http://www.hlfallout.net

Team Fortress 2 Guide Part I
Full article (polls, links, images, and text) @ http://www.hlfallout.net/articles.php/96/

by Pie21 & Warvan
Sunday October 28th, 2007

This is Part I of our comprehensive and detailed Team Fortress 2 Guide.
This article attempts to inform the reader of all the various classes in the game and how to use them. The creation of this guide is thanks to (http://www.hlfallout.net/forums/index.php?showuser=5273)Pie21 for taking the time to write it, (http://www.hlfallout.net/forums/index.php?showuser=12647)Warvan for providing the classy pictures, (http://www.hlfallout.net/forums/index.php?showuser=6345)Nachiketh for editing and formatting and (http://www.hlfallout.net/forums/index.php?showuser=11597)Trooper for organizing its creation.

This part of the guide is divided up into separate pages for each player class in TF2. Each page provides details about the class (like maximum health and ammo), role-orientated strategies and plenty of general tips. You will also find a slick class image on each page featuring the player class in question.

Better TF2 skills are straight ahead:

Index

image: http://www.hlfallout.net/image.php?id=36011
caption: The Scout

The Scout
Primary Weapon (ammo): Scatter Gun (6/32)
Secondary Weapon (ammo): Pistol (12/36)
Melee Weapon: Aluminium Baseball Bat
Health: 125
Nationality: American

The scout's job is quite simple. Not easy, but not complicated. Scouts belong on the very front lines of their team's force, distracting the enemy troops and capturing objectives.

A few factors worth a quick look over include:

Primary Role — Front Line Support
The scout's speed and agility makes him incredibly capable of dodging enemy projectiles and allows him to close to melee range on their enemies so fast it can be disorientating. This doesn't mean they have to break out their aluminium bat though; the scout's scatter gun is for all intents and purposes a shotgun, but does significantly more damage and fires faster than the shotguns of the soldier, pyro, heavy and engineer.

However, should they choose to, the bat can pack a fair wallop and has the advantage of using no ammo and has a faster strike rate. The bottom line is that scouts can wreak havoc among enemy lines if left unchecked, and they are left unchecked surprisingly often when there are beefier targets such as soldiers or heavies.

Secondary Role — Infiltration
You might be wondering what good the weakest (in terms of sheer firepower, maybe excluding the spy) class in the game can do behind enemy lines. Well, going back to my cp_Granary example, once capturing the middle point, I usually run my scout through the enemy's ramp room, turn left and enter the garage door into the building containing the fourth control point. From here, go up the stairs and make the second floor your home.

Funnily enough, people tend to either camp in this building or run straight through it to the action, and both types suit you. The lone engineer trying to set up some kind of defence against the impending attack can be easily picked off (assuming he hasn't positioned a sentry gun in the open) and his buildings destroyed, especially any teleporter exits. Any lone medics, demomen, engineers, snipers, or especially disguised spies that run through the building towards the middle control point are perfect targets for you to jump from the top floor, gun them down, and run back up again, virtually unseen. Rinse and repeat.

Once your heavier teammates turn up this role is even more fun, since you go even more unnoticed. You can snipe distracted enemies with your pistol and they can be completely unaware of you if they're taking damage from somewhere else. Then, once the control point is clear, you can jump in and start capturing it.

General Tips
The scout's strongest attribute is his speed and agility. ALWAYS stay on the run, and when fighting an enemy double jump in random directions as often as possible. The longer you keep firing without being hit, the more discouraged the enemy becomes, and even if you don't kill him, you can force him to retreat, thinking he is being beaten.

The pistol is very good for medium to long range damage. When you think about it, only the sniper rifle and handguns are any good for instant long range damage; the minigun is inaccurate and rockets and grenades are slow. With the pistol it is easy to dish out damage while taking none yourself, and is often underused.

The scatter gun is average at medium range, but lethal at point blank. If your enemy hasn't seen you or doesn't appear very competent, try and get as close as possible (make liberal use of double jump) and gun him down. If you empty your clip, it may be easier to switch to the baseball bat to finish him off. When using the bat, run circles around your target, occasionally changing direction to circle the other way. Once people start getting batted, they get very confused and disorientated and pretty much focus on running instead of fighting.

Don't be afraid to run away. If capturing a point for example and you are set upon by superior numbers, simply retreat (they have no chance of keeping up), lick your wounds with some health kits or medics, and jump back into the action from a different angle. Better than dying and having to wait 20 seconds to respawn.

A sentry gun isn't the end of the world. This little trick only works when you're not surrounded by enemies, but you can destroy enemy sentry guns without them even seeing you. Firstly, go just around the corner from them, then crouch and slowly strafe out until you can just see a tiny bit of sentry gun poking out (easier for upgraded sentries). It won't attack you until you can see the barrels, so just a bit of metal body or even a leg will suffice. Bust out your pistol and start pumping rounds into the tiny bit you can see. 2 or 3 clips and the gun should be out of your way. If an engineer is sitting behind it repairing it however you'd be better off not wasting your ammo.

image: http://www.hlfallout.net/image.php?id=36017
caption: The Soldier

The Soldier
Primary Weapon (ammo): Rocket Launcher (4/36)
Secondary Weapon (ammo): Shotgun (6/32)
Melee Weapon: Shovel
Health: 200
Nationality: American

The soldier represents the heart and soul of Team Fortress 2. His versatility lends him to virtually any style of play all types of players. He can deal a large range of damage to enemies at any distance and the behaviour of his projectiles is very predictable.

Some features of the soldier to pay attention to are:

Primary Role — Offensive
Before covering his role, I feel I should explain some of these features more fully. The rocket launcher is the source of virtually all the soldier's strategy, and hence it's used often. The fact that it only hold 4 rockets and take valuable time to reload is the main obstacle any soldier must overcome to remain effective after the first 4 shots. The soldier, whether attacking or defending, is most effective at medium range, just outside the range where you can effectively wield a shotgun. At this range he is able to engage an enemy while utilising cover to reload, and he faces less risk of being charged by the enemy, reducing the effective accuracy of the weapon (the soldier must effectively look at the enemy's feet to aim), and it can even become a hazard, injuring the soldier as well.

