Countdown To Death

A new TeamFortress (ver 2.13) Map by Imaginos

Countdown to Death is a unlike any TF scenario that I have seen
so far in that it employs a living hostage that has to be rescued
by his teammates. That and the fact that, in order to make it
fair, there must be an odd number of players because one team
member (the hostage) will be out of action most of the time.

At the present time (Feb. 1997), this level does not support
more than 15 players. If it becomes popular, I might consider
making it for 31 players.

The Scenrio:

You're on Team One and one of your members has successfully
captured the enemy's flag. But, he was caught and now he's 
being held prisoner in a old prison cellblock by the bad
guys on Team Two. You have found out that if he isn't rescued
in the next 30 minutes, he will die.

Your team has to negotiate a maze of sewers, laced with deadly
boobytraps, find the path that leads to the main pipe and swim
down in the muck to reach an old boiler room underneath the prison.

Once there, you have to make your way into the cellblock. Between
you and that objective is a room scattered with debris - broken
pipes, old boards, etc. - in which the enemy has constructed a 
glass ceiling. They can see you, but alas, you can't see them.

If you make it all the way into the cellblock (which, by the way
has a glass ceiling in it too), you have to find out which cell
your teammate is being held in. There are only six cells out of
a total of twenty where they might be keeping him. Fortunately,
the members of your team have the keys to all the cell doors. Team
Two can't open the doors to all the cells because they locked up
your pal and threw away the keys to the six crucial cells where 
he could be locked up. This was done to prevent the bloodthirsty
Team Two members from killing the hostage.

Once out, and back in the sewers, the hostage must make his way
to one of the sewer pipes that has bars blocking the way to a
teleporter that will take him back to the surface. Only the
Team One member carrying the flag can shoot the button that
opens the bars.

Once he has dropped the flag off at his goal, the level ends and 
Team One wins. But, if after 30 minutes, he has not dropped the
flag off at his goal; the level ends and Team Two wins.

Specs for Countdown to Death

Some things you need to know: The prison section has two lifts in 
it to allow players to get on top of the glass ceiling. They are
in the cellblock proper and the debris room. They have faint lights
under them, but you can see them if you look up. One is at the far
end of the cellblock. And the other is at the far end of the debris
room, right over the lift that leads down to the boiler room. Shoot
the lifts to lower them.

The cellblock contains a Control Room that looks out over the block.
to get to it, shoot the lift, get on it, go across the glass ceiling
and jump down into it. There is shootable door on the back wall that
will let you out.

There are two buttons in the Control Room. The one on the right doesn't
do anything yet, but the one on the left will turn on another bank
of lights that will illuminate the entire cellblock. Push it again
to turn it off.

On top of the cell tiers are 2 Quake Powerups (Quad Damage) - one on
each side. There is another close to the lift atop the glass ceiling
in the debris room.

Team One members should be aware that there are at least two exploding
boobytraps embedded in the floors of certain sewer pipes. They are made
out of those exploding boxes that you shoot to blow up (you've seen them
before in Quake, I'm sure); except, you don't shoot these - they shoot
you! So, watch your ass!

I've put two backpacks for each team on the level. Team 1 has one at 
their starting point near entrance to the sewer and another in the
boiler room where they exit the sewers.

Team 2 can find one of theirs in a corner of the cellblock near the
Control Room. Another is near the lift in the debris room, to the
left of the door that leads to the boiler room lift.

Because some slower players (HWG, DemoMan) may drown during the final
swim to the boiler room, I've put 4 biosuits at the bottom of the
pool.

I think that's all.

Stratagies:

Team One:

Team One must be good - and I mean GOOD! You'll want your best players
on this team. Choose one member to be the hostage, someone who won't
get too bored while he's waiting to be rescued. I would suggest he be
of the Scout or Sniper class, since these guys can move pretty fast.

He'll enter the teleporter next to the sewer well, get the flag and
jump in a pool of water. Just swim around until you teleport into a
cell, then sit on your ass and wait.

When you hear the guns start going off, get out your axe and start
banging on the door. It will help your guys find which cell you're in
faster.

In the sewers: Team 1 members should stay together! You can get lost
pretty easy. But, don't follow too closely. Those boobytraps have
enough firepower to kill three heavily armoured D00dz!

Several of the passages are barred permanently, but some of the bars
will raise when approached from the right direction. When you find
a hallway with 2 sets of bars on either side of a T-intersection,
you're on the right track. Only one set of bars will open and let you
into the pool room which leads to the boiler room. HWG's and DemoMen
may need the biosuits at the bottom of the pool to make the journey.

When you come out into the boiler room, you'll see a backpack against
the back wall - it's for your guys to power/heal up before you begin
the assualt on the prison.

In finding your way thru the sewers, you may stumble on a passage that
has a shoot-style button at the end of it. This is where the hostage
must go to get back to the surface. Only he, carrying the flag, can
shoot and have any effect on the button which opens the bars blocking
the teleporter.

He will come out of the same teleporter he went into to begin with.
Next to the place where you all spawned to start with, there's a
telepad just to the left of the blown-out wall. This is the
dropoff point.

All I can say is: Watch your ass!

Team Two:

The best strategy for you guys is to find your spots and wait.

I would let Team 1 get all the way into the cellblock before I started
shooting. This goes for the guys (Snipers? Yeh, bet yer ass, Snipers!)
in the debris room as well. Just watch em come in and let em go. If any
of em make it out alive, you've got em right in yer sights.

You can step off the lift in the debris room and fall to the floor to
get down there quickly. Look and see where the backpack is; that's 
where you jump off.

To be fair, don't go hunting the Team 1 guys. Don't go sit in the
boiler room waiting to pick them off one at a time as they come out
of the well. As both teams get better, you can go hunt em down in
the sewers, but let them learn to negotiate it first.

Besides, first time out, you'll want to experiment with different
sniper spots, etc., while you're waiting on them to get to the boiler
room.

You can open all but six of the cells in the cellblock. Those six
can only be opened by Team 1 members. This was done to help you
resist the temptation to open the door and kill the hostage. In
that case, Team 2 should forfeit the level because that would be
cheating. Besides, you'll have plenty of oppurtunities to kill
his glowing ass once he's out.

Final word:

Unlike a lot of TF level authors, I don't have a problem releasing
the .map file with my level. I wish others would do so, so that their
work could be studied.

This level is free to all who want it, just give me a mention when
you put it up on a site. That's all I ask.

The only problem with this .map file is that it contains several
custom textures that are not part of the regular Quake textures.
Since there are only 41 different textures, I may make up a small
texture wad and include it with future releases. When you load the
map into an editor, just replace those textures you don't have
with ones you do. I think the custom textures are all on doors.

Build time (qbsp, light -extra, vis -level 4) took around 80 minutes.

Creditz:

id Software
Worldcraft by Ben Morris
The wonderful guys at TeamFortress for this great patch.

