ubercharged.net

Note: This is pre-Scout update, in case you are wondering about the lack of Scouts. I started this post on the 20th of February according to Word Press…
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It was a simple dream, and one many people before me have achieved. To use the Kritzkreg and deal some serious damage. After Pyrit linked to a Kritzkerg frag movie, I’ve been wanting to do some amazing Kritz-ing, if the only reason is that said movie had really cool music. So I grab my old and dusty unlockable and head out to the big, wide world of random PUB servers. Guessing by the levels shown in the movie, I search for Payload map, since Defence on Payload is the best time for a kritz because the BLUs surround the Payload in order to move it, and if one krit rocket hits the cart, there will be gibs, and lots of them.  This is also the reason I didn’t go to the UC server, I believe it was playing ctf_convoy. Anyway, I see a nice open space on a server with little latency with 24/7 Goldrush, so I head there.

At first, the server seemed alright. Fast Spawn was on (Almost Insta-Spawn for BLU, about 5 seconds plus deathcam time for RED), but that didn’t affect much. There wasn’t a spot on RED, so I decide to help the attackers. Although I managed to get my charge up to 100% several times, I didn’t manage to make the carnage I hoped to create. After we failed the round, the server reseted (Or whatever you call it when the server changes map to the same level), and I grab a spot on the RED team. But I didn’t expect something, and when I saw it, a little bit of me died. I guess you want to know what I saw, don’t you?

Well, see for yourself…

Yep, I believed my team had 9 people at the time, including me, and 6 of them thought ‘I think this team needs another Engineer’. One thought ‘Ka-BOOM!’ and went Demo, and the final thought ‘We need more Medics!’ and went Medic with me. Sadly, we both had Kritzkergs and we both only had one person to kritz.

In addition, I appeared to be on the “anti-teamwork” team. When I was on BLU the match before, my favourite Kritz target was a Soldier with a mic. We managed to take down a Sentry together (Which, in retrospect, would have been so much easier with an Uber). However, this team had no teamwork whatsoever. As you can guess, the Engies focused on their Sentry, rather then all teaming up on one or two Sentries. Needless to say, we got owned. Even the Engies that stayed at the second point to set up LVL 3 Sentries were easily beaten. Maybe my team realised that Sentry Farms aren’t the best defense and changed their classes to useful Kritz targets. Then again, maybe not…

Next round, the Engie party returns and they all go out making more Sentries. The other Medic got bored of overhealing Engineers, and decided to become a Pyro, which is an ok Kritz partner, but not the best. A Heavy joined my team, and I thought “Yes! A Kritz target which doubles up as a meatshield!” Oh how wrong was I…

The Heavy was either new at the game, slow, laggy, or very, very stupid. Most likely laggy, but he wasn’t jumping all over like a laggy person. He was slow to leave the spawn room, and when he did, he ended up looking at a wall most of the time. When we did make it to the field of battle, he decided to fire Sasha from a distance, rather then up close. Because of this, I didn’t activate my Kritz in case I wasted it. A BLU Demoman went around, and attacked my Heavy with Stickies, which he didn’t notice, but even I could here the stickies being fired and myself yelling “INCOMING!” via X+1. The Heavy survived after being blasted into the air, which amazes me because of all the Stickies the Demoman used…

Once again, we lost the stage. The final setup started, the Engie party left the spawn, I sighed. Six Engies, a Pyro, a Demoman, and a Medic (I think the Heavy left, or went Engie, or maybe I chose to ignore him) defending Gold Rush from a balanced team of Soldiers, Heavies, Medics, Spies .etc. I press tab to see the current scores. The highest scoring player on BLU had more then double the score of the highest scoring player on RED. That might be because of all the Payload-Moving BLU has been doing, but that is no excuse for my team’s lack of success. The three highest scoring players on our team were the Demoman, the Pyro, and Me. Whoever said Pubbers only worry about the amount of points they had was clearly wrong in this case.

I forget how the match went, but I know it didn’t go well. I did notice one thing late into that last round. I decided to see what classes my team had. We had less Engies. We had Soldiers and the like. It seems like my team had some sort of plan after all. Make Sentries, wait for them to be destroyed, change class. It is either that, or maybe they realised that Sentry Farms don’t always work. I like to think the former is true, and that there was some intelligence on my team…

We lost swiftly and painfully. I was hoping for some amazing Krit kills, but all I got were Sentries, a defense tactic where the Kritzkreg is useless. I left after that round. You could say I ragequitted. I learnt/remembered two important lessons from that match.

1. Using the Kritzkreg requires teamwork and communication. I’ve manage to do some kritzing on the UC server, because I know the people on the UC server. You can go to PUBs and use it, but if you are with friends, you trust them more and they trust you more. Communication for Kritzkregs is just as important as it is for Ubers. Or maybe even more, since an Uber can be activated to save yourself or your Medic Buddy. Having a mic helps. Being with friends and using a mic is even better.
2. Sentry Farms aren’t the best defence. The reason they work is because the most of the enemy dies by your non-Engineer friends. If all the enemies are fighting a Sentry Farm with the Engies whacking their Sentries, they will destroy it one Building at a time. You need non-Engies to kill their Medics, Demos, and other enemies.

I write this article for those two reasons. Don’t suffer the Anti-Kritz Defense like I did! Talk to your team, stick with some friends, and for the your team’s sake, do not play as an Engineer if you team already has 3!