The DWIronman League dies to: Base Ganymede

[Alfonzo]

April, 2019

> Download Base Ganymede
> NaZa's unofficial leader board

 

Leaderboard

1. [1] 22 levels antares031 - Made a mockery of my prediction for blind players of E1M8, but paid the ultimate price to a demon in E2.
2. [2] 19 levels Alfonzo - Sorry state of affairs on E1M8, but the rest was reasonably well-handled (save for that trap in E3).
3. [2] 13 levels SSGmaster - Flavorsome mix of deaths, including a rocky road inescapable lava pit. The perfect cacodemon snack!
4. [1] 12 levels ReaperAA - Truly the end to this E3 run is one for the anniversary highlights reel. And that Tyson performance... just exquisite.
5. [1] 09 levels NaZa - I dunno, E2M4 doesn't look like a GAD to me. More like the cyber had its way and hung you out to dry on the candles.
6. [1] 08 levels Vyre - Nice to meet you, Vyre! Please accept our rocket-shaped welcome gifts, and this complementary execution squad.
7. [1] 08 levels seed - Throws in a bonus death exit for good measure and 100% hp. I like the way you think, seed!
8. [1] 06 levels JudgeDeadd - HEAD REMOVED by nukage-dwelling cacodemon. Also lost a cyberdemon duel at a very inconvenient moment.
9. -
10. -

What is the Doomworld Ironman League?

The DWIronman League is a monthly competition in which participants aim to survive for as many levels as possible in the given map set, preferably in one sitting. Click the spoiler tag below for a detailed list of rules. Players of all levels of ability are welcome. It could change the way you play Doom!

 

In April, 2019, The Doomworld Ironman League dies to @Khorus's Base Ganymede: Complete, -complevel 3 (Doom (strict)), a full replacement for the original game and a compilation of the individual episodes previously released on the archives. Because of the nature of the set as a compilation megawad, and because of the relative consistency/progression in difficulty across episodes, this Ironman challenge will use the COMBO format, previously seen with sets like Darkening E1 & E2.*

 

Cast your mind back to the early days of the Ironman League and Khorus's first appearance, and unless your name is Bloodite Krypto or Demon of the Well you'll likely be met with a bad time. Khorus has a very streamlined and particular way of fashioning his domains that reliably places the player in harm's way using precise monster placement, awkward spaces and unrelenting traps. "Death by a thousand cuts" sort of thing, or maybe just one big cut in a small room. In this sense it might be considered somewhat Plutonian, though there's also a degree of linearity and direction behind the design. The spoils go to the player who quickly adapts to the set's repeat designs and is prepared to make liberal use of the carefully measured resources.

 

**NOTE** E1M8 is a deadly puzzle map and is very difficult for blind players. You are encouraged to inspect or practice this map before attempting a run of the WAD. If you do this, your category will not be affected.

 

* In this format, players may play the selected WADs or selected megaWAD's episodes in any order and are given one life for each. They are ranked according to the collective number of levels survived, followed by the time taken to reach that number.

 

Potential Game-stoppers and Bugs

• E1M7: Has a death exit.
• E2M3: Has a death exit.
• E2M5's secret exit cannot be reached after you drop into the pit beyond the RK-locked barrier.

prboom-plus -file bgcomp -complevel 3 -episode 1/2/3 -skill 4 -record dwironman...

 

Spoiler

 

• One attempt on UV only. No pistol-starting.
• Demos (PrBoom+, GLBoom, Eternity or Chocolate), stream highlights and video recordings are the only accepted proofs. You must link to these runs in the thread. 
• No additional wads may be loaded.
• No cheats and no features that result in behavior beyond what is possible in the intended source port (e.g. freelook, jumping and crouching in a boom set). This includes dynamic lights and brightmaps. If streaming or recording videos using an advanced source port with compatibility options, you must display these settings on-screen before your run. In ZDoom derivative ports, "Doom/Boom(strict)" will suffice.
• If you choose to stream/record your run for video rather than provide a demo and you die before completing a single level, either on MAP01 of a set OR because a single level was selected for the month, you must display the number of monsters killed/remaining in the level before you quit.
• You do not have to play the secret levels in order to register a complete run. However, a player who finishes the game having completed more secret levels will rank higher than his/her competitors.
• You cannot load a game having progressed past the save point.
• You cannot consult Doom Builder during your run to check for map details.
• If the recording of your official run is interrupted due to technical difficulties, you are not permitted a second attempt. Any surviving recording may be used to register a DNF result.
• Accidentally restarting a level before a death exit takes you to the tally screen will disqualify your run.
• You are required to affix one of three numbers to your run informing the League of your degree of familiarity with the map/set played. Note that your evaluation should only take into consideration the content covered in your run (e.g. if you remember only one part of a level in a set you haven't played before but never reach that level, you should list your run as a [1] instead of [2]):
   

1. This is a blind run. If I have played or watched any of the level/set being played before, I cannot remember any details that would offer a reasonable advantage over truly blind players. *
2. This is not a blind run. I have played or watched the level/set being played before, or can at least remember some details that would offer a reasonable advantage over blind players.
3. This is a prepared run. Before declaring my official run I:
   • Played the WAD to some extent after it was announced for this month's challenge, and/or
   • Inspected the WAD's level design in an editor, and/or
   • Watched another Ironman run.

