Uploaded November 2024 | Updated September 2026, 1 week ago
Map name: Rocketeer
WAD author: Qingshuo Wang (aka piXel reX)
I was only really going to beat my old nomo on this map, but after looking at pacifist, I decided I might as well check out max. This took quite a few attempts, I got an exit relatively early on at 3:34, and I wanted sub 3:30. The average time here was almost never that much faster, and I basically always hovered at high 3:20 to low 3:30 on every potential exit, but many of those runs I either threw or got some really bad RNG on. Having to rocket all the time, especially at the start, makes it a bit difficult to retain health; the second half of the run should be much easier to retain health on, but I was dumb at the second cyber fight and the revs afterwards many times. Trying to both get the second cyber to infight the revs while also fighting him is a bit hard to keep track of, which was a part of the challenge, but definitely there were many moments I just wasn't dodging well, probably would have played much better if I took more breaks during this grind. :^)
The route here is very linear, and I basically did most of the same things TGH did, except I didn't really come back anywhere for cleanup except to the start, where you have to come back. I also didn't use rockets only for the chaingunners (chaingun seemed like the best bet there, kind of an awkward part to deal with however you do it, though), and didn't use SSG for any cyber because rockets seem superior, and you do just barely have enough for the whole map. Well, you actually have more than enough, but most of the rockets are in the first cyb area, so you can only pick them up before going up the elevator, and otherwise, getting back there is very slow. I also press the lift a bit slower, but idk if that's really the best bet, that's just a relic of a bit of safety to not go up too early while there are monsters alive there. That part might be the main time gain in retrospect. Using rocket at the four revs + blue armor section is the other risky thing I do; it's not too bad to fight there, but the revs don't always group up as nicely as in this run, and I either have to lose a lot of time herding them or take a lot of face rockets, which is annoying.
At the first cyber is the other part I do use SSG on the vile because that seemed like the best bet, while the cyb infights the two revs there; the infight is fairly consistent, but it does sometimes fail as well, which is always a bit annoying. The rest of the time gains are just getting better grouping and rocketing at the most opportune moments I could find; generally speaking, almost every fight in this run went fairly well, although I have had better times to the red key door as well.
At the second cyber, the most awkward part is afterwards; you start with the vile, which teleports out, then a rev right after which blocks the hallway. Killing the rev from outside by alerting him with blast isn't too bad, so that's what I went with. I got mega lucky with the vile; he got hit by the blast, but he did not get alerted, so he insta-attacked me afterwards. Initially, I thought this was just a time loss, but at one point in practice, I realized you can just kill him right there and avoid dealing with him later on, which is super helpful. The revs afterwards you have to rush past, otherwise, it's super awkward to kill them from any angle; this should be consistent, but it had fucked me over in the past because if I miss rockets at any point, the revs usually come close enough to take a lot of facerockets, and I have hardly any space to dodge the rev rockets as well. One time, I alerted the vile, but he didn't teleport and went to the rev section, that was obviously immediate gg. The ending is just some cleanup, not much to say there.
In the end, the grind was semi-worth it with how significantly I cleared 3:30; this I think was in large part due to very nice cleanup here and there, no major time losses anywhere, and that vile RNG helped as well. Pretty happy with this time, although there's always improvement in max of course.
Overall, while I did have some frustrations with the run, this map is actually super cool for a 1999 release. Other than the cyber rocket fights maybe overstaying their welcome a bit, and some of the geometry being a bit painful to move around, it's not a map that really feels its age IMO; feels like something from maybe like 2008-2009 than this far back.
Captured using DSDA-Doom v0.27.5
Map name: Rocketeer
WAD author: Qingshuo Wang (aka piXel reX)
I was only really going to beat my old nomo on this map, but after looking at pacifist, I decided I might as well check out max. This took quite a few attempts, I got an exit relatively early on at 3:34, and I wanted sub 3:30. The average time here was almost never that much faster, and I basically always hovered at high 3:20 to low 3:30 on every potential exit, but many of those runs I either threw or got some really bad RNG on. Having to rocket all the time, especially at the start, makes it a bit difficult to retain health; the second half of the run should be much easier to retain health on, but I was dumb at the second cyber fight and the revs afterwards many times. Trying to both get the second cyber to infight the revs while also fighting him is a bit hard to keep track of, which was a part of the challenge, but definitely there were many moments I just wasn't dodging well, probably would have played much better if I took more breaks during this grind. :^)
The route here is very linear, and I basically did most of the same things TGH did, except I didn't really come back anywhere for cleanup except to the start, where you have to come back. I also didn't use rockets only for the chaingunners (chaingun seemed like the best bet there, kind of an awkward part to deal with however you do it, though), and didn't use SSG for any cyber because rockets seem superior, and you do just barely have enough for the whole map. Well, you actually have more than enough, but most of the rockets are in the first cyb area, so you can only pick them up before going up the elevator, and otherwise, getting back there is very slow. I also press the lift a bit slower, but idk if that's really the best bet, that's just a relic of a bit of safety to not go up too early while there are monsters alive there. That part might be the main time gain in retrospect. Using rocket at the four revs + blue armor section is the other risky thing I do; it's not too bad to fight there, but the revs don't always group up as nicely as in this run, and I either have to lose a lot of time herding them or take a lot of face rockets, which is annoying.
At the first cyber is the other part I do use SSG on the vile because that seemed like the best bet, while the cyb infights the two revs there; the infight is fairly consistent, but it does sometimes fail as well, which is always a bit annoying. The rest of the time gains are just getting better grouping and rocketing at the most opportune moments I could find; generally speaking, almost every fight in this run went fairly well, although I have had better times to the red key door as well.
At the second cyber, the most awkward part is afterwards; you start with the vile, which teleports out, then a rev right after which blocks the hallway. Killing the rev from outside by alerting him with blast isn't too bad, so that's what I went with. I got mega lucky with the vile; he got hit by the blast, but he did not get alerted, so he insta-attacked me afterwards. Initially, I thought this was just a time loss, but at one point in practice, I realized you can just kill him right there and avoid dealing with him later on, which is super helpful. The revs afterwards you have to rush past, otherwise, it's super awkward to kill them from any angle; this should be consistent, but it had fucked me over in the past because if I miss rockets at any point, the revs usually come close enough to take a lot of facerockets, and I have hardly any space to dodge the rev rockets as well. One time, I alerted the vile, but he didn't teleport and went to the rev section, that was obviously immediate gg. The ending is just some cleanup, not much to say there.
In the end, the grind was semi-worth it with how significantly I cleared 3:30; this I think was in large part due to very nice cleanup here and there, no major time losses anywhere, and that vile RNG helped as well. Pretty happy with this time, although there's always improvement in max of course.
Overall, while I did have some frustrations with the run, this map is actually super cool for a 1999 release. Other than the cyber rocket fights maybe overstaying their welcome a bit, and some of the geometry being a bit painful to move around, it's not a map that really feels its age IMO; feels like something from maybe like 2008-2009 than this far back.
Captured using DSDA-Doom v0.27.5
