The DWmegawad Club plays: Micro-Slaughter Community Project & Haste

[Pseudonaut]

As usual, I'm playing in DSDA-Doom in the appropriate complevel (9 in this case) on UV. No blind runs because I've already played some of MSCP and all of Haste. I'll try to record max demos for at least some of these maps, but there will be cases where I have to settle for playing with saves.

 

MSCP Map01:
A nice warmup. The fights are all pretty simple, but some parts could still be troublesome for those not accustomed to slaughter (e.g. large groups of revenants). Routing this for a decent time is pretty straightforward as well; just run to the exit as quickly as possible and stop to kill enemies when you have no choice (still waiting for bars to lower). I actually took the ending one fight at a time, so this isn't an amazing run or anything.

 

 

MSCP Map02:
Much harder than the previous map. RNG plays a pretty big role in deciding whether you win or not, which is annoying to me. Obviously, the quality of your strategies and situational awareness is still the main determinant of success, but there's a lot of potential to be killed just because you were blocked by enemy movements you couldn't have reliably predicted. Or maybe I'm just bad. Either way, it's not a big deal in a map this short, I suppose.
 

 

Demos:

MSCP01-02.zip

[Gibbon]

RZDoom , ITYTD, blind w/no saves

 

So I'm not the best slaughter player out there, I'm doing these on skill 1 because I just know that the authors are cruel enough to make anything more, freaking hard and I actually want to finish these without dying 100 times.

 

MSCP - Fire in your Eyes - MAP01

 

Not to be confused with the old British show Stars in your Eyes, this map is pretty nice and fluid.  It is a little sparse on skill 1 and the authors should have put a little more effort into baby mode placement.  Otherwise, a nice short map.

 

Spoiler

 

 

FDWL (From Doom with Love), ITYTD, blind w/no saves

 

MSCP - Viridescent Synapse (Green Junction) - MAP02

 

So this one was fun.  I knew the Hellknights wouldn't come for me if only the cyberdemon shot, so I lured the cybie out to rocket some hellknights so that I could dash and get the rocket launcher and hide in the little hexagon pit and snipe them off.  Worked a treat!  Easy, not much to say.  Guess they spent more time on the aesthetics than the gameplay here.

 

A pet peeve of mine is that this map crashes my source port RZDoom, so I had to use FDWL instead..  boo!

 

Spoiler

 

 

Edited April 1, 2022 by Gibbon

[Arwel]

MSCP map01 - Fire in Your Eyes by Dreadopp

UV-saveless, 100% kills, no secrets

 

A very generously designed opener styled in what I would call a majestic hell aesthetics, providing small-to-moderate size warm-up fights of increasing difficulty. The amount of effort put into the environment, especially given the fact how fast this map plays, suggests a very high quality WAD ahead. I'm usually playing with saves, but this map motivated me to go saveless and beat it properly, which took around 10 attempts overall. Revenants fight is the most difficult in my opinion and the first one to invoke slaughtery crowd-control / pathing skills to beat consistently on UV difficulty.

[finnks13]

Very happy this won, Micro Slaughter Community Project and Haste were two of my favourite wads to come out last year and I'm looking forward to replaying them now they've been fully released.

 

Micro Slaughter Community Project was released just after I was initially getting into playing slaughter, Sunlust got me hooked on challenging gameplay, I had finished all of old Sunder and was working up the courage to check out the new maps and, I had begun playing Slaughterfest 2012. MSCP was a breath of fresh air after playing these, with it's brisk pace and constant barrage of new ideas being something definitely more to my taste than the behemoths generally found in slaughter sets. 

 

As usual, I am playing using dsda-doom v0.21.0, -complevel 9, UV, pistol starts, going for 100% kills if possible. Since this is a month filled with challenging maps, I'm also going to keep track of my death count for a laugh.

 

 

MAP01 - Fire in Your Eyes by Dreadopp:

DEATHS - 0
This is a good opening map, while there's nothing here that I'd say is particularly challenging, it definitely tries to set out the design and gameplay that you're going to be facing in this wad. The first couple of fights aren't great, but the imp horde after picking up the SSG is fun to take out (and a surprise if, like me, you thought the ambush was going to be 2 barons), the baron in a tight staircase is probably the toughest part, and the two final fights are both good introductions to large groups of differently mean monsters.

 

I'm glad this had a big ol' group of revenants near the end, since a lot of the early fights are against imps with the occasional baron or hell knight thrown in, it's a nice breath of fresh air and a clear step up. The final mancubi wave requires playing aggressively to clear a space for you to not die to splash damage and is pretty fun to take out. The visuals are very well done here, I really like the enormous metal installation in the canyon filled with lava.

 

MAP02 - Viridescent Synapse by Bauul:

DEATHS - 0
This map seems to function as a short exam about basic slaughter skills for the player wanting to tackle the rest of the set - you have one fight that is forces you to get 2 cyberdemons to infight with some hell knights, and then the other fight is a small crowd control exercise against a lot of pinkies and a few barons. It's rocket launcher only, and I think the map succeeds as a very blunt tutorial for these two important aspects of slaughter.

 

I don't particularly like the first fight, getting groups of monsters to infight has never been my favourite part of slaughter - especially when it's the only viable strategy - it can be good, but due to this fight's simplicity it's just not particularly interesting. I like the pinky demon swarm much more, it can get pretty intense and forces you to route them around the arena carefully as getting cornered is an almost certain death. The visuals here deserve mention, they look great - the light effects on the ceiling are just beautful - though due to just how much is being rendered, my game started to lag pretty badly (this has only ever happened in Sunder before and I didn't like it there either) and it impacted my ability to interact with the fights. I'd have preferred if the map looked worse personally. Not a standout map, there are only two fights in the map and I'm not a massive fan of one of them, but I think it does it's job well.

 

RANKINGS:

Spoiler

(Changed the ranking system up a bit for this month, as I feel that two "didn't like" categories is a bit excessive. I also think I need a better distinction between maps I'm mixed on and maps that are flat out dull.)

 

Really Liked:
Liked: MAP01
Mixed Opinions: MAP02
Boring: 
Didn't Like: 

 

[Arwel]

MSCP map02 - Viridescent Synapse by Bauul

UV-saveless, 100% kills, no secrets

 

Epic from the very beginning, this cybernetic grandiosity of abstract futuristic structures, animated textures and lights, gets straight to the business. Starting fight is not particularly hard, but I still consider it an interesting take on infighting mechanics, as you're not only supposed to make it happen, you also have to care about cyberdemon position, and the moment you want the rest of hell knights join the party. In ideal playthrough it's possible to have both cybies killed by hell knights leaving a rather small amount of latter for player to deal with. In less ideal plays I had to finish one cyberdemon using rocket launcher myself. The second fight, which I was extraordinarily lucky to beat almost carelessly on my early playthroughs, later proved to demand rather tight timing and pathing to beat consistently. The most important mechanics here is in essence the same kind of crowd-control as in the revenants fight from the first map, but its execution is way more complicated here, and sometimes requires a little bit of improvisation to break through stray out-of-crowd pinkies. I'm playing GZDoom though, and its nondeterministic nature might be spicing things up a little bit. It took me around 30 attempts in total to beat this map.

Edited April 1, 2022 by Vrhrlv

[kalaeth]

ooohkay, slaughter won..  Glad they are both "introduction to slaughter" mapsets, maybe that way I can actually enjoy? I make no promises of sticking around to the end this time, but I'll try. As ususal, ITYTD, cont with saves as needed.

 

MAP01 - Fire in Your Eyes : 

a pair of imps and a shotgun, it starts easy... Open a door, shoot a switch, kill a specter, another door, chaingun and three more imps, so far so good, ammo, the SSG, a pair of shotgunners, a switch. A pair of HKs with support from some imps, going up the steps a trap! A single HK, kill him and the path is open. I spot a RL, and I'm guessing this is where the rest of the enemies is gonna show up, so I run to it, grab it and.. Nothing happens, it's switch triggered I see. Restock on armor and switch. It had to be revenants? I did well, only caught a single rev ball to the face, two. Switch, switch, mancs. And that's it. Now.. There's one secret.. It appears on the map so.. Oh, I see. A jump down. Bluesphere gotten, all ammo maxed, off to the exit. Oh, didn't even comment on the fact the level is really pretty even if a little dark.

