BFG9000



The BFG9000 is the ultimate weapon to be found in Doom. It appears as a large, silver metallic gun with a dark gray aperture similar to the plasma gun, and fires large spheres of green plasma. In general, it can be considered the most powerful weapon in the game; it is capable of destroying nearly any player or monster with a single shot, and can disperse damage over a wide area to multiple targets simultaneously.

The abbreviation "BFG" canonically expands to big fucking gun, as explained in section 14 of the Doom Bible. Other expansions of the name were attributed to it before that document was made public, notably "big fragging gun", which still retains some usage in settings which require less offensive language. Characters in the Doom novels refer to the BFG as a "big freaking gun". In the Doom movie, BFG is said to stand for "Bio Force Gun", although Sarge refers to it with much relish as a "big fucking gun". It is also sometimes called the "Blast Field Generator."

In the original Doom, the BFG was extremely rare, being only available in select levels in Episode 3: Inferno (as well as Episode 4: Thy Flesh Consumed in Ultimate Doom) It first appears in a secret area of E3M3: Pandemonium, or E3M6: Mt. Erebus outside of a secret. In Doom II, it is more common and appears almost twice as much than it did in the original Doom. In most versions based on the Atari Jaguar port, including the Sony PlayStation version, it makes its first appearance in.

When picked up, the BFG contains 40 energy cell units, which doubles to 80 on the "I'm too young to die" and "Nightmare!" skill levels. It expends 40 energy cell units per shot. Its description in the instruction manual is as follows:

"BFG 9000s are the prize of the military's arsenal. Great for clearing the room of those unwelcome guests. Shoot it and see for yourself."

- Doom instruction manual

Classic Doom games


When the trigger is pulled, there is a pause of 30 tics (approximately 0.857 seconds) before a large, relatively slow moving green and white plasma ball is ejected. If this plasma ball hits a solid object, it explodes and randomly deals between 100 and 800 hit points of damage to the target, in round multiples of 100.

After a further delay of 16 tics (approximately 0.457 seconds), additional damage is calculated: 40 invisible tracer rays are emitted from the player in a cone-shaped volume (about 45° half-angle) in the direction the plasma ball was fired. If the player has turned around, the direction of the rays does not change &mdash; they are still traced in the direction of firing of the original plasma ball. If he has moved to another location, their origin moves along with him. Each of the rays causes random damage between 49 and 87 points if it hits a solid object within 1024 map units. Even cyberdemons and spiderdemons, which are immune to blast damage, are affected by these rays.

Therefore, the minimum damage of the weapon is 49 points if an object is hit by one ray and not the plasma ball. Hypothetically, the maximum damage is 800 + (40 &times; 87) = 4280 points, which assumes the plasma ball hits an object for full damage, and all 40 tracers also hit the object for full damage. However, even should all 40 rays and the energy ball hit a single target, this theoretical maximum damage can never actually be inflicted due to the periodicity of the simplistic pseudorandom number generator used by the Doom engine.

Contrary to section 3H of the BFG FAQ, the tracer code does not include horizontal auto-aiming (although, like any bullet attack, each tracer can auto-aim vertically).

Doom 64
Doom 64 includes a slightly revamped version of the BFG. Because the game was based on the Atari Jaguar version of Doom, the timing for the attacks is slightly slower as a consequence of the internal logic of the game running at 30 tics per second instead of 35. Like in classic Doom, it takes 30 tics for the weapon to fire upon trigger pull, but the slower tic rate causes the weapon to wait exactly 1 second before firing the projectile. The tracer spray attack upon detonation takes 14 tics to be called instead of 16, which translates to roughly 0.466 seconds.

The damage calculations are mostly the same as in Doom and Doom II, but the way the tracers are projected differs slightly. The vertical angle the tracers can autoaim is taller, to account for the different vertical resolution the game is rendered at (200 pixels in PC Doom versus 240 in console Doom), and the origin point of each tracer is 12 units above the player's mid point instead of the original 8. Finally, the RNG calls used for damage calculation of the tracers use their own identifier, meaning that the BFG's calls will not affect the general RNG and are considered completely separate.

Tactical analysis
Despite its tremendous power, the weapon can only be used to its fullest effect with practice, due to its staggered firing sequence and the unique behavior of the tracer ray cone. The BFG FAQ includes an extensive section on deathmatch tactics.

Data



 * 1) This table assumes that all calls to P_Random for damage, pain chance, impact animations, backfire checks, and muzzle lighting are consecutive. In real play, this is never the case: counterattacks and AI pathfinding must be handled, and of course the map may contain additional moving monsters and other randomized phenomena (such as flickering lights). It is also assumed that all projectiles are launched at nearly the same range, so that the various procedures call P_Random in the same sequence each time. Any resulting errors are probably toward the single-shot average, as they introduce noise into the correlation between the indices of "consecutive" calls.
 * 2) Assumes that direct hits are possible, which does not occur in any stock map.

Appearance statistics
In the IWADs the BFG9000 is first encountered on these maps per skill level:

The IWADs contain the following numbers of BFG9000s per skill level:

The BFG in other id Software games

 * Quake II features the BFG 10K. In addition to the direct impact damage, its slow moving plasma projectile shoots green beams which lash out at any enemies within 256 map units from it. The projectile is also explosive, meaning the player who shot it can be hurt by the blast radius if they stand too close. The BFG 10K tracers are also changed, so that they're not shot from the player, but from the ball itself at the moment of detonation. The tracers will only hit targets that are located within 1024 units from the ball's impact area, and will only cause damage if an unobstructed line of sight can be calculated between the target, and both the BFG's projectile explosion and the shooting player. The projectile and tracer impact sprites are exactly the same as Doom's.
 * Quake III Arena included a new version of the BFG 10K that works considerably different from its previous incarnations. It fires explosive plasma projectiles in a high rate of fire and has a more streamlined shape.
 * The BFG also appears in the Doom RPG, where it is named BFG-9000.

