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Walkthrough - "Xidia Gold"

Derelict Surface

Map Author: Sjoerd "Hourences" De Jong
Weapons: Dispersion Pistol Powerup, Automag, Shock Rifle, Ripper, Flak Cannon, Eightball, Combat Assault Rifle.
Creatures: Pupae, Devilfish, Skaarj Praetorian, Skaarj Gunner, Skaarj Sniper Elite.
Bosses: None
Difficulty:

The second-to-last map of Jones. You're now truly inside the Derelict Skaarj ship, and the most powerful Skaarj are awaiting you, until its end. This level can be very annoying for casual players on Unreal difficulty thanks for the incredible amount of Skaarj Praetorians. Fortunately there's always a way to survive, but it won't be easy.

Equip the Eightball and open the door. As you pass through it, start to charge some grenades. Now turn to the left and you should see your first challenger: a Skaarj Praetorian. Release all the charged bombs on his body (may be hard as the Skaarj isn't actually going to you at the start. Just reload the game if you fail). As the bombs hit the enemy, retreat in the map's first room.
Now the Skaarj Praetorian will try to shoot you from outside or (rarely and unfortunately) enter the corridor and hacking you to death. If you see him, fill him with well-placed Flak Shells or other charged Eightball grenades. Damaging him quickly will force him to stay outside rather than enter your alcove.
Sometimes, the Skaarj Praetorian will not make himself visible to you and will hide to the left or the right. If this happens, try to step on the exit and dodge backwards. If done correctly, the Skaarj will re-see you, doing the above. His projectiles are VERY fast, so I recommend to stay close to the start of this small corridor. You may get also the help of three Devilfish that will annoy the Skaarj. You may use that moment to damaging him to death.

Once you have kill the Skaarj, deal with the three Devilfish. They swim very fast, and arrive everywhere in the flooded area. Just stay in the exit of the map's first room and shoot them with the Dispersion Pistol (DP).

After the buggers die, you can explore the first area. In the middle, you'll find two empty boxes, a Health Pack, an Eightball Gun, an Automag and a can of 12 Eightballs.
The left side is empty, while if you go to the right hand side of the area, you'll find a box containing the last Dispersion Pistol Powerup, which will enhance your DP to the maximum level (if you got them all from the game's start).

Now go to the elevator and ascend it to arrive at the second floor, the easiest one of the bunch. As you step in the chamber after the lift corridor, you'll be probably assaulted by three Pupae coming from the right side and two from the left. Just stay in the previous corridor and wait for them with the DP. As they arrive, shoot them and, if they manage to run near you, fall down to the lift (fortunately no damage). The Pupae will lose time to jump below and you'll have lots of room to take them down. Remember that you can hear always their sounds if one is nearby and still alive.

Return above and go to the left tunnel. When passing the corner, you'll be attacked by another Pupae coming from above, so run backward and kill him with the DP.
Proceed in the next corner, which at first seems to be empty of monsters. In reality, there's a Pupae, a bugged one. Try to aim to the cobweb above, across the nook between the wall and the ceiling. When your crosshair becomes red, then this means that you found the hidden Pupae. DP works always, and he'll be harmless forever. If you don't manage to find him, use the screen below.

Advance to the middle of the area and proceed to the third corner. Here the two final Pupae of the floor will attack you. Use the same strategy as before.
In this area there's no items, so proceed in the third floor above.

When you arrive, it seems to be empty, but it actually hides one of the hardest battles of Xidia. The pathway in the middle is blocked by two crates, and between them, you should see an Xidia Skaarj Gunner. Be sure not to make yourself visible and go to the corridor on the right (if you go near the crates an earthquake occurs).
Proceed through this path and pass the first corner to arrive at the second one. Now save the game and equip the Eightball. The middle part of this floor, the one after the two crates, has that Xidia Skaarj Gunner you have seen before and a tough Skaarj Sniper Elite (fast and with 300 health) which is found on the left after the corridor you have to pass (see the set of pillars on the left side? After them there's a wall which connects this set with the one found on the centre bridge. Next to this wall, there's the Skaarj, and you cannot see him).
The Skaarj Sniper Elite has a Flak Cannon, while the Gunner has an Eightball. To deal with these guys easily, equip your Eightball and aim in the direction where the Skaarj Sniper Elite should be (look at the screen below). The crosshair should be red and you should see a black inch of the Sniper Elite's foot. Charge four or five rockets and send them to that position.

