ubercharged.net

Well, part six of the competitive TF2 guide is here at last, and I can assure you that it is a heavy hitter. I’m going to be talking about my class of choice, the sniper.

Now, you may be saying to yourself, “But you never mentioned sniper in the list of commonly played competitive classes!” And you are certainly right, I didn’t. But the sniper is one of, if not the most commonly played utilities in competitive TF2.

The sniper is very straightforward at first glance, you shoot the heads of the other team, and they die. Simple, right? Not always. You have to keep in mind that in a competitive match, gameplay is incredibly dynamic. When half of the other team is flying around the map, as opposed to standing on the cart, the sniper’s job becomes exponentially tougher.

But this is what makes competitive snipers so interesting. They’ve adapted to hitting rapidly moving targets, even when they’re at close ranges. The greatest example of this that comes to mind is the TFC sniper guild Auto-Aim. They’ve since moved into TF2, and they are just as absurdly skilled.

When playing as a competitive sniper, one of your most important roles is to attempt to kill the enemy medic. With the medic down, you not only eliminate a source of health for the other team, but you also open up opportunities for your own team to push.

Remember, in order of importance, you should kill:

1. Other snipers
2. Medics
3. Scouts
4. Demomen
5. Soldiers
6. Other utilities

A good sniper can also effectively stop captures, as well as open up a point that is being guarded to capture. On the subject of opening points, the sniper’s SMG and sniper rifle are perfect for destroying stickies. Do not hesitate to destroy stickies if it will protect your team. It doesn’t matter if you waste a charged shot, a living medic is more valuable than a dead enemy.

On the subject of techniques, sniper is 90% aim, but there are some techniques which can make you more effective. The first technique, scanning, can greatly increase the speed with which you are able to land shots. Scanning consists of roughly aiming at head height while unscoped, so that when you do scope in, you have less fine aiming to do.

Though this is really personal preference, I tend to scope in for a full charge. Yes, this decreases the speed with which I shoot, but it also means that even if I barely hit the enemy medic or one of their scouts, that player is dead. Keep in mind that when it’s 6v6, every player counts. I’ve yet to meet a competitive player who has complained to me about a bodyshot, so blast away.

Again, personal preference, but it’s typically better if you turn off auto rescope. You should be planning shots wisely, and when you get pulled back into the scope, you put yourself at risk, by lowering your field of view. Now, while being able to rescope if you miss can be useful, it’s generally best if you just do it manually.

In regards to your field of vision, you should always set FOV to it’s maximum. This enables you to see more of the battle, and can even mean the difference between an enemy sniper seeing you, or you seeing him.

When on maps with long sightlines, such as Badlands or Gravelpit, use the openness of the area to your advantage. Use the space between you and your enemy as a trap. Because regardless of his skill, you’re more precise at long range. Lure him into an open space by retreating (it’s not important whether you fake this or not) and headshot him. You can also lure him into the rest of your team; either way he’s dead.

While having loads of empty space between your enemy and yourself may seem to make you a sitting duck, it also gives you an unobstructed view of him. In addition, also keep in mind that while the sniper is certainly very effective at long range, he is just as effective at medium range. When at a mid distance from your enemy, their heads are much easier to hit, give their relatively large size when scoped in.

Since sniper is all about aim, there isn’t much more that I haven’t covered in the way of techniques. But easy ways to improve your aim include downloading training maps like tr_walkway, or just playing the class. Playing competitive maps and sniping from near the front lines is far better for your sniping ability than being a WCS on 2fort. Practicing sniping on 5CP maps will give you a feel for the ebb and flow of action, and allow you to get used to the environment.

Aim is something that you have to work at gradually, and you shpuld adjust your mouse settings to whatever works for you. Some snipers play with a lower sensitivity. Personally, I play with my mouse set to 3600 DPI, with in-game sensitivity set to 5.

That should about cover it. You’re an assassin – precision elimination of key targets is your role. Taking down key enemy targets, specifically the medic will hugely help your team and justify your reason for existence.

Oh, and one last note – when you’re practicing sniper, keep a jar handy. Could save you from the terror of a bathroom break.

What’s this? An article in the competitive TF2 series not done by himmelstoss or clubtheseals? Yep, since I was credited way back in the first installment I figured it was time to get off my lazy bottom (or rather, sit on it some more), and give you the low-down on a class near and dear to our hearts, the Medic!

Let’s face it, no one in their right mind wants to play Medic on the average public game. Your teammates are generally uncommunicative, dull, unskilled or simply don’t care about you. Buff up that Soldier? Guarantee he’ll jump away and leave you to die via buckshot as he gets shot by a Sniper. Stick with your pal the Heavy? The lumbering oaf will get stabbed before you can even mash X+2 (not like he’d pay attention anyway). All this assuming on the off-chance that your team isn’t entirely composed of scouts, snipers, pyros and spies.

Well, wipe your fears away and step into the boots of the competitive medic! As a medic, you’re still underappreciated to an extent, but you become the center-piece of the team-its quarterback, so to speak. You alone control the flow of the game, and getting sacked may just cost your team the game. American Football analogies aside, you become the player that drives the team, which I’ll get into later.

The Medic Mentality

Anyone can play medic, right? Just mash M1 and dodge incoming fire, right? Yes and no. As a friend put it to me once, “Playing medic is easy, but playing medic well, now that’s hard.” Just like any other class, you can pick it up and play, just not well. Unlike the other classes, however, who focus on super 1337 aim and movement skills, the medic instead focuses on thinking, planning, and having ironclad faith in your men. I don’t know about you, but the average player is usually severely lacking in the former two.

