This version of Scorpion's Lair supports D2X-XL's 16-player mode, which should be enough players to fill it at last. It is otherwise identical to the original.

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The Scorpion's Lair (D2X-XL version) (35 KB)

Date of Completion: 9 January 2010

Here it is - the largest Descent 2 level to date, and there's a good chance it'll stay that way.

Anthology is a D2X-XL exclusive level; it weighs in at an impressive 5501 cubes, with over a thousand each of walls and objects. It's been well over two years in the making, but the result has been worth it.

As Anthology unfolds it follows the progress of the original Descent trilogy, and in more ways than just one. You will find your weapons, enemies, and even the appearance and form of the environment change as you progress through the level.

A word to the wise: as this level is most of the size of many entire mission sets, it will take around 3-4 hours to finish (more if you get lost easily!). Also, you may find you will need a substantial amount of memory for best results.

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Anthology (2895 KB)

Date of Completion: 13 February 2008

The second edition of the Scorpion's Lair is a revision to make it more "player-friendly", especially with fewer players. It now comfortably suits around six players, but could handle 4-8 at a reasonable pace.

The level is mostly simpler in some areas (especially beneath the main rooms), and somewhat smaller; there are about the same number of weapons, but they are easier to find.

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The Scorpion's Lair, Second Edition (18 KB)

Date of Completion: 23 October 2006

Legacy of Chaos is a collection of a number of levels I and Darkhorse had created for various other projects but never actually used. However, they were too good to throw out, so I elected to put an effort into finishing them and then adding them to this 3-level set. A number of old robots got the same treatment.

Some of them are, naturally, quite old, so you will see more than a few glimpses of styles we don't generally use any more. But it is a nice, eclectic mix of levels, and should take a quite manageable length of time to complete in single-player or co-operative.

legacy.txt contains a full history of each level and robot placed in the set, or at least to the best of my knowledge.

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Legacy of Chaos (264 KB)

Date of Completion: 27 June 2005

FV-24B is my first level specifically for Diedel's D2X-W32. In this case it is designed to exhibit the new Descent 3-style CTF mode, and as such borrows a fair bit of inspiration from one of the best D3 CTF levels, Halcyon.

However, since the most players you can get in a Descent 2 game is still 8, it needed to be scaled down just a bit. The weapon balance ensures that it will be basically impossible to run out, even though you may be virtually swimming in them at times with fewer players.

I designed FV-24B to look fairly similar to FV-24 in terms of texturing; the red/blue colouring is still present, although the theme is perhaps more metallic now.

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FV-24B (22 KB)

Date of Completion: 2 May 2005

From an idea from Bubble, I took the original Vamped and added a few things on to it to allow it to support an increased player load.

I also threw in a Mega Missile just for interest; at that time it seemed a favourite among the Descent Ranger players.

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Vamped 2005 (13 KB)

Date of Completion: 15 February 2005

The Scorpion's Lair is an attempt to create a level aimed specifically at a target audience and to play a specific way.

It is very large so will play best with as many people as you can get; it works with four but can be quite slow.

At the same time, I have tried to keep it visually interesting.

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The Scorpion's Lair (32 KB)

Date of Completion: 14 February 2005

The level I made for the 40th Descent 2 Revival, and the last run under Stealth. Thus it was part of the final Revival Pack.

It is based in many ways on the boss room of Descent 1 level 7, but also with touches from Descent 2 Dogfight level 1, and some of its own original features.

It's small, so it plays fast; it also has rather heavy weapons to fit in with the preferences of many D2 Revival players at the time. It was host to some rather hectic gameplay during the event.

Obviously it's still here; so if you need a hard and fast level for four or so players, Helium will work nicely.

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Helium (30 KB)

Date of Completion: 15 September 2003

My first level designed for hoard since Nuclear Hoard, and first single level for hoard since Black Shafts (a long time ago, and needless to say it sucked). If you don't mind long, slow games you can play 1 on 1 here, but if I were you I'd stuff in as many as possible. I believe it'd handle a full 8 just fine (maybe even 16 if Descent 2 handled it).

Just to be sadistic, I made the weapon balance pretty weak - they can all be found in Descent 1 - except there are plenty of smart missiles to go around. Then I placed the hoard bases through doors in the middle of a long grated hallway. As a result, I fully expect scoring to be quite a gauntlet with higher player counts.

Appearance-wise it isn't too bad, but the scheme is nice and boring so you see the guys you want to shoot, not pretty moving textures on the walls. :) There were some influences from standard Parallax architecture and a few bits from Solrazor's Mizu in this level.

Most noticeably, I replaced the player ship. That was a week's work in itself.

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Moss Clutch (72 KB)

Date of Completion: 1 July 2003

A version of Moss Clutch with more powerful weapons, for those who want that (and they will exist, no doubt).

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Moss Clutch Heavy (69 KB)