Team Fortress 2 (360) - Thursdays 20:15

[toonfool]

I think the first game will be for gathering us together. After that, we might well open up to randoms. Max 14 players though, or we just get lag.

[Quest]

I'm out guys, sorry. Mate's coming over and he wants to play Left 4 Dead survival for the first time.

Not that you'll miss my complete lack of ability or anything

[utero2001]

Sorry I've been away from TF night for such a long time, sorting jobs and life out

Hopefully I'll be getting the internet at home this week, at the moment I'm stealing a dodgy connection from one of my neighbours

up for TF2 this thursday?

[evilwallpaper]

yes, I can play this week but I can't make next weeks.

[toonfool]

I'll be there.

[electricant]

1) toonfool 2) the electricant 3) Tetchywayo 4) Vemsie 5) LisaSimpson45 6) Mechamonkey Mk2 7) Happy Bryan DesperateRich 9) ses1mf1 10) Astilius 11) del3k 12) Erasmus v1 13) enarep 14) Evilwallpaper 15) BrainKleaner 16) moonible 17) El Stev0 18) DVDF BeeJay 19) tarules 20) Dalvado 21) Wahwah UK 22) Gorxlor 23) BigCTheAnswer 24) Ste Pickford 25) Garwoofoo 26) Rooty the Pie 27) srgbilco 28) Retro GhostGS 29) Puck666 30) PalefaceX 31) wezlam 32) vimster 33) JDubYes 34) Joalics 35) Snowman 183 36) InvaderSpluge 37) DavidB 38) holburn 39) Mega Drive II 40) Paradiggum 41) HairOnFire 42) geldra 43) nequest 44) dolligan360 45) Digs75 46) Fistingskill 47) Throbin Hood 48) Brucie Bunta 49) Fr0sty88 50) utero2007 51) KYUSS123 52) JuicyPo 53) DannyB 81666 54) Big Gus73 55) Dr Alisdair 56) Couktwin 57) ymaohyd 58) CampfireBurning 59) Boozy The Clown 60) Solid SOAP 61) Sumimasen

[utero2001]

sorry can you count me out? I'm not going to have a good connection until next week now

damn you BT

[evilwallpaper]

boo, steal more wifi

[lankysanchez]

I'm out this week chaps. On holiday in the Lakes. Have a good one! B)

[michael]

Can I take a place if it's available? Gamertag is Sumimasen. I promise no talent whatsoever!

[chris on the moon]

I in

[electricant]

Can I take a place if it's available? Gamertag is Sumimasen. I promise no talent whatsoever!

There's always room for more. I'll send you an invite from the RllmukTF2 account.

We start about 8:15pm

1) toonfool 2) the electricant 3) Tetchywayo 4) Vemsie 5) LisaSimpson45 6) Mechamonkey Mk2 7) Happy Bryan DesperateRich 9) ses1mf1 10) Astilius 11) del3k 12) Erasmus v1 13) enarep 14) Evilwallpaper 15) BrainKleaner 16) moonible 17) El Stev0 18) DVDF BeeJay 19) tarules 20) Dalvado 21) Wahwah UK 22) Gorxlor 23) BigCTheAnswer 24) Ste Pickford 25) Garwoofoo 26) Rooty the Pie 27) srgbilco 28) Retro GhostGS 29) Puck666 30) PalefaceX 31) wezlam 32) vimster 33) JDubYes 34) Joalics 35) Snowman 183 36) InvaderSpluge 37) DavidB 38) holburn 39) Mega Drive II 40) Paradiggum 41) HairOnFire 42) geldra 43) nequest 44) dolligan360 45) Digs75 46) Fistingskill 47) Throbin Hood 48) Brucie Bunta 49) Fr0sty88 50) utero2007 51) KYUSS123 52) JuicyPo 53) DannyB 81666 54) Big Gus73 55) Dr Alisdair 56) Couktwin 57) ymaohyd 58) CampfireBurning 59) Boozy The Clown 60) Solid SOAP 61) Sumimasen

[Michael J Glocks]

New mic means I am in.

[evilwallpaper]

3v3 or vs randoms ?

[electricant]

I'm sure that we'll have 3-4 extras turning up unnannounced.

[Vimster]

Yeah I'll turn up.

[chris on the moon]

i haven't had tea yet. may be slightly late.

[utero2001]

boo, steal more wifi

I think the man in the flat above me knows I'm stealing his internetz

[chris on the moon]

Firstly, I think it would be a good idea to Pm everyone in the list to see if they still have the orange box.

Secondly, I've felt like doing this for a while, and tonight I found there is at least a slither of interest in the following-

UPDATES TO THE PC VERSION THAT THE XBOX HASN'T HAD YET BUT PROBABLY WILL IF THEY EVER FINISH IT

When i'm talking about weapons that are replaced with weapons, these are unlockables. These are gained by earning achievements. There's like, 36 or so for each class that has got them. Which is, so far, pyro, heavy, medic, and scout.there are three milestones, and you unlock a new weapon with each milestone. so, you get 12 or so achievements, you get your first weapon, and so on.

