Bouncing around some ideas...

[deleted-account]

So the other day I was thinking of ways to rebalance Doom 3 if I had the means.  I've tinkered with the code in the past but am still working my way around it.

Below is the list of ideas that have come to me so far.

1.  Re-evaluate the way armor works completely: The way armor worked in the base game was a bit useless imo.  So what I had in mind to correct this is to make armor a top priority for combat, where not having any armor at all would result in a swift death.  It would absorb a great amount of damage from both firearms and demonic plasma, but the latter would drop your armor's hit-points substantially when you are hit (i.e an imp's fireball).  This would also make demonic attacks a top priority to avoid during combat, while making damage sustained from Z-tec zombies not quite as destructive.  Also, make armor itself rarer and a reason to explore the map.

2.  Improved enemy AI, fast enemies:  While the base game has decent enemy A.I, they were predictable enough early on that it took away much of the "scare" factor from the game.  If you recall from the early E3 footage of Doom 3, enemies like the Revenant were initially programmed to charge you in a sprint up close as shown here => 

Such a change would add not only to the intensity of the game, but the scare factor as well.

3.  Greatly restrict ammo capacity:  A noticeable gripe about Doom 3 is the overabundance of ammo throughout the game.  This is an easy change, and one that modders and myself have changed often to be something more reasonable.  It's a small change, but a noticeable one that brings out strategy from the player.

4.  Rework weapons roles and how they function:  Another common mod, my ideas go as follows... 
 

• Pistol: Decent damage but slow-firing.  Very accurate, but only when aiming down the sights.  Best used for long range.
• Shotgun: Tighten up the spread, but halve the damage roughly by half.  Your go-to for close-range/mid-range, but ammo for it is a bit scarce.
• Sub-machine gun: Reasonably accurate in bursts, useless with extended fire, weak damage overall.  Best used for long range and mid-range in a pinch.
• Chaingun: Devastating at close-range, completely inaccurate at anything mid-range and above.  Ammo is somewhat rare
• Grenades: Fix the bouncy BS
• Plasma-Rifle: Your jack of all trades for everything besides long range.  Mostly the same as base Doom 3, but make the ammo very rare.

The rest of the weapons would be left unchanged.

Tell me if any of these ideas sound reasonable to you, these ideas would obviously push the game more towards Survival-Horror and that's what I'm aiming for.  I know some mods have already touched on some of these ideas, but others like the armor and fast A.I. I have not really seen yet.

Edited October 7, 2021 by Robo_Cola