Variables Affecting Combat Results 
     
       There are several types of health items that can be collected to regain lost health or increase your maximum health points.  These are: 
      Random Numbers 
      Surprise Enemy 
      Silencer
      Easy Skill Level 
      Falling Damage 
      Environmental Hazards 
      Drowning 
      Weapon Switching 
       

    Random Numbers 
         The Rocket Launcher will deliver a guaranteed 100 points of damage per shot.  Additionally, a random number is generated between 1 and 20 for additional damage. 

       
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    Surprise Enemy 
         If you attack an enemy that is idle (hasn't been alerted) your weapon will do double the normal damage.  Some people have reported that the Railgun does greater damage to monsters at long range, but this is probably the effect of surprise damage being applied to distant enemies. 
       

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    Silencer
     
         The Silencer can be collected to muffle the sound of any weapon fired.  

         An experienced deathmatch player knows the importance of sound cues to locate opponents, especially in one on one matches.  Grabbing the silencer power-up can help shift the odds in your favor if all else is equal.  

         The silencer seems to be most effective when used with a hitscan weapon.  Most projectiles or energy weapons allow for an easy visual reference to the shooter's position.
     


    Easy Skill Level 
         When the game is played on the "Easy" skill level, all damage received by the player is reduced by half. 

       
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    Falling Damage 
         Damage sustained from a fall is exponential based on the distance you fell.  The actual formula is: 

             damage = deltavelocity*deltavelocity * 0.0001 

         One bug in Quake2 can be used to your advantage.  Landing on any slope, no matter how far you've just fallen, results in taking zero damage.  Clint aka [Kol]barFly points out that the slope has to be more than 45 degrees for you to 
      escape the fall with no damage. 

         After version 3.13 of Quake 2 (as Stephen "Reichert" Palmer reminded me) the falling damage logic had been modified to better represent more realistic damage from falling, even when landing on sloped surfaces.  You can still gain a significant mathmatical falling damage advantage by landing on slanted surfaces, though. 
       

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    Environmental Hazards 
         Lava, acid and toxic water will cook you for every frame you're within the liquid.  Armor seems to help.  Lava is very deadly killing most players in under two seconds, while toxic water only hurts for 2 points of damage per frame. 

         There are other hazards in the game that will cause the player damage including exploding walls, electrified floors, barrels and laser beams.  A properly used barrel can often be more effective than your actual weapons and a laser beam 
      will gib any player on contact. 
       

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    Drowning 
     
         If you stay underwater too long, you'll sustain damage. The damage you receive after running out of oxygen follows this chart: 
       
       
      Time Elapsed (In Seconds)
       Points of Health Damage
       
      1
      4
      2
      6
      3
      10
      4
      12
      5
      14
      6
      15
      7
      15
      Remaining Seconds
      15
         Note: Unlike in Quake1, armor will not be damaged by drowning nor will it protect you from the damage you'd receive. 
       

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    Weapon Switching 
         When you attempt to fire an empty weapon, a new weapon will be selected depending on availability from the following priority list: 
       
        Railgun 
        Hyperblaster 
        Chaingun 
        Machinegun 
        SuperShotgun 
        Shotgun 
        Blaster 
         
         Whenver you run our of ammo, the game logic starts at the top of the list asking, "Do you have this weapon with some ammo?" The first weapon that answers "yes" will be chosen. 

         So, for example, if you've been using the Chaingun and are also equipped with a Shotgun and a Railgun, running out of ammo would switch to the Railgun, not the Shotgun as it is higher on the list. 

         I'm sorry to report that this weapon switching priority order is hardcoded into p_weapon.c and cannot be changed without recompiling the source code. 

         It is also unfortunate that if you run out of ammo but have an explosive weapon (like the BFG, Rocket or Grenades) you must select these weapons manually as these weapons will never be autoselected (they're not on the list!). 

         Another dissappointment relating to the problem of weapon switching is the inability to manually select an empty weapon. Often, my favored weapon is empty but I know there's ammo for it just around the corner.  I would wish to select the empty weapon expecting to collect the ammo in a second or so and immediately begin firing.  In Q2, we are not allowed this feature without modifying the source code. 

         Luckily, id software often thinks ahead and has given us control to override this effect using the console command: 
       

        g_select_empty 
        Default: 0 
        Values: (Toggle) 
        Description: This variable when set to "1" will allow the player to select a weapon that is out of ammo given that the player does have that weapon. 
       
         However, the default settings have turned out to be a slightly frustrating weapon switching system compared to the more elegant and simple systems of id software's previous games: Doom and Quake. 

         With enough play-time, though, Quake2's weapon switching system will become second nature.  I suspect the developers at id software also experienced growing comfort with the system and eventually did not detect its subtle annoyances. 

         Finally, note that the weapon switch will not take place until you pull the trigger in an attempt to fire an empty weapon.  Some weapons (Hyperblaster, Chaingun) will spin for a couple of seconds even after you've let go of the fire button.  In every case, the weapon switch will not occur until you've tried to fire the empty weapon.  Note: holding down the fire button will eventually result in a weapon switch when ammo is depleated. 
       
       

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