* System Shock - Hints and Tips, Level 5 * This is the level you heard about from e-mail; Sara Parovski and others are holding out on this level, and want you to join/rescue them. As you get off the elevator, the room to your left is probably locked by Shodan. (Camera above door sees you.) In it is an ambush (sec1bots, darkness) the cyberspace terminal, and a closet full of goodies. The closet is unlocked in cyberspace. West and south is the main part of the level. West of the large north-south corridor are two crates and a cyborg assassin. Behind the large crate is a hidden door. In there is an evergy station and an assault rifle. Continuing to the west and south, you find a bulkhead door. Behind that is access to the western flight bay. Once you get into that, you will find a large panel in the northwest corner of the bay. Light up the first, second, fourth, and fifth buttons from the left. All but a small portion of an overhead force walk is turned on. That is the force walk to a room with jump boots and a headlamp. The life pods are to the far east end of the level, entered through one of the two flight bays there. In the center of the level is the freight elevator to level 4. Go in the door, do the borg, jump down, find the repulsar lift, then find the access panel. This will start a forcewalk to the door you entered. Out in that main corridor, circling around east, south, and west, you will find a contaminated area. This area has one CPU node, an energy station, access to the southeast flight bay, and access to the rejuvenator. This is also where you see the code name "gray" on the wall. This was left by the resistors for you. The corridor you need to get to them is the second one to the west of the flight bay entrance. There is a pair of octagonal shafts you must pass through. You will need to note where the green (up) repulsars are, and where the red (down) are, so you can get to openings up the shafts. Save before you do these; you may find yourself bobbing up and then down as borgs shoot at you. Lean out, and look up and down. You may be able to shoot from your ledge, or at least see where the threats are. Past these, you find the resistor's hideout. Shodan taunts you as you approach. Through the force door is a cortex reaver. Open the door from the right side, lean over and snipe at it. These things are mean, but too big to come after you in the corridor. (So, how did it get in there?) The assault rifle, logs and other goodies are around. There is a button on the main room wall; it gives access to a repulsar. That lifts you to an upper corridor. This is a special area, because this is where you can use that broken force walk to the west. If you previously turned on the walk, good. Otherwise, jump down and do the buttons, circle around and get back here. Save before trying this, as it's a long way back. Turn on your skates if you like (turbo motion boosters) or just jump as you run towards the break in the walk. Get in, get the jump boots and headlamp, and leave. If you came down to level 5 just to try to save/join the resistors, and you haven't done much on level 6, you have a choice. Level 4 is needed after you have jettisoned the infected Beta grove, so you don't need to go down there now. On the other hand, you must explore Beta grove on level 6, which is strongly contaminated. There is a version 1 biosuit on level 4, in the southeast corner of the level, which will make the Beta outing easier... -------------------------------------------------------------------------- * Visit #2: Grab a Lifepod and Leave! * Even though you may have been through here and did every bot in the area, they're back. They look bigger this time. In fact, they are bigger. Those are sec2bots. There are probably 3 or 4 in each of the two east flight bays you can use to get to the life pods. You can snipe at them from above, and take the ammo later (yes, you will need it. There is a 'later'.) Once you have a clear entry to the iris door to the pod area, save. This may be tough. Waiting for you is Edward Deigo. Yep, he's back, and he's ready. I found my best tactic to be hit and run. I opened the door, shot him a bit with the skorpion, and ran like hell out of the bay. I circled around, and came out on the upper level deck. I then sniped at him until he vanished. For this, you don't need hot ammo; just magnum slugs or magnesium tip assault rifle rounds will do. Ok, let's go down. Don't want to salvage ammo right now? Ok, let's just leave. Type the number in the keypad (you found the combination in a log- I believe it is 001) or use a logic probe. The door opens. There is a big pod launch lever on the wall. Use it. What's that? It's Shodan, stopping your launch. Not only is Shodan trying to trap you on the station, it has bots and borgs frantically working to separate the bridge (ninth level) from the station, so Shodan can escape! Well, you can leave the lifepod now. Grab the first aid kit, go out, and salvage that ammo from those sec2bots. Unless you are playing at plot difficulty level 3 (limited time) you don't really need to rush. Head for level 6, level 7, and then level 8. Note: the level 8 door bothered some players. They reported that even after they had done everything right, the door was labeled as locked when they approached it and double clicked on it. Don't bother; just walk right in front of it, and it will open. Save your game. Level 8 has fliers, probably circling right over your head, as well as highly placed snipers. Good luck...