The DWmegawad Club plays: 1000 Lines 3

[TJG1289]

The sleep deprivation challenge continues for one final day. As I type this, I have been awake for 26 hours, but am planning on going to bed in 2 hours. Hopefully, sleep a long 12 hours and wake at a normal 7 AM. I have not played the map yet, and I am wondering how my tiredness will effect this playthrough. It's really hard for me to keep my eyes open, and to not litter these sentences with typos. 

 

GZDoom (pre-cell clip fix)/UV/Continuous/Saves

Map 24: Efflorescence - Dragonfly

100% kills and 66% secrets

Time: 22:33

Deaths: 3

 

I'm actually kinda mixed on this one, which is surprising given the map author, whose maps I normally really enjoy.

 

First, the pros. This is very jungly. Lots of foliage and natural terrain give this map the best sense of place in this ep so far. Fights aren't too bad for the most part, with both of my deaths coming from the one key ambush that has 2 archies hidden in some alcoves obscured by vines. My 3rd attempt I managed to kill everything before awakening the archies, so that made things a lot easier. Random plasma trooper appearance is odd, but fine. 

 

Now, for the cons, which is really 2 big ones. 1st, it's very annoying to backtrack looking for secrets. I did ID DT to check the secrets I was missing, and it looks like there's one on the way to the blue key, but it didn't look like I could get to that area anymore. I think once you open the blue door and unleash the spectre swarm, that area becomes inaccessible. Unless I'm blind, which given the whole "staying up 26 hours" thing, it's entirely possible. 2nd, when on the way to the exit, you can fall back into the path toward the purple key (especially if you missed the plasma gun secret here), and it seems to softlock here. I think this wall raises when triggering the purple key ambush, and doesn't re-lower when making your way upon the upper edges of this area. I had to noclip back out. Again, I may have missed something, but as of right now, it looks like a softlock. The third thing is just getting back to the start/exit if you decide to go looking for secrets after killing everything. You need to head back to the cyb lift and run aroun d the  upper ledges back there. It would have been nice to add a teleporter or maybe some steps/a lift just for some extra convivence. This is really just a nit pick, and nowhere near as concerning as the missed secret and softlock. Speaking of the cyb, like others have said, this just seemed like an ammo sink. 

 

So yeah, this one has some issues. I've included 2 pics of my concerns. First is where I think you used to be able to get up to the blue key by where a secret is accessed, second is where you can fall in and softlock. Other than that, the map looked really nice and was a nice bump in difficulty.

[NiGHTS108]

MAP25: Where Lies The Strangling Fruit

By Major Arlene (Hi!)

 

Major Arlene keeps the ball rolling with Where Lies The Strangling Fruit, I enjoy the visuals, about as on par as last map, this fortified jungle base looks spectacular, the combat is also, once again, on point, I enjoy the semi-frantic opening ducking projectiles, you'll want to be careful when you open the green key door, a troublemaker Arch-Vile will decide to use your face as a frying pan if you're incautious, but the rest can mostly be clogged with rockets to victory, I tooenjoy the blue key fight, a cathartic crop of rocket fodder will appear including several cacodemons, and another Arch-Vile at the exit behind the blue key door has you in his sights, ok so MAYBE not fodder, however play aggressively with rockets and all your problems will disappear, although I think there could have been more Chaingunner 2000s (my beloved) Where Lies The Strangling Fruit is sharp stuff, once again keeps the ball rolling

 

Grade: A-

Difficulty: B-

 

Playthrough video

 

(Happy holidays Doomworld!)

 

Oh yeah and

+++ Haste

I've heard a few comparisons between Haste and Micro Slaughter Community Project my beloved, and I've been super into Ribbiks the last while so I think this'll be fun, I just kinda wanna check it out, I was originally gonna vote Italo-Doom but then I realised that's a terrible idea and I'd be the only member of the club for a while (Anything except C...C...Community Chchchest 1...)

Edited December 26, 2021 by NiGHTS108
Didn’t know Crumpets was already covered, DOH!

[Andromeda]

30 minutes ago, NiGHTS108 said:

Oh yeah and

+++ Haste

+++ Crumpets

Crumpets has already been covered by the club.

[ReaperAA]

MAP25: "Where Lies the Strangling Fruit" by Major Arlene

UV, pistol start, no saves

Kills: 189/208, Secrets: 0/0

Deaths on map = 0

Total Deaths = 16

 

I'll be honest here, I have mixed feeling about this map. The aesthetics of this map are really nice. We have a base in the middle of some very aesthetically pleasing jungle environment. There is also a nice little doomcute Mayan pyramid, the top of which holds the purple key.

 

But the gameplay and progression is really so-so. The starting is probably the most interesting part the map where we have to run around outside the base, collect ammo, prioritize hitscanners and then make our way to collect the green and purple keys. The fights involving the 2 keys are fairly easy and involve the low-mid tier enemies. The problems begin once you open the base door. Behind the doors lie an archvile and some revenants, which are normally pretty easy to deal with. The BIG issue is that there is a teleporter in the centre of the room and if you are unlucky, some of the enemies might enter it and get to the other side.

 

In my case, it was the archvile who got to the other side. And given that the other side has identical looking room (meaning no cover) and has some hitscanners (shotgunners), this killing the archvile became a huge pain in the arse. I had to go back-and-forth between the teleporters to not get zapped and also take damage from the shotgunners, costing me a lot of health before I eventually managed to kill him. I feel a few monster blocking lines (or something similar to prevent the enemies from getting in the teleport) would do much better here.

 

The next issue involves the big blue key room fight. The enemies that teleport there are a LOT and if you stay inside the room, you will likely die many times... except you don't have to stay inside the room at all. You can retreat the room and fire rockets from the passageway to easily kill all the revenants, cacodemons, pyros, pain elementals etc. I feel that this fight could be better by locking the player, BUT also reducing the number of enemies that spawn there. I also think that some enemies failed to teleport, as I only managed to get 189/208 kills.

