[Aleks]

What's this thing?
We play through a set of maps/mods during the month, and use this thread to discuss it as we're still all fresh with our comments/opinions/feelings about the maps.

What's the purpose?
Basically, there are 4 purposes:

• Showcasing some of the older mods/maps to wider public - they definitely deserve the attention!
• Getting more people to actually enjoy and appreciate the user content - because let's be honest, over the past 25 years this was really what kept Duke alive after all.
• ...and while we're at it - keeping Duke alive by still enjoying it, as there's no new games in the franchise on the horizon (and let's be honest, they wouldn't be as good as some of this stuff!).
• Having a more structurized discussion on maps than what's going in "Last map you played" thread - which is great, but it's basically a monologue most of the time.

Can I join?
Sure, as long as you find some spare time during the month to play the stuff that's on the table!

Why a month?
Because people have lives, jobs or other stuff to do (like mapping). For smaller maps, this could be shorter time - it's all up to debate in the future!

What port should I use? Are mods allowed? Where to get the maps?
It's entirely up to you how you play the game, so you can use whatever port or mod allowed - it would be cool to state in your posts what you're using too, as there might be some slight differences between the ports! As for the maps, they should be always linked within the first post.

How should I play the maps or post about them?
Again, it's up to you. You can finish them all in one go or play them one by one whenever you feel like. On Doom forums, there's a rule that you should keep the pace by not posting about a map that has a higher number than the day of the month, so e.g. on 6th you shouldn't post about map 7 etc. I think that might be a good practice if there's a large interest in this, but first let's see how active the thread is for a start - so if there's nothing going on, feel free to post about whatever map you want to.

Previous edition:
October 2021 - maps by Taivo Maripuu



For this month, despite an excellent proposition about maps from Lukas Cerovsky and Peter Kucera (which should definitely be considered for further months), it was decided that someone (in this case - me ) should just pick 10 less known maps by various authors. I kept to that and picked maps that are all from the 90's, also I made sure none of these maps is covered on MSDN - but they all should be worth playing IMO. Personally, I probably won't be replaying these maps, so will leave a little teaser/ad for each map instead. Also, instead of providing links for each map separately, I've just bundled them into a single archive and attached to the post. Some of these maps use new art/sounds, also some of them are part of a series, but I've kept it 1 map per author. I will post them in random order, so just play whatever you feel like tackling at a time.

Pompeii
Author: Unknown (there's no text file, if someone could actually pinpoint this map to some author, it would be wonderful!)
Release date: 1996-09-17
Theme: ancient, time travel

One of the earliest maps I've played that used to strike my curiosity, despite how sloppy (really sloppy) the design at the start is. Duke has to clear a time travel machine facility of aliens and - of course - travel back to ancient town of Pompeii before it gets flooded by lava. To activate the device, there's a 8-button puzzle, which is what stopped me from progressing as a kid and just build my curiosity levels up to an extreme, but really the puzzle is very easy to figure out. The map really starts shining in the ancient part, with very creative use of textures to imitate ancient houses and amenities. Of course we also get to visit Vesuvius, which is arguably the most impressive part of the map. Some of the puzzles might not be that obvious, also the city part is pretty open, so might need some walking around and it will take a while before being cleared from monsters. This is also a pretty lengthy map that should take about 40-60 minutes, with 200-250 enemies if I remember!




Back in Town

Author: Michel Dorange
Release date: 1998-11-03
Theme: city, hi-tech

This is the 3rd level of Michel Dorange's episode (hence the name mic-e1l3), two previous ones being La Sante and Training Center. While the previous ones are pretty OK, this one's a real gem - especially considering all the cool effects and mechanics it uses, including a working flood chamber at one part. This is also quite a lengthy map, but it just keeps giving, the design looks very tidy and planned for the time it was done (although some progression might be confusing and obscure here and there - I particularly remember a dickish switch placement inside the acid), there's some very creative puzzles (particularly the one at bank). Definitely worth trying out!




Escape from Alcatraz

Author: Bud Drakir
Release date: 1996-08-25
Theme: prison

It's almost insane how this map was done just few months after Duke 3D's release, considering how superior it feels compared to other maps of the time. You have to escape a prison with all your typical stuff, but there's some clever effects and puzzles to keep you entertained - including having to "summon" a commander and using him to blow up a cracked wall or avoiding spotlights not to trigger the alarm and spawn enemies! The map has a pretty interesting layout and loops back on itself a couple of times, feeling very 3D. There is one new sound included.