 

K/I/S : 100 / 100 / 100

time : 6:08 / 6:08

deaths : 0 / 0

 

MAP02 - Viridscent Synapse :

Ah, this is more what I was expecting from slaughter.. An imposing sight of a ton of HKs and a cybercow up ahead.. Ok, wake up the big guy and run to the HKs? Death 1 : gangbanged by HKs. 2 : I try and hid behind the cyber but eventually he gets tired of killing HKs and turns on me. 3, 4 : same. 5, 6 : I try and stand back but yeah, not the way to go. 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, this is not my kind of game.

 I'll take a break. Back, some many more deaths after, I just give up. IDDQD, kill them, exit. I can't find this fun to play. There's no room for different strategy or anything, it's either the cyber does his job of killing the HKs or he turns around and you are dead.  

K/I/S : cheated.

time : cheated.

deaths : at least 20? 

 

Ok, I fully expected to quit the mapset eventually, not on the first day.. So I played ahead a bit until I died and the next two levels are actually fun to play and my death on the fifth level wasn't inevitable as I feel all the 20+ I had here are. SO i'll keep playing, but I won't have the normal time + deaths count and I reserve the right to cheat every level I don't feel like playing.

 

edit : 

after retrying the map, 100% K/I/S, time 4:09 / 10:18. I won't count deaths, it would become a number way too large way too fast.

Edited April 1, 2022 by kalaeth

[Arwel]

4 minutes ago, kalaeth said:

 I try and hid behind the cyber but eventually he gets tired of killing HKs and turns on me.

 

Yeah, exactly! This is one of the main reasons why I find this fight more interesting than average cybie infight. My review of this map contains a hint (or two) on how to deal with this.

[tonytheparrot]

As I have stated before, MSCP is the first real slaughter wad I have played, and I absolutely loved it, it's one of my favorte community projects, so I am looking forward to replaying it ( it will also be a nice palette cleanser between sessions of memento mori and community chest 2).

 I am playing this wad through Prboom+ on complevel 9 on UV. I am also pistol-starting each map and going for 100% kills and secrets.

 

Map 1: Fire in your eyes by Dreadopp:

100% kills, secrets and items,

Time:4:14

 

MicroSlaughter Community Project opens up with a very solid outing from Dreadropp. First of all, the environement is splendid, the combination of the lava, rocks and metal structures works very nicely and OTEX sublimes the whole picture. Gameplay-wise, this map is an easy, but very enjoyable experience. It starts off with a few incidental encounters with imps, spectres, shotgunners a hell knight. However, after grabbing the SSG, the map throws the first big fight of the wad, with 2 barons and a lot of imps teleporting in an arena in which they take a lot of space. Focusing on the imps here is essential to clear space for yourself. After this fight, there's a small ambush with a baron, and a final fight with a horde of revenants and then a group of mancubi, if you're weak before this encounter, don't miss the secret soulsphere. The cherry on top of this great opener is “Blood Rush” an awesome fast-paced midi from the Plutonia midi pack that suits the map like a glove. Overall, this map is really solid and makes you excited to play the rest of the wad, which is exactly what an opener should be.

 

Map 2: Viridscent Synapse by Bauul:

100% kills, secres and items

Time: 3:24

Let's get the elephant out of the room, this map is absolutely gorgeous, the splendid green colour, the sheer scale of the architecture despite only most of it being unaccessible, the awesome lighting created by the voodoo dolls, all of it is reminding of the green sunlust maps and map 27 from JPCP. Bauul was truly dedicated into making his map look as impressive as it is. In the gameplay department, this map is still pretty easy but it also teaches a lot to newer players about the tactics that are necessary to beat slaughter maps while still remaining very fun. The first fight throws 2 groups of back-facing hell knights and 2 cyberdemons, which shows how important infighting is, as you need to turn the siege cows against the HK to not get overwhelmed and then finish off the stragglers with the RL. Then, the second fight puts you against a few barons teleporting behind your back and a horde of pinkies that take up a ton of space due to the limited footing and lack of weapons outside of the RL. This fight mostly teaches about crowd-control as killing the pinkies too slowly is a death sentence. Overall, a second killer entry for MSCP, its gorgeous, fun and a great tutorial for people new to the slaughter genre. (I also like these barriers that open one part at a time, even if they are quite slow.)

Also, I saw that Bauul commented on decino's video on this map that this is his first boom map, I would probably have never guessed given how impressive Viridscent Synapse is.

 

 

Rankings:

Spoiler

Love:

Map 2

Really like:

Map 1

 

Edited April 2, 2022 by tonytheparrot

[kalaeth]

36 minutes ago, Vrhrlv said:

 

Yeah, exactly! This is one of the main reasons why I find this fight more interesting than average cybie infight. My review of this map contains a hint (or two) on how to deal with this.

 

I came back to the map and tried it again, and after some more 5 or 6 deaths finally managed to get the cyber dead to the Hks. I still died that one try, but after a few more tries I managed to stay alive until the first fight ended. Saved and went onwards to the pinkies (there are no barons on skill 1). Playing continuous meant I had the SSG to deal with situations where the RL would be too dangerous. 

That said, 100& everything in 4:09.

[RHhe82]

First of all, let me just state that I am no slaughter player. I have very, very limited experience on them — I’ve completed first five levels of Rush a month or so a go, and a couple of individual slaughter maps in non-slaughter wads (1k3, Going Down MAP28, Scythe MAP26 etc.). For all intents and purposes, I consider myself a beginner. Slaughtermaps interest me, and I’m happy we ended up with MSCP and Haste this month. So, let’s go!

 

I'll be playing on DSDA-Doom v0.24 (or higher, if new version is released). MSCP I'll be playing on HMP by default and Haste on HNTR by default, and if situation warrants it, on a higher or lower difficulty. I'll pistol start each level, as I understand it's the intended way both mapset are designed with pistol starts in mind.

 

*

 

MAP01: Fire In Your Eyes -- UV, PS, 113/113 kills, 1/1 secrets, 51/51 items. Comp. time 7:34. Played on 30th March, 2022

 

I had played the first level –- but not any further — of MSCP already in September, so I kinda knew what I was going into. I remember liking the first level, that it was ”easy”. And yeah, even this I beat it without reloading or rewinding on HMP. The first couple of rooms felt like warm-up, in the actual arenas my tactic was to employ as much infighting as possible, although I don’t think that would have been necessary. At the end lots of shells were left in the level, and I hadn’t even found the secret (much of the HMP run’s 12 minutes went into looking for the only secret).

 

The visuals reminded me a bit of Sunlust’s first level: dark metal with shades of brown and lava. It looks absolutely gorgeous. There are some segments which look like ”3D floors” or ”fake bridges”, things I don’t think of fondly, but in this map I don’t mind them. On the contrary, they look great, you almost don’t even realize they’re there, and since you don’t walk on them, you never risk facing a glitch. (Note that I’m not sure if they’re the same thing that plagued CC1, but these are some advanced Boom-tricks? In any case, far better-looking than anything I saw in CC1). The midi was great too, I wonder if it was an original song or some power metal midi rendition? The first level of MSCP really leaves a really good impression.

 

Right after HMP playthrough I try on UV. This time I don’t manage without reloading, although I do beat it without midfight saves (of which I’m proud). The imps & barons arena overwhelm me, I get stuck in the small tower room with baddies closing in on all sides. I knew that’d be the end of me, even on my HMP run the tactic was to skirt the outer borders of the arena, trying to guide enemies such that they’d leave me room to run to the other side along the borders. I’d only shoot imps with SSG when they get in my face.

 

The other arena is the same: I try to keep revenants on one side, I shoot rockets at the end, and when missiles get too close, I run to the other end of the arena thru the free lane. Rinse and repeat, clear revenant missiles against middle pillars if necessary. I summon the mancubi separately, flee to one end of the arena, use my remaining rockets on mancubi there, then duck behind the pillars and SSG the rest.

