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Reaver: 2015-01-31 04:52:57 pm
Had a mess around on mission 1. I noticed that you can walk during the intro. I hit escape during the prologue skip, the loading screen, and again to get rid of the cutscene all whilst holding forward. Not sure if you need to press esc, but its worked for me so far. Causes Telsia's dialogue to start whilst the Tuvok cutscene starts playing. When you finally get to play you are pretty much at the end of the corridor in a position to turn around and destroy the nodes.



Had a full playthrough of mission 1. Done in a few segments as I'm out of practice with the strafe jumping. Could shave some more seconds off with better movement and gameplay. Before the 2nd generator modulation (7:40 in vid below), I had restarted that section about 5 times. Probably needs testing to see if it was a complete stroke of luck or easily reproducible. Would save a lot of time in future segmented runs.

Edit history:
Sphere: 2015-02-01 10:56:46 am
Nice mission 1 and great find that you can walk during the intro Smiley That 2nd generator is amazing Cheesy I do believe that you just got the 1 in a 1000 though, as the initial red wave is different everytime i cancel and reopen the modulate screen.

I found out some stuff as well:



- You can wallrun (hug the wall and press forward + strafe key), which is especially useful in jefreys tubes
- If done right you can crouch while jumping, which makes it possible to do strafes in those narrow corridors. Got stuck once in that attempt, but with some (a lot) of practice it should be pretty helpful
- You don't have to go to Chang to trigger him being beamed out
Turns out the splash damage of the compression rifle has enough range to destroy the disnodes of the boss fight Cheesy

Really nice finds on the first mission. That wallrun will be very handy on this mission and the one on the Enterprise repelling the Idril attack. The Borg boss fight is definitely a lot quicker with that trick. nice find Smiley

I played through a bit further to remind myself of the game some more. Found a few timesavers/alternate methods on the Attrexian colony mission.



Most of it is defeating tough enemies before they get the opportunity to move. Works pretty well, but takes some practice for the last guy. He comes in much faster than the others as he destroys the ship so taking him out in the air is very difficult. Easier to time shooting him just as he hits the ground but getting the positioning for his landing is the key thing. If he fully lands and rolls forward then you'll have to fight him. Start of the vid involves an alternate technique for avoiding the falling bridge. Last part of the clip shows you can take that guy out at close range by ducking and shooting into him. Did it 2x so I assume it is consistent Smiley
Edit history:
Sphere: 2015-02-02 04:34:04 pm
Sphere: 2015-02-02 04:33:28 pm
1440p Shocked Killing them before they land is great, nice find! Smiley

Things just got even more interesting... You can get out of bounds during the first Idryll mission, resulting in a pretty nice skip Smiley
http://www.twitch.tv/spheremj/c/6026717
I didn't even notice that 1440p in the options. Not sure why, I recorded at 1600 x 1200....

Nice find with the rocket jump. I thought about this earlier but didn't think it was usable as I didn't get much height. I did think about trying to use an enemy and damage boost off of that. Some can give you a lot of distance so figured that maybe useful somewhere or speed you up slightly in places.

That invisible wall above the locked gate, I noticed you could shoot over it but didn't have enough height to jump it. Is it possible to do another rocket jump over it, or is it just something that physically blocks you but not your weapons?

I've been getting a lot of stuttering and frame drops with this game. I thought it was because I was recording but noticed it was happening even when I wasn't. Not sure if it is because it is an old game on a more modern system or something. I'll have to see if I can fix this.
Quote from Reaver:
or is it just something that physically blocks you but not your weapons?

It's exactly that, no way to get over it. It's probably there so that you don't fall down from the other side.

