Rodland of Pipes: Rodland of Pipes 100% Hints/Guide

This game doesn’t have actual achievements at the time of writing this, but I’ve decided that the way to 100% this is by doing the following:

– Completing all the “normal” Pipes (5)
– Completing all the Classified Pipes (4)
– Collecting all the Flyers throughout the game
– Dying in every concievable manner (each unique death will get you a different “Previous Incidents” report)
– And don’t you dare turn on the Difficulty Assist options, you wuss!

I highly recommend trying to do as much as you can by yourself, and then coming back here if you need extra guidance.

Flyers are actually pretty easy to find if you keep an eye out. Most of them will be directly in your path, and they’re kinda brighter than other objects so you can see them easily. There also aren’t many flyers to find, and the Main Menu will tell you how many Flyers are in each level, and how many you’ve obtained.

Once you collect a flyer (or “Other” collectibles), they will stay collected, even if you die, reset, or quit.

(Unfortunately, I can’t go back and map every single location of every flyer, since once they’re collected, they don’t appear again, and i would have to delete my save to go back, which the game doesn’t have an option for and I really don’t want to do. They’re easy, trust me.)

Depth: 32.8 ft.
(1 Flyer)

The easiest pipe, it’s a tutorial. Just proceed through gameplay and you’ll be fine. There are no hazards or ways to die in this level.

Depth: 76.2 ft.
(2 Flyers)

Now we have Heat to deal with. When we run out of heat, we die. Heat runs out slowly by itself, but runs out faster when we have our map/probe out, using our probe, and especially when our heat lamp is off.

But you’ll need your heat lamp off to deal with “Rodland”. When you see him, you have to quickly turn off your lamp until he goes away.

Once you ward (any) monster off, they go away to a random location, even if they just go straight ahead of you. Enemies will never come from behind you, but can sneak up on you while you’re looking at your probe or your map, so watch out!

Depth: 182.4 ft.
(3 Flyers)

We are introduced to a new hazard here; our coworker explains that clearing debris could cause us to accidentally cut ourselves on sharp objects that are hidden inside debris. Sharp objects are rare, but as far as i know there is no way to tell if a debris pile has a sharp object in it, and there’s no way to avoid getting cut by it if it does (unless there is a path around the debris). Getting cut will fill the pipes with your blood, making entities in the pipe “real aggressive, real fast” for a short time. This isn’t a huge problem if you stay vigilant, and you can usually just wait for the blood to go away before probing.

And then, as you go through the pipe, all is clea-

“Open your probe and keep the ping button held down now.”

As we do this, a purple explosion floods the pipe in front of us, as an invisible/obscured creature runs away.

What. the. ♥♥♥♥.

This is a new hazard: “The Augur”. Every time we hear breathing in our ears, we want to keep the ping button held down to ward the creature off. Not doing so in time will cause it to kill us. Sometimes you might need to keep the button held down for a second or two before it works, especially if you hear the breathing early before it gets close.

Depth: 441.0 ft.
(3 Flyers)
(1 Other)

… “1 Other”? That’s strange. Wonder what that’s about…

Here we meet yet another hazard: “The Crail”. It’s a weird creature with a creepy bird/dog-like head. If you see this creature, break eye contact with it immediately by pulling out your probe, your map, or a flyer, and wait for it to go away. It supposedly is radioactive, and getting killed by it will supposedly irradiate your body to the point of it being irretrievable *shudder*.

So what is this “Other”, and what is it for?

Hint 1 (where it is): Take a good look at the map. This one is a bit unusually built. Where would I hide a secret if I wanted to put one there? (Note: there is no secret compartment or off-map area, and once you find it it will be obvious. If you look everywhere there is no way you won’t find it.)

Hint 2 (what it is): It’s a “Photographic Plate”, but it doesn’t look like it’s made for taking pictures. What could it be for? (Note: the next pipe may help us with that answer.)

Hint 3: If you’ve found all the Flyers in Pipe 5, one of them is not like the others. Perhaps this has a hint as to what our object does?

Hint 4: The newspaper article has a photo of an object that looks just like ours! Maybe that’ll help us figure out what this thing does!

Hint 5: So it looks like these Photographic Plates don’t take regular photos, but are used to capture radiation and display it visually. Isn’t there something we’ve been coming across that is radioactive?

