That's not to say it doesn't posess some form of narrative, and everything to do with the characters design screams "I am this sort of class, I play like this, and therefore my personality is kinda like this", it's just that I don't have any pivotal ability or equipment choices based upon the significant plotpoints or the overarching storyline.
TF2: A history
TeamFortress 2 is a team-based first person shooter with a surprising amount of depth. You take on the role of 1 of 9 clases, in a team which is trying to achieve any number of objectives, from capture the flag to point control to a good ol' fashioned deathmatch.
When it first came out about 3 years ago, each class had something like 20 minutes recorded voice. These voice clips would be triggered in certain events, say a 3 kill-streak, or a successful capture of the intelligence in their capture the flag maps.
This, combined with the cartoony 1950's art-style, unique silhouettes and models for each class, and incredibly balanced gameplay lead to each class having a harmonious role, both from their attributed personality and their play-style.
Take the Spy: he's your typical suave frenchman, who's combat tends to be aimed towards sneaking around enemy defences using disguises and cloaking technology, and delivering deadly backstabs, though he's frail in a direct confrontation. Compared to the hulking Heavy, a russian behemoth who combines his large health with a highly damaging Minigun to tear through enemies. Of course, all this extra weight makes him incredibly slow, meaning that he can often be outmanouevered by the lighter classes.
Eventually item drops were introduced, through the use of achievements initially. This gave a small modicum of customisation to the classes. A fast-moving Scout might take preference with the 2-shot sawn-off shotgun (Force-A-Nature) over his default Scattergun. He has to get in closer and has less shots, but the payoff is a high damaging blast. This then lead to random drops, where extra weapons could be used to craft metal, which in turn could be used to craft weapons/vanity hats etc.
Mann-Christmas!
Eventually the Mann-Conomy Update came out and with it many changes. Trading, more hats, a store...
The thing that really did it though was the inclusion of Item Sets.
Prior to this each class had maybe 3 replacement weapons, normally one for each slot, plus occassionally a couple extra. You'd often see people picking their favourite class and then swapping out a weapon or two, depending on the map-type, whether they were going offensive or defensive.
Item sets offered you a distinct bonus for wearing a certain configuration of weapons (and hats for the polycounts). This could be anything from a speed boost, to a health boost, to something largely circumstancial. Some saw this as a way of promoting synergy of a certain play-style, others saw it as a way of making a poor loadout possibly worth playing.
There's now 8 sets, 5 from Mann-Conomy and a further 3 from the recent Australian Christmas updates. That's one for each class except for the Engineer. There's also a multitude of new weapons, each class boasting normally at least 5 on top of their default 3. The Demoman and Heavy each actually have 9 in addition to the default that aren't just reskins.
Now, I'll ignore the grumbles that many people have over the sets. Mostly these are things like "hat's shouldn't confer bonuses!" and "nerf this set, it's too powerful!" or "this weapon is more powerful than the other!" and a multitude of other things.
Ready... Set...
I play with the sets. I have each set on each class, and I used them for 2 reasons.
1) I personally do believe that the sets offer a bonus of sorts. This might be small, and it might force you to play the class a certain way, and it might even limit some of the classes ordinary role, but if you can learn to work with the bonus of the set I believe you can often have a slight advantage.
2) Sets have completely elimintated my "loadout conundrum". I used to stick with a few classes and swap around their loadouts to play them as I thought I needed it. The Spy could be anything from a mini-sniper (Ambassador) to a perma-invisible-backstabbing-bastard (Cloak and Dagger). With the sets I don't swap loadouts, I swap classes.
Now, sets don't completely limit your class. There's some like The Special Delivery set for the Scout that fill every slot, and the The Croc-o-Style Kit for the Sniper. But then there's those that still give you a weapon's breath. The Saharan Spy is one such example.
Anyway, here's my 9 loadouts, how I play them, why I play them the way I play them, and some thoughts.
Actually, I'm going to do one a day for the next few weeks. That way it's not too big a workload for me.
THE TEAM
Overall I tend to put survivability above everything else. Therefore things that give healing, regen, protection or a health bonus are more likely to find their place in my loadout than others. Secondly, things that give an element of uniqueness to the class I like as well. So if I've got a soldier that's good at blowing up sentries, I'll tend to use my Spy or Demo for something else.
