OPERATION TANTALUS
FULL VERSION  
by Jim Brewster, David Dericotte and Hamish Sinclair

Welcome to a new adventure made for the Bungie blockbuster Marathon.  Operation Tantalus includes new shapes, sounds, physics, and ideas, expanding on an already outstanding game.  This adventure was written so that it fits within the Marathon universe, hopefully there are no major discontinuities.

Requirements - Original Marathon files (Marathon application 1.x, Shapes, Sounds)
                            Around 10 Mb free disk space
                            Estimated Minimum 6.5 Mb Free Ram

Installation instructions:

1 - Move a fresh copy of Marathon 1.x, Shapes, Sounds, and Music (Music is optional) into the OT folder.

2 - Rename Marathon 1.x to Tantalus.  "Get info" on the Tantalus application and give it at least 6500K prefered size (8000K for everything but music, see memory problems...)  Close "get info" window.

3 - Open the OT installer application and click install.  Open Tantalus application and watch as the installer goes to work.  After installation is complete, click quit.

4 - Make sure that the map and physics files are named "OT Map" and "OT Physics Model".  The Tantalus application will only work if these files are properly named!

5 - For un-installation, open the OT Installer and click remove.  Open Tantalus application and it will restore all files to original condition.  After un-installation is complete, click quit.

6 - IMPORTANT!!!  DO NOT open the OT Physics Model with the physics editor without making a copy first.  If you intend to inspect the OT Physics Model, ONLY INSPECT A COPY!  The reason for this is as follows: every time you open a physics model, unintentional changes can occur in the file resulting in bugs that may lead to crashes and erratic play.  

7 - Double click on Tantalus application and "LET'S ROCK!!!"


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Concepts:

Non-linearity - Operation Tantalus offers the concept of non-linearity.  This means that most of the time you will have a choice as to which level you can teleport to.  For example, you may find a Terminal that will teleport you to level A, but, you don't think level A would be a good place to go at that time, so you look around and find another Terminal that will teleport you to level B.  This offers the possibility of going back to a level you've been to.  A great deal of effort has gone into making the levels non-linear themselves, so that every time you go back to a level, it's different.  We've also added elements that will carry over from level to level.  Remember the Alien Energy Converter.... well in this adventure, you will be able to go on even if you don't get the needed object, but you may have to go back and get it later.

ESC - The ESC key will be very important in this adventure.  Remember that if you read a Terminal that is about to teleport you, you can abort the teleportation using the ESC key.  This is important since on most levels you will be able to find a different terminal that will take you somewhere else.  Remember the ESC key!

Saving Your Game - We cannot stress enough how important decisions you make regarding teleporting will impact your experience in OT.  We therefore suggest that you save regularly and with different names so you can go back and choose different terminals to teleport from.  We are not saying that this game won't be fun to play again and again.  In fact, we believe that one of the strong points of OT is that you can reach several different scenarios from a given origin.

Terminal Message Syntax - When you read a terminal, there are certain syntaxes that you need to know.  If there is any text that is bold and underlined, that means that you 'typed' that in.  We all know that you can't type things in, so we typed the stuff for you.

Marathon Universe - We have painstakenly gone through the effort of fitting the details, dates, references and events to coincide within the Universe According to Bungie (and the universe as we know it).   We applied our poetic license liberally, as does any science fiction writer, to describe new inventions to the best of our 20th century  education.  We welcome others to find discontinuities and discrepancies between our story and our explanations so that we may create a more realistic and intellectually satisfying adventure.  

New Concepts - If you get stuck somewhere, try something that would not be possible in the original Marathon and it may work.  There are some old style puzzles, and some new style puzzles, keep an open mind!

Adventure - This is perhaps more of a mystery/adventure than the original.  At times you may feel a little lost, but pay attention to the terminals and the story will hopefully develop.  It may be handy to have a pad and pencil next to you while you play.  Some clues that are given in one level may aid you in your task in another level.  For example, you may need to remember where you saw an oxygen recharger.   Also, it may help to have an idea as to which levels are connected in case you have to return to a level.  

