The DWIronman League dies to: Christmas Cheer from the Chill Zone!

[I_Punch_Demons]

Category 1
Died on Map 08 with with 8 of the 120 enemies killed. 
Time is 55 minutes
(There is slight cussing on this stream as I had a headache and the mass barrel clusters felt like literal bullet shots in my head) 

This was a really good choice by the way I liked the wad. Also, this is a PB for me as I normally die on map 3 or 4 with these events. PB as in for IM events in general not for this wad, this was Cat one I never even heard of this wad before tonight. 
https://www.twitch.tv/videos/1676100108

 

[Pegleg]

Category: 1 (and it shows)

Dead on: Map 01

Kills: 18/90

Time of death: 5:39

 

dwi_pegleg_xmaschill_cat1.zip

 

I do like the Dehacked changes, the customer monsters, and the decorations. Very imaginative. As for my performance, it was less than imaginative. I'd like to think I would have gotten farther had I noticed the SSG instead of running around like an idiot trying to figure out how to find a more powerful weapon than the pistol (yes, I had the rocket launcher, but that wouldn't have gotten me very far with only 3 rockets). Or perhaps had I realized what those presents were. Regardless, not a terribly impressive performance.

[Pegleg]

On 12/4/2022 at 2:09 AM, Crusader No Regret said:

Blind type 1.  I am not feeling chill after this dismal result.  Lost a punchout with a Hell knight on map 3.  This is looking like a last place finish. (again)  Maybe time to hang up the ammo belt and retire.

 

dsda-doom -complevel 2  Demo presented solely as evidence and is not suitable for watching by anyone.

dwiron_xmaschill_cnr.zip

 

Don't worry, you're safe for this month. Even if you had finished in last place, though, that would have only been your 5th last place finish in 57 months. Besides, finishing in last place, even multiple times, is no reason to hang up your ammo belt. And, believe me, I can speak authoritatively on the subject of last place finishes, based on my experience of finishing last 22 times in the 53 months (including 8 out of 11 months in 2019, with 6 of those last place finishes being consecutive).

[ClumsyCryptid]

Cat 1

 

Made it to map 9! Forget my stats already, but it's far better than my last year Xmas ironman. I killed a few things!

Many times I happily progressed with less than 10% health. I started to feel boredom around map 7/8 because of the music. I do not like Xmas music, it makes me sleepy. Video below, will be available after it's done processing.
 

 

Edited December 14, 2022 by ClumsyCryptid

[NiGHTS108]

On 12/1/2022 at 1:19 PM, NaZa said:

8. [1] MAP10: NiGHTS108 - 

 

>best of 7 ironmen who died in MAP10

>

 

[NaZa]

Heh, yeah! You reached it quite quickly :)

Apologies for lack of obits, this so far hasn't been a month with a whole lot of time. Hopefully they'll get updated by the evening, along with an announcement about Ironman next year, so stay tuned! :D

[4shockblast]

Well, I went somewhere I wasn't supposed to I guess on map 2 and got softlocked, I guess I got a lot of free time back today. 😌 My evening saved by a glide.

xmaschill_Ironman_shock.zip

Edited December 16, 2022 by 4shockblast

[ClumsyCryptid]

Will be doing my Prepared Run this upcoming week. Would do this weekend, but got surprise called into work.

[NaZa]

Obituaries finally updated. Wishing a warm welcome back to @I_Punch_Demons - haven't seen you in a long time! - and congrats to @NightTerror for, so far, lording over the table by only 13 seconds. Paints a very interesting challenge for the rest of the month and @Bdubzzz as they're 3-4 in wins this year in Dubz's favour.

 

Anyway, as it's mid-month, it's time to clear things up about Ironman next year. So, without further ado... let's go.

