THE ATTRITION MOD

In this mod, Duke Nukem’s weapons gain experience points and upgrade as he uses them. Duke’s max health and some of his inventory items can also be upgraded by items dropped by monsters. As you progress through the game, you will encounter more powerful monsters.

INSTALL

Extract the contents of attrition.rar to a folder that contains a copy DUKE3D.GRP. Use attrition.bat to start a game without the HRP. If you have the HRP installed in the autoload folder, then using attrition_HRP.bat will start a game with the HRP.

SELECT AN EPISODE

Episodes 1 and 2 consist of randomly selected maps. There are 31 maps in each episode, 12 of each will be randomly selected. After completing 12 missions, the final boss level will complete the episode. Duke’s weapons and ammo are taken away after each mission (these are user maps and were intended to be played that way)

Episode 3 is Daikarin by Gabriele R. Giaminardi (saarek), followed by several high quality user maps to add length to the episode.

Episode 4 is the original Duke 3D episodes 1-4, back-to-back.

SPECIAL KEYS

For this mod, you need to assign a key or button for RELOAD/ALTFIRE and ATTRITION MENU. Use the keyboard and mouse setup menus in EDuke32 to do this.

ATTRITION MENU

The menu can be accessed once a game is started, and has three selections:

RESTART MISSION --restarts the current level. You will have all the upgrades you had when the level began

UPGRADES –shows the upgrades you have acquired

HIGH SCORES –shows high scores you have achieved for the various episodes

GAMEPLAY FEATURES

KARATE KICKS – Press forward +quick kick to perform a sliding side kick. Press back+quick kick to perform a spinning hook kick (if the mighty boot weapon is selected, you can perform these kicks by pressing fire). Once you have the combinations upgrade for kicks, you can hold down the quick kick key and Duke will continue to kick an enemy in a combination until the enemy is dead or Duke’s kick energy is depleted.

ALIEN BLASTERS – These are dropped by lizard trooper captains (pal 21 liztroops). If you have a blaster, it is weapon 1 (same slot as mighty boot). You can still kick while holding a blaster by using the quick kick key. The only way to replenish the limited battery supply is by picking up more blasters. The blaster can be upgraded like any other weapon.

DEATH RAGE – You get one of these per mission. When getting hit by a shot that reduces his life to 0, Duke goes into a rage during which he does not take damage and he deals 150% damage to enemies. The rage lasts about 8 seconds. Once your death rage is used, you do not get another one until the next mission (restarting the mission DOES reset it). You lose 5000 points each time a death rage is used.

THE HOLODUKE BOT – Using the HoloDuke item spawns a helpful Dukebot. HoloDuke energy will deplete as long as the bot is deployed. It will deplete faster when the bot takes damage. Getting upgrades for this item improves the bot’s weaponry and his ability to take damage.

STEROIDS – Using steroids in Attrition causes the game to slow down and the player’s running speed to increase. In addition, upgrading this item has the following effects while it is in use: reduces the damage the player takes, makes him regenerate health, and increases the damage he causes to enemies.

NUKES – Nuke energy is sometimes dropped by slain enemies (it looks like flashing, floating atomic health). You can hold up to 3 of them at a time. Using a nuke makes Duke throw it, after which it will start to expand, and then detonate a few seconds later. It will damage enemies within about half a city block. Nukes do not destroy cracks in walls (necessary to prevent unwanted level progression). Nukes will become even more powerful when your score reaches 50000, 100000, 200000, etc.

FREEZING SYSTEM – In an unmodded game of Duke 3D, the freezethrower will freeze enemies only if it has done enough damage to kill them. In Attrition, enemies will freeze whenever they are hit by the freezethrower, and the amount of time they remain frozen depends on how much strength they have left. Even enemies that cannot be frozen in regular Duke 3D, such as the sentry drones and tanks, can be frozen in Attrition.

SKILL LEVELS – In Attrition, selecting one of the easier skill levels (“PIECE OF CAKE” and “LET’S ROCK”) will reduce the amount of damage received by the player, and also reduce the amount of points that enemies are worth. In other respects, different skill levels have the same effects as in unmodded Duke 3D. “Come Get Some” or “Damn I’m Good” skill levels are recommended for experienced Duke 3D players

UPGRADEABLE WEAPONS – Some of Duke’s weapons start “nerfed”, but all of them can eventually become extremely powerful. The experience bar (located under the ammo counter in the lower right corner of the screen) shows the current weapon’s level and how much progress you have made towards the next level. As a rule of thumb, you gain experience for a weapon if monsters are damaged or killed while you are holding it. There are some exceptions: if a frozen enemy is shattered, you will gain experience for the freezer even if you aren’t holding it. Likewise, if a shrunken enemy is stomped you get experience for the shrinker. Using regular kicks or karate kicks on enemies will level up the mighty boot weapon (unless the kick shattered a frozen enemy). Finally, tripbomb explosions will level up the tripbomb, regardless of what you are holding. When a weapon upgrades to the next level, a message will display with a brief description of what has been changed or added to the weapon. You can always review your upgrades in the UPGRADES menu.

