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dobu gabu maru

The DWmegawad Club plays: Crumpets & Stardate 20X7 & Rush

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Stardate20X7.jpg

 

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?

We got a doozy this time folks! We play MAP01 & MAP02 of Crumpets on Sept 1st, then we move onto Stardate 20X7 on Sept. 9th (the secret maps are played on Sept. 19th together), then we move onto Rush on Sept. 20th, where we play MAP01 & MAP02. All epilogue maps are played on the same day as the last map in the set.

 

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

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>>>DOWNLOAD CRUMPETS HERE<<<

>>>DOWNLOAD STARDATE 20X7 HERE<<<

>>>DOWNLOAD RUSH HERE<<<

 

Good evening ladies and gentlemen; are you ready to order some delectable pain? For our appetizer menu we’re going to start with a sampling of Crumpets by callous chef Ribbiks, which are fun but dangerous little baked morsels of savagery. Afterwards we will move on to our main course Stardate 20X7, an absolutely stunning and exotic dish that will beat you within an inch of your life, and then… mercilessly beat that last inch from you (the chef recommends you order it cooked “Hey Not Too Rough” or “Hurt Me Plenty”). Finally we’ll be closing out this month’s meal with our house special Rush, a monster filled dessert crafted by the culinary artisan of agony, Archi. We hope you enjoy dining with the DWMC, and please remember to sign the liability waivers placed right beside your menus before you dig in. Mal Appétit!

 

Maplist for Crumpets:

MAP01 - “Earl Grey”

MAP02 - “Flutter”

MAP03 - “Tiramisu”

MAP04 - “Bocuma”

MAP05 - “Mint Chocolate”

MAP06 - “Masquerade”

MAP07 - “Frog and Toad”

MAP08 - “Shamu”

MAP09 - “Crackerjack”

MAP10 - “Thanks for Playing!”

 

Maplist for Stardate 20X7:

MAP01 - “Sun/Moon/Stars”

MAP02 - “Eastern Sun”

MAP03 - “Amethyst III”

MAP04 - “Velvet Blood Mission”

MAP05 - “Sphinx Rising”

MAP06 - “The Other Side”

MAP07 - “Lotus Keep”

MAP08 - “Grand Ballroom”

MAP09 - “Do You Believe?”

MAP10 - “Thanks for Playing!”

 

MAP31 - “Hopscotch”

MAP32 - “Issai Perfect”

 

Maplist for Rush:

MAP01 - “Stasis Shock”

MAP02 - “Chemical Imps”

MAP03 - “Frozen Tech”

MAP04 - “White Fields”

MAP05 - “Vile House”

MAP06 - “Delusions”

MAP07 - “The Chaos Heart”

MAP08 - “Land of the Demons”

MAP09 - “The Lava Heart”

MAP10 - “Dark Corner”

MAP11 - “Emission of Hate”

MAP12 - “The Destination”

MAP13 - “The End”

 

BONUS CONTENT

Doomwiki: Stardate 20X7

DSDA: Crumpets | Stardate 20X7 | Rush

kmxexii reviews: Crumpets | Rush

Lingyan203's playthrough: Crumpets | Stardate 20X7 | Rush

Suitepee's playthrough: Crumpets | Rush: 1 2

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OLD THREADS

2012

2013

2014

2015

2016

2017

Edited by dobu gabu maru

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I assume we're skipping "Earl Grey", "Thanks for Playing" and "The End"?  Or at least not giving them days to themselves.

 

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I'd vote for giving them days to themselves, and just letting those days be convenient points for people to catch up/take a breather/etc. On a related note, I've always thought it would be nice if the OP for dwmc threads had an actual date next to each map in the list, especially when the month includes several small wads.

 

Also, since dobu used that circley section of Grand Ballroom for the title picture, I'm gonna use that as an excuse to post this old picture of that area in a palette I was working on: 

 

Spoiler

doom483.png

 

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3 hours ago, Capellan said:

I assume we're skipping "Earl Grey", "Thanks for Playing" and "The End"?  Or at least not giving them days to themselves.

