Team Fortress Classic guide (part 1 of 2)
written and copyrighted by James Spairana, A.K.A "Paragon"
e-mail:
[email protected] (Questions? Clarifications? Suggestions?)
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Legal Notes:
You can post this guide on your website, as long as you do a few simple things:
- Make sure that the content is completely unchanged.
- Make sure that I'm credited for writing it. The first few lines of this file do that
well enough, and any normal credit you give to authors should apply to me as well.
- Notify me that you're posting it by e-mail. You don't have to ask permission, just let me
know that you're posting it. (You don't have to wait for a reply or anything, either.)
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Version: 1.0
. .this is basically the final version. I'm not labelling it "final" because I'll gladly
put in any submissions people send me, and if it gets updated, then it really wasn't final,
was it? :P
The only place I'm sending this to personally is www.gamefaqs.com, so that site is sure to have
the latest version at all times.
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Q: Why aren't you updating your guides/writing any more guides?
A: I'm not that deep into gaming. College, homework, and work take up most of my time, and
most of the games I play already have plenty of FAQs for them. Sure, I _could_ write
a guide for, say, Civilization 2 or Dynasty Warriors 2, but do you really need another
big text file that just repeats the same info that's already there now?
Another (related?) reason. . .to put it simply, I'm horrible at games. I enjoy them, but
I'm not the type of gamer that can write a walkthrough while playing the first time through
a game. (More often, I need a walkthrough myself. :P)
Q: But this guide is out of date! There are things that need to be added or changed!
A: If you think something needs to be added, type it up in an organized manner, run a
spellcheck, and send it to me and ask me to add it to the guide. I'll most likely add it,
and I'll credit you for it.
REMEMBER: I will basically be copy/pasting your e-mail into this file, so make it look like
part of a FAQ should. Spellcheck! Organization! Et cetera.
Alternately, you can write a guide for the game.
Q: What if I have a question that's not covered in this FAQ?
A: If it's not in the FAQ, I don't have the answer for it. Seriously--everything I know about
the guide's topic goes into the guide itself.
Q: wtf is wiht u man???
A: huh??
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Warning:
This guide to TFC is very old. I think it was written before version 1.5 was released.
It is out of date. I'm assuming a lot of the general rules still apply (Scouts != fighters)
but I'm also assuming there will be things that no longer apply.
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1.0--Your Hard Drive and You
*You should have at least a 56K Modem. I don't think any remotely recent computer
has a modem slower than 56K anyway, so. . .
*Even if you have a fast modem, you may still experience slowdown, or lag, in your game.
To correct this, change your Internet Service Provider, get a faster modem, or turn
the sound off.
*Don't play on a dinosaur computer. Make sure you meet the requirments listed on your
Half-Life box. If you exceed those requirments, that's all the better.
*Make sure you have a two-buttoned mouse. If it has a wheel, that's great, because
it'll make playing a lot easier, but as long as your have at least two buttons you'll
be fine.
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2.0--Being the Master of Puppets
Now you will learn how to set up your control configuration. I'll give you the
control setup that I use. Feel free to change it if you don't like it though.
Mouse: Moving the mouse controls the direction I face. That is to say, I use
it to aim.
Left Mouse Button: This shoots the gun that I have drawn.
Right Mouse Button: This uses my class's special skill, such as building a sentry gun, or
detonate pipeboms.
Middle Mouse Button: This reloads the gun that I have drawn.
Mouse Wheel: This changes weapons.
Shift: This causes me to jump.
Ctrl: This causes me to duck.
Enter: This "uses" an item in front of me, such as a button for an elevator.
N: This brings up the "change teams" menu.
B: This brings up the "change class" menu.
X: This drops unneccesary ammo for others to pick up.
Z: This emits an audible call for a medic.
F: This throws the first type of grenade for my class.
G: This throws the second type of grenade for my class.
D: This sets a demolition pack, if I am a Demoman.
J: This feigns death, if I am a spy.
C: This drops the flag, if I'm carrying it.
Y: This allows me to type a message for everyone to see.
U: This allows me to type a message for only my team to see.
~: This brings up the console, to type certain commands.
Like I said, feel free to change this a little if you don't like it; but this works
very well for me. That being said, let's review the classes, after we get some general tips.
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3.0--General Tips to Remember
*Don't go cowboy. Work with your teammates; never attack the enemy base alone.
Even a spy should go in, through a different entrance than the main group.
*If you're entering your own flag room to defend it and you have other teammates in
there, don't carry your original weapon as you enter. That is to say, whatever
weapon you're holding when you respawn is one you don't want to be carrying at
this point in time. The reason for this is that **SPIES IN DISGUISE ALWAYS HOLD
THE ORIGINAL WEAPON OF THE CLASS THEY ARE DISGUISED AS**. Alert your teammates
of this fact as well. Often.
