Conference 501clb::pcdoom

    
    It would appear that this level is too simple for me to solve. The 
    spiders have been killing me so fast I cant even spit once. HELP!!
    What's the secret? I'm really getting tired of this level. Where did
    I go wrong?
    jeff

    Try the chaingun on the spiders, they really don't like it much ;-)

    Nah, 3 rockets in the mouth kill em easy :-).
    
    Is this the level with the intro of the 2 big b*st*rds with the fireball
    launchers in both arms, when you kill em the doors open and unleash
    spiders ?
    
    If so, when a door opens kill the spider near that door, then run thru
    the door.  The spiders are busy entering the room so you can chase
    around the outside picking the spiders off with rockets.

    
    yes,sort-of, there are 4 big b*st*rds with the fireball launchers in
    both arms, and at least 8 spiders, I run out of rockets before most of
    the spiders can be killed. I'll try the chaingun and see what happens.
    jeff                          

    I tend to switch to plasma gun.  There are lots of cells on the
    outside.  I also run around the inside picking up all of the rockets
    before I finish off the last big guy.  The number of big blubbers and
    spiders depends on the violence level.
    
    	Dave.

How do you get the hidden BFG?  I know where it is (using allmap) but I
haven't figured out how to get there legitimately.

    There doesn't seem to be a legitimate way to get in there.
    Except, some claim, in Deathmatch mode.
    
    So, if you don't care, and you just want to nuke some spiders, idclip
    will do the trick.
    
    	Dave.

    This is one of the hardest levels I've come across. I'm entering with
    175% life and armour and still getting wiped out. I'm at UV level, but
    then again that's the level I have always used successfully up til now.
    
    I get the (eight - I think) big guys, switch on all the switches - WHAT
    DO THEY DO?? - and then can't get anywhere really before being blasted
    by the spiders (about four from each door). 
    
    I've tried the tip of clearing one door and dashing through, but I'm
    being blasted by all the other spiders while trying to do so.
    
    Any more tips? :-(   What do the switches do?
    
    Lawrence.

    Thw switches lower the platforms in the central open 'courtyard' - if I
    remember rightly, you have to switch ALL of them before you have access
    to the exit, which is in the centre.
    
    It might not apply to this level, fair enough, but a lot of people
    strive for 100% kills when sometimes it is not practical to do so
    (IMO!). Maybe I'm just chicken ..... :-)
    

    
    I've managed to get 100% kill in UV mode in this level.  You've got to 
    move fast, and save/restore frequently :^}
    
     Basically, after taking out all the guys in the courtyard, I hang out 
    in the corner areas with the plasma rifle and blast the hell out of the 
    spiders near me,  then blast on through the door into the outer
    perimeter.  Keep blasting and taking out every spider in sight until 
    you've cleared your immediate area, then SAVE quickly.  You gotta keep 
    moving and make it difficult for them to fire at you.
    
    Lv

One good thing is that there's plenty of ammo/weapons on this level.  Another
is all the inviso/super-charge spheres.  


some hints follow



Make good use of the invisibility spheres (i.e. one at a time and kill quickly
so you have a couple left over when you go after the spiders).  Don't hit the
switches until you have just one fatty left, or they get set free to roam
around -- it's much easier to keep them in one spot.  Find a good safe place
behind a wall to rest between sticking your nose out into the stream of
fireballs.  Use the plasma gun ... it's very effective.  Use the 'run' key to
dodge faster -- this will help keep you away from the speedy fireballs.

Get the super-duper-charge (white sphere) just before you kill the last fatty
guy ... or just after, as the walls come down.  This will give you enough
stamina to take the spiders.

Try to lure the spiders into a cross fire situation where they shoot each
other.  This will save lots of time/ammo.  Keep moving, if you sit still you
die, especially with plasma-armed spiders around.

- jeff

    Another things with the fattys which may seem obvious at first :-
    
    			o   <------ fat lardy bloater dude
                       /|\
    		      /	| \
                     /  |  \
                    /   |   \
    		   *	*    *
    
    They fire three rockets in the pattern as above. The usual trick of
    side-stepping left or right to dodge an imp/cacodemon/Baron's fireball
    sometimes doesn't work with the FLB's .... you simply step into the
    path of another rocket.
    
    Learn to side-step just that little bit, or an EXTRA amount.
    
    If you're invisible, their shots will be offset, so again more care
    will be needed dodging.
    
