The DWmegawad Club plays: Dimension of the Boomed & MAYhem 2016

[TheOrganGrinder]

MAP08: Lodi Eno Rebmun Si Ocin

 

I have no idea how I'd have gone about tackling this one from a pistol start; it's a map that leans pretty heavily on ammo starvation and miserly dispensing of weapons to keep the player on the back foot, and with a trio of Cyberdemons to fend off, I'm not confident that I could really get infighting to work for me though surely that's the best and intended solution.  Visually it's a map with a clean idea of what it wants to do and be, this rocky, fractured landscape dotted with ruined partial structures and the occasional pile of crates left over from some attempt to reclaim the space only to be thwarted by its denizens; nothing says "Get off my lawn!" like a rocket launcher on cybernetic goat legs.  It's also interesting to me how the ultimate shape of the map resembles a Tom Hall Doom map, as though drawn on a sheet of paper and filling right to the edges as much as possible, and yet the map didn't feel at all like that when exploring it and looking at it from the inside.

[FrancisT218]

Mayhem 2016 Level 12

 

I could have probably guessed this map was by the same author as Level 5 without even knowing it. My bottom line for it is almost exactly the same - it could have been a very good map had the author not insisted on spawning in a massive fight (in this case, the Cacodemons and PEs that show up after you grab the blue key) that you almost certainly won't have all the ammo tpu need for unless you berserk like crazy earlier on or avoid fighting either Cyberdemon, which is hard to do for the one blocking your way out after picking up the red key. The Mastermind at the end also seemed shoehorned in. At least you don't have to find secrets to get a good weapon here, however.

 

Much like Level 5, I found both the design and aesthetic to be quite good, making a solid use of the Darkening E2 textures and theme once again. 

 

 

[tmorrow]

map12: Kepler Communications, Argent Agent [category: 160 things]
zdoom2.8.1, uvmax, pistol start, no saves, first time played

Hmm! Kepler Communications by Argent Agent is a facility for receiving satellite communications from our exoplanet hunter, the Kepler observatory in space. The enemy appear to be very interested in this fascinating research for alien life too as they've sent several big guns to take over control of operations. Maybe the hell spawn are expecting an imminent communication from afar ...

The most exciting fight of the map is probably the yellow key trap where you get to take on 2 archviles, several mancubuses and some arachnotrons in a fairly small area.

This map is extremely tight on ammo. You need some serious infighting to take place so you have enough to finish the map. The berserk fist will only take you so far. The best way to get infighting is to let cybie on the platform show off his skills. After triggering cybie and the spider mastermind in the outside area you can head back inside and take the lifts back up to the area where you found the yellow key and cause a cybie/mastermind face off. Then, after triggering both the cacodemon/pain elemental waves, you can return to the yellow key area to watch the fun. Cybie is usually overwhelmed in the end, but not before he has racked up an impressive kill count. Go cybie! Roar!

Don't worry, there are plenty of cybies to go around, another 2 of these musclebound minotour-like beasts are stomping the halls, looking for trouble so you'll get be able to give your plasma rifle plenty of use.

[cannonball]

MAP11 - “Quake Plumbing Inc.” by Breezeep

Best map so far in my opinion, a nice looping map full of fun and reasonably fair action with a couple of bit fights around both keys, the second cyber feels a little excessive after grabbin the blue key though I suspect he was there to deter people from simply legging it after grabbing the key, still I had shells to take him out the spawning site of the archvile isn't too troublesome to leave until you have cleared the previous fight. Good visuals throughout here.

 

MAP12 - “Kepler Communications” by Argentum

I guess the combat during the start and middle of this map at least prepares you for the world of hurt you will face later on, unfortunately ammo isn't sufficient to make this fun unfortunately. So the start is absolutely fine with the yellow key trap being fairly decent, the bit beyond the yellow doors seems to rely of you getting the cyber and mastermind to infight to preserve ammo, the red key fights are okay (I like the close quarters cyber for instance), going through the red door unveils a fight which to be frank you need a lot of luck to survive (The revenant in my attempt freezes the cyber and punches him to death). The fights at the end seem impossible given the ammo. Another issue is the progression which relies on a lot of backtracking which isn't ideal.

At least the visuals are nice again though.

[Catpho]

MAP03 - “Steel Coffin” by Angry Saint

A gloomy industrial trek from Angry Saint. Welp, mostly gloomy, as there are some very colorful and vibrant computer panels textures contrasting it (standout is a nifty static effect). A very unique visual identity, i must say! But everything else was... mediocre. Opening fight is already unwelcoming with narrow walkways and strong monsters like mancubi and revenants, and then its just relentless with it's mean-spirited ambushes. Blue key is guarded by chaingun snipers is another offender, may rng be with you or it will be several tries. Action then dies down a bit until the exit arhcvile, the final luck battle.

