Peter Smith
Join Date
Feb 2000
Location
Land of Enchantment
Posts
2,698
Vagabond
Well, it is quite hard to find a recent mission that Hexameron
hasn't ghosted (or found impossible), so I thought I would give Vagabond a try
because it sounded like fun. It was. I had essentially the same experience as Hexameron, perfect thief and all, and I did / discovered
everything independently. There was one blemish in my case, however.
On entering Rybolf's room, I found him standing on
the table nearly staring at the wine bottle. I couldn't get past him, and I
couldn't get him to move, so the only way to complete the objective was to BJ
him. I went back a seccond time to see if I could
unstick him. I managed to do it with an alert in which he did not see me - he eventuall dropped off the table and resumed his normal
patrol, which was easy to work around.
According to some old rule interpretations, a temporary lapse to free a stuck
AI is acceptable, so I'll claim victory.
"What we've got here is a failure to communicate", the warden (Strother Martin), Cool Hand Luke
Hexameron
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Oct 2007
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FM: Amoral Dilemma
File: amoralfinal.zip
Perfect Thief - Success
Time - 03:00:34
Loot - 2829/2829
Pockets Picked - 15/15
Backstabs - 0 Knockouts - 0
Damage dealt - 0 Damage taken - 0
Healing taken - 0 Kills - 0
Bodies Discovered by Enemies - 1
Secrets Found - 5/6
Comments - This FM kept me busy off and on for about a week. My
total time reflects only my pure ghost run, not the blackjack runs and
30-minute intervals of time spent trying to progress in the mission. Besides
having difficulty accessing certain areas or being stumped about what to do,
there were only a couple of ghosting issues for me.
I explored the Hammerite compound early in the game,
which was a mistake because I would have to return there anyway to achieve a
new objective. However, when I returned to the Hammerite
section, I encountered a slight problem... Before I get to that, here is what
the entrance to the Hammerite compound looks like:
Very manageable as you can see, as there's enough space to sneak behind these
guys.
When I returned, though, after an hour or so of gameplay, here is what I found
changed:
For some reason, the hammerite on the left decided to
pivot to his right and face a new direction. No amount of reloading or
exploring and coming back fixed the problem; he's stuck that way. Fortunately,
I could CCC by slowly, making sure to keep my back against the statue
pedestals.
You can see just how close the player must be at one point while CCCing, but it did not instigate a second alert. I was
lucky - if that hammerite was standing any closer, I
wouldn't have been able to sneak into the compound.
-I had trouble getting into the police station and assumed there must be an
underground tunnel or key I had missed to enter it. No, there wasn't. I had to
use a rope arrow in the wooden palisades located at each corner of the station.
Blackfyre's Estate
There are two problem spots here and a number of areas that make sneaking a
little rough and intense. It's the combination of that patrolling archer and
the marble floors around the fountain and the museum displays that make
sneaking difficult. I doused as many gas lamps as possible while in the
fountain section. When the archer entered this area, I walked slowly into the
display room and leapt onto the case containing the skeleton. Now I had enough
time to wait for his patrol again and move to the wall to turn off the lights.
There are three possible routes to the mechanist basement and only one is
viable for the ghoster. A combat bot observes two of
the routes and it's impossible to sneak by, although I suppose if one found the
Keeper apartment before getting to Blackfyre's
estate, he would have the option of using a keeper medallion (equivalent to invis potion), but I didn't find the apartment until later.
So I had to enter the mechanist basement through the generator room with two
archers. Initially, it looks too hazardous, what with the metal catwalk and
brightly-lit areas. However, the author saw fit to offer the player a better
way of moving through the generator room: in the flooded pit beneath the
catwalk.
Climbing out requires moving to the far left of the ladder, mantling, and
running towards the mechanist basement door. With that I only got a first alert
from both archers:
The next problem occurs after the player returns to his apartment and learns
that his friend, Jeanette, was kidnapped by Blackfyre.
Her unconscious body is in the mechanist basement, so I had to go back there
yet again. Picking up her corpse and moving towards the basement exit causes
some kind of a scripted AI battle or alert outside. I really don't know what
happened, but it sounded like hammerites were
attacking Blackfyre's estate. Everyone in the
vicinity of Blackfyre's courtyard, including the
combat bot and the two archers went on second alert. The combat bot and
mechanist priestess must have entered the melee because I never saw them again.
I was actually able to escape through the courtyard after waiting for things to
calm down. The city portion of the mission was also disturbed and most of the
bluecoats were gone. I don't know if they ran off somewhere to fight or were
searching elsewhere, but it made my escape to the mission end quite easy.
