TF2 Game Guide

Team Fortress 2 is the latest multiplayer FPS to come from Valve, and can be bought as part of the Half-Life 2: Episode Two Orange Box. As you’d expect from the people who brought you Counter-Strike: Source and Day of Defeat: Source, the action is swiftly paced and furiously competitive.

We took a first look at the game yesterday, but in this article we"re going to be taking an in-depth look at how to get the most out of the game: how to stay alive, and just as importantly, how to keep your team alive. The game is called Team Fortress 2 for a reason and working well with your team is the best way to win the game, as well as accrue points for your own nefarious ends.

Which side am I on?

Each game of TF2 pits two sides against one another. The two teams are identical aside from their colour schemes. Discerning the colour of your team, and thus deciding who to shoot can be confusing at first, but it’s actually very simple. Your HUD is painted in the colour of your team so keep that in mind.

What character class should I pick?

While TF2’s sides don’t differ from each other, each player can select from one of nine different types of character. These nine classes are designed to fulfil a basic purpose, either functioning as swift attackers, stalwart defenders, or as support units for the other players.

Each class excels in at least one area, at the expense of one major weakness. The most obvious examples of this are the Scout and Heavy. The Scout has incredible speed, but his weapons are tricky and he has a low amount of health. The Heavy is well armed and armoured, but inaccurate and slow moving. A successful team requires a good mix of classes and players who can work together to amplify their strengths and offset each other’s weaknesses. Countering an enemy rush takes a different mix of classes than it does to disable enemy defences and gain ground, for example.

When you select your class, the screen will tell you how many of each class are already playing on your team. Use this information to pick your class to work well with both the mix of other classes, and the role your team has on the map.

We"ve gone into detail about each of the classes below.

*UPDATE, December 2008*
Types of game

When TF2 launched, there were two types of game: one in which the sides battle for control of the map, via control points, and a "Capture the Flag" mode, where victory is grasped by taking the "Intelligence Briefcase" from the enemy"s base. Valve has since added two more modes, "Payload" and "Arena."

Control Points

Control points are designated areas on the maps which your team must capture or defend. As in other games such as Battlefield 2, the more members of your team standing on a control point, the faster you"ll capture it. If an enemy player makes his way onto a control point, the capture will stall until the enemy is killed or retreats. Some maps lock control points from play, focusing both teams to concentrate on specific areas on the map.

Intelligence Briefcase

The intelligence briefcase serves as a ‘flag’ in the game’s Capture The Flag (CTF) mode. At the moment, the only CTF map is ctf_2fort. In this level, both teams must fight their way through their enemy’s base, access the control room, grab the intelligence briefcase and return it to their own control room.

The player who carries the briefcase leaves a trail of paper, which remains visible for a few seconds after they pass. If the carrier is killed or enters his team’s resupply room, the briefcase is dropped to the floor. Although a team can’t recapture their own briefcase, it will return to their control room if it’s allowed to stay on the floor for 60 seconds.

If your team’s briefcase is dropped, it’s a good idea to take an assault team, supported by a medic, to guard it until the 60 seconds is up. To make the intelligence easy to find it has a large timer roundel, which will remain above it until it’s returned or picked up.

The position of the briefcase is always shown in your Heads Up Display (HUD). A compass shows the direction of the case, and an icon displays its current status: a house for when it’s safe, an exclamation mark when it’s being carried, and an inverted arrow when it’s lying on the floor.

Payload

In payload games, the attacking team has to move a cart from one end of the map to the other. All the team needs to do to manage this is to stand close to the cart, and it will begin moving steadily. It also heals players near it, although it has a very small area of effect. The more players near the cart, the faster it moves. The cart itself also provides good cover from enemy fire, and a crouched player’s head will be well hidden from enemy fire. As you move up with the cart you need to be wary of spies and snipers, the slow moving cart makes sneaking up easy. If the cart’s escort is killed it will slowly move back down the track to the last checkpoint or the start of the track.

Arena

Arena games are similar to a sudden death round: if you die you have to wait the round out. There are no resupply cabinets in the levels, and supplies are limited. This means that players have to choose their classes strategically. Each team’s likely to require a medic or engineer to keep their team healed and stocked up with ammo.

Resupply rooms

Most maps in TF2 contains at least one resupply room per team. These rooms are inaccessible to the opposing team, and if no medics are available or you’ve run out of metal to upgrade a turret, then a trip to the nearest resupply room can save your life. Inside each of these safe havens is a cabinet, which instantly refills your health, ammo, and metal supplies. You can also use resupply rooms to change class without needing to commit suicide. These perks are restricted when the game enters the sudden death round...

