In this instalment of How It’s Done, I interviewed Mangycarface, the creator of Yukon. Yukon was one of the two community-made maps included in the Classless Update.

How did you get into mapping?

MangyCarface: I’d messed around with CS maps when I was much younger, but didn’t really do much with it past silly map modifications. When TF2 came out, I actually didn’t like it at first, but once I got into it the settings and gameplay really appealed in terms of design. So over the years I’ve honed my ability while working with TF2’s assets… as other mappers feel, it’s truly a unique game to map for. I think it’s especially easy to get hooked on mapping for TF2, because of the great community support as well as the support on Valve’s part, adding things into the game code to enable more unusual variants on gameplay.

How long, from idea creation to finalizing, did Yukon take, roughly?

MangyCarface: If I recall correctly, Yukon specifically was begun as part of a contest on ETF2L’s part, at a time when good quality 5CP maps were still a bit rare. The layout probably took around 2 weeks’ time, just setting up the basic brushwork and making it functional. I wasn’t able to get as much playtesting as I wanted, and started to detail right away. That probably took 3 or 4 weeks… I remember powering through spring break after going back home. After detailing it, I was able to get some playtesting through the IRC channels, et al, to make changes even after submitting to the contest I originally planned to enter. Eventually though, my interest in it faded until receiving contact from Valve. After that I spent another 2 or 3 weeks to add some polish to the map. so maybe over the course of 6 months-ish? Not that I spent that whole time on it.

When exactly did Valve contact you in relation to when the map was released? The model contributors seemed to receive absolutely no warning they were having their creations added in.

MangyCarface: I think the process is a bit different for models, but in my case it was probably 2 or 3 weeks prior to the update to get some legal stuff out of the way while I was polishing up. The paperwork was done by 7/28 and then the Classless Update came out on the 13th of the next month. Getting the paperwork to my fellow mapper and the material artist for Yukon, Ace, was a bit tricky since he’s in Sweden, and then we were between updates so I think it was just coincidence that it took a few weeks.

When designing Yukon, what kind of balance issues did you face or have to deal with?

MangyCarface: Yukon is a map that still struggles at the moment, and has a few issues that have been hard to address. When detailing, I realized I’d made a dumb layout mistake in terms of optimization and geometry and had to patch it up with the sliding door between 2 and 1. And throughout the map’s development I’ve debated about the middle point. Many feel it would play better were it higher on the bridge, but it’s hard to make a decision like that. Also, in earlier versions, having only 2 routes between 2 and 3 was causing stalemates which I thought wouldn’t have been a problem based on the 2ish entrances to granary yard. But without a yard, the gameplay’s quite different, so I ended up adding a path that to this day I’m not quite satisfied with. I also have a good list of suggested improvements from Jaeger et al. such as a path from below CP1 up to the hut next to it

What part did Ace play in the creation of Yukon? And did anyone else help at all?

MangyCarface: Ace was very helpful in fulfilling material requests. We were kind of both working with maps at the same time, and originally Yukon was to be snowy, but I ended up liking his darker grey textures so much as to switch tracks to along those lines. I think many of the materials he made are commonly used now within the mapping community. As for other help… well, as always, my home community 2F2F and friends there were great help in terms of getting constant pub playtesting, but I also had friends in ETF2L and stateside helping me get tests of varying quality in the 6v6 environment. Many of whose suggestions influenced the map’s changes, and TF2maps.net was useful for stylization criticism among others

If you were given the opportunity, would you want to continue working on Yukon for official tweaks?

MangyCarface: Yes, I think Valve lets community mappers update their maps if needed. As soon as I clear some space in my schedule I’d like to make some tweaks.

What resources can you recommend for someone who wants to get into mapping or wants to map in TF2?

MangyCarface: The first thing they’ll want to do is register at TF2maps.net, undeniably the best resource for TF2 mapping. I also contribute to a group blog which isn’t as often updated as it ought be but, nodraw.net has some neat articles on the matter. It’s best to begin with the mindset that you don’t want to try to make your magnum opus with your first map, just practice, practice practice, and learn from your mistakes. If you hit a block where it seems boring or too hard to go on, step back and re-evaluate, and if you don’t enjoy the actual process of mapping, perhaps it’s just not your thing- I wouldn’t advise anyone to sink the hundreds of hours into a hobby they won’t enjoy.

If there was one big tip you could pass on about mapping for TF2, what would it be?

MangyCarface: Type tf into the keywords field in the material browser. HL2 textures are a no-go, it’s the #1 most common mistake made I find.

Are you going to make more maps and try to get them into TF2?

MangyCarface: Well, let’s see. I’ve probably made a dozen by now, and just won a TF2maps contest for my CTF map. I’m working on the artpass challenge at the moment and hope to bring something appealing to the table, though I have mixed feelings about the whole thing. So, in short, yes!

Do you think it’s wise for mappers to design their maps to emphasise on comp play, or is it good to keep things relatively balanced between comp and pub?

MangyCarface: I like to think perfect map design works across all player counts, but none of us are perfect so it’s good to set goals when you begin a map. Target audience might be a good goal to have in mind. Either way, I believe mappers should be open to the idea of how their map might play at the 6v6 level, and although being a good player does not make one good at layouts, there are definitely good people out there in the competitive community to consult about gameplay.

Thanks for the interview!

MangyCarface: My pleasure.

Lessons Learnt:
-Try to test your map with a variety of audiences, to ensure it works on both pub and comp levels of play.
-Don’t use HL2 textures for a TF2 map, as they do not fit in with the style well.
-Don’t be afraid to consult competitive players for gameplay related information, they will help you pinpoint exactly what problems your map may have.

…And there’s the story behind Yukon. Join us next time when I shall interview JoshuaC, the maker of Watchtower.

In this installment of How It’s Done, I interviewed Icarus, the creator of Coldfront, the community map included with the Engineer update and the first official non-valve map to use the snow theme.

How did you get into mapping?

Icarus: I’ve always had an interest in making games. When I was younger I’d used to make games on paper or with legos to play with my brother and friends. The first mapping ‘program’ I’ve ever touched was for Westwood’s original Red Alert for the PC. Over time, I’ve dabbled a bit in starcraft’s intuitive world editor and Duke Nukem 3D’s Build editor. I’ve even made a couple of primitive rail shooter games with flash. When TF2 came out, I was just captivated by how deep the game was, and how artfully done the worlds were. It wasnt until Steel went official (Heavy Update) that I thought maybe I could try my hand in it, too. I really hadn’t seriously mapped until TF2 rolled around, everything before that was probably closer to dabbling.

How long, from idea to finalizing, did Coldfront take to make?

Icarus: It started with one of TF2M.net’s minicontests. At the time though, I was already in a mood to make a 5CP map, so I designed my two entries to actually look like they might be in one, and leave an opportunity for me to stitch them together at a later time. I didn’t really start development until the Comp CTF contest started. Since then it’s been an on-again off-again process as I made some changes and waited for it to be tested. The cycle was a little slower than I’d liked it to be, but the last map I made (Vector) was tested pretty much everyday. It wouldn’t sit very well with the community that tests my maps. I’ve always had Coldfront’s general theme and playstyle in mind though, it’s not like I made it up as I went along.

