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Dis Base | |
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Scarlet Hollow (Secret) |
Dis Base is the second mandatory mission of Episode 1 of the AMC Squad. It is preceeded by The Megabase and succeeded by The Abyss.
It also contains an exit to the secret level Scarlet Hollow.
Mission Summary[]
The AMC Squad rush to a remote mining facility on the moon Ganymede following an alert by the precognition brains found in the Megabase.
Plot[]
The AMC Squad lands on Ganymede and discovers the base overrun by what appear to be demons. After piecing together what few hints there are, they find that the only way to access the source of the invasion is to trigger the base's reactor core to melt down, destroying the base in the process. In the little time they have, the squad discovers a strange, ancient portal inside some abandoned ruins, unearthed by the researchers which once operated the base. With no other way out, the team enters the gate to parts beyond.
Gameplay / Hints[]
This map is quite open-ended, and allows you to choose your path in any order. Once you leave the starting area, the goal is to find 5 different artifacts in order to enter the reactor chamber, start the self-destruction sequence and subsequently enter the portal.
The required artifacts can be found at the following locations:
- Located just in front of the switch that opens the Hangar Door at the start (resembles an energy cell).
- On an altar inside the Hangar itself, near a dead body. Picking it up will trigger a miniboss!
- At the end of the sewage section, there is a switch to lower the sewage level of one of the two pools in the previous corridor. Jump into the drained pool and you will find an alcove containing the third artifact.
- At the bottom of the pit in the central chamber. Can be reached by jumping down or taking the elevator.
- Near the reactor core, at the bottom of the elevator, there is an additional section where pressing a switch will transform half the room into hellish marble structures. Entering this red marble corridor will lead you to the fifth and final artifact (resembling a bloody chalice).
Once you have all 5 artifacts, you can ride the elevator near Artifact #5 up to enter the reactor room and trigger the self-destruct. When the meltdown begins, you only have 3 minutes to reach the portal and open the gateway with the artifacts. Placing all 5 on the pentagram (by walking over it) will summon a large Bruiser Demon boss, known as Balgaar, as well as 2 regular sized variants. You only need to kill Balgaar to activate the portal and escape.
Secrets[]
- Near the start of the level, to the right of the first switch you find, there is an array of monitors that can be opened to reveal a hidden Slot 3 weapon.
- In the Sewage section, after climbing the stairs and being ambushed by two Satyrs, you can activate the monitor with the warning on it to open a door just behind you. Inside is a Slot 5 weapon, ammo, and an Amulet.
- At the end of the Sewage section where you hit the switch to lower the sewage levels, there is another monitor with a warning sign on it. Activate it to open a little tunnel where you can find Slot 3 ammo and an Amulet.
- Inside the main cavern section near the locked door that leads to the portal is a destroyed vent grating (look up a bit). You can either grab a barrel and bring it back from further up the cavern or try and lure an enemy nearby and jump on it. Inside is a short tunnel and a Slot 7 weapon + ammo at the end.
- Just before the large room with the blue ceiling lights (which is later flooded with lava) is a section of tunnel with a crack in the wall. Blow this up with an explosive to reveal a pathway into the large lava flow behind it (find some protective boots first). On the opposite end of the lava river a bit further down is a pathway leading to an altar with a couple of Shades, a Slot 8 weapon, Slot 4 ammo, a Fire Shield, and Sang's Fire Spell weapon.
- (Unmarked) (Secret Exit) During the self-destruction sequence, instead of heading towards the portal, drop down the shaft in the middle of the cavern, and try to land in the lava to avoid fall damage if possible. Then run back through the tunnels, jumping across the pillars and into the section with the mining drill, where the blue keycard was located. The green wall will be gone, and behind it the entrance to the Scarlet Hollow secret level will be accessible.
- (Unmarked) (James Only) The optional area accessible via blue keycard houses a hidden time portal that can only be used by James. Doing so will transport you to a point in time where the scientists hiding in this area were still alive. They can be rescued, providing 2 Tech Points and some additional backstory on the base.
Weapons + Artifacts[]
- Fire Spell (Sang): Located in Secret #5 described above.
- Chainsaw (Temp Weapon): Found in an optional area that requires a blue keycard to open. They keycard is found at the bottom of the base, near the drilling equipment.
Research Projects[]
- Flamethrower: Mounted to a wall in the same room where the chainsaw and the time portal can also be found.
Evidence/Lore[]
- Dis Base Exploration Log: Lying on a desk in the hall where the switch to open the hangar is located.
- Dis Base Final Letter: Just before entering the reactor room, there is a letter on the floor informing the player about the artifacts needed to enter the portal, and that the reactor chamber has been locked because of this. Hard to miss.
Other Items of interest[]
- There is a hanging body in the main cavern which will drop a hidden Fire Shield when destroyed.
- In the entrance hangar where the spaceship is located, walking through the tunnel will lead you to another hidden Fire Shield, which is quite useful for the battle with the Bruiser Demon.
- Throughout the base, there are several spirits Rusty can talk to for more backstory on what happened.
Trivia[]
- The beginning section of Dis Base was originally a Duke 3D usermap James worked on but left unfinished. The vast majority of the map was built specifically for the AMC TC. At first the map was extremely linear, with the player picking up keycard after keycard to unlock parts of the base one after another. This did not do the map justice, so gameplay was changed radically, leaving everything except the reactor unlocked. The pseudo-unlinearness was important to have after Megabase's straightforward gameplay.
- Dis Base is the only level in episode 1 to have a failure cutscene, showing a long-distance shot of the base going up in a mushroom cloud if the timer runs out.