ÆoD (6.06.02 (03-14-16))

[ThatOneZDoomer]

I guess you could say running into the standard Doom monsters is a sign of fresh breath considering you could have ran into a much tougher enemy, especially when it comes to the bosses. On the other hand, I do understand how they can be a pushover compared to the other monsters, especially the Cyberdemon compared to others of the same class. I guess even extra HP would make them put up a bit more of a fight against the powerful weapons you use compared to the standard Doom weaponry.

[dljosef]

To be honest, against the regular doom monsters, I tend to use the weaker weapons on them while saving my better weapons for those even more dangerous enemies. Oh, and I certainly wouldn't mind seeing stronger decorate-only versions of those doom monsters. (The Cyberdemon 2000, the one I created, being one of those)

[zitro]

The thing is that when you expect a powerful monster (arch-vile replacement) and get an archvile: it's anti-climatic.

And for the bosses, even more so. It can break a level's enjoyment. I don't think there should be any easy boss. Cyberdemons by themselves were easy in open spaces. Now that you have 2X powerful weapons, 2X health maximum, more armor, hearts, usable medikits, powerups, a cyberdemon is a joke when in open spaces (which is where they are most of the time). It once happened to me in a supposedly climatic battle that ended a wad episode.

[dljosef]

I know the anti-climactic factor when it comes to easy bosses spawning, but it can be quite a relief after a section with particularly brutal enemies. That, and because of how I usually don't use the stronger weapons on easy bosses, I usually see them as less of a joke. (Thoth is even easier than the cyberdemon... though he's so damn hard to hit most of the time)

On the other hand, a hard boss can be a nasty surprise at the end of a seemingly-easy map. (especially bosses like the Cycloid Emperor, considering the crapton of missiles he fires at you)

[zerglin87]

For the reported crash, can we have a bit more information please? What version/realse number is your ZDoom? When does this crashes happen? After a special amount of time? When asp ecial time of enemy should apper etc?? Rigth now I can't give any suggestions from what I read so far.

My GZDoom is 1.1.6, Zdoom its 2.2.0 the latest one. The crashing happends randomly, So its hard for me to tell whats coing it, it CtD with no error. I honestly cant tell. But I did fine something. Here is a pic

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UPDATE: I updated ZDoom to 2.3.1 and amazingly now that AND GZDoom can play AEOD 4.21

[zitro]

Once again, I found a scarab staff ... I don't see it as a very rare weapon.

The weapon is just too overpowered and consumes little mana for the damage it deals. Sure, the quake2 BFG might deal more damage, but this is a low-cost versatile weapon that can be used in any situation. It's great against weak enemies (by not charging it up), it's great against harder enemies and fliers, it's great against dodging enemies, it's great at close range, middle range, and sniping, and it's a fantastic boss-killer. It's one of the best weapons in the game.

I think it should be rarer, or cost much more mana, or deal less damage, or a little bit of these 3 things.

[Project Shadowcat]

I think I agree with zitro. It's a fantastic weapon that either should be toned down the very slightest or simply made more rare.

[dljosef]

I agree with making the scarab staff a bit rarer... though I would use it on those much more dangerous enemies.

That, and the secondary fire is useful for killing those monsters from outside your safe spot.

[zitro]

Since it is a very fun weapon, I think it's a better idea to just tone it down. I think decreasing its damage by 25-33% is most appropriate. It'd still be a weapon you'd love to use in general situations, but at least, if you have the prototype railgun, you can use that rarer weapon against bosses (which by the way eats more ammo).

I think it shouldn't be rarer tho. It's a very fun weapon to use. It just needs balancing.

I remember I mentioned this before, and got the suggestion turned down because it was extremely rare, but now that we played more, we notice we are quite likely to get it in 30-level wads, sometimes as early as lvl5, since the mummy appears every now and then and the weapon is also a plasmagun replacement.

WOOHOO, I passed Doom2 in 4th difficulty (with AEOD) with my method of only saving at the beginning of each level. Lvls 15,27,29 were the hardest but I died a few times on lvl17.

[DBThanatos]

I finally figured out how to kill the phoenix, for those of you who are still interested.

For those who have the spellbook, you can polymorph it into a chicken and kill it.

I never thought of this. Im going to disable it

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ok ok, I wont. I know this bird is a pain in the ass already

A. Get it to start fighting other monsters. Chances are, it will charge and chaotically explode, which means you'll need to be behind a wall or something to avoid the flash.

Indeed

B. Lead it into an area with dead monsters around, then kill it. Chances are, when it attempts to revive, it will revive another monster instead, so just kill that monster and the phoenix is done for. Simple.

Sorry, but this one needs fixing. This happens because it (for unknows reasons) still uses the old "resurrect" method. There is a better way to achieve this resurrection, and eliminates this "bug" where something else is revived.

