Balancing ammo counts between normal and Brutal Doom

So in my upcoming Wad I've been attempting to make the ammo counts balanced both with and without Brutal Doom, but considering the weapons in Brutal' just simply do more damage, my balancing attempts either end up with excessive ammo on Brutal, or way too little (if barely any) on normal Doom.

Is there a way around this that I'm just not seeing, or am I going to have to settle with imbalance on one side?

Pick one side and stick to it. Brutal Doom isn't Doom, and Doom isn't Brutal Doom. It'll make your life a lot easier.

Maybe a script exists that can be used to provide a brutal doom-only flag for things to filter them from the map?

You could copy the level within the wad, and make the second version balanced for Brutal Doom, then add a custom episode selection screen to let the player choose between vanilla and BD versions.

Balance the ammo well for normal Doom. Brutal Doom users don't care about balance that much (at all?), otherwise they wouldn't play Brutal Doom, which throws balance of the original game off for the sake of other features. All gameplay mods bring this risk of flawed balance. Also Brutal Doom is not the only gameplay mod that people use, and many other people don't use any gameplay mods at all... IMO the original game takes precedence by far.

In any way, take into consideration that providing too much bullets or even shells can be okay and comfortable for the player during the game, mainly pay attention to not providing overly too much rockets and cells.

Pavera said:

Pick one side and stick to it. Brutal Doom isn't Doom, and Doom isn't Brutal Doom. It'll make your life a lot easier.

Only a Sith deals in absolutes.

(I need to stop making that joke)

Rampage470 said:

Only a Sith deals in absolutes.

If being a Jedi means balancing every wad for all regular difficulties and then also for all Brutal difficulties, I think most of us will be fine with ruling over the galaxy.

Alright, thanks guys.
I think what I'll do is add extra ammo for the sake of the normal version. And in the future If I want it balanced for Brutaldoom I can always create a separate version (like a GZdoom one as opposed to Zandronum), where the ammo count is less.

I would balance the level for vanilla Doom because it means more people can play your level.

I am also not sure if it's really possible to design a level intended for Brutal Doom alone. Brutal Doom is a gameplay mod. It doesn't add any new mapping or level design features.

You could always create a script that checks if Brutal Doom's player class is present or not, and then have it spawn/remove things accordingly.

scifista42 said:

Balance the ammo well for normal Doom. Brutal Doom users don't care about balance that much (at all?), otherwise they wouldn't play Brutal Doom, which throws balance of the original game off for the sake of other features. All gameplay mods bring this risk of flawed balance. Also Brutal Doom is not the only gameplay mod that people use, and many other people don't use any gameplay mods at all... IMO the original game takes precedence by far.

this seems a bit excessive to me. I enjoy playing both ways but claiming that I don't care about balance because of that seems rather silly.

on that note, whatever really takes precedence is whatever you want to

Berserk packs and chainsaws are a cheap way to balance a map that has lots of low tier monsters.

my best suggestion is to go real stingy with ammo for standard doom, but add secret areas to your map for extra ammo.