Question regarding fast monsters

[xvertigox]

I really enjoy playing with fast monsters enabled, it's like a totally different game, you have to pay close attention to the level geometry, react quickly and have good movement to dodge the projectiles - it's super fun but very difficult. I can easily play the IWADs on UV with fast monsters but many pwads are overly difficult, is it possible to complete the harder pwads like HR, AV etc with fast monsters? Am I just being a scrub? If I find out that it is possible to play almost all pwads with fast monsters enabled then it's just a matter of improving otherwise I don't want to turn Doom into a grind trying something that's basically impossible.

[Ryback]

Well, for both the pwads you mention every level has been completed by somebody with -fast. It's not really for casual play though and some of the harder levels do turn into a grind done that way.

[xvertigox]

Hmm I guess it does just come down to skill, gotta keep playing until I get good enough.

[Koko Ricky]

I'm suddenly reminded of how enormously difficult Final Doom was when I started playing it using Brutal Doom a couple weeks ago.

[Lila Feuer]

I thought Brutal Doom made the game a little bit easier, what with the headshot damage amplification and the more deadly weapons in general. But I am playing version 11. The only BS thing was the Cyberdemon's grenades (which I edited out).

I don't play -fast though and it's never appealed to me, I don't like the game being broken.

The question is, does anyone like playing with respawning monsters? On lower difficulties (perhaps HNTR) it would be pretty fun for nonstop carnage without being overly overwhelmed and most IWAD maps had more ammo than they had monsters on the levels. Of course you're bound to run out of ammo if you try to kill everything you see.

[Reisal]

BD is up to version 0.12 (and 0.13 in dev/test) btw. No more cyber nades or spider BFG attack.

[MajorRawne]

Hmm, respawning monsters... I'm with Cyanosis, the -fast (and -respawn) options don't appeal to me, they're too broad. I'd rather spend a couple of hours happily tweaking the stats for certain monsters.

Rather than hammering the player with four Cybers in one room, maybe just a Cyber who is more resistant to pain and has an additional attack (maybe a melee stomp which does massive damage, possibly combined with the ability to teleport at will - what a terrifying game of cat and mouse that might make!).

Or, imagine a Spider Mastermind with total pain resistance! That would be a nightmare to deal with. Of course you'd have to make sure the player couldn't BFG-rush it and kill it in a pathetic single hit, but rather than edit the creature's health, simply don't provide a BFG. Or give the player a flamethrower, tweak the stupidly excessive damage, make it shorter ranged, and provide enough (broken) cover for them to go hunting...

[Catoptromancy]

I play almost all maps on -fast. Beating a "new" map on first try is boring and -fast adds good challenge to it, without the madness of -skill 5. -fast is also a demo standard so it will be excellent practice for speedrunning. I do not play megawads with -fast. Mastering a hard level in -fast takes too much time. There are too many wads to play than spend forever with a single megawad.

You will need to play the better maps many times to establish a good route and precise order in which to pickup items or kill monsters. Careful planning and secrets can help greatly. I am not a wall pusher, so if I am stuck playing a map for too long I will open DB2 and find secrets. Also I never save and always pistol start.

I really do not like personally editing monsters to make game harder. It seems kind of silly even if it does add challenge.

[printz]

Ryback said:

It's not really for casual play though and some of the harder levels do turn into a grind done that way.

I have a feeling that Heretic has weaker monsters than Doom, at the same difficulty level. Doom seems tougher on -fast than Heretic...

[MajorRawne]

Catoptromancy said:

I really do not like personally editing monsters to make game harder. It seems kind of silly even if it does add challenge.

Why does editing monsters seem silly? In a sense, you are editing the universal monster settings by adding -fast. Also it avoids introducing new ubermonsters like those from Realm666, some of which require editing to make them fit in with the standard monsters. (I'm looking at the 20,000HP beasts with seven attacks each)