Super Shotgun Guys! (pk3/ZDoom mod)

[zzzyyyzzz]

I've always thought Zombiemen and Shotgun Guys in classic Doom to be too easy. Shotgunners can often pack a punch at close range, but I thought, why not give their attacks even more of a kick? Zombiemen, whereas previously wimpy and almost inconsequential, now have a reason for their existence, as they deal enough damage to be dangerous as well.

This is an extremely simple change that simply changes shotgunners into "super shotgunners", and Zombiemen into "Shotgun Zombiemen". Chaingunners are left as they are since they are plenty annoying already. 

The "Shotgun Zombieman"'s attack is identical to the original Shotgunner's, but retains the Zombieman's health and speed stats as before.

The "Super Shotgunner" fires 6 hitscan pellets instead of the usual 3 (I played around with different values here but thought that 6 had the right balance and feel to it), with the pellets following the same dispersal pattern and vertical offset as the player's SSG. The SSG guy pauses for some ticks after firing while the sound effects of the SSG are played. Because it fires more slowly but only hits twice as hard per shot, I've found that it does not meaningfully increase their DPS when they are continuously firing (i.e. in Nightmare or with Fast Monsters), but it does mean that the burst damage from taking a shot is much more lethal.

Oh, and they drop SSGs on death :) . The modified Zombiemen drop shotguns.

I haven't thoroughly tested how this changes the balance of the game, though I'm sure this tilts the difficulty for many maps. Hitscan heavy maps could be made quite a bit more difficult (especially on nightmare). I know that I've definitely died in places where I wouldn't have, normally.  Some maps may be made much easier due to being able to get SSG easily, and having an abundance of shells from dropped shotguns available (shells, shells everywhere!).

Anyway, just a small little tweak I typed up that I wanted to share!

https://www.mediafire.com/file/trzn7f9skejk5zt/ssg_guy.pk3/file

[kalensar]

Oh Boy! If you think Zombiemen are trash then you need to try fighting them on Nightmare or Fast Monsters turned on. They go from F tier clear up to A Tier. They're also good ammo for the Chaingun when there are no Chaingunners around. 

 

Regardless, theres nothing wrong with a Super Shotgunner replacing them other than you have a death wish. =D