1. Ironman will continue, don't worry. I had a small discussion with some Ironman regulars, though, and it was decided that we'll change the host rotation for next year. I have been given the green light to step up (again) as the usual host of the challenges, however, with a twist: I'll host 8 challenges. I decided this because, unlike 2021, host rotation was generally very consistent this year, and I'd like to have more of the community involved in Ironman stuff. The remaining 4 challenges will be hosted by other Ironman regulars, whom I'll ask over time or they'll express interest, and these will be informally referred to as the Season (spring/summer/autumn/winter) Specials. I've not yet asked anyone, but I do have plans to give more people a chance at this.
2. Ironman will get its own Discord server to ease communication if necessary. Sometimes rules get clogged (more on that later) and DMing isn't necessarily efficient, I feel like asking general questions about Ironman is better on Discord. I'd still prefer if the bulk of submissions and stuff happened here, and I don't expect the server to be very active, just a small station en route to your Ironman participation. It's also much, much more practical to announce when a new thread was released.
3. Rules might get simplified a bit. Spoilered you'll find my attempt at condensing them. 
   Spoiler

   1. There are two competitions: Standard and Prepared. - To compete successfully in the Standard competition: your first play of the selected WAD(s) constitutes your one and only attempt for the month. - To compete successfully in the Prepared competition: your one and only attempt for the month is determined BY YOU immediately before play and may follow any prior number of active (playing the set) preparation that is strictly for practice/inspection purposes only. You cannot compete in the Standard competition after submitting a run to the Prepared competition. You may submit the first of your practice attempts to the Standard competition.
   2. UV only (excepting 1CC format), continuous recording. No pistol-starting each level.
   3.  Demos (PrBoom+, GLBoom, Eternity or Chocolate), stream highlights and video recordings are the only accepted proofs. You must link to these runs in the thread regardless of whether you post them in submissions. - If you stream your run on Discord, please record a demo as well (or make it a video) because Discord streams, to my knowledge, do not stay. - If you stream your run on Twitch, please highlight it so that it doesn't go missing in case someone's very late with the obits
   4. No additional WADs may be loaded. This includes even cosmetic WADs. It's to level the playing field as much as possible.
   5. No inspection of the WAD(s)'s content in an editor if you are submitting a Standard run. This even includes the standard category 3.
   6.  No cheat codes and no features that result in behavior beyond what is possible in the intended source port (e.g. freelook, jumping and crouching in a boom set). This includes dynamic lights and brightmaps. - If streaming or recording videos using an advanced source port with compatibility options, you must display these settings on-screen before your run. In ZDoom derivative ports, "Doom/Boom(strict)" will suffice. If recording or streaming with prBoom+, I'll take your word that you put in the correct complevel.
   7. If you choose to stream/record your run for video rather than provide a demo and you die before completing a single level, either on the first map of a set OR because a single level was selected for the month, you must display the number of monsters killed/remaining in the level before you quit. - However, personally I'd prefer if you displayed the number of monsters killed/remaining regardless. Stats + I'm a nerd.
   8. You do not have to play the secret levels in order to register a complete run. However, a player who finishes the run having completed more secret levels than their competitors will rank higher than them.
   9. You cannot load a game having progressed past the save point.
   10. You cannot consult Doom Builder during your run to check for map details.
   11. If the recording of your official run is interrupted due to technical difficulties, you are not permitted a second attempt. Any surviving recording may be used to register a DNF result.
   12. Accidentally restarting a level before a death exit takes you to the tally screen will stop your run immediately. You will still be registered as entering the next map (i.e. the one which you never entered) using a calculation to figure out what the intermission time would have been.

    

   + categories... but more on that below

    

4. Here's an open discussion point - categories & Standard/Prepared Leaderboard. Visibly the prepared leaderboard was not consistently active, though it technically fulfilled its original goal of making prepared runs rarer. This is why I had the thought to re-bring the Prepared category back into the standard leaderboard and cut away with the prepared leaderboard altogether. This solution would also preserve the current category 3 and instead mark prepared runs with P. Why? There's two reasons: a) I believe through these three years it has become clear that preparing an Ironman run is discouraged, and b) if someone has a lower skill level but would still like to at times submit a serious run to mix it up in the midtable, I don't see why they shouldn't be able to prepare. Of course I'd expect Bdubzzz, NightTerror and the usual suspects not preparing every month, but I don't see what's the issue with globally banning it. It might even drag a few more people into this who were intimidated by the steep curve. I want to hear your outlook on this, though.

 

Thank you for your patience. I can already announce I shall organize January's challenge, so there's no drama about it. Stay safe and enjoy these two weeks!

Edited December 17, 2022 by NaZa

[Mikolah]

Blind run, got to map08, had a very sloppy fight which brought my HP down to 9, and died to a stray shot later.

mik_xmaschill_ironman.zip

[SleepyVelvet]

Category: 1 (Blind)

DNF: Map02

Time of Arrival: 6:28

Kills: 28/39

Download: noisy_xmaschill_ironman.zip

[Vince Vega]

Cat I, died on MAP18 at 3:14:02 with 183/510 kills.