Some hard-to-find loot:
-coin in the garbage bin outside of Garrett's apartment
-coin in Blackfyre's fountain
-gold ring on the table in second-floor lounge above Blackfyre's
museum
-spice bag behind a book in a Hammerite locker
-coin under table on the balcony overlooking pub
Hexameron
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330
Keeper Investigations
Campaign
FM: Mission 1 - Dawn of a New Age
File: Keeper_Investigations_Campaign.zip
Ghost - Success
Perfect Thief - Failed
Time - 02:08:49
Loot - 2384/2404
Pockets Picked - 5/5
Backstabs - 0 Knockouts - 0
Damage dealt - 0 Damage taken - 0
Healing taken - 0 Kills - 0
Comments - This mission is pretty easy to play and ghost, except
for the mechanist church and finding loot. The loot requirement is 2200 and 400
in gems. It's not hard to miss the balcony apartment with 75 worth of gems
across from the two-windowed house at the mission start. I only found that
during a blackjack run, but I still didn't find all of the loot. Before I discuss
the mechanist church, I do need to mention some trouble with the unarmed thief
at the beginning. It's necessary to scale a rope arrow up to a window, but
doing so incurs a very bright light gem and upsets the thief. I kept trying,
though. I shot the rope arrow at different angles and eventually made it to the
top in pitch darkness without upsetting the thief.
Tarzan in Church
The obvious problematic area in this mission is the mechanist church. Getting
the mechanist plans requires the player to enter the church, but the patrolling
mechanist, idle mechanist worker, and the bright interior were not an
encouraging sight. I tried mossing and jumping over the pews to no success; the
idle mech worker saw me each time. With six rope
arrows in my inventory, though, and a high vault ceiling, I wondered if I could
move above the mechanists... So I planted a series of rope arrows, all six of
them in fact, into the wooden vault ceiling and attempted to tarzan jump across:
It worked:
Staying near the ceiling and jumping across to each rope didn't upset anyone,
but the idle mechanist worker remained on first alert while I was up there. It
took me about 20 minutes to position the rope arrows correctly. It's not easy
because each rope arrow needs to be close enough together but also spread out
far enough to reach the wall. There is very little darkness inside this church.
I tried lowering myself down on one rope in front of the altar, but that put
the mechanist worker on second alert.
So the trail of ropes must reach all the way to the back wall where the
mechanist angel statue is. I later learned that I would need to retrieve some
rope arrows, too, in order to get up to the bell tower. After many reloads, I
perfected my strategy and placement of arrows. I also needed to fire two moss
arrows across the altar before climbing the ropes because the ropes do not
reach to the floor. Falling off onto tile is unacceptable and the moss prevents
a loud landing:
On my way out, I was able to retrieve all but one rope arrow.
Some hard-to-find loot:
-coins on beam above bell in bell tower of mechanist church
-coin on ledge surrounding mechanist angel statue outside of the Hammerite temple
-gold ring and LC scroll on top of bookshelf in house near Western gate
-statue behind large crate in shop across from guard barracks
-tiara behind banner in bedroom with nobleman (tiara can be frobbed
without slashing the banner)
Hexameron
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Keeper Investigations
Campaign
FM: Mission 2 - Ocean Freight
File: Keeper_Investigations_Campaign.zip
Perfect Thief - Success
Time - 01:03:21
Loot - 3320/3320
Pockets Picked - 8/8
Backstabs - 0 Knockouts - 0
Damage dealt - 0 Damage taken - 0
Healing taken - 0 Kills - 0
Comments - There's not much to say about this FM. I liked it and
although there weren't any particular trouble spots, the abundance of AI made
ghosting fun. I also opted not to use any water arrows, which can make things a
little intense with the steady traffic of lantern-holding guards. Finding loot
isn't too difficult because the author is consistent: loot behind or between
crates and under furniture. I did go on a blackjack run in order to find two
missing loot items: spice bag behind a large crate out on the open docks (far
left side of the docks where the sail boat is in view) and a coinstack and loose coin in between two large crates beyond
the smugglers' den.
The author intended for the player to remove some frobbable
obstacles like a large crate or wooden panel that appear as if they're blocking
a path. I found picking these obstacles up more trouble than it's worth.
Because of their awkward size, they don't drop softly like the typical crate,
which means I would have to carry them long distances to find an area where I
could drop them without alerting AI. However, I didn't even need to remove the
obstacles; they had no mass so I could simply walk right through them.
