Descent 3 Game

Class 1 Drone
First Appears Level 1	Size 3 meters	Weapon 2 pulse rock cutters
Threat Low	Points 100	Often Drops Energy Boost
Doesn't fire very fast except on higher difficulties. Almost always travels in groups. Occasionally seen dropping Proximity Bombs (first seen on Level 11); these are distinguished by their camouflage texture.

Class 1 Drone

First Appears

Level 1

Size

3 meters

Weapon

2 pulse rock cutters

Threat

Low

Points

100

Often Drops

Energy Boost

Doesn't fire very fast except on higher difficulties. Almost always travels in groups. Occasionally seen dropping Proximity Bombs (first seen on Level 11); these are distinguished by their camouflage texture.

Class 2 Drone
First Appears Level 1	Size 4 meters	Weapon 2 argon welding lasers (LL3)
Threat Low	Points 200	Often Drops Shield Boost
Slightly more dangerous.

Class 2 Drone

First Appears

Level 1

Size

4 meters

Weapon

2 argon welding lasers (LL3)

Threat

Low

Points

200

Often Drops

Shield Boost

Slightly more dangerous.

Don't you wanna know who stands behind the intrigue in which you were involved in Descent 3? Then relax your mind and body before the next battle begins. Cause when it happens, with an impact of a speeding roller-coaster, you won't be able to break free before you finish the Descent 3: Mercenary expansion. Prepare To Start Your Descent.Sensory overload in 360° 3-D.Welcome to Descent™ - 27 levels of the most mind-bending, stomach-churning action game ever. Featuring true 3-Dimensional worlds with light source shading, texture mapping, 3-D morphing, directional sound effects and sizzling music, this is technology taken to the limit.

Small Hulk
First Appears Level 1	Size 5 meters	Weapon 2 heavy argon lasers (LL4)
Threat Low	Points 500	Often Drops Shield Boost
Seems a lower threat than even the C1D's, but there's usually 2-3 of them at one time.

Small Hulk

First Appears

Level 1

Size

5 meters

Weapon

2 heavy argon lasers (LL4)

Threat

Low

Points

500

Often Drops

Shield Boost

Seems a lower threat than even the C1D's, but there's usually 2-3 of them at one time.

Descent 3 Game Review

Medium Hulk
First Appears Level 3	Size 7 meters	Weapon 2 missile launchers (Concussion)
Threat High	Points 500	Often Drops Concussion Missiles
Don't let these guys surprise you, or you'll be sorry.

Medium Hulk

First Appears

Level 3

Size

7 meters

Weapon

2 missile launchers (Concussion)

Threat

High

Points

500

Often Drops

Concussion Missiles

Don't let these guys surprise you, or you'll be sorry.

Medium Lifter
First Appears Level 4	Size 5 meters	Weapon 2 diamond plated swingarms
Threat Medium	Points 500	Often Drops Shield Boost
Travel in packs, and screech just like C1D's.

Medium Lifter

First Appears

Level 4

Size

5 meters

Weapon

2 diamond plated swingarms

Threat

Medium

Points

500

Often Drops

Shield Boost

Travel in packs, and screech just like C1D's.

Cloaked Lifter
First Appears Level 4	Size 4 meters	Weapon 2 diamond plated swingarms, cloaking device
Threat Low	Points 1000	Often Drops Cloaking Device
Annoying, but they often drop Cloaking Devices.

Cloaked Lifter

First Appears

Level 4

Size

4 meters

Weapon

2 diamond plated swingarms, cloaking device

Threat

Low

Points

1000

Often Drops

Cloaking Device

Annoying, but they often drop Cloaking Devices.

Super (Heavy) Hulk
First Appears Level 5	Size 7 meters	Weapon 2 missile launchers (Homing)
Threat Very Very High	Points 1500	Often Drops Homing Missiles
Your nemesis. DO NOT let one of these get on your blind side! They increase in quantity with every level, and often guard the reactor.

Super (Heavy) Hulk

First Appears

Level 5

Size

7 meters

Weapon

2 missile launchers (Homing)

Threat

Very Very High

Points

1500

Often Drops

Homing Missiles

Your nemesis. DO NOT let one of these get on your blind side! They increase in quantity with every level, and often guard the reactor.

