The Thermal Discouragement Beam (referred to as the "deadly laser" by GLaDOS,) is a Test Chamber mechanic introduced in Portal 2.
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The Beam is fired in a straight line ithin Test Chambers, and is activated when either a player or Weighted Storage Cube is placed upon it.
Uses
Buttons are present in virtually all test chambers and, when activated, trigger a variety of effects. Buttons can either control the flow of Excursion Funnels, open and close hatches, release Weighted Storage Cubes, or even open and close the gate leading to the exit. It's up to the player to figure out how and when to use the button, or buttons, in order to proceed.
Buttons
Heavy Duty Super Button
The Heavy Duty Super Button is a receptacle that can be triggered by the weights of player characters, Weighted Storage Cubes, Edgeless Safety Cubes, and Frankenturrets. The button was introduced in Portal and remained prevalent in Portal 2.
An older prototype variant from the 50-70s era of the Super Buttons can be seen in the Portal 2 single-player chapters The Fall and The Reunion.
Weighted Storage Cube Receptacle
Weighted Storage Cube Receptacles, as obvious by its name, serves as a receptacle only for the Weighted Storage Cubes, even though it can also activate using Weighted Companion Cubes and Discouragement Redirection Cubes. This receptacle is only present in the co-op campaign of Portal 2, though it is available in the Puzzle Creator.
The Storage Cube must be placed securely inside the receptacle in order for test subjects to proceed. Although its appearance is similar to the Super Button, it cannot be activated by the weight of test subjects or any other objects being placed upon it.
Edgeless Safety Cube Receptacle
| “ | You have no idea how tiring it is to praise someone for placing an Edgeless Safety Cube into a receptacle designed to exactly fit an Edgeless Safety Cube.
— GLaDOS
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The Edgeless Safety Cube Receptacle is a receptacle for the Edgeless Safety Cube, introduced in Portal 2. The Cube must be placed securely inside the receptacle in order for the player to proceed.
Edgeless Safety Cubes and their receptacles only appear as testing elements in the game's cooperative campaign and the Perpetual Testing Initiative. However, an Edgeless Safety Cube can be seen among the "garbage" in Portal 2 Chapter 2 Test Chamber 6.
Contraption Cube Receptacle
The Contraption Cube Receptacle is exclusively featured in the educational version of Portal 2. Although it is designed for the Contraption Cube, the Receptacle will not recognize the Contraption Cube or activate any puzzle elements which are connected with it. Additionally, it appears entirely black in-game, when the model itself has different colors.
One-Touch Super Button
The One-Touch Super Button appears in Bridge Constructor Portal and is a blue variant of the normal Super Button that stays powered after being pressed at least once.
Puzzle Creator item properties
- Entity cost: 3
- Connections: This item supports outputs, which activate when the button is pressed and deactivate when it is unpressed. Connect to... is used to connect this item to another, via inputs or outputs. Connection visibility controls the visibility of this connection, and Remove connections can be used to remove an existing connection.
- Button Type: Used to select between Weighted, Cube and Sphere buttons. In the educational version, it also allows switching to the Contraption Cube receptacle.
- Toggle Stopwatch: Unknown, only present in educational version. Possibly related to the timer functionality present in that version.
Trivia
- In Portal Test Chamber 16, turrets can activate a button. This is the only occurrence of this.
- The name GladOS introduces the button with - “Superconducting Super Button” - is a reference to the United States’ Superconducting Super Collider project, a failed attempt at creating a particle accelerator in Texas during the latter half of the 20th century.
Gallery
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See also
- Switch
- Edgeless Safety Cube
- Edgeless Safety Cube Receptacle
- Weighted Storage Cube
- Weighted Storage Cube Receptacle
from an immovable device built into the wall or ceiling of a Test Chamber. Each Beam is usually coupled with one Receptacle, though multiple Beams and/or multiple Receptacles may be present within a single Test Chamber. Directing the Beam into the Receptacle will activate certain mechanics that are crucial in reaching the chamber exit. The Beam can also be used in conjunction with Relays, which are small nodes built into the floor of some Test Chambers. Relays are activated when the Thermal Discouragement Beam passes through them, and multiple Relays must often be activated using a single Beam. Once all Relays are activated, specific Test Chamber mechanics will be triggered, similarly to the activation of a Receptacle.
Interactions
Thermal Discouragement Beams can be angled in any direction and with high precision using the Discouragement Redirection Cube.
Thermal Discouragement Beams can be angled in predefined directions which players can't change during the game using portals.
Direct a Thermal Discouragement Beam onto Sentry Turrets (usually via a portals and/or Weighted Pivot Cube), causing it to heat up and explode.
Notes
- Thermal Discouragement Beam can travel through transparent objects such as glass...
Videos
Chamberlock video
The Thermal Discouragement Beam as it appears in Chamberlock informational videos.
Demonstration
A beta demonstration featuring the Discouragement Redirection Cube.
Related achievements
Portal 2
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Undiscouraged Complete the first Thermal Discouragement Beam test |
Trivia
* The beam appears to be a replacement for the High Energy Pellet from Portal as in the first test chamber in which you see it (a copy of the original Portal Test Chamber 06) a destroyed pellet launcher is replaced by an emitter for the Beam. Additionally, the two can both destroy turrets, and activate dedicated receptacles.
References
- ↑ March 25, 2023 Patch or version "Protocol version 2001, Exe version 2.0.0.1 (portal2), Exe build: 19:15:46 Mar 3 2023 (8873) (620)"