While snooping around on PLDX the other day, I found this gem – a Demoman movie unlike any other, featuring some impressive jumping by ART and some impressive editing by Cla.
Finally i finished my minimovie about the trickjumps performed by ART. I ended it very fast because i lost my motivation at the end. Btw thanks to Art for the awesome footage and patience.
I’m embedding it here, but for full effect, check out the HD version on PLDX. No, really. You’ll thank me later.
Quite often in gaming an update will roll round and introduce new things to the players. Team Fortress 2 can pretty much hold a record for how many updates it has released, from the major game patches that introduced new weapons and achievements to the small ones that made the smallest of bugfixes, they’ve always had something for everyone. Gamers rejoice!
However, after all these updates there are still some things wrong with the game. Maybe you’ve noticed them and maybe they’ve slowly been bothering you. So, with the Engineer Update just around the corner I thought I’d share with you my favourite tweaks and mods available from FPSBanana, all of which do their best to patch up these errors. Feel free to leave a comment of your own recommended performance tweaks and I’ll add them right here, but bear in mind that this list is looking for a specific type of mod. It must contribute to or even improve the visual splendour and art style of the game. I’m not looking for ‘realistic’ mods, or mods that change the models outright. (there are a few exceptions)
DISCLAIMER: It is recommended you back up your game files before attempting to install these mods. As is the nature of custom content they are provided “as is” and aren’t guaranteed to work with your installation. Always consult the instructions and readme files provided with the mods so you don’t screw stuff up. A lot of these skins require a powerful rig but I’m guessing you’re already aware of this since you’ve already read this much of the guide. Also as with any other user created content some of these mods will only work on a whitelisted server, or one with sv_pure set to 0.
Something you’ll see quite a lot in this guide are mods designed to patch stuff that haven’t been updated since TF2’s beta-stages of development. Note the default icon for the Spy class for example, its shows the beta Spy – the new Spy has a pinstripe suit. Other classes still show the beta shading, so this mod updates the class icons with the current textures and shading.
What other HUD mod gives you advice on improving your tactics in game? This mod makes a very useful contribution to the ever-changing rules of TF2 combat. It’s also good if you’re bored of reading the same basic advice in-between loading. It includes tips on how to use unlockable weapons and even a few joke tips.
The bucket icons were never updated to match the shading and texturing when the style was updated. This mod uses the official Valve Backpack icons for the base weapons, resized and reformatted to replace the originals. Note to Valve – if you’re going to flat-out ignore updating a default part of the game – what’s the point of having it in the first place? Nobody I know uses the bucket anyway.
The first set of hats that came out had huge, ugly icons. So Shugo here changed them to match the later ones, just like he did with the bucket icons. For the sake of uniformity he edited some of the newer ones but if you would rather keep those ones, just don’t install them.
The next time you’re in single player build up an ubercharge and uber an Engineer. Now look at his face – the invuln goggles texture will go across his nose. That’s right; the ubercharge skins were never updated from Beta. This skin pack uses textures based on the modern player models. This will affect all nine classes on both teams as they all have problems with their textures.
Whether you’re stealing plans to build a mega-death laser or the blueprints for the perfect clown car, make the intelligence briefcase worth dying for and slap a new texture on this bad boy! (note: will not fix that seal to stop important documents flying out)
The flamethrower, the bane of spies and loved by newbies everywhere (don’t flame me). Want to make it even cooler (I mean hotter) by adding a yummy high-res texture? This is the mod for you! Download it and Spies everywhere will faint at the very sight of it (or faint after bumping into you, results may vary).
From here-on, you’ll start to notice these are reskins of unlockable weapons in the game. The only possible explanation for this is that Valve likes to cut corners when skinning the new weapons so they’re released on time. Such as the case with the Kritzkrieg, the texture is bland and ugly. This new texture has been painstakingly blown up to a massive 2048×2048px resolution, making the original texture look inferior
Made by the same guy that made the previous skin, the higher-res backburner updates the design with yet another 2048×2048px texture. There is also a medium res texture at 1024×1024px if your computer can’t handle that much awesome. While it does lack in team-based colouring (much like the original), there is the option to keep or remove the snake eye and use a stripe design.
The Ambassador was a notoriously lazy skinning job. The engraving looked illegible, the colour scheme was awkward and they even forgot to put a hole in the barrel for bullets to go through. This skin solves this problem by applying an equal amount of detail throughout the whole model, changed the colouring and materials on the gun to make it look like real metal and added shading. (Oh yeah, don’t forget the bullet hole)
Why would you make a weapon unlock that is just a pair of boxing gloves? Weren’t boxing gloves invented to prevent injury to fist fighting? What bloody sense does that make? By wrapping them in barbed wire it at least makes a bit more sense. But still, why not have the fists dipped into hot glue and broken glass like in Kickboxer? That would be dope.
You know, for a video game company that released a groundbreaking game about a physicist that went around shooting aliens, soldiers and zombies, you would think they’d know a little bit about physics. Alas, the jarate, no matter how much you move will only jiggle a bit after you equip it. Installing this add-on makes the jar of wee jiggle around in the jar when you move (if it’s really that important to you).
Pop quiz: You introduce a class that has a gun that can fire a maximum of six grenades, the developers decide it’s too powerful and decide to reduce the number of grenades that can be fired by two. What is the maximum number of grenades that class will be able to fire now? If you guessed four, you should shoot yourself for guessing.
This pack makes an improvement on the original gibs by increasing the texture file size to 1024×512px, combining the gib skins with the official player skins. Oh yeah, the originals weren’t updated from the beta stages.
That concludes this guide for TF2 improvements. With that, I end this article with an open statement to Valve: Maybe you guys think I’m being a pedantic tosser and like nitpicking. That’s not the case, for the most part TF2 has raised the bar in the video gaming industry with its stellar art direction, offbeat humor and unique gameplay- and raises that bar even further whenever an update is released. But that is certainly no excuse to flat out neglect certain parts of your game because if left to their own devices for long enough they’ll keep coming back to irritate players just like me.
