La Communauté FSW

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.

Link: http://www.fpsbanana.com/guis/20517
Credits: fOku5

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.

Link: http://www.fpsbanana.com/guis/20854
Credits: Shugo Takahashi

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.

Link: http://www.fpsbanana.com/guis/20643
Credits: Shugo Takahashi

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.

Link: http://www.fpsbanana.com/skins/74875
Credits: Shugo Takahashi

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)

Link: http://www.fpsbanana.com/skins/66376
Credits: {H.H} Boba Fett

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).

Link: http://www.fpsbanana.com/skins/30659
Credits: DDbrother821

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

Link: http://www.fpsbanana.com/skins/48749
Credits: 90SK

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.

Link: http://www.fpsbanana.com/skins/48867
Credits: 90SK

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)

Link: http://www.fpsbanana.com/skins/66290
Credits: Argle Bargle

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.

Link: http://www.fpsbanana.com/skins/67826
Credits: Evil_Ice

A higher res Energy drink… ‘nuff said…

Link: http://www.fpsbanana.com/skins/60732
Credits: BrainZ

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).

Link: http://www.fpsbanana.com/skins/77423
Credits: Sparkwire

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.

Link: http://www.fpsbanana.com/skins/61893
Credits: Ampersand

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.

Link: http://www.fpsbanana.com/skins/49262
Credits: The Kins

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)

Sign-ups for the €500 Esports Heaven Sapphire Challenge are closing this weekend. If you're able to field a team for Monday night, make sure you sign-up and do your part in growing TF2's stature as a competitive game.

Click here to sign-up!

You can find the french unedited version on http://www.i-play.be/d...s/interview_payard_fr.doc..

Our lovable Techtron has been spotted with Pentia tag. On ETF2L, he has left iG and switched over to the Pentia roster.

It seems Techtron wasn't happy with his team's medic and decided it was time to move on (again:p). Loco apparantly succombed to techron's obvious charm to be a allarounder for Pentia, with a possible future spot as permanent soldier.

Pentia roster has known constant changes yet has managed to keep a great level of gameplay. Initially Dr Justice was to be the supposed scout for Pentia (lasted 2 weeks), but he has disapeared to join a new upcoming team for next season.

Pentia's current roster :
Loco (medic)
Admirable (soldier)
Memento Mori (soldier)
Koeitje (scout)
fadestep (scout)
Line (demo)

Techtron (sub allarounder)
Masther (sub soldier)
archy (sub demo)
havok (sub scout)


On that, we wish the best to both iG and Pentia

Although no official word yet, it seems their is an evacuation plan in progress in the Empire ranks. The first one to leave "Ice" the superstar scout of Empire, seems to have left out of discouragement and anger. Empire probably didn't see much hope without Ice, and seems to be leaving one by one.

It's quite unfortunate if this is the case, Empire did proove to be quite a worthy adversary in maps like Well, where they managed to tie the map vs TCM in ETF2L Week 1.

For some of us, Empire is an unforgettable team that has had it's ups and downs but was never to be taken lightly. Damn russians!

Good luck to the ex Empire players.

Over at the official TF2 blog, Valve have posted an insight into their weapons development and..

It's time reclarify exactly what is gossip. Lets take a look what wikipedia says and since it suits us, lets stick to it.
"Gossip is idle talk or rumour, especially about the personal or private affairs of others. It forms one of the oldest and most common means of sharing (unproven) facts and views, but also has a reputation for the introduction of errors and other variations into the information transmitted. The term also carries implications that the news so transmitted (usually) has a personal or trivial nature, as opposed to normal conversation."

With that in mind, lets move on to "Blight Part II". Seems Blight is becoming more and more of a soap opera as after the dismissal of Dajackal, both Dreadi and Tommi (ex eLD players) have decided to part ways from blight.

Which teams will benefit from this departure? Possibly brz (div2) who are on the verge of ending their run? Talks of a total revamp of their entire roster, replaced by Dreadi and Tommi? Or shall the mighty duo Dreadi and Tommi go on to resurrect the old eLD team with TCM's bm, who currently seems to be effectively benched, following close behind?

Blight Gaming's medic Depch had this comment to make:
Dreadi leaving was his own decision after he got put out of the core lineup as I brought in Hekka also for the team. Tommi was just being loyal towards his brother then. We understand and respect the decision totally.

