Thirty-Six Rules of Fighting: Part 2 of 6
Alrighty, last time I saw you guys, you were busy readin’ through the first part of this awesomely long and awesomely fun guide… so what are ya waitin’ for? Get back to reading!
Thanks for all your support in part 1!
7. Medic combos are NOT invincible
No, no, and NO, just because you have a medic on you doesn’t mean that you can’t be overwhelmed. While it’s a general rule that you should engage their med first, doing so is not always possible nor is it practical.
To learn why they are not invincible, we have to learn how to beat them; there are a few primary methods.
Number one is simple: kill the medic, enough said, point proven. But what if the medic is out of range?
However, sometimes, the best way is simply to “saturate” the target zone; that is, hit the target faster than a medic can heal him.
Best example? Heavy vs. Heavy-Medic.
You’re the heavy against an overhealed heavy with a medic; they’ve not noticed you and you can get the first half-a-second of shots in just before he gets revved, what do you do?
Conventional wisdom tells you that you should go for his medic first, as you can take him out quickly, but it’s not always easy; the medic will hide behind the heavy, worse still, the enemy may kill you.
Few players realize that if they go for the heavy and open fire at close range, they can kill the enemy heavy first even though he has a medic. A dumb HM combo will engage you (and lose), but a smart HM combo will cut their losses and run for support. A smart team will only fight back if they are supported.
Now that I’ve explained that, realize that even though you have 300 health which is being regenned at 24 a second, you are still vulnerable to being overwhelmed by a large quantity of rockets, grenades, baseballs, small-arms fire, arrows, or any combination of the above.
WARNING: Serious Zone! – Target Saturation
Saturation of the target zone means to lay down enough fire to pretty much kill anybody in the zone. Once you reach that point of saturation, there is little need to lay down any more fire on that area.
For example, there are three soldiers and four demomen bombarding the right trench exit on Dustbowl Stage 2.
Do you really need SEVEN people on that little hole? I’d think that three is the most you’ll need, maybe less if you have a heavy or a medic helping out.
End Serious Zone
8. Don’t count on crits
“Luck is nothing” – Oscar Wilde
If you go out and assume that you can win because you’ll crit, then you’re doing it wrong. If you base your strategy on luck, you’re playing the odds, and as we all know, it’s a gamble you’ll more likely lose than win.
You can hope for a lucky crit to reverse an otherwise hopeless situation (Soldier on the point, you’re a sniper with a machete), but don’t expect to come off tops. Expect to see yourself at the respawn room shortly, but sometimes, luck does turn out in your favor….
The best endorsement for this rule happens in clan to clan scrims, where crits are disabled entirely, but of course, this guide is mainly for the average casual player, not the clanscrimming person
9. Take the high ground
“It’s over Anakin, I have the high ground!” – Obi-Wan Kenobi
Taking the high ground is a massive advantage for one reason: you can hit him easily. The opposite is not so.
Let’s take Gravelpit point C as our case study, I’m a soldier guarding the point, and my enemy, Bob the blu soldier, is down at point A shooting up at me, while I’m shooting down on him.
Unless I’m standing next to the wall (which is suicide in most cases), I’m nigh invulnerable to his fire since he has no way of hitting me with direct or indirect fire, assuming I have rudimentary dodging skills.
The reverse paints a different story, on the high ground, he has nowhere to run, if he ducks into the alcove, I can pin him down with suppressive fire and even kill him by bouncing splash damage off onto him. Jumping won’t help him, either.
Now let us consider the indirect class, the demoman. A demoman would have no trouble shooting up, however, they wouldn’t always be able to reach point C due to range limits, and even so, a grenade would be dodged by a good player.
See also point 11 – watch your deep-dead zone for a way to counter an enemy who has the high ground.
10. Dodge to the RIGHT of your enemy
“Know your opponent’s anatomy you must” – Sun Tzu
The weapon bias means that his weapon travels very slightly to the left of where he is aiming. By dodging to the right of the enemy (your left, if you are facing him), you make yourself harder for him to hit.
