Difference between revisions of "Strategy:Intuition"

Revision as of 16:09, 18 November 2011

(v0.9.9.4) __Forewarned is forearmed__

The Intuition trait allows you to 'sense' information about the level you're on - Int1 reveals the location of powerups and Int2 reveals enemy positions as purple asterisks within an area with a radius 3 squares bigger than your vision area whether or not you have a clear line of sight. A further advantage is that levers are labelled - with Int1 levers effects are described as beneficial/dangerous and with Int2 lever effects are explicitly stated.

The first level of Intuition is useful but not overly powerful - knowing where the powerups on a level are can be convenient especially in low-health situations. The real benefit of Intuition comes from Int2 when you become a skilled demon hunter.

Intuition is an advanced trait for Marines and Technicians and a Basic trait for Scouts. Therefore the simplest class for an Intuition game is the Scout. Take Int1 as your starting trait and then take Int2 the first time you level up.

Intuition basics:

Intuition is a gamble on tactics. Instead of fire power, defence or speed Intuition offers the chance to ambush your enemies. To get the most out of Intuition you need to think like a sniper - running, hiding and distance are the key elements to a successful game.

It's useful to think of Intuition as a tactical booster: all the tricks you would use in a normal game become more powerful when you're informed of the enemies position. Intuition changes your game style rather than effecting any variable within the game. A Scout with Int2 and a starting Scout with Int1 do exactly the same amount of damage and have the same active and passive defensive resources. However, the Int2 Scout will have the ability to ambush the enemy, avoid dangerous situations and conserve more ammunition.

Consider this setup:

###@##########
............*.
############## 

This is a standard game scenario. The Intuition advantage is that we've set things up to be optimal: we've waited for our asterisk to move some distance from the door and we can now take several shots before the asterisk (whatever it is - if you listen carefully you can usually get a good idea of what you're up against) can gain ground on us. Most enemies won't survive the trip to visual range and you'll notch up an easy kill. This is especially important in harder difficulties where late game enemies show up before you have the traits/weapons to bring them down easily.

Intuition also makes setting traps more effective - in this scenario we've waited for our asterisks to move too close to the barrel:

#........................#  
#.................**.....#
#@**X.............0.*..../
#........................#

I find it's best to stick close to doors/cover when sniping a large number of enemies - you never know when something unpleasant is lurking among a horde of formers - being able to duck out of sight when a Hell Knight or Baron shows up prevents unnecessary injuries, foul language and broken computer screens. Of course this is good advice in general - Int2 just helps with timing exactly *when* to duck.

In fact being able to find advantageous positions is one of the strong points of Intuition - shoot through doors, blow up walls - do whatever you can to make sure you have a clear shot from a distance while the enemy does not. Manoeuvring round to flank enemies is much easier when you know where they are.

Since positional play is so important in DoomRL it's useful to explore the empty rooms of a new level first. A line of asterisks usually means there's a wall between you and the enemy - explore the surrounding rooms first to get a good idea of what is where on the level. If things go wrong running into an explored area rather than an unexplored one is generally preferable.

Playing Int2 gives you a chance to get a feel for the enemy AI. Do the Arena a few times to see the movement patterns of Lost Souls, Demons, Cacodemons, Hell Knights and Barons. The information will come in useful in future games even if you decide not to use Intuition regularly. And if you do decide to include it in your bag of tricks knowing AI patterns can help identify enemies. A doomguy with Int2 is a like an African tracker - he listens to the sounds around him and follows the signs of the bush. The DoomRL equivalent is hitting the wait button and watching the asterisks. Hyperactive asterisks, for example, tend to be Cacodemons or Archnotrons. It's not an exact science but can help prioritise targets.

Note: If you're playing a Scout Intuition game then you should always do the Arena. By the time you get there you'll have Int2 and if you play carefully and have a bit of luck with enemy spawns you should have a much easier time than normal. In fact if you haven't managed a Hell Arena Key (finishing the Arena without taking any damage) an Int2 Scout playing Angel of Max Carnage practically guarantees one unless you're *really* unlucky with enemy spawns.

Somewhat counter-intuitively you still want to use radar shooting even if you have Int2. Int2 increases your vision range by 3 (albeit hazily) but you can never have enough information about what you might be facing. Int2 makes radar shooting more effective because it can provide clues as to the best direction to shoot in.

