UT2004 - introduction

The outline:

UT2004 is a first person shooter game (FPS). Typical scenario of FPS game is a DeathMatch. In DeathMatch, the goal of the player is to kill as many opponents as possible while avoiding himself to be killed. In FPS games the kills are often reffered to as "frags". The player who has the most frags at the end of the game is declared the winner.

Crucial skills for the FPS player are aiming and map movement. Aiming is the obvious one - in order to kill an enemy the player needs to hit him with the weapon. There are usually multiple weapon types in FPS game with different kinds of behavior and physics of projectiles.

Map movement and knowledge about the map is very important as well. Not only the player needs to know, where are the best weapons located in the map, he also needs to know, where are good spots for hiding and sniping, where are dangerous areas, what are the optimal paths through the map to minimize the time needed to properly gear up himself and more. Timing is the key to victory here - player who knows when the weapons and upgrades respawn and is able to exploit this when planning the movement across the map will often be the winner.

Next we will list all of UT2004 weapons and items with their basic characteristics.

UT2004 Weapons

In order to better understand the attributes of weapons and items of UT2004 note that each player starts the game with 100 health points and 0 armor points. The health of the player can range between 0 - 199 (where 0 means death) and the armor can range from 0 to 150. Each damage is first applied to the armor (if the player has any) lowering its value and then is applied to player health (the armor only reduces the damage). The ammount of reduction depends on the armor type.

Unreal Tournament 2004 features 16 default weapons (description of weapons and items is taken from UnrealWiki ):

  • Shield Gun: Primary fire produces a shockwave that can repel projectiles and (at close range) shred opponents; secondary fire produces a shield that absorbs damage from weapons and falls, as well as reflecting some hitscan beams, such as the Shock Rifle's. Shield gun "ammo" regenerates quickly.

    • Inventory: XWeapons.ShieldGun

    • Pickup: XWeapons.ShieldGunPickup

    • AmmoType: XWeapons.ShieldAmmo

    • AmmoPickup: None

    • MaxAmmo: 100

    • InitialAmmo: 40

    • Primary Damage: 40 Damage, up to 150 if charged

    • Secondary Damage: Used to absorb damage from enemy fire or from falling impact

  • Assault Rifle: Primary fire is a weak and inaccurate hitscan bullet fire; secondary shoots time-detonation grenades with force proportionate to how long secondary fire was held. Grenades will detonate on contacting an enemy. The Assault Rifle may be dual-wielded if the player picks up a second rifle (this will increase the maximum primary fire ammunition limit from 200 to 400, as well as the maximum alternative fire grenade limit from eight to sixteen). Dual Assault Rifles will increase the primary fire rate; the alternative fire grenade launch remains the same (the rifles alternate grenade fire). It is one of two weapons automatically granted to a player when respawning; however it is the weakest weapon in the game.

    • Inventory: XWeapons.AssaultRifle

    • Pickup: XWeapons.AssaultRiflePickup

    • AmmoType: XWeapons.AssaultAmmo, XWeapons.GrenadeAmmo

    • AmmoPickup: XWeapons.AssaultAmmoPickup (for bullets and grenades, 100 bullets 4 grenades per Pickup)

    • MaxAmmo: 200 bullets, 8 grenades(per weapon)

    • InitialAmmo: 100 bullets, 4 grenades

    • Primary Damage: 7 per bullet

    • Secondary Damage: 70 per grenade

  • Bio-Rifle: Primary fire quickly disperses small globs of sticky, poisonous goo; secondary fire can be held down to charge up a much larger, splattering glob. Any charge currently being held will be discharged when the player holding it dies. A single glob from a fully charged Bio-Rifle is enough to wipe out a fully-shielded opponent. Despite being labeled a gimmick gun, this weapon has survived being cut since its conception in the original Unreal.

    • Inventory: XWeapons.BioRifle

    • Pickup: XWeapons.BioRiflePickup

    • AmmoType: XWeapons.BioAmmo

    • AmmoPickup: XWeapons.BioAmmoPickup (20 rounds)

    • MaxAmmo: 50

    • InitialAmmo: 20

    • Primary Damage: 21 per (direct) hit

    • Secondary Damage: 21 per second charged, up to 210 on max load (10 units of ammunition).

  • Mine Layer<sup>†</sup>: Primary fire deploys up to eight simultaneous "spider mines" which will chase nearby opponents; secondary fire targets a spot for the mines to rush towards. Mines detonate if the player dies, or if they run into unsurmountable terrain (walls or steep slopes).

