The DWIronman League dies to: Vrack 1, 2 and 3!

Survived in all Vrack maps , category 1. I'm slower than Reaper but damn I'm proud to finish Vrack3 blind. what a stressful journey ! Despite that , Vrack 3 was the most well designed map in the trilogy. The grid part in vrack 3 was the most intense and unique part in the trilogy.

Vrack 1 survived in 38:44

Vrack 2 survived in 57:59

Vrack 3 survived in 1:28:44

My Category 1 submission.

dwi_pegleg_vracktrilogy_cat1.zip

Vrack 1

Kills: 15/414

Time: 2:16

Vrack 2b

Kills: 135/722

Time: 10:42

Vrack 3

Kills: 38/553

Time: 3:55

Grand Total: 188/1689 kills

The Vrack Trilogy looks good and plays very well. There's a consistent theme that is carried through all three maps. Granted, I didn't get that far into them to know if there's some horribly unbalanced and unfair stretch, but that doesn't seem to be the case. The play is generally fair, although it seems to require you to be mindful of your ammo and not be careless with your health. The clusters of enemies in many different directions also forces you to not only be relatively accurate, but also to move, lest something from one side or the other hit you while you're focused on whatever was in front of you. Overall, they seem fun, and I'm looking forward to getting back and trying these again, now that I have a bit better idea of what is coming.

Vrack 1 started out inauspiciously, with me taking 2 hits from a cacodemon that I shouldn't have been surprised by. Perhaps I should have played with the sound on. Oh well, that mistake was remedied for the next 2, which definitely helped. I still didn't play that great, sound off or not, and running around with health below 10% generally doesn't bode well, especially for me, especially with clusters of monsters still on the loose.

Vrack 2b went better, and the multiple directions you can go allowed for freedom in how to approach the map. There's also a fair amount of room to move around, which helps in dealing with the fights, as does the health. There seemed to be more health in Vrack 2 than in Vrack 1. I managed to last for a bit of time at 1% health, long enough for me to find a med-kit and be able to continue on. Finding the early mega-armor definitely helped. Vrack 2 seemed to be more fun, to me, than Vrack 1, although maybe that was a consequence of not getting too far into the first part of the trilogy. Unfortunately, my poor dodging skills reared their head at a rather inopportune time, as I managed to catch a face full from a hell knight. Sure, there were three of them, but I still could have done better getting out of the way.

Vrack 3 wasn't going well, but it wasn't going horrible and then I inadvertently back into a laser grid. At least, that's what I figured happened. It was a rather inauspicious end to the trilogy for me, but sometimes that sort of thing happens. Oh well. At least, I can take comfort in the fact that I managed to avoid dying when I was cornered by an imp and a cacodemon. I take my small victories where I can get them.

Dead MAP01 (category 1) noisy_Vrack_ironman.zip

Vrack1: 42/414 kills   | 2m38s time

Vrack2: 229/722 kills | 15m20s time

Vrack3: 27/553 kills   | 1m50s time

My performance this month is looking dismal.

Dead at 54 kills in Vrack 1.  Let's just say that skipping past a baron because I didn't want to grind it down with the single shotgun came back to bite me in the ass.

Vrack 2 I'm 99% certain my demo is invalid.  Didn't realize it was recorded in skill 3 until after it was over.  Doesn't seem fair to grant a redo as that would open a very exploitable loophole.

Vrack 3 hasn't been started yet but it looks scary from the accounts here.  Might not even make it to 100 kills combined.

I'll post my demos after recording my Vrack 3 attempt.

NOOOOO!

Yesterday I played some Grime as a proper warm-up. I felt confindent enough to play the first Vrack. I survived in 28:22. Not that it was safe at all times, oh no, one chaingunner refusing to die early on and I was on low health, also some big screw ups in the slime.

Vrack2b I died quite early at the yellow skull.

After I died I decided to play Vrack 3 straight away. Had I survived, I would postpone this, but now it didn't matter. This was very, very embarrassing as I died even earlier. I knew about blue armor secret, but I decided to leave it for the future, eh...

