Tip 14. More true newbies.

Ok, I'll apologise to those who look here for advanced tips, but we need to nail down some of the basics first.

Basic rule: Don't shoot people the same colour as you.
It's possible to get confused what colour you are - TAB brings down the scoreboard to check.
If you've just respawned, then a good rule of thumb is to not shoot at people the same colour as the walls.

Sentry guns are also unlikely to be enemy, if they are in your base.

Now, the exception. Every good rule has one. Enemy spies can pretend to be friendly. But they ANNOT fire.
If a friend is firing at you, do NOT fire back.


Now - an item of confusion that needs to be highlighted.
SOME servers run 'teamplay 1' or 'teamhurt' or 'teamkill on'
Which in english means 'you can kill your teammates.

Normally, if you shoot a teammate it removes some armour (sometimes not even that) knocks them about an annoys them. But they don't bleed.
On a teamkill server, it WILL cause them to bleed, and can kill them. So you CANNOT use this method to identify spies.

If half your team starts asking you to stop, it's a good chance they mean it.

Listen to your teammates, try not to get annoyed if they insult you, try to learn what they are trying to teach you, in thir nasty little way.

Stick in a group, if possible. But don't stick right next to someone - you may get in their way, they may get in yours, and a single grenade could kill you both.

But running off on your own is likely to get yourself killed.


If an enemy looks like they are going to kill you, and get past you - then WARN your team. Your team likes to know as much as possible, though you may be in a hurry. If you fail to tell them an enemy is coming past you, and they don't see it, and it gets your flag - then thats a bad thing.

Right. Now, to answer some common questions.

Q. That medic/scout is flying!
A. Yes. It's called conc jumping. It's in the manual. To do it, you hold a conc grenade, and jump as it goes off (or drop it and jump over it)
Either method requires a lot of practice, there's no secret - and no magic script to do it for you.

Q. I though concjumping was removed in TF1.5?
A. No. it *was* made a lot harder. You'll see a lot less of it now, but it's still as possible as it ever was.

Q. How do you spray the coloured logos? / How do I create my own logo?
A. Ok, look on any number of tweak sites / forums - the answer is there. It's a fairly complicated process, which requires some programs to be downloaded. You also need some artistic skills, or clipart :)

Q. Someone is shouting 'TEAMS!' why?
A. It is very hard to play TFC well if the teams are seriously uneven. And the losing team usually complains.
Hit 'TAB' to see what the teams are, and if you are on the larger team, you should switch. (Default key is 'n' or you can use the commandmenu/VGUI)

A2. The scoreboard is NOT very reliable. Check down the bottom - in 'unassigned'. If the players there have colour, then they are actually on a team, but aren't counting towards the number for some reason. Add them in before wokring out if the teams are unfair.

Q. No enemies to be seen? I'll go find some, right?
A. Not neccesarily. At the VERY least, TELL your team that you are now moving onto offence. And if you are the last person on defence, sodds law says that an enemy will turn up the second you leave, and there goes your flag...

Q. Can I cheat?
A. Yes. But I will not tell you how.

Q. Is the enemy cheating?
A. Possibly. But *most*likely* not.
TFC has a LOT less cheats than a certain popular halflife mod, and the cheats it does have tend to be subtle. It's most likely that the other player is simply very skilled.
Strange effects are also caused by:
The enemy being badly lagged
The enemy actually being a spy
Someone else shooting at you too

If you REALLY suspect the player of cheating, don't start accusing them, you won't make any friends.

To be aware of, there are two main cheats:
* Ability to see through walls. (sorta kinda) which includes seeing exactly where enemies are aiming at from a great distance. (This is the voodoo doll / spiked model cheat)
* The so called 'win2k' cheat (because some haplass win2k users have it happen to them without them doing it deliberately) - this causes them to run at about 2x the speed they ought to. Check they aint a spy first... HWG disguised spies run quick :)
* Foggy water. Certain video cards can't draw the green underwater fog - and some others can be induced not to. It's unavoidable, and annoying. Also, they could just be very good. Also also, your name tag shows up in their crosshairs when they aim at you, so they can find tyou that way.

Thats pretty much it, at the moment - and with any luck they should be going away soon.
Oh, if the person has rcon (control of the server) then they can do all SORTS of cheats.

Q. Why can't I kill him! He beats me every time! Faggot!
A. First of all, he's probably better. Insulting him for being better isn't a good thing.
Secondly, do you NEED to beat him? Can you go around, and still get the same result for your team?
Ok, so you can't. He's squarely in your way, or keeps coming for you (if you're on defence)
*try*another*class*
Many classes have a specific strength and weakness.
If he's killing you with him as a spy, and you are a sniper, then try being something else. A medic, or a HWG maybe.
There's no shame in asking your team for help - perhaps two of you will suceed where one fails?
Some people are VERY good at this game. As a clue, I get my backside handed to me on a platter EVERY time by a few people. But I know people who can hand those people their backsides too... and it goes on for a few more levels :)
Now, if you met one of those people who can kill those who kill those who kill those who kill me...
Well, maybe you'll be better - but there's certainly no shame in being worse :)

The only solution is practice practice practice. And reading all of my tips :)

Q. How come enemy pipes blow up when I walk over them, but my pipes don't blow up when the enemy walks over them?
A. Common misconception. They aren't activated by ppl nearby, or by running instead of walking.
They are activated by the demon who owns them pressing their 'special' (attack2) key.
If they blow up on you every time, then he is watching them, and is good at timing the key.

Other things that make pipes go boom:
* They blow up after about 30 seconds.
* They ALL blow up if the demon dies.
* The first remaining one blows up each time the dmeon fires one after the 8th
* An EMP will cause all of the ones within range to blow up.

Q. Why won't my sentry gun upgrade?
A. You need more ammo -it takes 130 metal to upgrade a sentry, and you only carry 200 at once.

Q. Where the ****** did HE come from?
A. Any number of places. Two to look out for are that he might have come in through an alternate entrance. Most maps add a second slower route into your base. Which isn't often used - but which can give a nasty surprise if you forget about it, or don't know about it.
Or, they might have been hiding in your base. Which is especially easy for spies who feign death in dark corners.

Q. What does 'prove' or 'spycheck' mean?
A. Fire your gun (AWAY) from your teammates. They want to check there's no spies.

Q. gg?
A. Good game.

Q. LOL?
A. Laugh out loud.

Q. thx?
A. Thanks. (As in thank you for the assistance)

Q. rr?
A. Ramp room. The room with ramps in it :) A mid point between the entrance to your base and the flag room - usually a meeting place for lots of explosive laden players :)

Q. fr?
A. Flag room. The room with the flag in :)

Q. cp?
A. Cap point / Control point. The objective of the map. You have to take a flag there (or on maps with no flags, just your scrawny carcass)

Q. wtf?
A. What the ****

Q. bfg?
A. There is no BFG in TFC

Q TFC?
*TEAM* fortress classic.
If you aint in it for the team, don't be in it.

The 'c' is redundant. Valve officially renamed it TF1.5 (TEAM fortress one point five) indicating it's a halfway point between TF (TEAM fortress for quake1) and TF2 (The upcoming fullpriced game)

Q. frag?
A. Kill. Doesn't matter, except where it's useful to your team. (which it USUALLY is :)

Q. Whats with your attitude?
A. I am your god. Bow down before me. Not hard to understand, is it?

Q. I'm worried that I play this game too much?
A. Do you play other games? Sleep? Eat? If so, then don't worry.
If not, then it's all part of my great plan. Play on!


Ok, that should be enough to be getting on with :)

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