The DWmegawad Club plays: Ray Mohawk 1 & 2 (It's Our Tenth Anniversary!)

[Egg Boy]

Not sure if this is common, or allowed, so apologies in advance.

 

Seeing as the DWMegawad Club is on map08 today, I wanted to take a little time to describe its influences and design. Chocolate Island was made in a very short time. 2 or 3 days if I recall correctly, and was my third attempt to make a map for Ray Mohawk 2, as I did not care for the other maps I started for it. My main inspiration was "The Factory" from Doom 2, but I was also influenced by "Offshore" from Violence. I wanted to create a map where you could explore the perimeter and interior of a small island, with 3 distinct floor levels throughout the map. I succeeded in these goals, but whether its fun is your decision. In terms of specific moments in designing it that I really remember, I don't really remember too much. The map must have been some sort stream of consciousness that I didn't think too hard about until it was time to place monsters and ensure vanilla compatibility. To that end, I do remember a particular moment where I realized there were drawseg errors if you stood directly at the west end of the map, so I built a smaller island to block the offending segs, in turn, this made that area much more dynamic, and easy to monster place. Anyway, I've rambled enough, thank you guys for playing. Can't wait to see what you think of Map17, which might be my favorite in the set (though there area many great maps to choose from).

[Rujasu]

MAP08: Chocolate Island

Success: Insta-annihilated by plasma cannon trap

 

Another good implementation of the "space to wander, but need to go into tighter spaces to progress"-formula. Tiny little map with a high archvile concentration. Also another map with a supposed cyberdemon, but my first proper encounter with them will again have to wait for another day. The general wood & water aesthetic was easy on the eye, so it has that going for it, too.

[finnks13]

MAP08 - Chocolate Island by Egg Boy:

5:22/0 Deaths
A short little romp around a fortification infested with hellspawn, Chocolate Island boasts the wad's smallest monster count at just 99 and gets an unfair boost by using a MIDIfied version of "Bubbly Washing Machine" from Super Monkey Ball 2 - one of my favourite songs from one of my favourite games. The start is a mess, you've got a horde of imps on the ground level, all manner of projectile throwers on the highground ready to make mincemeat of Ray and only a pistol to defend yourself as all the weapons are fiercely guarded. There's a ""secret"" berserk pack hidden in the water that saved my arse here, being a vital refill up to 100%.

 

There's a few fun little set-pieces here, the chaingun is protected by three archviles that jump you, the blue key spawns in a cyberdemon in the trench and revenants on the high ground and the SSG trap locks you in as hell nobles teleport all around you - though I reckon the lock in could have lasted a bit longer as they're unlikely to overwhelm you as it is. I appreciate the brevity considering some of the levels in this set, but even without that this is a very fun little map to play through and unpick.

[Monsieur E]

Map08- Chocolate Island by Egg Boy
100% kills

Don't let the cute name and relatively small enemy count fool you, this map is full of action. The start is pretty hot and scrambling for survival is a lot of fun. The level is made up of smaller but enjoyable encounters, my favorite being the autoshotgun hell noble encounter. I think the relative restraint with bullet supply helped balance the sheer power of the new chaingun, pretty similar to the counterpoint to using the auto-shotgun actually. Very solid level, although I feel a little disappointed at the lack of chocolate :P

[Omega Tyrant]

Late to starting this, but I played through Ray Mohawk's Manic Monday today, and so I'll post what I thought of each map. I played on UV, pistol starting + 100%ing every map with no saves, they'll be rated for how much I liked them* and how difficult^ I found them on a scale of 0-10.

 

Map01 House By The Bay: 5* | 2^ - No deaths: I didn't like having to run through such a big open area with a bunch of hitscanners, even if most of them were Zombiemen. Gave a difficulty rating of 2 because of that, as bad hitscan luck could feasibly kill you if you don't know where you're going, even if the chances are low. Otherwise was a decent map to mow through, with some overarming near the end with the two megaarmors.

