The DWmegawad Club plays: 99 Ways to Die & Troopers' Playground & Talosian Incident

The Troopers' Playground

TTP is a 9 map episode, although there is a separate bonus wad (ttpbonus.wad) to play as well which contains the first map Matthias Worch ever created. We are warned that no bfg exists in the episode. More importantly, a new enemy, the Evil Trooper, the wolfensteinss replacement stalks the maps. This dastardly dude is a helmetless, zombified marine in green armor that attacks you with the spider mastermind chaingun. There are probably some really pissed off spider masterminds stomping around demanding to know what scumbags stole their chainguns. With 200 hit points, the Evil Trooper is a little tougher than the demon but is not easily stunned, with a pain chance of 65 (25%), less likely than a mancubus (31%) but more likely than a hellknight (20%). For this reason you might want to plan for some cover before each Evil Trooper encounter as the bastards tend to instantly fire as soon as they spot you. There's an unlucky 13 of these fiends roaming around through the episode on UV, basically 1-2 per map with 3 on map08 but none on map09.

Matthias uses ingenious tricks and traps to surprise the player with new encounters involving routine enemies that under normal circumstances wouldn't be much of a threat but become more threatening due to the element of surprise. All the traps can be comfortably beaten once known but some are quite nasty or fatal the first time they are sprung on the hapless player.

map01: Welcome, by Matthias Worch
zdoom2.8.1, uvmax, pistol start, no saves, first time played

You start outside a building floating in the sky. Ok! As you enter the building you are greeted in the familiar fashion, enemies attacking from all sides. All low tier encounters and easily taken care of. The building consists of 2 wings which hold the keys to raising the bars to the exit. You can tackle either side first. Both wings contain small puzzles and switches that are used in a fairly natural and intuitive way to reveal more enemy encounters and progress the map.

The secrets are revealed easily enough, but the loot is a mixed bag, the green armor being the most useful.

The first Evil Trooper of the wad guards the exit, so take care when opening the exit door. Do not try to shake his hand, he is definitely not your friend!

Here we go into The Troopers' Playground. Matthias Worch was my favorite level designer in Requiem and this is another classic wad I've been meaning to try for a long time.

MAP01: WELCOME

Time: 6:16 | Kills: 100% | Items: 100% | Secrets 100% | Deaths: 0

FDA attached, recorded in Crispy Doom 5.1.

Now this is more like it! This is a map that actually uses the capabilities of the Doom engine properly, with lots of different ways to engage--and be engaged--by monsters from many angles and across different areas. The shotgunners in this map can hurt if you don't pay attention and the evil trooper is incredibly dangerous at close range but other than that there's not a whole lot that is threatening in this map. The iron fortress floating in the sky (?) might be a bit too surreal for some but I really liked it. It's mostly in subdued browns and earth tones but splashes of contrasting color (especially the deep blue sky) and more complex architecture give this way more flair than anything from 99 Ways to Die. The evil trooper shooting before his animation finishes really pisses me off though!

ttp1-001.zip

It's not technically May 4 where I am, being on the American East Coast, but it is about 0300 Universal Time, so I'll go ahead.

Trooper's Playground

MAP01: Welcome

GZDoom 3.4 pre-298, UV, continuous run, manual saves

A vast improvement from 99 Ways to Die, this map maintains an air of danger with a non-linear design that ends up being somewhat linear anyway. First facing a small courtyard of imps and shotgunners before being introduced into the fortress interior, wherein you must locate the red and yellow cards to reach the exit. Going to the left (from the entrance) leads you into a few encounters including a pair of cacos, a hell knight, and some more of the fodder. Conversely, the opposite is considerably more dangerous with its chaingunners and traps, but still nothing you can't handle. Finally, as reward for reaching the exit, you get a faceful of lead from our good friend the Trooper! Packing the power of a spider mastermind with the toughness of a pinky and then some while being small as a zombie, this guy is a huge threat for a first attempt.

With a nice, simple aesthetic that's welcoming, yet somewhat damning at the same time, this map secures itself as a good entry map and grants a small idea of what's in store. Combat is simple enough and typically easy, as befits an introductory stage, but still doesn't go lightly. I have high expectations for the next maps.

