The DWmegawad Club plays: Cydonia & Arrival

[erzboesewicht]

MAP08: Aggrandizement

 

I felt for the first time true Casali'esque sadism here (: (although MAP04 came close already). A relatively simple and small map, making excellent use of height differences for progression and to create a sense of place. After you win a race against a chaingunner (nice!) you have to conquer a tower to get the keys. All of them are very close to the central tower's hub, but you have to get through a linear progression sequence to be able to access them. Chaingunners and revenants will appear at random moments to molest you while you enjoy this short, but interesting journey. The blood this time is damaging, although there is plenty of healing power if you fall into it, but lack of armor can be a problem in the later stages. A very creative setup was the fight at the yellow key, where you are forced to react fast and then run across a damaging ledge, only to be assaulted at its end by your best green friends in Cydonia. Honourable mention goes to the two pain elementals which will fill the western part with lost souls if you don't handle them fast. I wondered what the switch at the tower with the two revenant snipers was about, maybe I activated it shooting it without noticing unlocking something. Excellent, punchy map.

 

Rating: 9,5/10
Difficulty: 5/10

 

MAP09: Neurotoxin

 

Another height-difference-heavy map, continuing with the topic of ledges over damaging floors. A bit inspired by "Neurosphere", perhaps? But it doesn't feel like an outright homage. Again a punchy one, with a nod to Plutonia's "Twilight" with some invincible (at the start) chaingunners, albeit in a much less strategic position that the much-hated group in the original. Arch-viles here are Doomguy's main foe, supported by a range of other mid-tiers. I liked the linear rush at the start where you get a single radsuit and you have to hit a switch and kill the opposition before it runs out - there will be no second easy chance. The slightly "puzzle-y" mancubus fight in the middle of the map was the hardest one for me, it took a few tries until I was fast enough, although I probably approached it in the wrong way trying to kill all fatsos before I understood the mechanism to access the platform with the revenant. After a little lighter segment the exit fight is the second hardest: an arch-vile duo will try to make you run into revenants' missiles or caco fireballs. I feared an "Abattoire"-like ultra-nasty fight here, but it was relatively mild. Don't try to hide, be fast, and it's over soon.

 

Rating: 8,5/10
Difficulty: 5/10

[narrowtomato]

Enjoying Cydonia so far, I like the shorter map format.  All my deaths so far have been due to my own incompetence, nothing feels too cheap.

 

Here's my playthrough of maps 01-07

 

 

[General Roasterock]

Map 08: Aggrandizement

 

  As much as I appreciate the scale that this map is able to put on, my heart sank when I watched a Chaingunner up on one of the highest ledges open fire on my vertically challenged self. Having to navigate a blood pit for the first half bordered on miserable, especially for the short amount of time that I got lost after the Blue Skull. I otherwise enjoyed the navigation, the leaps of faith felt good to pull off, and with enough nastiness to keep me moving simultaneously such as with the Yellow Skull. I specifically remember the fight in the two story rise where Chaingunners burst from the walls, teleporting a random selection of Revenants and Chaingunners in its first wave. There's a strange, well balanced set of incidental and arena fighting where nothing specifically locks you in, but there are enough threats to keep you engaged, overall this set has managed that well. As petty as it is, I feel this level could have benefited from a singular radsuit, the one I know exists on HMP and below, especially if you're going to hide a Rocket Launcher (what I see to be the skeleton key for this map) past the blood in a midtexture cave. I am glad that the themes, still grounded in Final Doom, are spreading out a little bit.

 

Map 09: Neurotoxin

 

  I guess we're sticking with the damaging floor then.

  For me, the horse is well beyond dead, but each one of these maps has at least one direct comparison in the original IWAD that can be drawn. I felt a great deal of Genesis from the opening couple minutes here considering how wide open these pathways between what seem to be rudimentary buildings, but the final fight seems like a direct redux of the fight from The Omen. I don't remember if the PRCP series suffered from any of this, I haven't played either of them with any commitment to memory, but this WAD has certainly stuck to the rulebook for better or worse.

  I liked the middle of this map a lot, the spacing feels pretty nice, getting a Rocket Launcher early is very helpful, and nothing felt like a herculean weight, which is odd considering I never found the Plasma Rifle. I thought the fight before the Yellow Skull was really well set up, and even the introduction to the last fight was something I had never seen before, using the lift to reveal those two Arch-Viles guarding the Soulsphere. However, the end of the map devolved back into Revenants, hoarding around with a flock of Cacos. I can't even blame an author here, just seeing these things upsets me in a vacuum. I did dig the style, and the music has still been solid. 

 

Power Rankings:

Spoiler

1. Hopeless
2. Fraughtification
3. Amazon
4. Neurotoxin
5. Quetzalcoatl
6. Carcinogen
7. Aggrandizement
8. Ritual
9. Viper

 

[RHhe82]

MAP10: Siege. Played on DSDA v0.24, UV, PS. 74/74 K, 3/3 S, 4/4 I. Completion time 13:27 (on July 23rd 13:27 -- yes, exactly the same time! My september run actually took few hundred milliseconds more).