 

I’m enjoying myself so far! I think my playthrough is going to be HMP by default, and only try UV when I’ve first completed a level on HMP (if that difficulty feels easy or somehow makes me believe UV might not be impossible).

 

*

 

MAP02: Viridescent Synapse -- HMP, PS, 149/149 kills, 0/0 secrets, 3/3 items. Comp. time 3:21. Played on 31st March, 2022

 

Before I can assess the situation, I can’t help but the stare at the scale of the backdrop of the level, the lights pulsating thru a vast, gloomy green void. The sheer magnitude of it, absolutely stunning visuals. My laptop can’t handle the level on DSDA-Doom very well, even with hardware rendering (that I always have on by necessity), and even if I set rewind depth to zero.

 

But there are more pressing matters. Unlike the first map, this looks more like a combat puzzle scenario. Two cyberdemons and a horde of hell knights, their backs turned on me. Obviously they need to infight, and my first thought is to have cybers shoot at the HKs while I’m still in the middle. The plan backfires, and I try a handful of other tactics: trying to run to the small back end of the arena, waking up HKs early… but the first tactic was already the correct one, I just needed to have CBs infight and advance further into the bigger room so that when I miraculously escape to the smaller sub-arena, I can fire rockets on all cylinders without breaking a sweat. Knights kill the cybies, and I clean up the rest.

 

The second arena is slightly harder for me, and after all my attempts, I’m not sure why I succeeded. The two teleporting barons confirm that you can’t stay at the spot where you drop in. I already have 200 health and armor, so I don’t want to go grab the megasphere right away. On my successful attempt I start off the rightmost tip of the arena, shoot at demons right of the corridor, stay there as long as I can, and then retreat beside the barons to the drop-in point, advance to the left-most tip of the arena, and from there blast rockets towards the megasphere, and as soon as I can grab it, I grab it and run through. By that time I think the barons were dead and there were only a handful of demons left, and somehow I had survived.

 

Good stuff, good stuff, although this is a sort of level I enjoy only in smaller doses — the first map appeared like it was a ”normal” Doom map, just with tight arena encounters, and I think I like those more. But, because this is a short map, I enjoyed it nevertheless, especially after clearing the arenas once again without midfight saves I felt pretty satisfied.

 

In fact I enjoyed it enough to give it a go on UV, like I did with Fire In Your Eyes and what do you know, I could beat it. Not without saves, I even saved midfight in the latter arena, but I didn’t need to load that midfight save. The first arena I passed almost on my first try, trying to replicate the tactic I used on my HMP run. It works: lure the cybies in, and only then take refuge.

 

The second arena was more problematic, although I beat it with less attempts than on the HMP run. I used a slightly different strategy: I started in an identical way, behind the pinkies on the right-most spot of the arena, and then retreated on the edge. This time I tried even harder to hold position for as long as I could. I retreated along the circle, but I kept failing. On the successful attempt I stayed more on the inner border of the circle in an attempt to control the inflow of pinkies, so that I could keep the circle track as clear as possible. I didn’t try to go for the megasphere at all, but instead treaded the circle the whole time until enemy numbers had dwindled. I think this was the key, because most of the time pinkies would just overwhelm me, and with only rocket launcher and a pistol, there would be no way other than to facerocket myself and restart the second arena.

 

One problem though: I ran out of rockets. I think I did the first arena less efficiently, wasted too many rockets there, because here there were still two barons alive when I ran out of rockets. I emptied 50 bullets on them, but neither of them died. This is where I made the midfight save. Then I proceeded to punch them. Punching revenants and hell nobles is a skill I’m not particularly good at (although that I get to practice with more traditional wads), but what do you know? I manage to slay them both, and leave with some 32 % health. I guess that aforementioned practice pays off here.

 

So: MAP02: Viridescent Synapse -- UV, PS, 162/162 kills, 0/0 secrets, 2/2 items. Comp. time 5:19.

Edited April 1, 2022 by RHhe82

[xX_Lol6_Xx]

Wad Name: Micro Slaughter Community Project
Map: 01
Port: Nugget Doom v.1.8.0
Skill: ITYDT
Continuous with saves

 

Map 01, the beggining of this new adventure. The beggining is quite simple, just a group of imps to kill with the shotgun, not a problem at all. After that, we get a chaingun which I didn't use until I passed to the first big fight. It was mostly SSG combat with very little usage of bullets. The second big fight was not hard, although the 40 damage revenant rockets (That would be a max damage roll in skill 1) were a problem, later we meet some Mancubi, but again, no problem.

This map is fun and a good introduction, not hard but not too easy.

 

Map 02:

 

The first arena is a bit cramped for my taste, cuz with bad RNG, the heck nights can block you and you can eat a rocket. Luckily for us we can encourage infighting, and, believe it or not, the hell knights won. After that the map isn't that hard, I rocketed my way through and exited without any more issues. The only thing I didn't like that much was the barriers connecting the arenas. I understand, looks awesome, but they're very slow.

 

Other than that, good maps. I'd give them, a 9/10 and an 8/10 respectively.

Spoiler

Rocketed, that's a new word for ya :-)

 

[FragsBunny]

Well, looks like it's time for me to join the fun! Ultra-Violence, with Corruption Cards enabled (one permanetnt each level) and no pistol start on the following maps after the first.

 

MAP01: Fire In your Eyes (100/98/0)

1.       Hell nobles will electrocute nearby players

2.       Add a Cyberdemon somewhere in the level

3.       An earthquake will occur

 

We’re playing a slaughter set, and since I don’t plan to pistol start everything… why not to add one extra Cyberdemon on every level? The level itself is deceptively easy, just killing weaker hellspawn until big guns come into play. For SSG arena, just two barons, quickly followed by horde of imps. The Cyberdemon spawned on the other side of the map, where the rocket launcher was. That’s where the third surprise baron nearly got me the first time!

 

As for Cyderdemon, I chose to keep him in rocket laucher arena, and for good reason! Upon pressing the next switch, a horde of revenants started to encroach me! That’s where the suprise cyber finally became useful – I killed lad of the revenants myself and made the other half infight him. Then, with SSG ammo I still had, I finally killed the cyberdemon before pressing the next switch. The decision was right after all – a bunch of mancubi spawned in, but I simply kept my position near the switch and cleared them from, there.

 

Morale of the story is simple – A slaughter wad cannot be imagined as such without a Cyberdemon!

 

MAP02: Viridiscent Synapse (95/100/100)

1.       Demons are able to fly

2.       Cyberdemon can invert its gravity

3.       Hell nobles consume corpses to gain extra health

 

This map is just… Well, have you played Italo-Doom? I didn’t but the color scheme is practically the same! And it’s just as hard and sadistic as it could be! You are seeing two Cyberdemons at start, right? Well, for me, there wss a third one right near them, luckily facing me away. And coincidentally, the author wanted me to make Cyberdemons and Hell knights to infight with each other. With rocket launcher being the only weapon available…

 

In the midst of my numerous deaths, I learned that I am quite but at any dodging patterns except for ciclestrafing. In a confined space. Getting past the third cyberdemon, with rockets and backpack in tow, was much harder. And then there is a second arena… with flying demons. And with previously mentioned three cyberdemons firing at me at certain angles. Surviving with the rocket launcher as the only weapon was thought to be nearly impossible, but the arena shape again provides an opportunity for circlestrafing – assuming that you can avoid those few barons.

 

Very hard, not like MAP01. But my previous experience with Dark Souls and Elden Ring taught me two important things: Keep your head cool, and never give up!

