Perfect Game
A perfect ending occurs when the player gets all four key items such as the Rubaiyat, the Painting, The Lambeth Diamonds, and the notebook off the ship.
How to get the perfect ending
- Getting the Rubaiyat
- Getting the Painting
- Getting the real Lambeth diamonds
- Getting the Notebook
Getting the Rubaiyat
1. Take the 2nd Class stairs and head all the way down to the Engine Room, accessed from the F-Deck Second Class cabins (where Penny's cabin is located).
2. Proceed along the catwalk in the Turbine Room to the Control Room. A crew member will prevent Frank from proceeding further and will say that he needs help with the turbines. Frank must offer to help, saying that he's on official business, which the worker will think he is with the White Star Line.
3. An instruction manual will show how to work everything out properly. It is not difficult. Once that is completed move on to the next room.
4. Keeping going forward until Frank is in Boiler Room 3. There he will meet a Serbian stowaway named Vlad Demonic, who he must talk to. Vlad will talk about why he's down there and request a package from Sasha Barbicon.
5. Instead of immediately leaving the room, head down the stairs and the Rubaiyat will be hidden in coal chute #4. Take it out and place it in another coal chute and then leave. Do not attempt to leave the Boiler Room with the Rubaiyat in your possession or Vlad will intercept you and shoot you dead, resulting in a Game Over.
6. Go to Sasha Barbicon's cabin, A-14, and tell him that Vlad wants his package. Sasha will talk about Vlad's situation before handing it over.
7. Return to Boiler Room #3 and give Vlad the package, who will say that the Rubaiyat is gone and he will leave to tell the news to Sasha. After he departs, go back down the stairs and retrieve the book. With Vlad gone, it is now safe to leave the Boiler Room with the Rubaiyat.
Getting the Painting
When Carlson meets Penny Pringle shortly after obtaining/not obtaining the Rubaiyat, she will tell him to obtain a painting that is being housed in the ship's cargo hold. To find out what the painting is like, Carlson must go visit the Purser. He will be muttering the name "Thayer", so Carlson questions him further and the says that Mr. Thayer needs a telegram to be sent, so Carlson offers to send it for him. He must also take note of the set of keys on the board behind the Purser. Head to the Wireless Room and if Carlson was allowed by Officer Morrow to enter after talking to him, he should be able to send the telegram.
Once Carlson has done this, he returns to the Purser's Office and informs him that the telegram has been sent. The Purser leaves his post to deliver the news so Carlson must also exit for a few seconds but goes back in. Now the cargo manifest can be examined, and the painting details are written under the name "Lemke & Buechner" and shows as the person who possesses it. When the Purser returns to his post, Carlson says he needs to get into the cargo hold. The Purser tells him to go away and then says he's busy, as Isidor Strauss has lost his cufflink. Again, Carlson offers to locate it for him. Go to D Deck Reception room. Talk to Max Seidelmann and he'll say he saw the Strauses sitting at the foot of the stairs. Examine the chair on the left and you'll find the cufflink. Once he has found it, he must give it to the Purser, who will deliver it at once. The Purser leaves again and now Carlson can take the keys. Go back to the cargo hold and show the keys to the crew member. He exclaims "You're a Carter!" and allows Carlson to enter the cargo hold. Carlson must find the correct cargo hold (move forward 3 times, turn and open the door to your right) and once inside he turns on the headlights of a motor car, which lights up a lone crate on the opposite side of the hold.
Note that you have about 10 real-world minutes to accomplish all of this. Otherwise, the painting will be gone from the cargo hold when you arrive.
Getting The Real Necklace
Unlike the other three key items, the necklace is not considered part of Frank's official mission and must be obtained through a sidequest which can be undertaken during the first part of the game before the ship hits the iceberg.
- At the start of the game, meet with Georgia on the Boat Deck. Be sympathetic to her, and she will give you her necklace, the fake one.
- After obtaining the Rubaiyat, talk to Charles Lambeth in the First Class Smoking Room. Again, be sympathetic to him and he will eventually disclose to you that Georgia's necklace is a fake, and that Sasha is in possession of the real one.
- Head to Sasha's cabin, A-14. At the end of the alcove his cabin is in, there will be a seaman who has lost his screwdriver and head back below decks to retrieve it. Examine the fusebox he was looking at. Turn off the power to A-14 and quit the box. Sasha will be heard leaving his cabin. You can talk to him since it does not affect anything. Then restore the power to Sasha's cabin.
- Go inside Sasha's cabin and examine the Russian Doll on the dresser table. The necklace is hidden inside. To open it, you must arrange the four dials so that the numbers on all four sides add up to the total at the end. The top value is 15 - arrange the dials to 5,3,2,5 in that order.
- Click on the doll three times to open it and find the real necklace inside. At this point, you can either replace it with the fake necklace Georgia gave you or use the map to jump to another part of the ship to leave Sasha's cabin, allowing you to keep both necklaces. Do not attempt to leave Sasha's cabin without replacing the real necklace with the fake, or he will discover that you stole it and shoot you dead, resulting in a Game Over.
Getting The Notebook
The notebook is found at the top of the false smokestack. Frank can either surrender it to Zeitel, or gas Zeitel and attempt to escape with it, only to be ambushed by Vlad before he steals the notebook. Either way, it can be retrieved during the second half of the game during the sinking. If Zeitel stole the notebook, it will be in his cabin, C-59, but Carlson must defuse a bomb before being able to leave safely with it. If Vlad stole it, Frank could trade it for Claris Limehouse's shawl so that Vlad can escape from the ship.
If the notebook is not saved from the ship, either being taken by Zeitel or Vlad, or not found at all by Carlson, it results in Russia becoming a weakened state which, depending on the other items saved or lost, can result in either history playing out as it was with WW1 & WW2, or result in an alternate history whereby Nazi Germany overrun and conquer Russia, before turning its full might on a helpless Britain, which is forced to surrender.
If the player misses the key items
If the player does not relocate the Rubaiyat to another coal chute Vlad will now have the Rubaiyat.
If the player does not obtain the painting within 10 real-world minutes of Penny Pringle telling you about it, it will be missing from the cargo hold when you arrive.
If the player is not able to open Sasha's Russian doll safe and leaves, then they made a mistake, meaning they no longer have a second chance to obtain it from Sasha's cabin and must reclaim the necklace from Vlad.
Best Outcome
If the player gets all the items off the ship, the game concludes in the spring of 1942 with Frank Carlson going through the Memories book. He states that Vlad left the sinking ship without the Rubaiyat or the real Lambeth diamonds. The Black Hand never got the funds it needed, so peace was enjoyed instead. Frank says that he left the ship with the painting and the plans were useless; the canvas became famous, as did its painter, Adolf Hitler. Frank explains that he left the ship with Willi's notebook, but it later found its way to the Russians. He will also state that the secret police were grateful and that they executed the individuals whose names were written inside. With no wars or bloody revolutions to worry about, Frank is able to retire in a world at peace. We are left with his final sentence: "One can only imagine how different it could have been...would have been if we had failed." The credits then roll.