    • Inventory: Onslaught.ONSMineLayer

    • Pickup: Onslaught.ONSMineLayerPickup

    • AmmoType: Onslaught.ONSMineAmmo

    • AmmoPickup: Onslaught.ONSMineAmmoPickup (8 mines)

    • MaxAmmo: 25

    • InitialAmmo: 4

  • Shock Rifle: Primary fire shoots a hitscan shock beam; secondary fire shoots a slow-moving shock core. Hitting a shock core with a primary beam produces a huge explosion, called a "shock combo", which uses up additional ammo. This weapon can also cause players it hits to move, and therefore can cause kills just by knocking players into an abyss or causing them to die from fall damage. This is one of the oldest guns in the ''Unreal'' series, being in every game to date; in this version, it looks more like a carbine.

    • Inventory: XWeapons.ShockRifle

    • Pickup: XWeapons.ShockRiflePickup

    • AmmoType: XWeapons.ShockAmmo

    • AmmoPickup: XWeapons.ShockAmmoPickup (10 rounds)

    • MaxAmmo: 50

    • InitialAmmo: 20

    • Primary Damage: 45 per hit

    • Secondary Damage: Ranges from 5 to 45 damage, depending on proximity

    • Shock Combo Damage: Up to a theoretical max of 200 damage, mostly beneath 150, depending on proximity

  • Link Gun: Primary fire shoots plasma projectiles; secondary produces a short-range plasma beam. Secondary fire is also used in Onslaught and Assault modes for healing nodes, vehicles, and Sentinels. Players can also "link up" by using secondary fire with their link gun at a team member carrying the Link Gun as well, which will have their power for healing or damage multiplied by the number of linked teammates.

    • Inventory: XWeapons.LinkGun

    • Pickup: XWeapons.LinkGunPickup

    • AmmoType: XWeapons.LinkAmmo

    • AmmoPickup: XWeapons.LinkAmmoPickup (50 rounds)

    • MaxAmmo: 220

    • InitialAmmo: 70

    • Primary Damage: 30 per projectile

    • Secondary Damage: 9 per ammo unit (9 damage per .12 seconds) can hamper an enemy player's movement

  • Minigun: Primary fire spits medium-damage hitscan bullets most effective against infantry; secondary shoots more accurate, but less rapid hitscan bullets that do more damage to vehicles, better used for farther away and less aware targets.

    • Inventory: XWeapons.Minigun

    • Pickup: XWeapons.MinigunPickup

    • AmmoType: XWeapons.MinigunAmmo

    • AmmoPickup: XWeapons.MinigunAmmoPickup (50 rounds)

    • MaxAmmo: 300

    • InitialAmmo: 150

    • Primary Damage: 7-8 per bullet

    • Secondary Damage: 14-16 per bullet

  • Flak Cannon: Primary fire shoots a hail of glowing metal chunks; secondary launches a single shell which bursts into radiating flak chunks on contact. This is, in a way, Unreal's version of the shotgun featured in other games. Although damage has always been tweaked with this weapon, it has been in every Unreal game to date.

    • Inventory: XWeapons.FlakCannon

    • Pickup: XWeapons.FlakCannonPickup

    • AmmoType: XWeapons.FlakAmmo

    • AmmoPickup: XWeapons.FlakAmmoPickup (20 rounds)

    • MaxAmmo: 35

    • InitialAmmo: 15

    • Primary Damage: 13 per projectile, total of 9 particles x 13 = 117 damage (full hit). Damage is attenuated for each projectile at a rate of 5 damage per second (minimum of 5).

    • Secondary Damage: 76-164 (highly random), if the flakball explodes, its shrapnel does 13 damage, like the primary fire ricochet. It also inflicts splash_damage, like the rockets of the Rocket Launcher. Splash damage depends on proximity unless it is a direct hit.

  • Grenade Launcher<sup>†</sup>: Primary fire launches up to eight "sticky" grenades which attach themselves to vehicles, nodes and players; secondary fire detonates them, usually with devastating effect on vehicles and infantry. Grenades auto-detonate if the player dies.

    • Inventory: Onslaught.ONSGrenadeLauncher

    • Pickup: Onslaught.ONSGrenadeLauncherPickup

    • AmmoType: Onslaught.ONSGrenadeAmmo

    • AmmoPickup: Onslaught.ONSGrenadeAmmoPickup (5 grenades)

    • MaxAmmo: 50

    • InitialAmmo: ?

