The DWmegawad Club plays: 1000 Lines 3

dobu gabu maru · December 1, 2021

What is the DWmegawad Club?

This is a place where we settle down, have a cup of tea (or drink of your choice) and take a month to play through a megawad on our own, together! Any keen observations, criticisms, or frustrated ranting about it goes here in the discussion. As long as you want to say something about what you've played, feel free to speak your mind.

Can I join?

Sure. The only rule is that you have to play at least some of the levels in our monthly megawad to contribute, but you're generally encouraged to finish the whole thing, even if you've played it before.

What levels am I allowed to post about?

Whatever day of the month it is, is the upper limit for the map you can post on. So if it’s the 6th, you may discuss up to MAP06.

Do I have to post an entry every day?

Nope, not at all. This is only for our more enthusiastic members. As long as you play through it with us you’re part of the club.

When do we vote on the next month’s megawad?

Voting begins on the 25th of the current month. Remember to add one “+++” before your vote to make it easier to count. For example:

+++ Ultimate Doom

Note that you can only nominate up to three separate wads for a single month, and the wads must contain at least three maps each. The winning wad must receive at least four votes for a thread to be made. Ties will be decided by RNG.

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>>>DOWNLOAD 1000 LINES 3 HERE<<<

1000 Lines 3: Community Project is the… third! 1000 Lines project, spearheaded by the trusty Liberation. Each map is allowed a maximum of 1000 “walls”, but this time there’s some clever dehacked work to spice things up! Could this be the best 1000 Lines project? Play and find out!

Author & Maplist:

Episode 1 - Mars City

MAP01 - “Dust Devils” by Aquila

MAP02 - “Tharsis Awakens” by Tristan Clark, Dragonfly

MAP03 - “Lower city grime” by Liberation

MAP04 - “Monument of Mars” by reflex17

MAP05 - “Martian Vista” by Walter

MAP06 - “A Memory From Earth” by Aurelius

MAP07 - “Back Alleys and Interlopers” by Chester

MAP08 - “Concrete Avalanche” by Scotty

MAP09 - “Martian Midnight” by DMPhobos

MAP10 - “Red Alley” by Alter

MAP11 - “In Kasei Valles” by Aurelius

Episode 2 - Tudor Times

MAP12 - “Forlorn Hope” by Liberation

MAP13 - “Viridical Mines” by Worm

MAP14 - “Bad Manor” by Nootrac4571

MAP15 - “The Black Ramparts” by Bauul

MAP16 - “Corruption” by Pegleg

MAP17 - “Ceremony of a Thousand Stars” by AD_79

MAP18 - “A Farewell to the Dark Ages” by antares031

MAP19 - “Gutter Waltz” by Dac

MAP20 - “Wall of Omens” by WH-Wilou84

Episode 3 - Tropic Nightmare

MAP21 - “Skull” by Lord_Z

MAP22 - “Crossbones” by Dreadopp

MAP23 - “Exile’s Path” by Misty

MAP24 - “Efflorescence” by Dragonfly

MAP25 - “Where Lies the Strangling Fruit” by Major

MAP26 - “A Trail of Scorched Earth” by Chester

MAP27 - “Nightfall” by DMPhobos

MAP28 - “Tropical Warfare” by Guardsoul

MAP29 - “Path of the Withered Vine” by Bridgeburner

MAP30 - “False Deity” by Aurelius

Secret & Extra

MAP31 - “Farfarout” by Xyzzy

MAP32 - “Vintage Murderfest” by Roofi

MAP33 - “Terminal Transit” by Wolf McBeard

BONUS CONTENT

1000 Lines 3 Thread

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OLD THREADS

Spoiler

The DWmegawad Club Metathread

2012

2013

2014

2015

2016

2017

2018

2019

2020

2021

Edited May 8, 2023 by dobu gabu maru

NiGHTS108 · December 1, 2021

Good morning Doomworld! Before I start I’m going to flagrantly steal MtPain27’s Dean Of Doom grading system before his very eyes for the club, if you’re not familiar with it, every map gets 2 grades

Grades: A>B>C>D>F

Difficulties: X>A>B>C>D>E

X for extreme, E for easy, geddit? Ok, good

-

Play info

- GZDoom 4.7.1

- Doom (strict) compatibility

- Ultra-Violence

- Pistol start

- Using mods Autoautosave and IDCLEVer

-

MAP01: Dust Devils

By Aquila

Kills: 100%

Items: 0%

Secrets: 0%

Time: 2:48

Not a bad start, Dust Devils introduces a sleek city landscape theme with neon highlights and introduces the first of 3 DeHackEd enemies in 1000 Lines 3, a plasma marine reminiscent of the plasma guys from Rowdy Rudy’s Revenge and Mr. X from Scythe II, also related to DeHackEd, the new pistol and chaingun (or assault rifle) are a bit odd, I always thought mappers made the pistol 100% accurate to make it more relevant so making the chaingun 100% accurate too feels kinda counter-intuitive, anyway, Dust Devils looks pretty but is a can of corn, even for MAP01s

Grade: B

Difficulty: E

Playthrough video

Edited December 2, 2021 by NiGHTS108

TJG1289 · December 1, 2021

The first 2 of these were good, and I keep hearing this one is better, so I'm looking forward to it! I'll do the first 2 maps tomorrow as I don't have time today before I leave for work.

dac · December 1, 2021

So before we start, the 'clever dehacked work' mentioned might not play nice with mods, just thought we should know this.

Play Info

Source Port : DSDA-Doom 0.22.1

Difficulty : Ultra-Violence (Maybe drop down to Hurt Me Plenty later on?)

Saves : Allowed. Doing my best to not save in the middle of a fight.

Restrictions : Pistol start.

MAP 01 – Dust Devils

You know, for someone who contributed a bloody map to this project and play-tested a bit of it, this is the first time I’m playing it in full, from start to finish. A bad habit I should curb.

Anyway!

