ubercharged.net

bread_man_017 has made lego models of the TF2 gang.
Some of these are pretty cool.

Lego rocks.

Spotted over at CS-Nation

The ever helpful Elvis! linked to a VERY nice scout game play video.

It’s of T6 PanFrie }svny{|DF| again. Thats same player with the crazy scout trick jumping skills that I linked to yesterday. The vid was posted by PointlessPunk. This shows that there are some genuine tactical benefits to the show off jumpy stuff in yesterdays vid.

T6 PanFrie }svny{|DF| At it again, playing as a Defensive scout on cp_gravelpit. Dies rather quick into the start of the round, but makes up for it for getting 29 kills, and not dying the rest of the defense. (youtube hates me and kills audio… so im just gonna give up on sound for now… put on your favorite music while you watch it )

Some of this stuff is nuts. I can’t handle scout playing scout. I used to be ok at fast paced twitch stuff back in the day, but I’m old now, and my reflexes have atrophied from that dark patch where I spent a couple of years playing MMORPGs. Screw you WoW.

The guys from Dead Workers Party have pumped out another episode of the Control Point podcast. They’re talking about 2fort this time.

Even though I’ve sworn off 2fort as a new years resolution, its still a great listen (as always) for the usual tricks and tips.

In belated news (cause I’m a slack ass), their episode from last week on the spy is also out there in intersphereland as well.

Pointlesspunk has posted a kick ass scout trick jumping video. After the ultra-newbie discussion on 2fort bridge jumping the other day, this stuff is uber-jedi-master-cool level. We’re talking Parkour for Team Fortress 2.

T6 PanFrie }svny{|DF| Jumping around on all the stock maps (except for hydro… cause it suck), showing faster ways to get places, and just different ways around the maps in general

There is some serious molestation of the gravel pit towers going on in this one. I had no idea you could get up that high in that map as a scout.

Koopa mailed these pics over. Some weird ass glitching going on there.

I got a new videocard today and am experiencing LOTS of graphic errors - these are the funniest ones. I swear by my website, that I did not change the images with a graphic program, those crazy effects occured ingame. I don’t know where this comes from, but I call it the Demoman-Drunk-Too-Much-Effect

I reckon its “Pyro Inhaled Too Many Propane Fumes Effect”, or “Raver Scout Took Too Much Acid Effect” personally

And no, before you try this at home, it doesn’t mean you can see cloaked spies, stop crit rockets by going into “bullet time”, or ascend to a higher plane of existence, enlightenment, and inner bliss. Although you may require glasses if you play like this too long.

HeadStrikeR has made a great medic tutorial video showing off surgical techniques for 1st year medical interns new to TF2.

Its got some really nice camera work, and covers all the tips you wish your doctor knew. Some nice game play ownage footage going on in there as well.

After 2 month and 3 complete reworks it’s finally finished!

My movie shows the golden rules of medic gameplay and is for entertainment. Fits for young and old medic compadres. I always wanted to create something nice with Sony Vegas and i think it was worth it. I mixed together only the best clips i have recorded so far. If you watch this video pls write a comment and let me know what you think about it!

If you ask yourself, why medic is awesome gameplay? Because if you really get into the role of the medic, it plays like a field commander. The abilities all in one, medic is just great! nuff said

I spotted it over at Team Fortress 2 Guides - koopa’s new site (he’s an ubercharged regular). Its a great site, go check it out.

Deep Blue emailed with links to a new tutorial video he has made for playing demoman. Some good tips to watch for aspiring demomen. Only thing I’d change is to add more discussion on the finer points of demoman crotch taunting.

Here’s the youtube vid. It’s also up on stage6 for those who like the nicer version.

In the hazy recollection of an evening of alcohol and marking the passing of the earth around the sun (again), its time to reflect on all the good intentions we all have for Team Fortress 2 in the new year. Hopefully for most in the world, the hangovers are lifting, and you’re feeling better than the TF2 crew after their wild night.

So here are my resolutions for Team Fortress 2 in the new year:

1. Give up random pointless taunting during warm up. “Put dispenser here!” is only funny for the first couple of thousand times you do it. After that its a little irritating, even for the person mashing the keys.
2. More pyro taunting. This never gets old though.
   
