Monster Usage

[Submerge]

All of the monsters in doom have their strong and weak points. What, do you feel is the best way to use certain Monsters?

Trooper: At the start, groups of 2-5 are a good warm up with just the pistol. After that, (i.e. player has the shotgun, or hell, even the chainsaw) scatter em about a map however you see fit. they're really just chaff and the source of a few free bullets. Hell, even use em cheap and close up! It doesn't matter! These are guys you can have fun with and put in just about any situation!

Shotgunner: Again, any time, anywhere. just keep in mind that they are a good source of ammo for a player, so if you want him to stay low on munitions in a level, don't use too many of them. Surrounding a player with them can be a fair idea too if the player is fairly strong and can deal with it. Don't be a jackass and pit the player against 2 dozen of them with just the pistol. Wait for him to pick up some armor :)

Imp: Well, imps are imps. Dammit, people expect these things! you can have a player fight these fellows with just a pistol at the very beginning, to attacking a horde of 3 dozen of them with something heavier. If I wanted to make a challenge for a player in a open area, I'd supplement other monsters with Imps sniping from a distance. NOT Chaingunners.

Chaingunner: The most frequently abused monster in Doom, in my opinion. People think they can challenge players by making them appear suddenly with their gun pressed soundly against the small of the player's back *cough* plutonia *cough*. At the early stage of a level, a fair idea would be to use this guy to perhaps supply the player with a chaingun if he has only the pistol. I'd be fun to replace a chaingun item drop with a chaingunner on a harder skill level :) As the 3D Alchemy guide stated, these fellows work best in pairs. I prefer to use them at a medium range, and in smaller (1-5) numbers, that a player can deal with.

Demons: Unless there is room to move, don't sic these bastards on a marine with just a pistol. Let him at LEAST get a shotgun with not enough ammo in it before sending just enough demons after him to make him use all of his shells and leaving him a wounded demon or two to finish off with his pistol. In the late game, these guys are something, that generally, the player has to deal with on priority. They're too fast to ignore, and they'll block you up from moving if you're surrounded. Not to mention that they bite. I like using Demons quite a bit in my maps. Perhaps surround a player at a distance with them in an arena fight, and let them close in while the player is busy fighting that mancubus :)

Spectres: Use em like demons. Just remember that they're a chore to see in the dark. Maybe replace all demons with spectres on a harder difficulty setting?

Lost Souls: Um.... I don't like to use these guys really. But sometimes I'll toss em in to add variety or ambush the player while he's busy. If I want lost souls in a map, I'll put in a pain elemental.

CacoDemon: Everyone loves cacos, even when they're in your face and biting away 28% of your health in a single chomp. Give em to a player while they just have a shotgun, perhaps give them a heart attack if they only have a pistol (E3M1 on UV ^_^) You can use em by the dozen if a player has enough ammo and room. Another thing: they are good optic screens. If you want to block sight of a tight passage, cram a cacodemon in the way. Their corpse is nearly as big as they are, too.

Revenant: A fine monster. Fun for just about any situation, but I can't stand it when people think that 4 dozen of them at once is a 'challenge'. That is not a challenge. That's an eyesore. If you use em, give em room to run around! Medium distances are best. If they're too close, a player won't have much chance to maneuver (good if you want the map to be hard). If they're far away, the usefulness of their seeker missiles is blunted, because a skilled player can identify and avoid them. This is why I don't use them as snipers. They don't fire as fast as imps, and well, they're a bit tough to kill. I like to think of sniper killing as stress relief, not a chore.

Hell Knight: Use them like imps, just in about half the number. They're good at any distance, except for too close. Best range really, is to give the player enough room to let them dodge the fireballs, but make em close enough that the player has to worry about their nasty 'ol meathooks.

Baron Of Hell: These guys... Hmm... They're too tough to use as frequently as Imps or Hell Knights, but too weak to be treated like a boss monster. I think they make good ambush monsters. They pop up, the player may well panic if he's good and close, considering it has 1,000 hit points that need to be whittled down before he drops, as well as decent pain tolerance.

Pain Elemental: They spew lost souls, and are annoying, and sound dumb, and are ugly, and have many other flaws. Don't let this stop you from using them in a map. Use a maximum of TWO at once. Avoid temptations to do otherwise. Up close, they'll be able to give the player a good workout, and in large scale combat, if they hang back and do their little LS generation bit, the player will regret being lax on dealing with the buggers first. The lost souls are their own monster, and are meat shields for the PE itself, all while attacking. A dangerous package if respected and used right.