I was glad that i don't have spend another second in there. Kudos to the good looks, but that's not enough to save it i'm afraid.

Some screenies (plus one test gif):

Edited June 20, 2018 by Catpho
lol no gif

[Rook]

MAP08: Lodi Eno Rebmun Si Ocin

To me at least, an almost hilariously vicious map from Tarnsman. With its compactness, cyberdemons, lava and paucity of safe spots it strongly reminds me of the old "favourite", Perfect Hatred. I'm not ashamed to admit that Even on HMP ths was too tough for me, by quite some margin. Despite being unable to beat this under my own steam, I found a lot to like including Tarnsman's usual economy of lines, tidy visuals and clever re-use of space. Ironically, the only part of the map I felt comfortable beating was the one I liked least - the separate arena featuring revenants and a pair of archviles. It's more manageable because cyberdemons can't intercede, but breaks the flow somewhat. Still, an excellent - if truly ruthless - map.

[tmorrow]

map13: CyberCrusher, Alter [category: 160 things]
zdoom2.8.1, uvmax, pistol start, no saves, first time played - {DNF}

Cybercrusher! Unfortunately the crushers don't discriminate and will make the player resemble a pancake even more easily than a cyberdemon. You start at a terminus in a railway carriage and can move from carriage to carriage to reach the main platform. Beware that if you fall into the gaps between carriages that you can't get out. On the platform you'll see the first crusher and even a cybie to try it out on. Unfortunately, cybie does not want to cooperate and it takes 2 plunges to take him out anyway. You will probably end up using super shotgun to to, er, help him on his way. There's plenty of ammo on the map so you don't have to rely on the crushers alone. There's no bfg and the rocket launcher only has 17 shots once you pick up all the ammo for it so it is pretty much plasma rifle and super shotgun the entire way.

The first 2/3 of the map is excellent fun with several crushing opportunities. My favourite being the blue key room where you are locked in with several cybies you can submit to a slow, crushing defeat. There's also a spider mastermind to spice up the room as well. There's no shame in admitting you have crush on cybie!

The final fight of the map for the exit is particularly nasty. The fight involves 9 cybies and then later, 11 archviles. You are lowered down on a lift to an inescapable area for the final showdown. There are plungers all over the triangular area that are fast moving and so they will only minimally damage and slow down the 9 cybies that roar to life when you enter the area. A lot of rng here. If you can get the cybies herded so you can easily track them then all is good, but there are rockets heading your way most of the time as you try to tipoe around the edges of the plungers to avoid damage and get some distance from the cybies so you can effectively dodge and return some plasma fire.

 

If you survive the 9 cyber encounter, you can action the 3 switches that gives you access to a megasphere on a plate that releases 11 archviles and opens the exit. Due to the speed that archviles move and with plasma rifle your best weapon, there's not much you can do to avoid several blasts from all sides. Getting to the exit is easy enough because you can step on the plate and quietly wait for 30 seconds for the exit bars to come down then race to the exit, but a uvmax here is tricky to pull off. I found the archviles battle much harder than the cyber battle. With hit or miss traps like this at the end of map, I only gave it one attempt but was not able to uvmax it, the first of what I expect will be several DNF's to follow.

[cannonball]

MAP13 - “Cybercrusher” by alterworldruler

 

I appreciate the interesting gimmick here and for the most part I don't mind the gameplay, but the ending is a little too grindy to be appreciated in my opininon. There seems to be enough ammo to to kill most enemies without the help of the crushers whichs gives you the option of how you want to play this map.

[Magnusblitz]

MAP10: Piston Hurricane

100% kills, 1/2 secrets

 

Surprised this got a lot of comments about it being easy, as I personally found it somewhat difficult... not that there's a lot of seriously deadly encounters, but just from the constant stream of bullets and fireballs being thrown at the player in the outer ring. Really easy to get whittled down by a chaingunner or take a fireball to the back. So maybe just frustrating, not hard. Maybe I would've been better off going for the plasma gun (and green armor) early, but instead I didn't end up grabbing it until the rest of the level had been cleared. The red/green slime show was interesting, even if I don't know what it's supposed to be. The PE 'fight' at the end doesn't do much since they're stuck in the boat area, not sure if that was intentional or not.

