TF basics

The aim of the game

TF is a team oriented game where the objective is usually to capture the enemy flag whilst protecting yours. This sounds the same as Capture The Flag (CTF) but TF has the addition of Classes which create a whole new atmosphere.

There are a few exceptions to the flag capturing objective, maps such as 'the hunted president', 'border crossing', 'spazball' and a couple of others have different objectives as detailed later.

Team Fortress is a TEAM game, which requires team members to work together to achieve the objectives. Often server admins disable individual frags from the score system so that players are more inclined to actually play the game as designed instead of just playing DM with different classes.

Your role

When a map starts you should consider what your role will be for the map. Often on public servers everyone goes for glory and goes offense and defense lacks. This usually ends up with lots of captures for both teams and close score lines with no clear victor. More experienced TF players will usually go defense at first to try and measure the effectiveness of the enemy offense. Playing on public servers can be a real work out for defenders as you are ensured that hoardes of enemy will come charging to your position keeping you busy. If your team manages to capture and the enemy manage to capture you are both tied. Alternatively if no-one captures you are both tied. The only way to win is to capture the flag AND stop your enemy from capturing.

Playing defense

Playing defense is the most critical role in the game. On public servers a solid defense near the flag will often catch the enemy offense unaware resulting in lots of gibbage. If you can stop one offensive rush whilst the enemy do not stop yours then your team will be one capture ahead. Defense works really well when you work together with someone you know to defend a bottleneck in the map. A soldier and engineer team working together work really well if the engineer, soldier and sentry gun have overlapping fire zones where the enemy haven't much room to manoeuvre. An example would be in the basement of 2fort5 with:

• a soldier standing mid-way between the lift and the bottom of the spiral, watching the spiral and listening for attackers jumping down the lift shaft.
• a sentrygun in the short corridor to the flag room facing up towards the bottom of the spiral, sitting in the dark.
• a dispenser just in the dark of the long corridor with the back facing towards the open area (so the enemy don't see the lights on it).
• an engineer near his sentry watching towards his dispenser, when enemy get near it it can be detonated as a nasty surprise. Once detonated the engineer can rush over and build another in the same place to either catch anyone who makes it past (unlikely) or anyone coming back with the flag.

When playing defense there are a few rules to remember:

• Listen - often sounds will give away the approach of a careless enemy. In the above example the soldier can hear anyone jumping down the lift shaft. If it's a friendly then the lift will start to go up as they are jumping down. If the lift doesn't move you know it is an enemy. If someone is coming down the spiral they will make a grunt noise as they reach 2/3 of the way down. If there are 2 grunts in quick succession it's usually a scout as their speed makes them grunt on an extra spiral section.
• Time your shots - Firing blindly often leads to not much more than a reloading time the enemy takes advantage of. Relax and aim each and every shot.
• Be patient - keep in your position.
• Grenades are your friend - a well timed grenade will usually kill anyone. Use them skillfully. A good tactic is to prime a grenade when an enemy approaches and throw it behind them whilst engaging them with rockets. This is especially useful when their is lots of cover the enemy will want to get behind in the face of your fire and you drop the grenade just behind it.
  It is also useful to use grenades with a longer lifespan (nail, napalm) so that you can drop one directly in an enemy approach path while you quickly resupply.
• Communicate - it is imperative that you have communication binds set so you can inform your teammates as to what is happening at your position. Typical binds would be things like "incoming enemy at flag",  "flag safe - enemy destroyed"   or "i'm out of position". Alternatively if you have bandwidth to spare you could use a program like battlefield communicator (battlecom) or roger-wilco which allow you to communicate via voice over the net.
• Position yourself - if you are playing a heavy defense class like the soldier find a position where the enemy won't be able to manouvre around you. It's even better if you can engage an enemy where even a missed shot with the rocket launcher catches them with splash damage. A perfect example is the small area at the bottom of the spiral in 2fort5.
  If you are playing a faster/lighter class give yourself room to manouevre.

Playing offense

Playing offense is the most "glorious" role in the game, fame and fortune is yours if you can cap the flag. Normally offense is a no brainer on public servers if you are playing against relatively unskilled enemy or enemy with no co-ordination.

Faster classes work best, and the spy usually has absolutely no problem getting to the flag.

If you can co-ordinate with a team-mate you can use a "dragging" technique. This is where one of you approach and engage the enemy with the aim of drawing them away from their defensive position and open a hole in their defense where your team can infiltrate the base unsighted and unengaged. This works well in 2fort5 with a soldier rocket jumping onto the balcony and entering the top room, firing on any enemy guarding the ramp room, drawing them towards the grate (pretending to go to the spiral) whilst a group of pyro's, scouts or demomen rush up the ramps and down the lifts.

When playing offense there are a few rules to remember:

• Listen - listening to the enemy can give you vital clues as to their current positions, sentry guns are definitely worth listening for.
• Time your shots - if an enemy are in a position they can be knocked off and it is advantageous to do it then go right ahead and bounce them.
• Be sneaky - if you are approaching the enemy flag and there is an enemy in front of you heading the same way don't engage them until you have to. This will minimise the time your enemy will have to react to your incursion by seeing either a "DeadFred was gibbed by Bard's rocket" or an "incoming enemy!!!" message.
• Use your grenades - the sniper rifle is about the only other weapon that can ensure you a one shot kill to an enemy. Grenades are particularly effective against a defender who doesn't know you are there. An example would be in 2fort5 where you prime as you approach the ramp room and throw the grenade just over the top of the short ramp (a favorite position for soldiers and demomen). If you don't kill them immediately then they will be either knocked out of position or hurt really bad.
  Long  lifespan grenades (nail, napalm) are great to drop behind you if you are exiting with the flag or you wish to move enemy defense away to open a gap in their defense.
• Communicate - tell your team where the enemy are defending. On public servers it is probably more useful to alert your teams to positions of sentries and dispensers in the enemy base than of all defenders unless it looks like an organised defense.Communication binds to inform your teammates of your position, status and to co-ordinate attacks.