Class 1 (Vulcan) Driller
First Appears Level 6	Size 5 meters	Weapon Uranium mass drivers (Vulcan Cannon)
Threat Very High	Points 1000	Often Drops Vulcan Cannon / nothing
Their screech will surely send shivers down your spine (or you flinching away from the screen) on higher difficulties. With the Vulcan Cannon (which fires VERY fast), they can take 20-30 of your shields in seconds. You should catch them by surprise if at all possible (preferably with a Homing Missile).

Class 1 (Vulcan) Driller

First Appears

Level 6

Size

5 meters

Weapon

Uranium mass drivers (Vulcan Cannon)

Threat

Very High

Points

1000

Often Drops

Vulcan Cannon / nothing

Their screech will surely send shivers down your spine (or you flinching away from the screen) on higher difficulties. With the Vulcan Cannon (which fires VERY fast), they can take 20-30 of your shields in seconds. You should catch them by surprise if at all possible (preferably with a Homing Missile).

'Spider' Processing Robot
First Appears Level 6	Size 8 meters	Weapon 3 mass driver rifles (rock cutters)
Threat Medium	Points 600	Often Drops Baby Spiders
This unique robot often spawns Baby Spider robots (or even clones of itself!) when it's destroyed.

'Spider' Processing Robot

First Appears

Level 6

Size

8 meters

Weapon

3 mass driver rifles (rock cutters)

Threat

Medium

Points

600

Often Drops

Baby Spiders

This unique robot often spawns Baby Spider robots (or even clones of itself!) when it's destroyed.

Baby Spider
First Appears Level 6	Size 2 meters	Weapon Laser (LL1)
Threat Medium	Points 100	Often Drops nothing
Quite an annoyance if you lose one in your blind spot.

Baby Spider

First Appears

Level 6

Size

2 meters

Weapon

Laser (LL1)

Threat

Medium

Points

100

Often Drops

nothing

Quite an annoyance if you lose one in your blind spot.

Boss #1 (Level 7)
Size 28 meters
Weapon Smart Missiles, cloaking device, teleport
Threat Very Very High
Points 5000
Do not take this boss lightly! Its Smart Missiles are very damaging, and will kill if they hit you directly. See the Level 7 walkthrough.

Boss #1 (Level 7)

Size

28 meters

Weapon

Smart Missiles, cloaking device, teleport

Threat

Very Very High

Points

5000

Do not take this boss lightly! Its Smart Missiles are very damaging, and will kill if they hit you directly. See the Level 7 walkthrough.

Advanced Lifter
First Appears Level 8	Size 5-6 meters	Weapon 4 tungsten swingarms
Threat Medium	Points 800	Often Drops Shield Boost
More dangerous than Medium Lifters, as they are nearly silent and have twice as many claws.

Advanced Lifter

First Appears

Level 8

Size

5-6 meters

Weapon

4 tungsten swingarms

Threat

Medium

Points

800

Often Drops

Shield Boost

More dangerous than Medium Lifters, as they are nearly silent and have twice as many claws.

Secondary Lifter
First Appears Level 8	Size 4 meters	Weapon 1 heavy laser (LL1)
Threat Medium	Points 400	Often Drops nothing
More dangerous than either of the other Lifters. These Crows always travel in groups of two or three.

Secondary Lifter

First Appears

Level 8

Size

4 meters

Weapon

1 heavy laser (LL1)

Threat

Medium

Points

400

Often Drops

nothing

More dangerous than either of the other Lifters. These Crows always travel in groups of two or three.

Class 2 Supervisor Robot
First Appears Level 8	Size 4 meters	Weapon None
Threat Low	Points 400	Often Drops Varies
These appear rarely, but if you're lucky, you may get a nice powerup (or some robots, if you're not so lucky) for destroying it. Supposedly, the Supervisors are programmed to increase the awareness of nearby robots, but I don't recall seeing that really happen.

