Weapons FAQ - Guide for Perfect Dark

PD Weapons FAQ

   by Hu Man Bing

Version 2.01 28/i/01 
Version 2.00 21/xi/00 
Version 1.02 21/x/00 
Version 1.01 26/ix/00

This document will be divided into the following sections: 

P.  Updates history 
1. Weapon Statistics - damage ratings, rates of fire, and ammunition types. 
2. Methodology - how I arrived at these findings, exceptions 1, 2, 3, 4. 
3. Authorial Notes - quirks, Shotgun tutorial, SSPChallenge, thanks, 
  copyright, improvements, about me, quotes, other. 

For the most part, this FAQ will be straight faced and sensible. 

There will be occasional lapses, though. 

=========================
Preface - Version Updates
=========================

 Version 2.01  28/i/01:  Added URL for design of clip-loading, fully-automatic,
double-barrelled Shotgun under "links" section. 

 Version 2.00  21/xi/00:   Eagle-eyed PD player AstroBlue (who has written an 
FAQ on the character healths, etc) has pointed out to me the exaggerated 
health levels of the guards on Pelagic II.  Therefore, I have gone back to
readjust every single weapon's damage stats - they now register as absolutes, 
not merely relatives.  Many thanks to AstroBlue for his correction.  I have 
also added a Shotgun Tutorial, a Shotgun Single Player Challenge, and a few 
other miscellaneous bits of my Shotgun inclinations. 

 Version 1.02 21/x/00:   GameFAQs posted my FAQ.  I am happy - the webmaster 
does, indeed, "rule".  Also made a few typographical corrections. 

 Version 1.01 26/ix/00:  Sorted out a few grammatical errors.  Also added 
slight rant at end of Farsight description.  Clarified terms of usage and 
copyright permissions.  Entire document HTMLized on my personal webpage 
(http://www.enixine.dabsol.co.uk/PDFAQ.html). 

 Version 1.00 19/ix/00:  Wrote document in .txt format and submitted it to 
GameFAQs.com.  As yet unposted.

============================
Part One - Weapon Statistics
============================

Weapon         |Clip | Ammo. Type |   Damage  | Scope | Rate   |Notes
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Falcon         | 8   |  Standard  |    49.9   | 2.00  | manual | x2
Magsec (single)| 9   |  Standard  |    55.5   | 2.40  | manual | x2
 (3-shot)      | 9   |  Standard  |    55.5   | 2.40  | semi   | x2
Mauler (single)| 20  |  Standard  |    60.4   | none  | manual | x2
 (charged)     | 20  |  Standard  |   1000?   | none  | slow   | x2, See (2)
Phoenix	(shot) | 8   |  Standard  |    54.8   | none  | manual | x2
 (explosive)   | 8   |  Standard  |    250?   | none  | slow   | x2, See (3)
DY357 Magnum   | 6   |  Magnum    |    97.3p  | none  | manual | x2, 
DY357-LX Magnum| 6   |  Magnum    |    9975?p | none  | manual | x2, See (2)
CMP150	       | 32  |  Medium    |    50.8   | none  | 15     | x2
Cyclone	(shot) | 50  |  Medium    |    42.7   | none  | 15     | x2
 (empty clip)  | 50  |  Medium    |    42.7   | none  | 33.3   | x2
Callisto (norm)| 32  |  Medium    |    59.3   | none  | 15     |	
(hi velocity)  | 32  |  Medium    |    116.7p | none  | 5.0    |	
RC-P120	       | 120 |  Medium    |    59.3   | none  | 18.6   |	
Laptop Gun     | 50  |  Medium    |    57.4   | 2.00  | 16.6   | 
Dragon	       | 30  |  Heavy     |    53.9   | 2.00  | 11.6   |
K7 Avenger     | 25  |  Heavy     |    74.6   | 3.00  | 15.8   |
AR34           | 30  |  Heavy     |    68.6   | 3.00  | 12.5   |
S-Dragon (shot)| 30  |  Heavy     |    59.3   | 2.00  | 11.6   |
 (grenade)     | 6   |  Grenade   |    3500?  | 2.00  | manual | See (3)
Sniper Rifle   | 8   |  Heavy     |    59.3   | 30.00 | manual | 
Reaper         | 200 |  Reaper    |    59.3   | none  | 30     | 
Farsight       | 8   |  Orbs      |    9975+p | yes   | slow   | See (4)
Shotgun        | 9   |  Shells    |    184.3? | none  | slow   | See (1)
Devastator     | 8   |  Grenades  |    3500?  | none  | manual | See (3)
Rocket Launcher| 1   |  Rockets   |    9625?  | none  | single | See (3)
Crossbow (Kill)| 5   |  Bolts     |    4988?  | none  | manual | See (2)
PP9i           | 7   |  Standard  |    28.2   | none  | manual |		
CC13           | 8   |  Standard  |    28.8   | none  | manual | 
KLO1313        | 20  |  Standard  |    16.8   | none  | 4.8    | 
KF7 Special    | 30  |  Heavy     |    27     | yes   | 5.0    |
ZZT            | 32  |  Standard  |    29.4   | none  | 7.2    |
DMC Deutsch    | 30  |  Standard  |    28.8   | none  | 7.5    |
AR53 (ha ha)   | 30  |  Heavy     |    40.2   | yes   | 8.0    |
RC-P45         | 80  |  Standard  |    46.2   | none  | 8.3    |

