The DWIronman League dies to: Containment Area

[RjY]

September, 2023

 

 

Leaderboard: see end of post

NaZa's yearly standings

 

________________________________________________________________________________

Caveant Homines Ferrei !

Your attention is drawn to the following pitfalls:

• Along with the map author, SCF, Plut, Asbadagba, ginc, and Pseudonaut wish all to know that no player shall attempt, on pain of death, to enter the flashing teleporter on which a player corpse has been placed as a warning.
• Beginner, VeJean1, and head_cannon discovered a broken conveyor, at the north end of the far west area beyond the blue card door, should be avoided lest one step off the side and become trapped behind a crate.

________________________________________________________________________________

 

Introduction

In September 2023 the DWIronman League dies to Containment Area. No, not that one -- but (spoiler link) the remake by J.C. Bengtson (SailorScout). Greatly expanded, and now with all your favourite Doom2 monsters, in distressingly large numbers. First released at the turn of the millennium with an update shortly afterward, it was at the time an impressive showcase of the possibilities offered to Doomers by the nascent source port era. At any rate, it certainly left an impression on your host :).

WAD and map information

 

• Doom II (doom2.wad)
• One map running on MAP12
  • Video submissions must display kill count at point of death
• Compatibility level 9 (Boom), or whatever GZ's equivalent is. (Boom strict?)
• Time estimate: Maybe about two to two-and-a-half hours?

 

Download: Containment Area v1.1

prboom-plus contain.wad -warp 12 -skill 4 -complevel 9 -record dwironman-contain-MYNAME-CATEGORY.lmp

Rules and Previous Threads

The rules are the same as usual. One attempt, no retries, it's over when you die; to be scored you must record your first playthrough after contest announcement, marked as per the usual category system (1: blind, never played before, no prior knowledge; 2: familiar, have played the wad before the contest was announced thus have some previous experience; 3: previewed, have examined the wad or watched a demo, video, or otherwise deliberately gained advantageous knowledge, after announcement). You may record a subsequently rehearsed run that will not be scored but will be ranked on a separate table. See last month's thread or The DWIronman League at the Doom Wiki for full details, where also a list of all previous contests may be found.

Specifics: as this is a single map I need to know your killcount at point of death if you do not survive, so please display it (unless your submission is a compatible demo). Also, even blind runners (indeed, all players, not only in Ironman, but in general) are expected to have read a wad's text file in advance before playing it.

 

________________________________________________________________________________

 

