The DWIronman League dies to: Oscillation

[Alfonzo]

November, 2017

> Download Oscillation
> 2017 Season Standings

 

Leaderboard

1. [2] Survived [01:29:59] Ancalagon - And to think my casual playthrough of that final area sported almost 40 deaths. Very nicely done!
2. [2] Map09: Bloodite Krypto - Caught out trying to recoup the loss of cells. Would have been more than half-an-hour clear had he survived.
3. [2] Map09: WH-Wilou84 - Overrun in the YK ambush. Didn't go down without a fight!
4. [2] Map07: Veinen - And with that, the arch-viles have won. Only three of the eight players who made it to the Jamboree managed to survive it.
5. [1] Map07: Demon of the Well - Got his dancing moves mixed up; the trigger and the spacebar.
6. [2] Map07: Aquasa - Couldn't channel his inner Icarus and reach through the fire. Not what you'd expect from an "Aquasa."
7. [3] Map07: Beginner - A full five seconds slower than Aquasa in reaching Map07... and a 1:1 resistance to fire damage.
8. [2] Map07: an_mutt - Did that which needed to be done. Dragged his bashed-up cadaver over the exit and offered himself to the Chaingun Gods.
9. [1] Map07: Roofi - Cottoned on fast to the arch-vile jamboree but couldn't keep step with the music.
10. [1] Map07: NoisyVelvet - A great effort for a blind man that's cruelly undone by PrBoom+ crashing, of all things. Figures. (DNF)
11. [2] Map06: Anima Zero - Splayed and exploded on the bridge of viles and knights. Don't worry, I'll think of a name for this part soon enough...
12. [2] Map06: Alfonzo - ...but in the meantime: SPLAYED AND EXPLODED.
13. [1] Map06: Suitepee - If there's a way to sabotage your own run in the best way possible, Suitepee will find it. Tough luck; good run (DNF)
14. [1] Map05: Archi - At First The Run Was Good but then he met two unassuming revenants in a corridor.
15. [2] Map05: cannonball - An embarrassing turn? Perhaps, but this is a better performance than history would have suggested.
16. [1] Map04: Bashe - Lost control of the Army when a baron ate his "safe space."
17. [3] Map04: guineu - It's always the innocuous revenant rockets. Just ask cannonball!
18. [1] Map04: Scotty - No megasphere pick-up; no shooting of the monsters. It was a disaster waiting to happen at the Army of Frogs.
19. [1] Map04: dt_ - Made it his absolute mission to get hit by everything in the post-YK crusher room.
20. [1] Map04: NaZa - Blown up in his hidey-hole by a teleporting bonehead.
21. [1] Map04: antares031 - Welcome, antares. Betelgeuse sends its regards :)
22. [1] Map04: Big Ol Billy - Fought valiantly against demons and mice alike. That's three deaths by the Army of Frogs!
23. [1] Map03: SSGmaster - An unusually early send-off for master, this time at the hands of arch-viles.
24. [3] Map03: RjY - The preparation king pin finally meets his match. "It was always going to happen."
25. [1] Map03: leodoom85 - Tried to juggle the cacodemons at one end of the bridge.
26. [1] Map03: Dragonfly - Flash-fried by the arch-vile encounter; the WAD's first prominent setup.
27. [3] Map03: Crusader No Regret - Seems that every other run delivers some Regrettable technical difficulties for Crusader.
28. [2] Map02: Eris Falling - Fate decided to cancel its appointment with Armageddon. For shame, Eris.
29. [2] Map02: Urthar - 42Percent's death site gets 100% higher.
30. [2] Map02: DaIcemann76 - Thought twice about adding to the landscape feature in the corner of the room, panicked, then died in the middle.
31. [1] Map02: JudgeDeadd - Undone by a spider and a total stud of a METAL pillar. Nice detailing!
32. [2] Map02: 42PercentHealth - Excellent weapon selection and positioning results in a vintage suicide.
33. [1] Map02: Grommile - Spooked by the sight of all those damned crates! Spiders get the chocolates.
34. [3] Map02: Steve D - More pelts for the subterranean warehouse.
35. [1] Map01: bzzrak - The Mortification of B. Z. Zrak, by Guy Sergeant.
36. [1] Map01: rodster - Approximately one third of the demo involves staring in disbelief.

