aabicus

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

Fortress Forever has been greenlit!

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The Team Fortress 2 that preceded Team Fortress 2 is finally available on Steam via Greenlight! Fortress Forever is one of the largest fan-made Team Fortress games out there, designed to appeal both to fans of Team Fortress Classic and Team Fortress 2. It’s fast-paced, frantic shooting and (best of all in my opinon) everybody talks like they’re a pirate! Definitely go give it a shot!

SPUF Goes to Hawaii

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Recently I learned, to my astonishment, that the other people on SPUF actually consist of more than usernames and bodiless personalities.

On October 7th my newlywed wife and I departed on a honeymoon cruise to Hawaii, and on the 16th visited the district of Kona. There, I met up with SPUF’s spy master and Stormy Storm Team Captain-rocker Captain Blades!

Turns out the Macho Mann exists as well. Who knew?
Turns out the Macho Mann exists as well. Who knew? I’m the one in the middle with his fly down because I hadn’t learned this trick yet.

The Captain gave us a private tour of the island, which was awesome because we hadn’t the forethought to sign up for any of the guided tours. We couldn’t visit any of the national parks because the American Government was shut down for what I’m sure were very excellent reasons, but we still saw many of the beautiful sites Kona had to offer!

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Surviving Scream Fortress 2013 as a Demoman

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Tired of dying to mini-sentries on Helltower? Tired of not getting an epic spell from the Witching Hour because you didn’t survive the run up the incredibly-lethal disappearing bridge? Tired of finding yourself with absolutely no options while pyros, skeletons, and monoculi bear down on you?

Well, too bad. It’s all gonna keep happening. But you can have it happen to you significantly less by switching to Demoman!

As a demoman, you excel at defeating enemies forced into narrow chokeholds. And there are a lot of doorways in Helltower...
As a demoman, you excel at defeating enemies forced into narrow chokeholds like doorways. And there are a lot of doorways in Helltower…

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Some things to do as a Ghost

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One of the major downsides to real life is that once you die, there’s not much to do. Luckily TF2 doesn’t have this problem, at least if you’re playing Helltower and are currently in Hell. Here are three fun things to occupy the time while you wait for the next round to start.

1. Keep enemy snipers company

I couldn't get a good pic because this guy kept moving around for some reason. But I can assure you he shot nobody for the rest of the round.
I couldn’t get a good pic because he kept moving around for some reason. But I can assure you he shot nobody for the rest of the round.

The optimal strategy as a sniper in Hell is to stand at spawn and shoot people heading for Skull Island. It must get lonely, being so far away from the action, so go over and say hi! Make sure to get a good look at the barrel of his rifle, and keep looking. The sniper will show his thanks by demonstrating secret Australian square-dancing techniques, make sure to emulate them as well as you can. This is a friendship only made in Hell!

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The Crusader’s Crossbow is now the least viable Medic primary

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What Valve giveth, Valve can taketh away.
What Valve giveth, Valve can taketh away.

After a mere 48 hours of giving us the perfect Crusader’s Crossbow, Valve followed up by nerfing it’s damage by 33%. As someone who has spent hundreds of hours perfecting my skill with this weapon, and considers it my favorite weapon in TF2, let me say that the weapon is now useless.

Let me rehash the same reasons I enjoyed the previous crossbow and show how none of them apply any more.

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Five Things I Miss From Team Fortress Classic

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I loved Team Fortress Classic. While I won’t argue it was more balanced than TF2, or even better then TF2, since I consider the two so different as to be incomparable, I loved it for what it was. It was Team Fortress boiled down to its core: Two teams of dudes shooting each other and working together to fill their teammate’s inherent weaknesses. No cartoony graphics, no multinational band of misfits, just nails and bullets and grenades.

And there are some things I really miss from it, things that make me turn the game on and play on bot-choked 2fort/dustbowl servers (because that’s all there is left…), just to experience it again. Things like:

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Best Loadouts for Allcrit Servers

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CRITS! CRITS EVERYWHERE!
CRITS! CRITS EVERYWHERE!

Readers, you love allcrit servers too, right? Shortstop scouts, Pomson engineers, Liberty Launcher soldiers…the actual loadouts people rock seem surprisingly limited, but in a weird way this can become refreshing. I know I love allcrit servers, but there are very specific ways I usually play them. In general, I try to be the most annoying mother♥♥♥♥er that these servers have ever seen. How? With these loadouts:

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A New Comic!

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Valve has released Grave Matters! It’s not the sequel to the bi-monthy comic (even though its been exactly two months since the last one), but a Halloween teaser for the upcoming Scream Fortress. Read the Comic here! SPUF is abuzz with excitement and speculation over the contents of the update, but all we know is that it’ll involve community-contributed cosmetics and they’ll all be Halloween/Full moon-restricted. There are so many unanswered questions. What TF2 map will be spookified this year? (Something payload race would be a safe bet, while others are suggesting Teufort!) Will Halloween Spells be released, allowing enterprising… [Continue Reading]

Three Reasons we have a Dearth of Heavy articles

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First order of business, an apology to all you Heavy mains out there.

You are woefully underrepresented in the ratios of articles on this blog. While Demoman and Medic are soaring high in the double digits, and almost everyone else can boast about at least a few articles dedicated to them, Heavies have only one. And it’s about shotgun heavy.

Well, this isn’t 100% our fault, I like to think. Here are the best excuses I can come up with.

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