Half-Life 2 (Including the Orange Box) Mystery Portal Update!

[Sporkman]

Anyone here have tips for a player who only knows how to use a medic and sniper?

Can't snipe for **** but medic wise isn't too bad.

For loadout I take:
Blutsauger
Kritzkreig
Ubersaw

Usually I'd switch to the medigun when on offense as it's better for taking out sentry nests, but a demo should be able to take out any unmanned sentry without too much difficulty, so recently I've been keeping the Kritzkreig.

I find it best to team up with one person whilst keeping the entire team topped up as best you can. This goes especially for friendly medics. Medic is much harder to kill when he has 200+ health (I think it's 225).

Know the signs for spies. Anyone with 51-99% health who isn't doing something a spy can should be ubersawed/blutsauger'd once (as they will tell you if the person is a spy). Alternatively, shout "Spy!" occasionally to get your teammates/medic buddy to spy check anyone nearby.

Medpacks are your friends. Your teammates are walking uberbags. You get uber much quicker if they aren't at full health (completely overhealed).

When confronted with a pyro diagonally retreat using the blutsauger. If you're feeling lucky you can try and one hit crit them but with the reduction of crits in general I wouldn't recommend this much anymore. Not much you can do against a good scout though.

You can uber two people at once. I don't recommend it as it drains uber faster but it does have it's uses.

Don't heal the same person as another medic unless the buddy is taking a lot of damage very quickly.

Remember you are quicker than everyone else except the scout. So don't feel ashamed to run (orrrrrrrrrr exploit this when uberchaining with another friendly medic).

Important
When using the medigun ubercharge to remove sentries, stand infront of your medic buddy to allow them to approach the sentry.
Also talk to your teammates. It helps to have a mic when playing medic. Tell people who you want to charge and when. If your medic buddy doesn't have/use their mic, tell them to scream medic when they want you to deploy, although don't wait for it to be too late on your end.

Here's some links to guides which should help more than me going off the top off my head, I haven't read them though!

http://forums.steampowered.com/forums/showthread.php?t=639355

http://forums.steampowered.com/forums/showthread.php?t=701625

The medic is fast and furious frantic, he is also extremely rewarding once you get the hang of him.

Good uber targets:
Medigun: Soldier, Demo, Pyro
Kritzkreig: Soldier, Demo, Heavy

Once you get the hang of it you'll be topping scoreboards without a fuss. You're only as good as your medic buddy though.

And on second thought, I do have some sniper advice: Aim for the head.

http://steamcommunity.com/profiles/76561197997416909

 

[ID_Unavailable]

I'm the type of guy that only plays on low-grav 100% crit 24/7 orange/purple maps so that I can sticky jump across the map and ninja-bottle random people on the other team.

I can actually maintain a k/d ratio > 1 doing this... but that's not the point. It's just amusing.

That, and coming out of nowhere above an engineer nest when the entire team is pushing at our spawn and raining grenades on them.

As for HL2, I can't wait for Episode 3. My favorite part about Episode 1 and 2 is hearing about things such as the new graphical upgrades they add such as lighting and facial animation features, or how they set up vistas (you know, the big open areas with something for you to look at - the portal storm/bridge scene at the start of Ep 2 counts as one, I'd imagine), or changes made in level design after testing, or how they managed to achieve a certain scripted effect, etc in the developer commentary. And now all of Valve's games get them! Too bad L4D didn't have more than it did in the dev commentary; it only lasts through No Mercy.

 

[Red Exodus]

The best advice I can give for Medic is avoid switching uber targets excessively, there have been times where I could have done a lot if I had an entire uber rather than being fed a piece of an uber only to run out and get killed.

 

[Sensai]

@ F8AL: I can't snipe for beans, but I'm a pretty decent medic.

Make sure you're ubering the right person. This is highly situational, but really there are some classes you're just never going to uber, like Scout, Sniper, Engineer, Spy, and other Medics. The other four all have their uses, but I honestly think that the most damage, or team shake up, that can be caused is with an ubered Pyro. But, like I said, different times for different things.

Make sure you're NOT healing a Spy. This one's pretty self explanatory.

Don't use your uber until the absolute last minute. It's better to use it too early than to die, though, so keep that in mind (and, on the same note, it's better to use it with no one around than die too).

