The DWIronman League dies to: Double Impact

[Catpho]

lol i fell down at the nukage pit in E1M3, and its inescapable! Now i have to do a cat 3 run because the last one was so good for blind ;-;

 

[NaZa]

17 minutes ago, Catpho said:

lol i fell down at the nukage pit in E1M3, and its inescapable! Now i have to do a cat 3 run because the last one was so good for blind ;-;

 

no need to :P

[Malrionn]

23 hours ago, NaZa said:

I'd so love if there was a TNSBowl, comprised of people who hop on TNS sessions. I mean, there would be no need to guess the winner each month, but the battle for the other places would be fun! :)

 

Unfortunately, with my shitty Internet connexion, I won't be in a TNS session anytime soon. I can't participate in a eventual TNSBowl even if I'd like to.

[NaZa]

1 hour ago, Malrionn said:

 

Unfortunately, with my shitty Internet connexion, I won't be in a TNS session anytime soon. I can't participate in a eventual TNSBowl even if I'd like to.

That must suck. I don't have the best connection myself so I know how it feels.

 

Although, I didn't mean it in a way that implies only the regulars join in - any regular Ironman who's also appeared in a couple of TNS-es would join in.

[Steve D]

Just a note for Jaws, in case he wants to participate in another Keyboard Kup and keep his winning streak alive. I'm doing my practice run on this, one of my all-time fave mapsets, and, being rusty after not playing Doom at all for over 2 months, I'm getting bitch-slapped from one end of these maps to the other. I'd consider not dying until sometime in Hydroponic Gardens to be a very good result. I already know I'm going to avoid the blue key path in M3, even though it means skipping M9 and losing out on the Soulsphere, because the odds of me surviving that murderous trek are slim indeed.

 

I'm also hoping I can get an obit this time out. I'll try to die in some amusingly stupid fashion to make it worth your while, Fonz. ;) 

[Catpho]

Heh, i guess i never fully recovered. Here's a terrible category 3 run, died to E1M4's lack of armour. Double Impact really breaths new life into the limited Doom 1 bestiary, with deadly effective dark areas, hitscanner fight, limited health supplies and the freakin attrition. It returned a tension and fear i never felt in Doom 1 for a long time, so kudos to the 2 authors :D

 

dwironcatdb.zip

[Urthar]

Category 2, the night is dark and full of errors. I got a new PC recently and my mouse feels 'off' in PrBoom+, or at least that's my excuse.

 

Double Impact isn't generally my sort of thing, but I can definitely see the appeal. Excellent use of lighting and limited resources to create a desperate atmosphere.

urthar_dbimpact.zip

[Dragonfly]

11 hours ago, Urthar said:

I got a new PC recently and my mouse feels 'off' in PrBoom+, or at least that's my excuse.

 

I can get behind this 'excuse'. Playing on someone else's PC with a complete different configuration makes me suddenly terrible at games I'm normally pretty good at, heh. A new pc is essentially the same thing.

[Steve D]

I done did it. I exceeded my expectations.

 

The tragic end comes at 1:41:09 in E1M5!

 

http://www.mediafire.com/file/d2ecs3ok502ci5b/DeadlyImpact3.zip/file

 

And yep, it's pure keyboarding all the way. Cat 3 run.

 

No false modesty -- by my standards, I tore these maps a new asshole. I felt like a total boss and had insane amounts of fun playing this mapset. No flop-sweat this time. I felt cool, calm and collected thanks to 4 practice runs which told me I could get to M6 if I managed to survive the Red Key Fight in M5. I beat that sucker 3 times in a row on my practice runs -- after several deaths, natch :D -- but alas, thanks to a combination of using the Chaingun instead of the Plasma Gun, and a zig when I should have zagged, I succeeded in providing you with an amusingly stupid death, but at least I went down swinging. Come to think of it, maybe I should've used my Zerk fist. ;D

 

I died because my stunning success in the rest of the major fights gave me "big eyes," and I was thinking that I needed to save plasma for that nasty drop-down Baron trap in M6. Short of a well-stocked BFG, the odds of me surviving that fight on a first go are minimal, to put it mildly. On my practice run, I only survived that fight once out of 4 tries, so I figured M6 would be my Waterloo and that nothing short of a miracle would get me through it. I never actually completed that map in practice, because my health was so low after the Baron fight that I couldn't get past the hitscanners near the exit.

 

All that said, I feel pretty darned good and consider this my best Ironman effort to date. As I've said before, when I came back to Doom in 2011, Double Impact was my intro to modern mapping, and to say the least, I was thrilled to see that all you young whippersnappers had things well in hand. This is still my favorite E1 mapset, indeed, probably my favorite Ultimate Doom mapset, period. Some comments:

 

M1 -- A sneaky dangerous opener. It's easy to get yourself killed if you're not careful. A good intro to all the devious monster placement. My best battle moment was the Chaingun secret. I also decided to adopt Krypto's tactic of racing past the final fight at the exit, since I needed all the health i could get for the next map.

