Strategy & Tactics: Dark Forces by Ivan Because of the complexity of many of Dark Forces’ levels, this walkthru has been written as a bare bones mission guide. It will help you get in, complete your missions, and get out, but it won’t help you find supplies or secrets (what, you want us to give you all the answers?), or tell you how to crush your opponents (for help on fighting, see the Combat Tips elsewhere in this issue). Note: in some cases, we will refer to the x,y,z coordinates of certain objects or locations for clarity’s sake. You can view your x,y,z coordinates while playing DF at any time by typing “LADATA”. Some coordinates will necessarily be estimates, as certain objects are carried around by roving characters. Prologue Mission I The Death Star Plans Operation Skyhook: Phase 2 • • • Objectives Find and retrieve the Death Star plans. Return to your ship on the roof of the base. From your starting point, go straight through the large door at the south end of the hall. Outside, you’ll see two separate doors, one left and one right. Enter either, take the elevator up, kill the Imperial Officer (brown uniform) and take the red key. Go back to the starting area and open the red door (0258,1.0,0292). Take the elevator up, press the switch you’ll find on a column, and jump back down to the start area. The switch opened a new area to the right of the start area, so go right, take the circular stairs down, go through the door, go down the next set of circular stairs, through the next door, hang a left at the revolving Death Star hologram, take the corridor down to a largish room. Press the switch at the east side of the room (0330, -20.0, 0276), turn 180°, where you’ll see a section of the wall rising, go through it, pick up the Death Star plans, and take the north exit from the room. Take the round elevator up, and wait for your ship to show up. Mission II Talay: Tak Base After the Massacre • • • Objectives Find and restart hydro-electric power generator. Find some clues to the Dark Trooper. Return to the landing area. Note: until you turn the power on, many doors will not open, and some areas will be in darkness. Since fighting in the dark gives you a tremendous advantage, you may want to mop up as many opponents as you can before turning the power on. From your starting point, go north, then east. Climb up the blown-up wall and continue east. From the “patio,” jump down and cross the bridge to the east. Exit the bridge building on the right, and continue east to a darkened doorway (0390,2.0,0143). (Combat tip: this room is lousy with opponents, but if you stay in a crouch and keep moving, you can pick them off easily since they won’t see you.) Exit the room at the southeast corner into a hexagonal room, jump out the window to the west, follow the paved pathway west, cross the arm of the generator into the small room, and press the switch (0225,2.0,0023). Return the way you came to the doorway of the (no longer) darkened room, then proceed northeast to a large paved courtyard. Enter the door at the northwest facet of the courtyard, and press the switch inside (0450,2.0,0290), which swivels a bridge visible through the windows. Exit the room, then exit the courtyard to the west, and go north to the bridge (0396,2.0,0272). Cross to the mid-point, press the switch, wait for the bridge to swivel to the north, and cross to the north. Keep moving north to another large paved courtyard, and go through the door (0387,7.0,0649) into the large complex. Take the north passageway, go up the spiral staircase, and follow the ledge east to the left door. Open the door and take the Dark Trooper weapon (0490,16.0,0706). Return to your landing site. Mission III Anoat City: The Subterranean Hideout • • • Objective Find the Imperial weapons engineer Moff Rebus. From your starting point, take the first left, go down the stairs, and through the door into the sewer control area. The panel on the central column opens and closes four sewer grates around the perimeter of the area. Enter the western grate and follow the sewage until the first large fall. Exit the sewage to the right, take the elevator at the northeast corner of the area (0250,-20.0,0307), and press the switch (0260,-4.0,0340) to raise the sewage level. Take the elevator back down, re-enter the sewage, and let it carry you down & around. In the large grotto, go west and south, exit through the door at (0090,-66.0,0213), and take the elevator up. You’ll find yourself back in the starting area. Go back to the sewer control area, and press the switch again. Enter the northwest gate, follow the sewage, and exit on your left before going over the first large fall. Press the switch at (0260,-5.0,0320), which raises the sewage. Re-enter the sewage and follow it down to another large grotto, and go through the door at the grotto’s north tip (0351,-40.0,0472). Go through the second door and press the