After releasing them, retreat behind your corner's wall and equip the Flak Cannon. The rockets will heavily damage the Sniper Elite, who now chases you. A well-placed Flak Shell (you have to shoot him before he fully sees you, which happens shortly after you see part of his body that you have to hit) should kill him now. If he's still living, pray for luck, retreat back and use another Flak Shell.

When he dies he'll drop a Clip and a Flak Cannon which you may want to save for the next few Skaarj: the Xidia Skaarj Gunner and another Skaarj Sniper Elite who have seen you from the opposite corner.
This one is identical to the Flak Cannon one, but he has a Combat Assault Rifle (CAR). If he hasn't seen you and you want to kill him (and the Gunner if you want) quickly before the dropped Flak Cannon disappears, shoot some CAR bullets to the opposite corner. If done correctly, now you should see his bullets' lighting. This means he's chasing you. Charge some Eightball bombs (five or six of them) and release them in the middle of the corridor. The Sniper Elite will not attempt to avoid them and will be probably being hit and killed. He's still living? A Flak Shell would be good. He'll drop his CAR and CAR Grenades.
Now only the Xidia Skaarj Gunner is remaining, and he has an Eightball. If the previous Skaarj Sniper Elite has been killed quickly and you think to have more time to use the Flak Cannon before the dropped one (from the first Sniper Elite) disappears (I would recommend to save the game after killing the previous two Skaarj), you can attempt to beat this latter Skaarj with some Flak Shells. His rockets are easy to avoid and he doesn't like to run to you. Be sure to strafe, as he likes to Lock-on you with his Eightball.
If you don't want to use the FC and you already got the dropped one, then use some Eightball bombs or the Automags. The DP can also work, but you'll need patience with his shield and strafing against his stuff.

When the Gunner dies, he'll drop only his Eightball. Now get everything you need and go in the corner where the CAR Skaarj Sniper Elite was. One of the two crates, the one on the right, will be opened for you. There is a Blade Hopper and a CAR Clip.

Time to go in the last floor of this place. Be sure to save the game and have the Eightball equipped. When you use the lift to go above, be sure to hide behind the crate in order to not to be seen by anyone found in this last floor.

As the elevator arrives at destination, wait 2.5 seconds and start charging Eightball bombs. Now run to this floor and you'll discover a Skaarj Praetorian who will run at you after he's spotted you. When he's near you (avoiding his projectiles may take some great strafing skills, but he mostly only runs here) release the bombs.
This will obviously not kill him, but if you waited those 2.5 seconds, the elevator will go to the floor below. Enemies act weirdly in moving lift, and even more when you FOOL them around a crate... yes, if the Praetorian arrives at the elevator, you can escape his attacks by playing with him around the big metal box.
At this time, the Skaarj will not try to avoid stuff (he'll do it rarely though), so be sure to kill him with the DP/Automags/CAR. The Flak Cannon works too but it's more or less a waste. CAR Grenades can be good too as the Praetorian will have difficulties in dodging.

When he dies, he'll reward you with a can of 12 Eightballs. Save your game and return in the floor above. Now here you'll find another tricky battle, which is even harder than the one you fought below (possibly the most annoying in Xidia). Once you arrive in that big door in the distance, a neon lamp will fall from above and two Skaarj Praetorians will appear (from the right side, after the position of the broken lamp) in order to kill you. How it can be done?

Strong Enemy Fight: Two Skaarj Praetorians
Health of both Skaarj: 450
Difficulty:

At the start I thought this battle was damn impossible. How can you fight TWO Uber-strong Skaarj Praetorians that have: very high health, fast projectiles, running constantly at awesome speed etc... Forget those lame, big Red Nemesis found in Outpost Pheonix, Spencer's fourth map and Sky Town Reduxx, these ones are much worse.