Class 2 Supervisor Robot

First Appears

Level 8

Size

4 meters

Weapon

None

Threat

Low

Points

400

Often Drops

Varies

These appear rarely, but if you're lucky, you may get a nice powerup (or some robots, if you're not so lucky) for destroying it. Supposedly, the Supervisors are programmed to increase the awareness of nearby robots, but I don't recall seeing that really happen.

Cloaked Hulk
First Appears Level 10	Size 7 meters	Weapon 2 missile launchers (Concussion), cloaking device
Threat Very High	Points 700	Often Drops Concussion Missiles
Slightly more heavily armored than their visible counterparts, and thus much more dangerous.

Cloaked Hulk

First Appears

Level 10

Size

7 meters

Weapon

2 missile launchers (Concussion), cloaking device

Threat

Very High

Points

700

Often Drops

Concussion Missiles

Slightly more heavily armored than their visible counterparts, and thus much more dangerous.

Class 1 Heavy (Plasma) Driller
First Appears Level 10	Size 8 meters	Weapon Plasma Cannons
Threat Very High	Points 1000	Often Drops Plasma Cannon / Energy Boost
Obviously, the Plasma Drillers are very dangerous, and are more heavily armored than Vulcan Drillers. Don't turn your back on them.

Class 1 Heavy (Plasma) Driller

First Appears

Level 10

Size

8 meters

Weapon

Plasma Cannons

Threat

Very High

Points

1000

Often Drops

Plasma Cannon / Energy Boost

Obviously, the Plasma Drillers are very dangerous, and are more heavily armored than Vulcan Drillers. Don't turn your back on them.

Miniboss
First Appears Secret Level 1 / Level 23	Size 11 meters	Weapon Fusion Cannons
Threat Very Very High	Points 2000	Often Drops Fusion Cannon / Energy Boost
Takes a Mega Missile and another missile (two Megas would be wasteful), two Smarts, or a steady stream of cannon fire to dispose of. Don't let one catch you by surprise—Fusion fire can rob you of 60 shield units per hit!

Miniboss

First Appears

Secret Level 1 / Level 23

Size

11 meters

Weapon

Fusion Cannons

Threat

Very Very High

Points

2000

Often Drops

Fusion Cannon / Energy Boost

Takes a Mega Missile and another missile (two Megas would be wasteful), two Smarts, or a steady stream of cannon fire to dispose of. Don't let one catch you by surprise—Fusion fire can rob you of 60 shield units per hit!

PTMC Defense Prototype
First Appears Secret Level 1 / Level 13	Size 3 meters	Weapon 4 argon cannons (Quad LL4s)
Threat Medium	Points 1500	Often Drops Quad Laser / Energy Boost
These fire REALLY fast, but for the point value, they certainly aren't as deadly as Super Hulks.

PTMC Defense Prototype

First Appears

Secret Level 1 / Level 13

Size

3 meters

Weapon

4 argon cannons (Quad LL4s)

Threat

Medium

Points

1500

Often Drops

Quad Laser / Energy Boost

These fire REALLY fast, but for the point value, they certainly aren't as deadly as Super Hulks.

Class 2 Platform Robot (Laser)
First Appears Secret Level 1 / Level 16	Size 5 meters	Weapon Rapid-fire argon laser (LL3)
Threat Medium	Points 300	Often Drops Shield Boost
Piece of cake. Laser Platforms fire faster than C2D's, in 3-bolt bursts.

Class 2 Platform Robot (Laser)

First Appears

Secret Level 1 / Level 16

Size

5 meters

Weapon

Rapid-fire argon laser (LL3)

Threat

Medium

Points

300

Often Drops

Shield Boost

Piece of cake. Laser Platforms fire faster than C2D's, in 3-bolt bursts.

Class 2 Platform Robot (Missile)
First Appears Secret Level 1 / Level 16	Size 5 meters	Weapon Rapid-fire missile launcher (Concussion)
Threat Very Very High	Points 800	Often Drops Concussion Missiles
NOT a piece of cake. Missile Platforms fire in 3-missile bursts, and thus are a serious threat if you're not careful.

