Ok, got onto the ceiling. Now it's time for the panels!

(6:24) Level 5 ('Assault on the Control Room') on Heroic. At the end of BCM225 I said to stay tuned for the question of getting onto dome panels. Well, here's my movie treatment at last - my fifth on the entry chamber. Basically you can get onto a panel in similar ways to how you can get onto the ceiling, but also there's a 'hard hit' method, which never worked with the ceiling.

Released April 9th 2017, gameplay recorded March 16th - April 8th 2017.

00:02 (First time onto a panel) To start the movie, here's when I first got onto a panel. I think was indeed trying for a panel here, rather that going for the ceiling. I clip the end of a runner, get ejected, and end up on a panel (woo-hoo!) - where I soon realize that I'm hemmed in by transparent walls and a sloping ceiling. Eventually (I've cut about 50 seconds during which I was zapping surfaces and throwing plasmas), I venture onto the middle section of the panel, and it turns out to be too steep, as expected. I slide to my doom.

02:09 (Best access method) Later I found that the best way of getting onto a panel is to jolt against the side of a runner, as shown. Moreover it may be best to go for a relatively fine clip, such as seen in the first example. Attempting that, I managed a 40% success rate measured over 50 tries. Pretty good! In the third example I get sent high, and briefly go above the shimmering.

02:40 (Jolting in other ways) Three further clips show some examples where I instead get jolted out by hitting a runner with a wing. However, it feels more random, not easy to control. I didn't really try to hone a wing jolt technique, but I doubt it would rival my preferred method, jolting with the nose. The third example here also serves as a warning that you need to land on the top section of the panel, else you'll slide.

03:12 (Soft hit method) In BCM226 I showed the soft hit method I belatedly discovered for getting onto the ceiling. I found it by accident while trying to line myself up for getting onto a panel. Naturally I tried it with panels too - and found that it works, albeit with low success rate (as with the ceiling).

03:42 (Hard hit method) As it turns out, you can also get through with a hard hit. Low success rate again, but it's fun. In the first two examples I hit sideways on, which seemed to be the way to do it. But in the third I hit 'inverted'. I only actually went for that extra rotation at the last moment, and was surprised it worked. When I'm jolted out, I'm not really sandwiched between the Banshee and the panel, so I wouldn't have thought I'd get bumped through.

04:11 (Ten panels, ten views) Following on from that last clip, here's a sequence showing views of the ten faces of shimmering, seen from the ten panels, going rightwards around the dome. Panel 9 has the most vivid colouring, and along with panel 2 it's unusual in having a weird striated section below. Incidentally, I've muted the audio for the final nine clips, instead allowing the audio from the first clip to continue, for the sake of avoiding abrupt changes in the humming, from clip to clip. Sounds better.

04:45 (Floor and side-walls continue) In two clips now, I use plasma fire to show how the floor continues on down past the bottom section of a panel; and in the second clip the plasma fire also reveals the wall you eventually hit. Notice how things collect in the groove. The third clip demonstrates the continuation of the side-walls, and actually my plasma fire is deliberately timed to cause an overheat just before I die (seemed amusing).

05:26 (Got through low down) At some point I had the idea of getting through a panel low down, in order to slide less and perhaps be able to survive. It takes some quite tricky flying. The first clip may actually have been the first time I got through. I was trying to hit the runner with my right wing, but missed and got through anyway. In the second clip (from a day later), I do hit the runner. The third clip is from later still, by which time I was focused on just hitting the panel. Moreover I'd refined my technique, cutting my speed just before getting ejected, so I hopefully wouldn't go up much afterwards. It was all about minimizing the slide. But alas, I still got killed, every time I got through. Ah well, it was worth a try.

Incidentally, Ms. Man got into that groove in co-op. See his movies 'The Invisible Room' (in which he uses a launch) and 'Banshee Outside Of Level' (in which he uses a Banshee at the end).

06:06 (Explosive end) For a while I had a bit of a problem finding a good way to end the movie, but eventually I came up with a solution, involving a chain reaction. Had to time my slide just right.

Closing remarks Originally my movie on the panels was going to be BCM226, but while recording footage, I accidentally discovered the soft hit method for the ceiling, and it made sense to put out a movie on that. But ok, now I've covered the panels. What next? All I'll say is, I'm definitely not done with the chamber yet!

© 2004-2020 by Rockslider