On later levels Intuition can help reveal the whereabouts of Arch-viles - if you hear an Arch-vile on a level watch out for asterisks appearing in an area you cleared - the Arch-vile(s) will be in the vicinity. Time to ready the BFG/rocket launcher.

In my experience the biggest problem with an Intuition build is overconfidence. Int2 is very powerful on early levels and I find it easy to lose concentration as I descend. A typical mistake I make (too often for comfort) is to move through an area devoid of asterisks only to walk straight into a difficult situation because I wasn't paying attention. Remember - it's not paranoia if they really _are_ out to get you!

As for weapons choices, killing enemies before they have a chance to fire at you (or see you) is what Intuition is all about. Therefore you want guns that can do a lot of damage at a distance. Chainguns and Plasma rifles are your best friends; it's no coincidence that the Intuition master trait, Cateye, requires Triggerhappy. Shotguns are comparatively weak (they don't make very good sniper rifles) but are useful for radar shooting. Of course luring a critter closer to blast them with a double-shotgun can be very... satisfying.

Because of the need for accuracy over a distance it's usually beneficial to take a level in Eagle Eye if you're playing as a Scout. theduck101 8:41, November 15 2011 (GMT)

(v0.9.9.4) Intuition is the trait that scouts can take as a basic trait, and it is a very good trait for scouts to take. Starting off with the first level of intuition doesn't give the greatest advantage, but it means you can take the second level as soon as you get a level up, probably on the second floor. With the second level of intuition, enemies should never surprise you again. You can not only tell when you are approaching enemies, but also when there are enemies on the other side of a wall or door. The only thing you can't tell is what type of enemy it is, but listening for monster sounds can let you know that. Scouts also have the master trait cateye that requires the first level of intuition, and cateye works well with the second level of intuition.

The first level in intuition is okay, but once you might as well plan to take the second level. Being able to see what powerups are on the level and where they are is certainly nice, letting you know how much healing you can expect, or if there is a tracking map that you can get early in the level, or maybe even if there's an invulnerability glove. Knowing whether levers are beneficial or dangerous can also be useful, but be aware that exploding barrels is considered a neutral lever type despite the potential danger.

For other classes, two levels of eagle eye must be taken before you can get intuition. If you already plan to take levels in eagle eye or would benefit pretty well from the levels, this can work out fine, but otherwise intuition is probably not worth it. Matt_S 5:22, November 10 2011 (GMT)

(v0.9.9.4)

I. General information.

Intuition is an advanced trait with prerequisites of Eagle Eye (2 ranks) for Marine and Technician, none for Scout. It has two ranks and gives you some information about levers and locations of powerups and enemies.

II. Detailed information on effects and their usage.

1. Adds lever descriptions (General with Int 1, exact information with Int 2).

Usually you have no idea what a lever does (unless there was a level feeling), now you have. No more lava flooding in hope of getting MediTech help. This effect is nice, but not as much as the other two.

2. Reveals location of powerups on whole map. This allows you to:

• know if you can get healing from globes instead of using your med-packs.
• ease your fights with Berserk packs/Invulnerability Globes
• get map memory (and locations of items on it) from Computer Maps
• same as above plus revealing enemies on your map from Tracking Maps
• get repairs to your armor in time

3. Reveals the position of enemies out of vision within radius of sight +3

As there only two enemies that can attack you without you seeing them (aside from rare line-of-sight(LOS) bugs ), you can prepare yourself to be in the most favored situation. I mean:

• no more nasty surprises after opening doors or getting around a corner
• you can get to cover and corner-shoot the enemy before it detects you
• you can start shooting before your enemy does.

III. Using Int in your builds.

The easiest way to get it is of course to play Scout – you can take it without taking EE2 and no Master trait blocks it. It’s even more good on AoMC – your to-hit bonus is already huge so taking EE is a waste and it compensates for shooting in the dark.

Marines don’t have much possibilities – only Survivalist do not block EE.

Technician require Int1 for Scavenger and since for Sharpshooter you need EE3 you can take it right away. Entrenchment does not block it, so possible choice too. AlterAsc 16:31, November 15 2011 (GMT)

(v0.9.9.4)Intuition is a skill. A trait some players display. It isalso a thing a player learns. Often very slowly, one death at a time......Sometimes ten deaths teaches us not a single bit of it. Sometimes our Doomguylearns just a little bit of Intuition, but a moment too late. Sometimes welearn something as well. Ex-tuition helps no-one when they needed it most. Itis simply a building block of wisdom, mere knowledge and memory. Perhaps with alittle decision making from those above (us) at the appropriate time .Forwisdom is simply the ability to learn from other's (sometimes fatal) mistakes,or even your own mistakes on a task repeated. Simplicity itself you wouldthink.