Class 2 Platform Robot (Missile)

First Appears

Secret Level 1 / Level 16

Size

5 meters

Weapon

Rapid-fire missile launcher (Concussion)

Threat

Very Very High

Points

800

Often Drops

Concussion Missiles

NOT a piece of cake. Missile Platforms fire in 3-missile bursts, and thus are a serious threat if you're not careful.

Descent 3 Game Download

Class 3 Gopher Robot
First Appears Level 17	Size 5 meters	Weapon Proximity Bombs
Threat Low	Points 200	Often Drops Energy Boost
They take lots of shots to kill, they drop bombs everywhere, and they occur in large numbers. Needless to say, extremely irritating. Ordinarily, Gophers use the same lasers as C2D's and Laser Platforms, but all of the ones in First Strike are programmed to drop bombs.

Class 3 Gopher Robot

First Appears

Level 17

Size

5 meters

Weapon

Proximity Bombs

Threat

Low

Points

200

Often Drops

Energy Boost

They take lots of shots to kill, they drop bombs everywhere, and they occur in large numbers. Needless to say, extremely irritating. Ordinarily, Gophers use the same lasers as C2D's and Laser Platforms, but all of the ones in First Strike are programmed to drop bombs.

Descent 3 Game

Cloaked Vulcan
First Appears Secret Level 1 / Level 22	Size 5 meters	Weapon Uranium mass drivers (Vulcan Cannon), cloaking device
Threat Very Very High	Points 600	Often Drops Cloaking Device
Pray you have a Cloaking Device or Invulnerability handy when you face one of these.

Cloaked Vulcan

First Appears

Secret Level 1 / Level 22

Size

5 meters

Weapon

Uranium mass drivers (Vulcan Cannon), cloaking device

Threat

Very Very High

Points

600

Often Drops

Cloaking Device

Pray you have a Cloaking Device or Invulnerability handy when you face one of these.

Boss #2 (Level 27)
Size 32 meters
Weapon Mega Missiles, cloaking device, teleport
Threat Insane
Points 10000
Very, Very Bad. Mega Missiles will kill on impact if you have less than 180 shield units! See the Level 27 walkthrough.

Boss #2 (Level 27)

Size

32 meters

Weapon

Mega Missiles, cloaking device, teleport

Threat

Insane

Points

10000

Very, Very Bad. Mega Missiles will kill on impact if you have less than 180 shield units! See the Level 27 walkthrough.

Split Pod (Red Triangle)
First Appears Not in First Strike	Size 5 meters	Weapon none
Threat Low	Points 100	Often Drops nothing
The Red Triangle is included in the DESCENT engine but not used in First Strike. It can be found in many fan-made levels, often as a bomber; in bomber mode, Red Triangles fly very fast—much like the Omega Guppy in DESCENT II, but with weak armor.

Split Pod (Red Triangle)

First Appears

Not in First Strike

Size

5 meters

Weapon

none

Threat

Low

Points

100

Often Drops

nothing

The Red Triangle is included in the DESCENT engine but not used in First Strike. It can be found in many fan-made levels, often as a bomber; in bomber mode, Red Triangles fly very fast—much like the Omega Guppy in DESCENT II, but with weak armor.

3.1	What is Descent 3 (henceforth called D3)?
3.1	What ships are available in D3?
3.2	What about the Guidebot and it's objectives?
3.3	What's this 'use item' feature I heard about?
3.4	What's this mouselook feature I noticed some discussion about?
3.5	What's a so-called 'X-Factor' that's been introduced with D3?
3.6	How do countermeasures work?
3.7	What are the new weapons in D3?
3.8	Where can I enter command-line parameters?
3.9	How can I skip the intro movie?
3.10	What are wind tunnels?
3.11	What's wrong with the new automap?
3.12	I just picked up a Guided Missile, why doesn't it show up when I cycle through my secondary weapons?
3.13	How can I start D3 without having to use the launcher?
3.14	How can I extract the D3 music (mp3s available)?