For these reasons players should try to stay at medium range when using the rocket launcher, and if the enemy closes the shotgun or even shovel may prove more effective.

Another factor that determines the difference between an average soldier and a skilled one is their ability to hit their target consistently. Similar to the demoman, there is an element of predicting where the target will be in about a second and aiming there, specifically, aiming at where the target's feet will be. Although many people think subconsciously that rockets do more damage when they hit the enemy directly (and they are probably right), that does not mean that they are most efficient when aimed directly at an enemy; in fact the opposite is more often true. A soldier's primary target should always be his target enemy's feet, and any direct hits are bonuses.

If a rocket hits the ground close enough to the target's feet it will deal about the same amount of damage anyway, and more importantly if it does not hit very close to the enemy's feet the splash damage will still injure them. Therefore it is more effective to aim for the feet and do slightly less damage every shot than aiming for the chest and missing 8 times out of 10.

With the main rocket launcher-specific strategy covered, I'll now focus on the role of the offensive soldier. When attacking, the soldier tends to require a medic either paired up with him or at least nearby, since despite his relatively large amount of health, he is slow compared to the other classes (except the heavy) and he often becomes a target for defenders due to the damage he can inflict if left unchecked. He tends to be most useful as support for his offensive teammates, as his rockets have two main functions.

The first and foremost is dealing splash damage to enemies which, if it doesn't kill them, can reduce the health of many defenders in a short period of time, allowing the soldier's teammates (classes that are more effective at killing a single target, such as scouts or snipers) to finish the job.

Secondly, the rocket launcher's high damage, pinpoint accuracy and long range make it perfect for 'sniping' enemy buildings, especially sentry guns and dispensers from outside the range of both the building and the defending team. Taking out sentry guns also supports the soldier's teammates, allowing them to move more freely and not have to try and destroy them themselves. Focusing on achieving these two supportive roles will result in a soldier being more highly respected by his teammates (and probably higher scoring) than simply blazing away constantly at a single target and achieving nothing, perhaps the occasional kill.

Secondary Role — Mid-Map Control
The soldier can be used quite effectively in defence, but it's a waste of firepower to have him sitting around you base. The place the soldier should be defending is the critical mid-map locations present in almost every map, areas that give the team that controls them MAP CONTROL (for more information on how map control applies, click it). There's a summary on the map control page, but very simply these critical areas are in the middle of the map in a neutral location that neither team inherently owns, a perfect example being the rock caves in two of the theatres of tc_Hydro. However the team that manages the wrest control of these points almost always goes on the win the game provided they can hold it and their engineers have a clue (see engineers).

To make the most of these positions, any and all engineers should set up their teleporter exits and a couple of engineers can take responsibility for a dispenser and sentry gun to cement their control. The soldier's strength he is that the entrances to these areas are often narrow choke points where the enemy enters by running blindly around a corner.

In these situations even inaccurate rockets generally result in dangerous amounts of explosion damage since there is very little room on either side of the enemy for the soldier's rocket to miss. Not only are soldiers very capable of defending these points, they are also able to push forward and launch attacks from these places, harassing long range targets in the enemy's base, especially sentry guns.

It's difficult to explain this role except with specific examples, but the best example of all is to play in a situation where your team controls one of these points and see the difference it makes.

General Tips
A good soldier is as good or better a medic buddy than an average heavy, or in some cases even a good heavy. Competent soldiers should feel they have the right to have their own medic if the heavies aren't getting the job done.

Like the demoman, one of the more difficult aspects of playing a soldier is hitting moving targets. Look for opportunities such as when as scout has just double jumped and you can safely predict where he will land, or when a heavy starts spinning his minigun and you know his position won't change a lot in the next couple of seconds. Shoot smart.

When on low health and retreating, instead of simply turning around and running away, try to pre-empt and prevent any opportunities your opponent(s) may have to pursue you and finish you off. Run backwards and fire your rockets at the floor of doorways and corners that the enemy may run through as your rocket hits in an attempt to chase you down. If they do happen to run around that corner at the right time, you could either kill them or dissuade them from continuing their pursuit, and if they don't you can simply reload, no harm done.

There are a number of specific places that can be reached easily by the soldier's rocket jump, some that are even designed to be reached in such a way. cp_Gravelpit has a number of these, such as the roof of Objective B from where a surprise defence can be mounted, or the top platform of Objective C that can be reached with a surprise rocket jump from the small shack in front of the base of the tower. cp_Well has a number of places from which a soldier or demoman can surprise the enemy as soon as the game starts, or even before.

The parked trains that prevent the teams from seeing each other before the gates drop can be crossed with a rocket jump, and the balconies outside the corridor with the sniper windows on the same floor as the middle control point can be reached as well (scouts can also reach this level by double jumping from the wooden palette leaning against the wall, using the window ledges if necessary).

As either the red or blue team on maps like cp_Dustbowl where both teams sit around for about 30 seconds waiting for the gates to fall, soldiers can continuously injure themselves to low health so that medics can heal them and charge their übercharge faster. Ensure that medics don't simply heal continuously while the soldiers shoot themselves, instead wait until their health gets to around 50 (their health 'bar' goes red) and heal them from there. If a soldier is buffed to 300 health, hurts himself down to 220 or so and is then healed back to 300, this will not benefit the medic any more than if he just held him at 300 health.

image: http://www.hlfallout.net/image.php?id=36019
caption: The Pyro

The Pyro
Primary Weapon (ammo): Flamethrower (200)
Secondary Weapon (ammo): Shotgun (6/32)
Melee Weapon: Fire Axe
Health: 175
Nationality: Unknown

The pyro is one of the most inherently humorous classes in the game. With his gas mask and rubber bodysuit he in unable to communicate with more than a few muffled grunts, and his flamethrower causes unmitigated mayhem throughout the enemy lines when used correctly.

Some burning issues differentiating the pyro are:

Primary Role — Forward Defensive
Personally I disagree with Valve's decision to include the pyro as an offensive class. They have relatively low health, short-range weapons, and are relatively more effective against multiple enemies rather than individual targets. That said they can be used in just about any role, though I think they are most suited to the job of forward defence.

