Thief II Collections and Guide to the Strange & Unusual - Running Interference

[Azal]

Welcome to part one of the Thief II Collections and Guide to the Strange & Unusual.

This is your guide to making your way through Thief II while operating outside the normal boundaries of the game. In each review, I intend to show you scenic collections of all the wonderful stuff you can use and play with - from potions to carrots to bottles of wine - and how you can use them to 'work outside the square'. I'll also be showing you useful tricks and exploits in the game that will, at the very least, make your gaming experiences a lot more fun, if not more efficient.

I will be continuing my Collector's Series in parallel with this, so you can expect each review to start with a huge mound of all the stuff in the mission you can carry.

Each mission will, due to their large size, be dealt with individually and, at the end of this series, I'll be reposting it all onto a webpage along with a more detailed look at terminology, your opponents, equipment, advanced thieving tehniques and whatever else I can think of.


Well, let's begin at the beginning shall we?

Running Interference

Your mission is basically to get Basso to his lady, Jenivere, and back out alive. You also need to collect some loot and a few scalps. This is very simple mission as it serves the same purpose as the Training mission in the first game of the series.

If you look very carefully in this mission, you'll even find a Bonus objective.

Now, this is what you can collect during the mission:

46 crates
1 speed potions
6 yellow keys
1 silver keys
13 green bottles
16 black bottles
5 wood goblets
3 trays
5 decorative plates
6 blue vases
2 metal bowls
9 metal plates
6 metal goblets
2 hand mirror
2 hairbrush
6 flares
1 pair of spectacles
2 deerlegs
3 decks of cards
3 cheeses
1 carrot
3 loaves of bread
1 healing potion
2 flash bombs
1 gold key


Now, the Dark Engine which powers the Thief series doesn't like it too much when you pile a whole bunch of stuff together. It makes some of the items turn invisible!
Because of this, I've broken up the screenshot of the pile into two separate images.







And if you want to know how much sky 46 crates can block out, look no further!




One way you can play Running Interference is as a minimalist. ie, what is the minimum effort you need to expend in order for Basso to retrieve his lady love from the gnarled clutches of Lady Rumford.

In order to give the definitive answer to this question, I decided to set up a series of experiments. I saved a game at the very start of the mission, before I had gone anywhere or done anything, and would see how much I had to do to get an 'Objective complete' for Basso bringing his girlfriend out of the house alive.

Firstly, I just blew the birdwhistle at the start of the mission and let Basso do all the running around while I waited outside twiddling my thumbs.

Result: 0 Successes; 10 failures. Average time: 1min 10sec.

Well, that was a pretty dismal failure. Upon inspection, I found that the two guards in the guardroom with the reinforced glass window were the problem.


Basso Smackdown!


Looked like I would have to get Garret off his bum and do something. A water arrow into the torch outside the guardroom did the trick.


You light up my life


Now Basso can walk past the guards without being spotted and getting himself killed.

Try again...

Result: 1 success; 9 failure. Average time of failure: 2min 45sec; time of success: 2min 40sec.

Well, he made it once out of ten tries, but more work was obviously in order. At least he was lasting more than twice as long. Once again I follwed Basso to see where the problem was this time.

He passed the guardroom without any problems, he ran past the stationary archer in the hallway easily. In fact Basso went past him so fast and into the darkness of the large storeroom that the archer rarely even went into full search mode.
However, there's another archer patrolling the corridor near Jenivere's room and while Basso was trying to pick the lock, the archer was sticking arrows into him.

Third variation - knock out the patrolling archer. I ran past the stationary archer and through the kitchen to avoid the sword guard in his little alcove and thumped the archer as he walked along.

Result: 9 success, 1 failure. Time of failure: 18min 50sec; average time of success: 2min 40sec.

Much better. I have no idea why it took Basso nearly 20 minutes to die but it was probably because he got stuck somewhere.

Here's my 'Eye of the Tiger' victory shot of Basso and Jenivere making their mad sprint to freedom:


Fly you fools!


So, all you really have to do to complete the main objective of this mission is use up one water arrow and KO one guard. Very simple


But 'simple' isn't what you came here for though, is it?

Time to ramp things up a notch...


Continued next post...

