Deus Ex Machina
Thank you very much for downloading "Deus Ex
Machina" for Quake II. I'm a devoted fan of this game since its
beginnings, however I've discovered Q2 mapping only in 2005, so this is my very
first release. This game has been developed with the Lazarus engine, a popular
modification for Quake II by David Hyde and Tony Ferrara. I hope you enjoy this
small mission pack, and if you do (or don't) please feel free to email me your
comments. Also bug reports will be higly appreciated. I've been working on this
game for a very long time, so I'd love to hear your opinion about ità
Andrea Rosa, Cittiglio ITALIA
ilpinky@libero.it
CONTENTS
1. THE STORY
5. KNOWN BUGS
6. CREDITS
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At the beginning of the Strogg War the Earth forces
gambled essentially on two factors: the destruction of the Big Gun and the
assassination of the Strogg Leader. While destroying the major planetary
defense of Stroggos gave us a considerable tactical advantage, killing the
Makron did not sort the expected results. We sought to drive the Strogg
Warlords into internal struggles by eliminating their leading mind, however no
turmoil happened. Instead of choosing a new Makron, the Warlords revolutionized
the political structure of Stroggos, abandoning the old hierarchies and turning
their world into a collection of feudal states. That way, they could continue
to keep firm control over the strategic locations they were given and were able
to organize defensive positions independently.
Operation Deus Ex Machina:
You are part of a small group of TCM marines
currently scouting the region of Stroggos we refer to as Ishtar Chasmata.
Headquarters have been monitoring this area for some days since evidences of
anti-matter experiments were detected. If the Strogg can develop anti-matter
weapons the equilibrium of this war could be drastically changed. They could
even be able to restore the interplanetary gateway between Stroggos and Earth
and launch a terrible counterstrike. We urgently need to know their plans, thus
your primary task is to infiltrate the underground arsenal and steal whatever
weapons designs or schematics you may find. Once you get the secret
information, youÆll need to find a Com Center and transmit your data to the
mothership. Intelligence will elaborate further strategy and orders according
to your findings. You will be likely sent further deep into Ishtar Chasmata to
find the source of that a-m relief and attempt to neutralize it. But beware, it
wonÆt be easy. The local Warlord will surely track your moves. He has a loyal
and well-trained army at his disposal, and heÆs ready to deal with you with his
own hands, if necessary. We wish you the best of luck in accomplishing this
mission.
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First of
all, make sure Quake II is already installed and that youÆve patched it to version
3.19 or 3.20 (you can check your version number by pulling down the game
console with the tilde key and looking at the bottom right corner). "Deus Ex
Machina" will not work properly with the retail version of Quake
II, so download the patch if you havenÆt done yet. To install "Deus Ex
Machina" follow these steps:
Create a new folder named dexm
into your Quake II folder, and extract all files of dexm.zip in it
In the same folder you must put gamex86.dll,
which you should have acquired as a separate download
Make a shortcut to Quake2.exe and modify
its properties as follows: Quake2.exe +set game dexm
Enter the game via the newly created
shortcut and select the skill level as usual
"Deus
Ex Machina" is a single player game. It doesnÆt support cooperative nor
deatmatch gameplay. Gameplay is linear, meaning that once you leave a
particular level you cannot return, so make sure to collect all useful items
before entering a new location.
Unlike the
original Quake II, several monsters attributes (aim, rate of fire, rocket
speed, splash damage radius, etc.) are affected by the skill level. All enemies
have enhanced pathfinding and A.I. thanks to the Lazarus support, for example
they no longer walk among unexploded grenades, nor fire rockets near walls, nor
suicide themselves against active lasers. Apart from these general
enhancements, you will find some specific monsters to be smarter compared to
the original game. Gunners, for example, are much better grenadiers than ever:
if a grenade can hit the target, they use the correct elevation angle to get
the grenade there.