What is that, you may ask? The best example is cp_Gravelpit on the red team. When defending either A or B, the pyro can sit under the ledge that the blue team falls from and burn them as they rush into battle. It's about this distance from the objective that pyros can cause a lot of trouble for attackers, since the only way to get away from the fire is to run disorientated towards the rest of the defenders, often including a number of sentry guns.

By staying at around this distance, pyros can prey on attackers who aren't close enough to commit to an attack, yet not defensive enough to rely on support from their teammates. Setting a group of 2 or 3 attackers on fire will almost always result in them turning around and running away, and although they may be composed enough to kill you, you are easily able to disrupt attacks, and I believe this is the pyro's main strength: the ability to cause mayhem in the enemies front line, causing them to retreat rather than march forward, breaking off any attempted attack and giving your defence the upper hand.

Secondary Role — Defensive
For an offensive team closing in on their objective, the last thing they want to run into is a pyro or two. They are a long way from their comfort zone, there is relatively little healing or extinguishing available (especially since medics are a priority target for defenders), and often being on fire can be very disorienting as all concentration is focused on getting away from the pyro, often running into more fire from the pyro's teammates (or simply running into a wall and being melted).

For these reasons, pyros can be very successful by hiding around corners near their objective and ambushing any enemies that run past. Once their target is on fire, the pyro has the upper hand and can often finish them off if not too outnumbered by more than about 3 to 1.

In addition to these factors, pyros are the perfect counter to spies. In a defensive role, pyros should routinely run around and attempt to burn their teammates, especially ones standing near sentry guns.

If a teammate happens to catch fire, it is immediately obvious to the entire team that it is a spy, and from then on the spy is doomed. Even when cloaked, the flames with no apparent fuel scream 'free kill' to anyone who sees them.

General Tips
The pyro's weapons are all medium to short range, so he is best used for ambushing either indoors or around corners. Don't make the same mistake I did, which was to use the pyro the same way I used every other race and come to the conclusion that he was useless because I couldn't even get close enough to hit anything. As a pyro, the first glimpse you get of your enemy should be within BBQ range.

Sustained, close range flamethrower fire kills enemies almost laughably fast. Disorient your BBQ targets by continuously burning them while running circles around them. Not only do they not know where you are at any given moment, but if they are looking at you they can't always tell, since all they will see is a wall of flames spewing from your flamethrower.

Once you think they are almost dead, you may want to back off and shoot them down with your shotgun while you retreat to cover to avoid being gunned down by your target's teammates as soon as he falls over and you're the only thing left.

On the issue of countering spies, if the pyro's team is not under intense defensive pressure, enemy spies should be the pyro's primary objective. If the enemy is blue, then any enemy spies cloaking or uncloaking will fade into blue, translucent silhouette before becoming invisible.

If a pyro sees one such silhouette running towards his defence, he should go on the hunt, making a beeline for where he predicts the invisible spy would run, and spewing flames randomly. If a spy happens to get caught in the line of fire, visible or not, he will ignite and his fate is sealed.

When defending, get your priorities in order. Start by setting everyone nearby on fire, and then sustain your flamethrower fire on key targets, especially medics and heavies that are facing the other way. Enemies that are already on fire may not realise if they are still getting BBQ'd from behind.

image: http://www.hlfallout.net/image.php?id=36012
caption: The Demoman

The Demoman
Primary Weapon (ammo): Grenade Launcher (4/30)
Secondary Weapon (ammo): Sticky Bomb Launcher (8/40)
Melee Weapon: Whiskey Bottle
Health: 175
Nationality: Scottish

A skilled demoman is an incredibly dangerous and frustrating enemy. They sit just forward of the objective, killing off attackers before they get a chance to attack the objective itself, and often it's impossible to get past the demoman without killing him.

Some differences that glue the demoman together include:

Primary Role — Forward Defensive
Sitting in his forward defensive position, the demoman can firstly make effective use of his sticky bombs. He works best in areas with only 2 entrances (there are a surprising number of them), where he can put 4 bombs on each entrance and detonate them as soon as someone enters. However if the enemy manages to get through these doors, the demoman's best use is to lob primary grenades into the fray, aiming at key targets like medics (but don't worry too much if they miss, they still explode after a few seconds). Aim to hit the enemies on the full (raise your crosshair a bit), not only so the grenades explode on impact, but hitting them on the full will ensure they have the minimum amount of time to get out of the way.

However if the enemy manages to push further forward and get into the capture zone of the control point (or intelligence room), the demoman is possibly the best class in the game for flushing them out. He can lob in a few primary grenades to restrict the enemy's movement or even kill anyone who gets in the way, and lob a few sticky bombs spaced around the objective before detonating.

This should pretty much kill anyone in the control point, or at least force them to run away. You can perform this sticky bomb defence pre-emptively by sticking all 8 bombs on the control point before running forward to your defensive position. See the first tip on deterrence, this applies here as well.

Secondary Role — Offensive
For an incredibly competent defensive class, the demoman is surprisingly effective in an offensive role as well. He can attack enemy defenders from around corners by popping out momentarily to fire and hiding again, or simply by bouncing primary grenades off the walls. These grenades do about as much damage as rockets, and critical grenades kill pretty much anyone in one direct hit. You only have 25 less health than a soldier, so at least health-wise you can back yourself in a one on one contest with most classes. Avoid scouts and heavies accompanied by medics, since the heavies will carve you up and you simply can't do 450+ damage fast enough, and scouts are generally too nimble to hit with grenades.

The hardest skill with the demoman is being able to hit your target with the slow grenades. It takes quite a lot of foresight, but you have to imagine where they will be in half a second to a second and aim there. This is particularly difficult with scouts since they could be anywhere, so I suggest avoiding them if possible. Pyros are easy to deal with, since they will generally take the shortest route to get to you, allowing you to backpedal about as fast as they can run and fire straight at them.