 

M2 - Super-sweet map, albeit a little switch-hunty and with a spaghetti layout that's easy to get lost in. I also fell off the narrow ledge leading to the Backpack/Blursphere secret several times. Other than that, I was in complete control. The blinky computer maze that scared me on the first couple practice runs is now quite easy. I'm pretty sure this is the only map I maxed.

 

M3 -- This map is pretty easy if you avoid the Blue Key/Secret Exit path. I opened the path just to demonstrate that I know it. The only giddy-up fights are the hot start and the Red Key Battle. I did okay in the latter, but not as well as my previous practice run, where I never took a hit -- brag. :D I was happy to be at high health and armor going into the dark Yellow Key Fight, which used to be intimidating but is now quite doable, though I still treat it with respect. I foolishly missed the secret Medikit and Green Armor, though. In other news, there's some kind of invisible barrier in Sector 754, probably a nodebuilding error. I almost got stuck.

 

M4 -- This was the first map where i had a good chance to die. First, the hot start is extremely dangerous for a low-skiller like me. I managed to achieve the position I wanted, but I was down below 40% health, which is concerning in a map with so many distant hitscan snipers, some of whom were all but invisible in the darkness. I also had to do the secret Soulsphere run twice, because even though I thought I walked over it, the placement inside a shallow well derped me. Then I lost 50% of that health in the drop-down fight for some Green Armor. :D The other danger point is the fight for the Blue Key. I tanked some damage but made it through. I then got badly trolled by hitscanners at the exit. Luckily, there was the secret Blue Armor plus a lot of health behind me.

 

M5 -- Another hot start followed by some generally tough action. I suffered several deaths in practice, but managed to develop some decent approaches to the various battles. For example, on the path to the Yellow Key, I took out the 2 sniper galleries activated by Tag 24 with 1 rocket apiece. For me, that's unusual. ;) And I was ready for Dat Crusher. Then came the big drop-down fight in the dark, low area that has caused me grief before, but was somewhat easily defused thanks to a well-stocked Plasma Gun and knowing which way to face when I jumped. Still suffered a lot of attrition. Then, finally, the end came as I sought to escape through the secret door at the Red Key Fight. So near, yet so far. :D

 

Props to @Ralphis and @RottKing for these wonderful maps. And a shout-out to @NaZa. I really appreciate how you keep the unofficial leader board going.

 

Looking forward to June!

Edited May 31, 2018 by Steve D

[leodoom85]

1 minute ago, Steve D said:

Epic endeavor...

Nice. I bet that you would have died if you played the secret level but still, nice progress from you. And I'll also wait for the next ironman...maybe I'll do it prepared this time...

[Steve D]

4 minutes ago, leodoom85 said:

Nice. I bet that you would have died if you played the secret level but still, nice progress from you. And I'll also wait for the next ironman...maybe I'll do it prepared this time...

 

Yes, I would have died in M9, but I died about 4 times on the M3 Blue Key path on my practice runs, so I decided to avoid that completely. Yes, by all means, do some preps for next month. It helps a lot.

[NaZa]

Waiting for @Demon of the Well, @RjY, @WH-Wilou84 in hopes they might mix the table up a bit.

 

In unrelated news, decided to have another unofficial go without going for the blue key in E1M3... got to E1M5... I could've been up there. Now I'm overloaded with regrets!

[SiFi270]

EDIT: I am so sorry I thought this was the DotB thread for some reason I have no idea how that happened please delete this post

Edited May 31, 2018 by SiFi270 : really really embarassing

[Jaws In Space]

Died on E1M1. Blind Run.

Demo

[WH-Wilou84]

As the month is coming to an end, here's my late entry with the fixed version (category 2).
 

Spoiler

I knew Double Impact quite well, since I've recorded FDAs on every map when the wad got released, and I rewatch dew's UV Maxes on it from time to time. Yet, I was unable to find the secret exit, or any Plasma Gun for that matter :(

This is hands down one of the best Ultimate Doom PWads, mostly thanks to its solid gameplay. It's pretty hard for a Doom mapset - there's a lot of nasty traps (sometimes in dark areas), health pick-ups are rare, and there's always a Sergent or two hiding behind a corner and ready to ruin your day.
The maps themselves are very good, with a lot of height variation and intricate layouts not that different from what you could find in Espi's Suspended in Dusk (albeit with less attention given to texture alignment).