 

What is the Doomworld Ironman League?

 

The DWIronman League is a monthy competition in which participants aim to survive for as many levels as possible in the given map set, preferably in one sitting. Click the spoiler tag below for a detailed list of rules. Players of all levels of ability are welcome; it could change the way you play Doom!

 

In November 2017 the DWIronman League dies to @Forli's Oscillation, -complevel 9 (Boom (strict)), swapping out the modest hallways of Endpoint and co. for something a little more... daunting. This nine-map extravaganza for Boom is no push-over. It begins as somewhat approachable for the average Ironman but evolves quite deliberately into something bordering on slaughter, with upscale castles and monoliths housing impressive body counts. Still, it is a well-balanced and forgiving experience that offers plenty of room to move, and its pacing will give you the opportunity to ease into things, so don't count yourself out too soon!

 

This month also sees the introduction of categorization for set familiarity (detailed below in the spoilered text; the final rule). You will be required to affix one of three numbers to your run, presenting as blind, prepared, or neither as a result. Note that this does not mean to encourage the declaration of different winners for each month, depending on category. Rather, it is a way to help place runs in context and provide an easy way to compare your performance with runs prepared in a similar way.

 

Starting at the end of this month, winners at the bottom of the OP will be noted as either blind, prepared or neither.

 

Potential Game-stoppers and Bugs

• None documented, yet

prboom-plus -file oscillation.wad -complevel 9 -warp -skill 4 -record my_demo

 

Spoiler

• One attempt per month. Good luck!
• Demos (PrBoom+, GLBoom or Eternity), stream highlights and single-take video recordings are the only accepted proofs.
• UV only continous; no pistol-starting.
• No other wads unless they are purely cosmetic.
• No hard-coded cheats or features that result in behaviour beyond what is possible in the intended source port (e.g. freelook, jumping and crouching in a boom set).
• If streaming or recording videos using an advanced source port with compatability options, you must not enable any flags that result in behavior beyond what is possible in the intended source port. In most cases, this will mean that you can comfortably use "Doom/Boom(strict)" behaviour in ZDoom, for example. You must also display these settings on-screen before your run.
• If you choose to stream your run rather than provide a demo and you die before completing a single level, either on map01 of a set or because of a single level being selected for the month, you must display the number of monsters killed/remaining in the level before you quit. The number of kills registered will determine your ranking versus other players who died on that level.
• You do not have to play the secret levels in order to register a complete run. However, a player who finishes the game having completed more secret levels will rank higher than his competitors.
• You cannot load a game having progressed past the save point.
• You cannot consult Doom Builder during your run to check for map details. Your viewers may, however.
• If your operating system fails during the run such that the stream/recording becomes irretrievable, you are permitted a second or subsequent attempt offline. Technical difficulties during streams or recordings that present as merely an impediment (i.e. the run is still observable, in the case of a stream) do not count as system failures. In these instances, you should save the game, if possible, and resume when the issue has been resolved.
• Death exits do not disqualify a run (duh!) but accidentally restarting the level before the tally screen appears will. Stay frosty!
• You are required to affix one of three numbers to your run informing the League of your degree of familiarity with the map/set played. Note that your evaluation should only take into consideration the content covered in your run (e.g. if you scout only the first level of a WAD you're otherwise unfamiliar with and die in the first level, you should list your run as [3] instead of [2]. If you remember only one part of a level in a set you haven't played before but never reach that level, you should list your run as a [1] instead of [2]):

1. This is a blind run. If I have played or watched any of the level/set being played before, I can't remember the details of any one area in a way that would offer an advantage over truly blind players.

2. This is a familiar run. I have played or watched the level/set being played before — even if it's only one area — and can remember enough details to have an advantage over blind players.

3. This is a prepared run. I played the WAD to some extent after it was announced for this month's Ironman but before declaring an official run.