*Likewise, don't shoot someone just because they might be a spy--do a quick check to
see what weapon they're holding. Remember though, spies give a fake ID when aimed at.
*If you're about to die, toss a grenade. Even if you die before you throw it, the
grenade will still be primed, and will still go off. This will ensure that you
get a good chance at hurting the person who killed you.
*Don't shoot your teammates. If you must spy check, shoot them with a weak weapon.
If TK is on, there won't be much of a way to spy check, so just be careful.
*If you're trying to get by snipers, don't stand still or run in a straight line.
Strafe side to side, jump a little, etc. It's harder to hit a moving target.
*Don't do the same thing every time. If you keep getting shot by snipers when you
try to go through the main entrance, go through the side entrance. If you go one way
from the enemy flag room and meet heavy defense, go the other way next time.
*If an enemy medic infects you, don't go back into your respawn. Use team-talk(U)
to alert your medic of your location, then hide in a corner until he gets there.
If your team doesn't have a medic, well, you're screwed, so go on a suicide mission
and try to take out an SG or a sniper.
*"Refresh" a server before you join, to check and see if they are full or running a
map you don't have. It's usually not worth it to spend 15 minutes downloading the map
that a server is running, since the match will be half-over with by the time you're
done.
*Finally, the most important rule: HAVE FUN! Don't get upset over doing poorly, and
don't brag about doing well. Try to make sure a fun time is had by all. It should
be noted that there are some jerks out there who "spam" the chat lines with racism,
sexism, perversion, etc. These people are commonly reffered to as "annoying" or
"idiots" or something like that. :P
For the most part, if they get no response, they'll get bored and go away.
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4.0--Choosing a Class That's Right for You
Scout
The Scout is a flag runner, pure and simple. This is the worst class for fighting
in all of TFC. However, this class is also the fastest runner. The Scout uses weak weaponry
and carries very little armor.
*Avoid fights. Chances are, if you fight, you'll lose. Use your speed to your
advantage, and get past your enemies as quickly as possible.
*Use the side entrances. The main entrance is the most heavily defended, and you
might not be able to break through.
*Use your concussion grenades. If you see a Heavy Weapons Guy, try to hit him with
a concussion grenade("G" on my setup) before he sees you. Dizziness makes it harder
to aim.
*Avoid sentry guns at all costs. They aren't affected by concussion grenades, and they
shoot you mercilessly on sight. You can peek around the corner and try to shoot it
with your nailgun, but chances are if they have a good engineer he'll be there to
prevent such things. If you see a sentry gun, call in a soldier or someone else who's
a good fighter.
*You can be important on defense. By touching an enemy spy who's disguised, you can
remove their disguise. If you stay on defense, help guard your engineer's sentry guns.
*Use your caltrops. If that huge(fat) Heavy Weapons Guy is chasing you, lay some
caltrops("F" in my setup) in a narrow corridor to cut his running speed in half.
*Once again, DO NOT FIGHT!! I cannot stress this enough. You as a scout are so weak
that you literally cannot even hurt a soldier who has full armor. Your nailgun
removes one point of armor from a soldier and does no damage to health--meaning that
you don't even carry enough ammo to hurt a soldier.
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Sniper
The Sniper is a distance killer. This is the epitome of long-range fighting, as a
sniper can easily take out an enemy before he even gets near his base. However, the sniper
will lose to most other classes at close range, because of the lack of armor and offensive
weaponry.
*Learn how to use the sniper rifle. Your special skill zooms in for better aiming, and
a shot to the head does a lot of damage. A shot to the legs is like stepping on
caltrops, and by holding down the fire button, you can charge the rifle for more power.
You'll know how much more powerful it's getting by how opaque the red dot is.
*Use the nailgun at close range. Using the auto rifle wastes bullets, and many good
sniping spots are nowhere near a resupply point.
*Take out enemy snipers first. They will be doing the same thing, and if they get you
first, you won't be able to take out that soldier coming towards your base.
*Take out Heavy Weapons Guys second. They are the strongest class, and spell mayhem
if they reach the sniper deck.
*Hide the laser sight. Enemies can see it, and they will try to avoid it.
*Hide yourself. If you are somewhere that the enemy can't find you but you can still
get to them, you'll be able to survive a lot better.
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Soldier
The Soldier is the meat-and-taters class, the kind that does everything and anything.
The soldier has powerful weaponry and heavy armor, and the price of speed. The solider is a
resilient class that is indispensable for any team.
*Aim for the ground. If you're at close range, the enemy will probably be running
around in circles, trying to avoid your rockets. Hitting the ground next to them
might not do as much damage, but it will at least hit them.
*Learn to rocket jump. Aim stright down, run forward, then jump and shoot at the same
time. This will get you high into the air, and allow you to get into the enemy base
much faster at the price of about 15 health and 40 armor. This is one of the soldier's
most useful techniques--spend time perfecting it.
