aabicus – Page 43 – The Daily SPUF

How to Explore Your TF2 Early Years

November 18, 2015 aabicus 0 Comments history, items, weapons

I only recently noticed that Valve revamped the backpack system at some point. Perhaps the rest you already knew this, but you can now sort your backpack by date. If you’re ever feeling pensive, I encourage you to do so temporarily, and go check out the oldest things in your backpack. It’s been a long time since you first played TF2. What’s the oldest weapon you still possess? For me, apparently it’s a self-crafted Vita-Saw, the third oldest item in my backpack. I have no idea why this Vita-Saw has survived this long, except I guess Valve has never given… [Continue Reading]

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Best Civilians to Tie Down in Payday The Heist

November 15, 2015October 5, 2016 aabicus 0 Comments Civilian, guide, payday

This guide assumes you’re playing solo and only have two cable ties. It gives the best and (if applicable) second-best civilian I’d generally recommend using those ties on. Sometimes you shouldn’t take hostages right away. Shout them to the ground but keep the cable ties off because Hostage Rescue teams will prioritize cable-tied hostages, and sometimes it’s best to wait until the objectives move you in the right direction anyway. I generally don’t think Extra Cable Ties are needed on any heist except certain achievement runs like ‘Crowd Control’ and ‘Blood in, Blood out.’ 1. First World Bank Your first… [Continue Reading]

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The Benefits of Sharking

November 9, 2015 aabicus 0 Comments Filler, strategy, TFC, tips, trading

Sharking is an old but solid technique that shows up a lot in Valve games. Anyone can do it, and it can really give you a legup in some unprofitable situations. Originating from the original GoldSrc engine and surviving even to today, ‘sharking’ involves keeping the jump button (probably space bar) held down while landing in or entering deep water. The character will ‘surf’ along the top of the water maintaining their momentum, instead of sinking and blimping along underwater. Great for avoiding the dreaded slowdown of swimming. As an avid sticky-jumper I love sharking, its one of my favorite mechanics… [Continue Reading]

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Payday: Global Offensive

November 1, 2015June 19, 2021 aabicus 0 Comments crimefest, dlc, Not TF2, payday 2

I wasn’t going to write this article at first, because I knew it’d probably be received poorly and I don’t want to develop a reputation as a corporate white knight. After all, I keep finding myself on the wrong side of the angry fanmobs, having defended paid mods, droppable Ubercharges and now PD:GO. But I just truly don’t see why the Black Market update is so heinous based on Payday 2’s entire design philosophy. Unlike TF2 or CS:GO, Payday 2 is entirely Player-versus-environment. The reason Overkill can release DLC after DLC introducing entirely new weapon concepts and even an entirely… [Continue Reading]

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A Truly Random Topic of Conversation

October 25, 2015 aabicus 0 Comments engineer, history, pyro, soldier, spaaaaaace, weapon

I couldn’t decide what to write about, so I hit “Random Page” on the wiki, and I’m gonna write about whatever pops up. Huh. Okay then. Grockets have by and large exited the public conscience ever since Valve removed them from the maps in which they crashed, but for a time they were the closest thing TF2 had to extraterrestrial contact. Birthed from a collaboration with Weta Workshop and Valve, the first Grockets crashed into 2fort, Badwater and Barnblitz on July 18, 2011. Two days later they were revealed to be teasers for the new Grordbort Victory Pack, which came… [Continue Reading]

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The Amputator: Not Really for Amputating

October 24, 2015 aabicus 0 Comments analysis, medic, medieval, melee

I was looking over my favorite two loadouts in TF2 and realized I’d dedicated articles to every individual weapon except the Amputator. Well, that’s just weird, so let’s just fix that right now. The Amputator is not an unpopular weapon but it’s certainly not the average Medic’s first choice. I know of far more people who main the Ubersaw, and after that I’m pretty sure the Solemn Vow is second place. I totally get that; the Ubersaw’s reward for landing even a single melee hit is incalculable, and if you’re going to sacrifice that you might as well grab a… [Continue Reading]

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The Wrap Assassin: Christmas at 70 MPH

October 21, 2015 aabicus 0 Comments analysis, melee, pass time, scout

Yeah, I know it’s not meta but I happen to really like the Wrap Assassin. Most of the people who complain about this weapon either find it annoying or point out that it doesn’t really fill any niches. The Sandman shoots a much more powerful projectile, the Boston Basher deals more consistent bleed damage while serving as a mobility tool, and if you want to go full utility nothing’s going to beat the Atomizer. There’s just not really a reason to use the paper tube. But there’s also no reason not to use it. It’s downside-free. You gain a projectile bleed attack… [Continue Reading]

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My first time in a first-person shooter!

October 18, 2015 aabicus 0 Comments experience, fun, history, Not TF2, portal

Medic wrote a very interesting article describing her early experiences with Left 4 Dead and how it shaped her future gaming career. I thought I could talk about my personal background in the same way. Unlike most of you, I did not grow up playing video games. My parents are awesome, but they were not comfortable with ‘brain-rotting activities’, and for that reason I grew up without a computer, internet, or any gaming consoles. This ‘forbidden fruit’ was likely the reason I’ve dived so heavily into all three cultures. (They let me have a TV, which I quickly grew bored of… [Continue Reading]

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Why 2fort_Invasion is Better than Normal 2fort

October 16, 2015 aabicus 0 Comments 2fort, invasion, maps

“In other news, and I know this is really nitpicky and off-topic, but I’m a little unsure as to why 2fort_invasion is worthy of the complete Valve seal of officiality. It’s just a reskinned 2fort and there are literally dozens of those…Though once Valve fixes the glitch where that map crashes hl2.exe on lower-end computers perhaps I’ll be able to play it and learn how wrong I was to doubt it.” ~aabicus, roughly a week ago Welp, guess I’m eating my words, because 2fort_invasion turns out to actually be a pretty amazing map. For a reskin with no balance changes from one… [Continue Reading]

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Visiting Engineer’s Hometown

October 13, 2015 aabicus 0 Comments engineer, real life

As you may or may not know, I recently moved to Texas. Recently I was on a road trip with my father who’d flown in to visit for the weekend, and we passed a road sign for a Bee Cave, Texas. This piqued my memory banks, so I googled the name on my smart phone and found out it was Dell Conagher’s hometown! So we took a bit of a break to zip into town and check it out. And, uh, I’m sorry to report it’s like the most boring town in existence. It’s pretty much just your average suburbia, Vons… [Continue Reading]