 

 

Previous Threads

2016
Jenesis (winner: Demon of the Well)
Crusades (winner: Ribbiks)
Nilla Doom (winner: Demon of the Well)
Khorus' Speedy Shit (winner: Bloodite Krypto)
Perdition's Gate (winner: Bloodite Krypto)
UAC Ultra (winner: Bloodite Krypto)

 

2017
Jade Earth (winner: Bloodite Krypto)
Legacy of Heroes (winner: Bloodite Krypto)
Back to Saturn X E1 (winner: dew)
Mapgame (winner: Bloodite Krypto)
Vae Victus 1 & 2 (winner: Demon of the Well)
Disturbia (winner: Bloodite Krypto)
Insertion (winner: Bloodite Krypto)
Unholy Realms (winner: Bloodite Krypto)
Osiris (winner: Demon of the Well)

End Game & End Point (winner: Bloodite Krypto)

Edited December 2, 2017 by Alfonzo : I am an update.

[dobu gabu maru]

1 hour ago, Alfonzo said:

You will be required to affix one of three numbers to your run, presenting as blind, prepared, or neither as a result.

Ah, interesting! I suspect this will help me feel better about losing to "prepared" runners, but worse about losing to "blind" ones.

[Alfonzo]

Well, my run's done. If you're an American morning person or live in the future like all Australians, you can catch my commentary stream live on https://go.twitch.tv/st_alfonzo at the ungodly hour of 7am EDT.

[Anima Zero]

Ah yes, this was played back on a recent ZDaemon TNS session so I had a small bit of knowledge of how the maps played out.  Emphasis on small.  I was still blind for many spots of the levels.  Even then, I made it pretty far...until I hit map 6.  Find myself on a battle over metal bridges with some annoying viles & HKs.  Suffice it to say the vile shenanigans managed to get me killed once again this month.  A damn shame because I wanted to at least reach map 7 and get my ass kicked to the tune of Sigma's Fortress 2 theme from Megaman X1.

 

For those of you in to close calls, watch the final battle of map 5.  Amazed I managed to get out of that one.

 

Overall though, this mapset is very good.  One I'd recommend everyone do a full playthrough of at some point.

DWIronman_Oscillation_AnimaZero_1.zip

[Alfonzo]

1 hour ago, Anima Zero said:

Ah yes, this was played back on a recent ZDaemon TNS session so I had a small bit of knowledge of how the maps played out.  Emphasis on small.  I was still blind for many spots of the levels.

Hey, Anima. You'll have to forgive any shuffling of numbers at this early stage as I work out the wording of the categorization to avoid confusion, but this is what I'd consider to be a category 2 run: you've played the set — albeit in coop — and even though you're blind to some areas you're familiar with enough of the set to gain an advantage over truly blind players. It's a broad middle category, I know, but it's impossible to break down any further without running into some serious semantic problems, so I'm kind of just labeling the extremes and assigning the massive "sorta know some" middle ground a tag of its own.

 

If there's some issue with the wording in the rules, have@it.

Edited November 1, 2017 by Alfonzo

[NaZa]

Although I really shouldn't, I'll go on blind. Played a few Forlimaps (participated in Eagle) so I kinda know where to expect traps. 

 

EDIT: RjY made an interesting stat thingie so why not.

legacyofheroes: 1
btsx_e1: 1

mapgame: 2

disturbia: 3

insertion: 2

ur: 2/3 (tricky one: never played before, did a testrun on HMP, died early about MAP04: first attempt on UV died on MAP12 so idk if it's 2 or 3)

osiris: 1

endpoint: 1

endgame: 2

 

Edited November 1, 2017 by NaZa

[RjY]

Hmm, and here I was convinced Rush would be the next Ironman.

 

Anyway, to retroactively categorise my previous entries on the scale of 1 (unseen) / 2 (familiar) / 3 (prepared):

• btsx_e1: 2
• mapgame: 3
• vv{1,2}: 2
• disturbia: about 99
• insertion: 2
• ur: 3
• osiris: 3
• endgamepoint: 3

[Alfonzo]

1 hour ago, NaZa said:

ur: 2/3 (tricky one: never played before, did a testrun on HMP, died early about MAP04: first attempt on UV died on MAP12 so idk if it's 2 or 3)

I hadn't considered preparations made on a lower skill setting. Good catch! Given how strongly layouts can inform combat even if the monster/item makeup is changed, and the likelihood of it remaining the same across skills (unless it's some magical boom-and-up map set that uses control sectors to basically build a different level or something — like that's going to happen), I don't think such runs can escape the prepared tag. In any case, some effort was made to familiarize yourself with the set, even if the experience doesn't match up 1:1.