Of course, we already killed two Skaarj Praetorians in a row in the previous map, but you just simply used an AI glitch with the help of some broken staircase... plus you were able to lure only ONE of them at time.
Here the story is different, you have to deal with both at the same time. And unfortunately there's no staircase here, and your speed is nothing compared to their red legs.
But as the difficulty above is five and not six, this means that there's a simple way to defeat both of them without making your health touch a low number like 10 (unless you have been dumb during the course of Jones's adventure, which can be neither easy or hard).
Yep, I found a safe-strategy-but-not-honourable one. It's about making the two Skaarj Praetorians fall on the base of one of the two towers that divide the three bridges. Doing this requires patience and even luck

Be sure to have the Eightball equipped and proceed to the left corridor at the start of the floor. Pass the first corner and arrive at the second one (you may want to save the game here in order to avoid wasting time if you die). When you arrive at that destination, start to charge your Eightball bombs and proceed to the middle area.
The neon lamp will fall and you should see the two Skaarj Praetorians falling from a ledge found in the opposite corridor. When the first Skaarj arrives at the descending ramp which leads to the corridor you're in, release your grenades on his body... and RUN AND DODGE BACKWARD like MAD to the edge of the previous corridor which has the closed door.
The grenades will (hopefully) damage the targeted Skaarj Praetorian. They'll chase you, and now is the best moment to make them fall down. This is another Skaarj AI trick: you put yourself on the edge of the corridor with the door as I said above (try to stay in the middle part). If you have been fast enough (which is possible), the Skaarj Praetorians are still running on the corridor where you released the grenades. The structure would be like this big L:

|_

In the middle of the vertical line the two Skaarj Praetorians are running, while you are in the centre of the horizontal one. 80% of the time, the two Skaarj will try to run at you not by using the right way, but by trying to jump over the gap between the two bridges. In this way, both Skaarj will fall down like idiots.
To make the chances of this fact higher, I recommend resuming running away to the first corner and shoot a rocket to their right (from your point of view, on your left). This may makes them dodge to the right and touch the edge, so they'll then probably jump down as their AI decided. You can see also some railings in the corridor hubs, and if the Skaarj touches these, they'll get blocked and then probably they'll jump down.

The strategy sounds incredibly confusing at first, but if you try run from them by staying near the edge of ANY corridors, it's possible that the trick will happen. Do lots of tries about this. You don't even need to release those bombs at the start, but better do so...

Three situations may happen now:

1) Both Skaarj are still on your floor: pretty simple. Go in your menu and reload the game.
2) Only one Skaarj fell below: it's possible that only one Skaarj will jump below, while the second is still above annoying you. If the one who fell was the undamaged one from the bombs released at the start (this is mostly the reason why I said you to do it), then you're lucky as you have to face the injured one. The Red Nemesis trick with the Flak Cannon works well here, or you can just escape while throwing Flak Shells at him. It may be hard though as you have to avoid the Skaarj projectiles... well you have always the Seeds.
The Anti-Red Nemesis trick works perfectly against the healthy Skaarj Praetorian if the one who jumped below was the damaged one. To defeat the Skaarj who jumped below on the tower base, see point N°3.
3) It's pretty easy now. The Skaarj have difficulties in moving in slope floors as the AI isn't perfectly made about that. They'll strafe from time to time, but they are mostly stuck in one position at firing.
Stay always on the last floor and bombard them with the DP and use the floor as cover to avoid their projectiles and, obviously, be calm.

Once the Skaarj die, breathe for a while. Remember that both of them drop a Health Pack. If you don't know how to go over the base of the two towers without getting damage, you can simply drop from the second floor (remember that the first is the flooded one in my dictionary).

Now return to the last floor again and go to the right side. Be sure to save the game (of course! After that mad battle!) and enter the door here, as you can open it. Follow the corridor and ascend in the floor above with one of the two elevators.
When you arrive at the top, walk a little to make your boss contact you:

"Mission Update: Jones, the second drop ship is on it's way to the Hangar in the Military complex. Seems that when your dropship got taken out, the second ship flew toward Outpost Pheonix to aid your team, but thanx to a alien ion blast, their radios were disabled. They also claim to have taken down two small jet bombers, one of which they said had bombed Outpost Pheonix earlier. Theres still one more fighter they are looking out for, hurry to the Military base!"

