Descent Hints & Tips

                     From James Judge

Well, it's official - Descent is a damn good game, even Sue thinks
it is brilliant. So, hint number one is get yourself a copy of the
damned game - freeware or otherwise.

Any Doomies reading this - just skip to the end bit where the
cheats are (shame on you), but try not to use them as cheats do
tend to spoil games of this kind.

Anyway, for the newcomers to this 3D shoot-'em-up lark. It's
pretty simple once you have learnt a few basic rules on how to
survive. The first is:

NEVER LOSE YOUR SENSE OF DIRECTION

In other words, don't go flying into a room, shoot a few enemies,
find a whole load more and lose where the entrance is, getting
yourself killed because you have nowhere to flee. Instead clear
the first level of enemies (shouldn't be too difficult), but don't
destroy the generator. Next get back to the beginning of the level
and look at the map (press the TAB key), have a good ol' study of
the level and choose a place that you want to go - a fair way
away. Then just go for it without the map. Zoom around the place
as fast as possible until you get to the target. Do this few times
and you'll find yourself becoming accustomed to the full 3D
effect.

Of course, another little hintet is to keep the ceiling above you.
Whenever you start a level you are positioned a certain way up.
What I call the floor at this point in time is what I try to keep
as the floor throughout the level.  This isn't as hard as it
sounds. When you are just exploring it is a simple matter to keep
yourself up the right way (using the <7> and <9> keys on the
keypad). And then when it comes to fights just flip and flop
around where you are and re-align yourself with the floor/ceiling
by noting where the lights are (99% of the time on the ceiling).
So, if there are lights to the left of you rotate 90 degrees left
to get the ceiling back where it should be. Using this method you
can easily memorise the level - making the map facility defunct
(nearly) because you have (in a way) limited yourself to only one
plane (as in Doom) and, so, one map.

The next little hint is to do with doors. There are two ways in
which you can open doors - either by ramming them with your ship,
or by firing at them with a weapon. Opening them with a weapon is
a good idea as you can put yourself in a position that, if there
are any enemies on the other side, you can quickly shuffle from
side to side to evade their fire.

On the subject of enemies' fire, you can avoid the said fire power
in corridors by nipping into one corner, wait for the enemy to
sight and fire at you, nip to the other corner, sight the enemy,
open fire and when they fire at you repeat.  This way you'll only
get hit 25% of the time instead of 90% of the time if you float in
the centre of the corridor like a used condom.


When you are just about to enter an as yet unexplored room do the
following:

(1) Fly into the room two ships' length and then nip back VERY
quickly.

(2) When you flew into the room listen for the sound of the enemy.
All the enemies make a noise when they sight you - whether it is a
small clunk, or a scream. Learning what noises each monster makes
can help you identify what monsters are in a certain room without
actually having to see them.

(3) While you fly back out of the room look for any laser fire.
From the colour and type of laser fire you'll be able to tell what
monster(s) are in the room. Also by the number of laser blasts
you'll be able to guess how many monsters are in the room too, as
well as in which direction they will be coming from (if a blast
goes from right to left, you know the enemy will be to the right).
Using those tactics you (hopefully) shouldn't be surprised too
many times.

Finally, in the later levels of the shareware version you'll come
across part of the level that are dull purple. BE CAREFUL. There
are cunning little generators of monsters that spew the accursed
creatures out at the most inopportune moments. You know when they
are going to spew because they make a noise and then glow. A
monster will then materialise in the centre, ready for you to
shoot it.  You can't stop the generators - just wait until the
enemies have run out, then hang around for, say, ten seconds,
flying around the generators. If no more monsters appear deem it
safe to go on - but be prepared if you come back to the area later
on in the game (something you shouldn't, I don't think, have to do
if you are careful in any level).

OK, then, to the cheats.

GABBAGABBAHEY - enables cheat mode
MITZI - all keys
RACERX - invulnerability
SCOURGE - all weapons
FARMERJOE - level menu
TWILIGHT - full shields
GUILE - cloak
MAP and <Alt><F> will bring up the entire map.

Oh, before I go. So good at the game you can breeze through it on
Insane? Well, try this to make your life just that LITTLE bit
harder. Crank the detail down to the lowest possible setting, hit
<F3> and then jab the minus button (on the main keyboard) until
the screen will no longer shrink. Try killing the final enemy like
this, mates!

Happy descending!!!






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