Mega Doom 2/Mega Doom 2.iso/docs/doomti/doomtips.txt

Text File | 1994-10-26 | 29KB | 546 lines

DOOM

A Tactical Analysis of Hell

by Stephe Rajkumar


    Author's note:
    DOOM is probably THE finest piece of entertainment
software ever to be marketed to a mass audience.  It inspires
countless sleepless nights of play,  analytical and tactical
thought, it even influences my dreams.  This pamphlet just
flowed out of me one evening when I couldn't stand playing any
longer.  My thumb was tired, but my brain was, well, not.
    This info could save your life, so read it.  It mostly
comes from hours of my personal experiences on Phobos, Deimos,
and beyond, but there's also info I picked up in the Gamer's
Forum on Compuserve, as well as by talking with other players.
    There's a lot of stuff in the registered version that
isn't in the shareware version, and much of it is referred to
herein.  I recommend everyone get the full version, it will
change your life.
    I haven't included any information on network or modem
play, as I've never done it, but I assume the tactics are
basically the same.
    I'd like to thank Bruce Waldmer and Andrew Poth for the
cheat code info.
    BFT's to Jay Wilbur for his on-line support for all of us
mooks on the net, and for creating this thing in the first
place, as well as John, John, Dave, Adrian, Kevin, Sandy, Shawn,
Maurice, Robert (Robert Prince's score is going to revolutionize
the industry.), Gregor, Paul, and Don, as well as anybody else
at id who didn't get their name on the documentation.
    And Hyper-fraggin thanks go to my buddy Paul for
introducing me to this sick universe.



-----------------------------------------------
    Upon your entrance to the Phobos base, you come across a
mass of guts and blood.  You can't tell exactly what it was
before it died, but it may have been one of your buddies.
Beside the body, under a pile of spent shells, there lies a
hastily scrawled pile of papers.  You pick it up, hoping it may
give you some direction or help in finding your way out of this
madness...
-----------------------------------------------
    I've only got a few minutes, here, but I've got to rest.
Unfortunately, I hear the rumblings of one of those pink
bigmouths wandering around out there, and I don't dare sleep.
I'll try to keep myself awake by writing down what I've learned
in this madhouse.
    When we came in here, we knew things were bad, but we had
no idea what we were in for.  Apparently, the pencil-jockeys
that UAC hires at better rates than we get found a way to start
beaming evil sonofa's up to Phobos directly from Hell.  Beauty,
eh?  Most of the guys got taken out in the first few minutes.
I've been running through this maze for a couple of hours, but
my face and chest are burned bad, I can only see out of one eye,
and worst of all, my gun hand's been burned by lightning.  I
noticed a medikit around here somewhere, but if I can't find it,
I'm a goner.
    If you're reading this, that means you're stuck in here
too.  Sorry about that.  I wish I could tell you how to get out
of here, but by the time you read this, I'm probably just
another lump of guts soiling your shoes.  I've learned a few
things, though, and maybe you can use this info to get out of
here.  Good luck man, Semper Fi.

    The bad guys:

    SPACE MARINES.  Yeah, I know, solidarity and all that, but
right now, you see one of these guys, kick his ass.  I've been
here for hours and there ain't one that's still a human being.
The devils kill them and then send their bodies back from hell
to do their dirty work.  Be careful, they're still armed with
pistols or shotguns.  In close quarters, they tend to try to
outflank you, so turn with them, and don't let them find your
blind spot.  Don't forget to pick up their extra ammo after you
frag 'em.

    IMPS.  Imagine your drill sergeant from boot camp, with no
clothes on.  Oh, and spitting fire.  Nasty sons, but not so
tough if you get a clear shot at their chest.  One shotgun round
at close range takes care of them.  Don't let them get too
close, though, when they hit you, there's a nasty electrical
charge that not only hurts, but the noise tends to frazzle your
nerves.

