So, I'm a big fan of this mod. I actually play this way with a lot of games, that is I don't consider it truly 'beaten' unless I can get through the entire game without a gameover. I played Regular first just to see what it was like, then tried Challenge mode alone to compare (would like to play with a group though!).

It's a lot of fun early on! Iron Maidens are good, easy enemies that punish you heavily if you get hit, and it's nice to see things diversified a bit with certain enemy spawns being random. Bit confused as to why enemy names were changed with regards to death notifications (x killed by chick/hover/flipper when they're Iron Maidens, Technicians and Barracuda Sharks respectively) but not a big deal.

Sadly, it's still way easier than a game like Descent's highest difficulty, although Quake 2 is odd in that the easyness is all due to one item: the power shield. Early on, the game is moderately tough as a Gunner's grenades are quite the threat. The power shield reduces damage so drastically and cells are so plentiful that the game plays totally differently. I might try Challenge mode next restricting myself to no using the power shield. That might balance things out a bit more I think.

Most of the threat I found was from instadeath traps and not the enemies themselves (my one death early on was due to me going from the 2nd level back to the 1st to get health, then when I returned to the 2nd level a machine gun guard had spawned in the elevator and somehow I got glitched in the elevator, crushed in the ceiling, panicked and opened console instead of hitting worldserver button, oops). Really, walking into a red laser is way more scary than a gladiator when I've got a power shield up and a full clip of cells (I always use an invulnerability on the 2nd last level to hit those switches with the lasers to avoid a death, it's not like it's needed for Makron normally).

Oh... anyone looking through the log may be wondering how I went straight from the Reactor to the Big Gun in challenge mode without doing the Cooling Facility, Toxic Waste Dump, or either of the two Pumping Stations. I take no credit for this shortcut, haha. There's a hidden trigger floating high above the exit door off to the side (when facing the door it's to the right and forward a bit floating over the corner of the elevator) that you can BFG jump up to touch. Quake 2's devs must have left it there to test with and forgotten it, but it blows the door to the exit and lets you skip those levels. They're among the easiest levels in the game anyways due to the abundance of body armor and cells by that point, and there's none of the deathtraps like in the Mines so it's basically just a long detour from the Reactor (toxic slime is such a joke when you've got both Invulnerability and Envirosuits handy if need be compared to the lasers and crushers earlier on). Hopefully I still get to earn a challenge mode star even though I used a shortcut to skip most of the Reactor unit's easier levels.

After a few more rocket jumps shenanigans to speed a few levels up, Makron ate quadded bullets in a totally anticlimactic fight. Then the game crashed during the ending for some reason so I went and killed him again without quad. Yay. Might even try playing the game on Hard+ next time.

I'm a bit sad I didn't see more Medics or Mutants. I know Medics showing up unexpectedly and reviving people as you're backtracking through a level would be fun, although they're a bit weak by themselves. Mutants are also a bit too rare in the normal game. I'd like to see more of them pop up throughout the game as they're a unique enemy and fight very unlike other enemies thanks to the nasty jump attack. Still, all in all a very fun mod.

Umm.. the game is too easy ..?
You might want to try my mod sometime.. after that you'll change your opinion about coopordie.

(You may add my Yahoo Messenger me to contact me to tell me when you'd want to play it, as i have to host it on my server so it may work)


Anyways, good job on skipping those levels and defeating Makron.

Hi Privateer,

Congratulation for your challenge mode victory!

I'm happy to know you enjoy the mod. COOP or DIE for Quake2 could has been enhanced in a lot of way, but I'm too busy to spend more time on it. It is cool if you can have some fun with the Andrei mod.

CU

Pat

Hello and welcome, i see this is your 1st post.
I havent been any active in Coop or die in a long time...
last thing was when i tried (oh god the hours) Complete my blaster only run.
Made it to second last chapter and died.

Anyways Quake2 Loves instant kills, there is a lot planned killers (lasers you have to jump over) and stuff thats just the engine (crushed by teammate in elevator, enemies teleport inside you). i think the only part where enemies are lethal is in the beginning before power shield the gunners. If a gunner sneaks up on you you can be dead in seconds.

The reactor skip... i remeber seeing it and i got curious so what do i do?
i decompiled the map and opened in editor to check it out
Theres a Trigger_once i think (area you walk inside to active stuff)
IF the mapper made something like trigger relay it would been same effect but you cant touch the trigger so basically you have 2 ways to activate the event, touch the trigger area or press the button that acticates the same thing.

Im still interested in playing Coop or die even i rarely ever feel like playing it. Its been too long since ive played it in a group.

I would be up for playing in a group if you're still interested in doing a Blaster-only run of the game! It's been a while since I've done the game without using any of the weapons other than Blaster (would likely still use Quad Damage to speed up some stuff like the Makron though, heh).

Team Blaster only? havent thought of that...
Anyways Blaster only can get REALLY repeative and boring... i did that cause i didnt have anything better to do

I absolutely love challenge mode too, brings a whole hell of a lot more excitement to CooporDie. We're playing as a 2 player team with my friend in challenge mode, extra monsters and without extra ammo or health and finished the Tank boss a couple of days ago. Haven't had time to play but i think the next time we play, we're gonna finish Makron.

Too bad you can't play the expansions on CooporDie yet =/