A guide to Grandville.

Many people find themselves lost in Grandville, or fall victim to its many dangers. Many others don't feel like exploring grandville is worth it, and many more still find the zone to lag too bad for them to explore it. Some quite simply don't care.
If you find yourself unwilling or incapable of exploring Grandville, this guide is for you. If you do want to explore Grandville, but would like to know what to expect, where to find things or just make sure you're not missing anything, this guide is for you, as well.

I will be listing each seperate are of Grandville and further dividing those that are complicated in some way or another. I will go from top to bottom, as most Grandville areas overlap with each other laterally.

The Web

Easily one of the least-explored and most hated zones of Grandville because of its difficulty of navigations, level of enemies and difficulty of getting to it in the firtst place, the Web is also one of Grandville's most visually impressive areas. It is a huge collection of platforms, catwalks and terraces, either suspended off the big web covering the city or secured to the sides of buildings high, high above Spider City below.

Caution needs to be taken when manoeuvring about the Web, as it's pretty easy to fall off the platforms. The catwalks outside the platforms are also pretty thin, so runners need to proceed with caution. Jumpers, fliers and teleporters, however, can easily travel between any two platforms in the area without expressely needing to use the catwalks.

The enemies in the area are solely represented by Arachnos soldiers levels 46 and 47. Mostly Bane Spiders and Tarantulas. Unless you are of sufficient level or have some sort of Stealth or other means to avoid confrontation, avoid going there. The tight quarters of the platforms and the abundance of enemies makes it all but impossible to move around enemies without starting a fight. Super Jump does a so-so job and Flight does pretty well for that.

Actually getting up to the web can be very difficult and annoying if you don't know how. Unless you fly, climbing up to it is a pain and takes time. However, there is a very convenient lift located right outside of the Grandville Tower to the right, next to Dr. Forrester and Aeon Corp. It's pretty easy to find once you know where to look for it and it takes you up to a safe spot on the Web. To the best of my knowlege, this is the ONLY lift that goes up to the Web.

Additionally, there are two more lifts in the Web that go further up. Taking them will deliver you to platfroms built over the metal web that covers Grandville, like that tunnel in Highlander 2. This gives you access to the main support cables, and so a way up to the roof of the Grandville tower. That's very convenient if you need the Master of the Airwaves badge but can't get to it. It's located on one of the ledges around the roof of the tower and unlocks the Television contact.

Do NOT fall off the Web. It will hurt even the jumpers among you and you have no idea what you're landing into. If you're higher in level than the area below, you're relatively safe, but lower-level characters should prepare for a bad situation should they fall.

The Web is also home to Abyss and Viridian, who stand together near a broken down TV screen. Efficiency Expert Pyther can be found due West of the lift that takes you up there.

Spider City

Spider City is Grandville's "ground level." It's where the baseline of the city where most troops are stationed and and most buildings have their foundations. I would divide it into four parts.

The City Grounds

This area spans the dock with the Ferry and the landing pad for the Black Helicopter. It extens through customs and the entrance ramp and encompasses the Lord Recluse statue plaza, the Arachnos Tower grounds and most of the relatively level ground around those landmarks. If you find yourself boarding lifts, climbing or descending long ramps, entering tunnels or dropping off high ledges, you've probably left the City Grounds.

Enemies in the City Grounds are levels 40 and 41, comprised of all kinds of Arachnos from Crab Spiders up. This includes Crab Spiders, Bane Spiders, Tarantulas, Fortunas and Mu Mystics. Advanced Arachnobot Spiderlings are not uncommon, as well, but at levels 40 and 41, rarely more than a nuisance. Large groups of enemies (outside of Spiderlings) are rare, but bosses are very common, so be very careful what you engage. Groups of two bosses and a lieutenant can cause quite a bit of harm even if they're lower level than you.

Because of the enemy levels and because most missions spawn here, the City Grounds are a good place for newcomers to Grandville to hunt and do missions. Be mindful of what you are fighting and be prepared to run if need be. But generally, that's the easiest place in all of Grandville.

Contacts you can find there are Dr. Forrester and Tavis bell, in front of Aeon Corp and the Crey building, respectively. Regent Korol can be found to the East of the tower under a tangle of pipes. Number 204, an unlockable contact can be found on a platform directly South of the Crey building.

