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Thread: Flare elevatoring: ultimate climbing technique

  1. #1
    Member
    Registered: Mar 2002

    Flare elevatoring: ultimate climbing technique

    Flare elevatoring is a further development of flare or key climbing. The big advantage is that it does not use up any of the items. Thus, flare elevatoring allows to reach any height with only three objects of the same type and without losing any of them. The only disadvantage is that you can only climb vertically and not across precipices as it's possible with staircase stacking.

    THE ELEVATORING HOW-TO

    23rd of November, 2002

    1. INTRODUCTION

    Elevatoring is a highly efficient climbing technique that has one
    big advantages over the other techniques like stacking: it does
    not use up any of the items used to climb. Elevatoring allows to
    reach any height with only three objects of the same type and
    without losing any of them. It is even possible to get down from
    any height and - with patience - to cross any precipice. It has
    been successfully tested in all of the Thief 2 missions and ten
    Thief 1 missions (see appendix B).

    2. ELEVATORING THEORY

    Elevatoring works with any objects that fall into your lap when
    you drop them while looking straight up or down. The list of
    items in Thief 2 includes flares, food and keys while only keys
    work in Thief 1.

    Said items get wedged inside Garrett and support him in mid air
    while his body supports them. When jumping, the object passes
    through Garrett's body for two jumps. This can be exploit
    repeatedly to gain height. Since the objects are picked up before
    they fall to the ground, any height can be reached with the same
    number of objects.

    It works as long as you have this type of object still in your
    inventory after dropping the one you stand on. It does not work
    with the last flare, key, etc. of a certain type.

    3. THE BASICS

    3.1. PREPARATIONS

    First of all, lower the mouse sensitivity to a low setting. Move
    the slider all the way to the left or maybe to the first or second
    secondary graduation line. If it is too high, elevatoring may
    become a game of chance with a slim success margin.

    Make a save in a dedicated slot before you start and use quick
    save to save a few times during the climbing process. Overall,
    it's a very easy and reliable technique, so saving is not this
    important.

    Collect at least three items of a proper type. Flares, keys and
    food work well. If you are unable to find three of a kind, two of
    one kind and two more of another kind work too. In that case,
    alternate between the item types and never drop the last of a
    kind.

    Finally, find a suitable place for climbing. If possible, start
    close to a wall which you can mantle later, but not directly next
    to it. A distance of a half step is better.

    3.2. CLIMBING - STEP BY STEP

    In the following sections I assume you are using keys as they are
    the only type of objects that work in both, Thief 1 and Thief 2.
    Please refer to appendix A for a complete list of objects that
    were tested in Thief 2. To drop an item, press the 'R' key -
    unless you modified your keyboard settings, that is.

    1) Look straight up and drop (not throw) a key (or whatever item
    you are using). The key should land flat on your head.

    2) Look straight down. You should see the old key below you
    (unless you just placed the first key, of course).

    3) Pick up the key and jump at the same time. When done right,
    you gain a little height, wedge in the key above your head and
    take the key below you. Jump again to gain more height.

    4) Repeat steps 1 to 3 until you have gained enough height. When
    you get close to the lip of a wall it may be wise to not face it
    directly as Garrett may try to mantle it and fall down. Saving
    the game once every three to five cycles may be a good idea.

    5) When you are high enough, face the floor where you want to get.
    Look down so that the remaining key gets hilighted, but not
    straight down. Jump towards the floor and pick up the key at
    the same time.

    Note: Even if you have a surplus of the object, it is still
    important to pick up the lower item regularly. Otherwise, the
    items will eventually push each other around and Garrett falls off
    sooner or later.

    4. ADVANCED ELEVATORING

    Here you can find more advanced and also more difficult uses of
    elevatoring. More difficult means that you should save more
    often.

    4.1 MOVING HORIZONTALLY

    It is also possible to move a little bit in any horizontal
    direction while elevatoring. With patience, one can cross any
    precipice. It is possible to move slightly in any direction
    after step 5 in above description:

    3b) Face in the direction you want to travel look down so you can
    see the object below you, but not straight down. Touch the
    sneak key for a moment. Garrett starts to slide off the
    object, loses a little height and moves a bit in the target
    direction. Do not overdo it or Garret falls off.

    Note: When looking straight down, Garrett can not move forwards
    or backwards.