Hint 6 (answers): In Pipe 4, find the Photographic Plate @ E5. Next time you find Crail (in the same level), hold up the Photographic Plate, and it should reveal some secret symbols. That’s all we can do in this level regarding this secret.

Depth: 762.1ft.
(4 Flyers)
(1 Other)

Hmm… another “Other”…

Now we’re basically on our own! We’ve discovered every hazard and monster, and they’re all out to get us in this thrilling final (“regular”) pipe! Just get some flyers, probe the locations, and skedaddle! Job well done!

Now that we’ve finished all the pipes, we now have access to “Classified Pipe 2”!

…But what about “Classified Pipe 1”? And this strange “Other” thing? What do we do? How do we solve this?

Hint 1: (no spoilers here): I’ll let you know right now that if you have not figured out all the “Other” for the previous pipe, solving the one in this Pipe will not be possible.

Hint 2: We come across some valves with odd shapes… These definitely seem to be the key to unlocking something special.

Hint 3: Didn’t we just get a thing with a bunch of similar-looking weird shapes on them?

Hint 4 (answer): Align the pipes to match the symbols from the Photographic Plate we solved in Pipe 4.

After doing this, The pipe will rumble for a second as a secret door opens revealing a deep-red hallway @ G5 (which was previously blocked off). At the very end of this hallway we find a napkin with cryptic scribbles on it, and then our coworker eagerly tells us that the mission has been aborted and we can come back to the entrance.

…And that will unlock Classified Pipe 1!

Depth: 840.0 ft.
How to unlock: Complete the “Other” secrets in Pipe 4 and then in Pipe 5.

You’ll be happy to know that there are no monsters in this area.

You’ll be less happy to know that we are not using our probe for this area at all, but instead solving an esoteric puzzle. Instead of pinging the area, we are looking for “a piece of black plastic”. Riveting. And we don’t even have a map to go by, just some random madman’s scribblings on a ♥♥♥♥♥♥ napkin. Delightful.

The only hazard here is our heat, but it doesn’t go down very fast. Hell, I spent a good portion of time outside the level, just looking at the map trying to wonder what the hell it meant.

This one’s a doozy, and arguably the hardest puzzle the game has to offer you, so good luck…

Hint 1: The napkin is obviously the map of the area. But the quadrants are all random numbers, and we have this weird wheel with numbers on it… and some elementary-school math? These three things are weird, but important to the puzzle.

Hint 2: In the level, we see some valves. They can be turned in 8 different directions. This matches up with something on the napkin.

Hint 3: Math is a part of this puzzle, specifically basic addition, like the stuff at the bottom-right corner of the napkin.

Hint 4: The X and Y axes of the map have unique numbers, maybe we have to “make” those numbers somehow using the valves? Can we “split up” the numbers on the X and Y axes, similar to how the number 4 is split into two number in the bottom-right corner of our napkin?

Hint 5a (answer to hint 2): If you haven’t figured it out yet, the valves can be turned in 8 different directions, each direction is a different number. The pizza-like circle on the napkin tells you which direction each number is (for instance, a valve turned upwards equals 1, a valve turned straight down equals 5, etc.)

Hint 5b: So each valve is a number depending on what direction its turned, but how does that correlate with the numbers on the X and Y axes of the napkin?

Hint 6: If you’ve “figured it out”, but still haven’t gotten it to work, consider this: You may not have started on the position of the map you think you did. On my first try, I assumed that I started at the bottom center of the map, but I was wrong. Your map locator still works, use that to find your position!

Hint 7 (answer to hint 6): You start at the top-center of the map, facing east. That means that the first valve you find will be on the top-left corner of your napkin map.

Hint 8 (full answer): We have to use the valves to equal numbers that “add up” to the numbers in the X and Y axes. The top two numbers should add up to 8 (since they both “line up” with that number on the chart).

The top two numbers should add up to 8.
The bottom two numbers should add up to 4.
The left two numbers should add up to 7.
The right two numbers should add up to 5.

There are a couple of solutions that should work for this. You can do the math. (…right?)

Hint 8 (the answer but for dummies): The first valve you see will be at the top-right corner of the map. Set that valve to 4 (facing down-right). The top-right one should be set to 4, too. The bottom-left one should equal 3 (facing straight-right). The bottom right one should equal 1 (facing straight-up).

