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Patriot, Mission 10: Patriot Sadly,
this is one of the more average missions in an otherwise brilliant campaign. It
has some clever ideas, but the linear parts are fairly lackluster. Once
reaching the citadel, things open up a bit and the gameplay gets more
interesting. I’m not sure what to say about the conclusion to the story, so
I’ll let others comment on that. What I will attest, however, is that Zontik has made a campaign that I will remember for a
long time. I
had to find my way to the Citadel and contact my allies, which I had to do
again once finding Capellan himself. I also had an
objective of making my way through the defense systems at the Citadel, as
well as the guards, whatever that meant. Caves I
had to turn off the lights in the cave where the rail car crashed. Although
the alerts from the crash had nothing to do with me and thus no bust, I
wasn’t able to sneak through with the three floodlights being on, even after
waiting out for the guards to completely settle. I also couldn’t turn the
lights back on, as that required me to go back through the cave. I was able
to sneak to the other side without further alerts though. Getting the
portcullis key didn’t seem to be possible without first alerts. I got at
least two, maybe more. I descended from the south end and leaned in when the
patroller turned around (left image below). He didn’t complete his route unless
I did a quickload, which was odd. Lock-blocked the
gate and returned the key right away. Once
I knew how the maze worked, it was easy. The first time, I found my way
through it by accident. I had to use the secret in the caves to close up the hidden
door in the room with the bots. A long, boring backtrack trip just for this,
but at least it could be done.
Citadel Hall At
the entrance to the citadel dome a major obstacle presented itself. As soon
as I started picking the lock on the mechanism, a wave of mechanist slaves
appeared from nearby lockers. They came running for me no matter where I was
and started attacking. The floodlights turned on at this time also, making it
very hard to conceal myself. First I tried running back out the main entrance
gate to escape their gaze, but I was nowhere near fast enough. Next I started
looking for places to climb to the roof, but I found none. There were no stackables like boulders or crates in the first part of
the mission either. Then I started experimenting with a method that I have
practically never used before, namely elevatoring.
This is a method developed in the early 2000s by the ghosting community, used
to reach otherwise inaccessible heights. It works best with flares, keys or
food items, but it requires at least three items of the same type. The only
such item here would be flares, as there were two located in the tunnel
lockers and plenty more for sale before the mission started. I restarted and
bought some to test it out. Flare
elevatoring works like this: Look straight up and
drop a flare, then jump twice; look up again and drop a second flare, then
look straight down, take the first flare and immediately jump again. You will
now be suspended in thin air, stuck to the second flare. Repeat this maneuver
until you get as high as you want. What’s good about this method is you don’t
consume any items in the process and you don’t leave any behind. Once I got
the hang of it, I fairly easily made it to the citadel roof. Naturally, this
is a severe engine exploit and only legal as a last resort for Ghost, and
strictly forbidden for Supreme. But desperate times calls for desperate
measures. However, although I was on the roof, I couldn’t get any further.
The elevator was locked and the only key was on the other side. A second way
to proceed was via the archive, but the only way in was by breaking the
skylight, another Ghost bust. My
thoughts then returned to fooling the mech
servants. I had previously noticed that around the corner just east of the
door’s locking mechanism, I was completely dark, out of reach of any of the
lights. Very close to this I could lean around the corner and use my lockpicks. Thus, instantly after using the lockpick and triggering the enemies, I rushed into the
dark corner and started elevatoring. It was but a
fraction of a second before I reached darkness, so there was no way they saw
me. Their trigger was scripted and they were programmed to go to my location,
thus not a bust. If working quickly, I could just get up to the third flare
before they reached my spot (right image above). The way to know if they had
seen me was to study their behavior once they got directly below. If unalerted, they just stopped and became stationary. If
they saw me, they would either stare up at me or swing their maces through
the air. The latter did not happen, so I was safe. I waited until all four
waves finished. I then dropped and grabbed my flares, staring at the piles of
mechanists on the ground (left image below). Challenge passed!
Citadel Dome Inside
the dome, three things were required. One, I needed to reach the archive.
Two, I had to obtain the Helmet of Karras. Three, I
had to read the code in the security room. The last two could only be done by
activating the suppression station on the roof, only reachable via the
elevator, which in turn required the elevator key in the digital archive
beta. Getting to the archive outwardly required breaking the skylight, also
located on the roof. This, however, was a Ghost bust, so my primary task was
to find a different way in. The only other possible entry was a grate inside
the upper eastern archive door. It could be seen high above the archive’s
lower eastern door (right image above). To get there, I had to pass through
the chapel, which required at least two first alerts; one from a novice and
another from a priest (left image below). The screenshot shows the path I had
to take in order to avoid getting seen by the camera. But I had to do it
quickly, otherwise the novice went to hunt mode. Again,
flare elevatoring was my only means of reaching
said grate and avoiding the Ghost bust (right image below). I could position
myself so that I just needed a straight vertical climb. This took me past the
pipe and straight up the chute. I needed 14 flare drops to get to the very
top. Although this was a very severe engine exploit, it was beneficial not
just for avoiding the Ghost bust. It also circumvented needing to turn off
any of the individual cameras, and removed the need for a rope arrow.