One of the most important jobs for an offensive demoman is to take care of enemy buildings. They're easy to hit with grenades, even from a distance, since they don't move, and a couple of sticky bombs can destroy a lot in one go, not giving engineers the chance to repair them (and perhaps exploding the engineer as well!).

Finally, when you are capturing a control point or otherwise and there are no enemies around, while still in the capture zone start planting sticky bombs where you expect the enemies to come from. This should allow you to blow up the first wave of their defence before they even get a chance to fire a volley.

General Tips
Sticky bombs do more than just blow people up and launch you around the map. On maps with only a few entrances to each area (cp_Granary is a good example) these sticky bombs act as a powerful deterrent. No one in their right mind is going to walk over 4 stick bombs like they're not there, so even if you aren't using your 8 available sticky bombs as weapons, chuck a few in each entrance. You don't even have to watch them; the enemy doesn't know you aren't. Popping out and lobbing in a few normal grenades every now and then reinforces the illusion that you are just waiting for them to step on the things.

Ultimately this works to stop (or at least slow) enemies coming out one or two entrances and force them out choke points that your team can guard more effectively. This also works for deterring enemies from capturing your control points if you cover the capture area with them, but look out, as they will come looking for you.

When using sticky bombs as weapons, place them in places the enemy won't see until it's too late. If you're guarding a doorway, stick them on the sides, or if it's a roller door, you can just put them on the ground on your side. This way less people will consciously avoid your trap and you will end up with more victims.

In the event of an enemy medic using his übercharge, hide behind something (or just stay to the side or behind to avoid becoming a target) and start littering the ground in front of the invulnerable duo with sticky bombs. Place them where you predict they will be in 10 seconds or so, generally a control point. As soon as the übercharge wears off, bang.

The demoman's primary grenade launcher, like the pyro's flamethrower, can be used to pick disguised enemy spies, although not with quite the same devastating efficiency. Your grenades will pass straight through your teammates, but will explode on contact with an enemy (if they contact on the full). The occasional grenade spam around your teammates can yield surprising results.

If you run out of primary grenades and are in an intense, close-quarters fire fight; it is often better to simply keep reloading and firing than try to be clever by switching to your sticky bomb launcher. However if you're good enough, you can fire a couple of stickies behind you in a hallway or other narrow pathway, and after retreating over them your enemy will most likely not follow you. If he does explode him, but in the more likely event that he switches to a ranged weapon, find some cover and reload your primary grenade launcher.

image: http://www.hlfallout.net/image.php?id=36013
caption: The Heavy

The Heavy
Primary Weapon (ammo): Minigun (200)
Secondary Weapon (ammo): Shotgun (6/32)
Melee Weapon: Fists
Health: 300
Nationality: Slavic

The heavy is the embodiment of power in TF2. He has the most health, most ammunition, highest rate of fire, and biggest silhouette.

Some giant distinctions of the heavy from other classes include:

Primary Role — Offensive
Valve lists the heavy as defensive, but as with the pyro, I disagree. I believe the two should be swapped. As an offensive class, the heavy is a fearsome opponent, and the mere presence of a heavy paired up with a medic sends enemies fleeing. If that medic activates his übercharge on the heavy allowing them to charge into an enemy occupied area, the ensuing carnage is often hilarious.

The heavy is one of the few classes that can, when accompanied by a medic, simply do things his way. As such there isn't a lot in the way of strategy, except to keep pushing forward whenever there is a break in the action, start spinning those barrels when you suspect enemies are around the next corner, and watch your ammo. However the heavy's simple presence, even when acting for purely selfish motives, can be one of the most effective forms of offensive support.

He can mow down defensive pyros and scouts that have to get close to do damage, and allows less obvious attacking teammates like scouts and soldiers to attract less attention while approaching the objective.

The main weakness of the heavy is his inability to damage or even intimidate enemies at long range. He is incredibly effective at short range and does reasonable damage at medium range (certainly enough to discourage any resistance), but against snipers and distant soldiers he is at a disadvantage. Therefore when he gets close to the objective, the heavy should conduct most of his devastation from a position that has both good, medium range vision of the objective as well as cover from enemies emerging from their spawn.

A good example of this kind of position is in the stage of tc_Hydro where the blue control point is on the little bridge next to a parked truck. An offensive red heavy can get himself set up behind the truck in the blue team's base which allows him to open fire on anyone attempting to defend the control point while avoiding fire from enemies in the blue team's building. There are occasionally snipers in the far end of this building that may have line of sight and as such this may not be a perfect example but you should get the general idea.

Secondary Role — Mid-Map Control
For an idea of what this role involves, check out my description of map control, or even just the secondary role of the soldier. Basically it is defending critical areas of the map, usually in the middle, that are hotly contested throughout the game. Controlling these areas to the extent that engineers can get teleports up generally wins the game, and the heavy may be even better at this than the soldier.

When accompanied by a medic, the heavy is like a sentry gun with a brain. Not only do enemies perceive such an area defended by a heavy as insurmountable, but the heavy's main weaknesses are nullified due to the fact that these areas are generally enclosed, and any targets contesting them will be within his ideal range, not to mention that a dispenser and the ammo crates that generally spawn in such areas will give the heavy all the ammo he desires.

The only things heavies need watch out for are spies which can kill the medic and the heavy in a matter of seconds and set up his team to take control of these critical areas. See tips for more on this.

General Tips
Heavies, whether offensive or defensive, are key targets for enemy spies. Despite the massive amounts of health heavies can accumulate, a knife to the back is still a one hit kill. Not only are the heavies at risk but the medics that are putting themselves in danger by giving them their support. Since the medic is unable to defend himself, heavies must be responsible for both themselves and their medic buddies.

Spies can be kept at bay by routinely looking around in all directions and shooting anything even slightly suspicious. Even just shooting at the air can reveal cloaked spies as they shimmer for a split second after being hit. The bottom line here is that the heavy is responsible for defence against spies, and must act as such; he cannot simply assume that his team will deal with them.

Another bane for heavies is the sniper, which can drop even a heavy with 450 health with one shot to the head. To avoid these snipers, heavies should always make sure they are running (not shooting or spinning) when they're in the open, and spend as much time as possible in positions where there is something solid between them and the common sniping positions.