 

Once again the map start fills me with dread, but the actual run doesn't seem that harrowing in the end. Sure, I do find Cydonia harder than other clubbers seem to do, and yes, there are some sweaty situations, like the trapped yellow key door, which unleashes the essence of Plutonia upon you. Still, the hardest part was the hell noble trap prior to that to which I died several times. I decided to skip it at first, and when I got back there with essentially the same equipment, I survived without a scratch... funny.

 

I didn't appreciate the caged chaingunners at all, they're awkward to get rid of. Then again I guess the threat would be diminished if they were easier to target without freelook.

 

So another good one.

[Soll]

MAP10: Siege

This map is brutal, stopped me dead in my tracks for weeks. But I beat this map on my first try during my second playthrough, so maybe I have gotted gud over the last month. The start shows you your fist adversary: a lone archvile with its back facing towards you, and also forces you to make a choice: the rocket launcher or the plasma rifle. The early fights don’t have much worth discussing, just a couple of standard Plutonia fights. The moment you go for the yellow key is when everything goes down - sandwiched between a wall of fat, muscles and bones, a demonic robot-goat and a flaming martian. Most of my runs ended in this area. The key itself needs a small bump to acquire, which in the heat of battle can get surprisingly tricky, discouraging early exit. Getting the cyberdemon to distract the archvile is your best chance, but be prepared to improvise if cybie and archie aren’t cooperating. The hell knight/baron trap is absolutely nasty, as the hell nobles can corner you fast, and even after hitting the switch, you’ll have to wait around 2 seconds for the wall to lower, meaning you’ll have to tank projectiles and claws. To this day, I still haven’t found a consistent strategy for this fight, I just save a soul sphere, blue armour and some plasma and hope I get out alive. The chaingunner turrets are just TNT levels of hitscan placement, there’s no position to snipe them from, and if you try and rush them, you’ll be exposed to gunfire from all directions. The rest of the map winds down a bit. The final monsters in this map can be wiped out if you just hold down the fire button of the rocket launcher. I would say this is the hardest level up until now. Not sure if I enjoyed it, but after my second run I did warm up to it a bit.

Edited September 10, 2022 by Soll

[DavitW]

MAP09: Neurotoxin

Careful rationing of your rockets is important for getting through the early stages of this map. First time I finished this map I did it without finding the secret plasma rifle and grabbing the soulsphere up on the chaingunner ledge until near the end. There's another alcove full of chaingunners near the beginning constantly being resurrected by a hidden archvile. I'd be pissed off if they weren't placed in such a useless spot. There's a lift after the blue key door that takes you to a seemingly optional area with a rad suit, though if you're not going for 100% I'm not sure dealing with all the revenants and sergeants would be worth it.

 

MAP10: Siege

The start of this map hands you a soulsphere and a choice between either the rocket launcher or the plasma rifle. A classic gimmick that usually lets you know you're in for some shit. Don't approach that innocent looking lever near the beginning as it surrounds you with Barons and Hell Knights. It's almost guaranteed death unless you have a good supply of plasma on your side. There's a number of big traps here, with the biggest likely being the cyberdemon fight including an archvile and a horde of other brutes. For the most part this level isn't as hard as it may initially seem. I found the worst part being the caged chaingunners way off in the distance outside of auto-aim range, forcing you to run out in the middle of their firing squad to kill them.

cydonia09.zip

cydonia10.zip

[baja blast rd.]

3 hours ago, Soll said:

To this day, I still haven’t found a consistent strategy for this fight

 

You mostly just need a herding tactic for the opening moments to not get cornered while killing one HK quickly (or near-killing is basically as good tbh), and then the rest is the usual "fight goats in tight quarters" tactics. (Also MVP arachnotron. I had no idea it could get there!) Oh yeah...on the switch press I make sure to be standing far away enough that I never get caught on the lip, which is kind of a punt in terms of survivability. 

 

 

[tmorrow]

Cydonia map11

 

A lava fortress from hell. This map has mean encounters and takes no prisoners. The cyberdemon ending cost my doomguy 3 uvmax fails, so cybie finally got some satisfaction and was stomping around with joy and an evil grin on his face. Finally in my 4th attempt, the cyberdemon engaged with the 2 barons so doomguy was able to rush in and collect the needed ammo and use the switch to open the way back out. Making space between him and cybie, doomguy was able to plasma him back to the depths of hell from whence he came and regain some self respect. Doomguy hopes this is the high bar on difficulty or he's in for a world of hurt.

[Soll]

1 hour ago, baja blast rd. said:

 

You mostly just need a herding tactic for the opening moments to not get cornered while killing one HK quickly (or near-killing is basically as good tbh), and then the rest is the usual "fight goats in tight quarters" tactics. (Also MVP arachnotron. I had no idea it could get there!) Oh yeah...on the switch press I make sure to be standing far away enough that I never get caught on the lip, which is kind of a punt in terms of survivability. 