3. Actually try to play the game on 2fort. I usually end up going for the most crazy, experimental, offensive turret positions I can manage. I admit it, I just can’t take that map seriously. Whenever it comes up, I give up on actually playing and contributing to my team. I roll engineer and see how far up I can build turrets to piss off the enemy team. For real giggles, you want to aim for the enemy ramp room, or even outside their spawn. It’s fun, but not in a good way. Its fun in the same way that prodding the fat kid at school was fun - you have a few laughs, but you really just end up feeling mean and dislike yourself a little bit on the inside. Not that that stops you though.
4. On second thoughts, just give up playing 2fort altogether. Now I think about it, it’s a horrible map that just turns into a tiring spam fest on most servers. 2fort always feels like too much hard work. I’ve had a solid upbringing of tribes to give me a real taste of what capture the flag intel should be like. CTF should be about quick easy grabs, on an open and hard to defend stand, followed by intense chasing. The slow, pokey, frustrating basement you have to descend to in that map just slows down the gameplay. Most players just seem to give up even trying and start goofing around in various ways. I’ve bitched about snipers before, but to be honest, I’m really not much better when it comes to 2fort with my engineering shenanigans.
5. No more swearing at random people on voice comms. Even if they are dumb asses. In terms of absolute numbers, there aren’t that many stupid people in Team Fortress 2 (at least when compared to other games). However, the very nature of stupid people is that they stick out and appear more populous than they actually are. At the end of a long day, it can be all too easy to give them an earful on voice comms - especially when their imbecilic nature costs our team the game (seriously - even the most clueless newbie should realise something is up when that spy you just ubercharged starts backstabbing your own team). There may be kids around, and it just makes me feel angsty. Plus if anyone is around, I get funny looks and possibly get told off.
6. Sleep more. The problem with this game is that it can be quite difficult to stop for the evening when you get on a good team. It’s always “one more map…” and then one more, and then one more. Before you know it I’m yawning through the next day, and inhaling too much coffee (I’m trying to give that up too as a non TF2 resolution - not so much luck so far…). Being tired makes me cranky, which doesn’t help me stop swearing at people either. Gah, 12:30 am and I’m still writing this. So much for that one…
7. Play something other than dustbowl. This is by far my most favourite map. So much so that I’ve got my server filter set to display just dustbowl servers most of the time. You’ve got 6 long, hard stages to push through. A win on dustbowl really feels like an achievement. Theres nothing wrong with playing it, but its just that it can end up becoming a little stale after a while. The problem then, is that I’m out of practice on the other maps, and so I don’t feel like playing them either. Plus in this part of the world, there aren’t that many servers, and they often get full up at peak time. Waiting for a spot to free up on a 24/7 dustbowl server could be better spend getting some love out of some of the other fine maps in the game (except 2fort…).
8. Play more dustbowl. I know what I just said, but that map rocks.
9. Stop joining the team that is already winning. As ubercharged regulars already know, stackers unbalancing a game are a pet hate of mine. However, I’ve always figured “if you can’t beat em, join em” when its actually happening. See - I can be all judgemental about it outside of the game, but still make the situation worse in game. Mainly because I don’t see much point helping in getting my ass kicked if its inevitable that it’ll happen anyway, so why bother? This moral relativism is great. Its the same reason why I can laugh at Team Roomba with a clear conscience but still get pissed if that stuff ever happens to me - the actions end up being for the greater good, so any immediate indiscretions are excused… Hmm, I’m not even convincing myself with that one. Anyway, I’ll try to buff up the losing side in future when I join a game in progress.
10. Get out of the favorite class rut. Medic/engineer/pyro are my 3 most played classes in that order. I like them all in their own way (although I’m trying to minimise engineer as most of that time was spent goofing off on 2fort…), but its the same staleness issue I get with dustbowl. I know that I’d have more fun if I varied the classes I play when I get bored, but I’m so out of practice at them that I just get frustrated having my ass handled to me repeatedly on a plate, and go back to “creative sentry placement” as engie. I do enjoy a good demoman run, but I really have to be in the mood for it.
11. Play more TF2. Nuff said.

So what are your TF2 new years resolutions?

GameIndustry.biz has an interview with Moby Franke - the lead visual designer for Team Fortress 2 over at Valve.

The biggest killer advantage Team Fortress 2 has over other games is its amazingly distinctive and original visual style. The style and humour (through the meet the crew vids) were the things that really attracted me to this game - after that the kick ass game play kept me hooked. In that respect, Moby and Valve’s work has been a great success in hitting the mark.