So I think this is category 1? I didn't play these WADs before this year, but I knew the third one very well.

Vrack: 347 kills

Vrack2: 248 kills

Vrack3: 116 kills

Total 731 kills

vrackvdgg.zip

Here ya go, i survived the longest on Vrak 2. Overall really interesting designs and I like the starport feel. I may have to just stream these.  

Standard Category 1 Blind runs. 

Vrak 1: 

https://www.twitch.tv/videos/644776971

Vrak 2:
https://www.twitch.tv/videos/644779346

Vrak 3:
https://www.twitch.tv/videos/644779347

Vrack 1: 248 kills, I got unlucky with a spawning zombieman.
Vrack 2: 410 kills, I was followed by too many rockets.
Vrack 3: 226 kills, I tried to use Arachnotrons as shield.
Cat 1 for all of them.
 

Demos: vrack.zip

Another Run...meh,disappointed with myself...could have done so much better.

Used GZDOOM (next month will be prboom), CAT1.

Vrack 1

Vrack 2

Vrack3

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r16ou2ROTJw

On 6/2/2020 at 12:17 PM, NaZa said:

Oh, another thing I forgot to mention. Lost souls and revived monsters will not count in your total kill count if you play on ZDoom. Not sure how to fully circumvent this problem - a solution is just to use the monsters remaining alive, deduct it from the unaltered kill count, and the kill count should read fine. The problem is, however, if the player decided to leave lost souls alive, or an arch vile starts resurrecting stuff before you get to it. It's an interesting problem for sure, and I'm not sure how it can be solved.

With your approach, Austinado on Vrack 2 would have 722-(761-301) = 262.

Another idea would be to keep the proportion/percentage intact: 301*722/761 = ~286.

Nothing is perfect. Regarding lost souls I think it is safe to assume that ironmen kill them as a general rule. With arch-vile resurrections, I am not sure of anything and in Vrack3 they are massive.

@vdgg Thank you, and yes, I think Austinado killed every lost soul/resurrected monsters on these three maps so it's as accurate as humanly possible. 

@Austinado Kill count is only important when single maps/very short mapsets (3 maps or less) are chosen. For others you are free to continue using GZDoom. Even for the shorter contests it's not something bad. It's just easier to count and I'll not enforce you to. Also you've beaten I_Punch_Demons so there's that :)

My type 1 entry is here.  54 kills on Vrack 1.  0 on Vrack 2 because it's a HMP demo (actual demo is about 220 or so getting caught by surprise at the red keycard  At least I found the rocket launcher)  79 on Vrack3.  I didn't spot where that chaingunner was shooting me from until I died.

PrBoom-plus 2.5.1.4 -complevel 9

dwiron_vrack_cnr.zip

15 hours ago, NaZa said:

@vdgg Thank you, and yes, I think Austinado killed every lost soul/resurrected monsters on these three maps so it's as accurate as humanly possible. 

 

@Austinado Kill count is only important when single maps/very short mapsets (3 maps or less) are chosen. For others you are free to continue using GZDoom. Even for the shorter contests it's not something bad. It's just easier to count and I'll not enforce you to. Also you've beaten I_Punch_Demons so there's that :)

I continue to stand snarky by my stance that I was using GLBoom+ while he was using GZDoom. Tex rex block mapping vs Stretch Armstrong block mapping :) 

(This is intended as a joke for ballbusting and not that I actually think the run is illegitimate, I am indeed just salty)

Finally felt like doing one of these again. Unlike before, I decided to play these levels beforehand and make sure I was able to complete them in one go before I started recording. I typically like to do blind runs, but I often die in them, so I wanted to see where this would get me.

Vrack 1 - survived in 19:17

This entry seems so quaint after playing its sequels. Not too rough, but the revenant trap in the radiation switch room is pretty mean. Lots of hitscanners always puts me on edge too.

Vrack 2 - survived in 29:17

A larger scale and more evil traps, some of which were quite dicey. Figuring out the secrets helped a lot, thankfully.

Vrack 3 - dead, 339/553

This one gave me a lot of trouble. I was actually quite happy with how this was turning out, but cockiness led to this death by laser grid. I feel confident I could have finished if not for that.

