MAP26: Bunker (The Plutonia Experiment)

MAP26: Bunker is the twenty-sixth map of The Plutonia Experiment. It was designed by Dario Casali and uses the music track "Message For The Archvile" from Doom II (the same as Doom II's MAP26: The Abandoned Mines).

Essentials
You only need either the blue or red keycard to exit this level - collecting both cards is not required. However, due to the design of this level's teleport traps, 100% kills requires collecting both keys.

Start

You begin in an outdoor area. Head down the staircase in front of you without entering the room, and fire a shot to awaken the assortment of monsters inside. It is preferable to stand at the stairs and not enter the room, so that the monsters will line up while shooting at you and hit each other, resulting in monster infighting. Once the area is relatively clear, head into the room.

You are now in a large room with a "moat" running through it. Clear out the shotgun guys in the windows to your right, then drop into the moat. Follow the moat counterclockwise, eliminating any imps and cacodemons you find, until you reach a room with blood-stained walls on the right and steps on your left leading to a door.

With your back facing the door, proceed up the door. The blood-stained walls will open up to reveal four chaingunners. Dispose of them quickly, then turn around and proceed through the door.

Unblocking access to the Red keycard

If you wish to exit using the red keycard, from the door after the chaingunner trap, head left up a set of steps, through a lit corridor, and into another room. As you descend the steps into this new room, a wall on the right will open, revealing four chaingunners facing away from you. Kill them, then flip the switch ahead to unblock access to the red key.

Unblocking access to the Blue keycard

If you wish to exit using the blue keycard, from the door after the chaingunner trap, head right and find the door with a switch next to it. Flip the switch to open the door, kill the chaingunner in front of you, then enter the room. Head to the left to collect the armor and box of rockets, which will open a trap in the room containing three (Hey, not too rough and below), four (Hurt me plenty), or five (Ultra-Violence and above) Hell knights. Destroy the barrels behind them and flip the switch. This in turn opens up a trap behind where the armor and box of rockets was, with five imps. Flip the switch in this trap to unlock the door to this room and leave.

Once either of this is done, head west down the corridor. At the end of the corridor, find the steps to the right (north) of the barred window and head down them. At the fork, head left into a stony corridor, opening into a room with the blue keycard on a pedestal. You will be attacked by three shotgun guys on a ledge, a cacodemon in an alcove and one (Hey, not too rough and below) or two (Hurt me plenty and above) revenants. Mop them up, and follow the appropriate section depending on your previous course of action.

Collecting the Red keycard

From the room with the blue keycard, continue west through a room with an unreachable megasphere and down a short flight of steps. You should see two red-striped poles flanking the doorway ahead. Go through them, then follow the corridor around until you can see the red keycard in front of you, along with two pools of blood. Notice the two lowered parts of the ceiling - these are fast crushers, and they will activate once you cross under the first one. To avoid taking damage, simply wait by the key (there is a gap between the far wall and the crusher) for the right timing to run back.

On your way out, a wall will have opened to reveal four chaingunners. Kill them quickly before they lower your health any further.

Collecting the Blue keycard

From the room with the blue keycard, head west into the room with the megasphere, then go up the stairs in the southwest of the room. You will now be on the platform where the shotgun guys were. From this platform, it is possible to "bump" the blue keycard on the pedestal to collect it.

Do note that collecting either keycard will release ten (Hey, not too rough and below), 14 (Hurt me plenty), or 18 (Ultra-Violence and above) assorted monsters into the moat.

Once either is done, head back to the blue keycard room, and take grey passage in the northeast out. At the fork, head left down into a water-filled room (part of the moat) and take out the pain elementals in there. Once again, follow the corresponding course of action depending on which keycard you picked.

Red switch

Exit the water-filled room from the northwest, and continue following the moat counterclockwise. Once you pass a pair of metal beams, be wary of chaingunners in two "pillboxes" above you and to your right, as well as other monsters that may take potshots at you from the elevated area on the right. Continue forward past another pair of metal beams, and there should be an alcove to your right. Enter it, and an elevator will descend, taking you up to the previously mentioned elevated area. Dispose of any remaining monsters, then flip the red switch.

Blue switch

Exit the water-filled room from the northeast, and continue following the moat clockwise. You will pass the room with door and the chaingunner ambush, a single metal beam, and then a pair of metal beams. After the metal beams, there should be an alcove to the left. Step into it to reveal a hidden one-way passage to the first room you entered. Flip the blue switch on the east wall.

Finale and exit

Drop back into the moat, and backtrack to the megasphere room. Head down the stairs on the west side (facing the red key area), then turn south. You might be able to snipe the caged arachnotrons before going up another flight of stairs ahead - do so if possible.

As you go up the stairs, it is likely more monsters will come to ambush you. However, refrain from stepping back on the top step of the stairs you came in on, as this will trigger a massive teleport ambush from the four teleport pads in the west of this room.

Deal with the arachnotrons and arch-vile (Hurt me plenty and higher) in the distance. Run over the moat and enter the exit teleporter to finish the level.

Secrets

 * 1) From the start, go down the stairs and drop into the moat. Follow it left for a while, until you reach a pair of overhanging green structures. An unreachable blue combat armor vest is visible in a nook underneath the western one. Press the use key on the brown wall underneath the nook that does not contain the blue armor, and both nooks will lower. Run over to the blue armor before it rises again to register the secret. (sector 90)
 * 2) From secret #1, continue east along the moat until you reach a wooden chamber with several lion-faced pillars in it. One of them has blood splattered on its side. Open it to reveal a teleporter (sector 156) to a megasphere. Note: you will actually need to use the  cheat code to register this secret, as the sector is too small for you to stand on during normal gameplay.
 * 3) From the megasphere, head west down some stairs, then turn left and go straight up another set until you hit a wall. The green-tinged wall to your left opens up, revealing a teleporter (sector 195) to a combat armor vest and other supplies.
 * 4) In the same room as the door to secret #3, there is an opening in the east to a vaguely 3-shaped hall. At the northern end of this corridor, there is another green-tinged wall that can be opened for a secret. (sector 183)

Current records
The Compet-N records for the map are: The data was last verified in its entirety on May 5, 2013.

Player spawns
This level contains eight spawn points:
 * 1) facing south. (thing 268)
 * 2) facing west. (thing 269)
 * 3) facing south. (thing 270)
 * 4) facing east. (thing 271)
 * 5) facing east. (thing 272)
 * 6) facing west. (thing 273)
 * 7) facing north-east. (thing 274)
 * 8) facing west. (thing 275)

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