The Tunnels

Right below the streets of the City Grounds lies a network of tunnels, some right below the surface and some deeper down. Look at the ground and look for metal grates instead of solid metal plates. Wherever you find these metal grates, tunnels lie below.

The tunnles are mostly safe, populated only by level 40 and 41 Arachnobots. There are a few select areas where Bane Spiders are doing repairs, but they are pretty clearly defined. There isn't much to actually do in the there, as there are barely any enemies to fight and no missions ever spawn there.

Visually, the tunnels are just a confusing network of corridors that split from each other and meat back up, eventually ending back to the surface, usually in holes or ponds or frim under platforms. Other than these official "entrances," entering the tunnels can be done through any breag in the grate that covers the tunnels. Just find a grate and follow it. It will lead you to a hole you can jump down pretty fast. Those are very common. However, keep in mind that you can't get back out of those holes unless you can jump or fly, so you'll need to find an exit.

A few areas of the tunnels are, as I said, remarkable, though mostly visually. They resemble hot, cramped and quite impressive "engine rooms," red with heat and filled with Crab Spiders welding and doing repairs. There is also an entrance to the tunnel leading to the Fab, off to the North of Grandville. Because this is remarkable, I'll explain where you can find it.

Start at the plaza in front of the Grandville tower and look for a grate in near Dr. Forrester and the Web lift. There should be a split in the grate nearby. Drop down and proceed to the North-West, then go straight on the T intersection. Keep going until the corridor slopes down and you end up before a room behind a red glass/shield pane. In it, you should see Crey soldiers levels 40-41. They are guarding a tunnel that goes down. This leads to the underwater tunnel. More on that later.

The Ramparts

This is the collection of towers and catwalks overlooking the Gutter, lining the wall and providing an anchor point for the various support cables that hold up the metal web above Grandville. They are a bit tricky to navigate if you don't have some kind of vertical travel power, and falling off them usually lands you among nasty Arachnoids down in the Gutter.

Enemies there start from 43 and have a tendency to spawn up to 45 and 46, usually higher than you are by at least a couple of levels. Enemy types again include everyhing Arachnos above Crab Spiders and groups there are sometimes big.

There isn't much to be said about the Ramparts. You don't really need to go there, ourside of Regent Korol's mission to patrol "her" web, or if you're passing through and need a stepping stone to get over the the turret wall. Uneven terrain, tight quarters and high-level enemies with Web Grenades make this place dangerous, so take care when traversin it on your way out of or into Grandville from the Beach.coro

The Arachnos Tower

Easilt the most important places in Grandville, the Arachnos Tower holds more contacts and important locations than ANY other place in the city. It is where your Partons reside and where passage to Recluse's Victory can be obtained. It also houses the zone's hospital.

In front of the tower stands Arbiter Rein, who gives you a mission to select your Patron. Right inside the Tower, in the the Tower lobby, you can find Arbiter Daos, as well as statues of the four Patrons with plaques listing the powers they would give you as patrons and their stathistics. Right of the reception desk you can find Abassador Khur'rekt, an unlockable contact. Right of the Ambassador is the door to the hospital, but you cannot enter it. You can only leave through it when you are defeated.

On the left of the reception desk is an open door, leading to a T intersection. Left on that intersection leads to the Recluse's Victory room. You will come to a large map of Recluse's Victory, and an operative that will explain how it works. The Recluse's Victory portal is ahead, behind the map, NOT to the right. To the right is a mission portal and both Operative Grillo and Vernon Von Grun.

Back at the T intersection, taking the right brings you to a lift room. Taking the lifts brings you up to Lord Recluse's conference room, the four patrons and Lord Recluse, himself reside. If you look out the window, you will find Shadow Spider and Mage-Killer Zakhura.

To reach them, you need to exit the tower and move towards its rear. On the North side of the towere, there will be a tube lift that will take you up to the two contacts' terrace.

There are no enemies in the Arachnos tower or on its terraces, but Mu Mystics of pretty high level can be found flying around higher up the tower on the outside. Level 47 or such.

The Gutter

The gutter is Grandville's ghetto, as well as what remains of the old city that Grandville was built over. Old, decrepid and often damaged buildings litter the Gutter and the place is infested with monsters. The civilians of Grandville live down in the Gutter in mysery, poverty and constant mortal danger. The gutter also encompases the beach area for some reason, that has its own, unique set of problems.

I will divide this area into 5 parts - four for the Gutter and one for the Beach.