[Azal]

Climbing opportunities:


With 46 crates, there's nowhere in this mission you can't go!

A few crates on the ground and a few more tossed onto the roof make a leisurely climb to the top of the mansion.


Up we go!


You get a lovely view of the garden area from up here. Can you guess who the strange intruder standing by one of the trees is? (answered below)


Scenic views from a roof


Getting onto the roof of one of the wings of the house is even easier as they're not as high.


I see dead people


If you look carefully around on the centre roof, you can find the miminalist chimney that leads all the way down to the kitchen in the basement.


What's cooking?


If you jump down there you'll end up behind the fireplace in the main hall on the ground floor. There's a grill that blocks you from falling all the way down to the kitchen

There's not much of a view and you'll be well and truly stuck, but if you feel like approaching things from the other end, you can climb up the chimny in the kitchen with the help of a few crates.

If you make it all the way up, you can even see (barely) into the main hall.


Ho, ho ho - it's Garrett Claus!


Not really that much of a view is it?


Don't worry, there're still more places we can explore. Using most of the crates will let you get a look at the chanedlier in the main hall from above.


Just doing a spot of dusting.


Don't try to jump onto it though - it isn't solid and you'll just plunge all the way to the ground and an untimely death.


The large hedges at the front of the mansion make for an easy challenge. The mission designers were even kind enough to provide a couple of large crates (indicated by the arrow) on the other side to make it easy to get back safely.


Climbing at the edge of the world causes brain-melt!

You can walk right along the hedges and over the gateway to the other side - but be careful about looking at the underneath of the new sky texture, it'll turn your brain to sludge.


Continued next post...

[Azal]

Unusual Gameplay:


Ever wanted to get an annoying guard out of your hair, but didn't want to, or couldn't, blackjack him? Ever wanted to torment one from a place of safety and laugh as his threats and pleadings grew ever more desperate?

Well, it's very easy to do! Just put a few barrels or stack a few crates in front of them, and they'll be unable to get to you.


Nyah! Nyah! Nyah!


Unlike Garrett, the guards lack the leg muscles to push crates and barrels out of the way - so that guy will be stuck there forever
This technique is also useful in missions with limited eqiupment or with a limit or your *AHEM* 'interaction' with guards. You can block off a patrol route with a barrel and then roam safely with no fear of compromising your mission.


If you like a challenge, why not enter the mansion through the front door?
You may have noticed an archer who patrols the front garden, he's (literally) the key. But if you look for him at the start of the mission, he's nowhere to be found.

To get him to appear, you need to enter the mansion and listen to the Garrett Quip^TM. Run back to the garden and he'll be ready for your attentions.

Wait until he gets close and bang on the gate to make a noise:


Ding dong! Avon calling!


He'll see you and chase you. Run into the pitch black area near the building where Basso is hiding and the guard should lose you. Now just sneak up and blackjack him. Your reward is three arrows and a key to the front gates and the doors to the main hall.

Have fun!


Garrett Gets Pushy:


Did you know that Garrett can push people around? It's very slow and tedious work, but if you have the stamina for it, you can push people just about anywhere.
This sort of thing is easiest when the AI is set to ignore Garrett. If you intend to try it with an enemy guard be very careful

As Basso is the most oblivious character in the game (with the exception of Karras) I decided to have a little fun with him.

I call this my 'future blackmail' shot:


Stupid guard won't even lie down when he's unconscious!

If ever Basso tries to get me involved in another damn fool scheme - or if I need a particularly difficult safe opened - I'll just threaten to show this picture to the city Watch "Look officer, here's the man who broke into Lady Rumford's mansion and kidnapped that poor servant!"


But then I remembered that this mission has two AIs who are suitable for pushing around. So, with a little thought and a reload, I managed to get this pretty picture:


Two restarts later - and he _still_ won't lie down!


Thankfully, Jenivere will follow Basso wherever he goes, so you don't need to push her.
And, once they're both inside the garden they are no longer classed as having escaped. The objective "Help Basso and Jenivere get out of the mansion together." will become unmarked and you're free to KO all the guards and create your own, very special, Kodak Moment^TM


Thus ends the first installment. Stay tuned, for next week I'll be posting Thief II Collections and Guide to the Strange & Unusual - Shipping and Receiving

If you know of anything in this mission that I missed, please post it!