Notes Explained:  

x2 - Player can carry two of said weapon.  

See (#) - Unusual weapons are listed in Methodology.

-------
Damage: 
-------
 A difficult term to define - originally it equated the percentage of life 
taken away from the first guard on Pelagic II (Perfect Dark 100% health) with 
each body shot landed by the weapon.  At present, however, I have been made 
aware that the Pelagic II guard's health is roughly 175% that of the normal 
guards on earlier levels. 

 The amended table shows approximate damage ratings, scaled up to incorporate 
this finding. 

 A rating of "p" here indicates that it pierces soft objects and certain doors 
at least - some weapons can shoot through much more.

--------------
Rates of Fire: 
--------------

 These are given in rounds per second, which are scaled down from their rounds
per minute values ingame. 

 I am unable to adequately measure the rate of fire of the weapons, since they
fire so much quicker than the Goldeneye weapons ever did. I know that it can 
be done, and done very accurately, with VHS frame-by-frame playback at slow 
speeds (see credits for further details) but such facilities are beyond me. 
However, the manual stopwatch and timer method that worked for Goldeneye loses 
much more accuracy for Perfect Dark since all the weapons empty their magazines 
so quickly. 

 Thus, the available Rates of Fire above are pulled from the game statistics, 
although I am doubtful about the authenticity of some of their stats. The 
description for the Cyclone, for example, states that the secondary fire can
empty the magazine in under a second. It then states that the secondary fire 
rate is "about" 2000 rounds per minute.

 That figures out at 33.3 rounds per second, which is very considerably less 
than the magazine capacity. The actual unloading would take just under two 
seconds to achieve - a fair margin in the world of ballistics. For the Cyclone
to actually unload in exactly a second, the gun would have to fire 50 rounds 
per second (since that is the magazine size) and therefore 50 x 60 rounds per 
minute, ie 3000 rounds per minute. The quoted value is 50% inaccurate! 

 If there is some subtle nuance of gunnery which I am missing (such as reload 
times, which may factor in) then I am happy to accept explanations from more 
experienced gunmen than myself. 

 A rating of "manual" means that the weapon will fire more or less as quickly 
as the trigger is pulled. "Semi" implies a fast recovery rate, somewhere 
between an automatic and a manual in speed. The rest should be self 
explanatory.

---------------------
Ammunition Groupings:
---------------------
 
 Standard: The player can carry up to 800 of these rounds. They comprise the 
basic ammunition for handguns, including (strangely enough) both the Maian and 
Skedar models of light hand weaponry. Perhaps this universality of light 
weapons ammunition can mean the beginning of a new era of intergalactic 
cooperation, as Maians, Humans, and Skedar all come to a peaceful agreement on 
the ammunition with which we kill each other. Sort of thing. 

 Medium: The player can carry up to 800 of these rounds. They comprise the 
basic ammunition for automatic weapons, including (strangely enough) the Maian 
Callisto. Human-Maian relations are no doubt undergoing considerable improvement
as we amicably work together to ruthlessly eradicate the Skedar for good. 

 Heavy: The player can carry up to 400 of these rounds. They comprise the 
basic ammunition for rifles and assault rifles. They generally do a bit more 
damage per shot than the Medium class rounds. 

 Grenades: The player can carry up to 40 of these grenades. They are common 
design to both the SuperDragon's grenade launcher, and the Devastator. 

 Rockets: The player can carry up to 3 of these rockets. They are common 
design to both the man-made rocket launcher and the Skedar Slayer, despite the
high tech nature of the camera needed for the Skedar missile. The Skedar Kings 
appear to be able to produce these at will without even needing to use a 
Slayer. 

 Reaper: The player can carry up to 800 of these rounds. These seem to do 
damage rather akin to the Medium rounds. The Reaper is the only weapon to use 
this type of ammunition. 

 Magnum: The player can carry up to 200 of these rounds. These are common to 
both the Gold Magnum and the normal DY357 Magnum.  This is somewhat suspect, 
given that the Golden Magnum allegedly fires "a fragmenting round" which gives 
it its lethal nature, but equally probable is the possibility that the author 
has missed something vital in the storyline. 

