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Millenium Falcon escapes a fleet of Star Destroyers by plastering itself to the hull of one, and then flying away with the garbage.
Basically, if you glue yourself flat against the wall near a door, somebody coming out won't see you. Then you can do one of two things: shoot them, or run through the door they've so kindly opened for you.

6: Guerilla Warfare
Another behavior that often emerges in two-player games is that they will get stuck on opposite ends of a short corridor. They will both pop out around a corner, fill the air with lasers, then hide quickly.
This goes on until one decides to charge. The second player can then: a) kill the first player (duh) b) back off, at which point the sniping begins again in a new corridor c) try to fly around the first player (so that the positions of P1 and P2 are switched) d) die. :)

7: Exit-Guarding (CHEAP)
If the reactor on the level is blown, you KNOW where your opponent will come running..."

Meghan Mendenhall contributes:
"Open the door first, shoot some flares into the room, then go in
BACKWARDS. This will beat most ambush attempts. An awesome tactic, if you can find a room with a grating, is to fly behind the grate and wait for your opponent there. If you use the vulcan cannon, they'll never know where the shots came from! One thing I notice is that when I deal with the class 2 drones they tend to blend in well with the purple walls.  If you can find a spot where the underside your ship blends in, you have a great ambush spot.  Obviously it helps to get to know the level before doing multiplayer."

Check the newsgroup "alt.games.descent" for more information along these lines...


Part [6].  HOMEBREW

-- [6a] ---------- Will a level editor be released?

A level editor will not be released directly by Parallax Software, but they have released the specs for Descent levels.  This document is in a preliminary format, currently at version 0.10.
You can get the specs from most of the FTP sites that Descent itself is located.

Descent editors have already started to pop up!  The first one, called
DEVIL, is a substantial effort.  See the next section.

-- [6b] ---------- What kinds of level editors are out right now?

As of the time of this FAQ, the only level editor out now is one called DEVIL.  DEVIL, which stands for Descent Editor for Vertices,
Items and Levels, was created by Achim Stremplat (ubdb@rz.uni-karlsruhe.de).

The *official* WWW site for Devil is: http://www.uni-karlsruhe.de/~ubdb/index.html

DEVIL is a graphically-oriented Descent level editor.  It ONLY works with the registered version.

There is also an effort by NCSA to move the DEVIL code to Win32 for use in Windows 95 and Windows NT.  For more information, look at the WWW site: http://sdg.ncsa.uiuc.edu/~rvestal/descent_edit.html

-- [6c] ---------- Where can I find homebrew levels?

A good source for homebrew levels is right on the Interplay WWW site at http://www.interplay.com.  They are sponsoring a homebrew level contest, so check it out!

-- [6d] ---------- Okay, I've gotten a new level.  How do I play it?

Chances are, there is a .MSN file included with the level.  If this is the case, just move the files to your Descent directory and run
Descent as usual and hit "new game".  You should see a selection box with the name of the new mission file. Just select the new mission and play!

If there is no .MSN file, you need to create one.  Create a file called XXX.MSN  (where XXX is any name you want) which includes: name = PutDescriptiveNameHere      ;any name you want type = normal           ;can be "normal" or "anarchy".  Omitted means normal num_levels = 1          ;number of normal levels
FileName.rdl            ;level filename 1

The important part here is the FileName.rdl.  Replace this with the .RDL filename.  Once you've done this, put the .MSN file in your
Descent directory, start up a new game and you should see the afore- mentioned selection box.

If there is more than one level, just change the num_levels to the number of levels and list the filenames afterwards.


Part [7].  MISCELLANEOUS

-- [7a] ---------- What are the VCR controls in the Demo Playback?

Down Arrow:        Pause
Up Arrow:          Resume Playback
Left Arrow:        Go back one frame
Right Arrow:       Go forward one frame
Shift Left Arrow:  Fast Reverse
Shift Right Arrow: Fast Forward
Ctrl Left Arrow:   Rewind to beginning
Ctrl Right Arrow:  Fast Forward to end (thanks to adliber@aol.com)

-- [7b] ---------- Quick 'n Dirty 3-D Descent

Think Descent is incredible as it is?  Imagine playing it in a true 3D environment, and seeing your enemies literally float in space in front of you...

