The UCA series

as featured in Super Serials

UCA	TALPOIDA
DIOPATRA	SAPIDUSB

To some people, 1994 will always be the worst year of Doom PWADs. To others, be they antiquarians, historians, or just Doom lovers in general, there's a lot of joy to be had in these Promethean works. To be fair, there were still a lot of maps that sucked, but paving over '94 entirely does a grave disservice to the authors that stood above the rest. Eddie Nguyen seemed to have a pretty good grasp on level design, and while his maps have foibles intolerable to modern players (not truly balanced for pistol start, mazes, cramped, repetition, mandatory "secrets"), they are pretty evocative and come with some fairly dense .TXT descriptions that eventually taper off to author commentaries. Nguyen wanted to make a whole episode, too, and you see how that panned out. At least he managed to cap it off, unlike the sorely unresolved INVADE...

SAPIDUSB (SAPIDUSB.WAD)

SAPIDUSB
by Eddie Nguyen

Eddie Nguyen started the UCA series conceived as an episode replacement for The Shores of Hell, released on a level-by-level basis. I think he ran out of steam, though - SAPIDUSB is the finale, the last level published. It's a single map for the original Doom, occupying the E2M4 slot. If you haven't been keeping up, the demons built a base in the Uca Crater on Deimos from stuff they scavenged from Phobos. The UAC sent two waves of marines to inspect the goings-on. You were part of the squad sent to rescue them, but it turns out the demons have a "pulse cannon" capable of taking down starships and after the rest of your team dies, it's up to you to infiltrate the base and shut down the cannon for good so that your ship, the Gateway, can rescue your ass. This time, you have some objectives - disable the four power generators in the corners of the base and then eliminate the massive computer brain in the center so that the pulse cannon is gone for good.

DIOPATRA (DIOPATRA.WAD)

DIOPATRA
by Eddie Nguyen

DIOPATRA is the third map in Eddie Nguyen's UCA series, which started with UCA and moved on to TALPOIDA before moving on to this. They're all single maps released for Doom in 1994; this one occupies the E2M3 slot as they're meant to be played consecutively with carryovers. The previous two levels had voluminous .TXT backstories. Here, Nguyen is savvy enough to realize that, since the story hasn't changed much (you're still trying to blow up a "pulse cannon" that is capable of destroying the ship you hope will rescue you and any other UAC fleet vessel), he should skip the setup. Instead, he talks about his choice of monsters, what the map's design is, and how much harder it is than the previous levels for a pistol start.

TALPOIDA (TALPOIDA.WAD)

TALPOIDA
by Eddie Nguyen

TALPOIDA, released by Eddie Nguyen in 1994, is the second map in the UCA series. As it was intended to be played consecutively after UCA, it occupies the E2M2 slot of the original Doom. TALPOIDA continues the action of the first level, detailing the marine's invasion of Deimos's Uca Crater. I guess you didn't finish your job, but you are a lot deeper in the enemy installation. The story in the .TXT is mostly delivered via a transcript of your audio log. Unsurprisingly, the rest of your squad is dead, and the demons have a big freakin' gun of their own, capable of bringing down starships. As you penetrate further into the base, you're intent on taking down a "pulse laser cannon". It was strong enough to take down the Aquarius - the ship from the previous lost unit - so it can probably destroy the Gateway, and that's your ticket out of here.

UCA (UCA.WAD)

UCA
by Eddie Nguyen

Not to be confused with anything UAC, UCA is a single map for Doom released by Eddie Nguyen back in 1994. It's the beginning of a series of single releases that were ultimately meant to be played as a series (the UCA series, duh), so if you plan to move on to the next bit - TALPOIDA - make sure you load it along with UCA so that you don't subject yourself to some survival-style gameplay. This one occupies the E2M1 slot, by the way. The .TXT has a fairly well-developed plot detailing the goings-on at the Uca Crater on Mars's Deimos moon. I thought it ended up in Hell, but I guess it came back after you saved the universe? The story suggests that Phobos was the only incident that ever happened. Anyway, demons are building a base in the Uca Crater using stuff they stole from Phobos, and the previous teams that established this information are all dead. You're the only surviving member of the third team, and after a close encounter you get a second chance to complete your mission.