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Snark Pit
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Snark pit is a real meatgrinder. It consists of two roughly square series of halls, one above the other, with a hellish basement (i.e., the Snark Pit) that could be home to a KFC franchise, with all the deep-frying
that goes on down there.
The key to dominating this map depends on the number of opponents playing. If the map is busy, simply getting the gluon gun and running a circuit of the basement can be quite effective. A gluon gun in the hands of
even a semi-competant fragger can be brutal here, because in the main basement room 60 units of gluon/tau ammo and 30 points of battery armor consistently reappear. As unfortunates respawn down here, you can keep
Bouncy-Skull Mode in effect if you even have a fraction of a clue.
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CRISPY, OR EXTRA CRISPY?
The key is getting the gluon gun is right after you respawn. It’s located in a niche in the side of a room containing green waste; in the center of the waste are two rotating discs with projecting arms
that make passage slightly difficult (though not unduly so). You reach this room either from the main level, down the spiral stone staircase, or from the basement, mounting the ladder next to the first
aid station. (Beware, though, as plenty of frags occur at this spot.)
Get the gluon, then proceed down the ladder to the basement, taking care before turning the corner near the first-aid station--plenty of campers park themselves at the far end of the hall waiting for
players to approach the station. Another basement camping spot to be wary of is the gap between platforms you see ahead of you--there’s a crossbow there and (often) a crouching soon-to-be frag parked
next to it.
In the basement, cycle around the main area and the hall behind it, scarfing up armor, gluon cells, and the tau as it regenerates. Also snag the contact grenades as they appear in one corner of the
hallway--if only to keep them out of your opponents’ hands! If you hear someone foolish enough to use the first aid station, make a beeline for the hall and fry them as you turn the corner.
WHEN SNARKS ATTACK
One way to flush out a gluon whore is to summon the endlessly amusing “rain of snarks.” This can only be done once per battle, but it’s sure to work: On the upper level, in a small courtyard with a pipe
extending from the ceiling (the same room which houses the MP5 and a first-aid pack and has a shaft opening in the center), you find a switch with a down arrow on it. Hit it, and a flood of snarks will
fall into the basement, quickly disrupting the balance of power down there. Just don’t get fragged right thereafter and respawn in the basement!
BRING THE BATTLE TO THE HO
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Evict a gluon ho with a daring tact: grab the contact grenades from the corner on the first level near the spiral stairs and the MP5 near the snark mechanism and jump straight into the basement fray. Nail a
distracted gluon freak (avail yourself of the extra grenades near the tau cannon) and become the freak yourself.
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ESCAPING THE BASEMENT MASSACRE
Just spawned and being chased by a gluon-crazed LPB? Just past the tau cannon is a grate with a circling fan underneath (triggering the switch on the wall will momentarily turn the fan off). Stand on the
center of the grate and jump straight up until you hit the ceiling of the shaft. From there you’ll be able to see the hidden “blue room,” a cubby hole with 4 armor batteries and three energy cells. Edge
your way towards the energy goodness and tau yourself into the cubby hole by discharging the tau against the opposite wall. When you’ve had your fill, exit the nook and let the air propel you around to
the upper level.
DOUBLE YOUR FUN
Many of the better weapons, barring the gluon, can be found on the main level. Be sure to acquire the MP5 and the corner stash of 4 grenades. Spread the readily available tripmines to cause upper level
havoc. Satchels abound, with plenty of blind corners and narrow halls to concentrate the blast.
The tau cannon can be useful on this map if you’re willing to get cheap kills by firing through walls. It’s especially effective if you’re in one of the small courtyards on the main level--plenty of stone
posts at both eye level and above mean you can instantly tau anyone using them for cover. The tau takes some skill to use in the basement, however, where there are no thin walls and the only tau kills
you get are by firing through the corner of a wall to create a spray pattern--not as easy to pull off.
Indeed, because of Snark Pit’s close quarters, your best bet may be the shotgun. Two barrels at close range will do near anyone, so you might want to make this your weapon of choice if you’re crusing the
middle and upper halls looking for victims. You can find it at the top of the stairs leading to the second level (directly outside the small courtyard housing the MP5 and snark switch).
Finally, the cruelest (but least common) Snark Pit frag method has to be the toxic-waste trap in the upper halls, near where the tau spawns. You can trigger a wall switch which drops away a grated part of
the hall floor, dunking your nemesis into the death-sludge below. Not easy to pull off except on newbies, but pull it off and you get points for style (at least from us).
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