 

Map02 The Bridge: 6* | 2^ - No deaths: It is still a bit more open than I would like for a hitscan-heavy map, but it offers more cover opportunities without having to slow down much and health was plentiful enough to heal off the hitscan pot shots. Monsters teleporting behind you near the exit caught me a bit offguard, but being near full stack in health and armor, it was no real threat. Also found the  Berserk secret early this time, and man, one-shotting a Revenant with it was crazy, didn't think the knife would be that strong.

 

Map03 We Love Pollution: 2* | 4^ - 4 deaths: I did not like this map, the beginning is a hitscan hell, starting in an open room, then proceeding to a huge open area, and a lot of hitscanners that aren't mostly Zombiemen this time. There isn't a lot of health near the start either, especially without the megarmor, leading to several deaths near the start. The first time I cleared out everything before the building I was nearly dead, until I found the Berserk secret inside the building, at which point the rest of the map became free to beat, and the amount of Shotgunning you had to do veered into tedium. Didn't like how plain the map looked nor its midi either.

 

Map04 Little Oasis: 4* | 3^ - 1 death: Another map that is too hitscan-heavy and open for my tastes, plus its difficulty is front-loaded and that secret Invisibility comes too late to be helpful. Also are you supposed to be able to hit the Archvile at the start without him being able to retaliate? I could take him out easily with the knife before opening him up, which I suspect wasn't supposed to be cheeseable that way. Otherwise don't have much to say.

 

Map05 Big Room Full Of Baddies: 5* | 3^ - No deaths: Big room full of hitscanners... but it wasn't as bad as I was expecting, and the green armor right at the start was nice to stave the hitscan pot shots off. Also this time the Invisibility was given at a useful time, the red door ambush with the Chaingunners would have killed me for sure without it. And that exit door trap could have been a startle, but the computer area map gave it away. A decent map I don't feel strongly about either way.

 

Map06 The Maw of Industry: 7* | 4^ - 1 death: I shouldn't have died but I played too recklessly around the second Archvile and the hitscanners around it, ah well. Ray Mohawk ended on a good note, the combat here provided a decent challenge without being obnoxious with hitscanners, and the quad-Cyberdemon finale was engaging. Mostly wasted the Invulnerability so I had to deal with all four of them alive, and had to do a bunch of SSGing against two of the Cybers after some bad BFG shots. Docked a point though for making the starting platform inaccessible after you jump off it, while putting an important secret there that missing would make the map much tougher. Also what was the point of the open huge nukage pool with the lone Caco on other side of the starting platform, other than to kill curious players? (granted any player who jumps down there won't really lose any progress, but still)

 

OVERALL: 4.83* (we'll round it up to 5*) | 3^ - Wasn't much a fan of Ray Mohawk's first outing, as its maps, particularly its heavy usage of hitscan enemies, do not jibe with my tastes. Still was fun for burning a couple of hours, and I did like the knife, later found out on the last map it could two-shot a fucking Baron when berserked. A shame it ends up underutilized with the disproportionately large amount of hitscanners dissuading melee combat, hopefully the sequel gives you more opportunity to berserk knife stuff. Difficulty-wise it was a pretty easy romp aside from a couple hitscan-heavy underprepped starts, with some mildly spicy moments thrown in.

Edited August 14, 2022 by Omega Tyrant

[Magnusblitz]

6 hours ago, Egg Boy said:

Not sure if this is common, or allowed, so apologies in advance.

 

 

Definitely allowed, always interesting to hear the author's perspective!

 

MAP07: WARehouse by Walter Confetti

100% kills, 1/1 secret

 

Out of the tropical locales and into the industrial browns, at least for the moment. This is basically a 'city' map with a bunch of free-standing structures to be traversed. Combat is pretty dull and simple for the most part; even the surprise released AVs down in the drink are simple to take care of. Honestly the largest threat was figuring out where to go, I spent far too long trying to figure out which teleporter to take the exit before remembering that the red key release switch was actually on the exit building.

