Helps if you’re a hot redhead, Royal. I suggest you find an appropriate hat to emulate that.
It seems to me that the good spies don’t rely on the disguise at all. They depend on the cloak far more. Ones using the normal cloak will time their right click as they run up behind someone so they finish decloaking right as they reach their target’s back. Ones using the dead ringer don’t much care if they get spychecked, as they get to super-cloak when that happens. Cloak and dagger spies can hang around cloaked waiting until nobody’s looking.
If you’re disguised on someone’s screen who isn’t firing at the enemy, you will be spychecked, because they have the time for it. Even if they are fighting the enemy, if you’re looking at them, they’ll stop what they’re doing and spycheck you. It’s quite hard to control your view as if you’re a member of the team you’re disguising as. You can infer a lot about someone’s goal from the way they look around.
Don’t forget that TF2 has an offline vs bots mode now. I went into that to try out spy and realized just how bad at it I am. The names they use for the other players are fun too.
Ah, I had forgotten about that new feature!
I can’t imagine playing Spy against bots…the entire class is based around the psychology of the other players. Not is it meaningless to “trick” a computer, there’s no joy in it.
I honestly found the bots to be on par with the average public server, give it a try.
RickH
3987
Every time I pyro-blow someone off the map on Hightower where the track makes a u-turn into the tunnel, it is a special moment to me. Some people never stop falling for it.
The best are when you get into pyro v pyro airblasting match on that section. Fun times.
Have a server!
75.125.151.179:27015
Carnifex is an admin, I can give basic admin commands to anybody who asks, really (just ask me while you’re connected to the server so I can easily get your numerical steamID).
Map Cycle is same as current PoE servers:
koth_garbage_day
summerjam_2010
pl_thundermountain
cp_gravelpit
ctf_wildfire_rc
pl_waste_v2
cp_dustbowl
plr_whalerace_a4a
koth_lolcano_b2
pl_upward
cp_badlands
pl_goldrush
koth_lighthouse_rc5
cp_fastlane
pl_badwater
cp_steel
ctf_hallofdeath
pl_swiftwater_frc7
cp_junction_final
plr_pipeline
koth_sawmill
cp_coldfront
pl_frontier
koth_viaduct
cp_yukon_final
koth_harvest_event
cp_gorge
ctf_moonwalk_v2
cp_freight_final1
plr_hightower
cp_furnace
Feel free to suggest changes to this. Enjoy.
Thanks Boots! Now I just need to download pl_awesome_a1 and the server will be perfect.
Next update to include trading, community weapons, and new game mode.
Link ganked from Pentadact.
ZekeDMS
3992
Valve continues to spoil us. Most of us bought the damn game a few years ago, and yet here we are, given new items and modes once again.
Every time I start to get annoyed by the lack of Episode 3 the infinite amount of good will they’ve generated negates it.
New game mode = The Hunted. Please please please. With Abraham Lincoln as the VIP.
ZekeDMS
3994
Don’t you get my god damn hopes up. If it turned out to be Hunted I may never sleep again, merely trance out as I snipe the VIP.
Finally, the 10th class hinted at in Left 4 Dead is revealed!
I just happened to count up all of the hours I’ve spent playing TF2 last night as I was loading a map… I’m at 110+ hours. For a product I didn’t really pay for (I bought the entire Orange Box or whatever it was).
I don’t even know how to Valve how much I love them.
ZekeDMS
3996
They give and give, when they really don’t have to at this point. It’s amazing.
I can’t wait. It’s going to be especially interesting with so many new items floating around to swap for - however they’re attained, it’s not likely to be quick.
As soon as they release this I’m dropping all my extra inventory into my wife’s character in the hopes that she picks up TF2 again. I’m optimistic.
Really, I just hope that trading will be done outside of servers. The last thing I want is half the team spamming “ANYONE HAVE THE BRAIN SLUG WILL TRADE DEMO’S AFRO”. It’s bad enough we have crafters sitting in spawn for half the round.
Thought this interview with Robin Walker was pretty interesting:
http://www.pcgamer.com/2010/08/19/interview-valve-on-the-future-of-team-fortress-2/
Particularly this section on their use of MMO style item drops to try and keep people playing the game for longer:
PC Gamer: If you’re tying time played to random item drops, and you’re tying random item drops to intentional items in that you craft them to get what you want. Why can’t you just have the time played be points you spend to unlock something.
Robin Walker: I mean, we can, right? But the short answer to that is, why doesn’t an MMO let you get the item you want? That’s the reality of it. The truth of the matter is that players play longer when we give them incentives. We have to find a balance between giving them what they want and the degree to which we give them what they want. This has been well studied in terms of psychology. There’s plenty of studies that’ll show you how efficiently.
People will eat all the sugar they can until they’re sick. They won’t balance it, they can destroy the entertainment value of something if you give them the lever that lets them destroy their entertainment value, so we have to find a balance between that.
PC Gamer: But it seems like, for items, your philosophy has always been that everyone should be able to get the items quickly.
Robin Walker: Not necessarily.
There are admins on the HLDS_Linux maillist saying they’re PISSED OFF about the party mode that happens every year (yesterday), demanding that Valve let them disable it, because they’d rather shut down the server for a day then subject their players to it.
I miss the TFC announcer saying “Happy Birthday” in that serious tone.