Hell, if you’re feeling generous how about you make these mods official and give the authors community weapons? (hint hint)
Today, our beloved Administrator was expecting some important guests, a business party led by Mr.Mann himself, so in case he wanted to tour the facilities, we were asked to trim our toe nails and refrain from using the bathrooms. Not working was fun, but we had to wait standing with our newly washed and ironed uniforms, without creasing them. Finally, there was a hush and the Administrator rushed in to our Barracks alone, walked over to me and mumbled something about making a lot of money from apples, and that I was to build new weapons to be unveiled as part of some kick off event.
Interesting, I just realized that we never had a single actual apple in our compound, and that I only saw them on TV.
Anyway, I headed back to my workshop. I had so many ideas, because I have been doing a lot of thinking lately. I have been doing a lot of thinking lately because I had a lot of time while mechanically wrenching sentries like a robot. Then it occurred to me, heck, I am an engineer, and I solve practical problems. And there, keeping sentries alive was a mundane task which I should be relieved off.
I recently was assigned an engineering intern, he was from Europe or something, but I don’t know what became of him, maybe the Administrator set him up to participate in target practice, you know, as a target. So I had to build my own assistant.
The Nurse
Oh she is a beauty. And a doll. Always swinging the wrench, relentlessly.
She also dispenses health, ammo and metal. You know what, I tried something new and made her completely mechanical – no electronics. That means she is not sappable – eat that you back stabbing lizards! On the downside she can not be fixed in the field, really. Oh and she is a bit slow, you know, she can fix a sentry when a random pyro decides to attack, or when a traitorous snake pulls a sap-by, but she can’t handle a coordinated attack.
This baby can not multitask as well, it either dispenses OR repairs. Some of the folks on my team may have no honor or ethics, but I am an exception. I managed to mechanically build in the prime directive, so the Nurse will switch to healing whenever a human comes nearby. She has healing hands. Robot hands. Cold, metal fingers that deliver healing.
Some of the guys said that this fingery healing leaves them feeling somewhat violated, but I say to them “go suck on a medkit if you don’t like my robot”.
Rejuvenation at the expense of being touched inappropriately. But such is life.*
Here is what I am going to put down on my slide presentation for the Administrator.
replaces dispenser
mainly used to babysit sentries
repairs other buildings, and is also a level 1 or slower dispenser
can heal/repair ONE person/building at a time
her prime directive prioritizes healing humans over fixing machines, so it stops repairing when a player is nearby
Well, what else? Let’s revisit the sentry, shall we? Ah, she is one my masterpieces. A symbol of accuracy and versatility. For she pounces targets with fierce precision, whether she is deployed on offense, on defense, on your front lawn or in your glove compartment.
Maybe I should think outside the box for this one – how about something inaccurate, and not versatile?
The Cannon
Because bullets don’t pierce ubercharges. But explosions send them flying up. This baby shoots cannon balls in an arc that are more or less aimed at enemy’s feet.
I built this darling using a special armor I casted by melting scrap demoman targes. Take that, overconfident pyros, soldiers and demomen!
Of course there are some issues with this new material, it takes a lot of resources to build, re arm and repair this cannon. It moves slowly and fires slowly. I remember once testing this thing during one of our drills. An enemy scout came in front of the gun – didn’t notice me or the cannon – knelt down, tied his shoes and went off… BEFORE THE CANNON COULD FIRE. Well, really, I see this more as a defensive compliment to the sentry gun. The cannon sends them flying, the sentry pins them mid air.
Here is a picture of an early prototype I was testing with that intern I mentioned.
A recap of my major points for those of you mentally challenged:
replaces sentry gun
shoots cannon balls, in an arc, at enemy feet, with moderate damage. Imagine a sticky bomb launching sentry, with stickies exploding on contact with ground, or flesh.
the explosive effect can propel enemies flying up, which may help defend against ubercharges
very slow turn and firing speed, which means is less effective against faster classes and in close range
has armor made of whatever demoman’s targe is made of; resists explosive and fire damage
has huge metal cost to build, and is not upgradable
———————————————-
Okay, okay. Now something for the teleporter. Teleporter is an innovation in quantum physics, and you blokeheads do not come near even under-appreciating it. ”Need a teleporter here.” As if it grew on trees. Sigh.
Have you ever fought on Granary? Badlands? Any place where spawn rooms move back and forth as capture points change hands? Building a teleporter becomes futile and I end up running back and forth with a toolbox in hand. I am sure you think that it looks funny. And I will make sure that if you find it funny, you will suffer for it.
But back to quantum physics. An entry and exit point fixed in space is required to move people safely at relatively sublight speeds. But if we were to drop our safety requirements, I could just build something to throw people at sublight speeds towards a location that is within a certain probabilistic distance from an exit “beacon” :
The Sublight Sling
This is a sling. There is an entry pad, just like a teleporter, and it throws you to my vicinity at a sub light speed. Sounds easy, right? No it’s not. I have to carry a highly radioactive beacon under my hat. But it works. Oh the things I have endure for you. My piss has turned indigo since I started working on this, I mean, I did not know bodily fluids could come out in such fancy colors. Except for demoman’s blood. It’s more like alcohol diluted with a bit of blood. Think of orange juice, but more putrid.
A case of raining men, I say, Hallelujah.
Here is what it comes down to, folks:
replaces teleporter (you don’t say?)
only an entrance is built, an exit is not required
“throws” users to my location, wherever I am, useful or not
works like a level 1 teleporter or slower
sling is inactive while I am waiting for respawn
I will kindly ask you to knock before using the sling, however.
Can’t I get a moment’s piece, goddammit? And close the door!
As most of you probably know, I’ve been a little bit inactive in the Team Fortress 2 space lately. There’s a bunch of reasons for that: not being awesome enough to have obtained any hats; playing too much WoW, holding down a full time job in Mass Effect 2…
The list goes on.
One of the main reasons though is that I’m just plain lazy. And that I’m an Apple fan boy who spends all his time booted into OS X. Those two points are more inter-related than you might think. You see, TF2 and Steam require an antiquated and inelegant operating system called Windows to run. Thanks to the awesome power of my Mac, I can dual boot into Windows to do this. However it requires me shutting down everything else I was doing, restarting, chugging through an ugly and foreign UI, then booting up Steam, and eventually connecting to TF2 some minutes later.