When designing Coldfront, what sort of problems did you have regarding layout and balance? For example, wide open maps cater to snipers and scouts, whereas enclosed maps suit pyros and engineers.

Icarus: It seems like I tend to overcompensate for snipers myself. i.e. I worry too much about them. The biggest problem I thought I had was that sightlines were too powerful, especially in the mid point. After a few tests though, I learned that snipers, for the most part, don’t need to be dealt with. Optimization is probably the biggest demon in Coldfront though. As much as I would have loved to, I just can’t make the map as wide and open as I’d like to. It might be because some of the art decisions I’ve made, and it’s also probably why maps like Badwater and Thunder Mountain look quite plain in contrast to tighter maps. 5CP maps in particular are very intricate and require a lot more planning and thought than I initially thought. The way that both teams can make a push complicates things. What I think TF2’s push-style maps does very well is way it varies the level of action between every point. The slow capture times for mid points are necessary help make the initial clash more fun. The extremely fast capture times for final points are needed to prevent stalemates, especially as it’s almost always right next to the spawn room. A stalemate to me feels worse than actually losing the match. This is why the engineer can be such a nuisance. I kind of regret making coldfront all indoors, though. I haven’t stopped hearing complaints about soldiers and demomen.

Did you recieve any help with Coldfront from anyone? If so, what specifically did they do?

Icarus: I don’t think it would’ve been possible to do it without any help. I believe one of the most important parts of the development process is through testing and feedback. From random strangers, from a close-knit community, from other mappers/artists. I had help from them all. For Coldfront in particular, there have been a few who have helped in an exemplary way. The most notable was Flame. I met flame mid-development, around the time I was nearing the Beta phase. He helped me get a competitive viewpoint on the map, and withstood sharp criticism as he organized innumerable playtesting sessions and feedback from the competitive community. Once Coldfront was up to snuff around the Release Candidate phase, he helped me get it accepted into several competitive events, including ESEA Season 6. I seriously can not thank him enough for his help. Others have helped too. Seeing as I don’t have any modelling abilities, I had to get help from a few other friends I knew. Selentic helped modify a valve prop so it could be fitted in, as well as the snow on the rooftops outside. In the rooftop case, a model would have been the only way to make it look decent. Void made a couple of posters for me without even me asking. I loved his ‘Icarus Airlines’ poster so much that I just had to put it in. YM made the deer head trophy for the mid point, but it was already done as a part or the swamp pack. Getting help from friends and others is absolutely necessary. You might need to do quite a bit of legwork and networking to find them but it’s worth it.

What resources can you recommend for those trying to get into mapping, or trying to learn the TF2 style?

Icarus: The Valve Developer wiki for sure. It has everything you need to get started, including a straightforward “your first map” tutorial. TF2Maps.Net also has a massive archive of user-written tutorials for almsot every aspect of mapping. There is Boojum’s Ultimate Resource Pack on TF2M as well. It includes an updated FGD (hammer files) as well as some handy prefabs. I wouldn’t recommend using prefabs until you’ve built it yourself though. its a good way to learn how things are done, but you’re going to end up in deep trouble if all you do is copy paste parts into your own map. Here are some links:

• The Valve Wiki’s TF2 Level Creation page
• TF2Maps’ tutorials
• TF2Maps’ mapping resource pack

Oh, and one more thing, for more advanced users. There is this awesome optimization guide out there, that outlines everything you need to know about Source Optimization in detail. A must read before you start any serious map, once you get the hang of hammer.
I know reading isnt everyone’s thing though, I just spent most of my time experimenting in hammer. It’s almost assured that your first map will be bad, so there’s no point in worrying about it if it is.

If there one big tip you could pass on about mapping for TF2, what would that tip be?

Icarus: Paper. Pencil. Nothing is more important than pre-planning the map with sketches and doodles. It really lets you see the map as a whole, and make wild changes on the fly without worrying about hammer. It helps prevent ‘Mapper’s Block’ and your ideas will look more original. You can’t just go into hammer and make a map. You need to be ready to make one.

Are you going to make more maps and try to get them into TF2?

Icarus: At this moment I’m a lot more interested in Alien Swarm. I’ve been mapping for TF2 for some two odd years and I find it really refreshing to work on something new. I don’t want to say what I will be making for Alien Swarm, but (in my mind) it’s going to be crazy.

Thankyou very much for the interview.

Icarus: No problem. Thanks for running these interviews.

Lessons Learnt:
-Try to have your map playtested as much as possible. This will allow you to get the necessary feedback to improve the map with from the audiences you want to cater to.
-Optimization is key. Remember that the bigger the map is, the less detailed it can be before it starts causing performance problems.
-Don’t overuse prefabs. Otherwise, you won’t learn the skills needed to make your own.
-Don’t be afraid to rely on other people for certain things. A map can easily be a collaborative effort, just be sure to give credit where it’s due.

And that’s the story behind Coldfront. Join us next time when I shall be interviewing Mangycarface, the creator of Yukon.

Let’s face it, doing explosive jumps is fun. I know I’m not the only one who got into Soldier for the rocket jumping. I also know I’m not the only one who wishes they were good at sticky jumping. This, therefore, is the first of what I hope to be a series of articles exploring some fun places that you can jump to which may not have immediately presented themselves; a lot of them look like decoration. These aren’t trick jumps, so while I’m both quite good at rocket jumping and incredibly modest, you don’t need many particularly difficult skills to do them – a basic knowledge of rocket/sticky jumping is all you require. Also a criterion for inclusion in this article is that the jump should have some use in a normal game. No opposing Pyros airblasting you or weird glitching out of the map, just interesting and importantly unexpected places to stand. If you know the maps inside out, you may know some of these positions already. The format for each jump will include the following:

Where? – Whereabouts on the map the jump is. Accompanied by a fancy taunt.

Who? – Which classes can get up there. Most will be confined to Soldier/Demoman, but the odd jump will be available to Scouts, and on rare occasion, everyone. I haven’t had practice with the Wrangler and sentry jumping yet, so go ahead and try these jumps with your sentry gun. I can’t promise anything.

How? – The nitty-gritty of the jump. I’ll explain how to get where I got. The screenshots show where to place your stickies. Unless otherwise stated, a rocket jump from the same place should work as well.

Why? – Accompanied by a screenshot of the view, and suggestions on how to use the position.

This article focuses entirely on Badwater.

Position 1

Where? – White pipe just past the first point.

Who? – Soldier and Demoman

How? – There are two ways to do this with both classes, but Demoman has a much easier time of getting up there. Firstly, you can lay a sticky at the bottom of the pipe and do a standard sticky jump up to the top, however, this is quite tricky to pull off, as if you don’t have the right angle, you will just fall straight back down. Easier is to place a sticky on the corner of the “shelter” where Engineers often build. Take a look at this screenshot and you’ll see what I mean.Then just do a standard sticky jump from there, making sure to get some distance as well as height.