Filmwarp II: Revenge of a Sequel

Author: Patrick Clemons
Release date: 1997-04-16
Theme: various - motives from 80s/90s movies

This one was my personal favourite as a kid. It's a sequel to not-so-good Filmwarp: Movie Madness, which takes us through 10-12 areas of various films, making a very neat use of new textures (or textures borrowed from other games) to emphasize on the atmosphere. It is essentially a button hunt, as in each movie we have to find a button that unlocks the next one (and the buttons are sometimes quite well hidden too). Can't say much about the combat/gameplay other than that, as it's been a while since I've played it, but it still passed the trial of time last time I checked - mostly for the really original and cool concept, which hasn't really been utilized since in a Duke map AFAIK, at least not to such extent. It uses new art and sounds.




Azneer Building

Author: Brian C. Sasso
Release date: 1996-08-18
Theme: city/university

This one's a classic and doesn't need to be introduced to many, but still I've decided to include it. This map mostly shines with it's multi-layer use of SOS, including a spectacular flooded lecture room. The layout is based on an existing building (which has by now been demolished, perhaps even around the time of map's development, as there's certain signs about that within the map itself). There is one quite well hidden button right at the end, but other than that, the map plays great and is a must to check for anyone who hasn't played it yet!




LEM II

Author: Enric Alvarez
Release date: 1996-12-17
Theme: medieval

Sequel to LEM, one of the most obscure/cryptic maps of all time, and predecessor to excellent LEM III and a bit weaker, but still very good LEM IV - this one is my favourite of the series. Taking place in some medieval dungeon, the design here is absolutely stunning (again, this is a 1996 map!), the effects and progression elements are creative and the atmosphere is just soaking from every hole! This is a very challenging map due to tight ammo/monster balance and some crampedness, it's also quite lengthy (especially if you don't know what to do - there's no buttons, just touchplate pentagrams, but it's still not always very clear). There's lots of new art and some new sounds (along with a dedicated user.con). Also, this one should be played in a significantly older EDuke release - due to use of teleports combined with touchplates, it's impossible to finish it in the recent builds, as it simply won't trigger the activations required for progression!




Highjack

Author: Chris Muir
Release date: 1996-10-18
Theme: airport

From the author of Cruzship and Uptown, this one's arguably his most original and interesting entry. The scale of the airport is enormous (too bad that there's black visibility fog everywhere, probably due to performance reasons) and the map goes as far as even using some nice spritework! There's plenty of monsters and plenty of ammo, also there's a bunch of miniboss versions of cycloids and overlords, but since there's enough ammo, I'd recommend playing this one with modified con files that enable the minibosses to withstand more than a single pistol hit.




Damned Dam

Author: Jawon Lee
Release date: 1998-01-13
Theme: dam


Another classic which I was actually quite surprised not to find on MSDN, the map is a fucking dam (with slopes so high they used to crash my game all the time back when I first found this map). Nevertheless, it looks really cool, the dam seems to be shaded on negative values to be visible from everywhere, which might not be the most natural and realistic approach, but makes for really cool views all around. The level - once again - is quite long and sometimes you will get stuck, also the indoors feel quite cramped, despite the conceptual grandness seen on the outside.





Phantasm

Author: LestatV
Release date: 1996-11-08
Theme: horror

Not to be confused with Zaxtor's map of the same title, this is a map based on 1979's movie of the same title (even using some of the sound clips from the movie). The design feels sloppy here and there, but the general idea is quite original again, and the tension build-up along with the mystery in the final part is quite neat. The map finishes with a maze (which can be accessed quite early on too, a lot of stuff to do seems optional) and a very moody boss fight.




Warp Ship 255

Author: Robert Carter
Release date: 1996-07-28
Theme: space

One of the more original space maps out there - it's layout is a nicely designed miniature of Star Trek's Enterprise, but also it's one of the few maps that uses a very neat mechanics of using scuba gear as "space suit" to travel freely around the outer space! This is one of the shortest maps in this selection, with a gameplay of about 10-15 minutes, it's also pretty intense with monsters and claustrophobic scale in the interiors, but the concept and design are well worth checking out!




I will also prepare a selection of extra 5 maps (for the special request of FistMarine) that would be optional, but will do that at a later time. Now, enjoy these 10 levels!

Download:  November2021.rar (2.89MB)
Number of downloads: 227

[NNC]

I remember Warship 255, I thought the idea of using scuba gear for space suit is weird, but the concept was interesting. Azneer Building was also iconic back in the day.

