Some of you might be aquinted with the NS learn program for natural selection. That's basicly what this thread is. Anyways, I've written up a basic compeditive hints and tips essay that in my opinion, any team that acctually wants to win should at least know they are following to some degree. This stuff will work in pubs too, but you'll have to yell at alot of retards who think they are hot stuff and like to rip down important access ways, shooting bunkers, and fire cover blocks so they can add another 2 second segment to thier really really long entrance/exit crawl. I don't build to much in pubs any more :?

Base design: The more I play the more apparent it becomes. Simplicity and frugality are the bread and potatoes of good base design. You should have a good wall with lots of places to shoot over and nowhere that your builders can not reach to repair easily. If your wall has holes in it that the enemy can shoot through then your builder will get shot out while he’s repairing and it won’t be long before your opponents are able to work together to shoot down the target piece. Double layering keeps a place intact longer, but under the concentrated fire of a whole team a double layered section will still go down.

Builders are obnoxious as hell, for the time being you shouldn’t worry about them unless you plan on making field structures, in which case your team will lose. It’s fine to make overlook spots where you can shoot out builders from within your base. But if the enemy team has a builder going they are probably going to be covering all the obvious places he’s at risk from anyways. It’s much safer to just hop the wall and feed him a clip rather then risking being unable to shoot him out because of cover fire on some far off overlook platform. A lost builder or rocketeer will respawn. A lost block will not.

Be aware of weak points in your build, because the enemy team is sure as hell going to focus on them. If your whole wall is double layered and the seam at the walls is only a single plate, then it will be shot though, and all your double layering will have been useless. What would be a minor or overlookable weak point in a pub will be the reason you lose in a competitive game. If your wall can be jumped over at any point then expect to see a lot more of the enemy team in your base then you would like. Good trick jumpers don’t give up because a jump is hard or easily coverable. I will sideswipe jump or ramp launch any spot you leave open. So don’t leave any.

Always leave and entrance through your wall and an easy entrance into your flag (I can’t honestly recommend and exit to the flag, but that’s a matter of rules, if you need one, build it, and make it a crawl.) You can make most crawls with 2 blocks or less. Don’t look for ways to make this process longer then it has to, this is to keep the enemy sufficiently repelled from even trying, and at the same time give your cappers access to your base, not to be a nice friendly team. I can’t recommend coffin crawls (long crawls that you can’t see into or out of). They are harder to defend because they can only be shot into from one angle, and you will be very surprised every now and then when an enemy player pops out of the other end and you weren’t aware he was crawling for that whole 30 seconds. You shouldn’t be left guessing weather or not there is a player in your crawl tunnel, and if so what team he/she is on. Diagonal planks are the best crawls because you can usually get away with using only 1 against a wall, players can’t shoot out of them from the sides, while their feet are completely exposed, and you can blast the hell out of the crawler’s feet with any gun, rockets don’t have a hard time finding a way through. Be nice to your cappers, they are at the most risk when they are entering your crawl, provide them with a cover shield. It won’t usually be shot out because it’s tactical importance is only marginal.

Put as many areas on your wall that are exits/safe shooting points. A wall is all fine and dandy, but if it can’t be defended from players in no man’s land then it won’t stand up to long combat rounds with lots of builders trying their hand at ripping pieces out.

Combat: Combat round is actually a lot more complicated then build round. Despite the uniformity of the goal and relative simplicity of the methods a good team will find that the more time they put into mastering combat as opposed to building, the more they will win. The easiest way to understand combat is to understand the roles of the classes and what they practically mean to you, attempting to capture the enemies flag, and defending your own.

Classes: I know that SF devs and people who are supposed to know shit have said “oh this class has this role� and “oh that class has that role� before, but they are largely wrong. The class roles that we were loosely trying to set up in building and beta testing 1.9 all didn’t quite turn out the way we were expecting. Most of them can fulfill their designed role, with maybe the exception of the sniper, but they all still have their little slot they fit into where they can really help your team a lot. It would be way too many words and way to little organization to cover all the classes under one heading, so I’m splitting them up.