The proper mentality to take is that of a sissy puny baby. Your team cannot push without you, you have a measly 150 HP, an unreliably slow health regeneration, and, as an added bonus, you have a big 10-metre “Shoot Me, Please!” sign hanging over your head. Everyone’s gunning for you and you’ve gotta know when to move and to where.

Your Meatshield and You

The easy answer to the question of “Where” would be with your pocket. As covered in the Soldier article, there are (generally) two Soldiers on your team. One (the pocket) focuses on protecting you, and the other (roaming) focuses more on flanking but is still your number 2 man. You want to stick with the guy who offers you the best protection at any given moment, and the Soldier generally takes the cake being the most balanced in terms of mobility, firepower, and direct combat capabilities.

In the event that your Soldiers bite the dust, it goes to the Demoman and then the Scouts if the threat isn’t too large. On the occasion that you have a Heavy you’ll generally stick with him but it’ll vary depending on the team.

Learning to work with your team is something that will come with simply playing with them. A big mistake that a newbie team will make is not playing with each other outside of practice and matches. As the Medic you rely heavily on your team to keep you alive, and as such you must be able to predict their every move and vice versa. Get to know your team, their tendencies, and their relative skill so you know if they’re in way over their head or if it’s safe to press onward.

Properly abusing your meatshields is all about distance management. If he’s getting shelled from afar and you want to avoid the rockets and grenades, you abuse the heck out of the medibeam’s distance and bending ability. If a Scout or other class just made his way to your flank (usually due to your Scouts going down) you have about a split second to dash behind your pocket and alert him. Getting in close is refered to “hugging” and really the only semi-reliable counter to a Scout flank. Your teammate takes the heat while you dash in and out of him and heal so that (in theory) you never take damage. Knowing when to do either eventually comes with practice but in most cases (because rockets explode) distancing yourself is the name of the game. Especially if you’re in the open, keep moving to keep alive. Moving erratically can help if there are enemy snipers, but don’t count on it.

That means NO BATTLE MEDICING. If you need to whip out your blutsauger because you’re alone and being hunted, that’s fine – you won’t survive either way. But if there’s any other friendly nearby, heal him first. He may be able to save you.

Out Of The Gate

So you’ve made it into your first match. Whether you’re the designated Medic for your team or you just went it so that the PUG can start, there are a few basic things to know before you trudge off into combat. The first is that your team is much faster than you (as they’ll all be jumping) and that you need them to get to mid with as much of overheal as possible. The instant you spawn, you start healing. In this order you want to hit the Demoman, the roaming Soldier and then your pocket. The Demo needs the intial buff because not only does he have less health but his jumps are much faster and take him farther. The less health packs he has to pick up along the way to mid, the more you have to fall back on. Generally, after the first jump he’s way ahead of you with the Scouts, so you then switch your attention to the Soldiers. The Soldier’s jumps are generally slower and consume less health so you can almost keep pace with them. By the time you get to mid the Scouts and Demo will have undoubtedly taken some damage from the other team’s Scouts and Demo so don’t be afraid to pass on the love. At this point it’s about finding a safe spot and passing out the heals to whomever needs it. A general heal order for this point and the rest of the match is:

• Players lit (in red health) and taking damage
• Players lit
• Everyone else

During the brief lull in action while holding an area, it’s important to take stock of how much health each class has and how long it’s been since they’ve been injured. Scouts generally get hurt a large amount but get back to you a while after being injured. And so, thanks to heal rate ramp-ups based on how long they’ve been hurt, Scouts will only take a split second to heal and buff. And believe me when I say they really appreciate the buff to their extremely limited health. Soldiers, however, are on the opposite end of the spectrum. They have much more health and are taking damage almost constantly, so it takes forever to heal them up entirely. At this point I usually follow this:

• Get the Demo and Soldiers up to full health
• Buff/heal the Scouts
• Buff the Demo
• Buff your pocket

At this point I feel it’s a good time to mention situational awareness. Being the only person on your team without a gun to aim, it affords you a much clearer picture of things going on outside of the main focus. The Medic effectively becomes an extra pair of eyes to survey and analyze the situation. For example, while your pal the pocket Soldier may see that big ole’ Russian fellow raining down hell directly in front of him, he more than likely won’t catch that Scout dashing in from a side path right toward your soft squishy side. You must quickly become accustomed to swinging around and checking for enemies out of your team’s main field of vision. Communication is key for a Medic player and, as such, one needs to learn how to communicate effectively. While it is possible to play Medic without a microphone/headset it is incredibly difficult. I know from personal experience after breaking a mic that, while keybinds do work to an extent, a microphone is still faster and more precise. There is a lot of information to sort through and relay to your team, and keeping it short and sweet is the name of the game. I wont bore you with the details since you’ll more than likely learn it in your first match but here’s a short list of things you need to relay if someone else hasn’t.

• When you die
• When you are about to respawn/have respawned
• When you get close to a full charge (70%-ish)
• When you use your Ubercharge
• When the enemy uses their Ubercharge
• When you are alone
• Who you are with and where if your team is separated
• Enemy positions outside of the normal focus area (enemies flanking, snipers, demos up high, sticky trap locations)

Other things like when an enemy goes down or when an area is clear are also important but you have to take into account that your teammates will likely see that before you. Your focus should be on things that your allies cannot see easily and fight at the same time. In time you’ll learn better what to say and when but sticking to that list will get you by for quite some time.

