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Tier Drops
Episode 3, Level 6 (Secret
Level)
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Tier Drops is one of the more
interesting levels in Duke3D. This level was intended to be a
Dukematch level originally, and as such there is no true structured
path to completion like other levels. There is an outer circle
with four rooms in the center. Each of the four rooms has a
different look and feel, as you can see by the four shots below.
Each of these rooms has three exits
which lead to the other rooms. They are tubes, or "drops",
hence the level's name. The color of the particular "drop" is
indicative of what room you will end up in. For example, the
tube below is in the Alpha room, and if you jump into it, you will
end up in the Beta room.
The outer area of the map lets you
select which room you want to go in as well, so it is a very free
flowing map, well designed for Dukematch. You can feel free to
explore these rooms and their connections if you'd like, but it is
not necessary. The actual path to finishing the level is quite
short.
The level starts with a door in front of
you. Hit the switch to the right of the door and head out.
When you open the door, do not go into the room right in front of
you, take a left.
You will come across a sign that says
"Beta". Jump up there, and make your way to the Beta room -
the one with the red lava look to it. Enter the room, and deal
with the Fat Commander that is in here. Once you've done that,
make your way up the central column via the ramp of rocks you can
see in this screenshot.
Once at the top, grab the Devastator
that is up here, and open the doors. The exit is in
here, but so is a Battlelord. Take out the Battlelord if you
can, or if your health is high enough, just run past him and hit the
exit before you die.
If you do this run with steroids from
the start of the leve, and don't stop to shoot anything, you can do
it around the 10 seconds listed for the 3D Realms time. The
listed par time for this level is 45 seconds, which would happen if
you make a run around the entire outer circle collecting the four
secrets before you come in here. Including the four
secrets then going for the exit in Beta is about as close to an
"intended path" as I can come up with for this level. :)
Hit the exit and be taken to Level 7, "Rabid
Transit" (the next "regular" level in the game).
A special note about the Delta Room is
in order. Normally in the game if you kill podgirls, an enemy will
spawn as a "penalty" for doing that. In this room, that
concept is taken a lot further. Normally the game will spawn a
lizard trooper or such, but in this room, killing the podgirls will
spawn Battlelords! In a similar vein, the Gamma room will
spawn about a dozen Octabrains if you go to the center most part of
the room. You really don't want these things to happen -
thanks Levelord! :) |
