Beginner's Guide

Introduction Welcome to Fortress Forever! This tutorial will give you a general overview of the game before you proceed to more detailed articles. Gameplay Overview Fortress Forever is a team-based game where two or more teams compete for a specific and common objective. Each player may choose from one of up to ten unique classes that they find appealing to their style of gameplay. Each class has its own strengths and weaknesses, health and armor stats, and weapons and abilities. These classes can often be played either offensively (attacking the enemy base, moving their flag, capturing their flag, amongst other gamemodes) or defensively (preventing the offense from doing the forementioned) allowing for more diverse gameplay even past the general choice of class. Fortress Forever prides itself on providing a very exciting and fast-paced game, so keeping up with the flow may be quite an interesting challenge. Essential Controls There is a great deal of customization one can do within both the options menu and the more elaborate Fortress Options menu, but there are some 'essential controls' one must be aware to immediately get the best out of the experience. These keys are the default values, so they should work out of the box unless you have changed them. Consult the general options menu under 'Keyboard' to access and reassign these keys and many others. Communications The Y key will allow text communication with everyone on the server. U will limit your message to only being visible to your team. K allows for microphone usage and broadcasts your audio input to the entire server (by default, unless the server variable sv_alltalk is set to 0) Weapon Abilities Many weapons have alternative modes of fire! You can use MOUSE1 for primary fire and MOUSE2 for secondary fire, if the weapon permits one. Grenade Usage By default, holding the F key and G will prime fragmentation grenades or class-specific secondary grendes respectively. A four-beep timer will begin, and the grenade will explode on the fourth beep. Priming the grenade allows you to delay the explosion so that it hits enemies at the right time. Don't hold the prime too long! The grenade doesn't hesitate to blow up in your face. If holding these keys becomes too much of a hassle or detriment, one may rebind the grenade keys to Two-Tap Toggle Primary and Two-Tap Toggle Secondary in the keyboard options to have one tap of the key prime the grenade and another release or throw the grenade. Class & Team N will allow you to change your team. B will allow you to change your class. Make use of the auto-assign button if you fear accidentally disturbing the balance of the teams! Weapon Selection The number keys provide quick access to your weapon loadout. In theory, the lower the number, the less powerful the weapon. Therefore, melee weapons usually reside on the 1 key, secondary weapons on the 2 key, and primary weapons on the 3 key. Some classes may carry weapons that extend to the other keys, so be sure to check and get used to them through playing each class. Advanced Controls C Throws the flag if the player is carrying one and is allowed to. X Discard extra ammunition; useful for friendly Engineers and team mates out of ammunition! Z Pressing the button once alerts a friendly Medic to you. Holding the button reveals a voice command menu. `, Brings down the developer console for manually interfacing with the game. Gamemodes and Types This covers the basic gamemodes. View a more complete list here: Category:Game Types Capture the Flag (CTF) Two teams compete for the highest score by invading the enemy base, bypassing their defensive measures, grabbing their team-colored flag, and returning to their respective bases to capture the flag a key location. There are many variations on the Capture the Flag game-mode. These include Reverse CTF where you move your flag from your respective base and into the enemy base in search a capture point or Security CTF where access to the flag can only be achieved by disabling the enemy team's security (This is usually done by finding their security button and pressing it.) Attack and Defend (AVD) The Blue team plays an offensive role in Attack and Defend, attempting to move their team-colored flag through the Red team's moving defense and toward a capture point. Each AVD map usually comes with three or more 'sectors' in which the Blue team must capture the flag. If the Blue team captures all the sectors, they win. If the Red team prevents this from happening and time runs out, they win. Invade and Defend (IVD) Invade and Defend is a variation on the AVD gametype. In standard Attack and Defend, after the blue team successfully captures a sector, the teams will respawn in new locations and must wait an additional 'setup time' before gates open to allow the blue Team to attack. This allows the Red team time to setup and establish defenses. In Invade and Defend, defense is dynamic. Once the Blue team captures a sector, the map does not reset. Instead, the Red team must physically shift their defense back to compensate. This makes the 'push and defend' game-type much more intense and difficult. Classes at a Glance Scout The Scout is a very fragile and weak class that makes up for its shortcomings with speed and maneuverability. The class is an exceptional class that avoids combat and focuses specifically on game-play objectives, whether that be capturing points or snagging the enemy flag. The Scout uses his jump-pad and concussion grenades as well as bunny-hopping to move through the defense, to the flag, and out of the enemy base. Sniper The Sniper is a long range assassin trained in accuracy. Avoiding the harsh combat that ensues when classes clash at close range, the Sniper works by picking off enemies from concealment and at range using his laser-fixed Sniper Rifle. Soldier The Soldier is the brute force class of Fortress Forever.The heavily explosive Rocket Launcher provides an excellent weapon to be used defensively in chokepoints. The Soldier also does well at offense, punching a hole through the defense to allow entrance for other less armored classes. Demoman The Demoman (Demolitions Man) comes equipped with lots of explosive firepower. He may use his Blue Pipe Launcher offensively or set traps using the Yellow Pipe Launcher to prevent the enemy from making their way to the flag or moving it once over it. Medic The Medic functions as a combat-oriented offensive class. The class makes use of its extra speed and maneuverability to dodge and juke enemy attacks while countering with his own weapons. When not in combat, the Medic regenerates health over time and can provide team-mates with extra health with the Medkit or regenerating throwable Medpacks. HWGuy The Heavy Weapons Guy or simply Heavy is the tank of Fortress Forever. He is the slowest though most heavily armored class in the game armed with a powerful chaingun (Assault Cannon in game) that shreds incoming enemies at close ranges. Pyro The Pyro finds solace in chaos and destruction by using his Flamethrower and Incendiary Cannon in conjunction with his Naplam Grenades to stack flame and burn damage on enemy units. The more they burn, the faster they die! This class works both on offense and defense as a support role. Spy The Spy is the roaming assassin of Fortress Forever. He works by jeopardizing the enemy's defense by using his disguises to fool enemy players or his cloak to bypass them without being easily spotted. The Spy can sabotage enemy buildables in order to have them work against the enemy team. Engineer The Engineer is the backbone of any base defense. Though the Engineer is weak as an individual, he doubles his power of influence by building and maintaining an item dispenser (capable of replenishing armor, ammunition, and building materials to nearby friendly units) or an automatic-firing upgradeable turret known as a Sentry Gun that fires on approaching enemies.