 

Because... Archies appeared, I went straight to them to feed' em some BFG snowballs, and then blessed Doom's RNG and autoaim told me I don't want to do that.

My face after maxing out Painkiller on Trauma 5 stars and then Blood one-take-episodes on Extra Crispy was precisely like in this scene:

 

 

When I hear "difficulty spike", I think of Scythe and Scythe 2 first of all, so that wasn't so harsh this time :D

 

On MAP11, I spend like 40 mins on MAP11 I think, then someone wasted my 200/200 and I went rage straight to the end of the WAD.

On MAP12 or 13, the music was beautiful Ukrainian Shchedryk remix, nice <3

On MAP17, I wasted a Megasphere because an Arch ate a point-blank BFG and didn't died (also the GIF above).

Also in there (IIRC), I wasted an Invuln because I couldn't find the monster trigger for the whole duration, awesome skills :D

On MAP18, I wasted like 20 rockets on one Arch above me because Doom's difficulty is not tons of mobs or high damage multipliers, but autoaim, no vertical look, and RNG. That's why I did beat up on it and play normal games ^.^

 

dvvxmasc.zip

Edited December 24, 2022 by Vince Vega

[sandwedge]

Hey everyone, awesome choice for this month!  I posted this on youtube a couple days ago but here's the link.  My thoughts and spoilers for the run:

 

Spoiler

Died on map 18, 216 monsters (kills kept going up from infighting but i assume its the number dead right when I die?)

 

I didn't prepare very well for this lol, mainly time-wise - I didn't see how long the whole thing would take and I figured I would die sooner.  But I ended up having a very good run, getting to map 18 but dying in one of the slaughter fights.  Tbh I was surprised I died in that particular one as it didn't seem too tough, but the groups of chaingunners was a nasty surprise.  It was really late at that point so a part of me was just glad for it to be over - at 3:45 I had definitely taken my time and played cautiously, perhaps a bit too much since many maps were fairly easy.

 

Interestingly I found the third map actually sorta scared me and made me more cautious during the rest of the run - it had some tyson areas with revenants and an archvile which was very scary to face early in a run, and I ended up simply running away and escaping.  I didn't have a chaingun by then either and almost no ammo so there was no way to really cheese it with continuous play.  However, many maps after that were quite easy until map 10 and up - and even so, I played cautiously enough to do well.  Did get hit directly by a cyberdemon once but had more than enough health and armour to survive, and it wasn't too scary.

 

All in all, probably longer than I wanna play an ironman again, especially since the style makes me play pretty slowly, and I end up dying in the last level again lol.  But was a pleasure doing this for a project from the Crispy Chicken Chillzone!  HO HO HO MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYBODY

 

 

[arrotive]

map ONE.

i died on map one.

im so good at this game :D

isuckatdoom.rar

[ginc]

Category 1 - Blind run.

 

Died on MAP18 - once again, I fall short on the home stretch at 2:30am. At time of death, kill counter is at 222/510 kills. FWIW I was at roughly 2h52m of ingame time by that point.

 

Spoiler

Cause of death: got my megasphere health whittled away by monsters in the big fight, half-assed an attempt to kill 2 arch-viles (should have either run away or fully committed), and before I could nab some medkits presents I got chaingunned.

 

I just didn't play that one well, I think I was a little too passive/careless (hoping for infighting) and I was a little tired/sloppy by that point.

 

Video here.

 

edit: LOL that's a great thumbnail that YouTube picked for me

Edited December 30, 2022 by ginc

[NaZa]

Two days remain and some regulars yet to do a complete run! Notably, having mathematically secured the crown for this year (something I seemingly forgot to inform on - nice!), can @Bdubzzz spoil the party in the last second? Something he's used to doing this year :)) @head_cannon usually leaves it late but I'm wondering whether @finnks13 and @SilentD00mer would give this one a shot... or @BoxY and @mhrz seeing as they did really well in the opening stretch of the year and aren't far from reaching the 50% of the score mark! 

New year always brings us a new competition and shakes the order up, so this month might be taking a look at future frontrunners... notably @Brainfreezzzzz whom I've already congratulated, but they continue to rank very high with this blind survival. Looking good there in the top 3.

[SilentD00mer]

Category 1 - Died at Map08 - 36/120 kills

 

SilentD00mer_xmaschill.zip

 

Haha I can't believe I died because of that revenant!