Soldier: This guy was supposed to be sort of a general midfield heavy combat specialist. He really didn’t turn out too well, but bunny hopping added a little bit of utility that we weren’t really going for. Bunny hopping will be removed in a future version, but I know how bunny hopping removal works on the HL engine, and there will always be certain tricks to get around the restriction. When push comes to shove the soldier can get into a base and start wreaking havoc, especially if you leave open trick jump spots. It doesn’t take a scout to find a trick jump. The extra health and the 1 to 1 dominance of the soldier gives him more then enough time to find a good spot if it’s left available. This is NOT the guy you want in your base. He will murder your snipers in seconds, make your builders wish they weren’t born, and shoot rocketeers in the soft underbelly as they are exiting the spawn at close range to this guys gun. Weaknesses: Lucky snipers, lucky builders at close range, rocketters shooting from above with a lot of open space to work with, teamwork. Don’t let Soldiers: Get into overlooking positions, Have open space between themselves and builders or scouts, get close to snipers, get close to rocketters.

Rocketter: Rocketters were supposed to be an explosive defense option, and somewhat of a combat wildcard. In reality he’s not actually that good defensively, and is probably the strongest midfield and offensive class in the game, IF HE IS SMART. Rocketters with a bit of space to work with can make virtually any class pay for their existence. These guys have lots of sprint time to work with, and can do a good job of keeping moving in combat. They tend to be an overall hard to hit class at any range. If you get close to rocketters they will often hit themselves for massive damage out of desperation. That is probably their only real weakness that is easily exploitable. It should be mentioned that rocketters are really frigging useless at killing things embedded in block cover or at altitudes above them. Picking off rocketters from behind cover or getting above them is a great way to ruin their day in short time. Rocketters are a major threat to snipers that aren’t paying attention to incoming fire, and no class will fuck up a builders day more then a rocketter with a clear line of sight. Weaknesses: Opponents taking positions higher then he is, Shooting himself accidentally. Don’t let rocketters: Sit still, get into your base (they are good cappers and can rocket jump)

Sniper: This class is probably the most useless class in source forts. That being said, these are the guys who will make you pay for your mistakes. Snipers rarely do damage in outright combat. They can’t shoot through blocks, they don’t have enough health to flag cap, they rarely hit… well anything… but a good sniper with a good spot can annoy the hell out of your team. Snipers should be most famous for making defense line buildering difficult. If your builders don’t have proper cover for when they are repairing, they will get sniped. If your base has holes in it cappers crawling will get sniped. If your ammo crates and health platforms are exposed, resupplying players will get sniped. In any other case the enemy team will probably be wise enough to not have a sniper, because he won’t do enough damage to be worth having. You honestly don’t always or even usually need a sniper on your team. But if the enemy team is doing everything stupid then this class more then any other can make them pay in flying colors. Weaknesses: everything. Don’t let snipers: have lots of openings and poorly built structures to shoot through.

Builder: This class is the true wildcard in source forts. Builders have very little sprint time, but their max sprint speed is actually 400UPS, the same as the scout (if your sv_maxspeed isn’t gaying your game). The builder’s shotgun will FUCK YOU UP. 2 full on double blasts kills anything in the game, even full health soldiers. Their gun can RIP through blocks on the wall with shots that do 70 damage per single round and 120 damage per double blast, assuming all shots hit (which they should be if you’re aiming at a block). That shotgun would dominate the game if builders weren’t such pansies hitpoint wise. Not only that, but if you leave enemy builders unattended they will rip your fort apart piece by piece in no time. It isn’t at all strange to spend the whole game chasing down builders trying to take your base out and taking one hell of a bee sting in the form of a shotty blast to the face every time you do it. Not only that but builders are assholes. You can spend 5 minutes shooting at a block, and a builder will come along and have it healed to full in about 20 seconds. One builder can outpace 3 enemy soldiers trying to shoot out a block. If these guys can keep out of harms way they are by far the most useful class in the game. Weaknesses: Being shot. Don’t let builders: rest, get into places you can’t shoot at them in, sit against your wall for 30 seconds EVER.