    DEMONS.  If Imps are like drill sergeants, these guys are
like the mess hall workers.  Big, fat, and pink.  Of course,
these guys'll bite your damn fool head off.  On the plus side,
they don't fling anything atcha, but on the minus side, once
they get close, they can bite pieces off ya.  If you've got
space, like if you're coming down a hallway, start firing while
stepping backwards.  Usually you can get off three shotgun
blasts into his big head and kill him before he can lay a finger
on you.  If you're in close quarters, though, I suggest shoving
a chainsaw in his face.  These dumb bastards don't have the
sense to move away from that metal-toothed monstrosity.  They'll
actually open wide and allow you to shove that ginsu down their
ugly throats.  They often travel in packs, so if you find a
bunch of them, back yourself into a doorway and have at'em.
Don't let them get on two sides of you, though, in the time it
takes to kill one, the other'll get you.

    SPECTRES.  These guys are basically Demons that you can't
see.  Well, you can see something, and when you do, blast it.
They seem to be a little weaker than Demons, but don't quote me
on that.  Two good Shotgun blasts usually kills them.  Of
course, a chainsaw works as well, and doesn't waste ammo.  One
thing, though, I prefer to get these guys from a distance,
because you can't really tell when two of them are coming at you
in a straight line.  While you start hacking at one, the other
could come around and get you from the side.  Be careful.

    LOST SOULS.  I'm not sure about these things.  They scream
a lot and they really scare the bejeezus out of me, but I don't
think they're so tough.  They usually travel in packs, so a few
rockets is usually the best tactic, but if you haven't got a
rocket launcher, they usually take two or three shotgun hits to
explode.  Take your time and aim carefully.  They move
erratically, and you can wind up wasting a lot of ammo if you
don't take a half-breath to lock down your target before you
fire.  When you run into a pack of them, hit one and let him fly
off, and then hit another.  Every time you hit one, he'll give
you a second breather before he comes back.  A little precision
can go a long way with these evil bastards.

    CACODEMONS.  Bad, bad news.  First time I heard one hiss
at me I wet myself.  Of course, that hiss is a good tip-off that
they're there.  Here's something I found out:  These suckers
need to open their mouths before they spit lightning at you.
Sounds simple, but get this:  they shut their mouths when a
round hits them.  If you have a chaingun, the shots come out
quick enough that they can't get a shot at you before you've
pumped enough lead into them that they wind up a primary-colored
puddle on the floor.  A plasma blaster works the same way, if
you're lucky enough to find one.  Again, be careful with your
aim, though.  As you shoot them, they can start moving away from
your line of fire.  It just takes a half-second for them to let
loose a blast at you.  Make sure you follow them while you're
firing.

    BARONS OF HELL.  Remember basic training?  You'll need to.
These guys are so big and tough, you just can't kill them easy.
The best thing to do is get far away from them, turn and fire
about four rockets at them, then start dodging.  Those green
fireballs are killer, and you can't survive more than two or
three of them even at full health.  If you haven't got a rocket
launcher, a lot of hits with a plasma gun or two hits with the
BFG can take them out, but you've got to keep dodging.  It takes
them a second to power up that green stuff before they chuck it
at you, though, and sometimes a hit while they're powering up
can make them lose the blast.  If you've got real cojones,
though, try firing while you run at them.  They turn kind of
slow, so if you can get past them, you can get another shot at
them as they turn.  Did I mention dodging?



    THE TOOLS OF THE TRADE:
    They say a marine's most important tool is his mind, and
that's true, if you haven't got a BFG-9000 and 1200 cells.
Unfortunately, this isn't fantasy land, it's hell, and you're
going to have to use your wits to get through it alive.  Ammo is
always at a premium.  I don't care if you think you need it or
not, out there, you have no idea where your next shell is coming
from, if it's coming at all.  You don't want to be caught
holding a pistol against a room full of spectres.  I'll give you
my opinions on the stuff that's available in this maze, and how
you should use them.

    THE PISTOL.  Your trusty, standard-issue Space Marine pop
gun.  A good choice for intimidating ground-bound mooks on
patrol duty on a pleasure planet, but in this mess, it's not
what I'd call an effective deterrent.  If you've got nothing but
this baby, you've got to rely on your own skills that much more.
Remember, accuracy is always key.  take down your mark in as few
shots as possible, to retain your ammo and to keep yourself open
to attack the next bozo who shows up.  Always aim for the head
or chest.  Also, firing while stationary increases your chances
of hitting him dead-on.  Using rapid refire (Use CTRL to fire)
often helps against the bigger baddies.