Sock It To ‘Em

So you’ve worked up that hard earned Ubercharge/Kritz and you’re ready to lay the smackdown on the other team. Well hold yer horses and listen up, this may just save your neck. Remember way back at the start of the article how I said that you alone control the flow of the battle? Well, I was talking about this, Uber Timing. It’s a slippery subject on its own and it’s incredibly difficult to teach. All I can do is give you a general idea and you’ll have to learn it on your own.

Competitive gaming is all about strategy and advantages. If your team has Uber, you have an advantage. However, if the other team has Uber too, you’re dead even. In lower level games it doesn’t matter as much but when you get into really tough games, forcing you to pop your Uber early is what Scouts are notoriously good at. It’s a game of cat and mouse really, you want the other guy to use his Uber before you so that you have more of an opening to dish out damage with your own. Such a use of Uber is known as a counter-Uber since it blocks the use of their Uber to cause lasting damage and it causes lots of damage to them. While being forced to pop early so that you don’t die is annoying and may cost you the point, it’s better that you stay alive and continue healing rather than waiting to respawn. Time spent alive is time spent charging and you at the very least want to reach full charge at the same time as or just after the enemy Medic. Double and even triple Ubers (where you Uber multiple players at once) are the center-piece of an effective push against a team that doesn’t have Uber, and so waiting for the right moment to strike is of great importance. Just don’t hold on to it to your death.

Public server rules about selecting a Medigun apply in competitive play, too. If you want to Uber frequently, select the Kritzkrieg. However, if the enemy is running a regular Medigun, be aware that in Uber vs Uber battles (which happen surprisingly often), you will almost always lose, especially if the enemy Medic is good enough to Uber multiple players. For this reason, Kritzkrieg your pocket if the enemy Medic is vulnerable to a nice crocket. Removing their Uber eliminates a huge advantage they have over you. Exploit it.

To wrap up: Medic is a deceptively difficult but incredibly rewarding class. As a medic, you are the single most important player on your team. You call the shots. You turn the tide of a game. You…

You are the Ubermensch.

If you’re looking for the other installments of the guide, we have set up a Table of Contents page for you. If you need to link the guide to anyone, send ‘em over there as well. Enjoy, and keep your eyes peeled for the next article -himmelstoss

Okay, I know it’s not wise to open up old wounds, but bear with me here.

As you might’ve guessed, the Sandman was probably the only unlock which was, more or less, universally slammed – flames hotter than a sheep-shearer’s armpit rising. You could practically feel your computer toasting away by just reading the steam forums from the amount of raw, testosterone fuelled, pre-teen rage. But the recent(ish) update to TF2 has brought on some much needed changes to the weapon, which I hope can let everyone relax a little and maybe even try out the weapon.

Why the Sandman is probably the best it can be

Okay, I’m not going to patronise with you by making a list of all the changes made; nor am I going to try to force you to think that the Sandman has become the best unlock concieved. The basic idea of the Sandman is that it can stun – if you remove that, then it’s not the Sandman. So, under the circumstances, I do think the weapon is probably as balanced as it can be made without removing it altogther. Why not remove it? Well, why not remove the Demoman? How about the Pyro, while we’re at it? Despite the weapon’s largely negative reception, people still use the Sandman and once something has been released, it’s just not right to remove it altogther.

Death

The weapon is now made so that one direct hit from a rocket, a grenade, a sticky, a half charged sniper shot or an arrow can kill you instantly. This means Scouts will die even more often than they did before. This makes the Sandman a somewhat more skilled weapon than previously – Scouts will need to dodge more and not be as careless. Getting up close to a Soldier for a point blank shot can be even more risky. Even if you stun an enemy, but don’t finish them off in time… If you’re standing still, chances are you’ll get a rocket in your face and you’ll be dead! Heavies can recover much more easily with their minigun still spinning away. A Heavy can stack up 540 damage in a single second. If you don’t act fast, you’ll be dead!

The Sandman no longer rewards those who do not bother with aiming or dodging (two pretty major attributes Scouts should have) to such a great extent. Against a Sandman Scout, you can kill them much more easily before they may even get a chance to use the stun on you.

Using it as a Strategic Weapon

I think it’s become sort of drilled into people’s minds that the Sandman will get you killed, guaranteed. This doesn’t have to be the case – the Sandman can be pretty ineffective in groups, where Medics and other teammates make it harder for the Scout to get to his target. Even in a 1v1 situation, as stated above, it’s easier to recover or remove the threat before the stun. The Sandman can be used to stop Engineers from tanking. It can be used to stop a Demoman from planting stickings, or Medics from healing a seemingly unstoppable Heavy. In some ways, the Sandman has made it so that you don’t have to kill someone who’s threatening your team. Perhaps stunning that Demoman planting stickies on the CP will give you an opportunity to capture the point and win the game! Perhaps stopping that Engineer from tanking can help get rid of a sentry nest?

Lastly, just have fun!

Let’s face it. Why play TF2 if all it does is get you angry? Just enjoy your time playing. So what if you die from a stunball? Just shrug it off, get back in there on the respawn and… wait a minute.

…Have fun!