Scout: This class is the “capping� class. Practically he has way more sprint time then he will ever need. A decent scout will be able to run from his base to your base and back 10 times without seeing his stamina bar go red. This guy is one hell of a combatitant, but not because he can actually kill anything. This class will make soldiers and rocketters waste ammo more then every other class in the game combined. Not only that but he is all but invincible to snipers because they basically can never actually hit him. A good team will always have a scout to eat up enemy ammo while the soldiers and rocketters shoot the empty clipped enemy combatitant classes, and to capture flags like no man has captured flags before. The scout is massively underpowered at sv_maxspeed 320 for his capping effectiveness, In most cases I’d rather have a rocketter or soldier, but at sv_maxspeed 400 or higher there isn’t a better class. Weaknesses: Unable to kill things. Don’t let scouts: Have trick jumpable bases to work with, have easily accessible bases to work with, distract you too much when there are soldiers shooting at you.

Overview: A competitive team will always want at least 1 soldier. Rocketters are a good soldier replacement if you can spare the player spot, and on certain maps they can really be key, but they don’t do much if the opponents base is unenterable. You’re much better off with soldiers to shoot out panels. 1 scout is always good to have if only to run circles around enemy soldiers while you pick them off. Scouts can capture well, so don’t feel bad about having them even though they can’t do quite the damage that a soldier would be doing. Builders aren’t always necessary, but it’s usually good to have one harassing the enemy base and forcing them to always keep on their toes. The builder will also save one of your player from having to kill in console if the enemy starts shooting out a block. You very rarely need snipers unless you see a good block that you want to shoot out and you know your sniper can prevent the enemy builder from getting to it. Remember, builders die in one sniper bolt. If you have a sniper you might as well use him to his max potential. Have him shoot out the builder as often as possible, and at the same time keep the enemy heads ducked so they don’t get standing still shots at your shooting soldiers. Sometimes snipers can intimidate enemy soldiers trying to shoot out your blocks because they have to keep moving which means less shots actually hitting the block. Average 4 man team at start: Soldier, soldier, builder, and scout. 5 man team: Soldier, soldier, builder, scout, and rocketter. 6 man team: Soldier, soldier, soldier, builder, scout, and rocketter.

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Very good points overall.

I've killed 2 soldiers and a rocketeer on sfbr_swamp as a builder, with just 10 health left. :P Builders are bastards close up.

I agree, great advice from a great SF-er

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My Xfire: charlieo

I've heard a few comments around the IRC channel along the lines of "oh, he forgot to mention this about this class" or "that class also has this weapon which should have been mentioned"...

This guide is not a basic "how to play SF for beginners guide". I assume you know what weapons a rocketeer has and how to use them effectively, if you didn't then your clan wouldn't have you rocketeering for them. The reason I wrote this was to provide an outline and to make people aware of the limits and strenghts of each class, as when it comes to compeditive play those limits and strenghts tend to be magnified tenfold. I'm well aware the scout's crowbar is annoying as hell and will get you lots of kills if used correctly, even more so then the SMG, but I assumed that scout players know this, and are going to be able to apply when they need to. What I wanted to reinforce is the fact that a scout running circles and pissing off enemy soldiers is more useful often times then a scout sitting behind a wall taking potshots at builders. People waste ammo on scouts, and a good team will capitalize on that, but it's assumed that the scout know the basics of playing the class in order to get to that point in the first place. He's not just a capper, and at the compeditive level he should be aware of that.

If you just try to follow this guide and ignore the assets that each class has when I didn't happen to mention them then you aren't going to win too many matches. This guide is about exploiting the roles and assets that aren't often talked about, not the stuff that is plainly in your face when you pick up the game.

The one thing I will recind is the statement that the rocketeer is not a good defence class. Rocketeers are very good at preventing the enemy team from making forward movement. They can place lazer slams on the flag and generally do alot of things that makes them a really frustrating class to try to take ground against. The point is that the rocky is the least useful class at pushing out against an established forward postion. If you have a pair of soldiers sitting on the wall of your fort and a scout just about to cap your flag, you're much better off running out of your spawn as a soldier then a rocketeer. Rocketeers can defend when they have the established position, not when they are desperately trying to prevent a cap. Soldiers are a better desperate class for defence.

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lol entrances. oldfags unite.

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V TRAPS ARE NOT ENTRANCES FFS I WAS IN THAT THING FOR 2 MINUTES

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lol i remember when players would bicker about whether a base did or did not have a "usable entrance". it always ended with most of the loosing team rage quitting.

... back when 65 blocks was considered a lot for a pub

... and sf_platforms was a popular map

sf_castles anyone?

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compeditive.

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sniper so useful, i disagree swiftspear

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Wall Of Text.