Good luck to Dreadi, Tommi and Blight.TF2

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
• can NOT be sapped or repaired
• she looks like the maid robot from Jetsons, and she gropes players as she heals them

————————————-

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!

*thanks to Kitalpha for the groping robot idea

Yesterday, we announced that Steam and all our Source engine games will be coming to the Mac. Sound too good to be true? Well, guess what: It is true! There are no catches! Sometimes life actually works like that. The bad news is that we've just truth bombed your hard-earned lie detector back to the stone age, and you'll probably lose all your money to the next international lottery scam that sneaks through your spam filter. Still, Steam on the Mac!

Pushing the community forward

Our partnership with EsportsHeaven continues with the 128 team Sapphire Challenge with €500 up for grabs.

While that partnership is strong, it is also a growing one, and we still need your support and participation. So, if you’re able to play on the evening of the 15th of March, make sure you sign-up today!

We’re also very excited to tell you about an upcoming Highlander tournament we’ll be hosting in association with Valve and TF2Lobby for new to competitive play teams. Expect details about how this involves you the coming week!

Also make sure to check out the second episode of The Direct Hit podcast, “Who the hell decided to go valley?”, where the team takes a look at what’s wrong with competitive TF2 and how we can put a positive spin on it.

Rule changes with immediate effect

• In response to the awesome Fraglander frag movie by Sammage, we have been forced to rule that the kind of turning scripts demonstrated in his video will be banned in ETF2L play.
• After a number of issues with pauses in matches recently, in both ETF2L and the ESH cups, we are changing the pause rule to the following
  

  Teams may request a pause at any time during a match. Reasons for pausing include:

  - Player drop
  - Server problems
  - Your game is unplayable due to network issues

  If you need to pause, you must clearly request a pause and give a reason for it (for example: “Pause please, player drop”).

  The other team is then, by rule, expected to pause on behalf of their opponents in a sensible and sportsmanlike manner. They must pause at the first appropriate time.

  Teams should use their common sense about what an appropriate time to pause is. Try your best not to pause when major engagements are taking place. You should pause within 15 seconds of being asked.

  If a complaint is made that a team was either abusing the ability to request pauses to gain an unsportsmanlike advantage, or a team failed to fairly pause or took excessive time to do so after being clearly requested to pause, the admin team will review the supplied SourceTV demo and assess penalties on a case-by-case basis. Penalties include minor warning accompanied with the forfeit of the round in question, or, in extreme cases, major warning and forfeit of the map.

  A team is only expected to pause on behalf of the other team once per map. After the first pause has been used, it is up to the other team whether and when to pause or not.

  A pause cannot last more than 5 minutes. After 5 minutes have passed, the other team is free to unpause the game without the other team’s agreement, as long as they let the other team know that they are about to unpause. We advise teams to use the 5 minutes wisely: sort out whatever problem you have and arrange a sub from your roster in case the problem cannot be fixed.

  You may not unpause the game under any circumstances without giving proper warning to the other team.

• Following the results of the Obscure poll, cp_obscure_rc2 will be used in all future games until further notice.
• Please also note that several teams have fallen foul of the rule regarding the use of mercs. You must have the other team’s permission to use a merc, and all mercs must be registered with ETF2L. It is your responsibility to check this, not the other team’s. There will be no exceptions.We also advise, as always, that you get your opponent to agree to allowing your merc on the relevant match page. It’s also a good idea to screenshot their agreement (if it’s agreed in-game or through Steam chat/IRC) too.

Changes to the admin team

We regret to announce that we’re removing long-time volunteers Amonsilas and Weqo from the admin team due to inactivity. We thank them for their services to the community and wish them good luck with their future plans.

We have also taken the decision to relieve Anakin from his role in the anti-cheat team. An unfortunate conflict of interest has arisen with his position as ESL admin, and it was, in our estimation, effecting his performance in his duties with ETF2L. We are very grateful for his hard work and wish him all the best with regards to future ventures.

Following Anakin’s removal, the anti-cheat team is seriously understaffed. We are in the final stages of approving new members, who we hope will formally join the team within the next few days.

In response to allegations against anti-cheat team

Following an internal review between the head admins, anti-cheat and league staff, we have decided to uphold the anti-cheat team’s decision regarding Quad’s ban, as detailed on February the 8th. They have fully explained their decision and they have the full support of the head admins.