 

While this certainly isn't a bad map, it was quite a letdown from an otherwise excellent mapper.

 

Map rating (from favorite to least favorite for each episode):

Spoiler

Episode 3

Map24
Map22

Map21

Map23

Map25

Episode 2

Map18

Map17

Map19
Map14
Map15

Map20
Map16
Map12
Map13

Map32

Map31

Episode 1

Map11

Map06

Map10

Map08
Map07

Map03
Map01
Map02

Map09

Map04

Map05

 

 

Since this is the 25th of the month, my suggestion for the next month would be the triple OTEX package:
+++ Heartland (7 maps), Arceon (6 maps) and Atmospheric Extinction (9 maps)

Now granted that many here have heard of Heartland and even played it (which includes me), but for those who haven't, Heartland is definitely a wad that needs to be played. It is just "that" good. IMHO it is arguably Skillsaw's best creation. It would be fun to read and discuss about the level design of the wad.

 

I also added Arceon and Atmospheric extinction because these are also really nice runner-up wads and given that Heartland is only 7 maps (needs a maximum of 10 day, even if the last 3 longer maps of Heartland are given 2 days each), I wanted to make sure to also suggest good wad(s) that can nicely fill the rest of the month.

 

 

Alternately, I suggest:

+++ Ozonia

The recently released megawad by @Deadwing looks promising, judging from the screenshots and a few videos I have seen. While the wad is in RC1, I suspect that it would be fairly well polished and any small issues that arise would help Deadwing in removing those to make the final release even more polished and bug-free.

 

[Pseudonaut]

+++ Haste

+++ Down the Drain

[RHhe82]

MAP25: (Where Lies the) Strangling fruit. Played on UV-PS. Kills: 192/208. Secrets 0/0. Completion time 15:22 (would have been 3 minutes less if not for... we'll get to that).

 

Hot start! Strangling fruit seems kind of small level, there are basically two arenas, and a couple of sub-arenas. Despite perceived smallness, I had fun. I don't know if the level is hard as such, but I may have just been lucky. Once again I enjoyed the final fight the most (although the start comes close), it's ever so satisfying circling around the horde, panicking when you get stuck between decorations and a revenant and miraculously survive, and the best of all, there are no token cyberdemons to suck up ammunition.

 

One blemish: as you see, I didn't get all the kills. I don't know if the final kill count is accurate or skewed by DSDA-Dooms weird levelstats, but it was somewhere around 190-196 kills. It turned out a handful of enemies wouldn't come out of their closet. Maybe that's why I didn't die too often, but 'twas still a little disappointing to see those twitching red dots thru iddt-magics. Perhaps I had an old version or the map, as the official release hasn't come out yet? (or has it, haven't kept track...)

[Biodegradable]

MAP25 - Where Lies the Strangling Fruit

UV | Continuous | GZDoom

 

As predicted, Arlene gets things started right away by plonking us in the middle of a large battlefield surrounded. Spraying and praying, it's best to kill first and ask questions later. There's virtually nowhere to hide as Arlene encourages the player to get aggressive. Running around like a maniac and murdering every bastard I could see for a while before getting my bearings on where I was and what I had to do appeared to be the best strategy. Clearing out the surroundings and collecting all the keys to break into the center was the name of the game here with a combination of monster closets and teleport ambushes. I'd say the blue key fight was my personal favourite part. While not nearly as pretty as one would usually expect from Arlene, this is a solid and fun map nonetheless. Extra points for using Clarity's Yearning which has become one of my favourite midi tracks ever.

 

 

As for next month's megaWAD, I'm going to cast my vote for +++Ozonia

Edited December 25, 2021 by Biodegradable

[Deadwing]

+++ Ozonia >.<

 

23: That's was great. The first half is kinda not much memorable visually, although beautiful, but the map builds up greatly reaching its climax at the final setpiece, a quite intense one. Loved it and the MIDI was fitting and beautiful too.

 

24: Nice one, I loved how the map kept opening itself up releasing new enemies from different angles. I also enjoyed seeing two new enemies being used at the same setpiece, which was a quite deadly combination! I hope I see more flamethrower guys in setpieces with little space, these guys are going to be deadly. Nice MIDI too, normally I would expect these more kind of "beautiful" and melancholic tracks, but I think that one was a great change of pace while fitting very well the theme

 

25: Interesting map, this time with more tech elements. Given its high enemy count, it was surprising easy, which isn't bad though. The last setpiece was intense but circle strafe + infighting did most of the job

 

Videos being uploaded soon >.<

 

 

Edited December 25, 2021 by Deadwing

[dei_eldren]

MAP25 - Strangling Fruit (HNTR, continuous, blind): K 92%, I 100%, S 0%, T 12:58

 

Spoiler

A tropical techbase in a large open jungle valley, with Imps and hitscanners seen and unseen assaulting the player at the start from all direxions.  On both ends of the valley is a Key to collect to gain entrance to the central building.  Getting the Emerald Key upon the plateau there's an attack of Pinkies, and the Amethyst Key is collected from the caves at the other end, guarded by a platoon of hitscanners and Imps.

 

The central building had three Revenants and an Arch-Vile, which gave me a bit of trouble cause i couldn't decide what weapon to use, lacking rockets (and plasma.)  Obviously SSG is the choice, but i dunno why i attempted it with the bloody assault rifle first.  From here we teleport into someplace else, which is a basically a nice-looking circle-strafe mini-slaughter arena.  There's a couple of those new enemies there too, but i still preferred the traditional Hell Knights guarding it.  A lot of rockets and a Soulsphere is provided for the onslaught of just about everykind teleporting in.  