 

Crumpets (- Earl Gray and Thanks for Playing) = 8

Stardate 20x7 (- Thanks for Playing) = 11

Rush (- The End) = 12

 

8 + 11 + 12 = 31

 

hmm...both of Stardate's secret maps together too?

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imma start: going to do ITYTD because I can. Also pistol starting and continuous for a change.

 

MAP01 Earl Gray

 

Hello Xenogears. You were a shit game* but you had some awesome memorable music tracks, like this one Chains of Ocean and Flame (or was it Bonds, I think). An interesting intermediary map that is our opener, shoot a lion switch, sit your ass down and drink your goddamn tea, oh god, now I'm quoting FF7 in a level with Xenogears music.

 

Also June Mermaid is the intermission music, yay.

 

*flammable post.

 

MAP02 Flutter

 

This is Wind Waker music, holy crap. You know all those games by Nintendo and Squaresoft and Tri-Ace and what not? Their music in MIDI format just fits Doom wads so well, no matter where you would put it. And I love how well it fits a nighttime area despite most of Wind Waker taking place in broad neverending daylight*. One thing to note, this mapset doesn't pull any slaughterfest vibes until later. You can say the same for the rest of the set until about MAP06 or the end map. It's really a small one, no real major moments but you get the SSG and go to town while getting a few other weapons and making a few other kills. The yellow key, yellow switch, and rocket launcher are all under the some setpieces. Interestingly, I let a pain elemental live in the yellow key section as long as possible and kill everything else. The pain elemental never is an annoying monster to me at all.

 

*exaggeration most likely. I Don't remember much of Wind Waker at the moment but there were a few moments (like the fortress) that weren't filled with broad daylight.

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<3 !Yumm! <3

What a weird title.

 

uCqwBsNh.png

 

MAP01 - “Earl Grey”

gzDoom - HMP – pistol start/saves

 

Very lovely start welcoming the player to their new nightmare. Enjoyed the music choice as I'm currently playing through Xenogears for the first time ever with a PSX emulator on my phone. Very surprised with this being a straight intro map that was over really quick. (Love the crumpets overload, lol!) 

 

I was expecting... something. *shrug* Beautifully crafted as always. I always look forward to playing Ribbiks stuff. Delightfully scrumptious.

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I am probably not going to participate the whole month, as I'd rather do a max for one of the sd20x7 maps than writeups for all of them, but I thought it'd be fun to try a 'walkthrough' style guide for Crumpets, with a methodical approach everyone should be able to manage.

 

Map 01: Earl Grey

 

Ribbiks pulls no punches here. As you'd expect from a slaughtermapper, right from the beginning you are surrounded by intimidating foes such as a trio of bookshelves and a horde of candles. Damn hot starts! Resist the urge to dial down the difficulty. There's a way to cheese this map, however: make sure you have your pistol selected and take out the switch between the candles. It can be seen as chickening out, but sometimes you have to know your limits. 

 

 

Map 02: Flutter

 

A step down in difficulty from the previous map, as you usually have lots of open space to work with. It doesn't really matter what you do so much, but try to avoid rushing for the shellbox near the arachnotron the first time you spot it, as Ribbiks sneakily placed a support pillar that you can get caught on. The secret provides you with a snazzy blue armor, unfortunately the little house has no mirrors.

 

At the barons, try adding the 'pre-switch' trick to your arsenal: start switching to another weapon right before you run over the rocket launcher (I roll the scroll wheel). The rocket launcher pickup will automatically override it. While unnecessary here, it's helpful to know about in more pressuring setups. Save three or four rockets for the yellow key area, and a couple more if you'd rather be bored plinking away at barons than plinking away at mancs.

 

The yellow key area has a pair of chaingunners that are swiftly killed with a rocket (this is the 'safe' way to handle this area that isn't luring them to the entrance). There are two separate ways to platform to the yellow key, after which the other becomes inaccessible. One of those has a plasma rifle and the other doesn't. Guess which one should be avoided. First order of business in the yellow key fight itself is to spam imps with the rocket launcher -- they eat up lots of space so you don't want to get caught on them when fighting the other monsters. Then you can clear out the rest of the monsters, the berserk pickup giving you lots of margin for error.