I was also thinking about Cosik, a map that was very innovative with its effects, and it's basically a one shot too with a completely unknown author, but it's probably an early 2000s map, so that is not suitable in the list.

[LakiSoft]

Sorry Aleks that i haven't joined the October club last time, i was busy with completing Doom 1 and Doom 2 on Nightmare difficulty, and i also was busy playing PSX Doom as well. But now think i am ready to return to Duke Nukem stuff, so i am definetely joining this month.
In fact, i already played WARP255.MAP, recorded and uploaded on YouTube too. Sorry for bad quality of video though.

[LakiSoft]

Just beaten AZNEER.MAP and man i was so confused what to do in underwater area with flooded cinema, but i eventually my way around.

[LakiSoft]

Highjack.map is done, although i was very confused how to get final keycard, but eventually i did. I just think i wasted more time than i should have. Here's the videos:

[LakiSoft]

Part 3:

[FistMarine]

Sorry for taking so long but I've finally gotten around playing some of the user maps chosen for this month. I've also went ahead and given myself a few extra maps to play through, such as the first parts of the series that were chosen (example also checking the first Filmwarp, first Lem, the other MIC maps and so on). I went ahead and downloaded them from gamers.org, except for Highjack which was found only on Dukeworld, oddly enough. I've played through each map in Duke3D v1.3D in DOSBox on CGS skill by loading each map like that: DUKE3D.EXE -MAP MAPNAME.MAP /S3

So far I've played through: Alcatraz, Azneer13, DAMN_DAM, FILMWARP and HIGHJACK. Let's begin with reviewing!

Escape from Alcatraz

Something tells me that I ended up playing through the wrong Alcatraz.map, as Aleks also informed me in a PM recently. The one I downloaded was from a zip file Alcatraz2.zip and there were a bunch of them at gamers.org but neither which matched the one that Aleks posted, so I ended up getting the one that made most sense out of the 5 or so ones that were available to download (and not the ones that were just DM maps). A somewhat unfortunate event that this map wasn't available to download in the original place where I expected to be. The same applies to another map I played (though that one is available at Dukeworld, although with a different date).
Anyway the map I played was quite boring and bland to be honest. There was even a place where you could get softlocked near end if you didn't press all 3 switches and went to the teleporter that was blocked by forcefields, then wait too long until the wall closed behind you and you got trapped there. Happened to me once, refused to blow myself up with the RPG (since I had no deaths until that point), so I just loaded my last save. Luckily I saved often and multiple slots.
As for the map, it has plenty of paletted enemies (especially pig cops), so they take more hits than they should but thankfully resources are plentiful, so you shouldn't have any problem with health and ammo. Weapons are all found, with exception of Shrinker which is strangely absent (though it's not the only map where Shrinker is absent).
There was a point where I could have gotten killed by a trip mine hidden around a corner (after I already blown up a bunch of them that were blocking one of the doors) but somehow I took no damage at all. Got saved by that rare lucky chance. I don't think I would have survived otherwise, despite having 100 health and armor.
There is also a secret to be found inside one of the fake walls that I found by pure accident.
When you finish the map (in the ending sector), you get sent to Hollywood Holocaust.
Other than that, I don't have anything else to say. It was rather bland and felt like a typical 1996 user map, despite being released in 1998, to be exact dated 03/05/1998.

Azneer Building

Probably one of the better maps that was selected for this month, this one felt like the author know what he was doing when he designed the map. Although there are some annoying parts to navigate or finding a hidden switch/key or whatever (don't remember much if I got stuck), this map was quite enjoyable to play through. I found no secrets by the time I got to the exit (though the Holoduke secret I found earlier, didn't jump into sector to register that secret) and had to search for them with Mapster after I saved and quit.
The two ladies at end each also spawn two pig cops and even a pistol, should you kill them. I guess the free pistol is given to have ammo to kill them but you should already have better weapons by that point.
There is a blimp at beginning that unfortunately can't be blown up since it is a bit above in the sky and rockets seem to vanish before reaching the blimp. I didn't try blowing up until I was at end and I already found all the weapons and finished map until that point, so there wasn't anything lost. Besides that, the original 1.3D has a bug where Freezethrower can't be spawned from objects or dropped from dead players, this bug is fixed in the Atomic Edition. I have mentioned that before and thought I'd mention it again.
Also yeah in one of screenshots I took, I got inspired by a thumbnail in one of Laki's videos he posted earlier and decided to kick that Doomguy on the wall and he got destroyed, so that's why he is missing in my screenshot. I always find it funny when I destroy wall-aligned sprites.
Overall, the map was nice to play through. I enjoyed this one.

