DM2

DM2 - "Claustrophobopolis"
Author:	American McGee
Gametypes:	Duel, 2on2, 4on4, FFA

Claustrophobopolis, better known as DM2, is one of the six deathmatch maps included with Quake. Originally featured in QTest, it is one of the biggest dueling maps that is still commonly played, and sees lots of play in all major gametypes. Thanks to the iconic big room, with its hanging crucified body and retractable lava floor trap, the level is probably one of the most recognizable and memorable in all of Quakeworld.

Items

One of the most immediately distinctive traits of this map when it comes to item layout is the absence of the Lightening Gun. This is probably due to the fact that the map was originally released with QTest, and the weapon was not included in that release. However, an even more curious aspect is that there are no less than two Red Armors, Mega Healths and three Yellow Armors, which brings the average durability of each player up a significant amount.

Powerups					Armor				Weapons
Quad	Ring	Pent	MH		RA	YA	GA		LG	RL	GL	SNG	NG	SSG
{{{quad}}}	{{{ring}}}	{{{pent}}}	{{{hp100}}}		{{{ra}}}	{{{ya}}}	{{{ga}}}		{{{lg}}}	{{{rl}}}	{{{gl}}}	{{{sng}}}	{{{ng}}}	{{{ssg}}}

Popularity

DM2 is considered one of the big five in duels, and one of the big three in 4on4 play. Although a staple of play in all regions, it is a prefered map in both Poland and Australia.

Appeal

One of the major reasons things that makes this map unique is the lack of Lighting Guns,, which means LG aim is less dominant, and RL-based aim and strategy is more dominant, as opposed to DM4 and Aerowalk, where Lightning Gun aim and strategy are both very important.

In spite of its size, DM2 has remained a popular choice because every frag is very important. In tournament-level DM2 duels, this map is known for having "soccer scores" where the final score are miniscule, such as "1-0", however the game itself is very intense as the players position and counter-position themselves to get the most advantage out of the fight for that one frag.

Critisism

In spite of being so popular, this map is very polarizing. The fact that this map is so prone to such low-scoring matches leads some players and spectators to beleive that this leads to a match that is boring. Some players who are dissatisfied with the slower gameplay tend to nickname this map a "Counterstrike" map.

Areas

An overhead view of DM2

The map itself can be considered one big circle, with the big room, water room and low RL room approximently equidistant from each other.

The Big Room

The iconic centerpiece of the map is a wide open arena with two niches on either side of the map where yellow armor spawns, and an upper niche area with a MH and GL. This room is the most popular fight area in duels, and there has been a lot of dodging strategy developed here, mostly based around the stairs leading up to the yellow armor niches.

Upper Big Room

The upper area is accessible through the lower teleporter area, although some intrepid players can be seen rocketjumping from the stairs on the lower big room itself. This area gives the most straightforward access to the quad area, and across a moving platform lies the first of two megas and a grenade launcher.

Quad Area

This small hallway is between the big room and the water area. It is split into two different areas, with the upper area containing a rocket launcher and the Quad, and a lower hallway which connects the big room to water area. There is also a specific place in the lower hallway where a teammate can stand and another teammate can jump on top of him to grab the Quad without taking any damage.

Water room

While the room itself is a little sparse, only containing a nailgun, it is a very important room nonetheless, as this is the area where people can go north down the stairs to the low teleport. This teleport is the only access to quad for people without RL, and in team games this is usually the first area to gain control of, in order to then get control of rl and quad. In duels, this room is very important, because it contains the biggest concentration of spawns on the map and allows for game-winning spawn-fragging. You can also go up the stairs to get to the Quad hallway or you can climb another set of stairs and go down another hallway to get to the Rocket Launcher room or RA Secret. Be sure to listen for the 'splash' of feet hitting water, for that signals that someone just made their way out of the RA Secret, however, it is also possible to jump clear across the water.

Low Teleporter

This is less of a room and more of a hallway with a pack of rockets and a switch. Simply walk down the stairs, hit the switch and double back to the now-open grate to gain access to a Yellow Armor and the top of the Big Room. In team games, this area is very important to control for the same reason as the water room. In duels, the YA spawn point behind the bars is a favorite camp area, because it has a nice back exit.

Red Armor Secret

Simply known as 'secret' this area is accessable by shooting a button that is visible traveling from the water room to the rocket launcher room. A lone Red Armor rests here, and the only way out is through another hidden wall that dumps you out over the water, although it is possible to RJ up to the secret door if you are quick enough.

Rocket Launcher Room

This room contains the second of two rocket launchers in the entire map, and also contains the passageway to both the Mega+RA powerup room and the button room overlooking the same room. In team games, it is usually the last area of control, but it is very important to sweep the RL that spawns here every 30 seconds, to deny the opposing team significant firepower.