    4.2. GETTING DOWN AGAIN

    With the knowledge of moving horizontally it is now easy to get
    down.

    3c) Look straight down and touch the "sneak forward" or "walk
    backward" key for a moment. As mentioned above, when Garrett
    looks straight down, he can not move forward or backward.
    Instead, he loses a little heigt. Release the key before he
    falls through the object. It then falls down a bit and settles
    into a new position. Repeat this until Garrett reaches the
    ground. If Garrett gets close to sliding off, repeat steps 1
    to 3 once more, then continue descending.

    4.3 GETTING DOWN FROM ANY PLACE

    How do you get down when you are not already hanging in thin air?
    I can think of two ways:

    a) Start elevatoring up as described in section 3 and move
    horizontally towards the precipice (see 4.1). As soon as you
    leave the firm ground behind, start elevatoring down (see 4.2).
    You need some room above you to do this.

    b) Save the game. Ready the chosen item and jump off the edge.
    While still in flight, look stright down and drop a few of the
    items fast. With luck, one of them gets wedged in Garrett's
    body. If not, or if you take too much damage or loose too many
    items, reload the game. After that, continue as in section 3
    or 4.2 to get up or down.

    5. AFTERWORD

    Please contact me through a private message on the TTLG forums at
    http://www.ttlg.com or by posting to the Thief General Discussions
    forum if you can provide any of the information below or other
    interesting findings about elevatoring.

    Information wanted about

    * Elevatoring in the missing Thief 1 missions: Training, Down in
    the Bonehoard, The Haunted Cathedral, The Lost City, Escape!,
    Strange Bedfellows, The Maw of Chaos. As far as I know, neither
    of this missions has enough keys.
    * More objects that can be used for elevatoring, especially in
    Thief 1.
    * Elevatoring with scouting orbs. I was not able to make it work
    because the scouting orbs are so big that they push each other
    around.
    * Elevaroring with scrolls and papyri. I suspect it works with
    them, but I could not locate more than one copy of each scroll
    yet.
    * Elevatoring with robot boilers.
    * Hidden places that were not reported to have been visited
    before.
    * Corrections to this document.

    Thanks to

    * Azal for his Thief 1 Collector's Edition, listing the number of
    keys in each mission.

    Happy elevatoring!

    Luthien

    APPENDIX

    A. ITEMS THAT CAN BE USED FOR ELEVATORING

    Thief 1

    Keys

    Thief 2

    Keys, flares, any kind of food except healing fruits, most or all
    of the chemicals or thechnical contraptions found at Soulforge.
    Scouting orbs do not work.

    B. MISSIONS THAT HAVE ENOUGH OBJECTS FOR ELEVATORING

    Thief 1

    Bafford's
    Cragscleft
    Assassins
    Thieves' Guild
    The Sword
    Mage Keep
    Song of Caverns
    Undercover
    Return to the Cathedral
    Blooper Reel

    Thief 2

    All missions

    C. INTERESTING PLACES TO CLIMB

    This is a partial list of interesting places to climb. All places
    have been successfully tested.

    * The crystal atop roof of Angelwatch in Life of the Party with
    flares.
    * The lighthouse in Precious Cargo with flares.
    * The cathedral in Sabotage at Soulforge. Collect some of the
    technical contraptions from one of the storage rooms and leave
    the catedral through the doors at the starting point.
    * The roofs of the city in Ambush with food from the grocery.
    * Ste storehouses in Shipping and Receiving with flares.
    * The five towers in Mage Keep with keys stolen from the mages.
    * The overhead gardens in Cragscleft with keys from the prison
    guards.
    * The catherdral roof in Undercover with keys.
    Last edited by Luthien; 23rd Nov 2002 at 15:47.

  2. #2
    Stunning
    Registered: Jul 2002
    Location: The Netherlands
    Wow... imagine the possibilities...

  3. #3
    Member
    Registered: Oct 2001
    Location: The Crippled Burrick
    There are rubber rooms for people like you But seriously, I'll have to give this one a try. Just when I thought I was getting pretty good stacking crates.

  4. #4
    Member
    Registered: Mar 2002
    Doh, it's so easy it almost spoils all the climbing fun. Just to try it out, it climbed to the top of the crystal atop Angelwatch in mere 14 minutes and 41 seconds.

    Extreme climbing for everyone!