Where as to play WoW, I just stay planted on the couch safe in OS X land, and Command-Tab between that and the very important twitter session I had running.
All that looks like it’s about to change though
Steam on OS X?
The Apple and Valve fanboy communities have come together over the last week with rumors floating around that Steam and Valve’s Source engine games are coming to OS X. Awesome huh? We’re talking about a May launch here – which is really not too far off.
This is all part of the new client beta that launched recently. One of the subtle changes introduced that only the web-dev geeks picked up on, is that Steam is now using Webkit to drive the UI. What is Webkit? It’s the core HTML rendering engine that is used on the Safari and Chrome web browsers. The old Steam client was really just a thin layer around Internet Explorer – which meant Windows only. Webkit is cross platform and will happily run on OS X.
And being able to just hang out in Steam will be fun. Steam chat is great, but I can only use it when I’m on Steam – which is when I’m in Windows, which is only an hour or so a day if I’m lucky – and for that hour I’m cramming in as much gaming as possible, so I’m probably not wanting to chat to you. Now if we could get an open XMPP chat protocol, it would be even better… (HINT HINT Valve)
So expect to see me around a bit more – both in game, and just lurking on Steam. Anything that help me be a lazy gamer even more lazily is all good. It also means I can actually chat and catch up with you guys.
More eye candy
Here’s a few more teasers that Valve dropped in with their inimitable hype machine style.
And if you don’t know the reference to in the Alyx/Breen strip below, check out Apple’s famous 1984 superbowl ad directed by Ridley Scott.
March 8, 2010 – Valve announced today it will bring Steam, Valve’s gaming service, and Source, Valve’s gaming engine, to the Mac.
Steam and Valve’s library of games including Left 4 Dead 2, Team Fortress 2, Counter-Strike, Portal, and the Half-Life series will be available in April.
“As we transition from entertainment as a product to entertainment as a service, customers and developers need open, high-quality Internet clients,” said Gabe Newell, President of Valve. “The Mac is a great platform for entertainment services.”
“Our Steam partners, who are delivering over a thousand games to 25 million Steam clients, are very excited about adding support for the Mac,” said Jason Holtman, Director of Business Development at Valve. “Steamworks for the Mac supports all of the Steamworks APIs, and we have added a new feature, called Steam Play, which allows customers who purchase the product for the Mac or Windows to play on the other platform free of charge. For example, Steam Play, in combination with the Steam Cloud, allows a gamer playing on their work PC to go home and pick up playing the same game at the same point on their home Mac. We expect most developers and publishers to take advantage of Steam Play.”
“We looked at a variety of methods to get our games onto the Mac and in the end decided to go with native versions rather than emulation,” said John Cook, Director of Steam Development. “The inclusion of WebKit into Steam, and of OpenGL into Source gives us a lot of flexibility in how we move these technologies forward. We are treating the Mac as a tier-1 platform so all of our future games will release simultaneously on Windows, Mac, and the Xbox 360. Updates for the Mac will be available simultaneously with the Windows updates. Furthermore, Mac and Windows players will be part of the same multiplayer universe, sharing servers, lobbies, and so forth. We fully support a heterogeneous mix of servers and clients. The first Mac Steam client will be the new generation currently in beta testing on Windows.”
Portal 2 will be Valve’s first simultaneous release for Mac and Windows. “Checking in code produces a PC build and Mac build at the same time, automatically, so the two platforms are perfectly in lock-step,” said Josh Weier, Portal 2 Project Lead. “We’re always playing a native version on the Mac right alongside the PC. This makes it very easy for us and for anyone using Source to do game development for the Mac.”
Great title, right? Don’t worry. I’m not going to be talking down at anyone during this guide. If anyone is a dunderhead at sniping of any kind, it’s me. So how does a D-head like myself go about telling anyone else how to do their job? Simple: I’m not going to.
I said “effective” huntsmanning, not “pr0″ or “1337″ or any other superior-sounding, number-infused adjective. Once you read my guide, you’ll know how to make yourself felt on the battlefield, and maybe get a kill or two.
_______________________________
Point Numero Uno: The Huntsman is… different.
The first and most important thing you can do as a huntsmanning Sniper is to Lead Your Targets. In fact, I could just copy those three words until they were big enough to fill an article and you would know roughly 90 percent of what you need to know to function with a bow. It’s that important.
And the very fact that you’re using a projectile weapon leads to some very different methods of execution. As a general rule of thumb, if you see a Sniper-prone target (Heavy, Medic, Engineer, etc) and a bit of cover, aiming between the two will give you an almost certain hit.
Also, the Huntsman has a much wider hitbox, and thus can be spammed much easier than the Rifle can. Not to the extent of any sort of explosive, but generally you only have to aim in the direction of anything colored different to you. You’ll hit something. I promise.
_______________________________
Point X+1: Get in close.
Not melee range, lord no. I mean around the effective range of the SMG. You remember that tiny number, don’t you? Keep it in the back of your brain. We’ll talk about it later.
Closing the gap gives you a few advantages over everyone else in the field. Rifle-using Snipers (the pansies) don’t react well to an invasion of their personal space, and tend to swing their machete wildly at anything that intrudes on their personal bubble. Panic, of course, leads to disorganization, and while he’s beating the crap out of an imaginary Spy and looking the other way, you can bow and arrow him to death.
While no one else will be quite as discomfited at having a Sniper getting up-close-and-personal, it does help you in a way that kind of negates Act I of my first point: you don’t have to lead as much. So we’re back to the classic Monkey Island formula: Point, hold, and click. Of course, don’t hold too long, or some Scout with half a brain will bring you up-to-date on modern technology. Violently.
_______________________________
Point Number the Next: Know how you’re going to kill them.
While a long stick with a pointy bit on the end is no doubt impressive, sometimes it’s just not enough. Sometimes, you need to use your secondary weapon to augment the murder a bit. Ignoring the Razorback for a minute (because that’s only for Rifle-users who willingly give themselves tunnel vision), you have two very good choices.
