
  HIDEOUS DESTRUCTOR - A WEAPONS AND MONSTERS MOD FOR ZDOOM


	CONTENTS

		   I. INTRODUCTION

		  II. GETTING STARTED

		 III. CONTROLS

		  IV. COMMANDS AND CVARS

		   V. ITEMS

		  VI. SCORING

		 VII. LIVES

		VIII. WEAPONS

		  IX. MONSTERS



	   I. INTRODUCTION

The Hideous Destructor weapons and monsters mod is, among other things, a "gameplay re-imagining" of Doom. The basic premise goes something like this: what if Doom, with its demons and zombies and 80s-metal horrors and ridiculous firepower, were designed within the mindset of a quasi-"realistic" "tactical" FPS like Ghost Recon or Call of Duty? What if a lone zombie coming at you with an assault rifle became a cause of concern *now*, rather than ten minutes later when your health suddenly dips to single digits because your teammate ran in front of your rocket? What if your guns actually had some serious range and stopping power - as did the enemy's, creating opportunities and risks that would have been much harder to model before? What if, on Phobos, you had to face a force that was much more plausibly capable of wiping out an entire platoon of space marines?

To accomplish this design objective, HD makes three main changes:

- Taking all the monsters and weapons up a few notches, exaggerating both their strengths and their (relative) weaknesses.
- Creating much more serious incentives for the player not to get hit, while making it a lot harder to avoid damage without some coherent attack plan and proper use of cover.
- Revamping the inventory system to give the player much more control over what they collect and use and when.

The result is a tense, frustrating, and brutal experience where everyone is fighting at a much more equal level than before and nothing can be taken for granted. Have fun.


	A note on using Hideous Destructor with other wads

Hideous Destructor is designed to be run on any map that does not define its own weapons and monsters. However, I can't prepare for every contingency out there, and some wad or other will have some conflicting overlap. The following are the most likely sources of conflicts:

ACS: HD's script numbers have in all uploaded versions been constrained to a range from 550 through 570. The exact numbers vary in some revisions, but scripts 555 and 567 are always free.
Currently used: 551-554, 556-562.

DoomEdNums: 23001-23009 are all used for monsters.

High-risk actor names used: Ring, Lumberjack, Hunter, Slayer, BFG9K, NullWeapon; Rifleman, SWAT, Tango, Rocketeer, Spiderdemon, Mancubus, NinjaPirate, MageImp, ArchAngel, HellPrince, FireDancer, Boner; Timer, Reload, Reloading, Sprint.



	  II. GETTING STARTED

To play Hideous Destructor, just drag the hd.pk3 file onto zdoom.exe or use the -file command line parameter on the pk3 as you would a normal wad.

If ZDoom aborts with an error message saying that something has already been defined, then there is a conflict between HD and some other wad you are loading. In that case, unless you know how to go into the wads themselves and mess around with them you'll only be able to run one of those wads at a time. Please e-mail me at vaecrius@shaw.ca or post on the ZDoom forums to let me know about the problem so I can rename the actor in future revisions.

The first thing you should do after starting is to check your key bindings. Make sure your run/walk key is set to something you can hold down comfortably while moving, and +reload ("Reload" in the configuration menu) is somewhere easily accessible without being too easy to hit by accident. More about these controls can be found in Part III of this text.

With that done, you're ready to begin.


	The bleeding system

The biggest difference between Hideous Destructor and regular Doom is what happens when you get hit. When you get hit in HD, you not only lose health right away, you also add to a hidden counter that determines how quickly you're bleeding out. Every time your view flickers black, you've bled out another hitpoint. Bullets tend to inflict more bleeding than other weapons, though toxicity and radiation damage have similar effect. Like health, you slowly recover from bleeding injuries, but for most things you'll likely bleed out before you heal.

Armour not only blocks damage but also reduces the bleeding rate of any injury it blocks. Of course, it does not reduce the amount by which you'll bleed on any existing injury.

Supernatural healing bonuses instantly seal up wounds as needed, buying you time to escape and naturally recuperate. If you are not bleeding while you're still charged up with supernatural healing, it will be used to replenish your health at a much faster than normal rate.

Stimpacks and berserk packs only give you more hitpoints. Only medikits can help with bleeding directly.


	Difficulty levels

What Is "Cover"?: All monsters do 30% damage and you don't bleed from injuries, but monsters spawn at Ultra-Violence rates.

The following are equivalent to the vanilla Doom easy/medium/hard/nightmare modes.

So Ronery: Monsters do 100% damage and spawn at ITYTD/HNTR rates.
Reasonably Tacticool: Monsters do 100% damage and spawn at Hurt Me Plenty rates. (Default)
Bad Enough Dude: Monsters do 100% damage and spawn at Ultra-Violence rates.
Nightmare!: As Bad Enough Dude, but with fast and respawning monsters.

The following triple damage so that basically any hit can kill you. They are extreme to the point that I don't even bother implementing "medium" settings.

Realisticially Unfair: Monsters do 300% damage and spawn at Ultra-Violence rates.
Easy But Still Unfair: Monsters do 300% damage and spawn at ITYTD/HNTR rates.


	Player classes

When you start a new game, you will be asked to select a player class. The classes all have the same inherent properties and differ only in starting equipment.

