Marathon Rubicon

From Traxus

Marathon Rubicon is a scenario set in the Marathon universe fifty years after the events of Marathon 2. Originally released for Marathon Infinity, it was later rereleased as the Aleph One-only Rubicon X, a vastly overhauled version with new and restructured levels which is now considered by the original authors to be the definitive version^{[citation needed]}.

Contents 1 Volunteer series 2 New Aliens 3 Weapons 4 Installation 5 External links

Volunteer series

See Rubicon Volunteers.

New Aliens

Enforcer Coming in the same minor and major castes, Enforcers now carry a radically different weapon, firing seeking bursts of particle laser. At close range, the gun releases a particle burst so powerful, it usually eradicates the player, Enforcer, and any organism in the blast radius. The player can pick up the weapon if the Enforcer was killed with bullets or fusion, but not with explosives or another Alien Weapon. The weapon has been documented to be called a Skeaarnen Rifle.

PCM Available in two castes, one kamikaze explosive unit, the other a tactical security unit. The first is usually dealt with by an AR sweep; if they get too close, they will explode- but this can be used to advantage. The latter unit uses a close up electricity discharge, boasting better defenses, but a sweep with the Fusion Rifle is usually the best. They also have a blast radius.

Wasp Seen in various colors. Wasps have an irritatingly efficient mode of mucus fire, so keeping your distance is recommended. Therefore, as Wasps are not particularly strong, the best weapon to deal with them is the pistols, or maybe the maser or an AR sweep.

Looker Underfoot explosive beast; best dispatch instrument is usually just pistols at a distance.

Chamberlain Boasting an energy-repelling shield, the Chamberlain is capable of whittling down shields at close range in seconds, but are harmless at a distance. If one is put into combat, one recommends an AR sweep, or shotguns.

Juggernaut The new Juggernaut boasts Machine Gun bursts and seeking bombs; both units are very powerful and more or less guarantee a hit in an area without cover. Juggernauts are immune to bullets and fists, so recommended is the Fusion Rifle, Rockets, and the Maser. They do come in the minor and major caste, as before.

Thinker Caste The Thinker Caste utilize a floating, energy-repelling shield chair, due to the monstrous size of their craniums. They have machine guns for close range, and bouncing grenades at close range. Best weapons to take care of a Thinker are shotguns, but beware of the blast radius.

Drinniol Although more or less the same as the original, the Hulk now has a bouncing grenade trigger for long distances, throwing the munitions with extraordinary accuracy. Recommended is the Maser, Rockets and Shotguns.

GI Bob Similar to Pfhor Troopers, the GI Bob uses the same Assault Rifle as the player, and in more or less the same manner. They are allies with the player. Both castes of GI Bob are strong, but have weapons of a varying degree. The second caste is stronger, dons darker blue armor pads, and has a more powerful rifle.

Drone Coming in many varieties, the first drone caste uses a blast of small bolts that are individually weak, but are powerful when used in combination. The second drone caste is stronger, and fires energy cartwheels, some are seeking.

S'pht'Wr Firing small but strong and fast energy bolts, the S'pht'Wr, though slow moving, are useful marksmen and don energy shields. They come in minor and major castes.

AMDD Dangi Drones are more or less mechanical GI Bobs, donning the same equipment, but however are much stronger, and have orange armor and yellow blood.

Maser Bob Dangi Security Bobs boast the lethal Maser, and one can easily kill a marine from a distance. Recommended is the pistols or another Maser, as they cannot take much themselves, and the black caste of Maser Bob actually drop a Maser, so take care in killing them.

Lab Rat Oddly impervious to bullets and fusion. Harmless.

Hydrogen/Oxygen Canisters When in the firing line, avoid like the plague. The oxygen canister provides a large and damaging blast radius, but the hydrogen provides a more or less lethal explosion.

Dreams Seen as complier bolts, they appear in dream levels. They usually fire at random points with complier bolts, so beware.

Weapons

• Magnum .44 Ultra Class Pistol, an upgraded version of the original Magnum Mega Class with 12 bullets per clip instead of 8.
• MA-75B Assault Rifle/Grenade Launcher, which has a new design but functions identically to the original in gameplay. On one level, the player is issued specialized ammunition for it which can fire underwater.
• Mercury A3 Fusion Rifle, a variation on the Fusion Pistol. Rapidly fires small fusion rounds that do less damage than the original Fusion Pistol, with an alternate fire similar to the charge function of the aforementioned Fusion Pistol.
• WSTE-M Combat Shotgun
• SPNKR X-34 SSM Launcher, a version of the original trilogy's rocket launcher which loads three rockets at a time instead of the original's two.
• UESC Carpet Mortar, a heavy-duty assault weapon which fires around 10 grenades in a single shot and can be fired twice before reloading.
• Dangi AI324b Maser, which fires a constant, incredibly accurate, and deadly laser.
• Alien Weapon, used by the Pfhor Enforcers and dropped by them when they die. The primary firing mode is a medium-speed but accurate, homing energy bolt, while the secondary fire produces a damaging blast that only works at close range. When picked up by the player, the Alien Weapon loses it's secondary fire and the primary triggers ability to seek targets. Both firing modes are able to completely disintegrate any enemy short of a Drinniol.

Installation

For players on Macintosh computers running MacOS 9 or earlier, the Rubicon Standard package is recommended. The Infinity application required to install it can be found here. The "Rubicon AO Light" version breaks some smearing-based graphical effects which were part of the original design.

External links

• Fan guide by Kevin Jaques for the new content in Rubicon X