 

 

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5 hours ago, Grain of Salt said:

On a related note, I've always thought it would be nice if the OP for dwmc threads had an actual date next to each map in the list, especially when the month includes several small wads.

This isn't a bad idea. I mainly didn't want to do it because it would clutter up the OP quite a bit (plus it's more manual typing I have to do), but maybe I'll list what order to play the maps down after the maplist or something... it seems if I hide it in the FAQ section it gets lost.

 

Speaking of which, this is the play order as written in the FAQ section: "We play MAP01 & MAP02 of Crumpets on Sept 1st, then we move onto Stardate 20X7 on Sept. 9th (the secret maps are played on Sept. 19th together), then we move onto Rush on Sept. 20th, where we play MAP01 & MAP02. All epilogue maps are played on the same day as the last map in the set."

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@dobu gabu maru I was just thinking of putting the date before each map in the maplist you have now, which doesn't seem to clutter things up that much imo. Example: 

 

Spoiler

 

Maplist for Crumpets:

01/09/2017: MAP01 - “Earl Grey”

01/09/2017: MAP02 - “Flutter”

02/09/2017: MAP03 - “Tiramisu”

03/09/2017: MAP04 - “Bocuma”

04/09/2017: MAP05 - “Mint Chocolate”

05/09/2017: MAP06 - “Masquerade”

06/09/2017: MAP07 - “Frog and Toad”

07/09/2017: MAP08 - “Shamu”

08/09/2017: MAP09 - “Crackerjack”

08/09/2017: MAP10 - “Thanks for Playing!”

 

Maplist for Stardate 20X7:

09/09/2017: MAP01 - “Sun/Moon/Stars”

10/09/2017: MAP02 - “Eastern Sun”

11/09/2017: MAP03 - “Amethyst III”

12/09/2017: MAP04 - “Velvet Blood Mission”

13/09/2017: MAP05 - “Sphinx Rising”

14/09/2017: MAP06 - “The Other Side”

15/09/2017: MAP07 - “Lotus Keep”

16/09/2017: MAP08 - “Grand Ballroom”

17/09/2017: MAP09 - “Do You Believe?”

18/09/2017: MAP10 - “Thanks for Playing!”

 

19/09/2017: MAP31 - “Hopscotch”

19/09/2017: MAP32 - “Issai Perfect”

 

Maplist for Rush:

20/09/2017: MAP01 - “Stasis Shock”

20/09/2017: MAP02 - “Chemical Imps”

21/09/2017: MAP03 - “Frozen Tech”

22/09/2017: MAP04 - “White Fields”

23/09/2017: MAP05 - “Vile House”

24/09/2017: MAP06 - “Delusions”

25/09/2017: MAP07 - “The Chaos Heart”

26/09/2017: MAP08 - “Land of the Demons”

27/09/2017: MAP09 - “The Lava Heart”

28/09/2017: MAP10 - “Dark Corner”

29/09/2017: MAP11 - “Emission of Hate”

30/09/2017: MAP12 - “The Destination”

30/09/2017: MAP13 - “The End”

 

 

I think I'm going to be referring back to this list myself later in the month, tbqh.

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iCiPE5sh.png

 

MAP02 - “Flutter”

gzDoom - UV – pistol start/saves

 

Interesting little cave and castle fort floating out in space on a rock bed full of muddy water with some random nice looking bits of Ribbiks detailing. What’s not to like? Short map with effective ambushes and environments.

 

Turns out I played this on UV by accident. I went back for the title screenshot on HMP and noticed the item placement was VERY different. Kind of a neat idea to beat it once on HMP and then try it again on UV to see if you can hack it having already hit the major notes.

 

First time on UV though, is quite painful. I don’t think I could have gotten any closer without failing to actually pick that up, hah.

 

OMG that ambush hurt! After I had the map cleared to the exit, I doubled back and cheated with an exploratory gzdoom jump up a ledge that dropped… oh I see what I did wrong. The correct order of events could have made things a lot easier for me. Ah well, I suppose that kind of knowledge is what would’ve come from an initial HMP playthrough. As was, I managed.

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Did I slip into an Aussie Time-Warp?

 

How will the Ancient Doomer, the Geriatric Keyboarder with twisted, gnarled fingers, handle bite-size Ribbiks maps that put you up-close and personal with mega-thugs in squinchy spaces? By savescumming, of course!