If you had to use this answer to solve the puzzle, you get an F. See me after class, you’re cleaning the erasers.

After you’ve solved the puzzle, a secret door, will open, and you will get half a map. Then you’re free to leave.

Depth: 971.2 ft.
How to unlock: Complete Pipes 1-5

In this level, we don’t use our probe at all, but have to pick up small “fragments”, and we only have an estimation of where each one is…

Here’s what happened to me my first time:

“What does ‘Heavy Energy’ mean? ‘Movement may be faster than expected’? I’d better be careful…”

“What? ‘The Phantom is here’?!?!?! What in god’s name is that?!?!”

“Ope, I’m dead.”

This pipe is unapolegetically difficult, so let me break it down for you:

[spoilers]
There are no monsters in this pipe, except for The Phantom. Looking at the Previous Incidents reports, I found that I died of hypothermia after my heat lamp went out.

So the only monster that appears shows up ONLY after our heat runs out.

And the heat in this level runs out fast. EXTREMELY fast. Way too ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ fast. Even if you know what you’re doing you barely have enough time to get everything done without dying. Not to mention that we have to pick up several map fragments throughout the level!
[/spoilers]

So how the hell am I supposed to beat this level?

(these hints aren’t really spoilery, but see if you can do it yourself first!)

Hint 1 (not really a spoiler): As it turns out, that “heavy energy” warning isn’t just for show. Unlike the other levels, we can move as fast as we want! This is crucial to beating this level on time.

Hint 2: We start @ I4, facing north.

Hint 3: Here’s the exact route I took (you might want to look at the map while reading this):
1. Take a right and then the first left (to the top right region of the map)
2. Take a left, then hit the dead end (at the bottom- right corner of the map, @ L1)
3. Reverse a little, then go right, then keep moving until you hit a corner.
4. Continuing on, take your next left, then left, then right into the dead end (you are at the dead end @ A6)
5. Back up a little, turn out of the dead end, turn right, then left, right, left left, head straight into the dead end @ F6
6. Back up a little, turn right, then right again, and exit.

Depth: 992.9 ft.
How to unlock: Collect all Flyers

This one has monsters again. And also these strange blue doors that open and close. Despite warnings of “high volatility”, the doors (and the warbly pathways within) cannot hurt you.

However, you’ll notice that some of these “high volatility” paths fork off in multiple directions. These are actually alternating pathways. Each time the blue doors open, the hallways will swap which path that pipe will take you down. (For instance, if you go straight into the High Volatility area towards the top-right corner of the map, it will only allow you to go left, but if you let the blue door open and close again while waiting outside it, the paths will swap and you will only be able to).

It sounds complicated, but all you need to know is, those strange warbly pathways alternate, and you may need to wait outside of them until the right pathway appears.

That’s really the only puzzle element to this one, the rest is up to you and your probe scanner.

Depth: 1200.6 ft.
How to unlock: Complete Classified Pipes 1 and 2

This one is by far the hardest pipe of all. It throws everything at you that we’ve experienced so far (besides the esoteric puzzle solving and the need to go super fast).

There are also still alternating pipes from the Classified Pipe 3 that show up here.

I wish there was something more I could tell you to help here, but it really all comes down to you and your mad skills. Good luck!

These you get by dying (if you haven’t figured it out already). Dying is pretty easy, but in case you missed something, here’s every way to die:

(SSMID 4.1) Rodland: (The creepy talking face) Don’t turn off your heat lamp when encountering him (or don’t turn it off for long enough)
(SSMID 4.2) Auger: (The invisible entity) When you hear breathing, do not hold the “PING” button on your Probe.
(SSMID 4.3) Crail: (The jittering demon face) Don’t break eye contact when encountering it.
(???) The Phantom: Run out of heat from your lamp and fail to escape.

And there you have it! Once you’ve done every pipe, you should receive a very special reward, along with a “Custom Pipe” option, that allows you to pick a map and apply your own custom settings to enjoy! (which im admittedly to much of a coward to do ¯\_(ツ)_/¯)

(If there is anything wrong with this guide, or anything i missed or got updated, feel free to let me know!)