DM-Phobos

For other versions of this map, see Recurring maps#Phobos.

This Martian space station is caught between Mars and its satellite Phobos, resulting in a chaotic rotation. Fortunately, the gravity generators are working well enough to lend a fast paced rhythm to deathmatch.

DM-Phobos

Map Description

This arena is set in space, inside and atop a satellite orbiting the Phobos moon. It is considered by many people to be one of the finest deathmatch maps in the game. Through the use of well connected spaces, plenty of z-axis fighting and good weapon placement this map has earned its title as a classic.

Weapons & Pickups

Weapons

Pickups

Tips & tricks

• The BioRifle's secondary fully charged shot and Ripper's primary shot are very useful weapons in the lower areas.
• The tower offers a good sniping spot, but it's also a good way of hurting your enemy if he's the sniper. You can push him off with any weapon with enough splash damage to make your foe to fall.
• In order to gain access to the Invisibility, you have to look for a wall with two big lights at the sides in the central area and shoot it. There's also a platform near of that wall.
• The Jumpboots can be used to reach the Rocket Launcher from the Central area, and reach the second level from the lower one in order to search for health and armor.

Author's Tips

Let's start with a few basic tricks, if you see that the central area is crowded you can go in the corridor and grab the Ripper, position yourself like this and shoot using the Primary Fire. The bouncing projectile will most likely touch or kill someone, but be careful because anyone can come from your back and kill you easily with a Shock Rifle Combo Move. Since you're not moving you're an easy target, so I'd recommend to do this only a few seconds.
Another advice, with the BioRifle, after grabbing it in the corridor, charge the weapon with the ALT Fire, walk up the stairs with the blue light and shoot the Rocket Launcher. You'll spread you green goo all over and you have a lot of chances to kill someone since most people just run to the Rocket Lancher without watching their back.
Finally, the Tower is a good Sniping spot. It's hard to aim people who are fighting in the central area because they're running and dodging most of the time but you can get a few easy frags when you kill campers that usually stay on the small ledge or on the Roof.

Now let's see how to use the JumpBoots correctly.

First , go in the central area and look at this wall surrounded by 2 lights. Shoot the wall with any gun, be careful when using the Rocket Launcher, you could hurt yourself.
The wall opens, now you can get the goodies. There is an Invisibility and JumpBoots, sometimes you'll just have the Boots since the Invisibility is not respawning as frequently as the Boots.
Now, with these Boots you can do a few cool things.

There are several possibilities, choose the most appropriate depending on your current health status and available weapons.

First Possibility: If you don't have the Rocket Launcher, you may grab it on the small ledge. This is dangerous since this area is usually crowded but if you don't have any good weapon you take the risk. Once you have the Rocket Launcher and eventually the Rocket Ammo, start loading a few rockets and jump to the small niche with the rocket ammo:
If someone appears before your jump you can try to shoot him while you're doing your jump, this is fun. So when you reach the niche you have the Rocket Launcher and you should have quite a few Rocket ammo depending on what's available. You took a few risks but now you have a serious weapon and enough ammo to frag, and you have 2 remaining jumps.

2nd Possibility: if you're low on health or if you already have a good weapon, you can reach the second level quickly.
After grabbing the Boots and Invisibility, move to your right and jump through the hole in the ceiling. You should practice this move alone or with bots because it's hard to do, you have time the jump perfectly. The best spot is at the limit of the floor, just before the few steps down. If you jump to early, you'll hit the ceiling, if you jump to late, you'll be too low and you won't reach the 2nd storey.
If you made the jump well, you can do a second Jump and try to get the Armor
This is a good path because you'll never be very exposed and you can still get nice pickups. The Armor will give you good protection. While you're on the roof, you can grab the Redeemer or walk near the edge of the central area and kill a few people down there.

3rd Possibility: If you have good weapons and good health, or if you're confident enough, after grabbing the Invisibility and the JumpBoots, walk back in the Central Area and jump: before your jump you can load a few Rockets and shoot anyone who might be near the Rocket Launcher location. I always find it fun to load several rockets, do my big jump using the Boots and explode some poor lamer with 5 or 6 Rockets :-)
When you reach the 2nd Storey, do the same thing, you can load several Rockets again, turn 180° quickly and do another big jump using your Boots:
Now you reach the 3rd Storey and you have the Armor, and you're in a good position to shoot people under you. This is my favorite move. In a few seconds you can gain nice pickups, Invisibility, JumpBoots and Armor, all this while fragging several people. And of course you're in a good position to grab the Redeemer :-)^[1]

Trivia

• Although Pulse Cells are present in this map, there is no Pulse Gun to use them. DM-Phobos was one of the maps featured in the demo version of UT, and this map had a single Pulse Gun where the Bio Rifle and its ammo currently are. Only the Pulse Gun was edited out for the final version, leaving behind its Pulse Cells.
• Pay attention to the computer voice announcing that the tower lift was called.
• The map started as an enclosed arena, until Inoxx figured that it would have been fun to fight, but boring to watch.
• The skybox was taken from CTF-Face, but with the Earth being replaced by Mars.
• As the name implies, it was named after one of the natural satellites of Mars.
• The Playstation 2 version of the game replaces the intro text with the following:

On this Martian space station, you will be fighting Damien, one of the leading contenders to win the tournament after his devastating romp through the lower ladders.

Author's Notes

I was sad to have my Spaceship stolen so I did something bigger, a Space Station!!
I did the inside first. A big hole surrounded by some corridors. The result was fun for deathmatching but really boring to watch, so I created the outside part. I took the basic shape of a satellite (A core, an antenna/dish at the bottom and 2 wings or solar panels) and I imagined how to create a full scale Space Station with this basic look. All the bottom part is for decoration only but it's cool to fight in a real place. I added the lightboxes at the end. The Skybox was taken from Facing Worlds but I changed the texture to be Mars instead. I have to thank Mike Leatham for this awesome texture. The result is an interesting Level, my favorite work with Facing Worlds. I'm happy with the gameplay too, you can stay in the middle an enjoy and intense fight, or you can play on a slower pace and collect the pickups on the roof and enjoy the scenery :) Going to the bottom part is dangerous but you're rewarded by powerful weapons and powerups.

There seems to be a lot of talks about Unreal Tournament having half of 'Hardcore Levels' and half of 'Gimmicks Levels'. While it's true that some levels focus on their visual appeal to draw beginners to deathmatch and catch the public attention, I worked really hard to make Levels with great intense and furious hardcore gameplay AND gorgeous visual effects and original setting.

The music is an interesting mix of slow paced and action pack techno so it's really working well for this Level, I named the Level like one of the natural satellites of Mars (Phobos and Deimos).^[2]

Single-Player

UT Demo

• Gametype: Deathmatch
• Frag limit: 20
• Rivals: Malcom, Doc Zenith, Riker, Bruce, Darhl

Unreal Tournament

• Gametype: Challenge
• Frag limit: 15
• Rivals: Vector, Cathode, Matrix, Silicon, Divisor

Unreal Tournament (PS2)

• Gametype: Challenge
• Frag limit: 15
• Rivals: Damien

References