BFG9000

The BFG9000 is a fictional weapon found in the computer games Doom, Doom II, Doom 3, and Doom 3: Resurrection of Evil . The BFG9000 appears as a large, solid metal gun that fires big balls of green plasma. The most powerful in the game, 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.

The abbreviation BFG stands for "Big Fucking Gun", as explained in Tom Hall's original Doom design document (Section 14). Other explanations of the name that circulated before the document was made public include "Big Fragging Gun" and "Big Fun Gun". 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, is "Bio-Force Gun" (The Rock, as a member of the cast, gave this information on The Daily Show).

Contents

1 Damage calculation 2 Incarnations 3 References to the BFG 4 External links

Damage calculation

When firing the BFG9000, there is a pause of exactly 6/7 of a second (about 857 milliseconds) 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 on that object. After a further pause of exactly 16/35 of a second (about 457 milliseconds), 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 don't 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 maximal 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.

Incarnations

The BFG9000 featured in Doom 3 made some changes over the version that appeared in DOOMs 1 and 2. As with all of the weapons in the first two games, the BFG drew from a pool of ammunition that were depleted once all ammunition of that type had run out, meaning the gun never needed reloading. Each shot used a specific number of "rounds" and did damage according to a standard calculation.

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 discharges the shot into the player.

References to the BFG

• BFG10K from the Quake series
• Magic: the Gathering (Unglued expansion), featuring The "BFM" (Big Furry Monster)
• Jason X, where one character mentions using a BFG
• ReBoot - in one episode, the character Bob plays a guitar called a BFG
• Sacred video-game - 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.

External links

• The BFG9000 FAQ (http://www.gamers.org/docs/FAQ/bfgfaq/)
• Information on the BFG9000 (http://www.trilobite.org/doom/a_bfg9000.html)pl:BFG