 Shells: The player can carry up to 100 shells. These are used only by the 
Shotgun. They appear to be six-bore, which is roughly twice as powerful as the 
most powerful Shotgun shell in existence today (which is ten-bore, and 
requires special training to use). The Shotgun can fire in single or double 
blasts, despite not actually having more than one barrel, and the inaccuracy 
increases proportional to distance.  The reload is one of the longest in the 
game. 

 Orbs: The player can carry up to 100 orbs. These are used only by the 
Farsight, contrary to logical expectations. (The Phoenix has a very similar 
"eating" reload sequence, but fires Standard rounds.) They are perhaps the most 
damaging type of ammunition in the game.  See Exception #4 below for further 
details. 

 Bolts: The player can carry up to 69 of these. These are used only by the 
Crossbow, and oddly enough can be set either to deliver a tranquilizing shot, 
or a lethal injection without needing to change ammunition types.  The 
carrying capacity seems arbitrary at first sight, although the author has not 
ruled out the possibility of its having some sort of congressional bonding
significance. Involving reciprocal oratory and rousing effects. With literal 
stimulation. And olfactory amines. 

Right. That's quite enough of that. 

======================
Part Two - Methodology 
=======================

----------------------------------
General Method of Data Collection: 
----------------------------------

 First, in order to get these results, a stationary target is needed within the 
solo game. Multiplayer does not offer a comprehensive breakdown of hit 
locations, which is vital in calculating the damage caused. I eventually 
decided that Pelagic II provided the best candidate for this, this being the 
mechanic standing outside the door to Joanna Dark's starting location on the 
level. I then enabled the following cheats: Slow-Motion, Invincibility, 
Cloaking Device, All Weapons, Unlimited Ammo, and Classic Sight. Then I played 
the level on Perfect Dark difficulty, with enemy life set to 1000%. 

 Just to be sure, I tested out the number of limb hits needed on Perfect Dark 
enemy health 100%, and compared it to Perfect Dark enemy health 1000%. Happily, 
I found that exactly ten times the number of limb hits were needed to kill the 
guard in the latter case than the former. This proves that 1000% does indeed 
mean "10x normal". You never know with Rare. 

 I also tested out the relationship between limb shots and body shots, and 
empirically proved this to be 2:1. In other words, if you shoot a person in the 
limb, you will do half the amount of damage (and need double the number of 
shots to kill) than if you shoot a person in the chest or body. 

 Head shots, however, were tricky - throughout the single-player mission mode, 
it appears that the vast majority of all people die with one shot to the head, 
regardless of life settings. I quickly discovered that this unfortunate door 
guard was one of them. Even on 1000% health, one shot to the head would 
incapacitate him and put an end to my experiments. Other guards within the 
same level also took only one head shot to kill, even on 1000% (the only 
exception to this rule being the omni-impotent Klobb).

 In the end, I decided against recording any head shots data, as these do not 
appear to be consistent as they were in Goldeneye.  It would appear that Rare 
have decided to make headshots lethal for the mission-based AI, regardless of 
health level. 

 The "Damage Rating" value for the guns essentially indicates the percentage 
of life that is taken away from the very first guard in the game, on Perfect 
Dark 100%, per shot from the weapon. This value was calculated using the 
following formula: 

1. Limb shots damage count as 0.5 of body shots [proven] 

2. Body shots damage count as 2 of limb shots [proven] 

3. Enemy life at PD1000% = Limb shots damage plus Body shots damage, therefore 

4. Enemy life at PD100% = (Total damage) divided by 10 [proven] 

5. Damage quotient of weapon = 100% divided by scaled damage caused 

The simplified formula I used was: 
  

1 ÷ (# body hits x 1) + (#limb hits x 0.5)
    --------------------------------------
         1000%, or "10"



 This method was fine for determining the damage caused by most weapons, but 
certain weapons were more problematic. Here I list the weapons that defied 
normal procedures and required special attention. 

------------------------
Exception 1: The Shotgun 
------------------------

 The problem here is one of accuracy problems, not damage. The guard on 1000% 
still took multiple rounds to kill, so my above method still applied to this 
weapon. 

 My personal favorite, this weapon fires six pellets per pull of the trigger. 
In Goldeneye, the end of level statistics would take each pellet into account, 
so if you fired even once, your statistics might still register each individual 
hit: a limb hit, a body hit, a head hit, and two misses, each of which would 
be indicated separately on the mission debriefing. (For those of you astutely 
wondering where the sixth shot went, the Goldeneye Shotgun only fired five 
pellets.)  However, in Perfect Dark, the end of level statistics only 
calculates hits per pull of the trigger. Why they changed this is beyond me, 
but in the long run it means that I could have missed with five pellets each 
pull of the trigger, while hitting with the final remaining one, and the game
would calculate it as a hit. This would make my results very inaccurate. 