If you want to whet your appetite for this without buying a $1000
VR Helmet, try the following:

Load Descent up in VFX mode (descent -vfx).  There will be two side-by-side screens in gameplay.  (The flickering is due to page swapping.)  These images represent the left and right images for your left and right eyes.  If you could somehow get each image to each eye, you will experience true 3D.

Get two small mirror surfaces.  Make sure they are small (not much wider than a butter knife), and mount them near your face (either over or under your eyes) so that the left mirror is reflecting the left image (and ONLY the left image) to your left eye, and similarly for the right eye.  Now, adjust them so that an object in the viewport will converge.  At this point, you should be seeing in true stereoscopy.

I wouldn't recommend playing like this for an extended period of time -- your eyes will get strained very easily.  Do it just to experience the 3D effect.  If you can't live without it, buy
a VR Helmet. :)

-- [7c] ---------- I just died; where did all my stuff go?

Your stuff (weapons, energy, etc.) remain where you died.  Just fly back where you died and gather all your stuff back.

-- [7d] ---------- How can I skip past all the dialog in the beginning of the game?

Hit "Enter" to stop the scrolling, or hit "Esc" to stop the entire dialogue and to bring you directly to the game.

-- [7e] ---------- How can I avoid motion sickness?

Descent is a very immersive game, and you will likely still feel like you're inside Descent's environment for a short time after playing.  Many people complain of motion sickness, or feeling ill after playing a while.
Try to follow the following advice if you're having problems.

:: Blink occasionally.  During gameplay, you are staring intently at the monitor, your eyes dry out, and you are subject to strain, headaches, etc.  Blinking helps to yank you back in the real world occasionally.  (Thanks to Jon Hylands)
:: Try different display sizes.
:: Try sitting closer/further from the display.
:: Try different machine speeds.
:: Try different input devices.
:: Play on your friend's computer, and see if it is better/worse.
:: TAKE BREAKS WHILE YOU PLAY.
:: If you have a sound card, try playing with/without the sound.

Of course, if you have any medical problems while playing this game, stop playing IMMEDIATELY and call your doctor.

-- [7f] ---------- I'm having hallucinations when I look away from the monitor.

You've been playing far too long, and you need sleep.  Go take a nap. :)

-- [7g] ---------- My frame rate is too slow.  Any suggestions?

Try the following, in order:  (Thanks again to mdmbkr on #descent for help in writing this.)

SOFTWARE solutions:

:: Change the game detail to something simpler.  (F2)
:: Reduce the size of the screen.  (+ and -)
:: Switch to the status bar screen instead of the cockpit view. this increases speed, but minutely.
:: Turn off the music.  This will also dramatically increase the framerate, especially if you have a less powerful CPU.
Also consider turning off the digital sound effects.  You can use the setup program to make these changes.
:: Reduce the resolution of the screen, if you are playing version 1.4.
Type descent -help for more information.
:: If running Windows 95, try dropping to DOS mode. (use Start/Shutdown/Restart the computer in DOS mode).  Win95 really shouldn't have an impact on gameplay, however.

HARDWARE solutions:

:: Make sure Smartdrive is loaded, as it has a drastic improvement.
See your DOS/Windows documentation for details (or just run
Memmaker -- this installs Smartdrive automatically).
:: Get a faster video board -- word is, the faster the video board, the better.
:: Get more memory.
:: Get a faster computer.

-- [7h] ---------- How can I measure my frame rate for my computer?

While there is no (easy) way to directly measure your frame rate inside Descent, there exists a utility called 3DBench which will perform a benchmark test on your computer and return a value which represents your computer's 3D muscle.

The program displays an animation of 3D polygons, and after that is done, it displays the benchmark number.  The higher the number, the faster (and smoother) your computer is in displaying 3D objects.  This utility is indispensable when tuning your computer's settings for optimum effect.

You can FTP 3DBench from tracker.vet.uga.edu in /pub/kali.


Part [A].  APPENDICES

-- [AA] ---------- Appendix A: Internet resources for Descent

World Wide Web sites: http://www.primenet.com/~decuirjd/descent.faq
...official site for latest FAQ http://www.primenet.com/~decuirjd/descent.html
...author's Descent page http://www.interplay.com/website/descent.html
...Interplay's Descent Home Page http://www.uni-karlsruhe.de/~ubdb/index.html
...DEVIL homepage http://sdg.ncsa.uiuc.edu/~rvestal/descent_edit.html
...Information on a Win32 Descent editor