I love the (lack of) artistic value he places on other games

When you talk about artistic influence for Team Fortress 2 I notice you never mention any videogames at all.

There’s no inspiration to pull from other videogames.

Why isn’t there inspirational art in videogames?

Because other games are too focused on realism. Everybody’s focused on the smaller treatments and they are not solving the global problem which is the marriage between game design and visual design. Once you put visual design and proper gameplay together both of them can compliment each other. It comes down to the fact that one hand washes the other – in order to make a complete and immersive product you have to have that.

Fazer linked to a great scout 2fort technique video in the comments from The Evil Force That Makes Your Doublejump Fail On 2fort. It was made originally by bassdass.

A little video i put together for those that are new to the game and maybe needs some help on this particular map. Hope it will inspire you to practice this class.

By the way, using the bat isnt the most effective way to go, i just did it in the vid to show you a “funny” way to take down snipers, but its far from the most effective. To increase your chances of getting them i would simply recommend the “scattergun”.

Music by “Porcupine Tree”, The track is called “Orchidia”.

Please comment, they are well appreciated, and tell me if there is anything i could do better, or forgot.

I’m all for anyone who messes up a sniper’s day.

Another happy christmas down. I’ve still got no idea what is happening in TF2 land after being out of the loop staying at my wife’s parents’ place, so this is another lame “madlep whining about his life” ego post.

I managed to royally screw up my flight schedule. $1000 later, I’m re-booked, and flying the next day. I didn’t even get a flight with Qantas (I’m in their business lounge club), so I’m on Air New Zealand, which means having to slum it through the slow regular check in lines, and wait in the cattle class gate lounge. Yuck. At least Wellington airport has free wireless now, so it’s not too bad.

Speaking of Wellington airport - this is the kind of fun you can have there:

I figure it’s actually safer. Most plane crashes are due to human error, and the pilots have got to be paying more attention in those conditions.

The dumbest thing in airport security in recent times has got to be the ban on liquids once you get past security. My water bottle got confiscated. You can buy water once you get past security - but $4 a bottle? I reckon the beverage companies are lobbying for these regulations, its really nothing to do with terrorism.

Anyway, back to normal life. So I’ll play some TF2, catch up on the gossip, and post some of the rants I’ve been writing up in the off time.

Well, apparently the whole internet shuts down at christmas, so I’m outta here for a week or so (back to the homeland to see the family unit).

In the meantime, hope all the regulars and the randoms reading have a nice xmas and new year. Play some TF2, and try not to die too much.

If you’re still reading this, I don’t really have anything interesting today, but the Control Point guys do have a selection of holiday cheer on their TF2 christmas carol podcast (its worth listening just for the pyro version of jingle bells).

Kojaimea has posted a great video on how to play sniper. I’m a crap sniper (I’m not patient enough to play it properly, and I’m too lazy to find new sniper spots once I get a few kills), so I got a lot out of it.

A guide to some of the small tips and tricks i use whenever i play sniper. Obviously the intricacies of timings to charge up certain damages couldnt be put on the video, it would take forever, but theres a lot here =]

You may remember a few weeks back Team Roomba shocked the world with their hilarious TF2 griefing vid.

Well, they’re back with more anti-social BS designed to piss off as many public server plebs as possible. I’m not one to condone this crap when it happens (especially to me), but its funny as hell watching it happen to other people. The funniest parts are still everyone complaining about it on voice comms. I loved the english guy swearing his nut off at them.

TF2 trivia: Of the 7 wonders of the world, what is the only one still standing?

If you don’t know you’ll be spending a long time in the spawn room.

TEAM ROOMBA PRESENTS: More Team Fortress 2 Griefing from FLOOR MASTER on Vimeo.

Mike F writes in with this complaint:

I play pyro defensively, ie. I set people on fire and run away, sending them running back to their lines for a medpack. Sometimes I get a kill out of this. But what makes me angry is what some smartass soldiers and demomen have realized they can do with their splash damage. Say I commit to a kill and run after a guy, flaming all the way. The victim turns a corner, sees no medpac and dies. Okay, tough shit I killed you. Well here is where it gets just plain ugly.