Damned Dam

A very long and confusing level. There were a few parts where I had to check Mapster to progress because the progression was obtuze at times and I also had a few times I nearly died but somehow I survived after all. The whole map took me over an hour to finish, could have been even 2 hours but I can't tell for sure, all I can tell is that it was way more than the game's time of 34 minutes. Although now that I think of it, one hour and half is an accurate time, I don't think it really took me more than 2 hours and half.
There's also two secrets to find and the map finishes with a full-sized Battlelord. There was also a Mini Overlord spawned underwater at later part in the map (when you are finally given the RPG) but considering Mini Overlords and Mini Cycloids have just one HP, they can be killed with just a single pistol shot. The Shrinker is once again absent for whatever reason, as it would have been really useful against those paletted enemies that have twice as much health, especially INVISIBLE assault commanders where your best weapons were either chaingun or freezethrower, as the devastator is a bad idea due to how the enemies are quickly pushed towards you, especially in original version 1.3D. I wish I could say more about the map but I get exhausted by just thinking at it. Cool map, though. Just very long and took me the entire evening (around 3 hours with breaks) to finish it.
So if you are planning to play through the map, first make sure you have plenty of time for it. Or you might lose interest before finishing.
Also as an additional note, the map comes with a bat file and if you run it, it will start Duke3D on skill 0 (at least the original 1.3D release, I think Atomic defaults to skill 2). I then quit and loaded up DUKE3D.EXE myself on skill 3, to get the full experience. Not that some of these levels seem to bother with skill settings, considering many enemies are scripted to spawn in the map, meaning they will appear regardless of skill setting chosen.

Filmwarp: Movie Madness

Another somewhat confusing level and especially a rather annoying first part where you will get stuck and run short on supplies, some later parts of the map are especially worth playing. The entire map isn't that great but I remember at least one part impressing me, even if just a little.
The concept (which is cool) is that you are traveling through various movies scenarios: from Pulp Fiction, to Friday the 13th, to Frankenstein, to Alice in Wonderland, to Reservoir Dogs, to Natural Born Killers, to Nightbreed and finally to Level 02 (???).
The main issues with this map are the scarce resources, especially at beginning where I was running short on main weapons and had to drink water from fountains/toilet to keep myself alive, also the only armor I got two times were used armors from pig cops and even then it was just 50 points that ran out rather quickly, otherwise there's no armor pickups at all in this map. After a while, you should be stocked on weapons and ammo, while health continues to become a problem, with occasional small/large medkits and atomic healths given at times. Your main health source will be drinking from hydrants/toilets.
There's two unnecessary RPG shooters at beginning of map, meaning once you get the red key and use it on one of the doors at beginning, they will start activating. Funny how one of them managed to hit the single pipebomb pickup in that room and blow up near me, though I survived with 40 health but still, that was annoying. Which means you have to keep moving, though thankfully they will not hit you most of the time. Still, there is not even a texture showing their existence, the rockets are fired from a random wall.
I also got stuck at the Friday the 13th part because I didn't see that opening where I had to fly to progress through the map, so I wasted about 10-15 minutes until I checked Mapster and THEN figured out what I had to do next. At least you are given plenty of jetpacks and if you are a resourceful player like me, you will not need more than one to finish the map.
Most, if not all enemies, are spawned throughout the map once you step into certain places, so that means the difficulty settings in this map are pretty much non-existent (skill settings don't affect spawns in the map, as far as I know). The blue card is also spawned later in the map, just a small hint if you are going to play through the map. It is not present at start of map (it doesn't show on mapster) but the blue card in general in user maps has a tendency to get spawned upon doing something or just hidden in a trash can. It is the only card that can do that, considering there is no way to do paletted spawns as far as I know.
I died once at the Frankenstein part because I jumped to collect the RPG ammo on the table and died instantly, probably because the sector has the moon sky texture, which means instant death if you cross into the sector. The Duke gibs were also lower gravity, so that pretty much explains it. After reloading last save, I figured out a way to grab that RPG ammo by just being close to the table without jumping on it, so Duke could grab that ammo.
I liked the part with "Alice in Wonderland" which included a shrinking part as well. There are various shrink ray shooters but only one of them is needed to enter into the nearby hole, which contains an atomic health and a switch to progress throughout the level (as well as activate a shrink ray shooter to get out of the room). The other shrink rays are more like "traps" to avoid getting hit by them.
The rest parts were just alright but the rooms were oversized and not that interesting to look at. The map ends with a Mini Battlelord in the last room and after unlocking the exit room, there is another pig cop. The nuke button causes map to restart (probably has a different pal than 0), so I feel like there should have been a full sized Battlelord boss instead.
The whole map took me almost an hour to finish. There are also no secrets to be found, probably for the better.
Overall, the map was just annoying and bland at times but I really liked the concept. Let's hope the sequel will be better!