First map of the set, and it does a good job introducing us to a bunch of new stuff. The pistol has been buffed, and it is handy to deal with the opening zombies, imps and plasma gunners. Speaking of, these are new enemies, easily dispatched yet packing a good punch if they sneak up on you. Like that one near the lift. Fuck that guy.

Secret shotgun is there to show off its reload buff too (And fast weapon switch!), as well as the non-secret rifle replacing the chaingun yet being better at murdering demons despite plainer appearances. Other than another secret rocket launcher mostly meant for continuous play, that’s all the weaponry we have, and the bestiary is kept in check for this first map – imps, zombies, plasma, and nerfed lost souls. Nothing too challenging, although later maps will make me eat my words with gusto, as is custom.

And visually, if it feels like this map is plain even for a thousand lines, that’s because it uses barely half of that. I know a common commentary is how certain maps feel like they have way more lines than they do, and from my eye, that’s OTEX and proper texture use doing a lot of heavy lifting. Especially when it comes to nature, but I’ll probably elaborate on that once I reach my own map in this.

Bauul · December 2, 2021

9 minutes ago, NiGHTS108 said:

I always thought mappers made the pistol 100% accurate to make it more relevant so making the chaingun 100% accurate too feels kinda counter-intuitive

Originally this was exactly the plan. However, due to an oversight in the Dehacked at one point, the chaingun was also made 100% accurate for one of the internal beta builds.

Even though it was an accident, we all loved it so much that Liberation decided to make the change permanent, and the new assault rifle was born. It does make the pistol a little superfluous again, but when it makes the chaingun so much more satisfying to use, it seemed a worthwhile trade-off.

Horus · December 2, 2021

1000 Lines 3: Community Project

Well I come into this project rusty, having played barely any Doom (that isn't playtesting my own map) in about a year. I played most of 1k2 in HMP, so I'll stick to HMP from the start here. Playing on dsda-doom 0.19.2, finally updating from prboom+.

MAP01 - “Dust Devils” by Aquila

A small speedy map, as you would expect for an opener. The dehacked comes into play instantly, with the new plasma marines in the very first area. And they are quite mean, not obnoxious like in Scythe 2 (mainly thanks to their normal movement patterns!) but decimate your health pretty quickly if they catch you off guard, as they did when they killed me twice (what can I say, I'm rusty :P).

Other than that, the use of dark industrial textures and relatively low lighting, alongside the toxic waste pits down below, give off an oppressive vibe, fitting with the theme of the episode. Overall, a simple, reasonably enjoyable start. I got 1/4 secrets (the shotgun) and hadn't a clue as to getting to the rest of them. But I don't plan on spending too much time secret hunting tbh.

Note: When I checked the automap, it said 'Map 01: Unnamed'. When I got to Map 02 it showed the correct name as normal

baja blast rd. · December 2, 2021

Eternity Engine, UV with saves when I feel like it

limiting each writeup to 100 words -- not really for the memes, but because I was almost about to not participate due to having tons to write lately :P

01: Dust Devils by Aquila

Right away, the stylishly bleak cyberpunk setting introduces us to facets of 1kl3's aesthetic strategy: well-curated props and additions to OTEX. We also waste no time meeting the plasma trooper -- a vicious but handy source of batteries. The assault rifle has a ubiquitous sprite, but the smoothened animation and thudding sound make it my favorite version yet. The intrigue of "Dust Devils" comes from verticality -- sludge pools, tall tiers -- and the assorted hidden-switch secrets. Overall it's serviceable. The unused lines might've heightened the sense of place by fleshing out exterior, unplayable spaces.

I knew the catchy MIDI was AD_79's fromtheopeningbells.

LadyMistDragon · December 2, 2021

I was seriously going to jump in last month around the 5th, but real-life stuff got in the way for a few days, and once it was over, I knew I'd be lacking spare time. No matter, we are back for another thrilling collection of size-restricted maps! The 3rd in half a year! I'll be playing UV, pistol-start with the From Doom With Love source port.

Map 01 - Dust Devils - Aquila Chrysaetos

Before we start, let's just take a moment to describe the title screen. The towers on the front are made of literal lines! And look like Heretic! The music track is an original composed by Dragonfly with a sparkling, haunting keyline that's about as perfect an introduction to this megawad as you could imagine.

Now Aquila is a mapper that I can remember Remilia Scarlet mentioning once I thought had quit, but presumably came back for this because of her participation in the previous incarnations of 1000 Lines. I'm highly unlikely to play the other 1000 Lines titles, so I guess this is all I'm getting!

The opening music is called "Last Call for All Passengers" and is authored by the ever-energetic AD_79. This is actually the kind of track I could see concluding or beginning another episode. It just has that full feeling that you're in for something quite serious, which isn't surprising at all, given much of the talent involved.

Not to say this map is especially difficult. It's comprised of a basic square layout common to maps of limited linedefs, other than Aquila's strong emphasis on verticality. You've got a map fairly based in abstraction, apart from the smoke towers and tall buildings which put the 'city' into 'Mars City'.

From the beginning almost, you're attacked by a number of enemies. Thankfully, your pistol (as well as some of your other weapon mainstays) is speeded up, not sounding quite like the Eviternity pistol but arguably sounding better. Later on, you also come across a shotgun and assault rifle which replaces the chaingun, both of which have better sounds and fire faster than their original counterparts. Any wad that replaced the popcorn shooting of the original chaingun automatically gets a thumbs up! Cool status bar, btw.

This map also introduces a Realm667 enemy: plasma troopers. They're not hard to take out by any means, but you've definitely got to be aware of them.

Now a word about the secrets. I'd only call one of them easy to find, with the rest requiring careful observation, as well as some fleet-fingered movement. The rocket launcher and especially the ledge near the purple key with the health potions require some incredibly tricky maneuvering. In fact, I never figured out how to access the potions, so I had 75 percent secrets at the end.

Finally, we'll spare a few words for the encounters. While you'll never feel safe, the opposition is entirely managable, even when you pick up the purple key and you've got some Lost Souls swarming at you from below on the left, as well as a large ambush from the other end of the open area you're at. If you can pick up the rocket launcher, it'll be over much quicker, but that secret was stupidly hard enough, idk if i'd wanna do it for a demo run.

