Renga in Blue   Interactive fiction and the All the Adventures project

(Continued from my previous posts.)

I’m likely extremely close to the end, but given I still need to tackle the “strategic” layer (and check the alternate difficulty levels) I’ll have enough content for a long final post next time even if I’m only a turn away from victory.

From Mobygames.

My big break — taking me almost all the way to the end — came from Whiz. I realized despite him complaining the moment you take him out of the “library” section where he plugs in…

Internal map reference — Index Peripheral
CLC identifier shows the object before me as the Index pedestal.

>n
Internal map reference — Outer Library Area
CLC identifier tagging detected directly to the south.

>n
Internal map reference — Hallway Junction
Request directions which would send me in a southerly direction as linkup seems imminent.
The W1 is positioned by the step.
There is a W1 here.

…it’s very useful to see things through Whiz’s eyes, as he sees things by their library computer (CLC) tag. (The wedge that allows passing over the step is W1.) This means they get identified quite precisely so they can be looked up in the machine. For example, the machine with the eight circles (FOO, MUM, BLE, BAR, KLA, CON, BOZ, TRA) is only spoken of vaguely by the other robots, but Whiz knows what it is.

CLC reports this area is abnormal in its arrangement. A GG-1 sits here, barely operating. A CX3 chip sits in the S1, and a CX4 chip sits in the S2.

I don’t know the “human” name, but it helps in this game to think like a robot anyway, and GG1 (without the hyphen) is enough to query the library.

>query gg-1
FC: I don’t know the word ‘gg-1’.

>query gg1
CLC: Hmm. That’s a tough one. Hold on a minute while I try to locate a reference …

CLC: Here it is! I was beginning to think I was going senile.
IP: Data available from the Technical Pedestal.
IP: Data available from the Advisory Pedestal.
IP: Data available from the Historical Pedestal.

The database indicates the GG-1 “holds the 8 circles used to reset the Filtering Computers” and that “If the Filtering Computers are operational and balanced, keying in the two codes will result in a system reset.” While I suspected already that using the machine was essentially the last step, this confirms that two of the three-letter codes are needed.

The catch here is the “operational and balanced” part which I don’t have yet.

TP: The three Filtering Computers are kept in balance by two series of four cables. Four cables run through the Primary Channel, while another four run through the Secondary Channel.

I showed the relevant room off already with Poet, but here’s Whiz:

Internal map reference — Secondary Channel
CLC tagged location indicates I am within a connecting tube. The connecting cables for the filtering computers line this floor, resting in their grooves. A small plug, PL-1, sits within the wall beneath the ACS.

Whiz cannot see there’s a sign here (and in the primary channel, which looks the same but has different cables). Whiz can look it up where the advisory panel mentions Iris ought to be able to see the sign somehow.

While I didn’t have a method at this moment in my gameplay, I kept exploring with Whiz and found the right item shortly after. Remember the mysterious force field?

CLC warns that the area to the east is dangerous.
Mobile CLC tagged object CAR is at the head of the tunnel.
I can detect nothing inside of it.

Looking up the CAR reveals it is, well, a “car”. This is a transport tunnel and you’re just supposed to enter the car (or “egg”) and the robot will get moved to the other side. (I admit to initially misreading and think the “egg” was out of reach.) Whiz’s library search leaves no ambiguity:

AP: Use this to get to the Biological Area and back.
TP: Operating this vehicle is as simple as entering it.

Voila, the last part of the map I hadn’t reached yet:

Straightforwardly, this is where the clones are stored (as well as an ominous switch out of robot reach — I haven’t tested Bad Ending yet but I assume the humans come in and use this if they hadn’t seen the acid leak). There’s also storage:

Internal map reference — Biological Laboratory
This area is identified as the Biological Lab. Equipment here is available for clone revivification.
CLC tagged device TV1 sits on the floor by a table.

Most robots puzzle a bit over the device (Sensa mentions an RF signal, and while Iris calls it a “television camera” she gives no hint how it is operated) but Whiz can look TV1 up directly:

TP: This is a complex television camera which links directly to Iris.
AP: It can be activated by plugging it in at the correct location.

That’s what the plugs at the wire grooves are for!

Internal map reference — Secondary Channel
CLC tagged location indicates I am within a connecting tube. The connecting cables for the filtering computers line this floor, resting in their grooves. A small plug, PL-1, sits within the wall beneath the ACS.
In the room with me is Poet.

>plug tv1
FC: What do you want to plug the tv1 in?

>pl-1
I’ve plugged it in. CLC indicates object now functioning.

IRIS INTERRUPT: Receiving transmissions.

>point tv1 at sign
The TV1 has been pointed at the ACS.

IRIS INTERRUPT: The little sign presents me with the access code the machine in the Main Supply Room needs to reset the Filtering Computers. It says CONBLE.

Thus, the two circles that need to be pressed to win the game are CON, followed by BLE. (This does not change even on reset, so — as far as I can tell — the bio-area does not need entering in the future.)

