You’ll find more goodies here, specifically 2
boxes
of Assault Rifle ammo, an energy pickup and another pointless Dispersion
Pistol. Head up the stairway and you’ll find yourself in a huge room with
more
than a dozen slime pods on the ground. Several Light Araknids will come
skittering towards you; a few more at least will hatch out of slime pods.
Keep
wasting ‘em, and start destroying all the slime pods with your Dispersion
Pistol to make it safe to cross the room. As you’re doing this Dalton will
say
to Aida, “Good God, is this where they’re all coming from?” She replies that
there aren’t enough pods and none of them are big enough for the larger
Araknids. Sooner or later the 1 Medium Araknid in the room (which is toward
the
back and may be out of your immediate line of sight) will start heading
toward
you. It will probably leap at you, which causes a dilemma since you may
still
be dealing with Slime Pods when it does. My suggestion is to fire at him
from
across the room with your Assault Rifle and dodge if he jumps. When he lands
he’ll be perfectly set up for the Rifle-Launched Grenade or 2 that will
finish
him off. However you go about clearing out the room, before you head up the
stairs afterwards, check off to the side of them in the darkened corner of
the
room. Behind some crates are a box of Assault Rifle ammo, a box of Shotgun
shells and a box of Frag Grenades. Also, be aware that a Medium Araknid may
skitter down the stairs when you get close to them; whip out a Shotgun or
Flamethrower and wax him.
Atop the stairs you’ll encounter a few more Light Araknids and a few more
Medium ones as well, so have your weapon of choice for mixed Araknid fights
ready ahead of time. On the left side of the room is a gate, but before you
head through it grab some Shotgun shells off the floor near the dead
scientist
(also near the gate). A Medium Araknid’s not far past the gate; have
something
ready for close-quarters combat. You’re now on a massive set of walkways.
Head
left first to get to several power ups and watch out for Light Araknids that
might come at you from the right side of the walkways. To the left you’ll
find
napalm, a Shotgun, more Fragmentation Grenades and an energy pickup. To the
right, after clearing out the few Light Araknids in your way you’ll find a
box
of Shotgun ammo, a box of Assault Rifle ammo and 2 health pickups. Get to
the
portal at the end of the right walkway and go through.
After opening the portal, you’ll soon run into another Medium and a few more
Light Araknids. As soon as you take them out Dalton says to Aida, “Damn,
these
things are tough. I’ve never seen anything like them!” Aida informs you that
nobody has. Presumably from Axon, she found out that the Araknid’s DNA (I
have
no idea how she got a sample of it, but apparently she did) is unknown and
new.
Basically, you’re fighting a mutant species. Continue on down the hall,
through the door to another elevator sort of device, like the one you took
down
to the weapons research facility toward the beginning of the mission. Go
into
it and on to the next part of Hell.
6D-4: Disclosure
----------------
The area you arrive in features 2 doors. One is a 3-sectioned electronic
gate,
which Aida will tell you has been locked and can be opened from “the control
room” (she doesn’t bother mentioning where it is, but luckily this is a very
linear level). The other door is the entrance to a lift. As you take it up
you’ll receive a message that you’re entering the “Materials Laboratory”. To
the right of this area is another lift, which leads into a shattered,
impassible area that would otherwise enter the control room. Since that’s
not
an option, and the 3 gates in front of you are impassible, there is one
other,
rather obvious option: go through the huge hole torn in the wall in front of
you and off to the right. Doing so will require that you duck down, so go
ahead
and do it.
The next area is huge and rather bizarre. The hole room is a mess, filled
with
barely passable debris. To complicate matters further, a huge, activated
laser
is sitting in the room, firing a continuous laser beam that reflects off of
certain chunks of debris and has burned straight through others. It
criss-crosses through the room many times over, and it will drain away your
health and energy very quickly if you touch it. I’d recommend that you save
now
and regularly as you traverse this room. There are specific paths you can
follow to pass safely through the room, evading the laser, navigating the
debris, grabbing powerups and eventually getting on a fallen beam that leads
up into the control room. Before I explain exactly how to do all of this,
there’s a secret to getting straight to the control room very quickly and
with
no risk. It’s up to you whether you want to or not; if you do, you can
deactivate the laser from the control room and come back for the goodies, so
it’s just a matter of whether you want the fun and fulfillment of doing it
the
“right way” or not. If you hate jumping puzzles and want to just get back to
the shooting, try this: find the diagonally-tilted fallen column to the
right
of the hole you enter through that ends by passing through the glass viewing
window of the control room above; the column obviously crashed through the
glass when it fell. Once you’ve found it, find the point on it that you can
see
from where you’re standing that’s lowest to the ground. Get up alongside it,
right up close, touching the crumpled black debris that the fallen column
has
crashed over. Jump up and hold the jump button to vault yourself up. It is
possible to grab the edge of the fallen column and pull yourself up onto it.
It
may take several tries, especially if you’ve never done it before or seen it
done before, but it’s definitely doable. If you can do that, head up into
the
control room and skip the next paragraph of this guide. If you don’t want
to,
here’s how to make it through the room the “right” way:
I explain things step by step here rather than item by item or place by
place
how to get around here because, as you’ll soon see, there is a linear
progression of places you can get to, a very specific path to follow to get
to
each next item or area within this maze of lasers. First of all, from where
you
come out after passing through the hole in the wall, head left as far as you
can until you run into a few streams of the laser’s beam. To your right are
2
black blocks. If you advance between them, where you’ll see a yellow fixture
on
the ground in front of you that looks like a huge stand to put a Christmas
tree
in, just turn left and some Shotgun shells are waiting right in front of
you.
Now head back to where the first set of lasers were and hop the one in front
of
you (in front while you’re facing with the locked gates to your left) so
that
you’ll find yourself surrounded by lasers. Hop another one close to ground
level and then duck under another; keep progressing forward. Once you get
past
the initial lasers, head off to the left, towards the wall with the locked
gates, and around the corner created by a piece of metal stuck in the ground
that previously blocked your way. There should be a health pickup next to a
locked gate. Grab it. Now turn your back to the gate and advance forward,
carefully, until you see a health pickup and an energy pickup just to your
left. Grab them. Keep going forward (forward while facing with the wall to
your
left and gates way behind you) until the laser is visible to your right and
there’s and oddly shaped grey block to your left and a bit in front of you.
Jump and vault on top of it, continue forward and jump up to the next block
and
grab a pack of Frag Grenades. Turn to your right, so that walls are to your
left and behind you and the laser’s in front of you. Hop down and advance
forward, ducking under 2 lasers in front of you, until you get to the edge
of a
pit of molten metal. DO NOT touch the metal; it will kill you at least as
quickly as the lasers do. To your left, you’ll see a black block up against
the
wall; hop onto it. From there (and you might want to save now), hop onto the
shiny, silver block in the middle of the pit of molten metal. Hold the jump
button in case you don’t quite make it and need to vault. Then, facing in
the
same direction, jump to the next block and the next after that. You’ll now
be
on a pale-colored block with a laser reflecting off of it. You’ll notice a
huge
number of criss-crossing lasers in front of you. Walk onto the greenish
block
to your right. Then turn left, facing the direction you were facing before.
You’ll notice a gap in front of you, a safe-spot big enough to stand and not
be
sliced up by lasers. Jump in there. Turn slightly left, where there’s a
brownish block with a laser coming through a hole in it. Duck past the
laser,
walk past another one, jump a ground-level one, and you should end up
against a
wall and next to a silvery or light grey reflective block. Vault onto that
block, then head over to the energy pickup that you should now see. Next,
turn
facing towards the wall with the gates in it, the wall way in front of you
that
you entered this God-forsaken mess of a room through. Drop down to ground
level. Jump over a laser in front of you and hop up onto a grey block laying
on
its side. Keep heading forwards, ducking a few lasers until you can get to
you
get to yet another health pickup. Still crouching, head around the grey
monolith with no lasers touching it until you reach a block on its side
heading
up to the control room! There is one more powerup you can get before you
head
up though, if you’re interested, and it doesn’t involve lasers (unless you
fall). Partway up the fallen column, turn right and move onto a black block.
Keep jumping forward from here, heading to higher and higher blocks. You’ll
have to make a right turn to get to the highest block; jump up onto it. Grab
the napalm canister there, then head back to the fallen column heading up to
the control room. And thank goodness that’s over with!
In the control room, there are two switches you can hit. One shuts down the
laser, and the other is a lockdown override switch that unlocks all the
gates
in the level. Although the laser control button is very useful, the lockdown
override is absolutely necessary- don’t miss it. Head back down once you’ve
hit
them, grab any powerups you might not have gotten yet in the
laser-jumping-puzzle-from-Hell room and retrace your steps back all the way
to
the room where you began the “Disclosure” phase of the mission (i.e. where
the
last huge elevator took you to, with one working door and one nonfunctional
gate). Go through the newly unlocked gate.
The next area presents you with 3 Light and 2 Medium Araknids; finally, some
more fighting! You probably have tons of Fragmentation Grenades now, so use
a
couple of them, the Flamethrower, or whatever you deem appropriate- at this
point you’re probably a master of fighting Araknids, given the repetition of
the fights. Keep going down the hall and through the gate at the end.
You’ll now be on a circular balcony over a gargantuan generator. Start
heading
right and you’ll get a message from Aida.
/-------------------------------------\
Plot Point/Spoiler Alert:
Aida contacts you to inform you of what’s going on at the facility with
the ion beams and the artifact. According to her, a high energy ion beam
has been passed through an artifact to test its properties. Now all you
need to find out is how the spiders came about…
\-------------------------------------/
At the end of the balcony is a box of Assault Rifle ammo, a box of Shotgun
shells and a gate. Through the gate is a spacious hallway where you’ll
encounter 2 Medium and 5 Light Araknids. Blast ‘em… you know how by now. As
you
advance down the hall, keep an eye out for slime pods; there are a fair
number
of them around. Pick up 3 boxes of Shotgun shells while you’re here and
advance
through the gate at the end of the hallway.
You’ll now be in *another* cylinder or circle-shaped room. There are slime
pods
to look out for on the walls and toxic waste canisters set up against some
of
the walls. You’ll run into at least 1 Medium Araknid here. A note about the
toxic waste canisters: setting them off basically generates the same kind of
explosion as a Toxic Gas Grenade; it lingers for a while. Additionally, it
will
spill green waste out onto the floor around it that will last longer than
the
gas cloud but not forever, and will damage you or an Araknid if either of
you
step on it. Use the canisters to your advantage if you can (basically the
exact
same way as other explosives). When you’ve cleared the room out, ride the
lift
up.
As you enter the next area, you’ll receive an automated message that you’re
“now entering (the) atmospherics laboratory”. Grab the Shotgun shells in
here.
You’ll see a lift and 3 gates here, and the gates are sealed. They’re the
only
gates that couldn’t be opened from the control room you made your way into.
Go
up the lift and you’ll arrive in a new control room, complete with 5
separate
buttons to control the chambers in front of you. A viewing window lets you
see
the chambers beyond the sealed gates. A plasma beam in the center chamber
blocks a passage in the ground; Araknids are contained in all the chambers.
Aida now tells you that to progress further into the facility you must now
turn
off the plasma beam and go down into the chamber in the floor that it is
being
projected through.
The five controls are:
-Bulkhead lockdown override: Opens all three gates on the lower floor.
-Plasma beam controls: Shuts down the plasma beam in the center chamber.
-Left side chamber pressure control: Causes the Araknids in the left side
chamber to explode.
-Center chamber pressure control: Sucks away what I can only assume is
“plasma gas” left behind after the plasma beam is shut down.
-Right side chamber pressure control: Has no useful effect.
Hit all five buttons and head back down the lift. Enter the center chamber
and
drop down through the opening in the center of the room.
You’ll now be in a very narrow corridor, a pipeline essentially. You’ll be
forced to crouch to advance through it. Start making your way across. About
a
dozen Light Araknids will attack you along the way, but only about 4 at a
time,
and between that and the enclosed area they’ll be moving through they should
give you no problems. At the end of the pipeline are left and right hatch
controls. The left control is busted, so operate the right and go through
the
hatch. Drop down the hole here.
You’ll be in another huge, cylinder shaped balcony. Advance right; you’ll
soon
run into a couple Light and a couple Medium Araknids. At the end of the
balcony
is a Shotgun and a box of Assault Rifle ammo on the ground. There’s also a
dead
scientist here, and if he didn’t try to load rifle ammunition into a Shotgun
he
might still be alive. Go through the gate here into the next area and enter
a
long hallway with more mixed Araknids. Through the next gate you’ll enter
one
last huge, cylinder shaped balcony. This one surrounds a huge device
generating
some sort of bubbles. Face another couple of Araknids and head through the
door
and up the lift at the end of the area.
Arriving in the next room, you’ll be alerted by an automatic message that
you’re “now entering (the) Biological Lab” and that there is a containment
breech. There are 3 gates here, but like in the atmospherics lab they’re
shut
down. Head up a lift here into a control room almost exactly like the one in
the atmospherics lab. A peak out the viewing window and a message from Aida
now
answer the question of how the Araknids came about completely.
/-------------------------------------\
Plot Point/Spoiler Alert:
Looking out the viewing window on the 3 chambers below you, you can see
Light Araknids from the left chamber moving into the middle chamber,
passing through the plasma beam, mutating into Medium Araknids and
heading
into the right chamber, where they drop through a hole in the ground.
Aida
confirms what is already apparent: the plasma beam, cast upon the
artifact, created some sort of mutation field. How the Araknids got
loose,
however, will never be known. Aida is concerned because the beam in the
center chamber has been split; it’s only a fraction of what the beam was
like originally. To get the artifact back and correct the chaos here
you’ll have to retrieve the artifact, but if anything got into the
un-split plasma beam there, what would happen to them could only be
speculated about.
\-------------------------------------/
Hit the bulkhead override switch in this room. If you’d like, there are 4
switches that unlock cages containing alien animals who, when released, will
run into the beam and mutate into much larger versions of themselves.
They’ll
then just dawdle about in the central chamber, occasionally picking a fight
with a Medium Araknid (and always winning). Next, head back down and enter
the
right side chamber. You’ll notice a huge hole torn in the ground here. Go
down
it quickly or you’ll end up having to fight a potentially never-ending wave
of
Medium Araknids. You’ll drop down onto some pipes and see a walkway with
powerups and Araknids below you and shallow, filthy water around the walkway
(it’s not poisonous or harmful water, though it looks like it could be).
There’ll be a few Light and a few Medium Araknids here and a few slime pods
on
the walkway. Start blasting enemies from the pipes, perhaps popping them
with a
Fragmentation Grenade or two, and continue down, finishing them off, and
collecting the health pickup, 2 energy pickups, Assault Rifle and Shotgun
ammo,
and Toxic Gas Grenades. Follow the tunnel down here, which looks manmade,
not
artificial. At the end of the hallway will be a drop-off into a huge,
circular
room with a gigantic ion beam cast into the center of the room. Aida will
now
contact you, saying that “The artifact is in the beam, You’ve got to shut it
down. Controls are right next to it, but be careful… something else is in
there, something huge.”
Enter the huge room. If nothings around, start running through it in one
direction grabbing all the power ups you can find. If you do see something…
/-------------------------------------\
New Enemy: Heavy/Boss Araknid
Description: The Heavy Araknid is a yellow spider-like creature bearing
exotic protrusions. It is significantly larger than Medium Araknids and
about as quick moving. It has several attacks and abilities and takes an
astounding amount of punishment to kill.
Attacks: The Heavy Araknid can stab with its front legs like all Araknids
(doing a few times as much damage as a Medium Araknid), but it can attack
you at long range in several different ways. It can leap like a Medium
Araknid, at equal speed and distance and a few times as much damage. It
will sometimes spew out four slime pods in front of it and, though they
can be shot out before they can hatch, they hatch after only a few
seconds. It can also spew several spores at you at once, each mimicking
the projectile attack that flies out of smaller slime pods. To directly
attack you from long range, the Heavy Araknid can send a shockwave out
all
around it that blows back enemies (and its own offspring) and damages
enemies as well, about as much as when he successfully jump attacks.
Tips and Tactics: Try to keep a fair distance from the Heavy Araknid most
of the time. The only way to dodge its shockwave attack is to put
something in between you and the Heavy Araknid when it sends the
shockwave
out, so keep an eye for any such protrusions. The most difficult thing
about fighting the Heavy Araknid by far is the insane amount of damage it
can take. It takes roughly 600 to 700 Assault Rifle rounds or 40
Fragmentation Grenades to kill it on Medium Difficulty, making it about
4000% tougher than a Medium Araknid! Give the thing everything you’ve
got.
The 2 weapons that will damage it the most quickly, by far, are the
Flamethrower and Toxic Gas Grenades (considering what your options will
be
when you fight the one and only one of these). When using the
Flamethrower, maintain as much of a distance as possible while still
being
close enough to immerse the Heavy Araknid in flames and HOLD DOWN Trigger
1; do not fire it in short bursts. Fire Toxic Gas Grenades from as far
back as you are accurate from, tapping (not holding) the trigger, and hit
the Heavy Araknid toward the front or middle of its body. If you run out
of those weapons, Fragmentation Grenades, the Shotgun and even Trigger 1
of the Shock Lance are good.
\-------------------------------------/
The Heavy Araknid may encounter you right away. The room contains the
following
goodies:
-A health pickup
-Three energy pickups and an energy recharging station
-An Assault Rifle and a box of ammo for it
-Two boxes of Shotgun shells
Grab as much as you can until you encounter it; if the room seems empty, go
near the ion beam and head back in the opposite direction from where you
were
going. Once you find it, start unloading on it while moving away a bit. Have
your Grenade Launcher or another powerful weapon ready. If it spits out
slime
pods, do your best to take them out before they hatch if you can, especially
if
you’re armed with your Flamethrower at the time, since you can just quickly
spray a few jets of flame at them and continue fighting the Heavy Araknid.
The
reason this is important is that if they hatch the Light Araknids will head
straight for the ion beam and turn themselves into Medium Araknids
(apparently
the beam can only create one Heavy one; go figure). This will be a long
fight;
if you’re running low on energy, maneuver away from the Heavy Araknid for a
while (shooting at long range while doing so) and look for pickups; they’re
everywhere. Be ready to dodge the Heavy Araknid’s jump attack at a moment’s
notice and then retaliate. Don’t let too many Medium Araknids pile up, and
when
you take time off from your main target to fight them, make quick work of
them
so you can return to the real fight (I’d recommend Fragmentation Grenades
against the Mediums). Keep an eye on the protruding metal machinery around
the
ion beam and any other potential cover; when the Heavy Araknid raises its’
front legs and motions to indicate that he’s about to send out a shockwave,
get
behind something. This will definitely be a drawn out battle.
Updates: Evil Man clued me in on a foolproof way of defeating the Heavy
Araknid
if you're having trouble through conventional means. In the room you fight
him
in, up against a wall in one area is a large mass of wreckage and debris
that is
just short enough to jump onto with some difficulty. It forms a rough
semi-circle against the wall with a space behind it you can drop into that
will
put you tightly between the wall and the wreckage. From here, after a short
wait, the Heavy Araknid will approach and attempt to attack you, usually
relying on his shockwave attack. As long as you stay back against the wall
it
will be impossible for him to hurt you at all! You'll have just enough space
to
lob grenades over into the Heavy Araknid. The only way you'll be prone to
damage at all is that there is a small chance of a Medium Araknid jumping at
you and landing directly on top of you, in which case you can blow him away
with a single shot of your Shotgun. Getting back out is tricky and may take
a
couple minutes of jumping and carefully walking while crouched, but it's
doable. If a straight-out battle isn't working for you, this technique is
*the
best* way of winning.