As a Soldier, this jump can be quite tricky. You have to either do a wall jump, or airstrafe. If you choose to airstrafe, do it from a similar position to the above sticky, and it should be easy to get onto the pipe. If you can’t airstrafe, don’t worry! Stand at the bottom of the pipe, do a normal high rocket jump, making sure to hold forwards, crouch, and keep your rocket launcher at the same angle. Then once you hit the peak of your jump, while still holding forwards and crouch, shoot another rocket into the corner. This will give you extra height and get you on top of the pipe. If you do this, however, you’ll use a lot of health, so consider the Gunboats, and make sure to ask for an overheal from any nearby Medics.

Why? – It’s out of the way, and since you’re high up, a lot of classes will have a difficult time hurting you, due to damage falloff, spread, and arcs. The view is surprisingly wide (see screenshot below), and it’s a good place to rain down explosives from, catching those who are unsuspectingly pushing the cart. Once you’re done, jumping down will cost a lot of health. To help reduce this, there’s a billboard with a big A on it. You can actually land on top of this billboard then jump the rest of the way. It won’t stop you taking fall damage altogether, but it might mean the difference between life and death. Unfortunately, you’re in full view of one of BLU’s exits, so if you’re on RED, you’re in danger of being sniped. Consider using this as a quick ambush then moving on.

Position 2

Where? - Around the corner from the first point. On the roof of the alcove, just before the push to second point.

Who? – Soldier and Demoman

How? – This jump is surprisingly simple, although it has one caveat. The area you can stand on this roof is a very small rectangle close to the corner. To get onto the roof, you have to make sure you’re as close to where it meets the other building as possible, otherwise you will hit an invisible wall and fall. To get up there, simply sticky or rocket jump from this spot.

If you’re a Demoman, you should get more than enough height to land on the roof. If you’re a Soldier, you need to practise getting close to the corner. After a few tries, you’ll learn what does and doesn’t work. Although I recommend it for all jumps, for this one in particular, it’s helpful to create your own local server and just practise.

Why? – It’s a very strong defensive position. You have just enough manoeuvrability to walk backwards a little and duck, giving you pretty good cover. When you’re not taking cover, you can shoot rockets or stickies down to defend the chokepoint, and when the cart moves past you, drop down and attack from the rear. Your view of the chokepoint is amazing, and there’s very little chance of being sniped:

Position 3

Where? – The pipe attached to the wall of the building next to point 2.

Who? – Soldier, Demoman

How? – This one’s just a simple hop up there. Standard rocket or sticky jump, just make sure not to overshoot. Approaching from the side is easier, just be careful not to overshoot.

Why? – A simple ambush. You have a clear view of the opposite entrance, and people coming from the other will tend to just walk straight past you. You’re pretty much on top of the small health pack, so you can guarantee some enemies will come your way, especially if you have a Pyro working his magic down on the ground. This is also somewhere from which to destroy any teleports placed out of reach on top of the vent.

Position 4

Where? – The pipe by the entrance to the small building just after point 2.

Who? – Everyone but Heavy.

How? – Two different methods. Playing anything but Soldier, simply jump onto what I have dubbed the “reactor thingy” pictured below. From there it’s a simple crouchjump to the pipe for most classes. Soldier is too slow to get across, so if you’re playing a Soldier, just do a short rocket jump onto the pipe instead.

Why? – Again, a simple ambush. People rarely look up, so laying in wait above them, then dropping down and stabbing their juicy exposed backs (Razorback notwithstanding) or blowing them up or setting them on fire or… well, you get the picture. Basically, ambushes are great.

So, this article has shown you four fun places to try standing next time you play Badwater. Discovering places like these is great fun. I encourage you all to create a local server and go exploring. You never know what you might find.

Hello, everyone.

This is Secret Agent Clank speaking. As per my terms of employment contract, and as part of some OVERTIME I was given by showing up to work in a godawful ugly hat, I have been instructed to relay this message from the Administrator. I hope you will all find this piece of information enlightening, and I trust that the accompanying punishment (two weeks of clearing gravel from the pits) will make you all think twice before questioning the status quo next time.

Message begin: *BEEP*

Greetings, underlings.

Several days ago I was approached by several members of your BLU squad. The fact that any of you would even have the gall to approach your potentate without the proper paperwork and 5 hour course in etiquette was disgusting enough for me to spit out my cigarette and crumple my magazine in anger.

Despite this, I’ve averted sentencing the perpetrators in question to the box for the time being. You see, Dr Conagher did bring up a point worth discussing, and it is this point that I now address, regarding Operation: Thunder Mountain.

Members of the team have complained some that, despite the lovely atmosphere and good chi that emanates from the mountain, they find the final target to be too far to reach before RED’s reinforcements would arrive. They claim that the tracks we laid out for the payload cart are excessive and unnecessarily asinine.

Special attention is given to the final area of such, where the cart must be pushed up to the top of a tower through a couple of RED buildings several times.

The problem you have with this, according to Mr. Doe, is that it’s rather  “ridiculous” to push the payload cart all the way up the tower only to drop it into the hole at the top and have it fall back down again.

Because it’s probably necessary to draw you a picture

Let me tell you now: this is not some charade or façade we have cooked up to watch you toil out: this IS an entirely necessary part of the operation, due to the construct of the tower: it is ENTIRELY impenetrable.

It is, in fact, is so sturdy that I assure you, that even after the payload has detonated shaking the very foundations of the mountain itself, the tower will still stand.

We’ve thrown a ton of bombs at it. We’ve test fired our experimental laser cannon at it. We’ve even sent Mr. DeGroot to attack it; all efforts to destroy the structure were fruitless. However they’ve done it, they’ve done it, and the bottom of that very sturdy shaft is where they store our target, and your mission.
________________________________________________________________________________

Hopefully that would have gotten through those thick skulls of yours. Now that you know, you can complete the mission without any more incessant pleas for my attention. After last week’s failed attempts to access the treasures of King Sammun-mak at the RED base in Egypt, I hope, for your sake, that you do not fail again.

Now get to work.

*BEEP*

Yo what’s up?

Wasn’t expecting me, was youse?

Anyway, take this situation; it’s a lazy Saturday afternoon. All your homework (assuming you get homework) and chores are done, and you don’t enjoy just lazing around. So you fire up TF2, but there’s no one to play “competitively” with; only pubs around. Sure, they’re fun, but you don’t feel like it, plus you’d like to try and get a little better, which ain’t gonna happen there. What’s one to do?

Here’s a couple suggestions for Soldiers. And maybe Demomen.

BBall

Maybe you’ve heard of it, maybe not. Just to be on the safe side, I’ll explain in detail.

ctf_bball is a deathmatch sort of game, meant to be played 2 on 2, but also works with 1 on 1 (gets boring more easily) or 3 on 3 (more spammy). You’re in a basketball court with only moderate-height walls to jump off, and the objective is to land the flag in the enemy net. You run Soldier or Demoman, with a max of one Demoman. Simple no?

But what’s stopping people from playing something other than those two classes? Nothing, but people, which is alright, since most people who look for bball servers are in a similar mindset. It’s that simple really.