Backstory: I'm also going to give a little bit of a whimsical backstory to each of my loadouts. The basic premise is that the team has fallen on hard times, as a part of the recession, and as such have all either sought temporary alternative employment, or pursued personal goals to help ends meet.
Backstory: I'm also going to give a little bit of a whimsical backstory to each of my loadouts. The basic premise is that the team has fallen on hard times, as a part of the recession, and as such have all either sought temporary alternative employment, or pursued personal goals to help ends meet.
SCOUT
 |
| The Special Delivery |
-worked at bovine interventions
-no weapons allowed
-rough part of town
-improvises/sneaks in weapons
-also works at Monday night Combat as a mascot
-Fire after first week as was difficult to catch
-Assassin caught him, though he wanted to be caught
-high radioactive cow-milk diet has left him healthier.
Loadout
Hat: Milkman -More a symbol and a brand than anything else
Misc: Essential Accessories -Bullseye's sweat-gear. Scout keeps them on thinking they make him look athletic.
Primary: Shortstop -a small, easily concealable gun given to the scout by his mother.
Secondary: Mad Milk -Radioactive cow milk that allows health to be leached by damaging affected enemies
Melee: Holy Mackerel -a smelly ol' fish that never got delivered. Tougher than Old Ironjaw!
TWIP
General role:Objective Achiever
Map type:
Strengths:
- Higher survivability through greater health and mad-milk regeneration.
- Greater ability to find spys and put out fires with milk
- Good mid-range weapon.
Weakness:
- Weapon is limited to mid-range and requires a good aim for maximum effect.
- No secondary weapon means reloads (though fast) can be painful.
- Ammo can become a minor issue if you spend a lot of time shooting at range
Play Specifics:
I play the scout as you'd expect to play a scout. Using speed to kite and hunt down enemies, and get to the point or get the intel first. The short-stop is an amazing weapon, being the love child of the scatter-gun and the pistol, with reload similar to the FAN. The milk allows for self-healing. I've been down to 20 HP and after a milk and a clip from the short-stop there was one fully healed scout and one less soldier in the world.
All this plus 25 health leads to one pretty amazing play experience. Really, I can typify this loadout by saying you're not worried about killing enemies, but how you kill enemies. Personal favourite is to finish them off with the fish, leading to the FISH KILL! notification. Really, the extra health and survivability mean that standing on points, pushing carts and nabbing intel are far less problematic.
When to taunt:
Whenever I get the oppurtunity! Favourite is to taunt after a fish-kill, insult and injury.
No taunt kill means a lot of dodging during humiliation however...
SOLDIER
 |
| The Tank Buster |
Bio
-unparalleled "knowledge" of history
-worked in a museum, as a roleplaying period guy
-got a little too into it... argument with a historian over his anachronistic facts
-started attacking the german tanks
-Swiped a medal for good measure,
-his experience and expanded knowledge gives him an edge against mechanical defences.
Loadout
Hat: Grenadier's Softcap -the hat of a true tank-buster
Misc: Gentle Manne's Service Medal (currently missing, if you want to trade me for one please do!) - "For honesty and gentlemannly conduct" ironic...
Primary: Black Box -An old prototype rocket launcher that could steal a little health from enemies
Secondary: Battalion's Backup -an old standard used by the grenadiers, to confer protection to self and allies
Melee: Equalizer -deaths own mining-pick. Closer to death you get, more unstoppable like death you become..
TWIP
General role:Sentry destruction, slow push or push stopper.
Map types: More CP and PL, but anywhere there's a sentry nest
Strengths:
- Minor Self-Heal at little cost
- All-purpose secondary ability
- Good for killing sneaky sentries
- Still have equalizer as an escape tool
Weaknesses:
- Long reload
- Only one ranged weapon
- Banner requires near-death (if no medic/dispenser) to fill
- Ammo is lifeblood
Play Specifics:
I tend to bring out this guy against sentry-nests. The reduced damage from sents allows him to take more damage and fire more accurate shots, as accuracy eventually equates to health anyway. The Black Box keeps him healed while building up his Batallions Rage for that final push, and the equalizer allows for that eventual escape. He's best when he's got a medic or an engi-base nearby, and I use him both defensively and offensively, either to do the slow push or to stop an incoming push.