South Ward

This is perhaps the most significant portion of the Gutter, as well as the smallest and most isolated. It does not have a beach access hatch anywhere, but it has a lift leading up. The lift is located on the East side of the entrance ramp to Spider City.

Most of the area is located underneath Grandville's solid platforms and comprises of old buildings crammed together and streets polluted with some kind of disgusting sluge. The area East of the entrance ramp is mostly populated by bedraggled civilians and is home to Westin Phipps'es Heaven House, while the area West of the ramp is overrun with Arachnos soldiers and Arachnoids, levels 44 and 45. Lower level enemies can be found, but are rare. Enemies there are pretty easy to avoid, but gain a few levels before you try to get into fights with them, as the groups are kind of big.

Terrance Dobbs can be found right by the lift to Spider City, and Westin Phipps can be found in front of his heaven house. Berware of hunt missions from Terrance Dobbs, as they can have you hunting Arachnoids at level 40 or 41, when most of them don't spawn below 43 and often 44 and 45.

As with all Gutter ghettos, the South Ward has checkpoints leading to the East Ward and the West Ward, both guarded by level 45-46 Arachnos soldiers, always accompanied by a boss. Checkpoints can easily be jumped or flown over, however, or gotten around through Spider City.

The West Ward

The West Ward is the industrial section of the old city. It's comprised mainly of warehouses, factories, silos and other inustrial buildings. It has a layer of catwalks above.

Enemies in the zone include Arachnos, the occasional Arachnoids and Crey, all levels 44-45. Knives of Artemis can be found on a few rooftops, as well, in the same level range.

There is a Beach Access Hatch wich allows you to go through the wall and get to the beach without having to jump over the wall be shot at by the turrets. It's very hard for me to explain where it is. I would suggest you find the North Hatch in my guide for the Beach below, take it and then try to remember where it leads. The North Ward checkpoint is at the very North of the area, and the lift leading up to Spider City (or down from there) can be found a bit South of the checkpoint.

There is little else that can be said about the West Ward. It's a bit confusing with all the tall, similar-looking buildings, and it's a pretty dangerous place to be because of its snipers. A lot of newpaper missions take place there, however, so learn to get around there early.

The North Ward

The North Ward is the Gutter's most devastated area. It's comprised of exploded, torched or otherwise demolished buildings that have sunk into the wet mud encompassing the area. It's basically a gigantic marsh with broken houses sinking in. The main presence there is large, boss-heavy groups of level 45 Arachnoids, as well as similar packs of Arachnos soldiers, mostly Bane Spiders. The North Ward is the Gutter's most dangerous part.

There are a couple of lifts that lead up to the Ramparts of Spider City, but because the terrain in the North Ward is mostly flat, they are pretty easy to find. Just look for them on the columns of the wall. A Beach Access Hatch can be found towards the North-East of the area. The East Ward checkpoint can be found by going clockwise through the area.

The East Ward

The East Ward is the "city zone" part of the Gutter. It's comprised of a relatively intact, but still quite crammed-together town. It has tall residential buildings built close together, forming narrow alleyways, but it has its share of broad streets. It also has a few gutter areas and a plaza.

The area is populated much the same as the South Ward - level 43-35 Arachnoids and Arachnos Soldiers hunting them down. Some alleys have caccons and Arachnoids hanging up from webs a few storeys high, so be mindful of Arachnoids you didn't see dropping in on you unexpectedly.

There is a lift up to Spider City DRIRECTLY South of the North Ward checkpoint in the area, as well as one to the right of the North Ward checkpoint right as you come from the North Ward. There are also two Beach Access hatches, one right by the South Ward checkpoint and one South-East of the North Ward checkpoint.

You get sent to Arachnoid holes here occasionally, but beyond that there isn't much to do, outside of hunting.

The Bech

For some reason, the Beach is considered to be part of the Gutter. Oh, well.

The beach covers all the area outside of the Grandville fortress, and it is comprised mostly of open beach littered with trash, rocks and hostiles of just about every kind.

The South part of the Beach is more or less uninhabbited. To the North, on both the East side and the West side of Grandville, you begin to see more and more enemies, mostly levels 45-46, but comprised of a great many enemy groups. You can find all manner of Arachnos, Circle of Thorns, Crey, Longbow and even Nemesis Army soldiers.

