Watch Your Step, Plasma Bursts Ahead

by: Taea

Deep in the southwest corner of Concordia Divide in Richard Garriott’s Tabula Rasa, a Bane facility tries to hide from the prying eyes of the AFS. The geothermal activity of this planet produces a ton of power, and the Bane are building facilities to harness the energy directly from the planet itself. Purgas Station is one of these power harvesting bases, and the AFS have targeted the reactor core inside for destruction: less power for the Bane weaponry will make them a weaker enemy. Ten Ton Hammer concludes the Purgas Station Guide with Part Two.

You have just activated the waypoint, and it's time to step inside to go to Level 2. This is where you become introduced to the conduit hops for the rest of the instance. Much of your travels will require you to run down the chambers where, on occasion, a giant plasma ray of death comes shooting through. Get the timing down, listen to the sounds, and you'll become an expert in no time.

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Conduit is Safe!

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Charging Up, Better Run

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Too Late, You're Dead

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Green Exit Sign

The downtime between plasma blasts is just barely enough for soldiers to run from doorway to doorway, without sprint or Motor Assist Gear. Also when approaching the conduit, be sure to stay far enough back in the safe area to avoid the radiation coming out of the tunnel. When you enter the tunnel, look for the green light pointing the way to a drop out area.

Right, back to the waypoint. You've just transported in to Level 2, and first order of business is to find a keypass for the next area. Make your way south to a little drop out room entrance at 108,68,-2. Behind an ineffective forcefield, a non descript Thrax will have the keypass you need. Back out to the conduit, and this time head west directly at the source of the beam. The tunnel dips beneath the beam area to open up into a large central cortex room. Be ready to take out a Thrax right at the tunnel, and watch for the floating Sentinels that beam in reinforcements. Run through the green hallway around to the opposite side, updating Off Grid in the process. Exit west, and pass through this conduit to the drop out room at -148,68,-4. Another Bane transporter awaits.

As you beam in to this new room, be ready for a small welcoming commitee. You need to find a Comm Unit to report in, and there are several marked on your map. We took the right path and beelined for the CommLinks in the Northwest part of the map. Radio in to complete Off Grid with a reward of 800 credits and choice of new weapon. HQ now offers you the A Means to an End mission, requiring you to cut the flow of fuel to the reactor. The Bane have installed 7 fuel basins around the area, and you're going to find them and blow them up.

In this northwest room you’ll have access to 2 fuels depots to blow up at -195,34,61 and -256,33,64. Go back through the conduit and into the dropout at -167,65,16. Go north through the narrow hallway and to a meat door that requires you to push the button. You come out onto a high catwalk with a few menacing looking lasers. Follow the catwalk around and through the down-sloped tunnel, looping around until you find the next transporter at -112,35,33 conveniently located next to your 3rd Fuel Pump.

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Pedestal Room

Make your way back to the room you beamed in to at -252,49,-58 and take the left path out. You’re headed for the Pedestal Room at -241,49,-8. Don’t start pushing buttons all willy-nilly, or you’ll call more troops into your area. Turn on the pedestals in the correct sequence, which is (from left to right) 1 3 4 2 5. This will unlock the forcefield ahead, allowing you to access a Sleeping Pod room with the second Deathtribe Squad kill for Chain Reaction inside. Shoot out the pods until a live one falls out.

Follow the hallways to the south and make your way to the Fuel Pump room at -240,33,-109. You have to the catwalks over the fuel pit to get around the whole circle to take out Pumps 4 and 5. Another Deathtribe solider is found in the east bump out here as well. Exit this circular room, travel east across the long open bay, and find the small tunnel in the northeast corner. You have another door to open at -163,33,-72 with a floating Sentinel waiting just behind. Keep going east until you come out once again into the giant Reactor Core room. Follow around to the only exit at 22,28,29, until you come to a 3 way split in the path. Each direction ends up in the same place, so it won’t really matter which way you go.

Clear this area and make your way south to a meat door at 94,9,-93. You’ll come through into a large control room, with a Deathtribe soldier on the upper level on the west side. Go back and take the south exit from the control room, and find Fuel Pump 6 at -18,9,-211. Jog up and over the catwalk (how in the world did a giant Juggernaut get in to this tiny area?) to the last Fuel Pump at -120,9,-214. Back behind you is a CommLink you can use to complete A Means to an End with a reward of 6000 credits and choice of new weapon.

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Reactor Fuel Pumps

Now that you have slowed the flow of fuel to the reactor, it’s time for the final showdown. Reactor Overload requires you to shoot out the 4 Reactor Fuel Pumps in the main room. Run north out of this room and through a door at -38,9,-137. You come out at the lowest level, right below the main reactor core. The green fuel pumps are easily targeted and only take a few shots to disable. Several Bane are on this level too, and they’ll come running for you. When the last fuel pump is destroyed, run out through the north exit, follow the paths up up up, looping around until you come to the Level 3 Control Room at 14,31,86. The final Deathtribe Soldier is on an upper level, along with the control panel to complete Reactor Overload for 6000 credits and choice of Graviton Helmet or Bio/Mech/Stealth gloves. Don’t miss the show of the reactor blowing up; be sure to look out the windows to watch the implosion.

Now that the reactor is blown up, you should be done, right? One last thing makes the instance complete. Head back out to Divide and find Recon Officer Stevens in the HQ building of Foreas Base. He completes Chain Reaction, offering you “enough credits to drink as much beer as the blood you spilt today.” That amounts to 6150 credits, along with a new armor piece. Congratulations! You have fully completed the Purgas Station Instance.