Nemesis also recently informed me of another strategy that works nearly as
well.
After entering the plasma beam room and encountering the Heavy Araknid, try
turning around and heading back up the pipes that you ran down to get into
the
room. Perched up there it's nearly impossible for enemies to hit you. The
only
things you'll need to worry about are Medium Araknids jump attacking and the
Heavy Araknid launching slime at you from below, in which case some may go
in
between 2 pipes and hit you. Firing down over the edges or through the gaps
in
between pipes under you, though, you'll be able to easily pick away at your
enemies with a bit better maneuverability than the wreckage "bunker" idea
above
allows. I still prefer the wreckage technique, but either of these tactics
will
turn this difficult battle into a cakewalk.
When the Heavy Araknid dies, it will explode dramatically, allowing you to
shut
down the ion beam using the controls on the metal stations near it and grab
the
artifact. The spider killing is finally finished. Hell is through; on with
the
rest of the game!
-----------------------------------------------------------
6E: Acheron
-----------------------------------------------------------
Mission Opening: Your dropship comes in for a landing on the planet Acheron,
where an artifact is known to be located. Acheron is covered by a single
gigantic alien organism, which is being methodically killed by terreforming
machines set up by the Izanagi corporation. Your assignment is to gather
intel
only and avoid the Ghost Warriors who serve the Izanagi corporation as
fanatical mercenaries. A Ghost Warrior on the surface is speaking to
another
about their plans to extract the artifact, which the alien organism is
clutching possessively. They go down an elevator, down through a massive
breathing tube into the interior of the organism. One other Ghost Warrior
stays
behind. As your dropship comes in for a landing, he spots it overhead and
calls
out to the other mercs in the area that an intruder has arrived. So much for
gathering intel only.
6E-1: Outside the Terreforming Plant
------------------------------------
As soon as the mission begins, Ghost Warriors in the distance will be
searching
for you. If you stay where you are, you’ll soon be attacked at a distance by
a
Light Ghost Warrior. Since there’s little to no cover near your dropship,
you
may prefer to instead run forward to the yellow industrial vehicle fairly
near
to you, taking cover behind it. Let’s assume for a second you stay still.
/-------------------------------------\
New Enemy: Light/Medium Izanagi Ghost Warrior
Description: The Ghost Warriors wear red and grey power armor with
generator boxes on their backs; Light and Medium Ghost Warriors look
almost identical. They are relatively smart; they know to keep moving as
they fight and to use available cover. They run at the same speed as you
and can use a wide variety of weaponry, all of which you use also.
Attacks: Light Ghost Warriors carry as standard equipment a Combat
Assault
Rifle and a Dispersion Pistol, and heavily favor the Assault Rifle.
Medium
Ghost Warriors use in place of that a Shotgun and a Magnum Pistol, and
heavily favor the Shotgun. They can hit you with the butts of their
weapons as well, but only do so as a last resort if you get extremely
close to them. Occasionally Ghost Warriors (usually Medium ones) will
instead carry either a Grenade Launcher or a Rocket Launcher, with no
sidearm and no ability to hit you with the weapon. When they use Grenade
Launchers they will be equipped with only one type of Grenade and will
always “hold down the trigger”, giving the Grenades delayed fuses. When
they use Rocket Launchers they will use both triggers, but will have no
target locking ability, always firing Trigger 2 mini-missiles in “drunk”
mode. (See section 4 for additional information about these weapons).
Tips and Tactics: Don’t bother counting enemy Ghost Warrior’s shots and
trying to attack them while they reload. Although they do reload from
time
to time, their “running out of ammo” happens at random; it doesn’t
correspond to the number of shots they fire. Play on the ranges of enemy
Ghost Warriors’ weapons. Attacking Medium Ghost Warriors at long range,
where their Shotguns can’t reach or can hardly reach, gives you an
advantage. Incendiary attacks work very well against Ghost Warriors since
they can’t use their skill and intelligence against you while they’re
running around on fire, screaming. Make sure that after you kill Ghost
Warriors and the area is fairly secure you run over their bodies,
“soaking
up” leftover energy from their shield generators. After a while they will
no longer be viable for getting energy from. Maintain your range from
Ghost Warriors equipped with Missiles or Grenades if possible, since
those
weapons are very easy to dodge at longer ranges. If you find it helpful,
Light Ghost Warriors take about 12 Assault Rifle rounds or 1
Fragmentation
Grenade to kill, whereas Medium Ghost Warriors take about 20-25 Assault
Rifle rounds or 2 Fragmentation Grenades.
\-------------------------------------/
There is no boss enemy for this mission, so you can afford to use Rockets
and
Grenades from time to time against Medium or even Light Ghost Warriors. Just
save some heavy weaponry for later when you start running into Heavy Ghost
Warriors (which aren’t as enduring as Heavy Skaarj and not nearly as bad as
the
Heavy Araknid, but still worthy enemies). If you stay still, the Assault
Rifle
is probably sufficient for fighting once an enemy attacks. The Magnum Pistol
is
another suitable alternative.
If you run forward to get behind the yellow industrial vehicle, head left
around it and when you get to the end of the vehicle you can jump up onto
it.
On the opposite side is a Light Ghost Warrior; once you’ve jumped onto the
vehicle he’ll soon be in sight. Blast him with something that will ignite
him
and then finish him off.
^>From there, no enemies will attack you until you come to them. Head forward
further; a stack of crates will be your next decent source of cover, so move
towards them. When you near the crate, 2 Light Ghost Warriors will begin to
attack you. These are unusual ones, though; one is armed with a Grenade
Launcher and Fragmentation Grenades and the other has a Rocket Launcher!
Don’t
panic when they start to fire; from this distance you can easily dodge their
attacks. Keep track of where the Grenades are going and keep in mind they
won’t
explode on contact. When you kill these enemies a garage-like area will open
up
with more Ghost Warriors inside. Therefore you have a couple of options
here.
One option is to take them out from a distance, while they will be having
serious trouble hitting you. The other option is to advance on them, dodging
as
you go, and kill them closer up so that when the garage opens you can be
standing right there with Flamethrower in hand (or another devastating
weapon).
To fight them from a distance, use weapons that are impossible to dodge such
as
the Assault Rifle and the Magnum Pistol. Grenades fired with a tap of the
trigger actually work pretty well too, if your aim is good enough. When you
take them out you can then head up to the next yellow industrial vehicle,
wind
around it to the left and run into the now battle-ready Ghost Warriors in
the
garage-like area. If you run forward to meet the 2 Ghost Warriors they may
switch to more standard weaponry or fall back a bit as you get close. Once
you
get near enough to them you can take them out with the Flamethrower, Trigger
2
Shotgun, Grenades or something else. Then head left of the yellow vehicle
they
were stationed at and have a Flamethrower, Shotgun or Grenade Launcher ready
immediately for when the door of the little nook there opens.
Once you clear that alcove out, enter it. There are health and energy
recharging stations, which you can come back to later for additional
charging
(until they run out of health and energy to give). There’s also your first
Rocket Launcher (except possibly the one off the body of the Ghost Warrior
that
fired Rockets at you), Rockets for it, Shotgun shells and Assault Rifle
ammo.
Leave the alcove heading left in the direction of a big rock, following the
raised, grey path. In the distance, below you and to the right, you’ll see
crates with several explosive barrels against them. Three Light Ghost
Warriors
will soon attack you, foolishly running past the crates and barrels.
Needless
to say, Assault Rifle fire at the barrels will do wonders for taking them
out.
More Rifle fire from up where you’re stationed will do well to finish off
any
survivors. Head down to them to grab their weapons, then back up to where
you
were.
Continue following the raised, grey-colored path to the left of the alcove.
Up
ahead you’ll see a huge pit with steam coming out of it; a metal ring runs
around its perimeter. Further up ahead, elevated over the pit, is a Drone
Rocket Launcher. It’s difficult to spot; it has a greenish color, and can be
most easily found at a distance by running your Assault Rifle’s targeting
reticule around and looking for it to change. Maintain your distance and
once
you’ve found the Drone, raise the reticule as high up on the Drone as
possible
without it changing back to indicate there is no longer an enemy in front of
it. Now switch to your Shock Lance, keeping the reticule in the exact same
place. You should now be able to fire an EMP from your Shock Lance that will
hit the Drone, and not hit the platform it’s on first. The EMP will do
serious
damage but not quite destroy it; either quickly fire Trigger 2 or fire,
switch
to your Assault Rifle and launch a Grenade with Trigger 2 to finish it off.
Once the first attack hits it, the drone will fire back, but from this
distance
it’s very easy to dodge Rockets.
Head forward to where the Rocket Drone was (or at least right under where it
was). You’ll see a ladder heading up to the platform the Drone was on.
Slowly
head up. As soon as you get to the top there’ll be 2 Light Ghost Warriors
waiting for you. You can climb up so that just the top of your body is
peeking
past the edge and it’ll offer you some cover. Have your Assault Rifle ready
and
fire with Trigger 1 so you don’t risk accidentally hitting the edge of the
platform and reflecting a Grenade back at yourself. Once you put them down,
head up further, onto the platform.
^>From here you can head left or right. Start out by slowly heading left out
looking out further up ahead for a Medium Ghost Warrior stationed on a crate
holding a Rocket Launcher. If you can spot him from afar, you’ll be able to
kill him before he can figure out where he’s being fired on from. A Rocket
fired at him should work well, as would headshots from the Magnum Pistol or
Assault Rifle.
Once he’s down, head to the right. Assault Rifle ammo, Shotgun shells and a
clip of Magnum bullets are nearby. You will run into another Ghost Warrior
or
two around here as you continue around to the right; close combat weapons
will
probably do you good. Eventually you’ll reach a health recharging station.
Use
it and check the crate right next to it. There’s a radio sitting there. Use
the
radio. You’ll have the option of two things to say, but don’t choose either
one
yet. It won’t matter what you say; after choosing one, you’ll get another
choice and after replying to that troops will be sent up after you from
beneath the surface of the planet. This is necessary since it will make the
elevator they come up through available to you so you can descend to the
interior. But there’s a trick here that can make things a little bit easier
on
you. Without choosing either radio option, start running back around the
platform and then back down the ladder. If you don’t answer the radio, it
will
just sit there, potentially forever. This allows you to get into a position
where you can ambush the team of Ghost Warriors coming up to attack you
before
you choose what to say. They’ll be coming from the huge breathing tube that
you
saw them go down at the beginning of the mission. Head down there, get up
pretty close and arm yourself with your Flamethrower or Grenade Launcher
with
Incendiary Grenades. Then answer the radio twice, wait for the Ghost
Warriors
to come up, and light them up as soon as they do, before they can fire their
weapons. Grab their weapons and energy, head onto the “elevator” platform
they
arrived on and begin your descent into the interior of the planet.
Begin heading forward from the elevator and you’ll soon run into a plant on
the
ground with two writhing tendrils rising up out of it. There are several of
these in the interior; they’re Killer Sprouts. They can’t be killed and
they’re
only dangerous if you step on them. Then they’ll grab you, hold you in
place,
and slowly drain away your life. If this happens, aim toward the ground and
shoot at the Killer Sprout and eventually it will pull its tendrils inside
of
itself and let you go; I’d recommend popping it with your Shotgun if this
happens. Move around it and continue forward slowly through the fog. Look
for a
human-shaped silhouette in the distance. When you find one (the first enemy
you’ll face down here), carefully aim and pop it with a burst of Magnum
Pistol
fire to kill the Ghost Warrior before it knows what’s happening (4 shots
will
do it). If your Pistol is out of ammo, use the Assault Rifle. Soon after he
dies, another Light Ghost Warrior will start lobbing EMP Grenades at you.
These
can be serious trouble if one goes off near you; pay close attention to
where
they’re headed and avoid them. Return fire and kill the Ghost Warrior.
Some time soon (it varies depending on how quickly you’re advancing) you
will
be attacked by a Heavy Ghost Warrior. Here’s some info:
/-------------------------------------\
New Enemy: Heavy Izanagi Ghost Warrior
Description: Heavy Ghost Warriors wear fuller battle armor then Light and
Medium ones, with bubbled face guards and decorative fins on their backs.
Their battle armor sacrifices speed (they can only walk, not run) for
much
better protection. Heavy Ghost Warriors are also entrusted with some of
the Izanagi’s most dangerous weapons.
Attacks: Heavy Ghost Warriors will attack at long range by firing a
Rocket
Launcher at you. When they get up to close range, they switch to a
Flamethrower instead, which they fire in long, solid streams that are
extremely deadly. Unlike Light and Medium Ghost Warriors, Heavy Ghost
Warriors don’t bother hitting you with their weapons at close range and
never carry alternate weapons such as Grenade Launchers.
Tips and Tactics: Listen for Heavy Ghost Warriors’ crashing footsteps
since you can sometimes hear them coming before you can see them. Don’t
try to disorient Heavy Ghost Warriors with incendiary weapons; they’ll
continue to attack you while on fire. Weapons that are difficult to hit
with but powerful work well against Heavy Ghost Warriors; firing Rockets
directly at them, for example. Toxic Gas Grenades are extremely lethal
against them. It is imperative that you maintain a distance from Heavy
Ghost Warriors. Rockets are never terribly difficult to dodge, especially
at very long ranges. But when a Heavy Ghost Warrior gets in range to use
its Flamethrower, you are in a crisis. It’s almost impossible to dodge
their flames and Heavy Ghost Warriors will keep a solid flame running
straight on you, blinding you and draining your life away extremely
quickly. If this starts to happen, give the Ghost Warrior everything
you’ve got and do anything necessary to get behind cover or retreat to a
longer range. Heavy Ghost Warriors take about 45 to 50 Assault Rifle
rounds or 3 direct hits with Fragmentation Grenades to kill.
\-------------------------------------/
Once you have to face the Heavy Ghost Warrior, make sure you’re somewhere
where
you have room to maneuver. Use Rockets or Toxic Gas Grenades; among the
weapons
that you have right now, those (and possibly the Magnum Pistol, if you have
any
ammo left) are ideal.
Up a little further, you’ll reach a certain point where you can hear a
commander sending a message to Ghost Warriors to hold their positions and
let
you come to them. The enemy will do so after that. Slowly advance just a
little
further, looking out for silhouettes. You should find one enemy stationed on
a
stalk growing out of the ground on the right side of the passage; waste him
with your Assault Rifle or another weapon. Somewhere to his left another
Light
Ghost Warrior will be strafing left and right at ground level, looking to
fire
bursts from his Assault Rifle at you. Take him out too.
Continue onwards. You’ll reach a point eventually where the path bends
around a
corner to the right. As soon as you start turning that corner a Light Ghost
Warrior will fire on you and you’ll have no cover nearby. Neither will he,
though; I’d recommend being ready ahead of time to pop him with a
Fragmentation
Grenade or two. The Shotgun would work just fine also. Onwards from there,
look
out for some crates up ahead. As you approach them, another silhouette
should
become visible. Put him down with Assault Rifle fire, or whatever else
you’re
comfortable with. Next to the crates you’ll find 2 boxes of Assault Rifle
ammo,
some Rockets, 2 health pickups and an energy pickup. Grab it all and
continue
further.
Past 2 huge, intertwined stalks and up ahead further is a huge, open area
where
your next encounter takes place. To the right is a Light Ghost Warrior
standing
on a stalk. Further past him is a Medium Ghost Warrior with a Rocket
Launcher
and a Light Ghost Warrior on a platform overhead “sniping” at anyone who
comes
near enough. Fire at the Light Ghost Warrior with your own Assault Rifle,
taking advantage of his reluctance to retreat from his position to find some
real cover or at least make himself a moving target. Once a rocket is fired
at
you, make the Rocket Launcher-carrying Ghost Warrior your top priority,
using
any heavy weapon you might have to take care of him. Those two should be
your
last Ghost Warriors to have to deal with. If you want to, you can get some
more
goodies by heading up to the platform where the Light Ghost Warrior was
stationed. To do so, head to the far left of the open area and look for a
gentle slope upwards. Follow it until it leads up to the platform and hop up
onto that. Proceed over past the hole torn through it that you could drop
down
through and go to the side where the Light Ghost Warrior was. You’ll find
around there boxes of Shotgun shells and health and energy recharge
stations.
Get all set up with that, then head back down and off to the far right of
the
huge area. Look under the platform area for a huge semi-circular glob of
green
ooze.
Run over to the glob, which has three detonators set up on it. Run around it
in
a circle and activate all three detonators. Then step back a little bit and
wait for them to go off. Green slime starts flying everywhere. As soon as it
subsides, run into the center of that area and grab the artifact.
/-------------------------------------\
Plot Point/Spoiler Alert:
Having blown open the green secretion that Acheron’s organism formed
around the artifact in its interior and having grabbed the artifact, the
organism is infuriated. An animal groan can be heard all throughout its
interior as its natural defenses kick in. Floating spores are released
into the interior and slime starts spraying from its inner walls. The
Ghost Warriors panic, screaming for all their men to head topside and
evacuate immediately.
\-------------------------------------/
Turn around and begin retracing your steps back to the elevator you took
down
to the interior. You’ll run into a few new hazards along the way. Mindless
floating spores abound now, moving towards you and exploding on contact. An
infinite supply of them will be continually created. The explosions do
almost
no damage, though; they’re little more than a nuisance. At full health and
full
energy on Medium difficulty it would take three or four hundred of them at
the
least to kill you. Rifle fire can pop the spores before they can reach you,
so
when it’s reasonably convenient, fire at them as you continue on. Slime
spraying from the walls does more damage, draining your health away slowly.
This should be a higher priority to avoid. Also, pools of slime on the
ground
drain health away just as quickly, so you’ll be forced to head around them.
Don’t forget about the Killer Sprouts, either; they’re more of a problem now
then they were before. Keep heading forward, and don’t panic; the risk level
here is actually pretty low despite the sensational atmosphere. When you get
to
the elevator, take it up to the surface and start heading back to the
dropship
you started the mission at. There are a couple new hazards up here… green
gas
clouds and slime spraying from holes in the surface… but they’re not
difficult
to get around at all. A warning, though: Stay on regular paths that you had
traveled through or near to earlier in the level. I’ve tried to avoid
trouble
by going back to the dropship in weird directions before, including along
the
edges of the level. There are glitches in certain spots where it’s actually
possible to fall off the edge of the map, catch yourself in some clipping
plane
during your fall into oblivion and be stuck in place looking at skewed
partial
fragments of objects all across the map! Luckily, this is a rare and easily
avoidable problem. On the off chance that you do run into this glitch, check
out the cheats section of this guide (section 7A) to find an explanation of
the
no clipping code and the code that reverses it and use those to get back
into
the map. Arm yourself with a Grenade or Rocket Launcher or another
formidable
long-range weapon before you reach your ship. When it comes into sight, one
last Ghost Warrior will be at its side, kicking it and shouting to be let
in.
Decimate him from a distance and he’ll get no chance to fire back. Head over
right up next to the dropship and the mission is complete.
