BFG9000
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| BFG9000 data | |
|---|---|
| Weapon number | 7 |
| Damage | 100-800 for main blast 49-87 for minor blasts |
| Included ammo¹ | 80 / 40 |
| Max ammo² | 300 / 600 |
| Ammo type | Plasma cells |
| Velocity | 25 |
| Shots / min | 54 |
| Doom version | Registered, Doom |
The BFG9000 is a fictional futuristic weapon found in the computer game series Doom: Doom, Doom II, The Ultimate Doom, Final Doom, Doom 64, Doom 3, its expansion, Doom 3: Resurrection of Evil, and Doom RPG. The BFG9000 is a huge, solid metal gun that fires balls of green plasma. The most powerful weapon in the games, it is capable of destroying nearly any player or enemy with a single hit. Most subsequent first-person shooters implemented similar weapons, but few of them were quite as notorious as the BFG9000. Quake II and Quake III Arena pay homage to the BFG9000 with a pair of similar weapons both called the BFG10K. The fictional weapon was selected by a real military expert as the fictional video game gun he would bring to war.[1]
The abbreviation BFG stands for "Big Fucking Gun" as described in Tom Hall's original Doom design document (Section 14). In the paperback novelization of Doom published in 1995, the characters refer to the BFG as a "Big Freaking Gun". Another name, according to the motion picture, seen on a computer monitor, is "Bio Force Gun" (though in the movie itself, "Big Fucking Gun" is spoken as it comes into view).
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[edit] Damage calculation
When firing the BFG9000, there is a pause before a green plasma ball is ejected. If the plasma ball hits a solid object, it explodes and causes between 100 and 800 points of damage (in increments of 100) on that object. After a further pause, blast damage is calculated: 40 invisible rays are emitted by the player in a cone-shaped area (about 45° half-angle) in the direction the plasma ball was fired (if the player has turned around, the direction of the blast damage rays does not change - they are still traced in the direction of firing of the original plasma ball; if he has moved around, their origin changes). Each ray causes 49 to 87 damage points if it hits a solid object. Therefore the minimal damage of the weapon is 49 points of damage (if an object is hit by one ray and not the plasma ball) and hypothetical maximum damage of the weapon is 800 + (40 × 87) = 4280 points of damage (if the plasma ball hits an object for full damage and all 40 rays also hit the object for full damage). Although that much damage can never actually be inflicted due to the periodicity of the simplistic pseudorandom number generator used by the Doom engine, damage in the 3000+ hit points range is common enough for the weapon to be used to kill a Spider Mastermind in one shot during assorted speedruns.
The BFG has several limitations. It usually only affects creatures in line-of-sight of the player (therefore it would have little to no effect on monsters behind the player). It also only has limited effectiveness over a long distance, unlike the plasma gun or rocket launcher.
[edit] Incarnations
The BFG makes an appearance in the Doom comic book as the ultimate weapon (or the big fucking gun), used by the anonymous hero to defeat a Cyberdemon. Unlike its game incarnation, the comic version seemed to fire (at a machinegun-like rate) moderate-sized bullets instead of plasma, although it is possible that it is meant to be synonymous with the "rays" emitted by the game's incarnation.
In early pre-release versions of the original Doom, the BFG functioned instead by firing a steady stream of plasma gun rounds in a wide spread for a few seconds. This was changed for the final version, because the large amounts of plasma rounds on the screen at once not only made the game slow down drastically, but also "looked like Christmas". The shareware version of Doom did not include the gun or its graphics, and the gun was inaccessible even if the player used cheat codes.
The BFG from Doom 3, as with all of the weapons, had been overhauled, and required reloading. It only held four shots at a time, but had its own ammunition type (as opposed to using the same ammunition as the plasma gun). By holding down the fire key, the player can charge the weapon for a more powerful shot with a wider detonation radius. However, if the player holds on too long, the weapon overloads and explodes, sending the force of the blast back at the player, killing him/her. In addition to the normal splash damage, the projectiles extrudes small rays damaging other opponents as they pass or approach them; finally in Doom 3 the BFG does little damage to the player because of a 'chip' inside the projectile (this is explained in game) if this chip is destroyed (by shooting the projectile) the player will be hurt and the projectile will be weakened.