 

 

Oh okay, good to know! Damn you make it look easy. Looks like I still have a lot to learn. Appreciate it, mate! Also lmao that arachno XD

Edited September 10, 2022 by Soll

[finnks13]

MAP09 - Neurotoxin by Scotty:

6:48/4 Deaths
Neurotoxin is the first map that's given me trouble, the opening moments and final fight are some of the toughest parts of the wad so far and were fun to unpick. The map is covered in nukage and there aren't any easy to grab radsuits, so you'll have to scramble to safety often. The wall of chaingunners near the start apparently gets resurrected by archviles, but I didn't notice this in my playthrough so I guess they're not that mean. I liked the secret plasma gun, and how you have to get to it by balancing on a thin rail - using the map's geometry like this is something that you don't see often and I really like.

 

The toughest part of the map is the finale, even though I managed to smuggle in a radsuit from the other side of the map, there's still a lot going on and not many places to break the revenant missiles if you get caught with the lifts raising. I'm not sure why Sanctified from Plutonia 2 was chosen as the midi here, it's a great song but it feels rather out of place in the slime-base setting. Overall, I wouldn't say this map stands out from the crowd, but it sets the stage for much harder stuff to come.

 

MAP10 - Seige by Scotty:

7:34/6 Deaths
I've always liked it when maps make you pick between two weapons at the start - especially if they're the rocket launcher and plasma gun since they have two very different niches in what they'll be most useful for. I picked the rocket launcher and was pretty happy with that choice - the red key fight seems much more suited to it and it helped out tremendously against the first two archviles, though I can see how the plasma gun would be useful for sniping the caged chaingunners and dealing with the hell knight sandwich trap that grants access to the moat of the castle. That trap was the cause of 5 of my 6 deaths, and while I'm sure there's a consistent strategy to deal with it, it feels pretty cheap and mean-spirited, even by plutonia's standards and I didn't care for it's inclusion.

 

My favourite part was the yellow key trap, you're reunited with the other weapon that you didn't go for and face down a small mob of enemies and a cyberdemon - there's enough space to run around, but little health and no armour so the cyberdemon can and will splatter you if you make a wrong move. I also liked the chaingunner trap at the yellow key door because it made me laugh with how ridiculous it is! The caged chaingunners in the moat do a great job of tearing you down if you're not willing to take them out carefully, though they're placed just perfectly so autoaim refuses to cooperate which did make killing them a bit annoying. Once the chaingunners are dealt with, the threat of the map is gone and nothing else that comes is particularly challenging, though it's all still fun.

[TJG1289]

GZDoom/UV/Continuous/Saves

Map 09: Neurotoxin - Scotty

100% kills and secrets

Time: 12:29

 

This one has a little bit of a bite. The chaingunners in front of the red backdrop will get resurrected by an archie, so don't bother. They're not in a worrisome spot anyway. There's a lot of toxin in the map, so prepare to spend a lot of time in it without a rad suit. A decent amount of height variation again, making for some interesting areas, but there's not much trying to get you from those areas. The archie in the slime can be interesting, with the revs and pain elemental helping out. There's 3 main fights for each key. Yellow key teleports you away to an area with a rev and several shotgunners and mancs that can put a real dent in you. Blue key throws a chaingunner firing squad on you and teleports that first archie I mentioned into the fray. Red key is a big area with 2 platforms that raise and lower plus cacos and revs. These fights are pretty fun. Just be warned, going into the red key area means you can't go back. I learned that the hard way and had to no clip back up so I could go the optional area I missed with a rad suit. Good stuff.

 

Map 10: Siege - Scotty

100% kills and 66% secrets

Time: 14:35

Deaths: 7

 

Don't let the kill count fool you, this one isn't too bad. I just had the unluckiest teleports ever into rev punches 5 times. Other than that, there's a few tricky spots, mainly the sudden descent into a pit with 2 hell knights and 2 barons (yay for the plasma), and the fake yellow door opening a side cubby with the plutonia duo. The red key door has a nasty 2 rev surprise right behind it, ready to punch you in the face, which was not very nice. Going for the yellow key will unleash the stationary monsters around the area, including a cyb. So the map does have some teeth to it, but other than the teleporter toward the end teleporting me to the newly spawned revs by the beginning my only deaths were to the yellow key fight and fake yellow door. Couldn't figure out the mega armor secret. Is it a SR50? Idk. Overall, pretty fun tho.

 

Map 11: Volcanic - AD_79

100% kills and secrets

Time: 7:12

Deaths: 1

 

I can't remember specific map numbers, but this one reminds me of a late Plutonia one. This one feels a tad easier than the last 2, with the 2 fights that stand out being the blue key that sics an archie and a rev on you with no cover, and the yellow key which has a close quarter cyb with a few barons. Tho my only death came from the rocket launcher cage that opened up cubbies a little too close to me while using said rocket launcher. Oops. Despite being in lava, you never have to go in it (except for the secret backpack). Also, at least this map 11 wasn't another Hunted. Another solid map.

[Pseudonaut]

Map09 (Way too many deaths):
Spent the whole time fucking around, unable to decide between going fast and actually surviving. Don't watch this demo.

