Thread: Tips and advice

Originally Posted by tr_enf

At least we know hes reading up on the forums... Great job Aces! See you on the battlefield!

or hes just trying to beef up his post count so his clan can apply for residency

Originally Posted by Cojiro

Originally Posted by tr_enf

At least we know hes reading up on the forums... Great job Aces! See you on the battlefield!

or hes just trying to beef up his post count so his clan can apply for residency

I think White has that crown well secured...

More stuff on engineering:

NEVER build your stuff close together, and NEVER next to another engy's. A single demo should never be able to knock out all of your stuff on his own.

Your dispenser is your most important piece of equipment. Protect it over your gun and even your teleporter. With an upgraded dispenser, your gun and teleporter can be rebuilt very quickly. Without the dispenser, it takes a long time.

During setup, build your dispenser first, then your teleporter exit (you DID drop an entrance near spawn, right?), then your gun.

If possible, use your dispenser or gun to block a doorway (an example would be attic in pl_goldrush/1-2.) This will alert you to spies, because the spy will have to climb over your equipment in order to get to you. Since you are the only person on your team that can climb on top of your equipment, it's an immediate sign that it's a spy trying to get to you. Newbie spies die because of this all the damn time.

Spies can place sappers faster than you can remove them. If a spy is spamming sappers and you're trying to get rid of them, your building will eventually die, because by time you destroy the sapper, he's got another set. Pull out your shotgun, kill the spy, then repair.

When working with other engineers, build your guns in positions so that they can cover each other. They need to be close enough that they're in range of each other, but far enough away that a single uber'd demo or soldier can't easily wreck both of them in a single rush. Your guns should ideally cover the other's weakpoints (an example would be if engy A has his gun on a ledge, which makes him vulnerable to a demo from below, your gun would be placed so that it covers that area below engy A's gun.)

When working with other engineers, work on a single gun and get it to level 3 before you build yours. You should still build your dispenser and exit before helping with the other's gun, but once those are set up and building, you should go help the other engineer. One level 3 gun is vastly superior to two level 1 guns.

Build your dispenser in a location that's easy for you AND your team to access. The closer to the point you're defending, the better. Try to build the dispenser behind walls and down ramps so that it won't get destroyed by rocketspam.

In general, you will only need one level 3 teleporter at spawn to ensure that everyone on your team can get from spawn to the point quickly. If the other engineer on your team has his entrance at spawn, place your entrance near your equipment, and place your exit near his. This allows you and your team to rapidly scoot from your setup to his setup in the event of his death. If you've got your guns setup right, your gun will have killed the spy that just stabbed him, so hop into your teleporter and watch his stuff until he respawns.

Always place your teleporters in slightly hidden areas. Place entrances in spawn if at all possible (some maps allow this, like Blu on cp_steel and Red on cp_junction), or otherwise place it somewhere besides directly in front of your spawn gate. This makes it harder for scouts and spies to find and destroy them. Exits should be placed a short distance from the front lines. A fully upgraded teleporter is a significant resource investment, and if either side of it is destroyed, the remaining side gets knocked back down to level 1. It's in your best interests to make sure your teleporters survive as long as possible.

If you're on defense, try sneaking past the enemy front lines and getting a teleporter exit up behind them. This works particularly well on cp_dustbowl/2-2, where the enemy team often congregates in the upper tunnel, allowing you to sneak down the lower exterior tunnel and sneak a teleporter exit below the first CP or in the coffee room of the house. A pyro with backburner can take the teleporter and have a perfect opportunity to wreck the enemy team's momentum this way.

On working with engineers:

During setup, go engineer and follow one of your team's engineers around. Help him build his stuff and help him upgrade it. After you've used your 200 metal, suicide near him so he can take your weapon for even more metal. You will have plenty of time to respawn and get back to the fight before the start of the round as long as you complete this process before the 30-second mark.

On being a medic:

GET A DAMN MIC AND USE IT. Decent headsets only run about $20-$40 these days. This can be a lot for some folks, but it's well worth it. As a Medic, you are responsible for being your patient's second set of eyes and ears. You need to be able to tell him what's headed your way in a hurry so that he can protect you.

Always stay moving, and use your team as meatshields. The Medic moves faster than everyone but the scout, and has the low HP to prove it. You can't take many direct hits, and a fully-charged bodyshot from a sniper will drop you if you're unbuffed. Stay moving, and use your team's soldiers and heavies as meatshields.

In relation to staying moving, learn to jump over rockets, pills, and stickies. Getting blasted hurts a lot less than eating a direct hit.

Don't get tunnel vision. Most full 11-man teams will only run around two medics, which means both you and the other medic have your work cut out for you. Don't get tunnel vision and refuse to heal others. Keep everyone buffed up as much as possible, and prioritize the other medic. Being buffed up to 225 makes a MASSIVE difference in your longevity, so if the other medic isn't buffing you... make him. A lot of your team's momentum relies on your individual teammates winning those little one-on-one skirmishes, and being buffed up can often end up being the deciding factor. Buffing everyone constantly also fills your ubercharge faster.

In direct contrast to the above, when you've got an uber ready and are about to take it in, it's time to focus on your patient. If someone's about to die and you can spare the time, go ahead and get them out of the red zone, BUT TELL YOUR PATIENT FIRST! Nothing sucks more than to run right at the enemy team and die horribly because your medic stopped to heal a scout that got a paper cut.

When pushing with an ubercharge, GET IN FRONT OF YOUR PATIENT. Sentry guns automatically target whatever's closest to them - with you in front of your patient, this will be you, making it much, much easier for your patient to do his job. Get back behind your patient during the uber's last second or so of duration.

Your life is more valuable than everyone else's. In all cases you should do your best to stay alive, even if it means one of your teammates will die. If you're still alive, your remaining teammates will be healthy and remain able to continue pushing. If you die, it means you're going to have a lot of burning teammates whoring medkits and dispensers until you get back. If you're rushing with an uber, you're surrounded by enemies, and you've gotten the engineer or sentry gun... start running back to safety. If your patient decides to stay, it's his fault and he's gonna die.

Learn to use hostile rockets and stickies to rocketjump or stickyjump. This is a technique the medic shares with the Pyro. The pyro usually uses it to get closer - the medic usually uses it to get away. Learning to time and direct these opportunistic jumps will greatly extend your longevity against skilled demomen and soldiers.

I dunno, it's pretty easy to casually pop off an entrance that's in the open, but one that's behind a corner somewhere's going to take longer to find, making it more likely that they're gonna have to contend with your respawns.

If you're not medic or engy during the pregame, walk up to where the engies are building and type kill in console.

Originally Posted by DJ Mr. White

If you're not medic or engy during the pregame, walk up to where the engies are building and type kill in console.

......or you could just go engy and switch back before the gates open.

Eh, generally speaking, if you take the time to actually help build, by the time you switch classes to a needed beefier class, the respawn timer will make you get back in the action after the gates open.