As the intermission music plays (once again composed by Dragonfly, so gooood) it was all too clear to me that this would possibly be the last remotely easy map. At the very least, it'll probably be the last one that's fairly forgiving.

Edited December 2, 2021 by LadyMistDragon

DJVCardMaster · December 2, 2021

I'll take some time from the club as I finish my finals. See you guys next year, and happy Dooming!

DFF · December 2, 2021

Now something very digestible (hopefully) and something I feel like i can rank freely.

Initial notes: something I can immediately appreciate is how clean the non-map details are with this wad: The title adopts a uniform, inoffensive color palette, there are defined episodes for selective play, credits are included, and custom difficulties, as UV denotes slaughter gameplay, and Nightmare is cleverly disguised as the UV warning text, possibly suggesting its not a recommended skill to even attempt to choose. The bootup splash screen for the WAD even includes the WAD title, a feature i'd like to learn how to do someday as its a nice little touch. The end screens mention the map, the mapper, and the music track. All bits that im sure take a good bit of work but look very professional once completed. Overall very nice introduction without me even booting up the first level.

Map01: Dust Devils - Aquila Chrysaetos
PRboom +2.6; K: 100%; S: 75%; T: 4:30

A quaint sewage-base lodged in some sort of desert. The tone is early night and the MIDI sets the idea that it may be a bit more action oriented than moody and sinister. We are introduced to many swanky sprites, from retextured imps and new thematic decorations to a new plasma trooper that drops cells on death. The pistol is retextured but identical to base as far as im aware, maybe more accurate. The weapon swap is denoted with a weird shotgun half-cock sound and features a sped up swap time, much like as featured in Rowdy Rudy 2. Soon i was able to acquire a secret shotgun and the assault rifle. The shotgun is stock textures but has been slightly sped up, and the assault rifle feels very fun to use, easily mowing down the initial fodder. This may be slightly sped up and possibly more accurate as well, but felt fresh compared to the doom chaingun.

One thing that became quite obvious from the first 1K lines is that resources are limited, and it takes some good planning and skill to make the most of your given space. How does this map accomplish that while maintaining good detail? use of lamplit sections and very non-orthogonal geometry designed around a cliff like structure. The base is relatively open but features a few pits and many lifts to fully explore the area. There is only one or two repopulations present and overall the map feels efficient but not too bulky. Sadly while the mood fits right and the tone is clearly set, this feels like a very inoffensive starting map. This can be both good and bad in my book. For most its a good way to not scare them off immediately, but the lack of much resistance made it feel over way too quickly. Only 50 monsters with the worst being a lost soul. The plasma troopers do hurt but other than the initial snipers, are not much of an issue. Its a pretty and well balanced first map i feel, but It doesn't feel very memorable. If anything is at fault for this, i almost want to blame the assault rifle being introduced immediately as it shreds lower tiers quite quickly. the shotgun was even a secret, and there's also a rocket launcher aswell. I've achieved majority of my arsenal on map01 and it chews through the weak initial composition. Another note, while a rather cool secret in itself, the RL as a reward to me feels like a bad reward for where its placed. This is entirely dependent on whether you see the secret switch before grabbing the purple key or after. Considering the switch is...

Spoiler

Right next to the purple exit door

...I'd imagine most people would only find it after the purple key imp horde, which at that point there's nothing to kill with it and its just a bonus for continuous play, and a nothing for pistol-starts. I was imagining some demons or a swarm of zombiemen would conveniently teleport in to stop my RL acquisition but i had grabbed it once everything was already dead. Doesn't feel super rewarding in this regard.

Despite the wall of text i still found the map enjoyable, its pretty, and as an introduction map its fine. I think moving the machinegun to a secret and introducing the shotgun may be better for pacing and combat difficulty, and the RL secret should have something more to it, or give a different reward.

Rankings:

Spoiler

Map01 (naturally)

Doritos420 · December 2, 2021

I'll be playing in GZDoom, UV with pistol starts.

First off, what a great main menu & music. Just looking at this gets me pumped. Lots of names I’m familiar with but haven’t played too many of their maps. Very excited to play through this. There’s also a little warning about playing on UV (I guess we’ll see how I do).

Map01 - Dust Devils by Aquila

The level itself is great, the custom textures and sprites makes it feel like something out of a boom engine game, great sense of place and atmosphere. Love the tweaks to the gameplay too. The pistol feels like it packs more punch with the custom sound fx and faster fire rate and you can tell the shotgun is even a bit snappier. One thing I absolutely love is the quick switching between weapons, feels so good! And I nearly forgot to mention the new assault rifle, feels fantastic to use, great fire speed too.

There’s some custom enemies here as well, the imps got a more intimidating reskin and now there are plasma soldiers as well. Very cool map, lots of verticality. I was able to get all of the secrets, as per usual I got the rocket launcher and didn’t even use it on any enemies. The ammo backpack was the hardest to get, at first I thought you had to strafe jump from the rocketlauncher to get at it but turns out

Spoiler

there’s a deviously hidden switch in the level

. With these smaller maps I anticipate that I’ll actually have time for some more in depth secret hunting. Very solid first impression, I also like how it lists the music track at the end of the level, great job!

DisgruntledPorcupine · December 2, 2021

MAP01: "Dust Devils" by Aquila Chrysaetos

UV, pistol start, no saves

100% kills, 2/4 secrets

I've not played the previous entries in the trilogy before, but right off the bat this level makes it apparent that the 1000 line limitation is not the only shakeup this wad will be bringing. There are quite a few dehacked changes on display right off the hop here. First of all, weapons now switch near instantly. The pistol has been changed, being faster and more accurate, and featuring more of a kick to its sound. The shotgun also fires faster, and the chaingun has been replaced by an assault rifle, which is also completely accurate and feels like a dream to use. The monsters are also not spared from changes, the lost soul has less health (which I always greatly appreciate), the imp and its fireballs have a new appearance, and we see a new monster in the plasma zombie. The setting here is a small desert city area, with some nukage pits thrown in. The midi by AD_79 is quite good and gets things off to a nice start musically.