Due to the seriousness of the allegations made against the anti-cheat team, we have taken the decision to make an exception in publishing details of our anti-cheat team’s report.

Ticks 3000-4000: Unusual movement, microadjustments of crosshair.
4400, 5600, 5950, 6700: Kills with unusual crosshair movements and patterns.
5100, 5800: Also potentially suspicious kills

Please keep in mind that we do not release this kind of information for a reason. While these instances may look innocuous to you, it is the judgement of our anti-cheat experts that they constitute evidence of cheating.

Considering Gryzor’s behaviour towards our league and exercising his personal vendettas against certain members of our staff in the name of “improving” our community, it’s difficult to take his word seriously. Nevertheless, be assured that we took the allegations he made against our league very seriously.

For those reasons, however, and his leak of confidential admin information that he obtained through his previous role as ETF2L staff, we have taken the decision to exclude him from our community for a year.

It’s very important to us that our admins, people in positions of trust, do not abuse their role. Any admin, past or present, caught leaking information will be subject to the same penalty.

Player bans

Gryzor – Leaking confidential admin information – 1 year ban

Hastaloe – Speedhack – 1 year ban

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.

Update – official now

Here’s the official word from Valve.

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.”

Cheers to Drexer for the tip in the comments

It’s been a year. A long, grueling year.

A fact that I just recognized two weeks ago.

If you’re wondering who this fellow is, and why is he clearly off his rocker, I’m The Medik, formerly Scoot, and I run maintain pay for UC2, otherwise known as the European Server. And, looking at my bill history, it’s going to be turning 1 soon.

What better way to celebrate than to have a week of birthday fun?

Saturday, March 5th and Sunday, March 6th:

The actual birthday of our beloved server is Saturday, and it’s only fitting to start it off with two days of downright silliness, courtesy of everyone’s favorite map, Mariokart (There will be other silly maps available, if you’re not an avid fan) . The server rules will also be loosened for this event, so be prepared to bring some music with you (emphasis on music; please leave the bonk songs at home), but keep it in moderation. We’ll still mute anyone who thinks it’s a good idea to play Be A Man, or any song for that matter, for the fifth time in a row. But don’t worry about losing out on the birthday fun because of some carpet-bagger who doesn’t even know what a server is took your spot, we’ll have a password up to keep the riff-raff out. I recommend that you join the UC European group, in order to not miss out.

Cake will not be provided, despite what the previous picture may show.

Other Amenities include:

• Crits! Everyone loves allcrit, right?
• Hats! Hats for EVERYBODY!
• As Live-As-We-Can-Make-it Music!

Monday, March 8th Through Friday, March 12th:

Now, if silly maps and silly hats don’t float your boat, we’ve got other activities. Consider it as the “Grown-ups Table”

For the rest of the week, we’ll be having a fine selection of custom maps available for your enjoyment, courtesy of my right-hand man, Tesla Tank. By now, we’ll have returned the server back to it’s normal state, so don’t worry about ruining your map experience with the constant crackling of criticals. (Alliteration is Awesome!)

The tentative maplist is as follows, if one wishes to download them early:

• ctf_atrophy_b4
• koth_fever_b1
• cp_freight
• cp_follower
• cp_furnace_b2
• koth_garbage_day
• pl_great_heights_b3
• ctf_haarp_b2
• cp_indulge
• cp_mainline_rc3
• koth_moonshine_rc
• plr_nightfall_a12
• koth_persia_b4
• cp_silvertrail_rc2
• pl_swiftwater
• cp_wildmire_b3
• arena_freight
• arena_oasis_final
• arena_blackwood

Be sure to give us your opinions on the maps once you’re done playing them, the best of the best will earn themselves a spot on the permanent maplist.

Odds And Ends:

If you’re havin’ problems figuring out which one this UC2 is, it’s IP is 217.163.27.214:2o715, or click the handy-dandy banner on the left. It’s located in glorious London.

For those who are interested, the Weekly EuroPug group is starting up after an extended hiatus. If you would like to try it out, just join the group, and show up when we hold one. We play by ETF2L rules, adjusted for however many people do show up. We are also not as strict concerning sticking to the standard 6v6 setup, but  do require you to do what your team asks of you. Microphones are not explicitly required, but we’ll all like you much more if you do use yours.