The BFG in the Doom movie is identified, on a computer monitor, as "Bio Force Gun version 3.14 (3.14 = Pi)". Unlike in the video games, the gun is not labeled as '9000'. When obtained, Sarge refers to it as a "big fucking gun" as an in-joke. This gun has no apparent magazine, suggesting that it is recharged in its special storage system. The gun fires a blue (rather than green) blast of plasma, which melts through its targets. It will burn through solid rock for several meters. The "Splash Effect" does not occur with this weapon, but if it hits a target, the plasma will expand into a large circle that will blanket the affected area with plasma and continue to burn away at the target for several seconds. The design of the weapon is more streamlined than the Doom 3 iteration, lacking a visible HUD, although there is a small ammo counter on the weapon's dorsal side, above the grip.
[edit] References to the BFG
- MechWarrior 2: 31st Century Combat: In the Inspection training mission, one of the boxes has an inspection reading of BFG9000.
- The Half-Life: Opposing Force expansion pack featured a weapon called the Displacer, which performed near identically to the BFG of the Doom series, it even shares the same 'explosion' sprite once it hits a wall or monster. It also allowed the player to teleport themselves to a hidden bonus area of the level (provided they had sufficient ammunition).
- BFG10K from the Quake series
- BFG Tech: A company that develops computer hardware like video cards is named after the BFG9000.
- AdventureQuest: a new weapon called "THE BFG" is based on the Doom BFG
- Magic: The Gathering (Unglued expansion), featuring The "BFM" (Big Furry Monster)
- Jason X: where one character mentions using a BFG
- Sacred: One of the skills that can be learned by the Seraphim is called the Bee Eff Gee, and its description says that a large weapon that fires green blobs of energy appears when the skill is used.
- Gauntlet Legends and Gauntlet: Dark Legacy: The Archer and Tigress characters have a turbo attack called BFG, which fires a huge green burst shot forward
- EverQuest: There was originally a quest in the second expansion, The Scars of Velious, that resulted in an item called "Breezeboot's Frigid Gnasher", using the image of the BFG9000. The item lore calls it "Model 9000"
- FreeSpace 2: 1999 space-simulator. The biggest red- and green-colored beams in the game are referred to (internally) as BFRed and BFGreen
- Jazz Jackrabbit: Jazz's gun is called the "LFG-2000"
- Ratchet & Clank: Up Your Arsenal: there is a level in the game called "The Nefarious BFG", a reference to both the weapon and to rapper The Notorious B.I.G.
- FreeDoom conversion: BFG replacement is called the "SKAG 1337" (Super Kick-Ass Gun leet)
- Infected: Appears in the PSP game as the BMFG (Big Mother Fucking Gun)
- Eureka: the episode "Alienated" referred to a high-tech gun called the "BMFG Liquidator."
- Black: The unlockable M249 SAW is called the BFG
- The table-top roleplaying game Cyberpunk v3 introduced a new class of lightweight, large-bore, man-portable gyrojet weapons know as Ballistic Flechette Guns or BFGs for short.
- Magnum Research, Inc. produces a line of powerful revolvers called the Magnum Research BFR. Officially, this stands for 'Biggest Finest Revolver'.
- ReBoot: In Bob's guitar duel against Megabyte, he commands "Glitch. BFG." (Big Fancy Guitar) This is also a reference to the DOOM weapon.
- Soldier (movie): A computer screen (it goes by fast) shows Kurt Russell's character is qualified on the BFG9000.
- Sid Meier's Alien Crossfire: A technology called "String Resonance" is referenced internally as BFG9000
- Facebooks "Pets" application, in which you control battling rabbits; a weapon you can buy is named the "BFG2000."
- Kingdom of Loathing: A weapon became available at Crimbo 2007 named the C.B.F.G. This stands for "Crimborg Biomechanical Fragging Gun."
