"Tangle (Spider and Web)" step-by-step solution by pjg Modified by Nils Barth 2000-12-09 (esp. the summary of what actually happened) This is not the "official" solution. Feel free to write and upload a better solution if you want to. Otherwise, corrective modifications to this solution are welcomed and encouraged. For game Release 4 / Serial number 980226 Other game releases may be slightly different. This game is very linear and mistakes are easy to learn from. In fact, much of the fun in this game is trying different actions. Pay attention though -- every clue is important. If you get stuck then consult the relevant section of the solution for help. Comments are in () ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- The Door in the Alley --------------------- I X door X plate Push plate S, S (the man will appear and question you, most of the time your yes/no answers don't matter) (your purpose at this point is to show the interrogator the "actions you did" while breaking into his high security complex) Yes (you are being forced to "relive" your "memories" for his benefit. If the game responds to one of your commands in a different print style then your character is trying to hide something from the man. The man will be satisfied when a plausible and believable series of events is "relived" for him) (much of the fun in this game is in trying different actions and seeing what the result is. Don't be afraid to experiment with other actions to get a better understanding of the game's ending) The Door in the Alley (again) ----------------------------- I X door Knock on door g. g. g. g (eventually, the man will appear and present you with a lockpick) Yes The Door in the Alley (yet again) --------------------------------- I (you will now have the lockpick) Put rod on plate Wait. Again g (you must wait until the door opens) (Man) (the man will ask about your equipment) No No White Junction --------------- save "package" N Jump Look in the hole Get package Open vent (notice the change in print style) (there is a vent in every room; look for them) (there are 2 very important vents in the game) D S, E, SE (Man) No Yes Yes Tee Junction ------------ save "clatter" (E. Put rod on plate. W) Wait. Again (wait until you see the guards or until the guards are almost on top of you) Throw rod east (the guards will go investigate the noise) N (man) Yes Yes No (notice how the man suggests that it will be bad if both sides have the secret in the lab?) No No (your whole convictions about this operation may be changing) Outside Laboratory ------------------ save "labdoor" (too bad you don't have the lockpick) SE Listen. Again (wait for the guards to leave) ("with'" is the commander's title) E (man) Yes Z No No Annex ----- save "annex" (the scan, lamp, acid, and blast can be operated by the key, button, voice, toggle, or timer. The key and button are brief actuators, the voice and toggle are on/off actuators, and the timer is a cycle actuator) Look in north room Look in east room Look in south room (you can use the scan and timer or the scan and voice to enter the rooms; it doesn't matter which, but voice is easier) (let's use the scan and voice first) Get scan, voice module X scan. X voice module X voice transmitter. Read keywords Connect voice module to scan Drop scan (you can't take the scan inside the rooms) Say tango S Say waltz Get pen then X it X nib (knock out drug) (you can play around in here for awhile, when you are ready to leave then...) Say tango N Say waltz (let's go north) Say tango N Say waltz (notice the change in print style, something important happened here) X chair X acid Sit in chair X bands Look. Again (keep looking until a "ghost" image of the man appears) X man Again. G. G. G (after the "ghost" is gone you may as well leave) Get up Say tango S Say waltz Get all SW (man) (Yes. Undo) No (the man will make you relive that scene) Annex (again) ------------- save "annex2" (this is how you do it with the timer, instead of the voice, in which case timing is crucial) Get scan, timer X timer. X green. X blue Connect timer to scan Turn green to 1 Turn blue to 1 Drop scan Push green. Push blue S. Get pen. N I (the timer will cause the scan to cycle properly) E. X plays. W Push green (must turn it off) Get all (you couldn't find the lockpick) SW (man) Yes Yes Diagonal Branch --------------- save "gun" S Wait (wait for the door to open) Stab guard with pen Climb cabinet X wall X vent then open it Put all in vent (you don't want the man to get all of your secret spy equipment and tools) D X guard then get gun shoot guards with gun (or just wait, but it's more fun to shoot them) (you will be captured) (man) No No save "acid" (the following is a very good puzzle -- don't read the following unless you are -really- stuck) (the man will order your equipment brought into the room) Look X desk X items (what items are missing?) Say tango (you really are quite clever) (Notice that you haven't told the truth to "with'", as you did come