E1M2: Nuclear Plant (Doom)

E1M2: Nuclear Plant is the second map of Knee-Deep in the Dead in Doom. It was designed by John Romero and uses the music track "The Imp's Song". The par time is 1:15. This level was also used for Bill Gates' promo for Windows 95.

Walkthrough

 * Letters in italics refer to marked spots on the map. Sector numbers in boldface are secrets which count toward the end-of-level tally.

Essentials
From the start point (A), walk forward past the barrel and turn right. Go through the door in front of you and up the stairs. Pick up the red key (B). Go back down the stairs to the room you started in. Travel to the opposite side of the room and go through the red door. Go straight on and up the stairs. Go through the room with the slime to the lift (C). Travel downwards on the lift and press the switch on the far wall. Go into the passageway which opens, and down the stairs to the right. Go down the small lift in the exit room (D) and press the exit switch.

Other points of interest
The construction in the center of the first room includes a lift leading to a shotgun (O). On Ultra-Violence and Nightmare!, it is guarded by an Imp who is difficult to see with the status bar displayed (the passage is too narrow for you to step back and look up), unless you actually step onto the lift and expose yourself to his attacks.

There is a lift in the southwest corner of the first room. It leads to a shelf containing a box of bullets and a medikit (P).

Just past the red door, there is an opening on the right-hand side. Going down this corridor reveals a room with a switch (G) surrounded by slime. Pressing the switch opens a door to a maze across the hall (H). This area contains a large amount of ammo, but can be frustrating due to its lighting and its convoluted floor plan, especially if you are trying to get 100% kills. Use the automap to make sure you look into every passage (thereby alerting every deaf monster sooner or later), then stand and listen for the breathing/gurgling sounds of survivors. Or simply memorize the total number of enemies in the maze (5 on I'm too young to die and Hey, not too rough, 14 on Hurt me plenty, 23 on Ultra-Violence) and count them as they die. Although extensive, the area is essentially a huge detour, and can be skipped entirely.

At the top of the staircase leading to the slime walkway, there is an alcove on the west side (M). The alcove is really a fast-moving lift which drops you next to an Imp (ITYTD and HNTR) or a trooper and an Imp (HMP, UV, and NM). If you then step forward into the small room, you can see the chainsaw (secret #3) through a window.

On ITYTD and HNTR, there is a blue armor at the base of the lift north of the slime walkway.

Secrets

 * 1) There is a construction in the center of the first room (with a passageway through the middle).  On the east side of this is a secret door; this can be seen from the fact that the texture on the wall is different at this point.  Opening this door reveals a room (E) with a switch, a medikit, a green armor, and a backpack. (sector 116)
 * 2) The switch in secret #1 opens a door in the northern steps which lead up to the tower with the red key.  In the outdoor area beyond this door (F) there is a soul sphere and a chaingun (and, on UV and NM, a crowd of sergeants). (sector 21)
 * 3) On the far west side of the maze there is a secret door behind a green armor (I).  Shooting the door causes it to open; the passageway behind it leads to an outdoor area (J) with a chainsaw on a pillar. (sector 188)
 * 4) In the passage leading to the chainsaw there are some steps.  Where the second armor bonus is located, there is a secret door on the east wall.  This reveals a room (K) with four more armor bonuses. (sector 194)
 * 5) On the east side of the maze is another secret door; this appears as a computer texture surrounded by two vertical metal beams. This door reveals a secret room (L) with a backpack. (sector 106)
 * 6) In the short piece of corridor between the room with the slime walkway and the elevator to the dark room below, there is a secret door on the left side.  Opening this reveals a passage (N) to a ledge overlooking the dark room. (sector 140)

Bugs
Linedefs 134 and 574 have their upper textures on the wrong side, resulting in a Hall of Mirrors effect. These are not normally observed, however, because the corresponding sectors (28 and 187) cannot be entered by the player without cheating.

There are 7 known anomalies in this level's REJECT table.

Demo files

 * [[Media:e1m2secr.lmp|No monsters, 100% secrets walkthrough]] (file info)
 * [[Media:e1m2wik1.lmp|100% kills, items, and secrets on ITYTD]] (file info)
 * [[Media:e1m2wik2.lmp|100% kills, items, and secrets on HNTR]] (file info)
 * [[Media:e1m2wik3.lmp|100% kills, items, and secrets on HMP]] (file info)
 * [[Media:e1m2wik4.lmp|100% kills, items, and secrets on UV]] (file info)

Routes and tricks
In a straight speedrun, cross the first room along its south edge, which is much less crowded than the north edge. In an episode run, use the shotgun to clear a path through the next-to-last room with a barrel frag at the bottom of the lift. Opening the exit door from the left side seems to prevent the first Imp from immediately walking southward and blocking the small lift. It is not necessary to kill the Imp guarding the exit switch; one bullet or punch sometimes pushes it back far enough for the switch to be pressed. (A pacifist player can still do this, but he has to use his shoulder.)

NM100S players frequently take two detours to help them survive the maze: getting the green armor in secret #1, and killing one sergeant in the outdoor area to obtain the shotgun. In NM episode runs, get the chaingun also; the health and time saved in high-traffic areas will be worth the delay (this seems to be true even for NM100S, where the chaingun is obtained by default on the next level).

For styles requiring 100% kills, a clockwise route around the maze, including the chainsaw area, usually causes leftover monsters to collect near the northwest corner (where they can be gunned down on the way out). Even Tyson runs seem to benefit from this, despite the resulting delay in getting the chainsaw. On the other hand, NM100S recordings often use a counterclockwise route around the maze, causing leftover monsters to collect near the center (where they can be ignored). In a max episode run, most players pick up the backpack in secret #5; this is a minimal detour because there are deaf troopers to kill in the facing passage.

UV -respawn recordings can be sped up by killing everyone in the first room a second time, on your way out of the maze. This allows you to leave a few monsters alive in the maze (especially in dead ends) and ignore the sniper Imps in the next-to-last room.

Current records
The Compet-N records for the map are:

Inspiration and development
An early version of E1M2 was the first level of the Doom press release beta. It also appeared as E1M8 of Doom 0.4 and E1M8 of Doom 0.5.

In the Atari Jaguar port of Doom, and all of the ports derived from it, this level is just called "Plant" instead of "Nuclear Plant."

In early versions of the level, until v1.4, the door to the computer maze could be closed from the inside, by pressing into the thin air of the doorframe.

Trivia
The music in this level is inspired by "The Thing That Should Not Be" by Metallica.