Taffer’s Tower – Tips & Hints
Playing this mission may be
difficult if you are not familiar with the many tricks and exploitations that
can be achieved with the Thief game engine. This document should help you get
through the mission, and answer most of the questions you have. Some tips that
would reveal a puzzle or surprise have been masked in blue boxes. To read the
hidden text, click and drag a selection over the blue area.
Luthien is perhaps the most accomplished climber
in Thief. He's been many that seemed impossible to climb to. The most famous of
these being the top of the blue antenna on Angelwatch
tower in Life of the Party. Luthien invented
the staircase method of crate stacking, and was the inspiration for the crate
dispenser in this mission.
Azal is another accomplished climber, and was
the first to reach the roof of Angelwatch in Life
of the Party. He is also famous for his Collector's Edition of Thief
where he takes a screenshot of every carryable item
in a mission.
Lytha is perhaps the most famous Thief player.
She was the first to climb to the roof of Angelwatch
in The Unwelcome Guest, as well as climbing over the wall of the Hammerite Cathedral in the Old Quarter. She is also well
known of a method of gameplay that involves receiving
no damage, and not damaging any other creature.
The relative difficulty of each
playing mode is not necessarily related to their order on the "New
Game" screen. Luthien happens to be the
easiest, but while Lytha gives the player a
single hit-point, Azal may be considered the
more difficult. The collection objective is not quite as straight-forward as it
sounds, and the lower air supply makes swimming through the tunnel a challenge.
So these should be considered more as game modes than difficulty levels, and
you should attempt at least both Lytha and Azal.
This mission was built with the
intention of being a climbing challenge. But you are not required to stack or
climb just to complete the objectives. And there are plenty of other things to
do than just stack crates.
As well, you can climb using vine
arrows. There are a few places where vines will stick on the outside of the
Tower. In particular, it is possible to climb to the first ledge of the Tower
using just vine arrows. What you may not realize is that vines will stick to the outside
windows. Also, there
are small, hard to
see grates at the first and top ledges of the Tower.
The water tunnel can be very
frustrating. The first thing to know is that you can gain extra distance by
jumping into the water from a high place. The top of the Tower is the logical
place, and is very exciting to jump from. But starting from the first ledge of
the Tower is just as effective. Using every bit of air efficiently is crucial
here, so you want to move through the water as quickly as possible. Remember
that the shortest distance between two points is a straight line, so don't
wander around too much. There isn't anything to explore down here. Don't drift
down too far. Once the tunnel turns horizontally, hug the top and watch for the
spot where it turns again. Then just point your view straight up and swim with
everything you've got. The fastest way to move in Thief is by strafe-running.
Run forward, and at the same time press the side-step key. You'll move
diagonally, but about one-and-a-half times faster than just running normally.
It makes moving in a straight line, but the speed boost is necessary.
Using the crate dispenser (or Frobozz Magic Crate Device, as I like to call
it) is quite simple. First you have to pick it up. The dispenser is sitting
next to the front door of the Tower. It looks a little like a normal crate, but
with rust-colored corners. When you have it selected in your inventory, give it
a frob and a new (normal) crate is created right in front of you. If you're
standing next to a wall or something, it may be too close to actually see. If
you look at your inventory, you'll notice that the icon has shrunk, indicating
that you can pick up the newly created crate. Now that you have a new crate,
you can stack it. One of the things you should know about a crate is that there
actually is a "top". Look forward, with your view level to the
ground, and drop (don't throw) the crate. You should see that the wood grain of
the crate is vertical. In this position, the top of the crate is sturdy enough
to support any stack. If the grain is horizontal, then the crate is actually on
its side, and the stack will only be sturdy if it's perfectly centered. To make
a staircase stack, the crates must all be standing upright.
The traditional way to stack
crates is to be holding a crate, then look straight down. Drop the crate, then jump right away; almost at the same time, actually. The
crate should then land under your feet. It will be on its side, but as long as
you drop every crate straight down, and down move away from the center of the
crate, then the stack can be as high as you want. When standing on a stack, you
can dispense new crates by looking up. Then the dispenser will drop the new
crate right on your head, and you can pick it up. Sometimes, you can jump after
dropping a crate, but if you've moved even the slightest bit, even just turning
your view, it won't work.
Climbing
something as tall as the Taffer's Tower can be
tedious, and for some people even impossible. So I provided a shortcut for getting to
the top.
On the base of the spotlights
on the ground, there is a locked hidden panel. Open that to reveal the
shortcut.
Where would you go to look for
vines?
