The DWmegawad Club plays: Solar Struggle

[LadyMistDragon]

E2M6: Transport Nexus

by @Jark

 

I'll be honest, I played Jark's maps in March of the Speeddemons and Twelve More Days of Doomas and they were entirely anonymous. Yet, somehow, he was able to craft this map of creeping tension, mixing quiet periods and minor incidental stuff with these large explosive ambushes that may present some problems and particularly if you haven't found how to access the rocket launcher. This is all underscored by the wonderful midi, which sounds suspiciously like a takeoff on "Message for the Arch-vile" concept and so much so that it sounds like something from Mid: The Way Id Did, and we'd realize that probably seven minutes in.

 

But anyways, this is truly a mood-setter. Perhaps some might prefer a track more on the ambient side of things given Jark's excellent use of lighting (lighting is actually incredibly laborious if you've ever attempted to create it in an editor, so I can't help but admire the dedication of those who take the time to 'flesh it out.' Which is a strangely appropriate turn of phrase as it happens because the lower levels are covered in various densities of flesh, not to mention incredibly dark in spots with the occasional presence of unsettling symbols, like the red-eyed green face we see at one point that doesn't open a secret and closes permanently when we get close enough to it.

 

I should say a few things on the ambushes. They have a way of coming at just the right moments and in tight-enough quarters that it's likely an uncommon person who won't jump if they hear a Baron howling next to them. Although it becomes increasingly clear that missing the rocket launcher like we did before was a bad, bad idea. Particularly because after passing through a red door at the far end of the tracks, falling off a flesh part will render us not only unable to return to search for the RL's access now, but also later because a middle part of the tracks will decide to collapse into the flesh cavern below at some point after you've reached said cavern most likely. So that basically put a kibosh on 100 percent kills. But despite the increasing claustrophobia toward the end, there was still enough room for the Barons in the final room behind the red door leading toward the exit to spread out.

 

I'm doing a poor job of getting this across because I'm a little hot and bothered for reasons not connected to video games at all and my thoughts are sort of bouncing right now. But let's just say a few words on the different locations. Although Jark isn't what one should call a Doomcute artiste, he's still kind enough to mark certain wings with their functions, despite the lower levels increasingly being turned into spuh-geh-tee! I really liked how a certain hidden switch was almost covered by flesh but still somehow worked. Probably best not to look for logic in Doom, however. Like shouldn't that be closer to the chamber in question? Awesome final lift thhough

 

But anyway, it was actually really nice to see what looked like a pair of boats in the middle of some underground lake that curiously has no outlet where the red key is. The Cacos are kind of a problem, but again, the true misery bringers are the Barons who almost require rocket launcher on pistol start. They are part of the map's largest ambush in the titular nexus, appear again in a quad as we're headed downstairs, then in a final series of flesh chambers, appear most annoyingly in a teleporting trio that constantly warp around everywhere whilst we try to push (and shoot in one case) three flesh switches that raise a bridge to a teleporter that takes us back to a train track region that basically dumps near the exit. Kind of seems like ammo will potentially be wasted.

 

But in the end, this is probably the second best map of the whole episode. It would almost be a contender for number 1, but it doesn't seem like grindage can likely be avoided entirely if one's unfamiliar with the obstacles presented here.

 

 

[DJVCardMaster]

E2M6 - Transport Nexus - Jark (100%K/96%I/100%S):

Jark decided to take the "Make one of his first maps, be a banger, refuse to elaborate" path. This level is long, well crafted, with many really enjoyable secrets and alternative areas to find, and a lot of atmosphere, without making it way as detailed as other maps. The atmosphere of suspense at the start of it, without any monsters to kill, that's classic survival horror vibes. Layout-wise, there are many optional areas, shortcuts, forks, and encounters that are really well crafted without going for the "beat-em-up" style of E2M3, this time feeling more Original Doom. The last fight, in a similar vein to E1M8, puts you in a really hard situation with low lights, a bunch of barons, and way too many demons blocking your face so you can't spam your rockets freely.
Here we start to see some clear "corruption" effect to the landscape, with fleshy environments in some of the rooms and fights, which is, part of the story-telling of Solar Struggle. From this point, maps are going to feel more "devilish".
If you ask me, this map was better suited for E2M5, specially because of the secrets or the optional areas accessible with keys, as hiding the secret exit would have been more interesting. But level names were stablished before development, so that was kind of impossible.
Which map did I like more, M3 or M6? Depends of the day, I think, overall I still think M3 is a little bit better, but just a tiny bit.
 

Order of Preference:
 

Spoiler

 

E2M3
E2M6

E2M2

E1M6

E1M4

E1M2
E1M3
E2M5
E2M1
E1M8
E1M1
E1M5

E2M4
E1M9

E2M9

E1M7

 

 

[cannonball]

E2M6 - “Transport Nexus” by Jark

 

Dark and often quiet, this one strikes a nice mood as you navigate through a mix of techbase and organic matter. A lot of this map really does end upon point and portrays a lot of visual storytelling. In that regard the map does have a lot going for it. Some of the fights are half decent too, especially the early skirmish at the bottom of the first big lift you encounter and the one towards the end. However some of the combat does end up a little baron-heavy and as such can cause some sections to drag a little bit. Also navigation can get a little iffy in places, especially as one section of the map lowers part way through. 

Overall I think this is probably my favourite map of episode 2 - It strikes a good balance of mood and some decent combat.

[Celestin]

E2M7: Research Complex by cannonball

Spoiler

I greatly enjoyed cannonball's contribution to NOVA: The Birth and TNT: Revilution, so I had high hopes. I wasn't disappointed.

 

The opening fight is chaotic as hell. You are short on ammo, so you have to run forward. This however triggers more monsters, so you have to keep going, activating even more enemies. Meanwhile, you'll be collecting supplies to slowly take them down, including a rocket launcher and a plasma rifle, though they are better saved for later. Two secrets, opened with shootable switches, help a lot if you are low on health and armour. At some point, everything should be dead and you can proceed with the map.

 

The red key is protected by an ambush of cacodemons, spectres and imps. Watch out for stealthy demons and the rest is a rocket fodder. Up next is the yellow key fight, the hardest in the fight for me. You are locked in an corridor, four lifts reveal barons and other monsters, while cacodemons take up even more space. My strategy was to run to one end of the corridor, focus rockets on one of the barons, use this little space to run past enemies and, with more room to breath, steadily kill them all. The last fight is a cramped slaughter in a locked arena, which goes a bit too heavy on barons for my taste, but hey, this is Doom 1, so there aren't that many options.