There are 4 ships in total in D3 whereas the Black Pyro is only available to owners of the Mercenary addon. In the single-player storyline you start out with the Pyro-GL, a modified version of the Pyro-GX of Descent 1/2. It performs much like the old ship. The second ship available is the Phoenix that you got to find at the end of level 6 and start to use in level 7. The third ship is the Magnum-AHT, which enters the single-player storyline in level 9 and can be used in level 10 for the first time. Once you've played the game through you can choose whatever of the 3 'standard' ships you like when starting a new game. As of yet you cannot use the Black Pyro in Retribution and the other 3 in Mercenary. Also see section [5.12].
[3.2] What about the Guidebot and it's objectives?
Contrary to it's predecessors D3 develops a storyline as you advance through the levels. In the briefing at the beginning of each level you're given a short overview on what has to be done to advance to the next level. Your mission is split into several objectives that can be reviewed in-game by using your TelCom-system (SHIFT+TAB). In addition you got to use the Guidebot which now has a far larger influence on your way of completing the game. It always knows what to do next to fulfill the current objective. If you're not sure what to do next, take a look at the first command on the GB's menu; it will show you how to go on.
[3.3] What's this 'use item' feature I heard about?
Unlike to D1/D2 you now have to use some items (keys and stuff) explicitely by pressing the 'use item'-key. When you run over a key or a data cartridge it's automatically placed into your inventory and you can cycle through these items. The default keys for 'use item' and 'cycle item' depend on the language version your're playing so check your config. Additionally you should enable the inventory listing in the HUD settings, so you can see whether the item you need is currently selected; if it's not just cycle through the items you've picked up.
[3.4] What's this mouselook feature I noticed some discussion about?
As with Quake you are now able to use the mouse to make the ship face any direction your pointing the mouse at immediately. This gives mouselookers a certain advantage since they can turn and aim faster than you could usually in Descent. As well you need less skill to control your ship which is one reason why this feature has been widely regarded as a bad move. However, it is turned off by default so you don't have to worry about it whenever you host a multiplayer game.
[3.5] What's a so-called 'X-Factor' that's been introduced with D3?
It's a feature of the advanced AI that's been developed for D3. Every robot has a certain kind of behaviour/attribute about it; eg. the Barnswallow collects powerups and puts them into it's net, the Orbot is highly inflammable... Summed up: the AI is frightening realistic.
Countermeasures add a third weapons tier to D3. Instead of lumping the dropped weapons (e.g. proximity bombs) in with the secondary weapons, they have been grouped into their own new category. As with the 'use item'-feature (also see section [3.3]) you need to define certain keys for using and cycling countermeasures (check your config).
primary Vauss Cannon A dual-fire machine gun in the tradition of the Vulcan and Gauss Cannons. It's weaker than the Gauss, but stronger than the Vulcan. Napalm Cannon Your standard flamethrower. Burn baby, burn! Microwave Cannon Deforms the viewpoint of anything it hits, including players (cool effect!). EMD Gun Arcing electro-magnetic energy at your enemy like a homing weapon but without causing the typical alert sound. They never know what hit them. Mass Driver The perfect sniper weapon. It's telescopic range finder zooms in on your enemy to make you place the perfect shot. Calculate some reload time though. secondary Napalm Missile Ejects Napalm upon impact and burns for ten seconds while dripping down onto the ground. Good for ambushes in tunnels. Frag Missile Much like the Smart Missile, the Frag Missile releases shrapnel upon impact but the smaller shrapnels do not home in on your target. Nevertheless very useful to seal some tube when enemies follow close behind. Cyclone Missile Seperates in-flight into six smaller homing missiles from the main missile body. You'll need some distance to your target though. Impact Mortar Needs quite some timing due to it's comparatively slow travelling speed. Once released it'll go straight ahead and detonate in a huge explosion with a large blast radius after approx. 3 seconds. Blackshark Missile Keep quite some distance to your target since this missile creates a whirling maelstrom upon impact dragging everything in close range into it before the explosion of a dying star shredds the victims to bits. countermeasures Bouncing Betty A pack of bouncing bomb which are difficult to avoid. Seeker Mines A mine that will seek out players, comparatively slow but dangerous in numbers. Gunboy Floating turret bomb. Not actually powerful but very distracting which gives you some extra moments to finish off your target. As well very useful as an alarm system in multiplayer games that notifies you of your opponent's position in the mine. Chaff Burst Doesn't do any damage but attracts homing missiles so you better have some handy.