*Pin enemies down with a nail grenade(G). Throw one onto the enemy battlements and
watch the snipers scramble, or throw one into the lobby and they'll wait to leave their
resupply. Everybody knows that the nail grenade is easily avoided damage, but that
knowledge can allow you to pin the enemy down while your faster classes run by.
*Use your nail grenade to take out sentry guns. Going mano-a-machino with an SG is not
a wise idea for any class. So throw a nail grenade to weaken the SG right around the
corner, and maybe some regular grenades to help out a bit.
*Reload. Often. Always. Don't run around with two or three rockets in your launcher,
reload up to the full four!
*Run like a chicken with your head cut off when facing HWs(Heavy Weapons Guys). If you
stand still, you'll probably be able to shoot them pretty easily, but they will do the
same to you--and in a toe-to-toe fight, HW will beat even a soldier.
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Demoman
The Demoman is a strategic class--one of the few that can be used on both offense and
defense. With very explosive weaponry, good armor, and the ability to destroy some barriers,
the demoman is quite useful on any team.
*Lay traps if you're on defense. The manual pipebombs detonate when you right-click, so
lay 4-8 of them at a strategic location to blow up anyone who runs through.
*Don't place them all in one little area. The pipebombs work much better if you spread
them out a bit, which makes it less likely that an enemy can dash past.
*Lay detpacks in certain areas. By holding "D" for a few seconds, you can lay a
demotlitions package, which can destroy some barriers, such as the grate in Well,
the underground tunnel in Rock2, or the tunnel in Crossover2.
*Stay at close range. You can't do anything at long range, so make sure you take an
in-your-face attitude.
*Destroy SGs with your MIRV grenades. If you nail a sentry gun with a MIRV, there's
nothing an engineer can do to save that SG. Bad engineers will run up to the SG to
repair it after the first blast, only to be killed themselves after the other four.
*Learn the pipebomb jump. Similar to the rocket jump, but harder. Stand a short
distance from where you want to jump to, knock a pipe bomb off the wall, run, jump,
and detonate once you're just past the pipebomb. This is much harder than rocket
jumping, and costs more health and armor. Still, it can be useful.
*Don't just point and shoot. As someone once told me, "sure, you can just point and
shoot as a demoman, but you'll do jack @#$%". That is to say, the manual pipebombs
can actually be better for fighting than the automatic grenades.
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Medic
The Medic is exactly that--a healer. Only slightly slower than the Scout, and slightly
stronger, the medic is useful for offense, defense, and flag running.
*Poison your enemies. Hit an enemy with your medkit and he'll be poisoned, which
slowly but surely drains life. If he comes into contact with one of his teammates,
he'll spread the disease. An enemy medic can cure this, but chances are, the enemy
medic is doing the same thing to your team.
*Heal, cure, and boost your teammates. Using your medkit removes any status affliction,
such as poison, leg injury, dizziness, and such. It will also raise your teammates'
health to 100%. Using it beyond that gives an extra 5% or so, up to 150%.
*Use your concussion grenades like a Scout. Make that HW dizzy and he's much easier
for your soldier to kill.
*Go for the flag. You are the second-fastest class in the game, so use it to your
advantage. However, you don't need to worry about SGs--you can just toss a couple
frag grenades around the corner to destroy the offending automotron.
*Listen for "Medic!". If your teammates need your help, they can use this to signal it.
More often than not, it means they have a status affliction that they need taking
care of. If someone has a red cross over their head, that means they recently made
the "Medic!" call.
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Heavy Weapons Guy
Commonly referred to as "The Newbie Class", the HW is incredibly powerful--a walking
tank. Useful on offense or defense, and annoying to its victims, the HW is a scourge to the
enemy team.
*Defend at the end of corridors. If the enemy has to get past you to cap the flag, and
you are sitting at the end of a long, narrow hallway, then they have no choice but to
try to get past you. They won't have room to manuever, and you can use your minigun
to chop them up faster than a ginzu knife.
*Take out Engineers and other HWs first. The engy's EMP grenades will pretty much kill
you in one shot, and an enemy HW is just as powerful as you are.
*Don't forget about the MIRVs. Use them to take out SGs, or toss one just before you
die.
*Use doorways, too. This will allow you to block those annoying scouts and medics, while
you kill them.
*You're tougher than a $2 steak. The only weapons that do serious damage to you are
the EMP grenade, Sniper Rifle, and Minigun(aka Assault Cannon--stupid game designers).
This means you don't have to run back to resupply as much as other classes.
*Try to stay on defense. That's where you can be most useful, like a mobile SG.
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Pyro
One of the most strategic classes in the game, the Pyro can be used effectively on
Offense or Defense, without getting a single kill.