I was dominating a guy as a pyro on dustbowl. Every time he ran into the tunnels I ended up flaming him. Apparently, he got fed up and decided to flip a bitch on me. First he gets revenge. Next time I see him I set him on fire, and, angry at his insubordination, decide to hunt him down. I follow him to a dead end, and put his back to a wall. His health hits 25 and I know I have him. I keep him in his corner, and keep my distance, enjoying his slow burning death. The guy looks at me, then at the ground. He shoots one solitary stickybomb, AND DETONATES IT (sorry caps are necessary). He gets a suicide, and I lose a hard earned point. I know it doesn’t help him and it doesn’t hurt my team, but that’s just poor sportsmanship. After that his entire team catches on too and I have to change class just to get some points so I don’t end up kicked for sucking after the game. Sorry, rant over.

Mike F.

Hell yeah. Fair enough to get annoyed I say. But is there anything you can do about it? Nope, not really. It sucks, but there are jerks online. After serious consultation with my shrink, it turns out that the only thing you can alter in this situation is your own attitude.

This is important when you are playing the pyro. The pyro is a rock star. A born rock star. To get in the mode and rise above the plebs, you too have to be a rock star!

Don’t give a damn about what everyone thinks

A real rock star does his own damn thing and doesn’t let anyone sway his thinking. He’s a rebel, an original thinker. So some guy decided to suicide and deny you a point? Who cares?! You can set the world on fire! Why should you care about one lame ass soldier? Just do a pyro taunt, rock out, and carry on. Show the world you don’t care what it thinks.

Ultimately though, the guy is dead, so at the end of the day, you got what you wanted. Sure, you didn’t get the points and your position on the player list didn’t go up, but lets face it - that would just be selling out. The best rock stars languish in obscurity and do their best music while they are unknown and playing in seedy highway reststop bars. As soon as they get the success it all goes to their heads and the music goes to crap. They start pumping out self-indulgent turd-fare set to vast orchestral scores. And before you know it, they are selling concert tickets to 60 year olds for $300 a pop to play in some upper class vineyard so all those pensioners can relive their pathetic privileged youth. Blech.

Set the world on fire, trash your hotel room, then leave town in a hurry

Life on the road while touring is tough, but it’s in a pyros blood. A rock star is in a new town every few days. They turn up, do a blazing show and burn things up, trash their hotel room, set their TV on fire and throw it out the window, leave town in a trail of dust. F**k yeah!

Then do it all again somewhere else tomorrow night! You don’t even know where you are half the time. You’re moving around so much, going at full speed the whole time it all blurs in together.

Pyros have to be the same way - you gotta get in quick. Do a killer rock show, set everyone on fire, party hard, trash some stuff, then get out and try to recover a little from it all before doing it again. Pyros and rock stars both have a hard life from all their partying. Finding a good doctor can help prolong the ride in both cases.

(I wish someone would do a hotel room mod for TF2 with destructable TVs. PYRO HEAVEN!)

Live fast, die young, leave a beautiful corpse

Pyros really don’t have a long life expectancy. By their nature, they are forced to get down and dirty up close. This fits perfectly with the rock star ethos. You’re pushing things to the limit. Living on the edge. Taking risks, and to hell with the consequences.

Of course, the consequences are that you end up eating a lot of rockets at point blank range. So you die a lot and spend a lot of time in respawn. Its a scientific fact that pyros have the shortest life span after medics (who are #1 target for most players) and spies (90% of whom suck and die quick anyway). SO WHAT? That is what being pyro is all about. Party hard, and keep going till you burn out. If you rock out hard enough you might just do enough damage to change the world and leave a lasting legacy (like messing up an entire attacking party, giving your team enough time to group up and win the match).

Jimi Hendrix, Kurt Cobain, and Jim Morrison all died by 27. On the other hand, Tom Jones, Rod Stewart, and Barry Manilow are all still going strong. I’ll let you draw your own conclusions there.

So what was the point again?

I don’t actually think there was a point to all this rambling. I guess its really just to say that other people are dicks. Especially anyone on a public server. You can’t really do much about it except to just go with the flow and rock out. Playing pyro is all about rocking out. Anytime you forget that, just do a pyro taunt, and it will all come back.

Ok, so the guys from the Control Point podcast were saying that they don’t get any love from ubercharged anymore, and yeah, its pretty much like they said. I figured everyone who reads here probably already knows about Control Point anyway, and I’ve been a slack ass and haven’t been posting everything that has been happening in the TF2 world.