Tannar
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Sep 2008
Posts
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Originally
Posted by Hexameron
FM: His Own Medicine
The ghoster must be downstairs (with
Goodheart's corpse) before the cops move upstairs or
he'll be trapped by AI blocking the hallways.
Another way is to go into the little library, up the ladder and off the
roof.
Hexameron
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Oct 2007
Posts
330
I must have missed that. I remember trying to exit through a ceiling
window in one of the rooms upstairs, but I couldn't get through.
Hexameron
Gamer
Join Date
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Posts
330
Keeper Investigations
Campaign
FM: Mission 3 - At the Wrong Party
File: Keeper_Investigations_Campaign.zip
Perfect Thief - Success | N/A
Time - 00:18:28
Loot - 300/300
Pockets Picked - 0/0
Backstabs - 0 Knockouts - 0
Damage dealt - 0 Damage taken - 0
Healing taken - 0 Kills - 0
Comments - A very brief mission that takes place out in the middle
of the ocean! There are no AI to contend with and it's simply a matter of
looking in every room of both ships for readables
that trigger new objectives. Perhaps the hardest part is finding the Captain's
key, which is on his corpse in the Argonaut.
Peter Smith
Join Date
Feb 2000
Location
Land of Enchantment
Posts
2,698
FM: Mission 1 - Dawn of a New Age
File: Keeper_Investigations_Campaign.zip
Ghost - Success
Perfect Thief - Success
Time - 03:31:06
Loot - 2404/2404
Pockets Picked - 4/5
Backstabs - 0 Knockouts - 0
Damage dealt - 0 Damage taken - 0
Healing taken - 0 Kills - 0
Comments - I am proceeding again in Hexameron's
footsteps. What choice to I have except to be vigilant, stay up late, download
a mission when it first comes out, and play it on the spot?
I thought this mission was loads of fun to play with the up and down routes.
The routes were pretty obvious for the most part except for the hop to the
balcony to get the gem, which I found late in the game, independently.
There were many places where the good hearing of the guards plus minor thumps
after a mantle forced a reload. No matter. When I found myself going back and
forth several times to look for loot, however, I placed some strategic moss to
help out.
I agree that, except for the mechanist church, the ghosting was straightforward
but fun. I tried to forget what I saw in Hexameron's
post, but after suffering in the church jumping pews for a half hour or so, the
word "rope" jumped out of my subconscious. The ceiling there did not
look like a candidate for rope sticking, but I tried it and it worked. I first
tried three, then four, and finally five arrows to be able to swing over to the
altar, which was dark. I figured out early on that I needed to shoot moss
beneath the starting arrow and the ending arrow in the sequence. To moss under
the ending arrow, I just shot the moss arrow at the ceiling where the final
rope was sticking and it fell down onto the altar. I retrieved my ropes going
both ways, because I did not know I would have to come back. So much of the
mission consists of one-way routes, and I did not want to chance leaving them
behind.
I don't know where I found the final loot to make PT. I just picked it up as I
went along and didn't make a list. No BJ runs, either. I confess that I ran
short of loot and came back to look at Hexameron's
post concerning hard to find loot. A few items in that list completed it. They
were: coin near angel statue; tiara behind banner; gold ring next to LC scroll
on bookcase. The latter was a little irksome because I had spotted the scroll
from below, and it did not occur to me to rope up to see if any little things
remained. Just laziness. I had, however, checked the top of many other
bookcases and come up dry, so it fooled me.
So, it was not entirely original, but I did have fun playing it. Congrats to Hexameron for leading the charge.
Last edited by Peter Smith; 10-04-2009 at 02:50 PM.
"What we've got here is a failure to communicate", the warden (Strother Martin), Cool Hand Luke
Hexameron
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Oct 2007
Posts
330
It's nice to read another ghost report from you, Peter, especially of a
mission where you did a little better than I by obtaining a PT.
Originally
Posted by Peter Smith
I am proceeding again in Hexameron's footsteps.
What choice to I have except to be vigilant, stay up late, download a mission
when it first comes out, and play it on the spot?
It's not my intention to hog the newest FM's - I'm simply working from
the most recent down to the oldest listed on Thief Missions. There are
still hundreds of T2 FM's that haven't been reported yet .
To moss under the ending arrow, I just shot the moss arrow at the ceiling
where the final rope was sticking and it fell down onto the altar. I retrieved
my ropes going both ways, because I did not know I would have to come back.
That's a much more efficient and polished execution than I pulled off.