But Intuition is to know of any possible errors before themistake is made, as well as the ability to act on this knowledge accordingly. Ahard task indeed for the player, for DoomRL is unforgiving and largelyunknowable, fathomable yet inscrutable. Fortunately for us, there is a level-uptrait your character can gain in DoomRL that can teach us these things, muchmore quickly than you could ever learn it otherwise. It is, cunningly enough,called Intuition.........

Intuition is an advanced trait that requires either twolevels of Eagle Eye or being the Scout class. It also has two levels of power,one powerful, the other near-godly-awesome. They are mostly abbreviated toInt(1) and Int(2), cunningly enough.

First we'll look at Int(1).

Intuition(1) lets you see all power-ups on the level at alltimes. This includes Small Health Globes, Large Health Globes, Armour Shards,Invulnerability Globes, Berserk Packs, Computer Maps, Tracking Maps,Supercharges and Megaspheres. This means that the moment you go to a new level,you can have a good idea of how much instant health you can expect, whether youcan get more data on that level, what options you have for damage reduction (orremoval) and whether you can fix up your armour supplies. You'll know all thisinstantly, from the word go. It's that good, all for one pick of a trait. Italso serves as a memory jogger in tense (or very, very relaxed) situations,where you have to fallback to an area that you have forgotten about, so thatyou'll always know whether this particular ^ symbol is a safe haven or just a10HP hope-crusher. You'll also get a good/neutral/bad message from levers(seems like a minor bonus). Actually, it's a lot better than it sounds, sincethe good ones can be summed up as “more life” or “more armour”. If it saysgood, pull the lever whenever you please. For once it's not the lever ofmagmatic happiness. Oh, how I loathe thee lever, when applied to those mostun-noble beings of tall stature........

Now onto the big one: Int(2). The grandaddy of all theadvanced traits. Everything else is just window dressing in comparison.........

Intuition(2) lets you detect enemies from up to 12 squaresaway in a circular radius. Your normal maximum vision radius is only 9 squares,so this is quite an advantage. It also detects enemies through walls or otherobstacles. It unfortunately doesn't tell you what type of enemy they are,leaving them as a purple asterix (*) until you see them with your normalsight. But still, you can see when thereis an enemy outside you vision range, well before they see you. You also knowif there's a cluster of them waiting on the other side of that door, right ontop of that super-charge. It lets you prepare, reload, health-up, change to theappropriate weapon, or even just play the coward and retreat (or tacticallywithdraw to a safer area). You can now corner-shoot with shotguns, knowing thatyou'll definitely hit, you can radar shoot with any weapon by simply placingyour crosshair's over the purple *. The amount of versatility in your attackand defense this gives you (not to mention already having all of Int(1)'sabilities) is not to be underestimated. You can also just check up on whatenemies do when they're not hunting you. It gives you a feel for theirmovements and their AI in different situations. How long does it take for abaron to ignore you after you've shot them? Int(2) will provide you this answerand many more. It also has the secondary advantage that lets you know EXACTLY what levers do. Health, armour,wall removal or magmatic happiness? It'll tell you before you pull it, and youcan start to get a vague idea of when certain levers become more prevalent.Intuition helps build the intuition you can use in any build, without having togain the wisdom that you probably would otherwise.

Requirements:

For all these bonuses, what do you need to take them? Amaster-trait that blocks everything useful? Two completely useless normaltraits that make it impossible to get a decent weapon build? Is a it meleebased thing, only they'd need all that cool stuff.? Will everyone think youtook an easy route through DoomRL? Will some Chaosforge posters wonder why theydidn't? Will you take Intuition because it's a great trait and teaches youheaps about the game?

Answers: EE(2)/Scout, nope, nope, nope, maybe, who knows,maybe.

Let us look first at Intuition's requirements, for bothScouts and other classes.