 

EDIT: Ah, I misread. Your actual run of UR delivered you past the point where preparation stopped. That makes it a category 2 run, as it contained some parts that you were familiar with, even if everything past map04 was blind. Had you died on map04 (before your "prepared" death), it would have been a 3.

Edited November 1, 2017 by Alfonzo

[SleepyVelvet]

Every single ironman so far was a megawad I had not played before (except for the first half of Beta BtSX, but stuff was wildly changed since then, like the secret Map03 BFG that I swore was there but ran around for 30 minutes and still couldn't find it.)  I have, however, practiced the vast majority of the Ironman wads, since January this year, up to Map01 before my run.  Almost every mapset gets a straight 1.5 (aka 2) on the preparation scale from me :^)

 

I will probably do this one total-blind, though, if we are doing a new tag system.

[Dragonfly]

I've been pretty absent from the Ironman league of late but now that I'm taking a bit of a backseat on the modding front, I'm going to start entering these again. Will post again when I've played. Will probably do it on-stream, too. :)

[rehelekretep]

good idea Alfonzo; i think ill hop into this today or tomorrow :)

[Tristan]

Heh, this was a TNS in which I spent most of the time afk. Oops! 

MAP01 is still fresh in my memory after our popcorn shenanigans, but the rest of my run may as well be blind.

[Alfonzo]

4 minutes ago, Eris Falling said:

MAP01 is still fresh in my memory after our popcorn shenanigans, but the rest of my run may as well be blind.

Your modesty precedes you — a sneaky way of saying that you anticipate not making it as far as the level where you once engaged in a holocaust worth tens of thousands of points of damage.

 

Armageddon is waiting for your triumphant return, Eris. Let none survive.

[NaZa]

oscillat_naza.zip DEAD - MAP04 (1 - no foreknowledge at all)

yes, I played the demo backbut just to screenshoot my death screen

 

Spoilers below if you want to find out more:

 

 

This was a rather fun set that kept me on my toes for most of the time. Especially the godawful thing that was MAP03.

 

There are a lot of Forli-specific things I can clearly see. Attention to micro-detail, crates, gargantuan rooms. Also, whenever you stumble upon a huge, well-detailed, lonely area, there's definitely going to be a huge fight there.

The atmosphere in these maps was rather excellent, highlight would probably be the whole of MAP02 which was genuinely one of the most atmospheric maps I've played.

Due to me knowing some tricks that Forli likes to use from Eagles, I managed to clear some traps easily, however to say this mapset was a piece of cake? No, not at all. In my opinion, one of the harder WADs chosen so far. 

 

MAP01 is really tricky. The whole map makes you believe that the mapset will definitely not be easy with really nice flowing difficulty. None of the areas were very difficult, the red key area is probably the standout encounter. I focused on the chaingunners first for that one. Nothing major otherwise.

MAP02's ending is mean, and I mean, really mean. The Revenants and Imps can come across as a surprise when they start shooting through fences (although if you carefully observed at the start, Arachnotrons can do that too - probably meant as a tip to make you aware of that). The blue key encounter is also fairly tricky but not as much.

MAP03 is probably one of the meanest maps I've played. The beginning seems nice, and it looks like a breather map to get some stock and some better weaponry. BUT NO! The blue key battle is probably one of the fuckiest things I've come across. I'm not gonna say much, I'll just say "Rise of the Dead by a Triad". That's as much. As for the end, that's a huge clusterfuck.

MAP04 was a breather, probably. The yellow key trap is also mean af but it's more tolerable as you actually have room to maneuver around. However the next area which is kinda similar to one Hell Revealed map where monsters teleport all around the place (I think it was Afterlife and it might not even be Hell Revealed), that's stupid.

 

Still, I think I'll finish this one. A blast to play through.
 

 

[Tristan]

Well that was depressing. MAP01 wasn't blind, MAP02 basically was.

