Be Right Back, Uninstalling

June 29th, First Contact




Dear diary:
Two days earlier, Kor announced his selections for first SACK.  Some SACKers discussed doing an initial get-together during the weekend, like a practice, or a scrim against other BRBu, or something to get our feet wet. I thought that would be a good idea, so I proposed a date and time, even though I didn’t have any ideas what to do at that date and time.  I guess I kinda assumed that when we all met, for the first time as a team, we would somehow come together magically.



Well, diary, things didn’t happen that way.  Not having a challenger, there was nothing to practice towards.  No opponent.  No map.  No teamsize. 

Thank goodness Caffeine was there. You see, diary, Caffeine has obviously been to camp before.  He said he knew some people in one of the other cabins, and he would just hop over there via IRC and get us a friendly match going. Some were skeptical about that happinging fast, and I admit to you, diary, I was one of those skeptics.  But sure enough within 5 minutes he found a match. 

It was against clan CN (I think) on the Control Point server (dunno if they are a sub-clan or something).

CN wanted to play 6v6.  I have to be honest, diary, I didn’t play in that match.  I was a bit nervous so I went and puked in the bushes behind the Camp Counselor’s cabin.  Hopefully, those that played in the 6v6 will post any sage advice the learned here.   But I hear we held our own.



By the time I was done puking, the other cabin wanted to play 8v8.  So, myself and another glorious pirate of Kor joined in.

Here’s what happened: We played on gravelpit.  They defended point A, we never capped it, and yes, diary, I always thought B was the easier to defend as well.


***THIS IS WHAT I LEARNED ***

1) The buddy system. 

I really need to work on staying close to my team-mates.  In pubs, I often run out of spawn solo and manage to do something productive.  Against an organized team, it’s just slaughter.  I really should never go anywhere, on any map without at least 2 and preferably 3 other team-mates.

2) Tournament mode is not the same campfire.


Quick for-instance.  In pub mode, if you lose the 2nd cap on Gravelpit, you retreat to fortify C.  In Tournament mode, if your team never capped the 2nd point, then you don’t retreat to C if B is half-capped because a full cap on B loses you the round.  It is a completely different ruleset, and something that cannot become second nature without playing a lot in tournament mode. I need to practice.

3) Class Differences


Why is it called a Scout? Not because it caps points. Their scout was one of their top defensive classes.  Not because he/she was better than our scout 1:1.  But because their scout roamed around the off-point (in this case, B on gravelpit). This accomplished two things.  First, I imagine their scout told the team defending A each and every class that was coming to A and from what route (tunnel from B, tunnel from C).  Second, the scout harassed groups of 1 or 2 enough to slow down any scissors attack on A.

Second example, two good demomen completely closed down the tunnels from spawn to A. And with their Scout directing traffic, they could quicky re-adjust to cover the new tunnels. Again, only practice can teach me how differently these classes play.




Well, diary, I am tired and gonna hit the sack.  I sure hope that Adam guy in the bunk below me doesn’t make the bunk shake again tonight, I need to get some sleep.  There is probably a lot more I could write, about the usefulness of offensive snipers, spies, having a dedicated caller, etc, but I am too tired.  Maybe others will write what they learned below me, or maybe that is a topic for the future.  Goodnight, diary, I can’t wait to wake up in the morning and look myself in the mirror to see how this experience has changed me. 



`Night.

Nice write-up, Rummy.  Having never been in truly competitive play like you describe, I think I'd also find myself vomiting behind a cabin...

Sad thing is, this is not truly competitive yet. 

Dear Rummy's diary,

I am writing to add an important lesson earned from that scrim

4) Playing as a team requires a lot of communication

It was obvious that their team was talking a lot to each other.
Our team was -shier, perharps?- talking a lot less.
Some members didn't have microphone.
Also, the in game voice chat doesn't allow talking when you are dead.
Last thing: *God* Caffeine wanted us to follow some plans, once in a while, but we went on our own many times.
The game is called [glow=navy,10,50] Team [/glow] Fortress for a very good reason, also, the scrims are 6v6 or 8v8, and we should be able to use all our members at their best, that is, doing the right thing at the right moment.

good point about the scout, in competative gameplay he wiped the floor with me, sure i was dominating him 1v1, but thats not actually important in competative


note to self: be slightly more aweosme.

I did well in the 6v6, but they shook me up in the 8v8 and I was very ashamed to miss some very crucial shots that could have turned the tide of our battle.

Well, for anyone curious what competitive looks like, there's always Pwnage.tv's broadcasts

I know a lot of people on TF2F, their first broadcast match went pretty much how our first scrim went. They too had a lot of problems with communication and working together as a team. Link to TF2F vs Team Funky (ie rape)

A good example of a comp match might be this one: Team Pandemic vs Team Uber

Basically, it's all about maintaining your numbers and your pack, in addition to rushing ubers. Nothing else matters.