S.M.G.: The Finishing Move
Similar to a hunter in the wild, you use your tradition-laden longbow to tag the brute you’re aiming at, and then end him with a bullet (or 25) to the brainpan. The trick here is to start far, and then move in for some better shooting. This works better on larger, isolated prey, such as a straggler Heavy or Soldier. Just make sure to approach from a direction different from the one you shot him in. An arrow in the liver is a quick attention-grabber.
Jarate: The Boosted Attack
This one’s sort of the opposite to the SMG philosophy. To pull this off, you need to start close and Jarate all over your quarry, then backpedal and snap a shot at him while he pursues you for showing him who truly is the boss. As with the strategy, you also should target the opposite kind of class. This one works best on the lighter enemies who you can’t be asked to get a headshot on, like Pyros and Medics.
Of course, Scouts are a variable in all of this. In any case, the buggers don’t warrant either of the secondaries, because a snapshot will either randomly hit their head, ending the threat, or impale them so bad that they run all the way back to the resupply room, crying for mommy. Unless they’re not sissies or have been drinking extract of Saxton Hale, in which case you should head straight for your own lines posthaste, only turning around to try and nail the little squirt again.
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Point Second-From-the-Last: Huntsmen’s advantages and why the Razorback is rubbish.
Let’s count out the myriad ways The Huntsman is better, shall we?
It lets you move faster, which anyone who’s ever died by Pyro will appreciate.
You keep that wide field-of-view your dad paid so much for.
It gives you limited indirect fire.
Now let’s see the Rifle’s pros.
It flat-out does more damage, always a plus.
You don’t have to lead, because nothing slow enough to be hit at that distance would need to be.
It’s way more accurate.
People won’t accuse you of being a “huntspam noob” if you use it; instead, you’ll be “a f*king hax0r, admin ban nao plzz.”
You know what, that’s all I can really think of.
And all joking aside, that may be enough to give both of these a good niche on the battlefield. But that’s not what we’re here for, so let’s focus on using the Huntsman’s boons to their booniest.
The most obvious is to constantly check your flank and never let a second pass without either killing someone or knowing everything about your surroundings, all the time. If a Spy cloaks in the corner of your vision while you’re lining up a shot, just swivel your view down to him and take him out. You’re doing everyone on your team a favor.
The Razorback was made for traditionally thinking (yes, thinking) Snipers who can’t be asked to move from their designated campgrounds to check for spies. Since you’re a Hunterman, you’ll be on the move and constantly aware. Therefore, it’s worth little to you.
There’s one last thing, although not an advantage, that you really need to know. Nocking the arrow and charging your shot slows you down, though not as much as scoping in with the rifle.
Charge shots have a few advantages: besides the higher damage, the arrows also move faster. A caveat: if you keep the huntsman charged for too long, the accuracy decreases (when this happens, the sniper’s arms shake slightly from the exertion of holding the drawn bow). Fear not, though! Instead of wasting the shot, you can de-nock the arrow by pressing the right mouse button.
Charging a shot is analogous to spinning up as a Heavy, and as such, you need to know when to pack it up and head for them there hills. If you’re faced with more than one fast mover, or a boatload of high-health classes, you’re probably better off living to fight again than holding your ground. It wasn’t terribly nice ground, anyway.
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Point Very Definitely Final Dungeon: Practice.
No amount of me telling you what to do will make up for not going out there and doing it. Believe me, I read up on the latest in TF2ology before I even bought the game, and I was still a newbie, come Day One. You’re going to get out there, you’re going to kill, and you’re going to get good at it. On that day, you’ll look back at this Complete Dunderhead’s Guide and remember how far you’ve come. And on that day, I hope you’ll write in and thank me.
_______________________________
In conclusion, and without a moment to spare:
The Huntsman is inherently different from the Rifle. Embrace that, and you’re a step closer to victory.
You’re better off being closer to the target than normal Snipers need to be.
Your secondary weapons have their place. Use them.
Keep moving, keep alert, and keep away from the Razorback.
Get out there and play!
A special thank you goes to Tygrys for the illustrations.
I apologize for my recent inactivity. School and all that. Truth is, I’ve written about 10 articles lined up ready to go but have been too lazy to revise and/or go into GMod and make a few pics for them, which probably says more about my level of intelligence than anything else.
But! Not to worry. New material coming up soon, including a sniper tutorial and part 2 of a few unfinished deals. In the meantime…
New version of walkway! Lots of new goodies added, mainly in easier controls. For one, you can add single bots of a particular choice, as well some nice touches like a button to increase/decrease the number of bots. What I really enjoyed was the addition of randomization commands for attacking and movement, which really helps with aim, especially when you’re working on accuracy.
There’s also a bunch of smaller additions like a firewall at the ramp which kills bots who pass through it.
Apart from that the main room’s been upgraded as well. You can now select both random trajectories and launch power, as well as move the ramp completely down (and back up) instead of having to continuously shoot those buttons. There’s also a platform parallel to the launcher, which you can adjust the height and distance-from-launcher of to a certain degree, simulating you standing on a higher platform. Which is fun when you want to practice some things.
Notice the dot on the left with the four arrows
Another major entry is the “sentry room,” which is a big room where, using more buttons, you can construct all manners of sentries and teleporters, as well as spawn bots and build CHEST HIGH WALLS (and higher ones too). For both teams. I’m not sure of the functions but it’s a fun place to mess around in, and work on your grenade trajectory.
Sadly, Hoovy now requires you to kill 200 bots before you can reach him. And he is not amused.
On the other hand, there’s another easter egg for you to find. Shouldn’t be too hard. Fun times.
What I’d like to see in future releases:
- More randomization options, like the intervals when bots dodge to complement the strafing periods
- An easier to operate sentry room. It’s fun, but it takes forever to construct, and the slow builder movement doesn’t help either. Maybe a way to build lines of an object?
- More room to move the high up platform around if that’s possible
- Maybe a slightly wider platform? Don’t think it’s an issue but I fall off fairly often. Ooh ooh! A platform that only BLU passes through.