Open the D3 launcher and select setup \| misc \| optional D3 command line switches and add them with one blank space in between e.g. -framecap30 -nomovie (don't forget the hyphen).
Add the line '-nointro' (without the quotes) to the command-line parameters (see above).
These are cool one-way tubes that catapult your ship from one end to the other very fast. Actually they are rather fun to ride especially in Mercenary level 3 or the Multiplayer level Half Pipe (of the Fury level set). Some people also refer to them as gravity tubes. View the 'secret2.dem' that gets installed with D3 to see what it feels like. In single play you should get the Guidebot back into your ship before you use them since you don't know wether you'll be able to get back to pick him up.
Well, everyone would agree that the new autompap looks terrribly cool! Unfortunately it does not color unvisited parts of the mines differently when you've picked up the full map powerup! Instead you'll be shown the whole map in it's normal colors. Thus to prevent losing orientation avoid the full map so you can recognize unvisited rooms by a blinking portal (= connection between two rooms). Curiously enough secret areas do not show up on the (full) map unless you have visited them. Till then you'll only see a black portal indicating that something will be behind.
[3.12] I just picked up a Guided Missile, why doesn't it show up when I cycle through my secondary weapons?
Most likely you have disabled it in the weapon auto-select menu. Under F2 \| Config \| Weapons you can set the priority of your weapons, i.e. the order in which they are cycled through as well as the priority of which one gets selected automatically when you run over a weapon that you hadn't picked up before. Any weapon that is disabled in this menu cannot be selected by use of the 'cycle weapons'-key but by pressing the corresponding key on your keyboard instead. For example, if you had the Guided Missile disabled from auto-select (generally a good idea) you have to press '7' twice to select it.
[3.13] How can I start D3 without having to use the launcher?
This is quite easy but note that you should have started D3 at least once using the launcher to properly adjust your hardware settings. Lets assume you installed D3 to E:GamesD3; open the Windows explorer and click on the file 'main.exe' to drag it onto your desktop or into any Games-folder you might have. Now right-click the icon and select properties \| shortcut, the top line should be changed to the following: E:GamesD3main.exe -launched This will bypass the launcher and start up the game a bit faster. Note that you should also add all the command-line parameters you had in the D3 launcher as explained in section [3.8]. For example, E:GamesD3main.exe -launched -pilot Moon -playermessages -nointro The last thing you can change is this tacky Windows icon for the shortcut (hopefully you also installed the TweakUI that came with the Windows Powertoys to get rid of those annoying shortcut overlays). You should still have the propererties \| shortcut window open. Select 'change symbol' which causes Windows to pop up an error message saying that no symbols are available in the 'main.exe'. Instead of using one of the symbols offered in the list simply select 'search' and click through to your D3 directory and on 'Descent3.exe' which offers the red-sun symbol. Certainly you can choose whatever icon you have on your system. This method is very convenient to have several D3-shortcuts with different command-line parameters on your destop. So you could have one for a dedicated server, another for single-player only and so on. Check the 'readme.txt' that comes with D3 for an extensive list of command-line parameters.
[3.14] How can I extract the D3 music (mp3s available)?
Contrary to basically all sound effects (except the PA-voices) the D3 music is not in the common WAV-format but in Outrage's compressed OSF-format. As of yet there is no converter available so you can only download some of the mp3s that have been released by Outrage and Jerry Berlongieri at: http://www.outrage.com/4_downloads.html#d3_mp3 http://artists.mp3s.com/artists/49/jerry_berlongieri.html However, here's a workaround for level designers who want to use some ambient music themes in their levels and need to preview them: extract the OSF files from the D3 HOG to your D3customsounds directory, start D3 and select Pilots \| Configure \| Ship Configuration. Then from on the lower left of the screen use the up and down arrows in the first of the selection boxes named 'Audio Taunt #1'. You can browse through the extracted osf-files and listen to them by clicking the 'Play' button next to it.
4 - Single-Player
0 - Table of Contents