Spoiler

A couple of words about how the map looks. Yes, it's mostly concrete, but striking red floors and a variety in height save E2M7 for looking boring. Also, "Gutter Penny". 

 

Research Complex delivers the unpredictable, high-mobility combat I associate with cannonball. While a considerable uptake in difficulty, I had a blast here.

[Capellan]

E2M7

Is good.

 

 

[finnks13]

E2M5 - Abandoned Tunnels by ViolentBeetle:

6:12/1 Death
A bitesize little map and the second by project leader ViolentBeetle, Abandoned Tunnels looks quite nice but is mostly pretty dull in the gameplay department. It reminds me quite a lot of the second episode of Revolution! visually, especially near the start, with the focus on brown stone, bricks & nukage but the combat feels rather more out to get you than anything you'd see in that. You'll be wanting for ammo for most of the opening minutes of the map and will likely have to rely on the chainsaw to not get bitten to death, a thing I realised a little too late. Once you've gotten out of this first area the map kinda meanders to it's conclusion, which is in a little crate-maze, and then it sorta ends. I wish the map was a bit more forthcoming with the rocket launcher as it would have made it a bit less of a slog, especially since you get a bunch of rockets after the point in the level where they'd be most useful. The secret exit is pretty neat though, the way you get to it was very clever and I really liked finding it. Overall, it's a fine map :P

 

E2M9 - Artifact Storage by Hitboi:

6:33/0 Deaths
We're two for two in "really weird secret maps" and while I quite enjoyed this one (and know that this can't have been the case because of how the wad was developed) this does feel like it was placed in the M9 slot for fears of being too odd and amateurish compared to the other maps. I liked the visuals here - others have said that a lot of the details feel like 90's doomcute and I'd definitely agree, with the piles of props in the opening room feeling like something straight out of Spirit World HQ (I actually like that map, I'm not bringing this up to hate on Gene Bird :P). I also like that you travel between the various areas of the map by using the various artefacts that are stored here - including a genuine quantum accelerator! The main thing I didn't like about this map was the MIDI which I found just really annoying to listen to, and so I IDMUS'd to a perhaps less fitting, but easier on the ears song pretty quickly.

 

The gameplay is simple, but it's always pretty action packed and the high amount of low health enemies made the map go by fast. A highlight for me was the little encounter that happens after grabbing the yellow key - the lack of space make the barons a decent threat but you've got enough rockets that it's not a massive slog - I also really liked the smiley face on the wall here! I also really appreciated the fact that spectres weren't spammed in the dark cave section, since I always kinda hate that (I won't get into an unhinged rant about my hatred of spectres now, but some day...) It's a little weird how none of this last area is marked on the automap, but I suppose it's meant to be you travelling to an unmarked location by messing with something that you really shouldn't have. I appreciate the bait BFG in the exit room, it was an appropriate and amusing end to the level. Cool stuff overall.

 

E2M6 - Transport Nexus by Jark:

15:51/0 Deaths
This map is absolutely fantastic. I dunno what it is about M6s in Ultimate Doom wads, but they always tend to be my favourite maps of the episode (this is at least the case for Doom itself as well as Doom the way id Did) and this wad is definitely keeping that trend going. Just from the setting which is unique so far in the wad, in that the techbase you're exploring this time has been consumed by some horrible demon and you need to traverse both the nukage & trap filled halls of the base and the acid filled tunnels of this monster's innards. I absolutely love this theme, and the quieter moments of just wandering through the train tunnels not sure what I'd find next were incredibly compelling. I think a highlight of the map, and the whole wad so far, was the section where you go into a train that the UAC evidently tried to ram this demon with, and then fall into it's belly, which was absolutely awesome.

 

The combat is no slouch either, with you getting a plasma gun early and having to use it often. Some highlights were the small blue key section where you get surprised by some doors not opening in the expected manner, the crossroads (or should that be crossrails?) ambush where you get surrounded by a bunch of horrible stuff, and the finale which really tests you to rocket pinkies in a pretty small room before you get overrun by their baron friends. I really liked the secrets, they were fun to find and often had really cool little side-areas associated with them that you wouldn't get to see otherwise. Having played E2M7 before I started writing this, I also want to say how cool it is that the final room of this map connects to that map visually, since they share a grey & red theme that looks very nice (but I'll talk about that when we get to that map!). Episode 2 has been losing me a little bit, so this was a much needed boost. Great stuff!

[Ralgor]

E2M6 - "Transport Nexus" by Jark
MIDI: "Archvile on Line 2" by Bucket
dsda-doom v0.25.6 cl3, UV, Pistol start, blind run
100% kills and secrets
Deaths: 0
Time: 29:02

This level is absolutely massive. You're in an underground train network, although the trains won't be running anymore. You start in some sort of elevator that you might have entered in E2M5. You have to pass through a security station before you end up in the train tunnel itself. This train tunnel connects a few otherwise separate areas of the map. There are a few areas you can visit here, making this map somewhat non-linear.

 

Spoiler

I wonder where these boats used to travel to...

The most interesting (visually anyway) area is some sort of fleshy cavern with a couple of boats. The boats are trapped here like the train further into the map, as the flesh is growing through and taking over everything. Going through this area causes the train bridge to lower, and from now on you can't just travel through the train tunnels to get around. This makes the whole level more irritating then it needed to be. A teleporter nearby to cross the span would have made the level feel better, but would have probably felt out of place.

 

Spoiler

A railway to hell

This level REALLY likes to open a door with a bunch of monsters behind it, but then have those monsters teleport all over the place instead of coming at you straight. In one case in the flesh caverns, a bunch of cacodemons teleport to god knows where. You will accidentally find them here and there later, and that's not really fun. I have no idea where they run off to before sneaking up on me. The "Research Complex" implements this much better. It ends up being a somewhat fun fight, although it does end up feeling grindy after a little bit. There's just too much meat and not enough real danger.

 

Spoiler

Some spooky lighting here near the end of the level

There's this really neat hallway with a pair of eyes staring at you. When you enter the hallway it hides. It's a bit creepy, much like the whole level, but it never rose to really establishing a horror atmosphere.