switch, then let the sewage carry you back to the sewer control area. Press the switch again and enter the northeast gate. Follow the sewage to a roundish chamber, exit on your right, and press the switch (0375,0.0,0299) to lower the sewage and reveal a door on the west side of the roundish chamber. Follow the circular stairs, go through the door, and press the switch (0317,-4.0,0344) to raise the sewage outside. Return to the roundish chamber and follow the sewage back to the sewer control area. Press the switch 4 times until gate 2 (the northwest gate) is open. Follow the sewage all the way north, then west, and open the gate (0252,-11.0,0428). Continue west to a series of pillars. Jump to the first pillar (or if you fall, use the switch at 0185,-25.0,0427 to raise yourself back up), and hop across the pillars to the ledge. Follow the ledge west, jump the gap to the south and go through the double doors, then through the “eye” doors, and take the stairs at the south end of the room up to Moff Rebus. Mission IV The Planet Fest: Imperial Weapons Research Facility • • • Objectives Infiltrate the base and find some samples of the metal that they are testing. Return to the landing area. From your starting point turn left, then go south and west until you reach a narrow bridge (0213,-11.0,0294). Follow the path as it swings to the north, until you reach the first relative large, open landing (0118,-5.0,0431), turn right, and leap across the chasm to the south. Stay on this path until you reach an access shaft (-006,1.0,0322). While crouching, follow the tunnels south and east until you reach the facility interior (0051,-38.0,0168). Turn left and press the switch at the west end of the hall (-082,-28.0,0181) and then run east to the temporarily open door. Take the elevator up, and continue following the path south to another elevator down, then follow as the path swings west. Note the door on the left (-108,-18.0,-026), as you’ll have to come back here later. Stay on the path as it swings north, up some wide stairs, to a rectangular room with a narrow staircase (-262,-5.0,0145). From the narrow stairs, go northeast through a door with a large red circle on it to a small elevator (-114,6.0,0221). Take the elevator up, get the code key held by the Imperial Officer, and press the switch (-062,39.0,0244) which opens a pair of doors below. Return to the door you noted earlier (-108,-18.0,-026), go east, and enter the code in the code lock (043,-17.0,-014). Turn 180° and go through the large door and to the top of the spiral stairs (noting the three doors on the way up), where you’ll find a control room that looks into a tall circular chamber with a central platform reached by a rotating bridge. The left switch (-041,44.0,0093) raises/lowers the bridge; the right switch (-041,44.0,0105) swivels it. In turn, you need to align the bridge with each of the three doors you passed on the way up, travel to that room, cross the bridge and press a switch on the central column. Once all three switches have been pressed, a door will open on the north side of the control room. Bring the bridge back to its initial position and cross to the central platform, where you can pick up the Phrik metal. The pillar will begin rising and falling; you can exit where you got on, or jump off at the lowest point and exit via a door at the base. Return to the door with the big red circle on it (-146,5.0,0224), and hang a left and follow the path to the north and east, through the double doors you opened earlier, and into a small room with a switch (-036,0.0,0451). Press the switch, which opens a segment of the wall outside (you can see it through the windows). Go south and west and exit through the lowered wall. Circle around the tall guard platform and take the elevator (0012,1.0,0451) up. Follow the path all the way down and around to the narrow bridge you crossed earlier, and back to your ship (0369,-11.0,0471). Mission V Gromas Mines The Blood Moon • • • Objectives Locate the reactor and set the sequencer charge. Get back to the ship. From your starting point, go west and south until you see the installation. Follow the installation all the way to its eastern end, and enter the elevator. Go up the stairs (be sure to pick up the fusion cutter at 0258,29.0,0339 — you’ll need it!), and east through the door (0219,30.0,0330, past the turbine, through the next door at (0147,30.0,0351). Keep going west until you get to the far west end of the installation, where there’s a pit with a rising/falling central column (-390,29.0,0329). Ride the column almost to the bottom and jump out into the east tunnel. Leap across the smaller shafts you’ll encounter when the columns are at their top position. Follow the tunnel east, note the door to the south, and continue north, then east and then jump to the blue key (-001,-33.0,0414). Go back to the door (-180,-32.0,0303), through it, follow