RA+Mega Room

This area contains two powerful items right next to each other across a pit of lava that is easily jumped over. The entrance to this area is another lava pit that any player should learn to easily bunny hop over. There is a teleporter here for those who wish to make a quick exit to the Big room, and there are two exits that lead to the button room, one from the top of the stairs, and another through the use of a button-activated door across the lava pit. In duels, this is a favorite camp area, because it has multiple back exits.

Button Room

This room contains naught except for a button that extends a bridge across the lava pit in the RA+Mega room. This is one area of attack against a camper inside the RA+Mega room. To make your entry here silent, make sure you have all the nails, so as to not pick up the nail pack in this area which alerts your approach to the camper. It also contains a handy back way into the RA+Mega if you have a teammate holding open the door for you. The RA+Mega camper can also use this room to extend the bridge, and camp on top of this bridge.

How to Play

Duel

As mentioned above, DM2 favors a slow pace approach in duels, but can become quite fast paced due to Rocket Jump spots entering long corridors and lack of LG. The slow pace is facilitated by a number of camping spots that can be transitioned between to run away from a coming-back opponent. DM2 has a good tendency for lots of spawn frags due to a number of spawn points being close in the nailgun room (here are two famous examples).

DM2 has one main point of control in 1on1 play: the lower Rocket Launcher room, since control of his room also gives control of the Red Armor+Megahealth room; a powerful combination when combined with the Rocket Launcher. However, like any sort of camping strategy, it gives plenty of time for the cautious opponent to stock up on supplies elsewhere in the map. This is especially true in DM2 due to the fact that there is a second Red and a second Mega, contained in the secret room and the upper big room respectively. These powerful items effectively creates another point of control, although they are not together. Even if the camping player somehow manages to keep the other powerups out of his opponents reach, there is also the fact that there are three Yellow Armors on the map as well which gives the down player further recourse. A dueler who can sucessfuly deny his opponent the second RA and Mega in addition to keeping the lower Rocket Launcher area under control can quite safely be considered a timing and denial master, as DM2 is bar-none the hardest map to "maplock" in the standard rotation.

DM2 also has the distinction of having several very viable camping spots on the map, where one rotate between different camping spots once you have a comfortable lead. These spots are:

• Lower Teleporter area, behind the bars.
• Red/Mega room, next to the teleporter.
• The corner above the Nailgun player spawn in the Water room.
• The corner in the hallway with the lava pit connecting the big room and the lower rocket launcher room.

These four camping spots usually allow the camper enough warning to make a quick dash to someplace else safe, usually one of the other camping spots. As the camper rotates from spot to spot, his opponent will do his best to try and chase down the camper. Although this is difficult, with enough effort the opponent can manages to chip away at the campers health and maybe even score a few frags if the camper is careless.

4 on 4

Credits: ui This map is probably the most hated - and the most loved - of the classical "Big Three" maps. It's rather small with a number of narrow passages, which opens up for interesting rl and gl tactics. The key to dm2 lies in successful control of the quad-ng-tele area. When the tele is defended, enemies will have to rely on the other two paths to quad; either they will have to go from low via path, where they will run into a hailstorm of rockets launched from ng, or they will have to wade through an ocean of grenades coming from big to quad-low.

Quadruns are often aimed at low and ra-mega since the enemy tends to camp out here when they are not in control. A successful quadrunner can clear out low, give rl to a teammate, grab ra and mega, and return to grab the next quad. It is often possible to repeat this several times. Also, having one person run several quads in a row is good since he can more easily manage the timing of rl and ra, while the mates cover water, tele and big.

Controlling dm2 basically revolves around repeating this kind of quadruns and denying the enemy at least one of the ras, and hopingly both rls. But of course the enemy will try to gain control. If this happens, the best thing is often to try and flood tele. This way it is often possible to get one or two guys through to high. The best possible scenario is one guy who has ra and rl who goes to tele together with two weaker mates. The weaker mates go in first and distract the enemy (they will be defending the tele, be sure of it) while the guy with armor and rl can move in for the kill. If he can successfully hold tele it's possible for the team to rapidly move through to tele-high and from there, onward to the quad.

If we have a severe advantage over the enemies (the optimum being four guys with ra and rl), it's possible to obtain a complete maplock by having one guy defend tele, one who keeps water, one guy who camps low, and one quadrunner who goes from quad via water to low and then comes around to clear out ra-mega. This way we can quickly rack up on frags without risking too much. If the tele is compromised somehow (e g an enemy spawns and slips through), the player defending it follows the enemy through tele and kills him somewhere around tele-high or high-rl. Meanwhile, the player defending water moves in to make sure no more enemies get through tele.

