In my Play Ball series of posts, I will introduce you to the cIasses and maps of the new Team Fortress, which is shipping as part of Valve's The Orange Box
Previous Posts:
Gibs and Pipejumping: An Introduction to Team Fortress CIassic
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In TF2, Valve has split the nine character cIasses into three broad subgroups: offense, defense, and support. The offensive cIasses are built for the front line. With a nice balance of speed, firepower, and health, these guys will offer your team the best chance at getting that control point or flag.
Scout
-Abilities: Super fast, double jump
1.Shotgun 2.Pistol 3.Bat
This guy is very, very fast. What he lacks in health and firepower, he makes up for in movement speed. After jumping, hitting the jump key in mid-air will make the Scout jump a second time, which allows him to access certain places more easily, such as the enemy battlements in 2fort. If you are playing an older computer with a low framerate, you will really hate Scouts, because even with a high framerate, it can be quite difficult to hit them with your weapons, unless you have a spray like the Pyro or Heavy.
At first glance, Scout's may seem like flag jockey's, where their sole purpose is to quickly get in and get out with the intel. However, I have seen many people go on the offensive solely against other player's, as opposed to going for the objective. The Scout's shotgun is rather powerful at close range, and he has no problem getting in your face quickly and circling around you. His bat, while not doing as much damage as the shotty, is pretty fun to use against other players, as it makes a characteristic metal ding noise as you pummel your opponents.
This guy has some of my favorite voice stuff in the game. He sounds like a really enthusiastic American teenager with a New York accent. Even after my many hours of playing, I still get a kick out of "play ball", "bonk!!", and "this sucks on ice."
Soldier
-Abilities: Rocket jump
1.RPG 2.Shotgun 3.Spade
This cIass was featured in Valve's second TF2 character video. He is designed as a stereotypical military veteran. Though fairly slow, the Soldier has a good amount of health and wields a powerful rocket launcher that make enemies explode in a mess of gibs and blood.
The Soldier's rocketjump allows him to reach high places and certain entrances that others wouldn't be able to reach. To do this jump, fire a rocket at the ground as you hit the jump key. This technique takes some practice. Remember that doing this will take some of your health away, so be careful.
When shooting rockets at opponents, you should aim for their feet. Hitting their feet will not only do damage to them, but it will usually blast them up into the air or in some odd direction. This can throw them off and possibly minimize damage they will do to you and your teammates. If you knock them high enough in the air, they may even die from fall damage, which is usually pretty funny.
The soldier's taunts include a salute with his finger's in an L-shape, and him acting dazed and screaming as he proceeds to slam his shovel against his head.
Pyro
-Abilities: Fireproof
1.Flamethrower 2.Shotgun 3.Axe
If you are on the other team, you do not want to get close to this dude. The Pyro's flamethrower does an insane amount of damage at point-blank range, and can reduce a Heavy to a pile of ashes in just a second or two. The flamethrower also has a bit of range to it, and while it does some damage, the real benefit is that it will catch enemies on fire for about 5-10 seconds. While flaming, they will take damage over time. This opens up a potential Pyro strategy, a flame-and-run method of fighting, or the Forum-Troll strategy, if you will. From what I can tell, there is a chance for flaming enemies to pass the fire onto others if they happen to run into each other. Listening to your opponents scream "FIRE!" is quite satisfying.
As for his other characteristics, The Pyro's shotgun is useful for targets that are fairly far away, as the flamethrower is useless at that distance. When taunting with flamethrower in hand, he pushes it up and down over his head and makes a long grunting noise, a reference to the Tusken Raiders (Sand People) in Star Wars. If holding his axe, he strums it like an air guitar. With his shotgun, he charges of a fireball in a cIassic Dragonball Z Kamehameha stance. All his voice communications are muffled by his face mask, to the point where you can't really tell what he is saying.
As an aside, this guy looks very similar to homestarrunner.com's Poopsmith. Whether this resemblance is intentional or not, I just thought I'd point that out. The pic on the left is Poopsmith in his usual outfit, and on the right is the Municipality Poopertrooper.