In the end it is possible to backtrack and look for all of the secrets. Most of the areas that aren't train tunnels or random flesh rooms look visually interesting enough, and the fights are pretty varied and aren't too easy. It does get a bit grindy and a little mean with all of the teleporting barons though. I do think it overstays its welcome just a tad too. I still enjoyed it, although it isn't my favorite.

[TJG1289]

GZDoom/UV/Pistol-Start/Saves

E2M6: Transport Nexus - Jark

100% kills and secrets

Time: 19:18

 

I've played Jark's maps for The Mapwich 2 and March of the Speeddemons, but I can't picture them. This was one I kinda remembered once I went into it a bit, but it was mostly the main hub with the lifts. The map builds a good amount of tension throughout this opening part, as there's no enemies in sight and the lighting is dark and eerie. You get the shotgun at the start, but considering the first enemies I saw included a baron, this is not going to cut it. Thankfully, a shotgunner hit the baron which allowed me to not have to worry about it as we both went up the lift to the top with its pinkies waiting. The secrets in this map are pretty rewarding, and you can find the secret yellow key up here by punching a beat-up wall. Following the path past the blue bars will take us back up to the hub and the red key, where we can find the secret yellow bars by hitting the switch that lowers the lift by the red bars and then running back toward the main lift. Jump across to the yellow bars, lower them, then take the lift down to a partial invis, berserk, and a soul sphere. Hit the teleporter to find a back way in to the blue key, which also allows you to skip the lost soul and caco fight here if you wish, or at least get a jump on it. Before I went to the blue bars, I took the main lift back down to where the baron started at so I could get the chaingun and plasma rifle, plus the mega armor secret. The blue bars don't lower, but instead reveal a double baron surprise, in what is easily one of the most panic-inducing traps in the WAD. Spray and pray with the plasma. Thankfully, one of them teleports back toward the green armor that you need the blue key for, so as long as you don't retreat down there and just focus on the one baron still here, you're golden. Following the newly opened path will take you to a flesh-covered area with a few cacos rising from the sludge. Make sure to go through the door here into the pitch black room to find a candle-lit path to the bulk cell you saw on the way here. Continuing down the main path will cause part of the railway to sink, and reveal a bunch of cacos. Some will teleport away, so just take as many out as you can. The lift at the end here will take you back to the start. You can now open the red door here for a RL and cells, then open another big bay door to find a train that has been gradually engulfed by flesh. At the end a baron teleports behind you making you panic-jump into the pit in front of you. He'll follow you down, along with a couple of more barons appearing down there. Rocket/plasma them. With the teleport here, we show up in a rail junction. The ambush here is a lot easier than expected. The door that opens at the end takes you back to the main hub, so now we can get to the final fight. After taking out the enemies placed here, you can cause some stairs to appear downwards with several barons at the bottom, and the pinky family will teleport up here with you. Rocket the barons before the pinkies catch up, then punch them. One explosive lift later, we're at the end. Overall, a pretty solid map with some good atmosphere. The secrets are cool, and a few of the baron ambushes work exceedingly well. 

 

E2M7: Research Complex - cannonball

100% kills and secrets

Time: 12:42

 

cannonball is one the more prolific mappers when it comes to the ones who contributed to this WAD. His Doomwiki page lists quite a lot of projects he has been involved in, from community projects like this, to some Cacoaward winning solo efforts. I've played a good chunk of maps by him, but there's even more that I haven't. A lot of his acclaimed solo work are UD WADs, so if anyone knows how to make a good map with the limited elements from the first game, it's him. This map feels familiar to me. I can picture another map in my head that this reminds me of, but I can't remember what exactly that map is and if it's one of his. It wouldn't surprise me if it was one of his that I'm thinking of. This map's layout is interesting. It's a lot of sectors that look to be at least hexagonal. There's not a lot of hallways or open areas here, just platforms of various up-and-down heights made of these sectors. There's exceptions of course. The first couple minutes of this map is about finding your weapons while alerting all the enemies around you. There's a little bit of everything around in the monster variety, but thankfully the weapons are easy to find quickly for the most part. Once you get the shotgun, chaingun, and RL, you can probably afford to stand your ground and take out everything that's already following you before heading in further. You only need 2 keys in this map, and the red one is first one to grab. You have to lower it from silo, which also lowers another silo with monsters, plus a bunch teleport in. This ambush has a little bite to it, as the RL is the best bet for it, but you need to keep your distance. The yellow key fight is more restrictive, but a little easier. Focus on one of the closer closets to dump rockets into quickly, then focus on a further one. Each of the 4 closets has a couple imps and a baron (maybe pinkies too?). And cacos fly in too. The final fight is the toughest fight tho. Hitting the switch behind the yellow door lowers a wall with some barons behind it, but as you retreat out you'll notice even more walls have lowered revealing a giant external area and a crap ton of baddies. The limited enemy variety can make infighting inefficient, but it's the best way to distract them while you can find space to rocket and plasma everything. It's not too bad, but it did get me down to less than 50% health a couple times. Overall, this was a fun one. It's propulsive, and has cool map geometry! 

[Jark]

Greetings folks,

 

My gratitude for your decision to play Solar Struggle this month and in turn, a map of mine - E2M6: Transport Nexus.

 

Some quick tidbits:

 

- This map was largely inspired by Aliens TC, which I had played just before enrolling in Solar Struggle

- Originally there were monsters in the lead up to the first elevator, but this didn't work well for gameplay as you could just camp the starting room or have loads of space in the tunnels - I then preferred it empty for the atmosphere which led me to pick "Arch-vile on Line 2" by the talented @Bucket from the Mid the way ID did pack, quite suitable I found and a lovely midi

- The Cacodemons who teleport away after lowering the section of track are placed into a monster closet to be reused in the rail crossing fight, so whomever you don't kill there and then will come back to haunt you, same with the baron who hops on the main elevator when you first go down

- The end fight originally didn't have teleporters so you could just lob rockets down the stairs and be done with it, which was about as exciting as watching paint dry, but I'd argue watching the paint was more fun

 

In the link provided I have compiled all existing versions of the map from conception to completion (I would recommend opening in an editor as player start locations might be sub-optimal) along with a post-mortem, a more in depth commentary about the map though be rest assured, short. The purpose being for those interested in the map and want to look into it further - an experimental sort of thing as this is only my second time doing it.