 

Map10 (7 deaths):
Exploring with those distant chaingunners pelting me was really annoying. In one of the first attempts, I survived the hell noble ambush with only an SSG, then made the mistake of intentionally going in there with only an SSG on later attempts. It can't be done consistently that way; plasma is needed. I was not prepared.

 

Demos:

cy09-10.zip

 

 

[RHhe82]

MAP11: Volcanic. Played on DSDA v0.24, UV, PS. 69/69 K, 1/1 S, 1/1 I. Completion time 9:37 (on July 24th: 10:32).

 

Somehow this one reminds me more of Doom 2 than Plutonia aesthetically, although ambushes are spicier. I wasn't a big fan of this one, but I'm not sure why. There's nothing obnoxious or ugly about it, it's a decent map, it has some plutonic ambushes, but some parts of the map feel a bit empty. The red key fight is nice, though. The cyberdemon ambush would also be, but I hated when the cybie wouldn't concentrate on infighting, and thus wouldn't let me wiggle my way to the switch or the cells I needed to defeat it.

[Soll]

MAP11: Volcanic

Featuring many iron-clad walkways, rooms and cages above vast areas of damaging liquid, this map is an obvious homage to Caged/The Twilight, but more so in terms of visuals. This map is nowhere near as fast-paced and frantic as those maps, but the fights and traps can be lethal if you are caught unawares. I like to run for the ssg at the very start since, with some luck, the gunners can hit the pinkies, getting them to soften each other up. Once you teleport out, don’t linger for too long, instead go for the rocket launcher early so you can properly deal with the enemies you left behind. The archvile at the blue key can cause major trouble if he gets out of his room, so rocket him and his boney friend as soon as you open the door. The iron hallways area is not much of a hassle, just beware of the shotgunners outside in the lava pools. Grabbing the yellow key pits you against 2 barons and a cyberdemon in close quarters. Getting them to infight each other will give you a window of time to make your exit, but you will still need to exercise caution. With the cramped design of this map, there is not much wiggle room to dodge cybie’s rockets and the splash damage. A relatively short level, and not very hard either, just don’t choke at the end and this map will go down without a fight. 

[tmorrow]

Cydonia map12

 

The walkways and wood paneling used on this map is reminiscent of Plutonia's map12 Speed, however rather than non damaging blood, this map has toxic waste pits. I enjoyed this map, plenty of health, weapons and ammo to take on all the challenges. The difficulty has dropped down from that of map11 but doomguy should not become complacent, there's still plenty of traps with archviles to ruin his day.

 

The secrets are well worth picking up, a couple of soulspheres and an invulnerability. The latter comes with an archvile and revenants fight. Doomguy has to earn his invulnerability.

[cannonball]

MAP09 - “Neurotoxin” by Scotty

This one felt pretty difficult, but despite missing an optional area with radsuits and extra munitions I was able to complete this without too many deaths. I kind of laughed at the archvile trap for the soulsphere as I had already taken out the revenants/cacos before springing that trap. In a way this felt like a bit of an oddball, but this is a perfectly decent map to play through and mistakes are not overly fatal here, as shown by playing this map almost entirely not to script and getting through it without too much aggravation.

 

MAP10 - “Siege” by Scotty

This is the first map to have real teeth and my goodness this killed me a fair number of times. Most of the traps are well designed and every single one of them will kill you swiftly without intervention. I think in the end the map would not have irritated me as much if there was at least some armour aside from the secret blue one because the player is frankly at the mercy of RNG (Or alternatively manages to avoid all non hitscan damage. In the end the map felt a little too merciless to enjoy fully and the chaingunner usage on the perimeter walls was far more obnoxious than previous maps. In the end after having a fair proportion of the wad feel that it was a little below the difficulty curve of the Plutonia experiment, this one was very much towards the harder end of those maps.

 

MAP11 - “Volcanic” by AD_79

An easier map compared to Map10, but still a few spots that can cause some real grief. I managed to miss the blue key progression and had to return to that lift. The point blank archvile is a little rude here as he can easily get a cheap shot on you. The rest is pretty engaging for the most part. I found the red key rather easy to grab, you are pretty free to manage this in a non direct approach, the yellow key did not go to plan as the cyber frequently decided to play pacifist, most deaths coming from the cyber's desire to fire from zero feet away (Despite being perfectly able to hit me in the preceding 10 seconds). I have seen this fight pan out for others but for some reason it just didn't happen here and I had to leg it with 3hp to the exit.

This was a reasonable episode closer, very much riffing off Romero's map26 in particular, it was nice to see a map in this that used the Plutonia trope of taking inspiration from Doom 2, but using a different map.

[Monsieur E]

Map09- Neurotoxin by Scotty
100% kills

Another pretty straightforward outing, I was able to cheese the finale though, it seems the walls revealing the revenant and caco gangs are triggered by just approaching the soulsphere rather than lowering the walls itself. Anyways, the fight itself was probably my favorite, it's pretty fun.