Edited April 1, 2022 by FragsBunny

[NiGHTS108]

Each map gets 2 grades

Quality: A>B>C>D>F

Difficulties: X>A>B>C>D>E

X for extreme, E for easy

(Just like MtPain27)

 

- PLAY INFO -

 

Spoiler

- GZDoom 4.7.1 source port
- Boom (strict) compatibility 
- Ultra-Violence difficulty
- Pistol start every map
- Saves are allowed
- I've played MAP01 - 14 of Micro Slaughter and MAP01 - 06 of Haste, other than that I'm (essentially) blind
- I try to get 100% kills sometimes
- Using mods Autoautosave and IDCLEVer (Improves GZ autosaves and auto-forces pistol starts) and a few other mods that don't change gameplay (Doom II Minor Sprite Fixing Project, widescreen hud, DSDA-Doom hud in GZDoom)

 

MAP01: Fire In Your Eyes

By Dreadopp

Kills: 100%

Items: 86%

Secrets: 0%

Time: 5:22

 

A pretty, y'know, fiery start to this month comes from Dreadopp, who spares no expenses with several teleporter ambushes, I think the star of the show here is the visuals however to be honest, the gameplay is pretty good, but these lovely flaming cliffs under a red Hell sky are quite beautiful! There's only a handful main fights, first, this SSG-fest balcony of Imps and Barons is pretty okay, and I like this bay of Revenants followed by some Mancubi, this will get more interesting quickly, Fire In Your Eyes looks lovely, but is a little flat, but hey how else would you start off a wad like this..?

Well, you'll see

 

Grade: B+

Difficulty: C-

 

 

MAP02: Viridescent Synapse

By Bauul

Kills: 98%

Items: 100%

Secrets: 100%

Time: 5:22

 

Well let's get the elephant out of the room first, Holy Shit: Dat Ceiling Tho™, absolutely gorgeous, probably took more time than the map itself, which isn't an insult, but it is only two fights, both of which are excellent! The first is an infightpalooza between a Cyber-duo and a full two gangs of Hell Knights, nothing revolutionary here, be careful with your manoeuvring here, shoot when there's not much left and grab the Megasphere when you leave, it's probably more "Pistol Panic" than Community Chest MAP01, next is this tremendously creative Pinky battle, you only get a rocket launcher here, so being cornered isn't an option, I don't have a specific strategy for this fight, it's pretty hard and I remember beating it three very different ways, you don't necessarily have to worry about the Barons behind you though, they're mostly just for extra scare factor, this fight is absolutely brilliant!

 

Grade: A

Difficulty: B-

 

 

[Alaxzandarz]

I'm joining in as well this month. I have played about half of the maps from mscp and I have been planning to play through Haste. I'm playing on ultra violence and with pistol starts on DSDA-doom.

 

Map 01 Fire In Your Eyes:

 

Nice looking pretty easy castle themed map. It has nice escalation where there are more enemies every fight and you also get a new weapon before every fight. The midi feels way too dramatic for it. I enjoyed this map.

 

Map 02 Viridescent Synapse:

 

Abstract more challenging map. This one has only two fight and feels very much like a tutorial. Both of them are very enjoyable, but the second one manages to kill me so much, way more than a lot of the later levels. The level is very good looking, but the ceiling pisses me of for some reason. I think it is because it looks very unsymmetrical (I think it is symmetrical tho). Liked the gameplay of this a lot.

 

My ranking of the levels:

Spoiler

1. Viridescent Synapse

2. Fire In Your Eyes

 

[Book Lord]

Time to play some slaughter maps and see if I can enjoy them more than I used to, at least in this smaller format.

 

I will play with saves between the arenas, not in the middle of action. I will also register my deaths and completion times, as I think they matter more for this style of gameplay.

 

MAP 01 – Fire In Your Eyes by @Dreadopp

PrBoom+ 2.5.1.4, HMP, Pistol start, blind run w/saves

 

Fire in Your Eyes was a gentle introduction to the megaWAD. The setting was a hellish installation in the middle of a lava basin. A lot of effort was put in the construction of the landscape, which remained unreachable behind the walls delimiting the active area. My completion time was well under 5’, but I wasted minutes looking for the secret, which required keen eyes that I do not possess any more. I was fooled around by visible and unused paths around the map, that I discovered later in Doom Builder along with some teleport effects and a lift that were quite mysterious. Are they the vestiges of some scrapped ideas?

Spoiler

The focus of Micro Slaughter is the combat, and this map acted as the preliminaries. There were three small encounters with Imps and Spectres, just to collect the basic weapons, then the SSG came into play against a bigger group of Imps and Barons. The rocket launcher was the weapon of choice against two squads of Revenants, followed by teleporting Mancubi just before the exit. I am not proud to have been killed once on this map, I was having fun dodging homing rockets when I received a kick in the teeth. A hard lesson not to be overconfident while playing these maps, I think. Dreadopp was off to a good start with this fiery "hellbase", fascinating but also forgiving for the most part.

 

Time: 7:41      Deaths: 1

 

MAP 02 – Viridescent Synapse by @Bauul

PrBoom+ 2.5.1.4, HMP, Pistol start, blind run w/saves

 

I might not have liked the contrived nature of the set pieces in store, but I surely looked at the scenario in complete awe. Viridiscent Synapse took place in a green dome made of gleaming cubes, traversed by pulsating waves of light. When I looked at the automap at the start of the level I was astonished. From above, the map was just a grid of squares, but arranging floor and ceiling height like that, achieving those lighting effects, required precision, imagination, and of course experience. Bauul’s impressive work was worth alone playing the map.

Spoiler

I was not enthusiastic about the fights because they did not contemplate many options to tackle them. The first was a mandatory infight practice between Cyberdemons and Hell Knights. There was no ammo for everyone and no way to escape, so the Cyberdemons must be tricked into getting out of their terrace and hitting the Nobles. The player must move past them to gain some firepower. The railings partially blocked sight but not projectiles, so dodging while on the terrace was difficult. I died three times before beating this part. Speedrunners need to flick the switches as soon as possible, because the gate takes a long time to open.

 

The subsequent “celtic cross” arena required to manage a herd of Pinkies without being boxed in or hit by the Barons of Hell on the other side. HMP toned down this fight by halving the Barons, though this meant I had to kill the Pinkies all by myself, as I could not count on a decent number of green slime balls. Trying to provoke infighting caused my only death, as I was surrounded by Demons with only the Rocket launcher as a weapon. I bet this short map had been placed here as a training ground for bigger challenges ahead. Regardless of my opinions about the combat, this was obviously an essential part of this project.

 

Time: 3:18      Deaths: 4

Edited April 1, 2022 by Book Lord

[Bauul]

As way of a general introduction to MSCP, the idea behind the mapset was to present slaughter encounters in bite-sized packages so that trying, dying and trying again didn't feel too arduous.  Combat-puzzles are most enjoyable when you can spend the time figuring out the best approach, and dying feels more like an opportunity to learn rather than a major setback.  So in effect, I hoped this mapset could be like the training wheels of slaughter - a way for people not used to the genre to practice it in an accessible environment without feeling they have to start with one of the well-known behemoths.  

 

When setting up the project, the rules I gave the mappers were:

1. Maps must be beatable in five minutes or less from a UV pistol start.  ^{(By "beatable" I meant somewhere between a UV Max and a UV Speed - it's not about running past enemies, but likewise doesn't need hunting down every last straggler.  Although that said, the speed-run wizards of the community have already demonstrated almost all the maps can in fact be UV-Maxed in less than 5 minutes).}
2. The enemies, not the environment, are the main threat
3. Beating the encounter requires specific strategies, involving movement, timing, and priority
4. These strategies should be easily replicatable in subsequent runs. In other words, RNG should not play a major factor in the encounter.

In my mind, I envisioned the Doom equivalent to something like Super Meat Boy: small, hard levels that require a precise strategy to win, and that trying/dying/trying is an expected core loop of working that strategy out.

 

In practice, not all the maps ended up quite so rigid in their execution, but I think it's interesting to see original aims for the project.

 

On to the first two maps!

 

Map 01: Fire In Your Eyes by Dreadopp

I picked Dreadopp's firey hell-base as the first map in the set for a variety of reasons. It looks great, it's reasonably easy, and it feels like a nice warm-up to full on slaughter encounters.  There's a smidgen of incidental combat to ease the player in, but ends on a fight that clearly shows the mapsets intentions.  It's not actually the easiest map in the set (that's probably Map 04), but I wanted the first map to have just enough teeth to demonstrate what the player was getting into.

 

The original build of the level was actually a little longer than the final version: after the Manc fight, the door to the left of what is now the exit would open, and the player would drop down to a pass over the lava where a Pain Elemental and a few Lost Souls would mount an ambush while the exit opened.  However, it made the level a smite too long for the five minute target, and was somewhat of an anticlimatic ending compared to the prior fight, so Dreadopp ended up moving the exit earlier.  If I recall correctly though, the original Exit linedef is still there, so technically this level has two exits.

