Thief 2 FM - The Art of Thievery (Dec. 8, 2001)

AfterDark on 5/7/2002 at 17:13

By the way, I have just done some rough calculations on the size of the Lord's Mansion. When I map a mission out, I use a crouched walking stride as my 'unit' which then gets transferred to some squared paper. (My main problem is that unless I know where I have been, it is very difficult to find that last 100 loot, or last 1000 loot more like!)

I have looked at a number of 'distances' in the game and have come up with what I think is a pretty good estimate of real distance against my 'unit'.

On this basis, the mansion is pretty bloody vast:

Its ground floor covers about 10,000 sq yds, 90,000 sq ft or about 2 acres! A nice detached house with 5 bedrooms might have a ground floor of 1440 sq ft, excluding the garage, and most people would consider this as big. You could therefore fit over 60 houses on the Lord's Mansion plot!!!!

The first floor is a little smaller since we must allow for all the balconies and lost floor space, but it still comes in at about 8,000 square yards or 72,000 sq ft!!

The top floor is much smaller and only covers 2,000 square yards or 18,000 sq ft.

So, we have a total floor area of about 180,000 sq ft!!! Curiously enough, an English football pitch only has a maximum and minimum for its' widths and lengths, but based on the average, the mansion would cover nearly 3 football pitches.

But wait until you start looking at the cost of upkeep!! I am not aware of ever seeing the value of something that could be related to modern prices, so we will have to use current prices as a guide.

There seem to be something like 80 staff employed, which assuming they are on a basis wage, comes to something like £1.4 million a year. Of course, he'll have a load of lackeys around that won't get paid much, but security guards are pretty well paid! Then, there's uniforms and weapons, although I doubt if anyone bothers about sick pay and pension contributions etc.

And as for heating, electricity etc. It's the high ceilings and open spaces that really notch this up, and with stone walls, wow it would be cold in winter!

But how much would it cost him to build in the first place? Ignoring land value, a rough guide to building costs is about £100 per sq ft for anything other than a pretty basic interior. The Lord has kitted the place out using wood panelling extensively, valuable drapes, chandeliers, marble flooring, wood flooring, wall papers and antiques. Ignoring actual 'loot' type items, I estimate that it would cost in excess of £200 million.

The loot is beyond price and the value of his library alone must be out of this world!

So, is he rich? Yup! I'd say so!

Spidey8 on 9/7/2002 at 17:18

What a wonderful mission!! I think that I may have created a monster in myslef by making this my first "ghosted" mission. So far I have invested 5 hours and I only have attained [SPOILER]The Trickster's Eye painting and the Air Elemental stone.[/SPOILER] Im playing on expert and I only knocked out one person so far and that was with a gas arrow (and as far as I can tell according to the objectives screen......it says no knockouts with your BLACKJACK, so I believe that I am still going to accomplish this goal). I couldn't fiqure out how to get past [SPOILER]the priest standing behind the podium by the air elemental[/SPOILER] so I had to knock him out with a gas arrrow.
So anyway, I have stumbled upon two of the secrets that individuals have listed in above posts, but I can't seem to get them to work. I have found the room with the [SPOILER]ships wheel but it won't turn, it looks as though it might be missing a peg, do I need to find this missing peg to get it to work?[/SPOILER] and also the [SPOILER]room behind the small library with the patrolling little bot. I found a bottle atop of the armoire but it was only worth gold. Other than that I haven't located the switch to activate the secret door.[/SPOILER]
Any suggestions or help I would greatly appreciate.......I figure I will be playing this mission for some time in the current mode I'm in!:eek:

Nightwalker on 9/7/2002 at 20:06

Using a gas arrow won't bust the ghost as far as this mission goes. If you're playing using the real "Ghost" rules set up by the Eidos players, it would, but that's a personal choice. It's tough even just getting through according to the ghost setting in the mission.

[SPOILER]To get by the priest at the front of the Chapel, you can rope arrow down from the rafters above without alerting him.[/SPOILER]

The secrets you're having trouble with:

[SPOILER]The ships wheel does need a peg to turn. Check the guard standing outside the door.[/SPOILER]

[SPOILER]On Expert, you have to check under the table for a switch in the small room at the back of that Library.[/SPOILER]

Have fun! :)

Deep Shadow on 9/7/2002 at 22:09

Okay, just finished the mission on easy mode; and I have a question. I found 9 out of the ten secrets, and I'm pretty sure I know where the tenth is, but I can't open it:

[SPOILER]I think it's beside the clock that stands on the big stairway leading to the glass room balcony...the 'window' beside the clock. I know it's a door, I've whacked it and it rings, but how to open it? Does the 'Toolbox Key' have anything to do with it?[/SPOILER]

Also, a stupid observation; there are no restrooms in the whole mansion! At least, none that I've found.

epithumia on 10/7/2002 at 00:05

Quote:

Originally posted by RiCh E
I was working on another FM (60%complete), but I've now decided to call it a day and wait for T3.

That statement coupled with those two screenshots are extremely depressing. I haven't even had a chance to play Art of Thievery yet, but Smuggler's Request was just so great....

Nightwalker on 10/7/2002 at 01:38

Deep Shadow: The toolbox key does nothing. Some careless betatester (:o me) just didn't notice it there.

[SPOILER]That window isn't a secret on this difficulty setting, but you're right about it not being a real window. You have to play on the expert setting to find out what it does.[/SPOILER]

:)

Spidey8 on 10/7/2002 at 17:21

Thanks Nightwalker for your help, but I cannot find [SPOILER]the lever or switch in the room behind the library that the little bot patrolls. Let me describe the room....maybe I have the wrong one? Like I said before it is a small room behind the small library that has a armoire, dresser, sofa and a small round coffee table in the corner. I have even thrown scouting orbs underneath each of these objects to only see nothing. There are three doors in this room, two of which the bot comes in and exits into the library. The other one goes into a hallway that has the secret door behind the armoire activated by the switch on the door frame to this very room.[/SPOILER] :confused: :confused: Am I going about this all wrong.....do I have the wrong room???
I figured that using that gas arrow would technically disqualify me from a TRUE "ghost", but I have since put in two hours of thieving.......:rolleyes: and this is after all my first attempt at doing such.

Nightwalker on 10/7/2002 at 18:46

It sounds like you're doing remarkably well, gas arrow or not!

As for the secret, you are playing on the expert setting, correct? It's called "Stealth" or "Ghost" depending which screen you look at. [SPOILER]We are definitely talking about the same Library, but the wrong room! Go into the Library and down to the far end. There's a door down there that you can pick open. That's the room that has the secret in it. When you walk in the door, there's a small table over in the far right corner. Crouch and look under it for a lever.[/SPOILER] This has a different trigger if you're playing on Hard or Easy. On those settings, it's [SPOILER]opened by frobbing a book.[/SPOILER] :)

necrokrome on 11/7/2002 at 23:08

im lost how do i get into the north wing???

Nightwalker on 12/7/2002 at 00:21

You need to give me much more information. For instance, what difficulty setting are you playing on? You can get into the North wing on Hard and Expert, but not on Normal. If you're playing on one of the two that allow you to enter the North Wing, then do you have the key yet? If not, is that the problem? If you do and you just can't find the door, then where are you, so I can give you directions on where to go? See, more info please. :)