Hexameron
Gamer
Join Date
Oct 2007
Posts
330
Keeper Investigations
Campaign
FM: Mission 4 - Tanis Station
File: Keeper_Investigations_Campaign.zip
Ghost - Success
Perfect Thief - Failed
Time - 00:58:32
Loot - 1610/1755
Pockets Picked - 14/14
Backstabs - 0 Knockouts - 0
Damage dealt - 0 Damage taken - 0
Healing taken - 0 Kills - 0
Comments - I found this mission rather odd and not very consistent
with the Thief world. This campaign is supposed to be a transition between T1
and T2, but I'm not seeing it and I don't know what the inhabitants of Tanis
Station have to do with it. Still, it's a fun mission, even if it feels like
I'm James Bond sneaking through a Soviet submarine station. Ghosting was easy -
the main challenge was making sure to read all of the readables.
A few of the objectives are to "gather information" about certain
topics and that entails reading every book lying around, particularly in the
library and the labs.
For reasons unknown to me, this guard died in one of the experimental rooms:
I remember seeing him patrol this room before, but after skipping the room and
coming back, I saw his body here in the corner. I can only speculate that he
either brushed by those vats of lava or got stuck walking into them and then
died from taking too much damage.
Hexameron
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Join Date
Oct 2007
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Keeper Investigations
Campaign
FM: Mission 5 - Returning Home
File: Keeper_Investigations_Campaign.zip
Ghost - Success
Perfect Thief - Failed
Time - 01:41:16
Loot - 3332/3509
Pockets Picked - 6/9
Backstabs - 0 Knockouts - 0
Damage dealt - 0 Damage taken - 0
Healing taken - 0 Kills - 0
Comments - This final mission of the Keeper Investigations campaign
is appropriately epic in design and scope: a large rooftop mission with many
objectives, some optional, to collect rare artifacts hidden around the city. I
found this mission to be very difficult but fun because the author doesn't make
scaling the rooftops user friendly like T2's LotP.
Many ledges can't be mantled onto and thus for the sake of being quiet,
necessitate pre-planted moss arrows to soften foot noise. I must have used at
least 6 moss arrows, all of which were absolutely necessary. Exploring the
rooftops also requires awkward acrobatics and strategic placement of rope
arrows.
Clear evidence of this can be found right at the mission start. The player
begins on a metal platform overlooking the city. Tannar
informs me that it's possible to jump onto the roof of the house without taking
damage. But during my playthrough I could see no
other way down except to fall to the wooden rim of the building below. However,
falling down causes a lot of damage:
Although the author gives the player a slow-fall potion, I tried other ways to
get down unscathed. Firing a rope arrow into the outer rim of the building
seems logical, but falling onto the rope is problematic. For some reason,
Garrett just does not want to stick to the rope. I tried falling onto the rope,
but kept bouncing off and sometimes catapulted into the wall, after which I
fell to my death. I did eventually figure out how to stick to the rope arrows.
The problem was that I tried hitting the rope where it adhered to the wooden
rim of the building. The key is to fall and touch the very tail end of the rope
that is not flush with the building:
Notice how the wooden rim juts outward. Falling and touching the area of the
rope parallel to the gray brick wall is how to be successful. I used two rope
arrows as a precaution in case I missed my target when falling. I don't know if
placement of the rope arrows needs to be exact, but this is how mine appear:
There are of course other awkward areas to climb or gain access with rope
arrows. Many are not obvious, like using a rope arrow to pick up a key from a
window sill or get to a ledge hidden behind the corner of a building. I'm not
complaining because I like the challenge, but I reloaded many times in
this mission due to accidentally falling to my death or making noise and
alerting AI on the streets after trying to jump somewhere.
-There is one instance in the Hammerite catacombs
where the player must make a choice between looting two frobbable
chests. Opening one chest causes the other to be unfrobbable.
A cryptic message nearby explains that one chest ensures "safety" and
the other "wealth." If you loot the "safety" chest you get
a flashbomb. The "wealth" chest has about
300 worth of loot. You can't have both, so I reloaded after opening the
"safety" chest. Incidentally, I didn't find all of the loot, but
owing to the difficulty of moving about in this mission, I'm not that motivated
to scrounge for what I missed.
Last edited by Hexameron; 10-08-2009 at 02:51
PM.
Tannar
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Posts
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Originally
Posted by Hexameron
FM: Mission 5 - Returning Home
Clear evidence of this can be found right at the mission start. The player
begins on a metal platform overlooking the city. There's no other way down
except to fall to the wooden rim of the building below. However, falling down
causes a lot of damage:
Actually, there is another way down. And you can do it with no noise, no
damage and no potion. Take a running jump from the ledge you start on and land
on the roof of the greenhouse, then drop to the parapet and the lower roof from
there. It may take a bit of practice but it isn't difficult. I did it
successfully many times during testing. You can moss the roof but it usually
isn't necessary as you land right on the edge and it usually doesn't make a
sound.