 

Map 02: Viridiscent Synapse

My contribution to the project is perhaps the most minimalist in execution across the mapset.  I overtly designed it as a tutorial-type level, with each of the two fights representing specific skills needed to master slaughter. 

 

The first fight covers two important lessons: 1) knowing when to shoot and wake up monsters is crucial, and doing it straight-away can be a bad idea, and 2) infighting is often very necessary.  The general strategy I use to beat it is to run to the back of the HK nearest to the cybs (either side will work) and when the cybs start shooting slowly back-peddle along the edge of the HKs.  That way the cybs hit a bunch of the HKs with their rockets and wake up a larger horde.  Then repeat with the other side to get as many HKs aggroing on the Cybs as possible, and then move around the room trying to keep always at least on HK between you and a cybbie, but avoiding waking any HKs yourself.  Once a cybbie turns their attention back to you, repeat the first step to make them hit another asleep HK and continue.  Generally I don't hide in the area where the cybbies start unless I have to (too easy to get trapped), and I don't fire a single rocket until the cybbies are dead, or there are only a handful of HKs left.

 

The second fight was designed to teach players about the importance of "herding" enemies, about how to manipulate the movement AI to ensure you have enough space to escape and not get penned in. I've seen a bunch of different methods for beating it, but the method I tended to use was to stick to the outside ring (usually starting at the end of the right-most arm of the central cross) and try to keep the demons mostly in the center.  You should be shooting at the demons in the closest arm of the central cross to you, but looking at the demons that are swarming the two arms on either side, as they'll cut off your escape route if they make it to the outer circle in too many numbers.  Once the first demon makes it to the outer circle, it's time to hot-foot it to the opposite side of the circle and repeat.  Ideally you should wait as long as possible at each location to get the most demons bunched at that side of the room, but not so late that you can't escape when needed.  This practice of "run to a corner, hold it for as long as possible and then relocate" is a classic way many slaughter fights are best approached, so I wanted to introduce this concept early.

 

I felt it was important to put an overtly slaughter map as the second level to make it clear to players what the mapset was about.  If a player just wasn't into learning slaughter, then they shouldn't have to wait long into the mapset find that out.  But if a player finds themselves enjoying the combat-puzzle aspect, then they're in good shape for the rest of the project.

 

Incidentally, the lighting effect on the roof is achieved by a bug in the Light Glow sector effect.  If I remember correctly, if you set the target sector and all surrounding sectors to the same low light level, when triggered the Light Glow effect will pulse precisely once and then stop (effectively it jumps to 255, then smoothly lowers to whatever light level you set, and then stays there).  Combined with an infinite looping voodoo conveyor and a whole bunch of incrementally tagged sectors triggered by equidistant linedefs, you can create this kind of wave effect.  Highly effective and relatively easy to set up, aside from the time consumption of tagging the sectors accordingly.

Edited April 1, 2022 by Bauul

[Roofi]

Yeh Sl0tter ! BFG gud ! 

 

Edited April 1, 2022 by Roofi

[sandwedge]

^lol how rude 😂

 

Anyway figured I'd start off today.

 

 

I've played Rush before and some other intro slaughtery maps so figured I'd know what to expect here and didn't disappoint.  Most of my thoughts in the video and video description but suffice it to say these are beautiful maps and nice and short so very accessible.  I was able to get through each encounter once I learned proper enemy pathing and spawns and such.  I'm sure this will heat up but so far I'm very encouraged with playing through this on UV.  We'll just have to see about Haste though, lol.

[RHhe82]

19 minutes ago, Bauul said:

These strategies should be easily replicatable in subsequent runs. In other words, RNG should not play a major factor in the encounter.

 

This, and the five-minute limit, is something I'll mention tomorrow, but might as well pre-iterate here: I feel MSCP has very high replay value because the levels are short enough, and once you know, no matter how roughly, what to do and how to survive given scenario, a replay will take far less time even on a higher difficulty than your first attempts. For instance, I spent a better part of the hour last night playing one upcoming map, and I couldn't beat the final arena. I tried it again today (after seeing one doomgod's playthrough of it) and beat it on HMP. A couple of hours later I reattempted the level on UV, and while each arena took me a couple of tries, it was a much faster affair, also more fun, because the struggle stemmed from lack of practice than out of frustration of not even knowing what to do here.

 

In other words: I really, really love this bite-sized maps after the ordeal of CC1 :-D

[dististik]

"DWmegawad Club seems cool but I always remember about it way too far into the month and I'd feel kind of like I was missing out if I didn't start with everyone else. You know what? I'll add an event to my calander so I join the next one, that way I won't forget and participate for sure! Hopefully it just isn't slaughter or anything super tough haha." - Me, last month

 

I'll be the first to admit I'm not very good at slaughter. I admire the amount of effort that goes into calibrating tough slaughter-style fights and recognise it takes a great deal of skill to clear a not insignificant amount of the classic Doom community's slaughter challenges, but playing slaugher maps never fails to get me to doubt my abilities. When I hit Alien Vendetta's MAP26 I felt worry begin to slip in that I wouldn't actually finish my UV-Max playthrough! But, I did finish it, and seeing as that was the most recent WAD I finished in my own time... I think I'm in the right place to try and push myself in this style of play. I did tell myself I'd participate for sure, after all.

 

Against my better judgement I'll be playing on UV with pistol starts and at least making a conscious effort to get 100% kills and secrets, but I won't hold myself to doing it if I'd flat out be having more fun by letting a few 90% and 80%s slip by. Pistol starts as just a "This is generally how I enjoy to play Doom" thing and honestly I think I can handle it for MSCP (we'll see for Haste though...). In edition I'll be saving a good deal but I feel it'd sap the fun out of the maps to outright save scum so I'll generally be avoiding that. Enough dilly dallying onto my thoughts on the maps!

 

MAP01: Fire In Your Eyes by Dreadopp

 

What a pleasant opener. Usually slaughter hits "Ow, my bones" territory really quickly for me but Fire In Your Eyes was honestly kind of a breeze. The fights were small and snappy and I didn't really have any trouble dancing around enemies luckily enough. Almost didn't die but let myself get surrounded by the revenants in the last fight two times too many which cost me my life each instance; probably would have been more without that secret soul sphere! Very fun map.

 

Spoiler

 

MAP02: Viridescent Synapse by Bauul

 

I was worried MAP01 was just calm before the storm! That said, Viridescent Synapse did a very good job of teaching me "Hey, pal, gotta work on your crowd control" with the first fight going embarassingly smoother than the second. It took me way longer than it reasonably should have to realise the second fight was a lesson in crowd control and not infighting like the first and even when my brain finally clicked I struggled a good bit. That said, as annoying as each death was to me, I was able to eventually learn from my mistakes and push through. Each time I debated if I wanted to pick up the second megasphere or save it and opted out of taking it each attempt as if there was more to the fight than what was right in front of me and I'd manage to slip inside to grab it, despite struggling with circling around the mob of pinkies, without taking a beating. Ended up never using it which is a mistake I will not make on return visits.

 

Side note, love the map title.

 

Spoiler

 

Edited April 1, 2022 by dististik

[General Roasterock]

Yeah, these are two WADs that I've been consciously putting off, so I'll bite. I've already been exposed to all of MSCP through decino, but Haste is still fresh enough for me. I'm trying to UV-Max all of these maps, but the goal, for once in a lifetime, is fun. 

 

MAP01: Fire In Your Eyes

mscp01.zip

  This is a strange map with what it's doing. Almost every fight locks you in, expecting you to take at least long as the lock stays to finish it. The first time through I simply stayed in each room until everything was dead, and I found myself without any ammo by the end, having to punch the last Mancubus to death. Software lighting made finding the singular secret impossible, as I would have never expected it to be in one of the arenas. Needless to say my first time through went without the overhealth and two rockets, but it wasn't a make or break scenario.