 

MAP08: Chocolate Island by Egg Boy

100% kills, 2/2 secrets

 

A small citadel at just under 100 enemies, this one is nonetheless the toughest map so far - certainly the first one were I felt the monsters had the advantage, rather than the player with his new overpowered arsenal. Ammo is sparse and the good weapons are all booby-trapped - the blaster reveals several Arch-Viles up close, the cell launcher has a revenant trap bordering on unfair (at least with no foreknowledge) and the autoshotgun is part of a trap-in fight. So, took me quite a few tries to run around and figure out which way to approach things. Looks-wise I didn't find it too memorable, but the combat here definitely carries the day.

[Capellan]

 

[NiGHTS108]

MAP06: Hidden Ship In Pirate's Cove

By UberGewei

Kills: 87%

Items: 50%

Secrets: 0%

Time: 12:34

 

Probably the first in a long line of big Ray Mohawk 2 maps, Hidden Ship does a pretty damn nice job sticking the landing! I dig the variety of visuals on display here, the caves, the wooden hut early on, the temple, and of course the titular ship all contribute to making this map feel like a nicely sized adventure. The worst part of this map is probably the temple later on, it has a strange layout and I'm not wild about the combat as a whole here. Kinda feels like the mapper ran out of steam a little, because I feel this part could be more dynamic. I like where it's going, for the first appearance of the Bleached Cyberdemon it looks like it's going to be a dramatic battle but it kinda just unravels into some corridors sadly. Ultimately though it doesn't ruin my impression of the map, although I don't think it's quite as good as the first, Ray Mohawk 2's sixth map is a great time to be had!

 

Grade: A

Difficulty: B-

 

 

MAP07: WARehouse

By Walter

Kills: 92%

Items: 100%

Secrets: 0%

Time: 6:14

 

WARehouse is a pretty nice pun, and I do like how you can literally see the Nukage(tm) powered ship at the start of the map connecting to the story text, but other than that I sadly don't have too much to say on WARehouse. It's not bad, I do enjoy the brutal architecture here but the combat doesn't feel particularly relevant and it feels like the layout could have been expanded a little. I'm honestly not even sure what raises the platform to the last building to be honest, I just got the red key, left, came back later after running out of stuff to do and it was there. I would say maybe it was something obvious and I didn't notice but I've played this map twice now and I still don't know what triggered it. Also worth noting despite the combat being less relevant, I still probably wouldn't describe it as bad all things considered, but I don't know if that's because this Deh is inherently fun or not.

 

Grade: B

Difficulty: D+

 

 

[Dersulbob]

(GZDoom 4.8.2, Seeking Validation, continuous, saves allowed)

 

MAP04 - Surf's Up In Nuketown

 

Another really fun map to blast around. The large opening fight that took place over the entire exterior area was another great opportunity to test the plasma cannon. The Arachnos and Revenants acting as snipers got me a fair few times, but i had no issues with the enemies on the ground as I found the Berserk pretty quickly (it's ridiculously fun to use in this map).

 

Another A and this megaWAD has been consistently good so far.

 

Grade - A 

 

MAP05 - 11 Holidays

 

A surprisingly short map, surprising only because of how quickly I was able to wipe out 170+ plus enemies with the newly-introduced auto-shotgun which feels incredibly OP, even amongst the OP weapons already introduced.

 

I don't think the map is as exciting or as memorable as the rest of the set so far - there's nothing particularly wrong with the map, perhaps I didn't enjoy it as much because the areas were less open in previous maps. Still fun, but less so.

 

Grade - B

 

MAP06 - Hidden Ship in Pirate's Cove

 

The grandest feeling level so far, this map was a real adventure, taking you to various distinct areas, each housing its own notable encounters. 

 

The chain gun introduced in this level is another silly weapon which is really fun to use and which made pretty short work of the beefed up Cyberdemons, also introduced in this level.