Hexameron
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It never would have occurred to me to try jumping onto that house. Thanks
once again for your insight
Hexameron
Gamer
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Posts
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FM: The Book of Prophecy - Part 2 (The Hidden City)
File: Proph2v2.zip
Ghost - Success {Chemical}
Perfect Thief - Success {Chemical PT}
Time - 02:05:01
Loot - 5624/5624
Pockets Picked - 13/22
Backstabs - 0 Knockouts - 0
Damage dealt - 0 Damage taken - 0
Healing taken - 0 Kills - 0
Secrets Found - 5/6
Comments - This is one of the finest FM's I've played this year;
brilliantly designed, atmospheric, and memorable. Before playing, I assumed
that this mission would be Lost Cityesque what with
"Hidden City" as part of the mission title. I was pleasantly
surprised to find instead a setting reminiscent of and even better than TG's
Thieves Guild. It takes place underground where some famous T1 figures (Bafford, Ramirez, Donal, and
Reuben) have their own residence. The mission felt rich and the underground
layout strikes me as being unique. I rarely digress to praise FM's in my
report, but for a number of reasons this mission "did it" for me. I
also had a thoroughly good time ghosting it, although the usage of two invis potions are required.
Gaining entry to Ramirez' residence is not straightforward. There are only two
entrances and one is physically blocked by a pivotting
guard who cannot be nudged aside. The other entrance is brightly-lit with a
single guard observing the door:
Thankfully there are two invis potions available in this
mission. I think the player starts with one (I could be wrong), but there is
definitely another hidden in a niche under a crate. Both invis
potions are needed for this area: one to get into Ramirez's place and one to
exit.
-For the sake of obtaining a perfect thief, I needed to nudge two guards in
this mission. The first one is standing outside of Ramirez's bedroom upstairs.
I wanted to get the purple goblet in the room beyond the doubledoors,
but I couldn't move inside without upsetting him. Nudging him forward against
the hallway wall solved the problem.
The second guard is in the brothel. To get a gold ring on a window sill, I
needed to jump onto the brick ledge behind the guard. However, I couldn't get
off of the ledge and around him because he stood too close. Therefore, I needed
to nudge him forward a bit.
-Stealing the blue crystal in the spider pen is very difficult. The problem is
that the spider in the pen has an erratic and perhaps random circular patrol
concentrated in a small vicinity. To make matters worse there is another
patrolling spider and a patrolling frogbeast moving
about outside of the pen. Running into the pen results in a bright light gem
and thus trying to get the blue crystal seemed futile. I persisted, though, and
kept reloading and making random dashes into the pen and back out until I
finally succeeded with only first alerts. It just takes timing and luck to run
in quickly as the spider in the pen turns his back, frob
like mad until the crystal is taken, and run back out to the safety of
darkness.
Hard-to-find loot:
-Hammerite chapel: gold hammer ensconced in a stained
glass window next to the altar.
-Ramirez's upstairs bedroom: silver bracelet on window ledge.
-Pub: silver bracelet near skeletal remains in the pit.
-Storage room in cavern area: small statue behind a barrel.
-Randomly patrolling noblewoman in a blue dress has a purse on her belt; she
can be easy to miss as she makes an extensive journey through various areas in
the mission.
-Shadow Guild's weapon shop: loose coins on the counter.
-Shadow Guild: sound recording (metal cylinder) between wall and alarm control
box.
And the hardest loot placement, I think, is the gold ring on a window sill in
the brothel:
It's a clever and appropriate location for it, but still too difficult to spot;
I was lucky I saw it and I only found it during a blackjack run.
Peter Smith
Join Date
Feb 2000
Location
Land of Enchantment
Posts
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Originally
Posted by Hexameron
FM: Mission 2 - Ocean Freight
File: Keeper_Investigations_Campaign.zip
Perfect Thief - Success
I have been playing this one for a while, and I am stumped by a missing
20 loot. Evidently a coin. Any idea where it is?
"What we've got here is a failure to communicate", the warden (Strother Martin), Cool Hand Luke
Tannar
Gamer
Join Date
Sep 2008
Posts
56
On the first floor of Gamver's warehouse, in
the room with the crates (between the bunkroom and the room with all the bots)
there is a coinstack and one loose coin between the
large crates. On the second floor, in the hidden alcove behind the large crate,
there are 4 loose coins and in the guard house next to Lord Porter's there are
5 loose coins on the gaming table. Those are the only loose coins I remember
offhand. There is a loot list included in the mission zip.