Map10- Siege by Scotty
100% kills 

Man, for a relatively low kill count, this map was a pain. The biggest threat here are probably the various chaingunners sprinkled across the map who become quite a pain in the ass, especially since they're out of your auto-aim range but you're not out of theirs. The rest of the map is fun but I think I found a softlock. During the noble sandwich squad ambush, if you don't hit the switch which lowers the wall leading to the small area full of water on the topright of the map (the one with a few medkits), if you drop into that, I found no way to get out if the switch wasn't pressed previously. Anyways, the rest of the map is solid, benefitting from the remix of DOTP as the MIDI selection, the only complaint I have is the aforementioned chaingunner usage which felt frustrating as no armor is provided to you in the regular progression. 

[finnks13]

MAP11 - Volcanic by AD_79:

6:00/2 Deaths
While people here are drawing comparison with Caged and The Abandoned Mines, I found myself thinking of Doom 2 the Way id Did while playing this map, specifically Map06 and Map17. I know that d2twid took lots of cues from Doom 2, but the dark metal bases set into a canyon that appear in d2twid feel rather different to the inspirations to me, with their greater emphasis on height variation, more complex layouts and their more consistent texturing. I'm not sure if this was an intentional reference, but if it is, I think it's really cool that Cydonia bases some of it's levels off of d2twid in the same way that Plutonia bases areas off of Doom 2.

 

Unfortunately, outside of this potential reference to d2twid, I don't think the map itself is particularly interesting. Outside of the claustrophobic cyberdemon battle near the end, the enemies are fed to you piece-meal and the ambushes are easy to deal with, even if you neglect to use your more powerful weaponry. I did like the blue key area, the archvile behind the door did surprise me and there's no way to avoid it's attack beyond lowering the elevator and hoping for the best. The cyberdemon encounter is tough, mostly due to the very limited space with pillars placed in just the right way to ensure you'll get hit with splash damage regularly, though there are enough cells here to ensure the battle isn't prolonged too much. I think this map could have gone a bit tougher on the player more often, since it stands out as rather easy for the final map of the first episode.

[LadyMistDragon]

Map 08: Aggandizement

by "I Am So Metal" AD_79

 

Now here comes some serious verticality usage! Obviously, there's some "Speed" influence but the fortress setting goes much, much further than that. Good luck on finding the Supercharge. The hidden rocket launcher is not really so difficult to find after a little bit of exploring. But chaingunners and Revenants are certainly everywhere, and the latter especially figure in a series of nasty traps. The location of the yellow switch did suck though, since you might just find yourself running all the way around the rest of the map before returning to it. Just skated past the last ambush though, the exit is a short distance and at that point, who cares? Getting attacked by a Pain Elemental pair from behind while trying to fight off several Revenants was easily the highlight though. I think I prefer Hopeless at this point.

lmd_cydonia08.zip

[General Roasterock]

Map 10: Siege

 

  This is the first point in the WAD where the combat feels off kilter. I like the idea of choosing between the Plasma Rifle and Rocket Launcher (I will choose Plasma Rifle any day provided it's balanced), but it's an idea that's given up on by the Yellow Skull, and I am genuinely curious how the Rocket Launcher could handle most of what is presented before then. The pit full of Barons and Knights is straight up luck, hoping that the formation is right and that the Plasma Rifle takes out the Knights quick enough since both using Rockets and killing the Barons fast enough is out of the question. Watching the myriad of perched Chaingunners by the skybox without an ability to fight back was not great for my nerves, nor was circling back to the Yellow Door to find a pair of Arch-Viles in front of the firing squad I had wiped out. I don't think I even bothered with said firing squad. When I hit the switch and allowed the Plutonia jumpscare to settle, I never fired a shot, simply rewound, collected myself, then initiated it again with a handful of rockets. There was zero difficulty in that design once I was allowed to look directly at it with foresight and have a semblance of a chance, it's a Plutonia trope that needs to die. I think I'm starting to lose track of which circularly beveled corner belongs to which map, but the highlights are also making themselves more and more apparent.

 

Map 11: Volcanic

 

  Honest to God, bang for buck, this is the easiest map in the set so far, and what I predict to be for the whole thing. Pretty much every fight came unglued by the Chaingunners being loose cannons, I really feel like that pincer at the Red and Blue Doors would have been a lot harder if they weren't there, since it's a tiny space for a handful of Revenants and Hell Knights. Most of the ambushes expected that you went on the path of the Rocket Launcher first, which I actually did this time, so having enough ammo to cut everything down was not a problem. I took more damage from the fucking secret sector floor than any specific encounter because I dicked around in there with the Mancubus for too long. I'm feeling Caged, maybe The Twilight for the visuals here, which are honestly underappreciated in the myriad of Plutonia love letters filled to the brim with brown bricks and mud.

  I remember rd writing about the Cyberdemon fight for this one (more people need to write for the encounter design thread, it's great), and I did not have anywhere the same experience in unwinding a beauty out of it. One of the Shotgunners got immediately nuked by the Cyber trying to shoot past the doorframe, the Barons never had a chance to throw a shot at me, and I felt perfectly fine in the space I had to dump plasma on the Cyber until it died once everything else had gone down. I didn't think that I would have such a meticulous fight to the point where I didn't think it was anywhere as smart as it was hyped up to be. That lead me to think more about the possibility than the experience. I really think I just got stupid lucky with this one.