 

[antares031]

I decided to participate the Ironman League for the first time. Though I couldn't go too far, I'm happy with the result, since it was a blind run. I watched loveless' livestream of this wad about 2 months ago, but I started to watch the stream while he was playing the map(MAP06, iirc) that I couldn't reach this time; I ended up in MAP04. So I think it's safe to say that mine was a complete blind run. :P

 

Pretty fun wad, by the way: oscl_antares.zip

[leodoom85]

Died on map 03, at the end of the map when the cacos appears at both sides of the bridge....oh well. And this is a first try, UV, not prepared, GLBoom port with the correct settings this time.

osciron.zip

Edited November 1, 2017 by leodoom85 : Forgot to write the port again!!!....dammit

[Alfonzo]

Category 2 demo - dead on map06. In the exact same place as Anima, no less.

 

The part in question isn't all that hard to beat, really. What happened was the same as with Anima: we both got knocked into the line of sight of the arch-viles by the hell knights that spawn in. Very much the intention of the encounter, of course (which is great, by the way!), but no doubt I was good enough to get past that bit and survive the map.

 

What I (almost) wasn't good enough to beat was the final area of the final level, which I played casually as a part of a continued run from map06, pistol-start. I must have died more than fifty deaths off the one save. Not very heartening (<Archi> this fight looks easy), but I'm hoping the leader board at the end of the month will alleviate my suffering at least somewhat.

 

Time to die, Bloodite :)

[NaZa]

Hey, the all-time standings have been updated, as an_mutt's missed run makes him quickly fall down the order. Continuing his solid type 3 runs, RjY has snuck into the top 15, with only a handful of points keeping him away from Scotty. At the end of the table, SuperCupcakeTactics is the lowest ranked player overall with 2,390 points (only one below 3,000!) due to him being last in the record-breaking BtSX March, however Voros is the lowest ranked player to have played in both '16 and '17, with 19,775 points giving him points for 117th out of 124. 

 

A new update will follow next year where I might make a statistics corner somewhere. 

 

 https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1MD_xVaxvvARtENsjya30g-rnJDqiLL2ZpQc6YlKQV9g/edit?usp=sharing

[Aquasa]

Died in MAP07, to what I can only assume is the RK fight. I immediately decided to look for cover instead of hitting the switches, and I kind of just let it happen from there.

 

Should be a [2], as I had foreknowledge up to parts of 05. Everything past the yellow door is blind, pretty much.

 

Next to Osiris, this is probably my strongest run so far. I got really nervous a couple times, but I made it through everything pretty smoothly, up until the obligatory instadeath trap. It's really not that bad with carryovers, but still.

 

Yeah, this is a cool wad. Great looks, great fights, great music, pretty much everything I'm looking for. It's kind of underpopulated as far as incidental combat goes, but maybe that was the intention.

oscillation_iron_aqua.zip

[Bashe]

Thought I was doing well on this one, then came the YK/BK door encounter of map04. Good fucking invincible baron invading my safe space.

 

oscillator_5000.zip [1]

[Alfonzo]

It may amuse @Forli to know that, following on from last night's debacle at the end of Map09 (featured here from the 02:56:00 mark), I loaded up the same save file and survived it in one attempt. This was just a few moments ago; one hour down to five minutes. It really is just a question of holding to a strategy and not losing perspective. Maybe I just was just tired! Who knows.

 

In any case, I suspect that we'll see at least one of the usual suspects push through and survive the whole thing, after all.

Edited November 2, 2017 by Alfonzo

[Suitepee]

Well, the Britbowl (between myself and an_mutt) stands in an interesting place right now, as it's currently tied up 5-5. So it's gonna remain competitive until the end of the year, which is nice for those that keep an eye on it. I'm also thinking of doing a highlight video of the whole Britbowl experience once everything is done and dusted, as I'm pretty sure there's been a few highlights in it that could make for a half-decent montage.

 

Anyways I'm up first this month, so here's hoping I can not completely suck at Oscillation and set a good target for an_mutt to have a crack at. Expect a livestream fairly soon into this month....

[Big Ol Billy]

[1] bob_osc.zip

 

Very weird and tense run for me. My mouse started going haywire on MAP01 and nearly did me in. After I switched mice (between Maps 1 and 2) the run was very cautious as I got used to the new mouse. For a while, it worked out well, but I ended up in a bad position ammo-wise towards the end of MAP04. Unfortunately for me, in the end I can't really blame my death on the mouse situation and it may have even helped psychologically.

 

Fun set. MAP02 was my favorite of those I played. The opening area is beyond cool. Lots of good fights that keep you moving throughout and solid visuals.