Edited June 21, 2018 by Magnusblitz

[Pinchy]

On 6/14/2018 at 5:10 PM, FrancisT18 said:

Mayhem 2016 Level 7

 

didn't know what a switch did (especially the last one)

 

 

On 6/14/2018 at 8:49 PM, Magnusblitz said:

MAP07: Darkvault

having that teleporter go straight into a lava pit.

 

The bookcase head bonk followed by the teleport into the lava were symbolism for the fact this was a 4 hour speedmap I made with mild heatstroke

[Pinchy]

2 hours ago, Magnusblitz said:

MAP10: Piston Hurricane

The PE 'fight' at the end doesn't do much since they're stuck in the boat area, not sure if that was intentional or not.

 

These are entirely there to bait you towards the exit

[TheOrganGrinder]

MAP09: Blood from a Stone

 

This is first map in the set that I found myself doing in two sittings, taking a break after emerging from the northern techbase node to see the rocky landscape before me repopulate with revenants, arch-viles, and other unpleasantness that I just wasn't in the mood to deal with right at that time.  It's a gorgeous map to look at, a vast landscape of rock and blood riddled with technological areas like the tunnels left by some metal-shedding worm as it burrowed its way through the earth, but much of the combat left me with the sense that aesthetics had trumped gameplay in its creation, monsters chosen and emplaced as much as decoration or out of a sense of what looks good on the battlefield as out of any measure of what's actually fun to fight.  I'll admit to not being a fan of cacodemon swarms when they're deployed in spaces quite this open; all it takes is a super shotgun blast to send one hurtling over to the far side of the map where it's reduced to a single blinking pixel steadily vomiting a churning stream of ball lightning that takes what feels like half a minute to drift lazily over to where you're standing.

[FrancisT218]

Mayhem 2016 Level 13

 

You get your gimmick map here, which is mostly done well as you stay constantly on the run trying to avoid both Cyberdemons' rockets and crushers, with some other monsters around as well, including a few Masterminds where if you're lucky they'll distract a few Cyberdemons. You can get the two keys in either order. Then it's time to head for the final area which is initially a gauntlet of fast crushers and Cyberdemons. I did not try to kill any, rather just run and tag the four switches then grab the Megasphere. This starts thre lowering of the exit and adds many Archviles into the mix. If you've killed the Cyberdemons or have lulled them far enough away (as I did), the easiest solution is to stand pat as long as you can and hopefully the exit bars have at least almost lowered by the time you're forced to move. It needs some luck in this last part and would be a very hard level to max, however 

[tmorrow]

map14: Ancient Den, an_mutt [category: mapslot x10 = monstercount = 210, designed for map21]
zdoom2.8.1, uvmax, pistol start, no saves, first time played

A really fun, nonlinear, fortress map with plenty of health and ammo and plenty of evenly spaced, balanced mix of tier 1, 2 and 3 enemies. The map seems to be designed to encourage the player to have fun, to keep killing and to stay on the move.

The secret hunt is particularly gratifying and opens up an optional slaughter section to do if you wish. You only need the blue and red keys to open the exit but if you want to do everything you need to find the secrets that lead to the optional yellow key for access to the area beyond the yellow key door.

The yellow key door leads to a big, enjoyable slaughter fight out in an arena. You can find a bfg out there but you have to earn it. As long as a stray rocket doesn't rearrange the players face, you should have no trouble clearing out the pack for a well earned win.

[cannonball]

MAP14 - “Ancient Den” by an_mutt

 

Well this is a really nice map, oddly it feels like the incidental combat has been mostly omitted from this one with monsters appearing mostly in small numbers throughout the map, there are some neat encounters scattered about in the large fortress with some good visuals and some nice changes to the surroundings at times. The health and ammo are nicely distributed unlike some other maps.

Now the secret hunt actually makes up the bulk of the monster count here with nearly half of the monsters used for one fight which is certainly worth finding, if only to see and huge arena lift from the sand below which is a really sight to behold. The fight itself gives you the BFG but unless you push yourself to claim it from the live horde then you will end up doing what I did and grab it with zero monsters left in the map, oddly the rocket launcher and plasma gun are perfectly suitable for dealing with this fight and once the archviles have been neutralised this fight doesn't carry too much teeth, that said the archvile number is probably a little too high to make any strategy successful on multiple attempts as you could easily get roasted with little chance of fighting back or instigating infighting.

Still this is proably the strongest entry so far, just pipping map11.