Training includes playing with other good sollys and demomen, and it helps airshots (the enemy needs jumping to score). You could also play scout, though only FaN scouts can reach the net, and it’s pretty iffy. It also helps walljumping (based off long jumps rather than height jumps) and airstrafing (scoring).

There’s a few dedicated bball servers that aren’t locked, plus some regular servers have it on the map list; type “ctf_bball” into the map choice for a collection. UC servers #2 and #3 also have it, although you’ll need an admin to start it. Typical etiquette includes no using sticky bombs to attack, and to a lesser extent, the shotgun is discouraged.

On the subject, there are two different maps that follow the style. One is ctf_pro_bball.

It improves over the original in a few, most notably a shoot-through backboard which prevents people from cheaply knocking you off scoring by shooting it. There’s also ctf_ballin, which is about the same as pro_bball, but a little prettier, and doesn’t limit you to 3 captures. Both look much better than plain ctf_bball though. Give ‘em a run.

Ammomod

This is my personal favorite.

Basically, you fight in an arena against one other person, as either Soldier or Demoman. The map can be a plain room, or based on a notable portion of a stock map, like Gravel Pit’s tower, Badlands Spire, Granary’s mid point, etc..
Both are given 1600 health and unlimited ammo. First one to go down loses.

It’s really simple, but the added health and ammo gives you plenty of room to practice without having to respawn after a few shots. There’s a few servers dedicated to it around; for example, in the US:
- Clan Vortex – 67.212.189.186:27093
- Exodus Society – 216.52.148.129:27015

I mostly go to thenoid’s ammomod, which is at 67.202.71.165:27015. You’ll probably run into some really good players if you do run by, so the best advice I can give is don’t go in expecting to do well.

And if you ever run into Solid Snake, do yourself a favor and have a key bound to “explode.”

Spireking

Spireking is like ghetto ammomod for soldiers – like ammomod, it’s 1v1. There’s a badlands spire in the center of the map, and both players battle for control of the top, where there’s a control point. Unlike ammomod, though, you start with 200 health, but you’re continually resupplied with full ammo and health every 4 seconds. That means that to score a kill, you need to deal out 200 damage in 4 seconds. What better way to do that than by nailing some awesome airshots?

Since spireking doesn’t work well for matches bigger than 1v1, you’re unlikely to find any public servers for it. However, since it’s a standalone map, you don’t need a bunch of mods to run it on your server, as you do with ammomod. This makes it great for clan training. If you have a server, or have access to a private server, give this map a go.

Tr_Walkway

Get it. Now.

Ha, but no seriously. Originally an ESG-only beta by wiseguy and washipato (trust me, it wasn’t that great when it was in beta), it’s now available to the general public, and there probably isn’t any better aerial training bar playing against other people. The launcher is a great asset, and a couple hours on this thing I assure you will greatly improve your prediction skills .Unless they’re already maxed, in which you’ve still got a bunch of commands to mess with to make it harder.

And if you’re like me, when your ping rockets because somebody in the dorm is torrenting… stuff… you can always fire up a listen server.

There’s also modifications for stairstab and eagle stab training in there, but honestly, who falls for stairstabs anymore, and who plays Spy anyway?

And while you’re at it, try a couple headshots.

___________________________________________________________________________

That concludes this article for today. Seriously, get a server, or become friends with someone who does, so you can reap the benefits of Spireking and BBall. Until next time, good night and good luck.

Give a big hand to Secret Agent Clank, on his first contribution to the Competitive TF2 Guide. Future installments of the guide are going to be generally shorter and more specific than the first nine. Thanks for the support, readers. -himmelstoss

Well guys,this is is, the final part of Thirty Six of Rules, I hope you’ve all enjoyed it, thanks for reading and supporting my guide, see you when my next one is released, I’ll be adapting my defense guide for Ubercharged, in different sections, of course, since it’s 60 pages long o.0.

Until next time, this is EchelonThree, thanks for reading!

31. Backpedal if he’s attacking you, but turn and run forward if he’s out of range

It’s a little known fact that you’re slower when backpedalling. So what does this mean?

It means that if a pyro is rushing you and you turn around and fire, he’ll catch you eventually (if you’re not a scout, medics will get caught). However, if you turn and run, that means that he’ll never catch up to you. A good pyro will pull out the shotgun and pray that he gets you.

If he’s already within range, you won’t escape him, so you might as well fight him.

If he’s out of range, you (as a faster class) are likely to be ill equipped to engage a pyro anyway, since that means you’re either an engineer (shotgun vs. flamethrower), sniper (SMG vs. flamethrower), Medic (you’re better off running anyway, don’t fight if you don’t have to!), or spy (you kidding?).

If you’re slower than a pyro and he’s closing into range, then you should fight him (and you’ll probably beat him), since you won’t get away anyway, and fighting is your only real chance.

But be creative – if you think you can get away with a rocket jump, by all means go for it.

Thanks to TF2F Nullname who points out that it’s faster to backpedal while strafing (i.e. hold down back while strafing) than it is to simply backpedal.

32. Don’t charge a heavy. Ever.

“THIS IS SASHAAAAAAAAA!” – Leonidas Trotsky

You’re a pyro and you see a heavy, gun fully revved, down the corridor. Would you charge him?

A few seconds of thinking will tell you the answer is no, but if this is so, then why do so many pyros wind up going w+m1 at heavies?

Maybe it’s because a flamethrower is a close range weapon? So is the minigun.

Let’s ask this question: if you were a demoman, would you rush a heavy with your grenades?

Once again, no, so if health isn’t the reason (demo and pyro have the same health), then it must be the weapon.

So, why does a flamethrower seem to give someone the feeling that accords him the invincibility of extreme capability of being and having superhuman strength, endurance, and leetawsomeness make benefit glorious pyro to charge a heavy?

I don’t know, but I do know this: Don’t charge a competent heavy, you WILL lose. Your odds are much better if his gun isn’t spinning when you engage him, but still, you’re best off not attacking him head on.

I’ve received a torrent of hate mail regarding this point…. yes I know a soldier can beat a heavy at close range, but he wins by using cover, not by charging the mobile meat shredder.

33. The game is TEAM fortress.

ATTENTION: Halo players, you are NOT the Master Chief, and this is NOT a super soldier game

The enemies are NOT grunts; don’t go charging in yourself unless you’re sure of what you’re doing. This is a team game; no one class is equipped to handle every situation (except the *insert profanity here* overpowered demo).

Unless you’re trying to eliminate a key target like a sentry or a medic, you shouldn’t be charging in without support.

Until then, I’ll be in my bunker, hiding from the flood of hate mail I’ll likely receive.
WARNING: Serious Zone! – Aggression

Aggression is how aggressive you are in battle. (doh!)

Well, that means how much you push out against the opponent. How can you define aggression? Simple.

Usually, in a fight, both sides want to avoid opposing fire by one of two methods – evasion or cover. Evasion involves moving to throw off the guns of the opposing force. Cover is… well… cover – put something behind yourself and the bullet and you’re safe from direct damage. In a fight, cover is generally preferred over evasion.

