0augs forces unnatural game setting without being a fully developed mod - thus, 2 weapons are usually removed (or game would mostly focus on spamming those), and 6+ weapons are useless. Additionally 100% of alternative ammo are removed, along with LAM grendade. Pure servers sometimes remove some or all of the 6+ useless weapons, along with turrets, gas.
This is normal because it is a gametype players made, and not what developers intended. Someone could've made a mod that balances the weapons, but it never happened, and given how it takes Deus Ex out of DXMP I don't particularly care. I have played 30-40 clan wars in 0augs and am a little fearful of the exact amount of gaming hours I might've put into this game over the last 9 years.
0augs is basically played with Assault Rifle, Sniper Rifle, Pistol. To some extent AssaultShotgun may be viable in some specific situations that at the same time can be adjusted for Assault Rifle or Pistol. It is nevertheless used because it *seems* easier than pistol for beginners.
Guide to 0augsIf I play 0augs these days, I explore the possibilities of making use of Shuriken, though. In theory it should be effective, in practice I have never in my life seen anyone use it efficiently enough for it to constitute as a "choice". I also notice that it takes a lot of practice and at this point I cannot reliably hit head with it with every knife. Should that happen, I'd expect it can be used, especially because you can hit the other player without being hit (projectile delay).
In ATDM most weapons are balanced. The gametype suffers from certain conceptual issues that I've analysed in length, but plans are in motion to address those issues eventually.
Weapon Damage Tables.
Player with Combat Knife can deliver 120-130 damage (to head) with one strike. Head without protection has 100 health. 2 strikes vs protection (Ballistic Protection) deliver 142 points of damage.
You see some similar interesting possibilities with other weapons.
Lot of the bland styles and weapon choices in atdm can be attributed to the poor skill level of the players. If you had server full of players that are as good as Ricci, or better, you'd see some interesting developments.
As for HE20 and LAWs, I am quite pissed off by the double standards. People should just host one server that has shells, and one that hasn't got them. End of story. What we generally see about shells is just some nooby whining. Yes, certain styles incorporating that ammunition are *not* impressive, but neither is running around map with assault rifle or dts. The use of such weapons should be decided by admins and not by some kind of peer-pressure that we see in typical ATDM server. "Don't shell until I shell you first". Pffft.
TL;DR: in auged games weapons are balanced, in 0augs there are 3 useful weapons (not saying you cannot actually kill anyone with the rest, somehow) and the reasons why should be obvious even without me writing walls of text. If you want to use more weapons in 0augs, make a proper mod.
For Bubba and the topic, Dani directed my attention to this resource:
Key Binding Tool by Veronika.
Being used to making do in this game without additional programs, some features of that tool even struck me as potentially useful, so give it a look.