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For the Duke Nukem Forever enemy, see Assault Commander (DNF).

The Assault Commander, also known as the Fat Commander, is an enemy in Duke Nukem 3D. It is first encountered on Warp Factor, the third level of Lunar Apocalypse.

Description[]

The Assault Commander is the most dangerous alien in the "Assault" group. Stronger and deadlier than the other "Assault" troops, the Assault Commander sits on a flotation platform commanding its forces via a radio headset. When facing an enemy itself, it will often taunt them with evil throaty laughter and phrases such as, "Die, human!" or "Suck it down!" (Duke's quote when gibbing an enemy). It is one of the most dangerous enemies in the game.

It has the unusual ability to create and/or store explosive rockets within its body, and happily fires them at its enemies in rapid succession from what appears to be its rectum. It can also use its spiked flotation platform as a melee weapon by spinning rapidly and ramming into its foes, slashing them.

Appearance[]

The Assault Commander is a large fat brown creature with apparently no legs. It is suspended on a round black floating platform, to which it is strapped and wired into by large dark tubes. The platform has a hole in the middle to allow a small appendage with a large hole dangle through. This appendage fires rockets. The outer edge of the platform is lined with blades, which are used as a melee cutting weapon when the Assault Commander spins around rapidly. The bottom of the platform has four round objects surrounding the central hole, which are believed to be the anti-grav devices.

Its head is round and shapeless, and it appears to have no neck. The main feature of its head is its large bulging mouth lined with large teeth. Above that it has two bulging red eyes, and on the top of its head is a small fleshy tentacle pointing backwards. It also wears a wireless communications headset. It has two fat arms, and three claws on each hand. It wears a minimum amount of armor, which are two large black shoulder pads with spikes and red patterns, and a black collar plate.

Combat analysis[]

Weapon effectivenesses
Mighty Foot
MightyBootSprite
35 kicks
Pistol
PistolSprite
58 shots
Shotgun
ShotgunSprite
6-8 shots
Chaingun Cannon
ChaingunCannonSprite
39 shots
RPG
RPGSprite
2 rockets
Pipe Bomb
PipebombSprite
3 bombs
Shrinker
ShrinkRaySprite
1 blast
Expander
MicrowaveExpanderSprite
24 shots
Devastator
DevastatorSprite
10 rockets
Laser Tripbomb
LaserTripbombSprite
3-4 mines
Freezethrower
FreezethrowerSprite
14-18 shots
Incinerator
Incinerator
3 shots
  • The values given for the Shotgun and the explosive weapons are minimum values only.

As the Assault Commander sits on a flotation platform, it can fly and go anywhere. However, it is rather slow-moving, and so cannot often take its opponent by surprise.

The Assault Commander tends to appear at a distance from its opponent, so its primary weapon is its rocket launcher. It tilts back on its platform, exposing its lower appendage, and fires rockets from it at a fast rate. As with all enemies, it must remain stationary to fire its weapon.

The Assault Commander's secondary method of attack is a melee attack. Once close enough to its opponent, instead of firing rockets and receiving splash damage from their explosions, it will begin to spin around rapidly, causing the flotation platform and the blades lining its edge to behave as a circular saw.

The best weapon to use against the Assault Commander is undoubtedly the Shrink Ray, as only one shot is needed to shrink it. The Shotgun is also quite effective, as is the Freezethrower (14-18 shots). The worst weapons include the Mighty Boot because of the enemy's melee attack, and the Pipebomb and the Laser Tripbomb for difficulty of use (because the enemy flies around in open spaces, it won't often be close to a wall or the floor, which these weapons depend on).

Data[]

Attributes
Hit points 350
Speed 128
64 (Shrunk)
Pain chance 9.375% (24/256)
Clipdist 80
Scale 40 x 40
Sprites & sounds
Actor tile number 1920/COMMANDER
1921/COMMANDERSTAYPUT
Alert sound commrg.voc
Action sound commrm.voc
commat.voc
Pain sound commpn.voc
Death sound commdy.voc
Rocket Attack
Type Projectile
Rate 1.4 shots/second
Speed 644
Damage 35~
0-35 (blast radius)
Blast radius 1780 map units
Actor tile number 2605/RPG
2329/SMALLSMOKE (Trail)
1890/EXPLOSION2 (Impact)
Sound bombexpl.voc (impact)
Spin attack
Type Health access
Rate 1.6 hits/second
Damage 11
Sound commsp.voc

Gallery[]

The Assault Commander in other games[]

  • The spinning animation sprites were redrawn for the Duke Nukem 3D Plutonium PAK. The original animation made the Assault Commander appear to stretch, while the redrawn sprites showed a sharper, more typical movement effect.

Trivia[]

  • 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.
  • The music "Going After the Fat Commander" (codename "FATCMDR") was named after the alternate name of the Assault Commander.
  • The 3D Realms description of the Assault Commander states it drops RPG ammo when killed but in fact it doesn't drop any in the game at all.
  • The Assault Commander never respawns on the Damn I'm Good skill even if its corpse is left intact.
  • On the Playstation version the Assault Commander is silent.
Duke Nukem 3D
Episodes L.A. MeltdownLunar ApocalypseShrapnel CityThe BirthAlien World Order
Weapons Mighty FootPistolShotgunChaingun CannonRPGPipe BombShrinkerExpanderDevastatorLaser TripbombFreezethrowerIncinerator
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