The heavy's minigun takes a considerable amount of time to start firing from the moment you press fire, and unless there is no cover, a decent player will often be out of the line of fire before a bullet even comes out. As such it is often preferable to be wielding the secondary shotgun when running around since it can be fired on the move, and only switching to the minigun if the opposition gets more intense than a scout or two. Staying on the move allows the heavy to cover more ground, which in turn allows his whole team to push forward behind him.

Although the heavy is an ideal medic buddy due to him being a massive meat shield with a lethal weapon, his doesn't simply have the right to a medic. I've seen heavies that use up their entire supply of ammunition to take out one enemy at close range because they are simply too slow at aiming.

These heavies are a waste of time when the medics could be pairing up with someone more effective, someone whose death would have more of an effect on the team. In short, don't hog the medics if you can't make full use of them. A good heavy should be a top priority for at least one medic.

image: http://www.hlfallout.net/image.php?id=36014
caption: The Engineer

The Engineer
Primary Weapon (ammo): Shotgun (6/32)
Secondary Weapon (ammo): Pistol (12/200)
Melee Weapon: Wrench
Additional Equipment: Construction PDA, Demolition PDA
Health: 125
Nationality: American

The engineer is the face of defensive and support. His buildings are a welcome sight to a retreating or defending teammate, and they are a major deterrent for enemy troops.

A quick deconstruction of the engineer's specialties reveals:

The engineer is a class that really needs someone to write up a basic code of conduct, since the engineer has a lot of options at his disposal and as a result he tends to forget to utilise all of them. Therefore I guess I'll have a go at it.

Engineers, listen up!. At the start of every single map, your first order of business is to leave your immediate spawn area by the most common sense/shortest route, and as soon as you are out, build a teleporter entrance. Having built this entrance, go back into your spawn area and refill your metal at one of the supply cabinets (the tall white things with medical crosses on them). Having done this head outside once more and proceed to either a defensive or forward defensive role, as outlined below.

Primary Role — Defensive
Engineers should form the backbone of a team's defence, and while they often do, more often than not they get the simplest things wrong. Having built your teleporter entrance, a defensive engineer should then head to a position that would be appropriate for a sentry gun, one that has clear line of sight of the objective and is within firing distance of anyone attempting to capture said objective. If possible there should be a barrier between the sentry gun and any direction from which the enemies come but see the sentry gun before they enter its range. If not, a soldier will happily reduce it back to scrap metal within a minute.

Having found a suitable position, build a dispenser in such a position that could almost reach you if you sat where the sentry gun will be built, and has as much cover as possible. After building the dispenser there, look for an ammo crate or depending on the distance return to spawn to refill your metal. After returning to the dispenser, construct the sentry gun, attempting to face it in an optimum direction (that is, not backwards). While the sentry is building, find some more metal so that you have at least 125, then run forwards into a vaguely forward defensive position and build the teleporter exit in a place that has ample cover and will not be easily seen by random enemy troops.

After creating the teleporter, return to your sentry gun and start upgrading it with metal on the ground and from the dispenser. As long as your teleporters stay alive, hang around your upgraded sentry gun repairing it as soon it is even slightly injured, removing electrosappers and always watching out for spies. If your teleporter entrance or exit is destroyed, wait until the area around you objective is quiet then go and replace the destroyed buildings.

Notice that building and upgrading the sentry gun come as secondary objectives for the engineer early in the game. Like the soldier only more so, the engineer should act as supportively as possible. The number one objective is to build a teleporter entrance, and slightly behind that is build a teleporter exit in a position that is out of sight and as far forward as possible without getting involved in any action. Having constructed these teleporters, the engineer can devote the rest of the map to his sentry gun if he likes, but engineers who simply focus on their sentry gun and their score are the worst kind around.

They don't build teleporters because they don't get points for them, and as a result every teammate must run all the way to the front line which can take a hell of a long time, especially for heavies. In fact spending the rest of the map with your sentry gun will most likely result in you getting the best score rather than building it and running off whenever it looks quiet.

The important part of the engineer is that his teammates rely on him to be holding the defensive line around the objective. If the engineer isn't always around and on the lookout, a spy can simply sap his sentry gun and take the objective. Engineers have the responsibility of defending, so they should be reliable.

Secondary Role — Forward Defensive
If your objective has some defence in the form of another defensive engineer, it can be overkill to be a defensive engineer yourself as well. Therefore you might want to take up a forward defensive role, which involves constructing and defending your buildings for the benefit of your front line troops. In fact this is exactly the role at least one engineer should take if his team is managing to hold one of those critical mid-map areas, the ones I talk about in my explanation of map control. Once you create your teleporter entrance, run along with your front line teammates until they engage the enemy.

At this point they should be around this general mid-map region. Fall back slightly, just around a corner or something, and set up your teleporter exit. This way so long as your team holds their position they will receive instant reinforcements through the teleporter every 10 seconds or so, often in the shape of the slower soldiers and heavies that should get priority of the teleporters. This strengthens the hold of their position and allows them to push forwards as they reengage their fallen faster than their enemies.

This pushing forward may happen in the initial engagement as the enemies are disorganised and forced to retreat, or it could take a couple of minutes (in the event that YOUR team is forced to retreat, think about switching to a defensive role, at least until you can push back), but whenever it happens you have to be ready. As your team pushes through one of these critical mid-map areas, build a dispenser. "Why not a sentry gun?" you may ask.

A dispenser has a number of advantages, including that it can heal, extinguish and rearm your front line troops that are defending you and it can also give you and friendly engineers metal once built. Simply it will help you to establish your control of the area more than a sentry gun that you may not be able to upgrade fast enough to keep it alive, and if you lose this sentry gun you end up with nothing and you have to start again.

Once you have the dispenser built, then build your sentry gun in a position that has line of sight on as many entrances as possible to this mid-map area (usually there are a few). You should have built your dispenser very near the position you are now building your sentry gun.