In any single engagement, the “aggressive” or attacking side is generally the one who is evading, and the defender is seeking cover. It’s an age-old matchup between mobile warfare and a static position.

More importantly, being aggressive means that you enjoy the advantage of the “initiative”. This means that you can determine the pace of the battle by pressing or retreating, you can take your time to reload as you can dodge, and you have the first shot. (There are some people who work well on defense, like myself – I HATE attacking)

Now, being aggressive means that you’re taking a risk, as you will have to leave a safe covered position, maintain pressure on the defender (to prevent him from taking the advantage), and keep yourself safe.

Foolish aggression involves the ancient fighting technique that can best be described as “Frothing mouth, flailing arm” – charging the enemy recklessly with guns blazing.

There is a thin line between that and controlled aggression. Unlike the foolish attacker, the controlled attacker always has a backup plan to fall back and resupply.

End Serious Zone.

34. Fool your enemy

The M1 Garand rifle (not in TF2, what a pity) made a distinctive “ping” sound when an (automatically) ejected rifle clip hit the ground. At that point, everybody and his brother knew you were out of ammunition and had to reload, including an enemy who would be waiting to shoot you when your clip was empty. As such, many marines were killed because of their ping…. (okay that was a REALLY bad joke)

If your enemy is engaging you in direct combat, calling for a doc will signal that you’re “injured” to everyone, including your enemy.

What do the two have in common? Simple: they are both excellent opportunities to turn the fight against your enemy.

In the case of the M1, marines in Vietnam would throw an empty rifle clip on the ground, wait for the enemy to pop his head up, and pop a cap into him. Likewise, by calling out for a medic, you have given him an opening to come at you (while he thinks you are “injured”) and finish you off.

Unnecessarily calling for a medic may cause him to be overaggressive and greedy, and you can use this time to plan the perfect ambush. Oh, and of course, it may help you save your medic.

Of course, tell your medic first that you’re not calling for him via teamchat or the voicecom.

See also point 18. – Don’t count on enemy stupidity

35. Know when to hold ‘em, Know when to fold ‘em

“You got to know when to hold ‘em, know when to fold ‘em. Know when to walk away, and know when to run.” – Kenny Rogers

You’re an engi, and an uber heavy has just emptied a belt or two of ammo into your gun at close range, what do you do?

Most people will keep on whacking the gun in a losing battle. A smart engi will take the time to escape and set up a gun somewhere else.  As you can see here, our other engineers are falling back, leaving the level 2 sentry to distract the ubered demoman. (my gun has just been finished off by a sniper).

In this other picture below, we see another part of the game, our guns have been destroyed but we’ve managed to bleed a significant portion of their time away, they’re down to one minute now.

We won the game without them taking a single point

The same principle can be applied to you as a soldier caught in the open against a heavy at close range, you have to choose between fighting him (and praying that someone gives you an assist or that you get an assist after you die), rocketjumping away and falling back (you’ll take some damage but live to fight again). In this case, running away on foot is not an option, the minigun will cut you into shreds.

Learn to identify times where the best thing to do is simply cut your losses and fall back.

36. Never take anything for granted until that timer hits 0

“You never count your money when you’re sittin’ at the table. There’ll be time enough for countin’ when the dealin’s done.” – Kenny Rogers

Gravelpit point C, 10 seconds left. Red players decide that they’ll win for sure and charge forward to get the kills during the humiliation round; in that time, a blu spy gets onto the point and captures it.

You should stand on the point until the end (watch for overtime!) and make sure that when you’ve won the game, you really have won the game. Even in the last five seconds, we keep a heavy and soldier on the point to prevent any last-second charges.

End

So that’s thirty-six simple rules which should greatly improve your overall combat effectiveness, no frills, just good strategy.

In traditional style, I’ve not gone into aiming techniques, how to do a rocketjump, or any other technicalities of the sort, it’s my belief that any player can become a strong player if they play smart instead of playing hard, that’s what this guide is about.

I really hope you’ve all found it useful, and that you’ve enjoyed reading this guide as much as I have writing it.

So, see you on the servers!

Author Information & License Protection

EchelonThree/Cryo/Rocket Man

Singapore

echelonthreeguides@gmail.com

Control Point, Gamereplays.org, Edgegamers.org, TeamFortress2Fort.com, Ubercharged.net

Writer for Gamereplays.org

This guide is protected under a Creative Commons License, the full license is viewable through the link below

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Remember that funny song I put up last time?

We’ve known each other, since last spawn;
Your health’s been droppin but you’re too shy to call me;
The other team has built a sentry farm;
Just one uber and we can break it

I….. really hope the pyro doesn’t spycheck me;
Fire isn’t good for disguise.

We really need a demoman;
I play medic- for the win;
I’ve almost readied my ubercharge
Sentryguns, backstabbing spies
Are all as annoying as flies
I really hate these crit rockets

Way too many crits (Way too many crits)
CRIT ROCKET….
Way too many crits (Way too many crits)
CRIT ROCKET….

critroll’d

25. Don’t turtle

Defensively speaking, sentries are easier to destroy than set up. An uber can bring down a gun and a dispenser; they can then run in and grab your intel before hightailing it out of there.

If you turtle, it’s not a matter of “will you win?” it becomes, “when will they win?”

By the way, don’t get “don’t turtle” confused with “don’t defend.” They’re not the same. Turtling is concentrating all your resources on defending aimlessly without attacking. Defending is smartly allocating your resources taking into account your need to attack. In English, that means to allocate your manpower in such a way that you gain the greatest benefit on defense from the lost manpower on attack

26. Don’t camp

“I see whut you did thar” – Oscar Wilde

You just killed me from that spot. Do you really think I’m going to fall for that trick again when you try to snipe me from the very same spot for the third time in a row?

Short answer: No.

Don’t stand still like a bloody idiot! In the end, you’ll be the dead, bloody idiot.

Nuff said.

I’ve received a bit of feedback on this from people who tell me that that’s the only way they can use the cloak and dagger, my response is that if you’re a spy who crouchwalks with the cloak and dagger, you’re doing it wrong, go home, learn to play, and stop sucking.

There is a difference between the “good” type of camping and the “poor” type of camping, the good types of campers are those who camp with a purpose or stay in an area because of an overwhelming positional advantage it gives them, the poor types are those who aimlessly wait for someone to come into their crosshairs.

Any camping should be done with a purpose, such as to ambush a key target like a medic. If you’re just camping around waiting for your cloak to recharge, at least try to do it in a strategic place where you can report in enemy movements. Camping around with no purpose is pointless.

Back to that picture I mentioned earlier in the guide:

Once again, I’m up there waiting for a target, but this time I’m dumping a load of pipebombs down to force anyone who comes in to my stickytrap. If my team were busy fighting for control of another point, I would be useless to my team.

However, this is a different situation, our team is under pressure, and this passageway is the most direct route from the enemy spawn to our point; my role is not one of camping and ambushing (everybody knows I have stickies there waiting for them) but one of defensive area denial (they know that I’m waiting for them, that forces them to take a long route.

