Mini-mutator: No Shotguns For You

[wildweasel]

Download it here (350 bytes), should work in any ZDoom-derivative with Decorate support.
UPDATE: This project has moved to another thread; find it here: viewtopic.php?t=57073

Inspired by a Doomworld thread and subsequent dare (I dare the Doom community to produce a whole megawad with no shotguns at all), I threw together this simple Decorate patch. It removes all shotguns from the game, replacing them with equivalents in different ammo types.

Shotguns are now chainguns
Shotgunners drop clips
Super shotguns are now rocket launchers
Shells and shell boxes are now clips and bullet boxes

You can still get shotgun shells from backpacks, but you will no longer be able to find shotguns. If nothing else, this will at least make older megawads (and all of Doom 2) a lot more interesting.

[Gifty]

This is nice! I can think of a lot of Doom 2 megawads that would be notably improved by removing the SSG.

[Endless123]

Great i'll try it now

EDIT : Feedbacks - It's chainsaw fest with this mod It forces the player to use the chainsaw often because of ammo shortage but i'm not complaining though, i don't mind using the chainsaw

Note : You should rename this mode for "Chainsaw Training" Just Kidding

[Combine_Kegan]

How can such a small and simple mutator be so cruel?

[Jeimuzu73]

I was thinking of making a weapons replacement WAD where all the weapons are basically shotguns.

[RV-007]

Shit just got serious!

Perfect for my monster combo wads, lol.

[Matt]

Super shotguns are now rocket launchers
Shells and shell boxes are now clips and bullet boxes

Sounds like you'll run out of rockets fast.

Also SSG optimum damage range <= blast radius of rocket, so maybe consider plasma?

[GooberMan]

I've always found close distance SSG to be comparable to an accurate rocket in DM. A plasma rifle would not have anywhere near the same usefulness in such a situation.

[Captain J]

now that is some kind of good way to no-boomstick to groove mod, i always wanted to play myself with chaingun instead of shotguns, trust me, they're satisfying.

[Viscra Maelstrom]

i think RLs in the SSG spot is fair, as they are of comparable strength. the only problem would be if they give you an SSG to take out a boss enemy, but in that case, why are you playing this with a PWAD in which you have to do that?

[Enjay]

Going to try this when I get a chance (probably not until the weekend) but in a similar vein to something someone once said (in another thread)...

It is ALWAYS revolver time.

I am personally from the school of "It is ALWAYS shotgun time" so it may not be the mod for me.

[wildweasel]

Some observations I've made from working on this and testing it with a handful of megawads:

- You don't wind up with nearly enough bullets. Even though everything that ordinarily drops ammo still does so, it seems the value of 4 shotgun shells is vastly higher than the value of 5 (or 10) bullets. Same with the bullet boxes: 50 bullets is not equal to 20 shells.
- The same goes for rockets and launchers. In Doom 2, you can go from map 01 to map 03 with a grand total of 4 rockets, which is roughly double the amount you'd get in vanilla. But 4 rockets is pretty much the same damage you'd get from a single SSG pickup (8 shells).
- Potential improvements I could make: add a larger clip that Shotgunners and 4-shell packs drop, and a larger bullet box that shell boxes drop. Also increase the amount of rockets given by launchers from 2 to 5. May not go ahead with this.

[Captain J]

since shells are very rare to be found in this mod, i say that's pretty good. but those amounts are pretty too much, don't you think?

[Viscra Maelstrom]

given that bullets aren't very damaging at all in the game, i'd say that the more you get the better. i always felt that the bullet to shell ratio didn't match up very well at all in the game.

[Matt]

You don't wind up with nearly enough bullets. Even though everything that ordinarily drops ammo still does so, it seems the value of 4 shotgun shells is vastly higher than the value of 5 (or 10) bullets.

If I recall, not 5 or 10, but 42* - a single vanilla shotgun pellet is equal to a vanilla bullet! A pack of 4 shells represents a damage potential closer to a clipbox than a clip.

It might be simplest to just make the bullets do more damage. (And if you don't want to replace weapons, I suppose you can make bullet puffs call A_Explode with +forceradiusdmg or spawn a secondary projectile or something)

*E: disregard, is 40