 

https://www.mediafire.com/file/w6m26sjjlc0o3gp/TransportNexus-Versions-Postmortem.zip/file

Edited May 14, 2023 by Jark

[cannonball]

E2M7 - Research Complex 

 

So here is my cameo for the entire PUSS collective (so far), an apt name because this is the only project that I have participated in. Overall this was a fun project to work on and this map came quite early on in the development cycle. After playing Skulltiverse, I was very impressed by some of the talent coming from this (up to now) unknown corner of the Doom community. Given that Solar Struggle was an Ultimate Doom project, it was very tempting to chalk my name down for a map. 
Anyone feeling a sense of familiarity with this map will probably have played another Doom project released that year (Well I assume so), Deadly Standards 4, for which I have 2 maps that have a similar set of primary textures that were used. It appears that last year I got infected with the same mental programming as British architects in the 1960s, hence the brutalist design philosophy for those maps and this one. The principle aim here was to present a sterile atmosphere, one you would expect in a research facility, the choice of red was to resemble the fact that this place was on lockdown, I don’t know how well that comes across in game but I think it gives a rather striking appearance, one that differs from the rest of the maps in this episode. In the end the final object here is to access the large freight elevator that runs from the surface to the gateway lab that is the final map of this episode.

Pitching the gameplay was a little difficult, for a start my map design has a habit of loading the dice where half the faces are ‘1s’, and as such the player can end up facing their maker in unexpected ways, the second was the yellow key, where the original fight I play tested first time I got lucky and survived first attempt. Fifty or so tries later after being asked to tone the fight down and I concluded that renders 90% of players from ever reaching the Moon is probably a bad idea. So the number of barons was halved. The only other changes were to make the path to the red key easier to spot, adding more health and properly locking in the final fight. The exit sequence is a little odd, but using the lift function that showed the elevator descending well being your level was the best way to portray progression, actually the area outside the complex is properly the section I am most proud of, the contrast of the rocks and the lava and sheer scale adds some perspective to a map that I deliberately wanted to keep within the soft space limits given at the start of the project.

In the end I am pretty happy at how this map turned out and as it seems to be a common trope, this is a warning sign that the wad from here will not be a pushover. I also cannot thank Jark enough for the excellent effort on the preceding map, along with creating that exit room. It really stitches the latter stages of this episode together and I hope people find the conclusion to this to be to their tastes.

 

*Something tells me that I have probably forgotten some bits, so expect some edits to this post as the day goes on*

Edited May 14, 2023 by cannonball

[Book Lord]

E2M7 – Research Complex by @cannonball

DSDA-Doom v0.24.3, UV-Fast, Continuous, non-blind run w/saves

 

This was the first and only map by cannonball that I have ever played. I guess he gained my attention with this good-looking and gameplay-intense open layout, which took me a while to explore before the countless, irregularly octagonal, multilevel, and interconnected rooms were secured. I challenge him or anybody else to do any research in such a labyrinthine and disorienting place, though it was beautiful and perfectly suitable for prolonged shotgun and chaingun combat against an army of low-tier enemies. UV-fast made the first moments a bit hectic, since there were many Shotgunner snipers near the start, and they made me feel the pain. A pistol starter must get a move on and find some better equipment, which was not far but a bit concealed by the map structure, and obviously protected.

Spoiler

Once the Research Complex felt quiet and roaming monsters lay dead, I triggered the RK ambush, which I activated by pure chance in my blind playthrough. The halls were swarming again with monsters and the combination of -fast Spectres, Imps, and flying monsters could be deadly when toying with a rocket launcher in close quarters. The YK set piece in the north-eastern wing was even more dangerous, and I died about three times before I could handle the bombardment of projectiles and the relatively limited dodging space. The small Cacoswarm might catch the blind player off-guard, while he is concentrated on Barons and Imps.

Spoiler

I remember the final fight to be a good jump-scare, but nothing over the top. With -fast monsters, it was quite hectic, and very difficult because of the usual Pinkies, the hitscanners in the mix, and no safe spots to exploit. I created some living space near the rocket launcher niche, I pumped rockets like there was no tomorrow, then I stormed the hall with the plasma rifle and survived by the skin of my teeth. It was very intense, but I felt it was becoming a little too much to continue with -fast. I liked the secrets as well, since the triggers were lost in the level layout and you must figure out what they opened. Seeing the lava waterfalls from Ceres’ hot core was the perfect conclusion for an outstanding level with a notable crescendo in both action and danger. Great work!

Edited May 14, 2023 by Book Lord

[RHhe82]

E2M7: Research Complex. Played on DSDA v0.25.6, UV, PS. 219/219 K, 2/2 S, 76/76 I. Comp. time 17:41

 

Huh, I guess I must mixed E2M3 with this one, although there aren't that much similarities, except for the fact that both house a decent number of enemies packed in compact space. This one's almost constant action, chances to rest easy are small. Now that I'm slightly better versed with famous wads, this one resembles Speed of Doom's Hell's Honeycomb, the hexagonal design applied to Ultimate Doom -like techbases. And just like Hell's Honeycomb, I really like this map.

 

It's challenging (for me), but the challenge does not come from restricting resources or by attrition. This one may be my E2 favourite.

[Ralgor]

8 hours ago, Jark said:

- The Cacodemons who teleport away after lowering the section of track are placed into a monster closet to be reused in the rail crossing fight, so whomever you don't kill there and then will come back to haunt you, same with the baron who hops on the main elevator when you first go down

 

This explains a lot. That's actually pretty clever. It definitely put me on edge to know there's a cacodemon somewhere in the level looking for me, but the design makes sure I don't miss killing it. Awesome.

 

8 hours ago, Jark said:

- The end fight originally didn't have teleporters so you could just lob rockets down the stairs and be done with it, which was about as exciting as watching paint dry, but I'd argue watching the paint was more fun

 

This makes sense, and I need to remind myself here that this is Ultimate Doom, so you're somewhat limited in what you can throw at the player. I just know that after killing some of the pinkies, the rest was pretty nonthreatening. I still enjoyed the first half of the fight though.

 

Thanks for the version archive and postmortem too. I've downloaded it and will probably go through it sometime today.

[Ralgor]

E2M7 - "Research Complex" by Cannonball
MIDI: "Gutter Penny" by Augustus E. Knezevich
dsda-doom v0.25.6 cl3, UV, Pistol start, blind run
100% kills and secrets
Deaths: 0
Time: 22:43

This is supposed to be some sort of research complex, but it mostly just looks like some sort of massive bionic honeycomb. The level is composed almost entirely of polygonal cells, making it fairly abstract. Unfortunately this also makes the level visually very repetitive. I got lost more than once because there isn't enough distinction between the various areas.
 

