Trap (TR)

 

Trap
Production information
Technical specifications
Damage Per Hit	Instant Kill (but some enemies are immune)
Maximum Ammunition	5
Ammunition Type	Itself
Usage
Era(s)	Quake II: The Reckoning
[Source]

“	Lay the Trap on the ground and watch as it sucks nearby enemies inside and turns them into power cubes for you to devour. Most marines have said it tastes like chicken.	”
—The Reckoning Manual

The Trap is a new weapon introduced in The Reckoning. It's thrown in a similar fashion to a grenade, and once it lands it will activate, creating a deadly vortex that will suck in a single enemy or player who blunders too close to it (including the player who threw it, in the original game) and kills them instantly. This process produces an item which confers a health boost to the player who collects it, as if they had collected a group of stimpacks.

However, some enemies cannot be killed by the Trap - generally the larger Strogg, and flying enemies (see below for a full list). Traps are rare - it seems only six can be found in The Reckoning single-player campaign (or only five on Hard/Nightmare difficulty), and they are not present in any other single-player campaign.

The 2023 remaster improves the Trap somewhat; it can now harm flying enemies, it doesn't harm the player who threw it, and its behaviour is a little less buggy.

Details

Once a Trap is active, it is apparently invulnerable to damage, but if nobody goes near it then it will self-destruct harmlessly after 30 seconds. Only one monster or player can be killed by each Trap - as soon as it has its victim, it does no further harm.

The efficacy of the health item produced by the Trap depends on what was killed by the Trap, the highest being 35 if the victim was a Beta Class Gladiator (again, see below for a full list). Like the health bonus conferred by stimpacks, it can take the player's health higher than the usual maximum, but it wears off as you proceed to the next level in the original game (but not in the 2023 remaster).

Traps are a little glitchy, and don't always work as they should; they can sometimes fling enemies around in odd directions or cause them to get temporarily stuck instead of sucking them in to their death.

The Invulnerability artifact does not protect a player from being killed by a Trap.

In the 2023 remaster, the player is no longer harmed by their own Trap, and it can kill certain enemies it couldn't kill before. Furthermore, as of the 2023 remaster, the health gained by stimpacks and the Trap's health cube don't wear off as you progress to a new level, which indirectly makes the Trap more useful. Additionally, an active Trap can be destroyed by gunfire in the remaster, which wasn't possible in the original.

Enemies vulnerable to the Trap

The figure next to each enemy is the value of the health item the Trap will render them into. These lists only concern enemies present in The Reckoning, since Traps do not appear in any other single-player campaign unless cheats are used.

• Beta Class Gladiator: 35
• Gekk: 30
• Parasite: 25
• Berserker: 25
• Beta Class Iron Maiden: 20
• Gunner: 20
• Enforcer: 20
• Barracuda: 10
• All six Guards: 10
• Prisoner: 30
• The player: 20

The following enemies were immune to the Trap in the original game, but the 2023 remaster now allows the Trap to kill them too:

• Technician: 30
• Icarus: 15
• Flyer: 5
• Repair Bot: 2

Enemies immune to the Trap

• Makron
• Jorg
• Beta Class Super Tank
• Tank Commander
• Tank
• Gladiator
• Brains / Beta Class Brains
• Icarus*
• Technician*
• Flyer*
• Repair Bot*

*As mentioned above, this is only true in the original game, not the 2023 remaster.

Locations

• Inner Compound: on the crates at the bottom of a staircase, near where a Parasite is lurking
• The Warehouse (Easy/Normal difficulty only): near the computer that turns the forcefields off
• Industrial Facility: in the closet from which a Parasite emerges in the first hallway
• Industrial Facility: near the garage containing the Beta Class Super Tank and Security Pass
• Refinery: one of the secrets, accessible by swimming through slime, leads to a high ledge containing Body Armor and the Trap
• Badlands: in a shallow pool of water shortly after obtaining the Airstrike Marker

Strategy

• The obvious target for a Trap is the Beta Class Gladiator, since that is the strongest enemy it works against, and since they convey the largest health boost. However, you must beware the Beta Class Gladiator's attacks as you lay the trap - it's best to use it against one that isn't yet aware of your presence. Thankfully, the act of throwing a Trap is silent, much like throwing a grenade. You will encounter several Beta Class Gladiators in the Strogg Freighter, the Cargo Bay and the Command Center levels who can be caught unawares. Alternatively, once an enemy is aware of your presence, you can retreat from it and find cover, throwing the Trap between you as you do so.
• If you don't feel like using the rather risky Trap in battle against a Beta Class Gladiator, you can instead simply use it as a more powerful version of the hand grenade to dispose of an enemy hiding around a corner or obstacle ready to ambush you. A hiding Guard can be killed by a single grenade landing nearby, but a Berserker, Gunner or Parasite would survive it - but they can be killed instantly by the Trap, and give you a health bonus in the process.
• Another use for Traps could be to put the prisoners in the Strogg Freighter out of their misery, granting you a substantial health boost for the rest of the level. There are three prisoners still alive, so if you have three Traps available then a potential 90 health can be gained this way. This tactic becomes more effective with the 2023 remaster, since the health boost will carry over to subsequent levels.

Trivia

• It is curious that the Beta Class Gladiator is vulnerable to the Trap, despite its prodigious amount of health, while the original Gladiator is not.
• Although there are many enemies who will not be killed by the Trap, the vortex caused by the Trap can nevertheless disrupt their movement, cause them to be flung around a bit, or get temporarily stuck. However, these effects are unpredictable so it should not really be relied upon as a strategy.
• The Trap is one of very few things in the game that can harm a player who has an Invulnerability artifact active, and the only weapon available to the player that can do so. Other examples are the vacuum in the Comm Satellite, the self-destruction of the Strogg Freighter if you fail to prevent it, and the reactor in Ground Zero's Waste Processing level.
• It's possible that the Trap was inspired by the ghost traps seen in the Ghostbusters movie franchise.

Gallery

The Trap in action