	Assault
	Standard rifleman's loadout.
	Primary: Assault rifle +grenade launcher, 180 rounds, 24 grenades
	Hand grenades: 8
	Armour: Green
	Meds: 4 medikits

	Close Assault
	Police-style loadout for fighting in built-up areas.
	Primary: Pump shotgun, 58 rounds
	Hand grenades: 12
	Armour: Green
	Meds: 4 medikits

	Support MG
	Squad assist gunner.
	Primary: Vulcanette, 350 rounds
	Hand Grenades: 8
	Armour: Green
	Meds: 4 medikits

	Grenadier
	Additional firepower to flush out entrenched enemies.
	Primary: Rocket/grenade launcher, 55 rounds
	Hand Grenades: 12
	Armour: Green
	Meds: 4 medikits

	Experimental
	Field tester for a dangerous new weapon.
	Primary: Plasma rifle, 380 cell units
	Hand Grenades: 6
	Armour: Green
	Meds: 4 medikits

	Hideous Destructor
	Field tester for an insanely dangerous new weapon.
	Primary: BFG9K, 360 cell units
	Hand Grenades: 6
	Armour: Green
	Meds: 4 medikits

	Contractor
	Civilian "security" employee with a higher budget than your typical grunt.
	Primary: Side-by-side shotgun, 52 rounds
	Hand Grenades: 8
	Armour: Black
	Meds: 8 medikits, 8 stimpacks

	Assassin
	Special agent hyped up on stims and a willingness to improvise.
	Primary: None
	Hand Grenades: 8
	Armour: Black
	Meds: 8 medikits, 8 stimpacks, 4 berserk packs
	Additional Weapon: Chainsaw



	 III. CONTROLS

Hideous Destructor adds one non-standard function, +reload. It's possible to play without using it, but being unable to make a tactical reload will make things considerably more difficult than they should be.


Reloading

Console command: +reload, +hd_altreload
Default key: r (no default key for altreload)

Description: Hit the reload key to refill your weapon with your spare ammo. The reload key also serves a few secondary weapon functions (e.g., aborting a hand grenade toss) - see those weapon descriptions for details.

When you reload a fixed-magazine weapon like a shotgun or grenade launcher, you load one unit at a time. You will automatically load as many units as you can until you are out of spare units, the gun is full, or you have interrupted the process because you needed to shoot right then (i.e., hold the attack button until you stop reloading).

When you reload a detachable-magazine weapon like a pistol, you will load one full mag, and whatever was in the gun before is added to the miscellaneous-rounds collection (indicated to the right). If you have no full mags, you will load a random "mystery mag" that may contain any number of those miscellaneous rounds.

When you reload a multiple-detachable-magazine weapon like a chaingun (which is designed for modularity reasons to take 5 30-round rifle mags), the same detachable-magazine rules apply as between any newly loaded magazine and the gun, and the sequence of loading mags can be interrupted the same way as loading individual rounds in a fixed-magazine weapon.

If you have a detached-mag weapon out and are not shooting, you are presumed to be busy loading as many full mags of that weapon as you can. For example, if you have a pistol out with no spare full mags (12 rounds each) and 50 miscellaneous rounds, and start wandering around for a while looking for a secret, after some time you will notice those 50 rounds be gradually replaced by 4 full mags and 2 rounds. The speed of conversion is based on a hidden counter that resets when you attack.

The alternate reload key lets you reload the underslung grenade without reloading the main rifle first.


Fire Mode

Console command: +hd_firemode
Default key: none

Description: The assault rifle may be fired in semiauto. When selected, check your status bar for a little yellow icon of some bullets being fired in the middle above the main ammo count: if it is present, your rifle is set to fully automatic fire; if not, each press of your attack button will shoot only once.


Sprinting

Console command: +speed
Default key: Whatever you have set it to

Description: Your normal movement speed is roughly that of a gentle run. To make a quick dash at full speed, hold on to the sprint key while moving. You will put your weapon away and begin going about twice as fast as normal. You will not be able to sprint while your weapon is still out (except with your fist and hand grenades).

Holding sprint and crouch at the same time has you scrambling along the ground, unable to shoot but achieving something close to your normal, unencumbered moving speed.

Protip: Holding a lighter weapon lets you start sprinting sooner. If you know you'll have to make a break for it very soon, don't bring out that BFG!


Jumping

Console command: +jump
Default key: Whatever you have set it to

Description: If you walk right up to a ledge between 26 and 40 units high - roughly between groin and shoulder level - you can press and hold the jump key for about half a second to hoist yourself onto that ledge. You will briefly be unable to fire while doing this. This action cannot be done while crouching.

If you jump while moving forward, you will leap forward. Good for crossing gaps and closing in for a beatdown.

If you hit the jump key in any other situation, you will make a normal vertical leap.

There is a short time lag right after jumping when you can't jump again.


Using

Console command: +use
Default key: Whatever you have set it to

Description: You can open doors with it, as usual. But you also get two other functions: first, you must hold the use key while moving over any non-supernatural item to pick it up; second, pressing use in front of an enemy lets you kick them. (There is no animation for this; this mod is called hideous for a reason.)



	  IV. COMMANDS AND CVARS

Some functions in HD will read console variables that you can set.