the tunnel, and jump down when you reach the end. Follow the tunnel until you reach a ledge overhanging a pit, and jump to the ledge positioned diagonally to the east. Follow the tunnel until you reach another large pit, and drop down (slowly!) to the ledge that hangs just below. Follow the new tunnel to an elevator that takes you down to the reactor pit. Plant the charge on the reactor (-408,-91.0,0357) and take out the beta Dark Trooper (the fusion cutter you picked up earlier is your best weapon against it). Once you’ve killed the Trooper, a hidden door will open beside the entrance (-353,096.0,0331). Ride the elevator up, and press the switch (-379,30.0,0304). The switch opens of series of 5 blast doors, which open in sequence, but as soon as you start moving towards them, they start to close, so you must wait about 15 seconds after pressing the switch, and then run south towards the far end. If you don’t make it all the way, you’ll find switches along the way which will open the path back to the first switch. Drop down to the north, and enter the tunnel at the northeast of the canyon (-277,0.0,0088). Follow the tunnel back to the area outside the installation, and find the ledge (085,-2.0,0388) along the northern wall of the easternmost canyon. Jump up and follow the path back to your ship. Mission VI Imperial Detention Center, Orinackra Crix Madine’s Fate • • • Objective Find Crix Madine. Note that two new features are introduced on this level: 1) certain walls can be blown up with explosives, and are usually recognizable by poorly sealed stress cracks or other damage; 2) the round, red switches can be activated by laser fire - with a couple of individual exceptions, these are the only switches this is true of. From your starting point, follow the path (it only goes one way) to the switch that summons the floating bridge (0143,128,0002). Ride the bridge across. As you approach the far side, shoot the switch you see on your left, which will open the main doors for you to enter. Once in the complex, you need to shoot either of the two red switches above and to the north to raise the black platform (0130,130.0,0275) which you must ride up. But first, you may want to open the wall behind the platform (0114,130.0,0279) and throw a few thermal detonators at the stormtroopers in the courtyard beyond (you have to be there later, anyway). From the black platform, go left (west) and follow the path until you find a switch (0168,148,0384). Press the switch, which opens a panel that reveals a button in the courtyard below. Step through the opening in the wall immediately south of the switch, go through the door just to the north, press the button on the wall, press the next button that appears, and ride the lift up. The two circular structures before you are elevator shafts, which each go to different levels, only meeting at S5. Take the west elevator (#1) down to level S2 and find the Imperial Officer who has code key 3. The next level elevator #1 goes to is S4, but there’s nothing crucial to the mission on this level. Take elevator #1 to S5. On S5, go through the force field just to the west of the elevator, by waiting until the lights are solid. Then follow the winding path until you reach a window that looks into a white room (0156,-32,0369). Shoot the red switch inside, which opens the door beside you. On exiting the white room, open the first door on the east. If you have a gas mask, put it on before entering. Pass through the force field at the far end while the lights are solid, and pick up the red key (0356,-32.0,0444). Find the eastern elevator (#2) to the northwest, and take it to S1. To the northwest of the elevator, you’ll find two Imperial Officers carrying separate key codes. None of the rest of this level (a large portion to the east of elevator #2) is of any importance in completing the mission goals. Take elevator #2 down to S5, then use the switch outside the elevator to send it up to S3. Retrace your steps to elevator #1, and take elevator #1 back up to level 0, then from the outside, send it down to S2. Enter the door just to the west of the elevator and jump down into the maintenance area. Note the diagram on the south wall, which shows you how to set up the elevators. Enter the door in the north wall and drop down to the roof of elevator #1, then exit through the door on the east side of the shaft, drop down to the connecting tunnel, and exit east twice more. Continue following the tunnels east and north until you reach the door (0248,70.0,0608) to the trash compactors. Avoiding the central crushing platform, jump onto the north platform, to the south platform, to the next north platform, to the western door (0175,90.0,0621). Go through the door, follow the path, and trigger the mine to blow up the damaged wall. Go through and exit the cell and follow the corridors to the key code lock (0165,98.0,0593). Enter key code 