-----------------------------------------------------------
6F: Severnya
-----------------------------------------------------------
Mission Opening: You arrive at the fortified Mynkovsky Dam on the
Izanagi-controlled planet of Severnya, where a team of Marines are in grave
danger following a botched mission in which they attempted to destroy the
dam.
As you emerge from your dropship and the mission starts, you immediately
hear
an Izanagi warrior shouting, "Give it up, Marine bastards!" "Never!", comes
the
reply. Gunshots then ring out.
6F-1: Waterfront
----------------
Head forward and around the hill near your dropship to the right. You'll see
a
pair of Marines soon, who are firing their weapons. One of them will take a
hit
and go down. Head up against the rock to your left up here and advance until
you encounter 2 Light Izanagi mercs, one with an Assault Rifle and one
with a Shotgun (strange for a Light merc). They're up ahead of you a bit and
can be dispatched with your Assault Rifle, a Fragmentation Grenade or your
Magnum Pistol. Once they die, the lone survivor among the Marines walks up
to
you. He lets you know he's OK and that his team managed to put 3 smart bombs
in
place within the dam, linked by shortwave radio. Apparently these "smart"
bombs
have to be manually activated one by one and then count down from a timer
and
explode, so Dalton volunteers to pick up the job where the Marines left off.
The Marine also shows you where he left his EMP Grenades. Collect the 2
packs
of grenades, the health pickup next to it and the Sniper Rifle (yes!) next
to
the dead Marine.
Head further up the hill alongside the rocks (which will be to your left)
until
you reach a gap between 2 of them. This is a perfect opportunity for you to
try
out your new Sniper Rifle. Take aim at the base up ahead. An Izanagi guard
is
patrolling a bridge near the entrance. One headshot will take him out.
Further
up the hill is a second gap. From there, further left on the bridge where
the
first patrolling Izanagi was, another one is stationed who can also be
picked
off. Now head up all the way to the top and approach the bridge. There's one
more merc who you'll run into up here. You can take him out across the
bridge
with your Assault Rife or Sniper Rifle, among other things. Continue forward
alongside the yellow crane parked on the bridge but don't pass it. Just past
the crane you will be exposed to fire by Snipers in a room above the gateway
that enters the dam facility. Head to the far left of the crane and peek out
to
find where the firing slot is with the Izanagi snipers. Prepare your own
Sniper
Rifle and strafe out to counter-snipe them, then duck back behind cover.
There
are two Snipers up in the room you'll be firing into, both of whom will go
down
with a headshot. Once they're down, head up to the front gate, which you'll
find is locked. Head down a ladder to either its left or right to get to an
area where water is pouring through an archway and down below like a
waterfall.
Head slightly into the archway, against the current. Fire inside and
withdraw;
just get the attention of the Izanagi guard inside. He'll soon run out with
Assault Rifle in hand; light him up with your Shotgun and take him out.
Switch,
then, to your Grenade Launcher and EMP Grenades. Just past the archway is a
Drone Gun. Walk in partway and launch a grenade at it, aiming high to
compensate for the arc. Walk inside now, around the edge of the platform to
the
right and around the corner to find a small ladder. Climb up it and cross
the
walkway. Go through the next door. It will lock itself and you'll receive an
alert that you've been detected and must await the security detail and
submit
to them. While the alert is running, immediately head through the next door
and
left around the corner. Open and pass through a sideways-opening brown gate
of
sorts and get out your Shotgun or Grenade Launcher- then wait for the
guards.
Two Izanagi will come heading down the stairs here. Take them by surprise
and
kill them. Then turn back around, round the corner and go up the ladder
here.
At the top is your first shortwave detonator, attached to the side of a fuel
tank. Activate it and Aida will send a frustrated message to you, insisting
that you leave since the Marines have been taken care of as best as
possible.
Naturally, Dalton remains stubborn and stays.
Turn back around, facing the ladder you came up. Head past it, into the
right
corner. Find the ladder up from there, climb it, head under the pipe in
front
of you by crouching, and head up another ladder. Go forward from where it
lets
out and head up one more. Crouch down to advance further; puzzled mercs
underneath are trying to figure out what happened to you and where you are.
Ready your Grenade Launcher with Incendiary Grenades (at least that's my
recommendation) and head over to one of the ceiling grates up here. As soon
as
you open it the guards will wise up quickly, so be ready to fire a round
right
away. If you fire by tapping the trigger, be careful not to accidentally
shoot
the ground and ignite yourself! There are 2 Ghost Warriors below you,
including
one in green power armor (he's still the same old thing, functionally). Kill
your foes and drop down into the room below.
This room is a veritable arsenal. Take the guns off the dead Izanagi and
grab
the health and energy pickups near the computer screens. There are five
lockers, here. Raid them for powerups and you'll find the following:
-Two Assault Rifles and 2 boxes of ammo for them
-A pack of Fragmentation Grenades
-A health pickup
-An energy pickup
-Two Shotguns and a box of shells
Next hit the door lock controls on the computers. Now the door nearest to
the
lockers here heads into a small, caged area in a huge room you'll have to
visit
later. You can use it as a way of sniping an enemy or two, but it's not
essential (or even that useful). Use it if you choose, but if you just go
the
other way you're not missing out on much. When you're ready, head through
the
other door. Then head downstairs to the next available door and go through
it.
The area you're in now has a few things of interest in it. To your immediate
right is a health pickup. Down and to your left you can grab an energy
pickup.
If you jump across the room from the right side to the platform in front of
you
there, you'll see another shortwave detonator. You may need to vault to
reach
it. Arm it and Aida will contact you again, even more frustrated. You have
to
do what you have to do, though, so jump forward again and continue onwards.
There are 2 directions to go from here. Left will lead towards the next
shortwave generator. If you want some goodies first, though, the right leads
to
the room that the Snipers were in who you killed from the bridge outside of
the
dam earlier. More specifically, it heads for the gate, but to the left and
right of the gate are lifts that head up to the Snipers' room. You'll
probably
run into a Light Izanagi up there, so have your Shotgun ready. The Snipers'
room contains health and energy pickups in addition to the Sniper Rifle. If
you
chose to go this way, you'll now need to go back to the hallway where you
had
the option of going left or right and go left.
You'll end up, then, in the huge room that the optional caged area from
earlier
overlooked. When enemies see you here they'll scurry off and set up
defenses,
including Plasma Barriers and Drone Guns further into the room. Snipe at the
enemy on a raised, railed platform here if at all possible. Otherwise he'll
head down a staircase in the distance and possibly attack you. Once you feel
secure enough to head further, go forward under some pipes and have your
Shotgun ready. An enemy will soon run in from behind you and set up a Plasma
Barrier to trap himself in a small, confined area with you. Blast him and
head
forward a bit more. You'll soon encounter a Drone Gun on a platform. Blast
it
with an EMP Grenade and then go forward further. Under a pipe up ahead is a
health pickup you'll have to crouch down to get. Take out Plasma Barriers as
you see them in this room. EMP Grenades are by far the easiest way, but if
you
are VERY patient and concerned with preserving ammo, use your Dispersion
Pistol.
Head up the stairs up ahead to the curved platform at the top. When enemies
below you further ahead see you they'll run off to set up even more
defenses.
Follow the platform as far as possible and start coming down the stairs on
the
other side. As you start turning with the stairs and see a Plasma Barrier
below, know that an Izanagi Ghost Warrior is behind it, though you may not
see
him immediately. This is a good position to strike from; the Grenade
Launcher
works well. Launch a couple over and behind the Plasma Barrier when you spot
an
enemy. Then continue down the stairs. Just slightly further ahead you'll
come
into range for a Drone Gun to hit you from another direction (away from the
Plasma Barrier). Take it out with an EMP, then take the Plasma Barrier out
and
continue into the next segment of this gigantic room.
Keep going forward until you hit a huge mass of pipes. Get between pipes and
a
huge fuel tank; there will be pipes all over the place around you. You can
progress past the pipes by jumping and vauling up onto them, which you'll
need
to do a few times. Just keep making progress, winding further around the
cylinder-shaped machinery at the center of the huge room. On the other side
is
an energy pickup... along with the last shortwave detonator! Save, hit it,
and
you'll get another angry message from Aida, telling you that you have 5
minutes
to get out. She'll keep yelling at you as each minute passes, but if you
know
where you're going and keep a cool head you'll have plenty of time. Head
forward further until you reach a series of three huge pipes, each higher up
and further back then the last. Jump up them all and over to the opposite
side.
This is the side that you started out in. A new enemy may be just past here,
though, so watch out. Go ahead and use your most powerful weapons in the
near
future... the level will be over soon, and you're in a hurry!
Exit the way you came in and head down further, to the opposite end of the
hall, where the gate entryway is. There's an "open" button for the gate on
the
side you're now on near it. Hit it and get your Sniper Rifle ready. On the
bridge where the patrolling Izanagi you sniped toward the missions' start,
new
guards have taken up posts. Do NOT run straight out; the guards and
Drone now out there will be difficult to maneuver past without killing
anyway.
Take them out now with the Sniper Rifle, except for the Rocket Drone. you
can
either approach it once the 2 Izanagi are dead and blast with an EMP Grenade
or
advance a little bit and take it out from a distance with Rockets, the
Magnum
Pistol or anything else fairly powerful). Head forward and turn
left, retracing your steps toward the beginning of the level. Head all the
way
back down the curving hill and, if you're really low on time, save several
seconds by jumping over the hill which was too steep from the side you
started
the mission on, taking you straight to your vehicle. Take off and watch the
fireworks!
-----------------------------------------------------------
6G: Kalydon
-----------------------------------------------------------
Mission Opening: It has become necessary for your ship to touch down at the
Obolus Repair Facility on the planet Kalydon to fix problems caused by a
stowaway Seagoat. Liandri Angel mercenaries are reported to be in the area
and are expected to attack you soon after your arrival. It will be your job
to defend your ship until the necessary repairs are made and the ship is
fully
operational again. At the beginning of the mission Isaac explains to you how
to use Plasma Generators and Rocket Turrets. He informs you that a weapons
cache is sitting in the hills nearby and suggests that you procure those
weapons immediately. He then returns to the ship to get to work.
6G-1: Obolus Repair Facility
----------------------------
First thing's first: Finding the weapons cache. Head forward and to the
right,
as a hill as far as you can get until you hit a dead end. Then turn to the
left
to find a continuation of the path and go even higher up. Eventually you'll
reach a valley with a long metal tube sitting around that you can crouch and
enter. You should be able to find all of the following:
-Two packs of Rockets for your Rocket Launcher
-Two Rocket Drones
-Eight Plasma Field Generators
Head back to the ship area, where you started. Soon after your return the
first
dropship of Angels will touch down, so you'll have to work quickly. Given
how
varied the elevation of terrain around here is, how wide the paths to the
ship
are and other factors, I've only found one worthwhile use for the Plasma
Field
Generators, and that is setting up a barrier around the entrance to the
ship.
Work quickly while you do so; make it a complete and impassible barrier but
otherwise don't concern yourself with how exactly to set it all up and don't
worry if you have leftover Plasma Generators. Next up is setting the Rocket
Drones in place. You have a few options here. Rocket Drones can be set up on
ground level, or up on one of the boulders here. They'll have more immediate
access to the enemies from the boulders, and they should last through at
least
most of the rest of the mission, but it's nice to have at least one near the
entrance, too, to slow the enemies down additionally when they start to get
close to your ship. I suggest going on top of the boulder to the left which
has
a large, flat area on top that you can get to by running up behind it. You
can
then set one Drone pointing at the path to the left and one to the right.
That
way between waves of fighting you won't have to switch them around to ensure
you still have coverage of the relevant areas, enabling you instead to
replace
downed Plasma Generators or recharge health and energy at the charging
stations. The third one can then be set up near the entrance for general
coverage of any advancing enemies getting near to their goal. If you'd
prefer
to set them all to work together against the initial attackers and then
reset
them for each new wave, the first Angels will be coming from the right.
Whether you're ready or not, you'll soon see a Liandri dropship touch down
and
a team of Angels jump out onto a hilltop and start to descend down the hill.
/-------------------------------------\
New Enemies: Liandri Angels (Light, Medium and Heavy)
Description: The Angels are the mercenary defenders of the Liandri mining
and terraforming corporation. They are all female by tradition and Light
and Medium ones wear power armor similar to Izanagi power armor. Heavy
Angels have more exotic armor with a large, bubbled face guard and
decorative curved spikes framing the head and face on either side.
Attacks: The Angels use all the same equipment as the Izanagi: mostly
Assault Rifles and Dispersion Pistols for Light Angels, mostly Shotguns
and Magnum Pistols for Medium Angels and Rocket Launchers and
Flamethrowers without exception for Heavy Angels.
Tips and Tactics: Although I at first thought differently, tests of mine
have come to prove that Angels are *identical*, in every way except
appearance, to Ghost Warriors. As long as the two are in the same
category
of armor they have the same capacity for damage, the same intelligence
and
attack patterns; everything is the same. React accordingly; you already
know how to fight Ghost Warriors.
\-------------------------------------/
Once the Angels come, by the way, if they reach the door you won't lose the
mission right away. Here's how it works:
-When an Angel reaches the door, it begins overriding the security panel
to
open it. This takes about 25 to 30 seconds.
-If an Angel is killed while operating the panel and another one reaches
the
door, she must start over and it will take another 25 to 30 seconds.
-If the override process finishes, you will still have a few seconds to
kill
the Angel before she enters. If you do, though, the door will remain
open
for others to walk right into.
-An Angel overriding the panel will stand perfectly still even when shot
at.
-All Angels override the panel at the same speed.
The Angels you face in this mission will use their full arsenal of weaponry,
except that the Light and Medium Angels will never be armed with Rocket or
Grenade Launchers. The first wave of Angels will come from the right. There
will be a total of 4 waves of Angels. You'll have about 30 seconds after
killing the last Angel in a wave before the next dropship arrives, and
around
20 or 25 seconds after that, usually, before they get close enough to start
firing at you. That's enough time to either readjust Plasma Generators,
readjust Rocket Drones, recharge your health and/or energy or *possibly* 2
of
those. Think ahead of time which is your highest priority, and reload while
running to a Drone or standing in a generator. Each wave will consist of 4
Light or Medium Angels dropped from a dropship as well as one or two Heavy
Angels dropped separately. Heavy Angels are dropped straight out of the sky
onto the battlefield, partway down the hill, so that they don't lag behind
the
other Angels. Here are some specifics about the 4 waves:
Wave Side Main Armor Type # Heavy Angels
---- ---- --------------- --------------
1 Right Light 1
2 Left Light 1
3 Right Medium 1
4 Left Medium 2
"Side" is the side they attack from; the left or right hill. "Main armor
type"
applies to all Angels that aren't Heavy. Note that the second Heavy Angel
deployed in the 4th wave is deployed on the right, not the left like all the
others.
Finally, a few things to keep in mind:
-Don't panic when someone reaches the door, especially if it's a Light or
Medium Angel, and don't put yourself at huge risk to prevent them from
reaching it. If someone does reach it, though, pay attention to the
time
that passes, counting off that 30 seconds and reacting accordingly.
-As of this mission, your Rocket Launcher's second trigger can lock on.
This makes it very useful against distant enemies, and you can
occasionally even take out 2 Light Angels with 1 Rocket.
-Start striking with Rockets or Sniper Rifle rounds as early as possible
so
you don't have to divide your attention too many ways when what's left
of
the wave draws near.
-Don't waste too much ammunition since you won't get reloads, but also
keep
in mind you've only got 25 enemies to fight.
-Use the tops of rocks for their high ground advantage and be ready to
dodge
off of them (or further to one side) when a rocket comes shooting at
you.
Hold your ground, keep your cool and save between waves and the mission's
yours.
-----------------------------------------------------------
6H: Sulferon
-----------------------------------------------------------
Mission Opening: You have been sent to the secret Sulferon Izanagi research
center on Deltor Avior 4 to collect valuable scientific information for the
TCA. Unlike on your trip to Acheron, your dropship manages to touch down
undetected just outside the fortified base.
6H-1: Secret Izanagi Facility
-----------------------------
When the mission starts, the Sulferon base will be in the distance in front
of
you and there will be 2 antennas coming out of the corner of the metal
platform
your dropship is on. Head behind that area for cover and look up ahead
through
your Sniper Rifle's scope. There is a Light Izanagi in the direction of the
front wall of the Sulferon facility. There is also a Medium Ghost Warrior
closer
to you, behind a small wall very nearby with weapons and ammo stacked
against
the side of it. The Sniper Rifle will work well against him as well, or you
could just lob a Grenade or 2 behind the wall. Once the 2 of them are dead,
run
over and grab the powerups against the wall that the Medium Ghost Warrior
was
stationed behind. This includes a Sniper Rifle, a pack of Rockets and a
health
pickup.
Further up ahead, even nearer to the front wall of the Sulferon base than
the
Light Izanagi you sniped was, a Heavy Ghost Warrior *was* stationed- he'll
now
be nearing you. Using Rockets or another powerful weapon and not advancing
just
yet, take him out at long range. This will leave only static defenses for
you
to destroy before you can reach the entrances to the base.
The front wall- which breaks into sections so you can enter and walk past
it-
has 3 Rocket Drones stationed to protect it: One on the far left, 1 in the
center and 1 on the far right. Due to their distance from you, this is an
excellent time to use your Shock Lance's 2nd Trigger. Once you take 1 one
the
Drones out- especially the far left or right ones- you can run forward until
you're alongside the wrecked Drone and you'll be outside the firing arcs of
the
other 2 Drones. Then you can run up close and attack them from the sides
with
EMP Grenades, or perhaps the Dispersion Pistol to save ammo if you're that
patient. Blast them all and you'll now have 2 ways of passing through the
perimeter and getting access to an entrance to the Sulferon facility.
The most obvious way of infiltrating the Sulferon base is to pass through
the
front wall(s) and enter through the front door. If you choose to do this, a
Light Ghost Warrior will be on guard and will be likely to run into the base
to
go set off an alarm if he is fired at. You'll be at a slight advantage if
you
can quickly pop him with your Sniper Rifle before he can run away. The other
entrance is from the left side of the base. Although upon entry to the
facility
you'll encounter less resistance at the left entrance, the resistance
outside
the facility around that door will be greater. A Heavy and a Medium Ghost
Warrior will be in that area. Have heavy weaponry ready ahead of time; the
Grenade and Rocket Launchers are good options. There is no boss in this
mission
so you don't need to worry too much about saving up ammo for your big
hitters;
besides, there will be plenty of ammo to pick up inside the facility. When
they're down, right by the door is a health pickup and a Grenade Launcher
(provides Fragmentation Grenades when picked up).
Your goals inside the facility will be to kill all of its occupants and shut
down a Distress Call signal on the second floor. There is a third objective
to
allow for information to be taken from a panel on the first floor, but don't
worry about it (see below).
Here is a crude diagram of the internal Sulferon facility, which all the
rest
of this missions' action will be based around. (Please forgive my elementary
ASCII "art" skill.)