into the interrogation room; what else did you lie about? (See end of file for answers)) (The action now becomes dead serious -- you know what you must do: get into the lab, and steal/stop the research.) Hit man Search man Get all from desk S, SW save "escape" S, E Put rod on plate Wait. G. G (the door will open) N Disconnect radio (the radio is broken) Connect button to blast save "blast" Push button (bang!) S Get rod W. W. NW W. N Jump Open vent Get gun D. E save "guards" Shoot guards (you can stay here and shoot guards if you want to) SE N. NW Put rod on plate Wait. G. G (the lab door will open) Get rod W Open panel Shoot layer (this will delay the guards, you can relax now) Search table Get papers, plate Read papers save "papers" (you have 3 endings: Failure (death), Fail to make a difference (left something behind), or Made a difference (destroyed it, or take it with you) You "win" this game by not letting the enemy get your spy equipment AND by destroying or taking the lab research papers. (Take it with you version of the ending) ---------------------------------------- restore "papers" Open cabinet Put plate in cabinet Close cabinet X console Push upper X display Push oval (you don't want the teleporter to return you to the lab) Open flap save "takeit" Push lower (you have activated the machine) Enter platform Close flap Read papers save "end1" Wait. G (this is the "best" ending that you can get) -------------------------------------------------------- (Destoyed version of the ending) -------------------------------- restore "papers" X device (a coffee maker) Get pot Put papers in alcove Push tiny Open cabinet Put plate in cabinet Close cabinet X papers (the papers will be burning now) Get papers Put all on table (you are destroying all of your equipment as well) X console Push upper X display Push oval (you don't want the teleporter to return you to the lab) Open flap save "destroy" (now you can wait around and watch the lab burn) Wait. G (wait until the Guard mentions a "hole big enough to fire through") Push lower (you have activated the machine) Enter platform Close flap save "end2" Wait. G. G (neither side got the teleporter) ------------------------------------------------------------- Game summary of what you "relived" for "with'": You broke into the complex by using your lockpick on the alley door. You retrieved a package hidden in the ceiling hole. You distracted the guards with the lockpick in the dead end. You couldn't open the lab door without your lockpick, so you went to security to get it back. You searched the locker room and his office but couldn't find it. You were surprised by a guard and drugged him. You knew that you were about to be captured, so you hid your secret spy equipment and the package in the air vent above the file cabinet. ----------------------------------------- Game summary of what really happened: You broke into the complex by using your lockpick on the alley door. Noticing the metal detector at the red line, you stashed -your- gun in the ceiling, behind the vent (because your side does not have non-metal guns, so you couldn't get past the line until the power is cut). There is no package -- it's a ruse you made up to explain the blood on the ceiling. You then broke into the wiring room so that you could cut the power, by putting the blast tab in the wires. You left in a rush as the guards came, losing your lockpick (accidentally) on the way. Now because the key transmitter was jammed, you couldn't blast the wires, and because you had lost your lockpick, you couldn't get back into the closet to set it off manually. You couldn't open the (acid proof) lab door without your lockpick, (or your blast tab, since that was in the wiring room), and figured you might be caught, so you rigged an escape mechanism to the metal interrogation chair. (You knew your enemy's interrogation methods) Also, you searched the locker room for weapons and found a drug pen. (note that you used the scan scrambler connected to the timer to get into the interrogation room, since you needed to connect the voice module to the acid). (the following is speculative -- it's unclear whether you -wanted- to get captured, or if this was accidental) You needed to get a gun, since you couldn't bring yours across the red line with the power on, so you surprised and drugged the guard and took his, and hid your now useless toolbox in the vent (at the only other place you could reach a vent) before you got captured. You then got captured by the guard squad. ------------------- For fun have you... -- figured out the woman's profession? -- met the Janitor? -- met the three groups of technicians? -- examined the 3 paintings in the office? -- understood the Rita joke? -- gotten the man to kill you in the chair twice? -- met the guards while hanging from the ceiling? -- tried to take the wrench across the red line? -- tried to leave the same way that you came in? -- used the scan more than 4 times? -- found two identical vents?