Communications: Central Communications Tower

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Doom 3 maps
Communications: Central Communications Tower
Map name: game/comm1

Communications: Central Communications Tower is the eleventh level of Doom 3. The player is given the choice of either sending or canceling the transmission to the Earth fleet for backup. This is the only level in which the Riot Shield Z-Sec is encountered.

Summary[edit]

Spoiler Warning: Plot details follow.

The marine exits the airlock and enters the garage of the Communications facility. Sergeant Kelly radios in and advises the marine to watch out for Campbell and Swann who are also in the area. The marine is then given the objective of reaching the Main Control Room.

In the garage, the marine defeats several imps and cacodemons before taking the elevator up to Communications Access. From there, he fights his way to the Lobby where he finds the access controls for the Main Control Room. He unlocks the doors and heads to the Control Room, only to discover Campbell and Swann destroying the communications equipment. By the time the marine reaches the Control Room, Swann and Campbell are gone and all the equipment is in ruins.

Sergeant Kelly comes in over the radio again, and tells the marine to head to the satellite room at the top of the tower and establish a manual connection to the satellite from there. The fastest way there is through Engineering. The marine picks up Seamus Blake's PDA from the control room, which gives him access to Engineering. He then enters Engineering and fights his way through the hordes of demons and zombies until he reaches a Security Office. Kelly radios in again and informs the marine that he has learned the demons invaded the base through the main portal at Delta. He wants the marine to come to Delta as soon as the message is sent.

The marine activates a sentry bot which leads him through the rest of the Engineering section to an elevator. The player then rides the elevator up to Satellite Control Access. He finds Rob Finch's PDA which gives him access to the satellite control center itself. He enters the control center (suspiciously encountering no enemies along the way) and uploads the contents of the transmission card to the computer. Suddenly, Counselor Swann appears on a monitor and orders the marine to cancel the transmission. He argues that they do not know what they are dealing with, and that Mars must remain under UAC control.

At this point, the marine can choose to either obey Kelly's orders and send the transmission, or follow Swann's advice and cancel it:

  • If the marine chooses to send the transmission, Swann will angrily tell you that you may have just endangered the Fleet and Earth. He states that he's going to Delta Labs to stop this and warns you not to get in his way. Sergeant Kelly then radios in and congratulates you, saying that reinforcements will be here soon. He then orders you to meet him at Delta Labs.
  • If the marine chooses to cancel the transmission, Swann will praise you, stating that they need to keep this place sealed off from the outside. He then tells you to meet up with him and Campbell at the Monorail entrance. They need to get to Delta to stop this invasion. A furious Sergeant Kelly then comes in over the radio and orders you to send the transmission. This is impossible since the terminal has now been locked out by Swann. As you return to the elevator, Kelly will again order you to send the transmission, but something interferes with the COM channel and he is cut off.

The decision made will be remembered and affects the contents of a later video message from Dr. Betruger in the Recycling level, but beyond this, it ultimately has no effect on the outcome of the game.

Either way, the marine must get to the monorail in order to reach Delta. He returns to the elevator and take it down to the Maintenance Area (if he goes back to Engineering, he will find the area has caved in, blocking off access). From there, he fights his back way to the Lobby and exits to the Monorail Skybridge.

Areas[edit]

Communications Garage
Comm Main Elevator
Communications Access Junction
Skyway
Communication Lobby
Communications Hallway
Main Communication Room
Comm Engineering Unit 1
Comm Engineering Lift 1
Comm Engineering Storage 1
Comm Engineering Lift 2
Comm Systems
Comm Engineering Unit 2
Security Office
Communication Annex
Thermal Control
Comm Maintenance Elevator
Satellite Control Access
Satellite Control Skyway
Satellite Control Center
Communications Maintenance

Objectives[edit]

Main Communications Room
Locate the Main Communications Room
Reach the monorail
Return to lobby and head for the monorail station
Spoilers end here.

Characters[edit]

PDAs[edit]

  • Seamus Blake: In Main Communication Room.
  • Ben Wolfe: Comm Systems, in the corridor after second lift.
  • Rob Finch: Satellite Control Access, near the lift.

Statistics[edit]

Enemies[edit]

The enemy count on Nightmare is the same as on Veteran. There are no changes in the enemy amount in the BFG Edition.

Enemies Recruit Marine Veteran
Zombie 10
Shotgun Z-Sec 13
Machine gun Z-Sec 10 11
Shield Z-Sec 4
Imp 28
Wraith 6
Cacodemon 8 9

Items[edit]

The item count on Nightmare is the same as on Veteran, except the med kits are absent. There are no changes in the amount of items in the BFG Edition.

Items Recruit Marine Veteran
Shotgun 3
Bullets (small) 1
Shells (small) 5
Shells (large) 3
Clip (small) 6
Clip (large) 3
Ammo belt 3
Grenades 2
Cells (small) 2 3
Cells (large) 2
Med kit (small) 18 16
Med kit (large) 4
Armor shard 52
Security armor 7

There are also four health stations on the level, three of which have 50 health in reserve, and one has 80 health (all of them have 100 health in BFG Edition).

Starting inventory[edit]

If the player starts the level via a console command, they will start with these items:

Item Amount
Flashlight 1
Shotgun 1
Machine gun 1
Chain gun 1
Plasma gun 1
Chainsaw 1
Bullets (large) 1
Shells (large) 1
Grenades 2

Locker codes[edit]

For the sources of the codes, see Doom 3 locker codes.
  • Storage locker #054 - Ammunition: 246. Contains: security armor, shells (large), hand grenades.

Secrets[edit]

  • After travelling the lift to communications for the first time, right after exiting it turn right and there will be a small control panel on the wall which, upon clicking it, will open a nearby maintenance hatch with supplies.
  • There's another secret hatch with supplies. In Comm Engineering Unit 1, there's a room where the player will be attacked by an imp from the left side, and a fat zombie from the right side, hiding in a small niche. In said niche there's also a control panel on the wall, which will reveal the hatch behind the player.
  • Slightly later, also in Comm Engineering Unit 1, the player will go through a room which has a catwalk above it. Said catwalk can be reached by climbing onto nearby computers, then onto machinery, and from the machinery the player can jump onto the catwalk and pick up the supplies there. Besides this catwalk, additional stuff can be found in the same room, but under the bottom floor plates.
  • In Communications Maintenance, the ledge on your left - from which two imps throw fireballs at you - contains security armor. It can be reached by carefully jumping from the pipe next to the walkway.

Trivia[edit]

  • On the original Xbox version of the game, this level was divided into two parts: Communications - Sector 1 and Communications - Sector 2.
  • A small med kit is glitched in a box in the starting room. You can still pick it up if you approach from the corner.
  • When you enter the security office and approach the console to deploy the sentry bot, Sergeant Kelly will send a radio message informing you that the demonic invasion originated in Delta Labs. Due to a scripting error, the "incoming communication" animation that normally accompanies radio transmissions is not displayed onscreen during this message. This error is present in both the standard PC and BFG editions of the game, but was corrected in the Xbox port.

Gallery[edit]

External links[edit]