So, I'm working my way through the challenge games, I guess, and I got a platinum badge and a full win in the process. I wasn't expecting either; I was just playing how I like to play - on UV, tackling as many special levels as possible, and not leaving until the level's name is blue.
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DoomRL (v.0.9.9.6G) roguelike post-mortem character dump
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Dude, level 15 Hell Baron 1st Lieutenant Scout,
nuked the Mastermind on level 9 of Hell.
He survived 95155 turns and scored 363514 points.
He played for 3 hours, 5 minutes and 7 seconds.
He was a man of Ultra-Violence!
He killed 1079 out of 1079 hellspawn. (100%)
This ass-kicking marine killed all of them!
He was an Angel of Marksmanship!
He saved himself 2 times.
-- Special levels --------------------------------------------
Levels generated : 11
Levels visited : 8
Levels completed : 8
-- Awards ----------------------------------------------------
Medal of Prejudice
UAC Star (silver cluster)
Grim Reaper's Badge
Hell Champion Medal
Hell Armorer Badge
Veteran Gold Badge
Veteran Platinum Badge
Marksman Silver Badge
Marksman Gold Badge
Marksman Platinum Badge
-- Graveyard -------------------------------------------------
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-- Statistics ------------------------------------------------
Health 53/60 Experience 105998/15
ToHit Ranged +2 ToHit Melee +2 ToDmg Ranged +0 ToDmg Melee +0
-- Traits ----------------------------------------------------
Class : Scout
Ironman (Level 1)
Hellrunner (Level 3)
Son of a gun (Level 5)
Eagle Eye (Level 1)
Dualgunner (Level 1)
Dodgemaster (Level 1)
Intuition (Level 2)
Gun Kata (Level 1)
SoG->SoG->DG->SoG->HR->HR->DM->MGK->EE->Int->Int->SoG->SoG->HR->Iro->
-- Equipment -------------------------------------------------
[a] [ Armor ] fireproof red armor [4/4] (93%)
[b] [ Weapon ] high power pistol (2d6) [4/4]
[c] [ Boots ] tactical boots [0/0] (100%)
[d] [ Prepared ] high power combat pistol (3d5) [10/10]
-- Inventory -------------------------------------------------
[a] high power blaster (2d6) [1/6]
[b] onyx armor [4] (P)
[c] phaseshift armor [2/2] (79%) (A)
[d] 10mm ammo (x100)
[e] 10mm ammo (x2)
[f] 10mm ammo (x100)
[g] large med-pack
[h] large med-pack
[i] large med-pack
[j] large med-pack
[k] large med-pack
[l] phase device
[m] technical mod pack
[n] bulk mod pack
[o] lava plasteel boots [2]
[p] 10mm ammo chain (x250)
[q] 10mm ammo chain (x250)
[r] 10mm ammo chain (x250)
[s] 10mm ammo chain (x250)
[t] 10mm ammo chain (x250)
-- Resistances -----------------------------------------------
Melee - internal 0% torso -30% feet 0%
Fire - internal 0% torso 55% feet 0%
-- Kills -----------------------------------------------------
96 former humans
103 former sergeants
86 former captains
124 imps
90 demons
171 lost souls
79 cacodemons
33 hell knights
88 barons of hell
50 arachnotrons
20 former commandos
17 pain elementals
57 revenants
25 mancubi
32 arch-viles
2 bruiser brothers
1 shambler
1 lava elemental
1 Cyberdemon
1 Spider Mastermind
1 John Carmack
1 Arena Master
-- History ---------------------------------------------------
He started his journey on the surface of Phobos.
On level 3 he entered Hell's Arena.
He left the Arena as a champion!
On level 4 he stormed the Chained Court.
On level 4 he assembled a tactical boots!
On level 4 he found the Arena Master's Staff!
He defeated the Hell Arena Master!
On level 5 he assembled a tactical armor!
On level 8 he encountered the Phobos Anomaly.
On level 10 he entered Hell's Armory.