 

* "Reasonable" in this instance asks you to consider whether the details in question are worth committing to memory. As in, you would bow courteously to the person who gave you this information and not expect to be laughed at for being an utter berk.

 

 

Previous Threads

 

2016

Jenesis (winner: Demon of the Well)
Crusades (winner: Ribbiks)
Nilla Doom (winner: Demon of the Well)
Khorus' Speedy Shit (winner: Bloodite Krypto)
Perdition's Gate (winner: Bloodite Krypto)
UAC Ultra (winner: Bloodite Krypto)

 

2017
Jade Earth (winner: Bloodite Krypto)
Legacy of Heroes (winner: Bloodite Krypto)
Back to Saturn X E1 (winner: dew)
Mapgame (winner: Bloodite Krypto)
Vae Victus 1 & 2 (winner: Demon of the Well)
Disturbia (winner: Bloodite Krypto)
Insertion (winner: Bloodite Krypto)
Unholy Realms (winner: Bloodite Krypto)
Osiris (winner: Demon of the Well)
End Game & End Point (winner: Bloodite Krypto)
Oscillation (winner: Ancalagon)
Doom The Way id Did (winner: kmc)

 

2018
Combat Shock 2 (winner: Bloodite Krypto)
Coffee Break (winner: Bloodite Krypto)
Warlock's Hearth (winner: Demon of the Well)
50 Monsters (winner: Bloodite Krypto)
Double Impact (winner: Bloodite Krypto)
Rush (winner: WH-Wilou84)
The Darkening E1 & E2 (winner: Veinen)
The Plutonia Experiment (winner: Bloodite Krypto)
Interstellar Sickness & Shaman's Device (winner: leodoom85)
Doom 64 for Doom 2 (winner: Bloodite Krypto)
TNT: Renascence & Resistance (winner: Bloodite Krypto)
Ultimate Doom The Way id Did (winner: Bloodite Krypto)

 

2019
Hellfire: Dreams (winner: Bloodite Krypto)
Fomalhaut (winner: Bloodite Krypto)

Stardate 20X6 (winner: Bloodite Krypto)

Edited April 9, 2019 by Alfonzo
I am an update.

[Khorus]

Holy crap, unexpected and awesome. :) Best of luck to those brave souls entering!

 

And I do apologize to anyone caught by E1M8, heh. My memory of its creation is from @kristus and I talking about a map that crossed over Doom with The Incredible Machine. I would send him a version and kristus would tell me it needed more traps etc. Good times, can't believe E1 will be 10 years old in November...

[obake]

I'd like to give this a go. Since I don't think I'll be able to record it, I'll just write my progress (don't worry, I've read the rules. I will not be in the official running for the Ironman title, I'd just like to see how well I'd do anyway.)

 

I'll probably do terrible, but I don't mind.

 

Edit: I just died at level one, ha ha! To be fair, there were some weird technical stuff, something about an index error before the wad loaded, which threw me off, plus no music.

 

(SPOILERS) I killed a few zombiemen before getting cornered by Pinkies after the first set of stairs. Not a good run, but I'm just goofing around mostly. Good luck to everyone who participates!

Edited April 1, 2019 by obake

[TheNoob_Gamer]

Holysh*t, my all time favorite Doom 1 megawad has finally made it way here :D
Gonna give this a spin soon, since I completed E1 numerous times.

[NaZa]

No joke, I've played E1M1 of this. Weehee what an advantage...

 

Hopefully won't repeat the dreadful score of last month!

[TheNoob_Gamer]

Oh, spoiler to anyone willing to try E1M8:
 

Spoiler

There is a deadly enemy in there and you have just been resurrected from E1M7's death exit. (Yes, a death exit near the end of an episode). So uh, try 100% the map if you can. 

 

[Ancalagon]

Say whatever, for me anyone exploring e1m8 will be a cat3 run.

[Walter confetti]

I played this mapset really long ago, but I can always try to do something...

[seed]

Oh boy, it's time to die again on the first level :D.

 

I'll be doing my run tomorrow.

[Dragonfly]

Can anyone explain said combo format? It says to have one life per wad but there's only one wad; so I assume each episode is what @Alfonzo means? :)

 

I'll be sure to die on this one too. Considering playing blind for the rest of the year since my britbowl standings are... uh, low. And I have a lot more evening work these days as well as a full time job, preventing me investing much/any time into a little recon.