 

The combat in this map felt a little easier than the earlier maps, but I feel that the the aesthetics and the story were the main focuses on this one, and the result is very impressive indeed.

 

Grade - A

 

[Roofi]

Map 09 "Temple del Sol"

 

 

Wow, that map was huge and a real journey ! Temple del Sol made me feel in vacation more than any other maps. The serene music from FF7 and the greatness of the locations were top-notch. Moustachio impressed me about how he managed to respect the vanilla limits while offering so vast beaches. The only "flaw" to note were the disappearing things because of the excess of sprites

 

Temple del Sol also beats the record of the longest map so far. It's even longer than map 06 ! Despite the 600 enemies, this map still felt like a breeze and I love how you can survive the hardest fights by using the invulnerability spheres. I especially think about the two combats involving the Mastermind and the Cyberdemon. Moustachio grants you invulnerability sphere without counterparts. It was extra fun.

 

Map 09 also features optional zones and interesting secrets filled with doomcute. I really like the modelling of the ships in the northwest part of the map for instance. The ending was unexpected, I won't tell much about it because I don't want to spoil too much.

 

To conclude, I think Temple del Sol figures as one of the most complete maps from this mapset. It has a ton of places to explore, great texture usage, fun slaughter-lite gameplay without getting too hard, a relaxing music which totally fits with the tropical theme. With map 10 not yet reviewed, Temple del Sol corresponds exactly to what I want in Ray Mohawks 2. 

Grade : A

 

 

 

[Rujasu]

MAP09: Temple del Sol

Success: No (Temple entrance trap on the second try)

Cyberdemon count: 0

 

The second longer form odyssey of the set, and quite a fun one, even if I once again failed to reach the main attraction. Heavy on the monster closets, but the fights (or, well, the parts of them that aren't a swarm of demons following you from the previous area that failed to infight each other to death) feel well designed and interesting. That's really the thing that pushed me to do a second attempt and get a little farther than the invuln room.

The choice of music is maybe a little docile for how hectic the combat feels at times, though.

[Silhouette 03]

Map09: Temple Del Sol- Moustachio

 

The best one so far.

 

Probably my favourite map so far. I absolutely adore the theme and the texture work and detailing is really well done. The fights are fun and frantic, and really let you let loose with the arsenal, though they are challenging.

 

It's quite a long map, but never feels like it drags on or has unnecessary padding. As soon as I thought it needed to end, it did end.

 

The detailing is exquisite. The doomcute cash register/till is a perfect example. You can tell a lot of thought was put into the detailing.

 

My only real criticism is that there is some ammo shortages at the start of the map. This isn't a huge issue, as the rest of the map has sufficient ammo.

 

Great stuff.

 

Kills: 95%

Secrets: 50%

[tonytheparrot]

(Played from a pistol-start on Prboom+, saves are allowed)

Map 9: Temple Del Sol by Matthew "Moustachio" DeCalzadilla

110% kills, 92% items, 100%secrets

Time: 23:04

 

Temple Del Sol is another long map similar to Pirate Cove, this time courtesy of Moustachio who built a non-linear adventure inside of a temple constructed on an island. I remember being pleased by this map at first, but not loving it as much as I do now. Thankfully, I changed my mind about it for 2 reasons :

1- The combat is better than I remembered. The outside areas are all really fun to clear out and the inside of the temple, while less open, is home to some great ambushes, arch-vile encounters and 2 satisfying as hell invuln fights.

2- Even if I am not sure if this level needs 10 secrets, they are some of the best in the wad so far and a lot of them give access to shortcuts and new ways to progress, increasing the replay value and adding even more non-linearity to the progression.
On top of that, I also love the twist ending and some of the details like the sailboats on the sea which you can admire if you find one of the secrets and are especially cute since 2 Rays are present in each one of them, even if I wonder why they are watching our protagonist do all the dirty work while not even trying to help him. Overall, Temple Del Sol is an excellent adventure as it is fun, pretty and rejects linearity for great results.