The following commands cannot be saved as cvars and are set by typing them in the console to toggle them during play.

hd_nobleedcheat: Some injuries will cause you to lose health constantly until healed or killed. Enabling this cheat stops the damage over time, letting you play in a more "traditional FPS" style. Medikits still give only 10 health per use, making them worse than stims.

hd_doomguy: You start out with a lot of gear in Hideous Destructor. This command, available anytime, will set you back to the good old naked man with a pistol and 50 bullets.


The following cvars can be saved. To set one, go to the console and type "set <cvar name> <value>". To save the cvar's value, go to the console and type "archivecvar <cvar name>". Default value is always zero.


hd_showscores: When playing a multiplayer game, you will get a score showing number and value of monsters killed, number of player casualties taken, and lives remaining (if applicable). Setting this cvar to -1 will turn off this display, as will setting screenblocks to 12 where it disappears along with the rest of your HUD.

hd_scoresoff, hd_scoreson: Shortcuts for setting and saving the hd_showscores cvar.


hd_killerbarrels: A few green nukage barrels have been mutated into animate killing machines. This cvar can be set as an approximate percentage rate at which these mutant barrels appear. (default 5%) Setting this value to -1 ensures that no barrel will mutate.

hd_nokillerbarrels, hd_killerbarrel1, hd_killerbarrel20, hd_killerbarrel50, hd_killerbarrel100: Shortcuts for setting and saving the hd_killerbarrels cvar.

The barrel cvars are ignored in multiplayer where the rate is always 5%.



	   V. ITEMS

Mundane items require some deliberate act to be added to your inventory. (Supernatural items such as powerup spheres and the little one-point bonuses are picked up as in vanilla Doom.) To pick up something like a weapon or unit of ammo, move within normal pickup range while holding the use/open doors key. If taking the item would improve your situation, you will take it.

To pick up armour, walk up to it holding the use key as usual, but move a bit slower as it takes a moment for you to pick it up. A message will appear comparing the armour you're about to pick up to what you're wearing: if you would rather keep your current armour, let go of the use key immediately. The number for each armour value is the total points of protection multiplied by the percent rate of damage reduction.

The armour value on the screen prompt is the product of the points of armour multiplied by the percent of damage reduced.

Armour comes in three flavours: Kevlar green, titanium alloy blue, and nanocarbon black. Green knocks off 36% damage for 160 points, blue knocks off 50% damage for 120 points, and black knocks off a whopping 80% damage for a pittance of 80 points. Basically, black is what you want to clear out a room with a couple inconveniently-placed gunmen, while green is something you'd keep around for a long gauntlet of one badly placed babuin a minute. All armour restricts movement very slightly, with the encumbrance increasing with more powerful protection.

Supernatural health bonuses (potions, soul spheres, megaspheres) are stored and gradually "leak" into your system whenever you are injured. It's not so much that you can take more damage so much as you are less likely to require immediate medical attention after walking away from a particuarly injurious firefight.

Some items can be picked up and saved for later, as described below.

Stimpack
ZDoom actor name: PortableStimpack
These can boost your endurance a bit.

Medikit
ZDoom actor name: PortableMedikit
Some injuries require more help than a stimpack could provide. Wounds can bleed or tear or become necrotic and infected, toxins can begin running through your system, and all other sorts of nastiness await in the Hellish depths below - these can all slowly drain away your health. You can naturally recover from some of the damage, but often you'll need a medikit to deal with worse injuries. When your display begins flickering black for no apparent reason, try using a medikit.

Berserk Pack
ZDoom actor name: PortableBerserkPack
It doesn't quite make your punch ten times as strong, but when you've got more monsters than time to reload, this thing is a godsend.

Light Amplification Visor
ZDoom actor name: PortableLiteAmp
Works just like the classic Doom visor, except you don't have to put it to use right away.

Instant Backup Teleporter
ZDoom actor name: GimmeBackup
Wherever you are, you can call up three marines to get you out of a particularly sticky situation. Usable once per level.


	 VI. SCORING

When playing HD in co-op, your HUD may display a set of scores. The values are normally for all the players as a team; where a number in parentheses appears, that number is your own score.

Every time someone dies, everyone loses 100 points.

Points for killing monsters are as follows:

	Imp, killer barrel	8
	SS, killer fire can	9
	Zombieman, lost soul	10
	Undead marine		11
	Shotgun guy, turrette	12
	Babuin			13
	Chaingun guy, spectre	14
	Arachnotron		20
	Cacodemon, mancubus	22
	Revenant, hell knight	23
	Tango			28
	Pain elemental		30
	Baron of Hell		35
	Archvile		50
	Spider Mastermind	500
	Cyberdemon		600



	 VII. LIVES

With HD's lives system, you can play a last-man- or last-team-standing deathmatch game, or play co-op without the temptation to send wave after wave of yourself into the enemy until they eventually thin out.

You can use HD's lives system by setting the fraglimit. If you set this to 100 or lower in a deathmatch game, the fraglimit works as it normally does. However, if you set it to over 100 in a deathmatch game, you will get a lives counter on your HUD, with an initial value equal to your fraglimit less 100. If you (or your team) runs out of lives, you will not be able to do anything the next time you respawn. When only one person (or one team) remains active, the game ends without needing to hit the (absurdly high) fraglimit.