When to taunt:
The rocket-launcher taunt sees a lot of use after a crit rocket kills a bunch of people. Otherwise I reserve the equalizer for special occassions and humiliation rounds.
PYRO
Bio
-became a gas station attendant
-Imporvised some weaponry to remove a problem customer
-promoted to work for the parent company Horzine, working as management in london
-Was there for the incident with the protestors
Loadout
Hat: Attendant - A stylish cap for the petrol-head on the go.
Misc: Stockbroker's Scarf - From the pyro's brief sprint in management, nothing says classy like wearing a tie and bow-tie simultaneously.
Primary: Degreaser - fueled with Horzine's special made lubricant. Less burn but a more slick switch.
Secondary: Flare Gun - A mariner's flare gun that the pyro uses for non water-related purposes.
Melee: Powerjack - A heavy duty battery on a jack keeps the pyro recharged. Don't question it, it just works!
TWIP
General role:Predator, hunt down slower classes
Map Types: Any, though less useful on Payload
Strength:
- Greater Speed, able to catch all classes save the scout easily.
- Faster weapon switch allows for easily accessible air-blast, the bane of soldiers and their nearby allies
- heal-kills allow's more time in the fray
- Effects that slow or knockback, especially heavy and sentries.
- No ability to kill sentries at range.
- Enemy pyros with shotguns or backburner, as there's no crit damage from flares.
Play Specifics:
I have a lot of love for the GJ Pyro. The extra speed is enough to ensure most slower enemies are permanently in your flames. The Powerjack allows for on-the-move healing. I use the flaregun because I'm not a fan of reloading, and it allows me to get around the lower afterburn rate. Reflecting rockets is a staple, and popping out and spamming flares works well too. Her (I believe she's a female) weakness to bullets makes sentries and heavies a challenge, as she has no consistent ranged damage ability, not to say I have't flared a few sentries in the past.
When to taunt:
The secondary weapon taunt is amazing at killing lunchbox-eating heavies, but otherwise I'll taunt with the melee whenever I destroy an opponent (and no others are around) or with the main when I take out a large number.
DEMOMAN
Bio
-worked as security for a hotel/spa called "Last Stand"
-taught about last stands philosophy of not fearing death
-began using equipment more in line with this philosophy
-turned out to be surprisingly good at it
Loadout
Hat: Scotch Bonnet - A riot helm that's seen some action
Misc: Dangeresque, Too? - Spiffy shutter-shades that look cool, and maybe let the demo see his stickies through walls.
Primary: Loch-n-Load - high powered, high reward for high accuracy weapon
Secondary: Scottish Resistance - The thinking demo's sticky laucher of choice
Melee:Ullapool Caber - A handy weapon for last-ditch attempts and suicide missions
TWIP
General role:Area defence, group-killer, trap-master.
Map types: Any, though better suited to defensive roles, eg, carpets on caps and around intel
Strengths:
- Phenominal potential for damage through stickies.
- Lock-n-load can be a field-clearer.
- Can remotely protect points and intel
- Can easily kill multiple enemies in one button press.
- All weapons require careful aim/positioning and timing,
- Especially true for LnL, as it only has 2 shots!
- All need reloading, or revisiting a resupply cabinet to be of use
- All can cause massive self-damage, unavoidable with Caber.
- If caught unprepared difficult to survive
- Targe Demo's take very little explosive damage.
- Scouts can be too fast to kill with any weapon.
Play Specifics:
Paranoia is your best friend with this build, and preparation is key. All his weapons are potentailly hazardous to personal health. Mostly I use the scottish resistance to cover doors and lay down carpets, and then swap to the LnL for any enemy that'll try to run straight up. The Caber I save as a last ditch attempt, and occassionally when there's multiple enemies in close proximety and both of my other weapons need to reload. Sneakily setting carpets underneath unwary feet can be destructive as well.
When to taunt:
Scottish resistance when taking out multiple enemies, LnL when killing multiple enemies or one annoying one (eg. Scout). SR can also confuse spys with backstabs, as he turns around during it.
HEAVY
Bio
-no money meant to ammo for gun
-began a long personal quest across america
-came across a pack of native americans being attacked by a bear
-wrestled and beat the bear
-became honorary son of the chief, eventually succeeding him
-taught in their ways, and gifted the Brass Beast gun, a family heirloom
Loadout
Hat: Big Chief - Every feather the heavy earned through blood, sweat, and buckets of kentuky fried eagle.