Leaderboard

1. SURVIVED 0:30:12 LadyMistDragon (cat. 1, ent. 11 of 35; 333 sectors)
   • First player to demonstrate the superfluity of three of the keys. Sets the pace for survival.
2. SURVIVED 0:38:04 Brainfreezzzzz (cat. 1, ent. 16 of 35; 545 sectors)
   • This obituary is too short to note every moment where our hero should have fallen, but a block by a demon in escape from the Plasma Cyberdemon, then rocket explosions a gnat's wingspan from cover at 71% health were particularly hair-raising. Thank goodness for blue armour.
3. SURVIVED 0:48:19 NaZa (cat. 1, ent. 5 of 35; 576 sectors)
   • Being caught off guard by a mass teleport was not enough to prevent a blind 98% at more than half the speed of vdgg's UV-max, worthy of an exuberant post-intermission victory dance.
4. 99% VeJean1 (cat. 1, ent. 33 of 35; unknown sector count)
   • With nothing between him and the exit, disaster struck our hero as his strong completionist instincts led him into a corner of the map from which the only escape was to break the laws of physics. (DNF)
5. 88% Beginner (cat. 1, ent. 8 of 35; 534 sectors)
   • Found a megasphere then immediately lost half of it. Otherwise, caution prevailed, until curiosity derailed. (DNF)
6. 87% head_cannon (cat. 1, ent. 34 of 35; 535 sectors)
   • Not content with simply violating all health and safety regulations, the factory denizens have taken to actively forcing luckless visitors into inescapable hazards. "Cruel world", our hero sighed, shaking his head, pulling out his trusty rocket launcher one more time. (DNF)
7. 75% Pseudonaut (cat. 1, ent. 31 of 35; 535 sectors)
   • A confident and self-assured display which included fearless defeats of three of the factory bosses. Sadly the third left our hero with concussion, causing short-term amnesia over which teleporter is not to be touched.
8. 69% joe-ilya (cat. 1, ent. 24 of 35; 488 sectors)
   • A confident start led our hero around much of the map, until the surprise appearance of the Plasma Cyberdemon. Our hero was promptly relieved of all but one of his hit points by two direct rocket hits. Frustrated, but ol' P.C. was not to be denied; our hero's attempt to snatch the red card was interrupted by a third rocket.
9. 68% Anima Zero (cat. 1, ent. 4 of 35; 437 sectors)
   • Survived being cornered by a crate pit and a cyber, only to get splattered by the latter monster later.
10. 67% Plut (cat. 1, ent. 3 of 35; 439 sectors)
    • Astutely avoided the deadly teleporter only to end up trapped between a rocket and a hard carapace.
11. 65% Vytaan (cat. 1, ent. 22 of 35; 394 sectors)
    • Pinned down by the Plasma Cyberdemon, our hero's realisation that he might just be able to SSG his way out came mere seconds before a hitherto-overlooked wandering baron wandered up behind. His behind, which it handed to him.
12. 52% dt_ (cat. 1, ent. 23 of 35; 324 sectors)
    • Did well to recover from some early accidents -- that berserk has been a timely discovery for many of our adventurers thus far -- but became another to fall to the Plasma Cyberdemon, which sadly can get rockets through the narrow door even at such an acute angle.
13. 50% OniriA (cat. 2, ent. 21 of 35; unknown sector count)
    • At first did well to recover from a max-damage homer that managed to circumnavigate the entire SSG crate stack. In the end, was badly surprised by archvile twins on return with the yellow card, and tried to take cover behind a barrel.
14. 48% SCF (cat. 1, ent. 2 of 35; 315 sectors)
    • Regrettably overlooked some essential information supplied with the wad. Thus lacking forewarning, our hero made an unfortunate choice.
15. 47% ginc (cat. 1, ent. 28 of 35; unknown sector count)
    • Despite a prominent awareness campaign, teleporter accidents continue to claim innocent lives. Police and local authorities are baffled.
16. 46% bertt91 (cat. 2, ent. 12 of 35; 271 sectors)
    • Appeared to let his guard down after clearing the hard part of the yellow-carded area. The revenant in the red card office must have seemed like a formality.
17. 43% Crusader No Regret (cat. 1, ent. 13 of 35; 292 sectors)
    • Unfortunately when our hero showed up he found the Crate-O-Matic down for maintenance After a swift technician call-out, our hero patiently cleared the storage section only to go out the back door and meet an archvile.
18. 40% Asbadagba (cat. 1, ent. 19 of 35; 223 sectors)
