Strategy Awareness: Aztec "Mainframe Glass"

[Icy]

In my opinion, this is one of the most amazing strategies we've seen developed in Goldeneye for a long while, yet it's painfully underused. Perhaps it's because Aztec 00A is a scary level, or it's tricky to understand how to use it, but in any case, I'll go over the details of the glass strategy that involves getting the guard stuck in the mainframe.

The core idea is to get the nearby guard stuck inside the mainframe wall, and then luring the first guard in the hallway. Start the level like normal up to the black room, and kill the two guards that come running in front of the door, and then immediately run to the left wall and fire to make some noise. This will alert the guard by the mainframe, and his pathing will have him choose to go down the halls, however, because the mainframe is unloaded and closed, he'll get stuck in it. Clear out the two guards on the right side of the black room, then head to the glass. From this position, you want to shoot the mainframe guard and then also shoot near the hallway guard to draw his attention. This will make them both set your position at the glass as their next target to run to, while the mainframe wall is still unable to open.

After both guards have been lured, you want 10 seconds to pass before they reach your spot. The reason for this is because when guards reach their target within 10 seconds, they will then set a new target (your new location) instead of staying in place. Having them stop at the glass is significantly better for odds of it opening. If you want to learn more, you can read this post about guard tracking. In the meantime while waiting, you can do some quickpausing. Once you're ready, run towards the console and face left (you can pause here for the disk if you don't want to kill the guards), and this will allow the mainframe to finally open with the guards running towards the glass.

The guard setup is functionally similar to the old glass strategy because they'll actually stop in place at the glass, rather than continuing to hunt for you like with the "Henrik" or fast glass strategies. The benefits of the mainframe glass strategy however is the setup is significantly easier, you don't get shot at, you don't have to rely on animations, and you're guaranteed to have 2 guards go to the glass, rather than a random selection out of a group of 4. On top and more importantly, this strategy is faster. Sometimes the glass still won't open because once a guard has reached his destination and stops, he'll do a turn and step after a few seconds, while the other guard perhaps hasn't opened the glass in time. In my 15 minutes of using this strategy though, I got 4 glass openings, and after Jimbo's onslaught of playing Aztec 00A, he finally got a good and fast PR, so it's still extremely consistent. It's really awesome!

One issue with this strategy is like the "Henrik" and fast glass, the guards around the exhaust bay won't be cleared out. The ways around this include getting boosted through the console, shooting through the console and avoiding getting burned, or using a grenade to blow up the guards and then going through it safely. The grenade strategy is very effective, but you have to make sure to get one early on in the level, as well as learn the timing of when to prime it. It's not too difficult, and is pretty simple to use and understand, so I'd recommend using it if you aren't an expert at the level. Doing so also makes the vents easier at the end of the level.

That's it! Hopefully this is a thorough explanation of how to use this strategy. It's ideal for 00A, but can still score you decent points on SA for the time being. I used it for a mere 15 minutes and got an 82 pointer on Aztec 00A; that should be quite telling of its effectiveness! We also have Bozon currently in untied 7th place with 1:41 for 91 points with use of the strategy, and certainly lower is possible too.

Here are some reference runs, and also timestamps to skip to the black room if you specifically just want to see the glass strategy:
Bozon's 1:41 / Black Room
DSX's 1:42 / Black Room
Jimbo's 1:43 / Black Room
Henrik's 1:47 / Black Room
Icy's 1:48 / Black Room

Try it out!

Edit: Read my post a little further down for additional information I learned while playing here![/b]

[poonjahbee]

Ok so I've definitely tried this before and my biggest problem is luring the second guard behind the mainframe. I can only do it if I fire multiple ar33 rounds, like 6-9 or so. But it still isnt a guarantee and never with just the two bullet like everyone else seems to be able to do. Would someone mind explaining this for me because it is very frustrating tbh.

edit: nm got it all figured out

[berg]

I was having the same issue punjabie, do you mind sharing what you were doing wrong.

Also any tips for quickly unsticking the mainframe guard? It seems that sometimes it takes a few tries of looking away for him to get out and move to the glass. Or is this not consistently fast?

[Wyst3r]

Luring the 2nd guard is all about shooting at the right spot. This can be pretty tricky though since the other guard blocks alot of the area you want to shoot at. Just barely to the right of him pretty high up is where you want to aim at.

For unloading the guard, you want to go as far in behind the wall as possible, and dont look too far left or right (i think very slightly to the right is optimal). Then you just need to not turn around too early.

[mcgarbage]

Is this equally applicable on A/SA? Sounds like a much more fun environment to practice it in.

[Icy]

You can definitely use it on Agent or Secret Agent, but you likely won't be getting too many points. Mainframe glass is a consistency strategy, but not a WR strategy. It's mostly useful for 00A because of how hard it is to normally complete the level.

[MadmanFlechr]

So this would be the best glass strategy to try for 00A no body armor?

[Bizichyld]

Thanks for that tutorial. I might have to take a crack at this again someday.

My PR for 00A was in like 2005 and it’s literally my best time, although it’s not quite worth points anymore. 00A and PA levels always seemed to me the easiest to get points on, and I never really understood why. This is definitely a level where a lot of players could pick up some easy points.