 

A definite step down in difficulty, partly welcome, on the other hand, felt a bit too easy (i know i'm playing HNTR and probably shouldn't...just that some mappers are excessive on HMP).  Still, nice little breather, as people say, and after playing Hell Revealed today felt like a day at the beach.  The map in fact felt perhaps just a bit dull, but still in an innocuous way.  The difference to the easier/emptier maps in first episode is that they had that sense of 90s classic emptiness to them which i do enjoy because it does create atmosphere, which is why i have to rank this below them.  Oh, and why not secrets?

 

 

Top 1000 maps in four sets

Spoiler

Episode 1

MAP11 - in Kasei Valles - 9/10

MAP06 - a Memory from Earth - 9/10

MAP02 - Tharsis Awakens - 9/10

MAP10 - Red Alley - 9/10 

MAP07 - Back Alleys and Interlopers - 9/10

MAP05 - Martian Vista - 8/10

MAP01 - Dust Devils - 7/10

MAP04 - Monuments of Mars - 5/10

MAP03 - Lower City Grime - 5/10

MAP09 - Martian Midnight - 5/10

MAP08 - Concrete Avalanche - 5/10

Episode 2

MAP16 - Corruption - 9.5/10

MAP13 - Viridical Mines - 9.5/10

MAP15 - the Black Ramparts - 9.5/10

MAP20 - Wall of Omens - 9/10

MAP18 - Farewell to the Dark Ages - 9/10

MAP14 - Bad Manor - 9/10

MAP17 - Ceremony of a Thousand Stars - 9/10

MAP12 - Forlorn Hope - 9/10

MAP19 - Gutter Waltz - 8/10

 

Episode 3

MAP24 - Efflorescence - 9.5/10

MAP21 - Skull - 9/10

MAP22 - Crossbones - 8.5/10

MAP25 - Strangling Fruit - 6.5/10

MAP23 - Exile's Path - 5/10

 

Come Together

MAP16 - Corruption - 9.5/10

MAP13 - Viridical Mines - 9.5/10

MAP24 - Efflorescence - 9.5/10

MAP15 - the Black Ramparts - 9.5/10

MAP11 - in Kasei Valles - 9/10

MAP20 - Wall of Omens - 9/10

MAP06 - a Memory from Earth - 9/10

MAP02 - Tharsis Awakens - 9/10

MAP18 - Farewell to the Dark Ages - 9/10

MAP14 - Bad Manor - 9/10

MAP17 - Ceremony of a Thousand Stars - 9/10

MAP21 - Skull - 9/10

MAP12 - Forlorn Hope - 9/10

MAP10 - Red Alley - 9/10 

MAP07 - Back Alleys and Interlopers - 9/10

MAP22 - Crossbones - 8.5/10

MAP19 - Gutter Waltz - 9/10

MAP05 - Martian Vista - 8/10

MAP01 - Dust Devils - 7/10

MAP31 - Farfarout - 7/10

MAP04 - Monuments of Mars - 5/10

MAP03 - Lower City Grime - 5/10

MAP09 - Martian Midnight - 5/10

MAP25 - Strangling Fruit - 6.5/10

MAP08 - Concrete Avalanche - 5/10

MAP23 - Exile's Path - 5/10

 

Vote!

+++ Ozonia

Edited December 25, 2021 by dei_eldren

[RHhe82]

On 12/23/2021 at 10:33 PM, Azure_Horror said:

6. After completing step 5 and using all of the V-sphere duration, we get a blue key and a very strong vantage point to rocket all the monsters in the outer loop. Clear all of the outer loop using rockets. The cyber should be avoided, if possible. That way he will eventually teleport to the yard.

 

I don't get it. By the time V-sphere runs out, I've gotten the one cyber dead, I've just run out of cells and I've reached turning point of the loop. There are still a TON of enemies closing in on me on both sides. If it were only one side, I'd manage it, but it takes only a moment when I start taking splash damage from my own rockets. Even when I fall down on my knees, yelling my death yell, I see hell knights and revenants swarming the outer loop corridor.

 

EDIT: Literally the next try I could make this step. Now, the final archviles... *sigh*.

 

EDIT #2:

 

MAP32: Vintage Murderfest. Played on UV-PS. Kills 359/359 and secrets 2/2. Completion time 22:55. Savescummed like a madman.

 

Okay, beat it! I can't believe I couldn't find the hidden skull switch on my first attempt back in mid-december. But if I had, I would have just used invulnerability sphere right away and run into problems later. Azure's strategy seemed fine, although I would never have survived with only one save. My sanity would have run out long before enemies, of which DSDA's stats recorded a total 768 kills :P I guess that's counting AV resurrections and infight kills.

 

Anyway, this is a sort of map that I can only respect and appreciate, but I cannot enjoy, because it demands savescumming from me, I don't even stand a chance. Of course, it's silly of me to insist UV when it's obvious I'm out of my league; I should probably give a lower difficulty a go and see how it transforms the experience.

 

 

MAP33: Terminal Transit. Played on UV-PS. Kills 38/44, secrets 1/1. Completion time 6:04

 

I guess IDCLEV-only level don't really count. Actually this isn't so bad, it could be an early Mars level. Maybe it's just because it is semi-inaccessible, it feels a bit of a leftover map -- which I guess it is? There's also a feeling of that it's unfinished, there were a couple of shotgunners on a platform that refused to lower. But other than that, it's decent small easy level.

 

MAP34: ? Played on UV-PS, Kills 12/12. Completion time: ---

 

I don't know if this level warrants any capsule review, since it's clearly just a demonstration level for the new enemies (except for the false deity). I don't know if this can even be completed. I wonder why the fireball turret was blocked by invisible walls? Anyway, wanted to mention just for the record that I visited this map, too.