Well, I spent some time of the demo in the first maps trying to get used to some new elements of the wad, so this part of the demo is specially ugly to watch :D

Also, my memory is really weak these days, so I spent more time looking for some doors... 

[Crusader No Regret]

Made a prepared attempt.  Health starvation on map 8 eventually did me in.  This is despite managing to come in at about 170/170.  That first revenant knocked off about half and I never really recovered.

 

Got payback on map 3 at least.  So that was satisfying.

 

complevel 9 by mistake because I forgot and didn't bother to check.  Doubt it affects the outcome significantly though.

xmaschillprep_cnr.zip

[NaZa]

To prove my sad sentiments from the start of the month (had I gotten past MAP10, I would've gotten farther) here's this demo. I managed to die in a brilliant way on MAP14, though... (don't be an idiot and go past a Cyberdemon on 4 HP. Not a lot of good can come out of it.) ... but not before making @Maribo proud by doing the MAP13 death glide successfully. I only attempted it to give you inner peace that it's possible :^)

 

Also decided to keep playing by using -recordfromto from that unfortunate moment (of course, not for any leaderboard) and got to MAP18 in around 1h20min, which shows that. Only zipped that in additionally for the laughs and what could've beens. 

 

Oh, had I not rushed MAP10's end...

 

nazaprep.zip

[head_cannon]

IronmanXmaschillHC.zip

Category 1, Dead in MAP10 with 75 kills.

Spoiler

After the final battle where a wave of high-tier enemies flooded into the town, there was in fact a FINAL final wave after that. This one collapsed the staircase behind me and trapped me with the boss monsters. There was a hope spot as the monsters advanced out of the exit room & gave me an opening to slip through, but I was disappointed to discover that it was locked on a slow timer.

 

This mapset is silly, but 01, 03, & 09 were actually pretty cool.

[Bdubzzz]

Category 1 dead on 18, exited map 17 at 1:42:00.

 I think I was on pace to win, I had 2/3 keys on map 18 and ran in to a cyber rocket looking for progression, o well

Happy New Years

DWIronman-xmaschill-dubzzz.zip

 

Edited January 1, 2023 by Bdubzzz

[NaZa]

So, it's that time of the year. Time to look at last year as a whole, as well as the top 10 on the yearly board, of course! In descending order, to make it tense hahahah ha hah ok let's get into it.

 

10th - @Vince Vega. I am so, so glad to see you back in the Top 10. Your persistence with supplying the League with runs - even when there's little time - is amazing, also for stepping up in 2021 and not only organizing a challenge but overseeing some of its aspects, and I'm glad a Top 10 result is on the cards, after 3 years. Interestingly enough, despite a 33% survival rate, your best result was a 7th place in June, and, talking about ending the year on a high, a 7th place this month! Congratulations, and I hope we can see you more consistently in 2023. Definition of Ironman Regular.

 

9th - @Pseudonaut. In the history of the league, until this point, there wasn't a single Top 10 finisher who had more than one last-place finish - and you had two. Why do I point it out? Because you still got 9th. Another 4x survival and consistent runner (one of three people to supply 12 runs for the Standard Leaderboard in 2021, after all), the highpoint of the year was a very quick survival of Somewhere in Time and being top of the Syringe challenge for 28/31 days the challenge was running. Maybe a bit inconsistent, but I believe you showed your 4th place last year wasn't down purely to 12/12 submissions.

 

8th - @LadyMistDragon. You followed possibly the worst possible debut submission to Syringe to the Standard Leaderboard with 25 days of dominating the Jägermörder leaderboard. That is a comeback if I've ever seen one. Tussled with ginc for ROTY laudits from September onward and managed to score, you guessed it, four survivals. Besides Syringe, never went below 60,000 points, which beats even Bdubzzz in this metric, and looking at runners I'm yet to get into it looks like the fight for the top spot will be more tense than ever in 2023.

 

7th - @Maribo. Two podium finishes, consistently good throughout the year fighting for 2nd and the first runner to survive two things in the year (quicker than Bdubzzz!). Returned for a shout at a set you were a playtester for and did really well, again, despite losing 6th to ginc at the end of the year, you proved your worth. I am glad this challenge was a distraction for a moment, and I don't want you to see Ironman as an obligation. I was sad to read what you wrote and I sincerely hope your situation improves.