  When I went back to try it again, I instead just left the fights the moments the locks came off, and found that it was so much more efficient. Luring the Barons and Imps over to break up the Revenant clusters felt good, and saved tons of time and ammo. Looking back, this is definitely what was being encouraged, but when I see bars that are blocking my progression, and monsters closing in due to the limited space, my first thoughts are to kill whatever is in front of me and worry about progress later. If it's a warmup for the philosophy of the WAD then I appreciate the heads up this map acted as.

  This level is really pretty, for such a closed off space the viewable geometry is very nice. All the fake 3D is believable at a glance, and the sky, lava, and MIDI put a lot of energy into a lower end monster count. I'm a bit disappointed that the last fight was simply "Revenants, go!!", but I'm going to have to accept that this will happen, being a slaughterwad. Overall cool starting map. 

 

MAP02: Viridescent Synapse

mscp02.zip

  I wonder what god will think after the heat death of the universe, looking upon the remains of physical matter, and seeing that there are still fights comprised entirely of Cyberdemons infighting Hell Knights.

  On one hand, I want to do my best going into each map without attaching it to an author. I feel like that does a much better job at giving it an isolated overview and removes any personal influence. On the other hand, knowing that Bauul made this map specifically to teach important slaughter concepts is integral to enjoying what is offered. I'm embarrassed of how long I was on the second fight for, but not knowing the specific amount of time to start busting up the Pinkies without starting to make laps will get you surrounded, which means death here. Compared to this, the Cyberdemon infighting is nearly trivial, as the Hell Knights are packed in close enough to where the Cybers will almost never target you. This scared me into thinking I would have several saveless runs of meandering around harmless Cybers for two minutes, only to eat shit at the Pinkies. Thankfully, this map is consistent enough for that to not happen. 

  I am unfortunately far too cynical to see the outer detail as anything more than "stair builder --> tag range", but I do love a good range of green. The midtexture pillars are lovely, and Jimmy's Mapwich 2 MIDI actually underscores what's going on really well. I'm glad this level is a teaching moment, but it does make sacrifice to do so.

 

One thing I will say is about both of these maps is that the calibration is insanely precise. The locks on Map 01 are set so well that I thought they were somehow using the Mancubus triggers to let me out of the level, and the Cybers will almost always die when there's less than half a dozen Knights left in Map 02. These are balancing points that take a while to figure out, and I applaud the WAD for managing this thus far.

 

Power Rankings:

1. Fire In Your Eyes
2. Viridescent Synapse

 

[Yumheart]

I'm not sure if I'll do the entire month, I have a lot of exams and presentations coming up. But I'll most definitely play through MSCP and beat Haste in private later on.


map01 "Fire In Your Eyes" by Dreadopp

A friendly and appealing opener. The first thing I noticed was the nice environment. I am, truth be told, not the biggest fan of OTEX, but I sure do love my rocky cliffsides. Combat is definitely on introductory level, difficulty-wise, but in contrast to last month, I probably won't be saying this very often.
The extremely straightforward progression and snappy fights are also a welcome relief from CC, with my favorites being the Revenants and Mancubi ambushes near the end. I'd say this map is quite enjoyable and it's probably one of the most tepid maps of this month, so I'm looking forward to this.


map02 "Viridescent Synapse" by Bauul

Another breezy map with impressive views despite having an extremely simple layout, and definitely more engaging than the last one. It's just two fights, RL only. Maneuvering around crowds of demons in semi-cramped spaces while needing to conserve ammo is among my favorite encounter types, so I love the beginning. The second battle is cool too, this one actually took me a few tries before I came up with a decent strategy and I like the usage of shoot-through walls.
This map might be simple to the point of feeling almost low-effort, but I still had a great time and it achieves what it sets out to do. Good shit!

[Dreadopp]

Thanks a lot for playing through my map, everyone! I'm glad people are enjoying it. :)

3 hours ago, Book Lord said:

I was fooled around by visible and unused paths around the map, that I discovered later in Doom Builder along with some teleport effects and a lift that were quite mysterious. Are they the vestiges of some scrapped ideas?

 

3 hours ago, Bauul said:

The original build of the level was actually a little longer than the final version: after the Manc fight, the door to the left of what is now the exit would open, and the player would drop down to a pass over the lava where a Pain Elemental and a few Lost Souls would mount an ambush while the exit opened.  However, it made the level a smite too long for the five minute target, and was somewhat of an anticlimatic ending compared to the prior fight, so Dreadopp ended up moving the exit earlier.  If I recall correctly though, the original Exit linedef is still there, so technically this level has two exits.

Yeah, as Bauul pointed out, the map had a bunch of extra fluff after the revenant/manubus battle. I ended up moving the exit forward and tightened up the gameplay in the first half of the map. The original vision I had for this map actually had even more after the fights Bauul described, but it turns out that keeping the gameplay within five minutes is a little more challenging than I originally thought it might be, haha. The two versions of the map I have (the longer version and the shortened one) both have the switch that opens the second exit, but it was removed from the final version of the project.

 

For anyone who's interested in exploring the map further, it's actually possible to get to the rest of the map (which I didn't realize was possible until someone mentioned it :P). I'll put it in a spoiler in case anyone wants to try and find it naturally.

Spoiler

At the spot where you're ambushed by the single baron between two sets of bars, quickly run on top of the northern set as they are lowering and move along the wall to the western revenant tower. If you jump into the lava here with at least 100% health and 100% armor, you should be able to make it to the teleporter to the far east, which will bring you to the scrapped section of the level. There might be other ways of getting out there too, but that's the one I was aware of.

 

Anyway, this project was fun to work on, and I'd totally be down to work on something like it again.

[Thelokk]

Already the 2nd here... up at 12.30, have to be at work at 1.30am... life is pain.

 

MAP03: Cherry Blossom by Danlex

HMP /  100% kills / no secrets

 

I remembered this map being quite a bump in difficulty, so I dialed it down to HMP - didn't have that much trouble in the end, took me only three attemps. 

Now, first the visuals. Absolutely gorgeous? definitely. A bit overbearing? definitely as well. The pinkish tint is in line with the map name and gives a new spin to the demonic architecture but, for my taste, is a bit 'same-y' and actually made it hard at times to orient myself in the final fight in particular. Still, a nice and novel use of OTEX I guess.

The fights are probably going to be some people's first real roadblocks in the mapset. First one? no biggie, just make sure to get rid of the revenants first, and then it's a done deal! The rest of the mob will have pretty much sorted itself out by then. Second fight is where it might get spicy: once again, key is to know where to focus first, which is, as often happens in slaughter, the path of least resistance - those imps are guarding your stronghold position, and they need to go. By the way, if you don't feel like wasting time on that cybie, you can actually skip it with some deft maneuvering.

Now, the final fight is probably the mapset's first proper 'slaughterish cluster****', where the map seemingly throws everything at you at once and there is no place to hide... or is it there? maybe you should carve a space for yourself. Also, to @Roofi's delight, we also have the mapset's first BFG slugfest, an acquired taste certainly - I find it lots fo fun, but ymmv.

 

MAP04: Floody Hell by Lord_Z

UV /100% kills / 1 secret

 

And here comes MAP04, one of the packs' many maps that take 'slaughter' in a... let's say, very very wide acception of the term. 70some monsters, usually coming at you no more than 10-15 at the time is hardly what I'd call slaughter, but the map's nice and clean visuals (which I personally prefer to MAP03's), as well as the focus on combat in tight spaces with lots of obstacles (a guilty pleasure of mine) allow me to get past the fact that, by any standard, this is not a slaughter map. The secret is not particularly well hidden, I'm sure you can find it as well! The map is really short so there isn't much to say about it, save for a few reccomendations - careful where you point that rocked launcher, and make sure to stick around for a while after you press the final switch for a nice visual surprise...

Edited April 1, 2022 by Thelokk

[dac]

Let's do this.

 

Play Info

 

Source Port : DSDA-Doom 0.24.3 (Or latest)

Difficulty : Hurt Me Plenty

Saves : Allowed. Doing my best to not save in the middle of a fight though.

Restrictions : Pistol start.

 

MAP 01 – Fire in Your Eyes (by Dreadopp)

Completed 01/04/2022

 

I had played this map before, but didn’t remember a lot of it other than the brick and caves environments so this was a good time to go back at it and write about it. And same for the rest of this mapset, who suffered from me doing my usual ‘play a bit then don’t come back to it cause I got distracted’ thing.

