Quake II/Toxic Waste Dump

The objective for this level is to fight your way to the entrance to Pumping Station 1 and go through it. After completing that level and also Pumping Station 2, you will return to this level and your objective then is to fight you way to the exit that takes you back to The Reactor.

Strategy[edit]

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Walkthrough[edit]

Getting to Pumping Station 1[edit]

You enter this level by falling through a hole in the roof, so there's no going back. You land on a grid over liquid toxic waste. Follow the walkway through the next room, into a tunnel and around a few corners where you meet a Gunner. Beyond the Gunner, a short tunnel leads out into a courtyard mostly filled with a toxic waste pool but with solid ground and a raised arcade to your right. Execute a U-turn to the right and take the elevator up to the arcade. Two thirds of the way along is a door. Enter carefully; there are all sorts of Strogg in here, some in plain view, but others emerging from hiding or lurking in unexpected places. Take the stairs on the left and continue along the walkways up there to another, tall elevator. Take this up, and continue again until you come to a door. This will take you out to a high walkway, which you may have noticed earlier crosses over the courtyard. At the other end are two Iron Maidens who will stay at a distance and fire their rockets at you. There are also a couple of Berserkers. Either go out and dodge their fire until you can take them down or use the door and the corner in the passageway for cover.

At the other end of the walkway, watch out for a Gladiator coming from around the corner to the left. You will have to backpedal to get some distance and dodge to avoid his Rail Gun before you can take him down. Go around the corner and deal with Gunners and Guards. Make for the first turning to your left and dispose of the Strogg in the open area there. Press the wall button behind the railing and large doors open in the floor on the other side. Crouch to reduce your fall damage, drop down and proceed to Pumping Station 1.

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On Return from Pumping Station 2[edit]

You will return to an area that was not accessible from the main part of the level (except by swimming in toxic waste). Fight a Tank and two Berserkers in the courtyard outside the door through which you enter. Go through the opening that leads out of the courtyard and fight two Icarus hiding in the small arcade to your left. Then go behind the middle pillar and press the wall button that you will find there. A walkway rises from the toxic waste to connect you to the rest of the level. As you make your way back to familiar territory, you will meet four Gunners standing behind barriers. They will duck behind the barriers, although they will stand up again so you can still take them out at some wastage of ammo, but they can't hide from well-placed grenades. More distant, and also behind a barrier, is an Iron Maiden accompanied by three Guards. The level exit back to The Reactor is to the left of the Iron Maiden's position. Along the final stretch, you will have to eliminate one more Gunner and two more Iron Maidens.

Before you exit, collect any useful items that you have passed by. You can easily retrace your steps or use shortcuts to get to any part of the level. If you left things behind in the pumping stations, you can also go through them again. (This is also the best time to deal with the level secrets, refer to the section Secrets below.)

Secrets[edit]

This level has two (2) secrets. Both require you to swim in toxic waste. You can use an Environment Suit or an Invulnerability to avoid damage or you can tough it out and lose a lot of armor and health. Here is where the secrets are and several ways to get to them:

Soon after entering from The Reactor, you will come out into an open area. Look up and you will see a sloping structure and, above that, a level horizontal structure. The sloping structure is a channel containing toxic waste. The level structure is a walkway which you will come out onto after making some more progress through the level along the only available path. The lower end of the channel continues through a short tunnel to a secret room. The only way out is the way you got in, through the toxic waste, but when you get clear of the tunnel you can hop up onto the edge of the channel. From there, make your way up the channel, around a ledge on the wall and carefully drop down without any damage. If you want to take this secret on its own, without using an Environment Suit or an Invulnerability, and therefore spend as little time in the toxic waste as possible, drop down from the walkway onto the edge of the channel. It is easiest to do this from the far end of the walkway and then walk back down the edge until you get to the tunnel part. Go in, run through the toxic waste to the secret room, grab the stuff and run back out and onto the channel edge as quickly as possible. Another way to this secret is to continue the level until you find an environment suit at the border of a pool of toxic waste. Take the suit and activate it, then jump in and turn around. Run back under the path you took to get to that point, turn right at the end and go down the channel to the secret. You will be able to get the secret stuff and make it back out well before the suit runs out. There is a replacement suit in the secret room.
The other secret is in the part of the level that you will come through when you return from the Pumping Stations. In the courtyard that you come out into, there are narrow ramps that lead down into the toxic waste below. If you fall in, you can use these to climb back out. They are important if you decide to take this secret on its own, without using an Environment Suit or an Invulnerability. From the steps down which you came from Pumping Station 2, make a hard U-turn to the right, keeping close to the edge of the platform. Walk to the end, facing the wall. The opening that leads out of the courtyard will be to your left. Jump forward into the toxic waste and dive down to the secret. Swim back up and run up one of the ramps as quickly as possible. You can also get to this secret from the pool near the Environment Suit that you found when you first visited this level. You will probably need to activate the suit to survive. Jump in, dive and zigzag to the right and forward twice to reach the secret. To get out of the toxic waste, you can go back and follow the path to the channel where the other secret is, but the suit will run out before you can get to that secret so hop out onto the edge of the channel. Or, you can go early up the ramp and into the courtyard and deal with the enemies there before your visit to the Pumping Stations. This, however, will get you into a fight against a Tank, two Berserkers and two Icarus without much cover.

Now that you know where the secrets are and the options for getting to them individually, consider taking them both in a single action, using one Environment Suit (or an Invulnerability) as so taking no damage. Grab the suit on your way to the Pumping Stations. When you get back, play the level until you have raised the walkway out of the toxic waste to connect the two parts. Go back to the courtyard. Begin as if you are taking the secret deep in the toxic waste there, but, when you jump off the raised edge, activate the Environment Suit in mid-air. Dive for the secret, then swim up, zigzagging twice to the right and forward. Surface and run along the channel, turning to the right at the end to go down the slope to the secret room. You should have time to grab the stuff in there and get back out and onto the channel edge before the suit runs out. If you do this before raising the walkway, you won't be able to get to the button that does this without another swim in the toxic waste or going through the Pumping Stations again, so if you plan to get all the kills keep this in mind.