 

 

Rankings:

Spoiler

Love:

Map 1

Map 4

Map 9

Map 3

Map 8

Really Like:

Map 5

Map 6

Map 2

Map 7

 

[RED77]

MAP09 - “Temple del Sol” by Moustachio

I think this one would work better as a stand-alone kind of map.
Too big, too open, too generous, too much to explore.
It was fun, but a little tiresome halfway thru.

★★★☆☆

[LadyMistDragon]

Map 09: Temple del Sol

by Matthew deCazadilla @Moustachio

 

So, looking for a map that'll probably put Pirate's Cove to shame? Because Temple del Sol certainly has you covered! A relatively open map (though not entirely if we want to talk structure) with a metric ton of secrets to find, this is both the largest and the most fun map thus far! Doomkid who was on a stream with me this weekend mentioned he found this one of the more difficult maps in the set. After playing this, I'm like 'nah.'

 

Not to say it doesn't get incredibly challenging and overwhelming in spots. The courtyard with your first (yellow) key and the first non-secret berserk pack (I sort of gave up on the secret one) unleashes a cavalcade of overwhelming foes which you (thnakfully) get an Invunerbility for, so you can pick off the turret Viles with relative ease here. Although this courtyard does get seriously crowded though. I was not so fortunate in a tomb with a large collection of Hell Nobles. I don't remember exactly what happened, but my luck might have just ran out.

 

My second death came partly from sloppiness and also partly because it can be hard to react to 4 Arch-viles at once, and even then, I almost pulled out a victory. Although since they came from a side chamber, it probably shouldn't have been that hard.

 

It's right after this that you face off against a Cyberdemon. An interesting observation I made during the course of this battle is that the sound of your respective plasma cannons firing almost sounded like the cries of the Revenants if they were remixed a bit to sound mechanical. Don't fall asleep though, a choir of the flamethrowers  will follow right behind him after death and there isn't necessarily tons of health.

 

Although the secret Supercharge in the next room, manned by a Revenant museum attendant will probably help continous players. Ending by walking out the front door after arriving on a boat, this narrative feels ironic somehow.

 

Also, it's nice to hear um "Costa del Sol" here. The right kind of music for a day at the beach. Although Egyptian sailors had a temple in Hawaii or something. Wake up sheeple!

 

 

lmd_mohawk2_09.zip

Edited August 16, 2022 by LadyMistDragon

[Dersulbob]

(GZDoom 4.8.2, Seeking Validation, continuous, saves allowed)

 

MAP07 - WARehouse

 

The first miss of the set for me. Confusion about where to go, no real notable combat, the nature of where the majority of this level takes means that visually there's nothing particularly impressive to comment on either.

 

A disappointing level at this stage after many back-to-back great levels.

 

Grade - C

 

MAP08 - Chocolate Island

 

Not much time to rest on this one until everything is dead. 

 

A good shorter map, visually distinctive from the other maps due to the water and wood aesthetic throughout.

 

The usage of the Cyberdemons in this set has been lacklustre so far, they have all been placed in positions where they can't really hit you. Thismay be by design as these are still the early levels but it does beg the question as to why they are included in these maps at all, other than to be ammo sponges.

 

The encounter with the Hell Knights and Barons was particularly nasty and killed me a few times as there was very little room and rather a lot of enemies.

 

Overall the map felt open and fluid (other than the encounter mentioned above) so no complaints, however I don't think it matches up to some of the other efforts so far in this set.

 

Grade - B

[Garlichead]

MAP09 - “Temple del Sol” by Moustachio 104 Kills / 84 Items / 60 Secrets
35:18

Massive level that combines open areas with exploration on a mildly Egyptian pyramid. Despite the huge size the mappers makes an amazing job letting you know where to go without ever getting lost, either by looping the areas or introducing enemies as a signaling post to go back to old areas.

