aabicus – Page 54 – The Daily SPUF

Four Things You Can’t Do With the Syringe Gun

September 29, 2014 aabicus 0 Comments analysis, glitches, medic

Recently I wrote an article on Four Things You Can’t do With The Crusader’s Crossbow, because the crossbow is amazing and complicated and lends itself well to causing exploits and that sort of thing. But the design of the Syringe Gun is no slouch in that regard either. Face it; we Medics have a pretty complicated and unique primary with those rapid-fire hitscan projectiles, and that’s caused some trouble for Valve in the past. Here are some things that have been deemed Too Awesome for the poor syringe gun: 1. You can’t boost teammates on a sea of needles. The most… [Continue Reading]

Featured

Making Strange Filters Work For You

September 22, 2014 aabicus 0 Comments advice, defense, Strange, Strange Parts

Strange Filters were integrated poorly. I know of nobody who disagrees with this. They should have been like strange parts, adding a prefix and a subcounter showing how many kills you’ve gotten on a single map. Lobotomizing the actual function of the strange weapon on 99% of maps is not the way to get people to buy them. This article by Brokkoli makes a good case for strange filters by pointing out that it makes your weapon truly unique. Indeed, you are unlikely to ever see a Strange Rigid Market Gardener for the rest of your TF2 career, assuming you made… [Continue Reading]

Featured

On Stealth

September 20, 2014January 15, 2017 aabicus 0 Comments analysis, history, On Shooters, spy

Stealth and Shooters have always been strange bedfellows ever since they first met. On one hand the genres don’t appear to mesh well, what with your standard FPS starring a one-man army who plows through hundreds of mooks with an ever-increasing assortment of deadly weapons, and stealth involving slow, laborious sneaking past individual guards and relying on not making sound or setting off alarms. On the other hand, that’s exactly why stealth games have a dedicated niche fanbase, exactly because it goes against the conventions of the genre and uses the core elements of an FPS in a creative new… [Continue Reading]

Featured

How to Attract Medics and Influence People

September 7, 2014 aabicus 0 Comments comparison, demoknight, demoman, heavy, loadout, medic, pyro, soldier

As a Medic main, I’ve had a lot of experience with people who want me to heal and Uber them, and people who I want to heal/Uber but they don’t seem to notice. In this day and age of loadout versatility, it’s no longer enough to be playing the correct class in a situation; you need to have the correct weapons equipped before Medics are going to start considering you a viable Uber target. Here are some tips for those wishing Medics would consider Ubering them more often. These are listed by class, and only cover classes that are considered regular… [Continue Reading]

Featured

The Vita-Saw

September 5, 2014 aabicus 0 Comments criticism, medic, melee, weapon

The Vita-Saw is a truly unique weapon. The only item in the entirety of TF2 that can carry an effect over from respawn, it brings up so many questions on a fundamental canonical level that I could make my entire article on that. Instead, I’d like to talk about its practical usage. In-game, it’s far and away the best Medic melee, hands down. Competitive Medics who run the Vita-Saw force their opponent to run the saw as well or be at a constant disadvantage just because dropping the Medic doesn’t automatically equal Uber advantage. How quickly did he respawn? Has… [Continue Reading]

Featured

5 Weapons that Synergize with the Bushwacka

September 1, 2014 aabicus 0 Comments balance, crates, loadout, MvM, sniper, weapon

1. Jarate Now that we’ve gotten that out of the way, let’s talk about some more interesting pairs with everyone’s favorite (or least favorite) machete. It’s basically the Sniper default melee of choice these days, just because it’s the only Sniper melee with interesting stats. Even Valve agrees; the earliest ever strange Sniper crate contained a strange Bushwacka, whereas the Strange Kukri had to wait over two years later to exist. Maybe because even without jarate, you can still get the most out of your melee with: 2. The Cleaner’s Carbine: Ever since the stat adjustment where the weakest hitscan… [Continue Reading]

Community Announcements

Legends of Equestria Open Server Weekend August 8-10

August 8, 2014January 19, 2022 aabicus 2 Comments event

Hi all! Just thought I’d take a chance to let you know that a fanmade MMO I work for, Legends of Equestria, is having an Open Server Weekend right now, where you can play it and try it out! Set in the world of Equestria, you first get to make your own pony through an intensive character creation system, and then you’re free to explore five different expansive regions, including starter cities for the three main species. Go on quests, purchase and wear cosmetics, and even adopt pets! I’m one of the writers, and I’m really proud of all the… [Continue Reading]

Community Announcements Featured

Phlogisticast Episode 2

August 4, 2014January 4, 2017 aabicus 2 Comments fun, scout, SPUF

Episode 2 of the Phlogisticast is out, officially making it longer than 99% of podcasts on the internet! *noisemaker* The episode is dedicated to Scout and all his charming weapons that fill a special place in our hearts (with lead). The guest star is, naturally, a Demoman/Medic main who I’m sure has lots of great things to say about his double soft counter. So what are you waiting for? Fill that Boost meter and speed on over to Youtube to watch it! And what’s that? Episode 3 of the Phlogisticast is out too! What’s episode 3 about? Why, SPUF’s least… [Continue Reading]

Featured

On Melee

August 1, 2014January 15, 2017 aabicus 1 Comment analysis, history, melee, On Shooters

First-person shooters have always loved the melee weapon, even as they render it essentially obsolete. No amount of situationality can prevent the visceral joy of beating something to death (especially something wielding real guns) with the bludgeoning instrument of the dev’s choice. Melee hasn’t changed very much since the early years of Doom and Wolfenstein. It often has the following upsides: · First or second weapon found in the game, if not just equipped from the beginning · no ammunition required to use · sometimes makes less noise than other weapons, or other unique combat advantages (usability underwater for example) · sometimes… [Continue Reading]

Featured

Super Important TF2 Decisions

July 29, 2014 aabicus 0 Comments cosmetics, demoman, engineer, Filler, MvM, pyro, scout

If Brink and Loadout taught us anything, it’s that players love to get to make their own decisions. Customize their inventories and weapons just the way they like it, be the masters of their own destiny, etc. To this end, TF2 probably gives their players more decisions than both of the previous games combined. But in some cases, these decisions can result in choices that are less than relevant. In fact, you could say these decisions make no difference whatsoever. 1. Rotating your teleporter entrance. The teleporter exit determines what direction your teammate is facing when they come out (and… [Continue Reading]