2. Crix Madine is in the cell just behind the lock. Mission VII Ramsees Hed Docking Port, Cal-Seti Deadly Cargo • • • Objectives Place the tracking device in the rear of the smuggler ship. From your starting point, go west, then south, then east, and use the big platform (-200,-16.0,0793) to get into the complex. The switch (-224,-40.0,0729) will bring down a segment of the north wall. Find the yellow key in the southwest corner (-287,-40.0,0576) of the next room. Go through the hidden door (-150,-40.0,0627) on the east wall, then south and east. The switch at (-086,-56.0,0523) shifts a couple of barriers west. A switch at (-057,-56.0,0540) shifts them east partially. A switch at (-051,-56.0,0458 shifts them east more. Taking the platform at (-034,-54.0,0466) up will shift the barriers east the rest of the way. Make a u-turn over the left barrier and go south, then west to a large elevator. Jump down the other side of the platform, then follow the corridors south and east to a large bay. Take the large platform at the east end (-136,-40.0,0445) up and then jump to the platform along the south end, which will go up. Enter any of the three doors. Exit to the west, and note your position, since you’ll be coming back this way. Follow the corridor: 2nd left, 3 rights, 1st left, 2nd left, 1st right; to a steel door (-209,8.0,0794). Go through and down the elevator, follow the corridor southeast, jump into the pit, and get the red key (-211,-16.0,0067). Shoot the switch to get out of the pit and retrace your steps to the white corridors. Go south and east to the big square door, then follow the corridors all the way south, where you’ll find the blue key (-239,11.0,-144). Go all the way back north to the point mentioned earlier. Enter the cargo area, and continue all the way north. Press the switch (-233,9.0,0594) to open the cargo bay doors. Keep going north and affix the tracker to the big red circled panel (-224,9.0,0944). Mission VIII Robotics Construction Facility, Anteevy Ice Station Beta • • • Objectives Infiltrate the facility Set Sequencer Charge 1. Set Sequencer Charge 2. Set Sequencer Charge 3. Return to the landing area. From your starting point, go northeast and follow the icy river as it swings south. The river will fork very shortly. Follow the right fork. The right fork soon turns south again, but you’ll keep going west, following the perimeter of the facility. Eventually you’ll come to a large chasm. The east part of the chasm forms an arrow pointing east. Remember how you got here, since later you’ll be retracing your steps from this point to your ship. Stand at the eastern tip of the arrow and slowly drop down to the ledge below, where you’ll find the ice cleats (-340,-10.0,0349). Jump back up, then jump across the chasm at its narrowest point (where it meets the facility wall). From the chasm, keep following the facility wall, south, and then east, until you see a waterfall on your right. Enter the path behind the waterfall (-036,-2.0,0199) and follow until you see a ledge on your left. Jump onto the ledge and get the blue key (260,17.0,0222), then jump across to the conveyor belt. Stay on the conveyor belt. Eventually you’ll see a switch through a window on your right side: shoot it to open the door ahead of you. Ride the belt to its end. Hop north to the next conveyor belt, which takes you back east. Beware of the crushing platform as you turn right, which will get you if you don’t get through the door quickly enough. The conveyor belt dead ends here. Jump onto the narrow ledge that runs along the east wall below the belt, and onto the north ledge, then jump across to the three rising platforms. Ride the next belt until you find yourself facing a room full of guards. Jump into the room and press the switch (-452,13.0,0152), then get back on the belt and ride it to the end. It dead ends in a pool of industrial waste, so crouch and jump into the window on your right. Pick up the red key (-416,10.0,0273), and pull the switch. Exit through the north door (-410,10.0,0274). Pick up the gas mask at (-37610.0,0306). Press the switch at (-366,10.0,0306), which opens a door at (-371,10.0,0287). Jump up quickly and go north. Around a corner a switch (-335,10.0,0289) will open a couple of doors at (-301,16.0,0287) and (-300,16.0,0293) that allow access to the fan shaft. Shut off the fan by hitting the switch at (-295,16.0,0287), then go into the fan shaft and drop down between the blades. You need to set charges at the central column in each of three pits of industrial waste (-128,-44.0,0392), (-128,-44.0,0193), and (-300,-44.0,0293). On setting the third charge, you’ll be attacked by a release version Dark Trooper. Defeating it will open a hidden exit (-215,-40.0,0336). At the end of a short maze, you’ll find a switch (-348,-40.0,0309) which opens a door to the chasm where you found the ice cleats. Retrace your steps to the landing site.