Did you ever wonder what are the average properties of the missions, which is the largest, darkest,...? I did, and I got curious enough to start looking for an answer. I downloaded all the addon missions from df-21, and wrote a simple software which analysed their basic properties and listed the superlatives. For some Dark Forces editing veterans, these numbers will fit their expectations. For me, some results were quite surprising, and I hope you will find some interesting stuff here too. The analysis covers only the completely released addon missions (no previews or demos). Also, the One Room Wonders and showcase levels have been excluded in the analyses where their concept would influence the results of the "regular" levels.
Sectors
The amount of sectors of the level varies
extremely. The average number of sectors per mission is 471.9, what is heavily above the
average of the original missions by LucasArts (for example, Research facility has 395, Nar
Shaddaa 311). The mission with by far the most sectors is the just released Assassination
on Nar Shaddaa with 2268 sectors, followed by Discovery at Ironfort
featuring 1549 sectors, and Prelude to Harkov's defection with 1476. On the other
side, the least can be found in the legendary Mines which consists of 7 sectors,
the Dark Trooper Showdown (24), Mynok Commando Base (31) and Coober
(32). In all the levels together, there were 85383 sectors. Notice that the difference
between the smallest and the largest level is 324x!
Walls
An average level has 3134 walls, but the
extents are again enormous. The absolute winner is again Assassination on Nar Shaddaa
with amazing 16204 walls. Prelude to Harkov's defection took the second place
with 11686, the third and fourth are Discovery at Ironfort (11366) and Beyond
Glory 2 (9752). The last place is again reserved for Mines where Ari G.
managed to include 84 walls. It is again followed by the Dark Trooper Showdown
(128) and Mynok Commando Base (171).
Most complex sector
The most complex sector (the one with the
most walls) per level has been analysed as well. The average among all the levels is 69.7.
The most complex sector so far in the Dark Forces world is the main tunnel in the Imperial
Subway, which consists of 397 vertices. The next is in Reunion 2 (250
vertices) and in the Prelude to Harkov's defection (214 vertices). The last place
is reserved for the Dark Trooper Showdown, where the most complex sector has only
9 vertices, and the second worst is being shared between Mynok Commando Base and Imation:
The First Horizon, with 12.
Walls per sector
This feature displays the average
complexity of the sectors in a level. In all the levels, the average sector consists of
6.62 vertices. The level with most vertices per sector (prepare for the shock!) is Mines,
whose 84 vertices per 7 sectors mean 12 vertices per sector, what is enough for the first
place! The second place is held by Port of Eisley with 10.89 vertices per sector,
and the third by Commenor Spaceport: Pursuit of Cycy Loctob with 8.89. The next
are Jundland (8.82) and Dropship (8.76). Bottom end is led by Wildfire
the Beginning (4.26), with the Imation: All over again (4.39) and Imation:
The first horizon (4.43) just a bit behind (ahead, actually). Further, there is Gulag5
(4.60) and Alert Red (4.7).
Illumination
The average sector illumination among all
levels is 20.3. The darkest level is Fest Revisited where the average
illumination is only 11.49, followed immediately by Clone Tank Storage Facility
with 11.52. The next two are Distribution Center 1.5 (11.91) and Assassination
on Nar Shaddaa (13.14). The most brightly lit levels are doubtlessly Coober
where all sectors have illumination set to 31, and Imation 2: All over again with
an average of 30.73.
INF items
One more property where the extents are
incredible. The average number of INF items per mission is 117, and all the analysed
levels together have 21187 INF items. The most can be found in the Prelude to Harkov's
defection with 497 INFs, and Assassination on Nar Shaddaa has only 4 less.
The Operation Just Cause takes the third place with 450, and the next two are Discovery
at Ironfort (433) and Betrayed (407). On the end of the list, there are two
levels sharing the last place: Raven base and Rescue Willot, with no INF
items, not even the elevator "complete". Note that the level Rescue Willot,
though having no INF, earned a 3-star rating at df-21 and has been reviewed by the
Katarn Commandos where it got 64%!!! I guess that is also a kind of achievement.
Further 7 levels have only one INF item: Mines, HitNRun, Imation: First Horizon, Rebel
Hangar, Wildfire the Beginning, Reciprocity and Imation: All over again. The
Mynok Commando Base and Coober feature 2 INFs.
INF items per sector
This feature has been introduced as well.
An average level has one INF item per four sectors (0.246 INF items per sector, to be
exact). The total winner is Operation Just Cause, where there are 450 items per
465 sectors (0.967!). The next one is, believe it or not, Scrolly's Lair, with
the ratio 0.735. The next three are Ruins of Talos 3: Goatha's palace SE (0.613),
Ruins of Talos 4: Reunion 2 (0.563) and Condition Red (0.528). In the
other hand, Raven base and Rescue willot have no INF items at all, and
are followed by Imation 2: All over again (0.003), Wildfire the Beginning (0.003),
Imation: The first horizon (0.004) and Reciprocity (0.005).
Other
You might also find interesting that,
counting only the rifles and the clips and no ammunition carried by the troops, there are
2425 energy cells in the Ravager Outpost, and 1920 in the Ice World 2.0.
Also, in the level Easter attack, you can collect 226 thermal detonators.
It's impossible to calculate the number of objects per level, since it's influenced
by the difficulty setting, but the average seems to be around 500.
The analysis was done on June 6, when the
last released level was Assassination on Nar Shaddaa.
For any comments or questions, please contact me on ribic@aon.at.
-Fish
