Question for people that did D1E4 on UV

So i played through Doom 1 Eps 1-3 on UV.

Ep 1 was a walk in the park, no problem.

Ep 2 and 3 where much much harder for me, at least the beginning levels. Needed to get my hands on berserker packs and be really careful not to waste ammunition. After 2 or 3 levels that problem was gone and i could really let loose.

Ep 4 really really stresses me out so far. I have kind of a plan how to restart Ep 4 and i think i know how to get through the first two levels without blasting away all my ammo.

So the question is: Does Ep 4 on UV also have this "turning point" where you finally have enough ammunition without finding every secret and boxing all the pinkies? I really hope that map 3 is the turning point.

Don't think i am some kind of inexperienced gamer. I am a veteran with several hard platin trophys on ps3 (Demon's Souls). I played through stuff like Axelay. I refuse to start Arkham Asylum on the normal difficulty level, i played games on PC since the mid 90s (Doom was my first). It is just that i dont want to plan every move before i even start the level. I want to go in, react, and shoot stuff.

Having played through E4 on UV myself countless of times since 1996, I can't really put my finger on anything special that I did, or recall having a problem with ammo. I would be interested to see exactly what you do though. Can you post a demo of you tackling E4 (as far as you can go)? That might help everybody here better understand your situation.

Are you playing it with Brutal Doom?

@Maes
I try to do that later, maybe tomorrow. How do i record a demo again?

@rdwpa
No, i am playing nearly vanilla. Not using any mods. Only doom.wad is loaded with GZDoom. The only non vanilla options i use are disabled autoaim because i like freelook, also the enhanced nightvision. And the build-in graphical enhancements like texture filtering and bigger resolution.

E4 is much harder than Episodes 1-3.
More enemies and lots of Hitscanners in some areas that will eat your health very quickly.

It's normal to feel that maps are very difficult especially after the (in contrast) very easy Episodes 1-3.

As for you not having enough ammunition are you missing a lot? I don't recall any special ammo problems. Learn to love the shotgun.

E4M2 is pretty tricky. E4M3 has a ton of shotgun guys in the beginning so if they don't kill you first you should have plenty shotgun shells leftover.

karacho said:

@Maes
I try to do that later, maybe tomorrow. How do i record a demo again?

With vanilla Doom, that would be:

doom.exe -record foo

which will create a demo file called "foo.lmp" when you exit Doom or die (except when in multiplayer mode).

However it's not recommended that you use (G)ZDoom to record demos, as they have poor compatibility to say the least.

Since you play with autoaim completely off though, that may explain why you run out of ammo so rapidly: you now need to be 100% accurate with your aim in two axes. Like it or not, Doom's gameplay is not designed around that sort of "complete freedom" when aiming. You're supposed to aim as quickly as you turn without having to constantly adjust for aim/view pitch (Quake used a hybrid system, where it still had some vertical autoaim).

The only E4 map where resource management is a serious tactical issue (especially if you're shooting for maxkills) is the very first, McGee's E4M1--ammo is tight and healing borders on nonexistent, as I'm sure you've seen. I can also see Romero's E4M2 having the potential to seem rather austere (although still should be doable) if you happen to take an inoptimal route through it, but once you know a little bit about the map you should be able to develop an itinerary that will take you through it pretty neatly, especially considering it's actually quite a bit shorter than it initially appears. From a pistol-start E4M6 (also by Romero, incidentally) has more of this same potential to be rather prickly/resource-austere (more regarding health than ammo in this case) if you pick the 'wrong' route or don't clue in on the map's sense of flow early enough, but if you go into it with an arsenal from previous maps you should have enough momentum that this is unlikely to be a problem.

Other than that, 40oz has it right. From a pure ammo stockpile perspective, E4M3 houses an embarrassment of shotshells (and some other stuff, of course), probably enough to maxkill some of the earlier episodes in their entirety. The followup map to this, E4M4, is what we might refer to today as the episode's "breather" map--it's short, relatively sparsely populated, generally noticeably easier than the maps around it, etc.--and so on a continuous run you should have decisively become Lord of the Land by that point.

Maes said:

(Quake used a hybrid system, where it still had some vertical autoaim).

And oh how I hate that autoaim in Quake. First thing I do when reinstalling on a new machine/drive is turn that shit off.

Anyway, shameless self-promotion regarding "how to do E4 consecutively and look half-competent".

Episode finished in one straight (casual) run, complete with stupid 100% kills on E4M1; no idea if it's helpful enough to be worth watching though.

And (as pointed out already) once you hit E4M3, common ammo supplies should cease being an issue.

Thanks for the heads up guys, turned out M1 and M2 where the maps to overcome for me, as you predicted. M3 was absolutely great fun. And M4 felt like a commercial break. But whatever they tried to sell me - i paid with lead.

:)

It is difficult no doubt but keep at it and you will learn its rythm and beat it.

Next stop: Hell on Earth ;)

karacho said:

And M4 felt like a commercial break. But whatever they tried to sell me - i paid with lead.

:)

lmao that's so cheesy, is it a quote from a 90s movie?

I am a huge movie fan. Especially old school stuff (80s and 90s, and modern stuff that feels like 80s/90s). To be honest: i don't really know. But i am 99% sure my subconscious mind quoted some movie. :)

Similar to a line in The Saboteur. "Where I come from, snitches get paid in lead!"

I think it may be a quote thats used in a few different movies and games. Never played Saboteur. Gave up my console collection some time ago (damn i miss you Metal gear). Also i don't plan to buy anything console related sometimes soon. Need to get my hands on a rig that can run Doom 4. I hope that is even possible with that little money i have. :(

E4M1 and E4M2 are unrelentingly brutal, and especially in the opening map, you're fucked if you don't at least find the rocket launcher secret. The second map requires some very careful planning of your route, especially when you get to the grey rocky cave with the cacos and spectres. After that episode 4 is not so crazy.

karacho said:

Don't think i am some kind of inexperienced gamer. I am a veteran with several hard platin trophys on ps3 (Demon's Souls). I played through stuff like Axelay. I refuse to start Arkham Asylum on the normal difficulty level, i played games on PC since the mid 90s (Doom was my first). It is just that i dont want to plan every move before i even start the level. I want to go in, react, and shoot stuff

Oh damn this guy is so cool.