Hints for The Telescopium Incident
The following are hints for when you are stuck on my game Telescopium Incident. I've tried to make the game as fair as possible so I hope you don't get stuck. But if you can't figure out how to progress, get a hint below. The hints are hidden until you click the "Gimme a hint" button to ensure it doesn't spoil the game by showing you only the hints you want to see.
List of locations
Midship
Can I continue my charging cycle?
There's no need. Even if you were to re-enable the charging bay, you have enough charge to take care of the more pressing concerns anyway.
I can't do anything with that screen.
It serves mostly as a map and shows you where the other droid and crew members are as well as what the status of the ship is.
What are these spare parts?
An interface attachment that allows droids to interface with computers. And some fuses. Yes, you'll have to click on the spare parts supply twice to get both.
The door to the bridge won't open.
That's because the door control mechanism is damaged beyond repair. You'll have to find another way through.
So how do I open the door to the bridge?
Sometimes you have to resort to violence. Try shooting it.
How can I open the weapons locker?
There's a retinal scanner attached. Droids don't have retinas, humans do.
Engineering
What happened to that other droid?
When the gravity storm hit, it got slammed into the master systems display. Neither the display nor the droid survived the impact.
What are all those flashing lights?
The systems that drive the ship. There's nothing you can do with them, but if you're a geek, you might recognise one of the patterns being displayed.
How can I access the computer?
Normally, you would use the interface attachment on the interface port. It works better when the system hasn't been destroyed though. There's another interface port on the bridge.
Can I repair the master systems display?
It's been destroyed beyond your ability to fix. If you want a working computer interface, try the bridge.
How can I replace that broken fuse?
You'll need a new fuse and a maintenance attachment for the droid.
Where do I find a new fuse?
The spare parts compartment in the midship.
Where do I find a maintenance attachment?
The wrecked droid in the corner is a maintenance droid. Surely it has one.
Can I save the droid?
Nope, it's damaged beyond repair and you don't have the skills, tools, or parts to do it anyway. You might be able to salvage some parts from it, though.
How can I take parts from the droid?
You'll have to cut your way in with a weapon.
I only got the network cable from the droid. How can I get the maintenance attachment?
Just click on the droid again.
Can I go into the maintenance tunnel?
Once that fire is out, yes. You'll need to enable the fire suppression system from the bridge in order to extinguish it.
Bridge
Can I save the engineer?
It's too late for that. She's dead.
Can I fix the door control system?
What's the point? The door's no longer an obstacle anymore.
The computers have no power.
A fuse has blown in engineering. That's the fuse that regulates power to the operations station on the bridge. If you replace it, power will be restored.
The computers have power, but no signal.
The engineer was working on diagnosing a networking problem. The router has a cable fault.
How do I fix the router?
You're gonna need a replacement cable and a maintenance attachment. Both can be found in engineering.
Can I access the captain's station?
It is not configured for droid access, so no.
Can I access the operations station?
Yes, by using the interface attachment on the interface port. Find the interface attachment in the spare parts compartment in the midship.
What can I do with the computer?
Be sure to take note of the warning. Leaving less than 97% of power for the sub-light propulsion system will result in the ship being lost. From here you can access the power distribution controls and jettison the cargo modules.
How should I distribute power?
Be very careful with what you activate. Anything that is activated takes away power from the engines and could cause the ship to be lost. You might want to activate the fire suppression system to extinguish the fire in the maintenance tunnel. But you should deactivate another system first to make sure you have the power to spare, or you could lighten the load on the engines.
Can I shut down the primary control systems?
Sure. It'd be a terrible idea, but you could.
Can I shut down life support?
The crew is all dead and as a droid, you don't require a breathable atmosphere. The life support systems are no longer benefiting anybody.
How can I generate that much power?
There's no way. The only alternative is, as the computer suggested, to reduce the mass of the ship.
How can I reduce the mass of the ship by 70,000 tons?
The Redemption has 5 cargo modules. Each of those has a mass of 18,000 tons. Sacrificing 4 of the modules would lead to a reduction of 72,000 tons, which would be enough to escape the gravity well.
How do I jettison cargo modules?
