E1M7: The Core (Doom: Damnation)

E1M7: The Core is the seventh map in the first episode of Doom: Damnation. It was designed by Ofisil and uses the music track "Survival Instinct". The par time defined in the DEHACKED lump is 5:30.

Essentials
Go through the door in front of you with two zombiemen waiting behind it, then turn left to see two staircases with several monsters on them. Go up the left staircase then down a second staircase, before turning left and left again to find a third staircase leading to a switch that will lower two lifts. Turn right and head through the silver door to find a chamber with a zombieman, a shotgun guy and an imp guarding a skull switch that will raise the platform holding the blue keycard you can see through the window. Backtrack to the starting area then head south until you reach an outdoor area with three radiation shielding suits; grab one then head through the west door to the core area (which is radioactive) and head past some demons to the door in the north-west corner. Go through the door and make your way north through the marble columns until you find a cacodemon next to a fire wall, then step through this wall to reach the blue key. Do not fall into the pit behind the key as it is inescapable.

Make your way back to the starting area then head east to a room with two sets of silver steps leading up to a blue-floored hallway. Follow the hallway south and go down some steps to a tan door, then go through to find a small building with three doors which will open as you approach to reveal imps. Take the nearby chainsaw then enter the building to find a button and press it (if the doors close behind you, step on the candle in the north-west corner to open them again). Go back to the blue hallway and down the silver steps, then head south down a narrow passage which leads to a room with armor bonuses; the wall behind these bonuses has lowered to reveal imps guarding another button. Press it, then go back up the silver steps and head east until you drop into a nukage pool, then turn right to find a white teleporter and a passage containing a switch that will raise a bridge. After flipping the switch, use the teleporter to get out of the nukage and enter a room to the north - you will land on a chaingun as you do so.

Return to the blue hallway again and head east over the bridge you just raised, open the blue key door on the other side then blow up the barrels behind it to kill the shotgun guys and cacodemons waiting in the hall. Go to the east end of the hall to find three doors - two are locked, but you can go through the north door to find a room containing demons and lots of health bonuses which leads on to a maze of passages. Head east over three square lights, north then east over a brightly-lit area to a wall with tan panels, north and west past two shotgun guys to a medikit, north then west to a box of bullets, south to another medikit then west to a third medikit, and finally head north to a wooden door. Behind this door is a baron of Hell guarding the yellow keycard; the baron will teleport to the maze entrance as it approaches you.

Backtrack through the maze to the hall with three doors, and open the south door which requires the yellow key - behind this door is a spiral walkway filled with monsters, including several cacodemons and another baron. Follow the walkway round until you reach the red keycard in the middle, then go back to the hall and open the east door to confront a baron which will teleport around as it walks. Step through the red key door to a fleshy cross-shaped platform then press the lion switch in the east wall to finish the level; do not fall off the platform as the blood pits below are inescapable.

Other points of interest
Inside the maze, follow the directions until you reach the second medikit then head north-west to a brightly-lit area with a light amplification visor next to it.

Secrets

 * 1) Open the yellow door and you will see two pillars with poison signs on them to your right. Use the second one as a lift up, then use the teleporter here to reach an area with rockets and a rocket launcher. (sector 270)

Current records
The records for the map at the Doomed Speed Demos Archive are:

Player spawns
This level contains twelve spawn points:
 * 1) facing north. (thing 600)
 * 2) facing south. (thing 601)
 * 3) facing south-east. (thing 602)
 * 4) facing north-west. (thing 603)
 * 5) facing north. (thing 604)
 * 6) facing south-west. (thing 605)
 * 7) facing north. (thing 606)
 * 8) facing south. (thing 607)
 * 9) facing west. (thing 608)
 * 10) facing south. (thing 609)
 * 11) facing west. (thing 610)
 * 12) facing north-east. (thing 611)

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