  • Rocket Launcher: Primary fire shoots single rockets; secondary, held down, loads two to three rockets (depending on how long the trigger is held) which are then launched simultaneously; using primary fire while loading launches the rockets in a tight spiral. If the crosshair is held over a target for a certain amount of time (about 1.4 seconds), the rocket launcher will beep and any rockets fired while the crosshair remains on the target will home in on it.

    • Inventory: XWeapons.RocketLauncher

    • Pickup: XWeapons.RocketLauncherPickup

    • AmmoType: XWeapons.RocketAmmo

    • AmmoPickup: XWeapons.RocketAmmoPickup (9 rockets)

    • MaxAmmo: 30

    • InitialAmmo: 12

    • Primary Damage: 90 (direct hit) or splash_damage, depending on its proximity.

    • Secondary Damage: 90 multiplied by 2 or 3 direct hits (rockets) + additional splash damage from rockets, depending on its proximity.

  • AVRiL<sup>†</sup>: A weapon designed to take down enemy vehicles. Primary fire shoots relatively slow but powerful anti-vehicle missiles; holding the crosshairs on a vehicular target causes the missiles to home in on it. Secondary fire zooms and locks on. AVRiL rockets can be shot down. AVRiL stands for Anti-Vehicle Rocket Launcher; the "i" in the name is to make it pronounceable. Any players in a vehicle that is being targeted by an AVRiL will receive a message saying "Missile Lock Warning", as well as a beep that can be heard by anyone in the vicinity of the vehicle. The weapon can damage players but is very inefficient.

    • ClassName: ONSAVRiL

    • AmmoType: ONSAVRiLAmmo

    • AmmoPickup: ONSAVRiLAmmoPickup (5 rockets)

    • MaxAmmo: 25

    • InitialAmmo: 5

  • Lightning Gun: Primary fire shoots a hitscan bolt of lightning at the target. Secondary fire zooms. Although the shot is hitscan, there seems to be a slight delay between the trigger pull and the actual lightning projection. Users are made vulnerable by the patent trail of lightning originating from the gun. A shot to the head causes two times the regular damage.

    • Inventory: XWeapons.SniperRifle

    • Pickup: XWeapons.SniperRiflePickup

    • AmmoType: XWeapons.SniperAmmo

    • AmmoPickup: XWeapons.SniperAmmoPickup (10 rounds)

    • MaxAmmo: 40

    • InitialAmmo: 15

    • Primary Damage: 70 per hit / Headshot: 140 (double of its normal damage). And sometimes it does splash_damage of 35 (half of its normal damage).

    • Secondary Damage: N/A (zooms)

  • Sniper Rifle<sup>†</sup>: Returns from Unreal Tournament. Primary fire shoots a hitscan bullet and momentarily obscures the view with a puff of smoke; secondary fire zooms. Is only 6/7 as powerful as the Lightning Gun.

    • Inventory: UTClassic.ClassicSniperRifle

    • Pickup: UTClassic.ClassicSniperRiflePickup

    • AmmoType: XWeapons.SniperAmmo

    • AmmoPickup: XWeapons.SniperAmmoPickup (10 bullets)

    • MaxAmmo: 40

    • InitialAmmo: 15

    • Primary Damage: 60 per hit / Headshot: 120 (double of its normal damage)

    • Secondary Damage: N/A (zooms)

  • Redeemer: Primary fire shoots a miniature nuclear missile in a straight path; secondary fire shoots the same missile but with full steering capability using the missile's eye-view camera. Although the missile can only be accurately guided with secondary, doing so leaves the player completely vulnerable. The secondary fire also slows down the missile. It is perhaps the most powerful weapon in the game; just one blast from a Redeemer can knock out an entire power node in Onslaught, and can drain 30% of a power core's life. The missile can however be shot down by enemy fire, with a "denied" message going to the player who fired the missile and the one who shot it down. Only one missile per weapon.

    • Inventory: XWeapons.Redeemer

    • Pickup: XWeapons.RedeemerPickup

    • AmmoType: XWeapons.RedeemerAmmo

    • AmmoPickup: None

    • MaxAmmo: 1

    • InitialAmmo: 1

    • Primary Damage: Infinity per hit, damage reduces as distance from ground zero increases

    • Secondary Damage: Same as Primary, except now the player will control the missile flight directly.

  • Ion Painter: Primary paints a target which after two seconds of stillness with the user is then fired on by an orbital ion cannon; damage style is similar to that of the Redeemer's missile, but is approximately half as powerful. However, it is somewhat hard to position correctly. Secondary fire provides zoom.