- If possible, some way to fix strafing. Currently, it assumes bots are running at 100% speed and when that happens it moves them left or right according, regardless of actual speed, crouching, and scoping in. Not sure if it’s possible but being able to change it at least would be nice.
- On that note, a counter-sniper option. Where bots would scope in, scope out/shoot, strafe, crouch, and so on randomly, at the start of the hallway. I’ve managed to simulate this using bot_forceattack2 1, but the strafe speeds really don’t work for that. This could be an extension of the above.
- Higher ceiling for practicing trimping.
- More easter eggs!
All in all good job Washipato and Wiseguy. Well played indeed. You both deserve a medal.
test.m2t
New video from PippiN! Includes some nice ambassador action and double stairjumps.
Also, please, no more complaining about how everyone he’s fragging is on the same skill level as you =3
The beard was just tacky before, and now it’s both tacky and worn by everyone. Oh well, at least he doesn’t have the gibus on.
Spy & Pyro
Also, if for some asinine reason you haven’t seen it yet, is Spy & Pyro from Kepple on albinoblacksheep.com, a moderately disturbing if well crafted video.
And for the record I came up with that joke like a year ago…
Well, that about wraps it up for now. I’ll leave you to it. Until next time.
All right, here’s another spammy video post! I know you guys love them, and you’re going to love this one.
So for those not in the know, eXtine from CommunityFortress runs a pretty sweet series called eXtelevision (which I actually wrote about before). Long story short, he shoutcasts and gives play-by-play commentary on competitive TF2 matches (usually professional ones). The latest “episode” in the series is a cast of an 18 Feb match between Dignitas and What Women Want, two of the top teams in Europe. Unlike the MmM vs EG match I linked earlier, this game features very little offclass work, but it does feature some nifty battle medic action – in all, it’s even more fun to watch.
Here’s part one of the match. Don’t forget to check out parts two, three, and four. The end of the game is not to be missed
Note that in the European format, unlike the American one, matches are always 30 minutes long, with the team with the higher score at the end of those 30 minutes being the winner.
I reckon most of you are shitting bridges over the dreaded “all-class hats”, which have infected the heads of many players. Fear not! I’ve braved the filthy wastes of FPSbanana and have elected the best skins that replace these hats, so that the rate at which you see the same hats is divided by nine. Fortunately (perhaps intentionally) all hats except the Cheater’s Lament have a different model for each class, so that they can be replaced individually.
Note that each custom model has to be made to replace one specific in-game hat. And let me warn you that you can’t rename a custom hat model to have it replace a hat it wasn’t intended to, because that’ll break the whole thing because checksums or something. This is annoying in relation to some stellar hats that were made before the Gibus’ inclusion. Normally, the author supplies models for each of the class’ hats, or at least one for the gibus.
One very interesting thing to know is that on pure servers, custom models aren’t rendered at all rather than being replaced with the defaults (also because checksums). Normally this is bad (installing a custom Pyro model will make them invisible on pure servers) but seeing as you don’t want to see the Gibuses and Halos and Berets anyway…
So, let’s get cracking. You can replace them with any existing hat if you so wish, but why not use the oppurtunity to put some extra culture into the game at the expense of a hat you won’t miss anyway? For global replacements, you can use the Irish Derby Hat or the unused Boater model. Or an extra soldier helmet for all of the classes. See also Team-Coloured Berets, they’re spiffy. Note that you can delete the files for whichever class’ hat(s) you don’t want replaced, so you can mix and match until you have a combination you like.
Pyro is the most popular for the hat-making manne, as any piece of random crap suits him. For the most pedestrian option, take a look at the Snow Hat. For the excentric, the TV is for you. My favourite is the Chicken Butt. The legs jiggle!
As for the Heavy, you can adorn his head with a Valve or a Brain Slug. Connoisseurs will appreciate the Captain Falcon ensemble, but I use the Dunce Cap. It suits the gibus-wearing populace well. You can also use this epicly awesome Stalin hairdo, which I have installed for the Beret. Another beret-only replacement is the Budenovka.
Speaking of facial hair, you’d be surprised what a simple moustache can do for the Medic. If you’re tired of seeing camera beards, have fun not noticing this Unsettlingly Thin Glue-on Moustache – combine with this for epic Washington. If you somehow don’t like the wig, there’s also the Prisoner’s hat.
I’ve only found one Demoman Gibus replacer I like, the Tricorne, and it’s so beatiful I’ve even gotten to wearing the Gibus myself. Unfortunately, the Soldier, Engineer and Scout aren’t so lucky. There’s the Lampshade, the Mortarboard and the sub-standard Sailor Hat… I’d prefer you considered the all-class packs listed above.
Personally, I was underwhelmed by the Towers of Hats; they just seemed like a pile of random headwear slapped together. So some people made class-specific towers, which you can find here and here. All that remains now is the Cheater’s Lament. I haven’t seen one in ages, but you can install a fake razorback to confuse yourself when you do. Or just replace it with “fucking nothing” if you like. This unrelated jiggleboned Tuque might be worth looking at…as are these fixed Grenade Launcher and Pipe Launcher. And if you wanted the Chargin’ Targe to be more easily noticed, consider this silhouette-changing Kilt (with optional plaid texture)! Just remember that you don’t want these to be invisible should you meet a pure server.
There might be hats on the site that appeal to your tastes but not to mine, so do take a look yourself if you care to – I haven’t even talked about the handful of awesome hats that don’t replace the gibus, beret or halo. Like the French Hat of Surrendering.
TF2 was released a surprisingly long time ago – as of today, it has been 2 years and almost 5 months. The fact that a community still exists is a fine testament to the game’s success.
However, I can’t help but feeling that there are some major changes taking place in the TF2 community.
Here’s the TL;DR:
Despite the cartoonish art style and the offbeat humor of the game’s creators, Team Fortress 2 isn’t a casual game any more.
I also feel like the community is declining in some ways, but improving in others.
Now that I have the broad sweeping statements out of the way, let me get to the specifics.