 

GZDoom, keyboard-only. Throwing caution to the wind, I will attempt UV pistol-starts, otherwise known as Deathwish Mode when it comes to me and Ribbiks maps. How long will I last?

 

Map01 - Earl Grey. It was pretty. I did not enjoy looking for the shootable switch.

 

Map02 - Flutter. Ah, this is more like it. Back to surrendering pelts at many points of the compass. Too bad I had killed almost everything before I discovered that you can do what rdwpa did and fight the snipers with much more favorable angles from outside. Doh!

 

None of the fights were all that hard until the yellow key battle. Looking at the small size of the arena, and contemplating my janitor-level dodging skills, I found myself hoping Ribbiks wouldn't flood the place with monsters the second I grabbed that key. And then -- oh, bloody hell! I died before my next breath. Being a master of strategy, I concentrated on fighting the Revvies instead of pursuing rdwpa's far more successful, "Get the Imps first" approach. I don't keep a record of my death count the way I used to, but I'm guessing I died about 8 times in a row at this battle. I came very close about 4 times before I made it, but close only counts in thermonuclear warfare. By attacking the Revvies first -- with the PG no less -- I allowed the Imps to cover the Zerk area, and by the time I emptied the PG, all the enemies were too close for rocket work, as I discovered in 2 GAD suicides. I also got stuck behind one of the columns right by the rocks. Kind of a bummer.

 

I can't say I totally enjoyed the map, because I felt oppressed by all the snipers. Too many for my taste given the playable area, though again, if I'd fought them from outside I'd have defanged them. I was also under constant, severe ammo stress, probably my least-favorite stress factor in Doom. However, this looks like a great map for skills training. Odd as it may sound, I had the most fun at the yellow key battle, even though that's where I died again and again. I knew I was gonna beat it if I just did a little better than last time, so I may go and re-fight this one using rdwpa's approach. I may even do some mouse training here.

 

All in all not bad.

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HMP, continuous, frequent saves, no music, PrBoom+.  No guarantees I will finish.

 

EARL GREY

It's goddamn perfumed poison.  I have no idea why anyone would drink that vile brew.  Give me English Breakfast any day.

... oh, the map named Earl Grey?  Well, it's named after the world's worst tea.  Other than that, I've got nothin'.

 

 

MAP02

Nice looking island fortress.  Not always immediately clear what switches have done, but the level is small enough it rarely becomes an issue.  Got absolutely slaughtered by the yellow key trap the first time out, despite knowing it had to be coming.  Managed to just worm my way out the second time, and once I'd done that it was easy enough to thin out the resistance.

 

Edited by Capellan

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I've played Crumpets over a year ago and had a great time with it. I believe I was playing UV-Continuous.

 

Let's do this! GLBoom+, UV-Pistol Starts, No Saves

 

MAP01 - “Earl Grey”

Shoot switch, drink tea, finish map. A cool little introductory setting.

 

MAP02 - “Flutter”

The first real map, full of curved natural terrain Ribbiks is known for and a mostly brown aesthetic. Not too difficult and generally allows you to recover from silly mistakes. The YK trap is the biggest surprise but I ended up spamming the Chaingun and finishing up with rockets once I've made enough space. I guess that Plasma Rifle was the secret that I've missed.

 

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Well, this ought to be fun.  :)  ZDoom, continuous play, and based on my past experiences with Ribbiks' meticulous maps, I think I'm going to enjoy this more on Hey, Not Too Rough than on difficulty setting 3 or higher.

 

Crumpets, MAP01: Earl Grey

 

Aw yes that Xenogears music.  This is a pretty little introduction of a map with a switch to shoot and some tea to sip from as a prelude to the real meat of the WAD.  Can't say I think much of the carpet; the decorating's otherwise most pleasant.

 

MAP02: Flutter

 

A small castle or temple beneath a starlit sky; what could be more serene than that?  Though things quickly heat up, with weapons and mid-tier monsters funneled rapidly at the advancing player; I'm going to take even this early level as confirmation that playing this on HNTR was the right choice for me.  Grabbed the soul sphere, found the secret blue armour, squandered the lion's share of both fumbling the yellow key battle but there were enough resources elsewhere in the map to keep me topped up.  Overall the level has an interesting tone to it, with sniper pressure acting to make it difficult to put its spaces together mentally and pick out the necessary steps to advancement despite its small footprint.