Renaming "EF2.exe" to "quake3.exe" improved smoothness by a lot for me. Seems like the graphics driver knows what to do when you tell him which engine you are playing on Cheesy
Quote from Sphere:
Renaming "EF2.exe" to "quake3.exe" improved smoothness by a lot for me. Seems like the graphics driver knows what to do when you tell him which engine you are playing on Cheesy


Thanks for that. It plays smoothly and I can record at a decent frame rate again.  Forgot to mention that on the vid I posted most recently you can eliminate the exomorph (0:40 above vid) from a position standing next to the elevator button. I've tested it and it does work. Saves a lot more time and there is an ammo and health terminal on the wall as you walk towards it so you can save at least 20 seconds on that section alone and restock your hp and ammo.
Edit history:
Sphere: 2015-02-03 12:25:23 pm
Sphere: 2015-02-03 12:24:25 pm
Sphere: 2015-02-03 12:07:47 pm
Sphere: 2015-02-03 12:05:46 pm
Will test that when i'm there Smiley
Another timesaver during the first part of the attrexian colony:



You can let the attrexian engineer alone, he has some psychic abilities and can use the console from distance Cheesy It's pretty risky though, as the engineer can still die after using the console, which fails the mission.

You can also get out of bounds by jumping from the landing platform onto the hills. Haven't found anything useful that you could do with that though.
Edit history:
Reaver: 2015-02-03 04:29:53 pm
Reaver: 2015-02-03 04:29:03 pm
Nice find. Tested a few places to try the rocket jump. Wasn't successful as there are invisible walls everywhere and some places are a bit too high, but it might be useful in giving some ideas...

Clip also shows the quicker method I mentioned before on the Attrexian colony and saves a good deal of time over the current run. Tried to skip Leviathan fight and attempted to skip the bug queen fight but wasn't successful. There are random spots where you just die in the game. One of them is directly under the slow energy bridge on the first ruins level (shown in the clip).

Looks like you can't damage the Leviathan until after the cutscene as shown in the clip. I tried to rocket jump back up to the platform after I engaged the cutscene but wasn't successful.

Secondary fire on the Arc gun is pretty quick for the bug queen. There is probably a faster method but this seems fairly quick. Need to test a bit more to see how much time can be shaved off. The 2nd hit did a lot of damage. I noticed I destroyed its orbs at the same time as I detonated the energy clouds. Wondering if the splash damage from its own attack contributed to all that damage.

Yeah, all those invisible walls and scripted deaths are kinda annoying. My hope for the later levels lies in the rocket launcher, those basher enemies or another part where they forgot to set an invisible wall.

That would've been a nice Leviathan skip :/

I just had a few tries and the bug queen definitely takes damage by her own projectiles if you shoot them at the right moment. One thing i found is that you can stack your energy clouds before the gate has oppened. They will also deal damage through the door if you detonate them, but it's probably fastest to stack a few clouds, open the gate, stack a few more while it's opening and then detonate them when she fires her projectiles.
Edit history:
Sphere: 2015-02-06 05:27:54 pm
Sphere: 2015-02-06 05:20:03 pm
Sphere: 2015-02-06 05:19:26 pm
Sphere: 2015-02-06 05:17:13 pm
Found a skip in the last level.



"Found" is maybe too much, the skip itself is pretty obvious. The question was whether its doable, and it is Smiley Basically try to gain as much speed as possible and don't get stuck in the hole (crouching while jumping helps but isn't necessary). The skipped fight with the two exomorphs took 1:30 in Thomas' run Shocked

Edit: Btw, you can get out of bounds during the 2nd mission on the Idryll planet, in front of the bridge that gets destroyed before the Leviathan fight. You can get behind the door that you would enter after the leviathan fight, but it doesn't really help. I could also get onto the platform in front of the door during the fight with the leviathan (with an arc welder boosted jump), but the trigger for the cutscene seems to be missing until you finished the fight.
Edit history:
Sphere: 2015-02-18 05:16:04 pm


I think this should be the fastest way to do Lurok. Thomas needed ~75 seconds, so this is roughly 25 seconds faster.
Did some first attempts and encountered a problem... My game keeps crashing in the sewers of the attrexian colony, right after opening the gate. Sometimes waiting for a bit helps, sometimes it doesn't. In my attempt a couple of minutes ago i couldn't go on at all, it kept crashing: http://www.twitch.tv/spheremj/b/626569088?t=1h36m
At the end of that vod i'm trying to look into the logfiles to see whether there's any information, but it isn't (i actually was talking all the time, but apparently my mic didn't work ^.^). No idea how to fix this yet :/


Btw, you can shoot the necessary parts of the idryll ship during the hull canon mission before tuvok tells you about them:

Nice timesavers.