    THE SHOTGUN.  A messy, ugly weapon.  It has all the
precision and grace of a steel club, and eight times the
stopping power.  I LIKE IT!  The weapon of choice for running
around this hole.  Purely for it's stopping power, it's your
best bet.  As I mentioned, it can take out imps and marines with
no trouble.  Three shots takes out a Demon or Spectre.  Keep in
mind that the shotgun is most powerful at close range, when all
the pellets can hit your target.  The further away your target,
the further the pellets spread, and the less damage the target
takes.  The flipside of this is that you can hit several targets
with one blast if you fire from a medium to long range.  I've
seen two marines go down with one shotgun round.  Now that's
efficient.  Keep in mind that despite the fact that you can keep
up to a hundred shots ready to fire, you've got to cock the
thing between each shot.  This refire lag may give your opponent
time to open up on you.  If you know that you're going into a
dangerous situation, like a bout with a cacodemon, f'rinstance,
you may want to switch to something with a quicker refire.  For
most encounters, though, the shotgun is a real powerhouse.

    THE CHAINGUN.  Oh, what a feeling!  It's heavy, it's
bulky, it fires two hundred forty rounds a minute.  Well, I
don't really know it's fire rate, but it does put a lot of ammo
in the air right quick.  It's perfect for barreling into a guy
you don't want to have a chance to fire back at you.  It's also
great for clearing out a room full of chumps.  I have some good
advice, though, don't go crazy with it.  Don't overuse it,
because there will come a time when you need to unload a hundred
fifty rounds into a room and if you don't have it, you're
screwed.  Don't simply put away your shotgun when you get this.
Save your bullets and use the shotgun until it's absolutely
necessary.  Once you do get into a scrap where you need this
much power, remember, use short, controlled bursts.  Just
because you throw up a wall of lead doesn't mean you're going to
automatically kill everyone in the room.  Make sure you get
enough rounds into one opponent to erase him before you go on to
the next. And there's no point in wasting rounds to the air
between the bad guys.  You'll need those bullets later, I
promise.  You'd be surprised how fast three hundred rounds
disappear if you get caught up with the killing power of this
vicious machine.

    THE ROCKET LAUNCHER.  It's enough to make a Beavis out of
any man.  The first time you fire this baby into a swarm of
baddies and you hear the wet splat of their bodies smearing
against the walls, you'll be going "Hurrr-hurr-hurr" like a
retard yourself.  The most important bit of advice I can give
you is this:  Don't fire it at anything close range.  This thing
has a better chance of killing you than anyone else if the shell
explodes too soon.  If you've got the space, this is the weapon
of choice against anything bigger than a Demon.  It's perfect
for taking out bad guys who are firing at you from a window or
across a toxic pool.  Unlike other projectile weapons, this
one's just as powerful no matter where it hits, unlike bullets
and shells, which do less damage at longer ranges.

    THE PLASMA RIFLE.  No sir, I don't like it.  Well,
alright, it's got a hell of a lot of killing power, but it's
pretty erratic.  It's best when used against a single target,
since it can deliver a lot of damage really fast.  In tight
corridors, though, it has a tendency to hit the wall before it
hits the baddie, and if the energy hits the wall in front of
you, it renders you virtually blind until it dissipates.  This
takes only a millisecond, but I don't feel comfortable with it.
I only pull it out when I know I'm going to have to hit a tough
guy, and then, I take careful aim and ram as much hot blue down
his throat as it takes to kill him, then it's back to the
Shotgun.  Keep in mind that though cells are light, and you can
carry a lot of them, the Plasma Rifle eats them up like candy.
Save them for when you really need them.

    THE BFG-9000.  It's great for making ladies and marines
alike drool, but it's a serious piece of equipment, and you have
to treat it as such.  It delivers this incredible amount of
power into the melee, enough to toast almost anything, and a lot
of them.  When you fire one you'll get the idea.  Again, I'm
telling you to be careful.  This is THE gun that can get your
ass out of the fire if you need it, but it'll only work if
you've got power for it.  It takes FORTY rounds of plasma energy
to fire it, so make your shot count.  The main problem with the
BFG is the time lag between you hitting the trigger and it
firing.  It's taking a hell of a lot of power and firing it as a
single projectile.  The process actually turns the plasma energy
green, instead of the usual blue, and it takes the machine a few
seconds to load it's capacitors and then discharge the burst.
The result is a fearsome display of killing power, but you have
to be sure you're going to be around to see it.  In the time it
takes the BFG to power-up, the bad guys have a clear shot at
you.  If you're good, you can time the power-up so that you can
hit the trigger while behind cover and swing out before the
machine discharges, keeping yourself relatively safe.  Of
course, you run the risk of spending the energy out against a
wall instead of against the hellspawn.  Treat it like a tactical
nuke.  You don't want to have to use it, but it's better to have
it than not.