    • Black box recovered from flight IM-86-19 crash site, excerpts follow: [12:10] "I guess that's the corpse teleporter" [12:40] "Do I wanna just try it..?" [12:45] "Think I wi--" [rest of sentence cut off by sound of explosions]
19. 40% mancubian_candidate (cat. 1, ent. 9 of 35; 245 sectors)
    • Was probably done for by the time he wisely abandoned a slime run in a secret area, but survived a further 4 minutes and 30 monsters at 7% health before succumbing to an invisible imp.
20. 40% Seifensieder (cat. 1, ent. 20 of 35; unknown sector count)
    • Our hero was already on borrowed time, having moments before rescued himself from 1% health with a desperate berserk grab. Shortly afterwards, he leapt across the bridge for the red skull, but slipped and fell into the path of a mancubus.
21. 36% Darth_wiader (cat. 1, ent. 18 of 35; 224 sectors)
    • Collected a key skull, then cornered by cacos, fell into a hole on way out. The second attempt to escape the crate tower went worse than the first, there's no doubt.
22. 36% ClumsyCryptid (cat. 1, ent. 14 of 35; 205 sectors)
    • Bounced off a lift and span round, thinking he heard a stair sound. Looked up in horror to find, naught but a crusher behind.
23. 29% Helm (cat. 1, ent. 15 of 35; 154 sectors)
    • No U-turn: a one-way corridor led to a two-dimensional eternity. Surprise crushers in '90s maps, eh?
24. 28% I_Punch_Demons (cat. 1, ent. 27 of 35; unknown sector count)
    • Missed the PLAT1, ended up a flat one. Raised his own death flag in the immediately preceeding commentary... A frustratingly anticlimactic end following an impressive survival of the crate factory down to 3% health, with many near death moments.
25. 28% Ludi (cat. 1, ent. 25 of 35; 138 sectors)
    • With confidence increasing after recovering from 27% health early on, our hero dived into the marble corridor ambush. Unfortunately, remaining in the crossfire, not making a mad dash for the exit (perhaps not realising the bars had lowered) was the wrong decision.
26. 27% Horus (cat. 1, ent. 32 of 35; 158 sectors)
    • A pile of demon corpses obscured the route to the super shotgun, leaving our hero fighting with one hand tied behind his back. Thus he did not have a hand spare to activate the lift to escape the crusher pit.
27. 20% Andromeda (cat. 2, ent. 7 of 35; 76 sectors)
    • The bars slammed shut. Desperately injured, our hero could not back away. A sergeant finished him off.
28. 17% Endless (cat. 1, ent. 17 of 35; unknown sector count)
    • Another poor fellow seemingly undone by the main storage bay's failure to provide adequate first aid supplies. Yet our hero might have lived had his brown spiky opponent not miraculously survived a zero-range shotgun to the face.
29. 15% Suitepee (cat. 1, ent. 10 of 35; unknown sector count)
    • Cornered by three revenants, panic makes our hero blind to a small crate giving passage over the conveyor to safety. The Skeleton Crate Army claims another victim.
30. 14% Pegleg (cat. 2, ent. 6 of 35; 48 sectors)
    • Fled from a nasty mancubus hit into a tripwire. Overwhelmed despite good chaingun work by two ugly skeletons and their small army backup.
31. 13% RjY (cat. 2, ent. 1 of 35; 45 sectors)
    • Played with too much hubris, forgot there is not much health at the start.
32. 8% Master Medi (cat. 1, ent. 29 of 35; 32 sectors)
    • Blazed through the factory floor, until two sergeants brought proceedings to a halt atop a conveyor. Were it not for the edge of a crate, he would have died the way he lived -- in constant motion.
33. 8% Austinado (cat. 1, ent. 26 of 35; unknown sector count)
    • Too late our hero realised the opening has a disobliging lack of health. A high-damage imp fireball, a mancubus, and finally a sergeant took their turns to deprive your disappointed host of the chance to rank dead last in his own Ironman.
34. 6% SilentD00mer (cat. 1, ent. 35 of 35; 20 sectors)
    • Shocked by the appearance of a sergeant in his peripheral vision, our hero swung his weapon wildly, but the duellists only succeeded in wounding each other. Unfortunately for our hero, his angered opponent quickly squeezed off a second round to finish the job.
35. 6% NoisyVelvet (cat. 1, ent. 30 of 35; 19 sectors)
    • Apparently oblivious to danger, our hero wandered forth smiling beatifically as monsters poured out from behind the surrounding boxes. A 9% health wake-up call saw him scurry to cover, where he held fast, and may yet have lived but for one last trooper who could actually shoot straight.

