Because I sure as hell didn’t. In fact, running it was more effective than sneaking. Every time I tried sneaking (crouch-moving) it just knew where I was and killed me. I only got past by rushing it.
Also the perfectly uniform crushed railings look weird as hell.
Oh and the ‘banging’ noises weren’t loud enough, they should be deafening.
It was perhaps the most disappointing bit for me.
Yes. The second time, at least.
On normal, I simply lured it onto a different level to where I was with a grenade, then crouch-walked to each ladder, before tossing another grenade to keep it on a different level.
I almost took damage when breaking the wooden beams though.
On returning from the bottom I faced some difficulty in that I couldn’t throw a grenade from a safe position, so I sprinted to the ladder and climbed halfway up, then tossed a grenade below me.
You can’t send it to places on your level, you can only send it up or down a level.
I had the same issues. In the end, I sprinted and didn’t even have to use grenades. For me, only two of the three tentacles followed the grenade and the satchel did absolutely nothing.
I liked the railings if only because it was attention to detail. Yeah, maybe a bit uniform but that is just splitting hairs in my opinion.
I couldn’t even lure it with grenades! I just ran like hell till I got to one of the doors 
haha second time for me also, it can be done
I did get hit and killed by it, but only while learning how to use the grenades appropriately.
The thing with the tentacles is that when you throw a grenade, one of the heads will directly hit the spot that it exploded at, another will strike just slightly to the right of it, maybe 10 degrees, and the 3rd will be about 70-80 degrees to the left of the first one. So if you throw a grenade at some spot away from you on the same level, there’s a good chance that the 3rd head will still strike you.
The real way to handle this is to throw grenades onto different levels, then there’s no chance it’ll hurt you at all.
Going down the silo is therefore easy, as you can simply throw it a level or two below where you need to be (and break up the wooden boards with grenades from a distance, too). Coming back up from the bottom is a lot harder though, as you’re not able to throw grenades to the level above. In the end, I found throwing a grenade and simply sprinting the easiest way to get back to the top.
It’s a pity BM doesn’t have walking like HL1 did, as that is the ‘proper’ way to finish this section (not crouching, although crouching up/down HL1 ladders lets you climb them silently, whereas walking didn’t).
I tried sneaking past the tentacles too, never worked well. Eventually I had to resort to using the satchels as a distraction while making a mad dash to the ladder.
I got a nasty surprise when I realized the dev team made them smarter. I remember from hl1 you could throw a grenade slightly to your left and they’d hit that spot till the cows come home. Now they’re more like hunter-seekers.
I had no issues…just threw the 'nade one way and ran the other, lol
The trick to getting past the tentacles without being hit is definitely to crouch walk to each of the ladders. Just be generous with the grenades. The tentacles are on a timer, so even if you don’t make any noise after tossing a grenade, they get bored and start knocking around again. It takes patience, but is doable.
One trick is to hang out half-way on a ladder — you won’t always avoid tentacles, but if they come knocking a bit after you throw grenade, it gives you time to throw another one onto a different level. To make getting past the wooden barricades easier, I toss a grenade their way first to take care of those road blocks so I don’t have to worry about it once I reach that floor.
I probably use 4 grenades (maybe 5 on the way back up) per door. There’s enough refills along the way to keep you stockpiled.
Didn’t think it was too much of a problem. Had to reload once on my way back up and use a couple of hand grenades but it didn’t feel very difficult at all IMO.
I got nicked by one of them, but survived the encounter and regained my health.
I agree, using grenades to blow the wooden barriers to bits is a good way to speed things up. Also, I find running like hell works way better than crouch walking. Like ripping off a bandaid.
Also, there is a way on the outer walkways to fall from the 2nd lowest level to the lowest level using the gaping hole in the floor, thus avoiding a whole encounter with the tentacles. Be careful because if you do it incorrectly you fall into the green radioactive waste below.
You can also walk to the end of the walkway, jump over the rails backward, and MASH the W key to land on the railing below.
Saves a lot of time and anguish. I personally like the hole trick better, but I discovered the rail trick first. 
Sneaking worked in HL1 but I found it didnt work here. So I used tactics I learned with HL1. I tossed the grenade at the lowest point on the opposite side of the rocket engine test chamber to where I was going. I make a bee line for the second level then once in safety I find a way to the third level and start at the bottom. Its easier to come up than to work your way down to 2nd then 3rd levels only to work your way back up.
I liked how the security guard wasnt killed by the explosives when you fired the rocket engine.
I died a few times…mostly because I threw a grenade and one of the bastards would block it randomly back into my face and then they would swarm me. I used probably 20 grenades because i kept popping them all over the place to keep them busy. Often enough, I threw them down its hole and they would retreat for a second and give me time to move. I did like the guard who courageously sacrificed himself, but not before he gave it a real painful insult. I bet it cried itself to sleep that night…oh wait.
I did this too. I didn’t have any trouble with it, though, it seemed to be fairly straightforward.
I had very little issue with the tentacles, I only took damage the second time around.
Hell, I even kept the security guard from getting killed on the third play.
Not sure if I am remembering this correctly, but I thought in HL1 you could make the tenticles completely recede into the hole by throwing grenades into it?? I am sure thats how i got past it in the first game. In BM I found the grenades ineffective…
This seems to be one of the more common “I’m trying to play it like HL and it isn’t working” problems.
BMS is simply a different game; sometimes the techniques that worked in HL won’t work in BMS – sometimes intentionally, sometimes not. I think its fun trying to figure out the new stuff. We’ve all beaten the tentacle a gajillion times in HL, so it’s nice to have it be a little different IMO.
Hmm, I believe you might have been able to get 1 head at a time to go back down if you shot them enough, but they didn’t stay down for long.
One thing I did remember though, is that in HL1 after a long enough time with silence the tentacles would stop attacking completely, and would rise up into the air and make that sort of groaning noise, with the raspy throat-clearing noises, and you could navigate around the platforms without the need for grenades or other distractions as long as you were completely silent (crouching or walking). That doesn’t seem to happen in BM - they keep attacking the floor, eventually just choosing random locations.
Founded in 2004, Leakfree.org became one of the first online communities dedicated to Valve’s Source engine development. It is more famously known for the formation of Black Mesa: Source under the 'Leakfree Modification Team' handle in September 2004.