[TheOrganGrinder]

MAP10: Piston Hurricane

 

There's a sharp transition in theme from the preceding map's rocky wasteland to this high-tech factory, though both feature an open liquid expanse that serves more as backdrop tha playing space; if MAP09 was set along a winding cliffside path overlooking a sea of blood, then this is more of a drilling rig, set in the middle of a vast of ominous ocean, isolating the player with only a hundred and sixty monsters for company.  The start is on the frantic side and there are some triggered releases of additional waves of grunt monsters into the outside areas of the map at not-entirely-clear points in the progression, lending the gameplay an organic flow in which the reinforcements feel like a natural response to your ongoing intrusion, the ebb and flow of battle rather than the carefully choreographed steps of a dance.  It helps that, despite the small playable area in comparison to the map's overall size and the early clarity of the player's objectives, you've given multiple options as to the order in which you pursue those objectives and just how you go about completing them.

 

MAP11: Quaker Plumbing Inc.

 

I like the setting here, some kind of hydroelectric dam or refining/purification facility, and the gameplay is fast-paced and fun, with a constant forward push that never quite rises to the point of being overwhelming, until it climaxes in a tag-team battle against paired Cyberdemons and a small army of their minions.  The overall layout is a pleasnt one too, a grand loop that brings the player back toward the start while looking over previously explored areas; you've got the option of clearing things out as you go, so that the interconnections between areas remain purely visual, but I feel it would be interesting to see what interplay there could be between different waves of enemies pouring into separate parts of the map, ready to rain fire on the invading marine from above and below.  It's interesting, too, the way the secrets are nested within one another and both require that switches be shot to open them up.

[Magnusblitz]

MAP11: Quaker Plumbing Inc.

97% kills, 0/2 secrets

 

Definitely got Valiant E1 vibes here with the blue sky, light grey/tan setting and green foliage, along with the obvious setting (hydroelectric dam of some sort). Combat is pretty easy for the most part, there's a couple of large choreographed fights for the keys, but both have plenty of room to move around in so the player isn't really threatened. Interesting decision to have most of the big baddies on the blue key fight blocked into staying on the ring while only the small guys are in the water, I suppose the idea was to keep the monsters from grouping up too tightly but I found that it just let me sit in the water leisurely since none of the big guys could come get me.

[Catpho]

Slowly catching up

MAP04 - “Affinity” by Jimmy

Fast and disposable is the name of the game. Difficulty dials down a notch, now favoring some good ol casual run and murder demons through relatively generous running space and good supplies aplenty. Nice fluid layout that creates non-linear exploration, further enhancing the gameplay . Suitably pleasing aesthetic choice, with some comfortable color combinations and nice resource pack usage, though nothing too out of the ordinary for a techbase.

Its one of those maps that dishes out a few good minutes of fun battles and sightseeing. But i never end up putting these in my top 5, as they still stick quite firmly to some expected tropes that a lot of modern maps follow. Still, quality Doom experience.

Some screenies:

[FrancisT218]

Mayhem 2016 Level 14

 

This one is another favorite of mine so far. If you go into this blind and keep track of kills/monstercount (designed with the ×10 rule for Level 21) you're almost sure to be shocked when you come across the exit! I certainly was. It turns out about half this map in gameplay and more than half of it in monsters is a well-concealed secret (yet you might spot a few clues of its existence from the outside) you'll eventually find a yellow key within, and then the area beyond the yellow door, which is a marvel to watch it 'build', reminding me of Sector from ZPack, and then becomes a slaughter ground. The secret portion of this level could be a level of its own and the area beyond the yellow door is definitely the climax of the whole thing.

 

I found the whole level to good-looking with a darkish atmosphere, and fitting music. It's fun to play throughout as well, with monsters in other parts (not behind the yellow door) being perhaps a touch sparse in number, but nonetheless challenging you with a gradually escalating difficulty curve.

[TheOrganGrinder]

MAP12: Kepler Communications

 

This is another very enjoyable setting, a techbase built into and around a river valley that cuts its way through a cliff environment, with constant changes of scale, elevation, and wall texture/colour; it's a map that never repeats itself yet doesn't feel at all inconsistent or incoherent, every carefully-differentiated part of it functioning neatly as a fitting part of a greater whole.  There's quite the number of heavy hitters on patrol here (on Hurt Me Plenty, two Spider Masterminds and three Cyberdemons) and while ammunition is in decent supply, it's not so abundant that the player can afford to be wasteful, especially with the number of arch-viles and pain elementals putting in appearances at different points in the map to further strain your resources.  The river valley itself is a fantastic battlefield for the invading swarms of cacodemons, especially with their ability to outflank the player via the plentiful balconies and windows around the place.  Good stuff!