Misc: Grizzled Veteran - An old school badge. I like that is has "Grizzled" and he's meant to be a bear.
Primary: Brass Beast - An old school gattling gun, with some minor upgrades made by the heavy. Normally you'd need a horse to pull this but the heavy can carry it around by himself! Still really heavy though...
Secondary: Buffalo Steak Sandvich -High protein cattle from Bovine interventions. A sister company of Bonk! Atomic punch.
Melee: Warrior's Spirit -The heavy wrestled a wild rabid grizzle for his claws, then punched him to death with them! The tight bands make him a little bit more vulnerable however. Or maybe it's all the cigars...
TWIP
General role: Meat-Sentry, though melee is useful for getting around
Map types: Payload works well offensively, as does defensive roles in CTF, KOTH and CP
Strengths:
- Ability to either be a meat-sentry or bear allows for flexibility.
- Can still self-heal with buffalo sandvich.
- Suprisingly good ambusher.
- Weak to range in both cases,
- incredibly weak if ambushed,
- can have problems with other heavies due to slight health difference.
- No ability to turn off bear mode.
Play Specifics:
The only one to really buck my "survivability" rule, as I use the bear claws with him. Mostly to get the 5% crit reduction, but also because a punch with them is fairly devastating. Mostly you'll see this guy sat beside an engi's dispenser, sitting on a cart or near an ammo spawn point. Buffalo steak sandvich is fantastic to be used as either a quick heal or a speed increase to join the team. With the bear claws the lack of a shotgun feels less, as a punch can scare off many an enemy, provided I can get within range. Using the buffalo+claws for attack is more a side-effect of using the speed to join the front lines, and not a valid fighting style in its own right.
When to Taunt:
Mostly I tend not to taunt with this heavy. It takes so long to wind up the Beast that it leaves you too vulnerable, and if I've killed one person with claws there's probably another one around the corner. I suppose taunting a dead spy is always fun.
ENGINEER
 |
| N/A |
Bio
-Lost his arm to loan company sharks
-as such, no medical care, so use his granfathers arm design
-travelled in order to test the arms strength, earn cash and avoid future sharks.
- Entered pistol duels, working with the freelance police, having armwrestles and using its speed to do card tricks, winning at poker.
-developed his skills, his income being subsidised by his mercenary work.
-there's more to the engineer than meets the eye.
Loadout
Hat: Texas Ten Gallon - Black - A dark hat for a dark cowboy.
Misc: License to Maim - Won from Sam in a hand of Poker. It's still a legitimate marking of the freelance police!
Primary: Frontier Justice - Adapted and improved on from his grandfather's design, this lightning-cannon helps the engi slay even the toughest foe.
Secondary: Lugermorph - Max's own
Melee: Gunslinger -
TWIP
General role: Quick-area defence, push reinforcement and quick base establishment.
Map types: CTF, CP, KOTH are all good, as a quick base is needed. PL less so, as there's normally an overwhelming flood of enemies on both attack and defence, where the bigger sentry is more useful. Mostly, he works well as a secondary engi in order to secure areas for other engis to build in.
Strengths:
- A lot more survivable,
- ability to trap and pincer,
- ability to speedily establish a (poorly defended) base.
- Can take out more powerful enemies with Justice.
- pistol surprisingly powerful
- Mini-sentry is more a supplement
- Mini-sent is easily overwhelmed by multiple enemies,
- still slow,
- need crtis to take on bigger enemies,
- 3 hit punch very difficult to pull off.
- still requires you to be close
- crits need to be built up.
- Snipers at range are a pain, can easily headshot and kill sentry.
Play Specifics: 25 health is nice, but the real strength of this engi is the combat sentry. He always has a mini-sentry at his back, or tucked in a corner, luring enemies into its fire or using it to enhance his own damage. The mini-sentry is brilliant because enemies will either focus fire on it, allowing the engi to escape or deal more damage, go after the engi which means the sentry can deal constant damage, or try to escape themselves, often failing.
Mostly I always build the mini sentry first, and then if I'm in an area for a while build a dispenser, and then lastly a teleporter when the dispenser is at level 2. That way even if I die I have a way back to where I was, and my allies are still somewhat supported.
