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TFC STRATEGY GUIDE
BY [UoM]KYOSUKE

Table of Contents
I. INTRODUCTION
II. A GUIDE TO TF LINGO
III. MULTIPLAYER ETIQUETTE-"HOW TO BE NICE"
IV. CLASS GUIDE
V. MAP GUIDE
VI. 10 THINGS YOU DON'T KNOW ABOUT TF
VII. SKILL
VIII. FAQ
IX. CONCLUSION

I.INTRODUCTION

TFC is a mod based on the Half-Life engine. Although another mod
(Counterstrike) enjoys greater popularity, I've always enjoyed TF more
due to it's variety of character classes and the all out mayhem that
can ensue. Plus, once you die, you can come right back to life...in
Counterstrike, you have to wait till one team or the other wins (which
usually takes too long for my short attention span).

II. A GUIDE TO TF LINGO

While playing TF, experienced players will throw around terminology
that makes no sense unless you're...a more experienced player. Or if you
read this guide.

TF- Team Fortress
TFC- Team Fortress Classic (same thing, for all practical purposes)
GG- "Good Game", usually said after a map ends
GTG/G2G- "Got To Go", said before someone is about to leave game
FF- "Friendly Fire". On some servers, you can hurt your teammates...on
other servers you can't, which obviously consists of Friendly Fire.
Usually someone new to a server will ask "Is FF on?"
TK- "Team Kill". This is when someone kills someone on their own team,
which detracts a point from the killers' kills.
TKER- Someone who kills their own team on purpose.
LLAMA- Either 1.) A Tker, or 2.) Someone not very good at TF.
Newb/n00b- "Newbie". Someone inexperienced/not good at TF.
SG- "Sentry Gun", a gun turret built by Engineers.
HW- "Heavy Weapons". Refers to "Heavy Weapons Guy", a class.
BTW-By the way...
GJ- "Good job"
TY-"Thank you"
SPAM/SPAMMER/SPAMMING-This refers to randomly throwing grenades or some
other such weapon, hoping it will do damage to the enemy, but not
really aiming at anyone in particular. Most of the time this has a
negative context, but it's actually a fairly effective technique. Don't
spam enemy respawns.

There are other initials that people write all the time that I won't
put down here, along the lines of "wtf". I'm sure you'll figure out
that one fast enough on your own =/

III. ETIQUETTE GUIDE
There are certain things that you should avoid doing because certain
things tend to make your teammates very angry. Of course, it's within
your rights to do just about anything you want; but these will often
make people mad. And, in some servers, these actions will get you
banned.

-SWEARING.Be aware of the server's swearing policy. Many servers do not
allow swearing or racial slurs. Read the little screen that pops up
before the match begins, that should indicate the server's policy. If
it doesn't say anything about swearing, then it's usually fair game.

-FLAG STEALING. This occurs when a teammate steals an enemy flag and
brings it most of the way back to your base, and then gets killed,
leaving the flag lying around. Then, another teammate (not the one who
carried it most of the way) grabs the flag and caps it, getting ten
points. Because I usually play as a Scout, I can testify that it is
often very difficult to complete a cap, and it's very frusterating when
someone just takes it two steps and gets points that they really don't
deserve. If you see the enemy flag lying around your base, the best
course of action is to grab it and take it to a safe area, then ask
your team "who's cap?". If someone says "mine" then tell them where to
find you, and press the key to toss the flag (default key:c). If no one
responds, or if someone types "take it", then go ahead and cap.
NOTE: There are a lot of subtleties involved in this. One obvious
question: How close does your flag need to be to your base in order for
it to qualify as "someone elses"? The rule I use is over the halfway
point of the map.
NOTE: If it takes multiple people to get the flag over the halfway
point, it's usually acceptable to take it for yourself.
NOTE: I'll be the first to agree that this doesn't really matter. In my
mind, team points are the most important, more so than individual
scores (it is called TEAM fortress, after all, not Kyosuke's Fortress,
although that would be cool). But you have to realize that sometimes
people are trying to make a good impression on clans, friends, or have
some other motive for getting a high personal score. IN the end, it's
your choice; but if you take someone's cap, they will often be pissed
off.

-TURTLING-This occurs when a team gets a lead, and then all or almost
all of their players switch to defense, in the closest TFC equivalent
to genuine team-camping. Much like flag-stealing, there's nothing
really wrong with this, but it pisses people off.

-TKING. If FF is on, don't kill your own team on purpose. If there's an
admin around, you will be kicked off or banned from the server. If not,
you're just ruining everyone's fun. Go read an anarchy book to get rid
of your angst.

-BE RESPECTFUL OF THE RULES. Often times, I play on servers that are
run by guilds or clans. Although these clan/guild members can usually
be identified by their tags, sometimes they go undercover with generic
names. Bottom line: You never know who's watching you. Be safe and obey
the rules.

IV. CHARACTER GUIDE

First of all, here are some general strategies that apply to everyone.

-When you need to get somewhere fast, jump diagonally towards your
goal. This increases your speed.

-Strafe as often as possible. It makes you more difficult to hit.

-Jumping and ducking can help you avoid Sniper shots, although the best
method of doing so is to hide behind some barrier.



There are 8 characters in TF.

