Seven HoT questions to sort the men from the boys, the Marathon gurus from the Sunday players. You think you're Big Time, you're going to... yeah... yeah... yeah... we heard all this last year... get on with the questions?

err... right you asked for it. Here are the questions:

Q1. In total how many net levels are there in the three Marathon games comprising the Marathon Trilogy? wow that's easy... Hamish has gone soft!

Q2. In the Marathon games there are 3 main ways of dying:

1. Being killed by aliens and other assorted characters such as Sims, Bobs, Defense Drones, etc.

2. Killing yourself through the misuse of a weapon i.e. firing a grenade or rocket to close to an object or overcharging a fusion pistol.

3. Being killed by the Marathon environment i.e. crushing platforms, lava, Pfhor slime, lack of oxygen etc.

Q3. What had a range of 12?

Q4. In Pathways Into Darkness you encounter a number of dead people - German soldiers lead by the infamous Muller, your American Special Forces team, and a group of Spanish speaking treasure hunters. In total how many people entered the pyramid?

Q5. What equalled 61?

Q6. What were the seven final words of a dying man?

Q7. A memory, a name, a reason. Three things all forgotten. What were they?

If you think you know the answers then send them in. Get all seven right and you win an exclusive Marathon's Story page secret mystery prize! :-)

Remember though these are not your normal wussie competition questions these are HoT questions, the real McCoy. And don't forget all those tips folks! The 2nd Summertime Blues Competition is open to all including employees of Bungie, Bungie West and Double Aught... not that it will make any difference. [laughter] ;-)

Sept 11, 1998

Thanks to all the people who wrote in over the vacation period. Loads of mail to get through so please bear with me if you've written in and waiting for a reply. To get the show on the road here are the answers to the

Q1. In total how many net levels are there in the three Marathon games comprising the Marathon Trilogy?

Easy one really. The answer is 48 (4 + 8 = 12 = 1 + 2 = 3). 10 net levels in Marathon, 13 in Marathon 2 and 25 (including the secret "Hats Off To Eight Nineteen" net map) in Marathon Infinity.

Some people included the co-op levels, others the three special Infinity Vidmaster levels but the number of official Bungie net levels is 48.

Q2. In the Marathon games there are 3 main ways of dying:

1. Being killed by aliens and other assorted characters such as Sims, Bobs, Defense Drones, etc.

2. Killing yourself through the misuse of a weapon i.e. firing a grenade or rocket to close to an object or overcharging a fusion pistol.

3. Being killed by the Marathon environment i.e. crushing platforms, lava, Pfhor slime, lack of oxygen etc.

Well this question was actually designed to get you to play Marathon. Most people got the obvious levels such as "Defend This", "Cool Fusion", "Colony Ship... " etc but not the less obvious ones such as "Arrival" and "Smells Like Napalm, Tastes Like Chicken!". Yes "Arrival" has a 'crushable' pillar and "Smells Like Napalm..." has a rather bizarre room in the north-west corner of the map which if you fire a grenade at the switch while standing under the door you'll get crushed. Ok so you get the idea... I was also looking for all those odd areas where you can potentially get crushed. So just how hazardous was the Marathon environment? Well of the 27 solo levels 13 had the means to crush you if you were unlucky enough to fall victim to them. You could call them the unlucky 13. You don't want me to list them now do you? ;-)

Q3. What had a range of 12?

The survival rate protocol for the human captives maintained by pen13 garrison units. On "By Committee" (Terminal 1) we read the following:

All pen13 garrison units are ordered to scale back enforcement proceedings on human captives to maintain survival rate protocol (49-61%).

49-61% is a range of 12%. (1 + 2 = 3)

Q4. In Pathways Into Darkness you encounter a number of dead people - German soldiers lead by the infamous Muller, your American Special Forces team, and a group of Spanish speaking treasure hunters. In total how many people entered the pyramid?

Ok I'll confess... this was a difficult question for non-Pathways fans. Indeed Pathways fans would also have found this particularly hard since the Pathways Story should not be taken at face value. There is alot of deception and mystery in the 'Conversations with the Dead' much of which is still unexplored to date.

The right answer is 34 (3 + 4 = 7). The breakdown is as follows: 18 German soldiers, 8 (including yourself) US Special Forces, and 8 Spanish speaking treasure hunters.

Some Pathways Story fans will no doubt be jumping up and down in their seats at this stage shouting "NO NO NO... THERE WERE ONLY SIX SPANISH GUYS NOT EIGHT!"

A cursory reading of the Pathways Story would suggest six but there were in fact eight. For further details check the Six of one, half-a-dozen of the other section of Facts and puzzling things about...

Q5. What equalled 61?

Ok when I first thought up this question I was sure there was only one answer but not so! A number of people proved me wrong. The answer I was looking for was:

every other virtual = 61

Remember that weird error message the Bungie guys kept getting during the early development of Marathon? You can see it in the invisible "Marathon Home Videos" movie on the Marathon Trilogy CD. Its exact meaning still remains a mystery.

So what were the other answers?

Well a number of people said it was the maximum survival rate protocol for the human captives maintained by pen13 garrison units as mentioned in Question 3. While this is correct would I really ask two questions with the same answer? ;-)

Cairan Wheeler <wyvernsoul@innocent.com> rightly pointed out that there sixty-one unique facial models for Pfhor simulacrums. See "We're Everywhere" (Terminal 1: 2nd message) for details. Yup nice alternative answer. :-)

Odd how that number 61 keeps cropping up. But then again (6 + 1 = 7) ;-)

Q6. What were the seven final words of a dying man?

Well I thought this one would be easy but not so judging from the replies. The seven final words of a dying man were:

"Make me proud. Never lose your honor."

These were the last words spoken by your father when you were seven. See the Marathon Manual text for details. Yes seven final words... I kid you not!

Q7. A memory, a name, a reason. Three things all forgotten. What were they?

Lots of potentially different answers for this one depending on your interpetation. However the answers I was looking for were:

A memory of your past.

"A smile which reminds you of something from your past, but you can't remember exactly what it is." <From the Marathon Manual>

A name of a movie.

"I figure that there is time now to take a good look at this knife that has caused me so much grief and to miss the movie that I was heading for but can't remember the name of." <From the Marathon Infinity level "Whatever You Please">

A reason why everyone was a murderer.

"Everyone was a murderer, but Gheritt couldn't remember his reason for why that was so." <From the famous Gheritt White terminal on "Never Burn Money":>

So there you have it. Seven answers to seven HoT questions. Many thanks to everyone who sent in answers. Unfortunately nobody got seven right, nor five, not even four. :-(

Thus I get to keep the exclusive Marathon's Story page secret mystery prize once more! :-)