Quake II/The Reactor

Level objective
The objective for this level is to activate the cooling pump to lower the coolant around the reactor. It is also the access to the Big Gun unit. After secondary objectives in other levels in this unit are complete, you will return to the reactor to achieve the primary objective and make your escape.

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Strategy
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Three Gladiators
You enter The Reactor looking down a hallway to a tee intersection with another hallway that goes to the left and to the right. That hallway is patrolled by two Gunners that won't notice you until you move against them. When they are out of the way, go to the right, along the hallway and carefully look around the corner to the left. Down a few steps there is an elevated walkway. Dispose of the Gladiator here. There is another walkway and Gladiator on the other side, so either go back and out of the other end of the hallway or shoot across the space in between. Take stock of your situation here, but keep back from the edge of the walkways as there is a third Gladiator below. You are in a large room with two levels and an opening to the orange sky above. You are on the upper level and the two walkways from the entrance each lead to a door. On the lower level, a walkway crosses the room between two doors with a third door in the middle. Away from the walkway, the floor appears to be water. Either deal with the Gladiator down there now or don't be surprised to meet him later.

Finding the Data CD
The door at the end of the right-hand walkway will not open until you have the Data CD, so go to the other door.

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Exposing the Reactor Core and Getting to the Cooling Facility
Through the door opened by the Data CD, you will meet with a Berserker and two Gladiators. In the room beyond, there is a walkway overhead. Diagonally across the room is a passage crossed by blue lasers. Either time your movement to be between the lasers or just barge through and take the modest damage they inflict. At the other end meet three Gunners, bearing in mind that you can't duck back into the laser passage to avoid their fire. Take an elevator platform up to the higher level and fight the flyers that then come through the hole in the roof. A bridge over the lower level takes you past two alcoves, from one of which an Iron Maiden will attack. Through a doorway and to the left you will meet a Gladiator. Beyond him, there is an elevator. Step on, press the button and go down. Deal with two Berserkers and take the passage from this room to a door which leads to the reactor itself. Kill the Gunner waiting behind this door and press the button on the wall at the left to receive the message "Reactor core locks released". A cover slides back to reveal the glowing orange core of the reactor.

Drop down from where you are and go through the wide passageway on the left. Around a bend there will be two more Gunners and then a third when you come out in an open area with pools of water and an exit door. Take the exit to the Cooling Facility.

From the Cooling Facility to the Toxic Waste Dump
After returning to The Reactor from the Cooling Facility, proceed straight until you fall down onto a grate. You'll notice that the coolant in this room has drained away. Go right (opposite of the EXIT door), go through the hallway, straight past the reactor. Proceed straight through the next room and through the door. Continue straight through the larger room with the catwalk above. Eventually, you will go down some stairs and into an open air area. There you will see a half staircase overlooking a rocky valley with a pipe to your lower left. Go into the pipe and you'll reach a room where you will see a tube opening in the floor (the piston has retracted into the ceiling above). Look down into the tube and you'll see green slime under a grate. Jump into the tube to proceed to the Toxic Waste Dump.

On Return from the Toxic Waste Dump
When you return to The Reactor, you will be on a platform that you could not previously get to, near where you went into the pipe and dropped down to the Toxic Waste Dump. Stand on the button and a bridge extends to link you to the rest of the level. Go into the reactor building and up the stairs and you will find that the lower level of the large, two-level room is now flooded with toxic waste. Be careful, because the ground shakes from time-to-time, so proceed only when things are steady. Walk over the toxic waste along the right hand ledge and go through the door on the other side. Go around the structure in the middle of the next room (but, see also Secrets, below) and through to the reactor itself. The glowing orange core will explode. This has the side-effect of breaking open the door on the raised platform to the right. Take the elevator up, go through and exit to the Big Gun.

Secrets
This level has one (1) secret:
 * 1) In a smaller room off the main room containing the reactor core, accessible through an opening initially protected by a force field, there is a tall rectangular structure in the middle of the floor with a map of the reactor facility on its side.  Go around to the opposite side of the structure and shoot at the slightly recessed panel in the middle.  The panel slides up and you receive the message "You have found a secret".  You can climb the ladder behind the panel to find an Adrenaline vial.  Then, turn around, jump across the top of the ladder and at the end of a short passage you will also find Armor Shards.  You can go out from there through an invisible panel to arrive on the higher level of the room or retrace your steps to the lower level.  Shoot the panel from the inside to get out.