 

 

EDIT #3:

 

Oh yeah, next month's suggestion. I think I might take a break, so that I can complete Interception II, and work on other megawads that have already been covered by the club. Unless you wanna revisit wads such as Alien Vendetta, Eviternity, Ancient Aliens, Valiant, ... But I'll just throw this one, unless it's too short a wad:

 

+++Fractured Worlds
 

Edited December 25, 2021 by RHhe82
Update on MAPS32-34

[DJVCardMaster]

+++Ozonia
+++Claustrophobia 1024
+++Community Chest

Merry Christmas to you all and see you in January.

[DisgruntledPorcupine]

MAP25: "Where Lies the Strangling Fruit" by Major Arlene

UV, pistol start, no saves

91% kills, 0/0 secrets

 

This one has you start in a circle of cliffs and caverns, with a small ziggurat-like structure at the southern end and a central one-room tech-building that teleports you off to a small techbase, which composes the maps latter half. I really like the look and architecture of the first area, and the palm tree growing in the center of the final room is cute. The midi by AD_79 is equal parts melancholic and kinda groovy, with some nice basslines.

 

This one is easier than the previous map, but still a bit harder than the first 3 of the episode. The start of this level can be deceptively annoying to get through, as hitscanners are placed in some sneaky spots and everything is spread out in a way that can make them a touch awkward to reach at times. The final stretch, while it throws some big hordes at you, is a bit easier than the first in my opinion. It's also the most fun part though, the blue keycard room was quite a joy. You get plenty of rockets and also a soulsphere + megaarmour so you can have fun running around and watching things go boom. Classic. 

 

Pretty good map. To note the kill percentage, I was unable to get 100% kills because try as I might I could not get the monsters in these 3 chambers to teleport in:

 

Spoiler

 

I know little about UDB so I can't tell definitively whether it was my fault or not, but I couldn't get the door blocking them from the teleporter to raise.

Edited December 25, 2021 by DisgruntledPorcupine
grammar

[LadyMistDragon]

Just dropping in to vote for next month's selections as I'm visiting family and can't really play much right now. Just so another brand-spankin' new wad doesn't win for the second month in a row.....

 

 

+++Community Chest

+++ Fragport

+++Rowdy Rudy's: March of the Speedemons (it does force pistol-starts though, so that should be kept in mind)

 

 

 

 

[dei_eldren]

My 2nd vote:

+++ Community Chest

[RHhe82]

Just for the record, in anticipation of having little time to play towards the end of the year, I kinda already played the megawad to completion. Naturally I'm withholding my thoughts until the appropriate date for each map, but what I also did, I replayed the first four maps I thought I had played on Hurt Me Plenty -- turned out I had only played the first two on HMP, but whatever, there are no maps on the platter I wouldn't want to replay anyway.

 

I also went back to MAP11: In Kasei Valles. This time UV, pistol start, all 232/232 kills, 2/2 secrets. Completion time 20:47 instead of DNF!

 

Had to use saves, naturally, but this time I knew how to obtain BFG, which made the mastermind arena considerably more doable. This time the only really hard part was the beginning with an archviles, turret cyberdemon and all the other friends. I also had trouble the area that follows straight from the starting nukage pit, but after that things got going. I almost ran out of ammo at the end of the level, luckily used my last plasma cells on the final archvile, then got to scrounge a little bit for rockets, and finally telefragged the final cyberdemon with one or two rockets left. Felt so proud despite all my savings!

[TJG1289]

First off, I slept for 10 and a half hours and was still tired most of the day, lol. Fine now tho, so back to normal playthroughs.

 

Second, my votes:

+++ Ozonia

+++ Fragport

+++ Judgement

 

GZDoom (pre-cell clip fix)/UV/Continuous/Saves

Map 25: Where Lies The Strangling Fruit - Major Arlene

100% kills and secrets

Time: 22:33

 

This reminds me I never got around to Technicolor Antichrist Box. The Major gives us a nice and lean map here. Very simple progression. There's a big open area you can run around, which while doing so will alert a bunch of enemies around. Some of which, you may not actually see since they're far away, so you may get sniped. The chaingunners on some nearby cliffs were really annoying to take out due to the distance they're at. I also got hit with a rev missile at one point, and I have an idea on where it came from, but I still didn't see the rev that fired it. You've got 2 keys you can grab in either order, each triggering a fight. I like the one in the cave, as it unleashes 2 alcoves with a bunch of zombies and pinkies, then imps teleport in to the center. SSG fodder! I think you have to hit the switch in this area twice? I'm pretty sure I hit it to start the wave, and again to open the door to the key. The green key is similar, just with more cacos and revs. Grabbing both unlock the center triangle building with a very inconvenient archie and a teleport to an identical room with more baddies. There's finally a backpack on the way to the blue key fight, which is where the other half of the map's enemies come in. A wave starts when you walk in which isn't too bad, but when you hit the switch, a TON of stuff teleports in. Circle-strafe to win, rocketing the clumps of revs and cacos in the center, and allow the chaingunners and mancubi that come in to infight like hell. Also, assalut rifle the pain elementals to avoid face rockets. A few pinkies, a baron, and an archie await behind the blue door with the exit. Definitely one of the most pure fun maps in the WAD so far! The main set piece battles are fun, and not too threatening as long as you keep moving. MIDI would better fit in the 1st ep I feel.

[Roofi]

On 12/16/2021 at 4:12 AM, Maribo said:

Here's a UV-Max demo of Vintage Murderfest:

1k332m418.zip

 

Very nice demo ! Subbing 4 minutes looks doable if you make the last floor leading to the exit lower when the monsters are still infighting (it requires some luck though).

 

I love the fact you can beat this level in under 5 minutes. Indeed, I had planned to participate in the "Microslaughter" project led by Bauul where a rule indicated to make your map finishable in less than 5 minutes, but I had given up because of my mapping block.