Edited October 1, 2023 by RjY

[RjY]

dead, 88 kills (13%)

 

Spoiler

I was still quite new with only a year or two's experience when this map was released in late 1999. In beautiful coincidence, the source port I was using (Doom It Yourself, for RISC OS) had just released a new version that added support for Boom maps. Just in time this huge new map appeared to show off the possibilities. I found myself enthralled and spent two whole days clearing every inch of it.

But with 666 monsters on UV it was well beyond my skill level, and my first playthrough in particular was painful as I seemingly needed to reload every minute whenever I took damage (and for some technical reason this took 10 or 15 seconds on a large map). It was another 13 years before I finally managed to clear it fully (i.e. saveless UV pistol start to 3x100%), taking a time of one and a quarter hours.[1]

Anyway so a few more years later when I first started doing DWIronman a number of wads occurred to me that I thought would work. Over the years most of these have already been selected, but Containment Area always remained overlooked. So now, here we are. Hopefully it works out.

Needless to say my own effort did not get very far. Although I know the map I have not played it since that day in 2012 when I finally conquered it, and it shows. In particular, I was pushing ahead, not taking more care around the swarms of sergeants and flying buckshot, thinking I had more health to fall back on. Sadly I did not, and did not realise, until it was too late.

________
[1] A note to new players: do not feel bad because you cannot do saveless pistol start clearances as easily as everyone else seems to be able. It takes a few years of practice before you realise you are dying sufficiently rarely that your habitual forgetting to save is no longer annoying.

 

[SCF]

Category: 1

Kills: 317/666

 

DWIL_23-09-contain_SCF.zip

 

Uh... what?

 

Spoiler

I was making slow but steady progress, until I took a teleporter and it killed me instantly. Not sure how I was supposed to know about that...

 

 

[Plut]

Category: 1

Kills: 445/666

Time of death: 47:29

Death specifics:

Spoiler

Got killed by the 2nd cyberdemon while running away from it. A revenant got in my way. I also didn't read the textfile, but thought it was a bad idea to step into the teleport with a dead doomguy on it. Judging by the post above, I was right. To RjY: if there is something like this on the map (and you want people to know about it), you should write it at the beginning with big letters, not expect people to read the goddamn revision history (not even the description!) just because it's one of your favorite WADs and you wrote about it at the very end of the OP.

 

dwironman-contain-plut-1.zip

[Anima Zero]

Category 1

455/666 Kills

Time of death: ~37:20

 

Spoiler

I'm gonna take a stab and assume I died to the same cybie that nailed Plut.  Dooming + trying to circle strafe a cybie in a small room doesn't exactly mix well when you're half asleep, heh.

 

DWIronman_contain_AnimaZero.zip

[SCF]

@RjY: Not protesting my own death since what's done is done, but:

 

Spoiler

I did read the text file, but I specifically skipped the revision history since I didn't expect it to be relevant, and it could contain 'spoilers' for the map (it does have a brief warning about the cyber and an archvile). I think a surprise instant death situation like that warrants a clear mention in the OP rather than a cryptic hint. It comes across more like a standard template than a targeted warning.

 

Had to rewatch the demo to even notice the dead doom guy, it didn't even register among all the other corpses in the room.

 

[Plut]

[Petition for RjY to warn in the beginning of the OP about the INSTAKILL TELEPORT WITH A DEAD DOOMGUY ON IT]

[NaZa]

Category 1 (read the textfile, though)

Survived in 48:19

dwironman-contain-NAZA-1.zip

 

Holy shit.

 

Spoiler

That textfile is a life saver. Not only did it warn me about an arch vile in the blue skull trap, it also warned me about an instakill teleport and taught me how to kill the cyberdemon that already took two lives. Insane textfile. I always read them, but this time it was proven it's the right decision to do.

 

Very hectic map, had to make a few difficult decisions on the go, like keeping the third cyberdemon alive, or not picking a berserk up at quite low health (I almost died before reaching 200 monsters killed, those were difficult times). Ultimately it was worth it, but damn, it did not look like it would be 10 minutes in.

 

Finally I string two good performances in a row. Took a while. Time is on the slow side, but eh. After killing the second cyberdemon, I was hoping I would carry the momentum forwards and that I would not get overmotivated which I luckily did not. After dying eerily close to the end in the Ironeagle, well, this was at least better. Whee.

 

[RjY]

6 hours ago, SCF said:

Not protesting my own death since what's done is done, but [...]

 

This is a regrettable misunderstanding.

Thank you for taking the time to explain your perspective. It has thrown what I believe to be the crux of the issue into sharp relief. Yet again[1] I find myself holding on to a belief that others apparently do not share.

In my view, information given by the author to you, the player, is meant to be read in full before you play. It does not constitute spoiler information.[2] In fact, quite the opposite: the author intends you to know it before you play.

Such information includes instructional material that accompanies the work. When I bought games in the 1990s I read their manuals before trying to play them. None of that constituted spoilers. The text file that accompanies every Doom wad is in essence its instruction manual. It tells you how to play it, which IWAD it is for, which maps are replaced, etc. Everything in it, including patch notes and changelogs, is intended to be known to the player before he begins.[3]

Now a player of certain experience may feel confident enough to forge full steam ahead without reading a manual or a wad's text file. This is fine and a valid choice: I do so myself often, and sometimes even regret it afterwards. But in Ironman -- a high-stakes situation where the game is over after only one attempt -- I consider a careful, meticulous reading of the manual essential, and am again surprised to learn[4] that others see things differently.