Spoiler

 

The central area with some power pylons

 

 

The combat was really fun though. The hot start was exciting, and took me several minutes to pacify the place. The key fights were also fun, although only the yellow key fight really traps you in and forces you to fight in a limited space. There was just barely enough room to dance with the barons and cacos and rocket them all. I also enjoyed the lock-in fight after hitting the switch behind the yellow key door.

 

Spoiler

The yellow key arena

 

Overall, the map was repetitive and slightly confusing, but the combat was great. The secrets were also well hidden, but the level wasn't hard enough to feel like you had to find them. The level didn't go on too long either, and it easily could have. I also like how the exit is sending us down into the core of Ceres too. I really enjoyed playing this one, and it's either my first or second most favorite of the episode so far.
 

Spoiler

 

I actually forgot where I took this screenshot, and can't figure it out now. Oh well.

 

 

[Alaxzandarz]

DSDA-doom, pistol-start, UV

 

e2m6

The map has this wonderful brutalistic concrete and steel style. The lighting is absolutely great. I like how tall but also crammed everything is. It also has a really good usage of the tan wormy guts texture. It's one of the hardest textures to make look good in my opinion. The map just looks really good. It also has some really cool secrets, especially the yellow key one. I like the strict ammo in this map, I like strict ammo in general, but the map has too many barons, so it becomes a bit annoying. The map looping back to the starting room, which is revealed to be a lift, is super nice detail. The progression is a bit confusing towards the end, at least for me. The ending area is also really cool looking.

 

e2m7

This map has really well calibrated fights and it has especially good usage of barons. I wish the map gave me more chaingun ammo and less shells. The first half of the map has a lot of shotgunning groups of fodder and cacos, which sucks. The usage of the red textures is great, especially the usage of LITERED. I wish there were more landmarks in this map, the level looks quite samey. Not really a big problem, the map is quite small. I like how the outside area is thiss massive cavern and I also really like how you can see the cave walls through the windows really early on.

 

Both maps were good.

[DJVCardMaster]

E2M7 - Research Complex - Cannonball (100%K/I/S):

I don't know what kind of research people do here, but I know that complex is the layout of this map. This map is based. Nothing to do with an already non-clear aesthetic for this episode, but I think, as it was one of the earliest entries, Cannonball tried to give us a design direction, that sadly was not taken. The brutalist architecture here is quite resemblant to the old days of ZDaemon's CTF maps, or that Eviternity episode, or even, if I'm not mistaken, some of the maps of this very megawad, inside the fourth episode. Layout-wise, everything interconnected, just my taste. Not only that, but once combat starts here, you will never stop fighting, so my suggestion is, to mow down everything you can before proceeding with the key-tagged rooms or sequences. The last fight traps you in a small area with one of the biggest encounters yet in SS. Luckly, I've found all the secrets here.
It is no surprise this was a really good map, as Cannonball is one of the oldest (in terms of mapping carreer) in the project, and he has quite a reputation of making these kind of maps. The best point may be being able to make some really nice fights with the limited Original Doom bestiary, something few maps could bring in an almost perfect manner. 
Great level.

Order of Preference:
 

Spoiler

 

E2M7

E2M3
E2M6

E2M2

E1M6

E1M4

E1M2
E1M3
E2M5
E2M1
E1M8
E1M1
E1M5

E2M4
E1M9

E2M9

E1M7

 

The episode is ending on a really high note if you add E2M6 to the equation.

Edited May 14, 2023 by DJVCardMaster

[LadyMistDragon]

E2M7 - Research Center

by Matt "cannonball" Powell

 

Having had a decent amount of experience with Cannonball maps (and I feel like his Pandemonium remake doesn't count) I basically knew what I was in for. And I still thought I could get away with playing casually. In brief....I was wrong.

 

Although I was expecting Matt to bring it when he chose to use Alfonzo's "Gutter Penny", made famous by a strangely boring Eviternity map but originally made for the Heretic episode "Realm of Parthoris." But as Man on the Moon by Yugiboy85 proves, it's better paired with something of notably higher difficulty. This is kind of like a red-hued version of Return to Hadron's E1M6, featuring an almost-completely open-ended layout like a modern DMPhobos map but with considerably more pressure. No, it's not as hard as that utterly ridiculous excuse for a map but we'll take fire from nearly all directions, with Lost Souls appearing in tiny little places that we wish they weren't. Perhaps one will spot the switches that open the secrets, but we'd have a tough time of it if we attempted shooting that under enemy fire. Being that, you can safely expect that we did!

 

The red key isn't too hard to find and opens a long red-chambered hallway with oval-like tubes on the sides and a general vibe of "you're going to severely regret trespassing here where aliens have already trespassed." Pick up the yellow key at the end, and the floodgates open! Running to the other end and occasionally switching to plasma when things got too close seemed to work. Get lucky and some infighting might even occur between the Barons and Cacos (we really didn't)!

 

So anyways, head to the large and open room with the large yellow door, open it, then press the switch behind it to unleash the map's hardest ambush. Matt said there'd originally been double the amount of Barons in the original version and I thought he'd toned down after Return to Hadron! In either case, it wouldn't have worked to provoke infighting with our luck! We wouldn't necessarily advise heading up the closest stairs as much as heading to the side hallways, then maybe heading into the open exit elevator, complete with a central lift and a massive series of lava falls! We're still glad we took the time to find the Megaarmour secret in either case though. Probably would've been better if we'd picked it up around the same time as the Supercharge secret but  we couldn't hear anything opening so it failed to matter.

 

Although it turns out we completely missed a nook containing some shotgunners and a Megaarmor so we had to go back for that. Mid-wad fatigue may be starting to settle in. I still have to say that E1M3's better though. This was quite nice though, and fit beautifully under the soft size limits. But VB was probably right to take out the Barons, even if we personally wouldn't have minded them necessarily.

 

 

[Capellan]

E2M8

 

 

[continuum.mid]

Got caught up in my other interests lately - speed-reading books and listening to music. I think Doom burnout is setting in again. I might catch up, or I might not.

 

One comment: the start of Transport Nexus is annoying me. There's quiet for so long, and then the elevator needed to reach most of the level pins you between a Baron and too many Pinkies.