The arrows are in the branches
of the tree.
Yes. Follow the frog.
The eggs are in the water,
under the outer branches of the tree.
Sure. Knockouts don't count as
damage in Lytha mode. Keep in mind that most
people can't be knocked out if they can see you.
If, for whatever reason, you
can't manage to get through unaided, there is a speed potion hidden inside the
Tower.
Take the lift to the catwalks.
Go to the opposite corner from the lift. Look up at the I-beam. The hanging
metal cables can be climbed to get up there.
Some of the machines operate like
ones in Soulforge. If you've forgotten the directions
for those machines, here they are again.
Mine:
Obtain a Iron Chassis, a Metal Plate, and a canister of Quicklime Mixture.
Process the Iron Chassis and the Quicklime Mixture with the Amalgamating
Machine in Factory Bay B. A Mine Bulb will be manufactured.
Merge the Mine Bulb and the Metal Plate with the Sealing Machine in Factory Bay
D.
Flare:
Obtain a Metal Plate, a canister of Quicklime Mixture, and a canister of Acidic
Mixture.
Process the Quicklime Mixture and the Acidic Mixture with the Amalgamating
Machine in Factory Bay B. A canister of Flare Mixture will be manufactured.
Transform the Flare Mixture with the Rolling Machine in Factory Bay A.
Scouting
Orb:
Obtain a bolt of Spring Wiring, a Bantam Node, and a canister of Acidic
Mixture.
Put the Spring Wiring and the Acidic Mixture through the Fusing Machine in
Put the Flux Spheroid and the Bantam Node through the Bellowing Machine in
Factory Bay C.
One of those can't be made; it
should be obvious which one. But remember the secrets in Soulforge?
There's one more thing that can be made.
Put a Mine Bulb in the top slot
and a Bantam Node in the bottom slot of the Sealing Machine. An Explosive
Device will be manufactured.
The outside isn't the only
climbing challenge. It is possible to climb from the ground floor to the very
top, and even onto the roof, without using stairs or the lift. Most of the
surfaces are wood so vine arrows are all you need.
Not only wood, but metal
surfaces like railings and catwalks.
You can climb out onto the roof
by shooting a vine arrow at the ladder.
The railings on the first floor
have gaps in them. You can also climb and stand on top of them.
The loot, all of it, is just
those five very large masks.
The Keeper's book contains some
clues on how to retrieve speed potions and breath potions.
The speed potions are gotten by setting the spider on fire. If
you kill the spider, you can pick it up and drop it on the fire.
The breath potions are gotten by taking the "Holy Relic"
(the basketball) and throwing it at the Guardian (the will 'o wisp). When you
hit it, it drops a breath potion.
Use a flare or fire arrow. Duh.
Pretty much. Other than providing items for the
collection objective, it's really quite useless. You can eat the spider meat,
however. But I
wouldn't recommend it. It's poisonous.
Not really. That is, you can try
translating them if you like impossible challenges. But it's not important to
know what they say.
The "arvraqua"
scroll reads:
Come Guardian of the
waters
Come granter of wishes, giver of gifts
Come hear our prayers
And be blessed with the Holy Abb-Telklas
The "uvretsraq"
scroll reads:
I'd like to be under
the sea
In an octopus garden in the shade
He'd let us in, knows where we've been
In his octopus garden in the shade
Two bedrolls, a crate dispenser,
a metal stool, three gears, six bottles, the bodies of Garrett, Benny, Murus, a Keeper, a Spider, two ancient scrolls, and a holy
relic of Abb-Telklas (the basketball).
Broadhead arrows, vine arrows,
mine bulbs and flux spheroids. Also the items that can be
manufactured.
Frog eggs, fire arrows, water
arrows, healing potions, breath potions, and speed
potions will regenerate. Also the supplies for manufacturing
and the things that can be made from them. And crates
too, obviously.
Breath potions and speed potions
are created by the
Guardian and the spider, respectively.
The other items that don't come
from a machine will reappear where you picked them up after a period of time.
You can't have more than 99 of any one item, however.
No. There's
too many flares in Thief already.
The large rooms can cause problems, this is the nature of Thief. Some of the ambient
sounds are very long too, which takes a lot of memory. And inside the Tower,
there's a lot of objects and complicated architecture. It's just a matter of
trying to do too much with the game engine.
There is a bug near the top of
the lift. When moving in that area, the game may seem to freeze. The freeze
should be momentary, but can sometimes be as long as five seconds.
Yes, one thing. But you'll have
to find it yourself. (And I don't mean the BBB's.)