Nonetheless, thank you again for sharing your perspective and showing me once more that the world is big enough for a wide range of truths over which reasonable people can disagree. I will consider the suggestion to make a note of the malicious teleporter in the thread's initial post.

________

[1] I once compared doing Ironman without learning the maps in advance to "going to your college finals having done no revision"
[2] Unless it is clearly marked as such, e.g. the remark about the teleporter in subway.txt
[3] This is to be contrasted with information posted by the author elsewhere (e.g. on the forums or the wiki): that comes to you, the player, via a third party

[4] Although, unsurprised to learn I have failed to learn from all the previous opportunities to learn.

[Pegleg]

Category: 2

Kills: 91/666

Time of death: 12:06

 

dwi_pegleg_contain_cat2.zip

 

I considered this for IronEagle (hence the Category 2), so I think it's a good map. Even with scant health in the early going, my naturally slow and cautious playing style balanced out the lack of health. There is plenty of ammo around, particularly with a backpack, so I never felt starved of ammunition, even as I was shotgunning mancubi. One thing that the copious amounts of enemies do is allow for opportunities for infighting. The map isn't hard to navigate and there are generally ample opportunities for cover, given the warehouse-like feeling. The ambushes and the encounter setups are well done. Even when there are a flood of enemies, it's usually not too bad to handle. Unfortunately for me, I don't tend to handle revenants well, which what ended up doing me in. Oh well. C'est la vie. Once again, good choice.

[Andromeda]

Category: 2

Dead with 134/666 kills.

 

Where's the health?

 

im_andromeda_contain.zip

[Beginner]

Category 1 demo. 589/666 kills.

Spoiler

Spectacular DNF, no gliding out of that one.

I've liked the glide at around 15 minute mark, shame I couldn't do it from the opposite site 20-30 minutes later. Thankfully I didn't need it. Also it seems like armor is at premium here: I've counted only 1 green somewhere early, 1 blue in a secret and a megasphere in another secret.

 

Edited September 4, 2023 by Beginner

[mancubian_candidate]

Category 1 Demo - Damn, that was fun. And I recorded my run correct this time :D

Got wrecked by an Imp imp-ersonating Solid Snake, also did not read text file haha - 19:05, 256/666 kills

 

dwironman-contain-mancubian-blind.zip

[Suitepee]

https://youtu.be/ZSTNuHydzsY

 

Category 1 run, 102/666 monsters killed, bit by a demon. Turns out my overcautiousness in acquiring a chaingun cost me when I needed it the most against Revenants and demons.

[LadyMistDragon]

Really? With a kill count under 350?

Survived in 30:13 (Category 1)

 

 

It's hard to say if I would've taken that one teleporter because of the kinda clear marking to the experienced.

 

The last key was really not all that far away from the exit as it happens. 

 

Spoiler

There was that one area not far from the beginningn that can be quite overwhelming if one doesn't quickly find the way out to the sort of marble hall analogue

 

I agree with Andromeda about the health, btw.

lmd_containiron.zip

[Bertt91]

Category 2 (played this wad)

Kills 306/666 

 

Owned by Revenant. Too greedy, because I thought I knew the map, but I didn't. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

dwironman-contain-bertt91-2.zip

Edited September 6, 2023 by Bertt91

[Crusader No Regret]

Question: Accidentally made my first recording with the wrong -complevel.  Turns out -complevel 2 is unable to progress past the first room (faffed around for 10 minutes at 12 kills before realizing what went wrong and ending the recording on a DNF).  Does this invalidate any attempt at the correct -complevel?

[RjY]

6 hours ago, Crusader No Regret said:

Question: Accidentally made my first recording with the wrong -complevel.  Turns out -complevel 2 is unable to progress past the first room (faffed around for 10 minutes at 12 kills before realizing what went wrong and ending the recording on a DNF).  Does this invalidate any attempt at the correct -complevel?

 

I would really like for you to have another go but sadly I think this falls under the "technical difficulties"/little brother/cat on keyboard rule. It is a great shame, for both of us (I find the idea of ranking dead last in my own Ironman hilarious).

