For the Doom 2 map Rigel1.wad
Files required: Rige1.WAD (by Scott Lampert)

Download link: ftp://3darchives.in-span.net/pub/idgames/levels/doom2/p-r/rigel1.zip

Rigel I

Skill: UV Speed

Kills        25%
Items        13%
Secrets      50% and Time 01:26

Plays back with Legacy 1.32 Beta 5 (or Legacy 1.32 Beta 4, but not Legacy 1.40 rc 1).
Legacy download link: http://prdownloads.sourceforge.net/doomlegacy/legacy_132beta5_win32.zip

Description: I have put quite a lot of time and effort into this run, and am now really happy with the time. Improvements might still be possible, but I think I'll wait for someone to beat this time before I try again.
The run falls into three main stages:
1) Getting to the berserker pack. This is the most difficult. It's mainly a case of run and hope, with the odd glance at the health to see how many risks you can take.
2) From the berserk to the megasphere. Not too tough, but it's easy to lose time. It also includes the most difficult single part of the run: getting to and from the switch without being caught by the Hell Knights. You mustn't forget to pick up the plasma gun either...
3) From the megasphere to the exit. Despite appearances, there shouldn't actually be any problems here: 200 health, 200 armour and a plasma gun with 100 cells. In this run my plasma supplies lasted all the way to the exit, which speeded things up a bit.

This is my fifth exit (3:14, 2:59, 2:04 and 1:46 were the previous times). The route improvements have been fairly minor (apart from "don't camp in the cybie area"!), so the sizes of the time improvements have surprised me. One curiosity: at one point in this run, I get the rare "Ouch" face (it only appears when you take damage at the same instant that your health increases overall by more than 20; Ling asked a question about this in Romero's forums).

This is an old map (from early 1995), but I think it is still a very good and challenging one (Scott Lampert later did two maps for MM, so I guess that shouldn't come as a surprise). I have played it quite a few times over the years, and in a way it has been a yardstick of my Dooming skills. I first tried it not long after I had first beaten Doom II on UV, and found that I had to turn the difficulty right down to NTR. Some time later I managed HMP, and it was only a couple of years ago that I tried it on UV with any success - I found that I could at least beat it using savegames and taking a long time. NM still looks tricky though! UV -fast might require a more "camping" approach.

Rigel1.wad has two interesting novelty features:
1) The lifts say "thank you!" - just like in the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. Cool!
2) The music will bring a smile to Doomworlders' faces. If you normally play/view with the music off, turn it on for this one.

Graham "Grazza" Burgess
GKBurgess@compuserve.com