If you set a fraglimit in a co-op game, the fraglimit will appear as your lives counter, and if you (the players) run out of lives you will not be able to act the next time you respawn. If you set the fraglimit over 100 in a co-op game, the lives counter is your fraglmit less 100 and the game ends the moment you run out of lives.

Only the host needs to set the fraglimit. You must allow exits for the level end to work.



	VIII. WEAPONS

Pistol

ZDoom actor name: HDPistol
Default weapon slot: 2

Description: With its compact high-capacity design and extremely powerful 9mm Magnum round, the Mouletta 99FX has followed and surpassed the tradition of its forebears as the standard complement to any arsenal.

Instructions: Press the fire button to fire rapidly in your effort to bust as many caps in your target's body part of choice as possible. Altfire shoots slower, aimed shots.

Protip: The main function of this weapon is to help you kill the first zombie you see and get a real weapon. Otherwise, it is only as a last resort, although its reload time is possibly the fastest of all the weapons.


Rifle

ZDoom actor names: ZM66Rifle, ZM66GrenadeRifle
Default weapon slot: 2

Description: The basic infantryman's weapon of the 22nd century. A very lightweight full-auto weapon that fires up to 700 rounds per minute, the Volt ZM66 represents the highest evolution of its state-of-the-art ammunition. With an extremely high velocity and flat trajectory, the 4.26mm UAC Standard round packs an incredible amount of punch for its size, while being light and frangible enough not to penetrate the ever-vital walls of a spacebound ship.

To get around prior overheating issues with the caseless 4.26mm round, the ZM66 chamber and barrel are lined with a patented heat-sink polymer that contracts when placed under extreme stress and heat, returning to its original form after having a chance to cool down. This reduces friction with subsequent bullets and allows for vastly increased tolerance thresholds that let the ZM66 continue firing where most rifles will have broken down. This temporary warping sacrifices some accuracy and power while firing in full auto, but if you're in that spray-and-pray situation to begin with, chances are you won't even notice.

The ZM66 may be fitted with an underslung grenade launcher capable of taking the H&M Real-Time Adaptable Hybrid Gyro-Grenade; however, for safety reasons the launcher is designed only to fire in grenade mode.

Instructions: Press the fire button to shoot; a quick tap can fire once, while holding the button will release bursts of continuous fire. Altfire launches a grenade, if you have the attachment. Be careful with the altfire: the grenade does not arm for the first twenty feet. Usually firing at close range would leave you with a dud grenade, there is no guarantee the projectile will not arm and detonate at some later point!

To load a grenade without having to top off the rifle first, use the +hd_altreload command or the item that appears in your inventory when the grenade launcher is empty. It looks like a rifle receiver and three green grenades.

To switch to and from semi-auto fire, use the +hd_firemode command. Unlike other weapons such as the shotguns and pistol, you cannot hold the fire button for multiple shots; each shot requires one click. The trigger becomes noticeably lighter with the gun set to semi to allow better accuracy.


Shotgun

ZDoom actor name: Hunter
Default weapon slot: 3

Description: The DiFranco SCATS-21 scattergun is perhaps the most widespread firearm in known space. Formerly marketed as the "Man-Hunter" before the liberals got the name banned in eleven states after a spate of shooting sprees, the Hunter's reliability, (relative) safety while firing in pressurized quarters, and ability to take just about any ammo given to it are unsurpassed by any current weapon. Also good for home defence and hunting big game.

The Tyrant has been strangely fond of this weapon and has armed most of his zombies with it; while officially Metallian Holdings, Ltd. (DiFranco's parent company) denies any dealings with the Tyrant or any of his known dealers, or in the alternative at least having never profited from such transactions, or in the further alternative having never received any such funds from DiFranco, unofficially we all know there's no such thing as bad publicity.

Instructions: To defeat a target with this weapon, shoot it until it dies. There is no altfire.

To stop reloading (and chamber or fire) earlier, hold on to the fire key until you hear the click of the loading port closing.

Protip: Round for round, the Slayer (below) actually loads much faster than the Hunter - and also does a bit more damage. After the first ten rounds in a firefight (two Slayer, eight Hunter) it's a balance between power and consistency.


Super Shotgun

ZDoom actor name: Slayer
Default weapon slot: 3

Description: Accurate, ergonomic and compact, deceptively primitive yet rugged enough to withstand anything the bad guys might ever think to throw at you, the Calvary Arms SL41 "Slayer" side-by-side is an instant classic among security and law enforcement throughout the solar system. And perhaps less reputable sources of demand for anti-personnel gear, I suppose, but that's not what the ad copy says.

Instructions: Tap the fire button to fire one barrel; hold to fire both in quick succession. Note that you can fire your second shot much sooner if you "double-tap" the fire button rather than holding it. Firing both barrels at once by hitting altfire tends to have a little more stopping power if you're feeling cocky, but the instant follow-up shot can prove to be a lifesaver with some faster-moving enemies.

When you reload, both shells eject at once, even if only one shell has been fired. Provided you are in good health, have space in your inventory, and aren't moving about at the same time, you should be able to catch the unspent shell; otherwise, you must find out where it's dropped.

Protip: You can switch to and from the Slayer faster than any other gun. Keeping the Slayer ready as an opening attack before a quick switch to the rifle or Hunter makes for a powerful defensive combo when exploring uncleared areas.