    • ClassName: ONSPainter (but for pickup it has probably name: PainterPickup)

    • AmmoType: ? - for ammo here are different rules

    • MaxAmmo: ?

  • Target Painter<sup>†</sup>: Primary, like the Ion Painter's, paints a target; in this case, a bomber appears over the battlefield and drops a line of bombs towards it. Secondary fire zooms. The bomber can be shot down fairly easily using hitscan weapons such as the lightning gun or stationary turret beams, however, it is impossible to lock onto the bomber using either the AVRiL or Rocket Launcher. The Bomber, once shot down, will produce a Redeemer-sized explosion wherever it lands.

    • ClassName: Painter

    • AmmoType: ? - for ammo here are different rules

    • MaxAmmo: ?

In addition, Unreal Tournament 2004 features the Translocator that allows the player to quickly teleport across the map by shooting a small disc where the player wants to go. Technically speaking, however, this can also be used as a 'weapon', by firing the beacon at another player's feet and then teleporting there, performing a so-called "telefrag". This action is usually quite difficult to perform, and has been made even more difficult than in the original Unreal Tournament.

  • Translocator Disc Pickup Name: Transpickup (yes, here is pickup with lower case)

All weapons (excluding Redeemer, Ion and Target Painters that respawn in 109.08 s) and ammo respawn in 27.27 s if the Weapon Stay is turned off. This period is often rounded to 27.5 s or even to 28 s — but rounding up is not good practice for timing of (more important) pick-ups. However, on the map DM-1on1-Serpentine, there is lightning gun ammo that spawns in an unusual 40.905 seconds.

UT2004 Items

In UT2004 there are several items that players can pick up from the ground. These items will give the player an extra benefit, such as extra health. Unreal Tournament 2004 features 7 pickup items:

Shields

  • PickupName: XPickups.ShieldPack

  • Shield Pack: This shield pack gives the player an extra 50 shield points to protect the player. When picked up, it will respawn in 27.27 seconds, which is half of the Super Shield Pack's spawn time. Note: A player can only gain a maximum of 50 shield points per shield pack, but this could be stacked with the Super Shield Pack or the Booster adrenaline combo for a maximum of 150 shield points.

  • Super Shield Pack: This is the better version of the standard shield pack; it gives the player who picks it an extra 100 shield points. The Super Shield Pack respawns in 54.54 seconds.

    • PickupName: XPickups.SuperShieldPack

Health Packs/Vials

  • Health Pack: Gives the player 25 health points up to a maximum of 100, and is sometimes located in pairs. The respawn time is 27.27 seconds.

    • PickupName: XPickups.HealthPack

  • Health Vial: Gives the player 5 extra [[hit_point]]s, and is often located near other health vials. It can raise the player's health higher than the 100 threshold, until 199 hit points. The respawn time is, just like the shield pack, 27.27 seconds.

    • PickupName: XPickups.MiniHealthPack

  • Keg-O'-Health: Functions like a health vial, but gives the player 100 hit points instead of 5, always located alone in official maps. Respawn time is in 54.54 seconds, like the Super Shield Pack.

    • PickupName: XPickups.SuperHealthPack (should be, didnt veryfied in a game)

Miscellaneous

  • Double Damage a.k.a. Amp: Doubles the damage that the player would normally inflict. Double Damage lasts for 27.27 seconds (although the counter starts from 30, each tick is 0.909 seconds). It has the longest respawn time of all items in the game, at 81.81 seconds.

    • PickupName: XPickups.UDamagePack (should be, didnt veryfied in a game)

  • Adrenaline Capsule: Adrenaline capsules increase a player's adrenaline points by 2 up to a total of 100. Adrenaline capsules usually appears in groups of four in most maps. If the player manages to collect 100 adrenaline points, he or she can use an "Adrenaline Combo". The spawn time is, like the Shield Pack, 27.27 seconds.

    • PickupName: XPickups.AdrenalinePickup

UT2004 Items Respawn Times

The items in UT2004 falls into three categories concerning their respawn times:

  • 82s (~3 x 27.5s)

    • Damage Amplifier (UDamagePack class) - item that doubles your weapon damage

  • 55s (2 x 27.5s)

    • 100 Armor (SuperShieldPack class)

    • 100 health (SuperHealthPack class)

  • 27.5s (1 x 27.5s)

    • 50 Armor (ShieldPack class)

    • Adrenaline (AdrenalinePickup class)

    • Ammunition (AmmoPickup classes)

    • Health (HealthPack and MiniHealthPack classes)

    • Weapons (Weapon pickup classes)