Thief 2/any % hard ILs
From SDA Knowledge Base
Any% Hard Individual Level Runs Guide
By JakePlissken et al.
Contents
Introduction
This guide seeks to provide up-to-date routes and tactics to help players learn and compete for IL records. We will outline the strategy for each run by discussing necessary or recommended purchases, providing a step-by-step guide for the fastest strategies, and finally providing a synopsis of the run and a summary on which aspects to practice to achieve record times.
There are two predominant paradigms for IL records: money runs, and "single-segment safe" IL's. The latter uses money carried over from the previous mission, usually the maximum loot available, to purchase extra supplies to make the route faster and more consistent or safe. "Single-segment safe" IL runs use only the money that you would normally have after completing the previous mission in a single-segment any% full game run, which is often 0, as only 5 of 15 missions have loot requirements on normal difficulty. "Single-segment safe" runs are more beneficial as practice than for achieving record times, so for the purposes of this guide we will only focus on money runs. There is a third, much more rare playstyle known as Low%, where no purchases are made at all and players collect the minimum amount of loot required to complete the mission. This is an older challenge run that is no longer commonly seen.
If you are new to Thief speedrunning, it would be beneficial for you to review the SDA Game Mechanics and Glitches page to learn about general movement and how to perform the various glitches that will be referenced in this guide.
TIMING: Thief 2 IL's are timed by in-game time, which is measured in full seconds. The timer rounds down; for example, a 2:05.97 will be displayed as a 2:05. The timer is exceptionally accurate, demonstrated by frame-counting many runs, and the timer has always proven to be accurate. There exist several rumors of circumstances in which the timer is inaccurate, but most of these can be traced to save/load indiscretions, and so far no definitive proof has been put forward. Likewise, saving and loading invalidates the in-game timer, because on loading the timer reverts to the time of the original save, meaning the additional game time is not added to the final game time. Hence, all IL runs must be completed in a single segment, with no saves or loads of any kind. There is some debate regarding how Sabotage at Soulforge should be timed, since it is significantly faster in real time with one save/load than with a single segment, but currently single-segment runs are standardized.
Running Interference
Shipping and Receiving
Framed
Ambush
This level relies heavily on memorizing the correct path through the city, and the easiest way to do that is to watch any of the myriad videos of runs available online. Ambush, along with Running Interference, has one of the longest histories as a time trial level in Thief 2 and besides a minor find in 2017 the route has not changed since 2006. The route is very optimized, and is identical for all three difficulties.
From where Garrett starts, you can turn right 90 degrees and immediately mantle onto the street. Continue forward to the two female NPC's and mantle on top of the elevated garden. On New Dark you can mantle straight onto the garden from the ground level; on Old Dark it may help to jump on top of one of the boxes first, although it is still possible to mantle straight from the street.
On Hard or Expert difficulty, where health management is more vital, you can either enter the door on top of the garden and exit out the window of that building for less of a fall, or you can jump from the garden onto one of the guards' heads, which will break your fall and result in no damage. This guard is not present on Normal.
The fastest way to traverse the market is to jump across the fountain. If your timing is perfect you can jump straight onto the fountain without needing to mantle. It's also possible to take it safe and jump early, intending to mantle; this method is slower but the timing is far less demanding. Naturally, this method is much more reliable in New Dark. If you are unlucky, you will land precisely on the edge of the fountain where you can neither mantle nor make it onto the fountain itself. Decide which method works for you to avoid this situation.
At the next forking path you can run around the building to the right or climb the ladder to the left; climbing the ladder is faster. Unfortunately there is no consistent way to prevent fall damage here.
When making your way across the water ways, using jumps to straighten your path through the level is faster than running along the bridges. You can pickpocket a guard patrol here for an extra health potion if you need it. The precise patrol path of these guards is pseudorandom. On an optimal run, you will have to pass them right as they enter an alleyway at a left turn. Sometimes you can get by them on the left, which is ideal; if their patrol path strays too close to the left corner, you'll have to pass them on the right.
As you approach Garrett's apartment you will want to enter the building across the street and jump to Garrett's apartment window. The door to this building opens towards you so activate it as soon as possible. Head all the way up the spiral staircase and through the door at the top. You do not need to be strafe-running to make the jump to Garrett's windowsill, but it helps. While in mid-air, try to open the windows so you don't waste time fiddling with them on the windowsill.