Other appearances and homages
Many subsequent s implemented similar weapons, but few were quite as notorious as the BFG9000. In addition, due to its reputation, the BFG has been referenced or parodied in many other places:

Movies

 * The 2005 Doom movie features the weapon under the moniker "Bio Force Gun v3.14".
 * The sprites for Skulltag's BFG 10K are in turn modelled after the BFG v3.14.
 * A character in the movie  mentions using a BFG.
 * In the movie , a computer screen is briefly displayed which shows that 's character is qualified on the BFG 9000.

Real-life
"Musk coined these names himself. 'This is a very obtuse video-game reference,' he tells me. 'In the original Doom, the gun that was like the crazy gun was the BFG 9000 or something like that. So it was sort of named after the gun in Doom. But that's not its official name, of course.'"
 * produces two anti-materiel rifles bearing the name BFG, the BFG-50 for the single shot version, and BFG-50A for the semi-automatic version.
 * produces a line of powerful revolvers called the . Officially, this stands for 'Biggest, Finest Revolver'.
 * The largest size can of drink, a 32oz-large can, is referred as the "BFC": presumably meaning "Big Fucking Can".
 * SpaceX founder named the planned Mars-going rockets BFR and BFS (implied to stand for Big Fucking Rocket/Spaceship) after the BFG:

- Chris Heath, writer for GQ, quoting Elon Musk

Tabletop games

 * Version 3 of the tabletop RPG  introduced a new class of light-weight, large-bore, portable gyrojet weapons known as Ballistic Flechette Guns (BFGs).
 *  includes The "BFM" (Big Furry Monster).

Television shows

 * In the television series , the episode "" referred to a high-tech gun called the "BMFG."
 * The character Bob in  plays a guitar called a BFG (Big Fancy Guitar).

Video games

 * In the RPG Adventure Quest, the "BFG" weapon is an obvious clone of Doom's BFG.
 * The is an unlockable weapon in the FPS game , where it is called the "BFG".
 * The configuration files for  give the name of the Cyborg Commando's weapon as "BFG". In-game, this unit launches exploding green balls of plasma.
 * In the 2D roguelike shooter  one of the most powerful arms available for personal combat suits is called "GFB" - "Galvanic Fission Bombard". It launches a relatively slow plasma ball, resembling the original BFG projectile. On impact it produces lingering area damage energy as well.
 *  contains a weapon called the BMF Thunderstrike.
 * There was originally a quest in the second ' expansion, ', which resulted in an item called "Breezeboot's Frigid Gnasher", using the image of the BFG9000. The item lore calls it "Model 9000".
 * In the 1999 , the largest red- and green-colored beams in the game are referred to internally as BFRed and BFGreen.
 * The most powerful missile weapon in the game  is called the BFM (Bion Fury Missile).
 * In the game , the Archer and Tigress characters have a turbo attack called "BFG", which fires a huge green burst shot forward.
 *  featured a nearly identical weapon called the Displacer, which even shared the same explosion sprite. It also allowed the player to teleport themselves to a hidden bonus area (provided they had sufficient ammunition).
 * In , the Easter egg Scarab gun fires a blast similar to the BFG.
 * In , the description for part 2 of the mission "The Storm" reads: "Scarab. BFG. End of World," with BFG referring to a large Covenant anti-air cannon.
 * In , the Multiplayer map "Spire" has an area named BFG.
 * It appears in the game  as the BMFG (Big Mother Fucking Gun).
 * In the 1994 computer game , Jazz's gun is called the "LFG-2000". LFG may stand for 'Large Fucking Gun'.
 * A weapon called the C.B.F.G. became available in  during Crimbo 2007. This stands for "Crimborg Biomechanical Fragging Gun."
 * In the Inspection training mission of , one of the boxes has an inspection reading of BFG 9000.
 * In the Flash game Onslaught 2 there exist combos which are called "BFG", which shoot a blast similar to that of the BFG.
 * In the  , there is a level called "The Nefarious BFG" (a reference to both the weapon and to ).
 * In the hack-and-slash , one character, the Seraphim, has a combat art called "BeeEffGee".
 * In , a technology called String Resonance is referenced internally as "BFG9000".

Web apps

 * 's "Pets" application, in which you control battling rabbits, includes a weapon named the "BFG2000".

Trivia

 * 's novel  predates Doom by over a decade, but is completely unrelated. Roald Dahl's "BFG" stands for "Big Friendly Giant".
 * The Games Workshop tabletop wargame  is sometimes also referred to as "BFG".
 * The artwork for the BFG9000 is based on photographs of a toy gun named "The Machine / Roargun" sold by Royal Condor, and manufactured by Fuyaco. The surface of the toy gun was also used as the base for a number of Doom's textures, including the exit door.
 * An infamous ad for the 1995 game  used the phrase "BFG = BFD" (BFD implied to stand for "big fucking deal") in an attempt to set itself apart from the crowd of Doom clones. The marketing campaign is widely considered to have backfired.