Become invincible at Doom - Sverre Andre 'Cranium' Kvernmo, 1995, Giga magazine, translated

[zokum]

 

Translation by Kim Roar 'Zokum' Foldøy Hauge. Fairly literally translated, including the questionable norwegian grammar. There’s a fair amount of idiomatic expressions I have tried to find suitable replacements for.

Become invincible at Doom

 

For the professional Doom player we have several pieces of advice that will help you crush even the toughest oponent in a Deathmatch. The advice comes from the feared "Cranium", alias Sverre Andre Kvernmo, who is on the official list: "avoid if inexperienced". He was among the five best Deathmatch players in England for a while, and finished in second place in a national competition over there. He has also lately been working for Id Software with their latest Doom release: Doom 2, The Master Levels.

Basic rules

1. Proper equipment, correct control.
The new Microsoft mice are considered the best ones. If you don’t use a mouse, begin as soon as possible. None of the top players I know play with keyboard any more. Set the «sensitivity» option in both Doom and the mouse program as high as you can handle. Don’t use much acceleration. This destroys your ability to move precisely. Continue increasing your sensitivity until you can do a 180 with a small flick of the mouse. Logitech mice are also fairly good. Keep using the Microsoft mouse program since it allows for higher sensitivity. It is also important that your keys are well coordinated. Here is a recommended setup:

Run               Q
left «strafe»   W

right «strafe» E

backwards     space

open/press    space

 

Do not use the «strafe on» function and let the rest of the movement keys be. If you use these keys you have easy access to weapon changes, don’t have to move your wrist, back away automatically from a door when opening it, etc.

2. Practice makes you into a champion.

The cheapest way to play Deathmatch is to use a null-modem cable. If you can set up two machines without too much trouble you won’t get huge phone bills. Play against as many different people as possible. You can play against the same people and think you’re super-good. The surprise can be big if you play against someone with a different tactic.

3. Move around!
This is of utmost importance. No player is easier to kill than those who stand still and shoot. It might be hard to use the strafe key and aim in the beginning, but this is something you have to learn to get beyond the beginner level.

4. Flight.

You will end up in situations where you’re helplessly outgunned. DON’T pick a fight against a plasma-rifle if you’re holding a pistol. Split and find something better. If the oponent follow you closely and you know the map well you should run away backwards. That way you can return fire and you know where you got him.

Weapon-choices!

Chainsaw:
Avoid all use. The enemy will hear you from a mile away and will know where you are. Unfortunatly players don’t have the same tendency that some monsters have, to «get stuck» to the saw.

 

Berserk

Better than the chain saw but still lackluster.

(Next page)

If you want to humiliate your oponent, this is the optimum weapon. Nothing is worse than hearing the splat sound and know someone PUNCHED you to death. A berserk punch varies in strength from a pistol shot to a rocket(!).

Pistol

Forget it. Can only be used as a «bait». Fire off a few shots when your oponent see you and he will most likely assume you have no other weapons and come running with his shotgun. That’s when you’re standing there grinning with your BFG. If you play three or more players there’s nothing that lures other players in with their weapon armory than two helpless ones in a «pistol fight».

Shotgun

Emergency-weapon! Can only be used for long distance fights if you are low on ammo and want to save the super-shotgun. Valuable as ammo for the super-shotgun.

Super shotgun

Now we’re talking! A perfect shot from close range can remove 200% health. Don’t use this one for long distance fights and try to get away from your oponents view while the ever lasting reload sequence is on-going. This is the favourite-weapon of many good Deathmatch players, and the weapon you should have selected when you’re «on the hunt» because of the quick fire.

Chaingun

Beginner’s favourite. The Gatling is only marginally better than the wimp-shotgun. If you’re going to be lethal with this one you have to be extremely good and keep your oponent in your sights. Its biggest strength is that it will give the same damage no matter the distance. If you come into combat with other weapons and only have the gatling then you should stay as far away as possible while firing.

Rocket Launcher

Entertaining weapon that is dangerous for both oponents and yourself. Rockets are very slow, so aim far ahead of running player. The best weapon to weed out people who hide. Put the rockets into a wall behind the sneak and he’ll get the ricochet in his back. Watch out for corners!

Plasmagun

Lethal Weapon! Get it as soon as possible. Best in open areas, but can be used at any distance. At long range you spray the entire area, something that guarantees loss of health for your enemy. At medium range you aim where your oponent is headed and at close range it makes everything into a mash (especially if you run straight towards your target).
 

BFG 9000

«Big Fucking Gun», if you didn’t know it. And the BFG lives up to its name. The way the BFG works is fairly complicated, but if you understand it it is without a doubt the most lethal weapon. The BFG’s functions are described under complex tricks and tactics. If you can’t handle the BFG is still valuable as ammo for the Plasma rifle.

Advanced tricks

The most common error players do with the BFG is to try to hit the enemy with the actual shot. Even if the big green ball kills no matter what health and armor your oponent has, this is far from the best thing about this weapon. You might have noticed that when the BFG-ball hits the wall, many of the monsters between you and the wall die. It works like this: When the ball hits either a wall or an enemy a «death-ray» is created between you and the BFG. You have to LOOK into the death-ray (towards where the ball explodes) for it to kick in. The beam doesn’t stop at where the shot went off, it also stretches beyond the shot. This makes it possible to fire off the BFG on the corner of a corridor and «clean» it. The point of firing it at the corner is that the shot is released immediatly instead of travelling down the length of the corridor and hit something for the death-ray to activate. You do not have to see the BFG ball’s detonation point in order for the beam to work either. This leads to a lot of special oportunities which I do not have the space here to elaborate about.

Super-speed
If you press run and one of the strafe buttons at the same time you run about one and half times as fast as regular running! This takes a lot of practice to get used to (use it only in long corridors in the beginning). It is invaluable for catching up/running away from people. If you can handle this technique you can try an insane one: If you «lean» towards a wall going directly north-south on the map and follow the technique above you will get triple speed as long as you touch the wall! You can run past your own rockets, stand there and wait and get them in your face! If you want to test this, do it on a map with long north/south walls. For instance level 7. This trick only works when running borthward and is therefor known as «the north-wall».

General advice

Learn your oponents’ habits and bad habits (and get to know your own and get rid of them). Does your mate have a corner he likes to hide behind? Does he only use one weapon? There is always a way to crack someone who sticks to one tactic. The best players change tactics all the time. Familiarise yourself with the map you play on and be certain about the location of all the important objects.

(Image captions)
Image with shotgun on page 1
The shotgun is good for short range, for long distance the the thing to use is the chaingun.

Image with rocket launcher on page 1
To use the rocket launcher safely you need a lot of space.

Image with a firing BFG on page 1
The BFG is an advanced weapon, many erroniously do the mistake of firing at what they want to kill...

(Sideways writing on page 1)
GAME HINTS

Edited December 11, 2021 by zokum
Added missing side text.

[zokum]

This article could probably be mentioned on the wiki as part of his professional doom related output. This was the biggest computer gaming/hobbyist magazine in Norway and he was most likely paid for this. There are some other Doom related articles in some other issues, but those aren't very interesting.

Here's a link to the entire magazine: https://www.stone-oakvalley-studios.com/uploads/03e1b965/giga_08-1995.pdf

Note to Sverre: I know you got a forum account, don't shoot me for the shoddy translation.

Edited December 11, 2021 by zokum

[prfunky]

Thank you so much for this! Also, thanks for zokumBSP; just starting to

experiment with this one ~ got here trying to solve a BSA or three in one

of my maps.