aabicus – Page 66 – The Daily SPUF

A Comparison of Scout Secondaries

September 29, 2013 aabicus 0 Comments analysis, comparison, cosmetics, loadout, request, scout, weapon

If you were to ask me what I thought the most versatile weapon slot in TF2 is, I’d say Scout secondary. Unlocks in that section vary from pistols to drinkables, to throwables that either deal damage or leave status effects. (If Valve ever releases the Scout and Medic Grordbort sets, that’ll add a laser weapon to the list). Of all the classes, scout is the one I have the most different loadouts for. Most classes it’s more like “Every so often my Pain Train isn’t needed, so I equip Caber,” or “If I’m using the Quick-Fix, I might as well… [Continue Reading]

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Some tips on posting successful trades on TF2 Outpost

September 28, 2013 aabicus 0 Comments cosmetics, economy, guide, request, stranges, trading

While I wouldn’t consider myself a “hardcore trader”, I certainly do it. Most TF2 players enjoy making at least one of the classes look as cool as they can afford, or grabbing strange versions of weapons they truly enjoy. This pretty much requires using a significant amount of TF2 Outpost, which can be a great experience if you find a good trader. Unfortunately, the percentage of users who seem interested in making things fast, easy, and simple are vanishing every day. As a frequent buyer, my usual strategy is to search for something, open a bunch of tabs of online… [Continue Reading]

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Minuscule asymmetries in official maps that make a difference

September 27, 2013March 23, 2017 aabicus 4 Comments analysis, balance, comparison, guide, heavy, maps, pyro, soldier, strategy

Last time I wrote, I mentioned that the ramps on cp_orange_x3 were unevenly spaced apart from the spawn rooms, allowing BLU team to jump back into spawn from the railing but not RED team. Well, I’ve since learned about a number of other extremely small differences between sides of supposedly symmetrical maps that favor one team over the other. Let’s go over some.

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Some tough spots to get to (that aren’t that hard!)

September 23, 2013 aabicus 0 Comments engineer, guide, loadout, maps, pyro, scout, strategy

Heights and ledges are a major part of any map. Everybody who isn’t a scout, soldier, or demoman is going to find something that limits their movement, and learning to find a way around that is a part of every learning curve. Except when it isn’t. Sometimes there is a trick to reaching faraway places. Here’s a few of them.

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Some Other Reasons the Crusader’s Crossbow is my favorite primary

September 22, 2013 aabicus 2 Comments loadout, medic, strategy, weapon

When I first made this blog, I was planning on having a lot of posts just dedicated to single weapons, like how the first post ever was about the Half-Zatoichi. However this hasn’t really happened, so now I’m going to try to incorporate more of them into our standard rotation. Because Valve has added some very cool weapons with unique stats into TF2. My favorite is the Crusader’s Crossbow! Unique from the Syringe Gun unlocks in the Medic primary slot, it fires a single bolt (which recently became a bolt and not an arrow during the July 10th Update) that… [Continue Reading]

Community Announcements Featured

SPUF vs. Discussions results!

September 21, 2013 aabicus 0 Comments announcement, event, Highlander, recap, SPUF

Two weeks ago we announced SPUF vs. Discussions II: Requiem, where the two Valve TF2 forums pit each other in a 3-map highlander match to determine who was better. The results are in: SPUF won the first round of koth_badlands, but Discussions rallied and won the next two, taking badlands. After that Discussions won cp_granary twice in a row. As that’s two maps out of three to SPUD, they win the tournament. Thanks for joining in everybody! We’re not sure what the next SPUF event is going to be, but stay tuned, there are more coming your way!

Community Announcements Featured

Yesterday’s blog post wins WordPress award for quality writing

September 20, 2013 aabicus 0 Comments announcement

Our blog post for September 19, 2013 was certainly a winner, wasn’t it? Probably the best thing I’ve ever written. Not a word of it was anything less than Shakespearicles-quality. Some of you may have thought it was a bit short, clocking out at zero characters (with spaces included), but that’s because we are currently working on migrating the blog over to the SPUF server, hosted graciously by thesupremecmdr, who also hosts the SPUF server for TF2. Like last time, the new site is not perfectly finished yet, so I’ll be updating both with any new posts in the meantime.… [Continue Reading]

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The Sticky Jumper has been nerfed

September 17, 2013 aabicus 2 Comments announcement, balance, demoman, mourning, update

Valve had a small update on September 16th, where some unimportant stuff happened. When I first scrolled through the sparse update notes, seeing ‘bug fixes’ on item descriptions of cosmetic items, I was already thinking, whatever, it’s another one of those updates, nothing to see here. Then I read: “Updated The Sticky Jumper to only allow 2 active stickybombs at a time” Now, needless to say I’m not the only one saddened by this balance move. This innocuous training weapon has sent SPUF into a whirlwind of protest, defense, and general bewilderment. As one user put it, “Why is half… [Continue Reading]

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Is Scout really a “Generalist” class?

September 14, 2013 aabicus 0 Comments 6v6, analysis, balance, class, scout, theory

The Team Fortress classes are often listed as “Generalists” or “Specialists”. Generalists, as their name would suggest, are useful in almost any situation, are infinitely adaptable, and are cornerstones of team play. Scout is frequently listed as a generalist, along with Soldier, Medic and Demoman. But after thinking about it, I’m not so sure that’s accurate. Again, a “Generalist” is supposed to be useful in most situations. That includes offense, defense, different game modes, etc. No matter what’s happening on the field, there is usually a role for a generalist class to play. Then why can I think of several… [Continue Reading]

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Some Tips on Ultiduo

September 13, 2013 aabicus 0 Comments 6v6, game mode, guide, loadout, maps, medic, soldier, Ultiduo

Competitive Team Fortress 2 is an odd beast. On one hand, its goal is to quantify the most skill-based aspects of our beloved game to create an environment where the most skilled teams can prove it to their peers. Unfortunately, in order to do this they have to contend with the incredible amounts of unbalanced stuff that are hallmarks of the game; the unlocks are designed to be swapped out for the right situations, most of the classes are not designed to be played the whole time, and many of the maps give unfair advantages to offense, defense, or whichever… [Continue Reading]