While by no means a difficult map, it's not entirely trivial like a first map often is. This is almost entirely owing to the plasma zombie, who I'll definitely have to get used to fearing. These guys can tear through your health quite fast, and they are often a bit sneakily placed in this first map. If you're sure to keep tabs on them and eliminate them quickly whenever they appear, the map will be a breeze.

Solid map to kick off the wad.

ReaperAA · December 2, 2021

I decided to take part, because I have already played the maps (so replaying them should be easier and less time consuming) and the maps have good replay value. I haven't played the first 1000 lines projects and only a few maps of the 2nd 1000 lines (the maps didn't interest me enough to complete it). But I had a blast playing this.

Anyway, I will be playing this on UV (with maps 11, 20, 29, 30 and 32 likely on HMP) with pistol starts. Will use saves if I feel like it.

MAP01: "Dust Devils" by Aquila Chrysaetos

UV, pistol start, no saves

Kills: 50/50, Secrets: 4/4

Deaths on map = 0

Total Deaths = 0

Right off the bat, you are introduced to some of the DeHackery of the wad. First of all, you will notice that the weapons switch near instantly, which is something that I wish more wads employed. Next is the changes to the weapons, like here you have a faster pistol, faster shotgun and the chaingun replaced by assault rifle (which is just awesome due to the faster fire rate and the perfect accuracy). The weapon animations are also smoother.

The monsters are also changed. Imps have a new appearance, lost souls have less health and you are introduced to the 1st of the 3 custom enemies of the wad: The Plasma Zombie. These guys, as you guessed, fire plasma shots (similar to the arachnotron).

As for the map itself, it is small, easy and soild as an opener map. The use of OTEX and good lighting to give this a cyberpunk-ish look makes this map look nice, despite having to adhere to the 1000 lines limitation. The encounters are serviceable and the verticality is nice. The secrets are also fairly well hidden, but not too obscure.

Edited December 2, 2021 by ReaperAA

dei_eldren · December 2, 2021

MAP01 - Dust Devils (HNTR, continuous, blind): K 100%, I 0%, S 50%, D 0, T 21:27

Spoiler

Dehacked weapons for faster playing experience are not my preference, as they alter the feel of the gameplay too much for my taste, and in fact, was uncertain of whether or not to participate at all, since there's in my mind the conflict between vanilla and dehacked, and then there's also the question of expected difficulty. Regardless of all that, at least after Dust Devils am glad i decided to give it a try. i'm sure it's mostly because of the visual style that the map reminds me of the opener by Shawny in Skulltiverse, and equally of some early maps in Eviternity. There's a particular atmosphere imparted by these kinds of textures, which i do enjoy, far as it is from the OG. Also, the altered weapons work in this context, even if it's not quite Doom, and i'm worried the pace will at some point get too hectic for me, but we'll see if that happens or not...

The map is well designed, and looks very good. There's enough to warrant exploring everything, while the progression is quite straightforward. The enemies were limited to Imps and former humans, with the addition of some soldier-type shooting plasma. For me, it seemed to me they were there pro forma, and whilst admittedly he's dynamically somewhat different from any other, i don't think he's going to make any real difference and will remain basically a novelty item. Just my take on it, as on custom enemies in general.

The highlight of the map for me were the secrets, two of which i found with relative ease (the SG and the backpack). i used considerable amount of time searching for the others, and am pretty sure where they are, but without knowing how to access them proper. i say proper, because i'm sure the RL+rockets on a platform are a secret, and with running i was able to grab all but one rocket, but not able to tag the secret, so i'm sure there's some better means of getting there - my personal opinion is, one can't jump onto it :P (Never been wrong before on that one...)

The fourth secret has a teleport connected to it, but extensive search didn't yield any more hidden switches, so at long last i gave up on trying to uncover access to it.

Personally i would've liked the map even better without the dehacked weapons and the custom enemy, but taken as is, it's a very good opening map, and was fun to play through. The warning at the start about upcoming slaughter (on UV) worries me a bit as per what the difficulty/gameplay will be like later on, but let's see about that when we get there.

Top 1000 maps:

Spoiler

MAP01 - Dust Devils - 7/10

Edited December 2, 2021 by dei_eldren

Omniarch · December 2, 2021

Full disclosure: I have already played 1kL3 in full, though in my dazed weekend binge I'll admit to having rushed through some of the maps. Thus, this seems like the perfect occasion to revisit this fantastic wad with a more analytical eye.

A few notes before we begin: I will be using Fabian's criminally underrated Woof! as my port of choice, since it feels almost identical to my beloved Crispy, but with a number of additional features, such as an SDL sound mode to better express 1kL3's fantastic music. I will be playing on UV and saving as much as I please, and I will not be aiming for 100% kills or secrets, though I may choose to pursue such at my discretion.

Now, without further ado, to the wad!

MAP01: Dust Devils - Aquila

Despite its brevity and low difficulty, Dust Devils makes for a striking first impression. Upon booting up this map for the first time on my initial playthrough, any reservations I'd had previously regarding the set's titular limitation were instantly assuaged.

The opening shot is very revealing indeed to the trained eye. First and foremost, Aquila's unusually grounded use of OTEX immediately struck a chord with me. At that point, I had come to associate the pack with a certain sort of colourful abstraction, pleasing to behold but so often devoid of any sense of place. Here, though, these textures are used to craft the outline of an actual setting, a depiction of a decayed martian industrial heartland as vivid as it is simple. The toxic plumes rising from smokestacks enhance this impression still further, while also providing some much appreciated visual dynamism to the scene.

The next thing that immediately becomes apparent is the set's extensive dehacked patch. Animated smoke plumes are only the very tip of the iceberg here, as well shall see going forward. First off, the new pistol, reminiscent of the one from Tango's Supercharge! is a most welcome addition, with a crunchy and satisfying sound and smooth animations, able to dispatch fodder with ease.

