The DWIronman league dies to: U N W E L C O M E

[dt_]

October 2023,

 

 

This month, we will be snuffing it to @Plusw's Unwelcome, an 8 map boom set released in 2018, with a different feel to your average, and a little bit of a lean on the puzzley side.  I can see blind players taking their time, with likely huge time savings for the prepared guys

 

Get Unwelcome HERE

 

Complevel: 11

IWAD: Doom2

 

SOFTLOCKS:

 

Not a softlock as such, but you will need to save at least 1 bullet to exit the start room of m2, as it's quite easy, depending on your time in m1, to start m2 with hardly any ammo, and use it on the first encounter.  Could've used a clip or two in there just in case

 

 

STANDARD IRONMAN PATTER:

 

-1 attempt, whether it be a natural death, technical issues, cat jumped on keyboard and made you rocket yourself, et cetera

-UV only

-No additional wads loaded

-No saving/loading

-No cheat codes

-No freelook, jumping or crouching

-Try to enjoy yourself, it's a friendly competition

 

Categories briefly explained:

 

Cat 1: Blind.  Don't know this wad from Adam.  Never played it before, no foreknowledge;

 

Cat 2: Have played it, or some of it before, enough to offer an advantage, prior to the wad being selected for club play;

 

Cat 3: have swotted up on (but not played) the wad after it was selected for club play with an intention to survive or max the wad, and in the fastest time possible

 

Prepared: Well, you've, erm, prepared for it by playing the wad.  There will be a separate leaderboard for this, these runs are also welcomed in addition to the three above.

 

I'd allow about 1.5 hours or so for a fairly casual playthrough.

 

Good luck!

 

 

 

PREPARED LEADERBOARD:

 

Deafpixel (unknown)  Hello, and welcome, Deafpixel.  It is said that a picture tells a thousand words.  In this case, the picture tells 0 words.  I know nothing about this run.  Did it even happen? Why am I even bothering to type this out

 

 

STANDARD LEADERBOARD:

 

1. Master Medi (cat 1 Survival 1:13:38) Excellent work, a couple of not so survival looking moments, but overall a very confident run, often just pressing everything at once and hoping for the best, and the best is what we got

 

2. Asbadagba (cat 1 dead (DNF) m8 1:00:33) That's proper rubbish, that.  I'd say that would've been a likely victory otherwise if not for that minor map related wiring error there.  Tread carefully everyone

 

3. ginc (cat 1 dead m7 1:20:19) Another cell saver here; don't you know there's a war on?

 

4. Suitepee: (cat 1, dead on m7, 1:45:01) That's not good that's not good THATS NOT GOOD.  Quite a good run though however, what were you saving all those cells for?  You can't take em with you!

5. Brainfreezzzzz (cat 1, dead m6, 43:29) Oh shit, its a crusher, it's ok though I'm hard I can take it, hang on, oh shit, this is a slow cru...

6. AnimaZero (cat 1 dead m6, 59:43) Map is called 'undying', but Anima somehow manages to make dying look easy.  Good Job.

 

7. Vince Vega (cat 1 dead m6 1:06:35) Perilous ledge there just lining you up for all kinds of no no.  Other option was to join Anima and sleep it off in the lava.  Not sure which is the worst way to go in this instance

 

8. Vytaan (cat 1 dead m6 1:15:08)  Rounded it off with a nice early bath, I'd say you slipped on that ledge there; taking a rocket direct to the chops probably opened up a nice bloody wound, bit skiddy underfoot

 

9. Beginner (cat 1 dead m6 1:16:23) A flat performance by beginner, the weight of expectation placed upon all runners in this wad.  It's been a squeeze for time watching all these demos, been under some real pressure.  seen some crushing defeats, like this one

 

10. RjY (cat 1 dead m5 1:08:08) That cheeky side cacoball set the ball rolling for Rj's demise.  A mouse fart would've done it but an 80 damage rev rocket almost gibs him, the result's the same either way

 

11. Pseudonaut (cat 1 dead m4 35:33) That was a rough open hand slap from that hell knight combined with what must've been the curviest rev rocket in Ironman history.  Anyone would be happy to die as a result of that combo

 

12. LadyMistDragon (cat 1 dead m4 46:45) After some palpable frustration on m2, a wild crusher appears to put LMD out of one's misery.  Promise I'll not pick another puzzle map

13. dt_ (cat 2, dead m3, 19:42) Temporarily forgot that the start is always the exit, and assumed that in this case it'd be that cyber's backside.  (spoiler) It's not.