Better still, I cover the shortest route for my team to reach the center point (this room) and stage a counterattack.

Lesson here? If you must camp, camp with a purpose.

27. Use Ubers wisely

An uber lasts for 10 seconds, so please: do NOT give it to a scout or sniper.

Okay, that was obvious, but medics have to observe and coordinate with their Überee. With good scouting, you can work out what the best uber for the situation is.

If your spy reports that there are lots of SGs, pick a demoman to go in, and work with your spy to take out the guns more efficiently. If your spy sees a player based defense in an open area like dustbowl, then a (skilled) soldier or demo would work well. If it’s a close quarters area like the intel room on 2fort, few outperform a pyro or heavy.

If you have to defend a point against another ubered pair on the point, uber heavies win, bar none.

In special situations, such as on Gravelpit, an uber scout can be devastating on the points to block it, and you should always be aware of this lesser-used uber. But something like this should only be used as a last resort.

Above all, it’s down to the medic to pick his uber target and coordinate with the team. If done well, it’s a game changer; if you fail, you won’t get another chance for at least a minute, so make it count.

28. Spycheck everyone

“Would you like spies with that?” – Michael Moore

It doesn’t take that much ammo, so why not?

A spy behind your lines is a major disadvantage, not only because of the fact that he’ll kill all of you, but also because he will likely report back everything you do to his team, and if needed, kill your medic in a suicide attack. Spy checking doesn’t even have to cost you ammo; just run through the suspected spy and root him out.

In clan scrims, not every clan may run a spy. Still, running through allies to check them is simply good economics – it takes low effort and time, but it offers you a huge benefit.

29. Get creative.

How many people look up when they are commuting? The fight is on the ground, so why look directly up?

That’s the weakness you must exploit. Few expect someone to drop down on them, and for the few that do, they usually can’t do anything about it.

Once again, just like in all my guides, a nice conversation on a server. I’m a demoman, and it’s alltalk (so I took advantage of it).

Scene: Dustbowl Stage 2
Location: Tunnel with 1-way gate.
Scenario: Red has taken the tunnel, as a demoman, I’m holding the tunnel by lobbing my nades down, but suspiciously, no stickies have been launched

(enemy)”Alright guys, gogo”
A soldier, engi, and medic run start coming in to take the tunnel from me, in response, I go around the corner and run back
(enemy) “we need a dispenser”
(enemy) “okay, charging uber”
*30 secs later*
(enemy) “oh [censored] look up!”
*boom*
Six kills and four destruction points, whoopee (:
Place bombs behind rocks, under your sentry guns (to blow up spies who sap), inside barrels, on ceilings. Get creative with your traps, and you’ll be well rewarded.

Likewise, take advantage of this by first getting to an obscure vantage point, and then raining death down on an unsuspecting enemy, or picking them off one by one.

WARNING: Serious Zone! – Creativity

Okay, so I’ve just said a lot about getting creative, but what exactly is creativity?

Well, I can’t really say much, except that you shouldn’t let any conventional wisdom hold you back, you can try putting a sentry up smack in the middle of the battlefield, sniping from an otherwise-poor vantage point, and my personal favorite: Laying stickybombs under shallow water…. Many people in 2fort have died while running through the sewers.

End Serious Zone

30. Call your ubers

Why would you uber a soldier who’s out of ammo? You wouldn’t, but yet, many people don’t bother to find out if their Überee is ready to be charged. You don’t want to send out an ubercharge only to find that you aren’t backed up, either.

The simple solution involves telling your team that you are charged and ready to begin a push.

Whenever you are about to be fully charged, tell your team to prepare to push up. At once, everybody in your team, led by the uber, should push forward, swarm the enemy, and win the game.

DISCLAIMER: The writer of this guide advises against telling people when you are fully charged. It tends to have the negative effect of causing every single crit rocket, grenade, arrow, sniper bullet and stray syringe gun needle to teleport and miraculously rematerialize with a flight path directed at you, then proceeding to: (hit/maim/perforate/pulverise,vaporise/bludgeon/detonate/slice/stab/impale/exterminate/gib/execute/decapitate/all of the above) [choose one] you.

Wayhey! We’re at the halfway point now, it’s time for an obligatory “thank you” from me for reading thus far.

Okay that’s enough thanking you for one day, let’s get down to business, does anybody notice how often people leave their support such as medics and engineers open, then whine “omgs medic wherez mah healzzzz” or “need a teleporter here x9001″.

It seems to happen all too often, it’s even dumber when the medic charges headlong into battle in front of the class escorting him, then complains “omg protectyourmedic n00bzzzzz”…. let’s get started

19. Don’t endanger your medic

“V. I. D.” – Sun Tzu

Look at it in terms of “time cost.” If you die, you have a 10 second respawn and a 5 sec walk back to the battle; it’s not pleasant, but it’s not a huge deal. Your medic has a 10 sec respawn, plus a 5 second walk, plus a 90 second charge time for his uber.

So you should be trying to kill the enemy medic at all costs. If you know your medic has just used his uber, it’s semi-acceptable to endanger him since you don’t have much to lose and you’re going after an enemy who does, but yet you shouldn’t charge out without a plan to get your medic back to safety.

If you’re an overhealed heavy and you see a rocket heading towards your team, don’t hesitate to jump in front of it and tank it out with the soldier; even if it’s a crit, you have plenty of health to spare.

To use another example – from Pokemon – Blissey is a pokemon with a ridiculously high HP; she (there are no male Blisseys, don’t ask why) is known as a “wall.” That is, she is meant to switch in to sponge up any incoming attacks. Replace Blissey with heavy and you have the same idea; assist by blocking any attacks to your medic.

WARNING: Serious Zone! – Escorting

Escorting a key player is one of the most important things in the game, the most common type of escort relationship is that of a soldier/demo/heavy and a medic. At other times, it could be a fighting class escorting a scout to the intelligence room by clearing the sentries.

The escort has one key role: keep his VIP alive until his aim is accomplished. This can be done by meatshielding (soaking up rockets or bullets), elimination (destroying the threat), or retreating (laying down suppressive fire until you can get support).

In most cases, the escorted class is a medic, engineer, or scout. IT could also be a key attacker such as a demoman to take out a well-positioned sentry gun.

The best way to escort a player would be to physically block the attacker from being able to directly hit his preferred target (the medic) while forcing any attackers to come into his effective range.

Escorting is best seen in clanscrims where the pocket soldier or demoman’s goal is to defend his medic while pushing.

End Serious Zone

20. Watch your time.

“One second is nothing, one million is a statistic” – Josef Stalin

You have a minute on the clock and you’re about to respawn as a medic. Don’t use the normal uber, use a critzer, there’s a high chance that the uber wouldn’t even be charged in time to create an impact on the game, but the critzer might.

Don’t bother building up and coordinating two ubers if you have 60 seconds left on the clock (come to think of it, if you HAD two ubers, you wouldn’t be in that rut in the first place); try to make use of it so that you can cause maximum damage from a safe distance and then sweep in during the final seconds with a big push.

