What does a speed run of ONI: Sword Base look like when the runner is not allowed to use the Target Locator or Rockets? It looks something like this.
For me, the beginning was the hardest part to route. I’ll try to explain what’s going on as well as I can. First, I run all the way to behind the trailer and back. This does 3 things: One, it spawns the skirmishers. Two, it causes Kat and the marines to push up straight to the barricades. Finally, it causes most of the enemies to bunch up behind Kat. This gives me a good opportunity for some decent multikills using the 3 grenades I have to use. Ideally, you want every enemy dead in front of you except for 2 elites. You can then backsmack them. After that, you have to play a waiting game with the jackals and elites on the ramp to melee them. This whole process can be as fast as 2 1/2 minutes or as slow as 4 minutes.
The Ghost section is pretty standard with a couple exceptions. At the AA Gun, I can’t use the TL to kill off the enemies as I hit the switch. So, I figured out that I can hide, wait for Kat to teleport into the area, and let her distract all of the enemies for me. It’s a lot safer than it looks; you just have to be patient. I also opt for the Gauss Warthog.
The Gauss Hog both provides a marine and strong firepower. The former proved to be absolutely useless at the base, but the latter was extremely helpful. I can use the powerful Gauss Cannon to let Kat kill everything for me, including the Hunters. It’s much easier and faster than trying to engage them in a melee battle.
Inside the base, the route is pretty standard. When I reach the Phantom at the top, however, I have to let Emile do all the work. As you may know, he can either decide to be helpful or miss every shot. Unfortunately for me, he decided to miss a lot. The elites also gave me some problems, but they’re usually worse; the marines took them out fairly quickly this time.
Final time is an impressive 15 minutes 3 seconds. Not bad considering I was hoping for sub-20 at first. With better optimization, I believe this could be brought down to 13:30 or lower. That’s not my job, however.
Enjoy!
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