 

Power Rankings:

Spoiler

1. Hopeless
2. Fraughtification
3. Volcanic
4. Amazon
5. Neurotoxin
6. Quetzalcoatl
7. Carcinogen
8. Aggrandizement
9. Ritual
10. Viper
11. Siege

 

Edited September 12, 2022 by General Roasterock : formatting

[erzboesewicht]

MAP10: Siege

 

I felt some similarities to Plutonia's "Speed" (with some "Genesis" bits) in this map - the distant chaingunners are clearly an homage, but there is also a cyberdemon thrown in the mix, the generally high difficulty, much teleporting-around, and again the ledges and non-damaging liquids theme. Of course, the visuals were totally different and it felt its own thing. The map has a healthy dose of sadism, besides of the 'gunners above all in the RNG-heavy noble cramp-fest at the lift. And I ran around a lot of time without finding any armor, seems the only one is the secret blue one, which I found only after already having got the last key. Pacing-wise it felt a bit slower than the "hotter" last maps, there are mostly self-enclosed encounters and quiet exploring between them. The yellow key fight was fun, as I still had no armor the archie was way more dangerous than the cyb here, so it was a funny hide-and-seek game. The last big fight felt much easier, I had already taken down the commandos and the 'vile was cooperative (anyway in the water there's much cover) so I could freely take down the baddies with rockets. I think I "broke" the finale a bit as I actually killed also the archie duo, and subsequently the revenants which appeared on the newly-opened ledge from the water. The "weapon choice" at the start is a nice idea, I chose the RL and I think for most of the encounters it was the better weapon.

 

Rating: 7/10
Difficulty: 6/10

 

MAP11: Volcanic

 

The "Twilight" aesthetic of cages over lava may alert you, but the first 90% of the map are actually the easiest stretch in Cydonia for a long time. It's basically a long-ish switch hunt which then leads to the keys. While some chaingunners, revenants, mancubi and nobles will keep you engaged, the danger is mostly low, and there are some monsters which feel pretty helpless, like the cacodemons and mancubi in the smaller cages near the red key. It gets a little bit hotter at the keys themselves, but stays much less sadistic than what we've seen in MAP10 and its two predecessors. The final fight (well, excluding the two exit chaingunners) at the yellow key is however interesting and potentially dangerous: In a small space, you have to lure two barons to infight with a cyberdemon to distract it while you open the door to escape. The infighting party shouldn't happen too close to the door which leads to the escape switch, because then you'll likely tank lots of splash damage, and once the barons are dead the task becomes much more difficult because the switch is quite exposed. Once you're out you safely can plasma and rocket the cyb from about a km away at the exit proper :), or, if you like adrenaline, finish him in the same room (or simply escape). Armor is only obtained once near the start afaik.

 

Rating: 7/10
Difficulty: 5/10 (3/10 without the YK fight)

 

(prboom+, UV, pistol start, sometimes with saves between fights. Difficulty scale roughly: 1-2 - easier than all of Plutonia, 3 - Congo, 5 - Genesis, 7 - Abattoire, 8 - Twilight/Go 2 It, 9-10 - harder than Plutonia.)

Edited September 12, 2022 by erzboesewicht

[AD_79]

15 hours ago, finnks13 said:

I found myself thinking of Doom 2 the Way id Did while playing this map, specifically Map06 and Map17.

 

The majority of my maps in this were attempts for Final Doom the Way Id Did's Plutonia half (which pretty much requires referencing the previous TWIDs), with the rest being practice maps intended to get a feel for the Casali's styles. For the curious, here's a list of what is referenced:

 

Spoiler

MAP01: D2TWID MAP10

MAP11: D2TWID MAP26

MAP12: D2TWID MAP11

MAP14: D2TWID MAP23

MAP16: D2TWID MAP06 + MAP28

MAP19: D2TWID MAP27

MAP31: D2TWID MAP28 + MAP19 (I think?)

 

The other four of mine don't necessarily pull from any one specific TWID map (though "Ritual" pulls from Aztec a decent bit) and are more standard "Plutonia-style" affairs.

 

Edited September 12, 2022 by AD_79

[General Roasterock]

Map 12: Venomous

 

  I'm glad that the consistency of Plutonia's inconsistency with what liquid is damaging is kept in this set, except here it's done in a way that is more clear that there are damaging liquids in the form of staging the pits and letting assumptions take hold. I did like the fights up until the Chaingunner bleachers popped up, where yet another singular reload made it harmless. I thought the Invulnerability secret was actually great, putting enough enemies in front of it to make it difficult to be fully utilized, as well as allowing it to be used at a number of different fights near the start if the player is either fast enough, or saves it until after triggering the last stretch. I honestly wanted to play this one again just to see how I could apply that sphere with a better rocket supply, it's a great element.

