Robot Factory

From The TimeSplitters Wiki

Revision as of 22:55, 30 August 2007

The Robot Factory

In Robot Factory, Gretel MkII is on a mission to save the world from The Machinist and his robot armies.

Briefing

2315 ROBOT FACTORY

After the Machine Wars the mighty foundries and protection lines finally fell silent...except for one!

UltraNet sources are revealed that the Dark Machinist Child has activated a power node network and seeks to build a robot army to exact his revenge.

Neutralise his factory before he can reawaken a dreadful conflict.

Once you have accessed the inner processing area, you should proceed immediately with destroying the individual energy nodes. These nodes are extremely robust, and cannot be damaged using conventional firearms.

However, the factory may still contain a small number of ElectroTools - portable generators that were used in the construction of the factory itself - which may be capable of overloading the nodes using a sustained beam of electricity.

Once the nodes have been disabled and the production lines finally silenced, your last objective should be to find the Dark Machinist Child and ensure he is stopped for good.

Primary Objectives

• Gain access the inner processing area (All)
• Locate and collect the ElectroTool (All)
• Destroy the energy nodes (All)
• Enter the factory core (All)
• Retrieve the Time Crystal (All)
• Defeat the Machinist (All)
• Escape through the Time Portal (All)

Secondary Objectives

• None

Arsenal

• Temporal Uplink
• Sci-fi Handgun
• Plasma Autorifle
• Lasergun
• ElectroTool
• Homing Launcher

Strategy

Used With Permission From SuperNova

Easy Strategy

You start off with a Plasma Autorifle, and should use it to kill the two robots who will materialise when you step through the door in front of you. Collect their ammunition then take out your SciFi handgun and use it to kill another two who appear. Take a left then go left again through a doorway. Turn right and you'll see a moving laser and some bots. You can either go gung-ho and trip the laser, activating the ChassisBots. The ensuing battle might, however, lose you a lot of life. That's why it's a good idea to dodge behind some crates on the right and let the laser pass you. When it's on your right go over to the control panel on the left wall and wait until the laser is as near to you as possible. Activate the panel to change to destruction mode, which will kill the bots for you.

Turn right into a corridor then right again and you'll come to another control panel. Activate it and you'll see through a mounted turret-gun. Using it, aim at one of the small power things on either side of the green laser door to blow it open (if the gun is too near the explosion it will blow up too). Having done that go forth through the open doorway and look left. Activate the machine you see there and you'll be treated to a short FMV sequence showing a bridge moving. Well done! You've gained access to the inner processing area.

Before you leave this place be sure to collect the box of plasma grenades next to you. Then go back to the control panel for the gun and a ChassisBot will appear. Kill it then go down the left corridor for some armour. Retrace your steps to the beginning of the level and another three ChassisBots will appear. Stand behind a crate and kill them as they come. Take the right path this time and go through some large doors. Ahead of you will be a large turret gun which can move. These annoying machines pop up regularly, so I'll tell you how to kill them now: when the gun barrel appears, strafe and shoot at the exposed black area near the barrels. It explodes pretty quickly on Easy setting.

Go through the next door and you'll find yourself in a large chamber with rails in the middle. Ahead of you is a large bot who can be killed easily with sustained handgun fire without it even raising its gun. About twenty shots is all you need to bring it down. Now look at the rail above your head from the doorway; stay watching it for a while and two mounted guns will come past (at different times). Shoot them down to avoid them hurting you later. Moving down the chamber you will come to another turret gun - you know how to deal with it. Turn right through some doors and you'll come face to face with _another_ one. Destroy that too. Walk through another door to find a room with flame exhaust being blown from tubes on the wall. Avoid that and step forward. Four ChassisBots will appear ahead of you; just blast with your handgun and you shouldn't take too much damage. Hopefully the bouncing laser will do your job for you.