First Floor:
/-------------------\
__| >H< V |_________________________
Rear -> V + ![]>>M + |
Entrance __ M _+__________+__ [] |
| | | |
| | | |
| << | | [] |
\------ ------/ | M |
|V | | |
____ |V M | | [] *A* |
|>H< | | | | |
| |_______| |____________________/ M {P|
| M *B* + << ![] + |
| __________++++__________+___________+__________|
| |
|_XX_|
Second Floor:
/--------------------\
/ \
/ \
/ _______ _______ \
/ M / | | \ M \
/ / \-XX-/ \ \
| |____________________| >H<|
\ *C* /
\ M /####\ /
----------------------------
Key:
*A* = Goodies: 2 Assault Rifles and 3 Clips, Health Pickup, 2 Energy
Pickups
*B* = Goodies: 2 Shotguns and a Box of Shells, 2 Packs of Frag Grenades,
Health Pickup
*C* = Goodies: Assault Rifle, Sniper Rifle and 1 Clip, Napalm Canister,
2 Magnum Pistol Clips, Health Pickup
++ = Door XX = Elevator [] = Crate ! = Explosive Barrel
<< or VV or >> = Drone Gun ("Arrows" indicates direction it's facing)
M = Mercenary {P = Panel #### = Distress Call
>H< = Location of Health Charging Station (During "Defend" segment only)
The Mercenary locations are merely likely locations; depending on where you
go
and what you do in the facility, they may run into other areas. The panel is
tied to the optional objective here; when you enter the room, the Ghost
Warrior
next to the panel will attempt to blow it up before you can extract
information
from it. If you fail to stop him, you'll fail the mission objective... but
the
mission will continue and *nothing* negative will result from it. Note that
the
room with the panel in it is the control room (this is important later in
the
mission) and the rear entrance is open; it has no door.
With this information, you should be able to plan out your route through the
facility. You basically just need to slaughter everyone, but knowing where
the
explosive barrels are, where the enemies *probably* are etc. should aid you.
6H-2: Defend
------------
Once the Sulferon facility has been cleared out and the distress signal
deactivated, Marines will arrive along with a technician who can extract the
needed information. Important: These Marines are NOT invincible like the
ones
you fought alongside in the Swamp on Sanctuary. They'll die as easily as
you.
You'll start this part of the mission in the control room. New goodies will
be
here; grab them all quickly. You should be able to grab all of the
following:
-Two Rocket Launchers and 3 packs of Rockets
-An Assault Rifle and 2 boxes bullets
-Two packs of Toxic Gas Grenades
-Two energy pickups
-A health pickup
You'll have 2 minutes and 10 seconds until a dropship arrives and deploys
more
Ghost Warriors who are after the technician. There are 4 Marines in the room
who you can deploy. They are:
-Private First Class Taba: Wears Light Armor, wields an Assault Rifle
-Sergeant Easley: Wears Heavy Armor, wields a Flamethrower
-Lieutenant Cosner: Wears Heavy Armor, wields a Rocket Launcher
-Lieutenant Caruso: Wears Light Armor, wields a Sniper Rifle
You'll have the option of sending them to guard the front door, back door,
control room or front wall. I'd suggest using 1 of 2 strategies here:
1: Send one Marine to each location. I'd suggest Easley in the control room
(his Flamethrower will be deadly in close combat and his Heavy Armor
makes
him a good "last resort" troop), Caruso at the front door where he'll
have
some good medium range sniper shots at people passing through the front
wall, and the others divided up among the other 2 locations according to
your personal preference.
2: Have all 4 Marines guard the control room. That's the ultimate area that
can
potentially lose you the mission. The Marines won't hurt each other if
they
accidentally shoot each other. I've found this to be surprisingly
effective,
as tactically foolish as it may sound.
Like on Kalydon, there will be multiple waves of enemy dropships- in this
case,
3. Each one will deploy 4 Ghost Warriors; a combination of Light and Medium
ones, including 1 per wave armed with a Rocket Launcher. There will be no
Heavy
Ghost Warriors, though. The first wave's dropship will touch down right next
to
your own dropship. You should have time to get into a distant, open area
where
you can devastate them with Sniper fire before they can reach the base.
However: These Ghost Warriors won't wait until a team of them is all dead,
then
give you a break and drop more off. Unlike Kalydon, around 30 seconds after
a
dropship starts to leave and its occupants start running towards the base,
another ship will arrive. The second wave touches down near the front wall,
and
the third by the back door. At the beginning of the "Defend" segment of the
mission, friendly Drone Guns will be set up inside of the Sulferon facility,
as
well as 3 health recharging stations that weren't previously there (marked
on
the map, above). Your only disadvantage here as opposed to on Kalydon is
that
the scientist is easier to kill than the gate to the ship on Kalydon was to
override. If there's a control room breach, especially if you haven't
assigned
multiple Marines to guard it, go there immediately. Your ultimate goal is to
keep the technician alive- as long as you can do that for a good length of
time, everything else should be secondary.
-----------------------------------------------------------
6I: Janus
-----------------------------------------------------------
Mission Opening: The Polaris research lab atop a cliff on the desolate ice
planet of Janus has been invaded by mercenaries. They intend to abduct one
Dr.
Myer, a leading research scientist investigating the properties of the
artifacts. The Polaris base contains 2 artifacts. Izanagi Ghost Warriors
have
flooded the base and the Liandri Angels aren't far behind. Your dropship
will
arrive just outside the base. Your mission will be to locate the bridge
crossing into it, which will be heavily fortified; use it to enter Polaris,
locate Dr. Myer and the artifacts and exit Janus with safely with everything
you came for.
6I-1: Outside Polaris Lab
-------------------------
As soon as the mission starts, a Ghost Warrior from a station atop a
sky-high
post will fire a Rocket at you. Although it probably won't hit, be ready to
dodge immediately. Then use your Sniper Rifle or Rocket Launcher (Trigger 2)
to
take him out. In the distance in front of where you start you'll soon see a
Heavy Ghost Warrior approach. From long distance and by himself he should be
easy to defeat. Once he's dead, start heading forward. You'll notice hills
to
your left as you advance. From a break in 2 hills you'll soon take fire from
a
Light Ghost Warrior. He'll use fire-and-flee tactics, utilizing the cover
around him. Take him out with a few bursts of Assault Rifle fire or a
well-placed Fragmentation Grenade. Once he's dead, head left in between the
hills yourself. Go behind the crate here and you'll find a Rocket Launcher,
2
boxes of Rockets and a health pickup.
Now head over to the post where you were fired upon with Rockets at the
beginning of the mission. Climb up the ladder here and continue forward at
the
top of the post, onto a narrow step. Then turn around and walk forward onto
the
platform. You should be able to find a Sniper Rifle, 2 clips of ammo for it,
a
pack of Rockets, a health pickup and an energy pickup. Grab them and head
back
down.
Head now in the direction of the bridge. When you start to get near it, a
Drone
Gun will fire at you. When you get a little closer, Ghost Warriors will run
out
onto the bridge and set up additional defenses (a Rocket Drone and a Plasma
Barrier). At the very beginning of the bridge there are metal objects off to
either side that tether down cables. Use either them or the step up to the
bridge for cover (the step up onto the bridge is only useful if you duck).
Then
repeatedly peek up to fire at the Gun Drone (and possibly a Ghost Warrior)
on
the bridge. Once the Gun Drone has been destroyed, you can get up on the
bridge
and run forward along the edge opposite the Rocket Drone, dodging the
slow-moving rockets it fires. Eventually, when you're alongside it, you'll
be
out of the Rocket Drone's arc of vision so that it can't fire at you and you
can easily blow it up with an EMP Grenade (or Dispersion Pistol blasts, if
you
have the patience). About the Plasma Barrier here...
/-------------------------------------\
Tip: Using Enemy Plasma Barriers to Your Advantage
Enemies will act differently when behind their own Plasma Barriers and
you
can take advantage of this. For one thing, you can't shoot them through
the barrier and they can't shoot you either. However, you can fire over
the barrier at enemies behind it and they'll be helpless. Launching
Grenades so they barely clear the barrier gives you an advantage. Another
thing to try is jumping up repeatedly, locking on to distant enemies with
Trigger 2 of your Rocket Launcher (you can't lock on through the barrier,
unfortunately) and releasing a Rocket straight up so that it bursts and
the mini-Rockets clear the barrier. Also, realize that while enemies are
separated from you by a Plasma Barrier you can forget about them, secure
the area on your side of the barrier completely, then deal with the
enemies behind it separately.
\-------------------------------------/
Behind the crate on the right, just past the Plasma Barrier, is a Medium
Ghost
Warrior with a Flamethrower. Make sure you are well away from the Barrier
before you blow it out. Up ahead in the distance, by the yellow industrial
vehicle, is a Light Ghost Warrior with a Sniper Rifle. Be ready to
counter-snipe him once the barrier is blown, also. Once those 2 are dead,
head
further up the bridge.
Far up ahead is another Plasma Barrier, dividing the bridge once again into
sections. Before you reach it you'll run into another Light, Medium *and*
Heavy
Ghost Warrior. Look for "foot shots" under the yellow vehicle with your
Sniper
Rifle. Don't hesitate to use some heavy weaponry here. There are also 2
Rocket
Drones near the barrier, that you'll run into eventually. An enemy *may*
fire
on you from the snowy area off to the right of here, by a tree. If there is
an
enemy there, once you do kill him, put off collecting his weapon until the
area
is clear of enemies, including the Rocket Drones. Otherwise you'll be at
risk
of being blown off the edge of the "cliff". To make taking out the Drones
easier, position yourself so only one is in your line of sight using the
yellow
vehicle. Take one Drone out that way, then rush forward until you're out of
the
arc of vision of the other so it can't fire at you. Destroy both Drones and
the
Plasma Barrier and press onward.
Just up ahead is a Medium Ghost Warrior. Kill him and keep moving. You'll
next
encounter 2 Ghost Warriors within the opening to the upcoming tunnel. One
will
be a Heavy Ghost Warrior on ground level and the other a Medium Ghost
Warrior
on the raised platform to the right who will attempt to run forward and set
up
a Rocket Drone. Try to take out the Medium Ghost Warrior using your Sniper
Rifle before he can set up his defenses. Then immediately turn your
attention
to the Heavy Ghost Warrior. Work quickly or you'll get blasted with a Rocket
while lining up your headshot.
Advance into the tunnel and go onto the raised platform. Further up ahead
from
there is a Drone Gun. Move forward and get behind a column near to the
Drone.
Peek out from behind it to fire an EMP Grenade and take it out. Then move
around the corner, past the Drone, and grab the powerups there: a Shotgun,
Shells, a health pickup and an energy pickup. Hit the lift button, enter,
and
ride the lift up.
6I-2: Polaris Entrance
----------------------
Head into the next room and talk with the Axon scientist in here. He'll tell
you that the Ghost Warriors came through looking for Myer and that he had
"hit
the emergency locks on the umbilical doors". He reopens them for you.
The next 2 rooms are empty. The next after that, though, has a Light and a
Medium Ghost Warrior. Get close to the door, peeking out so the patrolling
mercs will see you, and have your Shotgun or Flamethrower ready. Let them
come
at you, but the second the door starts to open, blast the enemy with an
incendiary attack and dodge off to either side (in case the other Ghost
Warrior
fires at you from afar). Keep blasting them with incendiary attacks until
they're dead. Move onto the next area.
This is potentially a *very* dangerous area. It's a huge room with crates
lined
up, creating a grid of corridors. Once you open the door, back out again and
try to get enemies to come to you. There are a Light and a Medium Ghost
Warrior
near the entrance that should be your first priority to take out. Once you
get
them, enter into the room again. If you look either left or right of the
crate
ahead of you you'll find yourself looking straight at a Drone Gun. With no
mobile enemies around you should be able to take them out by repeatedly
peeking
out, firing and getting back behind the crate. Just don't move too far away
from the entry door- yet...
Now this room has a number of useful powerups in it in alcoves in the left
wall. In the left near the entry side of the room are 2 Incendiary Grenades,
a
Napalm Canister, a health pickup and an energy pickup. A little further up
ahead is an additional health pickup. The danger here is that once you move
a
little further ahead a Heavy Ghost Warrior will notice you and start coming
after you. Heavy mercs are nothing you haven't deal with before, but the
crates
make it difficult to fight outside of a very close range, where he can
dissolve
you in napalm fire. You have 2 options here. One is to take on the Heavy
Ghost
Warrior, in which case you should utilize wall-bouncing weapons to avoid a
face-to-face conflict (Toxic Gas Grenades are perfect for this since they're
so
powerful against Heavy mercs). Then you can grab the powerups, move to the
back
of the room and pass through the door into the next part of the level. The
other option is to lure the Heavy Ghost Warrior toward the rear and right of
the room. Then rush to the left side, grab all the goodies, rush to the
opposite side of the room from where you entered and exit *without* having
to
confront the Heavy merc. The choice is yours.
6I-3: Polaris Geological Research
---------------------------------
Head forward here until you reach the room with the metal examination table
in
it. On stands near the walls here you'll find Incendiary Grenades, and an
energy pickup. In the next room is a Heavy Ghost Warrior, who you can see
through an opening in the wall. For some reason he won't open the door
himself.
Wait until he's as far away from the door heading onward into the hall as
possible, get your Grenade Launcher ready and open it. You'll be staring
straight at a Drone Gun; blast it with an EMP. Then switch to Toxic Gas or
Incendiary Grenades, get back and prepare to kill the Heavy Ghost Warrior
when
he reaches the doorway. You may even be able to hit him by bouncing a
Grenade
off the hallway wall after killing the Drone, if you're left with enough
space
to work with before he closes in. Kill him and enter the hallway.
/-------------------------------------\
Plot Point/Spoiler Alert:
Upon entering the hallway, you'll hear Myer being interrogated and
tortured. "Just tell us where it is!" "I don't know!" The sounds of
electrical shocks ring out. "We've got all night; you might as well tell
us!" "He's a freakin' Kai! How should I know?" Clearly, Myer is nearby,
and desperately in need of help.
\-------------------------------------/
On the left side of the hallway is a door to a room with a Kai just beyond
it.
Unfortunately, the Kai won't respond to your attempts to communicate and the
door won't open. Another unopenable door stands toward the middle of the
hallway. To the far right, however, just past another Kai lying dead on the
ground, is a door leading into the next room. This is a big room, with what
appears to be huge egg sacks or other organic materials sitting in it. In
here
you'll encounter 2 Light Ghost Warriors and a Medium one with a Rocket
Launcher. I'd recommend using your Flamethrower here and trying to
immediately
light up all three enemies with quick, sweeping bursts of napalm fire. The
Rocket soldier is your top priority, though. If things start to get too hot
to
handle in here (no pun intended), back out of the room into the hall,
trailing
unignited napalm with Trigger 2 of your Flamethrower. Clear the enemies out
of
the room and enter it. You'll notice a small opening in one wall, a duct
with a
Gun Drone deep inside it. Take the Drone out with a held-trigger EMP
Grenade,
Trigger 2 Assault Rifle fire reflected into the drone from a safe area or
whatever you prefer. A cache of weapons is available on the opposite side of
the room. Run over to it and collect:
-An Assault Rifle and 3 boxes of Rifle ammo
-A Rocket Launcher and 2 packs of Rockets
-A pack of Incendiary Grenades
-Two packs of Toxic Gas Grenades
-An energy pickup
Now enter the tunnel that the Drone was in. Ride a lift up at the end of the
tunnel, head down the higher tunnel and you'll reach a drop-down hole
leading
into the room where Myer is being tortured. Don't drop down yet. You
actually
might want to just sit and let the Ghost Warriors torture him for a bit; by
the
end of this mission you'll probably be wishing you could torture him
yourself.
When you are ready to face the mercs below, surprise attack them from the
tunnel. The Grenade Launcher works well here; Incendiary Grenades are good.
Use
Trigger 2 so you don't accidentally shoot the ground in front of you inside
the
tunnel. Don't worry about accidentally killer Myer; he's invincible (for
now).
Once you launch your surprise attack, immediately back away to avoid return
fire. Then return, do all the damage you can from there, and if necessary
drop
down and finish them off up close with the Shotgun. The room contains a
Light
and a Medium Ghost Warrior.
/-------------------------------------\
Plot Point/Spoiler Alert:
Myer asks you who you are and you tell him. He says that he'll get you
the
artifacts if you get him out. Accepting the deal, you follow him as he
leads you back to them. And so the aggravation begins. For the remainder
of the mission, Myer will repeatedly say a wide variety of obnoxious
things to you such as "Do you have to make such a mess?", "Maybe if you
didn't miss so much you'd have more ammo!" and "I should have called the
Marines!". Meanwhile, you'll spend the rest of the mission risking life
and limb to save him. Anyway, he'll lead you back to the locked room with
the Kai in it and start shouting at it. At your request he'll eventually
try saying "please" to it, which is all it will take to be let in. Once
inside, Myer takes the artifacts himself, saying he needs them as
"insurance" and he'll turn them over to you once he's safe. He'll tell
the
Kai to stay where it is. While heading back, you'll get a transmission
from Aida telling you that the Liandri have blown up the bridge. You'll
have to fight up to the rooftop, where she'll send Marines. The
transmission then dies, indicating that the frequency is being jammed.
Continue following Myer on to the next area.
\-------------------------------------/
6I-4: Polaris Geological Research Exterior
------------------------------------------
The second room you'll enter here will have a Light Angel and a Medium Angel
with a Rocket Launcher. Take care of them with Rockets, Grenades or the
Magnum,
focusing first on the Rocket-wielding Angel. Just so you know, Myer will not
be
killed at this point in the mission either; he's invincible. Don't worry too
much about protecting him. The next room after that is a strategic command
station of some sort, with monitors, chairs and a high-tech looking
computerized table. There are 3 Light Angels here; take them out however you
see fit. Then grab the goodies in here: a Sniper Rifle and 2 clips of ammo
for
it, a health pickup and an energy pickup.
/-------------------------------------\
Plot Point/Spoiler Alert:
Myer now informs you that you'll have to go outside and work your way
over
to a maintenance rig to get up to the roof. Myer refuses to come, though,
claiming he's "too valuable to risk". You'll have to clear the way for
him, then signal to him using a long-distance communicator with a special
frequency that can't be jammed. Myer opens a gate leading to the exterior
walkway.
\-------------------------------------/
Go outside and head forward. Around the first corner are a Light and a
Medium
Angel. While you're outside here, you'll be at a major risk of being knocked
off the edge of the building. Crouch most of the time to stabilize yourself
and
regard any enemy with a Rocket Launcher as extremely deadly and
high-priority.
This is one of the very few places in the game where Concussion Grenades are
useful. Consider using them from time to time. For these first 2 Angels,
duck
and fire under the protrusions from the wall alongside you in order to
provide
yourself with some cover.
The next corner is clear, but the next one after that has a Drone Gun on a
platform ahead of you that will fire at you once you start to round the
corner.
Unfortunately Angels will be coming at you at the same time; a Light one, a
Medium one and another Medium one with a Rocket Launcher. Firing under the
protrusions again, shoot the advancing Angels as much as possible with your
Sniper Rifle before they can get close to you. If the Rocket
Launcher-wielding
Angel fires at you, get well out of the way and duck before it hits if it's
headed for the ground near you (to reduce the chance of falling off the
edge).
If that Angel starts to come near you, use heavy weapons to eliminate the
threat as soon as possible; incendiary attacks are good. Once the Angels are
dead, take care of the Drone Gun. Use the crate next to it to help you get
close to it (by making sure it is between you and the Drone) until you can
destroy it with a well-placed EMP Grenade. Keep heading forward; the
platform
that the Drone Gun was on has a health pickup there.