Well, I think that wraps it up for me this year. If you are in desperate need of server assistance, send a friend/chat request to either myself, or my cunning henchman/butler, Tesla Tank.

It’s been a year. A long, grueling year.

A fact that I just recognized two weeks ago.

If you’re wondering who this fellow is, and why is he clearly off his rocker, I’m The Medik, formerly Scoot, and I run maintain pay for UC2, otherwise known as the European Server. And, looking at my bill history, it’s going to be turning 1 soon.

What better way to celebrate than to have a week of birthday fun?

Saturday, March 5th and Sunday, March 6th:

The actual birthday of our beloved server is Saturday, and it’s only fitting to start it off with two days of downright silliness, courtesy of everyone’s favorite map, Mariokart. The server rules will also be loosened for this event, so be prepared to bring some music with you (emphasis on music; please leave the bonk songs at home), but keep it in moderation. We’ll still mute anyone who thinks it’s a good idea to play Be A Man, or any song for that matter, for the fifth time in a row. But don’t worry about losing out on the birthday fun because of some carpet-bagger who doesn’t even know what a server is took your spot, we’ll have a password up to keep the riff-raff out. I recommend that you join the UC European group, in order to not miss out.

Cake will not be provided, despite what the previous picture may show.

Other Amenities include:

• Crits! Everyone loves allcrit, right?
• Hats! Hats for EVERYBODY!
• As Live-As-We-Can-Make-it Music!

Monday, March 8th Through Friday, March 12th:

Now, if silly maps and silly hats don’t float your boat, we’ve got other activities. Consider it as the “Grown-ups Table”

For the rest of the week, we’ll be having a fine selection of custom maps available for your enjoyment, courtesy of my right-hand man, Tesla Tank. By now, we’ll have returned the server back to it’s normal state, so don’t worry about ruining your map experience with the constant crackling of criticals. (Alliteration is Awesome!)

The tentative maplist is as follows, if one wishes to download them early:

• ctf_atrophy_b4
• koth_fever_b1
• cp_freight
• cp_follower
• cp_furnace_b2
• koth_garbage_day
• pl_great_heights_b3
• ctf_haarp_b2
• cp_indulge
• cp_mainline_rc3
• koth_moonshine_rc
• plr_nightfall_a12
• koth_persia_b4
• cp_silvertrail_rc2
• pl_swiftwater
• cp_wildmire_b3
• arena_freight
• arena_oasis_final
• arena_blackwood

Be sure to give us your opinions on the maps once you’re done playing them, the best of the best will earn themselves a spot on the permanent maplist.

Odds And Ends:

If you’re havin’ problems figuring out which one this UC2 is, it’s IP is 217.163.27.214:2o715, or click the handy-dandy banner on the left. It’s located in glorious London.

For those who are interested, the Weekly EuroPug group is starting up after an extended hiatus. If you would like to try it out, just join the group, and show up when we hold one. We play by ETF2L rules, adjusted for however many people do show up. We are also not as strict concerning sticking to the standard 6v6 setup, but  do require you to do what your team asks of you. Microphones are not explicitly required, but we’ll all like you much more if you do use yours.

Well, I think that wraps it up for me this year. If you are in desperate need of server assistance, send a friend/chat request to either myself, or my cunning henchman/butler, Tesla Tank.

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.

_______________________________

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.

_______________________________

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:

1. The Huntsman is inherently different from the Rifle. Embrace that, and you’re a step closer to victory.
2. You’re better off being closer to the target than normal Snipers need to be.
3. Your secondary weapons have their place. Use them.
4. Keep moving, keep alert, and keep away from the Razorback.
5. Get out there and play!

A special thank you goes to Tygrys for the illustrations.

zzZZzzZzZZzzz-WAGH.

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…

TR_Walkway_RC2

Click here to get.

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.

We're plugging away at the Engineer update. He's an interesting class to work on, because he creates a larger footprint in the game than any other class. This means we have a lot of options to work with, and the resulting set of ideas is truly daunting. Since we've already built and playtested some things that haven't worked out (with no false modesty, I think we've mastered the art of rapidly making things that aren't fun), we thought it might be interesting to give you some of our failed experiments.