Climb the ramp and take a left then a right. You'll be in the rail room an a higher level. Remember the bridge you extended? That's the one in front of you. Cross it and be ready to kill the two bots who spawn at different times in front of you. Go right down a corridor and follow it to a room with a power node in the middle. Jump down to the node and look up to see that some rocket launchers have blasted rockets at you. Shoot these slow moving missiles and look left into a further section of the room. There patrolling is a large bot wielding a Lasergun. Bring it down with sustained firepower and collect the gun. Immediately turn 180 degrees and blast another one the other side of the room. Go through the double-doors behind the bot and run down the corridor (again shoot two missiles launched at you by a rocket launcher on the way). You'll emerge on the other side of the rail room, and if you look left you'll see a bot crawling along the floor. Shoot it quickly and look up at the rail above your head. Again, two guns move along it so take them off with your gun.

Look to the middle of the room and blast the moving turret gun there. Collect the ElectroTool from the podium next to it and two bots spawn on either side of you. Kill them, but don't use the ElectroTool as it's useless as a weapon. Return the way you came from (to avoid more missiles) and use your ElectroTool to destroy the power node in the middle of the room. you need to hold down the trigger button to aim a sustained beam of electricity. The node will spin faster and faster and eventually explode. One node down, three to go.

Upon destruction, the node will cause four ChassisBots to spawn, so get out your SciFi handgun (via the pause screen so as not to waste time) and kill them. Go up the ramp and continue forwards through the now opened doorway. Go down the corridor and collect the plasma grenades at the end then go right down another corridor. Be careful - there are rail guns here, and you ought to shoot these down before venturing further down the corridor (three in total).

You will then come to a walking turret gun, but this one gets up! You must strafe to avoid getting hit and shoot quickly, but remember that it takes a lot more to kill this type. When it "dies", collect the armour on the left and destroy another node near it (keep your distance to avoid getting hurt). There is an ElectroTool at the end of the corridor if you need it. This causes four ChassisBots to appear, so be ready. Tread over their dead bodies to the end of the corridor and left into a sloped room where more rail guns and rocket launchers threaten you. Stand in the doorway and destroy the two railbots first then keep your distance and destroy the four rockets that get launched at you. Reaching the end of the room means a checkpoint. Finally!

You'll find yourself standing next to a computer console. Ignore it for now and enter a semicircular room. Get some plasma from opposite the entrance then venture cautiously up to a closed walking turret. As soon as it gets up run back to the console and activate it. You'll see through a rail gun, so use its infinite ammo to blast into oblivion the turret. Go back into the room and repeat the process again with a turret a little further along. Just remember to run as soon as you see it begin to move. Then go through the room to the next (remember that some rocket launchers there may try to shoot missiles at you). In the next room four bots appear when you enter. Kill them and collect the armour under a ramp on the right. Climb up the ramp and go to the power console in a niche on the left at the top. Activate it and a power node will come towards you. Destroy it with your trusty ElectroTool, and get ready to blast the two ChassisBots who spawn as a result.

Follow the corridor and you'll come to the rail room. Next to you is a computer console; activate it and you'll be treated to a short video showing the power node suspended from the ceiling moving. Then run up the ramp and kill with sustained firepower the large lasergun toting bot up here. Look down and right from him and you'll see another bot. Shoot it too and descend the ramp to its crushed body. From here go to the ramp opposite and cross it. You'll come to a walking turret gun. Use your Psalms Autorifle to blast it. (Any enemies from here onwards can be led back to the semicircular room and be killed using the rail gun. This takes a long time but is safer). Go over to the console on the far wall and activate it. After a short video and twenty seconds of waiting the last node will be overloaded and an objective will be complete.

This will cause many bots to spawn, so run through the door here and collect the homing launcher so carelessly left lying on the floor. Use your SciFi handgun to destroy the power cells on the wall and open the green door. It leads back to the ramp room next to the semicircular one. Here you should run up the ramp and back to the rail room again. There, take out your homing launcher and aim up at the large homing launcher wielding bot and kill it. It takes three rockets. Another one will spawn there, so kill it too. In both cases, you must keep strafing as one rocket can be enough to kill you. When the main threat is dealt with turn your attention to the other, smaller bots in the room. There are eight ChassisBots in all, but they spawn (i.e. there are only two at first, and three others replace each one when they're killed). This opens the laser grid locked door, which leads to the inner sanctum of the factory: the core. Reaching here ticks off one objective, but it also gives you a new one: to destroy the Machinist.