Around the next corner, tread carefully because you'll soon run into another
Rocket Launcher-wielding Angel. Kill her in any way necessary and it will be
smooth sailing from there onward. Eventually you'll get close enough to the
maintainence rig that a cut scene will begin. You'll call Myer over and the
2
of you will head up to the rooftop.
6I-5: Polaris Geological Research Rooftop
-----------------------------------------
/-------------------------------------\
Plot Point/Spoiler Alert:
Atop the roof of the Polaris research base, Marines rendezvous with you
and Myer but tell you that their communications systems, too, are being
jammed, so they cannot call down a ship. Myer says that there's a
transmitter up there so old that the Liandri probably don't know how to
jam it. He heads inside the small fortification on the rooftop to the
room
where the transmitter is located. There he explains that once he powers
up
the transmitter it will be detected and the Angels will come. You must
now
set up defenses, then tell Myer when you're ready for him to start
powering up the transmitter.
\-------------------------------------/
This final section of your mission will be very similar to Kalydon: You will
set up perimeter defenses, assign Marines to defensive posts and defend the
base against multiple waves of Liandri attack squads. Here is a map of the
rooftop area (again, forgive the elementary ASCII "art"):
____________________________________________________
| !4!
|
| |
| __________________________________________ |
| | | |
| | ______________ _____________ | |
| | | | | | | |
| | | | ____ | | | |
| | | _++++| |{M} | |++++_ | | |
| |__| // | | | | \ |__| |
| // | | *C*| | \ |
| !3! -2- || | |++++| | || -1- !2! |
| __ || | | | | || __ |
| | | || | | | | || | | |
| | | || | |-4- | | || | | |
| | | || | | | | || | | |
| | | || | | | | || | | |
| | | || --- --- || | | |
| | | ||>H< *B* >E<|| | | |
| | | ||______ ______|| | | |
| | | |_______\++++++/_______| | | |
| | | *A* | | |
| | | -3- | | |
| | |_______________ _____________| | |
| | | | | |
| |__________________| |________________| |
| ___ ___ |
| / \ !1! / \ |
|_____________\___/__________________\___/___________|
*A* = Goodies: 7 Plasma Field Generators, 2 Drone Guns, 1 Rocket Drone,
3 Packs of Concussion Grenades
*B* = Goodies: 2 Rocket Launchers
*C* = Goodies: Health Pickup, Sniper Rifle, 2 Clips of Sniper Ammo,
Shotgun
Shells, 2 Plasma Field Generators, 3 Packs of Rockets
-1- Left Wall Watchpoint !1! = Marker 1
-2- Right Wall Watchpoint !2! = Marker 2
-3- Front Entrance Watchpoint !3! = Marker 3
-4- Control Room Watchpoint !4! = Marker 4
+++ = Door >H< = Health Recharging Station
___ >E< = Energy Recharging Station
/ \ = Large Obstruction = Antenna
\___/ {M} = Myer
The watchpoints are where exactly troops will station themselves when told
to
guard various areas. If told to patrol the perimeter, they'll walk all the
way
around the outer rim of the rooftop. The markers serve no real purpose
except
to establish names for general areas so that troops can yell to each other
that
enemies are now around various markers. The antenna isn't important just
yet.
Myer is now susceptible to damage. Grab all the goodies, then tell the
Marines
where to go. Again, there are 4 Marines in the squad:
-Sergeant Harrison: Wears Light Armor, wields a Shotgun
-Private Sadao: Wears Light Armor, wields an Assault Rifle
-Lieutenant Crable: Wears Heavy Armor, wields a Rocket Launcher
-Lieutenant Chavez: Wears Heavy Armor, wields a Flamethrower
In addition to the 4 checkpoints above and patrolling the perimeter, you can
order troops to cover you, although I don't find cover to be that useful
here.
Also, having everyone cover the control room is less useful here than on
Sulferon- you'll be facing Heavy Angels with Flamethrowers and Rocket
Launchers, and there are 3 entrances to the structure at the center of the
rooftop. I'd recommend stationing Chavez, with his Flamethrower, near the
control room. As for the others, it's largely a matter of personal
preference
but I'd send each of them to guard one entrance to the interior building.
Next
you need to set up your static defenses. I find that a good way to slow
enemies
down with your Plasma Field Generators is to place generators behind the
outer
walls (on the side closer to the interior), creating an energy gate running
past each of the 3 entry areas through the outer walls. Then I create
another
energy gate inside the center structure running past the front entrance (or
either rear one). As for the Drones, since Rocket Drones are most effective
up
close where they're difficult to dodge I place the only available one in the
center structure, usually right next to one of the recharging stations
facing
so that it covers the whole room. The other 2 I then place just outside the
structure, facing to guard various entrances.
As usual, there will be 4 waves of enemies here. Each consists of 4 Angels,
except for the 4th wave, which is a special case I'll get to in a bit. A new
wave won't come until the previous one has been completely eliminated. All
of
the dropships will deploy their Angels along the perimeter and the Heavy
Angels
are deployed along with the others, not air-dropped like on Kalydon. After
the
second wave you'll have to raise the antenna near marker 4 before the next
wave
will arrive. Here's information about the first 3 waves:
Deployment Area: Angel Types:
Wave 1: Near Marker 2 Light and Medium
Wave 2: Near Marker 1 Light, Medium and Heavy
Wave 3: Near Marker 3 Medium and Heavy
Wave 4 is a little bit different. It consists of 2 dropships of Angels being
deployed nearly simultaneously. The first comes near Marker 3, then a little
under 30 seconds later the second wave comes near Marker 2. These will
consist
of Light, Medium and Heavy Angels, but a full 50% of them will be Heavy.
Since
your Drones will probably be wrecked by now, this is the time to unload all
your heaviest weaponry. Through all of this battle, Concussion Grenades will
be
useful against Light and Medium Angels on the perimeter; try to make them go
off as near as possible to the Angels and on the side of them opposite the
"cliff" you want to blow them off of. This strategy will have no effect on
Heavy Angels, though. Between waves, save, use the health and energy
rechargers
and reload your weapons *while* running to the rechargers.
If you've beaten Kalydon and Sulferon, you're a veteran of this type of
combat.
Wipe out your enemies and the mission's all but over with.
/-------------------------------------\
Plot Point/Spoiler Alert:
Having succeeded in repelling the Angels, Aida finally links up with you.
She passes on orders from General Drexler to kill all surviving
non-military personnel (i.e. Myers) since they now know too much about
the
artifacts. This outrages Dalton, who pretends that the transmission is
breaking up again and that he can't hear what Aida is saying. Since the
Marine ship is already coming to pick you up, Dalton now shoots the
transmission system with his Shotgun and tells Myers that if he hands
over
the artifacts then John will see to it that he is taken safely to another
planet. Otherwise he'll be left with "a few good men". Myers makes his
decision instantly; he lives, and the artifacts are yours.
\-------------------------------------/
-----------------------------------------------------------
6J: Na Koja Abad
-----------------------------------------------------------
Your next mission brings you to Na Koja Abad, "The Land of Nowhere". This is
a
toxic wasteland of a planet whose only intelligent native inhabitants left
it
long ago in search of more prosperous frontiers. An alien structure known to
contain an artifact is located here and the Izanagi have set up a research
facility and an excavation site around it. You must infiltrate the facility
and
from there find a way into the alien excavation site, where you can obtain
the
artifact and escape with it.
6J-1: Na Koja Abad
------------------
(Note that the above name is not a mistake. If you save your game shortly
after
beginning the mission and then go to the load menu, you'll see that, like
the
mission, the first segment of this level is called "Na Koja Abad".) During
the
first part of your mission you'll be outdoors and will come across numerous
snipes. Snipes are dog-sized, blue, dagger-toothed creatures with a nasty
disposition. They'll attack you on sight, albeit not very effectively
(contact
attacks only and very little damage). Whenever you see one, take it out with
some Assault Rifle or Dispersion Pistol fire; it won't take much.
Head straight forward from where you begin until you hit a dead end, at
which
point you should be underneath a rock with bones and blood on the ground
very
nearby. Among the human remains you'll find 2 packs of Incendiary Grenades,
a pack of Fragmentation Grenades, one of Smoke Grenades, and a Grenade
Launcher. Grab them all and head back until you see another path to your
right
(what would be your left if you weren't heading backwards). Turn and begin
following that path. "Scout" ahead through your Sniper Rifle's scope as you
run.
Eventually you'll come across 2 enemy Ghost Warriors talking about the
excavation site. Take them both out with headshots and keep moving forward.
You'll soon come across an archway acting as a gate, but it is blocked by an
energy barrier. Above it are 2 Drone Guns. Move closer, pressing up against
the
rocky terrain to your left. Eventually you should be able to take shots at
the
Drones without them being able to fire back. Eliminate both of them. There
should be some goodies to grab here; namely a pack of Fragmentation
Grenades,
some Shotgun shells and a Grenade Launcher. Get them and head off to the
right.
Up a hill nearby are 2 Medium Ghost Warriors who will attack you. Look out
for
them and lob Grenades up at them, or kill them in some other way. Then turn
your attention immediately back to the road you were headed down, where a
distant Light Ghost Warrior will attack. Use the boulders here for cover and
snipe him or otherwise kill him. Now you should be free of enemies for the
time
being so turn your attention to the 2 structures up here. The one on the
right
is inaccessible, but the one on the left is open so head into it. Grab the
Gun
Drone- the only one you'll ever find outside of a "defend the base" mission-
and use the health and energy rechargers if necessary. The Gun Drone is
rather
awkward to use offensively, and fairly unnecessary, but you may find it
useful
for setting up, running up to and provoking enemies, leading them back to it
and then "teaming up" against them. See what you can do. Now open the fuse
box
on the wall and hit the control. This will deactivate the energy barrier
blocking the archway a ways back.
Head back to the archway and pass through to the other side. Scout ahead
with
your scope again and take out 2 more Medium Ghost Warriors. Then keep going
forward past a box of dead snipes (!) and continue until you receive a
message
that one of your objectives has been completed. You'll soon see a distant
rocket streaking towards you, which should be very easy to dodge. Use your
Sniper Rifle or Trigger 2 of your Rocket Launcher to take out a distant
Heavy
Ghost Warrior; he'll be difficult to see in the mist, but those 2 weapons
can
both help you out.
Keep going even further. Soon you'll be shot at by a sniper, so move
erratically- zig-zag lines, perhaps- and be ready to slip behind one of the
huge plant stalks for cover and then counter-snipe. Keep going and behind a
boulder to your right you'll encounter 2 Medium Ghost Warriors. Wipe them
out
and continue until you get under the bridge that the last sniper was on.
Under the bridge are a series of crates with lots of goodies around them,
namely:
-Two packs of Rockets
-Two Sniper Rifle clips
-Two boxes of Assault Rifle ammo
-Two health pickups
-Two energy pickups
Once you have all that, continue further down the very linear path until you
reach another archway blocked by another energy barrier. This time the
switch
to turn it off is right next to the gate so just hit it and proceed. As you
pass on to the other side, walk backwards very slowly and look up. Above the
archway there are 2 Drone Guns positioned to fire at you. Try slowly moving
out
until there's a line of sight between you and the Drones, popping one with
an
EMP Grenade or something else, then ducking back under the archway and
repeating as much as is necessary until they're down. Then head towards the
stream that should now be in view.
On a bridge above the stream is another Ghost Warrior sniper (the last one)
that you'll need to kill with your Assault Rifle, Rocket Launcher or Sniper
Rifle. Then head into the big pipe in the stream and go up the ladder at the
end of it to go to the next area.
6J-2: Na Koja Abad- Izanagi Xeno Research Facility
--------------------------------------------------
Take the first right in the tunnel you end up in and head through the gate
and
up the ladder behind it. This leads to a balcony above a room where 2
scientists are conducting experiments. They'll argue about an alien device
they're trying to make sense of. Guarding the room is a Medium Ghost
Warrior.
As long as you stay somewhere on the balcony he won't see you so it should
be a
piece of cake scoring a headshot on him. Then jump down onto the ground
level.
If you go into the middle of this room and face the hologram projection
stations, there will be a door to your left that you need to go through next
(there's another door besides that one, but it just heads back up to the
balcony). Head forward here until you see a hall to the left with steam
shooting from the walls in various places. Jump onto either side, holding
the
jump button in case you need to vault back up to one of the platforms on the
sides of the room. If you accidentally fall, just turn around, head down the
hall to the side you came from, go up the ladder and try again. Once you are
on
one of the ledges, watch where the steam comes from, wait for it to subside
in
the place closest to you, then pass by there. Keep going until you reach the
other side, then go up the ladder there and into another tunnel at the top.
Around the first corner in this tunnel is a long corridor with a Drone Gun
at
the end of it. Don't go in there until the Drone is down (using the
Dispersion
Pistol, Rocket Launcher, or something else; it's too far away for EMP
Grenades). Keep progressing and around the next corner you'll find another
Drone Gun, but it will be much closer to you, giving you a few more weapon
options (EMPs, Shotgun, etc). Keep going until you reach the balcony of
another
science experiment room. Wait and watch the 2 scientists argue. Their
experiment will eventually come to life, create a crisis situation, and get
a
scientist shot and killed (by the Ghost Warrior guard). Well, too bad for
the
scientist, but now the Ghost Warrior is every bit as vulnerable as the one
guarding the first experiment room. Snipe him, jump down, and search the
room.
On a table you'll be able to find 2 Takkra, the same type of device that
just
came to life and shot at the scientist. As mentioned above (in section 4E),
this is, in my opinion, a very fun weapon but not a very useful one by any
means. Use them as you wish in the mission; they'll never give you a very
significant advantage, but they're cool. Now get in the middle of the room
and
face the table that the Takkra were on. Behind your back is a door that
progresses to the next part of the level, but first go through the one on
your
right. You'll find a large, twisting corridor that has a Medium Ghost
Warrior
patrolling it. Take him out and collect all the goodies here: Two health
pickups, an Assault Rifle and 2 boxes of Assault Rifle ammo. Now head back
and
through the door opposite the Takkra table.
This path leads eventually to the second floor balcony of a HUGE room, a
much
different room than the 2 scientific experiment rooms you've passed through
so
far. You'll see a big cylinder in the center of the room and the balcony
will
run all the way around in a square. Across the room on the same balcony as
you
is a Medium Ghost Warrior; he'll be your first adversary. Your Sniper Rifle
should be handy for taking him out but notice that on the right side of the
rooms' balcony is a fuel tank. In an alcove to the left of the entrance you
can
find a box of Assault Rifle ammo, a pack of Rockets and a health pickup. On
the
right side of the room, also on the balcony, is another alcove with a Drone
Gun
right inside it, fuel tanks right alongside the Drone, and a health
recharger
behind that. The second-floor balcony also has a crosswalk heading into the
cylinder-shaped area in the center of the room.
As for the ground floor, this is a huge area, full of crates and other
obstructions, with a health pickup and a Heavy Ghost Warrior. I would
recommend
leaving the ground floor alone, not facing the Heavy Ghost Warrior. If you
do
go down, keep a distance and stay very aware of the cover around you: have a
plan for how to utilize it when a rocket comes flying straight on a
collision
course with your face. If you avoid him, though, he's still a potential
danger.
Try to keep in mind where he is (if you can tell) and do what you need to do
on
the balcony quickly since you may come under Rocket fire. When he's been
taken
care of and you've gotten your health pickup (on the opposite side of the
room
from the entry door), on the right side of the room is a ladder heading back
up
to the second floor balcony.
And what do you need to do here? Well if you're in good condition and don't
need much in the way of health and energy then just get to the cylinder in
the
center of the room, which actually has both a health and an energy pickup in
it. Otherwise, get into both alcoves first, taking out the Drone Gun with
heavy
weaponry.
^>From the third floor, pass over another crosswalk onto the balcony of a
third
(and final) scientific experiment room, this one involving the testing of a
laser weapon of some sort. Like the last experiment, this one will go awry
if
you just wait. This time it will go so far as to kill the Ghost Warrior
guard
so you don't have to! After that happens jump down to ground level. On the
same
side of the room as the way you entered from is a ground level door that
leads
back to where you came from; ignore that. The way to the right of that door
heads back where you've already been, so go for the left. That leads through
a
hallway, toward the end of which you'll hear 2 men talking behind a door.
It's
2 Medium Ghost Warriors, so get ready for a close-combat confrontation.
Waste
them with Shotgun fire before they can do the same to you.
Further in is a platform that heads down a floor to the ground level of that
room. DON'T go down it. Drone Guns are set to fire on people at ground
level,
but if you head around the narrow balcony of the second floor you can get to
where you have a clean shot at the Drone Gun and it can't shoot you. Take it
out, *then* go down the lift (or just jump). Along the sides of the room
you'll
find the following:
-A Shotgun
-Two boxes of Assault Rifle ammo
-Two Fragmentation, 2 Incendiary and 2 Smoke Grenade packs
-A health pickup
-An energy pickup
There's a door down here, and behind it (a distance away) is a Heavy Ghost
Warrior. Have your Sniper Rifle or Rocket Launcher ready, then open the door
and go in to waste him. A crate in this hallway has a pack of Rockets in it.
Cross the hallway, go into the next room, grab a pack of Fragmentation
Grenades
and a health pickup on a crate and go down a lift into the excavation site.
6J-3: Na Koja Abad: Excavation
------------------------------
The lift drops you off at a platform overlooking the gate into the
excavation
site. Before you turn around to head down to it, wait until you can see the
guard patrolling the platform leading up to that gate. His patrol route will
take him out of your line of sight at times, so wait several seconds if he
at
first doesn't appear to be there. When you find him, snipe him. Then head
down.
^>From the bottom of the ladder and back of the platform, it would now appear
that the thing to do is grab goodies off the platform and head straight to
the
gate. However, there are lots of additional items on the ground level as
well
as an additional guard, and from the back of the platform (out of the way of
all that fencing up ahead), you can find him patrolling and easily snipe
him,
too. Now head forward to the middle area of the platform area and get
everything- between the items on the crates and the items in the fenced-in
areas to the left and right, you should be able to find:
-A pack each of Smoke and Incendiary Grenades and 2 packs of
Fragmentation
Grenades
-Two Magnum Pistol clips
-An Assault Rifle and 2 boxes of ammo for it
-A pack of Rockets
-Two health pickups
Once you have all of those, you'll notice there's a ladder heading down to
ground level. DON'T go down it. The area it leads to will bring yo6u under
fire
from 2 Drone Guns. Instead, head up the slanted part of the platform leading
up
to the gate into the excavation site and jump off the side toward the top.
Below
you'll see a smaller platform positioned underneath the slanted part of the
larger platform above, and this smaller platform has 2 Drone Guns on it. You
can
now take them out safely from the sides. Then climb up the ladder onto where
the
Drone Guns were and collect a Shotgun and 2 boxes of shells. Also, there's
an
energy recharging station here if you need it.
Now go onto the area that the ladder you ignored before leads down to. It's
fenced off on most sides and the Drones were pointing straight at it.In
there
you'll find a Grenade Launcher and 2 packs each of EMP and Fragmentation
Grenades, as well as another Assault Rifle and 2 boxes of ammo for it. Once
you
have all that, go back up the ladder and proceed to the gate leading into
the
excavation site. Activate the outer security hatch to the right of it and
pass
through.