Jump around like crazy. Jump, turn, and be looking for Spies and Snipers at all moments. As the Medic, you're the #1 priority for anyone on the other team worth a ****. You wanna see the threat coming and tell people all about it.

So, in conclusion:

Uber well.
Don't get hit.

[Edit:]

Also, since I've got this long *** post, lemme go 'head and remind everyone that there's a big thread devoted to getting together online found here. If you're interested in playing TF2 with someone, peruse through the Steam IDs found under the computer section and/or leave your own and I'll add it to the first post.

 

[Superstar]

Most people have already answered for you, so I'll give it to you from a competitive standpoint.

Generally, Soldiers and Heavies are the best Medic Buddies to have around. This is because these classes are the ones most capable of protecting you. While Demomen and admittedly Pyro make good uber targets, they can't do **** to protect you. In competitive play, Heavies aren't used all that often unless you're European [probably because US has more snipers?], so in this sort of play you're likely going to stick to Soldiers, usually 2 of them. While one Soldier only makes an adequate defense, 2 Soldiers will tear through anything with your support.

The Soldier and Medic relationship is an interesting one, especially since Soldiers are the most Medic relying class in the game. Medicing a Soldier enables them to do many things. Once the 2nd slowest class in the game becomes one of the fastest when enabled by a Medic. Good soldiers can move faster than even a medic through rocket jumps, but they need a stream of health to do it. Said Soldiers are also capable of rocket jumping leaps and bounds to get past the enemy's defenses, but without a medic, they'll lose too much health in the process.

As a medic, the key is to save alive. While in pubs this won't help you too much, if you have a good buddy, call out anything behind you. This counts double for Scouts, who's biggest purpose is to shut down the Medic. Use your buddies as shields, that's what they are their for. If your buddy, soldier or whatever, starts to fight, do not stop healing him, unless he absolutely sucks or is running into suicide. Too many heavies think they are invincible and jump in front of 3 Soldiers, a Pyro, and a Demoman. Medic or no medic, he's going down.

While RedX says not to switch uber targets, it actually helps a lot. If you release an uber on someone, it lasts 2 seconds, enough time for a Soldier to rocket jump to the top of GPit's Point C and wreak havoc for example. If your buddy is a Soldier and just used 4 rockets, switch your uber to the other Soldier and let him wreak havoc with the rest of the uber. You can also do this if your other Soldier buddy is about to die.

 

[F8AL]

@ Sporkman

Thanks for the helpful post! I just started reading the first guide and learned that the alt fire of the pyro's flamethrower allows you to defect soldier's rockets and demoman's grenades!

:D

EDIT: Alot of the links in the first guide are broken tho...

 

[Superstar]

The alt-fire is exactly why the Backburner sucks. It can't do that. Yet everyone prefers it because it's unlockable.

 

[F8AL]

I also saw while playing TF2 today that you can get lvl 2 weapons? Can someone please explain this to me?

 

[Sporkman]

FAO F8AL:

• As I said I haven't read it/them.
• Levels for weapons don't mean anything at the moment, but will in the future. Possibly the next big update.

FAO Superstar:
The backburner is pretty situational, but can be extremely deadly in the right situation. If you flank a lot I'd recommend it as the Pyro otherwise doesn't really do enough damage to crit often. However, I prefer the flamethrower.

 

[Superstar]

Me too, even though I don't even touch Pyro.

F8AL, sometimes the upgraded weapons are bad. Many people use them, even though they are worse than the alternative.

The left side is the original, right is "upgraded"

Scout:
Scattergun > Force a Nature [Force a Nature is only if you're REALLY bad and NEED the stun, otherwise Scatter has a higher clip and does more damage]
Pistol > Bonk! drink [Bonk is situational and MAY help, but you can't cap points with it, you're disabled after, and it doesn't go far enough to escape Sentries, which you're still knocked back by. Pistol finishes off fleeing Scouts]
Normal Bat > Sandman [well...more like =, since you lose the double jump with Sandman.

