Mars City Underground: Union Aerospace Subsystems

From DoomWiki.org

Doom 3 maps
Mars City Underground: Union Aerospace Subsystems
Map name: game/mc_underground
"All units. This is Sergeant Kelly. We're under attack by an unknown enemy force. Fall back to Marine HQ to regroup! I say again fall back to Marine HQ and await further orders!"
― Sergeant Kelly [source]

Mars City Underground: Union Aerospace Subsystems is the second level of Doom 3, composed of the main area and an abandoned communications building separated by a short walk outside. It is a small tutorial level covering a few more features in the game.

In the Communications Building, things start to go awry, and the action begins here. The player receives the first weapons: flashlight, pistol, shotgun, and an optional machine gun, and is introduced to the first enemies: zombies, Z-Secs (equipped with pistols or shotguns), and the imp, the first hellspawn enemy, is introduced in a cutscene.

Summary[edit]

Map overview.
A detailed walkthrough is available for this level.
Spoiler Warning: Plot details follow.

The marine arrives at the Mars City Underground, where he is greeted by T. Brooks, who gives him access to some basic gear: armor, a flashlight, and a pistol. The marine then heads through the facility to the old comm station where the missing scientist is believed to have gone. Along the way, he runs into several workers, all of whom seem to be nervous and on the edge. After a brief walk across the Martian surface, he reaches the old comm station. Inside, he finds the missing scientist - Jonathan Ishii - trying to send a message to the UAC.

Ishii frantically tries to explain that he must send a warning out while there is still time. Before he can explain further, another teleportation experiment is conducted at the Delta Complex. Something goes horribly wrong, however. The portal stabilizers suddenly fail, causing a series of explosions throughout the base. At the same time, mysterious ghost-like skulls come flying out of the portal, possessing many workers and security guards. Ishii is possessed and transformed into a zombie, which attacks the marine. After killing the zombified Ishii, along with a Z-Sec that bursts in moments later, the marine receives orders over the radio from Sergeant Kelly to fallback to Marine Command to regroup.

The marine must backtrack his way to the elevator at the beginning of the level. At one point, he is forced to take a detour through Engineering, and must use Frank Delahue's PDA to access the area. Along the way, he is attacked by zombies and Z-Secs, and eventually imps. Throughout all this, the screams and panicked shouting of fellow marines can be heard over the radio. Sergeant Kelly is heard trying to coordinate a defense, but it is obvious that the battle is going poorly. Eventually, the marine returns to the elevator and rides it back to Mars City.

Areas[edit]

Underground Access Elevator
Underground Security Checkpoint
Underground Junction
Maintenance Area CS1
Convergence Chamber 1
Energy Stabilization Unit
Convergence Chamber 2
Energy Processing
Energy Delivery
Maintenance Area PD1
Underground Garage
Airlock MC-2a
Mars Surface
Airlock CT-1c
Old Comm Storage
Old Comm Engineering Elevator
Old Comm Engineering
Old Comm Main
EP Aerobic Stabilizer
EP Control Unit
MCU Storage

Objectives[edit]

Reach Old Comm Building
Make your way to the old communications building. The missing scientist was last seen heading that way.
Back to security checkpoint
Make your way back to the Security Checkpoint. From there you can take the elevator back up to Mars City.
Spoilers end here.

PDAs[edit]

  • Daniel Young. Obtained by killing Daniel Young.
  • Mark Ryan. Obtained by killing Mark Ryan. In the first Xbox port, his PDA is instead found in Convergence Chamber 2.
  • Grant Baston. Found in Energy Stabilization Unit, near a storage crate.
  • Frank Delahue. Found in Energy Processing, on a table.

Characters[edit]

Statistics[edit]

Enemies[edit]

Note: Includes only enemies that can be fought and killed. The enemy count on Nightmare is the same as on Veteran. There are no changes in the enemy amount in the BFG Edition.

Enemy Recruit Marine Veteran
Zombie* 18 19
Pistol Z-Sec 4
Shotgun Z-Sec 4 5
Imp 11

* The zombie that attacks a scientist in Energy Processing has only 20 health.

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.

Item Recruit Marine Veteran
Flashlight 1
Pistol 2
Shotgun 4
Machine gun 2
Bullets (small) 15 13
Shells (small) 13
Shells (large) 2 1
Clip (small) 2
Clip (large) 1
Cells (small) 2
Med kit (small) 23 18 15
Med kit (large) 2
Armor shard 83 76 73
Security armor 3
Adrenaline 1
Air canister 3

There are also 4 health stations on the level: two of them have 100 health in reserve, one has 50, and another has 80 (in BFG Edition all health stations have 100 health).