On 3 hit punch, only really managed to pull it off a handful of times. Works best on enemies already under fire so they're destracted, and slower enemies like soldier/heavy/demo. Also helps if that enemy is already being healed, as they're less likely to pay attention to the initial 2 weak hits, meaning the crit-spike of the 3rd is a bigger shock!
The thing that I really like about this build is that I have to approach everything tactically, positioning of the sentry, weapon in hand, when to use crits. It's a nice little brain work-out!
When to taunt:
Pistol taunt against higher-health enemies, but I'm not really a fan of the other two unless it's domintation.
MEDIC
-returned home to be greeted with a grand inheritance
-turned out he had an ancestory who was a crusader
-began studying his ancestors use of alchemy and spiritual healing and warfare
-took up their arms and armour and adapted their combat styles
-becoming a beacon of vitality
Loadout
Hat: Berliner's Bucket Helm -An ancient helm of war, worn by the crusaders of old
Misc: Blighted Beak - An apothecaries plague mask, keeps you healthy
Primary: Crusader's Crossbow - of ancient design but modern means, a weapon of war and science. Fires alchemical bolts that can heal allies and hurt enemies.
Secondary: Kritzkrieg -An enhancing tool, giving power to your allies. Also allows the medic to "sample" his own tonics.
Melee: Amputator - a holy artefact, blessed with divine power despite its gruesome purpose. More bardic than clerical, it allows the performance of a medicating melody, restoring all those nearby.
TWIP
General role: Healing, and occassionally melee combat.
Map types: Any and all, he's a healer afterall!
Strengths:
- Ranged attack,
- high survivability due to regen,
- ability to heal with all weapons helps medic save live,
- Kritzkrieg taunt is useful for getting back into the fray more easily,
- ammo is almost not neded at all with this build due to crossbow
- Crossbow is far weaker than needlegun,
- Crossbow still has a screwed up reload.
- requiring more melee kills.
- Vulnerable while taunting.
Play Specifics:
I play this character in one of two ways.
"Beacon of vitality" where he runs around healing everyone like a mad thing. In the event of multiple injured allies, or multiple allies coming under fire I use the amputators taunt.
"Battle-medic" where I ensure allies are healed, but normally only to the max, instead hunting down and killing enemies, trying to get back to the front lines.
And that's mostly it. Either sit on someones shoulder or run around firing bolts and cutting down enemies until I reach the front lines, and then persist with shoulder-sitting and melody-playing.
When to taunt: Whenever I need to heal or be healed. Krtiz heals me and amputator heals allies.
SNIPER
Bio
-took unemployment as an oppurtunity to take on an old foe, ol' snaggletooth
-previously discovered that the beast was completely impervious to bullets and blade - only jarate held the key but was too dangerous to use in jar form
-built a gas-powered sniper in order to administer the weakness at range based on the tribal blow-dart, then skinned with the bushwacka
-Eventually attacked by two rival snipers. Armed only with his new gun, skinning knife, dead croc and an ipod with looped "eye of the tiger" he returned back into the jungle for what would be a legendary 2 on 1 sniper-duel.
-the hardened skin of snaggletooth now protects his hide, and his head!
Loadout
Hat: Ol' Snaggletooth -
Misc: Earbuds -
Primary: Sydney Sleeper - a unique blow-dart style gun, hitting enemies with piss-filled projectiles leaving them vulnerable to a follow-up!
Secondary: Darwin's Danger Shield - the iron-hide of an ancient beast, gives greater durability to its wearer.
Melee: Bushwacka - This weapon is slightly cursed due to all the animals it's skinned, as such its wield finds themselves closer to hell, and more weak to fire.
TWIP
General role:The "assister". Paint enemies with piss and then let your allies do the work. Also a good anti-sniper.
Map types: Can be played on most, though benefits well from CP and defensive payload
Strengths:
- Can paint enemies quickly (possibly even faster if they buff SS's charge rate) aiding allies.
- Tend to get 2 chances against enemy snipers if they headshot.
- Extra health makes getting around easier.
- Headshot immunity lets him take less risks.
- Due to high-assist rate the Bushwacka tends to crit a lot,
- Bushwacka can be used on slower moving enemies with SS.
- Pyro's,
- not having a secondary weapon means reliance on hip-shots and melee.
