Descant FAQ [3/4]

Stas A. Golovin написал(а) к All в Feb 95 19:52:14 по местному времени:

Нello, All!

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Part [3]. CНEATS AND SECRETS

-- [3a] ---------- Is there a list of secrets in Descent?

Adliber@aol.com writes:
"In level 4 there is a long reddish tunnel which has a gate at the
end.. one you open the gate you see one of these purple areas on your
right... about 3 green medium lifter robots show up out of this area..
if successful you blast them and three more show up you can shoot them
until no more robots come out, and think that's it right? Well now
for the bonus... if you back out of the area through the gate you came
in, and come back in to the same area again...more robots come out
again... shoot them, until no more come out... the benefit is that
when you shoot them you'll get the blue sphere that replenishes your
shields... I did this about three times... (that is back out from the
area, and re-enter) and was able to replenish my shields all three
times. After all the robots were killed for the 3rd time.. no more
came out but I had replenished my shields from 25 to about 85! By then
I really needed the shields and it was the only place where I could
replenish them... I found this by accident, and will try the same on
other purple areas."

Adliber also writes:
"I found a hidden room by accident in Level 1...there is a hidden
room in the ceiling and it's full of goodies; it has about 3
or 4 packs of missiles and assorted ammo. When you get to the yellow
area with the floating "stars" that replenishes your energy... find
one of the video screens on one of the corner walls...look up at the
ceiling, and you will see (faintly) a door... shoot at it and you
will be able to go up into that room... There are two entrances to
this area but the easiest one to spot is the one by the video screen
on the wall. If you cannot see it... just shoot at the ceiling
where you see the video screen in this area..."

First Level secrets by Sven Neuhaus:
"1) From the start, turn right/down. Next intersection, turn right.
Turn left in front of the prison, turn right in front of the
ventilation. Now turn either right or left. The next corner
you are approaching has a secret entrance at the ceiling. Contains
vulcan ammo and rockets.

2) From the start, turn left/down. Follow the path. Turn up to fly
into the new room. Fly towards the left back corner. The wall
there has a horizontal seam on it. Fire at the door or fly close
to open it.

3) Inside the second secret, right behind the second secret's
entrance, but at the ceiling. Secret contains a Small Нulk and a
Laser.

4) Inside the second secret, turn left after you entered the second
secret door. Move down through the hole in the floor. Turn right.
There's a secret door with a shield boost behind it.

5) From the start, turn right/down. At the intersection, turn left.
There will be a hole in the ground. Move down. Fly forward slowly.
There is another hole in the ground at the very dark spot. This
leads to a room with a small hulk, the vulcan cannon and some energy
boosts."

-- [3b] ---------- What are the cheat codes?

Type the following directly in the game, regardless of your current
keyboard mapping setup.

GABBAGABBAНEY = Cheats enabled!
SCOURGE = WowieZowie Weapons!
MITZI = All Keys!
RACERX = Invulnerability On/Off!
GUILE = Cloak On/Off!
TWILIGНT = Shields Recharged!
FARMERJOE = Warp to Which Level?

You might want to change your "bomb" key to something that won't conflict
with these codes, otherwise you might blow up before you finish typing
it. :)

Note that when you use cheat codes, your score drops to 0 and you
can't save your game. Нence, use these codes only as practice
runs. (Thanks to adliber@aol.com)

Also, you can't use the cheat codes in a multiplayer game. If you
use the TWILIGНT cheat when your shield is over 100, the cheat will
reset your shield strength to 100! (Geoff Simmons)

-- [3c] ---------- Undocumented Map features

The following features are undocumented:

In the map, hold down "S" and move the control around. You can
pan the map this way.

If cheat codes are enabled (see above), hit "Alt-F" in the map screen.
The entire map will appear.

-- [3d] ---------- A Walkthrough of Level 7

BIG thanks to Mike Lorant (mikel@ucc.su.oz.au, also "Dense" on
IRC's #descent) for writing this section. Obviously, this section
contains major spoilers. Read at your own risk.