At the very North end of the Beach, you fan find a special landmark - a landing pad and dock, which houses the helicopter you take to go on Grandville Mayhem Missions. Enemies around the dock site are different. They are comprised of Arachnos Bane Spiders and Crey Tanks and Protectors, levels 48 and up. Near the Helicopter, you can find a sloping platform that goes to a narrow entrance, guarded by two level 49-50 Bane Spiders. This entrance leads to the underwater tunnel that in turn leads to the Fab. If you go to the dock and look toward the North, you should be able to see the Fab island in the distance.

On the beach, there are four Beach Access hatches that go to three of the Wards. I'll list all four with relative explanations. Those can be recognised by the big sign saying "Whatever Ward" above the entrance, where "Whatever" is the name of the Ward.

The hatch to the West Ward can be found at a dock side South-West of Grandville. Just go counter-clockwise from the Ferry and follow the beach. The dock is pretty obvious. The North Ward hatch can be found East by South-East of the Mayhem dock and helipad. It's in a corner of the wall, under an overhanging platform above. One East Ward hatch can be found South of the Eastern-most bulge of the Grandville wall. It's in a corner of the wall under a platform that jots out a bit. The other Eastern Ward hatch can be found East of the Ferry. Just go clockwise from the Ferry and follow the Grandville wall. You can't miss it.

Newspaper mission can smetimes send you to the Beach, as do a few contact missions. You also go to all of your contact missions there. If you're of level, there are large packs of enemies to hunt, should that be your fancy. Movement around the Beach is pretty easy, courtesy of the vast expanses of space it offers.

The Underwater Tunnel

That is not listed as a seperate zone, but I will list it as one. I will also assume that you're taking it to go to the Fab, not taking it from the Fab to go back to the mainland.

The Underwater Corridor is just a simple, but twisting and VERT long corridor that goes down into the earth and crosses the expanse of water between Grandville Island and the Fab to the North. It's one of two ways to get there, and by far the cooler one,specifically if it is the first time you've been to the Fab.

To get to the Underwater Corridor, you can take two routs. I explained both of them above, so if you forgot, go back and read them again. One is through the Tunnels secrion of Spider City. It's well hidden, but easy to locate if you know where it is. The other is through the Mayhem dock and helipad in the North of the Beach, and that one is pretty obvious. However, it is also guarded by much higher-level enemies.

If you take the Spider City entrance, you will come to a T intersection. The way forward will say Beach Access, and that will take you to the Mayhem dock and helipad. You don't want that. You want the one saying "Fabrication. That will take you to the Fab... Eventually. If you take the Beach rout, you will come to the same T intersection, but from the Beach Access side. It will say City Core when you pass through it. going forward will bring you into the Spider City Tunnels. You want to go to the Left, where it says Fabrication. That will take you to the Fab.

A word of caution - while the Underwater Tunnel does not appear to hold any hostiles, level 47 and maybe up Spiderlings will be clinging to the walls. They are untargettable and hard to see until they activate when you come too close. Once they do, they will aggro on you and attack you. This can be pretty bad for lower-level character. They use standard aggro rules, so usning Stealth will keep them from aggroing.

An annoying detail - thre Underwater Tunnel is no an uninterrupted corridor. In many places, it appears to have side tunnels, but when you stop to look, they are blocked by a grate or a fence. There are NO side tunnels in the Underwater Tunnel, so don't feel obligated to check out each apparent intersection, outside the one I explained above.

That's all there is to know about the Underwater Tunnel. It's just a cool way to travel and not a whole lot else. It may seem like it will go on and on and on forever, don't worry. It's just very long.

The Fab

The Fab is a very serious, large-scale engeneering operation. It consists of a collosal chamber cut into the heart of a small island. Inside, Arachnos and Crey soldiers by the dozen are working hard, welding, moving and building a lot of "something." Perhaps more metal "stuff" to expand Grandville, perhaps some secret project of some sort. I will divie the Fab into two parts.

The Inside

The Inside of the cavern that is the Fab is breathtaking. It's a hole plrobably a quarter of a mile deep, criss-crossed with a spagetti of crane tracks, pipes, catwalks and terraces. Gigantic pillars streetch the full height of the cavern and hold up an enormous canopy.

The inside has been dug to several levels, each of which literally crawling with level 50 Arachnos and Crey soldiers and littered with heavy construction pieces and honest to God buildinds. Buildings underground.