[Book Lord]

E2M8 – Ceres Gateway by @Nefelibeta

DSDA-Doom v0.24.3, UV-Fast, Continuous, non-blind run w/saves

 

The boss level of the second episode was designed by Nefelibeta, one of 2021 most promising newcomers with a predilection for slaughter and combat puzzles. Good gracious if they have been productive in 2022, releasing dozens of single levels and episodes, while contributing to various community projects and spearheading one themselves (Capybara, a silver Cacoward just as Solar Struggle). It was no surprise that Ceres Gateway consisted of a rather long series of large-scale and entertaining fights, requiring either rocket or cell spam to keep the hordes at bay. The various slaughter encounters used Doom monsters in a proficient way, marking the rhythm of our journey in this nicely detailed, lava-filled tech-base. The midi from Chex Quest 3 felt epic and reinforced the final battle sensations.

Spoiler

After defeating the ambushes in the first room and the guards in the H-shaped hallway nearby, I entered the large lava rooms to the north-east, searching for the BK. We were supposed to be near the hot core of the dwarf planet, but come on, underground trees on Ceres? Fighting in the large halls was troublesome with -fast monsters, but at least there were not so many hitscanners. Two set pieces, one giving the rocket launcher, and the second providing access to the BK, had been arranged to lock me in with monsters spawning everywhere.

Spoiler

Beyond the blue door, I must break through another guard post with many hitscanners, which I left infighting as much as I could, then I cleared the room and the subsequent small ambush in the flooded warehouse. I arrived on a ledge overlooking a large volcanic cavern, where I killed many lurking Cacodemons. At last, I found the plasma rifle, which helped immensely with the big horde of Pinkies and Barons. After retrieving the RK and witnessing sinister changes in the starting room, I returned here to find the bars open and the Soul Sphere accessible. The secret is easy to miss, especially if you enter the red door and take the non-return lift to the last teleport pad.

Spoiler

The 390-monster quota on UV was nothing to scoff at, especially it you think you can play this on UV-fast, as I did. I was dying repeatedly because the provided arsenal was largely unsuitable for the job, requiring the player to face big herds of turbo Demons in enclosed spaces where he was supposed to carefully use the rocket launcher. I remember playing this level on UV and most of the fights have been a blast, because they required to aim your rockets and create the room for movement. Doing this with -fast Pinkies was too RNG-dependant and my attempts felt quite desperate, culminating with the final fight in the stroboscopic Ceres Gateway hall, where I could not see Spectres and Cyberdemon rockets flying everywhere. I just sprayed plasma at the shadows, doing horseshoe movements, and hoping not to bang my head on an invisible rocket, an event that happened four times before letting me succeed. I can only commend Nefelibeta for the combat scenarios they created in this E2M8, even though I think the final battle was too extreme, using nice light effects that impaired the player response in the hope that the Cyberdemon fight turned out less trivial.

Edited May 15, 2023 by Book Lord

[Klear]

Just a quick note on why I've been silent - I ran into technical difficulties following a firmware update and it coincided with the busiest part of my week, so it took me until the weekend to sort out and I only got to recording more maps today. I will still need to process the videos and write a few lines about them, so I expect to be able to full catch up tomorrow evening, with the first video maybe coming today.

Edited May 15, 2023 by Klear

[DJVCardMaster]

E2M8 - Ceres Gateway - Nefelibeta (98%K/91%I/0%S):

Here is now another new mapper that comes with a really good map, this time, making the last map of the episode longer than the previous one. Our setup here is some kind of foundry with melting lava coming from tubes all around those big areas. Some of the settings here are similar to those found in E2M3, and there are also some nice encounters in a similar vein to said map. There are several setpieces you'll have to tackle before the final fight, and before that, you will see a nice view of the caverns deep inside of Ceres. We will go even deeper to face the cyberdemon guarding the gateway. This fight occurs in a really big room that, at first, seemed empty and looked like this fight would be easy, as there were tons of cell pick-ups for you to end the cyberdemon quickly, but then, a lot of hellspawn appeared and started filling the room and blocking your view of the cyberdemon itself, also body-blocking rockets so you could eat one in your face. Great turn of events at this final setpiece.
It is a really nice episode finale, made by someone with not so much experience, that clearly knew and studied how Doom mapping works for this one. It is a solid map, only opaqued, I think, because of the room-door-room structure it has at times and orthogonal design (A problem I can't solve myself while mapping). 

Order of Preference:
 

Spoiler

 

E2M7

E2M3
E2M6
E2M8

E2M2

E1M6

E1M4

E1M2
E1M3
E2M5
E2M1
E1M8
E1M1
E1M5

E2M4
E1M9

E2M9

E1M7

 

 

[Ralgor]

E2M8 - "Ceres Gateway" by Nefelibeta
MIDI: Chex Quest 3 E2M5
dsda-doom v0.25.6 cl3, UV, Pistol start, blind run
100% kills and secrets
Deaths: 0
Time: 24:10

I have to admit, when I started this level I was expecting a small boss map. What we get instead is a tech-base with multiple lock-in fights, plenty of incidental combat, and a heart-pounding final battle in the dark. It is pretty linear, although you do revisit some areas from time to time. I beat this without dying, although I'm not sure how I survived the final battle without eating a rocket.
 

Spoiler

This room is hiding more hell corruption...

You start in the elevator from last map. This first fight has you locked in a small room with monsters, and more monsters are released as you move about. This can be a bit hectic if you keep releasing more monsters without killing the previous ones. There are traps all over this map, so the energetic feeling stays with you for nearly the whole map. The second lock-in fight (I'm considering that first room to be the first one) gives you plenty of health and ammo, so the difficulty is just in not getting trapped. It's a fun fight, and might be my favorite of the level. Once it's done you move back into the first room, and this time it's changed in that it's even more demonically corrupted. The next big fight is on a ledge outside of the tech-base overlooking a lake of lava. It technically doesn't lock you in, but the wall of meat that teleports in when you hit the switch isn't going to let you through without killing them first. It's not a hard fight with the provided plasma rifle, and it's honestly a bit boring in comparison to the previous one.
 