 

Finally, I consider Vintage Murderfest as the map I should have made for Microslaughter . :)

[rehelekretep]

really enjoyed all 3 of these - except the teleporting vile in map25 which basically screwed me over royally!

map24 fda

map25 fda

map26 fda

[finnks13]

Was busy over the last couple of days, so here's a triple whammy from me today:

 

MAP 24 - Efflorescence by Dragonfly:
I liked the start of this map, the drop into a lake with an archvile and a large group of imps preventing you from continuing (well, the archvile does at least!) and when you get up there, the top of the rocky area before the rocket launcher is a fun little skirmish to make your way through. The blue key fight is also great, the caco-cloud appearing from inside a large rock and the revenant snipers keeping you on the move. It's very fun. You are then presented with a two-way choice, I chose the green key path first. This fight surprised me by reintroducing the plasma trooper, which I genuinely didn't expect - though this does sort of ruin the "one new enemy per episode" thing you had going, but Map30 uses them as well so it's not a massive deal. I also really liked the key fight here, you're baited with a blue armour and the floor lowers to reveals lots of pinkies.

 

The map then fell apart for me. The purple key route is incredibly boring and features three barons on the way up the hill that seem pointless, except to waste my time, and the ones who appear in the key fight serve more of a purpose, though I expect hell knights could have done their job just as well. I probably should have just skipped everything here, as you never have to set foot here again and nothing can leave the area, but my impulse to go for 100% kills does lead to tedious encounters like this on occasion. The two keys then open up a door to reveal a cyberdemon, which is in such a large open space that it's downright boring - I would have preferred nothing behind that door, which is never a good sign. The rest of the map after this is pretty dull, and I have to say that I think the level of foliage here goes a bit far - I get that it's a jungle, but it massively obstructs my vision of areas, which is something that I personally really dislike. I expect this would have been much worse if I was using a more vanilla port with lower resolution, but most of the damage I took were from monsters I genuinely just didn't see, which really started to get on my nerves. Overall, a mixed bag, this map starts really well and then it stops.
 

MAP 25 - Where Lies the Strangling Fruit by Major Arlene:
I had a lot of fun with this map, the fights are hectic and give you lots of space to move around, and it doesn't get much more complicated than that - the map's just pretty fun. The intial battle outside where you're left with just an SSG, which is actually pretty ill suited to the ambush is a cool start, I managed to kill a shotgunner near the edge and grab his shotgun and this helped quite a lot. The purple key fight is pretty fun, the horde of zombies appearing caught me off guard a bit and since I still hadn't got the chaingun yet, proved to be a decent challenge. The green key fight is less good, the pinkies aren't any threat at all and that leaves you to deal with the imps from below without any real danger.

 

The central building is entertaining to get inside, though I managed to shut the purple door again, leaving just the archvile outside with one revenant, with the others trapped within and this made this fight pretty easy. The final fight in the techbase area is really fun, I would highly recommend hitting the switch as soon as possible to unleash more carnage. I realised after half a minute of circle-strafing, that I had 80 rockets left over which allowed me to to dispatch the remaining monsters. This fight is pretty uncomplicated, and quite easily rangled into a circle strafe, but sometimes that's the sort of fight I'm really in the mood for. Overall, a very fun map.

 

Should mention that 18 monsters just didn't spawn in for whatever reason. These are the cacodemons, chaingunners and pinkies in the big monster teleporter - the door in front of them never opened for me, maybe I missed a trigger or something. (I'm using dsda-doom v0.19, -complevel 2, if that helps)

 

MAP 26 - A Trail of Scorched Earth by Ronnie James Diner:
A fun rocket bonanza, A Trail of Scorched Earth is a jungle temple map set around a gigantic lava lake. The lava takes the spotlight here, being present in most of the fights and contributing to the map's challenge and look. The opening shot of the viney temple against the lava lake is very impressive for how few lines it must actually take up, the sense of scale here is very good.

 

This map is at it's best when it's throwing hordes of cacodemons at you. The secret blue armour fight is probably my favourite in the level - the balance of the cacodemons from on high and the revenants in the lava river along with you is fragile and rockets need to be used both carefully and plentifully. Another great fight was the caco-cloud in the courtyard area before the final raising of the pillar, this follows a similar setup to the previous fight, but with less lava. The other great fight in the level is the finale, where about 40 pinkies spawn along with two flamethrower guys and mancubi rain fire from above. This is fun, and I probably played it a bit suicidally by relying on rockets to do the work, but I managed to avoid dying so I won't complain. Overall, a very fun map.
 

---

 

Oh and votes wise,

+++ Community Chest

+++ Fragport

+++ Haste (though it's only 17 maps so maybe something else short could fill in the gaps, not sure)

[RHhe82]

MAP26: A Trail of Scorched Earth. Played on UV-PS. Kills: 158/158. Secrets: 3/3. Completion time 25:25 (stretched by looking for two secrets).

 

For some reason, I got my sitting muscles kicked in most of the major fights, and even in the opening stretch where some sneaky revenant made short work of me. The final fight against teleporting demons and flamethrower guys was the hardest. I can't even count the times I facerocketed myself, thanks to wandering lost souls, wandering demons, panic when I discovered the lurking archviles behind the corner.

 

So yes, enjoyed this one as well! Maybe the beginning lowered my expectations a little, but by the time player ascends to the small lava-filled ruins, I'm in the mood. 
 

[FragsBunny]

MAP24: Efflorescence (100%/100%66%)

1.       Mancubus can invert its gravity

2.       Cyberdemon are more aggressive

3.       Cyberdemon can slide around while moving

 

Flygon provides us a contribution of his own in this community set. While the previous level was more about canyons and caverns, Dragonfly’s offering is more jungles and foliage – in fact, one of the secrets was hidden behind the foliage props, and I did not find it immediately, even though Daisy wandering outside of the secret area was the clear cue.