Similarly, the CG replacement is a delight to wield, powerful and satisfying in equal measure. Once again, this weapon reminds me of Supercharge!, which isn’t really surprising, given Aurelius’ (the author of this patch) prior use of the mod. The addition of fast weapon-switching synergizes brilliantly with the increased rate-of-fire across the four slugthrowers (spoilers I guess), giving the set’s action a noticeably spirited tempo.

Additionally, this set's incarnation of the ubiquitous Plasma Guy concept is easily one of the best ones I’ve seen, with imposing ZSpec-derived sprites and SFX and equipped with a continuous-fire attack which it can use to saturate an area with high-damage projectiles. They also drop mini cell-charges, a feat of dehacked wizardry so arcane that I immediately quit my run to examine the set's patch file. Damn Aurelius, that is a very clever trick indeed…

These are but a small sample of the set’s alterations, as we shall see in the coming weeks. For me, this dehacked patch is one of the three defining aspects of the set, the other two being its phenomenal world-building / aesthetics (more on that later) and fantastic, largely bespoke OST (again, more on that later). This triad of elements serves to distinguish this CP from many others like it, including its own predecessors, and elevates it to sit among my top-ten favourite releases of the year.

Beyond its role as an introductory experience, Dust Devils is a well-crafted map. In addition to the aesthetic attributes mentioned at the outset, the map is strikingly open and pleasingly vertical. The combat is solid, and the progression clear and satisfying. The set’s titular limitation seemingly does little to hinder Aquila’s vision for the map. While generally low on detail, careful use of OTEX and strong lighting negate the low linecount, to the point where the map mostly just looks more like a regular vanilla map than anything else.

In summation, Dust Devils is a strong opener, ‘Exhibit A’ of many of the qualities that will go on to define 1kL3 in my eyes.

…

Good lord, this bloody thing is over 700 words long! My my, I do get carried away… Needless to say, my future writeups will (mostly) be a great deal more modest, heh. Regardless, I am looking forward to experiencing this wad again, and to reading everyone else’s takes on it as well. Until next time, ta ta!

Edited December 2, 2021 by Omniarch

finnks13 · December 2, 2021

1000 Lines 3

I've played both the previous 1000 Lines megawads and enjoyed them both, so I was anticipating this one's release after I saw the announcement thread. Overall, I think I preferred 1000 Lines 1 over 1000 Lines 2, but there are some excellent maps in both and I wonder where this will slot into the trilogy for me, especially since this one has abandoned the classic themes from the previous ones to go for some more exotic themes and I'll talk about how I think that went during the write-ups of the episodes themselves.

I will be playing through dsda-doom v0.21.0, -complevel 2, Ultra Violence (bring on the slaughter!), going for 100% kills, but not going out of my way if I've missed a couple. I will be saving a lot, but I will not use saves mid-fight.

MAP 1 - Dust Devils by Aquila Chrysaetos:
Making the first map of a megawad is always quite challenging, you're generally expected to make a relaxed map against a few fodder enemies, which nicely introduces the megawad's theme and design style to the player. Dust Devils pretty much fits that pattern perfectly, a solid opening map which won't test anyone combat wise - I played incredibly carelessly and never dropped below 50% health - that takes care to introduce the theme of the episode.

The introduction of the cyber-city theme is done well and I think the visuals are a highlight of this map, reading that this map apparently only uses just over 500 lines blows my mind. Aquila Chrysaetos takes no time at all to introduce the plasma trooper, who fires some plasma at you and is about as bulky as a piece of paper. These plasma zombies also drop a cell charge, which is a mystery to me in how that's done. Speaking of dehacked changes, we also have a faster pistol, shotgun and chaingun along with faster weapon switching - which is something that's going to take some getting used to for me as it messes with a lot of built up muscle memory and ideas about how to tackle fights, mostly that switching between weapons is far less of a commitment than normal.

The custom soundtrack for this wad definitely elevates it and I really like the midi in this level, definitely helps to evoke the cyber-city mood - and since I probably won't have a chance to mention it otherwise, I really like the intermission midi, it's really nice background music to do these write-ups to. Don't have too much to say about this map, other than it performs the job of an opener perfectly well.

MAP 2 - Tharsis Awakens by Tristan Clark and Dragonfly:
If Dust Devils is the introduction of the theme of Episode 1, Tharsis Awakens is the introduction of the main combat design philosophy of the megawad. This map debuts a lot of the stronger doom 2 monsters (I don't think I saw a pain elemental, but I'm pretty sure that the rest are here) and wastes no time pulling pretty mean archvile traps and setting hordes of monsters on the player. This map seems to be set in a techbase surrounded by a rocky-landscape and with just 1000 lines, I do think it's impressive to have the amount of detail and scale that this map does. Another dehacked change I noticed here, is that the chaingunner no longer drops the chaingun which is a change that I understand the purpose of, but have never liked - especially since in this episode as a whole (can't talk for E2&3 as I haven't played them yet), you've been handing out the chaingun pretty readily anyway.

I found the map quite hard to navigate at points, though this is probably to do with the different colour keys not corresponding with the lines on dsda-doom's automap (something I rely on to navigate) and me forgetting that the red key doesn't exist for a while so the red switches are probably fair game. The rocket launcher is introduced with a surprise ambush which is pretty entertaining, and I like the fodder that spawns in after grabbing the key, even if I wish that the barons weren't here to save me 10 seconds of tediously wittling them down.

I liked the horde of zombiemen behind the green key door, always love blowing up hordes of zombies! The other horde of plasma zombies is a bit of a shock if you're not expecting it though you easily have enough rockets to deal with them and once that's happened you've basically got enough plasma and rockets left over to make the rest of the map a breeze, The revenant horde at the end was a bit of a surprise and the imps and 'giant hole full of lava' here definitely take away a lot of space, which makes this fight a highlight of the map. I also really like the single zombieman guarding the exit, for no other reason than it made me chuckle. If the rest of the maps continue like these first two, this is shaping up to be a pretty solid mapset.