TF2, as I said, has been out for a respectably long time. However, as with all games, the community around TF2 is limited by the interest and engagement of the players. Now, two and a half years is a pretty long time for the average gamer to be still playing the same game. Indeed, the players who used to play TF2 casually, I feel, are starting to move on.
A number of blockbuster game releases have hit the shelves since TF2’s release; the most recent, and significant, of these is Modern Warfare 2. It’s naive to think that these games haven’t chipped away at TF2’s player base. So the point is, the people who would still stick with the game after all this time would more than likely be the people who play it seriously, as opposed to those who simply played it because it was part of the Orange Box or something.
In other words, the casual TF2 community is moving on. Now, the competitive community is thriving – and probably expanding, given the success of some premier TF2 leagues and websites (such as my favorite, CommunityFortress). My best guess is that some of the better public server players are trying out competitive TF2 to elevate their game. But it does leave a bit of a vacuum in the public server base, and that’s what nags me.
While I generally prefer the competitive game to pubservers, my schedule these days has been generally too erratic for me to, say, enter in a TF2 league. So almost all of the time, I have to browse through the server list. I don’t quite like what I see. I greatly prefer small servers (16-24 players) to large 32-player spamfests. The sustenance of such small servers, however, depends greatly on the communities surrounding them, since the small size generally creates a more intimate atmosphere conducive to communities. Looking through the server browser, though, I find that most of the populated servers are either 32-player, idling servers, or both.
This was hardly the case during the 2009 summer (Northern hemisphere), when a very large number of such smaller servers were full. Ubercharged is a good example, and perhaps a bellwether of this idea. UC1: Cult of the Locomotive was almost always populated during the summer months, but while it hasn’t died, it definitely has been more sporadic lately. The problem is that when a server is empty, it’s hard to get people on to seed – so we’d greatly appreciate any seeding help you can give!
Side note aside, as for this decline, it’s quite possible that this is a seasonal thing. During the summer months, after all, school’s out, and the playerbase would understandably increase. I think it’s different now, though. The growth of the competitive community suggests that there’s a shift happening – that TF2 is becoming a more hardcore game. And while it’s understandable, and while I love the hardcore aspect of the game, I’m still a little bit sad about it.
But hey, it’s still better than playing Modern Warfare 2, like a certain Medik. AHEM.
If you have something to say about this, please leave a comment. There is, after all, the off chance that I’m just being delusional here
A long while ago in March 2009, I remember reading a rant about how useless the Heavy is, how easily attacks are countered and how he fancies himself as a sentry with legs. “What utter rubbish” I thought – and went back to playing as a Heavy on my clan’s pub, or to dominate the hell out of a insta-respawn 2fort server; depending on my mood…
Domination - en masse!
Here’s the thing: a lot of players that play the Heavy are new to the game. Look at the packaging and look at the store page on Steam and what do you see? Naturally, your attention is drawn to the Heavy. So new players will play him, get owned hard and never touch him again.
If you’re sitting there thinking “I’m skilled with another class so why would I be interested in playing the Heavy?” Well here’s my answer – most people don’t fully understand the importance of strategy and teamwork. Strategy plays an important role in Heavy gameplay; every decision you make has to be criticized to achieve the best outcomes. The other thing that plays an important role in Heavy gameplay is communication and not just with a Medic. Theoretically, learning how to play a Heavy well should improve your overall understanding of this game’s logic and strategy – no matter what class you’re playing. Yeah, cool ‘eh? Now let’s get cracking, there’s a lot of stuff to cover.
1. Think before you shoot
How many times have you heard a whirring noise followed by the cries of a slain Heavy? For me, loads of times. Those players make the most fatal mistake any Heavy can make: Revving in the wrong place. I know you’ve done it before – you’ll wind up your gun and walk to defend or attack whatever it is you’re attacking or defending.
The reason this is such a bad idea is obvious – every enemy and his dog will prepare for a Heavy encounter if they hear you revving your gun in the distance and will make detours to avoid/kill you. Never alert enemies of your presence until they’re in range.
So where is the right place to rev? If at least one of these is true, you know you’re in a good place:
You are in the open and as close as you can get to your foes
You are in (or at the end of) a corridor with enemies that can be killed before they can fall back into cover
You are in a blindspot (e.g. a place where a cursory glance won’t reveal your location)
You are above unaware enemies (e.g. on a bridge or the opening of a tunnel)
You are near Health and Ammo supplies (e.g. the centre hut on Dustbowl, Level 2-CP 2)
Know when to shoot your gun before you rev up
Before you fight the enemy, weigh up the chances of you winning the battle. These can be varied by the number of hostiles in the area, whether you have a medic, the skill of the enemy/enemies you’re fighting, whether you have your gun spinning, how much Health you have and so on. If you know you can’t win, retreat or approach from another angle – don’t bite off more than you can chew or you’ll be eating “Crocket & Winbomb Stew a la Facestab” for dinner.
Medium range is the most ideal place to be, but nothing trumps close range combat more than a volley of point blank minigun rounds. Think it’s hard to get at close range with the big guy? Think again! Say you were overlooking the tunnel exit on Badwater Basin – you can jump down while revving and you’ll be ready to fire before you land. Overhealed Soldiers and Heavies will be shredded in seconds, but be warned that most classes will find it easier to hit you due to your huge frame and poor manoeuvrability – and will wise up after the initial chaos dies down.
2. Pay attention to your surroundings
Pay close attention to the sights, sounds and things around you – for example, memorize the locations of health and ammo so you can fall back on them when you need to, learn the locations of Snipers just by peering out from an opening then move around them, listen out for the decloak sound on a Spy’s watch. This information should already be second nature to the more seasoned players, but is all the more important for a Heavy.
Take each death as a lesson of the things you did wrong and learn from them. Here’s a typical scenario you’ll face as a Heavy: Think back to a time when a Spy seemed to have appeared out of nowhere, now think about how he got there. Was he waiting around the corner waiting for you to go past? Was he crouching on top of some crates out of the way where you would normally fire your gun? Did he convince you with a cunning disguise? You’re a 300 pound mountain of Russian who eats forty cakes a day so how did a skinny dork in a monkey-suit top you? Now you have an idea on how he did it, take steps to ensure it doesn’t happen again.