Assumptions - This adventure was made with some assumption about the player.  It was assumed that if the player has not finished the original Marathon, then you have at least gone far enough to solve common puzzles and gain certain tactics.  The difficulty level should be close to the original, so start on Normal and adjust accordingly from there.

NPFs - Dealing with Non-player Friendlies is similar to the original.  They appear as Green squares on you motion tracker. (Bobs also show up on the scope cause they're human, but they're bad....)  If they get in your way, or freeze, just shoot next to them and they may move. (If you hit 'em they may get mad)  The uniforms indicate rank and each rank has a different flavor in their playing style.  GREEN uniform signifies SERGEANT, BLUE signifies PRIVATE, and VIOLET signifies COLONEL.

Bobs - These guys are not your friends any more, and that's a fact.

Replayability - Operation Tantalus was designed so that everytime you play it, it's different.  Obviously the overall story is the same, but there are different ways to win, and even if you get to the end, there is the possibility of losing.  And don't think that saving a game will ensure the same experience every time; we have done our best to add a "randomness factor" to OT to ensure that you will be surprised as often (and completely) as possible.

Support - We are currently working on a web site that will elaborate on the story, the science/sci-fi concepts, and player support (hints, etc).  We encourage you to give your suggestions as to what you think would make a more interesting and informative site.  We can be easily reached via email at the addresses listed below.
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Known Bugs:

A great deal of care has been taken to keep Operation Tantalus bug free, however, some non-fatal bugs are present. Some compiler's colors are messed up in 256 colors.  Some wall textures move when an adjacent platform is in motion.  Please report any other bugs to us at brew@unm.edu   

Memory:

For the most part, the only thing that can cause a fatal problem is low memory.  Common problems are; missing sounds, freezing when trying to save, freezing when you look at you map, and having your HUD (Head's Up Display) get messed up.  The only solution to this problem is to give the Tantalus application more memory in the get info window.  To run optimally (Thousands of colors, 3 sound channels, max sound sampling rate, full textures, no music, stereo sound) you should give Tantalus application at least 8000K
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Acknowlegments:

A lot went into this project and we would like to thank:

- Steve Israelson for the Pfhorte map editor
- Michael Hanson for the Physics Editor1.2
- Jeremy Parsons for the Pfhred 1.3 Shape Editor
- The creator of Enter the Marines (gorlinsk@uxa.cso.uiuc.edu)
- The creator of the Attack Bob Patch
- The creator of Alien Shapes
- The creator of Alien Sounds, and other various sounds
- Kirill Levchenko,  creator of Term Installer 2
- Bungie, I think you know why
- Our girlfriends, who put up with 'The Obsession'
- Beta Testers : Steve Droes(yndlniir)
                          Rachel Kreissl (David's darling girlfriend)
                          Pietro Pesci-Feltri C.
                          Mike Monske
                          Bernard Faral 
    
 - Special Thanks to Greg and Matt at Bungie for tolerating our pestering so graciously...

- Additional thanks to AMUG for providing and maintaining a cool Marathon archive, gratis.

- Claude Errera for maintaining the Marathon Hyperarchive Northwest. 
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THE STORY UNFOLDS:   (for a more graphic view, check out "http://www.unm.edu/~brew/seth.html")

 "...and the skies shall be consumed in atomic fires and flesh burnt from bone.  
His coming would be marked by war and fear and his dynasty would have been 
known for its savage cruelty...   
                    
                 ...save for one lone warrior."

                 Doreh, Piter R. Tantalus, the Secret War. v. 1 p. 7,
      Phobos Publishing Company, Phobos. August 3027 (reprinted with permission)



                    Operation Tantalus

2801 A.D.

It is seven years after the Cydonia Mensae incident. 

When Dr. Nefarius Seth was found guilty of causing the deaths of an undisclosed number of his acolytes at The Face he swore he would destroy the civilization others had worked so hard to create and avowed to usher in a new era of chaos, with himself as absolute ruler. Seth's so-called 'Brotherhood of Chaos' was the last of the religious fanaticisms that dominanted Earth and Martian society for the last 200 years. 