The player defending tele (and sometimes water) must NEVER leave his post. If you need armor, make sure you are relieved by a mate before leaving the tele. Leaving the tele undefended for just 5-6 seconds can be enough for two enemies to spawn and slip through, which is of course really bad. Also, if things get messy, don't hesitate to help out by the tele. It's an absolute point of priority since losing it means giving the enemy more ways of getting to quad.

If the team is losing and the enemy seems to be in control of quad and the surrounding areas, it's often wise to try to gather at low and try to stack up on ra and at least two rls. When the enemy quad approaches, it's possible to spread out in the rooms at low in such a way that the quad is slowed down a lot and quite possibly killed. Since quad can only approach low from two different ways, the first line of defense would obviously be shooting nails and rockets along platforms and path. With any luck, the enemy will get hit by one or two of these rockets, taking him down from a possible 200/200 to something more along the lines of 80/120. Thereafter, retreat back into the ra-mega room (the person shooting along path could go via ssg and the person shooting platforms would jump up through the trapdoor at button). From here, keep someone standing next to the ssg in the way mentioned above, ready to make an attack on approaching enemies from there. Quite possibly this is a kamikaze position, but when played correctly it can mean that the quad ends up taking a nap in the lava, or simply blowing himself up. Also, keep someone standing at the ledge next to the tele, ready to shoot rockets at anyone who tries to go to button and shoot from there. Meanwhile, the other two players can tele through, and hopingly catch the enemies unaware, seize control of water and tele, and then the tables are turned! (With any luck, that is...)

Handy moves on dm2:

- Stand on the topmost step of the stairs beneath quad. A teammate can jump up on you and onward to get quad. Knowing this move is imperative in the beginning of the game - suppose you spawn at ng and a mate spawns at quad-low, you can have the quad within 5 seconds of game start! Be sure to get out of there quickly though, unless you know that another mate spawned at tele. Having quad is nice but you do not want to mess with an enemy carrying ya and rl when all you have is 100 hp and boomstick...
- Jump from big-stairs to tele-high. Stand on the 2nd step from the top and make a curling rocketjump up. Make sure you time the jump properly, otherwise you might end up banging into the moving platform. This is a move seldom seen in lowdiv games, but properly executed it can be an excellent way of grabbing the quad from an unexpected angle if the enemy defends tele.
- A number of jumps in and around the stairs leading down to tele;
jump from the ledge at the top and all the way down (although this leaves you vulnerable to rockets from below)
jump from the 2nd step from the top, out over the lava, and then onto the ledge at the top (useful for distracting enemies that are chasing you, or when you're under fire and want to dodge)
- Rocketjump from tele-high to big-top (it's actually possible to walk across on the beams that run in the roof). Also, standing up here *can* be an excellent spot for camping the tele exit, although it leaves you open for attacks from big-floor if and when anyone sees you standing up there.
- Strafejump across the lava at ra-mega to get the goodies without extending the bridge.
- Curl around the corner at ssg. You should be able to perform this jump in both directions.
- Although it can be very hard, it's possible to make a curling jump from rl-high to quad without rocketjumping. Don't try it in a game unless you're sure you can pull it off.
- When you're standing at quad, you can lob grenades towards the tele and actually bounce them off the pillar. When done correctly this will land the grenades right by the spawn point next to the button!
- When you're waiting for the quad, switch positions between standing right next to the quad spawn point, a bit closer to the ledge, and across the gap. This will make you a hard target for rockets coming from tele.
- It's possible to stand in the tele stairs and shoot rockets at quad. Just watch out for teammates going for the quad; the rockets take quite some time to reach quad from the stairs.
- Defend the ra-mega by standing next to the ssg spawn. Make sure you stand close to the lava, otherwise you will take splash damage from rockets fired from button. When an enemy tries to jump around the corner, either shoot him with ssg so he falls down, or just be in his way so he ditches in the lava. Of course you need to look out for teammates trying to get around here as well.
- When you're going for the ra-secret, there are a few tricks. First, you can open the trapdoor from low by shooting a rocket at the wall next to the button. This way the door will be open when you get to it, which saves precious milliseconds. Secondly, when you're leaving the room, it's possible to make a jump from the ledge over the water, all the way to the solid floor. Doing this will confuse the enemy, since landing in water makes a very unique sound, revealing your position to everyone who's close by. Also, when you're waiting for the ra, make sure you don't stand right beneath the trapdoor. - It's possible to jump from the spawn point at water (the "hole in the wall" right beneath path) onto the ledge by the ra-secret exit. When you're standing here you have a good chance of catching people coming out of ra-secret, although you better be stacked since they will likely be packing a punch. :p
- Stand in one of the ya-boxes in big and keep a lookout for enemies coming from quad-low. If you time this correctly, you can telefrag them! Killing the quad this way is excellent.

External Links

• Download the loc files as part of the Flintheart collection.