ViolentBeetle · December 2, 2021

MAP01 Dus Devils

A rather sensible opening providing a sense of what's to come. I assume I missed a secret fight, but that's OK.

Bit-sized level with sparse didn't leave much an impression on me, beside rather impolite plasma squad before I get any weapons.

dei_eldren · December 2, 2021

MAP02 - Tharsis Awakens (HNTR, continuous, blind): K 100%, I 97%, S 0%, D 1, T 20:19

Spoiler

The Eviternity-vibe continued strong on this one, and no wonder as this time Dragonfly is a co-author. i even remarked during gameplay, that this set could well be a sequel to the acclaimed Megawad so far, not knowing that Dragonfly was part of making this map. Still, from me that's pretty high praise, and i hope this set continues in similar vein design-wise.

The monster count has more than doubled from MAP01, and the assortment now includes mid-tiers from Chaingunners to Mancubi, with Revenants being particularly well represented. Interestingly enough, i even find the difficulty on par with Eviternity. The layout is quite complex and comes together well, making perfect sense after the bewilderment of options at the start - relativelly speaking, of course, there's the limitation of size, but it doesn't show in any way in the layout, just like it did not in the first map - it only shows in relative brevity of the maps, but even then these don't feel like miniatures (such as some levels of Zone 400 or Bourgeois Deathmatch).

This map itself is another tasteful and goodlooking techbase with some outside areas, and seems to me a direct continuation from MAP01. There were several ambushes in style of Sandy Petersen, when it's clearly indicated one will come, usually by the peaceful quietitude before grabbing the RL, or pressing the switch. i really enjoyed all of the combat here, whether it was incidental, mowing down hordes of Imps, or being attacked by Revenants and others. For me, there's a classical vanilla feel to the proceedings so far what it comes to combat.

In gameplay i made a couple of annoying mistakes - 'funniest' being shooting a rocket too close to a Revenant to nearly die in the process (resulting in near-enough death that i loaded and counted it as my first actual death). i also thought i was doing fine stunning a Mancubus with the CG only to be hit at close range by his missiles... oh well, relativelly low-damage resulted.

Regarding the weapons, thing is, what i don't like is that they streamline the gameplay too much for me, even removing some threat as everything is simply faster to do. But from another angle, i like the way this is separated from the OG and has its own feel to it in this area - much like again Eviternity. At first i wasn't into it exactly because of that, but then came to see it as a 'development' or continuation of the OG. Like i said at the time, it felt like a direxion Doom could have been taken to. Also i must say, i liked the ambush of the new plasma-shooting soldiers, and again i have to admit i was possibly too hasty in condemning them as a mere novelty.

i've really enjoyed both of the maps so far, and as good an opener as Dust Devils was, this one takes the edge slightly, even with the handicap of not having any secrets (really?? Eviternity had fantastic secrets, and often very tricky ones!) The opener set the stage, and now the show is in full action, or something like that. :D i'll have to check if any other mappers from Eviternity were involved in this along with Dragonfly.

And by the way, i really wanna replay Eviternity. Problem is, i'm afraid of MAP05 :D

Top 1000 maps:

Spoiler

MAP02 - Tharsis Awakens - 9/10

MAP01 - Dust Devils - 7/10

Edited December 2, 2021 by dei_eldren

Doritos420 · December 2, 2021

Map02 - Tharsis Awakens by Eris and Dragonfly

Originally booted this up with just the intention of playing for a little bit, ended up completing the whole level. Surprisingly complex with just using 1000 lines, love how the progression reuses the same space over and over, felt like you were going outward in an expanding spiral. Really fun fights with a boosted up monster count too. The area with all the pistol dudes was extremely fun using the rocketlauncher with. Nearly died during the Archville fight when I accidentally rocketed myself. Was down to just 4 health but managed to nab a healthpack. The ending area was also very fun with the hordes or revenants and imps. We also got to see the reskinned caco demon. It looks gross, I like it. Fantastic map, feels a bit more techbasey than the last one which felt more like an allwyway in a city, but I enjoyed it a lot. Lastly the lone zombie guarding the exit was a funny touch.

ViolentBeetle · December 2, 2021

Map02 - Tharsis Awakens

That's much more impressive offering and much less impolite too. Outside of 2 final fights it didn't offer a lot of opposition, but I really appreciate creative ways the different parts of the map keep getting re-used.

dac · December 2, 2021

MAP 02 – Tharsis Awakens

I was afraid this set would veer into slaughterdom from second map, but thankfully the brunt of that 200+ monster to slay is a bunch of zombies and imps. And a revenant pocket at the end, but that barely counts as a horde.

Plenty of ways to make a thousand lines map feel longer than it is, and the combination Dragonfly and Tristan Clark^* is using my personal favourite here: area reuse. The green key room is a good example: initial ambush to get said key, combined with another ambush when you loop back to it through the blue door. Specific mention to the plasma rifle fight, where the gigantic zombie horde also double as plasma resources for the previously mentioned ambush.

Also also those cheeky ‘underwhelming’ final enemy fights always make me laugh. Mappers, do more of these, they’re good ideas.