I’m so psyched while writing this up. It started as an innocent thread about an innocent command. However, my research eventually blossomed into an amazing discovery that led to having bots battling it out whilst I scrolled through the server list. Trust me, this WILL impress you.

Some Pics

First let me show you what you’re getting into:

How To Do It

1. Go to the RCBot Website and download the latest version of RCBots (As of this article, the latest version is version 0.51).
2. Follow the readme instructions included with the download.
3. Now that you have installed RCBots exactly as the readme said to, open your “Steam\steamapps\<YOUR USERNAME>\team fortress 2\tf\cfg” folder and open autoexec.cfg in notepad. IF THERE IS NO AUTOEXEC.CFG, make one in notepad.
4. In your autoexec.cfg file, paste the following:
   //FOR AWESOME BACKGROUND FIGHTING
plugin_load ../bin/HPB_Bot2
sv_cheats 1
map_background ctf_turbine
alias "redbot" "rcbot addbot 3 2"
alias "blubot" "rcbot addbot 3 3"
alias "botloadscript" "wait 1000; redbot; wait 10; blubot; wait 10; redbot; wait 10; blubot; wait 10; redbot; wait 10; blubot; wait 10; redbot; wait 10; blubot; wait 10; redbot; wait 10; blubot; wait 10; redbot; wait 10; blubot; wait 10; redbot; wait 10; blubot; wait 10; redbot; wait 10; blubot; wait 10; redbot; wait 10; blubot; wait 10; redbot; wait 10; blubot"
botloadscript
5. Run TF2 and wait a while, depending on the speed of your computer, the bots may take longer to load.

Explanation

Basically, I’m loading the plugin for RCBots with {plugin_load ../bin/HPB_Bot2}, running a map in the background of your main menu, and then adding bots. The way that I’m adding bots, is through the use of a script which is defined and run within the autoexec file. I named this script {botloadscript} and run it immediately after defining it.

Why don’t I simply paste a bunch of {rcbot addbot} after loading my server you ask? The autoexec runs through all the commands almost instantaneously. This means that the console doesn’t wait for the map to load before adding bots. So, while the map is still initializing, the console would attempt to add bots and fail. However, if I use a script, the script will only run once in a map, allowing bots to be added once the map is initialized.

How To Customize

If you want to change the map used, simply replace the {ctf_turbine} in {map_background ctf_turbine} to another map. However, be aware that not all the maps are waypointed, and so on some maps, the bots will only stand still.

If you want to change which class a team is made of, change the first X in {alias “[team]bot” “rcbot addbot X [team number]“} to a number 1-9 corresponding to the classes as defined in the RCBots readme. If you want to have different classes on a single team, read the readme and replace  the {redbot} and {blubot} in the main script to various other bot loading commands. I only call upon {redbot} and {blubot} because it was easier for me to switch around classes by changing an entire team to that class.

Other Notes

Having bots battle in your menu will cause the game to load slower upon initial startup. However, some of this time is made up when you join a server, because it will actually load slightly faster due to most of your resources already being initialized. That’s just something to think about if you plan on using this for a longterm period of time.

You can also remove the flag indicator and other HUD elements that appear on your screen by adding {cl_drawhud 0} to your autoexec.cfg.

You may need to adjust the length of the first wait command in order to get your bots to load at a decent rate. I’ve found that 1000 is perfect for my computer, but others my get different results.

My Thanks

I would like to thank putnamehere3145 for starting the original thread on the Steam Forums, also my friend for first mentioning bots and sparking this whole quest, and finally the RCBots team for making fantastic bots, even if they do still need a lot of work.

Please comment with any questions, comments, problems, or suggestions. I had a blast testing this, and I hope that you can enjoy the fruits of my labor!

Continuing with the series of articles on competitive TF2 written by clubtheseals and I: the Demoman. As the only Scottish class in the game, Demomen are generally expected to be the most all-around awesome folks around. Three cheers for Scotland! Apologies for the hiatus, folks.

The Demoman is one of the most versatile classes in the TF2, and that versatility makes him especially useful on a competitive 6v6 team. Accordingly, the Demoman has a number of disparate objectives:

• Area denial
• Forward support
• General splash damage
• Alternate ubercharge target

Area Denial

This is perhaps the most important role of the Demoman in competitive play. If you’ve played the game enough to understand this guide, you probably have realized that going close to sticky traps, especially those placed by vigilant Demomen, is suicidal.

Wouldn’t you know it, it is suicide. But that’s good! As a Demoman, you can exploit that fact to seal off choke points and prevent the enemy team from advancing.

There are two ways you could go about this.

The first option is to plant a carpet of stickies in plain sight. This usually stalls the enemy team for a few seconds. In 6v6 play, sticky carpets can be surprisingly robust. Pyros and Heavies can make mincemeat out of sticky traps with the airblast and the minigun, but they’re generally so situational that they’re unlikely to be around in a competitive game. In essence, it’ll take a while to shoot every single sticky, which is, naturally, in your favor. One caveat: the fastest way to clear a sticky carpet is not to shoot every sticky, but to kill the Demoman who planted the stickies in the first place. Expect the enemy’s scouts to hound you – more on that later.

The enemy team could either run over the sticky carpet (netting you a kill or two), shoot the stickies (which takes a few seconds), or find an alternate route (which can also take a while, allowing your team to fortify its position). If you can lay down a sticky carpet at a well-traveled choke point, such as the house at the middle capture zone of Badlands, you can delay the enemy team’s advance quite a bit, giving your team an immense advantage (read on if you want a visual explanation).

