DoomRL Arsenal
From DoomWiki.org
| DoomRL Arsenal | |
|---|---|
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| Authors | Yholl, Ryan Cordell, et al |
| Ports | ZDoom, GZDoom |
| IWAD | Doom, Doom II |
| Year | 2013 |
| Link | ZDoom forums thread |
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This mod received one of the 2015 Cacowards on Doomworld in the Gameplay Mod category! |
Doom Roguelike Arsenal (written as DoomRL Arsenal, or DoomRLA) is a gameplay mod for the ZDoom and GZDoom source ports, first unveiled in August of 2013. It is heavily inspired by the standalone Doom Roguelike made by Kornel Kisielewicz, and incorporates many mechanics and weapons from it. It was created by Yholl and Ryan Cordell along with an extended group of contributors.
After an initial mention in 2014 (together with Kyle873's Doom RPG Mod), Doom RLA was awarded one of the Cacowards in 2015 in the gameplay mod category. DoomRLA's continued success has also spawned a series of add-ons by other modders.
Contents
Content[edit]
Doom Roguelike Arsenal changes many fundamental aspects of how the game is played, and introduces several new mechanics. The most apparent divergences are the presence of several player classes with different perks and attributes, the presence of a reloading system for nearly every weapon in the game, and a limit on being able to carry no more than six different weapons at a given time, with the possibility of dropping one of the weapons currently being held to replace it with one of a different type. The weapons, depending on their class, can be further modified with modpacks, one of the mod's key features, which can change their behavior and power in different ways.
Player classes[edit]
By default, DoomRLA comes with five player classes, the first three of which originate from DoomRL, with the latter two being new. As of version 1.1.5, the following classes are included:
- The Marine: This class is able to utilize far less ammo, with one ammo utilized every four shots or for every burst. Additionally, power-ups last 50% longer and contribute to an increase in fire rate.
- The Scout: A more agile class, the Scout's pistols are more accurate and damaging, and the class has improved speed and jump ability, as well as having always a map available at all times.
- The Technician: This class revolves around greater flexibility around modpacks, able to turn weapons into usable modpacks, gain more damage from modpack applications whilst having the ability to carry more modpacks in the inventory.
- The Renegade: A class geared towards fast combat, the Renegade is able to fire 50% more projectiles from its weapons, as well as switch weapons instantly and obtain better protection from armor types.
- The Demolitionist: This class has significant protection against nearly all forms of area of effect damage, whilst also utilizing less ammo for its non-shell based weapons. It is also able to drop bombs and break armor types.
Weapon and item categories[edit]
As mentioned, only up to six weapons may be carried at a time in DoomRLA, but this is offset by the mod itself containing well over 200 unique weapons that may be found in the levels during a walkthrough. The weapons themselves are subdivided in different categories, which affect not only their rarity but also their overall origin and functionality, as well as the differing amounts of modifications that can be applied to them. These modifications are in turn carried out through modpacks, which are the mod's most defining characteristic. They may be occasionally found in the place of large ammo boxes, and can be of the following types:
- Agility modpack: Green-colored, it increases the speed of projectiles and the accuracy of hitscan and multiple-projectile attacks.
- Bulk modpack: Blue-colored, it increases clip size in weapons either by 30%, or by at least 1. It furthermore increases the pellet count on single-shot multi-projectile weapons, and also the damage on single-shot projectiles and melee weapons.
- Power modpack: Red-colored, it increases the damage output of a given weapon, including increasing the splash damage dealt by explosive weapons and the damage of BFG raytracers.
- Technical modpack: Yellow-colored, it increases reload speed and the weapon switch speed of melee weapons.
- Sniper modpack: Purple-colored and considered exotic, when first implemented it makes first hitscan shot 100% accurate and increases accuracy by 2/2. If implemented again it makes all shots 100% accurate. It also gives velocity scaling on projectiles and 100% accuracy.
- Firestorm modpack: Orange-colored and considered exotic, it increases the fire rate on rapid-fire weapons and pistols, the AOE radius on explosives, the number of BFG rays and finally the knock-back of shotguns while giving them increased close combat damage.
- Nano modpack: White-colored and considered exotic, it causes the modded weapon to regenerate ammo while held and idle.
The amount - and effects - of the modpacks depend on the individual weapons and also the weapon classes. Each normal or exotic weapon is able to hold 4 modifications. Superior weapons can hold 2 modpacks. A unique or legendary weapon can only have a single mod applied to it, and the same applies to Demonic weapons, which can however also hold up to three of demonic artifacts, another type of power-up that may be found in the levels. Another result of the modification is the ability to assemble new weapons, as by applying certain modpacks to specific weapons it is possible to change them into completely new weapons with new abilities.
Beyond the weapons and their modifications, another aspect that is significantly overhauled in DoomRLA is the armor system. Now, there are various types of armor suits as well as boots that may be equipped and swapped out, each with differing abilities and resistances to certain damage types and attacks. Armor suits may also be modified with specific types of modpacks. Different types of backpacks are also available, allowing ammo capacity to be specialized in different ways.
In order to keep track of the large amount of content and changes of the mod, an in-game PDA is available, containing all the information ranging from weapon stats and descriptions, armor info, bestiary, even information on your current class. The PDA remembers all the assemblies the player has learned, or exotic effects on unique weapons that have been discovered, even across different play-throughs.
Monster pack[edit]
Available as an official add-on is the DoomRL Monster Pack, which includes a large amount of new and custom enemies complementing the vanilla bestiary. The new enemies may utilize some of the custom weapons that the player may find when playing normally, and some of the vanilla enemies have been changed slightly to have new abilities. Additionally, the add-on comes with all-new difficulty levels, including the Nightmare, Technophobia and Armageddon skill levels which replace all enemies with thematically-appropriate variants of each class.
