I need help. Running Out Of Ammo: Inferno

[TheRadioShower]

Playing Doom (1993) for the first time on Hurt Me Plenty. Somewhat of a humbling experience, as the game is not as forgiving as modern shooters. Losing all weapons when starting a new episode hurts.

By the time I reach E3M3, I'm completely out of ammo. Like, I have nothing but my fists. I'd rather avoid using console commands or cheats on my first play through; I'd like to beat the game legit.

Anyone got any tips?

[Shallex]

find more ammo
don't miss
restart the level

[Marco]

Originally posted by TheRadioShower:

Playing Doom (1993) for the first time on Hurt Me Plenty. Somewhat of a humbling experience, as the game is not as forgiving as modern shooters. Losing all weapons when starting a new episode hurts.

By the time I reach E3M3, I'm completely out of ammo. Like, I have nothing but my fists. I'd rather avoid using console commands or cheats on my first play through; I'd like to beat the game legit.

Anyone got any tips?

There isn't much of enemies on HMP, however try to find all secrets (E3M2 has a secret plasmagun, a rocket launcher and some boxes of rockets in the supercharge area; beware of spectres protecting that cave) and manage ammo wisely: you can try for example to shoot multiple zombies with just one shotgun shell. Also, pinkies and spectres require 2 shotgun shells if they are hit in a certain way at close range (otherwise 3). A cacodemon goes down with 6 shells at close range or 2 rockets.
Do not pick up ammo boxes when it's a waste: if you have 32 shells and didn't find a backpack, save the box of shells for later (a box contains 20 shells, which become 40 on Nightmare! mode) when you have 30 or less, otherwise you lost 2 (or more) shells forever.

Please note there are some arrows on the map that show where you can find a secret. Check the automap and look for the arrow in E3M2, where you will find the plasmagun.

One more thing, you can try to cause monster infighting* so some enemies will kill one or more enemies for you.

*It only works if a monster is in the line of fire of a DIFFERENT monster (except zombies and lost souls, which can attack each other of the same type): imps will attack any monster but other imps, same story for pinkies, cacodemons, etc...

[Myno]

To add to the above, use Berserk Pack fists whenever it's reasonable. The Berserk powerup lasts until the end of the level; the diminishing red haze means nothing.

[NightmareGats]

You cant be serious

[GlaceonChireiden]

Best advice I can give is use the right weapons for the right demons. Wasting chaingun ammo on a pinkie isn't worth it when a chainsaw stunlocks them

Save chaingun/shotgun for imps/zombiemen, you don't use many ammo on those

Save rockets/plasma for the more beefier enemies like barons of hell or cacodemons.

Originally posted by Myno:

To add to the above, use Berserk Pack fists whenever it's reasonable. The Berserk powerup lasts until the end of the level; the diminishing red haze means nothing.

Great point. Also note, berserk also brings your health to 100. You can save it as a desperate full heal to return to if you don't have any health pickups left on the map.

[TheRadioShower]

Originally posted by Marco:

Originally posted by TheRadioShower:

Playing Doom (1993) for the first time on Hurt Me Plenty. Somewhat of a humbling experience, as the game is not as forgiving as modern shooters. Losing all weapons when starting a new episode hurts.

By the time I reach E3M3, I'm completely out of ammo. Like, I have nothing but my fists. I'd rather avoid using console commands or cheats on my first play through; I'd like to beat the game legit.

Anyone got any tips?

There isn't much of enemies on HMP, however try to find all secrets (E3M2 has a secret plasmagun, a rocket launcher and some boxes of rockets in the supercharge area; beware of spectres protecting that cave) and manage ammo wisely: you can try for example to shoot multiple zombies with just one shotgun shell. Also, pinkies and spectres require 2 shotgun shells if they are hit in a certain way at close range (otherwise 3). A cacodemon goes down with 6 shells at close range or 2 rockets.
Do not pick up ammo boxes when it's a waste: if you have 32 shells and didn't find a backpack, save the box of shells for later (a box contains 20 shells, which become 40 on Nightmare! mode) when you have 30 or less, otherwise you lost 2 (or more) shells forever.

