Assault Trooper
From Duke Nukem Wiki
| Assault Trooper | |
|---|---|
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| Game(s) | Duke Nukem 3D Duke Caribbean: Life's A Beach Duke: Nuclear Winter Duke it out in D.C. Duke Nukem 64 Duke Nukem: Total Meltdown |
| First encountered | L.A. Meltdown, Hollywood Holocaust |
| Combat properties | |
| Health | 30 |
| Weapon(s) | Laser blaster (~7) |
| Mobility | Walking, flying |
| Speed | Average |
| Item(s) dropped | Pistol clip (12) |
The Assault Trooper (also know as the Predator Trooper or Lizard Trooper) is the most common enemy in Duke Nukem 3D, and appears in almost every level. It is first encountered in the first level of L.A. Meltdown, Hollywood Holocaust.
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[edit] Description
The Assault Trooper is the lowest-ranked grunt in the alien invasion, armed only with a laser blaster. It is also one of the most used (and thus the most reliable) grunts of the entire alien race on Earth. Its job is to stay on the front lines and do all the dirty work for its Lord. It is the first alien the player encounters in the game.
The Assault Trooper should not be underestimated. Each Assault Trooper owns a jetpack, and uses it to get closer to the player or to gain the high ground. This makes it rather difficult for the player to flee the battlefield, or to pick them off from above. Also, when attacking in groups the Assault Trooper will try to flank the player, making it more difficult to withdraw to a safer area. Finally, the Assault Trooper is the only enemy in the game that can "play dead", allowing it to make a surprise attack on the player.
[edit] Appearance
The Assault Trooper is a human-sized humanoid creature, with pale brown skin with black stripes across it. It has often been described as lizard-like. The top of its head is shaped like a brain. Each hand has three large fingers, and each foot has three large splayed toes.
It wears light green torso armor, a jetpack on its back, and carries its laser blaster in its right hand.
It appears to be based on the design of the Predator (from the movie of the same name).
[edit] Combat analysis
- Best weapon choice: Any
- Worst weapon choice: None
The Assault Trooper is armed with a single laser blaster, which inflicts minimal damage. Its low health means it can be killed by 5 Pistol rounds, or 1 Shotgun round. It is not particularly fast, either. This means that it is considered one of the least dangerous enemies in the game.
It makes up for its lack of agility by utilising its jetpack. With it, the Assault Trooper is able to fly anywhere, although in practise it will only do so if the player is above it. While all Assault Troopers have jetpacks, none will ever drop one for the player to pick up.
Upon being killed, the Assault Trooper will occasionally drop a Pistol clip containing 12 rounds. Considering that it uses a laser blaster and not a pistol, this is quite confusing.
When killed (except by an explosion), there is a 12.5% chance that the Assault Trooper will not die immediately, but instead drop to its hands and knees and clutch at its throat, gagging. It will die with a howl a couple of seconds later, unless the player shoots it again. If it dies by itself this way, there is a 25% chance that it has not actually died, but is instead playing dead. If so, it will return to full health once the player turns away from it.
To combat an Assault Trooper playing dead, the player can either shoot it while it is kneeling and gagging, making it most certainly die, or the player can use an explosive weapon to kill it, since if its body has been blasted into pieces it will certainly be dead.
[edit] Notes
- The Assault Trooper sprites have blue armor, but when loaded into the game they are set to green (palette 22).
- There is no real reason for this; if the sprites had green armor then palette 25 would produce the same result.
- It is possible, then, that a new version of the Assault Trooper (with blue armor) was planned, but was later rejected/turned into the green armor-wearing Assault Trooper. Changing the palette number was probably seen as easier to do than to edit all of the monster's sprites.
- The Duke Nukem 3D box art, which depicts an Assault Trooper wearing blue armor also suggests this.
- A common bug can cause a shrunken enemy to behave like a normal (unshrunken) enemy. Because of the shrunken enemy's small size, therefore, it is difficult to kill.
- The bug is caused when the enemy flinches after being shot in its shrunken state.
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[edit] Alternate versions
 Special Assault Troopers in Duke Nukem: Total Meltdown. |
 An Assault Trooper (foreground) and an Assault Captain (background, teleporting) in Duke Nukem 64. |
- In the expansion pack Duke Caribbean: Life's A Beach, the Assault Trooper wears a white suit.
- In the expansion pack Duke: Nuclear Winter, the Assault Trooper wears a red Santa hat.
- In one level of Duke Nukem: Total Meltdown, there are a number of Assault Trooper-like creatures that wear what appears to be yellow and green winter clothing. They are not enemies, but they can be killed.
- In Duke Nukem 64, the Assault Trooper is drawn differently, has blue armor, and is identical to the Assault Captain. Its laser blaster shot has also been redrawn.
Early versions:
- An unused tile (1705) shows a map mode view (top view) of the Assault Trooper (and possibly also the Assault Captain). This is likely a remnant from an abandoned plan to make the enemies appear in the map mode view.
- A prototype version of the Assault Trooper can be seen on the back of the Duke Nukem 3D box. Except for its blue armor (not green), there are no differences between them.
| Duke Nukem 3D | |
|---|---|
| Enemies | Assault Captain | Assault Commander | Assault Enforcer | Assault Trooper | Mini Battlelord | Octabrain | Pig Cop | Pig Cop Tank | Protector Drone | Protozoid Slimer | Recon Patrol Vehicle | Sentry Drone | Shark | Turret Bosses: Battlelord | Overlord | Cycloid Emperor | Alien Queen |
| Weapons | Mighty Boot | Pistol | Shotgun | Chaingun Cannon | RPG | Shrink Ray | Microwave Expander | Pipebomb | Devastator | Laser Trip Mine | Freezethrower |
| Episodes | L.A. Meltdown | Lunar Apocalypse | Shrapnel City | The Birth |
| Expansion packs | Duke Caribbean: Life's A Beach | Duke: Nuclear Winter | Duke it out in D.C. |
| Fan-made content | User maps | Mods & Total Conversions | High Resolution Pack | Source ports |
| Other | Items | Hazards | Creators | Duke Nukem (character) | Cheat codes | Quotes | Build engine | Easter eggs | Multiplayer |