Seth was sentenced to permanent stasis on the penal asteroid, 54 Parcae. He never arrived. Four hours into the voyage, near the Brewster asteroid ring, the United Earth-Mars Space Council (UEMSC) penal transport ship was destroyed. Forensic Division attributed the blast to an imbalance in the fuel feed ratios. Despite repeated requests from the Forum of Science and Engineering (FSE) to confirm the death of Dr. Nefarius Seth, the case was quickly closed and Seth's death was accepted as fact. 

Chief Security Justice Holmes, however, was not so easily convinced. Gravitmetric analysis of the debris confirmed that a significant amount of mass was not accounted for within the wreckage. Forensic scientists had attributed the discrepancy to gravitational scavenging of particles by nearby asteroids. Justice Holmes's fears were increased when a number of eminent scientists at the FSE and the Strauss Institute for Advanced Studies into Rampancy (SIASR) began to mysteriously disappear. Foremost among these was Dr. Hampden-Smith, Emeritus Professor at the FSE, who is most famous for the invention of the theoretical Heisenberg Teleporter. 

It transpired that Dr. Nefarius Seth, prior to establishing the Brotherhood of Chaos, was in fact a brilliant chaos physicist at the FSE. His postulations on the Maximum Entropy Theory lead to the development of the so-called "Entropy Device ". Seth aspired to achieve the station of Pro-Consulate within the Forum yet his blatant arrogance and contempt for those less intelligent than himself resulted in his explusion from the Forum. Some observers at the time suggested that his removal had more to do with the nature of his research than his attitude. A subsequent fire at Seth's laboratory destroyed all his work. 

                              Could Seth be alive?... 

Everything regarding this matter was quickly dropped when an alien vessel was detected off the shoulder of Orion by a long range communication array. First contact was made near the Tannhuser gate. The UEMSC Atropos, one of three ships sent to investigate the alien presence, was destroyed. The remaining UEMSC ships, Clotho and Lachesi, were crippled and left drifting in space. Taking advantage of the rout the ship quickly advanced on Mars. While the orbiting defenses proved useless against the attack the aliens were surprisingly no match for the military Mjlonir-Kodas Mark VI cyborgs on the ground. A number of M-K 6's also managed to board the orbiting ship before being destroyed. Eye witness reports suggest that the alien ship suffered considerable damage to its port hull during the M-K orbital assault. This apparently forced the aliens to retreat to the asteroid belt. 

Currently, the aliens are being systematically eliminated from the asteroid belt, which is a painstakingly slow process. Our scouts have also found evidence of complete alien encampments vanishing, leaving very puzzling clues behind. Scouting parties report these camps being abandoned in a hastily fashion, sometimes with partially eaten corpse of cannibalized bodies left behind. This is completely different from sites discovered where aliens are present. On the rare occasion that they escape the extermination squads, they leave nothing behind. These reports went unexplained until a scout witnessed an entire alien encampment vanish before his eye's. He described what is now refered to as the Dericotte Mirage Effect. Similar to the TME, yet with a characteristic stretching of the space-time continuum. 

An immediate assembly was called within the Forum of Science and Engineering. At the conclusion of the five minute long meeting, a report was sent to the Head councel of the UEMSC. In that report there is conclusive evidence showing the accident at The Face and the alien vanishings have something in common... Dr. Nefarius Seth! 

to be continued...



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Requests::

Feel free to redistribute this Adventure anywhere you want...... but, DO NOT redistribute any modified versions or incomplete versions without getting permission from the authors first.  DO NOT redistribute any files you have inspected and saved!  DO NOT modify files and expect us to be able to figure out what went wrong.  Feel free to inspect any files but please be sure to make a copy first and INSPECT THE COPY!  A lot of effort went into OPERATION TANTALUS, and it's totally free for you, all we ask is that you e-mail us about it if you like it and by all means please post on comp.sys.mac.games.action or one of the other relevant news groups to let others enjoy this if you like it.

Let us know what you think:

Jim Brewster
brew@unm.edu

David Dericotte
grok@unm.edu

Hamish Sinclair
Hamish.Sinclair@tcd.ie