Spoiler

The lavafalls of the Ceres core

You can now head to the final battle, which takes place on a large trippy room with strobing blue lights. There is a cyberdemon here, and making a sound will cause more enemies to flood into the room. I ran around with the plasma rifle, and somehow I didn't get gibbed by a rocket. Because things are so chaotic, you can't consistently keep your path clear, nor can you see where the rockets are. I kind of don't like this fight all that much, and the only thing that really saves it is the fact I somehow beat it with 100% kills the first time. I feel like I got lucky here in being able to kill everything without dying.
 

Spoiler

This cyberdemon isn't alone

Overall this is a fantastic level, even if I didn't necessarily love the cyberdemon fight. I loved everything else about this level. It was a blast to play through, and was just difficult enough to keep me scrambling without actually killing me. I liked the additional details in the first room when you move back through it, and I was hoping to see more of that as I completed the level, but it wasn't there. I still appreciated the small changes that were there though.

[LadyMistDragon]

E2M8: Ceres Gateway

by @Nefelibeta

 

Nefelibeta makes what's probably his easiest map yet, this legnthy 300+ monster romp that everyone will say 'goes on too long' or whatever, but the thing is, the combat is just sooooo solid, there are basically zero complaints! Along with a few more claustrophobic encounters that are honestly tough, this is basically as perfect of an episode closer as we could hope for. Unless one is just hoping for a boss map and uh, have you ever played a Doom boss map in your life?

 

But in any case, this map seems to on the surface taking a step back into more tech-y terrain, largely brown but with cool detailing and lengthy hallways, interspersed with pools of lava coming out of tanks and even a large lava cavern and also some visual touches that resemble something like Valhen's Land of the Imps or BluePineapple's concluding map in March of the Speeddemons. And the 300+ monster count more than matches as it happens! Thankfully, all the ambushes are completely predictable, as they are triggered generally by switches so no pinkies will cheaply cross our path and makes us eat our own rockets....mostly. We could've played better because using the berserk pack when there are more than 10 pinkies along with other enemies along proved to be a bad idea.

 

The Supercharge secret is located in the middle of a darkened room with a wall of corpses on one side but it's not as intimidating as it seems because the blood actually isn't damaging. Just make sure to jump at it the right way though. I think the last switch I pressed before this raises the bars here, but that's only a guess. It was quite puzzling in any case.

 

We did have to be a little careful with the rockets at first because there's not quite enough for the various groups of Cacos and Imps encountered initially, but later on, much of it can be wasted.

 

The final takes place in a large and long dark blue hallway with some spicy use of shadows, a portal to what turns out is the moon and a Cyberdemon blowing his load as various groups of enemies teleport in and prove to be easily foiled with rockets. It's quite intimidating though, especially when something teleports right next to us, but it's a large enough area there shouldn't be too many problems. Although rockets were running low enough, we tried to have the last few Barons infight the Cyber, than ran out of patience with the last Baron and just blasted him.

 

Pinkie traps were used well, but it's still not a favorite. But grats to Nefi for bringing it back home!

 

 

 

Edited May 16, 2023 by LadyMistDragon

[Celestin]

E2M8: Ceres Gateway by Nefelibeta

Spoiler

Ceres Gateway, an industrial plant in the core of the asteroid, is the biggest difficulty spike in the wad so far and the first map where I started to save. It's a long level which isn't afraid to throw large groups of monsters at the player. The rocket launcher is handed to you early on and is your best friend for the majority of the map. It is the only weapon to quickly take out barons and cacodemons, but encounters here are placed either on narrow walkways over lava, or in rooms that get flooded with monsters, so you need to be confident with handling explosives to survive.

 

A few round of missiles vs cacodemons, pinkies and barons later, you can collect the blue key and proceed. The encounter behind the blue door offers more space, but spices up the combat with crowds of hitscanners. From here you can activate a switch that leads to the red key and deal with an ambush using a newly-found plasma rifle.

 

Now, the final boss of the episode: the cyberdemon. This time, with a teleporting support and the fight takes place in a strobing room of blue and black walls. Cells are everywhere, so don't hold back.

 

Ceres Gateway is a worthy finale of an episode, delivering on carnage that Tower of Babel lacked. I do have to say, the limited monster roster of Doom 1 starts to be more and more noticeable here. While I'm still having fun, I'm starting to get worried for the second half of the wad.

[cannonball]

E2M8 - “Ceres Gateway” by Nefelibeta

 

I might have to differ from a few people on this one, but I didn't actually find this map to be that hard. In fact this felt like a decompression after the Research Complex where chip damage is a big threat. Just one death and this was early on and due to one stray cacodemon that camped at the bottom of one of the lifts. 

I really don't have any major complaints here, the fights are a little loud and at times a little primitive compared to the horrors that lurk in the likes of Capybara, but overall there wasn't really a fight that you couldn't describe as fun, especially as after the blue key you can essentially splatter every monster in your way with the rocket launcher. The final room and the cyber fight looks really cool and it adds that little extra danger to proceedings and enough to lift it beyond your bog standard cyberdemon duel. 

A few nitpicks would be that a couple of the fights where demons are heavily used can be neutered purely by the choice of trigger. You can actually clear the demons for the rocket launcher trap before they can even move from their closets, the fight that allows access to the blue key is beatable without needing the soulsphere in my opinion. The last element and something I really should have brought up, the outdoor sections could have really been improved by doing the same thing I did in E2M7, now for the record this map had to undergo some changes because of the usage of the skybox, unfortunately this result feels a little rushed and clashes a little with the more detailed interiors. 

In the end though, this is a solid map and feels more rock and roll compared to the earlier maps in this episode 2, in a way it emotes a feeling similar to E2M3, albeit the map is dressed in a different style. I must confess that playing through this now, I can see how more disjointed this episode in compared to Titan (E1). The difficulty the general feeling kind of goes all over the place. That said I felt (And this is how I felt during development) that the latter half of the episode does gel together a bit better and finishes strongly, to the point where I kind of prefer it to Episode 1.

