SpawnPoint

Team Fortress 2 Guide

Each game of TF2 pits two sides against one another. The two teams are identical aside from their colour schemes. Discerning the colour of your team, and thus deciding who to shoot can be confusing at first, but it’s actually very simple. Your HUD is painted in the colour of your team so keep that in mind and you can steer clear of embarrassing friendly fire incidents.


Team Fortress 2 Guide  - Character Classes

While TF2’s sides don’t differ from each other, each player can select from one of nine different types of character. These nine classes are designed to fulfil a basic purpose, either functioning as swift attackers, stalwart defenders, or as support units for the other players.

Each class excels in at least one area, at the expense of one major weakness. The most obvious examples of this are the Scout and Heavy. The Scout has incredible speed, but his weapons are tricky and he has a low amount of health. The Heavy is well armed and armoured, but inaccurate and slow moving. A successful team requires a good mix of classes and players who can work together to amplify their strengths and offset each other’s weaknesses. Countering an enemy rush takes a different mix of classes than it does to disable enemy defences and gain ground, for example.

When you select your class, the screen will tell you how many of each class are already playing on your team. Use this information to pick your class to work well with both the mix of other classes, and the role your team has on the map.


Team Fortress 2 Guide - Game Play and Game Style

There are two types of TF2 game: one in which the sides battle for control of the map, via control points, and a 'Capture the Flag' mode, where victory is grasped by taking the 'Intelligence Briefcase' from the enemy's base.


Team Fortress 2 Guide -  Control Points

Control points are designated areas on the maps which your team must capture or defend. As in other games such as Battlefield 2, the more members of your team standing on a control point, the faster you'll capture it. If an enemy player makes his way onto a control point, the capture will stall until the enemy is killed or retreats. Some maps lock control points from play, focusing both teams to concentrate on specific areas on the map.


Team Fortress 2 Guide - Intelligence Briefcase

The intelligence briefcase serves as a ‘flag’ in the game’s Capture The Flag (CTF) mode. At the moment, the only CTF map is ctf_2fort. In this level, both teams must fight their way through their enemy’s base, access the control room, grab the intelligence briefcase and return it to their own control room.

The player who carries the briefcase leaves a trail of paper, which remains visible for a few seconds after they pass. If the carrier is killed or enters his team’s resupply room, the briefcase is dropped to the floor. Although a team can’t recapture their own briefcase, it will return to their control room if it’s allowed to stay on the floor for 60 seconds.

If your team’s briefcase is dropped, it’s a good idea to take an assault team, supported by a medic, to guard it until the 60 seconds is up. To make the intelligence easy to find it has a large timer roundel, which will remain above it until it’s returned or picked up.

The position of the briefcase is always shown in your Heads Up Display (HUD). A compass shows the direction of the case, and an icon displays its current status: a house for when it’s safe, an exclamation mark when it’s being carried, and an inverted arrow when it’s lying on the floor.


Team Fortress 2 Guide - Resupply rooms

Each map in TF2 contains at least one resupply room per team. These rooms are inaccessible to the opposing team, and if no medics are available or you’ve run out of metal to upgrade a turret, then a trip to the nearest resupply room can save your life. Inside each of these safe havens is a cabinet, which instantly refills your health, ammo, and metal supplies. You can also use resupply rooms to change class without needing to commit suicide. These perks are restricted when the game enters the sudden death round...


Team Fortress 2 Guide - Sudden Death

At the end of an unsuccessful round - where no team has won outright - TF2 enters Sudden Death mode. As the name implies, there’s no respawning, no health pickups and the lockers in the resupply rooms will not resupply you.

At the start of the round you may change class, while you remain in the resupply room, so it makes sense to choose a robust class. A heavy, soldier, or medic are strong survivor classes for the task.

While your chance of getting kills, or capturing Control Points is higher as a fighting class, Engineers are extremely useful in Sudden Death. As long as the Engineer constructs structures away from the front line, preferably choosing to hold a rear Control Point, surviving isn’t too hard, and if you play the role of repairman, and stay wary of spies, you can create an invaluable safe haven for players. There’s only one important thing to remember as an engineer in Sudden Death – build a dispenser first. If you forget, finding metal to build structures, or to upgrade and repair your sentry can be highly problematic.

Team Fortress 2 Guide - Item Pickups

Ammo

Ammo Containers hold (wait for it...) ammunition, rather unsurprisingly, but they also have metal in them, which engineers need to build structures. They come in three different sizes. Small boxes contain a couple of clips and a little metal, the mid sized packs contain enough to replenish around half your ammo and half your metal, while large crates contain enough booty to fully restock you. Dropped weapons will also yield ammo and metal. It doesn’t matter what the weapon on the ground is. Run over it and refuel. Engineers can also collect metal by running over the debris from a destroyed structure.

First Aid

First Aid pickups are scattered around the map, and come in various sizes. How effective they are varies according to the class of character you’re playing, but the general rule of thumb is that the small box restores a quarter of your health bar, the mid-sized pack about half of it while the big hampers reward you with a full health bar. When there’s no medic, or they’re busy healing someone else, health kits can be the key to slowing an enemy rush or just staying alive a quarter of a second longer. If you’ve just come face-to-face with a Pyro and you’re heading towards a crispy death, a First Aid kit of any size will extinguish the flames allowing you time to find a medic or trudge to the nearest resupply room.

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