The second option is to use the sticky bomb launcher to ambush the enemy. This entails placing stickies in places that the enemy is unlikely to see them, like so:

The obvious advantage here is that you can kill enemy team members who are unaware of the danger; the caveat is that you won’t stall the enemy (unless, of course, you kill a player who is key to the enemy’s advance, such as their medic). When setting up such ambushes, it’s generally better to place stickies above doorways and on ceilings, where surprisingly few people bother to look.

Forward Support

Demomen are great for area denial, but they have another huge advantage – their mobility. The Demoman, in the right hands, is the fastest class in the game. What this means to you is that you can go ahead of your team and pave the way for them. To draw an analogy here: Let’s say that you’re rock climbing with a friend, and you, the Demoman, are the point climber. You climb up ahead and drive a pylon in to the cliff face, by which your partner (the rest of your team) can climb up (advance) safely. However, as with rock climbing, don’t go too far ahead of your team. It may help to partner with a Scout who can defend you.

Fast Mid

The Demoman’s sticky jump technique enables him to reach the middle capture area of most 5-CP maps (especially Badlands) in record time. Top-level demomen can reach the middle long before the scouts get there. The fastest jumps to mid are quite different for different maps, and the best way to learn them is to watch publicly available demos on websites such as GotFrag and RedrumDemos (note, however, that most of the older demos will not work any more because of recent patches). Moving on:

Once at mid, a Demoman’s job is to try to pave the way for his team.

On Badlands, for instance, you can lay a sticky carpet in the “house” choke point, cutting off the most important route for the enemy and possibly forcing them to take the much more dangerous “valley” route (the area under the central bridge). In the following images, potential sticky trap locations are circled in red.

On Fastlane, you could try to get on the roof of the structure on top of mid. As with a soldier, height advantage is enormously useful. Never underestimate the power of explosives raining down from the sky! But at the same time, sticky jumps take out too much of your health to use frequently. Ask your Medic if “Overheal” is right for you.

Capping

In some areas, Demomen are indispensable for capturing points. Once again, the same principles of area denial and forward support apply.

In the above scenario, I have sticky jumped up to the Badlands spire (the Demoman is certainly very well-suited to capturing such a CP) and am capturing it – in some sense, I’m driving the pylon into the cliff face. The easiest route that the defenders could take to get to the spire is the balcony; accordingly, I’ve locked the balcony down with some sticky carpets. I’m still vulnerable to soldiers rocket jumping from the yard, though.

Note: the Badlands spire is a bit of an exception, because it’s elevated and easily reachable by Demomen, giving any Demoman on top immense height advantage. In that case, it’s a good idea to try to get up top and capture. In the majority of cases, capture zones are extremely exposed, and if there’s any talent a Demoman lacks, it’s the ability to defend himself.

The rule of thumb really is to try to seal a choke point ahead of your team’s position. It just so happens that in the Badlands spire, the best place to seal the chokes is on the CP. Not so with any of the other maps.

General Splash Damage

I hate to say it, but by this, I mean spam.

Intelligent spam.

In essence, using your pipes and stickies, keep dishing out damage. Even if the damage isn’t enough to kill your enemy, try to weaken them enough that your team’s scouts can finish them off.

I’m not going to go into depth on this point; there really isn’t much I can say about it. The best teacher here is practical experience; for these articles, the authors will stick mainly to strategic discussion.

Alternate Ubercharge target

Let’s face it, all you Soldiers out there. When it comes to sheer destructive power, Demomen leave you in the dust.

My personal opinion is that if the Medic has a Kritzkrieg ready to go, it’s better to charge the Demoman than the Soldier. This is a common tactic in European leagues, where the focus, rather than being on the Pocket Soldier-Medic combo, is really on the team’s Demoman. The team tries to keep their Demoman alive as long as possible in order to land heavy damage on the enemy (the Demoman, arguably, is the best class for that role).

Unfortunately, Demomen are supremely ill-equipped for defending their Medics, which is why Soldier-Medic combos are so much more common. However, in certain situations (especially those involving Kritzkriegs, toothpaste, and cans of cat food), Demoman ubers can be just the thing.

If your team chooses to run a Demoman-Medic combo for some time, make sure that the combo is very well defended! Unlike Soldier-Medic combos, which can defend themselves, Demoman combos require the Scouts and Soldiers to stick around and defend the medic from the enemy players, especially enemy Scouts.

Scouts are your arch-nemeses.

Try your best not to mess with scouts. They can take you down in two hits, they’re hard to hit, they’re fast, and they’re strong. Plus, as a Demoman, it’s not exactly easy to defend yourself. You don’t have the luxury of rocket jumping away, either.

But it’s possible to meet a Scout and live.

(No, cp_well doesn’t actually look like that. This is a custom skybox in ubercharged.net TF2 server 3).

The best way, of course, is just to stay alive and call for backup. If you can get a friendly Scout, or better yet, Soldier in the fray, you have a very good chance of living.

Scouts are fast and hard to hit, but they also have very low HP. Two direct explosive attacks will kill a Scout.

To survive, try to put some distance between you and the scout. If you can lay a small sticky carpet on the ground between you and the Scout, you have a good shot at escaping (but beware of the pistol, it’s a surprisingly deadly weapon at mid range).

