STR52: City of Silence - Apocalypse (Stronghold: On the Edge of Chaos)

STR52: City of Silence - Apocalypse is the second secret map of Stronghold: On the Edge of Chaos. It was designed by Jason Farlow (farlowj) and Daniel Gimmer (Tormentor667), and uses a custom music track.

This level uses the "Limit" mode, where the objective is to prevent too many monsters crossing the deadline.

Essentials
You start in a building on the west side of the level which contains weapon and ammo pads; you can get out quickly by heading straight down the passage and jumping over the railing to reach the bottom floor. A health pad and a shotgun can be found in a building near the middle of the level, while a powerup pad can be found in a building by a bridge at the north side of the level. If you need more ammo, a second ammo pad can be found inside a brick building in the south-east corner of the level.

The deadline is a flaming altar in the south-west corner of the level; you must not allow more than 100 monsters (several of which are taken from ) to reach it. Monsters will initially spawn from the south and east sides of the level, but from wave three they will also start spawning from the bridge at the north side of the level. The city will also darken, making it difficult to see oncoming enemies.
 * Chaingun and shotgun cultists behave similarly to Wolfenstein SS and shotgun guys.
 * Thralls are black-robed cultists that fire frost shard-like projectiles from their hands.
 * Axe zombies are fairly slow-moving and swing their axes for a melee attack.
 * Fat zombies are tougher to kill than axe zombies, and fire green projectiles.
 * Death incarnates resemble black revenants; they fire a trio of shadow projectiles and leave behind Hades spheres on death.
 * Hellhounds can breathe fire, giving them a deceptively long range.
 * Wraiths behave similarly to Heretic's gargoyles, but are translucent and can be hard to see in the dark.
 * Vulgars resemble emaciated green imps; their projectiles are poisonous and inflict additional damage over time.
 * Apprentices resemble Heretic's disciples of D'Sparil; they are usually invisible and throw spreads of fireballs.
 * Ethereal souls behave similarly to lost souls, but can fire shadow projectiles.
 * Spiders exclusively use melee attacks, but can overwhelm players with sheer numbers.

The delay between waves is longer than in most levels; learn where the item pads are located so you can reach them quickly.

Completing this level will award 1,500 bonus credits.

Other points of interest
A vampirism pickup can be found under the starting building. Head down the staircase to reach it.

Secrets
There are no official secrets on this map.

Bugs
There are two player seven starts but no player eight starts, so this map can only support a maximum of seven players. When seven players are present, the extra start will become a voodoo doll.

Speedrunning
As this level does not contain official secrets, the NM 100S category is redundant.

Current records
The records for the map at the Doom Speed Demo Archive are:

The (absence of) data was last verified in its entirety on February 21, 2022.

Things
This level contains the following numbers of things per skill level: