TF2 Player's Guide to FF

General There is a large emphasis on movement/speed (see Movement Skills and Jumping Skills) Not all weapons/classes are good at killing players (things like the Pelletgun and Nailgun are very weak) All classes strike a balance between killing power and overall speed (Scout is very fast but can barely kill anything, while the HWGuy is very slow but is very good at killing things) There are grenades usable for every class. There are two: a frag grenade for every class (except the Scout) and a "special" one that has a unique trait (like shooting lasers or blowing up nearby ammunition.). There is no store, and there are no items. ( No hats, miscs, etc. ) There are no loadouts, and there are more than 3 weapon slots. However, melee weapons still have their own slot. Base run speed is higher for all classes. Respawn is instant. Each class has armor, and the amount of it and the percent of damage absorbed depends on the class. See the Class Reference for details. Critical Hits are not in the game. If a player dies, a backpack is left behind that contains all the ammo he had when he died. Resupply rooms consist of backpacks containing supplies, instead of supply lockers. In addition, these backpacks must respawn. What's in the backpacks is determined by the map maker. You can Bunny Hop in FF to get to places quicker. You can discard unused ammo for others to use, or to decrease the damage taken from an EMP Grenade. There are Yellow and Green teams that are used on some maps. Much less emphasis on Capture Point maps than in TF2. Attack vs Defend maps are further split into 4 categories: Attack v Defend, Invade v Defend, Attack v Defend the Zone, Invade v Defend the Zone. In Attack Defend / Invade Defend maps, the Capture Points can only be captured by a player holding the flag. As soon as a flag carrier touches the point, the CP will be captured, as it is also instant. Weapons There are two types of shotguns: A low-powered pelletgun and a Super Shotgun. The Super Shotgun takes up two bullets per shot, where as the pelletgun only takes one. However, the Super Shotgun deals a lot more damage than the Pelletgun. There is a Nailgun in the game which fires a constant stream of bullets. Only the Medic, Spy, Engineer, and Civilian have their own melee weapons. Everybody else has a Crowbar. Classes Scout The FF Scout is much more movement based, with almost no firepower. The FF Scout is more focused on capturing objectives. The double jump TF2 skill is replaced by a much more powerful concussion grenade ability. A Scout can remove a Spy's disguise or disable a Detpack if he touches them. He can build a Jump Pad that can give anybody an extra speed boost. Sniper The Sniper Rifle is no longer a bolt-action weapon like in Team Fortress 2. It must be charged up by holding down the fire button, rather then simply being zoomed in. You also must charge it up slightly before you can take a shot. The SMG is replaced with an automatic rifle that uses the same ammunition as the Sniper Rifle. The Sniper is also equipped with a nailgun. The Sniper 'tags' enemies he hits, so all his teammates can see the enemy through walls. Soldier The Rocket Launcher has been changed from TF2. Now you can fire more rockets in a shorter amount of time, and rocket damage does not decrease over distance. Demoman Pipebombs are not sticky (they bounce until they come to rest), which means they can be placed from a lot further away, bounced around corners, and used as a long range deathmatching weapon. The Grenade and Pipe Launcher share a magazine. Blue grenades detonate a lot faster than in TF2 - they are used as more of a close range combat weapon rather than a long range weapon. Has a special weapon called a Detpack that can be set to explode after a certain amount of time and is the most powerful weapon in the game. He's not scottish or black. He has a eye patch though, :D. Medic The Medic in FF is more of a combat medic, specialising in movement, recon and firepower - rather than focusing strictly on healing. He can be a formidable force on his own, and does not require so much protection from his teammates. To heal, use the Medic's healing weapon, the Medkit. It must be used on an ally at point-blank range, which will heal the target to 100% of his health instantly. You can also throw medkits by pressing alternate fire (Default is your Right Mouse Button). Note that you do not have to have the medkit out to throw them, and that thrown medkits heal much less than ones. If used on an enemy, the Medkit can infect enemies with a virus. Much like the Scout, the Medic can concjump. Heavy While no serious changes to gameplay, he is called "HWGuy" instead of just "Heavy". You cannot rev the minigun without firing it. Secondary fire will use Overpressure instead. Overpressure stops every enemy within its radius. Good for stopping quick players in their tracks. Pyro Has a rocket launcher called the Incendiary Cannon that can light enemies on fire. However, the rocket begins to fall to the ground after launch, traveling in an arc. You may find it in a way similar to the Flare Gun. Instead of simply 'being on fire', enemies can be burn level 1, 2 or 3, depending on how many different flame weapons you hit them with. See the On Fire article for more details. The Flamethrower can be used as a jetpack. Face down, jump and hold down the fire button. If you keep it down for too long, you'll start to head back to the ground. The flamethrower cannot airblast. Secondary fire will just change weapons. Spy Has a tranquilizer gun instead of a revolver. This slows the enemy, blurs his vision, and makes him a nice easy backstab target. He is also equipped with the Nailgun and Super Shotgun. If a Spy makes a successful backstab, his disguise changes to the person he just killed. Sapping, or as it's called in FF: 'Sabotaging', a buildable is a bit different. Instead of having a weapon slot, you simply stand near a building for a few seconds to sabotage it. When you successfully sabotage a building, you need to first "Activate" it. For a dispenser, it simply blows up. For a Sentry Gun (SG), it makes a distinct sound, and starts firing at whatever the team the engineer that built the SG is on. It also stops firing at your own team, and after a little while, it blows up. The Spy has two types of cloaks: Silent Cloak and Normal Cloak. The Normal Cloak causes a body to be left behind, making it look like the Spy died (or who they are disguised as). The Silent Cloak cannot be used while moving, but it allows the Spy to just simply cloak, without the body or death sound. By default, you must use your radial menu to select 'Smart Cloak', then, if you can Silent Cloak, it will, else, it will Normal Cloak. The Spy makes no noise when walking. The weapon the Spy has equipped is reflected on his disguise. E.g.: If a spy is disguised as an Engineer and is holding the knife, to others, he will be holding the Wrench. This makes backstabs that little bit harder, as a teammate with a melee weapon is a bit of a giveaway. If the Spy is disguised he will look like his disguise to his teammates as well. However there is a sign above his head to indicate he is on your team. If the Spy falls down, he will make no noise and takes 50% damage from the fall when you crouch. The Spy's special abilities are done via a menu accessed by hitting the Secondary Fire key. (default: Right Mouse Button) Much like the Scout, Spies can reveal other spies disguises by touching them. Cloaking never runs out, however, there is a small delay after uncloaking before you can cloak again. Engineer Destroying, dismantling, building and aiming are all available as options on the right click (alternate fire) menu. Upgrading SGs only takes 1 hit with the wrench, and only 130 metal. The sentry can be aimed in any direction once built (including up / down) by hitting Secondary Fire (default: Right Mouse Button). The Engineer cannot make teleporters. An Engineer can repair a teammate's armor by hitting the ally with the wrench. You do not get alerted when a spy has sabotaged your SG, only when they activate it. If one of your buildings is sabotaged ( even if it's not enabled ), you will be unable to detonate it. Sentries make sonar sounds when a cloaked Spy is near it. The closer a Spy is, the higher the pitch, and the louder it will be. When an engineer discards ammo, he will throw ammo he uses out too. He can also throw multiple bags, each removing a little bit more ammo. The Pistol is replaced with the Railgun, which can charged up. If charged for 3.3 seconds, the Engineer will receive 40 metal. The Dispenser gives armor and ammo, but not health. Dispensers can absorb ammo from backpacks. When a dispenser is detonated, the damage it deals is based on what it contains. Cells increase damage, rockets increase explosive damage and radius. Civilian Special class with little health and only a Umbrella to protect himself with. However, maps which include the civilian can edit his speed, weapons, damage, etc. Competitive Play Fortress Forever competitive play differs in 4 major ways to TF2: Speed Defensive strategy Focus on movement Individual ability Fortress Forever is much faster than TF2, and players have stricter positions. In TF2 both teams move around the map pushing each other back in a kind of tug-of-war; in FF the defending team creates a defensive strategy and then tries to hold their base against the oncoming attacking team. FF is more structured and static, having players with expertise defending particular choke points in maps and creating a defensive strategy together as to how to defend their base. Fortress Forever is typically played Capture-the-flag, with teams being split into Offense and Defense. Defenders typically have "positions" at key choke points in their base which they are expected to hold down, stopping attackers getting past and relaying information about those that do to their teammates. Competitive play typically has 4 defenders and 4 attackers, either in a 4v4 (swapping sides at half time) or 8v8 format (with each team having 4 attackers and 4 defenders). Most high level play splits 4 defenders into 2 lines of defense - front line (2 players) and back line (2 players), but this can depend on the map. Typically, an Engineer builds a sentry gun right at the back, covering the flag, because he is weak and needs defending whilst he builds. Often he has another player to help defend him - either a Demoman (with pipes (similar to "stickies") on the flag), or a Soldier, or an HWGuy. Attacking in Fortress Forever is very much based on the various movement abilities: Conc-jumping, ramp sliding, wall-strafing, trimping, double jumping, sharking, air control, and bunny hopping. Frequently Fortress Forever attackers are more concerned with getting past their opponents than killing them. This leads to great fun for both teams as defenders rack up kills and attackers pull off sweet moves. In Fortress Forever, there is a balance between relying on your team, and shining as an individual. Some defensive positions are played solo, for those "lone wolf" types, and some have a greater emphasis on teamwork (such as defending the flag room with 1-2 other players). It's possible to capture the flag on your own, if you show some outstanding skill, but it is much easier with a good team backing you up. There is much less frustration if you have a bad team - there is no yelling at the medic, like TF2. Article Rating Excellent