Chaosforge Forum

DoomRL => Discussion => Topic started by: Pigmonkey on March 29, 2007, 10:37

Title: On Angel of Berserk mode
Post by: Pigmonkey on March 29, 2007, 10:37
What exactly is the recommended strategy for finishing this challenge? I've heard several people say that its "easy", but I've always gotten killed on the very early levels before I get decent armor and the Chainsaw.  Would it be recommended to pick Hellrunner first instead of Brute so I could actually dodge the enemies' attacks, then swtich from Coward to Aggressive for the close fighting? I'm having trouble figuring out a good strategy, since pure melee fighting is rather rare in the Doom universe.
Title: Re: On Angel of Berserk mode
Post by: Rabiat on March 29, 2007, 10:53
I'm not much of a DoomRL player (yet), but I'd recommend Tough as Nails and Ironman (in that order) over Brute. Additionally, sneak around in Coward, and switch tactics when in melee range. Make sure you're always wearing armour, carry lots of medkits, find a chainsaw as soon as possible, carry some clips of ammo as bait, and of course step by the UC if you're up for it. What also helps is to keep your field of view limited by avoiding wide open spaces.
Title: Re: On Angel of Berserk mode
Post by: DaEezT on March 29, 2007, 11:40
You left out the most important factor: Which difficulty are you playing on?
AoB is really hard early on on the higher difficulties because more enemies = hard to evade.

I personally see Brute as pretty much useless in AoB, instead you should max out TaN and IM. Starting out with one level of Brute might be a good idea if you intend to kill most of the enemies prior to the chained court instead of evading them, because there is no guaranteed knife in the game and you might have to use your fists.
After the chained court it's gg. Just walk through everything you encounter and save two large meds for AoD and Cybie.

One trick for early kills is to carry guns and ammo with you so you can drop them in doorways and lure enemies on them. Fighting enemies in doorways (diagonally) gives you the upper hand because the ones behind your victim often can't shoot you. E & M should be beatable without that, but it's recommended for H & UV.
Title: Re: On Angel of Berserk mode
Post by: Pigmonkey on March 29, 2007, 11:55
To answer your question on difficulty, I am playing AoB on Medium difficulty. I recently beat Easy for the first time and am looking for a new challenge.

Good idea with TaN and Ironman, I usually don't use them because my typical strategy is to stay in Coward and shoot things with Chaingun as far away as possible.
Title: Re: On Angel of Berserk mode
Post by: BDR on March 29, 2007, 13:34
:/ Due to the damage modifiers, staying in coward mode while shooting wastes a lot of bullets, even if you've got EE (coward = 1/2 normal damage, aggressive = 1.4 * normal damage rounded down IIRC).  Going aggressive may be a bigger risk but it's very necessary when you can't kill in one volley/shot any other way.
Title: Re: On Angel of Berserk mode
Post by: Zarin on March 29, 2007, 13:39
Sounds really strange - you can go all coward with shotguns, but chainguns are different story.  I always switch to aggressive when shooting the chaingun.  A Cacodemon is killed in 3-4 bursts on aggressive while on coward 6 or more are necessary (tested many times in Hell's Arena).  And since it has quite a big fireball you will be hit more during those 6+ bursts, not less.  Not to mention the fact that sergeants and captains are usually killed in one aggressive burst (thus never even hitting you), but need 3-4 on coward.

There was a topic here somewhere in which several people agreed that the extra damage and chance to hit on aggressive make up for the increased chance to be hit - unless, of course, you have 4-6 Arachs shooting at you from all directions :).  And that's where TaN and Ironman both shine.

Good luck,
    Zarin.
Title: Re: On Angel of Berserk mode
Post by: Fingerzam on March 29, 2007, 14:40
Did you have any Eagle Eye? Because without it you will simply miss all of the time in coward.