Meatheads by me and fveitsi

Meatheads (meathead.wad) is a single-map wad. It has quite stupid story (read meathead.txt), but it's better than nothing, right?

This wad is meant for Boom (well, or PrBoom+ -complevel 9). Also, any feedback is appreciated.

Screenshots:

Download: https://www.dropbox.com/s/xxnyuygnw7q3p6p/meathead_v3.zip?dl=1 (forgot about a few things in v2 :/)
Download (outdated): https://www.dropbox.com/s/uy2ibmargdrypjx/meathead.zip?dl=1
EDIT: also it requires GOTHICTX loaded before meathead.wad.

Pretty interesting map with some creative combat setups, it clearly states from the get-go that it's very setpiece/arena-based with its secluded areas each containing a fight ir two, but that's hardly an issue in my eyes at least. I do have a few qualms, however:

- in the big post-RL fight, the imp swarm managed to obscure the invul from my view more than once, I'd suggest moving it to the exact spot the player gets teleported onto, so that it's picked up automatically once the player moves;

- the HK horde fight (1st screenshot) can be trivialized simply by killing the overlooking AV without entering the room, after that it's just a matter of running in circles, perhaps teleporting (or kicking in like in map10 of Rush, for instance) the player there would be a better idea so that this AV could still be a threat;

- the huge AV swarm guarding the BSK (2nd screenshot) could be halved without losing its efficiency, a bit too grindy to clear out as it is after the player avoids instant incineration (the cyb setup itself is cool though);

- the YK fight (3rd screenshot) is quite weird, all those AVs couldn't do anything and just require tedious rocket spam, maybe decreasing their numbers and unleashing the [bigger] cacoswarm would do the trick better? At least in that case the player will be forced to use the room in its entirety while avoiding AVs's line of sight;

- that insta-death trap in the AV labyrinth is a really bad move, I think you'd better remove it completely, it's neither funny nor really necessary, just needlessly harsh. Just nix the soulsphere and the megaarmor if you don't want for the player to have them;

- the "zigzaggy" fight from the 4th screenshot is brilliant, probably my favorite here in both of its iterations, the pre-exit AV (the one surrounded by barons) is totally stuck, however.

Well anyway, thanks for sharing, some cool stuff in here if a bit undercooked in general, although I think with the above points being addressed this map would be stellar. On a side note - the pace variation is very much appreciated, I liked how it has both individuals and small groups in-between said setpieces, and in appropriate numbers for them to not look like a mere filler rather than a quick fun distraction. Good work on that.

My favorite parts were the imp/invul arena fight, the key fight after the big HK fight, the fight where you drop down into an area with a cyberdemon and raise a bridge, and the zigzag fight at the end, as well as the interstitial combat using low numbers of monsters.

I wasn't a fan of any of the setups with larger numbers of AVs, and the big HK fight -- a lower number of fights than the ones I felt were fine, but unfortunately they loom larger in my memory because of how tedious they were. (I think I could have skipped the HK fight after the bars lowered, but I make a policy of not skipping enemies like this when I think that might come back to bite me and I'm given more than enough resources to take them out.) The map has good potential with significant overhauls.

Thanks. I tried to fix these issues. Link in the OP.