 

Power Rankings:

Spoiler

1. Hopeless
2. Fraughtification
3. Venomous
4. Volcanic
5. Amazon
6. Neurotoxin
7. Quetzalcoatl
8. Carcinogen
9. Aggrandizement
10. Ritual
11. Viper
12. Siege

 

[Book Lord]

MAP 11 – Volcanic by Brayden Hart @AD_79

DSDA-Doom v0.24.3, UV, Continuous, blind run w/saves

 

This is where we finally get Caged, that is being constrained into corridors and walkways with gratings on one or both sides. AD_79 was merciful and did not place many snipers to torment Doomguy while treading this place, but this was the limit and the scope of his restraint. After collecting the SSG and dealing with Revenants in close quarter, the teleporter pad dropped me exactly in the middle of a confusing crossfire of Revenants and Hell Knights, with a Mancubus and some Sergeants trying to meddle. A dangerous situation, possibly inspired by the YSK combat in The Twilight. They hit me hard, and I had to search for healing before going on. There was some, including a magnanimous Soul Sphere that solved my problems for the rest of the map.

Spoiler

From the walkway, two paths could be followed, leading to the keys required to operate the small, locked doors. The RK section was the easiest one and provided the plasma rifle as well. The BK segment was longer and began with a short-range rocket gib fest, then continued in a series of rooms with other cramped fights with Commando snipers and a room-sized lift to operate. The locked doors hosted the switches that raised the bridge and opened the door to the YK room. This was the best Cyberdemon set piece so far, an extra-tight ambush where I must think fast and move quickly. I instantly figured out that a switch was behind the Cyberdemon, so he must get out of its chamber to infight with the Barons, while I pulled the lever to get out. I am proud to have survived it at first attempt, even though I sustained some injuries due to splash damage and the pestering Shotgun Guys. Volcanic was a truly entertaining level from beginning to the end.

 

MAP 12 – Venomous by Brayden Hart @AD_79

DSDA-Doom v0.24.3, UV, Continuous, blind run w/saves

 

Unless the player messed too soon with the switches, dealing with the welcome committee required no more than the provided SSG. The western ledge proved a good place to retreat and repel the assailants, both at the hot start and after raising the bridge to the exit. The wood and metal panelling against the sultry episode sky reminded me of Speed, and the impression was confirmed by many other situations, especially in the YK area.

Spoiler

After exposing the yellow door, the rocket launcher, and the expected ambushes, another trapped switch raised the bridge to the eastern area. The BK acted only as the bait for a close-up encounter, then the action was driven by Revenants, Chaingunners and Arch-Viles, used in ways that were clearly reminiscent of Plutonia MAP12. Unfortunately, the green slime paired well with the wood but not with the red sky, confirming that the vanilla colour scheme chosen by the Casali was better (blood as floor liquid).

Spoiler

The secrets were helpful with two Soul Spheres, the second being just a boon for continuous players, and an Invulnerability. I picked it up to annihilate its guardians and the effect lasted for the first seconds of the final encounter. I enjoyed the pastiche of monsters that teleported before the exit; they could be dodged and attacked safely from the starting terrace, though any hesitation might result in being cornered and forced to take damage to escape. The last Arch-Vile appeared in the ideal place to resurrect fallen hellspawn and summoned a barrage of rockets around his sprite. I appreciated the map construction and the proposed gameplay; still Venomous was much more forgiving than Speed because rockets were plentiful and offered a reliable solution to most problems.

[Soll]

MAP12:Venomous

Clearly a nod to Speed, with wood being the main texture used in this level. Playing this map blind can be a challenge, but once you know where to go, what to look for and who to fight, this map poses zero threat. This map is quite generous with health, with 2 soul spheres which shouldn’t be hard to find if you keep on the lookout, and medikits lying abundant across the structure. I don’t vibe with the combat too much, not that it’s bad but nothing stands out in particular, maybe a bit too easy, and the traps are quite predictable. The archviles are borderline useless, they only come one at a time, and you have a lot of rockets so you can just blast them right off. Actually, the rocket launcher, besides the ssg, will be your main weapon, since you get plenty of rocket boxes in this map. You can go down to the toxic area to get a secret blue face and take out an early archvile. The archie with the revenants in the secret area terrified me, until 2 seconds later when I saw the green face. The final ambush is lmao tier, the monsters can barely make their way across the bridge while you hose them down with rockets. Even if you wasted your explosives, the ssg should work just fine. Uncharacteristically easy for a Plutonia-inspired map, if you need a little R&R in this wad, this would be the perfect fit for you. 

Edited September 12, 2022 by Soll

[LadyMistDragon]

Map 09: Neurotoxin

by Scotty (Pippin)

 

The rocket launcher sitting to the right of the player start location was a bad omen - we're greeted almost the instant we step outside with fucking chaingunners, a pair not far from us and a large closet in the front and to the left, ready to fill unwary marines full of demonic lead. They're not such a huge deal, although perhaps missing the shotgun which is down a lift on the right is if you're only left with a chaingun and rocket launcher to quickly dispatch most of the enemies here. I do have some trouble figuring out what the purpose of said shotgun corridor is; although you can kill sergeants with barrels up on this ledge 'o stuff, idk what the switch at the end here does, other than open a thing somewhere (a way to the secret?) For a rad suit

 

Anyway, head down into the slime we see a hell knight or two in, hope our rad suit holds out, then duck around and kill a pair of Revenants and a Pain Elemental before continuing forward and hit a switch which unleashes an Arch-vile FAR closer than we anticipated. This leads to 3 of our 4 deaths, in part because we don't notice the rocket boxes sitting on a nearby ledge. Chaingunners and Mancubi attack as the wall they're behind starts to lower, and it you guessed it, the former were responsible for our last death!

