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ENERGY DUEL and ENERGY DEATHMATCH

http://wadhost.fathax.com/files/nrgduel-1b.zip













What is it?
This was originally intended to be a Duel mode with less health for faster paced action. It now extends to deathmatch to make use of the Energy Balancer and ?-box game mechanics. It is possible that this mode is still best enjoyed in the Duel format.



New changes in version 1b

• This mode now applies to deathmatch.
• The following items are now Energy Balancers that respawn: ETank, MTank, Eddie, and ProtoUpgrade.
• RushJet locations have become RushCoil.
• Plant Barrier and Time Stopper will either be an Energy Balancer, Big Health, Big Weapon Energy, or WTank. Whatever it is on the level load will respawn.
• SmallHealth locations have a 40% chance to spawn the health. Health now respawns.
• BigHealth locations have a 25% chance to spawn either a SmallHealth or BigHealth. Health now respawns.
• Dive, Magnet missiles and Skull Barrier placements are replaced by the ?-box from MM3 (see second screenshot). These drop one of either an Energy Balancer, Big Health, WTank, or BigWeaponEnergy with equal probability. Whatever it drops after opening will respawn.

Old patch notes
[spoiler]http://wadhost.fathax.com/files/nrgduel-v1a.zip

This mode makes use of (and includes) the special Energy Balancer item. This special item is a key aspect of this mode and where the name comes from.

How it works:
[*] Small health pickups have a 50% chance to spawn per item placement and do not respawn.
[*] Big health pickups have a 25% chance to spawn per item placement and do not respawn.
[*] All EddieSummon, ProtoUpgrade, ETank, and MTank items are now an Energy Balancer. These do not respawn.
[*] RushJet is now RushCoil instead.
[*] If you die while carrying up to 5 WTanks, BeatCall, RushCoil, TangoSummon, or the Energy Balancer these will spawn where you die allowing your opponent to use them.
[*] Weapon energy respawns as usual.

How to run:
Just load the wad in the launcher and run! Make sure to select Duel mode either when configuring a server or doing Offline Skirmish.

This is an alpha release and I'd be interested to hear your comments on issues of balancing and gameplay.

Commentary:
[*] The idea here is to eliminate a bit of the gameplay element often seen in Duels where it becomes a contest of who can grab the most health pickups.
[*] This mod addresses that without removing health completely. Each small and large health having a random chance to spawn ensures that the gameplay experience will continue to be unique and not rely on memorized health locations. Memorizing in this case might help though, since it will still use the same health item placements in existing maps.
[*] It seems frequent that Duel requires the use of a lot more weapons than typical deathmatch or other modes. As such, it is common for a Dueler to run out of ammo. I wanted to see if gameplay would be improved in some way from the addition of the Energy Balancer since it seems like a perfect fit to this situation.
[*] Should healths have a higher or lower spawn rate?
[*] Instead of large healths should it spawn some sphere-type powerup instead at a lower rate?
[*] I want to retain much of the same feel as the original game especially in terms of movement.

New in v2k-o
[*] Floating Eddie fixed
[*] NEW Secret maps and Special items
[*] Treble shoots slightly less shots now and howls on his way out
[*] Treble fix for Nightmare! skill
[*] Rage Auto summon always solid instead of explicitly maintaining Hexen translucency
[*] Added 2 new maps to 4 total custom maps. Map codes MM7SLAX, SHOOT
[*] Bot AI to switch weapons now included. Primarily geared at LMS but works in all modes

New in v2d-v2k
[*] Improves possession support
[*] Improves CTF red ?box layout
[*] Fixes some unbalances in speed altering weapons for CTF
[*] Tweaks to the energy balancer
[*] General stability improvements
[*] New secrets and easter eggs
[*] NEW LMS MODE
[*] Shadowman possession chip initial position fix

Planned for the next release
[*] Magnet and Dive missiles will be replaced with either a shootable ?-box or something else yielding a random weapon/ powerup. Implemented
[*] Plant barrier may be replaced with something. Implemented
[*] It may use an idea similar to the crate in AOW2 where killing someone yields a random sphere/ rune type powerup but possibly a negative powerup as well. You won't know until you get the crate. Not yet, need more playtesting and feedback
[*] Energy Balancers and Rush Coils will respawn. These will no longer be dropped when you are fragged if carrying them. Implemented
[*] An intro explaining how the mode works will be included for ease of use. Not yet
[*] Deathmatch mode compatibility(?) Implemented

Drill Bomb
Hyper Bomb
Rolling Cutter
Knight Crush
Magnet Missle
Dive Missle
Pharoah Shot [Full Power]
Power Stone[Broken]
Ballade Cracker
Metal Blades
Ice Slasher
Hard Knuckle
Wind Storm
Gravity Hold

[*] Quad damage (45 seconds)
[*] Double speed and acceleration (45 seconds)
[*] Stop time (10 seconds)
[*] 90% transparent (invisible) (45 seconds)
[*] Reduce damage taken by 3/4 (45 seconds)
[*] Total invulnerability (30 seconds)
[*] +100 health (up to 200) (one time use)

Boobytrap boxes

Content and chances:
50% Explosion I like this, % might need a tweak
20% Metool I like this, % might need a tweak
15% Quickbeam Not sure I like this
10% Explosion (With the Wind Storm damage type) I like this, % might need a tweak
5% A rare item I'm really interested in this