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mB3Pi4Al.png

 

AiRV3BJl.png

 

MAP03 - “Tiramisu”

gzDoom - HMP – pistol start/saves

 

This is the type of map that makes me feel like I’m in a puzzle. Boxed in mostly with not much to look at. A puzzle box. A Ribbiks cube, if you will. (I can’t be the first to come up with that joke.) Find the switches, find out what each does and figure out how to get from one point to the next. Rinse repeat. There will be very little exploring and no free flowing multiple paths. Just find out what works from A to B, over and over again. It’s well designed with frantic in your face action and tricky ammo management, but it's not not what I enjoy most. The secret telefrag was really cool though. Always love that king of thing.

 

I tried this on UV… hahaha, no. I don’t think I will be playing these maps twice. HMP is just fine. From the Crumpets.txt readme file, “Tiny map that can be deceptively tough on UV.” Indeed.

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https://www.twitch.tv/videos/86238900 = Crumpets. (from 2016, when I was playing it in preparation for Sunlust)

https://www.twitch.tv/videos/127783645 = Rush part 1.

https://www.twitch.tv/videos/128272101 = Rush part 2.

 

I won't be joining in for the Club this month alas to play Stardate 20x7, since I'm going back to work after this weekend and my general livestreaming/free time availability is anticipated to be a lot less over the next few months, so need to keep my Doom wad streaming commitments low. (I'll probably just do the Ironmans and little else until Christmas, but you never know....)

 

But best of luck to those who participate; Crumpets isn't too dickish by Ribbiks' standards, and Rush has some good levels in it from Archi. (and hey if you like it, he's working on a sequel!)

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MAP03

Continuous definitely takes some of the sting out of this one.  Another nice-looking place.  Really like the row of arches.

 

Totally cheesed the supercharge trap: booked it straight down into sector 66, killed the chaingunner who'd ported in, and then corner camped the meat.  I also see in DB2 that I skipped a trap on the berserk pack, since I was over 100% heath and never bothered to pick it up.

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Rc4gljI.png

map01 fda

this too me way too long to figure out >.< cute, but also strangely ominous - fitting for the rest of the wad then as its a Ribbik's mapset scaled down :D

 

9usRp3G.png

map02 fda

one key hunt. looks more complicated than it actually is, with 5 or so distinct areas with some possibility for interaction between them. i got scorched trying to do some parkour around the baron/rl pit :'(

Edited by rehelekretep

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Map 03: Tiramisu

 

For its size, this map packs a lot of non-linearity. There are two main paths, and two of the lock-ins can be accessed from two different directions, something Ribbiks played with on a larger scale in maps such as SWTW map02 and SD20x6 map06. The simplest path is berserk-first, which frontloads the map's danger -- prepare to fight revs in close quarters with no armor -- but keeps everything afterwards a lot simpler. If you grab the SSG and armor first, a vile will port in near the start, and the other vile will be accompanied by (the corpses of) three chaingunners, making him a lot trickier.

 

What is important to know about the berserk area is that you can easily unleash the monsters within without grabbing the berserk pack, as the trigger lines aren't right on top of it. That allows you to make some mistakes while setting up infighting (as long as they don't kill you). Leave the trio of revenants alone; you don't have the ammo to kill them anyway, and there is an alternate way of dealing with them later. In the soulsphere area, you can hide in the small pit while stuff infights. Only the caco can reach you there. This is a good map to practice some vile punching if you aren't well versed in it yet. 

 

The last order of business is to free the guardians of the SSG, clear out the rest of the map with the secret telefrag chain (don't fall outside of the map lol), and leave.

 

 

Edited by rdwpa

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map03

It took me way too long to figure out that I had raised a step into the rocket launcher pool and I feel stupid.

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Yay double post due to connection issues...

I guess I'll say that I died one too many times at the berserk trap due to a stray revenant missile.

Edited by Spie812

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