Favorite Marathon weapon

[thomaslivingston]

The energy sword

[Morphilator]

The energy sword

And where do you get this?

Yeah, the railgun is just a pumped up assault rifle. I like things that shoot fast.

[chinkeeyong]

Yeah, the railgun is just a pumped up assault rifle. I like things that shoot fast.

Try the RED mercury pistols then.

Comprehensive list of favorite weapons in major scenarios (by time frame)

Marathon: Pathways Into Darkness: MP-41 Submachine Gun
Because it's pretty much the best weapon in the game.
Excalibur: Morgana's Revenge: Radon Phaser PX5
Because it's a better Fusion Pistol with a fuel rod gun for a secondary trigger.
Marathon 1: Aggregate Issue Scatter Rifle
Because it's bloody awesome. Nuff said.
Marathon 2: WSTE-M Combat Shotguns
Because it's a one hit kill weapon.
Marathon Infinity: WSTE-M Combat Shotguns
Because it's a one hit kill weapon. Again.
Tempus Irae: WSTE-M Combat Shotguns
Because it's a one hit kill weapon. Yet again.
Marathon Evil: MD-17 Mass Driver/Railgun
Because it instakills at long range, fulfilling the need for a sniper rifle.
The Gray Incident: Imperial-55 M-Pistols
Because they're dual fast firing machine pistols.
Marathon RED: .33 Mercury Pistols
Because they're dual fast firing overpowered ammo-stuffed infinitely accurate pistols.
Marathon Rubicon: Mercury Class Fusion Rifle
Because it's a more accurate fusion-attack assault rifle, very useful in SP.
Eternal X: ZX-Class Gravitronic Blades
Take a wild guess.

edit:
Marathon RED (Reaver form): The Reaver Fusion Mace
because it recovers your health, so you can just look up and recharge away, to the point that the rest of the scenario after you get it is impossibly easy.

[soulblighter]

WSTE-M Shotguns

[Morphilator]

Try the RED mercury pistols then.

Comprehensive list of favorite weapons in major scenarios (by time frame)

Marathon: Pathways Into Darkness: MP-41 Submachine Gun
Because it's pretty much the best weapon in the game.
Excalibur: Morgana's Revenge: Radon Phaser PX5
Because it's a better Fusion Pistol with a fuel rod gun for a secondary trigger.
Marathon 1: Aggregate Issue Scatter Rifle
Because it's bloody awesome. Nuff said.
Marathon 2: WSTE-M Combat Shotguns
Because it's a one hit kill weapon.
Marathon Infinity: WSTE-M Combat Shotguns
Because it's a one hit kill weapon. Again.
Tempus Irae: WSTE-M Combat Shotguns
Because it's a one hit kill weapon. Yet again.
Marathon Evil: MD-17 Mass Driver/Railgun
Because it instakills at long range, fulfilling the need for a sniper rifle.
The Gray Incident: Imperial-55 M-Pistols
Because they're dual fast firing machine pistols.
Marathon RED: .33 Mercury Pistols
Because they're dual fast firing overpowered ammo-stuffed infinitely accurate pistols.
Marathon Rubicon: Mercury Class Fusion Rifle
Because it's a more accurate fusion-attack assault rifle, very useful in SP.
Eternal X: ZX-Class Gravitronic Blades
Take a wild guess.

Wow, you've played a lot of scenarios. Which one do you like best besides the original 3 and EMR? (I've played those.)

I notice that the radon phasers are supposedly super accurate, but they're not. They're just more accurate than anything else. Today's sniper rifles are accurate to several miles. The radon phaser is not. Try shooting it across Mordred's Gulch (a netmap); you can't hit anyone. Guns in games (at least Marathon) are always unrealistically inaccurate.