 My solution for this was simply to make sure that every single shot I made 
against the guard was on target. I aimed for limb shots, and so would crouch 
side-on around his legs and line up a shot that was simply impossible to miss 
with. Using this method I ensured, as far as possible, that every pellet fired 
would land with limb damage. 

 When the testing was over and the guard expired, I would carefully inspect the 
walls for any pellet marks (I found five) and then use the Wrist Laser (which 
does not count on the end of level statistics) to shoot the body, an action 
which clears up the blood on the walls by making more on the ground beneath 
the guard. (I found another one.) In this particular test, I had only missed 
with six pellets, but it made the difference of one entire trigger pull's shot. 
Of course, to minimize inaccuracy, the Shotgun was on single fire mode. 

 The damage caused by a full body shot by the Shotgun is an enormous 184.3% per 
trigger pull (assuming all six hit on body). This is just under twice the 
damage of a magnum shot, and makes the Shotgun the most damaging manmade 
conventional roundfiring weapon in the game. (Only the Golden Magnum and 
explosives do more damage amongst the human weapons.) However, if only one 
pellet hits on the body, this damage is divided by a factor of six, resulting 
in a damage value of a mere 30.8. 

 Paradoxically, this makes the Shotgun simultaneously the most and the least 
damaging manmade conventional roundfiring weapon in the game per shot. 

---------------------------------------------------------------------
Exception 2: Mauler (Charged), Golden Magnum, Crossbow (Instant Kill) 
---------------------------------------------------------------------

 This problem was more difficult to solve. These weapons all killed the guard 
in either one shot (Crossbow, Magnum), or in too few shots to be accurate 
(Mauler). I needed to find a target that could take more than one shot from 
them in order to calculate a definitive result. 

 Fortunately, I found one. On Perfect Dark difficulty level, on the WAR! solo 
mission, each Skedar King is actually able to take a Golden Magnum round to 
the limb without dying. In fact, they don't even flinch. Thus, it can be safely 
said that they are The Bees' Knees. 

 (Here can be seen another reason against testing weapons in Multiplayer, 
wherein the Golden Magnum still kills with one shot even at life 1000%.) 

 To test the weapons' damage as accurately as possible, I only fired one limb 
shot at the first Skedar King with the weapon. Then I switched to Falcon 
pistols and fired limb shots until the king died. From this, comparing data 
against how many Falcon shots are needed to kill him straight off, I could 
calculate a value for how much damage the weapon did, in terms of Falcon shots. 

 It took 340 Falcon limb shots to kill the Skedar King on PD1000%. I deduced 
that the Charged Mauler shot did damage equal to 20 Falcon hits, placing its 
damage value at roundabout 1000%. The Crossbow bolt set to Instant Kill did 
damage equal to about 100 Falcon hits, placing its damage value at roundabout 
5000%. The Golden Magnum did damage equal to 200 Falcon hits, placing its 
damage value at roundabout 10000%. Thus, just as in Goldeneye before it, 
Perfect Dark's Golden Gun is not infinitely damaging, although it does destroy 
things such as the Skedar dropship and the Maian saucer in one shot. 

--------------------------------------------------------------------
Exception 3: Rocket Launcher, Devastator, Phoenix (Explosive), Mines 
--------------------------------------------------------------------

 These also killed the guard in one detonation, so I decided to try them out 
against the 1st Skedar King, who survived them easily. These results are more 
likely to be inaccurate than any others in my findings, since the damage 
suffered in an explosion is directly proportional to the amount of time spent 
in it, and there was little I could do to force the King to stay in an 
explosion if it wasn't so inclined. 

 However, in an effort to minimize inaccuracy, I always detonated the explosive
in dead center of the King's body object, or slightly below. Additionally, I 
always stood directly next to the King so it would not have to move in order 
to attack me. As long as the King tried to shoot me or claw me, this method would work (it 
would remain where it was, ie in the center of the explosion). However, one 
attack it might do is the Skedar charging attack, which would go straight 
through the player and therefore remove the King from the blast center. 

 I believe that in all of these findings, the King did NOT leave the center of
the blast area, but in truth it is not easy to tell. It was rather smoky and 
visibility conditions were minimal, believe me. 

 Mines did roughly 70 times the damage of a Falcon shot, placing their damage 
value at about 3500%. Grenades did identical damage. 

 Rockets did roughly 194 times the damage of a Falcon shot, making them only 
slightly less lethal than a Golden Magnum (although in real life this would 
translate into a greater effectiveness against structures, etc). Their damage 
value was roughly 9500%. It is entirely possible that the King shifted position 
slightly and took slightly less damage. Certainly it seems that an argument 
placing the Rocket and Golden Magnum round at the same power, might have much 
to back it up. 

 I was unable to test the power of the Slayer Rocket, since this is only 
available on certain stages (even with All Guns cheat on). Perhaps a future 
revision by GameShark owning players can determine once and for all its 
destructive power. For the moment, it is probably best to assume equal power 
to the man-made Rocket Launcher. 

 Finally, the Phoenix explosive shells are different in that they actually 
deal damage location-specifically. Then, extra damage is inflicted depending 
on time spent in the blast radius. Firing one shot at the body of the Skedar 
king, I then finished him off with Falcon shots. The end results suggest that 
a full-on Phoenix blast is roughly equivalent to 5 Falcon shots, with a damage 
value roundabout 250%. 

-------------------------
Exception 4: The Farsight 
-------------------------

 This weapon killed the guard, the Maian flying saucer, the Skedar dropship, 
AND the Skedar Kings in one hit. It didn't matter how high the enemy life was 
set, one limb hit would kill even the mighty Skedar King. It seems to kill all 
mortal targets instantly, although it does not seem to go through shields AND 
flesh in one shot... as with other weapons (even the Golden Magnum), separate 
shots are required to bring down the shield and then to damage the body behind 
it. Trent Easton,for example, is immune to this weapon because you cannot shoot 
through his shield with it. 

 There are no vincible targets to my knowledge that stand up to a Farsight 
round, except in the empirically meaningless case of shielded enemies. 
Therefore, the minimum damage that a Farsight round can possibly cause must 
lie just over 340 times the damage of a Falcon round (or > 9975%). Maximum 
damage is anybody's guess, and indeed might not even exist - if so, the 
Farsight truly is an infinitely damaging weapon. 

 Scope wise, too, the Farsight is unusual. It does not possess a scope meter, 
but it does have a definite limit to its zoom, past which only blank darkness 
is shown. This may be set at a value, or it may be determined by level 
construction (for example, you may zoom into the bottom floor of DataDyne HQ 
even though you actually warp into there). Either way this is inconclusive. 

 Finally - the exact physics of this gun eludes me.  If a firearm can kill a 
person, the primary way in which this is achieved is by causing structural 
damage to his body (which functions much as a topological bag of water).  The 
Farsight appears to fire through dense wall materials without leaving a mark 
or otherwise altering its structure, so presumably it should do the same when 
passing through a human body.  How does this alien weapon work?  Bear in mind 
that it also puts out lights and disrupts electrical systems (eg the Skedar 
Dropship). 

 Diplomatically speaking, how could the humans morally justify joining up with 
the creators of this infinite-ranged, omni-destructive weapon in the name of 
"intergalactic peacekeeping"?  Would it be more accurate to attribute our
allegiances to pure self-preservation? 

============================
Part Three - Authorial Notes 
============================

--------------------------
Weapon/Aiming Curiosities:
-------------------------- 
 1. If you fire a Falcon so that the magazine is partially empty, then change 
to another weapon, the Falcon's magazine will be completely replenished when 
you come back to it. 

 1a) If you fire a Shotgun so that the magazine is partially empty, then change
to another weapon, the Shotgun's magazine will not be completely replenished 
when you come back to it. 

 1b) If, however, you fire a Shotgun so that the magazine is partially empty, 
then change to another weapon, and fire that weapon until it is nearly empty, 
the Shotgun will have reloaded two shells when you come back to it. 

 2. If you possess a fixed-scoped weapon such as a SuperDragon or an Avenger
in multiplayer, try kneeling down. Then try crouching down. Finally, try lying 
down. Weird, isn't it? What does Player Two see in her screen when she's 
watching you? Do you feel silly? 

 3. Put on Slow-Motion cheat. Then use a scoped weapon to shoot somebody. Can 
you see your bullet flying in on the target? Looks neat, right? Sadly, it's 
fake. The shot always hits instantly, regardless of distance or slowdown. Watch
the target body part closely and you'll see it recoil even before the visible 
shot hits. Nice of Rare to put this little fake effect in, though. 

 4. Try disarming somebody. Then as they are drawing their auxiliary weapon, 
try disarming them again. Can you do it? Wait until their arms are fully 
extended. How about now? 

 5. Play Combat Simulator with DarkSims. Use Magnums, Falcons, Shotguns, or 
other discretely-firing guns which you're familiar with. Can you shoot as fast 
as they can? How much slower do you shoot? Go down a step to PerfectSims. Try 
again. Go down one by one, until you get to MeatSims. Can you shoot a Magnum 
or a Shotgun as fast as a MeatSim can? Be honest. Can you really? 

-----------------------------------------
Personal Note:  Proper Use of the Shotgun
----------------------------------------- 

 Many people hold the Shotgun to be of inferior utility to the vast array of 
other firearms on offer.  At first glance, this impression is easily supported 
- it does more than respectable damage, but this only applies to close-range 
encounters.  The spread of the pellets and the lack of a scope makes the 
Shotgun difficult for use at medium or long ranges.  Plus, the Shotgun requires 
a manual cocking per shot.  This means that the rate of fire is very poor 
compared to automatic weapons such as the rifles and submachine guns.  Finally,
the Shotgun's reloading animation is quite lengthy, requiring the user to slot 
each individual cartridge into the breach, and then cock the Shotgun one last 
time before a shot can be fired off. 

 Whilst all of the above observations are true, they also do not take into 
account the few but very important game mechanics that make it very powerful. 

 Firstly, the Shotgun is unique amongst the family of conventional roundfiring 
weapons in that it fires multiple pellets per shot.  This has been seen as a 
great drawback, since it delocalizes the total kinetic energy and reduces the 
chances of scoring a hit for full damage. 

 However, in single player, it was recently discovered by this author that a 
single headshot would more or less instantly kill any AI controlled humanoid 
character.  Thus, with the Shotgun, the fact that each pellet does small damage 
is almost irrelevant -- in effect, your chances of inflicting a headshot are 
essentially increased sixfold, and just one single headshot is necessary to 
eliminate a single player AI foe. 

 Hence, when using the Shotgun in single player, it is important to deactivate 
auto-aim (since that will favor chest shots, which use the "normal" damage 
system) and moreover, to aim for the head or upper chest per shot.  Even one 
stray pellet will be sufficient to clear the enemy with a headshot, regardless 
of however many chest shots would normally be required. 

 Using an automatic weapon may require many attempts at adjusting one's aim, 
and considerable magazine expenditure before a headshot is successfully 
achieved.  The Shotgun eliminates the need for pinpoint accuracy by filling a 
trajectory with hot lead, hopefully killing whatever stands at the other end 
of it. 

 This quirk is not effective against the Skedar, since their "instant kill" 
body locations are not their heads per se.  Even so, a double headshot from a 
Shotgun at close range is usually much more efficient at dispatching a Skedar 
than equivalent headshots from a pistol or even Callisto.  Given that the 
Skedar's most powerful attack is with their unarmed claws, opportunities for 
close-quarters combat will crop up much more frequently against Skedar than 
against humans. 

 Importantly, this particular quirk is not effective against Multiplayer 
Deathmatch opponents.  It appears that the body hit locations of Multiplayer 
Deathmatch revert back to Goldeneye rules, ie Limb:Body:Head are at 
0.5:1.0:2.0 damage respectively.  Even so, the AI controlled bots appear to 
be seriously incapable of using Shotguns properly, with even the vaunted 
DarkSims frequently missing a target completely at close range, and remaining 
carelessly in the vicinity of their enemy whilst reloading.  Evidently, the 
programming of the Sims does not take the Shotgun to be a serious weapon, 
resulting in comfortable Shotgun-only victories by gamers of even moderate 
skill against DarkSims. 

 If the Deathmatch damage settings are set to one-hit-kills, the Shotgun 
becomes very dangerous indeed, even at long range, for its ability to cover a 
large spread with lethal pellets.  This has the advantage over explosives in 
that the pellets travel more or less instantaneously to their target, and can 
fire through existing explosions without detonating. 

 In the futuristic setting of the game, the Shotgun is a sturdy weapon that 
has (strangely) undergone few changes since the 1990s.  Without the 
developments that other models of weapon have enjoyed between modern times 
and future times - such as cartridges in clip-magazines, zoom scopes, or 
fully automatic firing action - the Shotgun is somewhat cumbersome to use
and may be overlooked by many.  This may well lead to regrettable 
circumstances... as evidenced by the feeble performance of the DarkSims. 

 The author is at present working on a preliminary design for a clip-loading, 
pump-action double barrelled Shotgun.  Time permitting, he may also attempt 
the design specifications of a fully automatic Shotgun, but that will probably
require his relocation to an area where Shotgun ownership is legal.  Check out
the URL of the website that deals with this below, under "Other Info". 

------------------------------------
The Shotgun Single Player Challenge:
------------------------------------

 The SSP is a very rewarding challenge to play in Goldeneye.  The constraints 
are that the Shotgun must be the only conventional roundfiring weapon used.  
Explosives, special devices, etc, may be used where necessary, but generally, 
the Shotgun is the single weapon of choice to be used against standard foes. 

 The author has succeeded in completing every standard Goldeneye mission (thus 
excluding Aztec and Egypt) firing only the Shotgun and no other standard 
roundfiring weapon, even on 00 Agent difficulty.  The author is also 
attempting to accomplish the same on Perfect Dark, so far to approximately 60% 
completion. 

