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Half-Life 2 Hints
What's the special strategy?
1 of 17: To start with, you don't want to drive the airboat out into the outdoor arena area, but instead should park it a short ways back in the tunnel.
2 of 17: The reason for this is the tangled bunch of logs at the tunnel exit. You could get the boat over the logs and back into the tunnel, but it's fairly difficult.
3 of 17: TIP: If you ever need to, try driving over the left end of the logs -- that's often worked for me.
4 of 17: After the airboat is parked in the tunnel, get out and go explore the outdoor arena on foot.
5 of 17: The most important place to go is the large partially buried concrete pipe that's over to the right since it has two health packs and an armor battery inside its open end.
6 of 17: NOTE: If your armor rating is less than 100 when you break them open, you'll find more armor batteries in several of the supply crates scattered about. Otherwise, they'll just have ammo.
7 of 17: After getting your health and armor back up to 100 each, you can optionally pick up and carry any leftover health packs and armor batteries back into the tunnel where your airboat is parked. That can be a rather tedious process, but you'll have them handy for healing up later on if you get injured by the chopper.
8 of 17: Now you're finally ready for the battle to begin. Head out on foot again until you get to the point where the chopper sees you and takes off. (Listen for the alarm that sounds when this is about to happen.)
9 of 17: As soon as the alarm starts, turn around and run back to the safety of the tunnel, taking cover whenever you need to let your suit's auxiliary power recharge.
10 of 17: When you get close to the tunnel entrance, hop up on the cement ledge on the right and run on in. (That'll be easier than trying to get over the log tangle.)
11 of 17: ALTERNATIVE: You could practice getting the airboat over the logs and back into the tunnel until you're good at it, and then drive out to where the chopper sees you -- getting back into the tunnel would be a lot faster and less dangerous that way.
12 of 17: When you're back in the safety of the tunnel, get in the airboat and edge slowly toward the tunnel exit.
13 of 17: No matter what happens, you don't want to go over those logs and then have to try to frantically maneuver yourself back into the tunnel while under chopper fire. However, you do have to be near the top of the log pile to be able to shoot the chopper as it hovers nearby or flies past.
14 of 17: Watch out for when it hovers, though, since it'll usually be firing at you. Retreat a short ways back into the tunnel when it does, then move forward again as soon as it stops.
15 of 17: NOTE: It sometimes won't stop firing for a *very* long time. When this happens, try moving further back in the tunnel to make sure it can't see you at all. If that doesn't work, then just wait it out.
16 of 17: Keep firing at the chopper from the tunnel exit -- and retreating when necessary -- until you destroy it.
17 of 17: TIP: When you know the chopper's almost dead, you can leave the tunnel and go out to where it's easier to shoot the thing. That can be faster than staying in the tunnel until the very end, and is just about as safe.
