Call of the Machine order of playthrough

[califax2k]

I've started it today in the morning and jumped right into operation corpse run.
is there any need to adhere to a specific order in playing through the operations or is any order sufficient?

[CascadeIllusion]

I did both mission rooms in clockwise order starting from the leftmost mission, and starting with the room on the left from when you start COTM. Which ended up having me do it in this order:

1. Laser Eyes
2. Wastelands
3. Corpse Run
4. Firewall
5. Ruined Earth
6. Darkest Depths

Laser Eyes was a good one to start with in my opinion as it most closely resembles the original Quake 2 campaign, with Wastelands not too far off. Though the first 5 really can be done in any order you like. Darkest Depths I believe should be saved for last, for story-related reasons.

[califax2k]

Thanks mate, good to know. So, I'll save Darkest Depths for last and switch after Corpse Run to the order you outlined.

[FixbotWill]

There is no official order, really. If you use the Level Select option then they're presented in a particular way, but it's not the same way you would end up with if you pressed the buttons in the Strogg Gateway in any particular semblance of order.

I do concur that Darkest Depths should be played last, for reasons of story progression.

[Defective Dopamine Pez Dispenser]

I did Darkest Depths first, not knowing what I was getting into. And while I agree with others that you can leave it for last for lore/story reasons, in an odd sense having played it first actually colored the rest of it for me and filled the others with this sense of intrigue and curiosity about the whole thing I might not have had otherwise. Any order is really fine, though imo. It's just interesting how that works and how the order you play something in can influence your overall perception of it.