[DOOM II] Dark Tartarus - Map 21 : Some Invisible Bitch - UV-Max in
Pwad : Dark Tartarus v4
Map 21 : "'Some Invisible Bitch"
Skill : Ultra-Violence
Category : UV-Max
Time : 26:58
NOTE : Download link : http://grandvoid.sickedwick.net/wads/...
(NEW THREAD !!! v5 (final version ?) is currently WIP and discussed here : http://zandronum.com/forum/showthread...)
About the level : Alright, here we go ; one of the very famous level of the wad. All monsters (except a room and lost souls summoned by a Pain Elemental) are invisible. Yup, so the gameplay is completely altered by the fact you cannot see any monster, fortunately except when he's firing. (thanks Open GL / Dynamic Lights, to let me see where chaingunners are - altough that room was not a big deal)
In brief, there are two sections (one secret) composed respectively of 12 and 10 rooms each, plus two additional rooms, one in each section. You start with one blue armor, and can choose your section (but remember only one is needed to exit the level, no matter which of the two) but health might be a problem kinda quickly. Few traps are really lethal, though you can be easily fucked by all of these invisible crowds. I highly suggest to enter the normal section first, as the bfg may help a lot for few rooms of the secret section before it can be available in it, and as it is way harder in my opinion, but both have their advantages : the secret section offers you a megamap in the third room ! (item that let you see where monsters are - you bet it's useful here !)
About the run : Pretty neat run. It was unexpected I had so little problems with the invisibility of the enemies. If I remember correctly, I had only three clashes (with the mancubus, a facerocket by a cyber who surprisingly reloaded very fast just before he died, and the viles at the end). Lethal traps were not even a big deal ; altough I had been lucky once with a lost cyber in their arena (thanks megamap, uh). In fact, the strat are kinda the same compared to visible monsters, except you need to circle strafe way more than usual.
Finally, I would say this map is not hard, but only when you master the tactics for each species...
For the curious ones :
Section 1 :
Room 1 : 5 Zombiemen
Room 2 : 3 Sergeants, 2 Imps
Room 3 : 3 Hell Knights
Room 4 : 16 Demons (Spectre are not even useful there, ahah)
Room 5 : 12 Chaingunners (2+10)
Room 6 : 6 Arachnotrons
Room 7 : 7 Mancs (ouch !)
Room 8 : 12 Revenants (yay, there is a way to avoid front fighting !)
Room 9 : 8 Arch-viles
Room 10 : 6 Spider-Masterminds
Room 11 : 3 Cybers
Room 12 : 14 Cybers, 130 Revenants & 130 Hell Knights -- All visible !!!
Additional Room (13) : Same as room 12 but they are invisible. (ouch !)
Section 2 :
Room 1 : 2 Hell Knights, 4 Imps
Room 2 : 2 Revenants, 4 Imps
Room 3 : 36 Lost Souls (uh...)
Room 4 : 50 Zombiemen, 50 Sergeants & 50 Chaingunners (10 each + 40 each teleporting) -- Nice tip : they don't awake if you stay hidden ; so you can handle teleporting hordes the way you want)
Room 5 : 6 Barons of Hell
Room 6 : 4 Arch-Viles
Room 7 : 8 Cacodemons, 1 Pain Elemental & 1 Chaingunner
Room 8 : 3 Cybers, 36 Mancubus & 48 Revenants (ouch !!!)
Room 9 : 1 Arch-Vile & 180 Imps
Room 10 : 41 Cybers (oh my...)
Additional Room (11) : 12 Arch-Viles (now this one is really (un)luck-based... There is a strat for this, BUT sometimes they are just not obedients...)
-- Whew, pretty long description, right ? --