[leodoom85]

So........Base Ganymede is our next obstacle. I played this years ago and I don't remember shit. Should be a good run for me and....looks like those traps in E1M8 are a serious issue for the player....

[Alfonzo]

 

@Dragonfly One life per episode, yes, and you may play the episodes in any order. This won't be at all common for episodic megawads (something like Valiant would just be a straight up Ironman, for instance) but Ganymede Complete is a compilation with episodes that are roughly as difficult as one another and without any logical crossover between them. Highly repetitious design.

 

@NaZa Has also asked about secret levels, and it's just as well he did because under this format we haven't had to contend with any and I haven't thought about it!

 

We have two options, here: have them count only upon ultimate survival or on a per episode basis. I'm going with the latter. I want secret levels to remain risk-taking options throughout, and being deprived of the remaining options after dying late in one episode (thus rendering them worthless) would suck. Completing secret levels will only add to the total levels survived if you manage to survive the individual episodes in which they appear, then.

 

Edited April 2, 2019 by Alfonzo

[Pegleg]

I agree with Ancalagon. The categories are pretty clear. Category 1 is Blind, as in having no foreknowledge. Devious puzzles or not, looking at the map ahead of time, whether in-game or in-editor, should immediately be considered foreknowledge/preparation and should make the run Category 3.

 

If dying in the first 10 seconds of the first map, and not having seen much beyond the first 2 rooms, makes an entire run Category 3, then opening the map in a editor or practicing an entire level, should also automatically make the run Category 3. And I don't particularly care how evil/deadly the puzzles are.

 

Map 5 of Hellfire: Dreams also sucked if you played it blind and made a wrong turn in the sewers, but I don't recall there being a gift in the first post that looking at it to plan your route wouldn't disqualify you from having a blind run.

 

I'm sure there are numerous examples of this. I think blind is blind, prepared is prepared. Blind is not "blind except for this one level where you can prepare ahead of time."

[Alfonzo]

Early days in this discussion so things may change, but here is my reasoning:

 

Sets that are suitable for Ironman are hard to come by, and it's deeply disappointing when searching for WADs to find something ideal for League play save for one instance that is nearly 100% guaranteed to kill blind players. E1M8 of this WAD is such an instance, I feel. MAP28 of Scythe is another instance. What if a map like Run For It! features earlier in the set, with the vast majority of players likely to survive far enough to play it? Should the entire set be abandoned as an Ironman selection because of one map that requires pre-knowledge? Singling out areas like these allows for almost total preservation of category purity while also preventing really great mapsets from going to waste.

 

That said, perhaps it would be better to simply encourage a category 3 run of the WAD and warn blind players that they will probably get screwed over, rather than grant a category reprieve following the inspection of select areas that I've subjectively deemed deadly to blind players. I can certainly see some weird inconsistencies emerging, especially with 1CC wads where deadly setups are commonplace.

 

There's a growing number of Ironman WADs I've picked out that have these problem areas. If I could get your opinions on the matter now before they're selected that would be great.

Edited April 2, 2019 by Alfonzo
Clarity.

[Capellan]

Tempted to try this month, if only to see if I can avoid a 1/1/1/1 sweep :)

[Fiendzy]

ohhh noooo. the war flashbacks are returning to me. (last time I played this -up to episode 2) i got destroyed by the acid baths lol

I'll probably attempt a stream tomorrow.

[seed]

Another dumb death for me, as usual. Grab your popcorn and enjoy your laughing.

 

Dead on E1M5, presumably at the very end of the map, bad reflexes and not smelling an obvious trap, my intelligence at its finest. But I found the secret level by accident since I couldn't locate the regular one, so I finished that one too.

 

Nothing else to say other than predictable. Me? Survive? When it's easy? Not possible. PrBoom+ 2.5.1.5, Cat. 1.

 

^{(No I'm not mad again, just stating the obvious. Got used to the idea that I'm terrible since Plutonia.)}

 

seedbg.zip

Edited April 2, 2019 by seed

[yakfak]

^ getting to E1M5 isn't trivial in this level set at all, so well done :) although I like bgcomp I remember a distinct lack of health packs...

[Alfonzo]

@seed You still have episodes 2 and 3 to play. One life per episode, ranked by cumulative levels beaten.

[seed]

7 minutes ago, Alfonzo said:

@seed You still have episodes 2 and 3 to play. One life per episode, ranked by cumulative levels beaten.

 

Ah wait what? I thought there was only one episode oops  . Gonna do them later today.

 

But uh... how do you warp to E2 and E3? I know of -warp 01 etc. for Doom 2's format, but not for episodic format.

 

12 minutes ago, yakfak said:

^ getting to E1M5 isn't trivial in this level set at all, so well done :)

 

Not even close... but thanks :) .