The cargo modules are interconnected. Module 5 is connected to module 4, 4 to 3, etc. And module 1 is connected to the primary hull. To prevent collision with catastrophic results, jettisoning a module will also jettison the higher numbered modules (which are to the rear of the ship). Decouple the frontmost (lowest numbered) module you want to jettison, then jettison it.
Why can't I decouple module 2 from module 1?
There was a fire burning in the maintenance tunnel. In fact, if you haven't enabled the fire suppression system, it's still burning. So your choices are to either decouple module 1 from the primary hull and jettison it (which will take module 2 with it), or try to fix the interconnect clamps.
How do I fix the clamps?
They can be accessed through the maintenance tunnel in engineering.
Crew quarters
Dr. Yang doesn't look so good?
Being slammed head-first into the side of his bunk under crushing gravity took a few feet off his height.
Can I save Dr. Yang?
He has been crushed under the intense gravity. Fortunately for him, his death was quick.
What are those things in the bunks?
Captain Hernandez is Mexican and has a picture of his family and a photo of his wife. Engineer De Bruin is Dutch and has a reproduction of paintings by Mondriaan (Composition with Red Blue and Yellow) and Vermeer (Girl with the Pearl Earring). Doctor Yang is Chinese and has a photo of the Great Wall. The bedding and Doctor Yang himself had been bunched up in the left corner under the influence of extreme gravity.
Can I go through that door with the green light?
That's the bathroom. Droids have no business in there. More to the point, why would you want to?
Can I take the medical kit?
Not the kit itself, but you can retrieve a medical attachment from it.
Can I access the personal lockers?
You don't have the crewmembers' access codes. Besides, what would you do with their clothes?
Observation lounge
What happened to the captain?
He was having lunch. When the gravity storm hit, he fell into the corner of the room, along with all the furniture, and it crushed him.
Can I save the captain?
He's dead, which is a permanent condition. Fortunately, as he is dead, he won't object to you retrieving any of his body parts. I'm sure he'd approve anyway, if it meant saving the ship.
What are those distorted stars?
The gravity of a black hole is so extreme that it distorts light like a lens. This is called gravitational lensing.
Can I change the climate control settings?
No. You're a droid and capable of operating far outside the conditions humans need to live.
Maintenance tunnel
What can I do here?
You have access to the mechanisms that control the cargo module interconnect clamps. One of them has suffered fire damage. You could fix it.
Miscellaneous
How do I get the terrible ending?
By making a mistake that causes the Redemption to fall into the black hole. You can do this by deactivating the primary control systems (basically shutting everything down) or by diverting energy from the propulsion systems (if you don't deactivate the life support system or jettison some cargo, activating any other system will leave insufficient power for the engines).
Dow do I get the bad ending?
Jettison all 5 cargo modules.
How do I get the good ending?
Jettison only modules 2 through 5, preserving module 1. To achieve this, you'll need to repair the interconnect clamps linking module 2 to module 1. For this, either disable the life support system or jettison cargo module 5 to make sure you have enough power, and enable the fire suppression system. Fix the clamps in the maintenance tunnel. And then return to the bridge, decouple and jettison module 2.
52 billion teranewtons? Surely you made that up.
It is the amount of force exerted by a mass 25 times as heavy as the Sun on a 100,000 metric ton ship at a distance of 6371 kilometers (the radius of the Earth). Under those circumstances, the escape velocity is about 12% the speed of light.
Why is the ship named the Redemption?
If you've seen the end of the game, you'll know the Earth has become uninhabitable. Humanity's actions have caused the destruction of the ecosystem and brought about the imminent end of all life on Earth. The few who get to try to perpetuate the species are hoping to redeem mankind.
Why is the destination named Soteria?
As populating another planet is mankind's only hope for survival, the planet was named Soteria after the Greek word Σωτήρ (Soter), meaning "saviour".
Why is the game named the Telescopium Incident?
Telescopium is a constellation visible from the southern hemisphere and there is a double or triple star system, HR 6819 or QV Telescopii, which was hypothesized in a May 2020 study to contain the closest known black hole, QV Telescopii Ab, at about a thousand light years from Earth. Other papers have argued that there is no black hole. I took the artistic license of deciding that there is indeed a black hole and it is responsible for the Redemption's predicament.