[net.games] hitchhiker's guide: MASSIVE *** SPOILER ***

robertm@dartvax.UUCP (Robert P. Munafo) (11/06/85)

Here are the spoilers that I collected while I was trying to solve the game.
They are from lots of different people, and so their style differs greatly.
I did not bother to re-write everything in my own words; I just deleted
everything that wasn't relevant...
   Hope this helps somewhat...  (How many people are still actually playing
this game, anyway?)
						Robert P. Munafo

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>About the microscopic space fleet: my brother mentioned there is some way
>to save the fleet, but didn't explain if this is on Earth (when you
>encounter the small dog) or later (when you meet the Vl'hurg and G'gugvunt
>leaders).  When is it?

It's Earth.  There's something you have to get that you might
not at first notice.  (That's a reasonable hint - there are only
a few locations on Earth).


>The spare improbability drive plugs into the control console on
>the bridge.  That takes care of the large plug and I think the small
>plug fits the plotter....  That done, you'd have a working improbability
>drive which might force the door to open.

Who says you need to plug the large cord in?

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	BABEL FISH-
	  1) When the fish goes somewhere, block its exit.
	  2) Can the flying robot get more than one thing at a time?
	  3) What do you have in great quantity?
	  4) When you have the fish, push the switch on the computer.

	TO GET THE MINI-ADVENTURES-     
	  1) To get into the Engine Room, insist that you want to go south.
	  2) Consult the Guide on the spare improbability generator.
	  3) Get everything that you will need to operate the spare generator
	     and take it all to the Bridge.
	  4) Do not use the emergency procedures until absolutely necessary.
	 
        FORD-
	  1) Go to Arthur's house.
	  2) Consult the Guide on matter transferrence.
	  3) Look carefully around the Bar.

	WAR CHAMBER-
	  1) Have you ever seen a dog before?

	TRILLIAN-
	  1) Look at Arthur.
	  2) Make Phil notice you.  ("Phil" is actually someone else you
	     have already met at an earlier point in the game.)

	ZAPHOD-
	  1) Look around the Presidential Speedboat carefully.
	  2) What would you say to the guards in a bank that you were going
	     to rob?

	BUGBLATTER BEAST OF TRAAL-
	  1) Consult the Guide on the Beast.
	  2) What could the sharp stones be used for?
	  3) Make your mark on society.
	  4) When you are through with the Beast, search the Inner Lair.

	GENERAL HINTS ON TEA-
	  1) Examine the tea.  This could produce interesting results...
	  2) Do not be upset if your first attempts to use the tea fail.
	  3) The tea is vitally important in the solution of (and survival of)
	     a certain puzzle.
	  
	FLUFF-
	  1) Consult the Guide on fluff.

	MARVIN'S DOOR-
	  1) Consult the Guide on intelligence.  Are there any items   
	     even remotely similar to these examples?
	  2) What does your common sense tell you?
	    
	HATCH-
	  1) When you find Marvin (yes, he did go to his room to pout),
	     you will solve the hatch puzzle.

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>... How can I get it to make REAL tea????

If equipped with an appropriate interface, the nutrimat will make real tea.
Have you done any exploring around the lair of the Bugblatter Beast?

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We havn't been able to get through the door either.  It 
wants you to show it some small sign of your 
intelligence.  Consulting guide on intelligence gives you 
a hint I havn't been able to exploit.  

Have you fired up the portable improbability drive yet?  
It sends you out on one of a half dozen or so 
sub-adventures including one which gets you a circuit 
board for the nutrimat interface to make tea.  This 
unfortunatly causes the H.O.G.  to reach Magrathea and 
get blowed up by missles.  

If you havn't fired up the portable Improbability drive, 
try putting the long dangly bit into a brownian motion 
generator.  

-----------------------------------------

>Anybody know how to prevent the dog from eating the 
>sub-miniture space fleet when you are aboard it?  I 
>suspect you must feed the cheese sandwich to the dog in 
>the Ford Prefect sub-adventure, but it doesn't seem to 
>work.  

You're very close -- however, it's Arthur who has to do the feeding
at the very beginning of the game.


> Does anyone know how to use the THING!!! I can't seem to remember how to
> close it and am now at the point where I have to use it.Help!!!