 

But hey, mental’s doing better – I always say that but it does get better every time I say it! - and I don’t expect work to get worse. Plus those are small maps, so I’ll have time to write about them!

 

But enough about my brain and how it works like your average eurojank video game, let’s write about this first map. Dreadopp is a name I mostly associate with other mapper Lord_Z and while both have entries in this set – understandable, since AFAIK this set was organised in the same place as the 1k lines projects and these projects shares a lot of mappers – it does feel a bit strange to not have both mappers in succession. No matter, this is a good introduction to the project, even if it’s a bit light on the slaughter. You still have what I consider the staples (As much as someone who can’t handle his slaughter has staples!), things like proper macro movement and awareness, herding monsters the correct way, and at times a sense of claustrophobia relative to monster hordes and the space you have to navigate; all of this is just more digestible since it’s the first map. The first big fight with imps and barons wasn’t too troublesome even with having to look out for stray imps ambushes, and the revenants weren’t too hard to handle either; the mancubi ambush caught me off guard but nothing to write home about. Combine this smooth opening with a more down to earth visual style, this is the perfect opener for those who aren’t as acclimated to slaughter as those good at it.

 

Or those like me, acclimated to slaughter but godawful at it.

 

[Maribo]

Very cool of Bauul to be giving such detailed insight into the design around the wad and specific maps, thank you (and any other mappers who might decide to give more details about their specific contributions) :)

My details for playthrough: DSDA-Doom 0.24.3, UV, whatever saving and/or demo recording I feel like doing.

 

MAP01: Fire In Your Eyes

I think of the imp teleporting fight in this map to work in a kind of duality with the slow imp flood that happens in Sunder's first map. Different approach, but both end up being one of the most distilled examples of a "slaughter arena", at least in my book. Solid map, even gets a primarily revenant fight in on Map01.

Max Demo: mscp01m231.zip

Some speedrun stuff:

Spoiler

 

I'll just go ahead and say it now so I don't have to paste something every time: All the maxes for pretty much every map are worth checking out.

GrumpyCat's UV-Tyson in 4:56 - this is basically a Pacifist max but with clean-up at the end (and killing the annoying hitscanners at the imp fight switch)

MAP02: Viridescent Synapse
Pacifism-encouraging start into a herding lesson. Pretty background. Not one of my favorites, but good.

Max Demo: mscp02m239.zip
Some speedrun stuff:

Spoiler

Gosu_Noob's UV-Pacifist in 0:53 - for herding and prayers.

Edited April 1, 2022 by Maribo
formatting

[dac]

MAP 02 – Viridescent Synapse (by Bauul)

Completed 01/04/2022

 

At the risk of getting stuff thrown at me, tomatoes or flowers it does not matter: I absolutely do not vibe with the background area of that map. Sure the abstract grandeur is something I expect from slaughter, but for some reason it makes me too uncomfortable for me to be impressed by it.

 

Plus it gives me pretty bad framerate drops, and that doesn’t help.

 

As mentioned by others, this is more what you’d expect from slaughter, at least according to Bridgeburner: there’s a cyberdemon, two of them, and you have to rewire your brain so it looks at these things and think "Ah right, this is a friend! Please Misters Murder Cows, slaughter these hell knights instead of me!" Shamefully this fight took me a few attempts to properly navigate, mostly me having trouble finding the correct angle to let the cybers HIT the knights, and the winning run was not helped by me waking up too many hell knights by being a complete idiomoron and flipping the switches too early complete accident. Did make it out fine, though.

 

The pinkies rush in contrast was a simpler affair, even if the winning try got me dangerously low, with the megasphere center area becoming a Danger Zone I couldn't access. Take a side, thin out the demons in front of me, keep an eye for demons coming from the other side, switch once the pressure becomes too unbearable, kill demons in a way that leaves me an exit if I fuck up the thinning. Which I did a few times!

 

Also I did fuck up leaving myself an exit too. Herding is hard.

 

Two setpieces, and off we go. Keeping it simple for the first few maps, all is well.

[Solmyr]

"What did i got myself into?" Was the first thing that came to mind when i saw this month's TDWMWCP. Slaughter maps are my least favorite type of wad, but i wanted to try something new, maybe it'll be fun and indeed it was.

 

MCSCP: MAP 01 Fire in Your Eyes by Dreadopp.
HMP /Pistol Start /Saveless Run.
Kills: 100%
Items: 67%
Secret 0%
Time: 6:04

 

Good opener, the texture work reminds me of Scythe II, i expected the gameplay be kind of a rude awakening from the get go, but i was pleasantly surprised to see that it was quite manegeable, the map throws you small and medium sized waves of monsters, at first just imps, then a couple of barons with some sergeants and a medium sized wave of imps, revenants for the third wave; which was the hardest of the map, and then for the fourth and final wave mancubi, which i found to be the second least difficult wave.

 

I like how at first it doesn't look like an introduction to slaugther map gameplay but just a regular opener to a regular megawad. The map's areas are separated by a a small narrow hallway and stairs with grilles, both of which keeps the player from rushing in, in the first one there's a shootable switch just outside and mid point of the hallway; which may or may not also grant acess to the map's only secret, but it teleports two spectres, each one on oposite sides of the hallway maybe it was just a nasty trap or maybe it was meant to test the player reaction time and spatial awareness as a way to prepare it for what's to come later on in this wad. The next hallway keeps the player in place also forcing it to fight a baron of hell in a thight space, yikes!, fortunately the raised sectors that kept the player and baron in place lowers after a couple of seconds so the player can finish it off in a more comfortable space.

 

And the waves of enemies are fun to deal with, i know those aren't waves per se because they only show up when the player either shoots, or presses some switches, but the name seems fitting, i like how you have just enough room to deal with them and how they not only encourage the player to move around in small sized spaces and avoid getting encroached they also encourage the player to rely on infighting to save ammo like in the second wave with the two barons of hell and a large group of imps despite providing enough ammo and firepower to kill them all with the SSG, and the third wave teaches the player to deal with large groups of revenants in a medium sized space with a rocket launcher and inefective cover by means of narrow rounded pillars, the final one was relatively easier in comparison to the previous one just a large wave of mancubi, their size and predictable attack patterns made them easy to dealt with, specially with the SSG, if i had only a rocket launcher to use that close to them, it would turned out much worse.

 

Bottom line: Rather enjoyable opener for newcomers to this gameplay genere.

 

MCSCP: MAP 02 Viridescent Synapse by Bauul.
HMP /Pistol Start /Saveless Run.
Kills: 100%
Items: 100%
Secret: 100%
Time: 9:15 

 

A rather tense sight at first, while the map itself is a pretty and surreal mirage of rusty iron and green shawn like textures and flats with a sky that makes the map geometry seem much more imposing than it actually is while sending green waves across its inverted dark "regedit icon" like surface, you start on the middle of two legions of hell knights each having their backs turned towards the player and two cyberdemons ahead unaware of the player, guarding a rocket launcher, a backpack and rocket boxes on a small area surrounded by guard rails, there are also two megaspheres, one directly in front of the player and the other one behind on a small section. I died dozens of times by trying to get the cyberdemons to shoot at the rows of hell knights on each side, until i remembered that it was easier to dodge incoming projectiles by not looking directly at them while moving away, just by looking at the general direction of the incomming fire was enough, however the as the hell knights approached to deal with the cyber-duo sometimes i got caught in the middle and bounced around only to get either a rocket to the face or a spray of green hellfire at my back, other times i drew the cybies away only to get killed by a stray rocket when i got to the area with the rocket launcher. At last, after getting killed dozens upon dozens of times i got the cybies to kill almost all of the hell knights, and then i finished them all with the rocket launcher while dodging incoming rockets and green balls. It was annoying at first, but turned out fun, however i dreaded what the rest of the map had in store for me.