You materialise in a room full of arms with steel... things, which will hurt you if they hit you. Keep dodging, and use your homing launcher to aim at the belly of the machine, located opposite where you entered. There is armour and ammo (rockets) in the side rooms. It does not take long to bring down the Machinist, and if you run out of rockets use your Plasma Autorifle. When it dies, run up the to top right door which leads to the higher level, above the carcass of the Machinist. Go round to behind it and pick up the Time Crystal. This causes the odd TimeSplitter to appear, but just ignore them and head back down again to enter the portal and finish the mission. Well done! That was the longest and hardest mission in the game (in Easy mode, of course).

Normal/Hard Strategy

This is the mother of all missions in terms of the time it takes to finish. Set aside at least an hour when trying to finish this. To stay alive you have to use lengthy methods of baiting the enemy and luring them into an ambush. The main tactic you'll be using is the "laser method". I'll describe this once so afterwards you'll know what to do when I tell you to kill some enemies using the laser method.

At the start get your SciFi Handgun out and shoot as soon as the first bot comes through the door. Another one arrives soon after. Keep strafing to avoid their gunfire. Then step cautiously outside and three others spawn. Dodge back into the little room again and repeat the process with them. Then step out and run left, dodging like hell. A SentryBot will shoot at you, but if you run well enough he'll miss.

Go through the door on the left and you'll see a laser running the length of the floor. It moves backwards and forwards. Duck round the crates on the left to avoid being detected then head over to the computer on the left at the end of the room. Activate it when the laser is as close to your side of the room as possible. It will kill all the bots standing here but one. Kill him. Leave the laser turned on and get your uplink out. Stand in the next room and wait as the SentryBot commits suicide by walking into the laser. Turn the laser to detection mode (so it doesn't hurt you and you can return easily) then leave. What you used to kill the SentryBot was the laser method.

Head down the passage here which leads to autorifle ammo on the right and a machine on the left. To access it through the green door activate the console with a joystick on it and run forward at top speed with the rail bot you control into it. Activate the other machine to extend the bridge and be ready for the two bots that spawn. Strafe and kill them then take the armour near the locked door on the left from where you leave.

Leave and take the right path from where you started. Enter the large door and shoot the two ChassisBots that appear. Move forward slightly and the turret in the top left corner opens to shoot at you. Shoot into the black revealed area a couple of times while dodging to kill it. Repeat for the other turret in the other corner of the doorway. Enter the next room and stand in the doorway. Wait as two railbots move past on the rail then shoot them down. Enter the room and shoot the two SentryBots to piss them off. Then run back to the laser room and use the laser method. Be patient, they do eventually come.

Go back to the room again and destroy the turrets. There are three in all. You can now proceed to the next room. In here there is fire coming out of the walls (0_o) and a SentryBot. Walk a little forward and five ChassisBots spawn. Run back to the laser room and kill all the smaller bots (there may be some survivors so watch out) then wait for the larger ones. Laser method strikes again.

Go back to that room and kill the remaining SentryBot using the renowned "pistol method". Head upstairs and destroy the first turret opposite you. On the bridge is another, walking turret. These are tougher and harder to kill but if you keep strafing you can do it. There is one last normal turret on the other side. Now look over the bridge on the right side. Look at the rail and shoot the railbots off as they come past. From here you can also destroy two turrets without them being able to hit you back.

When you've done that head through to a corridor with rocket things that get launched at you. There are many of these. Wherever you see this double-barreled rocket launcher you know that these homing rockets will come at you. Luckily they're slow and easy to destroy. Head down into the large, three part room and shoot the SentryBots on the left and right once each. Run back to the laser room, turning back to shoot any rockets launched at you, and kill the bots.

Head back to that room again and leave from the left side of the room. You're in the rail room where you destroyed the turrets from above. There's one left, so destroy that and collect the ElectroTool. A load of ChassisBots will spawn so kill them and go to the large room. Aim up at the node near the ramp and overload it (1/5). Head through the other exit and follow the path to a long corridor. Look above your head to see some rails running along the top. Hide so you can just see the first part of the corridor and shoot off all the railbots that come along. Get the autorifle grenades then go down to the turret and chuck a grenade onto it. Don't shoot too early or the grenade will have no effect.