Garrett's apartment has very intrusive geometry and the only way to become fast at moving through it is to practice. Upon entering, head to his closet and frob the left-most coat hanger to open the stash. The secret door does not need to be fully open to grab the items behind it, so you will want to memorize the location of each item so you don't have to wait for the door to open. You need to grab the Shalebridge key for the objective (even though you will not use it), and the speed potion.
Exiting Garrett's apartment can be tricky due to the very large bed hitbox; just try and find a movement pattern that is fast and feels natural. Now you have two options to reach the end level trigger, both involving out-of-bounds tricks.
The classic method is to drop down from Garret's window and head east until you get to the waterway. Turn around, and on your right there should be a window texture on a building next to some stone battlements. The frame of this window is wood; use a rope arrow to climb up to this window, then jump to and mantle upon the battlements. You are now out of bounds.
The newer method involves retrieving the slowfall potion from the stash as well, and jumping back onto the windowsill of the adjacent apartment building, instead of dropping down. Run to the edge of the windowsill, then use the slowfall potion to jump across the street to the roof of the building and then walking over to the battlements. Slowfall jumping is an art in and of itself and requires separate treatment elsewhere.
Both methods get you to the same place - out of bounds on top of the battlements. Drop down and continue heading east. You will eventually reach a wooden section of wall next to a building with a red sloped roof. Use another rope arrow to get on top of the wooden pillar, then mantle on top of the red sloped roof. While standing on this roof, you will slowly slip off. Thus, you need to drink your speed potion to help counteract the slide, and continue along the roofs. You will eventually drop into the Shalebridge area from completely the opposite of the intended direction, completing the mission.
A note of caution: If you are able to end the mission while still out of bounds, it is because you have installed the Complete Resource Fix Pack 1.1e, included as an optional install in most Tafferpatcher versions. Complete Resource Fix Pack 1.1e is explicitly BANNED because of its demonstrated illicit changes to the levels, and thus runs including this exit are not considered valid.
Eavesdropping
First City Bank and Trust
There are no necessary purchases for this mission, but one option which is single-segment safe is to buy two health potions and an extra flash bomb. For money runs, extra mines are a good buy.
First mine+fire arrow to blast the door to your left open. Continue straight ahead and through the marble room. You can try and knock out the purple guard but it doesn't always work. Drop mines in an attempt to disable the mechbeast. Continue down into the basement. If you watch a few IL's you can see what we call "box strats", pioneered by SocratesJohnson. The tall boxes are hard to traverse in general, but there are ways to make them more convenient. Press up against them to mantle; straferun to cross the gap between them whilst throwing the box. If you cross the gap running straight you will almost surely fall.
Follow the side passages to the left to exit near the end of the tunnels. Continue forward until you reach the puzzle machine with a Watcher out front. Hit the lever and stand under the Watcher. Wait until there is only one vertical bar visible on the gate, then enter and open up the puzzle. The fastest combination is middle-left, middle-right, bottom right. If you are ever in doubt, just remember the "four corners" solution - just hit all four corners and the puzzle will complete. Backtrack all the way back to the marble room. You can take the side passages again if you are fast; if your run is slow up to this point, you may get blocked by one of the small mechbeasts. If you somehow get blocked on the entrance to the side passages, don't take them, as there will be another mechbeast who will also block your exit. Just take the wider route out.
Now enter the vault. Hug the right side of the room, or else the vault door will push you out of the way. Trigger the elevator and climb on top of the elevator button box. When the elevator is low enough, press the up button and jump onto the elevator; you may get stuck in the elevator if you press and jump too early and may even take damage. Jump across the corners of the second floor and climb up to the top floor. Head over to vault 11; you can grab the recording through the door, no need to use the key. Drop all the way down to the first floor, using health potions as necessary.
You will see a stairway to your right; take it and go through the first door you see. Flashbomb the mechbeast if he is there, and rope arrow to the roof of the dome. Climb the rope to end the mission. Since the "dome" section is technically above the roof of the bank, the game reads you as being outside and trips the end level trigger. If this fails or if you get blocked, just run out the ground level floor where you came in.