Locker codes[edit]

For the sources of the codes, see Doom 3 locker codes.
  • Storage locker #023 - Supplies: 531. Contains: med kit (small), shells (small), armor shard x3.

Secrets[edit]

  • In Underground Security (the first room), there are two armor shards on a hidden ledge in the corner to the left of the entrance where the pipes are (one needs to climb those pipes to reach them).
  • In Underground Junction (the crane area), one can climb into crane cabin and find shells and two armor shards there. To reach the platform from which the crane can be accessed, the player needs to go downstairs in underground junction and find a cable that leads to that platform, which is located behind one of the pillars (there's a hidden med kit there). Once the platform is reached, the crane has to be turned to the load position by clicking on a nearby control panel. Note that after the invasion the crane becomes inaccessible because the control panel is broken. In the same platform there is a door to the maintenance storage. It's locked before the invasion, but can be opened after, from the security checkpoint (see below). There's another armor shard there, on the top of two boxes.
  • In Maintenance Area CS1, there are two armor shards hidden behind the stairs, and more on top of the machine that C. Rodgers repairs (can be access by jumping on crates then on pipes). These items are inaccessible after the invasion, due to the whole room being wrecked.
  • In Energy Processing, there are some armor shards below the floor plates.
  • In Energy Delivery, the player can climb below the bridge using a ladder nearby, and access bullets, a med kit and armor shards.
  • In Maintenance Area PD1, there are shells and armor shards below the stairs that can be reached by carefully jumping onto the adjacent pipe.
  • In Mars Surface there are an armor shard, an adrenaline and a air canister lying behind the airlock the player first comes from. Also here, one can climb onto the hill to the left of the opposite airlock to access a clip, armor shards and one more air canister.
  • In Old Comm Storage, some armor shards and a med kit can be found on the shelves to the right of the airlock.
  • In Old Comm Main, there are two sets of bullets to be found on the tables - one on the table near the doorway, and another in the lower section of the room.
  • In the room with Frank Delahue's PDA (Energy Processing), there are bullets, shards, and a med kit on a ledge near the table, and two more shards on a tall blocky machine nearby (both can be reached by stacking crates that are lying nearby). In the same room, the player can walk on a pipe to find another ledge with a med kit and shards.
  • In the next room, the player will see a scientist on an upper walkway being approached by a zombie. Later on, the player will reach this upper walkway. If the player saved the scientist by shooting the zombie, then they will find an open (but broken) storage cabinet in this area with health and armor in it. If the player didn't save the scientist, the same cabinet will be closed with no way of opening it. Incidentally, this particular zombie only has 20 health, so can be killed by two pistol shots (or one pistol headshot).
  • In EP Aerobic Stabilizer, there's a large pipe that can be climbed under, and behind it a med kit and two armor shards can be found.
  • In EP Control Unit, shells and a med kit can be found under the floor (a ladder can be used to climb back up).
  • In the room where the player first encounters an imp (also called EP Aerobic Stabilizer), there are a med kit, shells and armor shards on the table behind the stream of fire emitting from the gas pipe. To access it without taking damage from the fire, the player needs to input a failure code into the first control panel in the next room the player has go through, to shut down the gas leak. The code is 842, and it can be obtained by listening to one of the audio logs from Frank Delahue's PDA.
  • In the same room where the player can shut down the gas leak, the player can also use the third control panel to open a maintenance hatch nearby (reached by climbing onto the pipe) for some shells and another med kit
  • After the player passes through the catwalk above the folding bridge and enters the next room (Energy Processing), there are hidden bullets to the immediate right, on a blocky machine.
  • In Energy Stabilization Unit the player is attacked by a shotgun Z-sec upon entering it. After that, if the player goes a few rooms back, they will find a closet from which the Z-sec emerged and some shells and armor shards in it.
  • In Underground Security where the player needs to use a control panel to open access to the exit elevator, the same control panel has additional access options which can be revealed by pressing the "Mars City Sublevel Access" button below. There the player can open the exit locker which contains the first machine guns, shotguns and clips, as well as unlock the door to maintenance storage. To access the maintenance storage the player has to go to the isolated platform with the crane (see above). The maintenance storage has a health station, bullets, early cells for the plasma gun, and armor shards (on the crates).

Trivia[edit]

  • On the original Xbox version of the game, the level is divided into two parts: Mars City Underground and Mars City Underground - Service Passage.
  • On the Nightmare difficulty, in which you always have the Soul Cube in your inventory, killing a civilian will contribute to charging it just like killing an enemy would.
  • The button in the lift to exit the level erroneously states that the player is leaving Comm Transfer, a level later in the game.

Gallery[edit]

External links[edit]

  • Walkthrough video by WoopzillaWalkthrough (part 1; part 2) on YouTube. Veteran difficulty; part of a full game run.