MAP27: The Silos (Memento Mori II)

MAP27: The Silos is the twenty-seventh level of Memento Mori II. It was designed by Paul Noble and uses the music track "Shadows of the Dead" by Mark Klem.

Mission briefing
According to both the text file and the Infopack:


 * Sit down Marine, make yourself comfortable, for once this mission starts there won't be any rest, not even for the wicked...


 * Mission Objectives. This mission is imperative to the success of Operation Memento Mori 2, the missile base which you'll be dropped into has fallen into the hands of the enemy, they don't know what they've got but we do. The site is a Guidance array and missile launch centre. Our Space Marines have been fighting a continuous battle in the space around the orbital platforms and have managed to force the main bulk of the demon hoards onto the biggest orbital platform (codenamed Icarus), [sic] unfortunately this platform is very well armed and we cannot make a landing on the platform to reclaim it. Thus it has been decided that it is to be destroyed utterly. To this ends [sic] you must enter the missile base, reconfigure the missile guidance array in the South East corner to point to the space platform, then you must seal all the silos ready for launch - all the silos have a double lock mechanism, make sure that all the lock switches are activated. Then finally you must activate the launch sequence, once done we can beam you off the base and onto your next mission.


 * Infiltration. We have set up a drop site near the old Sentry gateway, this area should still have some weapons stocks of some sort near by...


 * Enemy deployments. Reports claim that the Missile base is infested with all manner of humanoid killers, be they demon possessed troopers or the evils known as Mancabus, [sic] they are high tech, but in the brain department they are not up to much - think before you run in, if you can get them fighting each other then they'll do half your work for you. You'll find that there are serious concentrations of enemy operatives the further you progress through the base, be prepared for all manner of opposition...


 * Priority. Seal all the missile silos and erect the missile guidance array, then get the hell out of there.


 * This is going to be one helluva mission and the Earth Force are relying on you, make em eat hot lead death!



Essentials

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

Note: This level allows the player a vast freedom of movement and numerous route possibilities. For example, parts 1 and 2 can be explored in a reverse order (blue key first).

Part 1 (Yellow keycard)

From the start (secret #1) turn left (south), then right (west) at the intersection with a short lamp in the middle. In a big room with revenants, grey floor and nukage look for a narrow passage in the southern wall. Take the teleporter at the end of the passage.

Having arrived in a similar passage, follow the wall on your left until you find a door. Open it and enter the room (secret #2). On the wall to your right (south) there are two portions of wall with lights at the bottom - these are lifts. Take the lift on the right (it only goes up, while the second one only goes down). Open the eastern door. (The northern wall is missing the yellow lights at the bottom. Open it to find secret #3.) Press the red wall to open it as well. Find a switch behind the computer panel with four clips on it. Flip it and run in the direction of the red wall which has just opened (east). If the walls close before you reach the eastern corridor (the one in front of you), use the skull switch to open these again. Flip the western (red/green light) switch. Return to the room with the computer panel, pressing switches on your way if the walls close again. Now open the door to your left (south), go straight, open the door with yellow marks, run the catwalk, go through the UAC door and grab the yellow keycard.

Jump out of the window and enter the octagonal building decorated with "technical columns". As soon as you enter, the platform you are standing on will lower. Turn left and go to the dead end while the platform is being lowered. Activate the switch to your left - it will open one of four barriers blocking way to a skull switch needed for further progress (part 3). Leave the building. Go north to the passage and return to the start via the teleporter which earlier warped you here.

Part 2 (Blue keycard)

At the intersection with the short lamp in the middle choose the eastern way leading to a big, open area with towers. Open the UAC door to your right (south). (Secrets #4 and #5 are found in this room.) Turn left 90 degrees twice. A portion of grey wall with a dark grey square is a lift. Ride the lift up and jump down to the platform on your right. There is a blue keycard here - pick it up. (Enter the room, go south on the ledge and ascend the stairs to the east to access secret #8.) Walk down the ledge to the dark room, go towards its southeastern end where the stairs are and follow the corridor ending with a lift. Take the lift up to the top, turn right (west) and open the door. (Pass the door in front of you the access secrets #6 and #7.) Turn right again, open another door, turn left, open the southern door (lower than two previous ones) and enter the teleporter. In a huge room with three silver towers with flashing UAC signs, enter the towers and flip one switch in each one. They open three remaining barriers to the skull switch. Three newly revealed red/green light switches can be ignored.

Part 3 (Red keycard)

Find the now accessible skull switch at the north. Flip it and wait until the huge dark grey curtain lowers. Climb up the stairs and go through the doorway.

Follow the wall on your left. Open the silver door leading west and enter the room. Press 'use' on both computer panels. Go down the stairs and press the skull switch. Return to the silver door, go straight at the first intersection and left (west) at the second, in front of the BFG9000. Ride up the lift, press the switch and return to the skull switch.

To the opposite side of the skull switch (east) there is a newly opened narrow passage. Go up the stairs leading to the red keycard. Take the key.

