TF2 Newbs (Team Fortress 2) Blog

There’s been a somewhat disturbing trend here on the Newbs servers the past couple days. More and more pyros have been taking to the sewers to defend, armed only with that most finicky of weapons. I’m talking about, of course, the flare gun.

I’ve mostly seen this in the sewers on 2fort, but I’m sure it’s happening other places. Since I haven’t seen it in other maps yet, this post focuses solely on 2fort.

Let’s take a moment to digest that. You’re playing defense, launching flammable objects into an area that not only contains easy access to water, but also contains a medkit, and is also a common route for medics (due to the usual lack of snipers in the area).

Let’s think about what this means to you, the pyro. Any of the above can end burning in a matter of seconds. Burning is your bread and butter, your raison d’etre (pardon my French). Burning people is what you do best, and in most cases, you do it very very well.

So why purposefully make your fire weaker? Why settle for an occassional hit, those times when the flare doesn’t mysteriously curve into a wall? Why settle for burning that can be removed in a matter of seconds? Why help those medics build their ubers?

Seriously, there’s a reason that heavy is just standing there letting you pop flare after flare into him. He’s not being intimidated. He’s not worrying about what you’re going to do to him. He’s laughing at your tiny baby gun, and the medic behind him is savouring the delicious scent of sizzling bacon and crackling medigun. Breakfast of champions.

Also, ammo. You get 16 flares. After that, you either have to find a dispenser or run up to the resupply, because there’s very little chance you’ve killed something to pick up its ammo. Your entire purpose can be replaced by many different classes, all of whom either have more ammo, do more damage, or have more reliable aim. In some cases, all of the above.

“But Scott,” you might say, “I get a ton of assists as a flare gun pyro!”

Maybe you do. Fire is fire, after all. But really, how many of those assists come from snipers headshotting the burning guy? I’m willing to bet that if the answer isn’t “all of them”, it’s “most of them”, where the assists not coming from snipers come from spies instead. These people don’t need your help, and your flare didn’t tip the balance. No, that guy was dead as soon as the sniper zoomed in, or the spy uncloaked. All you did was make them uncomfortable.

One final reason playing defensive sewer-spamming flare gun pyro isn’t such a hot idea: you open yourself up to the most humiliating way to die. Worse than the heavy taunt from around the corner. Worse than the bodyshot wallsniper with a medic. Worse even than the non-crit engie pistol.

I’m talking about the reflected flare.

Yes, a pyro with the air blast can reflect your flares back into you. You get rewarded with this little beauty:

The rarest kill icon in the game. The most humiliating way to die.

Do you really want that?

Flare gun defense is not a viable strategy.

Today there was a new TF2 Server update released -

All of these things are great, and I’m glad that Valve also fixed some other bugs/exploits (‘Protected several more commands from client exploitation’).  Unfortunately they also changed one other item which has a much broader impact than any of these other fixes.  The decided to update players STEAM_ID’s to be like the L4D Steam IDs.  I’m sure theres a great reason for this update (maybe its required for use with the new steam cloud stuff) but unfortunately they didn’t give any sort of warning that they were going to make this change.  On the surface it seems like a pretty innocent / simple change but the impact is far reaching.

Lets use my steam_id as an example:

Until today it was STEAM_0:1:5809658 after this update it was changed to STEAM_1:1:5809658 (notice the 0 changing to a 1).  This seems pretty insignificant until you realize that a lot of things that happen on a server are tied to this identifier, and until recently a lot of these were hardcoded for the STEAM_0:x:XXXXXXX format.   One of the major things that this disrupted were bans.  The ban list is just a text file with a list of steamid’s in it.  Now that the ids have changed (even a little) makes the old bans not match any longer – effectively unbanning everyone.  The solution to this of course is to update the list so it uses the newer notation, and to update other software like HLstatsX CE, Sourcebans, sourcemod (used for admins, reserve slots, etc) to newer versions which matches people based only on the x:XXXXXXX portion of their steamid. 