Collect the armour on the left then go to the end of the corridor and collect the ElectroTool. Go back to where the armour was and look down. You'll see a power node. Overload it then run back to the nearest corner. Switch to handgun and strafe and shoot at the many ChassisBots who've appeared. If you're low on ammo what they leave will soon replenish it. Head over to the console at the end of the corridor, near the ElectroTool and activate it. You'll see through a rail gun. You can shoot the other rail guns in this slanted room first then head into the next one through the black area. Look down and shoot all the homing rockets then aim at the left foot of the power node. Shoot it a lot to deactivate the shield and overload the node.

Leave the console and head into the next slanted room. There are many launchers which launch rockets at you as you pass through it. Run in, wait until you hear the humming sound rockets make then leave. Wait around the corner at a sensible distance then shoot any rockets that appear. Repeat this with each pair of launchers lining the left and right. Some don't shoot at all. Head through the end door to reach a checkpoint.

Go through into this semicircular room and collect the plasma ammo opposite where you enter. Get your autorifle out and head for the first turret you see (watch out for rockets). Wait until it opens then put a grenade onto it and run. When it blows go forward a bit more and repeat with the next turret. Now move forward until you see a SentryBot spawn then run back to the checkpoint. Activate the console and use the railgun you control to destroy the bot. Be careful that he doesn't shoot back and destroy the gun - it will be instrumental in your success from here on. Aim at the doorway you haven't been through yet and centre the crosshairs just below the top of the door, so you shoot anyone who comes in the feet.

Enter the new room and attract the attention of the two SentryBots. You will cause some ChassisBots to spawn. Wait for them in the semicircular room and use your handgun to kill them. Take control of the railbot and shoot as soon as you see the SentryBots' feet appear in the doorway. Sustained fire kills them without their having been able to shoot back at the railbot. Head into the room again and go up the ramp. Destroy the turrets up here then activate the machine to send a node coming towards you on the ceiling. Destroy it and strafe while shooting all the ChassisBots who appear.

Go forth and you'll appear on a high level in the rail room. Activate the console on the wall then get your lasergun out (you should have one). Charge up a shot and aim at the first SentryBot on the right of the room. Dodge behind the wall to avoid his rocket, charge up another shot, aim and finish him off. Repeat this with the two other bots in the room. It doesn't matter if you miss, but you must dodge well back to avoid any damage from the rockets. Then head over the bridge and left down the first path. A turret gun awaits, so let it open then grenade it. There is armour here. Collect it, but be sure to leave the armour on the other side for later. Cross over the rails then down to another turret. Destroy it in the same way and head over to the door at the far end of the room.

Destroy the last turret in front of the door with a grenade then open the door. Collect the homing launcher on the floor then get your handgun out. Shoot one of the small things on the sides of the green door to open it. Go over to the console near the door and activate it. A few seconds later the last node will be destroyed. This causes a ton of ChassisBots to spawn. Head behind where the green screen was and shoot, strafe as more pour in. When you're sure they're all dead head back to the semicircular room and activate the railbot. Aim here and be patient. Every minute or two (sometimes sooner) a SentryBot appears. Kill them all in the doorway position, as one rocket from them destroys the railbot, making your life much harder. When you've destroyed everything you'll see the lasers on the bridge open. Collect the armour you left then head for the core of the factory.

You'll reach the boss's room; it's the Machinist's Robot (he's in it). Get the homing launcher out and launch your rockets at the centre part of the Machinist, below all the arms. Get you autorifle out and go to the right end of the room. Shoot the bot who spawns there then look at the opposite end of the room. There is another bot there too. Kill him then chuck all your grenades at the Machinist's weak spot. Proceed to shoot like hell with your autorifle, but don't let it overheat. All the while you should be dodging and strafing like there's no tomorrow to avoid the arms of doom that try to hit you. Collect the autorifle ammo in the doors and be prepared for the bots as they respawn every twenty seconds or so. Eventually the Machinist goes down.

When he does go through the door that leads to some stairs and run up. Go round to behind the Machinist's body and get the Time Crystal. Run back down again (dodging the Reaper Splitters' blasts) and enter the Portal to end this hellish level once and for all.

Trivia

• The RetroRacer game cartridge is found under a ramp in the room right before the room where you fight The Machinist on Hard mode in this level.
• This mission is considered one of the hardest missions in the game, the other being Atom Smasher.