Additionally, it bypassed several additional first alerts on the upper level
for Supreme.
I
could now get the archive key and then access the digital archive beta for
the elevator key, without needing to ascend from the chapel using a rope. I
turned off the museum camera using the lever on the big antenna on the roof.
This permanently turned off three of the other cameras as well, although this
didn’t change any of my proceedings. Got Karras’
helmet and returned both keys, before exiting the archive through the double
doors. Had to wear the helmet not to get spotted by the huge robots in here.
That was the only way to avoid a Ghost bust. For some reason, the camera
above the Capellan elevator wasn’t turned off. I
could still crouch and hug the door to avoid it seeing me, but I think this
is an oversight from Zontik. I headed back to the security
room to check, and although the lens showed a code and not the camera
footage, the switch could still be flipped unlike all the other cameras, so
it was still active. Either this was a bug unique to my run or a design
glitch. Not sure. The Citadel The
first item to obtain in this part was the screwdriver from the armory. In
order to enter, I had to turn off the camera by pushing the button. It could
be reached through the grate in the vent shaft (left image below). I actually
used a mine to push it, mostly because the mine could be disarmed and
retrieved and thus didn’t count as a consumable. It was loud, but nobody
heard it. I then had to go back and pick the lock on the armory door. This
was very difficult to do without a first alert from the engineer in the room
outside. There were no shadows to hide in and his patrol route was completely
random. At every turn, he could turn around or go right or left. The best
method was to follow him until he walked over towards the vent grate (right
image below), then mantle on top of the generator to his right, hoping that
he pivoted the other way. Then as he walked away, I sprinted to the door and
picked it. With some luck, he would take long enough to return for me to
enter the room unseen. It worked eventually. Going back out wasn’t that hard,
as I didn’t have to delay picking the door.
I
could now access the main console, in order to turn off the scanning camera.
Getting down proved harder than I thought, however. Galaer
reported using the speed potion from the armory, but I wanted to avoid the
chemical success and go for the more honorable result. I tried jumping from
the vent directly to the robot’s right, but I could never get far enough to
land in a mantle. A few times I got a weird fling and shot halfway across the
room. I wasn’t able to repeat this with any consistency though. Then just for
the fun of it I tried dropping into a mantle to the west of the desk with the
lever, but suddenly realized the area on the floor between the desk and the
cabinet was dark. After a few attempts, I managed to drop unscathed to the
floor with only a first alert from the robot (left image below). Furthermore,
when I flipped the switch, the lights went from green to red, which was
darker (right image below). Two seconds later, the robot gave the settling
remark. I had to leave this room through the western door in order to avoid
further first alerts.
Capella I
headed right to begin with, although I had to accept a first alert from the
first monk (left image below). I could sneak along the table and avoid any
further busts though. At the end of the hall, a monk kindly opened the gate
for me if I waited. To
reach Capellan’s office, I had to first use the
signal device, then unlock the door to the cistern. A wave of monks was
scripted to my location, but they would start searching if I mantled up to an
unreachable area. This would give my allies enough time to take care of them.
If hopping up to the plateau by the cistern entrance and quickly shutting the
door, none of them saw me and they all died. As long as nobody blocked my
entrance to Capellan’s office, I was good (right
image below).
The
rest of the mission was easy. Happy to find a way to successfully Ghost this.
It started out as a mixed bag, but I enjoyed the last two-thirds, and
ghosting it was very fun. Big thanks to Zontik for this incredible campaign!
My favorite missions were Heretic, Detective and Enemy, the latter being an absolute
masterpiece. Statistics: Time: 1:23:54 Loot: None Pickpockets: 1 out of 1 Secrets: 4 out of 7 Locks Picked: 11 Damage Dealt: 0 Damage Taken: 0 Innocents Killed: 0, and others Killed: 2 Bodies Discovered by Enemies: 9 Consumables: None Ghost: Success! Perfect Thief: N/A Supreme Thief: Failed! Perfect Supreme Thief: N/A Notes: -
Purchased a flare in the loadout
screen. Very early Supreme bust. -
Had to turn off the lights in the tunnels in order to
pass the caves with the mechanists. Supreme bust. -
Got a few first alerts when taking the portcullis key.
Supreme busts. -
Had to flare elevator high enough to avoid the first
wave of attacks outside the entrance to the citadel dome. This is an engine
exploit and not allowed for Supreme. -
Got a first alert from the novice and the priest in the
citadel dome when passing through the chapel. -
Had to flare elevator in order to reach the archive, so
another Supreme bust. The alternative was breaking the skylight, which is a
Ghost bust. -
Had to turn off the museum camera and the alarm by
activating the suppression station on the roof. This also turned off three
other cameras. Supreme bust. -
Had to turn off the armory camera in the citadel.
Supreme bust. -
Got a first alert from the iron beast in the main
console room in the citadel. Supreme bust. -
Also turned off a security scanner using the switch in
the main console, which also removed a light source. Both are Supreme busts. -
Got a first alert from the first monk in Capella when crossing the hall. Supreme bust. |
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