 

MAP13: Cybercrusher

 

The name of the game here is escalation, it seems, with progressively greater and more dangerous number and densities of both Cyberdemons and crushers being thrown into the player's path until the whole thing culminates in a tangle of crushers, arch-viles, and rocket goats thick enough to leave you struggling to breathe.  As a gimmick it's entertaining enough but my overall impression is of a single idea that lingers a bit too long and overstays its welcome; I found myself wearily asking myself "There's more?" a few times, struggling to go on when it seemed as though the map had nothing new to offer, just further iterations of the same core concept I'd already grown more tahn familiar with.  I'm glad it ends when and where it does.

Edited June 22, 2018 by TheOrganGrinder

[tmorrow]

map15: Klockwerk, Paul Corfiatis [category: 160 things]
zdoom2.8.1, uvmax, pistol start, no saves, first time played

An excellent map with a quake aesthetic, featuring lots of clocks by veteran and prolific mapper Paul Corfiatis. With only tier 1 and 2 enemies and no nasty traps, this is one of the easier maps in the set and I certainly enjoyed it. The secret search nets backpacks, chaingun, rocket launcher and a soulsphere. The rocket launcher makes the archvile exit guardian with his revenant friends easier to handle.

Note there are 2 exits, the normal one to map16 and the secret exit to map31. Finding the secret exit does not count as a secret.

[cannonball]

MAP15 - “Klockwerk” by Paul Corfiatis

 

This map feels like a PCorf map, even to the standard issue archvile at the exit. Not really much to say as this is probably one of, if not the easiest map of the set. Ammo is tightly distributed but you can grab yourself a chainsaw to deal with the weaker foes and keep enough ammo for the end. A reasonable little romp with a nice use of textures, nothing will catch you off guard here.

There is a secret exit, though it does feel a little forced due to where this map ended up (This might be accurate or not).

[FrancisT218]

I don't see any map here that was clearly designed to be Level 15 (150 monsters) while PCorf's map was designed to be Level 7. I think it's a bit of a missed opportunity though that Levels 14/15 were not simply reversed and the secret exit could have been revealed after you pick the BFG up and take the return teleporter.

Edited June 22, 2018 by FrancisT18

[Rook]

MAP09: Blood From a Stone

The foreboding tower and its rocky environs set within a sea of blood are really impressive visuals, but I found much of the gameplay here to be a real slog. It's frustrating to take a lot of damage from enemies that are too far away to realistically attack: when I was on the cliff I was being attacked from the tower, and when I'd made my break for the tower I was being torn to shreds by enemies I'd left alive on the cliff. The claustrophobic trap at the blue key area had me reloading several times, and the final ascent was a real grind, with hell knights blocking the narrow walkway. I didn't enjoy this map as such, but there was a great moment as I sprinted along the narrow bridge to the tower, with a pair of arachnatrons trying in vain to fry me in plasma.

 

MAP10: Piston Hurricane

Definitely a better map than pinchy's first in this mapset. Set on a platform within an ocean, it's almost constant pressure here from successive waves of lower-tier enemies, a ton of snipers in distant raised positions, and hell knights at close quarters indoors. I don't find the progression particularly clear and personally I found the clever editing tricks (conveyors and a curious "light show" at the end) didn't add much to the experience.

Edited June 22, 2018 by Rook

[Scotty]

7 - Darkvault

 

A very hot (and entertaining) start that saw me scrabbling for weapons and ammo while trying to figure out how to tackle the map. Once i carved out a niche the pace gradually slowed down, save for the drop-down trap. The exit felt abrupt; perhaps a finale arena fight or something would have served this map nicely. I always associate Pinchy with bold colour choices, and here is no different, with the muted purple shades accentuating the bright orange lava. A cool colour combo that is rarely seen in Doom maps.

 

 

8 - Lodi Eno Rebmun Si Ocin

 

An exercise in extracting high difficulty from low enemy numbers, i guess, although the inherent consequence of this is that at times this felt like it was being difficult for the sake of being difficult. Still, pulling off 2-shots on Cybs in awkward spaces are quite satisfying to pull of - save for that perched Cyb past the yellow door which was incredibly dickishly placed. Like the previous map, this one had a key progressional switch in a weird non-obvious location, i'm not sure wtf that is about. Said switch did provide an entertaining little skirmish, though.

 

 

9 - Blood from a Stone

 

A grimy tech installation built into a giant cliff face. Sunderesque vibes about this map, particularly once you get into the blue key building, and the map has this vibe of being a small section of some twisted microcosm, a feeling that i associate with a lot of Sunder maps. I remember remarking to myself that the map "wasn't actually too difficult so far" just before the blue key fight - heh. An intense, cramped trap immediately followed which gave me a fair beating.