Highjack

Before I begin, let me state this map was nowhere to be found on gamers.org, much to my disappointment. I ended up grabbing the one at Dukeworld that is dated 08/05/2003. I think the map is otherwise identical (I'm sure it's the SAME map), however I don't know if there are any differences between the original 1996 map. All I know is that it ends inside a plane.
Another long map which took me 50 minutes to finish, this one was much better designed. The indoor locations were especially nice. The outdoor locations were annoying to navigate and sometimes you were exposed to hitscan.
Luckily the map isn't too difficult, almost all weapons are available (except the trip mines, which ain't a big loss anyway), there are at least 5 portable medkits available in the map (I used a couple of them) and a couple armor pickups available as well. Not to mention the occasional used armor dropped by pig cops.
There are also a bunch of mini bosses, including a bunch of Mini Overlords (revealed when getting the red card hidden inside one of secret places) and a bunch of Mini Cycloid Emperors when getting inside of the hangars. The Mini Battlelord serves as the level's boss.
I found 4/6 secrets myself, only had to go back and get two: one was near the place where you need jetpack to fly through that crack and another was in that room you had to fly into. There was a secret behind those bottles I destroyed earlier (it contained an atomic health). I found the other secret in same room, though. That one also contained the yellow card, so it's better I found the more important secret that is actually required for progression. Ah yes, a secret earlier also had inside the red card (as mentioned a bit above when I reminded to mention about the mini bosses). A bit strange that 2/3 cards were inside secret areas. The blue card was probably found inside the long tunnel with invisible monsters. Easy to miss, though I probably picked it up while I was fighting the invisible monsters. Ah yes, the invisible enemies are damn annoying due to increased HP and being harder to detect at same time, though to me they were the worst in one of the last rooms in Damned Dam. In this map they weren't that bad, they were mostly the transparent ones and not the "shadow" ones.
Overall, not bad! This map was fairly good, despite some confusing and outdoor parts being really big. I wonder if the version I played is the same as the original 1996 one or there was anything different in it. Either way it was mostly on the good side.

I will continue playing the rest maps without any custom stuff, possibly tomorrow. Next week, I will focus on those remaining maps that include custom stuff (art, con, sounds). Hopefully I will finish playing and reviewing the maps before the month ends. In the meantime, enjoy a bunch of screens!

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[Aleks]

December is coming close, so here's voting for next month's choices. Place your vote as usually by copying the list and adding extra "+" at whatever you vote for.

• a selection of Christmas themed maps
• Kucera and Cerovsky maps +
• Last Reaction and Water Bases

Also, from January onward, FistMarine will be hosting the Duke Map/Mod of the Month Club instead of me. I don't have that much time to set it up anymore and he volunteered to help, so good luck to him!

[LakiSoft]

I only played few maps for November and quickly lost interest, sorry about that. But i will definitely vote for december.

• a selection of Christmas themed maps
  
• Kucera and Cerovsky maps ++
  
• Last Reaction and Water Bases

[FistMarine]

Lem

I didn't enjoy this map at all. It was confusing (hidden switches, very tiny cracks or just unusual ways to progress), frustrating, long (possibly longer than Damned Dam and longer than I expected this map to take), taking me almost 2 hours (after a lot of backtracking), secrets required for progression. Just plain annoying and confusing level design. Had to look into Mapster a bunch of times to see how to progress.
Also got killed a couple of times by various stuff, first I get killed by the Mini Battlelord because I wasted all 5 rockets on the timed gate that closed (and try to kill him with chaingun and fail), second and third time I got killed by two different damn commanders hiding in darkness (at that time I didn't have access to Shrinker), then later in map I get killed by crushers and by the collapsing walls inside vents, trip mines, suicide with RPG, etc. Thankfully it's the only map from this list where I died, even if it was about 10 times in total.
There was a point of progression that had me getting shrunk (with the shrink ray shooter randomly activating when getting nearby I think) and then flying with the jetpack to the top of stairs to get through the hole so I could access a hidden teleporter, possibly the way to progress through this shitty map. After this point, I rarely got stuck again but still was just painful to progress at times.
Anyway, once you get all three cards, you get to summon the Overlord, kill him with Devastator and then the map is finally over! Took me almost 2 hours to finish, while the timer may seem correct, it was far more than 42 minutes. I hope the sequel is better.

