game mode – Page 3 – The Daily SPUF

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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Mannpower is the new TF2 Beta in Disguise.

February 1, 2015 Poptart 0 Comments beta, game mode, maps

Now before I say anything else, I would just like to point out that this is theory, as in pure speculation, none of this is officially confirmed. OK, now since that’s out of the way let’s talk about Mannpower. My first reaction to this “game mode” was that it was incredibly silly. Grappling hooks and powerups that make you super stronk were something I expected from custom mods and trade servers, not from an official Valve beta. That is until I spent time looking through it and looked at the details which lead me to believe that Mannpower is just… [Continue Reading]

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Grappling Hooks would be balanced in Medieval Mode

January 21, 2015 Medic 0 Comments balance, class, game mode, medieval, melee, strategy, theory

Grappling hooks would be balanced in Medieval Mode. Seriously. Alright, why are we discussing this? Why bother considering balance in a stupid game mode? Why bother discussing Medieval Mode at all? Because 1. it’s fun and 2. it’s currently a very one-sided game mode because the only classes with mobility are Scout and Demoman, and the only classes with range are Medic and Sniper. Of course, Medieval Mode’s one single official map doesn’t help. It has giant walls. Really high walls. The RED team are locked up safe inside until they venture outside, and once they do, there’s no way… [Continue Reading]

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Return of the Beta

January 18, 2015 Medic 0 Comments game mode, glitches, maps, theory

So 2014 was the year of the Beta. Or at least the return of the Beta. What Beta you ask? The Team Fortress 2 Beta. The birthplace of the Detonator. The testing grounds of the Overdose. That really weird thing that everyone ignored. Well, part of it is back. Interesting things lie ahead. The TF2 Beta though died a long time ago. I have a screenshot of its one year death day somewhere. But the reasons it died were relatively clear. Instead of being part of TF2, you had to download another 12GB of TF2 Beta, most of which sat… [Continue Reading]

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The Lost Art of Flagrunning

January 15, 2015 aabicus 0 Comments analysis, comparison, game mode, medic, scout, TFC

This article is going to take the same pensive tone of the similarly-themed “The Art of the Backcap“, except whereas backcapping isn’t completely lost, flagrunning by and large is completely absent from TF2 in the game’s current incarnation. It was largely dead from the getgo. Flagrunning is the act of playing with one objective in mind; reaching the enemy’s flag, grabbing it, and getting it as close as you can to your team’s capture zone before you die. It may sound odd for me to claim such a simplistic act is completely gone from TF2 (after all, matches do end… [Continue Reading]

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Competitive Demoknights

January 13, 2015 Poptart 0 Comments 6v6, demoknight, demoman, game mode, Highlander

There has been a large deal of discussion regarding Demoknight as of recently, most of which stems from the recent changes to the Tide Turner, overall the Tide Turner got people to take Demoknight seriously as a both a threat and an ally. Now there are multiple competitive formats in TF2. First up, Highlander, which is a 9v9 format where classes are restricted to one of each class per team. Next we have the 6v6 format which supports up to two of a class, (excluding a few people, who are limited to one) and involves dual Scouts, Soldiers and a single… [Continue Reading]

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ProKarting

January 10, 2015 aabicus 0 Comments advice, game mode, strategy

Everyone needs to play more TF2Kart; the devs have added additional maps, powerups, and other cool things since it came out, and I personally can’t stop playing it. On the whole it’s a super simple pick-up game that needs no explanation, but I’ve learned a couple tricks to augment my playing. If you’re ready to take your karting skills to the next level, read on. Tip 1: Jump at the end of boost strips. Air velocity is maintained until you hit the ground again, meaning that you can get the most out of your boosts by being airborne when they… [Continue Reading]

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The Art of the Backcap

December 30, 2014 aabicus 0 Comments demoman, engineer, game mode, scout, soldier, spy, strategy

The backcap is an under-appreciated skill these days. It seems like nobody ever sends a brave lone gunman to scout ahead and take the next point milliseconds after you finish capping this one. And while this loss of a fundamental strategy is sad for the state of TF2’s metagame, it can be quite fun if you’re willing to be the team’s backcapper. Backcapping, as the name implies, involves racing ahead to the next control point once determining (or just hoping to God) that your team can take this one alone. The two most popular classes to backcap are scout and… [Continue Reading]

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Fun things about the Grappling Hook

December 29, 2014 Medic 0 Comments fun, game mode, map, stock, update, weapon

I’ll be frank, I don’t like Mann Power, because it utterly sucks if you’re not one of the 9 people with a power up. You just get your backside handed to you unless you’re clearly skilled enough to outplay them. But on the other hand, the Grappling Hook, the second stock all-class action item after the Spellbook Magazine, is tons of fun. Why? Because everyone can use it whenever they want, as long as the server allows it. And I, being the antisocial offline player that I am, decided to experiment round with it. First off, to enable the hook,… [Continue Reading]

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Ways to Play Spy if You Suck at Spy

December 28, 2014 aabicus 0 Comments advice, game mode, spy, strategy

Isn’t spy awesome? I can’t help but give mad props to the character for what he willingly puts himself through in the line of duty. More than any class he relies on wits and positioning to outsmart the enemy, and all of his weapons put him dangerously close to an entire arsenal of retaliation the millisecond after he stabs, saps, or shoots. Boy, I wish I could do that. But I can’t. I really really can’t. No matter how much I try to play spy, whether I’ve equipped the most overpowered loadouts on the best spy maps against the worst… [Continue Reading]