Kama Sutra Map 28: Hard Target - An Analysis

[LadyMistDragon]

Inspired partly in response to Mt.Pain's drubbing of said map in his Kama Sutra video as well as Celestin's recent Community Chest 2 thread (along with actually something else I don't want to talk about right now but is actually something that will use similar skills to this), I decided to make one of these blog-y thingies we don't really get enough of. This is not meant to be an opinion explanation, but rather, just a breakdown of personal perceptions of the construction as well as the general monster placements and their perceived purposes If you really want to know my opinion, it's a sort of culmination for Jakob "Method" Razak. Though I'll just borrow the caveat Demon of the Well used in the DWMegawad Club Kama Sutra playthrough by terming it 'flawed.'

 

First things first, Hell Revealed's Map 24 titled "Post Mortum" was the primary inspiration for Hard Target. However, beyond sharing the same basic layout and a couple of the more notorious encounters (specifically a Pain Elemental bugaboo) they are really quite different. If you had told me The Living End, The Final Frontier or Map 01 from the 16th Doomworld Speedmapping Session had inspired this map, I'd probably have equal chance of believing you.

 

But in any case, verticality probably doesn't play the same part as Post Mortum. This is because despite there being enemies like Cyberdemons that can strike you from long distances, they're generally only in your face at certain locations and really not so much in the main arena. This is comprised of a twisting series of pathways with a cage of Revenants in either corner. Revenants will continue to teleport into these cages for some time after they're approached. Many people that play this map for the first time try to use the plentiful rockets to pick them off piecemeal before moving on to the rest of the map. One has to wonder if in fact, Method intended the player more to explore the side passages first whilst lobbing as many rockets as possible in the directions of the cages. At the same time, this does hit a certain personal pet peeve involving enemy teleportation that serves less to make things difficult and more to annoy people getting a quick UV max. Perhaps that wasn't the intent here but at the same time, even if one waits to kill most of the Revenants until more progress has been made (like getting rid of the Arch-viles that can harry you from the clifftops), it's still a process that takes a while. Not to mention one can't just circle backwards and win. Thanks to the shape of the rocks behind where you'll likely approach the Revenant cages from, memorizing the layout of these areas is absolutely critical if you don't want to get killed. In any case, it's best to leave them alone for the time being and we'll come back to them later.

 

 

Rockets and slime suits are absolutely critical to surviving, given the required traversal over radiation and the vast amounts of foes. It can be pretty tricky to grab the one suit at a time from the cliffside with Cyberdemons able to strike you from any corner of the map.

 

From this point, some things start to feel essentially like Method's attempts to vary the action a little bit more A spot in the slime hides around a dozen Arch-viles that thankfully can't pursue you due to a monster blocking line. A chamber with an Arch-vile pair on either side and several Imps and Hell Knights in the middle guarding a Spider Mastermind. 

 

But at the same time, it feels like there's a touch more calculation going on than in Post Mortem. Although that map is judging from the videos of it I watched for research probably one of the better ones in Hell Revealed and possibly more fun than this map, it's clear to see that monster use has taken some steps forward in intelligence. While it's not as difficult as many of the similar slaughter wads that came after it (Hell's Vendetta from Deus Vult II and No Chance both come to mind), it's a little bit harder to spray and pray. And while there's still a heavy amount of door camping, action overall goes by a good deal faster than the wad's release date and the 1700+ monster count on UV might suggest. Granted, the UV Max record for Hard Target is just under 25 minutes but this is the example of a map where a bouncy and energetic midi can make all the difference. With luck, the ending time for a person who knows the map should be between 40-45 minutes.

 

But ultimately, all this is moot if one does not find the BFG in the northern part of the map and preferably as soon as possible. Far from unguarded, it contains an enemy composition similar to that of the other quadrants of Revenants in a central cage, Arch-vile groups on two central platforms, and Hell Knights on the side, along with Cyberdemons in each of the back corners, the task of handling them won't be easy. One shouldn't expect to kill many on their first go-through and they aren't the main goal anyway. There'll be an obvious wall that lowers, revealing two teleporters allowing the liquidation of each of the corner Cyberdemons, with one of these square containing the BFG.

 

From here, it should then be (somewhat?) safe to enter, firstly, a cramped hallway with pools of slime on the side with a massive mob of Imps and a Cyberdemon in the back.  Obviously, this shouldn't be too much if one is fairly adept at two-shotting Cybers, but the cramped quarters do make things more difficult. Then if you try to run around him, Arch-viles end up teleporting into the left cages.

 

The true objective are the paths that lead to the central tower though, practically impossible without the BFG because of all the Hell Knights packed into the spots here Then after dealing with some Revenants and a Cyberdemon in each section comes a pair of the nastiest setups. Pain Elementals and Cacodemons will pour out of some nearby revealed alcoves, and at some point, we'll run out of ammo and have to get a little more. At this point, everything on the floor in the corner quadrants should have been dealt with, because if not, that's ever more sources of aggravation while plunging to escape them. Because there isn't exactly tons of cell ammo available on hand, so retreat becomes necessary anyway. 

 

After this, it should be safe to head down a certain path that's on the side of the tower with the stairs and the Mancubi to a door at the north end. Once again, you're greeted by another Cyberdemon, but thankfully, Method leads plenty of room to back out. A Cyberdemon will also confront you when you exit. Honestly, there isn't too much reason for this other than an extra bit of meannness but he's still debatably easier to handle than all the Pain Elementals and Cacodemons from earlier. After that, there should be few available to challenge the players whilst traversing to the exit!

 

Hard Target is definitely not without an amount of cleanup that would be considered excessive in modern wads. Not to mention that the numerous pop-up Cyberdemons are teh work of a mapper who thought it was kind of funny. Arch-viles and maybe Revenant murders would be just as good in some of these situations. But despite all this, it's not too bad of a map for those who know what they're doing. Plus, there actually is a fair amount of strategy in most locations. Ultimately though, the midi choice helps sell a moderately brutal map like this. Just good enough to keep the ol energy level up and just difficult enough that it doesn't feel like straight rocket and BFG spam.

Edited August 3, 2023 by LadyMistDragon

[princetontiger]

I love posts like this... This is exactly why I browse Wad Discussion.

 

I'm going to revisit this wad and check out this map again.

Edited August 3, 2023 by princetontiger