Pompeii

The other Pomp3.map (Pompeii2.zip) turned out to be a Deathmatch map, sorry for getting your hopes Aleks, it's a different author and a completely unrelated deathmatch map to the main Pompeii map.
So today we are checking out the main Pompeii.map. It was alright, although the beginning was badly designed thinking I made the mistake and played a different map again until the main city area which was huge and seemed better designed.
Just make sure you get the secret at start (in one of rooms located in a corner, contains armor and shotgun shells) because there is no way back once you teleport to the town. While I had the first secret activated (even if it was just by entering sector to trigger it), I made the mistake of not grabbing everything (extra ammo, armor, portable medkit, atomic health) until I played for a few minutes in the town area, then loaded my save when I realized there is no way back and grabbed absolutely everything before teleporting.
It was confusing at times and just wanted it to finish already. The volcano part was just painful to navigate and the view kept shifting since I was walking on the slopes, due to default behavior of BUILD games when playing without mouse aiming, so the game "helps" you by shifting the view constantly. It almost gave me a headache in that area.
Found 3/5 secrets myself, later I went to get the two secrets located nearby inside a building (portable medkit and scuba gear) after I had finished the map the first time (obviously I had a few different saves, so I could go back).
It is also the first time I got more than 255 kills in a Duke3D 1.3D map, so I ended up with just 19 kills (meaning I must have killed 274-275 enemies in total) in the stats screen. This kind of stuff usually doesn't happen in original game (other than Derelict map in Atomic Edition), so it's sometimes found in user maps, however in this case it showed 0 enemies missing and not 200+ or whatever other glitched shit would normally display in case of Derelict. It's impossible to tell if I truly got all the kills (due to possible monsters that didn't spawn or still some leftover alive aliens) but to me, as long as it shows 0 enemies missing, I assume I killed everyone.
And obviously the timer was more than just 18 minutes, it was probably an hour and 18 minutes. Don't think it was over 2 hours, I'm sure it didn't take that much.
I liked the room with giant woman (warrior?) at end where the Battlelord boss also gets summoned when you get near the statue and it seems like a fitting finale.
Overall, this one was just ok and I especially liked the concept. The execution could have been a bit better. I also got tired of monsters spawning in random places when entering a room or activating something. And some rooms were just huge and ugly.
Also just realized this and the previous map didn't contain any trip mines (weapon) but again it wasn't a huge loss. As long as the rest weapons are available, I'm fine.

Warp Ship 255

Now this one was much better, gameplay-wise and concept-wise! This one has you using the Scuba Gear to fly through space, collect a card, kill a bunch of enemies, enter the spaceship and eventually you will make it through the end.
Aside from the beginning where I got down to 50% health (thankfully I haven't gotten below that point), I haven't lost much health later in map other than getting surprised from behind (like when sentry drones spawned behind me) and got my health back with the large medkit and atomic health, as well as getting lucky with getting an used armor (75 points) from a pig cop. There is no armor available in this map by default, so your only hope is getting one used from a dead pig cop. Considering there are a bunch of pig cops available in this map, there is a small chance you can get one.
The map progressed smoothly and even if there were many pig cops, they rarely ever got to fire at me. I was lucky that I finished the map in a good health and still had armor remaining. The map seems to give you much more health later and for me it was more than enough. There are also enough scuba gears that only one or two of them are really necessary to progress, assuming you collect them carefully and not all at once. So don't worry about running out of air.
I liked this one, even if it was rather short and taking me less than 15 minutes to finish! Great concept and the execution was pretty good. I just wish that the Space Suit was implemented in the final game, then we would have more maps like these and actually using the space suit as an item rather than using scuba gear with underwater sectors but it's the closest we can get, at least for the vanilla game. I know there's a few EDuke32 mods that have spacesuit implemented but this early 1996 user map did an excellent job with its resources at that time (and just as a simple user map).

Currently I'm playing through the three MIC maps and while I finished the first MIC two days ago, it seems I had two enemies missing at end and I was trying to figure out where they are and if they actually exist or they got outside the map or whatever happened to them. If I won't find them, I will probably advance to the next maps anyway instead of wasting time looking for them. I need to finish the rest MIC series and write about them, as well as the other 3 maps (Filmwarp 2, Lem 2 and Phantazm) and write the last post in this topic before moving on.

