Playing Battleship...

"Ow! My boating arm!"

The Frigate is possibly my favorite GoldenEye 007 mission for a Secret Agent speedrun...

Same Objectives as 00 Agent - Making it a bit more fun (and a tad less frustrating).
Two bombs to diffuse, a Tracker Bug to plant, and a few hostages to rescue.
Just another day at the office for James Bond.

Appropriately enough, the Destroyer / Frigate is where you unlock the No Radar (Multi) Cheat.
(also known as the Achievement "Screen Cheater!")
Target Time: 4:30

Having already unlocked the Cheat ages ago, felt the need for a speedrun to challenge my fastest possible time. The very best players in the world can do it in just over a minute...

While I was impressed with my progress of easily slicing the Target Time in half, it seemed impossible to match my best time from a quarter century ago.

Schrodinger's Hostages?

Regardless of individual effort and skill level, it seems that there's also a bit of randomness at play...
 
During the mission, arbitrary "Hostage escaped!" messages will appear on screen. There's no way to actually locate those phantom hostages - It seemed like just background ambience...

Scan from the GoldenEye 007 Player's Guide

INCORRECT INFO?: The Official Nintendo Power Player's Guide for GoldenEye 007 appears to misstate exactly what's happening.

"If you receive the 'Hostage released!' message while roaming the ship, it means that a guard has left his hostage and is now searching for you."

That's not technically accurate... Any hostages that are rescued will run to a random "escape point" where they fade away and disappear... Exactly where they choose to run to directly effects how long it takes. Seems negligible, but those seconds have a huge impact on a competitive speedrun.


The Naval Officers can often get confused, and may start running around in circles unable to find their way out a door that's wide open.

Like any true sailors, they've probably knocked back a few drinks after lunch.
Boarders absolutely love commandeering a ship when the crew is inebriated. It's like shooting fish in a barrel.

Random "escape" messages continue to pop-up amid the chaos...

When the game finally displays OBJECTIVE A: COMPLETED, it's safe to exit the level - Regardless of how many crewmen are still being held at gunpoint.

Secret Agent mission will fail if three hostages are executed (must save four).
00 Agent mission will fail if two hostages are executed (must save five).

Have seen a World Record video on Agent difficulty where the player appears to save just one single hostage during actual gameplay... Using Controller Setting 2.3 or 2.4 to shoot during the open cinema scene, a hostage is somehow released before the mission even begins...


Seems to get the fastest possible time, the player is already running for the exit when the final hostage decides to "escape"... With luck, it'll happen just as Bond returns to his boat.

Finally. It's Martini Time!

A perfect run - In tandem with the game rolling the dice in your favor.
(It's like Dr. Doak Deja-Vu all over again...)

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Related Notes...

On the Frigate mission, a  hostage won't start jogging for the exit until their captor has not only been killed, but waits until the guard actually fades away (and not one second sooner).


Something similar happens in the Control Center - Assuming the drone guns have also been destroyed, Natalya won't leave the elevator after the very last guard fades away... Which could take a couple seconds longer, depending on his death animation sequence.

Protect Natalya, Yet Again...

Even an elaborate death by Baron Samedi in the Egyptian Temple will dictate exactly when the mission time stops. Could be several seconds longer if he decides to put on a performance.

How many Golden Bullets does it take to kill the undead?