Pass through the next tunnel until you arrive in a balcony found in a gargantuan cylindrical-shaped area. Over you the sky is visible, and some Starships fly through it. Have a lap around this balcony but STAY AWAY from the edge. Now save the game, wait a little and return to the previous corridor. A Skaarj Praetorian (with 320 health like a Lord or a Berserker, but more resistant as always) has appeared because he seeks your obvious death.
If he's patrolling the middle of the corridor, he'll run to its start when you see him. You can try one of the following now in order to kill him:

1) Charge the usual Eightball grenades when he starts to run away. Chase him, but stay away from a certain, safe distance. As he arrives at his destination, he'll begin to chase you. Release your (six if everything gone alright) bombs to him. If he doesn't die, equip Flak Cannon, then side-dodge and primary fire him to death.
2) Equip the BioRifle and release a full blob when just before he starts chasing you (aim for his direction). Finish him with the Flak Cannon's primary fire.
3) While he's running away, hit him with some well-aimed CAR Grenades. Finish him with the Flak Cannon when he turns to you.
4) Use only the Ripper and try to aim for his head. You must move your crosshair in a higher position than usual, and use only normal blades. Four or five headshots should kill him, but most of the time you're going to waste more blades. Here you have better chance to avoid his projectiles.

The choice is yours, but you can make your strategy. At least try NOT to lose a lot of health because this guy is a pushover. Just be sure not to make the fight continue to the balcony, PLEASE. Before going to the balcony area and start to create mess here, be sure to pick up anything you left in the first part of the map as you may forgot them.

Return to the balcony, save the game and equip your Shock Rifle. Now go to the right hand side and try to see what's below. There are two Skaarj Sniper Elites, on both right and left side, found over piles of crates. They are armed with the same weapon you have in your hands... the Shock Rifle. Both are strong and need to be defeated one by one (at least it's more recommended).

Be sure that they haven't discovered you or realized anything (in other words: see if they are in their original positions) and stay on the right side, in the part without the railings. Aim at the Skaarj on the right side (be sure you're only visible by him) and shoot him with two Shock Bolts consecutively. He should fall behind the crates. If done correctly, he'll not be doing anything at that point and will remain behind the boxes. Ignore him and think about the second Skaarj Sniper Elite, who shouldn't have moved from his position.
Now you have to kill this second Skaarj with Shock Bolts. He can be easy or hard, just try to hit him always when you have the chances. If he shoots, hide behind the floor. If he uses the shield, wait him behind the floor. 7 bolts or more should take him out.
Now you have to descend below with the lift found on the left side of the balcony. Save the game and try to kill that first Skaarj who fell behind the crates. The fight between you and him is a Shock Rifle one... so just take him out with bolts and strafe in order to luckily avoid his shots.

When the second Skaarj dies, be sure to get both dropped Shock Rifle and stay on the exterior part of the area. Look above for the usual awesome Unreal Engine 1 effects with explosions and a falling lift. Stay away for sure.
The fallen elevator has some lava-looking stuff on some of its pieces, and you may get hurt if you touch them (I'm not really sure but AVOID them).

Check both panels near the two lift, the one on the left...

"<<LIFT ERROR>> Inform Lord Tareth of malfunction, those responsible will be punished for insolence."

...and the one on the right:

"LIFT DEACTIVATED: Secondary power unit must be activated before Lift accessable."

You have to activate this latter lift. The big area here doesn't contain anything with which to do so: the activation panel is found below the floor, as you see from the grates in the middle of the place. To get there, jump into one of the two lift pits. They have the entrance to that corridor.
The road is pretty narrow here, and in the pathway with the panel, you'll be confronted by three Pupae. Be fast in killing them by using your best DP skills.
When they have all died, check the room for a Nali Healing Fruit and the opened panel which activates the working lift's controls. Now save the game and head in the tunnel which leads to the broken lift, as only here you can return above.

Now in the main area two normal Skaarj Gunners have appeared. They can be hard or easy, depending on how good you are at avoiding lots of rockets in a short space of time. Just go around the exterior part of the area (far from the wall) and kill them with the DP or CAR's primary fire.
They both drop Eightballs, and when they die, PRESS THE PANEL OF THE WORKING LIFT!

Save the game before this part. The elevator descends very slowly. When it is near destination, charge some Eightball bombs. Be prepared when you see the Skaarj Praetorian. After he jumps from the elevator, release your bombs to him and switch to the Flak Cannon (primary fire is obviously better as the Praetorian likes to stay near you most of the time). If you have difficulties in this last part, be sure to fool the enemy by going around one of the piles of crates.

When he dies, get the two Eightball Guns if they are still in the field and use the lift to go to the top of the area. During the trip you can return to the balcony which leads to the first part of the map.

When you arrived at the top (IGNORE that part below it) you'll see a closed crate on the right...

