E2M5: Command Center (Doom)

E2M5: Command Center is the fifth map of The Shores of Hell in Doom. It was designed by Sandy Petersen and uses the music track "Demons on the Prey." The par time is 1:30.

This level contains a secret exit leading to E2M9: Fortress of Mystery.

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

 * Normal exit:

From the start point, go through the first door. Make a hairpin turn in either direction and ascend the staircase in the corner, which leads you to a wide hallway. Go through the skull switch door at the right (west) end of this hallway, and follow the concrete passage down to an "H"-shaped green marble room. Continue southward, turn left, and cross a "T"-shaped hallway with columns. Beyond this is a wood-paneled area with skylights; walk forward and leftward to the next skull switch door, and enter a wood-paneled hallway. Ascend the spiral staircase and go through the door at the top. Take the left fork and go down the stairs into a trapezoidal room with some red pedestals. Exit to the right (east) through a slime-filled chamber &mdash; the radiation suit near the door can help here &mdash; and continue up the stairs to a flesh-toned room full of sergeants and lost souls. Cross to the door directly ahead, which leads to the final area, a corridor of deep red stone. Turn right, then take your first left or right (avoiding the blue floor in front of you), and follow the red stone hallway around to the exit door.


 * Secret exit:

From the start point, go through the first door. Make a hairpin turn in either direction and ascend the staircase in the corner, which leads you to a wide hallway. Go through the skull switch door at the right (west) end of this hallway, and follow the concrete passage down to an "H"-shaped green marble room. Turn right and open the nearby skull switch door, revealing a small room with another skull switch inside. Activate the switch to raise a stairway before the fireplace in the northwest corner of the "H". Walk through the fire and into the hidden teleporter beyond. You will find yourself in a circular metal room. The lion-faced wall directly behind you can be opened to reveal another hidden teleporter. This takes you to the final hallway leading to the exit room.

Other points of interest
In the wide hallway near the start point, another skull switch door opens to the left (east). Beyond this is a green armor along with several imps.

In the wide hallway near the start point, a third skull switch door opens to the south. Beyond this is a vine-covered room with an inner chamber containing a backpack, a berserk pack, and a shell box. These are guarded by a demon (I'm too young to die and Hey, not too rough), a cacodemon (Hurt me plenty), or both (Ultra-Violence and Nightmare!).

Just south of the wide hallway is a largish outdoor area, containing various ammo pickups and a broad green column with a "baron skull" texture. Crossing to the south area of this room lowers the two wooden columns near the center; the western column reveals a chaingun (guarded by a baron of hell on HMP and higher), while the eastern column holds a computer map (guarded by a baron of hell on UV and NM). Note that the trigger line does not extend on to the short ledge overlooking the slime pool on either side, so it is possible to avoid the trap by tiptoeing along a ledge. If you fall into the slime, you can escape via the lifts in the north corners.

If you exit the "T" hallway through either of the doors to the west, you will enter a vine-covered walkway overlooking a nukage river. Follow the walkway around to a square button on the wall, which opens a panel to reveal a second button. This button raises the gangway to the plasma gun (see secret #5 below).

If you exit the "T" hallway through either of the other two doors to the east, you will find a short, angular stone hallway containing a green armor and a blur artifact.

The wood-paneled area with skylights is connected to the baron trap area by a rectangular wooden room. The south end of this room contains a medikit, but approaching the medikit will automatically activate the door to the east, behind which waits a group of imps and (on HMP and higher) sergeants.

Instead of leaving at the top of the spiral staircase, continue down the wood-paneled hallway to the door at the end. Beyond this is a wide rectangular room with a bullet box, a shell box, and at least two medikits. (On HMP and higher, watch for fireballs coming through the window from the vicinity of the normal exit.)

The blue-floored area near the normal exit offers you a bullet box and a blue armor. As you approach these, however, a trap opens directly ahead, releasing a pack of demons.

Secrets

 * 1) After going through the first door, head to the left side of the next room.  Pick up or walk over the medikit here and a door will open, releasing three imps.  A box of shells is inside. (sector 126)
 * 2) On the opposite end of the same room, walk over the pool of blood and another room will open, which also contains three imps and a box of shells. (sector 219)
 * 3) From the rectangular wooden room, enter the room with the group of imps and sergeants.  To the left of the skull/candles decoration is a misaligned wall; activate it to get a chainsaw. (sector 8)
 * 4) As you reach the top of the spiral staircase, a room in the center of the staircase will open.  It contains a radsuit, a medikit, a demon, and (on HMP and higher) a lost soul. (sector 11)
 * 5) After passing through the door at the top of the spiral staircase, take the right fork.  Go down the stairs into a nukage-filled tunnel (the radsuit from secret #4 can help here).  Follow the tunnel all the way around to an ammo clip sitting in the slime in front of a misaligned wall.  As you pick up the clip, the wall will open, revealing a further tunnel leading to a caged baron of hell (sector 188).  Beyond him is a semicircular slime pool with a plasma gun on a platform in the center, guarded by a group of imps and sergeants; the platform may not be immediately accessible (see "Other points of interest" above).  A shortcut back to the start area is provided by a teleporter in the southwest part of the pool.
 * 6) In the plasma gun area, a second hidden alcove in the northwest part of the slime pool contains a bulk cell. (sector 229)
 * 7) On the way to the secret exit, the area immediately behind the fireplace counts as a secret. (sector 186)
 * 8) On the way to the secret exit, the first circular metal room counts as a secret. (sector 238)
 * 9) On the way to the secret exit, the second circular metal room counts as a secret. (sector 234)
 * 10) At the secret exit, the switch room itself counts as a secret. (sector 121)

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

Trivia
The switch texture with the red on top and the green on the bottom (SW1STON1) makes its only appearance here as an exit switch, although it is used as a normal switch elsewhere in this episode.