 

It’s hard to describe the combat section on normal terms with so many cards factored in. The first few minutes were spending clearing the outdoor areas of exploding monsters and illusionary distractions. The first key provided quite a challenge for my card setup – the arch-vile and the baron are just an interlude to the incredibly aggressive cacodemon swarm. The blue switch triggered another encounter with spectres and flying arachnotrons.

 

The gravity-swapping invincible mancubus became an annoyance at a wrong time. As soon as I attempted to pass over him, a trio of the barons blocked my way, so I had to fire plasma barrages at them while trying do dodge mancubus fireballs behind me. The purple ambush with two arch-viles almost got me! Never expected to encounter plasma zombies from Episode 1 here – you know how to pull good surprises, Dragonfly!

 

The Cyberdemon can be mistaken as the final encounter here (especially after the golden mancubus became vulnerable), but after killing him I had to travel around the edges of the map, passing through the starting area and culminating in a fight against another two arch-viles, cleverly hidden in the foliage. The roundabout treks like this can clearly make you feel traveling around the world!

[Major Arlene]

Thanks for all the great feedback guys! We had a look and it turns out there was a closet in which i put floating teleporting lines in the middle of opening doors which caused them to not open- I had applied a fix for this but it didn't make it into the WAD. Apologies!

[FragsBunny]

MAP25: Where Lies the Strangling Fruit (100%/100%/100%)

1.       Mancubus will pick up and throw dead monsters

2.       Mancubus fires a railgun instead

3.       Baron of Hell respawns once after death

 

Ugh. The first two times I loaded this map, I had to deal with a revenant that had both invulnerability and rocketeer curse. How about a monster that harasses you all around a large outdoor area, firing homing missiles every 5 seconds? Thankfully, on my third reload both card effects stopped stacking, but I still had to deal with a rocketeer revenant eventually.

 

This level is not hard to complete for someone of my caliber, which is part of the reason I am loading Corruption Cards to challenge myself. But complaints still remain. You start the level facing a locked door, while several shotgun guys are already firing at you from the distance. Even though there are already several medkits scattered around, this is still far from being nice. The first two keys are straightforward encounters, with plenty of free space to maneuver around. But the locked doors hold their own nasty surprises!

 

The second-worst thing being the room behind the teleporter. Imagine yourself being surrounded by monsters that also explode on death! Thankfully, the teleporter worked in both ways, giving me the opportunity to lick my wound and brave one more arena. The first wave got easily taken out because they were teleporting to the same point. The cacodemon flock, along with revenants and pain elementals, on the other hand, was a total nightmare. I only found out afterward that I could use the door to retreat again. At this point I can no longer blame the map authors for anything…

 

[FragsBunny]

MAP26: A Trial of Scorched Earth (97%/100%/100%)

1.       Mancubus are partially invisible

2.       Arch-vile can invert its gravity

3.       Hell knight shoves nearby entities on death

 

Jungles and lava. What could be a better combination? The next setting is a big jungle fortress over a lava lake, the various tiers of which are to be explored. The cards immediately provided me both their advantages and disadvantages. The “chosen one” this time was a cacodemon, but I considered him not that threatening compared to MAP17’s flying arachnotron. Even so, climbing the fortress was still a challenge that I had to overcome.

 

The power-ups came to me mostly on my own, thanks to stealing monsters generously providing them to me, although I still had to grab the blue armor by myself – triggering a tricky ambush as well! The third tier turned to be quite a challenge for me, with numerous revenants and cacodemons making me run for my life. It was also at this point that I took notice that reflect enchantment could force pain elementals to infight with other monsters! And the other card, making even blocked from spawning lost souls to explode! Those pains will not live for long for sure…

 

The uppermost tier was just a rocket blast-a-thon against zerg rush of pinkies. With splash damage from death explosions they were quickly cleaned off, leaving me to kill few remaining stragglers. Still, climbing a mountain can make a single level more spectacular compared to others!

Edited December 26, 2021 by FragsBunny

[ReaperAA]

MAP26: "A Trail of Scorched Earth" by Ronnie James Diner (still not calling him Chester)

UV, pistol start, no saves

Kills: 158/158, Secrets: 3/3

Deaths on map = 0

Total Deaths = 16

 

After his Map07 contribution, RJD Brings us another fantastic map, and this one being arguably even better. This map takes place around a temple in a jungle setting, with the nearby lake transformed into lava. The objective of the this map is to eventually make our way to the top of the temple, by raising and going through the central circular lift multiple times. The lava plays a very important part in the map, especially in the first half with the ruins, where there are not many enemies and challenge is created by restricting player movement. The second half reduces the environmental restriction, but increases the enemy density. The last major fight of the map, with the 30 or 40-something pinkies, about 3-ish hell scorchers and a few mancubi attacking from above is the most memorable fight of the map.

 

The secrets include an early SSG, a soulsphere and megaarmor/backpack/rockets goodies. The SSG secret is available only a few feet away from the starting area of the map, whereas the soulsphere and the megaarmor secrets are in the lava ruins area. Soulsphere hiding at the end of the lava stream, and the megaarmor secret obtainable right after getting on the thin square lift.