Pyro:
Flamethrower > Backburner [cause of airblast]
Shotgun > Flare Gun [More accurate, and at midrange does 30 damage. 90 up close but you got your flamethrower]
Axe < Axetinguisher? [not like you can Axe someone, they'll usually die on their own anyways unless you're swarming a Heavy]

Heavy:
Minigun ? Natasha [after the Natascha buff, it's pretty deadly to Scouts, which are used a lot].
Shotty > Sandvich [unless there are no Medics in the server]
Fists < Killer Boxing Gloves [clear win, boxing someone is unlikely though]

Medic
Needlegun < Blautsauger [+3 Health > Crits]
medigun > Kritzkreig [Invincibility beats crits especailly if you swap to anyone that's dying. Kritz DOES have it's uses though]
Bonesaw < Ubersaw [the same, cept you get 25% uber if you hit with ubersaw, clearly better].

There.

 

[F8AL]

One thing I hate about TF2 is that when your team loses, you can't fire your weapon and the other team runs in and kills you and then desecrates your body. Whenever I lose, I try to run away so they don't kill me.

Btw, any tips for being a spy? My line of thinking is this: cloak, run in-back of enemy lines, become a heavy and then call for a medic and then they won't notice you? Pyros keep on killing me when I'm a spy!

 

[Black Waltz]

One thing I hate about TF2 is that when your team loses, you can't fire your weapon and the other team runs in and kills you and then desecrates your body. Whenever I lose, I try to run away so they don't kill me.

Btw, any tips for being a spy? My line of thinking is this: cloak, run in-back of enemy lines, become a heavy and then call for a medic and then they won't notice you? Pyros keep on killing me when I'm a spy!

Try not to call for a medic or anything because you appear in the chat as another player, to which if said player is smart enough, will alert the rest of the team that you are a spy.

Your disguise really counts on what situation you're dealing with. If you want to kill snipers, disguise as one so it won't seem suspicious that you're rushing up towards a sniper nest. If you want to kill heavies, pyro/demoman is a good choice to make it seem like you will back them up.

 

[Sporkman]

I could make a massive post on how to play Spy but I really can't be bothered. It's something which requires a lot of instinct and bit of luck.

Although the Heavy disguise really isn't a great idea. There aren't really any videos you can watch because I don't think anyone has made any with the various 'recent' spy changes.

Just a few tips:
'B' is last disguise, when disguised it also changes the weapon you appear to be holding to your enemies. For example, you disguise as a Pyro, once disguised you press 3, changing your revolver to your pistol, you press B, and the to your enemies you switch from the flamethrower to the fire axe.

If an engy is turtling behind his sentry and infront of his dispenser, you can stand on the dispenser, decloak, crouch and stab, and then sap the sentry before it can turn round and shoot you. But be careful not to let anyone else see you standing on the dispenser.

Cloak/Decloack isn't instantaneous. You can see your visibility on your HUD image. You also can't do anything for 3 seconds after decloaking.

People who are aware will be able to tell a spy from a friendly (and most people will spy check anyway!) so don't rely on disguises. The best disguises are Pyro, Engineer, Sniper. But they all have their uses.

 

[F8AL]

I'm assuming that you unlock the other weapons for each class by unlocking achievements?

 

[Sporkman]

At the moment yes, but they are trying to decouple the two with the next update.

 

[Mic_128]

I used to love playing as a Spy, but gave up after it seemed that every time I played as one people shot their teammates regularly ( no FF) to see if they were a spy or not :/

 

[Superstar]

Spy's disguises are only really good for Sentries.

What you really need to use are cloaks.

 

[Red Exodus]

Yeah, don't rely on your disguises for anything more than stopping SGs from smiting you and don't be afraid to use your revolver when you've been discovered.

I haven't played Spy well in a long time, I've gotten pretty rusty.

 

[Superstar]

That revolver does an insane amount of damage.

Only problem is that it's hard to aim.

 

[Sensai]

@ Superstar: Are you kidding? The revolver's, IMO, the second most accurate bullet-weapon in the game, right behind the Sniper rifle. Seriously...it's pretty easy (and yet, I still suck with it).

And I have to agree with everyone in your post about what weapon is superior to the other. The thing that many people don't seem to understand is that the airblast is _what makes the Pyro so good_. That and the Axetinguisher. Light someone up (doesn't have to be any time at all), airblast, axe them. They're dead unless they're a heavy or an overhealed soldier.

@ F8AL: There are a few different ways to play Spy. Some people really like cloaking/staying cloaked and simply picking on the slower classes, which works until they rage Pyro or become too paranoid. You do this by picking up lots of fallen ammo, ranging from weapons to full ammo crates to whatever you can. Then, when you see an enemy Heavy, simply swoop down on him for the kill and, right as you stab, cloak and run the hell away.