• A selection of Christmas themed maps +
  
• Kucera and Cerovsky maps ++
  
• Last Reaction and Water Bases

With this occasion, I will vote for the Christmas maps despite the fact they are not winning and we just got into December. Just throwing my useless vote. I actually had the Lukas Cerovsky' maps and the Lost Highway episode installed since last year in two separate folders (the user maps don't contain anything new, so they can all be safely added in the same folder and they won't conflict, the episode can be installed in a separate folder obviously) so I'm always ready to play them. I will just look into downloading and installing Peter Kucera's maps as well and have them all ready, hopefully they are just maps without art or con, so they can be added into a single folder as well. Not saying that new art, cons, music or sounds aren't welcomed, it's just having them all into same folder without conflicts is always nice. Sometimes, if it's just a single new sound or music file, I can overlook the conflicts and have that particular music or sound apply to all the maps in the same folder, usually from the same author's maps. I only wish the Christmas maps won because of December but the other choices aren't that bad either. And I'm sure there will be a time next year we will play through Christmas themed maps, as well as LR&WB that got suggested since months ago (I think I was the one who suggested it?) and sat there unplayed to this day. Too bad about that one!
Ah well, I hope to finish with the rest maps of November and make a review until the end of the week. Then after taking a short break, I will return with playing the winners of December. Probably in two weeks or so.

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[Merlijn]

I ended up only playing War Ship 255, perhaps I'll have more time this month! Anyway I vaguely remembered that map due to the trek into outer space.
It's worth playing for that novelty alone, although I can see why it hasn't been used that often. The underwater sounds and the bubbles kinda ruin the immersion of floating through space.
Still it's pretty cool and the ship's exterior still looks quite good. Indoors are weaker and lack shadows, but the multi-layered floor plan is actually pretty neat with some stellar use of sector-over-sector.
Gameplay is a bit repetitive, you'll mostly fight (ahem..) piiiiigs in spaaaaaace.

In conclusion it's certainly worth checking out.

[FistMarine]

I wasn't able to play Filmwarp2, Lem 2 and Phantazm, although I ended up playing the prequels to former two maps (unfortunately still didn't get to play Phantazm) and the wrong Alcatraz map. However I also played the entire MIC series in past weeks (finished MIC_E1L3 last Friday) to make up for those maps and I will write about them now, before giving the final conclusion/overall thoughts to the November 2021 month choices and then moving on in the December topic. And yes, it's true, I will be hosting the event starting from January 2022!

MIC E1L1

A promising series opener and an overall decent map that feels closer to a vanilla Duke3D city map. It gets a bit confusing at times and it will take a while to get the secrets but thankfully it's not too difficult. The only annoyance I had is that in your face Commander, though you get an atomic health as a reward for that. And health/armor/ammo supplies are plentiful in the map, I suggest to make use of the fountains/toilets to recover health occasionally that way and conserve the armor pickups as well (there's a few of them available), you should be fine!
I also liked the references in certain places (won't spoil them).
The only disappointing thing, besides not being given the full arsenal (the Shrinker would have been useful at times), is that there's two monsters somewhere unreachable and impossible to kill, unless I missed them somewhere or they managed to get outside of map. I even asked Laki for help, gave him my saved game and he said he couldn't find them either. Instead, he mentioned about a hidden room containing a stripper and a devastator + ammo, which I initially missed, I guess I should have explored more the vents. It was an unmarked secret area and I could have simply overlooked it, even in Mapster. It didn't contain any enemy, nor it spawned more upon killing the stripper. It is possible that monsters could have clipped into the Deathmatch only teleporters but I can't confirm that, since I haven't used any cheats and the noclip cheat is buggy in 1.3D anyway, that you will most likely die if you try to access those hidden areas.
Overall, nice map, I recommend it! Though I would recommend getting the MIC Episode instead of the 3 maps separately and play them in episodic format.

MIC E1L2

The sequel to MIC E1L1 (the last room of MIC E1L1 seems to match the starting room of MIC E1L2), is a bit tougher and more confusing at times but thankfully Mapster has been helpful in guiding me the right direction whenever I was stuck!
When you begin, you have to go to nearby room and get the blue card fast before the room explodes and collapses. I was lucky to grab it and take minimal damage. Duke ended up surviving with 67% health and the lost health recovered with the handy water fountain that is right there at the beginning of the map. It was very helpful early on! Especially since early I got shot a bunch of times by pig cops and enforcers, so the water fountain came very handy, along with the early secrets found (shotgun + shells, armor, etc)
The rest of the level, while a bit confusing at times (especially disabling that forcefield with the hint saying "ask teachers for access"), isn't too bad and took me just a bit over an hour to finish (after backtracking to get the remaining 3 secrets). At the end, once you get inside the train, there is no way back, you reach the exit and that's it. So make a save before getting into the train, in case you have to go back to find missing secrets.
Overall, not bad, quite a fun map!