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Monsters variationsááááááá
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Iron Maiden - Beta Class ááááááááááááááááááááááááááááááááááá |
These enhanced Iron Maidens are much more powerful than their sisters, since their rocket launcher fires homing missiles which pursue you up, down and around obstacles. Homing rockets are destroyable, though, so all is not lost if you find yourself in an open area and hear the "lock-on" sound. |
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Elite Gunner |
Equally
as deadly as a Gunner, but outfitted with a power armour, more strenght, and
more hate for the Earth people. It is impossible to distinguish this
variation from a standard Gunner, so you wonÆt know which kind of opponent
you are facing until you see the green flash of the power shield. |
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Daedalus
Prototype |
Enhanced
version of the Icarus, it wears a power shield and can endure massive
attacks. The Daedalus Prototype is very effective at depleting your ammo. |
NOTE: None of
these monster variations appear in the first level.
New Itemsááááááááááááááááááááááá
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Homing Missiles ááááááááááááááááááááááááááááááááááá |
When fired, homing missiles track whatever monster the player was aiming at. Ifá your inventory includes both standard rockets and homing missiles, you toggle between them by pressing '7'. You cannot fire a homing missile while a previously fired missile is tracking a target, thus you can fire only one homing at once. You won't find much of these goodies, so use them wisely. Homing missiles can't track "cold" entities such as turrets and batteries. |
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Jetpack |
It
allows to fly around. To use the jetpack press 'M' (the same goes for
deactivating it). Once the jetpack is activated, you may take off by jumping.
Release the "jump" key and you'll fall back. Check fuel
consumption. The Jetpack will shut itself down if you drop into the water. If
you fall into lava or slime, it will explode. At one point this item will be
necessary to proceed in your mission. Hint: save your game before using the
Jetpack for the very first time, youÆll likely need some practice before you
can handle it correctly. |
Other Featuresááááááááááááááá
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Turrets |
Placed
on the ceiling, turrets can be destroyed only by hitting their breach. |
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Ride-on Batteries ááááááááááááááááááááááááááááááááááá |
Traditional floor batteries may be controlled and fired by the player, complete with unlimited ammo. You'll need to kill the remote driver, first. Hop on the battery to take control, jump again to abandon it. |
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Sniper Zoom |
Press
'CTRL' to smoothly zoom in/out between the default FOV and 5 degrees.
Your Rail Gun has never been so deadly... |
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Build timeááááááá |
About 7 months |
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Compiling time (in seconds) |
5870, 2470, 6533, 1398, 7041,
1520, 769, 1773 |
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Build/compile machine |
Pentium 4 @ 1800 MHz |
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Polyhedrons |
1159, 913, 1430, 2040, 1988,
1134, 2276, 2251 |
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Editor used |
QuArK v4.07 |
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Additional utilities |
QBSP, QVIS, QRAD, Adobe
Photoshop |
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Single player |
Yes |
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Cooperative |
No |
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Deathmatch |
No |
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Difficulty settings |
Yes |
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New sounds |
Yes |
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New graphics |
Yes (skins based on id Software
skins) |
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New code |
Yes (Lazarus code) |
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r_speedsáááááááá |
Level
3 is flawed by high rendering speeds (1000-1800). This happens when you enter
the huge room with the rocket battery. With recent processors this doesn't
sort dramatic effects, however playing with older computers the game may slow
down. Sorry for the fun-killing factor. |
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Enemy
countáááááá |
Actually
that's not a bug, but a Lazarus side feature. The F1 computer lies about the
number of enemies because it doesn't consider of newly spawned monsters until
they actually pop into existence. Since this is annoying for most players
(including me), here you have the real body-count for each level: |
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Easy |
Medium |
Hard |
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Hydroponic Lab
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44 |
53 |
58 |
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Greenhouse
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21 |
26 |
32 |
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The Arsenal
|
63 |
74 |
81 |
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Terminal 2
|
45 |
65 |
71 |
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Spare
Parts Factory |
46 |
56 |
63 |
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Factory
Engineering |
27 |
32 |
44 |
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High-Tech
Academy |
56 |
78 |
105 |
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Inner City
|
100 |
136 |
155 |
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TOTAL ENEMIESáááááááá |
401 |
516 |
602 |
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id Software for making Quake
II
Armin Rigo author of QuArK
Geoffry Dewan for his compiling utilities based on
code from id Software
David Hyde and Tony Ferrara for Lazarus
"Factory Engineering" was inspired by
"The Dead Zone" by Scott Kraus
"Terminal 2" is based upon "Supply
Station 2" by Dan Noumov
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