 

At this point, the impact of playing blind and not knowing where the secrets where became incredibly apparent, with meagre resources left to try and deal with the descent back to the blue switch. In this thread i have already remarked about my frustrations regarding artibrary 'viles simply there to rez everything' tropes, so predictably i found this part annoying - until i found some of the secrets, which are numerous and powerful in this map, and make a casual playthrough much more fun.

 

The Caco trap upon the final ascent was meh - the player will always simply retreat here, and have to tediously pick them off (or ignore them and just leave the map, in my case). Regardless, i believe i shall revisit this map, as i expect that playing this with foreknowledge of all secrets will be a far more rewarding experience, and a more appropriate way of playing the map.

 

10 - Piston Hurricane

 

Another hot start map here, but it was just a case of running around taking care of hitscan on the deck, then the rest of the map just felt like complete cleanup with no really notable threats save for a couple of chaingunner squads. Far too many low threat turrent monsters (ie HK's). This layout strongly reminded me of the map Pinchy made for Cereal Killer. Regardless, some good use of scrolling floors gave this map a convincing factory vibe. Neat, if slightly random Boom trickery at the end too. Very cool sky in this map, btw. I guess i felt this one was a case of style over substance.

 

 

11 - Quaker Plumbing Inc.

 

After a fairly slow start, picking away at mid tiers with the regular SG and minimal rockets, having to be careful due to lack of armour, the map quickly moves up through the gears upon grabbing the SSG and some armour, allowing you to finally play at a high pace, something that felt like it was supposed to be the case from the start. Aesthetically this map was reminiscent of Valiant E1, ie (relatively) realistic manmade structures (a dam in this case) built into natural surroundings. The middle portion of this map is fantastic fun, with flowing, energetic fights. The second Cyb was... questionable however, and we get another visit from my now-well-acquantied-gripe "vile who is there just to rez shit" and some nondescript caco's who do a poor job of defending the exit. A shame to end on a low note but a very fun map regardless.

 

 

12 - Kepler Communications

 

Some pretty cool architecture here, with massive structures that tower around the player at the beginning. Map starts off similarly to 11 with the same SG vs mid tier stuff. Yellow key fight is pretty fun stuff, trying to deal with the viles first while avoiding the potentially massively damaging attacks of the mancs and spiders. Once you go up the section of lifts where the cyb and mastermind are, the map falls apart a bit. I despise Lost Souls and so PE's in very wide open spaces like this are nightmare fuel to me. The mastermind/cyb crossfire is quite tricky too.

 

Fortunately for my sanity, this map has a mega cheese spot back up at the yellow key fight, you just go there and put the Cyb to work. He eradicated this entire trap and the latter one too, and i just literally stood in this spot the whole time and didn't have to do anything. The other fights felt a little uninspired, too many boss monsters on this map for its own good perhaps. More work put into the lighting would have made this map a pretty stunning sight to behold too.

 

 

13 - Cybercrusher

 

Well, at least you know it's going to be a complete gimmick map beforehand... The fact that you are sort of obliged to utilise the crushers can make things incredibly annoying if the enemies don't want to play your game. This was fun in parts, but i think i would've had more fun if i just had a BFG. The final area i just did the switch hunt and left making zero effort in combat, happy in the knowledge that eventually those monsters would be crushed to death on their own. I thought this map had a great look to it, highly futuristic, like something from a sci-fi film.

 

 

14 - Ancient Den

 

Incidentally, Marcaek recommended that i check out this map (i forget why exactly) just a few weeks back, which is why the wad was on my to-play list in the first place. Anyway.

 

Immediately - fuck yeah, what a great setting for a map, this looks amazing. The sky and sand as far as the eye can see really creates a sense of place, truly in the middle of nowhere. The brilliant midi is a perfect fit too. Combat wise this map is highly sparse - occassionally underwhelming (lone HK's and small Caco clusters are mere ammo sinks) - with Chaingunners, Revs and Viles generally providing the most invigorating moments wherever they are involved. Plutonia-riffic.

 

The real strength of this map is the nicely tiered, highly interwoven layout that is interesting to navigate and explore. I got to the exit and- wtf, only 70 monsters gone? I explored some more, got bored of that, so cheated to find the switch necessary for the secret areas - worth it. Two cool larger scale fights, highly entertaining, my kinda thing. The arena rising out of the sand was really neat, i dread to think how long that must have taken to build up! A fitting climax to the map. This had a definite map15 vibe to it, shame all these well hidden, interesting secret areas and fights didn't lead to a secret exit really, it seems like it would have been perfect for that.

 

 

15 - Klockwerk

 

SSG slog. Little for ammo or health so you can't really attack the map. Just slog through it all. I have very little time for this.