A small intermediary room seperates the exterior and interior of this new
complex, leading into a huge, circular room. It's clearly alien in design,
and
absolutely stunningly rendered. In this huge circular area there are 3
Medium
Ghost Warriors walking around as guards, although none of them will see you
immediately. Start out by staying toward the outer walls of the room and
circling through it, searching for distant enemies with your Sniper Rifle
and
picking them off if possible. If you end up in a firefight, just keep it at
long
range and you should be fine. With so little available cover you may take a
couple hits, but Shotgun hits at long range are no big deal.
Once you've cleared out the room, find the area where there's a recess in
the
wall, a mini-hallway of sorts. It may look like there's a dead end at the
end of
it, but if you walk to the end the coolest-looking door I've ever seen in a
video game will open up.
The door leads into a cylinder-shaped room which has a Medium Ghost Warrior
in
it. Sometimes when I've entered the room he's been on a platform at the top
of a
ladder, while other times he's been on ground level. I don't know why this
is,
but have your Shotgun ready just in case because the ground level is very
small
and provides you with no cover at all. Kill the guard there (if he is
there),
then head up the ladder and if the guard is in fact *there*, kill him then
instead. There are three more ladders heading further and further up after
that.
At the top is a platform overlooking another huge, circular room with 2
guards
below you chatting about the artifact. If you fire a single Incendiary
Grenade
down right in between where the two are standing, it will kill them both.
Then
head down into the room.
This circular room is protected with a very intimidating but actually fairly
harmless security system. The artifact is on the opposite side of the room
(with
the center blocked off) and both sides of the room are blocked by numerous
laser
barriers. What makes them ineffective is that going through them does so
little
damage that you could just run straight through them all and suffer little
injury. You have all the time you need to make it through, though, so do
your
best to evaluate each laser and jump it or duck it as needed. On the other
side,
a strange, shimmering station cradles the artifact. Grab it. This
deactivates
the security system; the lasers disappear.
/-------------------------------------\
Plot Point/Spoiler Alert:
Although the laser security system has powered down, the removal of the
artifact causes energy to start flowing through tubes in ceiling as if
the
room were coming alive. Izanagi Ghost Warriors enter the room; the squad
leader shouts, "secure the area!" and they spread out and take aim with
their guns. Slowly and silently, Drakk Sentries- bizarre alien
biomechanical creatures- float down from holes in the ceiling and attack
the Ghost Warriors, shocking them with electricity. From the device in
the
center of the room, a Drakk Overlord rises and begins to approach you!
\-------------------------------------/
/-------------------------------------\
New Enemy: Drakk Overlord
Description: Drakk Overlords are biomechanical creatures with bodies
divided into 2 segments connected by an artificial spine. The top is
vaguely insectoid, with several tentacles and 4 glowing eyes, and the
bottom contains a glowing crystal that supplies it with power. Overlords
float through the air extremely slowly, constantly scanning for enemies
with a laser. They can take a lot of punishment before going down, and
even when they are defeated, their shells will remain on the ground
awaiting repairs from a repair droid and giving off smoke like a smoke
Grenade.
Attacks: A Drakk Overlord has 2 attacks. One is with its Laser Cannon,
which is fairly damaging. It can kill you in about 14 shots if you're at
full health and energy and playing on Medium difficulty. Laser cannons
have unlimited range and fire instantaneously. If they get close enough,
they'll extend a tentacle out to you with a strange device on the end
that
damages you steadily. Overlords can use both attacks at the same time.
After killing a Drakk Overlord, it drops an ammunition pod you can pick
up
and use for your own Laser Cannon (once you've gotten it).
Tips and Tactics: Drakk Overlords follow certain very uniform rules about
how they fight. They must contact you with their targeting lasers before
they can shoot you with their Laser Cannons. Their targeting lasers
change
color right before they fire. After firing, an Overlord has to wait for a
second or so before its targeting laser turn on again and starts
scanning.
Once the Overlord "locks on" to you, he *must* fire. When Overlords are
broken and giving off smoke, they take about 30 seconds before exploding.
They can also be destroyed by doing the same amount of damage to their
smoking shells as it took to break them in the first place, which is
about 35 or 40 Assault Rifle rounds or 3 Fragmentation Grenades. You
can't
combine those 2 properties; in other words, you can't shoot an Overlords'
smoking shell with 2 Fragmentation Grenades and then expect to only have
to wait 10 seconds or so for it to explode. An EMP Grenade will kill an
Overlord in one direct hit (since it runs off of electrical energy), and
an Incendiary Grenade usually will also. So the best way to kill an
Overlord is this: Find some kind of cover to get behind that's far enough
away that you don't have to worry about the Overlord using its tentacle
attack, but close enough that you can use your Grenade Launcher. Peek out
from behind the cover and let the Overlord lock onto you, then return
behind cover and let it fire and miss. Then peek out and fire at him
while he is motionless and waiting for his scanning process to restart.
If
you encounter an Overlord without any cover around, or little enough that
he'll get at least one good shot at you before you can reach it, wait
until the scanning laser stops on you and listen for the sound of the
laser powering up just moments before it fires. It is possible to dodge
to
either side right before the Overlord fires and avoid taking damage,
despite their perfect aim. When I say dodge, I mean it literally; you
must
have dodging activated in the options and hit left or right twice. Simply
jumping to the side won't move you quickly enough to avoid being hit most
of the time.
\-------------------------------------/
This Overlord is a little different from ones you'll face later on; it takes
about twice as much damage to kill. It's essentially the boss of the level,
so
use 2 EMPs to take it out. Afterwards, don't bother shooting at it; there
are no
repair drones around so it will die by itself in time. After it goes down,
start
retracing your steps back out of the excavation site. You won't have to
fight
any Overlords or Ghost Warriors (although you'll see Ghost Warriors being
killed
by Drakk Sentries), but there are numerous Sentries to fight.
/-------------------------------------\
New Enemy: Drakk Sentry
Description: Drakk sentries are biomechanical creatures that resemble
scarabs or trilobites in appearance and see through 4 glowing red eyes.
They have energy crystals on their undersides that provide them with
power and they hover in the air. Their bluish, reflective exteriors act
as
a very effective armor against attacks.
Attacks: Drakk Sentries will float towards you at the speed of a running
Light or Medium Skaarj. Once they get about as far away as the maximum
effective range of the Shotguns' second trigger they unfold several
electroconductive tentacles and begin shocking you. Their attacks are not
very effective; if you had full health and energy and were playing on
Medium difficulty, it would take a little over a minute of nonstop
shocking to kill you. Also, they slow down to about half speed while
their
tentacles are extended, giving you a chance to escape.
Tips and Tactics: Although they don't damage you too quickly, Drakk
Sentries' attacks can add up and killing them can eat up a lot of ammo.
It
takes about 20 shots from an Assault Rifle or 2 Fragmentation Grenades to
kill one. Since Drakk Sentries are only partially living and "run" off of
electricity, they are weak against EMP Grenades. Although an EMP will
kill
one in a single hit, you should probably save EMPs for facing Overlords
(except in Na Koja Abad, where there's only one Overlord to face). Try to
damage them at a distance while they approach you. They move in very
straight paths, with no way of dodging or blocking your attacks, so you
can really tear them up with any weapon in the 2nd trigger group, or with
the Magnum Pistol, when they come after you. You may then want to switch
to the Shotgun or another close-combat weapon right before they unravel
their tentacles and attack so that you can finish them off.
\-------------------------------------/
Unlike the Overlord, the Sentries here are the same as the ones you'll face
later, and the same as they are described above. Although you won't be
facing 2
Sentries at once, they will keep coming until you escape. When you finish
fighting one, keep moving as quickly as possible. Note that you won't have
to go
back all the way through the "excavation" level. You'll just have to get
back to
the entrance to the alien site, beyond which the walls stops looking alien
and
start looking manmade again. Once you reach the gate leading to that point
again, your mission is complete and you're one artifact closer to your
ultimate
goal.
-----------------------------------------------------------
6K: The Drakk Hive Planet
-----------------------------------------------------------
Your next destination is the planet NC962VIII, an alien hive planet occupied
by
the Drakk, the alien race you fought in the excavation site on Na Koja Abad.
Little is known about them except that they are biomechanical creatures that
build their own bodies and that killed the species that created them long,
long
ago. Your dropship begins to touch down outside their hive complex, deep
inside
of which an artifact is known to exist. The entire area is engulfed in
intense
radiation. Aida is fearful of this mission, while Ne-Ban finds it
fascinating.
Dalton requests intel and finds that there is none available. After some
difficulty on Ne-Ban's part keeping the dropship under control, you touch
down.
As you walk down the path to the main entry gate, Aida warns you not to go
outside of contact range for your communication equipment. Your connection
quickly breaks up, though, forcing Dalton to enter alone.
6K-1: NC962VIII Scrutiny
------------------------
Once through the door, head down the large hallway in front of you. Three
Drakk
Sentries will attack you, one at a time. Back away as each one approaches
and
fire with your Laser Cannon. There will be plenty of reloads for your Laser
Cannon throughout the level, so it's the perfect weapon against Sentries.
The
hall leads into a large room where you'll make a disturbing discovery.
/-------------------------------------\
Plot Point/Spoiler Alert:
The room contains 2 rows of transparent containers filled with water and
live, intelligent beings of various sorts. A mercenary, a Marine, a
Skaarj
and a Kai are all visible. Dalton has to question why the Drakk would be
keeping prisoners, and what purpose the strange containers serve...
\-------------------------------------/
The room also contains a large number of goodies, including:
-Three packs of Rockets
-Three boxes of Assault Rifle ammo
-Three boxes of Shotgun Shells
-Three packs of Fragmentation Grenades
-A pack of EMP Grenades
Also, there are 4 health pickups. For segment of the mission, they'll be the
only health pickups available, so if you get hurt later on come back here to
heal. Keep going forward now, heading through 2 more gates.
You'll now be in a large room with 2 Overlords in it, as well as a
transparent
chamber with a live Drakk creature inside that you haven't yet seen. The
creature is a Repair Droid and the chamber is indestructible. When one of
the
Overlords is broken, though, the chamber will open, allowing the Droid to
scurry out.
/-------------------------------------\
New Enemy: Drakk Repair Droid
Description: Repair droids are small, many-legged insectoid creatures
who lack any weapons but can repair damaged Overlords. Although
biomechanical, Repair Droids are not very similar to other Drakk. They
run across the ground rather than hovering in the air, and they have very
little capacity for damage. They are capable of returning a broken and
smoking Overlord to its full original damage capacity and level of combat
capability within only a second or so of making contact with the
Overlord.
Attacks: Drakk Repair Droids cannot attack in any way.
Tips and Tactics: The best weapon to use against Repair Droids is the
Laser Cannon: it takes out a Droid in one blast, and Repair Droids only
appear in the Drakk Hive Planet, where Laser Cannon ammo is abundant.
You'll only get one shot at the Repair Droid, though, since if you miss
the Overlord will have been repaired before your Laser Cannon charges up
again. The best time to fire is usually as soon as the Droid reaches an
Overlord: They are quick-moving, but must stop in one place to perform a
repair. Since they always move in straight lines, you'll know where that
one place will be and can have your crosshairs over it ahead of time.
Another option that is often good is to shoot one as soon as it leaves
its
protective chamber; you can usually take a second shot if you miss before
the repair will have been completed. If you screw up and the Repair Droid
brings back an Overlord, try again to shoot the Repair Droid as it is
returning to its' chamber.
\-------------------------------------/
The 2 Overlords here both slowly rise out of holes in the ground. The best
thing
to do here is to rush forward, getting right up close to the Overlords
before
they have completely risen from the holes and started scanning for targets
with
their lasers. Then you can EMP one of them, duck behind a column for
protection
from the other one, wait for the Repair Drone to come and shoot it. Then to
kill
the other Overlord, peek out from behind cover, draw fire from the Overlord,
return to cover, let the Overlord shoot and miss and finally kill it while
its
Laser Cannon is busy recharging. Don't forget, throughout the level, to
collect
Laser Rifle pods from destroyed Overlords and regularly reload the Laser
Rifle
so you'll have it ready when Droids and Sentries come around.
Once the 2 Overlords have exploded, the gates on either side of the room
will
open. You'll find that in various parts of the Drakk Hive Planet the
Overlords
act as guardians for "locked" doors. Once one is destroyed, it is likely
that a
door somewhere will become functional. Each of the 2 now open doors leads to
the
same thing: a curving path, the 2 of which converge into the same ledge. Go
either way.
In the hall (whichever you choose) 2 Sentries will attack you. The Sentries
have
trouble passing through open gateways; they tend to get stuck in place. Try
to
back away through the gate and away from them and fire at them while they
struggle to shift from the hallway into your room. Once the Sentries are
down
head through the gate onto a balcony.
As soon as you get onto the balcony, the door behind you closes and locks,
stranding you on a precarious ledge without cover. An Overlord will attack
you
soon, so have your Grenade Launcher or Shock Lance ready. As soon as the
Overlord is broken, jump down to the ledge below where a Repair Droid is
waiting
in a chamber. Destroy it and go through a narrow hall you'll now be next to.
The hallway heads into a second, perpendicular hallway. From the first hall,
you'll see targeting lasers scanning through the second hall, foreshadowing
an
upcoming conflict with more Overlords. Peek into the hall where you see the
lasers and figure out where the Overlords are, then quickly duck back away.
You
can now either take them out with the peek-and-fire method or by bouncing
EMP
Grenades off of the wall into them. Be careful, though; in the second
hallway
are a couple points where there are breaks in the ground with air and
bubbles of
some sort rising out of them. These are intended for carrying you up to a
higher
level later, but they'll also push Grenades off-course. They won't
completely
fling them up a level, but they'll make them hit higher up then they
otherwise
would. Choose your method and kill the 2 Overlords, and be ready for up to 3
Repair Droids also.
Now go into the second hallway. At each end of it is a button that you'll
need
to press. To traverse the full length of the hallway, when you reach an air
gap in the floor, walk across as if the floor was solid and you'll just end
up
on the other side, unharmed. If you try to jump over the gaps, though,
you'll be
propelled up to a higher level, which you should stay out of for now. Also,
at
one end of the hall, once you get near the button at the end laser defenses
will
power up in the walls. Be ready to jump and duck as necessary to get past
them;
once you reach the button, the lasers will turn off. When both buttons have
been
pushed, "ride" the air gaps in the floor up to another hall higher up by
jumping
into one.
When you get to the higher level, head further along on either side, both of
which wrap around and end up reaching a platform with an Overlord in front
of
you. Waste him and quickly cross over the bridge here. Then head through 2
gates
into the next area.
K2: NC962VIII Subjugation
-------------------------
At the beginning of this new segment of the Drakk Hive Planet, you'll run
into
another frightening display.
/-------------------------------------\
Plot Point/Spoiler Alert:
This room contains more water-filled containers with partial (but live)
test subjects trapped inside. In one is a human head, in another a Skaarj
arm and in another a Marines' torso and head. They are all hooked up to
electronic tubes and there are buttons on the tanks that make the body
parts in the containers do strange things that deeply disturb Dalton.
Additional body parts (and an entire Skaarj body) litter the floor around
you. Dalton says out loud, "What in God's name did they do to these
people?"
\-------------------------------------/
Like the last living experiment room you came across, this one contains
numerous power-ups. You should be able to find the following:
-Three packs of Shotgun shells
-Two packs of Rockets
-Two plasma canisters for your Shock Lance
-Two boxes of Assault Rifle ammo
-Three packs of Fragmentation Grenades
-A pack of EMP Grenades.
Now head through the tube-shaped corridor up ahead into a new room, and from
there continue straight forward through a second corridor. You'll now
encounter
an Overlord, who will rise out of the circular portal in the ground in front
of
you. Take him out as he rises since there's no immediate cover. You can now
either head forward again or to the right. Both paths lead to the same area,
but the one on the right has a Sentry in the hall. Either way you'll end up
in
an area with another portal in the ground containing another Overlord. Kill
it
and progress forward again, being sure not to go in the direction that takes
you back to where you were. You'll end up heading through another tunnel,
facing a Sentry, and then finding another experiment room.
/-------------------------------------\
Plot Point/Spoiler Alert:
In this Drakk experimentation room the bodies and body parts on display
have been recombined, mixing different species! One container holds a
Skaarj torso with heads coming out of the knees, one contains a partial
Skaarj, and one contains a Marine with a snoring head for an arm and a
hand emerging from its head. These experiments make the last set look
humane... and there are undoubtedly more still to come.
\-------------------------------------/
On the ground here, once again, are powerups, this time:
-Two Magnum Pistol clips
-Two Assault Rifle clips
-Two Rocket packs
-Two health pickups
-Three energy pickups
Now keep going down the hall, and when you come across an entryway blocked
by a
Drakk energy barrier, make sure to grab the 3 Laser Rifle pods sitting next
to
the wall in front of you.
Soon you'll reach a huge circular room with a cylinder-shaped tower in the
center and columns in the ground arcing up into it. This room contains
2 Overlords. The columns are great cover against them. Hunt down and kill
both
Overlords and the Repair Droids who will come to them. Once both are dead an
entry hole will open in the side of the cylindrical structure at the center
of
the room. Circle around until you can find it. Jump in and the rushing air
inside will carry you up to the next area.
K3: NC962VIII Subordination
---------------------------
As this section of the level begins, an Overlord will immediately rise out
of
the ground nearby. Take him out immediately since there is so little cover
in
the room. There are 2 Repair Droids you'll have to tend to, then go through
the
door that opens into the next room. This is a *HUGE* area with a much bigger
cylinder in the center than you've seen before and electrical bolts arcing
into
it from the walls. Go forward and you'll reach a fork in the path heading
left
and right. On each side is an Overlord concealed in the ground that will
rise
and attack you as soon as you go near it, so make sure to only take one at a
time. Start with the right side, since the left heads to the next area and
you'll need these guys dead first. Past the Overlord on the right side are 4
Laser Rifle pods.
To the left is a tunnel with a huge array of laser defenses. They constantly
go
on and off, sweeping from the end of the tunnel towards the side you're on.
This
is the first (and only) set of laser defenses you've seen that is likely to
kill
you so save first. Basically there are safe spots in various places where
you
can stand (or crouch) and no lasers will touch you while they're active. It
would be impossible for me to create a diagram, but you'll just have to
watch
the lasers course through the tunnel, look for a spot that they neglect to
guard, run to it when the lasers power down and wait. Then search ahead for
another one, studying the positions of the lasers, and rush up to it after
they
pass you by. You may want to save after each successful advancement down the
tunnel.
^>From the other end of the tunnel, go up a ramp leading to the edges of the
room.
Head in the only direction here that isn't blocked. Eventually you'll reach
the
last piece of the puzzle regarding the activities taking place in the Drakk
Hive
Planet.
/-------------------------------------\
Plot Point/Spoiler Alert:
You stand before one last transparent container, bigger than any previous
one. A hybrid creature dwells inside, a final product of previous
experimentation that seems to have worked out quite well. The container
gives him room to walk around in. It seems the Drakk are trying to create
some sort of scientifically enhanced slave race; there are now 2 reasons
why you must defeat them.
\-------------------------------------/
Just past the container are 2 boxes of Shotgun shells, 2 packs of Rockets, a
pack of EMP Grenades and 3 health pickups. Grab all of them and keep going.