Peter Smith
Join Date
Feb 2000
Location
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FM: Mission 2 - Ocean Freight
File: Keeper_Investigations_Campaign.zip
Perfect Thief - Success
Thanks, Tannar. The loose coins in Gamver's warehouse between crates did the job. So, that
makes it Perfect Thief with a little help. The Ghosting rules say that it is
frowned upon and a point of honor not to use a loot list, so I couldn't do
that. It is OK to ask for help in the forum. The rules don't say anything about
a walking loot list.
"What we've got here is a failure to communicate", the warden (Strother Martin), Cool Hand Luke
Tannar
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Yeah, I wasn't thinking regarding the lootlist.
Glad it was one of the ones I mentioned. Nice work.
Hexameron
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I must have been lucky in noticing the loose coins and coin stacks
between the large crates. The author kept putting loot on the floor behind barrels,
crates and furniture that I just got in the habit of looking behind everything.
It did take me extra work to find the spice bags out on the pier, though.
Hexameron
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FM: The Lost Castle
File: Lost_Castle.zip
Perfect Thief - Success
Time - 01:35:09
Loot - 4830/4830
Pockets Picked - 17/18
Backstabs - 0 Knockouts - 0
Damage dealt - 0 Damage taken - 0
Healing taken - 0 Kills - 0
Secrets Found - 1/1
Comments - A very tough mission to ghost. In the same vein as his
other mission "Hunting Treasure," the author loves to create large
brightly-lit areas and sprinkle AI over every corner and hallway. Keeper
Orland's credo in T1's Training mission, "Stay in the shadows - avoid the
light" is not applicable here. Most of the sneaking that needs to be done
in this mission does not entail being in darkness, but rather keeping a
distance with a yellow light gem. In this FM, stealth involves running quickly
past a guard's peripheral vision and hugging the walls while a guard walks by
and utters a first alert. I can't recall a single room or open space that offered
any safe shadows. Thankfully, many of the idle guards will pivot, but sneaking
undetected in this mission is still quite difficult and I recommend it to
anyone wanting a challenge.
The player starts with 8 water arrows and can eventually collect upwards of 12,
not counting the bundle of 20 needed to get the Emerald of Life. Of course, I
had no idea how conservative I should be when starting out. I did need to use
one right at the beginning where the single guard stands. It's not possible to
sneak to the staircase without dousing the torch. I used at least three water
arrows in the spa with the nude woman and her servant in order to collect the
loot. I needed to use two in one of the guard tower barracks with the sleeping
archer. Two more had to be used on the highest level so I could get the purse
on the stairs near a false door. Others were utilized at various points only
when I needed it. Essentially, I expended almost all of my water arrow supply
even with a conservative attitude.
-The Emerald of Life is locked away behind a series of puzzle rooms. The first
room contains five locked vault doors and the respective keys are strewn about
the mission. The next room has a keypad where the player must enter a four
digit code. Notes about figuring out each digit are also hidden around the
castle. I only found the notes for the First, Second, and Fourth digit. I
searched everywhere in this mission on a blackjack run and I would be stunned
if the Third note does exist. The notes read "how many tables are in the
dining room," "how many chairs other than the King's
are around the dining room table," and "how many musicians play for
the King." All of this information can be deduced in the dining room. By
trial and error I learned that the missing third digit is 8.
The next puzzle room is a little tedious. It involves firing broadheads at small buttons visible across a deep pit. When
each button is struck, a vault door will close behind it. All of the buttons
need to be hit in this way. The last puzzle is very similar but involves
dousing a number of torches with water arrows (good thing the author placed
nearby a footlocker with 20 to get the job done).
Hard-to-find loot:
-Small food storage room: purse on wooden floor beam in corner.
-Highest level hall: purse on slope leading up to false door.
-Lower level: purse on a slope leading up to higher level.
-Bottom of one guard tower barracks with empty cart: statue behind barrel.
Tannar
Gamer
Join Date
Sep 2008
Posts
56
Another nice report Hexameron! I enjoy reading
about your exploits.
I ghosted this mission several times while testing it but was too busy testing
to take the time to write up a report. Maybe one day. It is possible to ghost
this one without using any consumables but it does take some time. You need one
water arrow for perfect thief though.See this post.
Hexameron
Gamer
Join Date
Oct 2007
Posts
330
You ghosted through without using water arrows? Tannar,
I am impressed. You're a Ghoster Elite - you should
be writing up reports, too! You can probably out-do my efforts on everything. I
should refrain from ever saying "it's impossible" in my reports since
you've proven me wrong on numerous occasions.