 

14. NoisyVelvet (cat 1 dead m2 9:35) Susses the m2 start puzzle out no bother, it's just the other Doom fundamentals like dodging massive fireballs and, ultimately, not dying that get the better of him here

15. ClumsyCryptid (cat 1, DNF m2, 11:06) Less of a softlock and more of a 'just can't quite reach that switch' lock.  Save your projectiles to avoid being locked in this nightmare

16. Joe-Ilya (cat 1, dead m2, 11:09) The first of likely many future deaths in that scenario for blind players, Joe nearly edges it but the wind from that blast just pushes him a bit too far

 

17. Helm (cat 1 DNF m2 11:46)  I'd say less of a stall and more of a catastrophic clutch failure; the helm engine is still going strong as ever but them wheels just can't be turned.  Sometimes the challenge is keeping a couple of rounds spare in your back pocket

 

18. Darth_wiader (cat 1 dead m2 14:08) Revenant tried his level best to take that rocket for you, but you wanted to die so badly.  Great work on that puzzle early on

 

19. Austinado (cat 1 dead m2 16:50) revenant brought a rocket launcher to a fist fight, that's well unfair, I feel for ya

 

20. head_cannon (cat 1 dead m1 kills: 29/49) Almost a pacifist approach early on, the demons did not share this channel of thought however, you can guess the rest

 

21. Pegleg (cat 1 dead m1 kills: 19/49) Nice gentle start, looking smooth, then goes for a close quarters run on a revenant while armed with arguably the best long range weapon in the game.  Classic case of too much 'W', and a lack of 'S' (or front/back arrow, delete as applicable)

 

22. Horus (cat 1, dead m1, kills: 15/49) Cheeky chaingunner dusts off Horus, after surviving a couple of light encounters by the skin of his teeth.  There's always next time, eh

 

23. NaZa (cat 1 dead m1 kills: 15/49)  Happened upon a couple of handy secrets early on, but then failed to capitalise on that, instead chosing to go in for a hug with a mancubus.  Mancubus displeased by the affection, especially in this wad

24. SCF (cat 1, dead m1, kills: 12/49) Bit of a fumble there, the only puzzle encountered here was which random weapon to use at what exact point; just to clarify, the puzzle has still not yet been solved

25. Andromeda (cat 1, dead m1, kills: 8/49) A couple of early iffy choices cut this one short, that hell knight sure wasn't up for dancing anyway

26. No-Man Baugh (cat 1 dead m1, kills: 5/49) Welcome to the DWIL, thanks for playing, and helping to prop up the leaderboard.  Could've easily escaped that encounter, hell knight just wanted to welcome you to the club as well by giving you your evening back with an early exit, you can thank him later

27. Lazorical (cat 1 dead m1, kills: 4/49) If the tactics were to die pretty much immediately then they were right on.  The 2 stroke fumes from that saw probably clouded your judgement so I'll let you off on that one

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited November 1, 2023 by dt_

[Anima Zero]

Cat 1, got to map 6 before I found a random ass death pit that thankfully ended the run.  Not a fan of this one cause the palette just made everything beyond dull (and I was half expecting something creepypasta level the way the first map was playing out, but that might just be me).  Doom 3 level darkness sure didn't help either.

DWIronman_Unwelcome_AnimaZero.zip

[Brainfreezzzzz]

Cat 1

Death on Map 06 with 6/156

Exited Map 05 at 43:29

 

Spoiler

I was turned to sandwich

iman_oct2023_brainfreezzzzz.zip

 

[Andromeda]

Category: 1

Dead on: MAP01

Kills: 8/49

 

Garbage performance even by my standards :)

 

im_andromeda_unwelcome.zip

[SCF]

Category: 1

Dead on: MAP01

Kills: 12/49

 

I think I forgot I was doing ironman and couldn't just restart if a boneheaded plan didn't work out. Although seeing the wad described as "puzzley" I was already not expecting to get far.

 

DWIL_23-10_unwelcome_SCF.zip

[Horus]

Cat 1:

Dead on: Map 01

Kills: 15/49

 

My performance was....unwelcome

horus_ironman_2023_10.zip

[DeafPixel]

I underestimated the range of a crusher.... also played with gzdoom so I don't have a demo, oops
Take this screenshot as evidence, I guess?:

[DeafPixel]

Wad was cool, but playing it like this gave me extreme levels of anxiety

[Suitepee]

https://youtu.be/nQ2z99hQd1A

 

Category 1 run, died on map 7 to a Revenant with 83/104 monsters killed. This felt like an avoidable death honestly, but at least I did better in this month's Ironman compared to the last few.

Edited October 3, 2023 by Suitepee

[LadyMistDragon]

Category: 1

Dead at 48:45 on Map 04

 

I've no idea why we're tortured with a puzzle wad of all things!

 

Spoiler

It might have been good if I'd recognized that crusher for what it was right away. 