Right, gonna start with classes

pyro- The pyro has had a thlorough update.

The default flamethrower has a compression blast. that is, if you press the alternate fire button you will blow a blast of compressed air at the enemy. this has many uses. reflecting rockets, pipe bombs and stickies. Pushing medics away from their targets. shoving enemies into deep canyons wherin they die.

the Flamethrower is replaced by the BACKBURNER. the backburner is the same as a flamethrower, except it has no compression blast. to make up for this, every hit you make on the oponents back is a critical hit. this is pretty considerable.

the SHOTGUN is replaced by the FLARE GUN. the flare gun is a long range weapon. it shoots a flare. it has a capacity of one, so you reload after one shot. it arcs like a grenade or something. it sets the oponent on fire. you can pretty much guess its advantages and disadvantages over a shotgun.

The AXE is replaced by the AXTINGUISHER. the axtinguisher is another axe. if you hit someone who is on fire with it, they immediately die. if you hit someone who is not on fire with it, it does no damage. simple.

engineer-

The engineer has had no major updates. However, dispensers and teleporters can now be upgraded, like sentries. level 3 teleporters teleport more than 3 times faster than normal teleporters. level 3 dispensers dispense more than 3 times the amount of normal dispensers. extremely useful. level 3 dispensers can support heavies firing endlessly. hilarious and irritating.

spy-

Now, when a spy picks up an ammo box or fallen weapon, his cloak meter goes up. meaning you can stay cloaked for a much longer time. Also you now cloak with different weapons. No longer always the default. you might be able to change them, but i haven't found the key yet, so i'm not sure.

The system for leaving trails behind you has also changed. meaning spies can take teleporters. as long as they're cloaked. or uncloaked. or undisguised. and be healed. I still don't understand this at all. and nobody has the skillls to explain it to me.

heavy-

the heavy also had a comprehensive update.

the MINIGUN can be replaced with NATASCHA. this minigun doesn't fire as fast as natascha. However, it is guaranteed to slow the oponent down so they can hardly move and are utterly useless.

the shotgun is replaced by the sandvitch. it's a sandwich. it takes about as long as a taunt to eat. so, 5 seconds or so. it replenishes health. While you eat it, you say "om nom nom, nom."

The fists are replaced with the KGB. that is, the killing gloves of boxing. With them, you punch more slowly. However, you earn critical damage with them. Works if you switch weapons too! so you can punch with the KGB, and switch to the minigun and use your critical hits with that. neat.

sniper-

sniper update details imminent. No changes so far though!

scout-

The scout update was pretty recent.

The SCATTERGUN is replaced by the FORCE-A-NATURE. force of nature. it's like a scattergun, but does much more damage. it only stores 2 shells, and takes much longer to reload. However, it propells enemies back, and also allows you to perform a triple jump.

the BAT is replaced by the SANDMAN. instead of directly batting people, you hit a baseball at them. This stuns them for a few seconds. They can't move. the word "bonk" appears above their head. this even works on ubercharged enemies. devastatingly disruptive.

the PISTOL is replaced by the BONK ENERGY DRINK. Drink this, and you run extremely fast. you're a frickin blur here! nothing can hit you. However, when the effect wears off, you get lethargic and run much slower than you usually would.

soldier-

no updates! every one of you deserves a medal!

demo-

The demoman's stickies are easier to move. they can be rolled away by pretty much any weapon. And disposed of completely with some. Also, the damage of the stickies and pipe bombs has been tweaked with.

medic-

the needle-gun thingy is replaced by THE BLUTSAUGER. it's pretty similar. It can never do critical damage! oh no! HOWEVER, every hit you make will give you 3HP. Which makes you more likely to survive.

the MEDIGUN is replaced by the KRITZKREIG. it's like a medigun, it heals people. and it charges its ubercharge faster. instead of making the target invulnerable, its ubercharge makes every one of the targets shots a critical hit.this is extremely devastating when used on a heavy, soldier, or demoman. hell, anything really. However, you're still vulnerable to damage.

the third unlockable weapon is the UBERSAW. it's like a normal saw but charges up your ubercharge everytime you hit someone with it. I've never used it since the medic achievements are pretty tough.

phew.

Next, 2 new gametypes!

ARENA- arena is like sudden death. btu for the entire match. Small maps. You don't respawn, and basically try to kill each other. After a short time, a control point in the centre of the map activates. so there's no chance of a stalemate really.

PAYLOAD- amazing gametype. The blue team gets a cart, with a huge bomb on it just outside their spawn. THey must stand near it to make it move. Their goal is to make the cart move to the red's base, thus killing them all. if they don't stand on it for 20 seconds or so, it starts moving backward slowly. if it reaches the enemies last point, it explodes and the blue team wins. hooray!

