Chapter 6: POWER STRUGGLE

Chapter 6 - "POWER STRUGGLE" - Sluggo Holy Joe. You must be kidding. I spend hours hopping around some alien rock to fix this equipment and now it won't work because of a dead frickin' battery? And wait, let me guess -- I'm the only one who can go down and charge up a new one, right? Of course. The Setup Go down the elevator and open the door. Kill the bullsquid, grab the dead security guard's armor, and ride the lift to the right. You can't open any more of the doors up here (if you could, you'd nearly be done), but through the fence you'll see another scientist and security guard get attacked by a Vortigaunt. This is the power cell charging station, and is your ultimate goal for this chapter -- but you have a lot of work to do before you can get inside. Head back the way you came, down the lift, towards the elevator, and go over to the door with the broken keypad. After a few seconds, you'll hear some marines breaking in on the other side of the door, and then start to cut through with a blowtorch. You're in for a good deal of fighting -- stand back and wait for them to break through. A Few Bad Men As soon as the soldiers break through, hit them with everything you've got -- grenades, satchels, rockets, anything you can find. Take your time, and retreat when necessary. You'll find some health packs on occasion, and be sure to pick up all the ammo the dead soldiers leave behind. A few rooms ahead, you'll reach a health station just outside a long platform overlooking a coolant drainage area. You'll ultimately need to raise this entire platform to reach the power cell charging station, but first, you'll need to activate the reserve power generator. Continue ahead. You'll run into a half-dozen more soldiers as you cross the long walkway, pass some broken vending machines and head up a ladder. You'll find one more soldier next to a radio -- shoot him, and take the opening to the right past the power indicator to the next level. (Optional: before heading right at the radio, you can climb the hanging ceiling grating into a vent; at the end, you'll find a ventilation room with a dead soldier, some ammo...and some snarks.) Blowin' Up The Spot As you round the corner past the radio, you'll find a door marked "Coolant Drainage" rigged with dynamite, but the wiring to the plunger has been severed. Around the next corner is the main turbine cooling room, and more Houndeyes. After killing the Houndeyes, you'll realize there's no easy way across the deadly pool of coolant. If only there was some way to blow up that door and get in the drainage control room... Exploding the dynamite rigged to the door is one of the trickiest puzzles in the game, but can be solved fairily easily. First, break all the crates in the area, and find the one metal barrel left over. Drag the barrel over the two bare ends of the tripwire, completing the circuit. Push the plunger, and the door will blast open.** Go through the broken door and kill all the Vortigaunts and headcrabs you run into. Continue to the coolant draining room and turn the valve, draining the pool. Unfortunately, there's still no way across to the other side. If you could only build some sort of bridge... ** Thanks to Jamie "Thrrrpptt!" Madigan for solving the dynamite puzzle. Next: Part 2: Bridge Over Contaminated Waters