I don't know how those spinning rings stay up but you can sure have a lot of fun with 'em!

(8:54) Level 5 ('Assault on the Control Room') on Heroic. Continuing the topic of exploring the entry chamber and using the save seen created in BCM223, this second installment focuses on playing with the spinning rings, a great source of recreation. In particular I get some freaky business going on with embedding a Banshee in a ring - so prepare for some weird sights!

Released March 24th 2017, gameplay recorded March 19th-22nd 2017.

00:02 (Blasting a ring, and dismounting onto it) This long first clip gives a quick taster of the fun of blasting rings, and then gets into the business of getting onto a ring. Here I use my usual resting dismount - the obvious way to do it. Quite safe if you align well. Need to jump or crouch at gaps though, otherwise you're going down. In this demo I hit the next ring and my body is briefly seen settling there!

00:53 (Running on a ring) Here's a little demo of running on a ring; and to liven things up I'm also doing a spot of plasma firing at the ring (which makes things harder). With the first two gaps I jump, but with the next two I do a crouch (which brings your feet up for extra clearance), just so you can see that in action. On NTSC/PC, maybe you can simply run across gaps? I have a suspicion that's the case, but I don't know. After going upstream a while, I turn and run downstream, timing my jumps appropriately.

01:42 (Stunt dismounts) Here are some examples of stunt dismounts for fun. Took quite a lot of takes to get good ones - especially the third one which I added quite late in the movie's development. With that one I was seeking something more outlandish than the first two, which are comparatively pedestrian in terms of final approach. I almost fell through a gap after landing. I think I must've done a crouch to save myself, though I can't remember for sure.

02:17 (Ledge transfer) Just a quick demo of jumping between a ledge and the ring. Tricky jump though, hard to feel confident about. I've fluffed it lots of times.

02:36 (Plasma weirdness) A settled grenade crosses gaps, as you repeatedly see here when I get myself killed with plasma grenades landing closer and closer. Another fun thing about a plasma is that traces of it (in the vicinity of where it bounced) get carried along the ring. Excellent death cry in this clip, which really adds a bit of comedy.

02:58 (Banshee settling) Here's a basic demo of a Banshee settling on the ring, fairly upright. I get a brief view from the nearby ledge, then hop back directly into the Banshee.

03:27 The second clip shows a case where the Banshee settles at quite an angle. It almost fell off, but stopped. I clamber on it, and send up a flare for fun.

03:51 In the third clip I manage to get the Banshee settled in up-ended attitude, which took a lot of tries. Later I went back to do more tries because it bugged me that I didn't immediately switch my flashlight on, which led to the view being practically black for a while when jumping to the ledge. But I couldn't pull it off again, and gave up; so this remains my only success with the up-ending trick. As for the blackness, I helped draw attention away from it by choosing that time to show a caption.

04:12 (Vertical Banshee embedding) To start a sequence of clips on Banshee embedding, here's a demo of vertical embedding (you can read about technique in my article). For a while the Banshee is suspended (controls relinquished), and then I dismount for a view from the ring. Hopping over the jiggling Banshee was risky because contact would probably mean death from splattering. Eventually I reboard and exit the ring.

05:21 This clip picks up the action about ten seconds after dismounting. The embedding wasn't great and the Banshee seems slightly off-centre to the right, so it's not surprising that it soon works free. It remains supported by the ring for a while, just in the nose area, but eventually falls and I get some comedy out of leaping after it. Looks like I almost could've boarded it just before going splat.

05:44 Another example of the Banshee working free. This time it gets popped out quite decisively, but I save the situation by flipping the Banshee and boarding. Not safe, but it looked good!

05:54 An amusing side-view of a vertically embedded Banshee. When I tag the tip of the canopy, the Banshee gets rocked into a new configuration - which appears to be quite stable! Over the subsequent 50-odd seconds (not seen), I tagged it twice but the coniguration continued. The blasts may've shifted it a bit though, because it fell out of the ring about 15 seconds after the second blast.

06:14 This time, a side-view of downstream vertical embedding. At gaps, notice how the Banshee gets thrown upstream quite a way. Seems to be gradually working its way around the ring! I'll have to check into that, and see if it'll make a whole circuit. Eventually I tag the nearest wing tip for fun, and the Banshee pops up and leaves the ring.

06:37 (Horizontal Banshee embedding) Now some clips on horizontal embedding, starting with a demo of getting it facing upstream. I let it be suspended for a while, then I hit the power and fly within the ring. The ring surfaces make the firing go a bit screwy, and some firing noises get lost.

07:20 Two clips showing fast entries. The first entry felt hard to achieve, though maybe I'll get better at it later. The second was much tougher. I had to do a lot of takes to get the timing just right to fall into the gap. I made that clip quite late, after having the idea of it. In fact it was the last clip added.

07:37 Ending my sequence on horizontal embedding, here's a demo of the downstream version. I immediately get into some flying, but then relinquish the controls to show the Banshee suspended for a while. When I fire the fuel rod cannon, I happen to do it just as the nose comes out of the ring. The Banshee is completely within the gap as I fire. The shot hits the ring end and my machine takes damage. Bit of shock!

08:13 (Resettlement trick) Closing the movie, here's a little trick after sinking down to hit the second ring. I get the Banshee settled, then hop onto the nearby ledge and tag the tail, and the Banshee resettles upside-down. That was quite a long-shot! Tried it a bunch of times but only got this one success.

Closing remarks For all this play I was using the save created in BCM223. Quite often though, I got a temporary specialized checkpoint to make it convenient to do takes at getting a clip of some particular activity. For example I did that when working on my demo of plasma weirdness. I got a delayed checkpoint when standing on the ring. For each fresh try, all I needed to do was revert, then I'd be able to do my throwing forthwith. Didn't need to fly to a ring each time.

In regard to that plasma weirdness, originally I had a different clip to demonstrate plasma behaviour, in which I first threw a plasma upstream, then repeated the demo, then did the same for throwing downstream. But it felt too long-winded and a bit dull so I eventually did some more play to try and get something with more punch. I hit on the idea of throwing plasmas successively closer until killing myself, and certainly it was a lot more amusing, as well as being quicker. I did a load of takes for that throwing pattern, then selected the best one. I selected the one I did because of the excellent death cry and because of a good post-death view. The camera remained quite close as I fell, which was much more appealing that most of my other takes, where the camera quickly got more distant.

I used the third ring for quite a lot of the clips, including almost all of the Banshee embedding sequence (all but the first fast entry clip), because the blue mist makes for quite attractive views when the camera is pointing down. It added extra colour and brightness to the movie.

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