Once the sentry gun is constructing itself, find some metal and if you think the area is reasonably secure, demolish your teleporter exit (press 5, then 4) and reconstruct it around the dispenser and sentry gun so it covers more ground from your spawn while being equally safe. This is the absolute priority objective of a forward/forward defensive engineer: keep moving your buildings forward as your team pushes up themselves. Start with your dispenser, then sentry gun, and then finally rebuild your teleporter exit.

General Tips
Although different situations on different maps will have their own set of circumstances for either engineering role, the basic should always apply. Teleporter entrance, refill metal, dispenser/teleporter exit, the one you didn't just build, then finally sentry gun. Especially in a map with no set up time, there's a good chance the enemy will push far enough for ward that a forward defensive engineer would have his sentry gun overrun before it's even built if that is his first and only priority.

If playing on a linear map like cp_Granary or cp_Well, the defensive role is only useful if your team is being pushed back. If you are winning (generally whichever team owns the middle point is winning), you should almost always adopt the forward defensive role, pushing up and helping your front line teammates, rather than sitting and defending a control point that your enemy may never even contest.

The engineer's most obvious rival and counter is the spy. There are a range of counters the engineer has to the spy, but an engineer defending his gear should always follow a few simple steps. First, stay close to your buildings and be ready to knock away any sappers. 2 or 3 swings deals with them. Secondly always be on the lookout for spies. Sometimes they can be easy to spot, sitting around watching you like a hawk or even assuming your name and running towards you. Be suspicious of everyone on your team, and whack everyone who comes near you with your wrench. You can kill a spy in 2 or 3 hits, especially if you hit him in the back (not a backstab, but I think it hurts more).

You buildings make excellent cover against as enemies as long as you have metal. Crouching and hiding behind them make you difficult to hit, and any attempts to kill you will result mostly in damage to the building you're hiding behind, which can be quickly repaired with a swing from your wrench.

A common tactic of good spies is to plant an electrosapper on your sentry gun, then quickly stab you in the back as you go to wrench it off, since your buildings don't function while being sapped. Avoid this by making sure you never turn your back on a spy, circling around your building while de-sapping and laying into the spy with the wrench if the opportunity arises.

If any of your buildings get just slightly damaged, it is usually a stray bullet from an attacker that hasn't specifically targeted them yet. However it should be taken as an indicator that they are about to become targets once your enemy deals with whatever he was dealing with first. You should get over to defend them until the threat has passed.

image: http://www.hlfallout.net/image.php?id=36015
caption: The Medic

The Medic
Primary Weapon (ammo): Syringe Gun (40/150)
Secondary Weapon (ammo): Medigun (unlimited)
Melee Weapon: Bone saw
Health: 150
Nationality: German

The most critical and vital support class in the game is the Medic. Before I go into anything else, let me just say a team of 12 must have at least 1 medic if they are even to stand a chance, and should aim for a minimum of 2 in every case.

A thorough examination of the all-important medic tells us that:

Primary Role — Offensive
Few people tend to play the Medic, and those that do usually do it wrong. When you come across a medic who knows what he's doing, the difference is immediate and obvious. Perhaps people think that medics are primarily used for healing and hence they can't get any points with them, but this in untrue.

The medic gets most of his points from kill assists, because if his medigun buddy gets a kill while being healed, the healing medic will be seen as having assisted and receives a kill assist which is worth the same number of points as a kill (1). However for a medic to truly do well for himself, he needs a team that can both make use of his healing and is competent enough to defend him. However on most teams there is at least one player who is good enough to do the medic well by pairing up with him.

To play the medic correctly, you must be up on the front lines giving your healing support to those that not only need it but can use it. Those who need it are those that are injured who you can quickly restore to full health to keep them in the battle, but those who can use it are those players that are both skilled and a class that can be effective on the front line.

This pretty much means heavies and soldiers (depending on the situation), but can also include demomen and pyros in special circumstances. Anyway, the medic's job is quite simple: pick a buddy (generally the soldier or heavy with the most points on the scoreboard [Tab]), follow him around healing constantly with the medigun, quickly heal any nearby teammates who are injured, and finally when your übercharge is charged, inform your buddy that you're about to use it (x8 for "I am charged!" or z3 for "Go go go!"), then activate it and go nuts.

After wiping out or scaring off the enemy team, push as far forward as you can before encountering resistance again, wait for your team to catch up, and rinse and repeat. Sounds complicated in that there are a lot of steps, but it should become second nature after playing medic for a short while.

Secondary Role — Utility
Huh? Utility? What does that even mean? Well, the medic doesn't really have a secondary role. He should always be up the front healing whoever needs it and pairing up with a skilled offensive player. However sometimes there just aren't any players that know how to use the support of a medic. In a surprising number of cases your team doesn't have any soldiers or heavies. Or, it could just be that your buddy died and you've got 30 seconds to waste until he gets back.

As a utility, the medic stays on the front line and has two main jobs: healing injured teammates on the front line and making liberal use of his syringe gun. Basically he acts as a soldier (the job, not the class) and shoots down any enemies that stray from their teammates and consequently can be engaged one on one. If you know how to use the syringe gun it can be quite effective. It has clips of 40 syringes that travel quite slowly and are strongly affected by gravity, so spraying them around creates a veritable wall of syringes that the enemy can't avoid. Each syringe does approximately 10 damage, so if you only hit with 5 out of 40, that's 50 damage right there.
Obviously if you were more accurate you would do even more. Basically the utility role is to use your gun, take out any loose enemies all the while keeping your front line in a healthy condition. Switch back to your primary role whenever possible though, it's generally more effective.

General Tips
While healing a teammate, the medic is unable to defend himself, so a good medic will make use of the environment to stay behind cover from possible enemy attacks while maintaining sight of his buddy. This usually involves using angles to stay 'around the corner' of a corridor as his buddy proceeds down it, or simply hiding behind his medigun target (especially if it happens to be a heavy).

Medics, like heavies, are primary targets for spies since they are unable to defend themselves, often standing still, and if they die it can turn the tide of a battle since their teammates have to wait about 30 seconds for them to come back and heal. To avoid becoming spyfood, always stay on the move, look behind yourself often (you don't have much else to do while healing) and if you see anything suspicious whip out your syringe gun/bone saw and open fire. In truth, your buddy should be responsible for your safety, but over time you will learn that your teammates leave much to be desired when it comes to defending each other, especially you.