Is this you? Then pay attention, fatcakes!
The other thing you need to pay attention to are your hit indicators – they show up on your HUD in the direction the impact came from; the larger the indicator, the greater the damage.
3. Befriending a Buddy
Before you shoot off a comment about the Heavy always needing a Medic, don’t – allow me to explain. The Heavy is a defensive class by nature, therefore it is his main job to defend – period. However, when a Heavy is on the offensive he can quickly become a sitting duck by every Tom, Dick and Harry on the other team. Very quickly, your concerns shift towards getting enough health and ammo to survive. When a Medic works with a Heavy he takes away the a lot of the Health concerns, leaving you to just worry about getting enough ammo to do your job – and since you’ll kill plenty of enemies you’ll be up to your knees in ammo. (and bodies)
One essential tool you’ll need when playing Medic buddy is the microphone – you need to efficiently impart enemy locations in order to keep you, your Medic and the rest of your team safe. I personally use Mumble because it’s free and most clans and communities host servers for them, it has an overlay which displays who is talking and it’s customizable. Otherwise, there’s nothing wrong with using the in-game VOIP.
Your Medic should never stay glued to you the entire time, so bring him to the frontline and let the Medic heal your pals – remember that everyone wins in the end, they get their health and the Medic gets his uber much quicker. Spread the love, don’t hog it all. And don’t hog the health if your Medic is in desperate need of it, the Medigun won’t heal its user.
Don't take health away from Medics, they won't be happy!
Most players will attempt to kill your Medic if you’re not paying attention, so if your gun is spinning and the Medic’s health starts dropping, turn round and kill whoever it is attempting to plug your mate. Have your Medic spot threats to both of you instead of having him sit there like a goofy German duck gawking at you until either of you die.
Pay attention to your own health too – if you see your health going down quickly retreat into cover and let the Medic heal you. Don’t pick up health packs if you can help it, you’ll help your Medic build the Uber much quicker and he’ll be able to fall back on it if he needs it.
4. Ubercharges and Kritzkriegs
Whichever Medigun your Medics are carrying into battle will come with two very different game-plans. With an Uber, you can charge straight into the fray and tear up a defensive team, taking out Sentries and high priority targets such as Demomen, Pyros, Heavies and Soldiers – provided they don’t quickly run away or use an uber to counter-attack.
Kritz on the other hand require you to protect your Medic even after he activates the charge. The 10 seconds of non-stop critical hits from your minigun will still be effective at long range since falloff doesn’t affect their trajectory.
Decide on what gun you want your Medic to take into battle, he won't mind.
Usually, I’ll ask the Medic to equip whatever floats his boat, but when a situation starts to rear its ugly head I won’t hesitate to ask them to switch.
5. Going solo
A Medic can be useful, but sometimes you will be faced with the task of coping without him. This video demonstrates Heavy gameplay with rare assistance from a Medic who didn’t know how to ubercharge, I highly recommend it.
Here’s the gist of the video for the benefit of the guide:
Without a Medic, stay on defence (that doesn’t mean sitting at a dispenser shooting at nothing)
Stay somewhere where health and ammo is in plentiful supply and deter enemies from taking the route you’re covering
Offensives on your own are suicide, use the prescience of attacking units to push forward to compensate for the lack of a Medic
6. Your secondary and melee weapons
The Heavy loves his Sandvich, in fact he loved it so much when it was announced as a weapon he would often die eating his last meal. Now witnessing a large Russian stopping in the middle of a battlefield to eat a ham, cheese, lettuce and tomato sandwich on white bread with no concern for the danger around him is no longer a joke – provided he pulls it off.
You now have the option to drop the snack to the life of your Medic or another near-death comrade, aim using the crosshairs and drop it so the target walks into it. Just remember to stop by another health pack at full HP to get your lunch back. It’s also useful if you’re being chased by enemies if you’re low on health – just equip the Sandvich, drop it, nom it and equip your gun. The Sandvich is one heck of a lifeline, as well as tasty.
Moist and delicious! Hah hah hah!
If you would prefer to have something other than your fists to defend yourself with when you run out of ammo, or need to shoot enemies when you don’t have time to rev up – bring your shotgun. It usually catches people unaware whilst you are moving as they expect you to just rev your minigun. It is also handy for retreating while laying down suppressive fire.
The gloves are risky, but if you can pull off a punch you have a limited time to rain hell on the other team. If you’re planning on taking the gloves, equip the shotgun and not the Sandvich – you’ll waste three seconds equipping and revving up the minigun, as opposed to equipping the shotgun which gets you more bang for your buck (unless you happen to kill two guys with the KGB of course). Likewise, use the fists if you’re planning on taking the Sandvich – people will do their best to gank you if they see you eating, the fists swing quicker which gives you more of a fighting chance.
7. Class Matchups
Knowing how the enemy will attack you will make a big difference. So here I’ve listed all the classes and how they usually attack you, and how best to deal with them. To quote Sun Tzu: “Know thy self, know thy enemy. A thousand battles, a thousand victories.”
Scout
Scouts are the polar-opposite of the Heavy. They will attempt to flank you when the opportunity arises and will gun for your Medic. They will also attempt to irritate you by jumping around your head like a maniac or just strafing around you at point blank plugging you in the guts or allowing other classes to take pot-shots at you while you’re distracted.
The best way to kill Scouts is to get them in the open and mow them down at medium range before they attempt to do anything. If a Scout is abusing cover with the FaN, just don’t challenge them. They’ll simply push you away from where you want to go every time. Just wait until they’re in the open and he’ll wish he had the other gun once you rip him to shreds.
Scouts with the Sandman will have less health, so do your best to avoid his stun balls and mow him down when he realises his tactic didn’t work.
GEROFF MOY LAAAAND!!
Soldier
The Solly is big and slow just like you, but he makes up for this with his agility and his ability to fire from cover. A full volley of four direct hits will kill a Heavy without a Medic, so do your best to avoid them and kill him at medium range.