^{*Obviously sung to the tune of 'combination Pizza Hut and Taco Bell'😛}

NiGHTS108 · December 2, 2021

MAP02: Tharsis Awakens
By Tristan Clark and Dragonfly

Kills: 97%
Items: 81%
Secrets: 100%
Time: 9:16

Bringing up the temperature from MAP01 figuratively and literally, Tharsis Awakens is surprisingly gnarly for following the tepid Dust Devils, you’ll soon see the new green Cacodemon who vomits Imp projectiles, and watch your step in this map, there’s an ambush around every corner in ascending difficulty, a small gaggle of Hell Knights and Revenants when you run for the green key, a mob of Zombiemen after you get it, a thick shrub of Plasma Marines when you get outdoors preluded with a Soulsphere, and the Arch-Vile and his gang of teleporting punks when you get back inside is perhaps the most deadly, especially if you’re low on rockets, the final fight is pretty simple, you get a lot of rockets, shells and plasma to deflate 2 Piñatas of Imps, a murder of Revenants and one scared Zombieman, although ammo is plentiful and most of these fights aren't very overwhelming, you’re almost never flushed with health in this map so I’d suggest eliminating hitscanners first in big fights

Grade: B+
Difficulty: C-

Playthrough video

(It’s taking a lot of effort not to play through it ahead of time myself, but I wanna do it with the rest of the club)

Edited December 2, 2021 by NiGHTS108

Omniarch · December 2, 2021

MAP02: Tharsis Awakens - Dragonfly and Eris

The first ‘full’ map of the set, Tharsis Awakens is a visually abstract, combat-focused affair which does little to reinforce the episode’s theme of martian industrial decay beyond a general adherence to its texture-scheme. That said, this map is a blast to play, and a perfect introduction to 1kL3’s combat rhythm.

There is something deliciously indulgent about the combat here, beyond even the obvious fodder-gibbing space-filler encounters. The abnormally early provision of heavy weaponry plays a role in this, causing even the map’s substantial population of mid-weights to evaporate in seconds under barrages of rockets and plasma. Freedom of movement, for player and monster alike, is assured by the map’s spacious, open layout, which lends the action a certain free-flowing dynamism. The variety of the opposition combined with fast weapon-switching encourage the player to make full use of their arsenal, further enhancing this effect.

A well-placed rocket to gib a cluster of fodder enemies here, followed by a suppressive burst of rifle-fire to eliminate a squad of roaming hitscanners there, followed again by a rapid succession of shotgun blasts to polish off the remaining imps, all in the span of a few seconds. Such is the nature of this map’s combat, a product of the authors’ skill and Aurelius’ superb toolset.

Another notable aspect of this map is its excellent midi, a simultaneously soothing and exhilarating piece that I would love to examine in more detail if it weren’t for my complete musical illiteracy. “Stargaze” is Psyrus’ debut piece in this set, a harbinger of many fantastic pieces yet to come. Frankly, the fact that I had not heard a whit about this master of the craft before 1kL3 is downright criminal. Hopefully now, having contributed over a third of this set’s largely bespoke soundtrack, will they receive some much deserved recognition.

LadyMistDragon · December 2, 2021

Map 02 - Tharsis Awakens - by Tristan Clark and Dragonfly.

I admit, seeing the pair which created the rather unforgettable penultimate map for Eviternity filled with some dread. Thankfully, they still appear to go relatively easy on you, at least until the final battle admist the outside of some lava pit. Once again, the mapping follows a rather abstract pattern, though with a much heavier dose of tech. I was listening to Bridgeburner's podcast yesterday and it sounded like Tristan had laid the groundwork down, along with some of the more shocking encounters, while Dragonfly's role was mainly to beef up the monster count if I understood correctly. Here, it seems like the roles were reversed, mainly because Tristan also confessed to a tendency toward going wild when he starts mapping.

It was sort of interesting being deprived of the assault rifle until somewhat late, but the rocket launcher you get near the green key more than makes up for it as you might expect. I found the computer bank with the armour bonuses on it at the opposite end of the start to be quite interesting. However, there are no secrets here, it will be dark soon, so I just thought it lowered at a certain point. Turns out you end up running across it later. I'm not sure why but I wasn't really expecting that so early in this wad. Kind of like how I wandered into the aforementioned lava pit area with an Archnotron in the middle and Imps and the sides, and received a nasty surprise from a pair of chaingunners on the left from behind. Incidentally, these guys don't drop assault rifles, so just forget about that and reassess your strategic priorities.

You exit the base and walk along ledges on at least a couple of different occasions which circle around the base that you're at. One of these occasions will net you a Berserk Pack which you can then use to punch out the nearby Revenant, and probably quite a few others as well. Also, the keys in this map are marked by lights which are the same colour as their respective keys which was a nice visual touch.

Fights are fairly modest at first. You'll see some reskinned Cacodemons outside the windows on your left after you've gone up the first lift but you don't really fight them until near the end. The rocket launcher on the stairs leading to the green key kind of sets the tone though. Among the traps triggered when you head up the stairs is a fairly significant ambush behind you, buttressed by a pair of Barons which emerge from closets. After this fight, you'll pick up an assault rifle near the green key door. It's more of a supplementary weapon but it's nice to have rapid firepower that's not a plasma rifle, which you also find later in the map. There's certainly adequate ammo for most weapons which aren't your shotgun, so don't hesistate to use your steongest weapons, especially once an Arch-vile enters the fray when you pick the blue key up. Oh, and all of these ambushes take place in the long room where you start. Have fun!

The blue key door at the far end of the lava pit unlocks possibly the hardest fight. Hit the switch you see, then parts of the surrounding rock lower. On one side, there are Imps and on the other side are Revenants. Now the smart person would camp and not alert both groups. However, playing Doom intelligently in most cases will probably end up with you being annihilated so fuck that noise. There's easily enough plasma when the rocket launcher becomes impractical, and you should probably try to circle around the remainder. They can easily wipe you out if you're not careful, however especially as there's maybe 1 pair of combat armour for the whole map. I managed to not take much damage here, but yeesh.

One final note, the music here was composed by Psyrus, whom I'm not too familiar with but had music used by Roofi in a few 180 Minutes maps. It's less emphatically action-y than the previous track but still energetic.

RHhe82 · December 2, 2021

I have very limited capacity for playing anything for the time being, especially as I'm not home, where my external keyboard awaits. Playing on a laptop keyboard (but thankfully with an actual mouse) is not that impossible, especially if the levels are not long. Hence Interception II will remain on hold until mid-december. Long story short, decided to see if I could actually play a couple of maps of 1000 Lines 3, and yeah, I could!

However, due to the keyboard situation, I decided to play this on HMP. Figured I'd do a separate UV run some other time, if I fancy the wad and if/when it's released on idGames. Enough mumbling.