 

Overall a very fun map to in terms of both exploration and gameplay. Probably my favorite episode 3 map so far. My only small complaint is:

Spoiler

Why do you have a poor piggy locked in there near the exit :(

 

Map rating (from favorite to least favorite for each episode):

Spoiler

Episode 3

Map26

Map24
Map22

Map21

Map23

Map25

Episode 2

Map18

Map17

Map19
Map14
Map15

Map20
Map16
Map12
Map13

Map32

Map31

Episode 1

Map11

Map06

Map10

Map08
Map07

Map03
Map01
Map02

Map09

Map04

Map05

 

 

[NiGHTS108]

MAP26: A Trail Of Scorched Earth

By Ronniejamesdiner

 

Kills: 91%

Items: 98%

Secrets: 33%

Time: 9:48

 

A Trail Of Scorched Earth is right, Ronniejamesdiner brings the heat quite literally in the form of a number of damaging floors you don't get a RAD suit to avoid, good or bad? You decide, this vertical venture also contains the most threatening usage of the Chaingunner 2000 so far, they tend to get you while you're distracted so you'll want to be weary of them, my favourite part of this map is the showdown atop the hill, it's an army of Pinkies but stay aware, as RJD will later drop in quite a few Chaingunner 2000s, the ending contains 2 quite odd, clumsy and non-threatening Arch-Viles, unless you do what I did and burst straight in not expecting anything you'll be fine, you're probably flushed with rockets anyway, also, I've been a little disappointed by the lack of "slaughter-like fights" the difficulty select thought was so dastardly it had to warn us about... We're over halfway through the episode and there's only been like 2 Cyberdemons and BFGs have been quite scarce over the wad, with the exception being MAP32... :(

Anyway

 

Grade: B

Difficulty: B+

 

Playthrough video

 

Also

+++Ozonia

I don't know this wad but it looks good and I'll do anything to make Community Chest not win

Edited December 27, 2021 by NiGHTS108
I voted for Fragport too but then I downloaded it and said “oh no”

[TJG1289]

GZDoom (pre-cell clip fix)/UV/Continuous/Saves

Map 26: A Trail Of Scorched Earth - Ronnie James Diner

100% kills and secrets

Time: 12:00

 

Well this is the nicest looking Jungle map so far, and yet another map that does not seem less than 1K lines. A massive jungle is surrounded by a lake of lava, and it's our job to climb up the cliffs to the temple on top. There's a central lift that needs to be risen several times in order to reach its final height. There's a lot of rockets spread around, so you'll be relying on it a lot. The fights are geared toward this a lot too, with monsters trying to close the distance between them and you, and there's not a lot of distance to begin with. The teleport fight in the lava alley is a good example of this. I ended up running back to a safer area that allowed me to rocket the incoming horde and not have to deal with the lava too much. The lack of rad suits could be annoying here, but this area gives access to both a soul sphere secret, and a mega armor secret, with the latter triggering a caco swarm with an archie chaser. The set piece battles are actually surprising for the most part, as they aren't really telegraphed beforehand. The final one is though, since there's a ton of rockets laying around, and what follows is a TON of pinkies and a couple of pyros thrown in. I managed to take them all out in this initial corner of the temple, which is good cause if you try to run forward, you wake 2 archies. I'm very glad I got to handle them with everything else dead. I think this map is kinda similar to the previous is terms of fun! Both had a few RL-based fights. This one is a little better tho, mostly due to the environmental design. 

 

Map 27: Nightfall - DMPhobos

100% kills and secrets

Time: 12:20

Deaths: 1

 

HELLLOOOOO, difficulty spike! It doesn't seem that way initially, then you climb up into the little temple here and alert a cyb on the other side. And it's a wanderer. It's only able to scour the southern part of the map that it's in, but you kinda need to go down there. I avoided it and went down the one path I could. What ended up happening was a fight that unleashed 2 cybs in a relatively small arena. There's a plasma rifle here and a decent amount of ammo, so I used a majority of it on them, keeping some, and SSGing them the rest of the way. I honestly don't know how I didn't die here, since there are other enemies around here that can block you, resulting in getting blasted. However, you may want to hit the switch with the bulk cell in front of it while the cybs are here, as that lowers another switch with a BFG in front of it. That would have been nice to have. I used it on the initial cyb to 2-shot it. All that for the green key. The green key path has a set piece fight that is kinda tough. I bunch of stuff teleports in, while the central column opens up with like 3-4 archies in it. This was my death, trying to avoid monsters but still getting zapped by an archie. Next time, I used my last BFG blast on them, and rocketed the rest off. Really fun map! Got a thrill beating the 2 cyb fight first try. Map reminded me of BTSX ep 2 for some reason. I liked the temple in pond setting a lot.

[RHhe82]

MAP27: Nightfall. Played on UV-PS. Kills: 168/168. Secrets: 0/0. Completion time 22:43.

 

Great level, it feels long in a good way --- I guess, because I this was the hardest of Episode 3 maps so far. I had to resort to midfight saves in the cramped Cyberdemon arena. Another time I used midfight saves was the last arena, after I had wasted my ammo on the lone cyberdemon patrolling the valley. Although I don't know if that would have made difference, I would have needed plasma cells for my BFG, and even with cells, I think my strategy would have been archvile jumping (yeah, midfight saves here, too) to safety anyway, and dwindling away the enemy numbers until there were only the archviles left. I don't think that was the intended way, but one's gotta do what one's gotta do.
 

[dei_eldren]

MAP26 - a Trail of Scorched Earth (HNTR, continuous, blind): K 91%, I 34%, S 33%, T 18:19

 

Spoiler

Whatever enthusiasm i could've amassed for this map was quickly depleted by the bloody progression, which had me running around for over ten minutes without a clue and finally have to check NiGHTS108's video (thanks!) for how to proceed... i'd missed the rising elevator when pressing a switch that began an ambush, and thus had no idea the pillar in fact was one.  i'd surmised i may have broken the map instead, because i would've expected the central elevator to go a level higher, but that was to be later instead...

 

Anyway, even until then the map looked ok, but felt very much by the numbers for me, like MAP25.  i liked the fight against a Cacocloud and a group of Revenants and others, when raising the central elevator to top floor, but other than that i didn't feel much engaged.  The last fight against hordes of Pinkies and Revenants with Mancubi firing from above was ok, but very standard.  These kinds of what i feel to be highly streamlined/modern maps aren't for me.  Visually the map is ok, but while the jungle-theme was a nice change for a few maps its charms also are starting to wear out for me... sorry.