Better still, for a right hander, it’s easier to turn left than it is to turn right. (You learn this in fighter school by the way; just don’t turn into an enemy’s attack.)
Just try it; hold a joystick in your hand, and see which direction it’s easier to turn in, left or right?
Note that for targeting sentries, the reverse is true. Make it such that you can edge the gun, usually done by going to a “left turn corner” where the rocket launcher can shoot the gun.
WARNING: Serious Zone! – Weapon Bias
Let’s say that I’m a medieval knight who’s jousting with a really long lance. I’m right handed (and so are 90% of you so I won’t likely get bombarded by hate mail).
Which direction will my lance point if I want to hit someone dead ahead of me?
It’ll point very slightly to my left (since it’s on my right, I have to tilt it to the left at about a 30 degree angle off my arm, the lance is, in fact, acting as my “firing line”), so the weapon will lead from right to left.
As you can see from the screenshot below, my huntsman (I’ve used the huntsman to demonstrate it) is trained perfectly on the head of the enemy, but unfortunately for me, the weapon bias on my huntsman saves the engineer from my long-range brain surgery tool.
What you’ll notice is that while small, this miniscule aiming degree change can make up for a lot of error over long distances. If the degree of error is say… 10 degrees (not a lot), that can add up to a lot.
The best way I can put it is this: If you’re in Dallas, Texas, and you want to travel to New York on a holiday, a 10 degree error means that you’ll end up in Cleveland, Ohio, which should be enough of an incentive for you to get aiming better…
End Serious Zone
11. Watch your deep-dead zone
“Aim low” – Dodgeball
While taking the high ground is good, know that you have a blind spot, directly below you. As mentioned before, a demo would have no trouble shooting up, and he can hit you with no trouble since you’re not keeping watch for him. It’s an ideal spot to sneak up on the defenders. As demonstrated below, you’ll notice that there’s a small area my revolver cannot shoot at without exposing me to everyone or falling down.
Likewise, when an opponent has height advantage on you, try to sneak up on a side where he’ll not be expecting you. Try a rocketjump, stickyjump, or simply launch grenades (or have your teammate do it for you; be sure to have adult supervision if you are under 13).
WARNING: Serious Zone! – Concept Content: Indirect Fire
Indirect fire is any type of fire that is not direct; direct fire involves aiming at the target through the reticule. It is any fire that does not travel in a straight line. The only classes in the game with indirect fire are therefore the demoman and the medic (who uses the syringe gun anyway aside from combat medics?)
One advantage/disadvantage of indirect fire is that such rounds are affected by gravity, giving them the possibility of shooting over cover but also limiting their range.
Grenades are excellent in flushing enemies out since they deal great damage, and they can be bounced off walls to reach the target more effectively, resulting in a better “flushing capability” than rockets.
End Serious Zone
12. Scout, Scout, Scout
“Knowing your enemy is half the battle, the other half is knowing yourself” – Oscar Wilde
If you don’t know the enemy team’s composition and they know the position of all your guns, you’re asking to be defeated since you won’t know what’ll come at you – an uber demo, an uber soldier, uber heavy – and you won’t prepare appropriately.
By having one player call in the enemy coming in, you can be prepared to counter them. This player can be a scout (on Gravelpit), a spy (dustbowl), or any player on your team with an eye for detail.
As a medic, you don’t have to aim your gun to heal someone, so use this time to act as a spotter for people. When charging in with an uber, call out targets for your Überee and direct him out of there once your uber runs low.
In an actual battle, everybody should call out enemies coming in – specifically demomen and spies – ubers, intel locations, and many more things.
EchelonThree on October 11th 2009 in community, game classes, how to, maps, tactics, team fortress 2, the funny
Stumble it!
Rakuen responded on 11 Oct 2009 at 8:24 am #
Oh dear God no, not Cleveland, anything but Cleveland!