    THE CHAINSAW.  It's a chainsaw.  Whattaya wanna know?
Alright, I must have a tip or two... Okay, it won't work if you
hold it upright, you've got to tilt it into the baddie's face.
(Fire button)  Once you get it down into the guy, don't let up
until he's dead, because he is, by definition, close enough to
you to do serious damage.  Don't slice with it, because he can
get a shot at you, just shove it right up against his chest and
power through the bastard.

    THE CHEESE OMELET.  There is none.  Forget about it.

    RANDOM NOTES
    This is just stuff that I found out.  Some of it's useful.
Hey, the hellspawn don't play fair, you've got to try to load
the odds in your favor.

    NOISE.  You may have noticed it's fraggin dark in here.
It's dark and it stinks.  But that's only two of your major
senses knocked out.  I don't recommend touching or tasting
anything you find out there, but do LISTEN to them.  You can
usually tell what you'll be up against if you listen at a door
before you open it.  If you hear nothing, try firing a round
into the door, that usually gets them excited and you can tell
if they're there before they pounce.  You should  get to know
the sounds that each bad guy makes.  Humans tend to have this
ugly, muffled roar, Imps hiss like a cat, Demons make this
jowly, growling-chewing noise, as do Spectres, Cacodemons have a
loud, electric-sounding hiss, Lost Souls shriek, and Barons yell
at you.  I can't write down what they sound like, of course, but
that's a sort of guide.

    PROJECTILES.  Some of the Hellspawn hurl fire or lightning
at you.  You can dissipate it by hitting it squarely.  Good
luck.

    AMMO.  Keep an eye on your ammo computer.  If you come
across a box of ammo and you can only use a few rounds, don't
take it!  You'll drop the excess and lose it.  Mark the spot on
your automap and it'll be there when you need it.

    FIRST AID.  What I said about ammo is more true of first
aid.  Remember:  A stimpack gives you a 10% of total boost
according to your bio-computer, and a medikit gives you a 25%
boost.  You can't exceed 100% by picking these up.  Remember,
pick up medikits and stimpacks first, health bonuses second.  If
the kits get you up to 100%, the health bonuses will give you
more strength.  If you take the HB's first, and are still under
100%, the kits will only take you up to 100% and stop there.
    By the same token, if you get a Supercharge (Soul Sphere),
and you've got 100% health, you'll notice that your bio-comp
will only read 199%  That's because you can't go over 199%.
Don't ask me why, but you can't.  Don't pick up HB's, because
they'll just go to waste.

    ARMOR.  You can forget some of the stuff I said about
first aid and ammo with armor.  You can keep picking up this
stuff forever.  Keep in mind that Armor Bonuses will take you
above 100% (or 200%, even.), but suits of armor won't.  You
can't trade in a combat armor for a security armor, unless your
computer reads less than 100%, but don't worry, you don't have
to make that decision, the computer will reject a bad choice.
Just grab it and go.

    BLUR ARTIFACTS.  These things make you partially
invisible, and somewhat less susceptible to projectile attacks.
Don't just grab them when you see them, because they wear off.
Mark off where you find them, and then you can plan to use them
to their best advantage.  Firing into a room full of mixed
demons while invisible and running creates such havoc, you can
just sit and listen to them obliterate each other while you
laugh.

    INVULNERABILITY ARTIFACTS.  These evil-looking things are
a Godsend, and that may be literal.  I think they work because
of the shifting of space around the anomaly.  When you grab one,
nobody can hurt you.  I think it shifts you out of phase with
the hellspawn.  Very handy.  Again, use them wisely.  When you
have one of these available, you can stop cowering and bring the
war down THEIR miserable throats.