 

lmd_unironwelcome.zip

Edited October 4, 2023 by LadyMistDragon

[Austinado]

Category : 1

- Dead Map 02

- Monsters Killed : 39/59

 

* Pressing play on the video will the start the run

 

 

[Vince Vega]

Sorry that I disappeared for quite a long. I've been busy as an Arch-Vile and completely forgot about Doom ._.

 

MAP06, 25 kills, time on the map 4:03, total time is 70 minutes.

Category I, purr blindly.

 

Crap, that was horrible. Finished 5 maps with only a couple of dangerous health drops and then your curiosity makes you do silly things which -- surprise -- lead to your death.

Maybe finish the rest two first to have a survival and then do anything you may want? -- Naaah, too boring, let's mess up the take!

 

dvvunwel.zip

[Vytaan]

Category: 1

Dead on: MAP06

Kills: 22/156

Total time: 77:59

That went well, until it didn't because of my own stupid curiosity. That, and the Cyber who I called 'not very dangerous' 10 seconds before eating a rocket. Happy with the progress though, seems like I'm slowly improving month after month.
 

dwironman-unwelcome-vytaan-cat01.zip

Edited October 8, 2023 by Vytaan

[SleepyVelvet]

DEAD: Map02

Time of Arrival: 9:34

Category: 1 (Blind)

Kills: 24/59

Time of Death: 15:25

Demo: noisy_UNWELCOME_ironman.zip

 

Cause of Death: 

Tripped and ate a couple mancubus volleys.

Very cool wad.  I wouldn't have played this if it weren't for this Ironman.

[Lazorical]

So, finally thinking I was prepared to do an ironman, I boot up DoomWorld, check the wad.. Don't know it. So I download the wad, boot it up, thinking about all the tactical engagements I'm gonna have to do with the weapons I'd be getting, and...

 

Category: 1

Time: Like, 30 seconds

Death: Map 1, ~6 kills

Demo: In attachment below

 

I'm so full of myself sometimes.

ironman-1023.zip

[NaZa]

Oh my words

 

dwironman_oct23_naza.zip

 

Spoiler

cat 1 map01 14 kills... yeah, no words really. one of those days

 

 

Don't rely on knowing where the walls and openings are... because there just may be a spectre where there was an opening. Shame

 

Edited October 14, 2023 by NaZa

[Pegleg]

Category: 1

Dead on: Map 01

Time of death: 5:58

Kills: 19/49

 

I don't like revenants. I think I say that more often than other things in these DWIL threads. I probably should have tried to go around and get behind it instead of charging directly at it, but hey, evasion is for suckers.

 

dwi_pegleg_unwelcome_cat1.zip

 

Granted, I only saw Map 01, but this mapset seems to do a very good job of establishing the mood that you aren't wanted in that place without resorting to sending hordes of monsters against you. The music is somber, the colors are fairly muted (except for the pink and the blue), the lighting is dim, and ammo and health are scarce. I don't personally enjoy ammo starvation, but it works for the purpose here. Interesting choice for the Ironman. It's not my particular cup of tea, but it's not a bad mapset. It might be interesting to walk around with -nomonsters just to take in the overall atmosphere of the place.

[Helm]

Category: 1
Stalled on: Map 02
Time of Death: 31:14
Kills: 50/59
 

Spoiler

I quickly glimpsed something something about softlocks on map 2, I don't really know if that's what I got - as it wasn't at the start of the map - but progression became to puzzley for the mood I was in even if I wasn't softlocked. With no ammo left my doomguy berzerk punched himself in the face to end it all, I guess. I usually wouldn't quit out of a challenge but a demo of someone making the same laps over and over trying to hit shootswitches without any ammo left wouldn't do anyone any good and that kind of map is certainly not why I attempt the Ironman challenge. I'll play this one casually, it seems good for what it is.

 

DWIronman_Unwelcome_Helm.zip

[Beginner]

Category 1 demo. I've been told that I was unwelcome and tried to leave, but they made me stay on map06. Rude demons.

[No-Man Baugh]

My first contribution to the DWIronman league! And I died almost immediately to the first mid-tier I saw

Category: 1

Kills: 5/59

Played on Woof! v12.0.0 on complevel 11

 

dwim-unwelcome-noman_baugh-cat1.zip

 

Sorry for the pause in the middle of the demo; I have pause set to the tilde key because my current keyboard doesn't have a dedicated pause key and I fat fingered it when going for the chainsaw

[Darth_wiader]

Map 2
Category: 1
Kills: 33/59

Died to a cyber's rocket, grrrr

dwironman-unwelcome-darth_wiader-cat1.zip

[ginc]

Category: 1 (blind)

Entered MAP07 at 1:20:19, died with 83/103 kills (20 remaining).