I can't imagine how you got by the guard in front of the Emerald of Life door
at the beginning. I tried running quickly and CCCing
against the wall and he still goes on 2nd alert. What else works? I guess I
could have nudged him.
And the spa with the nude woman and servant? How can you creep up to the wine
bottle without dousing anything?
I also could not sneak by one guard facing the ramp up to the false door --I
don't know how else to describe the area, but since you tested this FM you
probably know what I'm talking about-- without dousing two nearby torches.
What about the sleeping archer in one of the towers? If you pick one of the
footlockers he'll wake up and the room seems too bright, at least to get back
down the ladder without him seeing.
I read your TTLG post and I'm not sure which fireplace you're speaking of. Do
you mean the one containing the secret and LC jar? I don't think I extinguished
that one; I could just walk over it.
Hexameron
Gamer
Join Date
Oct 2007
Posts
330
FM: The BathHouse
File: bathhouse.zip
Ghost - Failed and {Aborted}
Time - 00:50:38
Loot - 1750/1900
Pockets Picked - 0/2
Backstabs - 0 Knockouts - 11
Damage dealt - 11 Damage taken - 3
Healing taken - 0 Kills - 0
Iron Beasts Disabled - 1
Bodies Discovered by Enemies - 1
Causes of Failure:
1. Cannot drop into water without alerting male thief patrolling the platform.
2. Cannot enter bath house without alerting either the helmeted guard, combat
bot, or watcher; one of these AI will have to be alerted.
3. Cannot get to secret room (obj) without alerting
two AI.
4. Cannot get required loot in thieves den without alerting at least one AI.
Comments - I played this mission once about seven years ago and
never finished it; I can see why after playing it again. It is at best an
experiment with dromed and at worst a buggy and raw
mess. I expected Vanguard to tackle an early T2 FM like this, but no one has
ever reported it.
I had problems immediately from the start: at the docks with the three thieves.
I couldn't sneak by the two idle thieves near the roaring fire and I couldn't
drop into the water without alerting the patrolling thief above. I even jumped
onto the large octagon-shaped wall and waited in the corner until the
patrolling thief was furthest away before dropping into the water; no luck.
Things got more complicated with the bath house itself. There are two possible
entrances: through the work shed and through main entrance. The door to the
bath house in the shed doesn't reveal a welcome sight:
The helmeted guard invariably notices the player and since I cannot kill anyone
or knockout this guy, I left him alone. The sewers didn't lead to any where significant except a servant's room with 100
loot. I couldn't mantle onto the metal roof, so my only option for entry was
the main entrance guarded by a combat bot:
But with the marble floor and combat bot so close, there is not enough time to
walk quietly into the lobby without being spotted by the watcher. So I disabled
the bot with water arrows.
Other problems included obtaining necessary loot from the thieves den:
I couldn't get in the open window without KOing one
thief, but then there's the thief inside who can't be avoided either. It's a
mess and I ended up KOing all three thieves. Another
problem is getting into the "secret room," which is an objective. One
guard faces the player coming down the alley and must be alerted. The one
inside the secret room will also become alerted after falling down the chimney
and grunting from taking damage. By this time, I gave up trying to be stealthy
and KO'ed everyone; really, most AI need to be
knocked out to even get by.
-There are some loot bugs that I came across. The first is in the thieves den:
I scratched my head when opening the two pirate chests because they were empty.
In fact, the author physically placed the loot inside and under the bottom of
the chests so that they are invisible. I frobbed
wildly until I got everything.
But then there is the other major bug that prevents the loot objective from
being checked off. The loot requirement is 1700, but there are two pieces of
loot (two paintings) whose sum of 250 is collected into its own separate loot
count, which means that I could never fulfill the objective of meeting 1700
when my original loot inventory had only 1500. I read about this on TTLG where
Nightwalker and others had similar problems. The mission stats say there is
1900 loot available, but I couldn't find anything else and it looks like no one
else on TTLG did either. With the loot objective impossible to complete, I
pressed ctrl+alt+dlt+end to abort the mission.
Tannar
Gamer
Join Date
Sep 2008
Posts
56
Originally
Posted by Hexameron
You ghosted through without using water arrows?
Yes. It took a looong time. I
try to ghost every mission I test to be sure it can be done before it is
released. Usually the authors are very responsive to making their missions ghoster-friendly.
Originally
Posted by Hexameron
...you should be writing up reports, too! You can probably out-do my
efforts on everything.