*Set enemies on fire. No matter what role you're playing, you should try to light them
up like a bonfire.
*Don't stick around too long. Even if that HW is blinded by fire, he can still sort of
see you, and if he can see, he can kill.
*Maim, don't kill. Save the kills for the Soldier and HW. Light up your enemies, then
leave them to a stronger class.
*Shoot your rockets at walls. The heat from your rockets goes through some thin walls,
and you can use this to your advantage. If the enemy has an SG built in the lobby,
fire some rockets at the ceiling below it to destroy it.
*Use your napalm grenades liberally. Set one right in front of the exit to their
resupply, and be annoying. Set a couple in the sniper deck, or anywhere else the enemy
walks a lot. Throw one at an SG and you'll probably destroy it.
*Go for the flag some. You have "medium" speed, much like an Engineer or Sniper.
You're just a bit faster than a Soldier or HW--so go for the flag, and let them take
out the defenses.
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Spy
A cunning and deceptive class, useful for spreading confusion, terror, and backstabs
to the enemy team. The expert SG destroyer, and the best way to get rid of snipers.
*Disguise yourself as a member of your own team first. If the enemy sees one of their
own men running out of your base as part of a group--or even alone--they will know
something's up. Disguise with the right mouse button(in my setup).
*Disguise yourself as a common enemy class. If the enemy has only one sniper, don't
disguise yourself as a sniper. However, if they have five or six snipers, go ahead.
*Use secondary entrances. Water, tunnels, anything that isn't the main entrance.
*Exit through your secondary entrance. The less you're seen, the less likely you are
to be discovered.
*Don't shoot people. Using a weapon besides a grenade removes your disguise.
*Grenade SGs. It takes two good grenades to destroy a sentry gun--just remember to do
it when nobody's looking, or they'll put two and two together.
*Fiegn death. If you look dead, they probably won't pay any attention to you.
*Crouch and feign. This will put you under the floor, and you'll be nearly invisible
and invincible. This is the spy's most useful technique.
*Backstab. If you stab someone directly in the back with your knife, it's and instant
kill.
*Act like the enemy team. Don't run around abnormally, or enter the flag room as a
sniper. Maybe you should even throw a grenade at your own teammates, to be even
more convincing. Pretend to guard the flag, pretend to guard the lobby, etc.
*Provide intelligence. If you don't have enough grenades to destroy four SGs, at least
let your team know where they are. Try to tell them everything--defensive postitions,
the number of HWs, and such.
*Think. Use that grey matter between your ears. On some maps, you can access some of
the enemy's resupply rooms--use this to your advantage. Get more grenades to take out
those darned SGs. If you disguise yourself as an engineer, you'll be holding the
railgun, which most engineers don't do. Pick a class that doesn't have a trait such
as this.
*Crouch and feign, then wait for an enemy to walk by. Stop feigning, knife them, then
go back to your original position. Try to pick a spot that the enemy doesn't walk
much.
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Engineer
Another thinking class, the engy can set up one of those SGs you've heard so much
about. A purely defensive class that can take out scouts and medics with ease.
*Build an SG. Find a good spot where the enemy might not notice your SG and build one
there as a trap. Or, build an SG in an obvious spot that needs defense. As long as
your SG is remotely tough to kill, it's in a good spot. You can build an SG with the
special skill key("Right Mouse Button" in my setup). I'm working on taking in-game
pictures of SG locations and putting them on my website. A link will be in the next
version.
*Upgrade your SG. One hit from the wrench will upgrade your SG if you have enough
metal, or reload it if not. Each level(up to 3) makes the SG stronger, tougher, and
faster to shoot.
*Maintain your SG. Hitting it with the wrench reloads and repairs any of your team's
SGs; remember this.
*Make sure to rotate your SG if it needs it(another "Special Skill"). It won't do jack
if it can't see the enemy.
*Use your EMPs. They can kill some classes in one shot(HW, Soldier, Demoman), while
Scouts and such can be nearly unaffected. Use your shotgun for lighter classes.
Remember though, that a smart enemy will have dropped unnessecary ammo, which means
the EMP has less to react with.
*Don't use the railgun. Experienced teammates will think you are a spy, and the railgun
is weak anyway. Use the shotgun or wrench.
*Repair your teammates' armor. Sometimes if a teammates uses the medic call in front of
you, it means they have very damaged armor. The wrench does this too.
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TFC Terminology
Llama: One who is inexperienced or bad at TFC.
Spammer: One who says a lot of annoying things with little or no purpose, such as recruiting
for a clan.
Spammer(2): One who throws grenades at the enemy without caring who they hit, or at their own
teammates intentionally.
Newbie: See Llama.
TK: Team Kill. Refers to shooting your own team intentionally.
TK(2): Team Kill. Refers to a game setting which allows you to damage your teammates.
FF: Friendly Fire. See TK(2).
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