I played TTP (for the first and only time) back in 2015 on UV. I had to play in GLBoom+ on account of the new baddie not working properly in (G)ZDoom. So glad there's now a proper version for modern source ports, yay! (I've played in the ZDoom engine too long; nothing else feels right anymore.) Anyway, I remember very little of the WAD other than that I really enjoyed it. So here we go! As usual, GZDoom/continuous/keyboard-only/saves, and UV again.

MAP01: Welcome

9:02 | 100% Everything

And a rude welcome at that, what with the new trooper greeting you at the exit with a big ol' "F@$k you!" I died. I actually got off to a fairly rough start, taking a couple of shotgun blasts and a fireball in the back as I jumped into that first room. Health was relatively sparse, though I did manage to get back up to 100% before exit dude turned me into swiss. When I was ready for him, the jerk still knocked almost 50% off of me, so I'm entering MAP02 below full strength. (Thankfully I found the secrets after the fact, so I exited with a full green armor and 85% health.) Otherwise the level is fairly straightforward, with two wings, each granting a key more or less guarded by a noble. Mostly it's a lot of hitscanners and imps (and sprinkling of chaingunners) which I generally enjoy tackling. Like 1000% improvement over 99 Ways in both the visuals and the gameplay. That blue sky is gorgeous, and the dark metal texturing looks sharp with the standard Doom 2 browns. It was an interesting decision to put that shootable switch inside the baron cage (to open the cage.) I didn't notice it all when I played through, other than trying to figure out what it did once I could get inside. A more conservative player might not have bothered shooting at all those caged monsters, but that is definitely not me.

Well, This is my first time posting for this club so here's my review for 99 Ways To Die. Hope you find it informative or entertaining in some way.

MAP01

Right from the start it's fairly obvious that this is a 90's Wad, this map's a fairly easy going walk through a castle where you'll likely be spending most of your time blasting zombies and the weaker demons with your shotgun.  Apparently the deal with these maps is the yellow key takes you to an optional area which I didn't learn about until after the fact but here it just feels pointless considering the yellow key's right before the exit unless i missed something. I should also mention that this map is brown as hell, We're talking beyond Quake levels of brown and that was a brown ass game. Still certainly not a bad map though assuming you go to the optional areas and don't just blast straight to the exit in 1 minute like I did the first time through.

MAP02

The map start's off pretty quiet but when you fire your first bullet things soon hit the shitter with a ton of monsters spawning in. Either I took a weird route or the map wasn't designed for a pistol start as I found myself fighting imps & spectres with a Rocket Launcher before getting the SSG. The monsters are tougher then they were in the last map with Revanants & Cacodemons making up a good portion of the Monster's on this map and an Archvile making an appearance at the end, though the Archvile spawns behind you right when you reach the exit and you may very well not even notice him. I only fought him because i backtracked to see what was in the yellow key area, There's some rockets, Invisibility and a Soul Sphere in there but there's already so much health and armor in this map that I doubt anyone will need it.

MAP03

From a pistol start there's a bit of a rough ammo deficiency in this map that probably wouldn't have been a problem if you carried over from last map but it smooths itself out by the end. The map starts fairly simple shooting your way through basic hallways and rooms without too much difficulty, picking up the red key leads to a pretty challenging ambush with an archvile, 3 pain elementals and other assorted enemies in a rather tight area. If you read the entire description and downloaded the fix for this map which I failed to do my first time through you'll be taken to the climactic showdown which is a halfway challenging fight with 2 Mancubis and 2 Archviles before hitting the exit switch and finishing this wad off.

Overall 99 Ways to Die certainly wasn't a bad experience. I heard it was quite good back in the day but in 2018 I'd say it's not really worth it to download.

16 hours ago, Aquila Chrysaetos said:

Amusing. @Capellan busts his ass to get these three reviewed by the Club and life conspires to keep him from it.

Making one voting post a month is not really all that challenging, even for someone of my advanced age :)

Configuration : Prboom+ , UV , pistol start

Map 01 TTP : Welcome

Difficulty : Easy

DEMO

TTP begins with a base perched on a high rocky mountain. The zombies are the most used monsters in this map but you will meet also some barons and hell knights which cause not really a big trouble. A new enemy made his entrance ! The trooper actually guards the last switch as the imp in Doom's E1M1. He's not really dangerous but may surprise the player who did not read the txt !

No new music again... , that's a shame. But whatever , the theme is very close to Doom2 but there are just a few new textures. I really appreciate the new sky on the other hand. I can't say a lot of things on the map itself , likeable but nothing astonishing. The difficulty seems to be higher than 99WTD because the layout is more cramped and the encounters vary more which is a good point. Secrets were fortunaly easy to find but two of them were hard to trigger because of the sector size. I had to walk on them several times before having the message "A secret is revealed"...