On level 10 he assembled a high power weapon!
On level 10 he assembled a high power weapon!
On level 10 he assembled a fireproof armor!
He destroyed the evil within and reaped the rewards!
On level 12 he ventured into the Halls of Carnage.
On level 13 he assembled a high power weapon!
On level 14 he ventured into the Spider's Lair.
He cleared the Lair, kickin' serious spider ass!
On level 16 he found the Tower of Babel!
On level 18 he entered the Vaults.
He cracked the Vaults and cleared them out!
On level 19 he assembled a lava boots!
On level 20 he assembled a high power weapon!
On level 20 he was foolish enough to enter the Mortuary!
He managed to clear the Mortuary from evil!
Level 21 was a hard nut to crack!
On level 22 he entered the Lava Pits.
On level 22 he found the Necroarmor!
He managed to clear the Lava Pits completely!
On level 23 he ran for his life from lava!
Then at last he found Dis!
He overloaded a nuclear BFG 9000 on level 24!
He defeated the Mastermind and found the TRUE EVIL!
Then finally in hell itself, he killed the final EVIL.
-- Messages --------------------------------------------------
Targeting canceled.
You see : a baron of hell (unhurt) | floor | [ m ]ore
Targeting canceled.
You see : a revenant (severely wounded) | floor | [ m ]ore
The missile hits the revenant. The missile hits the revenant. The revenant
dies. You dualreload your guns!
You see : John Carmack (mortally wounded) | blood | [ m ]ore
The missile hits John Carmack. The missile hits John Carmack.
You see : John Carmack (almost dead) | blood | [ m ]ore
The missile hits John Carmack. The missile hits John Carmack. John Carmack
reloads his rocket launcher.
You see : John Carmack (almost dead) | pool of blood | [ m ]ore
The missile hits John Carmack. The missile hits John Carmack. John Carmack
dies. Congratulations! You defeated John Carmack! Press <Enter>...
You feel relatively safe now. You dualreload your guns!
Targeting canceled.
-- General ---------------------------------------------------
331 brave souls have ventured into Phobos:
319 of those were killed.
3 of those were killed by something unknown.
8 souls destroyed the Mastermind...
1 sacrificed itself for the good of mankind.
5 killed the bitch and survived.
2 showed that it can outsmart hell itself.
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The only pistol characters I played before this challenge were sharpshooters, and I've grown fond of the luxury of having whizkid. Four levels' worth of traits seemed like too much to spend, though, so I had to figure out how to live without it. Looking through other Gun Kata mortems, I saw that people are using high power pistols. Dualgunning with two 4-shot pistols is both completely ridiculous yet somehow the only viable strategy that doesn't count on finding exotics so I resigned myself to trying it. It does actually work pretty well, as long as everything dies when it's supposed to.
It helps that I found a blaster pretty early on, which I mostly used to deal with single revenants. (For some reason I decided to ruin its clip size by making it high power as well.) I also found a combat pistol and the mods to make it high-powered on the level before the Mortuary. That's also when I got level 5 SoG, which made me decide just barely in favour of being foolish enough to enter it. I didn't actually think I'd live through it but I was just aching to try. It actually went pretty well. With a movement time of around 0.25 seconds and my firing time at the floor, it was easy to keep chipping away at the horde as this or that monster came into the edge of my vision. Gradually I pushed forward until everything was dead.
This is the first game where I've used intuition. It's nice, but I still don't like shooting at monsters I can't see, especially when I'm working with such a small clip and need my shots to hit.
This is also the first time I've fought JC properly (instead of nuking him). The boss fight actually reminded me of the cyberdemon fight at the end of Doom 3. There, you have to charge your soul sphere by killing imps as they pop out of a hole. Here, I shot JC three times and then reloaded by popping one of the lost souls he summoned.
Can anyone tell me: is there a point to the "almost instant" counter-attacks you can make after dodging when firing your pistols only takes 0.1 seconds anyway?