    BERSERK PACKS.  They make you really strong.
Unfortunately, current scientific data implies that using them
regularly may lead to certain types of cancer and low birth
weight.  Use them at your own risk.   Yeah, right, like cancer
is worse than getting your head ripped off.  When you get one,
you automatically stash your weapon and put up your dukes.
Sometimes, though, you'll grab one just to get the full health,
and so be ready to switch back to a weapon after you grab it.
Also, once you get the chainsaw, you cannot use your fists
UNLESS you get a berserk pack.

    MOVEMENT.  Despite your weapons, armor, and special
effects, if you're in the wrong place when laughing boy fires,
you're going to get hit.  Take a little time to practice
shuffling (Strafing) and running.  (Don't be afraid to use the
keyboard.)  Running is often the best defense.  Look at it this
way, every time you get hit, there was someplace you could have
been where you wouldn't have.  If you can get a hang of firing
while backpedaling, firing when shuffling, and firing while
dodging, you won't be a slave to those medikits any more.

    THE AUTOMAP.  Your automap is like your tactical advisor.
It reads the contours of the room you're in even if you can't
see them.  Often, you can go into a pitch black area, back out,
and check your automap to figure out what's going on.  You can
often spot a likely ambush before running into it.  Also, you
can use the map to mark off important areas, like places you
left medikits or ammo.  (Hit "M" to mark the spot you're
standing on)  Remember, the automap has two modes, follow on and
follow off, in follow mode, the readout is oriented around you,
and in follow off, you can scroll around the map to see the
whole level.  Press "F" to toggle between the two.  Also, the
"0" key zooms the map out so you can see more at one time.
Study your map!  Often a yellow line that doesn't seem to mean
anything is a floor trigger.  The map is dynamic, so if
something moves in real space, the map will show it to you.
Sometimes things are triggerred outside of your field of vision,
so you need the map to see them.  Also, with a little intuition,
you can use the automap to figure out likely places for secret
doors.

    KEYS.  They open doors, doofus.  One word of caution,
though, they are often placed on top of floor triggers, so that
when you grab them, bad things happen.  Be careful.

    Well, that's about all the tips I can come up with right
now.  God, I want to sleep.  Can't though.  You want to hear
something funny?  I just blew the hell out of my first
lieutenant.  Well, maybe funny isn't the word.  Anyway, I've got
some work to do.  I don't much believe that I'm going to make it
out of here alive, but I'll be damned if I don't take a few of
them out before I go.  Actually, I'm damned no matter what I do.
I mean, this is HELL we're talking about.  If you find my body,
grab anything you can off it.  Good luck, brother.  Kick some
ass for me, okay?

Sgt. Stephen Rajkumar  U.S.S.M.C.        (CIS Ser.# 72144,2256)
SPOILER SECTION! SPOILER SECTION!
SPOILER SECTION! SPOILER SECTION!
READ NO FURTHER IF YOU WANT TO MAINTAIN YOUR INTEGRITY!

    CHEATS

    As I mentioned before, the odds are against you out here,
and sometimes, you need to tilt them in your favor a bit.  I've
been looking at the schematics of a lot of Space Marine gear,
and I've found a few loopholes the brass never told us about.
With a little tinkering, you can get a lot of mileage out of
your old gear.  Your personal computer is a fairly powerful
thing, and it's got a fairly powerful battery to power it, as
well as your automap, bio-computer, and ammo computer (The
readouts on your screen)  By connecting your PC to some of the
spare artifacts, you can command them to run off it's power.  We
all have a surplus Radiation suit and Light amplification
visors, though they probably burnt out before you got to Phobos.
Well, by using the command "IDBEHOLD", you can get them to
function.  Simply type "IDBEHOLD" followed by the powerup you
need.  "R" for Rad-suit, or "L" for Light amp.  You can also use
"V" to hypercharge your armor, "I" to make you blur, and "S" to
berserk yourself.
    Using the code "IDDQD", you can drop out of phase with the
Hellspawn, and they can't hurt you.  I'm afraid of using this
for too long, but it seems to work.
    Using the code "IDDT" increases the scanning power of your
automap.  It can penetrate walls and get a full map of the
level.  Using it twice can actually get you the position of
everything and everyone on the level.
    ("IDKFA" is an important cheat, too, but there's no
rational explanation for it, just try it.)

