aabicus – Page 50 – The Daily SPUF

5 Ways to Deal Damage with the Jumpers

February 24, 2015 aabicus 0 Comments demoman, glitches, history, soldier, weapon

What’s the first stat of the Rocket/Sticky Jumper that pops into your head? Probably -100% damage. But it turns out that these weapons have actually had a number of ways to bypass the restriction and deal the damage in weird ways. Some are fixed, some are not, all are here for your reading pleasure. 1. The Rocket Jumper could once hurt enemy Pyros: Who airblasted the rockets. This is probably the most famous one on this list. Supposedly this was fixed at some point, but it was never mentioned in any update patch notes so I didn’t notice when. 2.… [Continue Reading]

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Being the I in Team

February 22, 2015 aabicus 0 Comments analysis, comparison, l4d, non-tf2

One of my favorite series on YouTube is Titsonabullsteam’s Realism Expert Solo runs for Left 4 Dead 2, where he beats every campaign in the game without bots, allies, or exploits. Recently I’ve been communicating with him because I’ve gotten into L4D2 modding and wanted to help him finish the last video in the series. After watching his entire run again and reliving the amazement I felt the first time I saw it back in college, I was inspired to look into other YouTube series where enterprising players solo Valve co-op titles on the hardest difficulties. As it turns out, there are two… [Continue Reading]

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Why Scout is Awful and Underpowered

February 17, 2015 aabicus 0 Comments a week of Love and Hate, analysis, comparison, criticism, hate, love, scout, TFC

I don’t dislike any of the classes in TF2. You’d think Engineer, but honestly as a Demoman/Medic main, it’s my job to destroy their nests, and without them I’d have significantly less to do at any given moment. Sniper likewise I’ve never really cared about because I can always seem to find routes that let me avoid them. Not to mention that my favorite weapon, the Sticky Jumper, turns them into my favorite prey. So this article is kinda tough for me to write, because I don’t really hate anyone in TFC either. Pyro, maybe, but he’s too pitiful to… [Continue Reading]

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Why Battle Medic is my favorite class

February 16, 2015 aabicus 0 Comments a week of Love and Hate, hate, love, medic, TFC

Today Medic announced a fun initiative for anyone who’d like to write two themed articles; one on which class is their favorite and one on their least favorite. And I would be remiss not to bring up the class I find more fun to play than all nine from TF2. The Combat Medic from TFC has an unparalleled mix of mobility, firepower, and health regeneration that makes him truly unlike any other class from either game. As this old article goes into detail on, his primary job is to send himself flying through the air with conc grenades deep into… [Continue Reading]

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An easy way for Valve to crank out new maps

February 11, 2015 aabicus 0 Comments game mode, maps

Repurpose old ones! Sounds obvious, but this has been a mainstay of Team Fortress from the beginning. I’ve already mentioned that 3 popular (and one rarely-played) TF2 maps were originally maps in Team Fortress Classic, ported over due to their popularity. TF2 itself is quite fond of self-plagiarism, with there being no less than three versions of Gorge (four if you count Itemtest), Badlands, and many many maps with two different versions. These reskins come for a number of reasons. Sometimes Valve wants to showcase a new game mode and so they release some brand new maps along with a… [Continue Reading]

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Prof. NiceHeart’s Guide to SMG Sniper

February 7, 2015 aabicus 0 Comments advice, Highlander, interview, loadout, sniper, weapon

Prof. NiceHeart was a short-lived SPUFer who got himself banned when someone realized he was an alt of Dr. EvilBrain, a prominent user who got himself banned for creating the shortest-lived itsurblog in history following the messy closure of the original. NiceHeart’s other claim to fame was being SPUF’s resident SMG-maining Sniper, and recently he set some time aside to advise others on how to improve at this oft-maligned subclass. One final note: At the time this interview was done, the Cleaner’s Carbine had these stats. Welcome! Tell us a bit about yourself. I’m Professor NiceHeart and I main Sniper for pubstomping,… [Continue Reading]

Questions to the Editors

2 Kill 2 Mockingbirds

February 4, 2015 aabicus 0 Comments announcement, history, story

Harper Lee is publishing a sequel to To Kill a Mockingbird! You know, that book you read in high school along with stuff from Charles Dickens, William Shakespeare and a bunch of other dead writers? The fact that the author is still alive is as much a surprise as the announcement that she’s publishing her second book ever. Go Set a Watchmen has something of a legacy to live up to, what with its prequel winning every literary prize known to mankind, and earning its author numerous honorary degrees, the National Medal of Arts and a Presidential Medal of Freedom for her contribution to… [Continue Reading]

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What happens on cp_orange…

January 29, 2015 aabicus 0 Comments analysis, balance, maps

cp_orange_x3 might just be my favorite custom map in all of TF2, for entirely the wrong reasons. It was there for me, man. From the beginning. And it’s always been there for me. cp_orange_3’s immortal popularity is no surprise to me; it’s a memory featherwight. You can play it on anything. For two months after graduating college I lived in a 125-square foot apartment with two roommates in San Francisco. I didn’t even have room for a desktop, I could only use my laptop on my bed and steal internet from the hotel next door. The only map I could play… [Continue Reading]

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On Trimping

January 27, 2015 aabicus 0 Comments demoknight, glitches, strategy, TFC, weapon

Trimping is what separates the demoknights from the demoknaves. iReima has a great series where he turns a sword and shield into deadly instruments of ballet that let him put to shame anyone who considers the demoknight an underpowered subclass. Personally I can’t trimp to save my life. It’ll happen on accident a lot, and I mastered the minor ability to land on slopes and negate fall damage, but I use that in my sticky-jumping instead. I don’t think it’s much of a secret that when I want to play an advanced mobility class, I bust out the Sticky Jumper… [Continue Reading]

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Passive abilities

January 25, 2015 aabicus 0 Comments analysis, demoman, engineer, heavy, loadout, medic, pyro, scout, sniper, soldier, spy, weapon

TF2 doesn’t feel like a game with a lot of passive abilities. There are few obvious ones, such as the scout’s double-jump and the Pyro’s afterburn immunity, but when you look into things, it turns out that almost every class has at least one. First of all, its debatable whether “more than 125 health” counts as a passive ability. Even though its pretty clearly the baseline for TF2, some people might consider speed and health a form of statistics instead of abilities. It’s also debatable whether any ability that requires equipping a weapon would count, like “can remove sappers” or… [Continue Reading]