Prepared runs. Recorded with PrBoom+ 2.5.1.5

https://www.twitch.tv/videos/651978456

Category 1 run for the whole trilogy.

Vrack 1= cleared in 46:37. Waited a while just to get to the exit.

Vrack 2= died, 471/781. Revenants and pain sectors, oh joy.

Vrack 3= died, 44/566. Low ammo + mid-tier enemies + no room.

Hello! This looks like a pretty fun competition, yet, I just have a few questions.

- Can this be played with a sourceport like GZDoom or LZDoom ?

- If yes, is video proof enough ?

- Also, can you used ''graphic'' mods like Bolognese or Beautiful Doom? or is it pure Vanilla?

Thanks a lot, I'm kinda new to this.

Vrack 1 - survived

Vrack 2 - survived

Vrack 3 - about 300 kills I think

Took about a week to play them all.

Vrack 1 was a blind run, but it was a cat 2 for vrack 2 and 3.  That was by far the furthest I've ever made it in the third instalment

https://www.dropbox.com/s/pr7xk3xuz203mgw/dtvrack.zip?dl=1

7 hours ago, Endless said:

Hello! This looks like a pretty fun competition, yet, I just have a few questions.

 

- Can this be played with a sourceport like GZDoom or LZDoom ?

- If yes, is video proof enough ?

- Also, can you used ''graphic'' mods like Bolognese or Beautiful Doom? or is it pure Vanilla?

 

Thanks a lot, I'm kinda new to this.

- It can be played with GZDoom and LZDoom. Make sure to use the correct compatibility setting (show that in video) and so don't use dynamic lights, please. 

- It sure is! 

- Purely cosmetic mods are a-okay. Just don't use anything that alters the gameplay. 

My runs. Category 2-ish for everything.

Survived Vrack1 in 32:24 with 414 kills.

Survived Vrack2b in 58:54 with 721 kills.

Died in Vrack3 with 78 kills by the end of the demo.

First timer here!

My blind playthrough for the Standard competition.

Not my best death over there, but I think I did decent enough. I was quite nervous the whole time.

Vrack at: 00:16 Kills: 122 / 414

I was feeling so confident and going really strong, until my PC lagged horryble and I panicked.

Vrack2b at: 11:31 Kills: 255 / 757

Just dumb positioning by my hand. I got ambushed really good.

Vrack 3 at: 30:21 Kills: 73 / 566

Overall, this was really damn fun! I'm not that used to Doom like this and I'm diggin it.

Here's my effort.  Cat1.

vrack 117/414 - tunnel vision

vrack2b 109/722  - when one revenant rocket just isn't enough

vrack3 54/553 - nope, they weren't letting me have that chaingun

dwironman_vrack_ozy.zip

Here is my Category 3 submission.

dwi_pegleg_vracktrilogy_cat3.zip

Vrack 1

Kills: 73/414

Time: 9:04

Vrack 2b

Kills: 93/722

Time: 7:42

Vrack 3

Kills: 44/553

Time: 5:39

Grand Total: 210/1689 kills

I improved on two of my blind runs, improving my overall kill count. My opinions of the maps are the same. They're fun. They look good. There's an adequate amount of health and ammo. The ambushes are well done. These are good maps.

On Vrack, I think if I had managed to come into that last room with a bit more health, I could have survived the ambush. Or maybe I should have tried to go for the SSG then, that would've changed things, but I think I needed some more health before trying to tackle that assault.

On Vrack 2, I thought I'd go farther. Getting trapped in a small room with a revenant didn't help matters. Honestly, does it ever? I don't think anyone has ever said, 'You know what would make this small room better? A revenant.' Then a homing rocket from another revenant finished me off. I don't like homing rockets. I'll leave it at that.

On Vrack 3, I wasn't going much farther. Even had I not misjudged my rush past the hell knight, my run was likely going to end very soon after that. During other playthroughs, I never made it past the two revenants behind the wall, and I don't think this time would have been any different. Please reference my comments and questions about Vrack 2.

Here is my Category 1 submission, for reference.