1. SCOUT- "Think Squirrel"
Health: 75
Armor : 50
Weapons: Crowbar, Nailgun, Shotgun
Grenades: Caltrops, Conc.Grenade

The Scout is the fastest character in TF, by far. The Scout has two
primary uses...1.) Capturing Flags/Securing Command Points, 2.) Finding
Spies. While on offense, the Scout's great speed can help him grab a
flag out of enemy territory and quickly return it. This speed can be
increased twofold when performing a Conc.Jump (see below). On Defense,
the Scout can run into everyone in your base. While this may seem like
a worthless activity, if you run into an enemy spy, it will remove his
disguise. This will help keep your team's SG's alive, and will help
your snipers know who to shoot.

GENERAL STRATEGIES

-Learn the essential Scout technique, the Conc.Jump. The purpose of
this technique is to use a grenade to LAUNCH the Scout towards his
target, at a very high velocity. There are two ways to do this.
1.) Press and hold the keyboard key that prepares a conc.grenade
(the default key is 'G') while walking forward. You'll notice
that when you do this, a beeping sound will occur. When
'primed', the grenade will beep three times slowly, then two
times very quickly, and will then detonate. What you want to do
to perform a conc.jump is wait for the three slow beeps and one
fast beep to go by, then jump before the last beep (while
walking forward). You should aim to be around the peak of your
jump when the conc. grenade goes off.
Got all that?
The key component to a successful conc.jump is TIMING. And in order to
get the timing right, you need to PRACTICE. Find a server that dosen't
have many people on it and just practice the timing until you can
perform it anywhere, on command. This technique is INCREDIBLY useful in
maps like Warpath, 2fort, Dustbowl, Rock2, and...well, pretty much every
map. Trust me, learn it if you plan to be a Scout.
2.) The second way to perform this technique is to throw a
conc.grenade and stand on top of it, then jump between the 4th
and 5th beep (same as before). Don't forget to push forward when
you jump. This will propel you vertically (it makes you fly
high, not far). This is useful for gaining easy access to high
ledges. The first way is generally more useful, but both ways
are worth knowing.

-Learn to use your Caltrops (default key:'F'). When you use them, it
drops a set of spikes behind you, and anyone who steps on them will
have their speed reduced by 1/2 (temporarily). When anyone is chasing
you, drop the caltrops to give them an unpleasant surprise, and allow
you to make a clean getaway (hopefully).

-Do NOT fight. What the Scout has in speed, it lacks in fighting power.
All of his weapons are weak, and unless you are VERY skilled or very
lucky, you WILL lose in a direct fight. There are three situations
where fighting with a Scout is permissible: When you see an enemy
sniper who is too stupid to use his assault rifle, if you're fighting
another Scout, or if you know that your opponent has like 2 life left,
and even in these situations it still takes some skill to emerge
victorious. Golden Rule: Just RUN.

-Master evasive techniques. Learn to effectively strafe from side to
side. Jump. Duck. It doesn't take much to kill a Scout; do all that you
can to avoid getting hit.

-As unlikely as it seems, Scouts are good at taking out SG's (as long
as the Engineer isn't close by), and is a VERY useful technique to
know. First, determine the location of an SG. Then put a wall or some
other barrier between you and the SG. Crouch down, and SLOWLY edge
forward. If you do this slowly enough, you will see a piece of the SG
before the SG will see you. Get out your nailgun, and fire at the
visible portion of the SG until it blows. You'll know if you're hitting
because the SG will sort of glow. Just be aware that when doing this,
the Engineer will eventually get the idea, and will more than likely
come to attack you. Be prepared to evacuate quickly!

-Now, for the most important thing a Scout can do, even more so than
the Conc.Jump (!!!): KNOW YOUR MAPS. A conc.jump is not very useful if
you don't know where you're going. Getting the enemy flag doesn't do
any good if you don't know where to take it. This is THE most important
thing a Scout can do. Know all of the secret passages and hiding places
you can use to get into the enemy base undetected. Know where you can
get health and armor, because if you're hit, you'll need it. Learn
where the Engineers usually place their SG's. Know every map forwards
and backwards. I can't stress this enough!

-Scouts can defuse enemy detpacks by running over them. This is
especially useful for when a demoman sets his detpack for a minute and
leaves it somewhere where it will likely hurt your team.

Scouts are like squirrels; they're fast, they're weak, they always run,
and they're easy to kill (not that I know that from personal experience
or anything, heh heh). It is a deceptively difficult class to master. A
large following of TF players believe that the Scout is not a good
class, because the Medic is better in every fashion, except he's
slightly slower. While that's true, I often find that extra bit of
speed is exactly what I need to escape. But then, I'm biased, since I
almost always play as a Scout. I love Scout :).


2. SNIPER- "Have Advil Close By"

Health : 90
Armor : 50
Weapons: Crowbar, Sniper Rifle, Assault Rifle

Ah, the Sniper. Probably the most popular class, and arguably the most
annoying class. MANY servers limit the amount of Snipers that can be on
one team; not many servers limit Pyros. However, they are annoying
because, in the right hands, a good Sniper is invaluable. I would
rather have a good Sniper on my team than a good member of any other
class.

GENERAL STRATEGIES

-This may seem simplistic, but a lot of people new to the game don't
know how to "make the red dot appear". Switch to the Sniper Rifle
(weapon #2), then press and hold the fire button (default key:
Enter/Left Mouse Click) until the red dot appears. Also be aware that
you can zoom in (Default Key: Right click) on targets.

-The most important aspect of sniping is knowing where to do it from.
Find the ideal places in every map to snipe from. If you're new to the
game, look where other snipers go.