Are Quake's weapons weak? 📄 posted at 21 August 2021 on new danboland

Thinking a lot about Quake. One complaint I see quite frequently when people pick up Quake for the first time (yes, Quake actually is a single-player game too, and it absolutely rules) is that Quake’s weapons are quite weedy compared to the Doom 2 arsenal. Specifically, the shotguns.

So let’s put the bowties on and start by doing what nobody ever wants anyone to do – the damned numbers. This part is mostly just a bit of fun, there’s no way to realistically account in numbers for how enemies and weapons are used in the context of maps.

Let’s take a quick mean average of all the monster health values in Quake. I haven’t excluded any enemies, because none are really huge outliers – the relative ratio of a Shambler’s health to its underlings compared with that of a Cyberdemon is pretty comical¹. We end up with ~169 health. Nice.

Doom 2 is a bit tougher – I’ve excluded the special-purpose enemies, the Cyberdemon and Spiderdemon, as well as errata such as the Keens and Icon of Sin. This in mind, we end up with ~314 health.

Now, faced with these theoretical mean health values, we can see how many shots to kill a hypothetical monster with the average health, and calculate an average TTK from there. Doom 2’s weapons have random damage rolls, while Quake’s do not – For Doom 2, I have taken an average of the real damage range, once the game’s PRNG is taken into account.

• Doom 2’s standard shotgun (45-100dmg, 1.05s per shot) is pretty sluggish in this context – 5 shots to kill, 5.25s TTK. This is to be expected – the shotgun is regarded as an “early game” weapon. The chaingun is better for poking and sniping, and the SSG is an upgrade in close-quarters battles.
• Doom 2’s super shotgun (150-225dmg, 1.63s per shot) deserves its name in comparison – 2 shots to kill, 3.26s TTK. This should seem pretty intuitive for any veterans.
• Quake’s shotgun (24dmg, 0.5s per shot) is actually nothing to be sniffed at – it may take 8 shots, but the blistering fire rate makes this a tidy 4s TTK. Keep in mind, too, that this is the starting weapon, and is incredibly useful for sniping. This thing is only slightly slower than Doom 2’s pistol – 0.5s for a shot against the pistol’s 0.4s.
• Quake’s super shotgun (56dmg, 0.7s per shot) is where the big dramatic reveal lies. 4 shots to kill, but the brisk fire rate makes it a 2.8s TTK! It’s a faster killer than the ole reliable Doom 2 double-barrel, and quite flexible to boot.

So it’s a bit of an upset. Both weapons are faster firers and faster killers than their predecessors – perhaps they pay the price in ammo usage, but keep in mind that shells are Quake’s basic ammo type, while they’re the second tier ammo in Doom 2. Running out of shells in Quake generally means there’s an issue with how you’re playing. In any case, the relative power of Quake’s shotguns certainly don’t lag behind Doom 2.

(If you’re curious, TTKs for the rapid-firers: Nailgun is 1.9s, Super Nailgun is 1s, Thunderbolt is 0.6s, Chaingun is 3.65s, Plasma Gun is 1.19s. Comparing these weapons is more difficult because of their different roles and projectile travel times, but at a glance, the numbers make sense.)

Tight spaces, industrial colour schemes and Nine Inch Nails logos – welcome home. (Foundation for Corruption, Alkaline)

But, as we all know, games are rarely simply numbers bouncing off each other. Sound and animation are pretty crucial in how players perceive and then use weapons. I like everything on our buckshot smorgasbord here, but it’s hardly a secret that people remember and love the sound and animation of Doom 2’s SSG. I’m often left a little confused when I see mods that add more frames to the reload animation – people think this is the finest shotgun in games, perhaps because it has 4 frames of animation, but that’s just my own neuroses, I suppose.

To go a little deeper, I think Doom 2’s random damage spread is doing some work here too. Quake has absolutely no random damage spread, in comparison – personally, I absolutely love this, making the immortal science of shooting hellspawn consistent and breezy. I have been on record across multiple dimensions saying that Doom 2’s random damage was a mistake (at the very least for damage the player is taking! come on!). But certainly in practice, people will remember the SSG more fondly for all the times they absolutely creamed enemies with some good damage rolls. A slower-firing, harder-hitting weapon absolutely helps this, too. I can’t exactly argue with the good vibes that result.

We should also look at the monster behaviours in question. Doom 2’s demons are big, lumbering things. They may only move in cardinals and ordinals, and generally can’t reliably punish the player for getting too close. This in mind, lining up the perfect meatshot is a straightforward, very addictive process that can be done almost at leisure assuming any pressure enemies have been disposed of.

Quake’s monsters on the other hand are much more fluid. None of Doom 2’s monsters can attack and move at the same time² – but Quake’s melee bruisers eagerly do so, and can easily box in players. It’s a lot harder to line up a perfect SSG blast on a fiend, or (may god help you) a spawn³, and even a handful of knights can put a player in a “kill these guys before you run out of space!” situation. Try this cute clip against a room of knights, fiends or even dogs. No bueno. Players are a lot more pressured to put out damage quickly with basic weapons, so it’s little wonder they feel a little less faith in said weapons.

These guys are not really in the habit of waiting for you to reload a slow-firing, heavy weapon.

Quake’s faster arsenal is also more poised to take advantage of the signature powerup, the Quad Damage. Even the basic shotgun is a wonderful partner-in-crime with it, and the challenge immediately becomes seeing how bloody a swathe you can tear through the map before your stolen power fades. This in mind, powerful but sluggish weapons may not be so ideal.

One additional thing – players rely on Doom 2’s SSG a lot, and easily feel a bit naked without it. Doom 2 has a pretty lethargic weapon switch speed⁴, and you’re best off having this guy in your hands if something rapidly starts encroaching or needs to be staggered fast. Quake’s weapon switch speed is instant, meaning the player can combo their weapon usage. Use a few shotgun blasts to make your nail supply go further, quickly fire a cheeky rocket or grenade to soften up enemies for the nails and shells, snipe distant foes with the basic shotgun, rapidly respond in a tight spot with the super nailgun and thunderbolt. Quake has 3 or 4 workhorse weapons, all best used together as the situation or ammo supply changes.

Both are fantastic games, but Quake is the more dynamic of the two – enemies control space much more aggressively, particularly melee enemies. Even basic enemies can put the player on the defensive, requiring rapid response with a much faster-firing, faster-switching, more consistent arsenal. This is reflected in even the superweapons - the BFG is effectively an incredibly powerful, far-reaching shotgun for commanding enemies and taking down bosses, and the Thunderbolt is a fast-firing liquifier that gets you out of traps or gets that one enemy out of here right now.

Once you stop expecting Quake to play exactly like Doom 2, I guarantee you will find no shortage of joy in its arsenal. 🚀