Caverns

Caverns (Part iii of Mission 7: Cuba) is the seventeenth level in GoldenEye 007. The formal name of this level is Water Caverns.

Caverns
World Records
Difficulty	Time	First achieved by
Agent	1:01	Marc Rützou on 2011-07-03
Secret Agent	1:12	Daniel Coelho on 2019-10-15
00 Agent	1:29	Rayan Isran on 2019-07-16
LTK	3:03	Rayan Isran on 2014-02-12
DLTK	8:54	Adam Bozon on 2011-07-06

Facts

Drone gun

To avoid the backboost, we need to take a path along the left wall (right side doesn't seem to have any frames that work). Just make sure you don't strafe into the wall too much, but rather go alongside it. If the drone is activated anywhere between frames 0 and 28 (roughly), you won't get backboosted. This means that there's approximately a 29/120 = 24.16% chance of success.

Scientists

Scientists will repeatedly dodge if you are too close to them. If scientists are fired at or see another NPC shot, they will surrender. If another NPC is killed in their sight, they will run away. If they stop moving and have been shot, they will run away. If a shot is fired, they will run away. If you are further than 200 units away, they will run away.

Objectives

Agent

a. Minimize scientist casualties

Secret Agent

a. Destroy inlet pump controls

b. Destroy outlet pump controls

c. Destroy master pump console

d. Minimize scientist casualties

00 Agent

a. Destroy inlet pump controls

b. Destroy outlet pump controls

c. Destroy master pump console

d. Use radio to contact Jack Wade

e. Minimize scientist casualties

Strategies

SA Mine throw

Secret Agent difficulty will want to throw a mine throw the door into the radio area.

Technical Details

Drone Gun

First of all we should talk about the global timer . It's a timer that starts when the cinemas start, and is often referenced by guards/objects. Drone guns are no exceptions, so waiting more/less cinema will affect drone gun. As you've probably noticed, drone guns rotate left/right in a periodic manner when they shoot towards you. This movement is directly controlled by the global timer. The period of this movement is exactly 120 frames, or 2 seconds (at least on Caverns, haven't checked the rest of the game). By freezing the timer at specific frames, we can see how the angle changes with respect to the global timer:

(starting at frame 0, with 15 frame intervals, moving from top-left to bottom-right)

At frame zero, the drone gun is aimed slightly to the left of Bond, then moves dead center at around frame 30, back to slightly left at frame 60, then fully left around frame 90. In order to utilize this, we need to know exactly when and where the drone gun gets activated. The caverns drone gun has a distance of 1500 units, meaning it activates slightly after you enter the hallway.

To avoid the backboost, we need to take a path along the left wall (right side doesn't seem to have any frames that work). Just make sure you don't strafe into the wall too much, but rather go alongside it. If the drone is activated anywhere between frames 0 and 28 (roughly), you won't get backboosted. This means that there's approximately a 29/120 = 24.16% chance of success. To raise these odds, we'd have to adjust the cinema to the specific speed we're going for. Knowing how to adjust it could be tough, but I guess players will develop a feel for it over time. Alternatively you could use an on-screen timer to calculate it, though it'd require a modified version to show the global timer, instead of the mission timer. Another method would be to check the firing pattern of the drone gun during runs, and use that to estimate the cinema adjustment.

Scientists

If scientists are fired at or see another NPC shot, they will surrender . If another NPC is killed in their sight, they will run away. If they stop moving and have been shot, they will run away. If they hear gunfire, they have a 191 / 256 (~74.6%) chance to run sideways and a 65 / 256 (~25.4%) chance to do nothing. If you're in their sight and then either within 64 units or further than 192 units they will call RNG. They then have a 201 / 256 (78.5%) chance to do nothing, and a 55 / 256 (~21.5%) chance to perform a dodge if you're further than 20 units away, or will surrender if you're within 20 units. The RNG check is skipped if you have them at gunpoint.

When a scientist surrenders, they have a 2 / 256 (~0.8%) chance to run away per frame. If a shot is fired, they will run away. If you are further than 200 units away, they will run away.

When a scientist is performing a dodge, they have a 105 / 256 (~41.0%) chance to step sideways, and a 151 / 256 (~59.0%) chance to run sideways. If you're close behind them they will always sidestep repeatedly.

Guards

There are 3 patrolling guards.

All blue hat guards are semi-chasers. They can become active just by pointing your gun at them, even with invisibility.

Many (but not all) normal guards after the spiral can also become active just by pointing your gun at them.

Tutorials

General Tips

• Try shooting the AR33 in between the two scientists near the 2nd set of obj A consoles. You want to "spread" the shots between the scientists for the 2nd objective A room to scare both scientists off consistently, hitting one will scare them both too but is more likely to cause a slow limb animation that will slow them and get killed from your mines.

Tutorials

• Cinema Timing & Box Boost Guide by Grav. NOTE that this "grav cinema timing" is actually worse and should not be used.

Agent

• Caverns Agent

Secret Agent

• Caverns Secret Agent

• video tutorial target 1:19 by Luke

00 Agent

• Caverns 00 Agent

• video tutorial target 1:36 by Spec

LTK

• Caverns LTK

• Tutorial Video: - Adam Bozon - Caverns LTK Tutorial (turn captions on)
• Tutorial Video: - Icy - Caverns LTK Tutorial (turn captions on)

DLTK

• Caverns DLTK

• Tutorial Video: - Adam Bozon - Caverns DLTK Tutorial (turn captions on)

External Links

• Caverns World Rankings
• Caverns LTK/DLTK Rankings
• Caverns Videos