Scouts:

Scouts have Intuition as their “free” advanced trait,meaning they need no other traits to take it. You can choose Int(1) at firstlevel if you want, or at tenth level if you please, with no prerequisites andit won't block any other trait (master or not) on level-up. Since Int(1) andInt(2) are such powerful traits, I recommend you grab them both fairly early onin your game unless you're going for a specific weapon build. The knowledge youhave of stair location is nothing if you don't know what's between you andthem. There's no better info provider in the game and how you'll approach agiven level than Int(1) other than a Tracking Map (which Int(1) tells you thelocation of) .There's arguably no better damage mitigation and damage causingtrait than Int(2). You can have both of them by you second level-up if youwant. Nice? Yes.

A Scout without Intuition at some point in their career waswasting their god-hand given talents.

Other Classes:

You'll need to take two levels of Eagle Eye before you cantake Intuition. Although, this isn't exactly a bad thing. There's a fair fewweapons that scream for more accuracy (every basic weapon but a shotgun willmiss pretty often). Fair enough, a few assemblies/specials/uniques don't needit to work reasonably well, but at any decent range all non-shell firingweapons are better with more accuracy. This is actually a double bonus for you.Shotguns excel in corner shooting, very close range and radar shooting, and youcan have perfect knowledge that somethingis there with Int(2). You can also nearly always hit that something with yourbig guns (or with your favored weapon for your build) as soon as you can see itproperly, with plenty of time to reload, swap weapons, armour up, do a littledance or run away quickly. Or keep pumping shotgun shells straight into itsasterix. Not to mention the life and info giving layout you get out of Int(1).You can even do some basic melee with EE(2), since you know exactly where yourLife Globes, Invulnerabilities and hopefully Berserk Globes will be coming fromand still be quite accurate with your chainsaw as you bounce between them. Fora Marine with super-power-up-time and health, or a Technician withmodded-super-weapons (not to mention near-instant med-packs), you really don'tlose much for throwing in two levels of Eagle Eye just to gain Intuition.Really accurate weapons as well as knowing where all the power-ups are andknowing where enemies are before you see them (or they see you), through wallsor anything? If ANY master-trait hadthe description that EE(2)+Int(2) together have, with a funny little “requireslevel 4” thing next to it, you'd take it straight away, no matter what itblocked. Perfect corner shooting, almost perfect radar shooting, time toprepare, time to run, really accurate weapons, know where all power-ups are,know exactly what levers do, can still melee a bit, “requires level 4”. Cantake Badass or Whizzkid next level if you want? Oh, it blocks a fewmaster-traits that don't do anywhere near this at level 6+.

Hmmmm.........

Strategies:

I'll give a basic description of strategies you can applyquite reliably with Int(1) and Int(2) that you would be hard pressed to do aseasily with any other build. Remember, all the strategies for Int(1) work aswell or better with Int(2). And if you've gotten a little Intuition, or aretrying to learn some, you'd be a fool not to have as much as you could get. Oryou might be someone about to gain some wisdom for themselves.......

Strategies for Int(1):