Up
ahead is a huge ramp that heads up into the cylinder in the center of the
room.
Go inside to face the Drakk's leader.
K4: NC962VIII Solitude
----------------------
You'll now find yourself in a very large, circular room with a walkway
running
all the way around, 2 transparent ramps heading down to ground level,
columns
heading from the elevated edges up to the ceiling, and the artifact at the
other
side of the room, radiating energy from inside a crystalline chamber. A huge
hole opens in the floor in the center of the room, through which a
gargantuan
Drakk creature rises up to "greet" you. Prepare yourself for one of the 2
most
difficult battles in the game.
/-------------------------------------\
New Enemy: Heavy/Boss Drakk
Description: The Drakk Hive Queen (as I refer to it; the actual name is
never given but it *is* the boss of a hive) resembles a Drakk sentry but
is of a size that, so far, has been matched only by the Heavy Araknid at
the end of Hell. It has 8 arms with Laser Cannons on them and, if damaged
heavily enough, will temporarily break apart into 2 sections: a top
section with an enhanced Laser Cannon and a bottom one that clutches an
energy crystal in it. The top section moves quickly but only in short,
sweeping movements in between shots most of the time whereas the bottom
section is slower but moves continuously.
Attacks: The top section of the Drakk Hive Queen has 2 different attacks.
Most of the time it attacks by rapid-firing 8 times with its Laser
Cannons. Each shot does between a third and a fourth as much damage as a
Laser Cannon shot from an Overlord, and the Queen can only slightly
readjust its aim as each successive shot is fired. While the top and
bottom sections are separated, the top section will switch to a different
attack that fires with more time in between volleys, but that is more
powerful. It is a more or less solid stream of energy that sweeps back
and
forth very quickly, attacking a general area of the room. The bottom
section is basically powerless; it can arc electricity out to shock you
when it is very nearby, but this does almost no damage and the bottom
section constantly tries to stay away from you anyway.
Tips and Tactics: Battling the Drakk Hive Queen works like this: Damage
the Queen badly enough (roughly 50 Assault Rifle rounds or 5 EMP
Grenades,
for example) and the top and bottom sections will break apart. Then
you'll
have about 60 seconds to fight the two seperately. As you damage the
bottom section, the game will keep a running tally of how much you've
damaged it. Once that reaches a certain point, you've defeated the Queen.
At the end of the 60 seconds, the top section will start shaking as it
sets itself to self-destruct. You'll then have about 10 seconds before it
will launch itself at you and try to explode near you (the explosion has
the effect of a Fragmentation Grenade, even though it looks like an
Incendiary Grenade going off). If you destroy the top section while the 2
are separated, you'll have the rest of that 60 seconds free to fight the
bottom section and you won't have to deal with dodging the kamikaze
attack. Regardless of whether you destroy it or not, at the end of that
time, the bottom section will somehow grow a new top section and go back
to fighting in its original fashion until you do enough damage to force
it
to separate again. Use of cover is the only way to avoid getting torn to
pieces by the top sections' attacks. Always keep track of the cover
around
you. Make especially sure not to take any risks with the sweeping laser
attack employed after the sections separate. It's up to you whether or
not
you want to bother destroying the top section after separation; it uses
up
time and ammo, but prevents damage and lets you more efficiently spend
the
remaining time hunting down the bottom section, so it's an even tradeoff.
As for weapons use, I'd suggest using your EMP Grenades on the top
sections. After the top fires it is vulnerable for just long enough that
if you quickly lob a Grenade at them you'll be able to hit them it before
it moves again. Incendiary Grenades work just as well, by the way.
Fragmentation Grenades, though, are pretty weak. Guided Rockets are a
good
attack to use against either section, and non-guided ones sometimes work
just as well against the top section. If you have any ammo left for it,
the Shock Lance's second trigger is very effective against the top
section. The bottom section is kind of tricky since it's so agile and
constantly tries to escape from you. Aside from Rockets, instant hitting
weapons like the Laser Rifle and Assault Rifle are moderately good.
Grenades are nearly impossible to hit with most of the time. If you can
get close enough, the Flamethrower and Shotgun are great options. If you
get close to it and it starts shocking you, just let it. It does
negligible damage. When the top section prepares to launch itself at you,
get behind a column and then, when it launches, move around to another
side of the column (besides the side it's launching at, of course). This
is a LONG fight; it takes about 250 Assault Rifle rounds to destroy the
bottom section, if that gives you an idea of how long. If you can just
keep fighting for a while and making progress without getting seriously
hurt, I'd strongly recommend saving.
\-------------------------------------/
On the ground level, underneath the elevated rim, there is a huge wealth of
powerups, including:
-Seven health pickups
-Six energy pickups
-Four Magnum Pistol clips
-Four plasma clips (for the Shock Lance)
-Five boxes of Assault Rifle ammunition
-Six Fragmentation Grenades
-Four boxes of Shotgun Shells
-Six packs of Rockets
The powerups are in many different places, but there's good cover while
you're
going from place to place. The problem with repeatedly going down for health
or
energy, though, is that on the way back up a ramp you're a sitting duck. Try
to
only take one visit down, when you're in severe need for health, energy and
ammo. And definitely don't go down using a ramp... either start using a ramp
and
drop down the hole towards the top of each one or jump off the edge of the
second floor. After a long and difficult battle, you'll eventually destroy
the
bottom section of the Drakk Hive Queen. It will explode, sending out a
spherical wave of energy that passes through the entire room. Now go and
pick
up your hard-earned final artifact!
-----------------------------------------------------------
6L: Avalon
-----------------------------------------------------------
Having acquired all of the artifacts, you are headed to the TCA headquarters
on
Avalon, where your Odyssey began. The plan is to for you to touch down and
talk
to General Drexler in person about the artifacts so that you won't have to
worry
about your conversation being intercepted electronically. As your dropship
heads
down to Avalon, energy bolts from the TCA's planetary cannon are fired at
you!
Your dropship takes a hit and crash lands. The Skaarj already intercepted
some
conversations, it turns out, and overtook the planetary cannon's control
tower
so that they'd have a cunning trap waiting for you. There is no sign of
Drexler,
although Commander Hawkins escaped to his flagship, the Dorian grey. You'll
have
to retake the tower and deactivate the Planetary Cannon before the Atlantis
will
be able to pick you up.
6L-1: Avalon
------------
Note: Like Na Koja Abad, Avalon is both the name of the mission and the
first
(and only) level of the mission, as evidenced when you save a game and
select to
load it again.
^>From your dropship, head straight forward and ready your Sniper Rifle or
Rocket
Launcher. At the bottom of the hill in front of you is a dead Marine with a
Sniper Rifle and a clip of Sniper Rifle ammo next to him. There is plenty of
Sniper Rifle ammo in this level so don't be afraid to use it wherever it's
useful. As you continue on you'll hear a whistle of some sort call out and
as
you head up the hill further in front of you you'll be greeted by a Heavy
Skaarj. I'd recommend fighting him at long range with your Sniper Rifle or
Rocket Launcher, and definitely fall back as you fight. Your next enemy is
atop
the hill; a Medium Skaarj will approach. Many weapons work well here, and
against most Skaarj you'll face in this level. You have plenty of weapons
and
plenty of experience killing Skaarj, so you should generally have no lack of
effective strategies to employ.
^>From the hilltop, head right onto the paved area near the tower. You'll soon
face 2 Light Skaarj. Consider using the Laser Cannon on them; 1 first
trigger
shot downs them and they can't block or dodge it. Further along the paved
area,
toward the railing, is another Medium Skaarj, but also note the 2 dead
Marines
around here. One is slumped against a wall alone. The other, off of the
paved
part of ground a bit, has an Assault Rifle next to him that you can grab.
Once
you have cleaned out this area, head around the tower to the left, along a
path
with railing at the edges. You'll soon find an elevator heading up the
tower. Go
in- you'll hear human screams as you do- and activate the elevator.
At the top, after getting out, you'll see a Medium Skaarj dangling a man
over
the edge of the railing. He'll drop the man when you exit the elevator and
charge at you instead. I'd recommend either having the Flamethrower ready
and
backing away while immersing him in flames or, better yet, take him out in
one
hit with a well-placed Incendiary Grenade. Don't bother with lighter weapons
here; the confined space is highly dangerous. Once he's dead, head left onto
an
open platform where you'll find a Sniper Rifle and 3 clips of ammo for it.
Grab
all that you can hold. Then turn around and progress in the direction the
Skaarj
was and run up the curving stairways onto a large platform. A Light Skaarj
will
run down some stairs to meet you at the platform; blast him while dodging
his
attacks.
Be ready for opposition when you head up the next set of steps. It leads
into
the tower control room, which is guarded by both a Light and Medium Skaarj.
I
wouldn't recommend entering the room; you might want to fire a couple
Grenades
or other weapons from the doorway and then back out as they chase after you.
Once you kill both Skaarj, investigate the room. You'll find the following
powerups:
-A Rocket Launcher
-A Grenade Launcher
-Two Sniper Rifle clips
-A health pickup
-An energy pickup
Also, towards the center of the room is a very slightly elevated station
with
the planetary cannon's controls. Operate them and the cannon will recede
into a
silo in the ground and a protective sliding gate will close over the top.
The Marines will message you, informing you that they've set up a perimeter
at
another building. Also, the Atlantis is now heading down. You must now find
and
meet up with the Marines.
Head back to the elevator and hit the controls again. This time they won't
work.
It turns out that the Skaarj have sabotaged the power to it. A Marine is
soon
sent to the power station to repair the damage so you can safely return.
Your
job is to cover him with your Sniper Rifle. Position yourself on the open
ledge
where the Sniper Rifle and 3 clips were. He'll soon run out into the open
and
shout things to you to guide your scope to him. Activate your Rifle's scope
and
find him.
You'll soon begin a sequence in which a series of Light Skaarj (each
killable in
one shot of your Sniper Rifle) will run out and attack the Marine, first one
at
a time and eventually rapidly from multiple directions. You'll notice there
are
explosive barrels lying around in various places. Toward the end of this
conflict 2 Heavy Skaarj will come marching out. You should probably save the
clusters of barrels until they walk near them. The one inside the fenced-off
area (which the Marine will soon break into to patch up an electronic board)
is
useful as a sort of last resort in case any Light Skaarj get that far. If
Skaarj
do manage to reach and attack the Marine, he's far from helpless- he'll
probably
even blast a couple of Light Skaarj to death before he goes down. But if you
play your cards right that should never be necessary. Monitor large areas of
ground using a slight zoom, identify Light Skaarj targets, zoom in further
to
pick them off and repeat as necessary. There are about 2 dozen Light Skaarj
as
well as the 2 Heavy ones that will come later.
Eventually the Marine will finish up and you can ride the elevator back
down. As
soon as you exit it the Light Marine, armed with a Shotgun, will be waiting
to
lead you to the rendezvous point. Follow him and be prepared for a surprise
attack from a single Skaarj as soon as you start moving. After him, no
Skaarj
will attack you from behind, above, or anywhere else that's unusual.
Scout ahead now with your Sniper Rifle's scope (or start locking on Rockets
with
trigger 2) because your next conflict will be with 2 Light Skaarj who you'll
spot in the distance long before they can attack you. As you approach a hill
a
Medium Skaarj will run down to attack you, and as soon as you start heading
up 2
more will follow. You might lose your Marine ally around here, but he's not
essential. If he dies just keep heading up the hill. Toward the top you'll
have
to face a Heavy Skaarj. Lobbing Poison Gas Grenades up at him or immersing
him
in Flamethrower flames are effective strategies here, but don't do so for
too
long before you fall back and switch to ranged tactics. Once this guy starts
attacking you he won't fool around. Finish him off by whatever means are
necessary and continue to ascend the hill.
You'll now meet up with a Medium Marine armed with a Rocket Launcher and a
Light
Marine with an Assault Rifle. They'll greet you briefly, but soon give a
"heads
up" that more Skaarj are coming. Follow them as they run down a hill. Run
ahead
of them in the direction of 2 large rocks with a gap in between them and a
pile
of powerups visible. To be specific, the powerups are:
-An Assault Rifle and a box of ammo for it
-A Magnum Pistol clip
-A Rocket Launcher
-Two health pickups
-Two energy pickups
Make sure to save health and energy pickups if you're very near to full
health
or energy and wouldn't be getting the full effect from the powerups; you'll
need
them soon. The Marines will set up 2 Drone Guns on the outside of the 2
rocks
and a Plasma Barrier between the rocks. While they're heading out to do
that,
I'd recommend running through the gap between the rocks, in an arc toward
the
left side from there and jump on top of the left rock. It will make a very
effective perch to fire from in the upcoming battle since it gives you great
visibility and you can dodge backwards to drop off it and behind cover when
powerful projectiles are fired at you. Ready your Sniper Rifle, Rocket
Launcher,
Magnum Pistol or another very powerful weapon and watch atop the hills to
the
left of the 2 antenna far out in front of you (you'll see them rising from
behind a hill). Your enemies here will be large numbers of Heavy Skaarj, the
first 2 of which will come from this hilltop and drop down to ground level
as
they slowly approach you. Your Marines will back you up here once the Skaarj
are
in their line of sight, but you should start shooting as soon as you see
them.
After the 2 first Heavy Skaarj have come, start keeping an eye on the path
to
the right, where 2 more Heavy Skaarj will soon approach from far away. Once
all
4 are firing you'll be dodging some massive firepower. Don't stop hitting
with
everything you've got; once the Skaarj get close enough, try switching to
Toxic
Gas and Incendiary Grenades to do some REAL damage. If either pair of Skaarj
die
so that all your enemies are now coming from one direction, you may want to
jump
down and get a little bit closer so you can have more room to maneuver,
since it
will be easier to dodge now.
/-------------------------------------\
Plot Point/Spoiler Alert:
As you fight you'll start to hear speech transmissions from the crew of the
Atlantis. Someone is firing on them and they seem to be in dire trouble! It
has
taken hits from a powerful weapon and can't take much more before it will be
destroyed. Dalton tries to get Aida to explain what's happening but she's
too
busy on board the Atlantis, trying to manage the ship as it takes
considerable
damage.
\-------------------------------------/
After a brief break, 2 more Heavy Skaarj will attack from each of their 2
entry
points, just like before. Keep fighting as you have been, using any powerful
weapons you still have ammunition for. Once you've killed these 4 Skaarj as
well, you'll be done with your fighting for this mission... but the crew of
the
Atlantis just isn't that fortunate.
/-------------------------------------\
Plot Point/Spoiler Alert:
With the Atlantis teetering on the brink of destruction, Aida sends a burst
transmission into your Power Armors' computer system. This coded
transmission
will require a special station to decode, but contains a lengthy audio
recording
that will be vitally important. The Atlantis circles around, dodging
repeated
energy blasts from an unknown source. After successfully dodging several
blasts,
one hits and tears the ship to pieces, all of which hurtle into hilltops and
explode. The full crew of the Atlantis is now dead beyond any doubt.
Commander
Hawkins sends an immediate request to evacuate you and the surviving Marines
from the planet and bring you onboard his starship, the Dorian grey.
\-------------------------------------/
-----------------------------------------------------------
6M: The Dorian Grey Starship
-----------------------------------------------------------
Coming Soon
\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\
7: Cheats
/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/
Cheat codes for Unreal 2 are entered into the console, which by default
opens
with the ~ key. Before entering any other codes, activate cheat mode by
typing
“BeMyMonkey” into the console (no quotes, of course).
-----------------------------------------------------------
7A: General Cheats
-----------------------------------------------------------
I don’t provide every cheat I can find here because some don’t work very
well
at all or are not useful compared to another cheat I’ve provided.
I want to present one huge cheat separately from all of the below ones. It
activates the Debug Menu, which lets you do dozens of different things, most
of
which have their own separate codes as well. That cheat is:
SendEvent ToggleDebugMenu
Try to keep track of what you activate in the Debug Menu because some of it
is
cool at first but distracting later and may need to be disabled. You can
really
go ripping into the rendering system for the game with this!
Other codes:
AllAmmo- Maximum ammunition for all of your weapons
Amphibious- Underwater mode- you move as if you were constantly underwater.
BehindView (number)- Using a value of 1 sets the view to third person. Using
a
value of 0 sets it back to first.
ChangeSize (number)- Changes your characters’ size. One is standard size, 2
is
double, etc.
Difficulty (number)- Replace “number” with a value from 0 to 2. 0 sets the
game
to Easy difficulty, 1 sets it to Medium and 2 sets it to Unreal.
Fly- Flight mode; you can use the jump and duck buttons to “fly”
Ghost- Ghost mode (basically no clipping mode)
GibHitNPC- The NPC under your crosshairs gibs.
God- Toggles God Mode; nothing can hurt you.
Goodies 0 100- Gives you every weapon, including the Singularity Cannon and
Weapons Group 5 static defense systems. Other number combinations can be
used
but I find that 0 100 works best.
Invisible 1- Toggles Invisibility. "Invisible 0" then returns you to normal.
KillHitNPC- The NPC under your crosshair dies.
Mancannon (number)- Does the indicated number of damage to all visible
enemies.
NextLevel- Skips to the next level. Level, for this purpose, is defined as a
map… there are 3 maps, for example, in Sanctuary: Outside Mining Complex,
Mining Complex and Power Plant.
Phoenix- Enables the Phoenix Power Suit. I’m still figuring out what this
does…
PO- Toggles Players Only mode, where there are no enemies or NPCs.
SetFOV (number)- Replace “number” with a value from 1 to 360 and that is the
number of degrees your field of vision encompasses. 90 is the default;
360
lets you see in all directions at once.
SetMyHealth (number)- Replace “number” with a value from 0 to 100. That
becomes
your health total.
SetSpeed (number)- Sets your running speed, as well as the distance (not
height)
that you can jump. One is the standard speed, 0 is a standstill.
Fractions
(i.e. 0.5, 0.75) can be used. Two is double speed, 3 is triple and so on.
SetWeaponTick (0 or 1)- Setting this to 1 freezes an image of your hands and
arms holding the weapon you’re using in midair. When you fire, switch
weapons
or reload, the floating arms mimic your movements. Setting it to 0 goes
back
to normal.
ShowViewLine- Indicates where you are looking with a red line.
Teleport- Teleports you to a point in the distance indicated by your
crosshairs.
ToggleHUD- Removes the HUD from the screen.
ToggleImpacts- Turning off impacts makes it so that weapons don’t knock
people
out of place when they hit.
ToggleInfiniteAmmo- Provides infinite ammunition for all weapons.
ToggleInvisibility- Makes you completely invisible to other enemies and
characters.
ToggleReloads- Sets whether or not weapons need to reload.
ToggleScoreboard- Shows lots of technical information pertinent to the level
you’re in. Most of it is difficult to decipher the meaning of.
Walk- Normal walking mode; negates the effects of ghost, fly or underwater
modes.
I’ll continue adding more cheats in future updates; I want to personally
test
and confirm everything I list first.