Resist the temptation to blow up the stickies prematurely. Even the best scouts forget about sticky traps sometimes. If you can leave them on the ground for a while, it’s possible that the enemy Scout will inadvertently go over one. You have to be vigilant, though, to catch them when they’re doing so.

Also, if you can land one sticky hit on them, they’ll go high in the air, where you can take them out with an easy airpipe. If they double jump in the air to dodge, they’ll certainly take fall damage, and regardless, you can send a pipe flying towards wherever they’re going to land.

Oh, and…

If you get a ‘Fro, you are likely to be respected more. When the enemy sees that hairdo in their deathcams, they’ll want to grovel at your feet. Guaranteed.

The top hat too. Everyone respects respectable Scottish gentlemen.

Sadly, I’m still waiting on the pseudorandom number generator to decide that it’s time that I get some respect.

Soaked linked us this little number in the forum that he put together.

Facebook is known to make eyeballs rupture and induce brain nauseating discussion of holiday pics. So it’s nice to see a little TF2 mixed in there.

Team Fortress + Facebook = FaceFortress

So I hacked in to the pyro’s account, and decided to snatch a screenshot. Enjoy!

This took me way too long to finish.

http://twitter.com/VanSoaked
http://projectbonk.wordpress.com/

Digg it!

It’s not exactly a trade secret that we are rather fond of the Medic’s ace in the hole. We’re not writing for www.backstabbed.net, after all. But it’s not often said why it’s so good- everyone has had at least one ubercharge where they killed no one (often due to the ubercharge starting at a bad time) or killed one person and then ran around invincible for eight seconds waving their fists at mid-air in hopes of hitting a Spy.

It’s Original

Team Fortress 2 is often referred to when mechanics in the game show up elsewhere, especially invisibility, one hit kills from behind, and afterburn. But while Team Fortress 2 is often the most famous example or the best done example, in this cases it’s rarely the first. As far back as Thief: The Dark Project a stealthy attack from behind could instantly dispatch a foe in a “backstab” style manoeuvre, and stepping into the shadows in most stealth games grants what is basically invisibility, with a few others giving close examples with a limited invisibility timer (like things based on Dungeons and Dragons, using the spell). Afterburn is functionally identical to a poisoned weapon, except that water extinguishes it. But what you won’t find in another game is the idea that healing enough will give you a charge towards making someone invulnerable. That’s someting Valve can claim to have made up themselves, rather than just using correctly.

It Shakes Things Up

It’s said right there in the author commentary: Ubercharges help to stop stalemates. Engineers turtleing? Ubercharged Demoman or Pyro. Demoman team stickying up an entrance? An Uber will push right through. The ability to just ignore damage for a short time allows most defences to be simply smashed through with brute force, stopping the boring defence versus defence situation that can sometimes occur on control point maps too easy to defend on and too hard to attack on.

It Rewards Teamwork

Shooting people with guns only rewards teamwork so much. Sure, you’re much more likely to win a fight when you’ve got three friends with you, but that’s about the extent of it. But due to how the ubercharge works, it rewards a Medic who actually heals people. Sticking to one Heavy won’t charge it as fast (as he’ll usually be at full health), and due to your sticking to a Heavy and making him a walking tank, you’ll probably end up dead due to the massive target you and the makers of Penny Arcade have drawn on your forehead

Possibly the most often quoted Team Fortress 2 comic ever.

But if you run around a little behind the front lines, keeping your team alive by healing the wounded, you’ll get that charge up fast, and should stay out of the way just enough to survive. Then you can charge forward with your uber and cause chaos.

It’s Fun

Go on, tell me that you didn’t love gibbing someone in one hit with a crit rocket four times in the space of a few seconds after being Kritz’d.

Tell me that it wasn’t awesome the first time you were ubercharged and mowed down an overconfident Pyro, or was ubered as an Engineer and wrenched the enemy team off the final point. The feeling of being invincible, especially if you have the Heavy screaming about his new-found immunity to bullets, is a wonderful one.

Wait… Original? Shakes things up? Rewards teamwork? Fun? What else does that remind you of?

Well, you did it. You managed to stay awake for the Classless Update. It costed you hours of precious time and/or sleep (Depending where you live), but you succeeded in being one of the first players to download the update. And it seems VALVe recognises your achievement, by giving you a rare, level 100 Medal to show your dedication…

Yes, bask in all of its glory. Show off to all your friends. Make all the deathcams with you in so much better. There is nothing this Medal can’t do. This Medal is better than Chuck Norris! Anyone who wears it becomes a God! Why settle for just walking on water when, with this Medal, you can call the water to you and get it to take you to your destination without you even having to lift a finger!

Why, with this Medal, you could finish I Wanna Be The Guy without dying! This Medal has the power to align the planets together, causing whatever disastrous ancient evil of your choice to be awoken. Heck, this Medal allows you to bend bullets to your will! If I was you, I would go get one of these Medals right away if you don’t have one! They are better than anything your girlfriend (Or boyfriend) can do!

Oh, wait…

For those of you who have no idea what I’m talking about, VALVe decided to give the first eleven thousand, one hundred and eleven people who played the Classless Update a Medal unlock for the Soldier. I presume you have seen the new “misc” category in the loadout menu. That is where the Medal goes. There is also this page, if you want some proof of its existence…

So, as you can expect, some people have been rather angry that they could not get a Medal. After all, VALVe only gave out so many (Some of which were deleted by their owners, so people could get their daily facepalm), and the update was released late in the evening in America, which meant the update was released at about 3am in Europe. That means that most Europeans were asleep at the time, so some of those haven’t been very happy to hear that these Medals were given out while they were resting.