Sudden Death

At the end of an unsuccessful round - where no team has won outright – TF2 enters Sudden Death mode. As the name implies, there’s no respawning, no health pickups and the lockers in the resupply rooms will not resupply you.

At the start of the round you may change class, while you remain in the resupply room, so it makes sense to choose a robust class. A heavy, soldier, or medic are strong survivor classes for the task.

While your chance of getting kills, or capturing Control Points is higher as a fighting class, Engineers are extremely useful in Sudden Death. As long as the Engineer constructs structures away from the front line, preferably choosing to hold a rear Control Point, surviving isn’t too hard, and if you play the role of repairman, and stay wary of spies, you can create an invaluable safe haven for players. There’s only one important thing to remember as an engineer in Sudden Death – build a dispenser first. If you forget, finding metal to build structures, or to upgrade and repair your sentry can be highly problematic.

Item Pickups

• Ammo

Ammo Containers hold (wait for it...) ammunition, rather unsurprisingly, but they also have metal in them, which engineers need to build structures. They come in three different sizes. Small boxes contain a couple of clips and a little metal, the mid sized packs contain enough to replenish around half your ammo and half your metal, while large crates contain enough booty to fully restock you. Dropped weapons will also yield ammo and metal. It doesn’t matter what the weapon on the ground is. Run over it and refuel. Engineers can also collect metal by running over the debris from a destroyed structure.

• First Aid

First Aid pickups are scattered around the map, and come in various sizes. How effective they are varies according to the class of character you’re playing, but the general rule of thumb is that the small box restores a quarter of your health bar, the mid-sized pack about half of it while the big hampers reward you with a full health bar. When there’s no medic, or they’re busy healing someone else, health kits can be the key to slowing an enemy rush or just staying alive a quarter of a second longer. If you’ve just come face-to-face with a Pyro and you’re heading towards a crispy death, a First Aid kit of any size will extinguish the flames allowing you time to find a medic or trudge to the nearest resupply room.

General gameplay mechanics

• Critical Hits

Critical Hits enhance the effectiveness of aggressive players. Essentially, it’s a charged shot which delivers more damage than regular ammunition. You know when a shot has been fired as the action is accompanied by the sound of an electric bolt, and the projectile itself will be bathed in a plasma glow in the team’s colour. The effect is most visible on the Demoman’s sticky bombs, where they will sit bubbling. Should the demoman trigger that shot, and hit an enemy, he will see the words Critical Hit above the enemy’s head.

There’s no way to actively fire a critical shot – you’ve got to earn them. When you first spawn, you’ve got a relatively low chance of firing a critical shot. Every time you hit an enemy, your chance of getting a critical shot increases. The more aggressive you’re willing to be, the more dangerous you can become – and it allows you a greater chance of dominating other players or getting revenge.

Domination and Revenge

Domination and Revenge are used by TF2 to make the game more personal, in the hope of building relationships between players. If you kill a player four times in a row, you will be classed as ‘dominating’ that player. A Bondesque chord plays, and you are now officially their Nemesis.

When a player has a Nemesis, a pair of boxing gloves appears over the dominating player’s head. This makes the Nemesis stand out in a crowd of players, to give the dominated players a chance to seek revenge by killing the player who’s been picking them off - and it also means you can avoid players who consistently beat you in a fair fight. If you’re becoming particularly disheartened with a particular opponent, changing to Spy then backstabbing a Nemesis is both an effective and satisfying way to regain your honour.

Assists are TF2’s way of rewarding you for playing as part of a team. Even if you aren’t the one who kills an enemy, if you play a part in their destruction you will be awarded an assist point for helping to bring down the blaggard. If you hit an enemy and they escape to be healed, you will not be awarded an assist when they are finally killed.

*UPDATE, December 2008*
Unlocking weapons

Valve"s updates to TF2 now allow you to unlock additional weapons some of the character classes. To get access to the new guns, you need to complete achievements for the respective class. The primary weapon is unlocked at 10 completed achievements, secondary with 16, and the melee weapon when you get the 22nd.

Alerts and Voice comms

TF2 makes great use of the voice shortcuts we’ve grown used to in most multiplayer games. The Z key opens a menu for standard sayings, such as calling a medic and then thanking them, X opens the status dialogues for reporting enemies or taking action, and C opens a general menu with jeer, cheers, taunts, and cries.

If you want to communicate effectively, though, you’re better off pressing V and using voice. Be clear and polite, and people will often respond either by doing what you ask of them, or having a chat. When you become comfortable you should start using voice to report spies: ‘There’s a spy going downstairs to the intelligence, disguised as a Pyro!” may save the life of any engineers snoozing in the control room.