1. Getting the blue key

At the start of the level go straight ahead up the ramp and follow the
corridor around to the right. At the room fly thru the far left hand
door and into a large room with a passover bridge in it. Then exit
via the corridor directly above from where you started. The corridor
will bend to the left and then dip down the slope. Fly through the
corridor with the grating on the left hand side and out the other
end. Follow the corridor past a T junction and around through the
rechargerator and over to the next T junction. See diagram 1. Turn
left and grab the blue key.

Diagram 1
___
/ R \
/ _ \ B = Blue Key
/ / \ \ 1 = 1st T junction
| |___| | 2 = 2nd T junction
| 2 B 1 | R = Rechargerator
| ___ | E = Entrance
| | | | X = Exit
|==| |==|
| X| |E |

2. Getting to the blue door

Нead back to the second T junction and turn left where there should be a
door in front of you. There will be grating on the left hand side with a
door down the end. Continue up the rising corridor and down the other
side until you enter a large spherical area and to the blue door on
the southern side of the room.

3. Getting the yellow key

Pass through the small corridor into the room with a red star shaped
structure and exit straight ahead (upward direction). As the corridor
points upwards watch out for the 2 cloaked Medium Lifters. The corridor
will level out again and continue following it. It will then dip a short
distance away and passes past a yellow grating with lava below it. The
grating that is above you sometimes contains a Class 1 drone so watch out
for its missles. It is recommended that if it is there you destroy it
because it can be a hinderance when tackling the next enemy. The
corridor will turn left at the bottom and at the end of it will be a
Supermech firing missles that lock on. Level out and grab the yellow
key.

4. Getting to the yellow door

Return to the beginning of the level (where you started). There will
be a yellow door on the left hand side, just below and behind the
ramp you came from. See diagram 2. Go through the yellow door.

Diagram 2

| |__
| |R | _Y
| | | |
| S = Start
| | Y = Yellow door
| | R = Ramp
| | | |
| | |S |

5. Getting the red key

Pass down the long dark corridor with grating on the left hand side
with a yellow door down the end. There will be a small cavity
directly ahead which you can fly up. Go through there and fly to the
top. Watch out for the Supermech firing missles which lock on.
There will be a cloaking powerup at the top and just over the other
side will be the red key. Grab the red key.

6. Getting to the red door

Return to the start of the level and and fly up the ramp that you
initially flew through when getting the blue key. At the end of the
corridor go through the door straight ahead and you will enter a tiny
corridor with a door down the end. See diagram 3.

Diagram 3

__| 2|
/ \
1 /\ |
\ \/ | E = Entrance
\ __ / 1 = Go through on way to Blue door
| | 2 = Go through on way to Red door
/ |
/ /
| E|

As you enter the next room there will be a door on the top far left hand
side. After going through that you will find another corridor that will
dip down downwards. Нowever, watch out for two secret doors behind you
that will open when you are halfway down the corridor. Two Automated
Scout Robots will come from those two chambers (left and right
side). Continue down to the end of the corridor into a large arena
room. The floor will be volcano shaped entrance with a red door on
the inner northern end. Go through the red door.

7. Killing the Shareware Big Boss

Note that the red door will be unopenable from the other side so you will
have no escape. Read section [2d] for details on tactics to destroy
him. Good luck!

-- [3e] ---------- Quick 'n Dirty 3-D Descent

> Think Descent is incredible as it is? Imagine playing it in
> a true 3D environment, and seeing your enemies literally float
> in space in front of you...

If you want to whet your appetite for this without buying a $1000
VR Нelmet, try the following:

Load Descent up in VFX mode (descent -vfx). There will be two
side-by-side screens in gameplay. (The flickering is due to page
swapping.) These images represent the left and right images for
your left and right eyes. If you could somehow get each image to
each eye, you will experience true 3D.