    As .-1, it's better to find a wall to hide behind.... sidestep out,
    throw a rocket or two at the FLB, the just as he lets rip with a load
    of rockets, side-step back behind the wall!
    
    (That's provided there's no spiders crawling up behind you!)

    I found it easy to dive behind the walls, quick jump out and take out 
    one fatty at a time with 3 quick rockets.  
    
    Don't drop the platforms until you need too.  You can actually hide
    behind them from the remaining guys.   The switches work on the
    opposite kitty-corner platform.  You can even duck behind the center
    column.
    
    Leave one guy alive until you have scrounged up every thing you need.
    Then kill him and get ready for the spiders.
    
    	Dave.

    Phew! This one's a toughy. I had to stop playing it was getting to me
    so much!
    
    Laurie.

    
    
    Laurie, I know what you mean. My biggest gripe with this level is
    not realising that your blasting away with the pistol when in partial 
    invisibility mode  *-{ 
    
    Run and hide was a method I employed somewhat successfully. 
    
    Gary

RE:                <<< Note 94.15 by KERNEL::WITHALLG "The Hero" >>>
    
�    Laurie, I know what you mean. My biggest gripe with this level is
�    not realising that your blasting away with the pistol when in partial 
�    invisibility mode  *-{ 
    
    I'm not with you. I was using the plasma gun, even when invisible...
    Incidentally, invisibility doesn't seem to do a lot, the things still
    seem to see me. I have noticed when I accidentally hit a second
    invisibility sphere, that I seemed to be come more invisible, at least,
    the representation of my gun did. I wonder if they fire at where the
    shots came from, and moving immediately after firing is the answer...
    
�    Run and hide was a method I employed somewhat successfully. 
    
    Yep, I'm using that too. It's frantic!
    
    Cheers, Laurie.

    I noticed if the beasties are within sight of the sphere, they "see"
    the sphere disappear and deduce from that. Also, I seem to recall it is
    partial invisibility which means you are still not fully cloaked and
    look more like a phantom.
    
    I found in situations like this, the partial invisibility does no good
    with the robots, but is great with the (ahem) live targets as long as I
    don't pick up anything else. Then I can duck, aim with some leisure,
    fire, duck...

    I loved this level :^)

    
    Imo  this level is the  first  one I don't like.  The atmosphere change
    is fairly drastic, from holding your breath in the tunnels you go to 
    a plain ol' shoot 'em up type of  scenario.  Its a welcome relief  to see 
    a bit of daylight - don't get me wrong - but Its not as tricky as
    those before....... 
    
    Gary 

    Not tricky? When I played it on UV, it was tricky enough thanks!!!!

    -1
    
    I'm playing poffdah level. UV etc is a while way yet.
    
    
    Gary ;-)

    
    
    RE Last few.
    
    Just HMP level floated my boat!
    
    Jason...
    
    Pls send more ammo...

    To anybody out there.  I've come back to this level determined to get
    100% 100% 100% UV.  But no, wacks me everytime.
    
    At the beginning you get a little speach about how horrible the next
    bit is going to be and then you see a devil mask with its eyes alight. 
    Can you stop the lwevel from "starting" straight away.  There is a
    large ammo backpack behind you at the start and I would so like to
    collect this first before getting blatted with fireballs.
    
    Any thoughts?
    
    R. Michael.

    don't press space to go from the text screen, that way it won't use the
    space to lower the walls.
    
    Mark

I remember once or twice restoring the saved game from the end of the
previous level where I left the text screen and the wall did not drop.
But I could not do this predictably.

The better thing to do is to just turn left and boogey across the backpack
and invisibility and ammo and duck behind the first wall at the corner
of the room.  Keep going until you peek out from the other side of the
wall.  This will draw the monsters on the floor to that location.
Just hang out there and wait for them to come around the wall, and
blast them with something rapid-fire (rockets, chaingun, plasma).

Once you toast the free-roaming guys, save the game.  You can then peek
out from either side of the wall and pick off the guys on the pillar
with rockets.  Leave one of them so you don't open the outside doors,
and run around and pick up the remaining ammo and an invisibility.
Then get behind a wall near the remaining guy, and blast him with rockets.
As soon as the outer doors open, blast a path through the arachnotrons and
get to the outer room.  You can usually run around a corner and find
a quiet spot, because the 'trons have gone into the inner room where they
last saw you.

It took me a lot of tries to get it right, but I did get 100%.
Don't have a heart attack, it gets pretty fast paced when the
arachnotrons get going.  And don't feel bad, this was the first
really challenging level.