MAP01: Dust Devils. Pistol start (duh), HMP, DSDA-Doom v0.21. 100% K, 75% S. Completion time 8:22.

Decent opener map. It somehow reminds me of BTSX ep 1 or episode 2 of Eviternity, Dust Devils was like a easy-going warm up to them. I guess that's because of texturing. HMP goes easy on the player, although I was slightly sweating with the plasma guys. Other than that, the map didn't give that much trouble. Maybe I shouldn't have been scared off by the mention slaughter gameplay? Anyway, found all but one secret, couldn't find a way to reach the backpack.

Looking back at the level, it was small, so I guess the 1000 line limit wouldn't necessarily show. I really liked fast-switching weapons and the machine gun replacement!

MAP02: Tharsis Awakens. Pistol start, HMP, DSDA v0.21, 100% K and all zero secrets. Completion time 13:34.

A solid second map! Already here I would have not-so-easy time believing there's 1000 lines or less. Map isn't a marathon, but it's economical with its layout. The base section is filled with hidden monster cul-de-sacs that are revealed as you traverse back. I really enjoyed the combat, especially the ambush that's set when you grab one of the keys (green? the one that was waiting in the base area, on top of stairs with the RL). I was still debating on whether I should have picked UV after all. Somehow the visual look still felt like a lite version of Eviternity's tech base episode.

Off to a good start, we are!

cannonball · December 2, 2021

MAP01 - “Dust Devils” by Aquila

Not really much to say about this one, fairly short and actually tight on ammo if you don't search for bullet clips. This level introduces one of the different monsters to you in terms of the plasma zombie. These along with the lost souls are probably the biggest threat here. In terms of the map, pretty average in my opinion with the biggest pluses probably coming from the tweaks to the gameplay. The assault rifle has a nice kick to it for instance.

MAP02 - “Tharsis Awakens” by Tristan Clark, Dragonfly

This map ups the ante by quite a margin, that said you are given plenty of munitions to deal with what comes ahead of you. Interestingly it is probably some of the smaller ambushes that carry the most threat, like the second trip into the green key room with the archvile and clusters of revenants and "plasmaguys", whilst the large mobs tend to scream (Hit me with your ~~rhythm stick~~ rocket launcher).

Overall this is an entertaining map with a surprising kick in difficulty. However no secrets!!! Shame!!!

Capellan · December 2, 2021

HMP continuous, PRBoom+, no music.

MAP01

TJG1289 · December 2, 2021

GZDoom/UV/Continuous/Saves

Map 01: Dust Devils - Aquila

100% kills and 75% secrets

Time: 8:22

Small little map (duh), that looks pretty nice. I'm liking the look of this map, and I'm assuming this episode will keep a consistent look. We've got a few new features here, mainly the new pistol, assault rifle, and plasma troops. The new guns feel nice to shoot and are very effective at taking out baddies. I'm going to have to get used to dodging the plasma troops as they hit me quite a bit during this map. The imps look different, but I don't think there's any differences in their behavior. The opening did make me panic a bit since I did fall into the slime before grabbing the rad suit, so I had haul to the teleporter quickly, though the zombies were blocking my way a bit. I managed to find 3 of the secrets, so that netted me the shotgun and rocket launcher. I couldn't figure out how to get the backpack, but I'm hoping I can get one in a upcoming map soon. I feel the lost souls have lower health here too. All-in-all, decent opening level that sets the tone pretty well. Nothing challenging.

Map 02: Tharsis Awakens - Eris and Dragonfly

100% kills and secrets

Time: 12:03

Well that got a lot tougher. I was not expecting this already. We jump from 50 enemies to 220+. I guess this makes sense, given the map authors, but still. Some lava elements get added to the environment, that jump out nicely from the greenish tint the levels have had so far. Now that the shotgun is in the open and not a secret, I'm noticing a higher rate of fire to it. I was able to stun-lock a few revs with it somehow. I definitely appreciate it since there's no SSG so far, and most of the Doom 2 non-boss bestiary is here. There's no spectres and pain elementals, but I think everything else shows up at one point. Thankfully, the rocket launcher is put to good use here. There's a lot of rockets to use, and lots of opportunities to use it. You first grab it in the green key room, and it's super useful against the hell knights and revs that pop up. Also, back in the areas you've already explored more baddies come in. This happens several times, so it's a nice reuse of the 1000k lines. There's several groups of zombies or imps that pop up throughout that just scream "bazooka me in the face plz". It's pretty fun. The first one of these happen past the green door, as the hall opens up to a sea of zombies, plasma troops, and a few mancubi. The plasma troops can gib the zombies, so that's nice. Speaking of plasma zombies, a big group of them pop up out of the lava in the blue door area to the south. I'm pretty sure this area is optional, since there's a blue door back to the north and there's no switches or anything in this lower area. There is a soul sphere tho. And going back to the green key area from here unleashes an archie (and more), so hope you kept some rockets! The final fight back in the arachnotron lava pit area unleashes 2 swarms of imps and a couple of revs. Thankfully there's a teleport in the lava pit if you fall in, but it's still a kinda tough fight for a map 2. Super fun map, and I'm liking the difficulty so far.

Horus · December 2, 2021

MAP02 - “Tharsis Awakens” by Tristan Clark, Dragonfly

A much longer affair, although the 170 monsters in HMP is somewhat deceptive as you scythe through quite a lot quickly in the second half. Most of the map doesn’t feel like 1000 lines to me - perhaps the only clue is in the outdoor areas, which in unrestricted maps are often linedef sinks due to their rugged, complex terrain.

None of the combat is particularly challenging (though the horde of plasma mobs caught me off guard first time!) but it is all fun, especially splashing your way through low tiers with rockets and plasma. I did find there was a large surplus of ammo though, especially in the later stages.

Psyrus · December 3, 2021

On 12/1/2021 at 5:05 PM, LadyMistDragon said:

As the intermission music plays (once again composed by Dragonfly, so gooood)

*Peeks in*
The intermission midi is mine. ;)

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