I didn’t get a Medal. I was at a camp site at the time, thus I didn’t even know the Medals existed. I wish I did get one, but, to be honest, I would be happy with any non-weapon unlock. I’m one of those unlucky players who has played for a long time since the update, and is yet to earn my very own hat, while people around me have one or two (Or even three) hats, some without having to resort to idling.

So, what should I do? Do I rage to everyone I know, saying how unfair the situation is? Should I stop playing Team Fortress 2, since it clearly hates me? Well the answer is more simple than telling the difference between meerkats and cheap car insurance…

I play some more Team Fortress 2!

(Or spend several hours writing articles about why I should play TF2)

Yes, really.

Why would I stop playing a game I enjoy because I can’t get a rare item? That’s kinda like not going to a theme park because you’re not tall enough the ride a couple of rides; they are always the other rides. Sure, you might have rode them before, but that’s the brilliant part of TF2. There are nine classes, nine different ways of playing. And that’s not including the unlockables…

Some people forget what the hats were added for. They are not some kind of device to enhance your gaming skills, nor are they some kind of advantage in the mist of battle. They are just eye-candy, a way to give the characters more personality, or add more humour to the game.

As for the Medals, yes, you may have missed them, but what says they aren’t coming back, maybe as a random drop? These Medals will most likely come back, since VALVe cares for their customers (And has the ability and time to update their games). I mean, look at the new Sandman. I’ve always liked the Sandman, but not everyone did, so VALVe has done its best to balance it to allow any player, casual or competitive, hat collector or hatless, to accept and enjoy it.

So, before you have a giant rant about the game hating you, think. Ask yourselves if this is an issue that VALVe will pick up on and improve or not. After all, no feature in the game is safe from being changed for balance and/or enjoyment. Just chill, and enjoy the game you have…

HOWEVER!

There is nothing wrong with having a small moan. After all, we are human. We don’t accept everything as it is and say “Oh well,” and carry on. That’s how dictatorships are made. No, people should be allowed to say “Well, actually, I wished that would happen.” It’s only fair, right?

Well, there is a difference between a comment and a full-out rant, and it’s important that people can understand the difference. Some people instantly dismiss any comment about someone not having only of the Medals or Hats as a rant about it. Be honest, have you ever seen someone talk about something that is controversial in the game, and instantly dismiss it that it is the same as every other rant you have read?

No? Let’s just pretend you do…

The thing is, the Medal was an unexpected move, and excludes people from getting one at this current moment. Despite how rare hats are, it is possible that anyone can get one. Chance is a silly thing, because if you say “That’s extremely unlikely”, people can say “Well, what were the chances of you being born?” Statistically speaking, considering the chances of your parents meeting, and their parents meeting, and so fourth, the chances of you being born are extremely less then the chances of getting a hat…

Anyway, the chances of someone getting a hat are low, yet still possible. So, what’s the problem with making the Medals randomly drop like the hats? Some argue that, if VALVe does that, then the Medals lose their value. Well, if you are one of those people, here is a challenge for you. Choose one of the new hats, spend a entire day playing TF2, and count how many people you see with that hat. Come back and tell me how many you see.

The thing is, people are angry for different reasons, and people dislike those people for different reasons. I don’t really understand it entirely either. I’ve given my thoughts about it, but even then, people can argue about them. I don’t like arguments, to be honest. I took a look at the Steam Forums for Medal-related topics. Most of the posts there were pretty much at either end of the argument spectrum. Those who didn’t get one either wish VALVe should make more opportunities to get one, or that VALVe is flawed, greedy and/or stupid. On the other hand, people have attacked those people with sarcastic comments about VALVe’s “stupidity”.

To be honest, I’m not sure what side to support. I disagree with only a limited number of people getting the Medals, but I disagree with the attitude some people have taken towards VALVe and people with Medals. I suggested on the UC forums that players should be able to get one hat of their choice for free, and then unlock the rest normally. Of course, in retrospect, that would make the sight of someone without a hat rarer, since people will most likely pick a hat for their favourite class, and then play as said class. It’s hard to please everyone…

So, where do you stand? Was the way Medals were handed out good, bad, or alright and with room for improvement? May I ask that, when commenting, please don’t cause or contribute to a flame war? I don’t really want to see a repeat of what happened with articles containing the Sandman. KTHXBAI!

Oh, and one last thing…

The person who thought a hatless, bald Engineer was a good idea was clearly wrong. And, thanks to Murphy’s Law, that will be my first hat (or hat removal)…

Continuing with the series of competitive TF2 articles written by himmelstoss and myself is an article on the bugger from Boston, the jackass of all trades, the scout.

Now I’m not talking about just any scouts today. No, I’m not even going to mention your run of the mill stun-and-FaN scouts that inhabit 32 man instaspawn servers. Well, I’m not going to mention them outside of this sentence.

Alright. Here we go. You should know by now that there are typically 2 scouts/utilities on a normal 6v6 team. Their main roles are to protect the medic, protect the demoman, flank the enemy and attempt to kill the enemy medic. However, scouts are not limited to these roles by any means. They could certainly rush into the fray of battle, where only experienced soldiers dare to tread, but their speed and ability to deal high damage relatively quickly makes them well suited to hit-and-run attacks on the enemy team, on enemy medics in particular. In addition to hit-and-run attacks, if a scout is good at dodging and can hold his own, they can be quite effective at direct combat.

