Post by: l337 on June 16, 2004, 11:52:00 am
I was messing about on caverns SA, and one run I forgot to go downstairs (must have thought it was agent) so quit out.
Then I thought, 'why do you need to go downstairs at all?'
I quit, put in invisible and invincible and restarted the level. I took out a timed mine and placed it roughly in the position below.
As soon as it was laid, I ran down the stairs and watched. The right console blew up, and the scientist died. Restarted the level and the same thing happened. So I tried again and placed the mine ever so slightly to the right, ran downstairs - and holy rayola, just like they both blew up and the scientist died.
So I then continue along the top until I am in visible position of the screen. I take out ZMG and shoot maybe 2-3 bullets at the screen. The guards didn't move. Then I realised they might not on invisble, I don't know. So I took cheats off, restarted the level and ran straight to that point, shot a few bullets at the screen while still in some sort of strafe, then ran towards the door, and put a mine at the bottom of it.
I went back to view the consoles and one of them and the screen were destroyed. Scientists ran. So restarted again with invisible on and practiced positioning the mine at the bottom of the door to see if both consoles and screen would blow - and there is a position where it does.
So, what does this mean?
It means Caverns SA/00 can potentially save up to 4(?) seconds when staying in strafe along the balcony and not have to go downstairs.
That sounds easy?
No. Consistency is really hard (although I have only been trying for 30mins) the first mine will only blow both consoles in a near exact position, and getting it there on strafe is hard. To get more consistency, you have to nearly go off strafe with serious look down, otherwise the mine bounces.
It is probably possible you could throw the mine early in lookdown before the doors, but its like the accuracy of hitting the dam lock
As soon as you've thrown the mine, back cycle to ZMG, and continue past Ar33 guard. He is real annoying when trying to position the first mine, and messes up a lot of runs.
As soon as you see the screen shoot a few bullets into it and press A to go back to mine. Then as you approach the door you need to throw your other mine. It needs to be a little more accurate than the usual SA release in that area, as it has to destroy both.
Assuming you get the accuracy, I don't see any reason why this couldn't save 3-4 seconds.
There are of course problems:
1) One guard out of the 3 dies. I didn't think this was a problem, but apparently it is on SA as opposed to 00, where one can die early.
2) Ar33 is gay - when trying to put the first mine.
3) Misplacing the mines and not have everything blow up.
I spoke with Bryan about it, and here are some things from the convo:
TheBigBossman007 (18:02:12): well 2nd set I can throw over that rail
TheBigBossman007 (18:02:21): stick it down there
So maybe if you have time, you can fire a few bullets at the screen, switch to mine, throw it over the rail, and then put one near the door. This means the door mine can be less accurate, but you may lose a bit of time switching.
TheBigBossman007 (18:06:04): why not use 2 mines for that first set?
TheBigBossman007 (18:06:11): have them further back maybe
TheBigBossman007 (18:06:17): so scientist lives maybe
Something I haven't tested yet. But when I was positioning mines only one place seemed to work
TheBigBossman007 (18:10:24): stay at top of stairs for first set
TheBigBossman007 (18:10:2
: lure scientistTheBigBossman007 (18:10:31): 1 mine
TheBigBossman007 (18:10:44): then 2nd set could be strafed nicely
TheBigBossman007 (18:10:55): might save a sec
I briefly tried this out, and the only problem in the Ar33 guard will mess things up. From the balcony you can see the right console, so in theory you could shoot the ground, switch and throw the mine - in hope the scientist escapes. As I mentioned, the Ar33 just shoots you and messes it up.
TheBigBossman007 (18:13:21): so it is a huge find for 00A :-)
TheBigBossman007 (18:13:31): just hard
Hard indeed, consistency is the real key - but if anyone wants to play for long enough they will find the optimum position for the mines and how to do it in strafe.
OK, that's about it
If anyone wants to help try it out, let me know how you get on and what sort of consistency you get.Pictures below are using remote mines so they didn't blow up before I took the pictur.
Picture 1 - the rough position of mine 1. Maybe a little to the right, but only by 0.001cm
(https://forums.the-elite.net/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.geocities.com%2Fi337o%2Fcav1.txt&hash=b30f706b0c1264d113f1a5a49440b08895f43196)
Picture 2 - shoot the screen from here
(https://forums.the-elite.net/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.geocities.com%2Fi337o%2Fcav2.txt&hash=fa2a133e4e9ee9ce320fc6c6c6664fd8eb9a7cd4)
Picture 3 - Mine about here blows both and screen.
(https://forums.the-elite.net/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.geocities.com%2Fi337o%2Fcav3.txt&hash=2971568881f45fd03959dc83b2db3980bdcb6e4a)
There's definitly time to be saved, just it will take some practice
- Mark