A suicide charge should be used only as a last resort since it will definitely be your last shot. If you want to suicide rush, try to coordinate it so that you can actually take the point.

21. Heavies, Soldiers and Medics first

“Women and children first, then men, then dogs, then cats, mimes, and finally bankers” – Oscar Wilde on the financial crisis

You’re a scout: you can run fast. So…. WHY THE BLOODY HELL ARE YOU TAKING THE TELEPORT WHEN THERE’S A HEAVY NEXT TO YOU?

Rude, crude and mean, but very, very logical. Heavies should always be given priority for the teleport; the same goes for soldiers.
Medics are another important class that should be given priority for the teleport. Why? Simple. Although a medic is a fast class, a medic is also a very important class – he needs to be at the front so that he can get health to the people that need it the most – your frontline fighters.

Another special mention of a “fast” class that should be given priority is the engineer, who needs to get to his base faster (because it’s in need of repairs or something like that). Especially if it’s his teleporter, and you know his stuff is under attack.

To sum it all up, here’s a general list of who should get the tele, in a fight, it may vary.

First priority: Heavies, Soldiers, Medics.

First/Second priority: Engineer.

Second: Demomen

Third: Pyros, Spies.

Last: Snipers, Scouts

For your benefit, I’m providing the spray I use below, it works wonders on public and semi-pro servers.

22. Reload, Reload, Reload

“Be prepared” – Sun Tzu

You should spend every second of the fight doing something. If you’re not fighting, you should be healing, and if you’re not healing up, you should be fighting. If you’re not doing either, you should be on the way to the front or heading back from it.

There is one thing you can do while healing or fighting on the move – reloading. You never want to go around a corner – or into any battle, for that matter – with one rocket in the launcher (stupid!). You don’t want to rush in, ubered, with just one sticky in the launcher (stupider!), and you certainly don’t want to successfully outmanoeuvre a heavy only to find that you are out of scatgun ammo (stupidest!).

Make sure that your gun is loaded when you reach the front lines, for weapons which have “interruptible” reloads, you should be reloading all the time.

23. Metal for engies, Healthkits for medics

Do you really need that one rocket that you used to rocket jump? Especially when there’s an engineer that desperately needs to upgrade his gun to level 2?

Likewise, a medic can’t heal himself, so do you really need the health to patch up that 5hp of fall damage?

I’ve said this a million times before, and this will be the last time.

DON’T TAKE THE !@#%!@#&*AMMO AND HEALTH!!

This has been a community service announcement brought to you by me, thank you.

24. Don’t reload, switch to your secondary

“Six bullets against your one?” – James Bond

Mr. Bond got it right there: six bullets are better than one.

You’ve fired off four rockets, and your enemy (a soldier) is still alive. It’s close combat, and he’s fired off his rockets too, so what do you do?

Some will reload their launcher with a single rocket (I often do this if my opponent is injured), which is alright if you are confident of finishing him off in one. But in a one on one, it’s often better to swap to your shotgun and gun him down – you have six shots.

There is also the situation when, as a scout, you’re in close range against an enemy, depending on the situation, you may see fit to reload your scattergun to finish off your opponent in a single shot

WARNING: Serious Zone! – Weapon Proficiency

Sometimes, you’ll find yourself out of ammo for your primary weapon. At these times, it helps to be good or at least have some skills with your secondary or even your melee weapon. You should be capable of doing some damage with a shotgun, pistol, SMG, or even a blutsauger or syringe gun.

Take the time to study the power and effective range of your weapons so that you can be ready for a situation where you’re out of ordnance.

The players who will likely find themselves running out of ammo will be soldiers, demos and heavies (rockets run out fast, and the minigun is a bullet hose), so these are classes who should be well versed in shotgun and stickybomb use. The bottle and the KGB/fists should also be in your arsenal if you need to knockout a weakened opponent at close range.

End Serious Zone

Wow, we’re almost at the halfway mark now, let’s keep going, the most important rule is here! (rule 18)

24/7 2fort
Instarespawn custom sniperfest
I’m really bored so I go join red
And then roll soldier and start beatin all the rest
I don’t like the stupid lucksman players
Arrows don’t need no skill at all

Rocketjumpin all alone
My team are all on the phone
I’m on a side with 5 AFKs
Stupid WM1 pyro
I don’t like the way he blows
I feel like I need to ragequit

I doubt anybody will get what just happened…. let’s see what happens next time…

13. A battle on your terms is a battle won

“Play your advantage against his weakness, bring a gun to a knife fight, bring a machinegun to a gun fight, bring a laser to a machinegun fight” – Oscar Wilde

The enemy is faster than you, but you have more firepower; everything else is even. Obviously, you shouldn’t engage him in a fight of maneuvering, but rather try to force him into an area where your firepower matters. A narrow corridor is a prime example, his speed will count for nothing, but your firepower can be concentrated and focused on him.

Likewise, if you are a scout against a demoman, demomen are poor(er) at close range than at other ranges, and they can’t always hit you if you evade well, but obviously, you don’t want to charge him head on.

So, make use of the area, and lure him to an area where you can dominate him; once again, using Gravelpit as my example, try to force him to point A instead of engaging him in the corridors where your advantage is greatly reduced.

WARNING: Serious Zone! – Concept Content: Battle Simulation

This is the longest concept content section, and for good reason: Before we try to do decide what to do, we must know the kind of situation we want to face the enemy in; therefore, it often pays to try and “simulate” a battle by considering what will happen if you were to engage him, weighing your strengths against his.

Let’s try a real tough fight (not like that scout vs. demo example). I’m a Soldier defending on Gravelpit, I’m patrolling the A to C corridor and run into an enemy demoman approaching from A

To most players, the soldier and demo are often considered *approximately* equal.

What we need to do is to find a situation where I can stack the odds in my favor.

Let’s review what we all know, and then we can calculate the “ideal” decision; it’s critical that you know that fight conditions are never ideal, and this is only a rough sketch.

Since we have the leisure of time here, we can annotate each factor in this fight. Key points in the fight (i.e. the points which will determine the fight) are in bold. Potential factors (i.e. points which may become important, but currently aren’t) are in italics.

-          The demoman is faster

• He can decide where to fight

-          Demoman often prefer to set up stickies if they have the time

• If allowed to do so, he can make maneuvering very hard for me
• I must attack as soon as possible, or retreat.

-          The soldier has direct fire, but no indirect fire

• Open terrain favors me since his advantage is reduced

-          I have 25 more health

• It’s not much, but it acts as a valuable insurance policy

-          Demomen can’t attack at close range without splashing themselves

• At close range, I have my shotgun, or my shovel, he has a bottle.