[The Man]

In M1 the most fun weapon to use is almost certainly the alien scatter gun, though there's something to be said for flamethrowers as well. In M2, MI and Tempus, the best weapon is the shotgun, especially in pairs. That said, I use the fists a lot more because I tend to be very conservative with my ammo use. The fusion gun is nice for killing hunters at long distance as well. I also like that the alien weapon varies in intensity with difficulty setting, since I tend to play on higher difficulty settings lately, but it's rather irritating that the ammo count varies so wildly, so it's not a very reliable weapon.

In Rubicon, the best weapon, at least for solo play, is easily the fusion rifle. In net games I tend to find myself using the maser and the shotguns the most, with SPNKR coming in third. In Eternal X, the gravitronic blades are so much better than everything else that if there weren't infinitely respawning enemies in the latter part of the game they'd probably take away all element of challenge. For the first half, the shock staff is probably my favourite weapon. In the first half of Red my favourite weapon was easily the dual pistols; in the second half the omega cannon is obviously the best weapon. In Evil the railgun is probably the best weapon, but I use the Pfhor staff (again) more in solo play because it has almost infinite ammo capacity and there's pretty much nothing better than stunning your enemies.

Still haven't played TGI or the AO conversion of EMR. Or MPID, which I didn't even think was out yet. Of all the scenarios I've played I'd say the one that felt most like the original trilogy was Eternal, but I found Rubicon to be slightly more coherent overall. Rubicon, Eternal, and Tempus are probably my top three, and I'd hesitantly say in that order, but I'm not sure.

[chinkeeyong]

In M1 the most fun weapon to use is almost certainly the alien scatter gun, though there's something to be said for flamethrowers as well. In M2, MI and Tempus, the best weapon is the shotgun, especially in pairs. That said, I use the fists a lot more because I tend to be very conservative with my ammo use. The fusion gun is nice for killing hunters at long distance as well. I also like that the alien weapon varies in intensity with difficulty setting, since I tend to play on higher difficulty settings lately, but it's rather irritating that the ammo count varies so wildly, so it's not a very reliable weapon.

Agreed.

In the first half of Red my favourite weapon was easily the dual pistols; in the second half the omega cannon is obviously the best weapon.

Heck no! IMHO, the omega cannon is supposedly good, but it's actually useless. Though it's an instant-kill, it doesn't have AOE damage as far as I know and it fires slowly. This in and of itself wouldn't be too bad (think railgun) but it has a simply horrendous recoil which pushes any credibility as a usable weapon out the window.

Still haven't played TGI or the AO conversion of EMR. Or MPID, which I didn't even think was out yet. Of all the scenarios I've played I'd say the one that felt most like the original trilogy was Eternal, but I found Rubicon to be slightly more coherent overall. Rubicon, Eternal, and Tempus are probably my top three, and I'd hesitantly say in that order, but I'm not sure.

My favorites, as previously mentioned in your topic, are Eternal, Rubicon and RED in that order. Coming up after that would be TGI and then Evil. Tempus I don't really consider a total conversion but more of a scenario with different textures.

My favorite weapon of all is the ZX-class gravitronic blades. For Morphilator, my favorite in those 4 scenarios is the M1 scatter rifle because it's so darn fun to use.

[Pfhorrest]

Marathon 1: Aggregate Issue Scatter Rifle
Because it's bloody awesome. Nuff said.

Minor nitpick: it was just called the Alien Weapon in the original game, I made up the name Scatter Rifle for Eternal. (And Enforcers are Willful class, not Aggregate, so it's a Willful-issue Scatter Rifle).

Oh, and I agree. For weapons from the original trilogy, the M1 Alien Weapon is the #1 from the first game, Shotguns are the best in M2 & Infinity. (Hence the shotgun-like 2nd trigger on my modified Scatter Rifle in Eternal).

[chinkeeyong]

Minor nitpick: it was just called the Alien Weapon in the original game, I made up the name Scatter Rifle for Eternal. (And Enforcers are Willful class, not Aggregate, so it's a Willful-issue Scatter Rifle).