The level was not ugly but meh... The first level of 99WTD was simple and charming. Light gradients are not as substantial as 99 WTD and textures are more heterogeneous.

First, welcome to the party @DavitW!

Second, The Troopers' Playground, I'm using ZDoom 2.8pre-1701-gd786148 and I don't think the .DEH is loading correctly using my usual drag-and-drop method, though the instructions accompanying the repackaged edition suggest that this should be all that's necessary to get this version to play with a source port.  I don't know if this breaks the WAD, necessarily, but the attributes (and attack and death frames) for the new monster haven't been changed so I'm obviously not getting the intended gameplay experience.  Anyone got an indication as to how to resolve this?  I had a poke around for a specific ZDoom-friendly repack of this and found one on the ZDoom forums but both of the links to the .pk3 itself were broken.  :(

Use the fixed version in the zip hosted on DSDA.

Quote

This is a new version of The Trooper's Playground that will work in modern
source ports without the need for installation. The levels and resources are
all identical to the original version, the files have just been restructured.

Created by vdgg.

There's also this

MAP01 Welcome

Well, not the intro I was hoping for. Even on an easy setting this is a rough level with the shotgun guys swinging their guns well before anyone can take a good action. The chaingun is a good alternative provided you know where to find the secret for the ammo box and all. That cage fucking sucks, since enemies do come pouring out from that area behind the cage, but only the south part of it is unshootable while the others are? Come on. At least shooting the switch in the back will allow me to finally reach the key outside. The SS is replaced by a different trooper by the way.

1 hour ago, TheOrganGrinder said:

the instructions accompanying the repackaged edition suggest that this should be all that's necessary to get this version to play with a source port.  I don't know if this breaks the WAD, necessarily, but the attributes (and attack and death frames) for the new monster haven't been changed so I'm obviously not getting the intended gameplay experience.

It looks like @rdwpahas got you a working solution. As I explained in an earlier post, while TTP (repackaged) works in prboom, glboom, gzdoom, it fails in zdoom because of zdoom's limited deh support for patch format 6 only. There's a simple text edit to fix it if your other fixes don't work - https://www.doomworld.com/forum/post/1872870

Also, as a possiblity, GZDoom maintains the software renderer, so it might be easier to jump ship, so to speak, to it.

Minor edit: I know this is massively off-topic, but I think I'm going crazy, because for a moment I thought I had a custom title already of "Nice Member."

That didn't actually happen, right?

Beautiful.  Thanks @rdwpa!

(Also @NuMetalManiak and @tmorrow)

MAP01: Welcome

So this is going to be a slightly less than totally unspoiled playthrough since I didn't realise until the very end of the level, where the evil trooper puts in his first appearance, that the version I was using hadn't loaded properly.  At least that's apparent here and not like three maps in.  >_>

This Welcome is a fairly warm one, with limited armour and weapons available, the latter consisting of shotguns and chainguns that you'll have to rip from the greasy hands of your zombified opposition, and a secret chainsaw; there's enough here to get the job done, but with hell knights and the buffed health of the evil marine to contend with, there are a few fights where you'll find yourself blasting away for quite a while against a sturdy chunk of meat.  The player is free to choose which of the red and yellow branches to explore first, though I went with the right-hand path and I think that was the best approach since that's where the secrets containing the armour and the chainsaw can be found.  Overall it's a nice little map that occupies a niche halfway between a castle and a subverted base; sure, it's not a new theme, but it's well-realised and the gameplay is engaging.

And so now we begin new adventure through quite vintage wad "Troopers' Playground"

I can already say that this is more of a relic, since it excels in many areas (well, at least I hope it will keep quality until the end)

MAP01 - "Beginning of holy crusade in search of spare clothes"