 

6th - @ginc. Takes home the Rookie of the Year honours with a very impressive 4/9 survivals record, including a maiden podium in Jägermörder. Fates intertwined with LadyMistDragon, one would say, heh. Not a single slip-up with runs mostly being blind. When your lowest point is a 68,000 point performance in Man on the Moon, there's really not a lot I can say except you have very good consistency.

 

5th - @Anima Zero. Top 5 for the first time since 2016! Must feel good when you get rewarded for consistency and also, like Vince, persistence in supplying Ironman runs - I believe you only had a small break in a streak of submissions from the very first challenge. Despite a shocking last place in Doom's E1 out of all things (which I applaud you for submitting - the stigma that subpar performances shouldn't be posted has to disappear) which might have costed you third, the highlight is definitely coming ever so close to a maiden victory at Sharp Things. Maybe next year? Always glad to have you on board.

 

4th - @dt_. Followed up a 2nd place last year with a very competitive 4th place this year, being engaged in a shootout with Anima and myself for pretty much the entire year. Offset less favourable performances in Jägermörder and the Sucker Punches with a comfortable MAP04 trek in Realm of Shades and a blindingly fast run through Doom's E1 with a custom dehacked. Definitely wins my award for Challenge of the Year due to its originality. Thank you for organizing the challenge and refreshing Ironman with it and, well, it's been fun to have a battle on the boards.

 

3rd - @NaZa. New phone, who dis? Rule of thumb is not to talk a lot about oneself so I won't, but I feel like I should mention that, barring the shocking softlock on Somewhere in Time (where I was on good pace), I had only a single result below 50,000. Had only a single Top 5 finish this year (no podiums) but was consistently in the upper midfield and, well... I managed to be consistent this year, I guess.

 

2nd - @Beginner. Didn't survive a single challenge until Somewhere in Time, from where you scored 4/5 survivals which could just as easily could've been a 5/5. That was also the only time you scored below 50,000. I don't remember whether you still play keyboard-only as in the 2018-19 stretch but two podiums are a decent result. A very comfortable 2nd place, too, with more than 100,000 points separating myself and yourself. Decent title defence entering from last year.

 

1st - @Bdubzzz. Four wins this year, five survivals. More points than in 2020. Sealed the title with a month remaining. Maybe you didn't win in the total amount of victories department (more on that later), but, setting aside an unfortunate outing in Doom's E1, you never went below 60,000 - make that 80,000 if we discount Realm of Shades (top 10 percentage in that case would also jump to 100%) - which is the mark of a champion. Great year, and I know you'll defend it well in 2023.

 

Now, let's look at total victories. While Bdubzzz had four victories, they're not the only one - @NightTerror also had four victories this year and got agonizingly close to a top 10 finish despite missing four months and at times meeting their fate due to speeding. @mhrz won the very first challenge and therefore continued the tradition of the Ironeagle and Ironman winners matching on a January challenge, also leading the boards in the opening stretch, @Master Medi being the only person to survive Man on the Moon, and @akolai and @Archi snatching debut victories - the latter I'm quite happy for because Archi's also one of the veterans who's been there since pretty much the start.

 

Another honourable mention I'd like to give is to @Asbadagba. Despite joining for the latter half of the year, managed an impressive 3/6 survivals and two podiums, definitely showing a mark and a warning to the current "elite". Also to @Suitepee, @Andromeda and @NoisyVelvet for still showing up every month, Suitepee (who also organzied June challenges for two years in a row!) and Noisy all the way since 2016, Andromeda since 2020, but it's always good to see continued support. Was especially glad when Noisy managed a top 3 result in January and a survival after more than three years in October. 

 

Finally, a shoutout to @Pegleg who never gets discouraged with their runs and is still among the most active participants of the league. Not only this, but also due to maintaining a great sister competition, Ironeagle, and showing continued support since joining the ranks.

 

And, of course, thank you every single runner of this year, for stopping by and submitting a run. I hope to also see you in 2023, maybe even in larger numbers than this year! Thanks for 2022!!!

 

 

Edited January 1, 2023 by NaZa
i like it when my keyboard decides to press enter before i finish my writeup

[SCF]

Thank you @NaZa and everyone else for organizing these events. This was my first year taking part, and it's been a lot of fun. Been participating for 10 months in a row now (second month was so bad I never submitted it...), and hope to be there for all of 2023 as well.