Next, maps maps maps maps maps.

there are slight changes to existing maps. slight ones. there's a staircase where there was once a sudden drop in dustbowl. theres a new stairs in well. there's a window in granary. and some extra boxes. nothing major but i can explain them in detail if you like.

GOLDRUSH - goldrush is the first payload map. it's a bit like dustbowl, in that it has 3 stages, each with 2 capture points.

BADWATER BASIN - it's another payload map! except this takes place in one large area, with 5 points. maybe 4, I can't remember so well.

CTF_WELL - it's well except capture the flag. the intelligence is in the last point. the centre point has been replaced by a tiny shed. a slim shed with one train line through the middle. only one train instead of two.

the arena maps- there's a few, I haven't played most of them, since the servers i play don't do arena. watchtower. lumberyard. a few more. whatever.

BADLANDS- it's a 5 stage capture point map! the middle point is a bridge with trains. the kind that don't move. the second point is a big spirally spire. the first point is in the base.

CP_fastlane - fastlane is another 5 stage capture point thing. the middel point never seems to be contested for very long. once it goes in the favour of one team, they usally win.

CTF_TURBINE- capture the flag! this map is very claustrophobic. your side contains a spawn point, an intel room and some vents. Push beyond the middle point or else every match will end in stalemate.

CP_EGYPT - it's capture points and stuff. Same format as dustbowl! it's styled like the egyptian ruins, hence awesome. A lot of people i play with don't like this map, but I really enjoy it. So there may be balance problems. who knows? regardless, it looks great.

JUNCTION- gravepit format. this is generall considered a terrible map. points A+B are very small and difficult to defend. Point C is extremely easy to defend. usually ends with red team winning as point C is impeccably defended.

Some of these are fan made maps, but packaged in with updates as official.

If this isn't enough for you, read the team fortress 2 blog or tf2 wiki which isn't always entirely accurate if you listen to enough nerds. Whatever. I spent minutes of my life writing this shit. enjoy!

[Vimster]

A decent summary of the PC TF2 updates there, thanks.

Didn't they recently let spies appear to carry any weapon when disguised, or is that coming in the Sniper update?

[chris on the moon]

yep, i mentioned that, sorry if it wasn't clear

[toonfool]

It's a great article, Chris.

[therearerules]

Thanks Chris. Do you know how the demoman's damage has been changed? Up or down?

[Petey]

I haven't played TF2 much, only a couple of times on the 2fort level (i think)

But wouldn't mind giving it a go

I will be quite useless though, so sign me up!

Edit: What day do you play this?

[chris on the moon]

thurdsay at 8.15. ish.

thanks guys, i wrote it when i was drunk.

mark, the demos damage has been changed. up or down i can't say. i saw a graph once but can't find it. It's to do with distance from stickies vs. damage. it changes now.

As an aside, a lot of people on the pc playing demoman use stickies as their primary weapon. It's actually a pretty good idea!

[toonfool]

Using stickies as a primary weapon is well cheap. There's a beautiful skill involved in using the grenades. 'Proper' demomen deserve our utmost respect.

[electricant]

A bit late with sign-up this week!

1) toonfool 2) the electricant 3) Tetchywayo 4) Vemsie 5) LisaSimpson45 6) Mechamonkey Mk2 7) Happy Bryan DesperateRich 9) ses1mf1 10) Astilius 11) del3k 12) Erasmus v1 13) enarep 14) Evilwallpaper 15) BrainKleaner 16) moonible 17) El Stev0 18) DVDF BeeJay 19) tarules 20) Dalvado 21) Wahwah UK 22) Gorxlor 23) BigCTheAnswer 24) Ste Pickford 25) Garwoofoo 26) Rooty the Pie 27) srgbilco 28) Retro GhostGS 29) Puck666 30) PalefaceX 31) wezlam 32) vimster 33) JDubYes 34) Joalics 35) Snowman 183 36) InvaderSpluge 37) DavidB 38) holburn 39) Mega Drive II 40) Paradiggum 41) HairOnFire 42) geldra 43) nequest 44) dolligan360 45) Digs75 46) Fistingskill 47) Throbin Hood 48) Brucie Bunta 49) Fr0sty88 50) utero2007 51) KYUSS123 52) JuicyPo 53) DannyB 81666 54) Big Gus73 55) Dr Alisdair 56) Couktwin 57) ymaohyd 58) CampfireBurning 59) Boozy The Clown 60) Solid SOAP 61) Sumimasen

[Dalvado]

Throw my name in this week, please.

[toonfool]

In.

It's getting to the point where I'm not really looking forward to it though. I like playing with you lads, but I think our most successful days are behind us. I could probably do with a break in the routine, too.

[Vimster]

Know how you feel there, toony. I got TF2 last July and have been on pretty much every Thursday since. There was a point where we'd easily get 16 people on every week, but now we're down to maybe 6 or 7 vs randoms. Plus Valve don't appear to be any nearer giving us the new maps and the like, and that would really reenliven things.

So yes, maybe a couple of weeks off, or we could all get on the PC and play it.