You can put stuff in it (ie.  "put all in thing").  Then you can drop it
or something else and pick up other objects.  sooner or later it
will show up in your possessions.

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While you're in the whale, plant all fluff in the flowerpot.
Put the flowerpot in the thing
Drop the thing while you're still in the whale
Wait for the whale to >splat<
Sooner or later, back on the ship, the thing will show up with the
 flowerpot in it.
Notice how a tiny stalk is starting to come up?
Take the flowerpot out of the thing, then take it into the sauna.
Eat the fruit of foreknowledge to find out what tool Marvin will want.

----------------------------------------------------

I happen to be down to the last 50 points in the game.
I have never seen a time when I was inside the whale.
There have been two times when I have seen the whale:
one is when you do the tea thing correctly and the
missiles turn into a whale, and the other is when you
do the tea thing incorrectly and you turn into the
whale (this only happened to me once, and I didn't have
a chance to move).  

----------------------------------------------------

1. Once on the Heart of Gold, if you activate the spare drive
   you lose points.  Is this the correct thing to do, or do
   you have to wait for "an emergency" of some sort?
	Well, if you really want to know... unplug the drive from the 
	console before you use it.  Plug it in during the emergency.

2. In alternate universes, I have apparently done some at least
   partially correct.  I have always thought that you have to 
   solve all these before it will let you behind the door.
   Is that right?
	You did the brain (War Chamber) right.  You also need tea.

3. I have done the war chamber scene correctly (giving sandwich
   to dog).  It drops me inside Arthur's brain afterwards.  In
   there, I find his common sense.  Trying to take it kills you.
   I thought that this might be the "example of intelligence" that
   you need to show the door.  I have tried grasping it with several
   tools and I can't do it.  I'm pretty much stuck for now.
	Just take it.You do not die, and the common sense is
	related to the door.  It is not, however, the example of the 
	intelligence.

4. As Trillian, I get successfully picked up by Phil.  This seems
   totally correct.  As Zaphod, I get up on the Dais, get the box
   out of the boat, find the key, and get zapped by guards when
   Trillian shows up.  I have tried commanding the guards, but all
   I can get them to do is drop their rifles.  Any time we make
   a break for the Heart of Gold, we die.  I must be missing the
   correct command for the guards (I have tried this one for quite
   some time).
        You are missing it.  How can you keep the guards from using their
	guns? Could they use them if the guns were no longer in working
	condition?

5. As Arthur, when I encounter the beast, I solve it by engravinging
   my name on the memorial.  There must be something else to it,
   because I didn't get any points.  These beasthunters come in and
   grab me.  Somehow this seems to fit in with what I might expect
   from the game.  Is there something else I need to do here, or is
   it solved?
	Go back into the lair and look around.  There may be another room...

6. It is fun to be Ford on Earth.  I got 15 points for drinking the
   beer.  I did everything that he did in the beginning.  It seemed
   happy.  Should there be anything else done here?
	No.

7. Can you ever find the group of people on the Heart of Gold?
   They all are supposed to be in the sauna (unless they are
   behind the door, but I assumed Marvin was there).  Can you
   do anything interesting with the people on the ship?  How
   about Marvin or Eddie?  They never seem like they want to
   talk about anything.  They were better than that in the book.
	They are in the sauna.  Zaphod makes a brief appearance now and
 	then, and all appear in the "emergency".  The game is very complex,
	and there is a limited amount of space on the disk.  Something had
	to be sacrificed. The sauna is important later in the game.

8. Can you get anything but the Tea Substitute out of the machine?
   Playing with the dip switches doesn't seem to do anything.
	Oh, yes you can!!!  The dip switches don't do anything.  Try looking
	at the panel with the magnifying glass (heh, heh).

9. I have an awful lot of tools I don't understand.  Do I need the
   high-tech rasp, pliers, awl, etc. for anything?
	Well, you will know at a later point in the game which tool
	(singular intended) you need.

10. I have figured that you can put things in the thing and have it
   follow you.  This must be useful somewhere. Am I on the right
   track here?
	Sure are!  You will need to put one thing in the thing (ouch)
	later in the game.