I'm not sure if this is going to be a theme, but judging from the first maps (I decided to test my theory out), it seems like difficulty builds from the fact that you are going to run around naked all the time. Armor is like a holy grail, not only it's extremely rare, but it's also really rewarding to get it. But lets speak about grand entrance to this wad. Seems like hell got Van Gogh to design their realm this time, because this map is quite surreal visually. I really dig this blue skybox. Also different textures/lightning makes for a nice eye candy (well, by 1996 merits). In terms of gameplay it's quite fun. You are not getting overpowered weapons, which combined with pretty decent encounters, makes for a good experience. Secrets are defined pretty well, there is always some sort of indication, like a slightly different texture, which is a good design (though, there were some problems with linedefs, you had to wiggle around to actually register secret). Oh, and nazi got quite a nice makeup. Sadistic author created something truly evil: chaingunner on steroids. Not only he has 200hp, but also absolutely rips you apart within seconds, and you gotta remember, he starts shooting immediately, unlike spider mastermind, who needs to charge his triple chaingun. Well, at least he didn't make pain elemental who spawns arch-viles instead of lost souls, now THAT would be horrifying. So, in overall, that's solid map and nice introduction level. Can't wait to play more of that.

Gameplay info: UV, pistol start, environment difficulty: screaming neighbors and working trucks.

12 minutes ago, BioRenegat said:

I'm not sure if this is going to be a theme, but judging from the first maps (I decided to test my theory out), it seems like difficulty builds from the fact that you are going to run around naked all the time. Armor is like a holy grail, not only it's extremely rare, but it's also really rewarding to get it

Very good observation. I've played ahead and this is a recurring theme with some exceptions. Although the lack of armor is compensated with extra health, you will find that a surprise Evil Trooper or other enemy can quickly whittle your health down to alarmingly low levels! Matthias Worch has a way of making even low tier enemies threatening in clever ways. Basically tanking burst damage is not a viable strategy, you need skilled movement, dodging and good choice for cover to overcome the challenges.

Sorry everyone, i may have to sit this one out as much as i dont want to. With the things going on now, i can barely find time or motivation to think and write. Expect me to lurk for most of this month. All welp, have fun!

Sorry to hear that, @Catpho!  I'll look forward to maybe having your insights and your commentary back with us in June, then.

The Trooper's Playground

MAP01: I think I played like the first 2 maps of this, I remember the start with the marble bridge on the blue void. Good level overall, and as an opener it has some substance while it still retains a clear "Entryway-esque" feel. The introduction of the custom enemy where you usually expect(ed) a lone low-tier was pretty cool. The status bar with the metal theme it's allright but some numbers use the same color of the background so it's difficult to read.

Just now, gaspe said:

The status bar with the metal theme it's allright but some numbers use the same color of the background so it's difficult to read.

I use the GZDoom alternative hud, and the numbers were nearly impossible to decipher.

I'm all for new status bars and huds and things, but it makes it much better if the player can read it.

The Trooper's Playground

MAP01: Welcome

100% kills, 3/3 secrets

This was a breath of fresh air after 99 Ways to be Brown. It's still rough around the edges given its age, but squint at the underdetailed level and you'll still see something that holds up, with good combat balance, secrets that make sense and a tried-and-true layout. I did enjoy the yellow key wing more than the red key wing (which was a bit too switch-fiddly for me) but it worked. I was one of those people @Roofi mentioned as the zombie marine at the end caught me by surprise, wasn't expecting new enemies and my hindbrain immediately freaked out at the sight of something new and unexpected. Good start.

Is this the first time the Club will revisit a map? (TTP Map06 = Requiem Map09) Should be interesting to compare the opinions now and then.

59 minutes ago, Memfis said:

(TTP Map06 = Requiem Map09)

Oh that's why while I was peeking at few random maps MAP06 looked so familiar.

5 hours ago, Memfis said:

Is this the first time the Club will revisit a map? (TTP Map06 = Requiem Map09)

This has happened with DTWID and No End in Sight, both share the same first map in episode 2. 

map02: Intrusion, by Matthias Worch
zdoom2.8.1, uvmax, pistol start, no saves, first time played

The fortress theme continues from map01. This map is more linear though and you have to collect the keys in order blue, red, yellow. You are stuck with shotgun and chaingun for two thirds of the map before picking up the super shotgun. More tier 2 enemies are introduced, the baron and revenant, making for a little more challenge.

The secrets provide health, armor and a partial invisibility, the last item being quite useful for taking out the Evil Trooper that is wandering the upper halls off the main hub room, looking for trouble.

The Troopers’ Playground

MAP01 - “Welcome” FDA-Max: ttp01-S01-749-FDA.zip

D_RUNNIN strikes again! This was a fun map01 for the most part. Having to Shotgun-down a Baron wasn't terribly exciting though, and a couple of the secrets, especially the one behind the light texture, where pretty easy to miss the tag for. The custom soldier in the exit room was also a surprise. He appears to be some kind of durable auto-shotgunner, similar to the Z-Sec in the recent Bloodstain.

