Space Rangers Ep. 46 The Devil Within

[Grok]

A question was asked (and answered by my collaborator in this Game, Blondbraid) in the completed game thread.
This question might be of a interest for other players as well, so I made a hints thread, starting it off with that question. 



Question
Hmmmm... I had to give up after the game wouldn't let me simply:

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Blow up the crystal I placed on the rockfall with my phaser...

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Maybe this is a bug? But if there is actually a different solution then the game needs to explain why the simpler solution doesn't work...


Answer by Blondbraid:

Actually, Grok put that in intentionally. 
The trick is to:

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Don't stay too close when the crystal blows up or you'll die in the blast. Try standing a bit further away before you shoot the crystal. Also, the phaser is a little slow and some objects require you shooting at it for a while before any change happens.

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My additional comment is;

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This is a test of patience. Things don't always happen immediately. Sometimes you need to put a bit of work in, before you get a result. This can be useful knowledge as you move on to other challenges in life.

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Additional additional comment:

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you need to have the phaser beam train on the the dilithium crystal for a bit of time. See test movie.
http://pekj.deviantart.com/art/Phaser-test-634466052
If you stop to early nothing happens and you need to start all over.
There is a reason for this.

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[Mandle]

If you're going to have a:

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puzzle that requires the player to hold down the mouse button for a long while until the result happens then I would suggest that you provide some feedback from the game to allow the player to know that holding down the mouse button is actually doing something: Something like a phaser noise that gets higher and higher pitched the longer the player holds down the button for...

Otherwise the player (or maybe just me) is going to assume that nothing is happening and try to look for a different solution...

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[Michael2968]

In the section of the game where you

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feed the worm monster from the food replicator is there a certain order that you have to feed it certain things?

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I would appreciate any hints.

Thanks,
Michael

[Grok]

In the section of the game where you

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feed the worm monster from the food replicator is there a certain order that you have to feed it certain things?

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I would appreciate any hints.

Thanks,
Michael

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No. There is not a certain order.
The Wyrm (not worm) will either dislike, be neutral or really like an item.
If you feed it a "really liked item" on the first go, that's all it takes.
The problem is that you do not know what the Wyrm will like or dislike or if it's likes and dislikes will be the same at different times.
This is not a situation where you have enough information to figure out the right answer. This is a situation where you just have to take your chances.

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[Grok]

There is one possible ending for the game that I wonder if someone has played and what, in that case, your reaction to it was.

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In the Wyrm Cave you get the offer to take the miners and soldiers and leave the planetoid and the Wyrms alone.
If you accept the offer

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you get the lost people back, leave the planetoid and have successfully (but not with a top score) finished the game. During the debriefing however

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you learn that the federation has not honored the agreement and has blown up the planetoid, killing the Wyrm in the process. 

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What is your reaction?