Mancubus: Nice, big bastard, and he can be used really early too! Any weapon, shotgun and up, is decent against this fellow, except for rockets. He has a low tolerance for pain, so the chaingun and plasma gun are really best. Just keep in mind he soaks up bullets and shells like a sponge. If you use one? Don't bother using cover. An experienced marine can dodge his flurry of fireballs with a little bit of focus. If there are other monsters, or more than one, be kind enough to provide at least a little cover, or some distance. These guys work good in wall cages as mid ranged snipers.

Arachnotron: People who use these guys from 10 miles away are little bitches. period. Have em be mid range. Close is well, too close. The player can kill em too quickly. Wait for the marine to nab the SSG before dropping these noisy buggers in his lap. if you want him to have a difficult time of it, it isn't COVER that matters, it's footing. Uncertain footing in the dark while trying to circle strafe suddenly makes a simple act much more EXCITING, doesn't it?

Arch-Vile: There are a lot of ways to totally fuck up with this guy.
1. Using him as a sniper
2. using more than one at a time
3. using him without cover for the player

If you want to use an archie successfully, bear in mind that about the only weapon that has the power to interrupt his attack is the SSG. It seems to be the silver bullet against most of the advanced hellspawn, really. He's pretty fast for a skinny guy, so if you give him a linear path to walk on (a high ledge, for example) He can dodge weapons fire pretty well. This guy can resurrect dead foes, which is one of the coolest things... well... ever. Have em spawn into an arena a player cleared 10 minutes ago and totally forgot about... the one with the blue door... and he just got the blue key... and has to hunt for a couple of minutes to find said door. He has just enough hps as well (700) to stand up to enough punishment to fire off at LEAST one hellfire blast. Using two of these guys in an area with no cover is just unfair, and stupid. If you absolutely MUST use more than one... perhaps place one on one side of the only cover in the room.. and the other one on the OTHER side. That'll have the player dancing. heh.

Spider Mastermind: A big challenge. If the player doesn't see him coming. HE is the guy you use from a distance, with the long range sniping. He's your challenge, your 'AH FUCK not one of these guys' monster. Perhaps make it so the player has to dodge and weave through uncertain terrain and shifting cover before he can get close enough to engage him, and perhaps only with bullets :)

Cyberdemon: Walking skyscraper with a rocket launcher. An apt description. If you wanna use him, I suggest you place him from afar. a good example of this is in Memento Mori's "Mountain Depot" level. A rocket coming at you out of the dark is actually really cool to behold for a split second, before turning into paste. The problem is, if there is no visual disruption to cover this guy's missiles and firing pattern as they come at you, he's cake for anyone who can dodge and has enough ammo.

Wolfenstein SS: Um... someone give this guy a proper sprite set and sounds and I'll get back to you on that.

Boss Brain: Admittedly, I've never used one. But if I did? I'd place him in a far away location, and make him do his little cube shooty B.S. into little rooms with teleporters to bring the monsters into the playing field rather than just let the things pass through the walls and stuff. looks geeky. I rather just like the idea of an endless stream of monsters teleporting in in the standard fashion, or maybe coming out of a cave mouth, with no sound at all to announce the teleport......

These are just my thoughts. Agree? Disagree? should I shut up?

Discuss.

[Jacknife]

A word of advice, Dues Vult throws all these monsters at you in mass numbers, making for some extremely difficult battles: especially the one with the cyberdemon in the tiny tentacle room. Anyways, all of the battles are possible to beat, so in essence, all you need to know about monster placement is in Dues Vult. Basically. Or maybe I'm just babbling on because I finally beat the 4th level on DV. Oh well.

[scwiba]

Very thorough guide. Well done. I'm inclined to agree with most of those descriptions.

I don't know why, but even with them appearing so often, I still love imps, and I like to see them in large quantities.

Shotgunners are a bit more dangerous than you made them out to be. If you're given ample time to react, they can be dealt with easily, but if they are able to get off a few shots, especially at close range, they can drop your health quite a bit. A surprise attack from a couple shotgunners is a good challenge early on.

If you have room to move around or something to duck behind, I think Arachnotrons can be used at a fair distance. I find it sort of fun evading the steams of plasma.

Arch-Viles, I think can be used in small groups. One, two, maybe even three if sufficient cover is given. I will agree that pitting the player against Arch-Viles with nothing to hide behind is just lame.

Finally, let me emphasize that comment on Pain Elementals. Don't put a dozen of them in the same room. I made the mistake of putting...six or so in a room once.

That's just my two cents.