And as far as indirect fire goes, the Pyro has a slight one in the flare gun now. It’s not tremendously effective, but you can use it to shoot enemies you can’t quite see (low cover or enemies over the crest of a hill).
like 45 ninjas. responded on 11 Oct 2009 at 8:26 am #
correct me if i’m wrong, but i’m pretty sure that using left-handed view models will also alter the position that your bullets fire from as well. i use left-handed view models, so tip #10 only affects players who use right-handed view models.
fdsdfsfsd responded on 11 Oct 2009 at 8:48 am #
Bullets are not affected by handedness (the bullet trail is only visual)
ComissarCain responded on 11 Oct 2009 at 9:30 am #
Great guide so far: Aside from no-brainers that people learn pretty quick, you delve into a lot of the nuance that people who are new to the game just don’t consider. Keep it up!
Corodan responded on 11 Oct 2009 at 9:57 am #
I wholeheartedly approve of the Scouting.
Mr. Noobinator responded on 11 Oct 2009 at 10:39 am #
IMO, point 12 only works in competitive setting. my experience for becoming the ‘eye’ of the team (usually as C&D spy) in pub games, they don’t really care whats coming for them, whether its an uber soldier, uber heavy, or triple uber combo, i always notice them beforehand, and they don’t seem to be doing anything to hold the frontline.
Jesus III responded on 11 Oct 2009 at 12:13 pm #
@ Noobinator: I concur. I get a kick out of playing C&D spy, so I like to call things out; however, in a pub, I guarantee that nobody’s going to listen to you (or worse, they’ll make some crack about using ‘tactics’ in their precious killfest videogame).
Aftershock responded on 11 Oct 2009 at 3:03 pm #
Or even if they do listen to you, they’re not going to know how to react other than +forward their sentry or maybe airblast the uber. Which they don’t exactly need calling for..
Alexander responded on 11 Oct 2009 at 3:39 pm #
Obi-Wan did win that battle because of the upper ground, but what about Darth Maul? He had the upper ground on Obi-Wan, but still got sliced up good.
EchelonThree responded on 11 Oct 2009 at 3:56 pm #
@Noobinator
And that’s precisely why so many players on pub servers get screwed so easily. If everybody thinks that way, nobody reports in, and nobody knows where to defend.
EchelonThree responded on 11 Oct 2009 at 4:04 pm #
Incidentally, I relished the chance to apply fighter school to TF2.
And Darth Maul was fighting a 2v1, of course he’d lose, otherwise we wouldn’t have a story would we?
randombaddie responded on 11 Oct 2009 at 5:50 pm #
@like45ninjas: You can actually fire out of the center of the screen by using the console command for viewmodel flipping, IIRC “cl_flipviewmodels N”, by passing it a 2 or a 3. (flipviewmodels 0 is right-handed, 1 left, and I’ve read that 2 is right-handed but fire from center, 3 left but fire from center).
EchelonThree responded on 11 Oct 2009 at 8:33 pm #
@ninjas
Nonetheless, valve set it such that all projectile weapons come from the right
And as for the settings, I can elaborate if you want, but I intent to keep to my guarantee of no consolewhoring.
Ihranator responded on 11 Oct 2009 at 11:21 pm #
IT’S NOT A BLOODY MACHETE, IT’S A KUKRI
Corporal Kiwi responded on 12 Oct 2009 at 12:08 am #
I switched from Xbox TF2 to PC TF2, and now I’m not the most skilled one anymore X) The guide is helping me adapt to my new environment. Thanks
Spy Guy responded on 12 Oct 2009 at 1:06 am #
“who uses the syringe gun anyway aside from combat medics?”
I take it this guide was written before the Medic update (I know it was written before the latest update at lest)?
Nowadays, combat Medics use the Blutsaugher, and those focused on healing (me, among others) use the syringe gun, because the 3 hp base regen + 3 hp bonus regen works wonders if you don’t have any enemies around to steal health from (i.e. you’re hiding like a coward… erm… smart Medic).
Of course, the downside to this is that one is practically defenceless on mid-close range.