 

Past that is an easily-handled teleport trap from behind, along with some other stuff. The blue key trap was quite undercooked despite the large amount of rockets, but the closing ambush was something else. The fury of Revenant rockets along with snorting pinkies and ever aggressive Cacodemons close in on us from both sides and this can be one of the hardest to fight off correctly. Supercharge was sort of a troll though - two Arch-viles appear from a closet, and I guess this assumes you try the texture here before the last ambush.

 

The damage floors were cool. It's safe to say they will not be damaging us our entire play-time though. Any map that can make rocket-centric gameplay without creating a straight-out power fantasy automatically gets respect from this corner though.

lmd_cydonia09.zip

[tmorrow]

Cydonia map13

 

A fortress with a hot start. It gets even hotter when you pickup the bfg secret as 2 archviles and several revenants are quick to retaliate. The enemy have been recruiting more archviles and cyberdemons it would seem. While there is not a lot of time to respond, there is at least some room to maneuver in these fights and you can cause some helpful infighting to help keep the heat off doomguy. It seems like every door and lift has enemies inside.

[cannonball]

MAP12 - “Venomous” by AD_79

 

I'm guessing that Speed would be one influence, the other potentially being Waverider's effort in PRCP???

Anyway this map is a bit of a jungle gym that foreknowledge would lead to a crushing defeat of the demon thanks to the generous secrets. I can't offer many complaints, the archviles in their boxes are a little irritating to hit, but you are given a lot of rockets, I guess the only complaint is the final encounter once you have crossed the bridge, which feels very clunky in execution. In the end this felt a little easier overall than the previous map, but again this could be pure RNG based.

[Book Lord]

MAP 13 - Chimera by Alex Scott @Scotty

DSDA-Doom v0.24.3, UV, Continuous, blind run w/saves

 

The next big hit by Scotty started inside a symmetrical room, split in two by a cage with the exit mirroring the level entrance. We have seen something like this in The Twilight, but the visuals and the gameplay of Chimera went in a different direction. The chosen textures reproduced the nukage tech-base flair of Compound, even though this place had the scale and the appearance of a hellish outpost. Green slime was damaging, and no Radiation Suits were available; nevertheless, diving into the poison was required at least once in the whole level.

 

After clearing the room behind the start, collecting some weapons, and freeing the walkways from roaming enemies, the player was challenged by two Arachnotrons that were too distant for autoaim to work. Their death must be postponed for a while, just the time to eliminate an ambush of Pain Elementals and Cacodemons, then enter the gate to collect the YSK and put the spiders to rest as well. The first BFG of Cydonia was found behind an obvious secret, and the discovery was immediately counterbalanced by a fresh wave of enemies coming from the starting area.  

Spoiler

Behind the yellow door lay the centrepiece of Chimera. A dark room with a big door surrounded by nine marine corpses, and a smaller door to the right. It looked positively ominous, even bone-chilling if I had not foretold it with my sixth sense: opening the small door revealed a cavern with six Barons of Hell and released a Cyberdemon behind me. It was fun to make them infight, then finish the job with the BFG. The Arch-Vile and Pain Elemental appearing on the lift to the BK were pleasingly unexpected.

 

The rest of the encounters on the way to the RSK and to the exit were not so striking as the rest, but still serviceable and entertaining. Maybe the Revenants trapping me immediately after a teleport were a mean trick, easily disarmed by the healthy habit of equipping the plasma rifle before warping to another place. Looking at Chimera from above, I was astonished by how simple the layout was, almost speedmapping quality for today’s standards, and by how great it played thanks to the accurate use of height and the combat arrangement. Excellent work by Scotty.

[Monsieur E]

Map11- Volcanic by AD_79
100% kills

For a level placed halfway through the set, I found this one surprisingly easy. Visually, I really dig the metal base in a volcano theme here, the textures compliment each other and it's a good changeup from the prior levels. In terms of combat, this one flowed well sprinkling a bunch of light ambushes in tight areas which made them pretty entertaining. Not a lot to say here, just another solid map.

Map12- Venomous by AD_79
100% kills

Map12 is another cool level which has a nice flow to it I feel. Again, this was also pretty easy even without the invulnerability secret (which I got after I had cleaned out every other ambush). In both Map11 and Map12, I found the secrets to be well telegraphed and simple to find, not that I'm complaining, I like it :). I like the wooden texture usage, it looks pretty. Anyways, I think what makes both of these levels easier is that most of their chaingunner ambushes are less devious and in general, there aren't a lot of chaingunner turrets doing target practice on your sorry ass compared to say, Map10.