Chaingun

ZDoom actor name: Vulcanette
Default weapon slot: 4

Description: At the same time as the ZM66's development, the UAC was experimenting with its own designs for a 4.26 Standard support weapon. One method of overcoming the heat issue was to cycle multiple barrels at slightly looser tolerances, effectively acting as a portable Gatling gun. Thus the UAC Standard Mk. III "Vulcanette" was born.

Thus far no stable single-barrel 4.26 SAW design has been found, and the Vulcanette model remains in production today throughout the world. Despite its bulk, it provides a cheap and durable support weapon heavy enough to manage its own recoil. And it's pretty intimidating-looking, to boot.

Instructions: The Vulcanette must be turned on to fire. The on switch is ergonomically placed to let you turn the weapon on with minimum delay, but you will need to take a moment to turn the weapon off for safe storage. Hit the altfire button to turn the weapon on and off manually. Leaving the weapon on lets you start shooting faster, but makes it too awkward to try to consolidate magazines while you are not shooting.

Protip: The Vulcanette is extremely bulky and will slow you down considerably when in use. Try to establish a good firing position before pulling it out. Be warned that most of the Tyrant's minions have developed a Pavlovian response to the sound of the Vulcanette being turned on and off.


Rocket Launcher

ZDoom actor name: RocquetteLauncher
Default weapon slot: 5

Description: The Heckler and Mok Urban Artillery series was developed as a response to a growing need for more powerful but more containable infantry firepower for fighting in built-up areas. While the grenade launcher still prevails in ease of use and responsiveness, sometimes one simply hasn't the luxury of arcing a grenade under the low ceilings of a rebel base. The patented Real-Time Adaptable Hybrid Gyro-Grenades, known colloquially as "Rocquettes", combine the functions of both RPG and fragmentation grenade in a single neat and deadly package.

Instructions: Press fire to launch a rocket. This rocket will go in a straight path, slowly at first but accelerating as it goes until it hits something. Altfire fires a grenade, as with the rifle's underslung grenade launcher.

Reloading the launcher works the same way as reloading the Hunter, except the launcher can only hold six rockets.

Protip: When the rocquette is fired as a grenade, it contains some unused propellant which is then used to power the explosive, allowing for a more powerful blast. However, the grenade also lacks the direct impact damage that a rocket can do at greater distances, damaging some monsters that can otherwise shrug off an explosion. The bigger the monster and the longer the range, the more likely a rocket would be preferable to a grenade.


Hand Grenade

ZDoom actor name: HDFragGrenades (ammo: HDFragGrenadeAmmo)
Default weapon slot: 5

Description: The M67.1A fragmentation grenade hasn't changed much from its predecessors over the years. Pull the pin, drop the spoon, chuck it in a window, roll it along the floor, it blows up, everyone's happy. Except whoever just got fragged in that room.

Instructions: Press and hold fire to set the force of the throw. A quick tap drops the grenade about where you are; a long hold risks bouncing the grenade off a wall back towards you (and possibly rolling well past you into safety, but don't assume that). If you've gone over the desired force, hit reload to put the pin back in and let go of the fire button once you hear the click to restart.

Hold altfire for just under a second to pull the pin. Once the pin has been pulled, you can throw it normally or press altfire again to release the spoon and begin the timer.

Grenade fuze delay is four seconds.

Protip: Beware of uneven ground when rolling the grenade. All ground is uneven.


Pulsed Particle Beam Rifle

ZDoom actor name: PlazmaGun
Default weapon slot: 6

Description: In recent years Heckler & Mok were going through their typical occasional experimental infantry energy weapons research kick. Their latest casualty of common sense is an adaptation of the big phased particle beam cannons found in large Bishop-class high-orbital patrollers. It is indeed a fine and powerful weapon, but nonetheless based on something shooting through space at massive inanimate objects with highly predictable trajectories. For want of any commercial application they sold the specs to the UAC, who wanted exactly such a weapon to prepare its employees and government partners for what the contract deemed to be "unanticipated high-intensity extra-terrestrial undeclared infantry-level encounters".

Instructions: Press and hold fire to shoot the beam. The beam must be focussed on a single spot until you see the plasma ball. Keep holding the beam there - you'll know when something has happened.

Protip: It is stupidly easy to break your combo - someone just has to move in then out of the way of your beam and keep it from hitting that exact spot that was being charged up. They'll take some minor damage but nothing remotely resembling a successful shot, so consider firing on walls or stationary objects. This is a gun best used if someone else can draw fire for a while - from a safe distance.


BFG9K

ZDoom actor name: BFG9K
Default weapon slot: 7

Description: The other, less unanticipated reason why the UAC wanted H&M's energy weapon specs. The most advanced attempt to merge conventional human technology with the power of the Anomalies before the invasion of Phobos, the Boesfraggewehr Project, Phase 9 was to be the base for a greater work that would have made Union Aerospace the single biggest player in the energy market for centuries.

Unluckily for them, the proposed energy source caused the rout of civilization and the massacre of mankind - with the resulting lawsuits likely to result in a slightly smaller profit than imagined. Luckily for you, the Kurz ("K") version of the weapon is just small enough for one space marine to carry and deliver the fight back to the enemy.

The BFG works by drawing into itself the yet-unexplained energies of the Anomalies, known in the UAC's internal documents as "Frag" (apparently a corruption of the German word for question).