[graywolf]

Good work Question: how long did it take to push Basso out to the garden?

[Luthien]

Azal does it again!

[Azal]

Pushing Basso from the gatehouse to the garden - about an hour.

From the side door of the mansion to the garden - nearly two hours.

As I said - it's very slow work.

[Golden Skull]

This is incredible! Great work, Azal. You have obviously way too much free time

[Illuminatus]

Oh, I can barely wait for LOTP!

Great work Azal! You're the world's second Thumper.

[Talgor]

Guide to the Strange and Unusual for Thief II, excellent, excellent! I am eagerly awaiting the next installment...

[Burt]

I've actually done the roof-climbing bit and the dropping-down-chimney myself , but I've never ever considered pushing Basso around... 2 hours of pushing?? Yikes.

The tests of how far Basso can go on his own is also great. Looking forward to S&R and the rest of Thief II

Originally posted by Illuminatus
You're the world's second Thumper.

Not quite. I would rather like to call him the world's one and only AZAL!

-Burt

[ToolHead]

Fabulous!

[Crion]

[Agent Monkeysee]

Rad

[Illuminatus]

Not quite. I would rather like to call him the world's one and only AZAL!

I stand corrected.

[Meisterdieb]

This is just plain crazy... I like it

[tacky]

Originally posted by Azal
Did you know that Garrett can push people around? It's very slow and tedious work, but if you have the stamina for it, you can push people just about anywhere.
This sort of thing is easiest when the AI is set to ignore Garrett. If you intend to try it with an enemy guard be very careful

Actually I believe this is called "Nudging" or "Snudging" which was discovered by Sneak when he attempted to Ghost T2's "Life of the Party" and found that he could slowly push idle AI away from a certain area.

Although ive never seen anything quite like what you did with Basso lol. Keep the creativity flowing Azal ^_^

[Deiyen]

Well, I dunno if you guys know, and I don't wanna sound like a smartass or anything, but you could already push people around in Thief 1. I remember someone had managed to kill the keepers in the training mission. They posted screenshots too, who was that?

Edit: Btw, good job Azal, keep it up! I love the screenshot with all the crates.

[theImmortalThief]

Keep the good work up!

[tacky]

Originally posted by Deiyen
Well, I dunno if you guys know, and I don't wanna sound like a smartass or anything, but you could already push people around in Thief 1. I remember someone had managed to kill the keepers in the training mission.

Yes, you can "Nudge" AI in both T1 and T2, but it wasn't officially discovered until Sneak stumbled onto it while he was ghosting LotP in T2. Well I cant state that actually, im sure a handful of anonymous people, and others who never visit message boards may have discovered this as well.

The guy that pushed the Keepers probably read Sneak's post at the Eidos forums and then tried nudging the keepers - which worked.

I believe a few people have done this. A guy named "242" posted his screenshots here

[Deiyen]

Ahh, I see what you're saying. I don't know who was "first" to actually figure that out then. I remember a while back I think Lytha was mentioning she had to nudge a guard away to complete the mission Lytha Style.

Lol, yea, 242, that's who I was thinking of. Thanks for the link.

[Rogue Keeper]

Azal, these topics always lighten up my day!

But I wonder how u was able to stack those crates like that...

[Golden Skull]

Originally posted by Deiyen
Lol, yea, 242, that's who I was thinking of. Thanks for the link.

You can also look here.

[Deiyen]

Lol, you know what, I was just looking around The Silent Project. I love these screenshots.

Edit: Speaking of The Silent Project, Azal, don't those few blackmail pictures belong there?

[Azal]

Thanks for all the comments.


Deiyen - I know that AI pushing has been around for a while. I had lots of fun doing just that and decided to continue the trend in this little guide. I don't know who was the first to discover it as I rarely venture over to the other forums, but as the old adage goes - to the first who publishes goes the fame. So Sneak ges the credit for that.
As for the Silent Project - I'm combining it, my own Collector's Series and the Strange and Unusual together into a sort of Thief gumbo.


And for everyone who's awaiting for the next installment, here's a little teaser.

[Deiyen]

Rooftop guards eh! Since when did they implement that in Thief 2!! I see I haven't been around in a while. Lol, can't wait for the next installment.