The wad is known for its E1M8 gimmick, in which you have to activate a few remote switches hidden in the map while running away from a bunch of Cyberdemons, which can roam freely around the place. If you're not lucky, you can die on the spot if the Mastermind doesn't teleport or if you catch a rocket off-guard. In this run, I got distracted by an Imp and then got blown away by one of the Cybers - that's too bad, but then again, I barely survived some of the other traps in the set and could've died much earlier.

Excellent stuff !
See you guys next month.

dbimpact-fix-Ironman-Splattered-wh.zip

[Pegleg]

I was happy to see that @Alfonzo updated the leaderboard yesterday, because I was interested to know what kind of comment would come along with an E1M1 death. And I didn't even make it. I knew my debut was bad, but that bad? Was it owing to not showing the monster count after I died?

[Steve D]

4 hours ago, Jaws In Space said:

Died on E1M1. Blind Run.

Demo

 

Thanks for your run and for my first-ever Keyboard Kup. You died at one of the prime locations for getting killed in M1. I've shed many pelts there myself.

 

See you next month? 

[Demon of the Well]

I <3 Double Impact

 

E1M8 got me, same as lots of other folks. Almost had it, but got greedy/impatient with the last switch, should've kited those cyberdemons away one last time first. Very, very, very slow, too, probably 3 hours or more--went to the secret level, did a lot of secret-hunting in general, etc. etc. Cautionary tale about doing stuff like that (esp. in long sets that are only really hard at the end) as far as the rankings go (you're welcome 'Fredo!), for sure, but I love this set waaaaaaaayyyy too much to try to 'speedrun' it (to the extent that "DotW trying to play fast" is not an insult to the institution, ofc), rather than savor it. Plus I probably would've died before the halfway point doing that, of course!

 

Double Impact remains the king of all Phobos episodes; it still has yet to be bested, or even challenged in this regard. Big, sprawling, dark, disorienting (at first), packed to the gills with secrets and diversions, and above all incredibly fucking BLOODY, this mapset captures, distills, and even magnifies the KDitD essence, encapsulating all of the good things about that episode and expanding on them in a way that is truly timeless.

 

My kingdom for Double Impact E2!

[RjY]

Survived+1 (prepared, /idgames version) in 3:17:05

 

Spoiler

E1M1  144/144  0   51/51    5/5     9:50+32     9:50
E1M2  265/265  0   64/64   12/12   14:40+06    24:30
E1M3  412/412  0   96/96    8/8    30:20+27    54:50
E1M9  439/439  0  170/170   9/9    28:34+30  1:23:24
E1M4  211/211  0   89/89    7/7    16:35+01  1:39:59
E1M5  239/239  0   85/85    9/9    18:37+08  1:58:36
E1M6  301/301  0  111/111  10/10   23:31+14  2:22:07
E1M7  563/563  0  177/177  10/10   40:06+31  3:02:13
E1M8  139/139  0   60/60    6/6    14:52+32  3:17:05

Version: my apologies for any inconvenience, but this was recorded on the /idgames version - I was aware of the fixed version but chose not to use it. I don't think it's a good idea to introduce a new version of a wad when it already has a corpus of high-quality demos; I don't think the bugs are severe enough to justify it. Unlike, say, Vae Victus, Double Impact is far from unwinnable, the bugs are minor, avoidable if known about in advance in all but one case, and the failing baron crusher, is I think too rare an event to justify "splitting the world".

 

Preparation: I know this one well, not just from having played it before several times (including a very memorable Odamex Nitro) but more so from doing the initial port to Freedoom. Thus preparation was rather light. All I really practised was the last map. The rest I flicked through in Eureka, before playing a very cautious game keeping defences high (e.g. emptying all secrets for soulspheres and blue armours) rather than take shortcuts and risk accidents in a wad that can kill you off quickly.

 

--

 

E1M1: not much to say here, it's an opening map, fairly straightforward although with a fair amount of backtracking. You can arm yourself quite well from secret areas.

 

E1M2: a near miss in the blue tunnel on the way out of the north area, where two spectres come out of the walls to trap you in; I was chewed then shotgunned down to 26% health, the second lowest value in the run. I make sure to get all the secrets, for blue armour and the episode's first plasma gun.

 

E1M3: seems like some bad nodes around the door out of the red-locked area (by the partial invisibility). I remembered the switch to open the way to to the blue key being small and hidden but forgot exactly where it was so it took a bit of searching. A bit after that there's a part you go outside briefly, I deliberately stay back in the doorway to remain behind sound blocking lines to avoid waking the cacodemons up.