Instructions: The BFG needs the equivalent of 60 cell units to fire. You can do this either by loading three conventional 20-unit cells, or loading a single 20-unit cell and charging it up. To charge it up, simply press fire and remain in an area where there is an influx of Frag. For our purposes, that means just about anywhere. You can stop the charging process at its earlier stages by hitting the reload button, and you get to keep what charge you've already accrued. Note that as a side effect of its Hellish nature, the BFG is wont to drain your life energies while you're already under stress (i.e., to exacerbate already low health). This may be an asset (faster charge) or a liability (higher risk).

Once you've got your 60-unit charge built up, you may fire. The fire sequence requires a final few moments of charging, after which the Frag will attain critical mass and the firing process will become irreversible. After about a second you will see a large globule of plasma (or whatever it is) emanating from the BFG, which will then spontaneously send out tendrils to attack hostiles as it travels along its path.

Reloading the BFG works the same way as for the plasma rifle, but with three cells instead of two.

Altfire unloads one full cell from the BFG, provided you have room and there is a full cell inside. There is a slight momentary green glow as the charged cell is removed; official UAC studies confirm this is not a sign of radioactivity and exposure to this light will not hurt you. By repeatedly charging, cancelling and unloading, you can soon replenish all your cell ammunition.

Protip: Long shots beat point blank, as the ball gets more time to launch secondary attacks at hostiles before exploding. However, this secondary attack behaviour is absent in deathmatch, making the BFG better at close-quarters range. Be warned as well that the ball loses its targeting abilities when it teleports.



	IX. MONSTERS


Stormtrooper

ZDoom actor name: ZombieStormtrooper
Replaces: ZombieMan

Description: These shambling assaulters wander out to the front, hoping to infiltrate enemy lines and tenderize hostile forces a bit before the Tyrant's real army steamrolls its way in.

Protip: The stormtroopers have no sense of when they have a shot at you. They are profoundly incompetent in large groups, where they happily shoot through each other to get to their target. Their greatest strength lies in getting off a lucky shot before dying and laughing from beyond the grave as you run out of medikits and bleed to death.


Jack-Booted Thug

ZDoom actor name: Jackboot
Replaces: ShotgunGuy

Description: The Tyrant's horde of black-clad, jack-booted undead thugs. Mobs of these men now wander the countryside, burning and killing and bludgeoning without care or reason except to terrorize what's left of humanity into submission.

Protip: Try to take cover immediately after you shoot, or be very quick to follow up with a killing shot, as jackboots are very quick to retaliate. It may sometimes be better to continue wearing numerically inferior green armour to protect you from bleeding out from a few more shotgun blasts, than to get better protection against fewer attacks and be fully exposed later.


Red Dragon Guard

ZDoom actor name: DragonGuard
Replaces: ChaingunGuy

Description: These bloated, crimson-clad abominations form the Tyrant's elite personal guard and serve as commanders of the jackboots and stormtroopers beneath them. No expense was spared, apparently, when the Tyrant got each and every one of them a Vulcanette.

Protip: When you run for cover, the Dragon Guard's typical first reaction is to wait where he's shooting until you come back out, but he doesn't have much patience. Wait for the wind-down noise of his gun to know when you can catch him off guard.


Marines

ZDoom actor names: Rifleman, SWAT, Rocketeer; Tango, ShotTango, RocketTango, SquadRifleman, UndeadRifleman
DoomEdNums: 23005 (Tango), 23006 (ShotTango), 23007 (RocketTango)
Replaces: Rifleman/UndeadRifleman: Player (on reanimation); Rocketeer, Tango, ShotTango, RocketTango: none

Description: Some people you meet are soldiers just like yourself in the war against the Tyrant. Others are less lucky, and appear as reanimated demon-possessed remains of the fallen. Yet others still turn against humanity of their own free will, selling their souls to the Tyrant for a small piece of his hellish dominion that they can call their own. In game terms, the last three in the list are identical to the first three, except without the +friendly flag.

Protip: In a normal Doom map you'll only see these guys if they've been raised by a healer imp or an archvile. They are far deadlier than any of the zombies, so try not to let the enemy create too many of them. If you end up with one anyway, one double-barreled hit from the Slayer should do the trick.

The good news is that normal, non-hellspawn humans can't be raised without some degradation. After a few cycles undead marines become indistinguishable from ordinary zombies.


Imps

ZDoom actor names: DrunkImp, HealerImp, MageImp
DoomEdNums: 23001 (Drunk), 23002 (Healer), 23003 (Mage)
Replaces: DoomImp

Description: These toothy, spiny hominids are the dominant species from the Tyrant's homeworld, making up for what they lack in intelligence with sheer brutality and an innate knowledge of arcane magic. They are now often seen bustling about in disorganized bands, unthinkingly eating anything edible-looking they find and burning the rest.

Imps come in three distinct types: the fighter, the mage, and the healer. Fighters are the most common and are also the most vicious. Mages are the rarest, but both their sharper talons and superior fireball-casting more than make up for such shortcomings. But worst of all are the healers: have enough of these in a group coming your way with a few fighters to soak up the shots, and you can watch your easy fight turn into a gruelling, siege-like ordeal.