[TJG1289]

GZDoom/UV/Pistol-Start/Saves

E2M8: Ceres Gateway - Nefelibeta

100% kills and secrets

Time: 17:21 (I had the map up when it ended)

 

Nefelibeta is someone whose maps I see posted, and I'm like "That looks hard". From community projects like Capybara, to solo outings like The Mucus Empire, their maps fall into the category of "Maps that look stunning but will probably make me cry." You know, Ribbiks-inspired combat puzzles. Stuff that makes playing on UV very hard if you're not good at that stuff. Thankfully, Nefelibeta decided to make his map for this WAD not be like those. This WAD isn't really asking for that type of modern combat design. Instead, we have a traditional UD map with a few lock-in ambushes, but nothing that's really super-dangerous. There's 420 enemies on UV here, which is the highest so far, but there's also a ton of rockets, so you know how this goes. You don't get the RL immediately, as you'll have to chip away at baddies with the shotgun and chaingun first. In fact, grabbing that chaingun in the first room lowers some walls with baddies in what could be considered the hardest fight in the map, since it's right at the beginning and there's a lot of monsters here. But once you get past that, you'll not face anything that dangerous until the end of the map. The hallway right outside this room has the blue and red doors, plus the next path you can take. This map is linear, so there's not much in the way of exploring. The lava area from the end of the last map is where we appear to be here, as windows look out into lava caverns. This path we have to take goes through some big rooms filled with lava. We have no reason to go into the lava, so don't fall in. These rooms are big enough to dodge everything which is nice. You'll find the RL in a room here, which locks you in with some descending pinkies and teleporting hitscan/imps. Focus on the pinkies first since they move quicker. As you move along, you'll get to the final fight of this path that locks you in with some cacos in the center, and monsters teleporting in all around the sides, with barons being included. You may want the chaingun out initially so you don't face rocket, then once room opens up after all the infighting happens, switch back to the RL. Heading back out from this room will show a new teleporter that takes you to the blue key. Behind the blue door is a lot of hitscan and others, but the hitscan is the danger. Makes sure to go to the end of that upper area to find a backpack and green armor. A few small ambushes later, and you'll end up on the outskirt of the facility. There's some cacos hanging off the sides, and as you grab the plasma at the end, both types of pink demons will show up. I unloaded my RL for this pretty much. Heading back in reveals another teleporter that takes you to the red key. Head back to the blue door though, as some bars have now lowered that allow you to platform to the secret soul sphere. The red door has a lift down to a berserk, mega armor, and a few bulk cells, before you jump through a teleporter to the final fight. You know, this is the final map of the ep. And normally we don't have an actual map in this slot. It's normally a boss fight against a cyb. You may have forgotten this was E2M8 as you progressed through this normal map. You'll remember as you teleport into a dark blue corridor with a cyb facing away from you. And as soon as you fire, a small army of demons will teleport in as backup. The dark strobing lights make it hard to make out both enemies and cyb rockets, so just keep moving, and spray the plasma to escape tight situations. Let the cyb kill everything, then take him out yourself. The end of ep text states that this fight took place in front of the titular gateway, so we jump through it to the Earth's moon. Time for E3! Overall, this is a great ep ender. Super fun all throughout, and is a great RL map. Looks really nice and has some good details. Not really that hard outside of the first and last fights, but the lock-in fights have some interesting setups. And the cyb fight at the end is a good use of the boss fight mechanic. 

[RHhe82]

E2M8: Ceres Gateway. Played on DSDA v0.25.6, UV, PS. 390/390 K, 1/1 S, 12/12 I. Comp. time 20:10

 

Solid closer for episode 2, I didn't quite remember this one either, except for single locations as I came across them. I'm happy that Ceres Gateway doesn't settle for being a Tower of Babel tribute, it's not just a cyberdemon hideout, but a complete level that ends on a very cool locale, the cybieboi guarding the gateway. I love this finale to cap off the episode.

 

Enemy count is surprisingly high, but we still don't head into actual slaughter territory. There are a couple of bigger crowds you are given rockets and plasma cells to take care of.

 

*

 

E3M1: Lunar Gateway. Played on DSDA v0.25.6, UV, PS. 138/138 K, 11/11 S, 118/124 I. Comp. time 22:45

 

Eleven secrets? Wow. Luckily I vaguely remembered some of them so as to not spend hours looking for them.

 

I don't know -- I have mixed feelings about this level, but in the end that is due to the fact that much of the level you don't have the tools to cope with the enemies, and you need to be on the run instead. I didn't get the chaingun until I was almost done with the map. Many of the secrets give you something like 4 shells, which at the same time is both crucial and underwhelming.

 

But but but... I can't deny the map looks awesome. I like the scenery we're entering here. Also I can't hold my inability to cope with initial resource scarcity against the map, especially because in the end it's all good (although that's partly because of secret berserk pack - if I hadn't found it...).

 

Strong opener for the episode, even when I'm not quite totally into it.

[Capellan]

E3M1

 

 

[Ralgor]

E3M1 - "Lunar Gateway" by LordEntr0py
MIDI: "Technoprisoners" by Jimmy
dsda-doom v0.25.6 cl3, UV, Pistol start, blind run
100% kills and secrets
Deaths: 0
Time: 43:33

The start of episode 3 finds you at the exit of a strange portal. Get ready, because you're about to go through a trial of ammo starvation, unless you know about the secrets. Under the surface of this hellish temple lies mounds of hell-flesh, that is revealed every time to find a secret. I really love this aspect of the map. The ammo starvation though I really don't enjoy. It only really lasts through the first half of the level, and by the time you get to the back half I felt comfortable with my ammo levels. But that's partially due to punching several pinkies without the berserk, and pistoling a couple cacodemons. That was a bit miserable, but I was out of shotgun ammo and I had no chaingun yet. I feel like I'm used to dealing with being conservative with ammo, so I can't imagine what other clubbers are going through with this level.

 

Spoiler

The central area has a pentagram on the floor

The level itself has a open-air design, but it's still pretty linear. The keys are acquired in a specific order. The level opens all kinds of side passages as you progress, which I really like. Most of the fights are not really special by themselves, although the teleport trap at the end of the level was fun and exciting. The best part about this map are the secrets. There are eleven of them, and they all take you into some sort of hell-flesh area. Some small, but the berserk secret takes you into a giant hell-flesh cavern.  I was able to find all of the secrets on my own with one exception, and that is the one with the door in the moon canyon that you have to shoot. I looked everywhere but it didn't occur to me to shoot at it. I ended up looking it up in the editor after giving it a good honest try.

 

Spoiler

There is lots of verticality in this map

Overall I really enjoyed this map, especially the secret hunting, but I do wish it was just slightly shorter and with a tad more ammo in the beginning. I think the map was very well designed from a layout and visual standpoint. There's an incredible amount of detail everywhere! This map is going to be a high bar to clear for the rest of the maps in this episode.
 

Spoiler

This is the berserk secret. I'm not sure I want to take what this dark flesh is willing to give...