MIC E1L3

The sequel to MIC E1L2, Duke starts underwater as how the previous map ended. You will have to grab the scuba gear and other useful supplies and get ready to kill a lot of aliens in this map! Careful with those commanders in close quarters that could have killed me at times, though thankfully I survived and made good use of 2-3 portable medkits in this map, the author was generous with resources.
I managed to die twice, one time at the clever yellow card puzzle with moving walls, I was careless and didn't dodge before one of the walls crushed me. And the second time I died was after the crane + conveyor belt part, there is that acid pit that I thought I got stuck when I dive into it (as I had no jetpack to go back up) and saw the mirror underwater, tried shrinking myself thinking that maybe I can fit through those tight spaces but eventually Duke died upon returning to normal size as I expected. It took a few minutes until I realized Duke could jump really high out of that acid and escape, though I have a feeling this behavior doesn't work properly in EDuke32, maybe not even in Atomic 1.4/1.5 (as the water surface/submerge behavior got changed between versions), so good thing I played the map properly in 1.3D, I guess.
Anyway, yeah, you had to dive in middle of that cistern, to press a hidden switch, then surface by holding and/or tapping jump before Duke got out of the acid, then quickly get into the main acid part and go through the door, as it is timed.
It was quite an obscure way to progress through the map and it wasn't a secret area as far as I remember, it was really the way that led to get the blue card, after doing a bunch of platforming sequences in between.
Other than those annoying bits and the in your face commanders (including some at the end of the map), the map was still fun overall, if not a bit long at times. There were some clever bits as well, like that puzzle with moving walls to get the yellow card (that said part also contained two secrets, one is a crack you have to blow to get a hidden room full of goodies and other contains an atomic health).
Also funnily enough, initially when I finished the map, I had 253 kills and 0 missing enemies, then when I went to backtrack for the remaining 2 secrets I missed, I ended up having an enemy randomly get squished somewhere (maybe on those rotating gears part in the acid, I remember one or two enforcers jumping there and they went missing after that), as well as killing two slimers, an enforcer and an assault trooper on my way back. Other than the trooper that was inactive in a building I visited earlier, the other 3 enemies were in that "The Abyss" like cave near beginning where I initially missed a secret elevator. No idea how they ended up here or how I missed them, pretty sure I cleared that room earlier.
So because of that, I ended up with 2 kills and 239 missing enemies (???) just like how this would happen in Derelict in Atomic Edition, as the game couldn't handle the fact I killed 258 enemies, now I know the maximum you can get is 255 kills and from 256 onward, it glitches back into 0. No idea what causes those weird missing enemies, in Pompeii map I didn't have this problem, the counter reset but there were no missing enemies. I will blame the slimer eggs probably inflating the monster count, oh well.
The map also took me almost 2 in game hours to finish.

To not make it longer, I will stop here and give overall thoughts on November selection. Some really cool choices and better than what I expected, though many maps turned to be either difficult, long, confusing or a combination of multiple factors, which drained most of the fun. I pushed hard to finish the maps and not leave them unfinished (though I had to do an occasional checking into Mapster just to see how to progress at times, I doubt these maps have walkthroughs anywhere or YouTube videos) and that meant on average, a map could have taken me around 3 hours to finish (with few minutes breaks at times), basically a whole Duke3d session from the evening, sometimes a map had to be continued next day if I couldn't finish on the current day. The slower play style is also attributed to playing the maps in DOSBox with classic controls, just to get that original 90s feeling that most people enjoyed back then! And finally, I appreciated that all maps were 1.3D compatible, just for a small change of pace. That's not to say that I don't like Atomic maps, I just find interesting to go back to 1.3D maps once in a while, considering they are a rarity these days (I think I saw a map released years ago that was DOS compatible for both 1.3D and 1.5, not to mention the FM3X series by Fernando Marquez, FM4X is Atomic only by the way but still appreciated it runs in DOS!), although it's not uncommon when comes to old late 90s maps/mods, considering most people at that time were still having/using 1.3D.

See you on the December 2021 topic!

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