Supposing you came from the Underwater Tunnel, you will find yourself in a small room with two Bane Spiders, which then exist into a loading room. Proceeding forward takes you up a very long, sloping road up to the Surface of the island. Going to the right takes you into the heart of the Fab. Leaving the underground installation can be done by several routs. Either back through the Underwater Tunnel, up the ramp I just mentioned, or up through the canopy of the complex, where a few slabs from the greed are missing here and there.

The Surface

The surface of the Fab is no less impressive than the Inside. The top part of the Canopy sees the supporting pillars stretch up into the air, housing level 50 Turrets, and forming a forest of steel columns. Vertical walls have been erected between some of the columns, some of the slabs of the "floor" are missing, and some are a grate instead of a solid plate. The top of the canopy is situaited inside a hole in the ground below the ground level of the island still.

Most of the rest of the island is either grass with trees or a rocky beach landscape. It is rather sparsely-populated, but by large groups of level 48-50 Arachnos soldiers fighting with similarly large groups of Longbow Soldiers. To the South-West of the island, there is a dock. Looking to the South, you can see Grandville's Mayhem dock and helipad, as well as the silhouette of Grandville in the distance. This is the mainland, so returning to it is as simple as travelling a small stretch of water.

Conclusion

That's more or less all I know about Grandville. I hope it helps people both looking to explore Grandville and looking to avoid exploring it. I did my best to represent the visuals as well as the locations as best as I could. Any corrections or additions you might be willing to offer are very welcome.

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Very nice guide, Samuel. Well written and informative.

Some constructive criticism: There are a few typos here and there. You may want to cut and paste it into a word processing program for a spell check and then back. I'm not trying to put you down or be a spelling Nazi. You are obviously intelligent and a good writer and I assume you would like to have a perfect product.

You did mention some badges and some of the contacts. I think it would be great if you could expand on that topic and include more information on the badges and unlockable contacts in the zone, including the Patrons. I think it might deserve a section of its own, or at least a link to another guide or website that covers the topic.

All in all, you did a fantastic job of describing the zone. Thanks!

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50s: Inv/SS PB Emp/Dark Grav/FF DM/Regen TA/A Sonic/Elec MA/Regen Fire/Kin Sonic/Rad Ice/Kin Crab Fire/Cold NW Merc/Dark Emp/Sonic Rad/Psy Emp/Ice WP/DB FA/SM

Overlord of Dream Team and Nightmare Squad

I had never seen the fab, cool stuff man.

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[ QUOTE ]
Some constructive criticism: There are a few typos here and there. You may want to cut and paste it into a word processing program for a spell check and then back. I'm not trying to put you down or be a spelling Nazi. You are obviously intelligent and a good writer and I assume you would like to have a perfect product.

[/ QUOTE ]

Yeah, I kind of got very tired after I wrote it, so I never did proofread it. In my defence, English is not my first language I'm afraid I've lost the ability to edit the original post, however, so I'm not sure what it is I can do to fix my spelling mistakes.

[ QUOTE ]
You did mention some badges and some of the contacts. I think it would be great if you could expand on that topic and include more information on the badges and unlockable contacts in the zone, including the Patrons. I think it might deserve a section of its own, or at least a link to another guide or website that covers the topic.

[/ QUOTE ]

I'm afraid I don't actually know a whole lot about badges, and only the bare essentials about the unlockable contacts. I actually omitted mentioning the Television contact, partly because I forgot and partly because I'm not sure where it is, offhand. It's either in the South or the East Ward of the Gutter, near a sewer entrance that's often used for newspaper missions, but I'll have to look closer for more detailed information.

As for badges, the Master of the Airwaves is quite literally the only badge I know about, and I found that one out when I was trying to unlock the Television contact. I'm afraid I'd be of very little use there, as I'm not a badge collector in the least.

As far as good sources of information, I think Trekain's contact guide is a very way to find out all you ever wanted to know about contacts in CoV, unlockable or otherwise, and it has a very detailed writeup of Grandville's contact for the curious. Other than that, VidiotMaps has a good map of grandville with most of the notable badge and historical plaque locations.

I didn't actually use those sources when I made the guide, however, as I wanted to focus more on the geography and sights of the zone. It has been my impression that people tend to not want to explore Grandville, get lost or get killed a lot. So I wanted to write a guide to help people see the cool side of Grandville, move around with less danger and generally know where things they are looking for are. It makes it easier to like the zone that way, I've found.

I will look into my spelling errors and see what I can do, though. I tend to pride myself on my spelling

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