Regarding the crashes. I've never encountered this problem before. Could it be related to the trick you use with the Attrexian and the door consoles? Can't see why it would affect anything later on, but it might be worth testing.

I noticed a few times you have a continuous fire mode on your weapons. I take it that isn't intentional? I get that a lot when trying to record. I find pressing the fire button stops it. It also depends if it is alternate fire or primary, so you have to use the corresponding attack to stop it.
I reinstalled the game (with windows compatibility mode) and so far don't have crashes anymore Smiley Yep, that continuous firing is really annoying. I'm not sure how to fix it, as i panic most of the time i get it, but i'll try your method the next time it happens.

So i knew that there was a secret powerful romulan weapon in the game, but wasn't sure how long it takes to get it and HOW powerful it was. Then i read on visualwalkthroughs.com that you can oneshot the romulan agent with it... Cheesy

It also barely costs time to get it and is really useful in the last mission aswell. You can oneshot the first two doors that you would usually modulate, and of course use it against the commanders and the final boss. You have to be careful though, as it doesn't only deal tons of damage to enemies but also to yourself.

I just got a more or less decent run: http://www.twitch.tv/spheremj/c/6156361 (mic is way too loud, sry Sad )
1:51:22, from the end of the first loading screen to the cutscene in which archeopendra dies, which should be SDA realtime as far as i'm aware. I get 1:53:16 if i time Thomas' run like that. My time for the last savefile is 1:43:53 opposed to Thomas' 1:55:07. Can't call that the game time of the run though, as i died and therefore reloaded the level several times. I guess it means that if i cut out all reloaded segments, i get a segmented run with that 1:43:53 as game time. So until i get a reloadfree-run (which might take ages Cheesy ) i think my best bet for comparison is realtime.
Still lots of time to save, especially in the last level where i blew up myself several times. Still have to get used to that ridiculous damage of the Radiation disruptor Cheesy

Btw, i made an autosplitter for EF2 aswell (literally copy pasta from my EF1 one): https://github.com/kugelrund/LiveSplit.StEf2
Edit history:
Reaver: 2015-02-20 08:34:20 am
Nice run. Liked seeing all the timesavers put together in one run. On the Attrexian colony attack, did the Quadruped die because you activated the elevator before it landed? Nice find and glad the game crashes stopped.

I had no idea about getting that weapon so early. I always remembered picking it up in the lava pit on Mission 11. I knew it was very effective on the Romulan commander and the Last boss, but I had no idea you could destroy the doors with it. Would it be easier staying in the centre for the Archeopendra fight? I recall that the weapons/health terminals open up around the place. Might give you the chance to get some extra ammo for an extra shot or 2 from the radiation disruptor. I haven't played up to that point yet since testing, so not entirely sure at this point if they open up at random or in a particular sequence, or if it would even benefit you in anyway.

Do these count as major shortcuts or minor ones? Looks like Thomas may get a kick in the nuts and banned from the internet... (Read his comments just before he talks about the missions: http://speeddemosarchive.com/StarTrekEliteForce2.html) Cheesy
The Quadruped doesn't die, but if you go quickly to the elevator he will try to shoot you from where he landed, hitting only the wall behind you.
I had no idea that you can also get the Radiation disruptor in mission 11, where is it located?

The idea behind jumping back to where you come from during the Archeopendra fight was about not having to deal with the annoying spiderlike enemies (sometimes (like in my pb), they still somehow jump over to you but that's pretty rare). Also Archeopendra will only show himself in the two lavapits directly in front of you, so that you don't have to find out in which lavapit he shows. Before i found the Radiation Disruptor, jumping over felt a lot faster, but now it might indeed be beneficial to stay were you're supposed to be to have more shots with the disruptor. I will try to time that.

There's also the idryll staff, that you can get during the idryll mission, but you need to do and endless puzzle to get that and while the stunning secondary fire sounded promising at first, its way to weak to be worth picking up.

I've read that comment, yep Cheesy I would count most of them minor aswell, he would probably disagree Cheesy

The radiation disruptor is located right at the start of the level near some lava. As soon as you pick it up you get attacked by the large exomorph that charges. I think picking it up on the Romulan base is still better as the timesave on the boss fight there is considerable.