Soldiers are usual culprits for abusing cover since their stock rocket launcher can hit you with splash damage while they’re around a corner. Not only that but Stock and Direct Hit Soldiers give anyone a hard time in corridors, but you especially because of your huge physique and slow speed. Plan ahead to avoid situations like this.
Soldiers will try to gain a height advantage by rocket jumping, if he gets to higher ground you become an easier target to hit and you will have trouble hitting him back. Put a stop to this by shooting them while they’re airborne – with luck he won’t be able to make the connection with the higher ground due to the knockback and either way he’ll lose ammo and health. If he does make the connection, try to finish him off or call to your teammates to do it for you. Alternatively, you can occupy the higher ground he’s trying to reach so you can kill him while he’s weakened. Just be ready for him and don’t take too long about it.
Pyro
Obviously the typical W+M1 strategy employed by noob Pyros will be of no concern to you as long as you’re prepared and even when you aren’t you’ll probably trump him if you’re at full health. You’ll need to be worried when he tries to flank you and use his Backburner.
Smarter Pyros will airblast you away from key areas or when you’re Ubered, or even use the airblast sting combo (ignite, AB, Axtinguish), so just tear into them with the minigun at mid-range before they have a chance to puff you around like a meaty-or.
LEROOOOOOYYYYYYYYYYY-
Demomen
Besides Snipers and Spies, these guys will be giving you the most trouble. They’re very similar to Soldiers but have the benefits of indirect fire. The Demoman can fire four grenades and a full volley of four direct hits will kill a Heavy without a Medic. Deal with them like you would with Soldiers. Kill at close to medium range and quickly. If you’re dealing with a charge swordsman, he doesn’t pose more of a threat but keep both eyes out for him. Similarly if he tries to gain a height advantage rev up and shoot them while they’re airborne and weakened.
Watch out for sticky carpets, if you see a Demoman laying a sticky carpet at your feet, unrev and get out of there. Even with a Medic helping you, you will not survive the damage. If you jump on your way out, it might soften the blow and propel yourself to safety.
Don’t get lured into a sticky trap. If you see him retreating into a tunnel or a corridor (even when he’s spent his pipe ammo), assume he’s luring you into a trap. Keep in mind your minigun is suitable for nullifying the threat of sticky bombs if you ignore this. Alternatively, you can go back and approach the situation another way.
Heavy
A simple head on battle between two Heavies produces mixed results every time. It all depends on certain factors such as who winds up first, who has more health, who has more backup and so on.
Fighting Heavys as Heavy is a risk, but its one worth taking if it suits you
If you come across a Natasha wielding Heavy, wind up and kill them if they’re in range, otherwise just get in cover. Their bullets can render you almost immobile Also, don’t try and wind up if a nearby enemy Heavy is revving his gun in your direction, just get into cover. If you can, wait until he unrevs and kill him then.
Engineer
Engineers are silly men with silly hats and even sillier guns, so they often rely on their sentries to do all the work for them.
On its own a Sentry is not too much a problem if you have Medic, but it’s a bigger problem if an Engie is repairing the sentry from behind. Ideally, you want to be as close as possible to the gun so you can destroy it. If you have a Medic with an uber ready, tell him to use it and run towards the sentry while you’re linked. Since the Sentry is programmed to target the nearest threat, you’ll find it easier to walk up as close as you need to get, rev and kill the sentry.
Note: A Kritz charge will not kill sentries or other buildings faster.
Think your plans through first before you take on a sentry
Once their sentries are down, they have a few options. First, they can run away really fast; just mow them down. Second, they can stand there and get shredded while sitting there fixing nothing. And finally third (and this never gets old) discover new-found superhuman powers and decide to charge you with the plan of braining you with a lucky wrench crit… In any case you won’t have problems with the silly suicidal super-hero engies.
Medic
Medics don’t usually attack other people; they are often helping others to stay alive. This makes your job harder, so they should be prime targets.
When he Ubercharges, you have little chance of evading his target’s path of destruction. While it is possible to escape, your most likely option is to either slow the enemy down by getting in their way, giving them less time to cause havoc, or simply get your Medic to Uber you too. This usually results in the Ubered pair to retreat… AT SPEED!
The only other thing he can do to annoy you is running around you at melee range using the Ubersaw. Don’t bother getting your fists out – the Medic is much quicker than you and will avoid your punches with relative ease. Just rev up for the two seconds because the Ubersaw has its own swing delay.
Those big hands also have other talents... don't ask...
Sniper
Snipers are almost always present at battlements where they have optimal view of area to cover, and will be too far away for the minigun to do any good damage. So never attack from his range – it’s a stupid idea. Just avoid their line of sight and you should be fine, learn about their movements and compensate. You don’t have to fight every battle to win a war.
If you really have a burning desire to kill Snipers, the best way to do this is to plan a route to them while they’re busy sniping. It can’t be done on open planned maps like Badwater, but it works wonders in 2Fort and incites torrents of rage.
POW! HA HA!
Spy
Spies will always cloak around you and attack from behind, that is unless the Spy is played by an idiot.
Spies love attacking from blindspots, and most love slow, easy targets like Heavies. Be wary of these places and come prepared. Regularly check behind you or have people report sightings of Spies. They will be less likely to attack you and everyone else appears to know what’s going on behind you. Then again, just appearing to know doesn’t make it 100% safe, so listen out for decloaks and footfalls when you know people aren’t around.
I spy with my little eye, something ending in CRUNCH!
Oh yeah, class by class analyses are only good for dealing with individual battles so if you engage more foes than one think about who poses more of a threat and take them out.
Conclusion
The Heavy is an easy target to bash by careless players because of how supposedly “useless” he is, despite the huge contribution he makes to his team. He is underplayed, underrated, and underestimated. In the right hands however…
He becomes the underdog…
The dark horse…
The Heavy Weapons Guy!
Let's get serious!
(Alternate title: A Heavy, Heavy Guide based around the Heavy and his Heavy gun, heavily based on the strategy that makes heavenly use of the Heavy)