I think we got mentioned like 3 times in their last podcast, so you should go listen to it (it’s always great value anyway). It keeps my ipod going for a couple of train commutes each week. I’m sure that people look at me funny at the station when I’m smirking away to myself when they’re goofing off talking about stuff.

Anyway, go check out the latest episode:

Episode 9 - The Demoman

Today we talk about the demoma** KA-BOOM!**

Here’s just a tidbit of what you can expect:

• The Demoman Class
• CP Server Update
• More Female Models
• Saving Private Ryan - TF2 style
• Upcoming Half Life 3
• Early present from Mija Win
• Season 2 CEVO changes
• Medic / Soldier Duo tourney at OZfortress
• Listener Contributions
• and much much more!

Download - Episode 9 (77:04)

Max wrote in discussing the problems around landing the scout’s doublejump when going from the bridge onto the enemy sniper deck in 2fort.

His plan is sound. However, if the team you are playing is employing more devious means to prevent you landing the jump, you’re still in trouble. There have been rumours of disreputable clans using banned Combine force field technology to defend the battlements. Note that this is considered an exploit by Valve, and will result in immediate re-education at Nova Prospekt if caught. Hopefully it’ll get ironed out in the next patch.

The enemy intelligence lies on the enemy sniper deck after a failed attack. The time indicator is nearly empty, it be returned in a couple of seconds.

You are a scout trying desperately to save the intelligence. You run on the sniper deck of your base, jump on the roof of the middle bridge. A sniper tries to kill you, but you dodge all his shots. A soldier stands directly in front of the briefcase you want to get. While dodging his rockets you are able to fire enough lead into his stomach to kill him.

With 50 HP remaining are on the end of the bridge - only 2 meters between you and the intelligence. You smile - the intelligence is yours. No enemies in sight. You make the first jump - only some inches between you and the enemy files. You tap spacebar another time and prepare to turn by 180° after picking the the intelligence. Nothing happens, you fall on the ground. The enemy intelligence has been returned into a room full of Sentry Guns and Stickies.

Why did that $#&? doublejump not work? Everyone else is able to jump on the sniper deck without problems, but your doublejump on 2fort fails most of the times. No, it’s not a bug and it’s not because of your keyboard. It’s because you start your first jump too late:

Make sure you jump for the first time, while your feet still on the bridge, or elsewise, you run past the bridge, fall, but jump instantly - you don’t feel any difference, but when jumping too late, your doublejump is already used up. You don’t have to jump directly on the
edge, with a double-(crouch)-jump, you can always easily reach the sniper deck.

Cheers Max. I’ll just add to also angle your first jump out at a 45 degree angle from the bridge, toward the centre of the deck entrance. Then re-orientate in the air, and do your doublejump when you’re directly facing the deck opening. Remember that scouts can change direction mid-air when they doublejump. The first jump gets you into position, then the second jump lines you up and takes you home.

I’m crap at scout, and I always forget this stuff. Scout is easily my least played class.

Fluffy Tiger Plushie has posted the first few comics of “Ivan & Tex”. It’s a new webcomic based on Team Fortress 2, made with Garrys Mod. You’ve got Ivan (the heavy weapons guy) and Tex (the engineer), and their adventures.

From Team Fortress 2 Fort:

IVAN & TEX
The Fortress Team

Come in and enjoy watching the long-time buddies Ivan and Tex and their comrades Chad, Glenn, Kenny, Angus, Rudiger, Sheen and Gerrard from RED at their daily no-so-usual happenings. Including their everlasting rivalry with BLU, the neverending circle of tex mocking ivan and ivan hurting tex and of course the mishaps and stupidities of everyone… As god said: “Because it’s so much fun watchin. …lulz!”

tehPete has posted a great spy tutorial video.

..just a little something I’ve been working on for the last couple of weeks in my time off (after being inspired by EvilDaedalus’s vid); I’ve spent far too much time playing as a Spy, so I thought I’d throw together another video covering a few of the tactics I use

Most of the tactics are pretty well known by now, but there is still some excellent spy action in this one, and they’re all strung together and combined really well.

tehPete has some crazy spy skills. There are some amazing backstab chains taking out like 6 players at a time.

Spaded! from 3lazydogs has put together this vid splicing Saving Private Ryan footage with Team Fortress 2 sounds and music.

Much hilarity ensues, and the pyros rock (as always).
I think I like the Allied team better on this one.