So if you noticed the stats down for a little while earlier, or that there were some banned players on, or that your reserve slot not working, or your admin abilities suddenly disappeared this is why.  I have upgraded most everything, so heading forward there shouldn’t be any more problems.   =)

. Octo

On Monday morning the Newbs community suffered a great loss.  Servers that were important to the community were removed (they were originally scheduled for removal in late September 2008).  These servers were:

• #1 (24/7 Dustbowl)
• #2 (Jump Maps)
• #2.5 (Jump Maps)
• #3 (24/7 Badwater)

The other thing that went away was our old hosting for the website/database :(  It was a very sad day in Octoland…

The website and the forums were down for a day or two, but they were the easiest things to move since I had prepared for this day (poorly, but thats besides the point).  We only ended up losing about 1.5 days worth of forums posts and a few bans. 

The game servers on the other hand are a lot trickier to handle without the involvement of a lot more money. Luckily these machines had only lost their internet home, and a new internet home was found for them.   And there was much rejoicing in the land!  But then oh no..  Hardware failure struck down the machine that runs the Jump servers and the Badwater server.  I spent Saturday evening working on getting this machine back onto the internet so that the games could resume.  So around midmight PST all 4 of the machines that went bye-bye were back. 

•  #1   24/7 Dustbowl        113.212.76.18:27015
• #2   Jump Maps            113.212.76.6:27075
• #2.5 Jump Maps            113.212.76.6:27135
• #3   24/7 Bad Water       113.212.76.6:27015

Originally I was planning on _NOT_ bringing #3 (24/7 Badwater) back since I did not want to hurt the efforts to establish the Payload Rotation server.  After some short negotiations I was assured that there are PLENTY of people to play both.   To prove this point to me, Taraph75 also know as ‘Tara of Payload’ created a new steam group which she is actively trying to fill with payload enthusiasts Tara’s Payload Pimps This group will be used by her to coordinate all the payload love, so that next time a server has to move, all of her payload lovers can easily find it. :)

Hi everybody,

I’m trying to determine something. Something that’s bugged me for a while.

This relates to 2fort, as many things in our community do, and has to do with what we call things. No, this isn’t the next installment of “How to talk like a Newb” (though that is coming). I just want to collect some thoughts.

What do you guys call the different parts of the sewer?

I tend to refer to the “pipe” or the the “tunnel” for the long straight section, the “platform” for the area with the health and ammo (where the engies always build), and the “elbow” for the curvy part that leads out to the water.

However, I’ve found that these terms aren’t always understood clearly, so I’m curious if I’m using the wrong terminology or if I’m just crazy.

We’ve established clear definitions of every other part of the map, so the sewers should be as well.

Feel free to dicsuss it on the forum in this thread, or in the comments here.

- Scott Eats Bullets

That’s right, TF2 Newbs is comin’ at you live with another contest in which you get the opportunity to gain fame, fortune, and the first run of some TF2 Newbs Gear.

What it is:

A contest of wits, skill, and teamwork to be taking place on Server #8 [New York]

When:
Starting February 2nd HLX Stats WITH A TWIST will start to be tabulated. The Contest will run until Saturday February 28th in which the winners will be announced.

How Does it Work?:
Rather than going strictly off of the standard ‘points earned’ from our stats, we decided to make our own NEWB Equation of what we find to be important in a solid overall player. There will be 5 or 6 stats plugged into an equation which equates to NEWB POINTS.

Newb Points? What the…:
Easssy eassy.. I know what you’re thinking. “But Jib, I’m a solid overall team player, who makes an honorable difference on my team.. But I’ll have no chance winning this versus the stat whores”

WRONG… and here’s why. Our specially formulated NEWB Equation is designed to find the best overall players, not the whores. We can’t give away the details but I can tell you uberwanking won’t save you, overall points will be considered, and time on the server is a factor. Beyond that we’ll leave it a mystery to promote solid play.

PrizES?!:
Oh yea. you know it. Top 3 places will be awarded our first run of OFFICIAL TF2 NEWBS TSHIRTS. These are a special one time design that cannot be purchased, or replicated. (Compliments of Jib)

In addition to the gear, First place will be awarded their choice of an EA game! Koans will be posting a list of donated titles to choose from.

What now?!
The only requirement for this contest is that you’re a member of our forums! Once that’s in check get your self on the server and get to work! Keep in mind the objectives of TF2, don’t be a whore and most of all have FUN.

NewbsTf2.com #8 [Octo New York]: 69.12.108.39:27015
Forum thread

JiB…

Fine print:
Admins are not allowed to win, and previous contest winners cannot take first place. Void where prohibited.