[SleepyVelvet]

It... it wasn't supposed to be this way...

"This was it.  This was the run."  I thought.  I also decided I would go in totally blind, no preparations, no watching others' demos, no reading other posts about gameplay.  I only had mental preparations this time.  I knew Forli's style from a couple speedmaps, so I practiced a few Resurgence maps for warmup, while downing a coffee in preparation for the run.  I also started eating leftover Halloween candy:  Coffee + Candy, the perfect power-drugs to sustain me through the oncoming ironman, which I expected to be quite slaughtery.

To my surprise, it wasn't!  It was pretty tame and fair.  I actually questioned if I was I accidently chose a lower difficulty.  Though, I still wanted to survive at all costs, and took a slow, patient nature-walk through each of the maps, and made sure to grab any secret I possibly could even if it took an extra half-an-hour.  There were even dozens of Pauses throughout the demo where I took breaks to rest my hands, knock-off a candy or two, and also refill my coffee cup.  This was key to my survival, and kept me from out-right burning out and helped me keep my cylinders burning through my hours of gameplay.

And there it was, I made through Map06 with one very close call, but carried on to the end and vanquished the Cyber trio with perfection.  I lowered the exit wall, saw the tunnel, and exited the map.  Then...



... "You have entered deeply into the infested starport..."  I mashed through the text, hit use to go to Map07.  The next map's music started playing, but it didn't go to Map07.  Instead, my game just hung there, frozen on the intermission text box.  prboom-plus froze.

Thankfully, most of the demo is still there, though the recording chopped off the very end of Map06, after killing everything in the final room, so the demo doesn't "technically" go to map07.  I will leave the technicality up to you @Alfonzo.  Either way, my run will probably get outclassed by upper tiers, but I was quite proud of this run.  It was looking to be my best run yet, albeit very slow.  Oh well.  Still a fun wad; good ironman choice.

---

Core tldr ironman notes: completely blind run; no preparation not even Map01.  Just heaps of performance enhancing drugs like coffee/candy/ibuprofen.  DNF on intermission text before Map07.  Demo failed to record the last seconds of Map06 despite clearing all hostile monsters.

prboom-plus.exe -file .\Oscillation.wad -record noisy_oscl.lmp -complevel 9 -skill 4

[Alfonzo]

Hey, I recognize that MTG card! A family member was building a colourless eldrazi deck, or whatever it's called.

 

Quoth the guidelines:

On 11/1/2017 at 0:25 PM, Alfonzo said:

If your operating system fails during the run such that the stream/recording becomes irretrievable, you are permitted a second or subsequent attempt offline. Technical difficulties during streams or recordings that present as merely an impediment (i.e. the run is still observable, in the case of a stream) do not count as system failures. In these instances, you should save the game, if possible, and resume when the issue has been resolved.

Your operating system failed; or, prboom+ did, at least (same thing from where I'm standing). Ordinarily that would mean you're permitted a second attempt as long as you're willing to sacrifice your current run and go from a category 1 to a cat 2... but in this case the run is retrievable, so it has to be counted. Certainly it's not disqualified or anything — that would be dumb.

 

It's a good run, anyway! Will probably sit you pretty near the top of the ladder.

 

EDIT: Ah, I missed the part where the demo cuts out before getting to the intermission screen. Not a problem, in this case. There was nothing left to do but enter the exit chamber. I'll just take the total time elapsed as you were in that moment and call it 07.

Edited November 3, 2017 by Alfonzo

[Dragonfly]

I will be making my attempt in about 8 hours from now. Blind (1), so don't expect much of a success. :p

 

 

[Dragonfly]

HERE WE GO!

 

https://www.twitch.tv/dragonflyos

 

[Dime]

legacyofheroes: 1
btsx_e1: 2 (played many times, not with the new patch that came out and totally made some encounters way harder.)

mapgame: 1

disturbia: 1

insertion: 1

unholy realms: 2 (played through 3-4 times in the past)

osiris: 1

endpoint: 1

endgame: 1

Edited November 10, 2017 by Dime

[Ancalagon]

10 minutes ago, Dime said:

btsx_e1: 3 (played many times, not with the new patch that came out and totally made some encounters way harder.)

unholy realms: 3 (played through 3-4 times in the past)

I think you underestimate what 3 means.