SPOILER!SPOILER!SPOILER!SPOILER!SPOILER!
DO NOT READ THIS UNLESS YOU'VE GOTTEN UP TO THE END OF THE
SECOND EPISODE!

    Here's a little more info on the bad guys I thought you
could use...

    CYBERDEMON.  Probably the toughest mother in hell.  he's a
vicious ugly killer with a mechanical heart and computerized
eyes.  He can fire self-powered rockets from his arm that
explode like they're loaded with C-4.  When you find him,
there'll be a bunch of rockets around.  Collect them until you
can't carry any more.  Make sure you get the mega armor and
supercharge, too.  After that, it's just cat and mouse with this
guy.  If you've got the BFG-9000, use it, but beware, in the
time it takes to fire it, he'll be firing at you, and he's
bigger than you.  Use the strafe button to sweep left and right,
avoiding his shells.  If he's in your line of sight, the BFG
will hit him.  I don't know how many shots you need to kill him
with the BFG, because I've never had too many by that stage of
the game.  (remember, the BFG takes 40 rounds per use.)
    If you've only got the rocket-launcher, don't worry, you
can still ace this guy.  The trick is to be more accurate than
he is.  When you see him, fire about three or four times,
Strafing slightly left and right to keep him from getting a good
bead on you.  Before your shots even hit, turn and break into a
run and get something between you and him.  Turn to face him,
and when he comes out from behind the cover, hit him again, and
then run again.  (If you have a three-button mouse, it makes
this process easier.  Become facile with the strafe and run
controls.)  Learning to run backwards (Shift+down arrow) and
fire can be useful, too, but remember, you cannot outrun his
rockets, you have to dodge them.
    This part is really grueling, but don't worry.  There's
plenty of ammo, and if you keep your head, you can do it.  Don't
worry about how long it's taking, just worry about planting
rockets in his gut.

SPOILER!SPOILER!SPOILER!SPOILER!SPOILER!
INFORMATION ABOUT THE PROGRESSION OF THE STORY!!! DO NOT READ
THIS UNLESS YOU'VE GOTTEN UP TO THE END OF THE THIRD EPISODE!

    THE SPIDER-DEMON.  This guy's a sucker for a good cheese
omelet, but since you don't have one, you'll have to kill him.
These tactics are specific to the level, but since there's only
one place you'll meet him, they'll work.
    First, kill everything else on the level.  I think that's
two Cacodemons and a Baron of hell.  I'll let you figure this
out for yourself, but I will point out that I found that by
staying on the outer ledge, I had an advantage over the Baron.
Also, you can maneuver it so that the Baron kills the Cacodemons
for you, but that's mostly luck.
    Now for the spider-demon.  What he does is follow you
around, pouring bullets out at you at an incredible rate.  Each
one does about a bullet's worth of damage, but there are a lot
of them.  The way to avoid quick death is to put something
between you and those bullets...Hmmn, there's a stone edifice
sitting out there in the middle of the level...do you think?
    Right.  Get off the ledge and get out to the middle of the
field.  As you near the structure, it will open and you can get
a combat armor or something.  Now, back up, keeping the edifice
between you and the Spiderdemon.  He'll move around until he can
get a clear shot at you.  As he does, you're firing rockets into
the edifice.  They don't have to hit him, just close enough that
the blast gets him.  When he starts firing, you move so that the
edifice is between you again.  He'll start reorienting himself
again, giving you a chance to fire again.  Again, this is
grueling, but as long as you can keep him from getting a clear
shot at you for more than a second, you can get him.


    Well, you read it all.  I hope it'll be some use to you.
I'll put it somewhere you can find it.

    I'm not big on theatrics or speeches, but just listen.
These evil sonsabitches ain't supposed to be here.  If they get
back to Earth, well, we're all up the creek.  I don't know if
guys like us stand a snowball's chance, but we gotta try.  I'm
just about finished here.  My Bio-comp's reading 4% and I've
only got a handful of rounds left.  Anyway, everything we know,
everything we care about is on the line here.  Give it
everything you got, pal.
    Oh, crap, here comes big, pink, and ugly...




Copyright 1993 by Stephe Rajkumar.  All Rights Reserved.
DOOM, as well as the product elements referred to in this work
are trademarks of id Software, Inc.