 

That said I will ask the field if there is any precedent set here. NaZa especially, as League Secretary, you are most likely to know: has anyone ever been allowed a do-over in a similar situation? I do not recall it ever happening in any of the contests in which I participated, but those comprise less than half the total.

[SiFi270]

I was allowed to retry Jägermörder after accidentally pressing the "restart level" key in my first recording. I think that was more lenient than allowing a retry in this situation would be.

[NaZa]

5 hours ago, RjY said:

Has anyone ever been allowed a do-over in a similar situation?

 

Yep, and by chance it had happened to me. When Fomalhaut was ran in February 2019, I accidentally started the demo with the wrong complevel, and asked Alfonzo if there's a problem with that, he said:

Quote

Meh, no big deal, just start again.

 

Lots of players have played like 2 or 3 minutes into a set in a gzdoom stream before releasing they hadn't turned off dynamic lights or changed the compat from doom to boom strict or whatever. All good.

 

I still supplied the demo in the .zip. Here's a quote from the post as to show how similar the situations were:

Quote

The other demo is a 2 minutes 48 demo of -complevel 4 myself, that I included because I asked Alfonzo on whether I can record another one (luckily noticing my complevel flaw quite early, only having killed 25 or so monsters).

 

So I don't think there's a reason not to let Crusader No Regret redo the run if it really was only the first room, and that room is not a spot foreknowledge would help you on. :)

[RjY]

9 hours ago, SiFi270 said:

I was allowed to retry Jägermörder after accidentally pressing the "restart level" key in my first recording. I think that was more lenient than allowing a retry in this situation would be.

 

7 hours ago, NaZa said:

Yep, and by chance it had happened to me. When Fomalhaut was ran in February 2019, I accidentally started the demo with the wrong complevel, [...] So I don't think there's a reason not to let Crusader No Regret redo the run if it really was only the first room, and that room is not a spot foreknowledge would help you on. :)

 

Thank you both, this is good enough for me. And for saving me from trawling through 80+ previous threads ;).

 

@Crusader No Regret--- please go ahead and make a new recording on the correct complevel at your convenience. I regret my overly strict reading of the rules. Also, if I may say, thank you for your honesty, it is laudable. It would have been very easy to restart without saying anything.

[Crusader No Regret]

Here's the demo on the intended -complevel.  Never played the map before it was announced other than the goof-up earlier so category 1.1 I guess.  No foreknowledge past the first 90 seconds.  290/667 kills.  Worn down by attrition and caught flatfooted at an archvile.  Finding berserk at 6 health really helped out in extending the life of this attempt.

 

  This was recorded right after the goofed -complevel attempt but I wanted to wait for the go-ahead before submitting.

dwiron_contain_cnr.zip

[ClumsyCryptid]

Category 1
237/666 kills
It was fun, going to play this more.
Recorded with DSDA Doom, but I forget the version.
Dual-posting in thread and the discord. THIS IS NOT A DOUBLE SUBMISSION
 

Spoiler

I got CRUSHED believing I heard stairs raising and not a crusher starting. Back to practicing speedrunning  chapters in Halo: Reach I guess.

 

dwironman-contain-ClumsyCryptid-CAT1.zip

[Helm]

Category 1
192/666

Crushing defeat
 

dwironman-contain-helm-category1.zip

[Brainfreezzzzz]

Category 1

Survived in 38:04 with 627/666

iman_sep2023_brainfreezzzzz.zip

Spoiler

I had so many close calls in this run I think it is ridiculous I survived

 

Watch it here

[Endless]

Here's my attempt at cat 1:

 

Dead at 6:46

114 total kills

 

 

[Darth_wiader]

Cat 1, died at 24:33, 238/666 kills.

dwironman-contain-darth_wiader-cat1.zip

[Asbadagba]

cat 1 (never played)
267/666 kills
dead at 12:45
dsdadoom v0.25.6
dwironman-contain-asbadagba-cat1.zip

commentary edition

Spoiler

 

 

[Seifensieder]

My first attemp at this challenge
that was fun :) 

Cat 1, died at 28:41, 264/666 kills

 

 

[SitarA]

Cat 2, died at 21:40 with 330/666 Kills