Here is a complete list of enhancements that weapons may acquire when upgrading:

+ DAMAGE ( most weapons )

+ RATE OF FIRE ( pistol, rocket launcher, chaingun )

ALTFIRE MODE ( shotgun, chaingun, rocket launcher, devastator, freezer )

Adds a new altfire mode to the weapon. They are –

shotgun -> flak burst

chaingun -> incendiary pods

rocket launcher -> megarockets (cost 3 ammo each)

devastator -> auto shotgun

freezer -> ice shards

BLEEDING WOUNDS ( pistol, shotgun, chaingun )

Causes a wound to appear in the exact spot where the projectile hit the enemy. The wound will bleed for several seconds, causing additional damage as it does.

STUNS (karate kicks, pistol, shotgun, rocket launcher)

Enemies become paralyzed for a brief time when hit by the weapoin. The amount of time depends on the weapon.

+ LEECH ( all weapons )

Causes a small percentage of the damage delivered to enemies to be added to the player’s health.

TIGHTER SPREAD ( shotgun, chaingun )

More accurate bullets/tighter spread.

+ PROJECTILES ( shotgun, devastator altfire, freezer altfire )

The weapon shoots an additional projectile when firing.

PIERCING ( chaingun bullets, devastator rockets, freezer altfire )

The weapon’s projectiles can pierce an enemy and hit another enemy or object

+ RUNNING SPEED ( rocket launcher, devastator )

The player can move at normal speed when holding the weapon.

+ SHOT SPEED ( rocket launcher )

Projectiles fired by the weapon move more rapidly.

BURNS ENEMIES ( chaingun altfire, rocket launcher, pipebomb, devastator )

Spawns fires on impact which burn enemies

+ EXPLOSIONS ( rocket launcher, pipebomb, tripbomb )

Spawns additional explosions and increases the area of affect.

+ BOMBLETS ( pipebomb, tripbomb )

Spawns small rolling bombs which detonate on contact.

BOMBLETS SEEK ( pipebomb, tripbomb )

Bomblets will seek out and move towards nearby enemies.

AKIMBO ABILITY ( pistol )

Allows the player to wield two pistols at once. Note that you have to find a second pistol first!

+ DISTANCE ( karate kicks )

Increased kick range.

COMBINATIONS ( karate kicks )

Continue to hold down the quick kick key after kicking an enemy and Duke will keep kicking the enemy in a combination until the enemy is dead or Duke’s kick energy is depleted

+ KICK ENERGY ( karate kicks )

Increased kick stamina.

KNOCKBACK ( shotgun )

Knocks enemies backwards. Note that some weapons can do this without an upgrade.

+ SHRINK POWER ( shrinker )

Allows the shrinker to affect stronger enemies.

+ SHRINK TIME ( shrinker )

Increases the time that enemies are shrunk.

+ SHRINK RADIUS ( shrinker )

Increases the area of affect of the shrinker impact.

VORTEX OF DOOM ( shrinker )

Makes a small singularity appear where the shrinker shot impacts, sucking in nearby enemies and crushing them.

ROCKETS SEEK ( devastator )

Will seek out enemies.

BLINDING FLASH ( pipebomb, tripbomb )

Spawns blinding flashes of light that stun nearby enemies.

+ FREEZE SPARKS ( freezer )

Additional short range freezeblast sparks fire off in random directions when a primary freeze blast impacts

SHOOTS BEAM ( alien blaster, freezer )

Makes the weapon fire a beam instead of a projectile.

CHARGED ALTFIRE ( alien blaster )

Hold down the altfire button to charge a shot, release to fire.

POWBALL ALTFIRE ( alien blaster )

The charged shot becomes a powball, a highly explosive ball of energy.

+ CLONING POWER ( expander )

The first of these upgrades gives the expander the cloning power, which makes a duplicate of the expanded enemy spawn in its place. The duplicate will fight on your side. Additional upgrades make the duplicates more powerful than the originals.

+ EXTRA CLONE ( expander )

Two duplicates of the expanded enemy are spawned instead of one.

OTHER FEATURES

AUTOMATIC WEATHER AND GRASS – Attrition decides whether rain or snow is appropriate for a level, and if so the weather is generated. Likewise, blades of grass are spawned where appropriate. The system is not perfect: you may see grass spawned on a green metallic vehicle, for example.

MAP MIRORRING – When starting a level , there is a 50% chance that it will be an x-flipped (mirrored) version. This feature works fairly well but is known to cause some glitches, such as some swing doors opening in the wrong direction.

LOTS OF STUFF FROM DUKEPLUS – Damage decals, footstep sounds, etc.