-          His sticky launcher holds 8 stickies, against my four rockets

• His “direct” weapon has more ammo than I do, which means that when I’m dry, it’s shotgun time

-          I have a shotgun, and he doesn’t

• That last point doesn’t seem so bad, after all, the shotgun is the most versatile weapon in the game, and the demoman doesn’t have that

-          Demomen have a limited range

• My rocket launcher can hit him even when he can’t hit me

-          Soldiers can rocketjump, demomen can’t do it without blowing all his stickies

• Right now, I’m indoors and can’t rocketjump, but if I can bring him to an area where I can, I can outmaneuver him easily

As shown above, there are actually many factors in a fight between two sides, careful consideration must be taken before you try to attack anyone

End Serious Zone

14. Get behind their doctor!

“Screw the Geneva Convention” – Oscar Wilde

The enemy medic is the most vulnerable part of their formation. He’s usually more concerned spotting for targets (as above), and will likely see you, but what can he do about it? If he continues healing, he’s an open target; if his medic buddy falls back, he’s left his back open; if he turns and defends himself, he’s not healing.

Don’t be afraid to rocketjump over enemy lines just to kill their medic; he or she should be your number one target in a battle.

If you manage to kill their medic, then it’s usually more than worth it; even if you have to die while doing so, killing a medic costs him charge time, spawn time, and time which his team has to do without it. If I had to get a killcam shot, this is what I would want to see on it:

See point 19 – Don’t endanger your medic.

WARNING: Serious Zone! – Target Prioritization

Target Prioritization is the art of picking out the most important target in a group of enemies, and picking the most effective use of your ammo using a few criteria.

One way involves picking out what will do the most damage in terms of time taken, very useful for defenders.

For example, a medic with an uber is worth 100 seconds (90 secs give or take Übercharge time, 10 sec spawn time), a soldier is worth 10 seconds (10 sec spawn), a level 1 sentry is worth 15 seconds (5 to build, quite a while, I assume 10, to get it safely), a level 3 is worth considerably more since it takes a long time to build safely.

Another factor is the threat factor, where you evaluate which one is the most direct and immediate danger to you, and act accordingly, for example, the demoman firing at you is an immediate threat, the soldier coming up is not.

Finally, there is the position factor, where a player’s strategic position comes into play, if a soldier is attempting to take high ground like the roof of gravel B or containers in granary, he becomes a priority target as opposed to a soldier who isn’t trying to get into a good position.

End Serious Zone

15. Know your effective range

Don’t be stupid, that minigun isn’t going to do anything to the snipers across 2fort. Stop firing. Yes good job boy, you like suppressive fire. But at this range it’s more “fire” than “suppress”. Besides, he’ll nail you way before you kill him, and it’s a waste of your ammo.

No, really, I’ve seen many players do this and spray their ammo all over the place, then go onto the bridge (without going back for ammo for some reason) and get slaughtered by me, waiting there with a full barrel of rockets as they try to punch or taunt kill me since they don’t have a shotgun either.

Some weapons do little damage at long range, and some do good damage at long range, so, against a heavy, make use of the fact that after you exit the minigun’s medium range, he’ll only be doing 5 damage a bullet, but your rockets will still do well.

Likewise, don’t try to engage a heavy at close range as a soldier in direct combat (if there’s cover, then it’s fine if you use it to your advantage).

WARNING: Serious Zone! – Effective Range

Your effective range is the range at which you can actually kill your opponent effectively. That may have seemed obvious, but it helps to know the range at which you should be engaging your opponents before giving your position away.

Effective range is the range at which your weapons are capable of dealing maximum damage, in most cases, this is at point blank, however, when self-damage is taken into consideration, it may be medium or even long range.

End Serious Zone

16. Play the decoy

“Besiege Wei to rescue Zhao” – Okay, for once, something Sun Tzu actually did say

You might not be well equipped to deal with the target at hand, but that doesn’t mean that you’re not useful. You can act as a decoy, drawing enemies away in order to spread out their defense.

For example, a spy stabs a heavy, cloaks, and beelines his way out of there. Which direction should he run in?

A good answer is back towards his lines, to safety, where he can heal up and go on another sortie, but there is a downside – the enemy knows you’re gone.

The better answer is to run the long way back to your lines, or to some obscure place (e.g. on dustbowl, run for the trench tunnel). You don’t even have to all the way – just pretend to go that direction, and turn around when you’re fully cloaked. Why, you ask?

Simple – by running somewhere obscure, enemies will devote time to finding you, send a pyro to hunt you, and check with their medics. This draws enemies away from their posts engaging your soldiers, demos, and heavies.

If they stay at their posts, you are free to do whatever bad stuff you want to them again, lather, rinse, repeat as needed until all flakes are gone.

Of course, on Gravelpit, this can be put to good use. Should you try to attack B and be repelled, you can try to send a decoy scout to A. You have better mobility since you can switch between the two targets easily. However, they have the two unsavory options of either rushing to defend A and leaving B open (and even then they may lose A anyway), or sitting at B and giving A away.

17. Don’t rely on ambushes

“Don’t use a steak tree, use a ham bush” – Leonidas Trotsky

You can rely on ambushes to give you an advantage over your opponent, but don’t count on them to win a battle, and don’t obstinately stick with the same trick after it has been proven fruitless.

Many stupid pyros have tried the same thing over and over on me with no effect but their unfortunate and very predictable demise. Yes they win the first time through, but it’s really hard to fall for it again.

Think about this scenario on the map Blackmesa, most people would fall for this trap which involves stickies doing damage through grating. The idea is that people would come through the one way door into the blue corridor, and be stuck as they would have to go through the passage; the demoman is then free to blow them up.

It often works once on most players, but over time people will learn to come through alternate routes. Spies may use the dead ringer to force a premature detonation or simply cloak past, scouts may use bonk to bypass the area (though forcing the enemy scout to use bonk instead of a pistol is a victory in itself), and enemy snipers and soldiers can kill the demoman before moving in.

I’ll come back to this situation later with a slightly different picture

See also Point 18 – Don’t count on enemy stupidity

WARNING: Serious Zone! – Diversions and Ambushes

Despite the bad name I may have given it up there in an actual combat situation, an ambush is an excellent diversionary tactic when used in combination with a larger plan.

A pyro running straight (or better yet, jumping) into a pack of enemies (preferably while screaming “Allahu Akbar!”, “CHARGEE!” or “BANZAI!!”) is something that will instantly draw all attention away from your team’s follow up (preferably from another angle), and buys you some time to attack.

This gives you a period of time to follow-up while the enemy stops, drops, and rolls (or dies).

End Serious Zone

18. Don’t count on enemy stupidity

“Hm… he’s a soldier and he’s out of rocket ammo, so as a scout, I can run in and get in a few shots as he tries to reload all four.”

Wrong; you must always assume that the enemy will make the best possible move (you learn this in chess too). Assume that he’ll switch to his shotgun, or that he’ll reload just one rocket instead of four and fire it off at you to juggle you before finishing you off with the shotgun. Just don’t count on him giving you an opening by reloading four rockets.

Always assume that that he’ll make the best possible move in response to what you’re about to do, assume he’ll reflect your rocket, that he’ll see your stickies, that he knows you’re there. If he does do that stupid thing, you’re on top, if he does the smart thing, then it’s all even.

This is the NUMBER ONE mistake that most players make, and it’s appropriate that it’s right in the middle of this guide, do not ever assume your opponent is stupid. That assumption will cost you

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.