• Zerk/Invulnerable Bouncing: This involves seeing if thereare enough dark red and white power-ups that are close enough together at thestart of the level to essentially run through the level withberserk/invulnerability mode going the entire time. Large health globes andberserk globes do look exactly alike, but enough dark red ^'s will usuallygrant at least a couple of berserks. This strategy is usually used by playerseither doing the Angel of Berserk challenge mode, those doing a melee run formedals/badges/ranks or people playing as a Marine class Doomguy. Large HealthGlobes act as Berserk Globes in AoB, whilst Marines have an extra 50% power-upeffect time which allows them to bounce through globes for longer. Betweenberserk mode's resistance and speed boost, invulnerability and constanthealth/run boosts, you can often run through a level or two where you'll neversee anything but a red or white screen. Great for speed runs, controlled divesor just going for an over-powered dance of death for any build. Or finallydecide to drop nukes on as many levels as you can in a run. There's also thereverse of this strategy, where you'll know that you have a couple of BerserkGlobes/Invulnerabilities close by each other and choose to wait until the endof the level to use them. This is especially good for the Scout class, as youknow the location of the stairs from the beginning of the level as well.
• Map Master: Is there a Computer Map or Tracking Map on thelevel? Then go to it as quickly as possible and find out exactly whereeverything else is. Particularly good for Technicians (all maps are TrackingMaps for them), but still handy for all classes. Knowing where items are, howmuch med-pack health is available, what ammo/items and weapons are on thislevel, or whether it's worth while just skipping the level at the first chanceis definitely a bonus. You also gain intel by watching items disappear, so youalways know if there will be an enemy with YOUR med-pack or armour wanderingabout in that area. If it's a Tracking Map (light green ^) then you'll see everyenemy as well. Radar shooting gallery with perfect corner shooting to boot. Orjust plain, simple, running away. You can learn a lot about how enemies movearound by watching a Tracking Map. It builds the other sort of intuition, theone you're trying to learn. Maps tell you where things are, so you can get afeeling of where they'll go. You know where the map is, so go grab it.
• Equipment Ditch?: You've got 7 armours, not enough ammo,very few med-packs, heaps of random junkand half your amour is damaged badly. You'll know just how much you can fix upyour armour (and boots) from the moment you walk into the level. How muchhealth that's yours (and no-one else's) as well. No Armour Shards means ditchsome of the bullet-ridden stuff and keep the good ones. Several Armour Shards?It's a one-stop-fix-up-shop of a level. Grab some ammo regardless.
• Forward Planning: Not so much a strategy, as simplysomething Int(1) provides. It's not laziness to take a lot more damage than youneed to. Sometimes a quick game is a good game. Sometimes just hitting “f” alot works well, or well enough. Sometimes you just need to punch a noble ofsome sort in the face for no reason. Plus, you have the advantage of knowingthat there was a Supercharge or Megasphere sitting there in the next room over.Whilst you might not be doing yourself any favors right now, life looks ratherrosy for Doomguy regardless. The grass is always blue-er (or purple-er) beyondthe next door. It's fun to play badly when you know you're not, you're justpunching Barons and Knights for the fun of it.
• Knowing what is there, how far away it is, how much extrainfo you can get on the level, whether it's a “gimme everything” level and whatthis level means to you is exactly what Int(1) provides. Not a bad bargain fordeciding you want to be very accurate or really get into the Scout characterclass at level one (or whenever you please). It gives so much for so little,yet it's not quite perfect. You'll still need to kill some things. Speaking ofwhich............

Strategies for Int(2):

Whilst these aren't exactly strategies (everyone can dothem), a character with Int(2) is by far the best at them. Remember them anduse them excessively, they are your main advantages in both damage creation,mitigation and ammo conservation.

• Perfect Corners: Everyone uses corner shooting, you just doit well. You'll always know if you took out all the badguys, have an idea ofwhich type of enemies are there (you'll know if they took 2 shots or 8 anyway)and can even wait a bit for the most efficient use of shotgun style weapons.Never waste a shell on thin air again.
• Pillar Dance: Ring-a-ring-a-rosy, KABOOM, daemon fell down.You'll know if you're faster than your enemy and when to shoot. If you'reslower in a pillar or corner dance, hit run and see if you are faster then. Ifyou're already faster, abuse cover and leading monsters by the nose all youcan.
• Radar Shooting: Yes, you have an actual radar. You alreadyknow when you'll hear a sound when you shoot, so get shooting. It's not quiteperfect (there will sometimes be a wall between you and your enemy) and thereis a 50% miss chance for every square you can't see that you shoot into (exceptwith shotguns). But every shot does a minimum of 1 damage in DoomRL. Fiftyshells might seem excessive to knock down an enemy or two, but if it meansfifty more shells, some life and two less enemies as the reward then it's worthit.
• Diving: Screw the level, there's nothing on it and you needlife. Just avoid every enemy you can, find the stairs as fast as you can, andbug out to the next level. Really easy to do with the scout class. It mightseem wussy, it might destroy your 100% kill rating, but so does being dead on alevel that you only killed 2 enemies on. Run and dive is often the best option.
• Gambler's Shield: Just a way of making what is normally amedal an absolute gimme. You can pull all levers with the knowledge of exactlywhat they'll do. Just pull the ones that are good or don't hurt too much andreap the rewards. The medal is inconsequential. Removing a heap of walls,flooding areas so that there's no respawns or resurrects, not to mention freehealth and armour is great. Even just as an ammo restock for the enemy spawninglevers helps a bit.

Summary:

Intuition is good. Really, really good. So good in fact thatmany have thought for several versions that it should be a master trait. It'salso really, really helpful. Any class gets huge advantages by taking evenInt(1). It ups your damage, your damage reduction, your active defense and ammoconservation a heap. What other trait does all that for such little investment?It also helps teach you that most helpful of real-life traits for any buildthat you will play in the future whilst not being a thing that only newbiestake. After-all, who needs knowledge in the past tense when you can haveintuition right now? Everyone. Sambojin 0:33, November 16, 2011 (GMT)