Between testing and dromed and real life I
never seem to have the time. I would like to write some up. Maybe one of these
days I will manage to. But you have some impressive reports here yourself and I
am enjoying reading them. You do a great job. Keep up the good work.
As for the loot and guards it's been too long since I played it and too many
missions in between. I just can't remember all the details. I'd have to do it
again. But now that I think about it, I didn't manage perfect thief, just a
clean ghost. If I ever get time I will go through it again and try to answer
your other questions.
Originally
Posted by Hexameron
I read your TTLG post and I'm not sure which fireplace you're speaking
of. Do you mean the one containing the secret and LC jar? I don't think I
extinguished that one; I could just walk over it.
That's the one I meant. I never tried just walking past it. See, you did
that one better than me.
Last edited by Tannar; 10-13-2009 at 08:03
PM.
Hexameron
Gamer
Join Date
Oct 2007
Posts
330
FM: The Ritual
File: ritual.zip
Ghost - Failed
Time - 01:40:22
Loot - 1690/1740
Pockets Picked - 5/7
Backstabs - 0 Knockouts - 8
Damage dealt - 10 Damage taken - 0
Healing taken - 0 Kills - 0
Bodies Discovered by Enemies - 3
Causes of Failure:
1. Falling down into the well alerts a submerged haunt.
2. Cannot take Seliquary (obj)
without causing an AI to continuously chase the player.
3. Cannot sneak through town with Merimee in pursuit; too many agitated AI.
(4). It's very difficult if not 90% unlikely to sneak through the Hammer church
to retrieve the Well key.
Comments - I remember playing this mission so many years ago and
having trouble with the Hammerite church. Dousing a
torch is required to sneak into a room and get the Well key, but the AI are
hypersensitive. I tried lowering myself down from the far side of the balcony
overlooking the pews; the hammers always saw me. I tried dousing both torches
from various positions, but they kept going on second alert. Finally, I lowered
myself down behind the hammerites and doused the
torch on the right side of the wall. Astonishingly, everyone went on first
alert but nothing more. I doused the other torch and waited a few seconds -
success! I have a screenshot to prove it but I wonder if I could repeat my
results... I can't figure out why no one was alerted this time. Perhaps if the hammerite patrolling the balcony doesn't hear the water
arrows, none of the other hammers lingering around the pews are affected?
My joy was short-lived when I finally got the Well key and dropped down the
well. The splash from the fall alerted a haunt standing in the
water at the bottom! What is this guy doing here? I didn't hear him and I
almost didn't see him. Imagine my shock when I look down and see him peering
around in the water. I could see no logic or purpose from a plot standpoint of
this haunt being here:
I could do nothing to prevent his second alert mode since he stands so close to
where I fall straight down.
Getting the seliquary generated an AI problem I've
never encountered before. Picking it up causes one of the nearby patrolling
cultists to run into the pitch-black room to my position. He is still at zero
alert status and is only running because of a script:
I guess the author intended him to run right into the player and become
alerted. The room with the seliquary is dark, though,
and I found I could just crouch and he would continuously run into me:
The problem is that I couldn't get him to stop chasing me. If I moved to a
location he couldn't reach, he would stop in mid-stride and remain stuck in
that position until I left my safe place, at which point he would run after me
again. If I could have ghosted the haunt and other areas, I would try to loot
the seliquary and then make a run for it out of the
catacombs with him in zero alert pursuit. Instead, I took the seliquary and leaned forward to BJ him as he ran towards
me.
-Meeting the loot requirement in this mission is tough on expert. I absolutely
needed to get by the spiked wall near the two chests behind the portcullis'.
Moving by the spiked wall onto a pressure plate causes it to fling forward and
crush the player. I found that if I ran onto the pressure plate and jumped
once, the wall would start to move and recoil back into position before making
its final trajectory. That gave me just barely enough time to run and shoot a
rope arrow and climb up out of harms way.
-To pick up Merimee's body undetected, I needed to douse all flames around the
altar because of three cultists observing her. Once I took her back out of the
catacombs, her corpse disappeared and a fully conscious Merimee started
following me. But the town is now crawling with cultists who have started
melees with the bluecoats. There is one patch of three or more cultists with an
oval-shaped patrol in front of the hammerite church.
There was no open gap between the patrols for Merimee and I to dash through. I
resigned to KO these cultists in addition to a few others in the town. The
bluecoats at the mission start were on second alert, having fought and killed a
cultist, so I dropped a flashbomb in their faces and
raced to the mission end.
Last edited by Hexameron; 10-15-2009 at 01:20
PM.