  5. #5
    Member
    Registered: Apr 2002
    Location: Praga, capvt regni

    Amazing, even a stupid taffer like me can do this! There aren't many places in Thief 2 you can't get to now... at least I can't remember of any.

  6. #6
    Member
    Registered: May 2001
    Location: England
    you people give us normal nutters a bad name

  7. #7
    Member
    Registered: Jul 2001
    Location: cesspool
    Luthien, why don't you collect all of your "manuals" and various interesting technical stuff that you have discovered during your... explorations in some kind of addendum to the Strange&Unusual.

  8. #8
    Member
    Registered: Mar 2002
    I was thinking about that, 242. I don't have the time, talent and web space to make a site of my own, but I'd happily donate the guides I've written. They are all on my ftp space anyway.

  9. #9
    Member
    Registered: May 1999
    Location: You are Here
    I'll take you up on that Luthien. You've done more to advance the gentle art of climbing in the Thief series than anyone else and should have all your stuff set up somewhere for everyone to see.

    If you could give me the URLs of the tutorials, I'll include them with the Beta version of the Strange & unusual Guide for TMA

    That said, I should probably get my arse in gear and finish off the Alpha version so that all your tutorials won't be lonely.

  10. #10
    Member
    Registered: Mar 2002
    Last edited by Luthien; 12th Oct 2002 at 06:19.

  11. #11
    Member
    Registered: Jul 2001
    Location: cesspool
    Oh, that's what I call scientific approach to playing Thief
    I like that very much! I personally think that your "staircase of crate" discovery is greatest technique of all other s&u stuff that were discovered ever.

  12. #12
    Member
    Registered: Mar 2002
    I have copied a new version of the elevatoring how-to in the first post of this thread. I could simplify the technique a lot and expand it to get down from any height and across precipices too. The refined version works even in Thief 1.

    Have fun!

  13. #13
    Member
    Registered: May 1999
    Location: You are Here

    Remember how I said I would put these tutorials up at the Strange & Unusual website?

    Well they're up now. Just look under tutorials.

  14. #14
    Member
    Registered: Oct 2001
    Location: Minneapolis, MN, USA
    Nice work Luthien.
    I see that you've finally finished your website, Azal. It's one of the few web sites I've seen where the layout and info are worth your net time.

  15. #15
    Member
    Registered: Mar 2002
    Originally posted by Azal
    Remember how I said I would put these tutorials up at the Strange & Unusual website?

    Well they're up now. Just look under tutorials.
    Hurray!

    You may want to include the keyholing how-to and remove the flareclimbing how-to which is obsolete as it has no advantages over elevatoring.

  16. #16
    Member
    Registered: Apr 2002
    Location: my dark isolated room....
    yup...still crazy as ever..lol

  17. #17
    Member
    Registered: Apr 2002
    Location: The core of Jupiter
    omg, he's perfecting the madness again...good job

  18. #18
    Member
    Registered: Mar 2002
    Me? ...

    Azal, will you put the Thief 1 collector's edition on that site too?

  19. #19
    Member
    Registered: May 1999
    Location: You are Here
    Okay, I've removed the obsolete flareclimbing tutorial and added the one on keyholing. I still have to put up the console commands tutorial, but it needs quite a bit of work converting it into HTML from a txt file before it'll be legible.


    I am thinking of putting the Thief Gold Collectors's Edition up on the site, but it's something that'll have to wait until I'm finished with T2 and have fixed up the menu files viewed in the right-hand frame of the site. The current images I'm using to link to the various submenus are too large and make navigating cumbersome.

    As the old saying goes, "there's no rest for the wicked" and trailing Cavador with a stopwatch isn't getting any easier.

  20. #20
    I have the bow upgrade
    Registered: Sep 2000
    Great job!

  21. #21
    Member
    Registered: Mar 2002
    (Uploaded a new, more detailed version of the how-to with lots of examples).

    Azal, I'm currently working on the how-to, so you should wait for a few days before you adapt the HTML version. You can always find the latest version through the link I posted.

  22. #22
    Member
    Registered: Oct 2012
    Location: Slovenia
    I've been abusing flares like a mad man but I never tried it looking up.
    Luthien, oh Great one, I thank thee for this gift!

  23. #23
    Zombified
    Registered: Sep 2004
    aand 2016 necromancy award goes to..

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