The map has some pretty nasty fights, but for most of them the mapper had hidden a secret that lets you overcome the challenge.

One of the best maps from the set so far

Love it!

[cannonball]

MAP08 - “Chocolate Island” by Egg Boy

I really enjoyed this one with the exception of one moment, and I am left scratching my head as to how this hasn't annoyed anyone else. The cell cannon pickup which is a real nasty move as you are surrounded immediately by revenants with the worst possible weapon. The rest is fast paced a fun to charge through, the noble lock in has enough space to move around in to not be too bothersome, in the end the cyberdemon killed them all. 

Short and sweet, but that one sour moment knocks a couple of points off for me, sorry.

 

MAP09 - “Temple del Sol” by Moustachio

A very large map that is packed full of optional areas that I seemed to find easier than the actual progression. TO be honest this gives off a big Drake O'Brien vibe and I think this holds a lot of replay-ability to it. Unfortunately every big fight in this map comes with a invulnerability to completely neuter the fight, which is a shame because honestly a little more vision could have turned this from a good map into a great fight. 

This certainly looks the part and I appreciate how you can run and gun several sections of this. I just feel like this map was going to be higher up the list but was put here with lots of godspheres to compensate.

 

[Egg Boy]

11 minutes ago, cannonball said:

MAP08 - “Chocolate Island” by Egg Boy

I really enjoyed this one with the exception of one moment, and I am left scratching my head as to how this hasn't annoyed anyone else. The cell cannon pickup which is a real nasty move as you are surrounded immediately by revenants with the worst possible weapon.

I did this intentionally, and I apologize if it wasn't to your taste, hopefully it didn't ruin the entire map for you. Every once in a while I just get the urge to be a dick in my maps.

[Garlichead]

On 8/14/2022 at 11:16 AM, Egg Boy said:

Not sure if this is common, or allowed, so apologies in advance.

 

I actually appreciate when mappers provide this kind of background information on the megawad club.

 

I remember reading the archive on requiem and doom the way id did 2 which contains some of this insights. It is nice to understand what mappers were trying to accomplish and if it matches what I think they were trying to do.

[Monsieur E]

Map09- Temple del Sol by Moustachio 
100% kills

Another very good outing, this map takes you on an adventure throughout the tropical environment before you dwell into another mysterious Egyptian ruin. There are a couple of strong encounters which are a lot of fun to play through. However, I think providing invulnerability was a bad idea since the fights are already manageable enough and providing the invulnerability spheres just defangs the encounters which I found to be the best in the level. Otherwise, I like the design of the level allowing for a decent amount of exploration and it looks pretty. The secrets were well placed but never exceedingly cryptic or obvious. Oh and that ending room was excellent. One of the strongest in the set so far.

[finnks13]

MAP09 - Temple del Sol by Moustachio:

27:30/3 Deaths
After the previous two short outings, Temple del Sol sports a massive floor plan as well as the largest monster count so far. The scale of the map is something to behold and I'm really impressed with the fact that this is a vanilla map, since the scale of it seems so at odds with the visplane limit. If I had to sum up this map, I'd say that it feels like a more successful MAP06 - you've got the grand scale, large outdoor scenery, temple sections and exploration taking the wheel. There's ten secrets, and a lot of them involve going into expansive areas with a lot of gameplay in them, the largest one being a secret beach that holds an SSG as well as some adorable sector boats.

 

After the initial tear through the seaside and caves, the map's pace slows considerably after getting to the temple, where I found the progression a bit stilted - it's dark, mazey with lots of switch pressing and I reckon it should have been toned down a bit. I also think it's a real shame that all three of the "big" fights give you a free invulnerability at the start, since none of them are quite large enough to remain a threat after your 30 second rampage ends and they're all fun fights to tackle without the free win given to you at the start. I understand the temptation of nerfing a fight by giving the player an invulnerability at the start (I'm guilty of it myself) but when it happens so often, it makes my victories over these massive fights feel somewhat unearned since I was never in any danger to begin with.