I know the first one, I just used the name from Eternal for convenience. I forgot the second one, though. Heh.

Oh, and I agree. For weapons from the original trilogy, the M1 Alien Weapon is the #1 from the first game, Shotguns are the best in M2 & Infinity. (Hence the shotgun-like 2nd trigger on my modified Scatter Rifle in Eternal).

You mean it has a second trigger!? *plays Eternal frantically*

[The Man]

Heck no! IMHO, the omega cannon is supposedly good, but it's actually useless. Though it's an instant-kill, it doesn't have AOE damage as far as I know and it fires slowly. This in and of itself wouldn't be too bad (think railgun) but it has a simply horrendous recoil which pushes any credibility as a usable weapon out the window.

I never found the recoil or the recharge time to be particularly negative factors. I probably just liked it the most because it had practically unlimited ammo though.

My favorites, as previously mentioned in your topic, are Eternal, Rubicon and RED in that order. Coming up after that would be TGI and then Evil. Tempus I don't really consider a total conversion but more of a scenario with different textures.

From a mapmaking standpoint I found Red to be incredibly interesting, but I found the storytelling to be a bit lacking. Same goes with Evil. As I said I thought the storytelling in Rubicon was the most accomplished, which is probably why it's my favourite by a small margin.

My favorite weapon of all is the ZX-class gravitronic blades. For Morphilator, my favorite in those 4 scenarios is the M1 scatter rifle because it's so darn fun to use.

agreed on both counts.

Minor nitpick: it was just called the Alien Weapon in the original game, I made up the name Scatter Rifle for Eternal. (And Enforcers are Willful class, not Aggregate, so it's a Willful-issue Scatter Rifle).

Oh, and I agree. For weapons from the original trilogy, the M1 Alien Weapon is the #1 from the first game, Shotguns are the best in M2 & Infinity. (Hence the shotgun-like 2nd trigger on my modified Scatter Rifle in Eternal).

The second trigger is awesome, I just wish it didn't use quite so much of the clip. A quarter of the clip with slightly less recharge time would've done the job fine, I think.

[RyokoTK]

Another question: Which weapon has the highest damage per second? I would guess the flamethrower.

The Flamethrower does 300 damage per second, which (based on rough calculations) is outclassed by both the Shotguns and SPNKR.

Edit: It takes about 4.5 seconds to fire both SPNKR missiles and reload, so the average 550 damage per two missiles is knocked down substantially, to around 120 overall DPS. It takes 9 seconds to fire and reload the TOZT, and at 2100 damage per canister, that averages at about 230 DPS. A shotgun fires at... I dunno, 1.2 seconds per shot? So, dual shotguns do (assuming a full blast) about 400 DPS. Dramatically higher than both the SPNKR and TOZT.

[The Man]

Hence why the shotgun is the weapon of choice of discerning Marathoners.

[irons]

Or the opposite: the weapon of choice of almost everyone.

[RyokoTK]

Hence why the shotgun is the weapon of choice of discerning Marathoners.

If you're playing online, the 400 DPS is utterly unnecessary when one rocket will instantly kill anyone with red shields anyway.

[chinkeeyong]

If you're playing online, the 400 DPS is utterly unnecessary when one rocket will instantly kill anyone with red shields anyway.

And it'll bring people with yellow shields down to half red shields so that you can just switch to shotguns and pummel them with conventional means.

[Kidtofu]

All this DPS talk is confusing me. Ugh, Its almost as if I just Experienced Deja Vu. . . .

[RyokoTK]

DPS in a game like Marathon is a term fraught with peril, anyway, because there are so many different variables and twists to it. The SPNKR might only do 120 DPS, but it does that in two 275-damage shots and suffers from a long reload. So it might seem like the Shotguns are more useful, except against another player you only have to hit with the SPNKR once. And it's easier to do so.

Not to mention other things like accuracy, range, aim, ammo, practicality. DPS is pretty meaningless.