Please note there are some arrows on the map that show where you can find a secret. Check the automap and look for the arrow in E3M2, where you will find the plasmagun.

One more thing, you can try to cause monster infighting* so some enemies will kill one or more enemies for you.

*It only works if a monster is in the line of fire of a DIFFERENT monster (except zombies and lost souls, which can attack each other of the same type): imps will attack any monster but other imps, same story for pinkies, cacodemons, etc...

I think the biggest problem was that I might have accidentally clicked on "Ultra Violence" when starting my run. I decided to restart my playthrough from E3M1 and I immediately noticed less enemies and more ammo, probably because I actually pressed HMP this time. I also made sure to go after secrets and find the early weapons to help arm myself.

[Marco]

Originally posted by TheRadioShower:

I think the biggest problem was that I might have accidentally clicked on "Ultra Violence" when starting my run. I decided to restart my playthrough from E3M1 and I immediately noticed less enemies and more ammo, probably because I actually pressed HMP this time. I also made sure to go after secrets and find the early weapons to help arm myself.

Yes, UV has more enemies and NM has faster and respawning enemies (but ammo packs have double the ammo) and the fact that some ammo are not available is because they are flagged for appearing at a certain skill level (on DOOM Builder there are flags for Easy, Medium and Hard and because of this some monsters appear in the place of others). However, with practice you can also follow the advice below:

Originally posted by Myno:

To add to the above, use Berserk Pack fists whenever it's reasonable. The Berserk powerup lasts until the end of the level; the diminishing red haze means nothing.

In E3M2 for example, once you get berserk you can punch pinkies, spectres and the lost souls hiding in the maze that leads to supercharge. I haven't fully understood how it works, but if you hold the forward key and turn quickly towards the lost soul you can kill them with just one punch. Sometimes turning faster during a punch also kills the targeted pinkie/spectre with just one hit (after berserk of course).

I just restarted a game on Episode 3 last night after reading this thread to retry it and with this technique I reached E3M3 at Ultra-Violence with 34 shotgun shells, 100+ bullets, 100+ plasma cells and some rockets.

P. S. You will find some good firepower in E3M3. :)

[Myno]

Originally posted by Marco:

I haven't fully understood how it works, but if you hold the forward key and turn quickly towards the lost soul you can kill them with just one punch. Sometimes turning faster during a punch also kills the targeted pinkie/spectre with just one hit (after berserk of course).

... No? Pretty sure that is just the damage RNG doing its thing; speed and turning do not affect it at all. I haven't been able to find any mention of what you speak of on any of the related Wiki articles: https://doomwiki.org/wiki/Entryway

[Marco]

Originally posted by Myno:

... No? Pretty sure that is just the damage RNG doing its thing; speed and turning do not affect it at all. I haven't been able to find any mention of what you speak of on any of the related Wiki articles: https://doomwiki.org/wiki/Entryway

DOOMwiki until a few months ago didn't even know about this: https://www.doomworld.com/vb/thread/143470

Back to the berserk, I don't think it's RNG as it happens with a very high frequency and this is more noticeable when playing keyboard-only. Punching lost souls to those walls in E3M2 kills them instantly when doing what I described. Punching to death pinkies/spectres also happens frequently, sometimes even going backwards and turning while punching. Using berserk on imps and zombies while turning also blows them up in pieces. It also affects other hitscan weapons, such as pistol and shotgun. I've also noticed a while ago that it happens on Wolfenstein 3D (and consequently on Blake Stone, as it uses the same engine) as well: if you shoot nazis with pistol while turning, you can one-shot them, both when they are moving or when you shoot an idle guard from the back.

[Dead Pixel]

One of the best ammo-saving tips for classic Doom is to always use chainsaw (or Berserk fists) when dealing with Pinkies. This will save you a TON of ammo in the long run.