Again, though, I’m stuck on my catch: I need to replace the bad wires. There are specifically two of them, one for each of the “channels”.

In the primary channel (to the north) the cables are 4-inch, 6-inch, 10-inch, and 18-inch. One way to tell which is broken is to simply try taking them; the inert wire will be safe, whereas any of the live cables will fry and destroy the robot taking it. (This seems extreme, but given how many save/restores are going on with this game anyway, it seems a perfectly valid approach.) Alternatively, Poet (the diagnostic bot) can examine them.

>examine four-inch
The data transmissions within this cable are irregular. Immediate replacement recommended.

>examine six-inch
I perceive nothing special about the six-inch cable.

So the four-inch cable needs to go. In the secondary channel the options are 5, 9, 19, and 20. Again, the take-and-fry method works. Examining does not work; all the cables appear normal. However, Poet can also diagnose with touch, which apparently finds a different (but equally cable-wrecking) issue.

>touch five-inch
Sensory pads detect no abnormal flow.

>touch nine-inch
Data transmissions are highly irregular through this cable.

>touch nineteen-inch
Sensory pads detect no abnormal flow.

>touch twenty-inch
Sensory pads detect no abnormal flow.

Great! Now I just need replacement cables. One of them I had seen already at the ancient FRED robot; unfortunately, you can’t just take the wire, as it needs a cutting tool, the one that was on the north side of the map, a little too high to reach. There’s a solution that took me a few beats to find but was satisfyingly logical — logical enough that it occurred to me while off the computer, so I went back to test it.

Internal map reference — Small Supply Room
I can detect a small area, cluttered with things which extend from the walls. Doorways lead to the east and the west.
There is a high extending holder here.
Sitting on the high extending holder is…
A cutting tool
There is a square container here.

>drop wedge
Dropped.

>get on wedge
Okay. I’m standing on the solid wedge now.

>get tool
Taken.

This is the using the wedge that bridges the north and south sides of the complex; after passing over, a robot can pick it up, use it to grab the cutting tool, then put the wedge back where it was. This is leveraging the mental model that players sometimes have where an item is “checked off” without realizing re-use might be possible.

The result is a “twelve-inch cable” off of FRED which (I assume) is functional. The parentheses are there because I need a second cable, so I haven’t even confirmed if the one coming from FRED even works.

There are three visible candidates:

• First, the blue cable sitting in storage that the memo already warned was non-functional. I also tested using it anyway as the second cable and it didn’t work.
• There’s a “backup cable” in storage that you can find by moving the shelf (this is the same place Waldo’s microsurgery extension is held). Unfortunately the cable is crushed and non-functional.
• There’s a functional cable (orange color) used in the GG-1 device. You can remove the device’s fuse and then take the cable, but then it becomes non-functional.

I haven’t had luck with any of them. That is, I go over to the primary channel, REPLACE the bad cable, go over to the secondary channel, REPLACE the bad cable, and try to have Iris press one of the buttons and the game says the computers are still broken.

One last wrinkle to all this is the repair conveyer belt which I mentioned not having figured out last time. I thought I needed to get it moving first, but instead, you can just put an object on the north side and the machine will activate automatically.

Internal map reference — Alpha Repair
Running, running, getting nowhere amid the hustle and bustle of life.
The glider is not in motion.

>put cable on glider
Done.

>look
Internal map reference — Alpha Repair
Running, running, getting nowhere amid the hustle and bustle of life.
The glider is in motion, moving a twelve-inch cable.

>s
Internal map reference — Beta Repair
We’re getting nowhere fast, glider, but at least we’re not getting there slowly.
The glider is in motion, moving a twelve-inch cable.

>s
Internal map reference — Gamma Repair
Oh, to reach the end of one’s previous existence, to travel the roadways of life when they are most needed, only to end up here, reborn.
The glider is in motion, moving a twelve-inch cable.
There is a FRED here.
There is a cage here.

>look
Internal map reference — Gamma Repair
Oh, to reach the end of one’s previous existence, to travel the roadways of life when they are most needed, only to end up here, reborn.
The glider is not in motion.
There is a twelve-inch cable here.
There is a FRED here.
There is a cage here.

The twelve-inch cable is the one from FRED. I’ve tried running the other cables through and nothing changes — they’re still busted. I’m fairly sure I’m missing one small step somewhere and I’ll make it to the end.

Envelope containing a catalog. From Infocom-IF.

You might notice I didn’t discuss the controls / people dying in the millions part of the game. People have certainly been dying…

>score
There have been 7,557,000 casualties (original population: 30,172,000) in 242 cycles.

…but as far as I can find you can essentially ignore this after convincing the humans that there was a real accident and didn’t just cause another “Franklin incident”. According to arcanetrivia in the comments, eventually the game will end with enough death, but I haven’t hit that limit while doing lots of experimenting and having robots meander back and forth. There’s essentially no urgency until I have the last puzzle solved, and then I can worry about optimizing and dial settings to keep people from getting frozen and so forth.