Finally cut a few evenings at the end of month to die fast on this famous series, but then...

GODDAMN SURVIVED!

LOVED the entire trilogy much: the aesthetics (although I usually don't like space-themed maps), monster and item placement, the balance, secrets, ...

That awesome feel when author puts you into lots of traps and massacres, but let you actually manage them, even blindly (several secrets hits were near-mandatory though). I only played Vrack 4 from Deus Vult II (it's an unofficial tribute map), and have never watched any demos prior to recording -- and that was pure dopamine to play.

WAD           Kills      Items  Secrets         Time  Category

vrack       414/414      14/17      2/4      0:32:48         I
vrack2b     720/722      48/71      5/8      0:55:56         I
vrack3      552/553      65/72      2/4      1:22:11         I

Summary   1686/1689    127/160     9/16      2:50:55         I

Got lost hundreds of times, had to move on with 5-10% health, and many other pretty little horses things we all like.

Easily one of the best personal DWIronman experiences.

dwivrack.zip

vrackseries-ironman-2-921k-2.11.57.zip

vrackseries-ironman-2-921k-2.11.57.zip

  wad  kills  total  live  dead     time
-----  -----  -----  ----  ----  -------
    1    445    414     0   414    48:32 (exit)
   2b    281    722   441   281    35:01 (dead)
    3    226    553   327   226    48:24 (dead)
-----  -----  -----  ----  ----  -------
TOTAL    952   1689   768   921  2:11:57

I've played all these before, long ago. I went in reverse order to get the hardest / most annoying one out of the way first. Wanted to avoid extra pressure of having to do better on the harder sequels, if the first had gone badly.


vrack3

DEAD 226/553 327 45/72 2/4 48:24+15

Died to ring of mancubi at rocket launcher. Not surprised. Glad it was over before reaching the laser maze of unlimited frustration. Barely survived mancubi at super shotgun. Earlier had nearly succumbed to chaingunner at chaingun ambush, who would not die, or even flinch. The early laser cage, apart from serving as a tutorial for the mechanic, is probably another Free Hissy reference. Was considering suiciding on it -- someone has to, for comedy value.


vrack2b

DEAD 281/722 441 2/71 3/8 35:01+18

Picked up the yellow skull key and died in the ensuing ambush. The super shotgun was not the right weapon. Annoying, it was such an obvious trap. Apparently there was a hidden radsuit too, which I had completely forgotten about. Oh well. Hopefully the killcount is decent. Many of the monster groups kill each other with little provocation. You just stand at a window and watch it happen. Or waste time sniping at things. Need as many cheap kills as possible since killcount matters more than time this month.


vrack

EXIT 445/414 0 16/17 4/4 48:32+29

Finally the ultra-cautious approach prevails. Helps that there were no nasty ambushes; the monster teleporters put them far away, not surrounding you. And I was expecting something much worse at that berserk box. Worst moments were a mancubus in the tunnel up to the observation deck, and a baron past the yellow door. The slime pit went well, immediately diving for the escape tunnel turned out to be the correct choice as it led directly to the radsuit, then you can kill everything from below. Couldn't forget the Hissy secret. I wonder if I will regret not farming more resurrection kills at the exit..?

Another set I'm not a fan of. Lots of dickish traps that can easily kill you blind.

Cat 1;

daerikvracks.zip

Survived Vracks 1 in 18:57

Died on Vracks 2 at 24:06 with 401 kills

Died on Vracks 3 at 18:24 with 215 kills

You have got to be kidding me. I've logged in to finally update the leaderboards, I do so with all the obituaries and the site decided to log me out of it while editing and I lost all progress. Perfect. Yes it took me an entire hour so it probably just auto-logged out but then again it took me an entire hour... I'll re-write the obituaries tomorrow I guess. Mostly posted this to let you know I've finally gotten back to this after promising for more than a year, before I likely take yet another absence. Not the most welcoming and motivating start but I'll take it.

Okay, now it's updated. Finally. Only 17 months late. Will also clear Running Late today and we'll see when there'll be further time for Epic, Hell Revealed and 2002ADO.