Part 4 (To the exit)

Go back to the silver door, then to the room with three UAC towers. There is a door to the south of the eastern tower. Open it, press the switch lowering a lift, ride it up, go up the stairway, and past two previously opened doors. When you stand on the lift platform, it will lower immediately. Stand facing east. There is a passage to the east between the top and bottom level, but the lift does not stop there, so press 'forward' when the lift goes up again and enter the passage. Take another lift up to arrive in a tower (silo) with a double door and a switch.

Press the switch rising two catwalks. Run the eastern catwalk, press the switch in another silo and run the southern catwalk. In this silo there are two switches. Press the western one (or you may press them both, the western one opens the last barrier before the exit, the southern one raises two more catwalks).

Return to the silo with the double door. Open it and then open the red key door to the east. Go either left or right, climb the stairs and turn around. A portion of the wall between two skulls is an illusion. Walk through the fake wall and press the switch. Go downstairs, press the switch raising the catwalk and run to the exit.

Secrets

 * 1) At the beginning of the level, press on the gray computer panel around the corner and all of the dark computer panels will open to reveal six bullet boxes and a chaingun in the northwestern compartment, three shell boxes and a super shotgun in the southwestern compartment, nine rocket boxes and a rocket launcher in the northeastern compartment (sector 624) and also three bulk cells and a plasma gun in the southeastern compartment. Only the compartment with the rockets and rocket launcher counts as a secret.
 * 2) In the room behind the door opposite the southwestern silo (the silo that requires a yellow keycard to open), a northern portion of the desk can be lowered like an elevator and used to climb onto it. Alternatively, the southern elevator down can be jumped from and onto this desk. Either way, open the computer panel north of the desk with the hazard stripe on it to find a lone sergeant behind a stockpile of barrels. Kill the sergeant by destroying them all, and enter the compartment (sector 408) to find a green armor and a berserk pack.
 * 3) The computer panel (sector 609) west of the switch that raises the bridge to the stockpile in the northwest of the area with the three UAC towers (mentioned in Essentials, parts two and four) counts as a secret. However, it is impossible to register due to it being too small for the player to enter unless, the idclip cheat is used.
 * 4) When you enter the northernmost door, the portion of the southern wall (sector 561) right next to the stairway can be opened.
 * 5) The sector immediately after the door in secret #4 also counts as a secret (sector 499). Enter the teleporter to be taken to a hidden room with a soul sphere (on Hurt Me Plenty or lower) or an invulnerability (on Ultra-Violence or higher).
 * 6) In the green, southeastern hallway, east of where the cyberdemon is encountered, a portion of the northeastern wall bears a "Poison" sign. Open it to find a sergeant and three imps and then open the next two doors, encountering three more imps. This leads into a dark room (sector 36) with a computer map. Approach it and a revenant will be released; dispose of it and enter the compartment it came from to get a stimpack.
 * 7) Return to the hallway mentioned in secret #6 and enter the western door. Kill three enemies (troopers on easy or sergeants on medium and hard) in the northern three hallways. Walk the third hallway from the north westwards to lure another enemy into this hallway and kill him. (Do not enter the southernmost hallway, where a deaf cyberdemon is waiting.) Loot their ammo and return to the hallway mentioned in secret #6. Pass the northern door and push the switch to your right to activate crushers, stomping the cyberdemon to mincemeat. Return to those hallways and wait for his death. When the shouts of pain stopped, pass the third crusher from the north and then the fourth to find a switch in this room's southeast. Push it to lower the mainframe to your north, revealing a passage that you follow. The crushers stop working upon entering the next room with two rocket boxes, a medikit, a green armor and a teleporter, leading to an otherwise unreachable area in the map's southwest. The portion of this canyon area covered by light counts as a secret (sector 605). Kill some monsters, collect a shell box, two rocket boxes and two stimpacks while climbing up the stairs to a switch that opens the teleporter leading back to the map start. The crushers can be activated only once. If the southernmost crusher is lowered upon deactivating these, it will stay in that position, blocking the way to the switch that lowers the mainframe. In this case you will not be able to return to the area beyond the mainframe.
 * 8) In the eastern room south of where you find the blue keycard, there is a silver wall that can be opened to reveal a switch in a tube with two lost souls (easy) or a cacodemon (medium and hard) in it. Shoot the switch with the super shotgun to open a wall behind you, unveiling a medikit and a blue armor (sector 376).

Bugs

 * Due to a secret being impossible to reach, you can only obtain 87% Secrets on this level.
 * None of the three light goggles are accessible in single player mode. As a result, you can only obtain 66% items on this level.

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

Trivia
The appearance of "Icarus" in the mission briefing for this level is a reference to TeamTNT's Icarus: Alien Vanguard, supported by its description as a demon-infested space vehicle, although Icarus's story describes the original ship as an "exploration cruiser" instead of an "orbital platform," and features demons invading the ship rather than being forced into it. This reference is presumably intended as revenge against TeamTNT for the controversial postponement of TNT: Evilution's originally freeware release, due to its being acquired by id Software for publishing in what would become Final Doom. Similar jabs toward Duke Nukem 3D appear in the mission briefings for MAP04: Ratamahatta and MAP18: Regulate.