aabicus

I write articles! I also make games, release videos, voice act and lots of other cool things.

Dearly Departed SPUFers

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As I’m trapped on a 14-hour bus ride because I missed my 14-hour train ride and now have to grapple with the financial and physical discomfort this situation puts me in, I’ve been in something of a pensive mood. As my entertainment options have dwindled to draining the power on my no-internet laptop or observing the wonderfully repetitive West Virginian nature whizzing past the windshield, I thought I might take this opportunity to talk about some SPUFers who have disappeared as the years roll by. Obviously every forumite must disappear someday, I guess the most one can hope for is that they get to… [Continue Reading]

A Shotgun Update

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I adore the Team Fortress 2 shotgun. Sturdy, reliable, and intuitive, it’s the only weapon shared by four different classes and until the BASE Jumper was added, the only weapon to occupy different slots on different classes. I consider the shotgun TF2’s tenth signature weapon due to its ubiquity and recognizability. There is a sort of elegance in the fact that Valve has never added any sort of reskin or retexture for the shotgun. Every player since 2007 who’s wanted to make use of its six-clip buckshot backup has used the same simple gun; no golden, festive or botkiller variants… [Continue Reading]

Gunslingers vs. Highlanders: an analysis

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There was recently something of an upset when the Highlander team swept the Gunslingers in the recent tournament, and it rightly seems to have attracted something of an interest in the SPUF community. (I notice there hasn’t been a single thread arguing the Gunslinger is OP since the event…) Since I’ve participated in two of these events, playing Medic for Season 2 (the first time the Gunslingers won) and the most recent Season 5, I’ve got a pretty good perspective from which to analyze the two teams. On a fundamental level, the first major reason that Highlanders performed so much better… [Continue Reading]

The Spoils of WAR!

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Ever since Demoman lost the WAR! under some pretty spotty rationale regarding a propaganda contest, many people have asked that Valve migrate the Gunboats over to the Demoman, either through a wholesale migration, release of a Demoman-only reskin (the ginboats?) or a reworking of the Wee Booties. Sometimes this wish extends also to the other weapon tailored to explosive-jumping, the Market Gardener. After all, Soldier and Demoman already share the BASE Jumper and orange-painted Jumper weapons, why not go all the way? As a Demoman main, I’d adore them on a basic level. A Dapper Apple found the concept super powerful when… [Continue Reading]

What if Scout Got a Grenade Launcher?

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Would you be interested in playing the Scout with the Grenade Launcher as your primary? Or perhaps the Loose Cannon for all you Force-a-Nature fans? It might seem a bit different at first, having to rely on explosives instead of hitscan, but I don’t doubt an enterprising player could find a way to make it work. I’ll stop beating around the bush. If you have any interest in playing a scout with a grenade launcher, try the Sticky Jumper. Several users on SPUF have been complaining (again) about the jumpers, claiming that they’re impossible to use efficiently and should be… [Continue Reading]

Gunslingers vs. Highlanders V results!

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Season 5 of Gunslinger vs Highlander has come and gone, and once again SPUF’s longest-lasting circuit has surprised everyone with a Highlander sweep. After securing pl_swiftwater by preventing the Gunslingers from capping second and then capping first in fewer seconds, Highlander secured the midpoint and pushed all the way into last, winning 3 times in a row for best 3/5. While this technically ended the event, both teams decided to play koth_ashville anyway, and here’s where the matches really got close. Several could have gone either way, but ultimately Team Highlander won the first three matches, taking king-of-the-hill and becoming… [Continue Reading]

Gunslinger versus Highlander 5

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It’s been too long since we’ve done a SPUF event, and this one was always popular. The minisentry has also been nerfed since the last time we did these, so I think now is an appropriate time to do this. DATE 2014-11-16 (Sunday) at 1:00 PM EST. SERVER The server will be located in the central US. I will provide an IP a few hours before the match. RULES+ That’s right! Unlike previous seasons, we actually have rules! Organization! Can you believe it? • Stay positive and have fun. Don’t be that guy screaming over the mic because your team lost mid… [Continue Reading]

TF2Kart – Racing Madness!

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Did Scream Fortress’ bumper cars get you yearning for more Team Fortress karting madness? InstantMuffin from GotSticed, the developer of PropHunt TNG we interviewed a few months ago, has announced his newest TF2 mod, which is all about racing up to 15 other players in frantic laps around a custom track. There are pickups which allow you to fire rockets, drop bananas or give yourself a speed boost. I like to time my speed boost right before a huge jump and see how much air time I can clock. The server fills up quick, but that’s all the more reason to try it out! 16 bumper cars… [Continue Reading]

How to Fight the Short Circuit as an Explosive Class

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Initial disclaimer: As you probably already know, there’s not a hell of a lot you can do as an explosive class against an intelligent (or even a braindead) Short Circuit engineer. He’s basically got the love child of the flamethrower and the deflector and it was hand-crafted at birth to screw you and only you. But as a diehard Demoman main I can do little except attempt to adapt to this new challenge, and I’ve slowly found what I believe to be the best possible strategy to use against a turtling level 3 sentry nest guarded by the Short Circuit.… [Continue Reading]

Bumper Cars and You!

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The new Halloween map has decidedly one of the funnest post-game grudge-matches ever. Learning from their mistakes with hell from last year, Valve has taken the concepts and turned them into two very fun mini-games and one which will probably get more fun once Valve finds a way to stop perpetual stalemates on the 9-Square grid. The Doomsday_event bumper cars are not exactly the most strategy-laden game modes TF2 has to offer but there are still some strategies quick-witted players can use to give themselves the edge. To wit: 1) Bind a key to suicide. The second you’re about to… [Continue Reading]