Power-Ups 
     
       There are several important offensive and defensive power-ups in Quake 2 that can have a significant impact over combat results. 
      Power Shield 
      Power Screen 
      Quad Power 
      Invulnerability 
      Bandolier 
      Backpack 
       
       
      Power Shield
         There are two energy shields in the code, but only one (Power Shield) actually appears in the game. The other (Power Screen) can be added to user maps and does, in fact appear (as Raul Rios pointed out) in the first Q2 conversion of Hipnotic's (Now Ritual) Quake deathmatch map: "hipdm1". 

         The Power Shield is a special item that can be collected that protects the player by absorbing some of the damage that would've been sustained by being shot. It works as an energy shield before your hard armor kicks in. 

         In order for the Power Shield to be effective, the player must carry some cell ammunition. 

         When a player equipped with Power Shield is hit, some of the resulting damage (1/3) is automatically absorbed by the Power Shield.  In the latest version (1.12) Zoid's CTF for Quake2, however, no damage is completely "absorbed" by the power shield as in regular deathmatch.

         The other 2/3 of damage will be divided equally between your cell ammunition and your health/armor.  With the Power Shield, it does not matter what angle you're shot from. 

         So, for example, if a Super Shotgun blast hits you for 60 points of damage, 20 would vanish being absorbed by the Power Shield, 20 points would be subtracted from your cell total and 20 points would be passed to normal damage and will be divided between health and armor according to the type of armor you're equipped with.  It's a very effective defense. 

         One odd behavior of the items occurs if you gather the Power Armor when you have no cell ammunition.  In this case, the item will not activate until it is "used" and cells have been collected. This behavior occurs whether or not a deathmatch flag is set to allow gatherable items. 

         When all cells are dimished from taking damage or firing energy weapons, the item is deactivated. 

         The protective benefits of Power Armor should not be dismissed. Because the items require the ammunition that's usually used to fire the BFG 10k and HyperBlaster, there's plenty of incentive to not utilize these weapons when the Power Armor is available. 
       

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      Power Screen
         The Power Screen works similarly to the Power Shield, but it will only protect you from shots that hit you in the front and it isn't as effective. 

         Kelly Bailey correctly analyzed the section of code that deals with the Power Screen and concluded that when the Power Screen works (it was hit from the front) only 1/3 of the damage will be absorbed but subtracted from your cell total.  So, for example, if a Super Shotgun blast hits you for 60 points of damage, 20 would be subtracted from your cell total and 40 would be subtracted 
      from your health. 
       

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      Quad Power
         The Quad Damage power-up does just that: allows you to do four times regular damage per shot.  It works for every weapon but the BFG 10k which works a little differently.  The only BFG effect that is affected by Quad Power is the
      detonation blast.  See the BFG10k section for more details.  

         Quad lasts 30 seconds from the time that it's activated or gathered depending on game settings. 

         With each Quad shot, the player is rewarded with a loud horn sound that's very gratifying and increases sense of power. 

         Players with Quad often feel invincible, but that's another power-up... 
       

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      Invulnerability
         While this power-up is active the player will not sustain any damage.  It will last for 30 seconds from the time it's activated or gathered depending on game settings. 
       

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      Bandolier
         Collecting this item will allow the player a larger maximum capacity for the following types of ammunition: 

               Bullets = 250 
               Shells  = 150 
               Cells   = 250 
               Slugs   =  75 

         In addition, the bandolier comes equipped with 10 cells and 50 bullets that will be added to your current totals. 
       

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      Backpack
         If the player gets a backpack, the maximum ammunition capacity for each of the following types is increased to the totals below: 

                Bullets  = 300 
                Shells   = 200 
                Rockets  = 100 
                Grenades = 100 
                Cells    = 300 
                Slugs    = 100 

         In addition, the backpack comes with 10 shells, 10 slugs, 5 grenades, 
       5 rockets, 50 bullets and 50 cells. 
       

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