[Kyto]

Thanks for posting this Icy. I'm a GE noob and on my goal to a full time page I used this strat on Aztec and managed to rake in points aswell. Before I only knew about the other glass strats and playing Aztec seemed a daunting task but it's been quite fun now actually.

[Icy]

Bumping this for the upcoming league.

Important notes I learned when revisiting the strat:

-Because one of the two guards warps the mainframe, he'll arrive there before the other. When guards reach their destination and stop hunting you down, they stand in place for a moment, and then spin/step around. Because of this, the distance from the mainframe on the glass where you perform the lure is important. If you're far to the right or at the middle of the glass, it's not enough time for the other guard to open the door, so always perform your lure to the left.

-You must stare at the pink wall for about 5 seconds to unload the mainframe long enough to let it open. Additional quickpauses do nothing, lookdown does nothing, and other rituals do nothing. Just face the wall long enough.

-My leave timing was 5 quickpause and a bit on a fast guard hurt animation, and 6-7 quickpauses and a bit on slower reactions. Aim for the chest to avoid losing time, and make sure you don't leave too early and fail the lure or leave too late and lose time unnecessarily.

While my run's speed isn't the fastest, it's a clean, perfect example of how to perform the mainframe lure.

1) Go to left of glass.
2/3) Shoot the mainframe guard in the chest for fastest reactions / shoot a stray bullet or more to lure the other guard.
4) Perform the correct number of quickpauses based on the guard reaction for the correct waiting time, and to allow for the fastest pauses possible.
5) Stare at the pink wall and pause. If you intend to kill the guards instead of inserting the disk immediately, I suggest still pausing and switching to AR33 as a means of timing.
6) Wait an extra 1-2 seconds while charging full speed, then turn and prepare for the glass opening. Make sure to wait a moment after the sound so you don't get stuck on the door opening. Do not quickpause here as it does nothing and you lose full speed.
7) Don't get rekt.

If you follow these steps, you will get glass opening approximately 90% of your runs.

Troubleshooting:

1) If you see a guard come around the corner while waiting for the glass opening, you left too early and the 10-second guard tracking timer didn't reach 10 seconds.
2) If only one guard goes to the glass and the other isn't around the corner, your lure shot missed. Use the marking on the mainframe as a visual cue.
3) If both guards are at the glass and you performed everything correctly, you simply got unlucky. Try again.

One more tip: If you use the Grenade strategy for blowing up the exhaust bay guards, you want to prime mid-way down the first hall. You can prime later if you want to be more cautious as glass guards hitting you means you'll throw the nade prematurely. I also suggest checking your Grenade count in the pause menu before the glass to see how many you have. 1 is ideal because after you throw it, you'll automatically switch to AR33. If you have 2-3, you need to backswitch. If you have 0, I suggest going for a console boost.

Now let's see even more runs with this strategy!

[deletedprofile.u]

Thank Icy!!

If you're memeing it up on Agent just for a simple completion without the other glass strats...Do you suggest hitting in the arm, or the leg?

Also, didn't realise we could lure the other guard first, might make this easier.

[Icy]

Shoulder, crotch, or gun shot, just like Trev shot on Agent.

[flicker]

Gun hit should give consistent fast reactions as well as doing no damage.

[Wuldntuliktono]

Shoot the guard once in the arm and put a burst shot through the black line in the mainframe and youll get sub 2 completions on aztec with relative ease!

[Wuldntuliktono]

Oh and line bond up with the crack in the glass to the left... if you do this it opens up nearly everytime!

[Retrix]

This level is next on my hit list and it's been heartbreaking having full health into the big room only to get slaughtered right before the vents. I haven't been able to catch up on wodahs' tutorial (for agent but still similar) and I can't watch any vids right now, but this tut looks super solid. In the wake of all that Zwartjes nonsense, I think I've a better understanding of Aztec Glass, and I think I can cut a solid 12 minutes off my 00 time with this strat. Thanks in advance!

[Watertemplefiend]

10/10 pet, will be utilising this strat in the future. Thanks Icy <3

[SGT RAGEQUIT]

This level is next on my hit list and it's been heartbreaking having full health into the big room only to get slaughtered right before the vents. I haven't been able to catch up on wodahs' tutorial (for agent but still similar) and I can't watch any vids right now, but this tut looks super solid. In the wake of all that Zwartjes nonsense, I think I've a better understanding of Aztec Glass, and I think I can cut a solid 12 minutes off my 00 time with this strat. Thanks in advance!

It's actually not optimal to have full health going into the big room - your best bet is to have low health and high BA (if you're getting the BA at all). You get hit-stunned for longer with high health and have less I-frames.

[Wuldntuliktono]

This level is next on my hit list and it's been heartbreaking having full health into the big room only to get slaughtered right before the vents. I haven't been able to catch up on wodahs' tutorial (for agent but still similar) and I can't watch any vids right now, but this tut looks super solid. In the wake of all that Zwartjes nonsense, I think I've a better understanding of Aztec Glass, and I think I can cut a solid 12 minutes off my 00 time with this strat. Thanks in advance!

Keep at it dude it really is a lottery but sooner or later you'll live a run.