"CRATE LOCKED"

The passage nearby is opened, but it's full of fire which it can damage you if you touch it. Fortunately there are no enemies or items here (for the latter except the end), so you only need to worry about the flames.
Here's a mini-walkthrough about the passages you need to use, by going back and forth. Remember that the flames cause low (minimum is 10 health dealt) to incredible damage to you. One time I was even killed by them instantly at full health...

1) First set of flames in the doorway can be passed by going on the extreme right, running through the grate.

2) When you arrive at the broken door, use the left side.
3) There's a change of tunnel direction with three flaming planks. Just stay on the extreme right. Watch out at the pillar which may kicks you in the flames.

4) Directly after it, there are two flaming metal pieces. Pass between them.

5) There are now two flaming planks and a metal brick. Pass in the passage on the left of the brick.
6) Stay always on the left side. Walls on fire are harmless and the pillars (plus some walls, stay away from them) can kick you to the middle. Watch out.

7) You'll find at the left side, behind a broken metal piece, two Bandages (10 health for both), the crate key and a message:

"Clarke, Log: I figured that we may not make it to the Military compound to meet up with Judd's team if we take the main route. I knew there was a service tunnel just under the main route, so I marked a weak segment of the wall with an Orange "X" mark and prepared some C4. When we were ambushed, I was afraid the aliens would use my escape route to ambush Judd, so I locked the C4 in a nearby crate and kept the key with me. Once placed, the bomb goes off in a matter of seconds. ( No date, rest of mesage burned off)"

8) Obviously, return back now. It seems to be harder going in the opposite way, but be patient and anything will be right.

As you arrive at the locked crate, you can open it. The message changes:

"CRATE UNLOCKED"

Inside it you'll find a Health Pack and a C4 explosive (not an item, just a scripted thing). See the hole in the middle of the balcony? Jump down into this to go to the area below.
Go near the wall with the red cross and run away. The explosive counter will start after a while, three seconds in order to escape but I think you already did that. The wall is now opened and you can pass through it. You are in a cave environment similar to the ones of the previous map.

Save the game and go to the left side.
Behind the first crate, there will be a Pupae attacking you, so watch out. One thing is: stay away from the wall on the right side, as a BSP hole kills you.
Here you'll find a Ripper (leave it if you don't need it now), a Bandage of 10 health and the level's last message:

"Gere, Journal: Richie was right, I should have listened to him. But they aren't demons, those three winged freaks. Two of them, as far as I can tell, seem to protect the third, the one I only glimpsed briefly before they tele-escaped. I don't know if we're ever gonna beat these things before USM shows up, but one things clear, that third winged monstrosity has to die if we ever stand a chance of survival.(5/25)"

Now return back and go to the opposite side. Save the game too after you heard a Skaarj killing a human. After the turn, there's a last nice guy.

Strong Enemy Fight: Skaarj Praetorian
Health: 550
Difficulty:

It's nothing like the double Praetorian fight, but who knows, this guy can be hard. There are two strategies to beat this guy, one hard and one easy.

The hard one is using the Ripper. Remember the weak Skaarj Praetorian you killed in the corridor before the cylindrical-shaped area? Well, you have to do the same here.
As soon as you see him, shoot two normal blades, and possibly on his head. Now run backward through the corridor's end and try to decapitate him. Never use explosive blades, as they cannot decapitate (plus they will harm you if the monster is near you).
You have to aim a lil higher as usual, like you did in the previous Ripper vs Praetorian fight. several blades on his head will be enough to kill him. Be sure to dash backward and strafe to avoid his projectiles (alternate left and right moving in order to confuse the guy).

If you want an easy time, do the usual anti-single Praetorian strategy: load lots of grenades and release them to him when you make yourself visible. Run back and finish him with Flak Cannon's primary fire.
Nothing hard here, just a few tries and you'll get there.

Get anything you left in this corridor and proceed to the part where you encountered the last Skaarj Praetorian. Pass the door and enter the mine-themed room to finish this nightmarish map.

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Quick Links | Introduction
The Xidia Incident 1. Orbit 2. Landing 3. Outpost Pheonix 4. Beneath Xidia 5. Derelict Underground 6. Derelict Surface 7. Darklord 8. Xidia - Exodus	Xidia: The Escape 0. Spencer's Awakening 1. Self-Destruct 2. Underground Railroad 3. Return to Outpost Pheonix 4. The Dead Mines 5. The Genome Warriors 6. Black Widow 7. Beacon 8. Spencer's Escape
Inventory | Opposition | Conclusion