MAP01 - Welcome

This is one of those maps where you have to go down separate paths to get all the keys to open the exit, The map provides a decent challenge as I found myself getting my ass kicked in the first room and it's mostly close quarters with hitscan enemies and not a lot of armor to go around. it's definitely 90's but that's not a bad thing and I liked the design and architecture of the map. the new enemy is basically a chaingunner on speed and can fuck your day up in a heartbeat if you're not careful, overall a good opening map.

MAP02 - Intrusion

This map takes the difficulty up a little bit further than the last map with some enemies placed in tricky spots and tougher demons being introduced such as Mancubi and Cacodemons, you'll likely have to fight some of these with the shotgun or chaingun which I personally find a bit tedious when you could just give me a SSG instead. Apparently the designer ran out of ideas for this map and pulled what I like to call the switcharoo twice. Once for the blue key and another time for the yellow key. I did like the trap with the baron at the soulsphere and the secrets in this wad so far are well hidden without being absurdly cryptic.

MAP02: Intrusion

GZDoom 3.4 pre-298, UV, continuous run, manual saves

Higher difficulty, same theme, more traps, 'nuff said.

But I'll say more anyway.

Starting off in a courtyard, you find yourself quickly beset upon by monsters. Worming your way through the complex leads you to the blue card, then the yellow, and the red. Shortly before getting the yellow card, I encountered the Trooper. This time, he nearly killed me, but I managed to power through and finish the level. Aside from him, the resistance in this map was still somewhat lax, but it's still early. Getting the SSG turned a simple romp into a nearly flawless run with only the zombies landing any real hits after then.

Unlike before, I'm adding screenshots to my reviews now, though they will always be spoilered.

MAP02: INTRUSION OF 00 BUCKSHOT INTO MY JEJUNUM

Time: 12:50 |Kills: 100% | Items: 100% | Secrets: 0% | Deaths: 3

FDA attached. Recorded in Crispy Doom v4.1, tested vanilla compatible.

Wellcume 2 hitscanner zone. :) Worch was always a fan of shotgunners and chaingunners and this map is a real pain parade from a pistol start as you wander like a lost sheep into lethal hitscan crossfires with very little ammo to work with. Fortunately I'm a longtime Wolfenstein player so I have a taste for the old peek-a-boo. Health is limited and armor is completely nonexistent outside of secrets, so every mistake costs. The two cacos bursting out of the walls right in your face really show how deadly cacos can be in melee. The evil trooper encounter is pretty easy, at that range your DPS with chaingun tapping vastly exceeds his. The architecture is kind of homely though, with texturing that goes through many different colors and materials without much thematic cohesion. But the map plays well and there are no technical faults, so I like it.

ttp2.zip

MAP02 - “Intrusion” FDA (1 death): ttp02-S01-1454-FDA.zip

Oh yeah, it's going to be one of those sets. I am very much against withholding basic armour from the player when he's facing enemies able to 2-shot him. Aside from that, this was a pretty good map. I did have an unfortunate encounter early on, and got eaten by the Pinky-train at one of the fenced switches. Had to play it cool after that, but man, that new hitscanner hurts even at range.

Map 02 : Intrusion

Difficulty : Medium

DEMO

Well , the intrusion in the brown fortress was kinda tough because of lack of armor outside secrets and the numerous traps and hitscanners. Three secrets can be found in this level but there were in fact kinda useless. The most useful secret (blue armor) was placed very near to the exit so after undergoing the deadliest traps. They were also very well hidden so I found 2 of them once after I killed all ennemies.

The progression consists to navigate through square rooms in a determined order. The whole reminded me of Hell Revealed 2 for some reasons , maybe because the layout is very squarish and also the abundance of brown and metal textures used. It is explained also on the fact that some traps are brutal. The pinkies' trap near the blue key can be really dreadful if you run out of ammo during the fight , The caco's fight after you unexpectably opened the walls after the baron trap... The fake exit made me laugh , it was actually a pretty neat idea even if it was inneficient.

I liked this level even if switch doors can be really annoying sometimes. I always forget that they work with a switch so I hump them uselessly. However the special zombie seemed to be randomly placed. I would expect an unique trap reserved for him...