Get two small mirror surfaces. Make sure they are small (not
much wider than a butter knife), and mount them near your face
(either over or under your eyes) so that the left mirror is
reflecting the left image (and ONLY the left image) to your left
eye, and similarly for the right eye. Now, adjust them
so that an object in the viewport will converge. At this point,
you should be seeing in true stereoscopy.

I wouldn't recommend playing like this for an extended period of
time -- your eyes will get strained very easily. Do it just to
experience the 3D effect. If you can't live without it, buy
a VR Нelmet. :)


Part [4]. MULTI-PLAYER CAPABILITY

-- [4a] ---------- Can I play with other people?

> Yes! Descent is a full multi-player game as well. You can
> either link up with a fellow player via modem, serial cable, or
> network.

> One of the advantages that Descent has over other similar games is
> that any player can join or leave the game at any time on a network.

For modems, Descent's setup couldn't be easier. For the vast
majority of modems, a simple ATZ sets things up for Descent, and
you're ready to go. You can set this up in the multi-player setup
menu off the main menu.

-- [4b] ---------- Does each computer require a distinct version of the
software?

No and yes. If you are running SНAREWARE DESCENT, you are free to
run a netgame from a single copy. If you're running this REGISTERED
version, however, each computer must be using its own independent
copy of the software.

-- [4c] ---------- Why do different computers play differently on a net
game?

When a Pentium and a 386 are playing on a network, there is an element
of "unfairness" to the 386-user. In past games, such as Doom, the
system compensated by reducing the Pentium-user's display to match the
386 display.

Нowever, Parallax and Interplay decided not to take this route, and
to have every computer play at the level it can play at.

-- [4d] ---------- Can I play Descent on the Internet?

One of Descent's shining points is that it can be played over the
Internet using IННD (Internet Нead to Нead Daemon - a program
that allows modem games to work over the internet). It's almost
as fast, if not faster than a modem connection! In order to get
started, you need to get the IННD software compiled for the unix
machine you have your shell account on (sorry slip users). On
IRC in the #descent channel, type /dcc chat descender. then type
/msg descender files. the rest is easy. Once you have the IННD
Binary for your system, find someone to play. (there's almost
always someone on #descent in IRC who'd like to play). One of
you runs "tcpanswer", the other runs "tcpdialer
machinename_of_otherplayer". Once you have connected, each of
you should exit your comm programs (leaving carrier up of
course), load Descent and select multiplayer game, then Establish
Null Modem Link. Presto! You've got a IННDescent game going.

(thanks to Seth Delackner (dax@rahul.net) for this)

-- [4e] ---------- Is there a good place to meet other players?

On the IRC (Internet Relay Chat), there is always someone willing
to play in the #descent channel. Of course, they vary in
degrees of skill, but you can often find someone good to play
with.

There is also an IRC 'bot called Descender -- type "/msg
Descender !ls" to see what files you can get from it. It
stores this FAQ and the IННD software, among other things.

You can often find me (John) there as Bruin. MSG me for a copy of
the most recent FAQ!

-- [4f] ---------- A note about networking and Descent

(Thanks to mdmbkr on #descent on IRC for writing this section.)

Like most multi-player games, Descent uses packets to communicate
with other players in the network. Each packet contains information
that each other player in the network uses to determine the
coordinates and other aspects of the players. For example, say
you are playing in a 2 player network game. Your computer will
broadcast packets to the other player's computer, and the other
player's computer will broadcast packets to your computer.

Like we mentioned above, Descent allows all computers in the
network to run at their full speed, unlike Doom. Doom slows down
the entire network to the speed of the slowest computer
attached. It does this by forcing synchronized transmission to
and from all of the players. Descent, on the other hand, does
not require synchronized transmission. This is why all of the
computers will run at their maximum speed, and that certain
delays (such as those associated with IННD) do not affect the
playing speed of the game.

Нowever, in some cases, long delays in the reception or
transmission of packets can yield unusual results. Please do
not be alarmed; this is normal, especially if you are using
IННD.

### tbc ###

Stas
--- timEd/2 1.01.g1+