 

These small qualms aside, Temple del Sol is definitely one of Ray Mohawk 2's highlights and encapsulates some of my favourite things about this wad perfectly.

[Capellan]

(forewarning: not a fan of this one.)

 

 

[Roofi]

Map 10 - Kalua Atoll

 

 

After the long journey that was "Temple del Sol", we now enter in the action-packed Kalua Atoll where combats prevail on exploration. This level was totally linear and can be beaten in under 10 minutes, but damn that was a blast !

 

DFF mastefully introduced the flame-thrower so that it doesn't feel like just a new weapon, but a super-power which is now between the hands of Ray. First of all, more than 300 monsters reside in Kalua Atoll, which is important for a map of that size. The level wasn't so difficult, especially the last circular fight where you just had to circlestrafe to win, but DFF simply wants to demonstrate the awesome power of your weapon. I think the hardest part of that map was the one where you get the backpack and the megasphere, it's the only place where I almost died.

 

This map also uses one of my favourite track in this mapset. I never felt so badass while listening Sonic Adventure 2's music while  burning armies of enemies to ash on the beach. About the weapon itself, I love it but I still prefer the blaster for two reasons : the flame-thrower has limited firing range and the numerous flames tend to hide enemies projectiles, which tend to be troublesome , especially in the last maps.

 

Having loved the exploration in map 09, however, I love this map for its concision and the fact that it specifically introduces the flamethrower in one the most epic way.

For me, it's another banger in this wad along with map 09 and it's definitely one of the most memorable map.

 

Grade : A

 

 

 

 

[Azure_Horror]

I have fallen behind a bit, will try to catch up today.

 

Right now, I just want to talk about the Flamethrower (signature weapon of map 10)

 

This gun is pretty polarizing. It has many Pros and many Cons.

 

Flamethrower Cons:

- It obscures your view.

- It obscures Archvile and Pyro-Imp attacks in particular!

- It has limited range.

- Unlike Blaster or Auto-SG, it has only limited stunlock capability. No AOE stunlocks for you!

Flamethrower Pros:

- Saves bullets for Blaster. (Blaster is extremely strong and convenient weapon, and thus the bullets are premium ammo)

- Bigger range than shotgun against single targets.

- No post-fire sequence. Tapping the fire button quickly works well.

- EXTREMELY High DPS! Among non-cell weapons, the flamethrower is the most destructive one.

 

Advice on using the flamethrower:

- Strafing is key! If you move to the side, then the flames will not obscure your view as much.

- If you need raw DPS in close to medium range, then the flamethrower is a very good bet.

- If you need stunlock and clear view of the battlefield - Blaster and Auto-SG are better.

- At long ranges the best weapon is still Plasma Launcher.

- Cyberdemons die pretty quickly to Flamethrower, but they shoot back. If you have some time to spare - it is easier to use Blaster or Autoshotgun. But if you can dodge blindly - than the flamethrower is a very effective anti-cyberdemon weapon. And only BFG-9002 can offer better DPS against cyberdemons.

 

[Rujasu]

MAP10: Kalua Atoll

Success: Yes (but no)

Cyberdemons: 1!

 

As the first fight already kicked my ass a couple of times, I decided to depart from my usual format and just beat the map with saves. As basically a ten-minute introduction to the flamethrower, it was good fun. The well marked but still invisible map limits caused some headache with the cyberdemon (who seems to hit even harder than the regular one, now that I finally get to meet one), but otherwise it was a fun collection of battle arenas with a lot of LMB-holding. The spiral staircase and the extra ammo that lowered for phase two of that one room were neat, and the visuals were good as usual.

[cannonball]

12 hours ago, Egg Boy said:

I did this intentionally, and I apologize if it wasn't to your taste, hopefully it didn't ruin the entire map for you. Every once in a while I just get the urge to be a dick in my maps.

