ZDoom Wars

From the fast offspring of mods and games based on Doom, they now go full circle to be all combined again: Doom, Heretic, Hexen, Chex Quest, Strife and more (depending on the server) are added together in one big total conversion mod that creates an entirely new form of gameplay within the already varied doom universe.

The set-up is simple. You select one of the series and you are spawned at the beginning of the game with the protagonist of that game. Once you're on the field, you have to hunt down and kill your opponents in a Last Man Standing game round. The trick is not to fight with weapons, but to command an army based on the faction you've chosen. As a multiplayer only mode, many situations and tropes can be used for good and ill.

The general way of playing ZDoom Wars is with Skulltag, a free and open source Source Port.

Tropes used in ZDoom Wars include:

A Commander Is You
- Doom = The Technical Faction
  - Lots of units, each filling limited combat roles. The whole tech tree must be unlocked for an effective army.
- Heretic = The Mario Faction with a flavour of The Unit Specialist Faction
  - Good all-round, with strong melee, skirmish, suppression and ranged units. It's mastery of ghost units give it Technical Faction skills.
- Hexen = The Elitist Faction
  - Expensive units, relays on upgrades for certain combat roles and has little direct combat units.
- Strife = The Brute Force Faction
  - Spectre A and Templars are essential in this army, being player killers and all-round ass kickers.
- Chex = The Spammer Faction
  - The ultimate melee faction, relays on large rolling armies and a strong build-up. Notorious for crashing servers.
- Virus = The Unit Specialist Faction
  - Most units fly, as well as the player. Very dependent on environment and start-up.
All There in the Manual: Averted somewhat. Although there is an manual, which explains some very essential stuff, the more detailed parts are outdated and new mods (mods for mods so to speak) change all such things.
Big Freaking Gun: If the term can be used more loosely, you might argue that the boss monsters count as BFGs. They are incredibly bad ass, hard to kill and do massive damage.
Boom! Headshot!: Subverted and ultra aggravating: One day, you will be running at the front line to collect veils. And at the last moment, you realise you should look around to make sure that your own units don't shoot you. The next two things you will see are: a projective at arms length and your body ragdolling away from the camera.
- Other then the emotional impact of a rocket to the face, it's harmless. The game does not recognise the difference between a head, foot or leg.
Color-Coded for Your Convenience: Originality averted. All monsters look like how they are in the corresponding game. If you play a game with 5 Heretic players, you better start taking notes.
- New mods on the other hand, add colour-coding For Your Convenience.
Critical Existence Failure: Played almost entirely straight. All monsters have HP and most of them stay fighting until their HP drops below the aforementioned bar. Two exceptions are made:
- Once the player drops below 50% health, he will run at half speed, making it harder for him to run out of combat.
- There are monsters that only summon other monsters or preform certain attacks when they are in a certain health state. This can be seen as a Last Stand, or it can be used as a valid battle strategy.
Crossover: Trope redefining almost. Ever wanted to know how tough Duke Nukem is against the monsters of Doom?
Damage Discrimination: Averted. Monsters harm each other and the enemy players just as hard. Mind it when you use bosses.
Final Death: If you're dead, you stay so for the rest of the round. The game is based around the Last Man Standing gameplay mode, so you better make sure you're the last one.
Friendly Fireproof; Hell no! Better watch your back, because your Axe Crazy Monsters don't care for you. A strange occurrence of the dog biting his master.
Game Breaking Bug: There are a few bugs when summoning monsters; ranging from a small wallet puncture, up to an Epic Fail:
- Summoning too close to an game-entity (player, monster, candlestick) will not make the monster spawn, but it will cost mana.
- summoning too close to a ledge will. The monster will be stuck, and although lighter monsters can be shoved, heavy monsters can't.
Human Shield: Not just humans, everything. The enemies monsters do not respect your private zone (or your face for that matter) and they will not hesitate yo open fire whenever they see you. A meatshield would be very useful to protect you and the more precious monsters under your command.
Invisibility: A core element of the game. Invisible monsters, often referred to as ghost monsters, are invulnerable against certain types of damage.
- It is worth noting that the monsters are just as visible as all other monsters.
Kick Them While They Are Down: The most definitive victory. Without an army, with no more resources left, totally surrounded, you kill your enemy while he's limping and running for cover.
Kill'Em All: Subverted, It's only about you, and not about the monsters. Although many people go to extremes to protect their army, running of when shit hits the fan is a very common survival strategy.
Large and In Charge: The average man is roughly 1.80 meters. A cool action hero that eats shotgun slugs and is laughing in the face of death would be around 1.90. And how large are your tougher Mooks? 5 meters and counting. They weigh multiple tons and are many times your diameter. In other words, you're a cockroach that they can stamp on, and they still follow your commands.
- It might on the other hand explain their careless disregard for your health and well-being.
Mook Maker: You! You have to summon all kinds of units, based on the franchise you've chosen, who will do all the dirty fighting for you.
- Also some monster that you can summon. Every faction has a unit designated to make your life a lot harder by swarming you with gritter.
One-Hit Kill: Some. Although most units can never do so against a player with full health, the Random Number God can be very unforgiving, allowing one-hits from strong monsters.
Rage Quit: Lots of those. Due to the somewhat unforgiving nature of Final Death and the aggressive monsters, many new players find themselves so frustrated that they disconnect after they die.
Regenerating Health
Sequential Boss: What would be worse then a boss, towering above the battlefield and one-hitting you? Killing his horse, only to discover that he just walks away and continues on foot.
Yet Another Stupid Death: Played straight. The Random Number God, Friendly Fire and the environment are just the beginning of your trouble.
- Death by player interactions is rare in some rounds. Winning by sitting in a corner for one round is a serious option if there is a Level Boss that tries to kill all players in the game.
- This also leads to many RageQuits when it's caused by ghost units. Especially new players who are not properly introduced will be killed in ways that could be easily prevented.
You Require More Vespene Gas: Mana is used to summon monsters who fight for you. For more advanced monster, you need Hero Mana. Since you come with only a very small supply, you will be craving for mana within a minute.
- Monsters drop veils based on their class. These files replenish your normal mana and allow you to summon more grunts. One problem, they can only be picked up at places where monsters die; in the middle of the combat.
- Mana also replenishes over time. The two types of mana generate at different rates, making some interesting gameplay dilemmas.
Zerg Rush: Sometimes played straight, sometimes averted.
- It is possible in certain situations to abuse critical weaknesses of enemy monsters and to Zerg rush their position. Without a way to retaliate, they will be crushed.
- In the beginning of the game, no one faction has a clear advantage over the other, so unless one player uses superior tactics, he can not win by numbers.