[Alfonzo]

"-episode 2" instead of warp. I'll make an amendment to the OP.

[antares031]

34 minutes ago, seed said:

But uh... how do you warp to E2 and E3? I know of -warp 01 etc. for Doom 2's format, but not for episodic format.

 

 

You can still use the -warp command, to start the first level of the episode; "-warp X" will take you to the episode X. If you want to start the specific level of the episode, try "-warp X Y" to start EXMY.

 

Edited April 2, 2019 by antares031

[seed]

Aaaaand he's back, from the dead, with more failures  .

 

Pssst, wanna hear something cool? I actually died at the end of E3M2 but still reached the teleporter by sliding into it with style, looks like I'm more amazing when dead. It didn't matter though, as I died like a moron thanks to a sneaky Baron. In Episode 2 I was reduced to ashes by a crusher, somewhere. I swear no one can possibly die in more stupid ways than myself... I should become a comedian, but I'd probably be forced to retire the same day due to my acts being too authentic.

 

Here, have a good laugh.

 

seedbgcomp.zip

Edited April 2, 2019 by seed

[antares031]

Category 1. This is a complete blind run, including the E1M8. I managed to survive 22 levels in total.

 

E1: Survived+1, 1:10:57 total playtime - 9 levels

E2: Died in E2M5, 89/205 kills - 4 levels

*E3: Survived+1, 1:25:54 total playtime - 9 levels

 

Probably I couldn't survive the E1M8, if I found the arrow on the floor a few tics later. I only got 8HP, when I was about to exit the level. In overall, this wad was pretty good, and it's a better choice for casual players, compare to the last month. But keep in mind, though. That doesn't mean that this wad is a child's play. There are lots of moments that surprise the player with unexpected visitors.

 

*There's a massive pause, during the E3M7, because I had to deal with other things at that moment. If you want to skip this, please restart the demo with  "-skipsec 10025" command line. Sorry about the inconvenience.

 

ironman_anta_BGComp.zip

[seed]

24 minutes ago, antares031 said:

Category 1. This is a complete blind run, including the E1M8. I managed to survive 22 levels in total.

 

E1: Survived+1, 1:10:57 total playtime - 9 levels

E2: Died in E2M5, 89/205 kills - 4 levels

*E3: Survived+1, 1:25:54 total playtime - 9 levels

 

Probably I couldn't survive the E1M8, if I found the arrow on the floor a few tics later. I only got 8HP, when I was about to exit the level. In overall, this wad was pretty good, and it's a better choice for casual players, compare to the last month. But keep in mind, though. That doesn't mean that this wad is a child's play. There are lots of moments that surprise the player with unexpected visitors.

 

Hm? So you also died on E2M5? Fascinating, I wonder how.

 

Since I don't have anything else to do, I'm actually going to sit down and watch the demos :) . And yeah, it might be a better choice than the Stardates, but the mistakes are pretty costly here, I should know. But they're also predictable, so if you smell a trap, then you're probably right.

[antares031]

5 minutes ago, seed said:

Hm? So you also died on E2M5? Fascinating, I wonder how.

 

There was a trap. I almost managed to escape, but a pinky got the lucky bite. :P

[seed]

3 minutes ago, antares031 said:

There was a trap. I almost managed to escape, but a pinky got the lucky bite. :P

 

Them lucky Pinkies. But they're probably better than crushers, I felt like a mouse going after a piece of cheese placed under a box in that moment.

 

I'm enjoying the show at the moment, did you not use -longtics btw (I did)? Your mouse movement looks kinda similar to how the game behaves when recording without it, that's why I'm asking.

 

By the way part #2, that new avatar of yours is awesome :D.

Edited April 2, 2019 by seed

[antares031]

14 minutes ago, seed said:

did you not use -longtics btw (I did)? Your mouse movement looks kinda similar to how the game behaves when recording without it, that's why I'm asking.

 

By the way part #2, that new avatar of yours is awesome :D.

 

 

I believe that -complevel 3 automatically enables -shorttics (correct me if I'm wrong). That being said, I only use compatibility level commands, and don't use -longtics, whenever I record demos.

[Loud Silence]

Cat1. Died in e1m5 from Cyberdemon. I will do next episodes later. Does anyone know name of music in e1m5? It's epic.

rmbge1.7z

Edited April 2, 2019 by Rimantas

[seed]

1 hour ago, antares031 said:

I believe that -complevel 3 automatically enables -shorttics (correct me if I'm wrong). That being said, I only use compatibility level commands, and don't use -longtics, whenever I record demos.

 

Yeah, I've been reading that that was an issue in the engine, but -longtics forces it to behave just like when you're not recording demos. It's quite the life saver, but it doesn't always work.

Edited April 2, 2019 by seed