The problem with this is that eventually, like I said, the heavier classes'll get paranoid. Also, eventually someone's going to wind up picking up ammo from you specifically so you can't do this.

I'm running low on time, so I'll leave you with a few bullets.

~You don't wanna disguise as a heavier, and thus slower, class; it gives you away much faster as people are gonna try to run through you.
~You don't wanna disguise as a Pyro with his flamethrower out because that nose is LONG and it'll give you away. The shotgun works wonderfully.
~You don't wanna disguise as a Scout, because it's obvious that you're not moving as fast as everyone else. That being said, one of the better Spies I know disguises as Scout exclusively.
~You don't wanna disguise as a Medic 'cause there's no Uber bar.

Which leaves you with Pyro (not flamethrower), Sniper, Engineer, Demo (they're slower, but not terribly), and Spy. Probably a bad idea to disguise as a Spy, as well, since they'll see the Spy and either a) become paranoid and shoot you anyways or b) wonder why you're not disguised.

But, as others have said, it's less about the disguise and more about the placement. I like to think myself a pretty decent Spy (and either Black Waltz or Superstar can say yay or nay on that) and I literally tell the other team that I'm a Spy Pyro with a shotgun out. It still doesn't make any difference.

 

[Black Waltz]

Sensai: "GUYS IM ALWAYS SPY PYRO".
*few seconds later* backstab backstab. Lol, good times.

edit: and also, that classic moment yesterday on dustbowl 1 when i was being pursued by a spy and you jumped down from a ledge, backstabbed him and said "you can thank me later!" and went off to backstab more people. had a good lol from that.

 

[Superstar]

@ Superstar: Are you kidding? The revolver's, IMO, the second most accurate bullet-weapon in the game, right behind the Sniper rifle. Seriously...it's pretty easy (and yet, I still suck with it).

Yet people still suck with Sniper [I do too. XD]. It's the most accurate bullet weapon [Revolver], yes, but with it's slow[er] firing rate and lack of spread it gives people little leeway. If the target is dancing around like a madman, you're not likely going to hit very well. You're not supposed to 1v1 everything though.

This contrasts with the Soldier's Rocket Launcher and Scout's spreadergun.

 

[Sensai]

...and also, that classic moment yesterday on dustbowl 1 when i was being pursued by a spy and you jumped down from a ledge, backstabbed him and said "you can thank me later!" and went off to backstab more people. had a good lol from that.

Hahaha. That was really funny, I had forgot about that one.

 

[Superstar]

Don't forget me being backstabbed while STANDING on a spy. @$#!

Dropped on him to fire some rockets and get him in a juggle, but I shouldn't have ever jumped. One of my worst tendencies is to give up my height advantage as a Soldier.

 

[Sensai]

Jeah...I don't remember who that was. I think it was Garian, another friend of mine.

One thing I hate about TF2 is that when your team loses, you can't fire your weapon and the other team runs in and kills you and then desecrates your body. Whenever I lose, I try to run away so they don't kill me.

It's just something fun that the game allows for. Just a little bit of a 'lighten up, this isn't serious business' type thing.

 

[F8AL]

I've found out that I'm more of a support player. Today I was playing the mode where you have to push this cart to the other team's final point or you defend it and stop them from pushing it.

My stats in that game (I was a medic) :

Kills - 7
Deaths - 45
Assists - 75

Did I do good?

 

[kr3wman]

Did good.

Most of the time I play Soldier/Sniper/Scout, But it really depends on map and if I'M attk or def. I play most classes except Medic D:

I also dislike playing Heavy and getting headshotted all the friggin time. Altough I like playing Sniper and headshotting Heavies lulz.

 

[Sensai]

I've found out that I'm more of a support player. Today I was playing the mode where you have to push this cart to the other team's final point or you defend it and stop them from pushing it.

My stats in that game (I was a medic) :

Kills - 7
Deaths - 45
Assists - 75

Did I do good?

Done good, kid. Ya done good.

 

[F8AL]

New update for TF2 (on the PC obv.)