Not at all in regards to ruining the experience, I still think so far it was one of the better maps so far. I was just surprised that no one commented on this trap. I guess it was just me :)

[RED77]

MAP10 - “Kalua Atoll” by DFF

I get this is an introduction to the flamethrower.
BUT...

I didn't like it.

First of all the fights were just "here, roast this crowd"

Those invisible walls, not a fan at all

The star weapon itself. I think it's my least favorite of them all. Just too chaotic and I can see what it's going on.

It's not a horrible map, but too many strong negatives for me.


★★☆☆☆

[Roofi]

5 hours ago, Azure_Horror said:

I have fallen behind a bit, will try to catch up today.

 

Right now, I just want to talk about the Flamethrower (signature weapon of map 10)

 

This gun is pretty polarizing. It has many Pros and many Cons.

 

Flamethrower Cons:

- It obscures your view.

- It obscures Archvile and Pyro-Imp attacks in particular!

- It has limited range.

- Unlike Blaster or Auto-SG, it has only limited stunlock capability. No AOE stunlocks for you!

Flamethrower Pros:

- Saves bullets for Blaster. (Blaster is extremely strong and convenient weapon, and thus the bullets are premium ammo)

- Bigger range than shotgun against single targets.

- No post-fire sequence. Tapping the fire button quickly works well.

- EXTREMELY High DPS! Among non-cell weapons, the flamethrower is the most destructive one.

 

Advice on using the flamethrower:

- Strafing is key! If you move to the side, then the flames will not obscure your view as much.

- If you need raw DPS in close to medium range, then the flamethrower is a very good bet.

- If you need stunlock and clear view of the battlefield - Blaster and Auto-SG are better.

- At long ranges the best weapon is still Plasma Launcher.

- Cyberdemons die pretty quickly to Flamethrower, but they shoot back. If you have some time to spare - it is easier to use Blaster or Autoshotgun. But if you can dodge blindly - than the flamethrower is a very effective anti-cyberdemon weapon. And only BFG-9002 can offer better DPS against cyberdemons.

 

 

Very nice analysis of the flamethrower ! I would also add about the cons that the flames 'noises mute the other sounds. This is specific to Dosbox and perhaps Chocolate Doom which emulates vanilla.  When I use my flamethrower on many enemies, lot of sounds got interrupted because of the flames.

 

https://doomwiki.org/wiki/Sound_cutoffs

[LadyMistDragon]

Map 10: Kalua Atoll

by @DFF

 

Have I told you how much I like Duran Duran? Really, the soundtrack could be a selection of Duran Duran songs. Although this particular song comes from Sonic Adventure 2. Makes sense because Duran Duran's song like this did not have Caribbean instruments.

 

But anyways, this is a not-quite linear journey equipped only with an awesome flamethrower. Using one weapon gets slightly repetitive and I'm pretty sure the lasting flames don't really mean too much. Still, even though ammo balance is roughly as tight as the previous map, it's strangely fun to turn everyone you meet into charcoal briquettes. The one thing I REALLY didn't like was trying to fight the Cyberdemon here and bumping against invisible walls. That shit is always so stupid.

 

Maybe the hardest would be the open area you pick up the backpack and the wall in front of you lowers (many walls lower here) revealing an incredibly intimidating army of Hula Imps, with two Arch-viles backing them up and Cacodemons filtering in from the ledges on the sides. Focus on EVERYONE. It's one of those 'don't focus on one group' battles and easily the best one of the map.

 

The last fight (consisting of hell knights, dukes, and revenants) in a circular area is also decently hard, but it's also really fun to trigger infighting which takes no effort at all. There might be an Arch-vile here but they are fairly inconsequential.

 

I was able to locate one secret, thanks to a certain time-trigger shootable switch which also leads you to a little isolated nook containing an Invulnerbility Sphere that mainly serves to keep you from being overwhelmed. I did not find the trigger point for the berserk secret which would've been really nice. Beggars can't be choosers though, and this is still a top map.

lmd_mohawk2_10.zip