-----------------------------------------------------------
7B: Summoning Cheats
-----------------------------------------------------------
These cheats allow you to summon power ups, actors and enemies. There are
two
ways of doing summoning cheats. One way is to enter the following code to
bring
up a menu that will let you summon any creature or character in the game
with a
click of the mouse:
SendEvent ToggleSummonMenu
The other way is to type into the console “sum” followed by a space and then
any of the following names. This lets you summon weapons, ammunition and
powerups in addition to characters and creatures:
7B-1: Item Summoning Names
--------------------------
(Information in parenthesis are not part of the codes):
ammoAssaultRifle
ammoEnergyRifle (Shock Lance)
ammoFlameThrower
ammoGrenadeConcussion
ammoGrenadeEMP
ammoGrenadeFragment
ammoGrenadeIncendiary
ammoGrenadeToxic
ammoLaserRifle (Drakk Laser Cannon)
ammoPistol (.50 Magnum Pistol)
ammoRocketLauncher
ammoShotgun
ammoSmokeGrenade
AutoTurretPickup
FieldGeneratorPickup
ProximitySensorPickup (Special, albeit not very useful, static defense
system that cannot be found in the normal game!)
RocketTurretPickup
weaponAssaultRifle
weaponEnergyRifle (Shock Lance)
weaponFlameThrower
weaponGrenadeLauncher
weaponLaserRifle (Drekk Laser Cannon)
weaponLeechGun (Spidergun- the Leechgun was changed to the Spidergun
before
the game was released, but retained the same technical name.)
weaponPistol (.50 Magnum Pistol)
weaponRocketLauncher
weaponShotgun
weaponSingularityCannon
weaponSniperRifle
weaponTakkra
7B-2: Character and Enemy Summoning Names:
------------------------------------------
These will spawn enemies or characters directly in front of you but facing
away
from you.
U2Pawns.U2AraknidLight
U2Pawns.U2AraknidMedium
U2Pawns.U2AraknidHeavy
U2Pawns.U2Izarian
U2Pawns.U2MarineLight (Friendly Marine allies)
U2Pawns.U2MarineMedium (Friendly Marine allies)
U2Pawns.U2MarineHeavy (Friendly Marine allies)
U2Pawns.U2MercFemLight (Liandri Angel Merc)
U2Pawns.U2MercFemMedium (Liandri Angel Merc)
U2Pawns.U2MercFemHeavy (Liandri Angel Merc)
U2Pawns.U2MercJapLight (Izanagi Ghost Warrior)
U2Pawns.U2MercJapMedium (Izanagi Ghost Warrior)
U2Pawns.U2MercJapHeavy (Izanagi Ghost Warrior)
U2Pawns.U2SkaarjLight
U2Pawns.U2SkaarjMedium
U2Pawns.U2SkaarjHeavy
U2Pawns.U2Tosc
U2Pawns.U2DrakkDroid (Repair Drones. Invincible but harmless when summoned
singularly using a cheat.)
U2Pawns.U2DrakkLight (Sentries)
U2Pawns.U2DrakkMedium (Overlords)
U2Pawns.U2DrakkBoss
U2Pawns.Aida (Just walks around, doesn’t do anything)
U2Pawns.Isaak (Just walks around, doesn’t do anything)
U2Pawns.Neban (Just walks around, doesn’t do anything)
U2Pawns.U2KaiClothed (Harmless NPC)
U2Pawns.U2CivilianScientist (Harmless NPC)
U2Pawns.U2ColonistHumanFemaleA (Harmless NPC)
U2Pawns.U2ColonistHumanMaleA (Harmless NPC)
U2Pawns.U2SpecialCivilian (Armed with a Dispersion Pistol)
U2Pawns.RaffTrainingBot (From training prior to the first real mission)
U2Pawns.U2Cockroach (harmless decorative entity)
U2Pawns.U2Cyprid (harmless creature)
U2Pawns.U2MegaParata (harmless creature)
U2Pawns.U2MegaSnipe (Alien animal that can be a minor threat)
U2Pawns.U2MiniMukhogg (huge alien animal that can be a minor threat)
U2Pawns.U2Seagoat (harmless creature)
U2Pawns.U2Parata (harmless creature)
U2Pawns.U2Rammer (Alien animal that can be a minor threat)
U2Pawns.U2Snipe (Alien animal that can be a minor threat)
U2Pawns.U2FlyingSnake (Harmless alien animal)
U2Pawns.U2Hummer (Harmless alien animal)
U2Pawns.U2Spore (From Acheron mission)
U2Pawns.U2Diver
U2Pawns.U2Bellowfish
U2Pawns.U2KillerSprout (Mildly harmful plant from Acheron mission)
U2Pawns.U2KillerTadpole
U2Pawns.U2PinwheelFish
U2Pawns.U2Schoolfish
U2Pawns.U2Uglyfish
U2Pawns.U2WaterDipper
U2Pawns.U2Bat
U2Pawns.U2CleaningBot
U2Pawns.U2RepairBot
U2Pawns.U2IceWorm
U2Pawns.U2ShianWarrior (Bizarre floating cube)
U2Pawns.U2ShianWorker (Bizarre floating cube)
U2Pawns.U2Jellyfish
U2Pawns.U2TubeWorm
U2Pawns.U2NStriderSmall
U2Pawns.U2NStriderLarge
U2Pawns.U2Forager
U2Pawns.U2Chiton
U2Pawns.U2SentryBot
-----------------------------------------------------------
7C: Secrets and Easter Eggs
-----------------------------------------------------------
Secret Nali Shooting Range
Location: Avalon Training Mission
During the training mission, when you are being shown how to jump and
mantle,
get up on the high block and then leap over the fence to your right. Look
through the crates until you find one with a bizarre-looking head inside.
Pick
it up and you’ll get a message saying that “You unlocked the secret shooting
range”. Later, when you’re testing weapons, to the left of the hallway
where
you’re supposed to test the grenade launcher on three giant bug-like
creatures
you’ll find another miniature target range. The targets will be depictions
of
Nali, from the original “Unreal”.
Balloon Party
Location: Any Time, Anywhere
Save before doing this because it will essentially freeze the game, making
it
impossible to return. Enter the following code into the console after
activating cheat mode (see above): open atlantis?missioncompleted=110276.
This will load up a scene in Daltons’ living quarters with several balloons
with pictures of Seagoats and other weirdness on them.
Seagoat Party
Location: Any Time, Anywhere
Save your game before doing this because it will essentially freeze it,
making
it impossible to return. Enter the following code into the console after
activating cheat mode (see above): open atlantis?missioncompleted=83. A new
level will load displaying a bizarre scene which you, unfortunately, cannot
move around and interact in. Six Seagoats will be jumping around doing
little
tricks. There will be 3 balloons floating in the air with pictures of
Seagoats
on them and a chromed Unreal logo spinning around in midair.
Seagoat Holographic Display
Location: On the Atlantis, Any Time
Go to the briefing room, where the holographic display is that Aida uses to
show you 3-D maps of levels prior to your starting a mission. Look at the
far
right side of the keyboard arrays surrounding the holograph area. All the
way
to the right of the keyboards is a tiny, orange button that will be labeled
“secret button”. Press it to give a rather frightening holographic display
of a
Seagoat that will cause Dalton to shout, “Jesus!”
Isaak’s Flashbang
Location: On the Atlantis, Any Time
Go to Isaak’s room, where he tells you about your new weapons. Just past the
entrance to the room, examine the desk along the edge of the room. Duck down
and carefully look around, up close, for a tiny orange secret button. Press
the
button and Isaak will say, “Flashbang.” Then an EMP blast will go off,
centered
on the secret button. It won’t hurt you, but it will cause Dalton to say,
“Jesus!”, like the Seagoat holograph (above) does.
Seagoat License Plate
Location: On the Atlantis, Any Time
Go into Dalton’s living quarters on the upper deck. Your living quarters are
the room where pieces of dark greenish brown battle armor (such as boots and
a
helmet) are scattered about and there is a locker with military uniforms in
it.
Activate no clipping mode using the “Ghost” code (see above). Then go
through
your uniform locker, turn around, and look at the back of the locker. A
Virginia license plate is attached to the back of the locker, and it reads
“Seagoat”.
Level Photo Album
Location: On the Atlantis, Any Time
Enter your living quarters and immediately turn left. Look at the computer
screen above the table with computer disks and a paper target for target
shooting laying on it. After each level, a new photograph appears, pinned up
on
the computer screen, of the last level that you beat.
Abe Lincoln Distress Call
Location: On the Atlantis, Prior to the First Mission
After the training mission is finished and you’ve gone back to the Atlantis
and
talked to Aida, head to the upper deck, where Isaak is, prior to heading to
the
briefing room. Turn left and head down until you find a hatch. Open the
hatch,
revealing a Seagoat inside. “Use” the Seagoat to “talk” to it. Choose on the
talk menu to reply to it by saying “Spam”, then “Spam”, then “Spam” a third
time, then “Humbug”. You will receive a message that “Lincoln is Pleased”.
Head to the briefing room now and receive your briefing. When Aida shows you
the distress call she received from Sanctuary, rather than a mining
personnel
civilian showing up on the screen you’ll see “Lincoln, A.”
\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\
8: Appendices
/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/
This section will consist of information not important to beating the game
but
that is simply interesting, as well as collections of information mentioned
earlier in the guide being restated in different ways (see 8B). If anybody
has
an idea for an appendix similar to 8A (below), please let me know and I'll
consider doing it. Just keep in mind that if it involves information that's
already in the instruction manual or that's given to you very early in the
game, I probably won't be interested in including it.
-----------------------------------------------------------
8A: Organizations and Alien Races
-----------------------------------------------------------
This is all information that can be obtained after beating Hell, while
talking
to Ne-Ban on the Atlantis. I included it so that anyone earlier on in the
game
who finds this kind of thing interesting can read it ahead of time. I
wouldn't
consider any of it to be spoilers; it's background information, but none of
it
alludes to future parts of the plotline.
Everything here is copied out of the game exactly, in John Dalton's own
words.
TCA (Terran Colonial Authority):
As earth expands in this sector of space, different corporations are
establishing colonies on uninhabited planets. They do everything from
creating
vacation resorts to mining exotic ores to terraforming. We in the Terran
Colonial Authority patrol between the planets to keep the peace. The
corporations try to get away with a lot out here and they hire mercenary
forces
to help them get their way. We often find ourselves fighting the mercs to
defend civilians who work for their own corporation. If we run into
something
we can't take on alone, we call in the marines.
Axon:
Axon is on our side. They're a private company that works hand in hand with
our
military to research and develop new weapons.
The Liandri Corporation:
The Liandri Corporation is a heavy industrial and mining combine with
installations on dozens of planets. They defend their interests with an army
of
genetically engineered female warriors who have been raised since birth to
be
fighters. The Liandri Angels are cold, dispassionate and highly efficient.
They
are among the elite of industrial mercenary forces.
The Izanagi Corporation:
The Izanagi is a broad-based conglomerate modeled on the ancient Japanese
Kereitsu. They're into whatever makes money, and they protect themselves
with
an elite corps of merc soldiers, fanatically loyal to the corporation, who
call
themselves "Ghost Warriors".
The Skaarj:
The Skaarj are a power-hungry race who have been trying to expand into this
sector of space. Normally their highly tribal social structure prevents them
from working together. But recently we have seen unusual examples of
cooperation between the clans, which can only spell trouble for us. Their
warriors are all highly independent, intelligent and very dangerous
fighters.
The Izarians:
The Izarians are borderline psychotic aliens who seem to live to fight. They
had conquered a small area of space and subjugated a few minor races. Then
they
ran into the Skaarj and became slaves themselves. With their sadomasochistic
tendencies, we're not at all sure they mind.
The Kai:
The Kai are an old semi-nomadic race that has spread from from planet to
planet, taking a keen interest in the archeology, folklore and traditions of
each. They stay on the fringes of society, however, and make their way by
performing menial tasks wherever they go.
The Araknids:
They are not a known aggressor race and they're not indigenous to hell. We
think they're just creatures who were important from off-planet to the labs,
and then mutated under the influence of the energy beam and the artifact.
-----------------------------------------------------------
8B: Collected Enemy Strategies
-----------------------------------------------------------
This section is on hold until I release version 1.0 of my guide. I'm putting
this in as a heads-up and placeholder. What it will be is every indented
section describing a new enemy during the guide, collected, alphabetized and
restated for easy reference.
-----------------------------------------------------------
8C: Questions and Answers
-----------------------------------------------------------
These mostly aren't things people have asked me, but I think they're useful;
most of them are things I've wondered myself at one point. Almost all the
below
information is somewhere else in this guide as well. If you have a question
yourself or think one of my answers is inaccurate, by all means, E-Mail me
(LunarZenith@hotmail.com).
8C-1: Weapons and Atttacks
--------------------------
Q: What exactly are the effects of incendiary attacks?
A: Incendiary attacks, in addition to the damage they do, cause the enemy to
run around helplessly for about 4 seconds after the flame attack stops
hurting
them. They do not suffer extra damage continuously while they're on fire,
though; incendiary damage is all dealt when the flame attack hits. Note that
any heavy enemy (Heavy-Armored Ghost Warrior, Heavy Araknid, etc.) are
immune
to this, as are Drone Guns, Rocket Drones, Tosc and all Drakk.
Q: Does the Drakk Laser Cannon have an unlimited range?
A: Laser Cannons do not have an unlimited range, although the maximum
effective range is very far. After a certain point, though, the laser beam
just stops in the air.
Q: Do EMP blasts from the Shock Lance do as much damage as EMP Grenades?
A: EMP Grenades actually do a bit more damage than Shock Lance EMP blasts.
I'd
estimate that they're 30-50% more powerful. Note that Shock Lance EMP blasts
won't take out Rocket Turrets in 1 shot whereas EMP Grenades will.
Q: Do EMP Grenades do any damage to enemies' health, or are they only
effective against power-armored, drone or Drakk enemies?
A: EMP Grenades do reduce enemies' health, but not by much, only a little
bit.
Q: Do Concussion Grenades do very slight damage, or none at all?
A: Concussion Grenades do no damage. Try using codes to summon a Seagoat and
then shoot it with about 20 Concussion Grenades some time.
Q: How do you use Smoke Grenades? What do they do?
A: To the best of my knowledge Smoke Grenades do absolutely nothing. Enemies
will not hesitate to fire at you through them (accurately) or run through
them
to attack you. If anyone thinks differently and can explain how to use them
even semi-effectively, PLEASE E-Mail me (LunarZenith@hotmail.com).
Q: Does the Spidergun's first trigger do any damage? What exactly does it
do?
A: The Spidergun's first trigger does no damage. Anyone hit by it suffers
the
exact same effects while covered in spiders as they would suffer while
covered
in flames, but that's it. The same enemies who are immune to the
disorienting
effects of fire are immune to being covered in spiders as well.
Q: At what point will my Rocket Launcher get a target lock for the second
trigger? How about the activation of the second trigger for the Laser
Cannon?
A: Kalydon is where your Rocket Launcher will first start working
completely.
The Laser Cannon's second trigger doesn't kick in until Avalon.
8C-2: Enemies
-------------
Q: Do both kinds of Drone Guns take the same ammount of damage to destroy?
A: Rocket Drones take about 50% more damage to destroy than standard Drone
Guns.
Q: Is there any difference between Ghost Warrior mercs and Angel mercs?
A: As long as they're in the same level of power armor, only their
appearance
differs.
Q: Do enemies use Drone Guns and Plasma Barriers the same way I can?
A: They use Drone Guns the same but not Plasma Barriers. Enemies don't know
how
to pass through their own barriers like you can, nor can they think of the
idea
of firing over the barriers by jumping or using Grenades. They often strand
themselves away from you with their own barriers.
Q: Will shooting the posts of a Plasma Barrier destroy it more quickly than
shooting the plasma?
A: It makes no difference.
Q: In Janus: Polaris Entrance I keep getting killed by the Heavy Ghost
Warrior
in the room full of crates and Drone Guns. How do I get through here?
A: First take out the Drone Guns without progressing too far into the room.
Then
once you encounter the Heavy Ghost Warrior, lead him to the back of the room
(the side you entered from), run across the room and go through the exit
door
without killing him. As soon as you're through the door you'll go on to the
next
level. See section 6I-2 for more information.
Q: What alien animals do I need to worry about?
A: On Hell you'll have to kill the Mukhog blocking the bridge at the
beginning
of the mission. On Na Koja Abad, almost everything (except flying creatures)
is
hostile and you might as well kill anything that moves. Other than that,
alien
animals (such as Seagoats and Rammers) won't hurt you unless you hurt them
first.
Q: All Drakk (except Repair Droids) have energy crystals in them that appear
to
be their energy source. Is this a weak point that I should specifically
shoot
at?
A: Other than humanoid creatures' heads, there are no weak points in any
enemies. Shoot Drakk anywhere convenient.
Q: How on Earth does the Drakk boss work and what am I supposed to do to
kill
him?
A: The Drakk Hive Queen must be attacked in the form she starts out in and
will
eventually break into 2 sections. Attacking the top (which fires its Laser
Cannon) will eventually destroy it temporarily, but when you damage the
bottom
section (that floats around trying to get away from you) it adds up. Keep
forcing the Queen to break apart and then hurting the bottom section and
eventually you'll win. For more information, check section 6K-4.
Q: I'm stuck on the Heavy Araknid. How the Hell do I beat this thing (no pun
intended)?
A: Check the updates at the end of section 6D-4 for 2 foolproof strategies,
either of which will tremendously reduce the difficulty of the fight.
8C-3: Levels and Strategies
---------------------------
Q: After Miller dies in Sanctuary: Power Plant I'm told that I've failed one
of
my mission objectives. Is there something I'm doing wrong?
A: That mission objective is impossible to complete. There was no way to
save
him, and failing to save him won't negatively affect you.
Q: Can I get hurt or die from being underwater for too long?
A: Thanks to your power armor you can be underwater for any length of time
safely.
Q: Is it just me or are the Marines in the Swamp level invincible?
A: They are, completely. Don't get too used to it; after the Swamp all your
Marine allies will be mortal.
Q: The laser room in Hell: Disclosure is a mess! Is there are shortcut to
get
through it?
A: When you enter that room, find the diagonally-tilted fallen column to the
right of the hole you entered through. Get on the side where it comes
closest to
the ground, jump up and vault onto it. If you do it right, from atop there
you
can walk straight into the control room and shut the lasers down. Check
section
6D-4 for more details.
Q: Are there any huge and dangerous bugs in the game I ought to watch out
for?
A: When returning to your ship on Acheron, stay away from the edges of the
level. It's possible there to fall out of the level and get stuck in a
clipping
plane, looking at chopped-up fragments of the whole level and unable to
move!
Q: In Acheron, is there any way over the radio not to get Ghost Warriors
called
to the surface to attack me?
A: Dalton is incapable here of coming up with anything clever and tricky to
say.
You'll have to fight the Ghost Warriors.
Q: I accidentally let the panel in the wall in Sulferon get blown up and
failed
a mission objective because of it! What effect does that have?
A: No effect, no harm done. Don't worry about it.
Q: My God, Myer (the scientist you rescue on Janus) is a jerk! How should I
deal
with all that aggrivation?
A: I enjoy shooting him with the Spidergun's first trigger. Doesn't really
hurt
him and the gun's useless anyway.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Once again, feel free to suggest a new appendix, like something along the
lines
of 7A, that you'd find interesting. I'll credit you in the Contact
Information
section if I use the suggestion.
/----------------------------------------------------------\
| That's all for now. Much more to come later! |
| -Jonathan "LunarZenith" Soule |
| (LunarZenith@hotmail.com) |
\----------------------------------------------------------/