 If nothing else, this proves false the belief that the Shotgun is a weapon 
incompatible with stealth.  Using the Shotgun, the reload times are so long 
that progressing with extreme caution and tact is the only way to survive.  If 
the player chooses to equip an automatic, clip-loading weapon, gameplay suffers 
greatly, as nonchalant mid-skirmish reloads are a possibility. However, when 
playing using the Shotgun, a whole new dimension of stealth, strategy, and 
careful thinking is required, since its firing rate and reload times are so 
impractical. 

 This also explains why I am busily working on the design for a clip-loading,
pump-action/fully-automatic, double-barrelled Shotgun.  

 Update: I have completed my design for a clip-loading, fully-automatic, 
double-barrelled Shotgun.  See my links section below for the results. 

------------------
Thanks and Credits
------------------

 This is my first game FAQ and will probably be my only one for a while. I 
wrote this FAQ because I was very impressed by Amalcon's Goldeneye Weapons FAQ,
and wanted to fill the absence of a Perfect Dark FAQ. Credit must go to 
Amalcon, who was the first person I know to correctly determine the body hit 
location damage ratios (head 2 body 1 limb 0.5). That method of working out 
the damage caused is largely unchanged in my FAQ. If such a thing as 
intellectual property exists, this belongs to him and not me. His weapons FAQ 
can be found at http://www.gamefaqs.com/console/n64/game/22453.html and his 
given email is at [email protected] - my thanks to him. Also my apologies to him 
if he was going to post this up himself...but then again I did give him three 
months' grace to do it in. 

 Credit must also go to Brandon Craig Rhodes for his high quality and 
exhaustive online catalogue of Goldeneye weapons. His webpage can be located at
 http://www.rhodesmill.org/goldeneye and his method for determining rates of 
fire is almost 100% accurate (but sadly requires a tape counter capable of 
displaying the NTSC/PAL frame number). If there was one webpage which could 
have frightened me with its sheer thoroughness, this is it. 

 I must point out the high quality compilation of AI health information 
collated by AstroBlue (found on the GameFAQs site), which helped me acquire 
accurate readings for the damage ratings. 

 Thanks be to Nintendo, for they have let there be Console. 

 Thanks be to Rare also, for they have filled the void of Console with the 
substance of Game. 

 And I looked upon their Game and I saw that it was good. So I bought it. 

 All the information contained here is copyright of Enixine 
(http://www.enixine.dabsol.co.uk/), with duplication permission granted for 
GameFAQs.com and RubberChickeN64 (http://www.alfred.atfreeweb.com/). If you 
find this guide anywhere else, it is probably an outdated version, and it's 
possible that GameFAQs or I might take action against the poster. 

 You may link to the page that this FAQ is found on, but not to the .txt or 
.html file itself. Again, there's a convoluted legal reason for this which you 
don't need to know (partially because I don't).  You may not reproduce this FAQ 
file on webspaces outside of Enixine, RubberChickeN64, or Gamefaqs.com. 

 I can be contacted at [email protected]. Please do not send me spam or 
abuse. Spam will be blocked, abuse will be ignored. Letters of appreciation 
would be nice, though unlikely, and even better would be suggestions for 
improvement. Members of the public and especially RubberChickeN64 are welcome 
to add to this, provided that I know about each alteration and approve, in 
advance. 
   
 © Enixine 2000.

====================
Room For Improvement
====================

------------- 
Rates of Fire
-------------

 Anybody with a video player that shows frame numbers should be able to easily 
work out the firing rate of guns, to the nearest fraction of a second. I don't 
have this equipment, so anybody who does is encouraged to take advantage of my 
deficiency and publish. 

-----------------
Disabling weapons
-----------------

 Fists, tranquilizers, nonlethal crossbow bolts - all these run by different 
rules from the normal guns, and I'm not sure what they might  be.  If anybody 
can get their lateral thinking onto these weapons, they'll fill a very 
substantial gap in this particular FAQ. 

-------------
Health levels
-------------
 It appears that structures (eg Skedar ship, Maian UFO, 
miniguns)  do not increase health as enemy health is increased. It would be 
interesting to  have a definitive health comparison between Skedar, Maian, and 
humans. I do not include one here because it does not relate directly to 
weapons stats, but a more enterprising FAQ writer might be able to pip me at 
the post on this one.  Update 21xi00:  AstroBlue has informed me that he has 
published a FAQ outlining the relative health levels of the three species, and 
the different levels of human health in between certain Earth based levels. 
Great work, AstroBlue! 

--------
Accuracy
--------
 See Brandon Craig Rhodes' guide (above) for a very impressive technique for 
calculating weapon accuracy at medium range. Sadly, I cannot find any single 
location inside the PD game which allows a similar calculation... but maybe you 
can. 