 

The second test of the map seems deceptively easier in comparison to the first one, a large area composed with narrow round pathways surrounded by guard rails and large wave of pinkies unaware of the player however for those unaquainted with slaughter maps like me, will get cornered in a pincer like wave by those pinkies comming from the front and behind, once you fire upon the wave two barons will teleport in as well, possibly to add to the tension and infight with some of the pinkies, given the pseudo rng nature of the Doom Engine it might prove an effective way to make an oppening to worm out of the horde if it drew too close, or it will annoy the player by getting caught by stray fireballs or just getting in the way. It requires the player to be weary from pinkies comming from the front as well as from the back. I was surpised to see the map's exit right behind the only switch of this area, i thought it would be longer but it was fun nonetheless.

 

Bottom line: As tense as it is beautiful and surreal looking.

 

Edited April 2, 2022 by Solmyr

[RHhe82]

MAP03: Cherry Blossom. HMP, PS, 284/284 kills, 0/0 secrets and 6/6 items. Comp. time 6:32. Played on 31st March – 1st of April, 2022.

 

Really cool coloring this space has. And cool music! I love it. What about gameplay?

This also resembles a combat puzzle, having three separate arenas. The first one has revenants on the other side, and an assortment of other monsties on the other.
Naturally I want them to infight. The revenants are placed awkwardly, so after a couple of tries, I start initiating the fight by shooting a couple of rockets at the revenants, and then try my best to not get hit. It doesn’t take terribly long to succeed, the enemy horde is after all, limited in size.

The second arena takes me more tries. For some reason at first I approach the situation by trying to awaken hell knights and try desperately to get them hit cybie. Then I try waking up everybody by going in plasmas blazing. Not a clever move. Then I try waking up imps so they’d inadvertently hit hell knights. This is not successful, either, although I almost get the arena cleared, and then die to damaging floor or cyberdemon rocket splash damage or something. Only then I start to harassing the cyberdemon first, get it to hit hell knights, avoid splash damage, imps join the battle, and at one point I fire a shot to get the rest of the imps and last few HKs to awaken. I survive with some 80 % health after finishing off the cyberdemon with a plasma gun.

Onto the third, which is where I bump into problems. I gather the supplies and lower the BFG. Pinkies approach from the front, so at this point there’s no time to think. I try various approaches (and by ”approach” I mean panic-running to different corners of the arena, shooting BFG) but without success. Not much infight (as far as I can see) takes place, because I don’t want to get archviles on my case by firing a weapon. That’s another problem: I have to run to some dead end, because in the big room archies kill me. I tried killing the archies first, but that’s also not an option: I can get a couple of them down, but the others from the other side of the back wall get to me. At one point I can retreat to the northeast corner of the arena, I think I somehow even got most of the archviles dead… only to facerocket myself against a fucking lost soul. It was bedtime for me, I couldn’t complete this one in one sitting :(

I watched Decino’s playthrough in bed (…) and saw that his approach to the last arena was basically what I was trying to do at some point: go for the archviles first. Makes sense, since they were the one denying me safe slaughter. So, when I got back from work the next day and tried again, it only took me a couple of tries to get rid of the archviles, blast my way through the one megasphere near the BFG pillar. With the archies gone, I could just spam BFG and switch to rockets to take care of the enemies. The only danger was the lost souls spewed by the pain elementals, nearly took a facerocket there. Once the enemy crowds thinned, I could fetch additional cells to take care of the souls and the rest of the enemies safely.

This time I’m not inclined to try a UV run, but I suspect I could do it, with interfight saves of course. The only problem is this last arena, I think, and I’m not sure a few dozen extra monsters would make that much difference (unless they are archviles placed on the other side of the arena).

[After completing MAP04: I attempted UV, and whaddya know again, I could make it. There were considerably more archviles in the last arena, but basically the same tactic applied. On HMP I had wasted one of the megaspheres prior to the fight, here it proved essential for surviving (I think). I wonder if there were more pain elementals, too, because on HMP there were far less lost souls spawned in the arena.

This playthrough went thru much faster, when counting in all attempts. I made two midfight saves; once in the cyberdemon arena (after everybody else was dead I was afraid cybie would hit me fatally) and once in the final arena after dealing with the archviles and retreating to the north-east corner. However, both midfight saves proved useless, I didn’t need to reload either of them. So:

 

MAP03: Cherry Blossom. UV, PS, 358/358 kills, 0/0 secrets and 6/6 items. Comp. time 5:27 -> over 1 minute improvement! Played on the 1st of April, 2022.

 

One more thing: now that I’m finally getting over Community Chest 1 with its overlong levels, I love it that MSCP presents us with short levels. I find it adds to the replay value here: I can play on HMP, because additional playthroughs on UV don’t cost me the whole evening.]

 

***

MAP04: Floody Hell. HMP, PS, 66/66 kills, 1/1 secrets and 30/30 items. Comp. time 6:00. Played on 1st of April, 2022.

Am I playing the correct wad? Floody Hell doesn’t feel like slaughter, but rather a level in a traditional vein. The first room feels a bit tight — not hard as such, but on my first and only try I took care of the imps with only a little bit of health left.

The following fights are not that hard either; I only die because I let the pinkies and spectres surround me. The arachnotron pentagram arena I fail a couple of times because of the same reasons: pinkies surround me and arachnotrons take care of the rest.

Even the final arena doesn’t feel like slaughter but rather a tight encounter in some megawad’s first half. It’s strange.
But the visuals are great; the brutalist outlook of the level does fit in the wad so far. I wonder if UV is significantly harder?

-> UV-playthrough: pretty much the same. This time I get past the imps unscathed, but I get too cocky, and the rest of the map I’m constantly suffering from low health. Somehow the arachnotron fight goes miraculously well in that I have 3 % health at one point, pinkies surround me and yet they don’t manage to bite me! I don’t know if the last fight is somehow changed – are there a couple of more hell nobles? In any case, I have to retry it a couple of times because I enter the arena with some 30 % health. I don’t need to resort to midfight saves, but it’s a bit more painful. But not much.

MAP04: Floody Hell. UV, PS, 73/73 kills, 1/1 secrets and 27/30 items. Comp. time 5:11. Played on 1st of April, 2022.
 

[FragsBunny]

MAP03: Cherry Blossom (100/100/100)

1.       Mancubus fire 3 projectiles in line

2.       Mancubus no longer flinch

3.       Monster no longer infight

 

From green to pink! Looks like they are planning to show us the entire color palette of OTEX before we’re done! And look, there is a card that makes monsters no longer infight – imagine how it would affect the entire slaughtermap scenario? Well, for this map, it still makes it possible to beat – you are given all the weapons that you might need, along with much-needed health and armor.

 

The first battle is a two-pronged arena with revenants on one side, and the demonkin on the other. Getting rid of the winged fiends was a clear priority. Once enough space is created, it’s just the matter of circlestrafing. The second battle, however, will undouftfully require you to switch to plasma gun in order to survive. In order to escape the congestion of a Cyberdemon and Hell knights, the only path to survival, at least from my experience, was to plow my way through imp hordes with plasma and kill them all with plasma. Given enough luck, there is a chance that the cyberdemon would infight with knights along the way. The damaging purple goo does make things a little annoying.

 

And it might be a little early for BFG, especially since I am not going on pistol starts… I will still accept it! From the moment you see the back of arch-viles, the setup becomes clear as purple crystal – kill them first! No matter what kind of hordes are roaring behind them. Just two megaspheres might not be enough for some guys like me to survive the rest of the slaughter – luckily there was a third one in one of the monster closets. So, I’m off to complete the rest of the half-wad with BFG?..

 

MAP04: Floody Hell (100/86/100)

1.       Imps are able to fly

2.       Hell nobles slide around while moving

3.       Arachnotron spawns with a small companion

 

How about giving wings to even more hellspawn? And the next level is not a BFG massacre! And not a combat puzzle either – just few set pieces with shotgun jousting. Well, the part where arachnotrons and pinkies attack you turned to be quite a different experience for me, since flying pinkies would be circlestrafed with ease! The final arena housed the surprise cyberdemon, but the moment I jumped there, the other monsters suddenly appeared! I nearly panicked with BFG trigger, but given how this arena is revolved around rocked launcher, I just maneuvered around and made the cyber to infight them. In terms of difficulty, this should be MAP02!