I was just thinking. Maybe a chemsuit could basically be a form of armor that you'd have to put on. It would only eliminate ground damage (and maybe reduce acid barrel explosion damage, if you wanted to diversify its functionality). Every time you walk through acid or gets hit it reduces in quality, whether or not you're protected from that hit. It would be a tactical decision to make: "Should I risk getting rid of the ballistics armor to walk across that field of acid, knowing I'll probably run into a bunch of enemies on the others side?"
To remind you you had it on, its color would be white (like the old chemsuit). Maybe it might add a green tint to everything you see, but that might be unnecessary.
ADDITIONAL:
*Or what about that suicide message? I never actually mean to pull the trigger on myself, sometimes I hit the key twice as a reflex action because I think I'm going to autotarget, and I have to unstick- the "[more]" message in order to aim again. I wonder if there could be some alternative to that. It was funny when I first saw it, but now I wind up getting stuck a lot when I'm trying to make the game go a bit more smoothly.
*I really like the autotarget, but sometimes I have to aim past enemies in order to hit them when they're lurking around corners, and sometimes they can shoot me when I can't shoot them. Wouldn't mind having THEIR autotargeting sometimes :)
*One way to have secret doors might be to have indestructable walls, and then if you walk next to the secret door wall, it automatically turns into a door that opens. But I guess that just adds a step, because if you notice an indestructable wall, you'll just skim it until you find the door. Or maybe another color of levers, ones that may be harder to destroy with explosions, which, if you pull them in the right order, will open something up? You might find a clue written on a wall which will flash in the text message, like "you see RGY scrawled in blood along the wall" which means Red Green Yellow. You then pull them in the proper order and get a nice surprise that appears out of nowhere, and a nasty surprise if you pull them out of order.
Argh, I can't stop. Your game is great, I guess that's why the ideas come easily.
*What about a music randomizer, so I don't have to associate one of my favorite Doom songs, the first level one, with just having died all the time. I think a music randomizer might add a little mood to certain areas that are otherwise fairly standard big block rooms.
*I would like to be able to hit Escape at the naming screen or the skill select screen to be able to go back a step. If I accidentally hit the wrong difficulty I'm stuck following through until the game. If I could move back a step, that would save some time better spent killing.
That's it for the time being...
I had a fun moment not too long ago, was being chased by a couple of hellknights and I had only a few percent health to go. I'd managed to wound them but I wasn't seriously considering that I might survive. They drew closer, one of them dying in the other's fireball. The stronger one advanced, step after step, toward me, while I was unloading my chaingun's magazine into him, then, when he got to within arm's reach, he died. You can't prepare for that kinda moment. Very fun.