The sniper gets a new weapon : The Huntsman

It allows you to pin corpses to walls. It does not slow down your opponents...

http://kotaku.com/5251141/team-fortress-2s-sniper-ups-his-arsenal-with-the-huntsman

Also : http://kotaku.com/5250896/when-team-fortress-2-meets-super-smash-bros

EDIT : Free game (Speedball 2) on Steam

http://www.cdaction.pl/seriale/speedball_2

1. Enter your e-mail (I recevied mine almost instantly)
2. Just go to your games list and hit "Activate Product" on bottom, then enter the code in the email

Your email should say : "Twoj numer seryjny do gry Speedball 2: XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX" (removed my CD key obv.)

Haven't tried it yet, everyone who's tried it says it works.

 

[Sensai]

Just tried. It works. Thanks for a free game.

(Wonder what this game is.)

[Edit:]

Installed, played for about....3 goals. Don't care for it.

Think of it like playing rugby/soccer in mech suits. That's about the best I can describe it. Free is free...but it's not for me.

 

[F8AL]

lol well the game is not free anymore.

I just checked the website and it has a message saying :

"Due to the fact that the serial numbers to play Speedball 2 were collected mainly by non-Polish people and because of their large pool though, is limited, however, change the rules thereof.

Persons interested in obtaining the serial number to play Speedball 2: Tournament are invited to use our discussion forum and send Private Messages (PW) to a user called Speedball2.
http://forum.cdaction.pl/index.php?act=Msg&CODE=4&MID=66001

This message must be written in English and of course to do this you must have an account on our forums.
The answer will be sent to the numbers game. Time to response may be from several minutes to several hours as the person operating the account will not always have the time and opportunity to respond more quickly."

I don't plan on installing/playing the game so if anyone wants a code for a free copy of "Speedball 2" on Steam, PM me stating why you want it/deserve it. (I only have one code tho)

 

[kigbariom]

I really really really really really really REALLY want HL 2 Episode 1 and 2. I have every other HL game.

What's the best deal for that,
A non-steam copy, which is hard to get working
Or one of those packages. I don't want to buy Orange Box because I have all the other games,
All HL
TF
CS
Portal
etc.

 

[Mith_]

Orange box is on sale for 10 bucks now.

 

[Black Waltz]

Orange box is on sale for 10 bucks now.

Where? It's not on sale for steam.

 

[Sensai]

When you say a 'non-steam copy' I'm assuming you're referring to pirating it. Outside of piracy, there's no way to legitimately get any Valve games outside of Steam.

I'm pretty sure that either buying the Episode pack through Steam or getting the Orange Box is going to be the cheapest way. You say you have all the Orange Box games bar the episodes? Might as well gift 'em to someone ya like.

[Edit:]

Unless, of course, you can't. Why can't you, Sporkman?

 

[Sporkman]

Can only gift Half-Life 2 and Episode 1. TF2 and Portal cannot be gifted.

 

[Mic_128]

When you say a 'non-steam copy' I'm assuming you're referring to pirating it. Outside of piracy, there's no way to legitimately get any Valve games outside of Steam.

What? Yeah there is hard copies of Valve games, has been for ages and for all of them.

You can purchase the "Episode Pack" that has episode 1 and 2 in it. Not sure what the prices are in stores, but it's 10 bucks on amazon.

http://www.amazon.com/Half-Life-2-Episode-Pack-Pc/dp/B001440YD4

 

[Sensai]

Sorry, I didn't make myself clear: there's no way to circumvent Steam completely. Yes, you can purchase games outside of the service, but they still have to be activated through it (at least, that's how it was when I got the Orange Box).

 

[Sporkman]

FAO Sensai: Simply put, it will be because of business models and the fact a lot of people already had Half-Life 2 and Episode 1.

 

[F8AL]

The Sniper gets a new shield!

http://kotaku.com/5255109/the-snipers-new-shield-makes-his-posterior-spy+proof

"Backstabbing spies aren't going to be too fond of the most recent addition to the Sniper's load out. The Team Fortress 2 class has a new friend in the new unlockable "Razorback."

That is to say the Sniper's new shield has got his back. Valve released details on the battery-powered tribal shield today, which looks to prevent instant-kill backstabbing attempts from Team Fortress 2's sneakiest of classes. If a Spy does attempt to backstab a Sniper wearing the Razorback, he'll be greeted with 10,000 volts of surprise."