On the topic of being a target, if your übercharge is ready, use it as soon as you find a half-decent opportunity to wreak some havoc. I have seen (and been responsible for!) so many medics being stabbed in the back just before they get a chance to use their übercharge. The thing is not only are you a prime target, but when a spy hears "I am fully charged!" and sees your medigun glowing with lightning, he makes a beeline for your back.

If your buddy is at fully buffed health, don't be afraid to help him out with a quick syringe spam, especially if there is a target he hasn't seen. Even more importantly, if your buddy is at greater than his base health, look around for teammates that could use a quick heal (they're generally calling for you and within range anyway) and fix them up. Your buddy should be able to fend for himself for a few seconds, and you can always get back to healing him if he gets attacked.

If you see a teammate in flames (they should be running towards you screaming), quickly heal him for about 1 second just to extinguish his fire. If you have more important issues to deal with get back to them, but if you can spare a few seconds heal him back to full health before finding your buddy again. There's nothing worse than being seemingly ignored by a medic as you burn to death.

Finally, the best tip for medic is BE A MEDIC. Your team needs you. If you are any other class and you're simply not going well, whether it be a bad day, unfamiliar class or you're just a noob (though you shouldn't be if you've read all this!), change to medic. You will gain a lot more respect this way than taking up space as a sniper that misses every shot.

image: http://www.hlfallout.net/image.php?id=36016
caption: The Sniper

The Sniper
Primary Weapon (ammo): Sniper Rifle (25)
Secondary Weapon (ammo): Submachine Gun (25/75)
Melee Weapon: Kukri
Health: 125
Nationality: Australian

Snipers are inherently designed for defence, and apart from the spy's backstab they can do the most damage in a single shot.

Some of the features of a fair dinkum sniper are:

Primary Role — Defence
Good snipers are valuable assets, as they can drop fearsome targets such as heavies, soldiers and healing medics in a single well-placed shot. It is for this reason that a sniper must know to pick his targets. It is pointless to waste time and ammunition on a scout that will both evade your fire and distract your attention when there are other targets nearby (such as heavies) that are not only easier for you (slower, especially while firing), but harder for your teammates (more health).

When your teammates see heavies fall, they should take it as a sign to push forward, as the opposing force will be without their main firepower for about 40 seconds. If your team does manage to push forward, move your defensive position up with them, or perhaps even take on your secondary role and play offensive.

Being a defensive sniper comes down to setting yourself up in a position with a lot of cover (generally a window in a building) and looking out, waiting for an enemy to walk into your sights.

Secondary Role — Offence
Having an accurate sniper supporting your front line troops can ease many otherwise treacherous situations. Examples of forward use include picking off defensive snipers, taking out undefended sentry guns from well outside their range (buildings being constructed fall in one hit), dropping key targets such as medics and heavies without teammates taking damage, and simply taking out stationary targets (such as engineers repairing their buildings).

When I try and play this role, I often stray too far forward and die, resulting in a number of curses aimed at the competency of snipers in general. Don't make this mistake. Instead hang back just behind your front line, use your scope and walk slowly around whatever wall is separating you from your targets until you can see them, take your shot and move back behind cover again.

Watch out for other defensive snipers — if they see you they'll keep an eye out for you, so wait a bit before taking another peek or simply run backwards and go a different route.

General Tips
Harsh though it may be, if you're not a good sniper, chances are you'd be much more helpful (from a team perspective) as a different class. Any more than 2 snipers is overkill, no matter how open the map is. Of the other two support classes, the medic is very capable and even suited to push forward with his teammates as offensive support and the spy lives behind enemy lines. The sniper is primarily defensive support, and while he can be offensive, you'd probably be better off with another medic or soldier.

Don't waste your time sitting at the back of your base defending when there's no one to shoot. Your job as sniper is to take people down from a distance, not just be at a distance. You don't have to be right up the front taking fire (although your secondary submachine gun is quite effective at close range), but if your team is winning the tug of war, you are just as able to defend your base by defending the enemy's entrances rather than your exits (i.e. the places the enemy comes out of to attack).

The laser dot that is your crosshair is not just there to look pretty, your enemies can see it on whatever you are aiming at, be it a wall or a player. This can be used to your advantage, since an enemy behind cover that sees his enemy's sniper dot on the wall next to his head will tend not to go that way for fear of being gunned down by a (by now) fully charged sniper shot. This method of deterrence can be used to keep injured attackers pinned down behind cover so your teammates can deal with them.

Of course if you are looking for kills not pins, ensure that your laser dot is not visible to the enemy. Aim it either above or to the side of your side the doorway or corridor you expect them to exit from so they don't see it and decide to go a different way rather than take their chances.

There is a good chance that you will miss your target's head, so in most cases it is not worth lining them up for 20 seconds waiting for your chance. If you have a fully charged shot, you may as well just fire it; the sniper rifle is pretty random when it comes to accuracy anyway, and you might get lucky and hit, or even hit someone else behind your target.

Even a completely uncharged headshot can do 150 damage, so in most cases waiting for a full charge headshot is overkill (except perhaps when attempting to deal 450 damage to a heavy, which a fully charged headshot is more than capable of). The golden rule should be quantity over quality, unless you're a pro and can actually make your chances count, since many players may only have low health and even an uncharged shot to the foot would result in a kill, meaning lining up their head for an exorbitant amount of time is overkill.

image: http://www.hlfallout.net/image.php?id=36018
caption: The Spy

The Spy
Primary Weapon (ammo): Raging Bull Revolver (6/24)
Secondary Weapon (ammo): Electrosapper (unlimited)
Melee Weapon: Butterfly Knife
Additional Equipment: Disguise PDA (Spytron 2007), Cloaking Device
Health: 125
Nationality: French

The spy is one of the most fun classes to play, and self-confessedly Gabe Newell's favourite! Spies lurk around behind and within enemy lines and attempt to outwit their opponents, cutting them down when they least expect it.

