The Sphere is a large 5-level D2X-XL exclusive and will serve as a delicious appetizer until Pumo Mines is served. I started work in this mid 2008 so despite consisting of 5 levels it is still a good sized mission. Each level is around 3000-4000 cubes and will probably take you a while.
1.51 (update: broken but still hosted on this site)
Updated: Here at last and 9 years overdue, sorry!!!! Version 1.6
1.6 (From DMDB. Massively fixed.)
Changes in 1.6:
- Enormously revised robot placement across all levels
- Enormously revised item, weapon and power placement so now you'll have the tools you need in the situations that call for them
- Removed/adjusted some unfair situations (eg: Matcens that you literally couldn't get past because it spawned robots right in the doorway. Ambush traps that left you exposed with no retreat or cover. Robots occupying places where you would naturally run into for cover. Bottlenecks. Rooms that had no safe way of clearing)
- Reduced rage inducing bullshit (eg: no more troll triggers that can permanently deny access to items. No more matcens making thiefbots. less fights between grates. No robots should ever use player gauss, ever.)
- Guided missile puzzle in level 1 made easier
- Added a new route in level 2 to provide another avenue of approach
- Fixed level 2 countdown not scaling with difficulty
- Fixed level 3 countdown not scaling with difficulty
- Fixed bonus level countdown not scaling with difficulty
- Fixed broken message triggers in level 3
- Restored missing texture and robot data in level 3 that 1.51 left out for some reason (Why didn't anybody tell me!?)
- Reverted back to old secret level access mechanic (the way 1.3 had it)
- Fixed broken window transparency in level 4
- Its now possible to get all keys in level 4 and 100% clear all sections of it (find the secret teleport)
- Opened up more accessways around the final area in level 4 so you can navigate that area more safely
- Fixed equipment generators spawning wrong items (hopefully)
- Reworked the main objective in the bonus level: You now need to take out certain robots (not the bosses) to reach the reactor room. Earthshakers dropped from guppies are still key to this. Destroying reactors will end the level regardless of how many bosses remain
- The reactor room in the bonus level can now be rushed into for cover and is no longer a deathtrap to the player (provided it is unlocked)
- Room full of cloaked robots in bonus level has been opened up more so its easier to clear
- Fixed wonky geometry here and there
- Reduced the amount of lights needed for calculation across all levels
- Cleaned up a lot of messy redundant trigger setups that only existed as bad workarounds for unresolved bugs
- Lots of performance tweaks, texture cleanup across all levels and other general maintenance stuff
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Heres an excerpt from the ReadMe:
COMPATABILITY
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To make this mission work you need two things:
D2X-XL: A source port of Descent 2 that introduces enough features to make it
almost Descent 3. This mission is designed to use those features so get the
latest version of D2X-XL from http://www.descent2.de. It just tastes better.
Please note that the mission requires D2X-XL version 1.15.75 or higher
Descent2: Vertigo: The official expansion set to Descent 2 which you may still
find online. The robots from the Vertigo expansion set are used in this mission.
Overview
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You just completed Descent 2. You have been in and out of 6 different planets
and watched the 7th one (Tycho Brahe) explode beautifully. Just when your about to head home
there is a malfunction in your warp drive and it sends you somewhere else.
Actually it was not a malfunction, your warp drive was being redirected
by PTMC back to the 6th system: Puuma Sphere (that green place) since it turns out you
only destroyed 3 mines there and not the usual 4. PTMC wants you to finish the job
before your warp drive malfunctions for real and we get back on par with the storyline
What makes things more interesting is that your negligence to attack that fourth mine
has given the robots an opportunity to make some real developments in the time you spent
at Tycho Brahe; such as the replication of the entire robot armada to name one.
This means your doing everything all over again...in one small planetary sector.
And by the way, the robots are fully expecting you.
Features
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Four large size levels + 1 secret level, each designed to look like a logical facility.
No 3D Picasso paintings
Custom textures and robots
Use of all D2X-XL features; smoke, triggers, lighting, lightnings etc
Although primarily a single player mission, there is support for 4 player coop and 8 player
anarchy.
Completely revisioned robot lineup, all robots from Descent 1, 2 and Vertigo are featured
but have been given different strengths, weapons, abilities etc in order to give each robot a
unique role, purpose and style. Dont worry most robots have just been minorly tweaked,
only a few are completely different. Even scoring has been changed to more
effectively reflect the difficulty of the robot. You get more points for nastier robots,
not bigger robots.
New strategies; you wont be looking for blue, yellow and red in that order.
Linearity was not included in the mission set