As far as defending medics, scouts typically only end up doing this if they need healing, or if the pocket and/or roaming soldier is dead. Scouts can be thought of in much the same way that soldiers can, in terms of ‘pocket’ and ‘roaming’ scouts. This is especially true in European leagues, where this an emphasis on keeping the demo alive to deal large amounts of damage. Frequently, one scout will remain with the demoman in order to compensate for the demoman’s weaknesses in direct combat. This leaves the other scout free to flank and observe the enemy – having a scout announcing the enemy medic’s location and status can prove extremely useful.

Now, in a typical 6v6 team, there are two scouts. But since there may not always be a need for them, scouts can serve as utilities, that is, they can switch to another class to better suit the situation. For example, a scout could go pyro (a fairly useful flanking choice on Badlands) or heavy (a very useful tactic, particularly on Turbine). I’ll go into more detail on utilities at a later date.

The scout is very well suited to capturing points. The scout’s fast enough to almost always be first on the point, and the fact that he caps at double speed helps to make him perfectly suited to capturing objectives. Because he will be the first on the point, the scout can establish an early advantage for a team (by clearing the middle point area of enemy scouts). In many matches, the team that captures the middle point early on wins, so scouts should keep this in mind.

When playing a scout, you are not gifted with large amounts of health, so it can be tempting to take health packs. Do not do this, unless an enemy is going for it. Leave health packs to your team’s medic. He can heal you if he gets the pack. You can not heal him.

On the issue of combat, try to avoid firing early. This is especially important in competitive matches. The earlier you fire, the more time the enemy has to react to you. This not only wastes ammo, as the scattergun does much less damage at long range, but when you are playing with highly skilled players, odds are that they will kill you if they have time to react. In summary, if you are undetected, wait until you close in before firing. The scattergun is absurdly strong at close range, so if you can get up close before firing, your efficiency will improve significantly.

Scout is certainly the most controversial class in terms of unlocks. Due to the controversy surrounding the use of these unlocks, many leagues (and even some public servers) have banned the use of them outright. The sandman, in particular, is banned in all serious leagues. The two unlocks that aren’t banned in all leagues, the FaN and Bonk!, see very limited use in actual matches, due to Bonk!’s situational use, and the FaN’s limited damage output and slow reloading speed.

With the recent buff, the FaN is beginning to see wider use in matches, but its slow reloading speed and low clip size hamper its widespread use . As it currently stands, it’s simply more convenient to use the scattergun, due to its higher overall damage output. Assuming you can aim, of course.

With scout, play can be improved with a few small changes. Now the first is going to take some adjusting to, and might need some extra desk space. To make aiming more precise, and to avoid wasting shots, use a lower mousing sensitivity, coupled with a larger mousing area. Personally, I use an 18″x14″ mousemat  with my mouse DPI set to 3200, and my sensitivity set to 0.7 in game. This will help make shots more precise and less jittery, and should make your aim smoother.

Now, with soldier, learning jumps is extremely important. A good soldier should know where the map’s perches are, as well as where the map’s clipping is. This can be just as important for scout, who is easily just as mobile as the soldier, if not more so. While jump maps can be useful for soldiers, they are not nearly as useful for scouts. When practicing scout, learning jumps on stock maps is much more useful.

One extremely useful tactic, particularly in 6v6 play, is to partner with the other scout on your team. A well coordinated scout pair can kill combos if they dodge well and concentrate on separating the medic from his partner. This is an area where the FaN can be useful. If one scout bounces the medic away, the other can kill the medic. This then leaves the medic’s partner alone, and by that time, some of his overheal will have worn off.

One of the main roles of a scout is to finish off targets who are low on health, or ‘lit’. The scout shouldn’t be trying to fight fairly. He should be listening to his team and hunting down wounded targets before they can return to their team’s medic. This is another situation where the FaN can be useful. With the knockback, the scout can bounce targets into a good position to be finished off by himself, or his team.

Well, that should just about do it. Hey, take some of these tips to heart and happy scouting.

-clubtheseals

This article is part of ubercharged.net’s competitive TF2 guide.

Recently, essentially beginning with my foray into competitive TF2, I picked up the Soldier. At a glance, the soldier is a simple class. You shoot the rockets to make people-fetti, and use the shotty to finish people off. But it is within the simplicity of the Soldier’s arsenal that the true depth of the class lies. The rocket launcher is an extremely versatile weapon: It not only handily blows enemies into convenient chunks, but it can be used to bounce them, clear points, separate ubers, and launch people into the air, where, as luck would have it, you can hit them with more rockets. The shotgun does its job- absurdly powerful at close range, it’s excellent for finishing off weakened enemies and protecting the soldier when his rocket launcher is out of ammo. Lastly, there’s the shovel, which sees use only as a last resort. On a side note, it is preferrable to simply switch to the shotgun or shovel as opposed to reloading, especially while ubered, because reloading wastes several precious seconds out of 10 seconds of charge. Most new soldiers, and by new I mean public server players (no offense, you amateurs you) charge into combat, firing all their rockets as fast as possible and hopefully getting a kill. This is not the type of soldier I play, and will not be discussed in any manner of detail here. What I am going to discuss however, is what I do play, the competitive soldier.