Some of the specifics of the spy worth investigating include:

Primary Role — Infiltration
The spy is designed for infiltration, but how do you play this role most effectively? Well it is a role that is more determined by experience and improvisation, since it depends entirely on what the other team is doing, but there are a few guidelines you can follow.

Firstly a good spy will prioritise his targets, helping his team by taking out snipers behind the lines as well as medics, heavies and soldiers on the front lines, even if it will probably mean his death. Absolutely top priority, worth kamikaze-ing for, are enemy medics that have their übercharge fully charged and are waiting to use it. A spy should make a beeline for these medics and take them out as quickly as possible, though if they can take out medics often enough, they shouldn't reach übercharge in the first place.

The bottom line here is that your job is not just to hide among your enemies; it is to hide until you get an opportunity to kill a key target, and to take that opportunity when it comes.

The second critical skill as a spy is acting naturally among the other team. Experienced players will be able to pick a spy at least half the time, though not many people playing TF2 are experienced, so once you get behind the lines your job is a lot easier. Some things make enemies particularly suspicious of you, such as:Avoiding these kinds of actions can help you to go unnoticed behind enemy lines, but some positive action that you can take to blend in better includes:Apart from acting naturally and hitting your targets, the rest really comes down to experience. There are certain set plays that generally work well on certain maps, but I can hardly cover them here.

One example that I have found to be exceedingly effective is on tc_Hydro in one of the theatres where the blue team has to defend the control point that is on a small bridge next to a parked truck. Here you can disguise as a blue sniper and make your way to the roof of their spawn building and camp.

Once you have been there long enough, the blue team will accept you as their defence at which point you can either attempt to capture the control point (see secondary role) or run off with the enemy team before eliminating them with your blade.

Secondary Role — Objective
The above guidelines apply for this role, although the focus shifts from eliminating key targets to waiting for an opportunity to take the objective when the enemy has neglected their defence.

In some cases you will be able to capture the control point in one go, but even if you are chased away before you can complete the capture, you can come back shortly after and the point will still be partly captured, meaning you don't have to hold the point for as long to complete the capture.

Normally the enemy defence wises up to your subversion if you fail to win on the first attempt (especially for the next minute or two, predicting your return to finish it off), but this doesn't mean you can't still succeed. I think it's important to see this as a very secondary role though. If at first you don't succeed, revert to your primary role for a while to lull them into a false sense of security. It's a much more adventurous role that can work but often doesn't.

How does this role work when it does though? Disguise as a defensive enemy class, especially an engineer or sniper who tend to sit around their base fairly complacently. Sit around in their base for a while, near the objective but not obviously hunting it, until a number of enemies have run past you and accepted your presence, not paying attention to you anymore.

It may take a few minutes or a few seconds, but eventually there will be quiet around the objective, generally because the enemy's front line is being successful, not dying and therefore not respawning. At this time, you can knife any lone engineers or snipers actually guarding the point, sap any sentries, and jump in the control point. Always keep moving around while capturing to make it hard for any snipers or soldiers to take you out.

If you are challenged, take a few shots with your revolver (you're already out of disguise, you might as well), but if you are outnumbered, switch your cloak on and flee. No use dying for no reason. Remember that you can start capturing as soon as you have sapped the sentries, you don't have to wait for them to die, since sapping them will disable them until they're dead anyway.

General Tips
If you have just been seen by an enemy and identified as a spy while disguised, if you are unable to kill him, or if you do kill him but his teammates see you as well, quickly change disguise to something different. Having just seen, say, a scout run through their base and sap all their buildings, the enemy will be on guard for any scouts that they see for a while after.

Changing disguise often not only helps in the short-term, but it will prevent the enemy from subconsciously associating your chosen disguise with 'enemy spy' over the course of the game.

There are a number of ways a spy can be detected when cloaked or disguised:When a cloaked spy is shot by any weapon, he shimmers momentarily, allowing enemies to spam the area around where they believe the spy is and keep track of his position to finish him off.

Many enemies will do this to you if you try and run away after they see you cloak (for example after you've just knifed someone in plain sight). If they are uncertain of where you are, they will just shoot the air in the direction they would expect you to run, i.e. the shortest route to cover.

However you can sometimes outwit them by cloaking, running in the expected direction, and once completely invisible, turn around and run backwards. They will keep shooting where they think you've gone and all the while you'll be behind them. This works especially well if you have a lot of cloak charge, but if you only a have a few seconds get behind your pursuers and attempt to knife them before running away again.

The most important buildings to use your electrosappers on are sentry guns and teleporter exits, since they are the most threatening to your team. If there are many buildings near each other, quickly placing sappers in all of them forces enemy engineers to prioritise, since they generally can't save all of them.

They will normally start with the sentry gun in case you try and knife them, followed with the dispenser because it helps them, and often forget about the teleporter exit because it doesn't give them any points. Average engineers will often not rebuild teleporter exits as well, which can have a crippling effect on their team's ability to maintain control of the map.

On a similar note, you can place as many electrosappers as you want as fast as you want, what with there being no ammo and no reload (something I think will be fixed as a balanced issue in the near future). Therefore by continuously spamming sappers on any and all nearby buildings, you can not only put pressure on the enemy engineer but confuse him to the extent that he may lose track of what is still being sapped and end up losing a critical building like the sentry gun.

Also useful to know is that if an engineer and spy constantly repair and sap the same building, the spy will end up winning since he can place the next sapper before the engineer can repair the damage from the previous one.

A highly effective strategy against average engineers defending their sentry gun is to place an electrosapper on the sentry gun and as the engineer goes to wrench it off, knife him in the back. The sentry gun won't attack you since it's still disabled, and you can then sap his other buildings without resistance.

Experienced engineers will predict that you will try this, so instead of planting the sapper and standing there waiting for him to turn his back, act as if you are going to do the expected thing and sap the rest of his buildings. He will assume he has more time to repair his sentry gun, when really you turn straight back and knife him as soon as he looks away.

Post comments @ http://www.hlfallout.net/comments.php?id=9162

—Pie21 & Warvan, send feedback to fantale21@hotmail.com

Written for HL Fallout - http://www.hlfallout.net