 

E1M9: I took quite a lot of damage escaping the yellow key teleporter trap - this is always a bit messy - but fortunately, I had quite a lot of health. On the other hand one place I would certainly have not survived without foreknowledge is the teleport to the west area, into an ambush on a platform surrounded by monsters. The strategy is to charge for the lifts on the far side then go up to clear the room from safety - if I didn't know in advance, I would not run for an unknown area and would instead try to clear the room from inside and inevitably fall off the side into 20% slime (I remember this happening the first time I played the map). Later, I tried to save the invulnerability for the red key area but didn't really make the most of it by missing the lift - still, it's not incredibly necessary.

 

E1M4: the yellow key bridge can be nasty if you're not expecting it. Again, don't fall off the side, it's 20% damage slime. I wasted a bit of time looking for a way up to the computer map, I forgot you can't get up from below, you have to go outside to the blue armour, the switch for which is next to the exit. You can also leave the backpack secret (otherwise accessible from the slime) until then - I just misremembered there was a way to go up, from the backpack, to computer map.

 

E1M5: had some trouble in the red key room, having picked up the key I tried to escape south through the secret door by the lamp but demons kept teleporting into the space in front of the door before I could force my way through. I should have gone out the window first instead, or triggered the 30 second door by itself and waited it out.

 

E1M6: I realised you can skip half this map by raising the secret bridge, it allows you to bypass the red door, but it doesn't avoid the nastiest parts of the map, the sink-into-hell corridor to the yellow key and the strobelight cage area. I was dreading both. The map goads you into using the rocket launcher for the former by gifting the weapon immediately beforehand and boxes of rockets in the corridor itself - despite knowing it was a trap I still decided to use the weapon until I found myself with 20% health (skipsec 8100 if you want to watch this). On the other hand, the strobe cage went very well, I hid in a corner and spammed the chaingun.

 

E1M7: such a long map and likely the one I know best from doing test runs of it for Freedoom. The hardest parts are probably the yellow key trap in the cage area, but it is much easier with foreknowledge and a plasma gun, and the final horde of barons, for which I saved and used many rockets. Also for the red key, pressing the button then running out onto the ledge overlooking the finale seems better than staying inside the room where there is no cover. And a final shout-out to that weirdly inert spectre down the lift in the curvy corridors outside the red door.

 

E1M8: passing the imp and spider ambush is all but guaranteed by immediately moving right (east) after teleporting then forwards (north) after you pass the north-east imp. Due to a bug, the east imp carries on off to the east, away from you, not west as it should, giving you a gap to slip through (see note below). Then it's a case of running around luring the cyberdemons out of the way while you press the four switches; this is what I wanted to practise, to determine and keep track of where all four cyberdemons are, avoid them if they're fighting other monsters (you know how running into a stray rocket meant for something else can really ruin your day) and get a feel for how long you can spend in the side areas before they show up, and which hallway they're most likely to have gone into so you can avoid it. Then the spiders reappear, so you do the same thing for two more switches to open the door to the exit shuttle, and lure everything out. Keep going until everything is dead. I admit to cheering embarrassingly when the final cyberdemon died.

 

--

 

Technical note: why does this trick work? P_NewChaseDir is responsible for choosing the direction a monster tries to move. First, it will try the direction that moves the monster closer to its target. This will be diagonal if there is both an x- and y-offset, otherwise it will move parallel to the appropriate axis. However, it will not do this if this detected direction is the opposite of the one in which the monster was already moving - P_NewChaseDir tries to avoid a 180 degree turnaround if at all possible. Most players likely seen this in game, monsters running away from a stationary player, not turning back until blocked.

 

The problem is though that also applies to newly-spawned monsters. A sleeping monster would not be expected to have a current direction of movement, but when a monster is spawned every field not explicitly set P_SpawnMobj is implicitly set to zero. This includes movedir, which is implicitly set to DI_EAST (being numerically zero). So a monster which starts directly east of you, even if it is facing west, will refuse to do a 180 degree turnaround, and instead continue east - ironically, performing a visual 180 degree turn in the process.

 

Doom Wiki reference

 

 

[Alfonzo]

3 hours ago, Pegleg said:

I knew my debut was bad, but that bad? Was it owing to not showing the monster count after I died?

 

It takes a long time to inspect all the demos and arrange all the times for placement, assuming I do what I usually do which is get lazy and then have to play catch-up near the end of the month. Typically I update the board with an additional 10 to 15 placements at a time. There are plenty that I've yet to put up there, yours included. Hold onto your hats!

[Steve D]

26 minutes ago, Demon of the Well said:

My kingdom for Double Impact E2!

 

Hell fucking yeah!

[Steve D]

@Alfonzo Loved the obit! And Looking forward to those pelts, too. I've warned the local tanner that they might be a little gooey and stinky when they arrive. ;D

 

I watched your playthrough of Heat Miser. Thank you so much. You raised many valid points, but rather than go off-topic, I'll send you a PM to discuss them. There is madness to my method. ;)