==================
Author Recognition
================== 
 This isn't the legal bit, since that's covered above. This is how to tell if 
you're multiplaying against me. I'm usually using the character with a TIE 
fighter pilot's headgear, with DataDyne shock suit. If there's a Shotgun 
around, I might be using it. I usually refuse to play any game with an RC-P120 
in it, and I occasionally change guises to that of Velvet Dark's head on a
DataDyne female bodyguard's body to keep my foesies on their toesies. 

 In real life, I'm an oriental ninja type person with a scar under my left 
eye. My hair can be cropped short or very long. I might be seen with a very 
young looking oriental girl who likes skipping around making Pikachu noises - 
that'll be my girlfriend. Or I might be seen with a dozy looking oriental boy 
who likes sleeping and eating a lot - that'll be my brother. 

 I play with either Autoaim on or Classic Sight on (can't see the PD sight at 
all). My favored control style is 1.2 and I always have Lookspring off. 

 And I don't like Perfect Dark as much as I liked Goldeneye. Sorry, Rare... 

-------------------------------------------------------------------
Multiplayer quotes from the mouth of Bing: (sources in parentheses)
------------------------------------------------------------------- 

"I bet that cleared out the old sinuses" 
 - whenever fatal headshot achieved (Bad Taste) 

"Horrorshow, baby, horrorshow - yeah!" 
 - whenever things get ultraviolent (Clockwork Orange/Austin Powers) 

"If you run, you're only going to die tired" 
 - trailing a cowardly foe (Blood2) 

"I hope you weren't a procrastinator. You just ran out of tomorrows." 
 - showdown (Blood2) 

"Ooh, suit you sir! Suit you in particular!" 
 - whenever hit by an enemy for nonfatal damage (Fast Show) 

"Buckwheats. All of you. Misfits. Buckwheats." 
 - buttock shot achieved (Things To Do In Denver When You're Dead) 

"Hieronymous strikes!" 
 - whenever good shot achieved with Shotgun (from Hieronymous Bosche = Bosh) 

"Smoke my shells and crap hot lead" 
 - whenever headshot achieved with Shotgun (unrealistic biology: digestion of 
a Shotgun shell) 

"Ave Regina" 
 - whenever killed by a female player (lit. "Hail Queen", though people have 
been known to mishear and complain) 

"Gentlemen, you can't fight here - this is the War Room!" 
 - whenever caught in a crossfire (Dr Strangelove) 

"And from the nave to the chops unseamed him thus" 
 - when knife-slash kill achieved (Macbeth, misquoted) 

-----------
Other Info:
----------- 

 The author maintains a webpage at 
http://www.enixine.dabsol.co.uk/starwarshaha.html 

 He also contributes to the Enixine (http://www.enixine.dabsol.co.uk) and to 
RubberChickeN64 (http://www.alfred.atfreeweb.com). Both sites are good fun even 
for those who don't play Nintendo primarily. 

 Rare's website is http://www.rareware.com. A burgeoning messageboard about 
Rare can be found at http://www.rarenet.com/ubb-cgi/Ultimate.cgi. 

 I would post links to Shotgun and gunnery sites, but that would probably upset 
some parents so I won't. They can be found through search engines. 

 I would like to dedicate this FAQ to Ishmael Passionnight for being a fellow 
smartarse, and to Dirt-man for being a fellow verbal deviant. Also I hope for 
World Peace, Brotherhood of Nations, and the ownership of a large and powerful 
Shotgun. 

 I have completed the preliminary designs for a clip-loading, fully-automatic,
double-barrelled Shotgun, which can be found at the Enixine's "Reinventing 
the Wheel" section at http://www.enixine.dabsol.co.uk/Reinvents.html. 

 The use of the integer numeral "69" within this document has been approved 
by the International Board of GameFAQ
Humor. Any innuendo at real persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental. No 
animals or children were shot at during the compilation of this GameFAQ - only 
the Skedar King and the door guard. 

 But they were shot more than 7000 times, if that makes you any happier. 

---------------
Related Topics:
--------------- 
 If you liked Perfect Dark, you might find Goldeneye tolerable.  Certainly, 
even though PD aims to supercede Goldeneye's gameplay, I find that the earlier 
game is still worthwhile and in some places superior to its sister game. The 
weapons found in Goldeneye are even more satisfying to the firearms 
enthusiastic, since the game is set in the modern day and the weapons are 
drawn largely from real-world, modern day weapons.  (As opposed to Perfect 
Dark's at times outlandish selection.) 

 The Geneva Convention has banned Shotguns from use in warfare, though. 

 Perfect Dark has nothing to do with Perfect Blue.