Doom Multiplayer

[Doomsoldier]

I've never played Doom multiplayer. Can you tell me what it is like?

[Carnevil]

Try for yourself! :D

http://www.skulltag.com/

[deathz0r]

I suggest checking out the sidebar links at Deathmatch News and finding out what's best for your needs.

[Stealthy Ivan]

http://www.codeimp.com/connector_info.php? This can also help you out on your quest...
There is a large doom community waiting to kick your ass! :P
Welcome!

[fodders]

http://www.doomworld.com/vb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=7819

[Carnevil]

fodders said:

http://www.doomworld.com/vb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=7819

Hey fodders, can you change the Skulltag link there to http://www.skulltag.com/?

[fodders]

Sorted.

[The Green Marine]

Doomsoldier said:

Can you tell me what it is like?

It's pretty freakin sweet, like ninjas.

[Stealthy Ivan]

The Green Marine said:

It's pretty freakin sweet, like ninjas.

Ninjas with sick ass guns, that are into killing demons (or one another in a DM game)! :P
Hope to see you on the feilds!

[LexiMax]

Doomsoldier said:

I've never played Doom multiplayer. Can you tell me what it is like?

I'll actually answer your question instead of plugging a port like everyone else in this goddamn thread seems to be doing.

Doom 2 deathmatch is a very fast moving game, perhaps even faster than in Quake 3 or Quakeworld.

First of all, all of the tricks you've used against demons in single player won't work. So just get it into your head that you're playing real people. This may seem obvious, but I still see a lot of people try and play Doom DM as a slow paced carefully played that they play SP with. And oh yeah, make sure you have Doom 2 1.9's wadfile. That's pretty much the only IWAD that people play with online, with the occational Doom Shareware Co-op romp, so make sure you have it.

Second of all, certain weapons are more or less useful in multiplayer than in single player.

The pistol and chainsaw are pretty much useless. For this reason, most DM maps have shotguns or super shotguns placed on a spawn. Shotguns are OK weapons if the other guy has one too, and I've scored quite a few kills with one.

However, the Super Shotgun dominates most DM at 512 units or less, it's the weapon that you will want to be using 90% of the time. One clean hit will just barely kill an enemy, two decent hits will decimate one. However, since it's reload rate is so slow, it's a big timing and aiming game, because you have to make every shot count, or else you'll be stuck with a reloading SSG while the other guy moves in.

At longer ranges (which is somewhat rare, due to the design of most maps), you'll probably want to use the chaingun and tap the fire button, as it's insanely accurate with burst fire.

The Rocket Launcher in DM is quite a powerful weapon, as one clean hit will gib an aurmored advesary. However, the rockets themselves move so slowly that a skilled player can dodge them rather easily and move in with the SSG for the kill. You're better off using the rocket launcher as a grenade than an actual rocket launcher, unless you're playing in large games, in which case feel free to spam it everywhere.

The Plasma Rifle's power really depends on what kind of map it's used in. You will either be able to mow down people in large quanities in close quarters, or you're going to get outflanked in the open. If you manage to land a good sream of plasma on them with this weapon, it's fantastic, but if you're in an open area, the plasma shots, like rockets, are pretty easy to dodge.

The BFG is the most abused weapon in FFA, simply because nobody expects it when they're in their own little SSG battles. Anyone who has read the BFG FAQ can wipe out entire playing fields of people with it, unless someone else gets the drop on them. However, in 1on1, it's actually used like a rocket launcher, as in it's a really big grenade, since you can hear the other person charge up you have plenty of time to get to safety before the area of effect damage hits. Also, a well designed FFA map will make a run for the BFG rather risky and well advertised, so it's not quite as useful as you might think it is. And one more thing, THE BFG IS A VAILD WEAPON TO USE. If you keep getting killed by the BFG, either learn how to dodge it, or stop playing FFA on maps that weren't designed for it. Please don't jump on the "BFG IS LAME" bandwagon.

Third, movement speed is a lot faster than the Quake series of games, and certainly faster than Unreal Tournament, and because of the way movement is calculated, if you run forward and strafe at the same time, you will travel a lot faster. You can move even faster if you angle yourself just right. It's called straferunning, and it's something you'll want to get used to when you play DM.

Fourth, the skill curve is insanely high. There are people who are so insanely good at this game that they have masted such moves as grabbing the plasma in map01 without using the elevator (the infamous plasma grab), speeding up to insane speeds just by straferunning near a wall (called wallrunning), grabbing items through walls (the BFG grab in D5M1 is one example), listening for your spawn sounds and killing you before you have a chance to find a weapon (spawnkilling in map01 is an art form), silencing their weapons (the silent BFG trick being the one used most often), and so many other things that I could go on for pages. However, there are still plenty of 'bad' players to play against, me being one of them. (heh) In short, it's still an easy game to get into, but it's still a very deep game at high levels of play, if you care to go that high.

Plus, if you need a break, both major multiplayer ports (ZDaemon and Skulltag) have things like TeamDM, CTF and Co-op to keep you interested. And people are ALWAYS playing doom online (well, at least ZDaemon anyway) 24/7, so you will never be with a shortage a players to play against.

[Doomsoldier]

Hey!! Thanks for explaining Doom Multiplayer for me AlexMax! I appreciate it. Hope to see you soon on the battlefield!!:)