Protip: Healers have priority in any situation where something else is not posing an immediate danger of killing or incapacitating you. In some worse situations the only option may be to flee.


Babuin

ZDoom actor name: Babuin
Replaces: Demon

Description: Of course these evil godless Communists don't have dogs. Instead, they have these little red devils who like nothing more than to chew your gonads off and vomit them into your eyes.

Protip: Crouch, then shoot. Keep both shotguns fully loaded at all times. Range is your friend.


Ninja Pirate

ZDoom actor name: NinjaPirate
Replaces: Spectre

Description: As the imps were his enforcers, the ninja pirates served as the Tyrant's storm troops before contact with humanity. They spit a potent weaponized variant of Frag at you, known in the UAC specs as "balefire", while at close range they gore their victims with their tusked maws.

Protip: Just learn never, ever, ever to take anything for granted. The only safe distance is from an elevated surface that cannot be climbed, at grenade range, with cover readily available (for you, not it), with a grenade loaded, while it is visible in broad daylight and with your finger on the trigger pointing at it.


Killer Barrel

ZDoom actor name: KillerBarrel, AlwaysKillerBarrel
DoomEdNum: 23008 (AlwaysKillerBarrel - the "Always" variants are not subject to the cvar check and are available for mapping purposes)
Replaces: ExplosiveBarrel

Description: Throughout the Phobos and Deimos installations the UAC had stored hundreds of barrels of a special compound designed to hold Frag in a concentrated and transportable form. The Tyrant's minions took a liking to this practice, forced the recipe out of the technicians they captured, and starting putting it everywhere to help them establish a foothold on Earth. Now there are millions and millions of barrels of this vile substance (nicknamed "nukage") stashed across the Earth. It may be decades before anyone can even begin to fathom the ecological damage. And now it seems that the hellish properties of Frag can take possession of the barrels themselves. Which means that among all these polluting barrels of crap, we've also got thousands of shuffling metal monstrosities with balefire attacks and an agenda to kill all humans...

Protip: The nukage inside the animated barrels moves more quickly than that in a normal barrel. This is important to learn, as sometimes the barrels do not attack right away but instead simply explode when you come too near.


Killer Burning Oil Barrel

ZDoom actor name: KillerFireCan, AlwaysKillerFireCan
DoomEdNum: 23008 (AlwaysKillerFireCan)
Replaces: BurningBarrel

Description: Nukage and crude oil mix. When the resulting mixture is put into a barrel, it tends to spontaneously combust. Sometimes, the resulting mix of Hell energy, fossil fuel, and decaying metal melds into a freakish fire-belching abomination against all that is good and true. Fortunately, it is quite destructible.

Protip: These barrels do not explode in quite the same way as their nukage-filled brethren, but I suppose a searing tongue of flame is no picnic either. They too have the faster-movement tell.


Turrette

ZDoom actor name: Turrette
DoomEdNum: 23004
Replaces: CellPack

Description: Part spirit, part machine, part demon, all major pain in the ass. These ghostly horned terrors drift through the polluted air, belching toxic balls of smokeless flame at you from their ersatz eye-mouths. Where these flames come from no one knows, since the source is instantly destroyed in a searing fireball once the monster has been damaged beyond its ability to function in combat. They seem to have an affinity for energy weapons and often appear where such might be found.

Protip: Getting caught by the blast of a bursting fireball may prevent you from returning fire long enough for the turrettes to hit you again. The best strategy is to remain on the move until you can land a good, clean hit with a grenade launcher or a shotgun. Failing that, rifle rounds hit everything.


Fire Dancer

ZDoom actor names: FireDancer, DisappearingFireDancer
Replaces: LostSoul

Description: Nothing like a few screeching, flaming horned and fanged animate skulls to ruin your day. The good news is they come at you closer to eye level and are well lit so they're a little easier to hit than the babuins.

Protip: Treat the fire dancer as a weaker babuin that just happens to be capable of flight. As well, unlike the babuin it actually pauses in the air every so often, making it much easier to hit.


Revenant

ZDoom actor name: Boner
Replaces: Revenant

Description: These tall, rigid warriors stand at attention ready to slap you around and shoot their load all over your face. The bad news is that the innuendo is unwarranted, and these undead, un-sexy skeletal drones are only after some distinctly un-erotic murder. And their posture is just awful.

Protip: Shotguns fare somewhat better than rifles against revenants. The chainsaw remains, as before, a perfectly valid and useful option.


Pain Elemental

ZDoom actor name: AngstElemental
Replaces: PainElemental

Description: Few changes from vanilla Doom, except for the addition of a bite attack.

Protip: Engaging up close isn't as good a tactic as before. Not only does it have a melee attack, any lost souls that it does spit explode if they die after spawning in a bad place. Needless to say, the pain elemental itself also explodes.


Cacodemon

ZDoom actor name: BakaDemon
Replaces; Cacodemon
Description: One thing is for sure: the Tyrant did not attack us to steal our plasma rifle technology. These monsters send swathes of vaporizingly hot charged material that gently drift towards the target, scorching anything in its path. To make things worse, sometimes it follows this up with a savage power attack only a little weaker than your own rockets.

Protip: Once you see the flash, you have two options: duck and cover, or shoot it until it dies. A single rifle magazine is just enough firepower to make sure that a cacodemon is dead.