- Needing to scope and no jarate makes bushwacka's ability near useless.
- Can only really kill most classes by self if fully-scoped or scope + hipshot
- Cannot kill healed heavies in 1 shot
- Other croc snipers (or at least sleeper/darwins snipers) can be a pain, jarate cuts through your defence and shield blocks a sizeable chunk of your own damage.
Play Specifics:
I really, really like this sniper set. Combined with a wrangler engi/soldier/other sniper or carefully picking your targets allows you to aid your team in eliminating them more easily. No headshots means you can get away with craftier angles, like legs, arms, torso. Can keep problem enemies permanently jarated.
Some people complain about fire vulnerability, but they haven't done the math. You get 25 health from Darwins, which is a 20% increase in health, so overall you're taking the same rate of fire damage you would normally, with a 20% increase in survivability from other sources.
Without headshot immunity this set would leave you very vulnerable to enemy snipers, as they don't need to charge in order to kill an opponent. With it you get to hunt them down, as they have to charge like you, but you can get away with a 50% followed by a hipshot.
When to taunt: Knife whenever crit-killing an enemy either by jarate boost or random. Sniper when killing a tough enemy or irritating enemy sniper. 1 point HP taunts are especially satisfying.
SPY
 |
| The Saharan Spy |
-hunted down a legendary power in ancient egyptian tombs.
-disguised using a fez and the camera beard
-ambushed by various spytech employees
-eventually stole their prototype L'etranger gun from one of their assassins.
-discovered the ancient power of your eternal reward, transforming him into a silent killer. Faked his death to get away.
Loadout
Hat: Familiar Fez -A mystics favourite headwear, and a pair of shades to prevent blindness in the Sahara.
Misc: Camera Beard -gone grey with years of surviving.
Primary: L'Etranger -high-tier spytech gadget, refills cloak
Melee: Your Eternal Reward -an ancient and powerful identity stealing blade. Glitches out spytech disguises though so the two are mutually exclusive.
PDA: Dead Ringer -
TWIP
General role: The Silent Team Killer
Map types: Pretty much any, though I find him particularly well suited to PL and CTF maps over CP and KOTH.
Strengths:
- Fast recharge on DR due to LE means more backstabs.
- DR offers high survivability.
- ER allows for team decimations.
- Backstabbing someone and taking their weapon fills a lot of cloak and gets rid of tell-tale weapon.
Weaknesses:
- Lack of ability to cloak and disguise at will means weakness to sentries,
- can't take out multiple sentries
- weaker revolver means head-to-head fights are a lot harder.
- Pyro's flame, Sniper's Jarate, Scout's milk and Bleed effects can make even his cloak very obvious.
- a bit "all or nothing". Decloaking behind an enemy means DR cooldown which means high vulnerability
Play Specifics:
Easily the most game-changing set, in so far as how you play the class. This allows the spy to do something he previously couldn't, feign death and then unstealth behind players silently to land an instant backpack. What's better is that this can all be done without alerting the team, though any non-pug group will have their mic's blazing within the first second of the stab.
It also allows the spy to wade into the fray more often. The dead ringer means that you don't need to worry so much about damage, so you can actually walk through a mini-guns fire or catch a sticky carpet or crocket with maybe only 30 healths damage. Pyros are still a problem, but I found myself hiding around corners less with this loadout and instead moving more with the enemy team, focussing on where they were looking more than where they weren't.
The biggest problem with this loadout is that feign-death-silent-stabbing-spree is all this spy can do. No cloak when you want means no ambushes; no disguise means limited sentry killing and a weaker primary weapon means less pistol dueling.
Don't get me wrong, I still shoot as often as I stab, and I can still dance around enemies and sit in hiding spots to line up ambushes.
It's just that everything about this loadout promotes Synergy. The pistol fuels the cloak, the cloak keeps you alive and lets you get into stabby positions, the knife allows you to rain destruction on enemies, and then steal their weapons to re-fuel cloak and pistol.
Is good, though difficult to pull off.
When to taunt: Almost never. I've gotta stay on my toes and hidden. maybe pistol against a better armed enemy.
And that's the way I play TF2. I might either adapt their various Bios into a 55 word short story, or maybe even do a 10 pane comic or something, using gary's mod and screenshots.
But that's for another time.
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