- Fury3: The game's most powerful missile weapon is called the BFM (Bion Fury Missile).
- "Monster Energy", an American brand of energy drink manufactured by Monster Beverage Company Inc., produces its energy drink in a large size labeled "BFC", short for "Big Fucking Can".
- "In his Movie quote of the week (Doom),The Angry Video Game Nerd assured that while the Doom movie referred to the BFG as "Big Force Gun", all the doom fans knew it stood for "Big Fucking Gun".
[edit] BFG10K
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This article does not cite any references or sources. (February 2007) Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unverifiable material may be challenged and removed. |
Following on from the BFG9000, the BFG10K or BFG10000 is an extremely powerful fictional weapon appearing in Quake II and Quake III Arena (though the Quake II and Quake III versions of the weapon are considerably different). The weapon is named in homage to the BFG9000. BFG itself stands for "Big Fucking Gun" or "Bio Force Gun".
[edit] Quake II version
The Quake II version is similar in stature and function to the BFG9000 of Doom. It resembles a cannon, and is a two-handed weapon. When fired, it takes a few seconds to charge, and then launches a large, glowing green plasma ball (visually similar to Doom's) that travels slowly through the level. The plasma ball fires green lasers at nearby enemies, which inflict damage comparable to being in slime. On impact, the plasma ball explodes, throwing splash damage to anything near the point of explosion, and inflicting massive damage on anything it hits directly.
It also inflicts a 'special effect' which is calculated like so: at the moment of impact, for each enemy a virtual triangle is "drawn" between the enemy's location, the point of impact, and the location of the player who fired the weapon. If all three lines are unobstructed by level geometry (walls, etc), then the enemy receives some amount of damage in addition to any other damage it may have sustained. In deathmatch, if the player dies before impact, the "special effect" still occurs, and in fact if the player respawns before impact, he/she can be affected by the "special effect" of his/her own shot (This does not occur if the player does not die.)
The BFG also yields considerably greater recoil than other explosive weapons such as the Rocket Launcher; with sufficient health, one can "BFG-jump" by firing the weapon into the ground and jumping at the moment of impact, letting the recoil from the explosion propel the player higher into the air than a conventional rocket jump (though taking considerably more damage). One can also combine this with a "handgrenade-jump" fairly easily due to the timing of both weapons: throw out a hand grenade (without holding onto it), immediately switch to the BFG while walking on top of the grenade, and fire as soon as possible; the BFG plasma ball will impact at almost the exact same moment as the hand grenade explodes, yielding even greater heights (but with even more self-damage). If one has invulnerability, performing either a regular BFG jump or a BFG+handgrenade jump is painless, and it also opens the possibility of doing these things with the Quad damage powerup for long-distance traveling. Lowering the gravity level of the map aids in this prospect.
[edit] Quake III Arena version
The Quake III version, though it bears the same name, is a considerably different weapon. Quake III's BFG is a rapid-fire weapon, firing out bursts of high-velocity plasma at a rate of about 3 shots per second, which inflict damage and splash damage as powerful as those of the rocket launcher.
Though most chide the weapon for being too powerful and unimaginative, the weapon does eat through its ammunition very quickly (and replacement ammo is generally scarce) and getting the most out of the weapon does take some skill. One must overcome the instinct to unload the weapon all at once, and instead use short controlled bursts (usually of one shot at a time), aiming and treating the weapon much like a Rocket Launcher but with the inherent faster rate of fire (and faster-flying shots). This makes the weapon's ammunition last longer.
One could argue that the behavior of this particular version of the BFG is a nod to the beta versions of the original Doom, in which the weapon was called the Billion Fireball Gun 2704 and spat out several smaller energy rounds in rapid-fire. This was later changed because of the drastic slowdown it caused.[2]
[edit] References
- ^ Evan Samoon, "Gun Show: A real military expert takes aim at videogame weaponry to reveal the good, the bad, and the just plain silly," Electronic Gaming Monthly 230 (July 2008): 49.
- ^ BFG9000
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