Arachnotron

ZDoom actor name: Krangling
Replaces: Arachnotron

Description: Looks like the hellspawn discovered one of Heckler & Mok's old failed energy weapon projects and added some improvements of their own. These brain repletes can fire an almost unlimited amount in meticulously controlled five-round bursts of magic fireballs that can shred a fully armoured marine into nothing in half a second. When you hear its signature screech, take all steps necessary to neutralize the threat immediately.

Protip: The arachnotron's shots are highly predictable compared with the drunken barrage of the imps and cacos. At - very - long ranges you can simply sidestep the bursts as they slowly take their course.


Mancubus

ZDoom actor name: Mancubus
Replaces: Fatso

Description: The Tyrant feels no shame in mocking the defeated. Originally built from the bodies of morbidly obese humans captured after the invasion of Earth, armed with a pair of grossly inefficient gasoline-fueled plasma launchers, these sweaty, greasy, smoky cyborgs stand tall and proud as a shining symbol of humanity's perpetual need for cheap energy and resources that left us tampering with the horrors of the Anomalies to begin with.

Protip: The mancubus is so slow and fat that even an alert one with a clear path to you can be taken out with a hand grenade. Which can be quite useful for something you really don't want line of sight with for more than a second.


Hell Knave

ZDoom actor name: HellKnave
Replaces: HellKnight

Description: These petty officers of the Tyrant's legions move slowly and let their aura of malevolence settle over them even in the tensest of combat situations. The bloodthirsty hell knave likes to saturate its immediate vicinity with balefire to make sure that whatever it hates is going to be dead. The long-range version of this attack includes a central concentrated blast that it is in your best interests to avoid by any means necessary.

Protip: Unlike its bigger cousin the hell knave is not resistant to explosives. A grenade or two around the corner can soften one of these up just enough for you to pop in and finish it off with a double-barreled hit of the Slayer. If that is not enough, retreat immediately.


Hell Prince

ZDoom actor name: HellPrince
Replaces: BaronOfHell

Description: The Tyrant's trusted lieutenants in the Phobos war represent everything loathesome about the hell knaves writ large. Able to withstand ludicrous amounts of damage without slowing down, the hell prince supplements its balefire attack with an illusory lost soul charge with an impact all too real.

Protip: The hell prince's skull shot looks scary, but the real threat is the fan of seeking missiles around it. The chaingun will be of limited use.


Archfiend

ZDoom actor name: ArchFiend
Replaces: ArchVile

Description: A miserable shadow of their once glorious past, these fallen angels now know only destruction and hatred and the fires of Hell. They detest the Tyrant they serve, forever bound by a blood oath made as a condition of being freed from the Abyss. Their only remaining creative power is to restore life and limb to the fallen, for the sole purpose of continuing their own dark master's battle.

Protip: Shotgun, shotgun, shotgun! It is the only weapon that can reliably hurt the archvile in a single shot. Unlike all other monsters, who are taken down after suffering a certain amount of gross damage, the archfiend must feel pain a certain number of times to be destroyed. Oh, and when the archvile dies do try to stay away from dead mancubi and hell princes for a while...


Archangel

ZDoom actor name: ArchAngel
Replaces: None

Description: There are rumours about that some of the fallen angels have gone turncoat, possibly realizing the error of their ways after eons of timeless damnation. Others say that these are not fallen at all, but actual angels sent to mankind's aid under certain limitations. Or perhaps these are not limitations at all, and that the fallen are less degraded than once thought. Perhaps none of the proposed answers is true; perhaps they are all true, or there are as many answers as there are these friendly angels. They're not saying anything, though.

Protip: Get out of the way and let them do their work. They are somewhat more maneuverable than their fallen brethren, so should you happen across one you shouldn't find it too difficult to make sure it's still by your side.


Ultimate Purgatory Eschaton Satan Robo X

ZDoom actor name: SatanRobo
Replaces: Cyberdemon

Description: "Dear Santa: I want a giant fucking robot for Christmas. To get rid of all these other horrible problems I have to deal with. Like other giant fucking robots. Especially the ones that like nothing more than to send a barrage of rockets at the slightest suggestion of line of sight with me, each the size of a grown man's torso. I would say I've been a really good boy this year just by putting up with this shit. Yours truly, Doomguy."

Protip: The odds really are against you winning this one alone. Try to get a buddy to distract it so you can have a moment to shoot. Ideally the cyberdemon's attention will be kept alternating, at which point you are somewhat more free to shoot it until someone dies.


Spiderdemon

ZDoom actor name: Spiderdemon
Replaces: SpiderMastermind

Description: Galloping trigger-happy freak with a full-length-round version of the Vulcanette. Combat being a secondary function of this telepathic controller, its accuracy is fortunately quite bad. It tries to make up for it with babuin-like aggression, but isn't anywhere near maneuverable enough to be a serious threat as long as you've got a sturdy pillar or something to hide behind.

Protip: The spiderdemon is weak against anything and everything. If you can corner it without it shooting anyone, two players should be able to punch it to death with minimal risk. (Note: If this succeeds, the instant you hear its death sound disengage and run away immediately.) At longer ranges, at which it can't attack you effectively, a single BFG shot is far more than enough. For reference, on Map12 co-op the chaingun, rocket launcher and BFG can all stop it before it gets into killing range.




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