C. Use the Hell-Heaven Hand's protective shield when it charges at you. Be sure not to be near any pits, because the blast will throw you back a long way.

Actually, a simple invulnerability (pentagram of protection) does the trick.

Oh, I noticed a boss monster that wasn't included in the cyberdemon-class spawner, but should've been: The ultimate player clone.

Is there any reason why he wasn't in? (I found that out while I was looking through the decorate files by using SlumpEd)

Good point! I'll have to check if I left it accidentally out, or if there was reason.

AEoD, due to it's big changes from standard Doom game play, won't always work as intended by map design. So not only can cheats break AEoD balance, so can certain maps (or AEoD breaks the map balance).

QFT. There is a map set (i dont remember which) where in the end of map01, you run trhough some sort of bridge, and all around are caged cyberdemons, which in aeod, turns to be a lot of too hard bosses. Quite difficult scene.

So yeah, AEoD will probably (and almost surely) break any balance. No matter how much one tries, balance will never be the same

Suggestions on how to make the standard doom monsters more powerful/interesting, so that instead of most being laughable in AEoD, they become below-average to average monsters instead.

Health should indeed be increased. Damage too. However, I wont scrap the two bosses, because they are such iconic part of doom, that leaving them out, for me, would be like taking the blood out of doom. One thing I might do if I find some inspiration, is make both bosses, have extra attacks; it wont be the same, but at least they would still be there

The thing is that when you expect a powerful monster (arch-vile replacement) and get an archvile: it's anti-climatic.

True, if you guys could tell me which other monsters are far too easy for it's class, I will gladly enhance them. I got one IMO: Thoth

UPDATE: I updated ZDoom to 2.3.1 and amazingly now that AND GZDoom can play AEOD 4.21

Then I guess it was a SVN thing

About the Scarab Staff: I'd rather make it even harder to find than make it weaker. Being such versatile weapon, it shouldnt be easy-to-find. However, I still say is about luck, or in my case, bad luck. In a lot of my playthroughs in 4.x I never found this weapon. Still, if is being found relatively commonly by players, I need to do something about it.

[dljosef]

So DBT, did you see my two new cyberdemon-class monsters?

Edit: One of them was based on the Cyberdemon 2000 monster in the Cube mod.

[zitro]

@ DBT

When I said 'scrap' the bosses, it was because there already is an enhanced cyberdemon (2 rocket launchers) and spider mastermind (one that looks pretty identical and damages around twice as much).

My idea for having the iconic cyberdemon improved is to make it shoot the really powerful rockets as well (an arachnotron replacement already shoots that rocket) and if possible, when shooting the regular weaker rockets, to have them aimed at your feet (splash damage).

As for the SpiderMastermind, maybe increase the rate of fire, damage, HP, and make it not suffer so much pain (a double-barreled shotgun used to make them rarely attack). I have no idea for other attacks for it.



As for scarab, it's about luck I guess. I just seem to get it in most megawads. Even in the standard doom2 which doesn't have lots of enemies, I got one in lvl 20+, and when trying out the 5th difficulty, around lvl 10. I think it being a plasmagun replacement is not a good idea. A BFG replacement sounds better so that you can't get it in the beginning of the game.

[dljosef]

I still didn't get any thoughts about those two cyberdemon-class bosses I submitted earlier. Anyways... about the scarab staff, I usually get the thing mid-late game, so I'm not as lucky.

While I don't mind the cyberdemon and spider mastermind getting improved, I'm personally fine with Thoth gaining an additional 1400 hp, considering how hard he is to friggin' hit.

[DBThanatos]

@Dljosef: Sorry about that. I forgot to give my opinion on those.

The cyberdemon needs a better name for sure. For bosses, I hate generic names And IMO, it should have separated the different attacks, instead of shooting differnts missiles in one, try separating them. Also, I think that two consecutives BFGballs are a bit too much (mostly for the splash damage).


About the Chaos mage, the translations could have some improvements. Also, I would recommend giving him some other attacks, less based in existing ones. For example, using something a bit unexpected, like new projectiles, with translations: to give some extra variety. And I have to say it, I hate the vertical lighnings

Thanks for the contributions! If you want to modify, go ahead, if not, I would take care of them at some point.

@Zitro: I indeed plan to give extra health to those bosses, and if all imaginiation fails, I would just make stronger it's attacks (even though that's quite lame). I will have to come up with something.




Anyway, I wanted to do a classic april 1st joke, but whatever... I guess I have better things to do... or not, but I still will let another year pass without april 1st "jokes" (nothing came to my mind, so nothing I will do).

[zitro]

Anyway, I wanted to do a classic april 1st joke, but whatever... I guess I have better things to do.

Yeah of course, we can be pretty busy. Mine was fooling friends in facebook into thinking I wrote/recorded many new songs, put a playlist of an album (where 'nail clipper' is listed as an instrument) showed a link to my myspace playlist, and it's a ridiculous sounding a-capella song