9/30/96
================================================================
Title                   : The Crucible
Filename                : crucible.bsp
Author                  : Gyro Gearloose
Email Address           : gyro@nwlink.com
Description             : Single and Deathmatch Quake map wif fun features
Additional thanx to     : Deathknob, Hootie, Gagger, Mel, Yoyoyo,
                          DonB, Player, Unconnected, id, the authors
                          of several examples (especially qtricks and
                          and cannon) and most of all Dr. Benway for
                          putting up with all this Quake nonsense and
                          humoring my annual year-long forays into
                          childhood.

               Check out further wackiness at:
                 http://www.nwlink.com/~gyro

================================================================

* Boilerplate info *

Single Player           : Yes
Coop                    : Yes (3 starts)
Deathmatch              : Yes (8 starts)
Difficulty Settings     : Yes
New sound/music/graphics: No
Base                    : New level from scratch
Tools used              : Quest 1.03, text editor, and qbsp_dos
Build Time              : About an hour and 40 minutes.  Oh, you meant
                          how long it took to make the map file?
Legal:                  : (c) 1996 Gyro Gearloose.  All rights reserved.
                          This level may be distributed only at no
                          charge to the recipient, and only if it is not
                          modified in any way.  In other words, don't
                          make any money from it and don't make it look
                          like I did something I didn't.

* Way Too Much Other Info *

This is my first map.  I want heaps of ego-boosting mail, suggestions,
constructive criticism, outrageous demands, and so forth.

To use: Copy crucible.bsp to quake\id1\maps (create the "maps" subdirectory
under your "id1" directory if you don't already have one) and try one of
the following:

quake +skill 0 +map crucible      <-- easy single player
quake +skill 1 +map crucible      <-- medium
quake +skill 2 +map crucible      <-- hard
quake +deathmatch 1 +map crucible <-- deathmatch

================================================================

This RULES vs That SUCKS (or, why did you do things that way?)

Choosing between squishing a player into flying guts as they helplessly
look on, or releasing them if they cease fire and perform the requisite
amount of grovelling rules.  I'm sure you'll do the right thing.

Grabbing the Quad Damage rules.  Grabbing it, and then discovering
that you have a player cornered due to their own greed totally rules.
(Passing judgement on others and not having it apply to yourself is okay
in Quakeworld.)

Gibbing campers rules.  Reading whiny blubbery messages about those darn
campers fills me with chortles and mirth, so this level is camper-friendly.
Deal with campers appropriately if you can, or type bawlings about them
until someone comes and shoves a pineapple down your throat.

Getting telefragged due to placement of deathmatch starts in high traffic
corridors sucks.  Maybe that aspect of the standard levels is deliberate
design, but I kinda doubt it.  It's just not fayyyyerrrr!  Boohoo! (Someone
toss me a pineapple quick!)

Utter mayhem all the time, with individual battles lasting no more than
three seconds is okay, but it doesn't rule.  Sometimes mayhem and
sometimes hard-fought battles where a clever move wins out rules more.

Level-exiting weasels suck.  Barbequing them rules.

================================================================

Info for after you've explored the level a little:

If a player jumps down the mail delivery tube heading for the exit,
don't follow straight away or you'll wind up stuck on top of them.
Lobbest thou the holy hand grenade instead.  Wait for the grenades to blow,
then follow.  If they survived the grenades, take them out while they're on
the island waiting for the slow exit drawbridge.

There is a pentagram and a teleporter inside the crucible.  The pentagram
protects you from the lava, and the teleporter drops you into the goody
room.  The pentagram is not visible from the surface, so players who want
an edge will need to keep track of when the pentagram has respawned, because
if you dive for it and it's not there, you'll probably fry... but not always.

There are two ways into the tower room - the lift, and a secret way.
If the tower room is inhabited by a grenade-dropping resident, you can
forget about the lift.  Only the pentagram will get you up that lift
alive.  The secret way takes awhile, but permits you to get liqoured
up for the attack.  Of course, by then they will probably have gotten
scared and left, so the existance of the secret way can also be used to
bluff them out.

The water room has a tunnel in it that leads to another highly defensible
position in the level.  If you want to be left alone for awhile, you can
go there.  However, there are only two ways out, and one of them is to
leave your body, so you'd better be a committed camper if you want to
go hole up in there.  If you've got the right weapons before you go in,
others will soon figure out that it's really better to just leave you alone,
so bear in mind that you won't exactly be racking up frags.

The cage-on-the-wall in the big lava room has two buttons that control
it.  The button immediately below it releases an unfortunate victim who
has been caught in the trap.  The button on the wall between the two
floor buttons commits the human clove to the giant high-speed garlic press.
Note that if a player believes you are going for the release button,
it is in their best interests to cease fire.  That brings you directly
under them.  What you do next depends on your ethics, and perhaps on how
many nails you have at the time.

All those goodies in the cage-on-the-wall room are on a platform right
below a blower duct.  A player standing up there may be hoisted up into
the path of the rushing air by someone else coming down the mail tube.
Generally, they are blown into the teleporter moat and wind up in the
cage.  Surely the person who inadvertently knocked them into the cage
will be kind enough to release them.

The overlook with the rocket launcher on it is climbable without making
any noise.  Go to the dark corner below it and check out the series of
hand and toe-holds.  They appear only in deathmatch.

There are numerous hiding spots for campers and snipers.  I have noticed
that chronic campers virtually never score high in the rankings.
Mayhem-style players tend to do way better, simply because they encounter
far more players to splatter as they race wildly about.  If campers get
you down, just shift your tactics a little.  Start "prospecting" by lobbing
grenades into dark places once in a while, for example.  If you see someone
occupying a place consistently, you have an implicit advantage over them.
Exploit it.  There's almost nowhere here where you will be blasted by someone
with a rocket launcher the instant you spring to life, so qwitcher whining
and play around with the whole camping thing.

================================================================

Problems:

Some of the teleporters have the side-effect of triggering a nearby door,
even though they're nowhere near enough to trigger.  I done scritched my
haid some over that but apart from moving things farther apart, could not
find a workaround.  On some of the teleports, you'll hear a door open and
close - sorry.  If someone knows what's going on there, please toss me a
clue.

I pulled the fish outta the pool.  It looks as if the 1.01 registered
version of Quake has a bug where any fish in a level are counted twice
but can only be killed once.  So, if a level has fish in it, a perfect
score is not possible and players wonder where the extra (nonexistant)
monsters are.  E2M3, The Crypt of Decay, is the first level that contains
fish, and also contains the dopefish message.  Meaningless trivia or an
astounding cosmic message from the Incas?  You be the judge!
