E1M8: Launch Bay (Double Impact)

E1M8: Launch Bay is the eighth and final map of Double Impact. It was designed by Matt Cibulas (RottKing) and Ralph Vickers (Ralphis), and its music track is an untitled mash-up of "Sign of Evil" and "Doom 64 Main Theme". The par time defined in the DMAPINFO lump of the edition released as official add-on is 5:15.

Essentials
The objective of this map is to press four skull switches hidden around the map which will crush four unseen barons of Hell, opening two walls blocking your way to another switch that opens the way out. This must be done while avoiding four cyberdemons that patrol the main arena and can block your escape routes.

Head straight forward, collecting the weapons inside the lit alcoves as you go, until you reach a teleporter; entering it will send you to the main arena where you will be surrounded by imps. You will also see a spiderdemon (along with a second spider behind you on Ultra-Violence and Nightmare skill levels), which will teleport away when it sees you.
 * Head south-east from the entry point to reach a small gray-floored maze; simply head east until you reach an area with a nukage pit, then open the east door to enter a room where zombies, imps and one or two demons are guarding a pair of buttons. Press both buttons then go back to the pit to find that the bridge inside it has risen, letting you reach a skull switch.
 * Head south-west from the entry point to two sets of wide steps, which lead down to a room with a nukage pit. Cross the zig-zag bridge in the middle of this pit to reach a skull switch, which is guarded by one or more demons. (Before leaving, activate the small lift at the north end of the room to get to a megaarmor, a backpack and a computer area map.)
 * Head north-west from the entry point between a pair of small green buildings. You will come to a nukage trench - follow it round to its west side to find one or two lost souls protecting a skull switch. Make sure you lure the cyberdemons away from this area before going for the switch, or you risk being trapped.
 * Head east or north-east from the entry point and you will come to a wide tunnel that leads down to a water trench. Walk west into a dark room with a button and dispose of the enemies waiting on either side (including spectres on Hurt Me Plenty or higher) before pressing the button; it will open a chamber behind you containing another skull switch.

After pressing all four skull switches, return to the central area where the four marble blocks will lower, allowing the spiderdemons to teleport back in. Head south past a pair of green buildings, where a pair of brown walls ahead will have lowered revealing a U-shaped hallway that has a T-shaped chamber in its center. Flip the switch inside this alcove, which is guarded by a spectre, to open an alcove behind you and reveal one or two lost souls guarding another switch; flip that switch as well then go back to the central area, where the north door has opened to reveal a crowd of enemies behind it. Fight your way to the far side of the room and press the button here to lower the floor, then kill any cacodemons that are revealed as you wait for the lift to reach its destination. Once the lift reaches the bottom, enter either hallway to reach the exit switch.

Other points of interest
Stand on the bridge leading to the south-east skull switch, then drop into the south nukage pit to find a berserk pack.

Check the west side of the U-shaped hallway to find a supercharge.

Secrets

 * 1) At the teleporter north of the starting point, you can open the wall with slime on it for a health bonus. (sector 312)
 * 2) Open the next wall in secret #1 for an armor bonus. (sector 316)
 * 3) Open the next wall in secret #2, which is to the north, and you will see a dead zombieman. (sector 318)
 * 4) Open the next wall in secret #3, which is to the east, and an imp will attack you. (sector 320)
 * 5) In the main arena, go to the north-east corner and drop into the nukage pit at the southern end of this corner (not the other nukage pit, there is no way to escape from that one). Press on the poison sign here to open the way to a lift, which takes you up to a plasma gun. (sector 207)
 * 6) In the watery area north-east of the main arena, you will find a button which opens the wall behind you as well as lowers the switch itself. There is also a button on the backside of this particular button, which you can still press even if you lowered the switch. The backside button opens up two compartments, one with a medikit and another with a box of rockets. Both count as one secret. (sector 56)

Bugs

 * As described above, this map relies on activating four switches that will crush four unseen barons; killing all the barons executes tag 666 and opens the south area. If the last baron is crushed into gibs before it completes its death sequence, then tag 666 will fail to activate and cause a softlock. The version offered as an official add-on is not affected by this potential bug, since it does not rely on crushing barons to execute tag 666.

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

The data was last verified in its entirety on December 9, 2021.

Player spawns
This level contains twelve spawn points:
 * 1) facing north-west. (thing 377)
 * 2) facing south. (thing 385)
 * 3) facing south. (thing 386)
 * 4) facing east. (thing 387)
 * 5) facing north-east. (thing 388)
 * 6) facing south. (thing 389)
 * 7) facing south-west. (thing 390)
 * 8) facing west. (thing 391)
 * 9) facing north. (thing 392)
 * 10) facing east. (thing 393)
 * 11) facing north. (thing 394)
 * 12) facing south. (thing 395)

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