Edited June 23, 2018 by Scotty

[Urthar]

Mayhem 16 - MAP12 Kepler Communications - Argentum
HMP - Continuous - ZDoom

 

I kind of wish I hadn't pistol started Quaker Plumbing now, because the BFG would have been pretty handy to deal with the multiple Archviles, Cyberdemons, Masterminds and all. The map seems determined at times to deny you a clean shot at the enemies, and reminded me a little of Romero's Perfect Hatred in that regard.

Unlike Agentum's previous map, rushing and evading certain sections may come back to haunt you later on, which is a mechanism I quite like. And ammo is scarce enough that provoking some infighting might feel like a necessity. Still it feels like there's just enough, if you're careful, but I would have welcomed some more armour.

 

Structurally, the map works pretty well, and the progression is often excellent, but on the whole I can't say I enjoyed playing it. However, that's probably more to do with my own personnal preferences rather any particular fault of the map.

Mayhem 16 - MAP13 Cybercrusher - Alter

 

Oh god, come back Argentum, all is forgiven!

 

This map is really dying to be a proper slaughter map, but since it's hamstrung by the 160 item limit, it has to make do with what it has. So the whole thing ends up too sparse to really work, and ultimately too reliant on Archviles to provoke the player to fight rather than evade. I can't help but feel that arbitarily dumping a few hundred monsters in here would have instantly improved things.

The early section of the map isn't too bad. You can rush to the plasma ammo, while largely ignoring anything that isn't an Archvile, and then start clearing house. The finale however, isn't fun at all, and once again I deeply regret ditching the BFG.

 

Still, I'm glad it was made, since it does experiment with the format and try something new. And even if it's not to my taste, I still walked out with 500 plasma cells to my name, so I shouldn't complain too much.

Mayhem 16 - MAP14 Ancient Den - An_mutt

 

There's quite a mishmash of textures in this one, but it sort of hangs together and evokes the atmosphere of an alien desert ruin embedded with technology. Gameplay is engaging and a welcome respite from the last couple of maps, but the highlight of the map is definitely the yellow key secret, which is worth searching for.

It's a long and involved secret, which escalates into a dramatic arena battle, and implements a transformation sequence that Moldy would be proud of. And for foolish marines who chucked their guns away earlier, there's even a shiny new BFG, for which I am sincerely grateful.

 

Definitely one of the better maps, cleverly constructed and every bit as fun as Quaker Plumbing Inc.

[Marcaek]

Map15 ending up where it did was definitely something I regret, at least the map's gameplay could have stood to be better. At the time i think i just wanted Mayhem16 off my plate for good.

 

It's not a complete writeoff at least.

Edited June 22, 2018 by Marcaek

[tmorrow]

map31: In Death, is Life, Rayzik [category: 31 x 100 = 3100 monster count for map31]
zdoom2.8.1, uvmax, pistol start, no saves, first time played - {DNF}

In Death is Life occupies the map31 slot. Near the teleporter to the final section is written on the floor "In Death is Death" so there seems to be some confusion. Are they both true? Maybe "In Death is both Life and Death"! I'm not sure but I'll bet people can and do debate for hours on the topic. The Swedish metal band Meshuggah certainly had something to say on the matter.

Philosophy aside, Rayzik has given us an intimidating beast of a map consisting of a single, humongous building with quake textures, lots of candles, pillars and scary lighting. The enormous floor space has been divided up into several mutually exclusive sections reachable via portals. You need to work out what to do to get out of each area. Some are on timers, some use switches, some have walk over triggers.

1. The area with cybie on a platform in the middle. The switch that starts the action, lowers after 30 seconds allowing access to the north.
2. The yellow key area. After collecting the yellow key, you need to action 2 switches on the east and west sides of the room to reveal a portal to the north that exits the area.
3. North east circular area with a monster fountain in the middle. Action the 2 side switches and wait for a slowly descending lift to come down so you can teleport back to area 1, find that bars have lowered so you can go south and take a lift up to the starting area again and find that the red and blue key areas are now available.
4. The red key area gives you a big break with an invulnerability supplied and you can use the portals to port to the west, then east fenced off areas, collect the red key, return, action the north and south red switches to reveal and take a new portal to the far west to deposit you at the base of a lift below the start. Take the lift back up.
5. The blue key pickup in the gears area is a little more tricky since you need to step on the 4 raising/lowering lifts surrounding the blue key and then wait for the key to lower to the floor before you can pick it up and use it to action the blocking blue switch to the west, allowing you to take the lift back to the start.
6. Red switch area. There's a 2 minute wait for the bars to lower that block access to the return portal.
7. Blue switch area. After hitting the east switch there is a 1 minute wait for a block to lower to access the return portal.
8. Yellow switch area. After shooting the switch upon entering the area, there is a 2 minute wait for the bars to lower that block access to the return portal. There are 2 invulnerability spheres to help in this area.
9. The final area. This appears to be a one way trip, you can't go back after entering the area. After using the 6 switches in the area, it takes about 30 seconds for the exit to become available. There are 5 megaspheres and 2 soulspheres to help keep you alive while you are waiting.

There is quite a bit of non linearity to the map after step 3 above when the red and blue keys and the 3 areas requiring the keys become available.

With no secrets to concern yourself with, you can immediately focus on the task at hand, trying to get through each area alive as wave after wave of evil spawns where ever you go. One thing is for sure, there are a lot of monsters on the map. It starts with 3100 and then goes into much higher figures as the map evolves with pain elementals spawning lost souls and archviles resurrecting every dead corpse they can get their evil hands on.

I gave the map a handful of attempts and failed fairly early on so I started an analysis phase to practice each of the areas. The difficulty is in survival, although lack of ammo is a problem as well. I can handle the first 5 areas fairly regularly to collect all of the keys but I've found the following 3 switch areas to be problematic. The final area is a real challenge, beyond me even with all of the megaspheres provided.

I'm not certain what a winning strategy for this map looks like. My impression is that there seems to be a shortage of ammo to take on the enemy, but that is probably due to my lack of efficiency and poor strategy. As a wild guess I assume you are supposed to stir up the enemies in each area, quickly get out and then wait for a fuckton of infighting to subside and then follow up with a second pass mop up. Hopefully someone can explain or demonstrate how this map can be completed. Wadspy 1.1 reports a total monster hp to max weapon damage ratio of 1.774 which is rather high but the utility has several limitations and assumptions baked into it that may not apply very well to this map, for instance pain elemental generated lost souls, archvile resurrections, actual rng damage would increase the ratio while infighting, any berserk use and rocket/bfg splash would lower the ratio. I'm not sure if it easy to get the ratio down to below 1 where a uvmax is possible [This is the queue for doom gods to step in and show us how it's done].

[Alter]

15 hours ago, Urthar said:

Mayhem 16 - MAP13 Cybercrusher - Alter

 

 

Oh god, come back Argentum, all is forgiven!

 

This map is really dying to be a proper slaughter map, but since it's hamstrung by the 160 item limit, it has to make do with what it has. So the whole thing ends up too sparse to really work, and ultimately too reliant on Archviles to provoke the player to fight rather than evade. I can't help but feel that arbitarily dumping a few hundred monsters in here would have instantly improved things.

The early section of the map isn't too bad. You can rush to the plasma ammo, while largely ignoring anything that isn't an Archvile, and then start clearing house. The finale however, isn't fun at all, and once again I deeply regret ditching the BFG.

 

Still, I'm glad it was made, since it does experiment with the format and try something new. And even if it's not to my taste, I still walked out with 500 plasma cells to my name, so I shouldn't complain too much.

Thanks for the kind words Urthar! I tried my best to make the hardest map I could come up with, with the 160 things limit, that's not stupid. I never actually made a slaughtermap except in a canned megawad which I may return to at some point. Maybe I should make a slaughtermap down the road, and then via the magic of feedback actually make it good. Either way, glad you had fun!

[Rook]

MAP11: Quaker Plumbing, Inc.

All power to Breezeep for making this excellent map, which for me is by some margin the best in the WAD so far. A network of broad caves and outdoor areas surround an imposing dam (shades of Valiant MAP06 here) and the visuals and gameplay balance are of a very high standard throughout. There are two cleverly-constructed, major setpiece battles: one at the foot of the structure and one on top. It's possible and probably wise to run away from the first fight, but the monsters spawned there will need to be dealt with. In the second, there's a BFC (Big Friendly Cyberdemon) who will do a lot of the player's work for them if tickled just the right way.

 

MAP12: Kepler Communications

This is a significant improvement over Argentum's first map in the set and is at times almost as strong as MAP11. The two maps share a great sense of grandiose architecture which doesn't become overcomplicated. The player has to work quite hard to acquire an arsenal, but this feels more natural than the excessive emphasis on secrets in MAP05. The more frighteningly powerful monsters are mostly well-handled, positioned to exploit their abilities but not insurmountable. However, as with MAP05 there is a real shortage of ammo: a major teleport reinforcement wave is nigh-on impossible to kill at present without intense infighting. I completed this, but not without much wailing, gnashing of teeth, saving, and juking around numerous tough enemies I couldn't kill.