 

i don't know how much of this is related to me playing Hell Revealed on the side and realizing what an ingenious masterpiece that old classic is, and it's that exactly because of the quirky, the annoying, , the nonsensical, the unexpected, the exciting and the infuriating bits and the ugly abstract aesthetics that ultimately still seem most appropriate.  And i love shotgunning Barons.  It just reminds me of why i fell in love with classic Doom, even if a lot of that WAD is simply too difficult for me.  And back to the topic at hand, i think these last two maps are in comparison simply too modern for my liking, whereas a lot of the maps before have had a more Plutoniaesque (which is still classical enough for me) feel to them - simple as that.

 

My video has only the part after checking how to proceed - no reason to upload the headless search and only about 5mins of real action is missing.

 

 

Top 1000 maps in four sets

Spoiler

Episode 1

MAP11 - in Kasei Valles - 9/10

MAP06 - a Memory from Earth - 9/10

MAP02 - Tharsis Awakens - 9/10

MAP10 - Red Alley - 9/10 

MAP07 - Back Alleys and Interlopers - 9/10

MAP05 - Martian Vista - 8/10

MAP01 - Dust Devils - 7/10

MAP04 - Monuments of Mars - 5/10

MAP03 - Lower City Grime - 5/10

MAP09 - Martian Midnight - 5/10

MAP08 - Concrete Avalanche - 5/10

Episode 2

MAP16 - Corruption - 9.5/10

MAP13 - Viridical Mines - 9.5/10

MAP15 - the Black Ramparts - 9.5/10

MAP20 - Wall of Omens - 9/10

MAP18 - Farewell to the Dark Ages - 9/10

MAP14 - Bad Manor - 9/10

MAP17 - Ceremony of a Thousand Stars - 9/10

MAP12 - Forlorn Hope - 9/10

MAP19 - Gutter Waltz - 8/10

 

Episode 3

MAP24 - Efflorescence - 9.5/10

MAP21 - Skull - 9/10

MAP22 - Crossbones - 8.5/10

MAP26 - a Trail of Scorched Earth - 6/10

MAP25 - Strangling Fruit - 6.5/10

MAP23 - Exile's Path - 5/10

 

Come Together

MAP16 - Corruption - 9.5/10

MAP13 - Viridical Mines - 9.5/10

MAP24 - Efflorescence - 9.5/10

MAP15 - the Black Ramparts - 9.5/10

MAP11 - in Kasei Valles - 9/10

MAP20 - Wall of Omens - 9/10

MAP06 - a Memory from Earth - 9/10

MAP02 - Tharsis Awakens - 9/10

MAP18 - Farewell to the Dark Ages - 9/10

MAP14 - Bad Manor - 9/10

MAP17 - Ceremony of a Thousand Stars - 9/10

MAP21 - Skull - 9/10

MAP12 - Forlorn Hope - 9/10

MAP10 - Red Alley - 9/10 

MAP07 - Back Alleys and Interlopers - 9/10

MAP22 - Crossbones - 8.5/10

MAP19 - Gutter Waltz - 9/10

MAP05 - Martian Vista - 8/10

MAP01 - Dust Devils - 7/10

MAP31 - Farfarout - 7/10

MAP04 - Monuments of Mars - 5/10

MAP03 - Lower City Grime - 5/10

MAP09 - Martian Midnight - 5/10

MAP26 - a Trail of Scorched Earth - 6/10

MAP25 - Strangling Fruit - 6.5/10

MAP08 - Concrete Avalanche - 5/10

MAP23 - Exile's Path - 5/10

 

Edited December 27, 2021 by dei_eldren

[Biodegradable]

MAP26 - A Trail of Scorched Earth

UV | Continuous | GZDoom

 

When I saw his username, I thought I'd be in trouble. Knowing that the mapper, Ronnie aka Chester, is a big slaughter advocate I figured this would be the map that would have me quit the UV run and switch back to HMP. However, I found myself finishing the map with not too much trouble. Don't get me wrong friends, combat was very spicy with some quite deadly encounters, however Ron didn't sling a lot of big arena fights. Instead it was all about chunky ambushes in precarious situations usually involving lava and great heights. The map's progression is another treacherous climb of sorts we've endured in previous episodes, almost like there's this accidental running theme of corkscrew-climb maps, which naturally entertained me a lot since I quite enjoy that style of map. Ron's use of Pyros was especially devious. I feel like he used them quite effectively in how they're placed in the ambushes. Really well done. The extended elevator sequence where you smash through different little areas to press a button and make the lift/platform longer so you can ascend further and further was an intriguing aspect too. Probably my favourite part, honestly. So yeah, it didn't utterly annihilate me as I feared and I liked it a lot.

 

MAP27 - Nightfall

 

A similar feeling to Ron, Mr Phobos is a mapper I've come to know to be very wily with his traps and refuses to pull any punches with his combat. This lush jungle base is packed to the brim with demons, especially Cyberdemons! Two Big Horny Bastards in fact, guaranteed to be a nuisance real quick. Combat is red-hot from the get go, but Aurelius's dehacked quick-draw weapons were my saving grace with this one. While Phobos scored more than a few Bio pelts, mainly thanks to me trying and failing to two-shot those aforementioned Cybers, I held my own rather well otherwise. It's quite a thrilling map that's very diverse in its encounters and progression. This place is crawling with bastards, so paranoia set in rather quickly. It's a map that takes a page out of MAP25's book and rewards aggressive play and evasion tactics. Really good fun.

 

Both these maps are great and complement each other pretty well in terms of intensity and challenge.