 

Means of death / comments:

Spoiler

Died to a bunch of barons/mancubi/revenants (mostly the revenants I guess) in a relatively small area because I was too stingy with my cells. Definitely should have spammed more BFG shots.

Basically, Suitepee's obituary also describes mine too.

 

This WAD has some cool concepts and I actually like the palette, even if it does make it hard to tell the difference between green and blue armor at first.

For a WAD with puzzly elements, there's thankfully not much in terms of instant death traps, only one I really noticed is that slow crusher at the start of MAP06 which I luckily noticed just in time lol.

 

 

Video:

 

Edited October 28, 2023 by ginc

[Master Medi]

Cat 1

Survived in 1:13:38

unwelcomeIronmanMedi.zip

Spoiler

Map07 has a super close call that I can't believe it happened lmao

 

[Asbadagba]

cat 1 (never played)
dead on map08 (softlock, fell into a hom pit)
dead at 1:09:40
entered map08 at 1:00:33
155/416 kills
dsdadoom 0.26.2

 

ironman_2023_10_asbadagba.zip

 

video edition:

Spoiler

 

 

[Pseudonaut]

Category 1, dead on map04. Entered the map at 35:33.

unwironman-pseudonaut.zip

[RjY]

dead on map05, time 1:08:08
 

Spoiler

 

  map  stat     dead      time  total  sec
MAP01  EXIT    49/49  16:11+00  16:11  168
MAP02  EXIT    59/59  22:21+25  38:32  193
MAP03  EXIT    52/52   9:08+19  47:40  140
MAP04  EXIT  120/120  20:28+27  68:08  332
MAP05  DEAD    17/83   2:34+05  68:08   55

Well, I am sure this is going to be a disaster. (Another one, after Speed of Doom NM-Lite.)

I do not think puzzle maps are meant for blind runs. You are meant to fail a few times before you figure it out, right? I mean if you solve it first time it could hardly be called a puzzle at all. This is why modern slaughtermaps are IMO best called "choreography puzzles". But I digress.

Looks like a good wad for Halloween, anyway. I warmed up by replaying the classic puzzle map SCREAM.WAD. (Maxed it, too!)

...

All right, I take it back, I wrote the above before I started the recording, and evidently I was making excuses before I had even tried. But the ultra-cautious approach went better than expected, right up until the end obviously. Unfortunately I have not left myself enough time to rewatch and write it up properly. I did not expect to last that long. Here is what I remember.

1. Not quite as puzzley as I was expecting, although I did think I had broken the stepping-stone-raising to the "open your eyes" switch at first. I thought those pads were teleporters and avoided stepping on them for the longest time.

2. It took a while to figure out how the doors worked, I have to admit.  I got super lucky with the cyberdemon. Later I thought staring at a wall for ten minutes waiting for it to get crushed would be a useful use of time. Remember I did not expect to survive even one map.

3. I do not remember this map at all :/. I checked, it was the one with all the floor damage. Fairly straightforward, I thought the lift puzzle would be more annoying than it ended up being.

4. My goodness, have I ever before been so glad to see a pair of light goggles? That is when I knew I would survive the map.

5. I was interrupted by external factors and relieved of my concentration. When I was able to get back to the keyboard, I was no longer in the zone, and made a series of stupid health-costing mistakes, eventually dying to a mis-dodged revenant missile.

I did not look forward to this month's recording with eagerness, as the wad did not look like it would be to my tastes: puzzles, darkness, and gimmick palette replacements hold little appeal for me. However, in the end I did enjoy the experience (at least, until it started going wrong).  Now I get to see how much replay value it has, when with the novelty value mostly used up, much less patience is available for re-doing a bunch of stuff I have already completed.

 

 

[head_cannon]

IronmanUNWELCOMEhc.zip

Category 1, Dead in MAP01 with 29 kills.

Spoiler

"If I lure this Cacodemon into a hallway, I can safely saw it down and save some shells," I thought. "They've got a high pain chance, right? This is sure to go well!" He had my number, biting down the instant I came around the corner into reach of his jaws.

 

[Suitepee]

Did I just win another Ironman League month?

 

EDIT: Nevermind, been told I finished fourth by Naza.

Edited November 1, 2023 by Suitepee

[RjY]

16 hours ago, Suitepee said:

Did I just win another Ironman League month?

Looks like ginc beat you to map07 (1:20:19 vs. 1:45:01) and then Medi survived the whole thing. I think you might be third.

edit: Apologies, I overlooked Asbadagba.

Edited November 2, 2023 by RjY

[dt_]

Been a bit busy last few days, I'll update the thread asap

 

Done.

 

Thanks for playing this spooky wad, would've been interesting to see a couple of prep runs and how quickly it could've been completed but no worries.  Something about best turnout ever for October? I'll take that

Edited November 1, 2023 by dt_