Games - Team Fortress Classic

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	Games - Team Fortress Classic

Team Fortress Classic (TFC) is a popular multiplayer mod for the first-person shooter computer game Half-Life that allows teams of players to compete on the Internet in action packed games of capture the flag, escorting a VIP, territory control, and many other missions. It was ported to Half-Life by the developers of the Team Fortress mod for Quake in collaboration with Valve Software.

Classes

The most important aspect of TFC is the class-based interdependence it breeds amongst teammates. After picking a team (i.e., the red team or the blue team), players pick a "class." Before spawning, and after dying (which can happen often), players have the opportunity to pick a class. Each class, detailed below, has its own unique strengths and weaknesses, which are offset by certain other classes. For example, the Scout is the fastest class in the game, but with its weak armor and weaponry, is easily fragged (killed) by a Heavy Weapons Guy (HWGuy) under the right circumstances. An Engineer can cause massive damage to an HWGuy with his EMP grenades, which have little effect on Scouts. Snipers can kill any class with just one charged shot, but are vulnerable to getting stabbed in the back by a Spy. But the Spy's disguise can be exposed by a Scout. This interdependence makes each class important, and creates a Rock, Paper, Scissors scenario where each of the classes offers important counters to each other. Also some classes are more suited for beginners, while other classes are more suited for seasoned players. This list describes the strengths and weaknesses of each class:

Scout

Although weakly armed and armored, the scout is a very fast moving class that can strip a spy of its disguise and disarm Demoman charges by running over them. Armed with crowbar, single-barreled shotgun, nailgun, up to 3 caltrops and concussion grenades.

Coupled with his concussion grenades, conc jumping Scouts are very hard to defeat unless you have a sentry gun or something to block them with. A Scout's weapons are ineffective against other players, and offer little chance against a skilled Engineer and Soldier combination. There is often one on each team in clan matches, generally devoted to flag-capturing and little else.

It is worth noting that some players of this class choose to limit themselves to using only the Scout's crowbar as a weapon, whether for personal challenge or merely for the entertainment of other players; such individuals are known to some as "Crowbar Scouts," "Crowbar Jedi," and "Wielders of the Mighty Crowbar of Justice." Players who adopt the "Crowbar Scout" tactic and mentality are usually especially skilled at conc jumping and avoiding enemy fire, therefore adept at achieving whatever objective the map in question uses (e.g., flagrunning on 2fort-style maps) without the need for ranged weapons.

Sniper

A very popular class but tricky to play and can be a serious foe or almost useless. Usually a poor class for new players, yet frequently chosen by them. Armed with a deadly sniper rifle with a zoom, a crowbar, a nailgun, and an alt-fire mode on his rifle that turns it into an automatic weapon. Has medium speed, and is armed with only normal grenades (up to 4). His special skill gives him a zoomed-in view through the sniper rifle's scope.

The Sniper has one of the game's two one-hit-kill weapons (the other being the Spy's knife) which is arguably the game's only viable ranged weapon; most of TFC's other guns either ineffective over long distances (shotguns) or are slow moving enough to be dodged easily at long distances (nailguns, grenades, rockets, etc.). He works best from concealment; stealth is his only defense. Once exposed, he is easily defeated by most any class: his autorifle is not particularly damaging and its ammo supply is limited; his only other defense is his grenades, which will often kill both players thanks to their large damage radius.

In theory, this class is very dangerous. However, a number of gameplay elements are designed to limit the Sniper's effectiveness. When "zoomed in", the Sniper's peripheral vision is greatly reduced ("Tunnel-visioned"). In this state they can be highly vulnerable. The sniper rifle takes several seconds to fully charge to inflict maximum damage, and during this process, the Sniper's movement is slowed to a crawl. The laser sight becomes brighter as the shot becomes charged and can give away the Sniper's position. TFC maps are often designed with prominent and easy-to-find "sniper decks" whose occupants are highly exposed, thus compromising the Sniper's only defense: stealth. Nevertheless, most Snipers have no choice but to use these locations, where they are easily targeted by opposing Snipers, shooting from their base's sniper deck. (The picture below under "Capture the Flag Maps" is of the Red base in the map 2Fort, and shows just how exposed the second-story sniper balcony is. It was taken from the Blue base's sniper balcony; a player standing in the parallel position would be perched above the left doorway.) The Sniper, thus killed, vows revenge. Immediately a so-called "sniper-war" breaks out, a test of reflexes and latency values. As a result, Snipers may consistently kill each other without giving much notice to other classes participating in the game. A number of "jumping" moves add some creativity to this test of reflexes. Detracting from the standard towers, a Sniper can create havoc for the opposing team for a short period of time by staking a surprising vantage point.

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