Which means that as far as I’m concerned the Blutsaugher is no longer a complete upgrade.
EchelonThree responded on 12 Oct 2009 at 1:10 am #
@ Spy Guy
Yeah, the update came as this guide was being queued for publishing, right now I use the syringe gun myself, I’ll have to update this at the next checking run.
My opinion is that the blutsauger is more combat oriented now, if you think about it, the medic’s weapons are primarily for self defense, most of the time you won’t be pulling them out, the passive healing bonus is usually better for this purpose.
like 45 ninjas. responded on 12 Oct 2009 at 7:14 am #
@echelonthree
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y9u_1Ln2fFI
bullets ARE swapped with viewmodels
Mr. Noobinator responded on 12 Oct 2009 at 10:50 am #
@ninjas: so….does that means left-hand model also affect Soldier’s rocket launch? AWESOME!! all i need to do now is to use my G15 to macro a key to swap left and right model, and i can start spamming those sentries behind the wall
ExAstris responded on 12 Oct 2009 at 2:47 pm #
Not only am I left handed, but I also live in Cleveland, Ohio, and you are going to DIE.
The idea that Cleveland sucks is actually a myth perpetuated by clevelanders to keep you dumbasses from moving here! If I lived in LA or NYC, my house would cost over three times what it does here…
F_t_R responded on 13 Oct 2009 at 12:33 am #
I may have gotten totally confused here, but point 10 doesn’t seem right. If I dodge to my left, then to keep my opponent in view I have to turn to my right.
Also this bit: “The weapon bias means that his weapon travels very slightly to the left of where he is aiming.”
Doesn’t the screenshot clearly show that the weapon travels to the right of where he is aiming? Granted he is pointing it left, but as a result of that the projectile travels on the right of the centerline until it reaches where you were aiming and the paths converge, and assuming you miss the target it would then continue on its path and travel right of the centerline. Everything I’ve seen in TF2 looks to me like the projectile crosses the centerline at the exact spot you are aiming, otherwise your crosshair would only be accurate at a specific distance. In the screenshot because something intervened before the target was reached the projectile impacted on the right. If it has missed the target and continued it would have impacted on the left. The path looks something like the following, where * is the centerpoint, | is the centerline and \ is the projectile path:
\ |
\|
*
|\
| \
So if that is right, aren’t you better off if you dodge either forward and (to your) right, or back and left?
NiteCyper responded on 13 Oct 2009 at 8:12 am #
The back hitbox starts sooner on the right-side, so this is important for flailing Spies.
finale responded on 13 Oct 2009 at 11:03 am #
The scout’s ball also counts as an indirect fire weapon.
EchelonThree responded on 13 Oct 2009 at 12:10 pm #
@ FTR
The screenshot clearly shows the projectile starts on the right and travels left.
The screenshot shows the weapon travels left, the weapon would be on the right side of the screen before impact, but to do that, it means that there would be a bias of the weapon to the left, not right
Anyway, if you dodged right, he’d have a harder time turning his mouse outwards (they teach this in top gun, you NEVER bank right to evade since it’s harder to pull a turn that way.)
Furthermore, if you’re trying to dodge someone (which means you’re playing defensively), it’s in your advantage to dodge left, then return fire when you have the chance.
Your point is completely right…. if you’re somehow in point-blank range of a sentry gun with a huntsman…..
@ Finale
That hardly counts, it does 6 damage….
F_t_R responded on 15 Oct 2009 at 6:03 am #
Ok, thanks for clearing that up. I was reading it as, if you draw a line between you and the target the projectile travels to the left of that line; what you meant was that due to the weapon being situated on your right it travels with a left angle
lance responded on 23 Mar 2010 at 2:20 pm #
You are completely wrong about #10.
Whilst the projectile may come out from the right heading to the crosshair.
It is ONLY the first couple of meters that it is biased to the right side. After a short distance, the projectile will be dead centre.
This tip regarding baised aim , is only useful for shooting around a corner.