[The Man]

At point-blank range, a single shotgun blast will kill a player with red shields. That said, the SPNKR is obviously a better long-range weapon, but it has the flaw that by the time a rocket reaches its destination, a smart player will already have gotten out of the way. At medium range I'd rank them about the same.

[irons]

Shotguns are better at long range than SPNKR. Just ask the Newbie Guide.

[RyokoTK]

At point-blank range, a single shotgun blast will kill a player with red shields. That said, the SPNKR is obviously a better long-range weapon, but it has the flaw that by the time a rocket reaches its destination, a smart player will already have gotten out of the way. At medium range I'd rank them about the same.

At point-blank range, you're almost more likely to miss with the Shotguns due to the combined efforts of lag, a remarkably precise weapon, and the fast-paced action of the game in general. Not to mention even the lethality of the shotgun blast is entirely dependent on how accurate you are and the spread of the pellets.

The SPNKR is a useless long-range weapon, since anyone will simply move out of the way well before the rocket reaches the mark. Because the Shotgun pellet spread is fairly tight, though, it's still possible to hit people with at least a couple pellets from a sizable distance.

At medium range, though, you're right -- they are about the same, though I would give the advantage to the shotguns because they don't suffer from such a long reload and you can't kill yourself with it.

[The Man]

True enough on the lag when you get to point-blank range, but I hit opponents more often than not, unless they fire first, in which case they almost always hit me.

as for the SPNKR, it's only useless if the target notices it's coming and isn't so close to a wall that they can't get away. (I've been playing mostly maps with a lot of long corridors lately, which I suppose is one of the reasons I find the SPNKR so useful). You can hit players with shotgun blasts at long range, but my experience indicates that the flechette is usually more accurate.

[Jim]

In my experience, the flechette SMG is only as accurate as the player using it.

[The Man]

That's the case with all weapons though, really. Though I guess it's more important with the SMG than with dual shotguns because it takes so long to reload.

[RyokoTK]

as for the SPNKR, it's only useless if the target notices it's coming and isn't so close to a wall that they can't get away.

I assume you mean for a long-range attack, in which case this is arguably true for any weapon.

(I've been playing mostly maps with a lot of long corridors lately, which I suppose is one of the reasons I find the SPNKR so useful).

Except any weapon is useful in long corridors -- in fact, bullet weapons like the shotguns and SMG are more useful because they're harder to dodge.

You can hit players with shotgun blasts at long range, but my experience indicates that the flechette is usually more accurate.

The SMG is factually more accurate -- it has a "firing error" of 3, as opposed to the shotguns' 5 (where lower is better). However, it's accurate to the point that Jim's comment actually makes sense: if you can't aim, you're going to have a lot of trouble with SMG kills.

The shotguns are very good, and very forgiving. The firing error is at that happy medium: tight enough that you actually get some good range out of it, but loose enough that it's still easy to hit at even further distances. Plus, each pellet (and it fires 10) is powerful enough that even a glancing blow hurts. So, in practical terms, the shotguns have better long-range use than the SMG, because it is substantially easier to hit.

Not to mention, in terms of damage output, the shotguns are simply better. A shotgun will fire off all 240 of its damage per shell at once, whereas it takes just over a second for the SMG to output its 384 damage per magazine. Each SMG bullet does only 12 damage, so you have to maintain continuous fire on a target to kill him, whereas you can get instant gratification with the shotguns.

If your target is standing still, then yes, the SMG is the superior sniping weapon. (Actually, if your target is standing still, then you can use the SPNKR for all it matters.) However, for tracking enemies that are just running around, or god forbid you actually try a long-range duel, the shotguns are almost always superior.

Edit: the SMG also has that terrible reloading graphic that completely blocks your view, which can be a crucial failing.

[eliasj]

Although there are better, I haven't found a weapon in any scenario that 'feels' as good as the original alien weapon from M1 (system error 0xfded). Its just so... gratifying to use!