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of the starting point, on the ground. On level three, he's in a small chamber, relatively close to the starting point. You need to go straight one room. Turn left, go into the big room. (Watch out for the "eagle" bot!) Turn right at the first intersection, and then left.
* Can I kill the guide bot?

Yes! The GB will die if you hit him enough. Hitting directly is impossible. He either has to be hurt by enemy shots (hard), or by exploding lava or proximity mines. After the GB dies, he leaves behind a marker which states: "RIP: Guide-Bot".
Note: If it bothers you, it's easier just to tell it to go away.
Shift-F4 toggles his command list.

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What is the thief bot? (jk)

* What does the thief bot do?

Like all thieves and most politicans, the TB robs you blind. He zips around very fast and erratically. If he touches you, he will steal some of your weapons. (Get used to it. The full version of D2 will the same kind of thing, but will also work on your energy and shields.)
* Can I kill the thief bot?

Yes. It takes a good number of shots, which is hard to do because he zips around so fast. But it is possible. When he dies he gives off three shield power ups and three energy power ups along with all of your stuff back. BEWARE: The explosion of the TB is fairly violent and can hurt you if you get too close!
* What is a good way to kill the thief bot?

One good way I've found is to hit him with a flash missile (a little difficult, but possible.) This will stun him and make him hold still for a little while, during which you can pound the snot out of him!
* Hey, I killed the thief bot, but where's all my stuff?

If the TB has your stuff for a while, some of it is "lost" and cannot be found again. Therefore it is in your best interests to kill the TB
ASAP!

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What is the evil bot? (jk)

Nobody is quite sure. EB is described on the web page as "The Guide Bot's nasty twin." EB does not appear in the interactive demo, but will most likely appear in the full version of D2. Our *guess* is that EB is a droid that will attempt to mislead you, impersonating the GB.
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Is there a way to get out of level 2 without getting wrecked by the creation zone near the exit? (jk)

Yes. Just inside the exit tunnel is a control panel. When you shoot it, it creates a force field over the creation zone, conveiently trapping all the bad guys inside. No, it's not possible to hit the control panel before you blow the reactor, although it is possible to trip the creation zone and simply destroy robots until it stops producing them.
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CHEATS
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What are the cheat codes for Descent I?

Type the following directly in the game, regardless of your current keyboard mapping setup.

* GABBAGABBAHEY = Cheats enabled!

Note: You *must* type GABBAGABBAHEY before using any other cheats in the game.

* SCOURGE = WowieZowie Weapons!
* MITZI = All Keys!
* RACERX = Invulnerability On/Off!
* GUILE = Cloak On/Off!
* TWILIGHT = Shields Recharged!
* FARMERJOE = Warp to Which Level?

***The following cheat codes work ONLY in the registered version***

* BUGGIN = Turbo mode; everything (including enemies) speeded up
* BRUIN = Extra Life!
* BIGRED = SuperWowieZowie Weapons! (includes ALL weapons)
* FLASH = Illuminates a path to the exit
* AHIMSA = Turns off enemy ships' firing

***The following cheat codes work ONLY in reg. Version 1.4 & above***

* POBOYS = Also blows the reactor immediately
* ASTRAL = "Ghost" mode; go through doors, etc. (NOT walls)
* PORGYS = MEGA WowieZowie Weapons! (Must be seen to be believed)
* LUNACY = Robots move fast, fire seldom
* PLETCH*** = When you replace *** by a 3 digit number from 000 to 998, whenever you fire upon a robot or hit a robot with a flare, it "paints" the robot with a new texture. To turn off this texture "painting", type PLETCH999.

You might want to change your "bomb" key to something that won't conflict with these codes, otherwise you might blow up before you finish typing it.

Note that when you use cheat codes, your score drops to 0. Hence, use these codes only as practice runs. (Thanks to adliber@aol.com)

You CANNOT use the cheat codes in a multiplayer game, unless you are using a hacked .EXE file. Please don't send me any mail asking how to do it or how to get a copy, as I will simply trash it.
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What are the cheat codes for Descent II? * gabbagabbahey -- Takes away your shield and energy until there is one unit of each * bittersweet -- Turns the screen into a warped effect. * ericaanne -- Bouncing weapons! Your weapons bounce off the walls a few times; but your enemies weapons do too! (jk)

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Are there any secret levels in Descent II? (jk)

Yes and no. There is a teleporter to a secret level hidden on level 3, but when you fly into it, the interactive demo says, "Transporter to Secret
Level Disabled in Demo Version." To find the transporter, go to the energy zone near the red door. Turn away from the red door, and fly straight until you hit the first wall. Turn left. Forward and up into the small alcove.
Turn to the right. There is a hidden door in front of you; shoot it to open it. Inside is a guided missile, some flash missiles, and, of course, the teleporter.
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We're looking for cheats and secrets! If you know any, e-mail me, and you'll get full credit for "discovering" them.
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HOMEBREW
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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.
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What is DEVIL?

The most well-known Descent editor is 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://wwwrzstud.rz.uni-karlsruhe.de/~ubdb/index.html

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

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

More level editors are starting to pop up. DTX is a Texture, Sound and
Music editor for Descent. DLE is a Windows-based level editor currently in beta test. You can find both of these on Compuserve's Action Games Forum
(GO ACTION).
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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!

Another good source for homebrew levels is Compuserve's Action Games Forum, which currently has over 135 levels in their Descent library. Type GO
ACTION.
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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 aforementioned selection box.

If there is more than one level, just change the num_levels to the number of levels and list the filenames afterwards.
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MULTIPLAYER
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Can I play other humans in Descent?

Yes! Descent is a full MP (multi-player) game as well. You can either link up with a fellow player via modem, serial cable, or network.

One of the advantages that Descent has over other similar games is that any player can join or leave the game at any time on a network. For modems,
Descent's setup couldn't be easier. For the vast majority of modems, a simple ATZ sets things up for Descent, and you're ready to go. You can set this up in the multi-player setup menu off the main menu.
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Does each computer require a distinct version of the software?

No. Each computer on a MP game can be running a copy of the Descent software.
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Why do different computers play differently on a multiplayer game?

When a Pentium and a 386 are playing on a MP game, there is an element of "unfairness" to the 386-user. In past games, such as Doom, the system compensated by reducing the Pentium-user's display to match the 386 display.

However, Parallax and Interplay decided not to take this route, and to have every computer play at the level it can play at.
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Can I play Descent on the Internet?

There are two major ways of playing Descent on the Internet. One is head-to-head, called IHHD, which requires access to a shell account (Unix).
The other is called Kali; it is multi-player, but requires a true TCP/IP connection (like SLIP or PPP). You CANNOT play Descent over commercial on-line services, like Prodigy or America Online. (See note on Compuserve later)

IHHD INFO:

One of Descent's shining points is that it can be played over the Internet using IHHD (Internet Head to Head Daemon - a program that allows modem games to work over the internet). It's almost as fast, if not faster than a modem connection! In order to get started, you need to get the IHHD software compiled for the unix machine you have your shell account on (sorry slip users). On IRC in the #descent channel, type /dcc chat descender. then type /msg descender files. the rest is easy. Once you have the IHHD Binary for your system, find someone to play. (there's almost always someone on #descent in IRC who'd like to play). One of you runs "tcpanswer", the other runs "tcpdialer machine_name_of_other_player". Once you have connected, each of you should exit your comm programs (leaving carrier up of course), load Descent and select multiplayer game, then
Establish Null Modem Link. Presto! You've got a IHHDescent game going.