Location of Romulan radiation disruptor:
Wow, that looks like they quickly had to put the weapon into the level and just threw it on some random place Grin And that basher coming out of the lava seems even more random xD

While timing the archeopendra fight, i found out that you can directly after shooting switch to another weapon and then back to the prior one to skip reloading. That increases the fire rate for the sniperrifle and the radiation disruptor drastically.



Staying in the centre seems slightly faster, mainly because of the longer distance that the disruptor projectiles have to travel. The order of the open terminals also isn't random, so i think i will stay in the middle. Just have to be careful that none of these spiderthingys jump in front of me when firing... Had that once whily trying and well... it hurts Grin
Edit history:
Sphere: 2015-02-27 09:45:23 am
Some random (so far useless) stuff in borg sphere:



Would be a pretty sick skip into the higher floor if only the rocket jump would get you high enough to go over that last railing :/
Edit history:
Sphere: 2015-03-03 06:12:12 pm
Got 1:46:47 realtime Smiley

http://www.twitch.tv/spheremj/c/6244760
http://www.twitch.tv/spheremj/c/6244741

My internet died so twitch split the files, but my lossless recording is fine. The run includes a new rocket jump during chasing the ferengi (2nd part, 7:30)  and abuses a slightly to big loading zone in the last level (2nd part, 25:05). If i didn't have to reload, ingame time would be 1:39:36.

Still quite a few deaths, sub 1:45 is the next target Cheesy
Nice run. The Borg mission was pretty good, pretty much 10 minutes flat. Defending the Attrexian station command officials was a highlight too. You finished so quick I don't think your team did anything. The jump down the stairs and over the wall before the bug queen on the Idryll planet was great too. That weapon switch reload trick is really useful especially against the commander. Nice new shortcuts too. Nearly 10 minutes shaved off the segmented run Smiley

For the first holodeck mission with Korban you lost a bit of time with the aim against the Romulans. The alternate fire with the assualt rifle might be a better option here with its spash damage.
I think protecting Vor'chov would've been a bit faster if you remembered to pick up the Arc welder ammo in the power re-route room before dropping down to her Smiley
44:50 into your run with the turret system and waiting for Chell to disable them, I found standing next to the crate near the door that Chell opens a decent spot. Managed to destroy the 3 closest turrets with the hand phaser and Telsia and Korban would take out the 4th. Not sure if this was a one off thing I managed but it seemed pretty quick and they did it each time I took out the first 3.
When taking out the capital ship, is it possible to time a torpedo on its first run so that you can do a bit more damage and take out that section on its first pass?

Looking forward to the sub 1:45 Cheesy
Quote from Reaver:
For the first holodeck mission with Korban you lost a bit of time with the aim against the Romulans. The alternate fire with the assualt rifle might be a better option here with its spash damage.
You mean the compression rifle? Yeah, it's better for non grouped enemies because of the higher firerate, i find it hard to hit the romulans with it though. Sometimes i miss 5 shots in a row... Cheesy Probably gotta practice that.

Quote from Reaver:
I think protecting Vor'chov would've been a bit faster if you remembered to pick up the Arc welder ammo in the power re-route room before dropping down to her Smiley
Yup, definitely have to remember to pick that up.

Quote from Reaver:
44:50 into your run with the turret system and waiting for Chell to disable them, I found standing next to the crate near the door that Chell opens a decent spot. Managed to destroy the 3 closest turrets with the hand phaser and Telsia and Korban would take out the 4th. Not sure if this was a one off thing I managed but it seemed pretty quick and they did it each time I took out the first 3.
I will try that Smiley

Quote from Reaver:
When taking out the capital ship, is it possible to time a torpedo on its first run so that you can do a bit more damage and take out that section on its first pass?
Uhh yeah you can get it in the first turn, the best case i've gotten is a few posts above. It's pretty hard with a torpedo as the angle is kinda weird, so i prefer using the primary fire there.
New skip (read: runkiller) in attrexian colony Cheesy


It's more or less inconsistent, but due to the big chunk it skips you have ~1.5 minutes to execute it until losing time compared to the usual route. Also if you don't get boosted all the way to the top, you can still jump there with a rocket jump as backup Smiley