Team Fortress MegaBirthday Extravaganza - Team.txt
— The Warthog
Robin Walker wrote the v1.0 readme for Team Fortress. Warthog will point out a few things of interest
and clarify anything needed. If you have an interest, here is the .txt file itself
(right click > "save as" to download).
*==============================================================*
* Team Fortress v1.0 *
*==============================================================*
Introduction
------------
TeamFortress is a new QuakeC patch which radically changes
team games. It provides far more incentive for teams to
actually work as a team. Each member of the team has unique
weapons, items, and abilities.
[Footnote: "QuakeC patch" is what would now be known as a 'Mod'
(short for Modification). QuakeC is in reference to the code base
that allowed for "patches" to modify the game code. The term mod
wasn't commonly used for any patches until later in Quake's growth.]
It is most fun to play on a map with two, or more, clearly defined
team fortresses, or bases. We're a little limited until we
write a good map for it, but until then, try some of quake's
levels. Define the team areas, and a goal or two.
For example, we sometimes play on e1m1. Its not a big map, so
we play with two teams of 4. One team's base is the room containing
the end of level slipgate. The other team starts at the bridge
outside, and has to finish the level. The first team has to
prevent the other team from finishing the level.
[That's right, Team Fortress never had a release with maps included. Even though
a few official maps were made (ie 2fort), they were never included in the initial download. All maps
had to be acquired separately. While this was an extra burden and confusing to new players,
it really was a blessing at the same time.. Any new map by a community member that was good, immediately found
a home on tons of servers - and got lots of play. Though it is true, 2fort had about 1/2 the servers.]
Once you have some clear goals like this, and start using the
individual class's abilities to complement each other, it's a hell
of a lot of fun! :)
Oh, and one more thing, I know there are some things in this
patch, such as pipe-bombs, that are in other patches, but they're
here because they're good to have. I'd far rather people complain
about our lack of originality than say "Why the hell didn't they
put in pipebombs?" :)
Oh yeah, don't bother running.
Player Classes
--------------
TeamFortress uses multiple player classes. Whenever a new map is loaded,
all players start as an Undefined class. This class has 1 health, an axe,
and cannot pick up anything. Once a player class is chosen, you cannot
change class for the rest of that level. To choose a class, just use the
appropriate impulse. (See Impulse Summary)
The classes implemented so far are as follows:
SCOUT: Fastest moving class. Can only wear a small amount of the
lowest absorption armor. Limited to the 2 Shotguns and Nailgun.
Low ammo levels.
Carries a Motion Detector, 2 grenades, 3 concussion grenades.
SNIPER: Medium speed. Wears only small amount of armor, upto medium
absorption level. Limited to Nailgun and Sniper's rifle. Medium
ammo levels.
Carries 2 grenades.
SOLDIER: Slowest moving class. Wears large amount of armor, at all
absorption levels. All normal weapons except Grenade Launcher.
High ammo levels.
Carries 4 grenades, 4 nail grenades.
DEMOLITION MAN: Medium speed. Wears medium amount of armor, upto medium
absorption level. Uses the ShotGun and Grenade/Pipebomb Launcher
Carries 1 DetPack, 6 grenades, 4 Mirv Grenades.
COMBAT MEDIC: Medium speed. Wears medium amount of armor, upto medium
absorption level. Uses both Shotguns and the Super Nailgun.
Carries Medikit, 3 grenades, 2 concussion grenades.
Regenerates slowly.
[That's right. v1.0 only sported five classes. The HWGuy, Pyro, Spy, & Engineer didn't come along
for quite a while in later releases.]
New Weapons
-----------
Sniper Rifle:
This weapon is used instead of the shotgun by the SNIPER playerclass. It
uses shotgun shells for ammo, and operates in two modes:
- Single Shot. With a reload time of 3 seconds, this mode is what
sniping is all about. One shot from this will kill most players
except for a heavily armored SOLDIER or DEMOLITION MAN.
- Auto Shot. Although this fire mode does a lot less damage than
single shot and uses a lot of ammo, its great for picking off
a wounded target, or a fast moving SCOUT.
The other tricky bit about the sniper rifle is that it is a rifle. You
can't just snap shot from the hip with it. If you're moving too fast,
the rifle simply won't fire. Besides, you're a sniper, you're not
supposed to be strafe-fighting with soldiers! :)
[You'll note that the description of how the sniper rifle works here is different that it is now.
This is one of the hundreds of changes that happened along TF's development that while in essence didn't
change that much (in TFC, it's still a sniper rifle with an encouraged delay (powerup shot)), but TFS (Team Fortress Software)
diligently tweaked and balanced the weapons and effects to make sure it was a balanced gameplay and every
class had a certain type of advantage to a given situation.]
Grenades
--------
Several new types of grenades now exist, and all classes have access to at
least one of them. They are not to be confused with the grenades used by
the grenade launcher.
Use of these grenades is exactly as one would expect. Pull the pin, throw
it, and wait. After 3 seconds it goes off. Just make sure you throw it
_before_ the 3 seconds are up :)
The grenade types are as follows:
Normal :
Normal grenades simply explode. They are twice as powerful
as those shot from the grenade launcher.
Concussion : Concussion grenades don't actually hurt anyone, they just
blow everyone away from the grenade explosion at a high
speed, and then make them woozy. They're the SCOUT's best
way of escaping from a roomful of enemies. The ensuing confusion
usually gives him enough time to run.
Nail : Nail grenades are good in large rooms. Instead of detonating,
they raise up into the air and hover. They then begin to
rotate while firing nails. After doing this for a few seconds
they explode like a normal grenade.
Mirv : Mirv grenades are room-clearers. When one explodes,
it divides into approximately 15 individual grenades which
then explode.
[Grenades have always been a key feature, and important play element to TF. You'll note that the only
grenades not included are the Caltops, and (for TF) Sniper's Flares. (Also Engineer's EMP, Pyro's Napalm - but those classes hadn't been made yet).
Did you see the bold I placed on 15 individual greanades coming out of a Mirv? Imagine a few
of those being tossed at you today... Ouch.
New Items
---------
Motion Detector:
This item is the SCOUT's best friend. The SCOUT can specify an amount of
cells spent on a scan. The detector displays a list of all enemies/friends
within a distance around the SCOUT. The more energy spent, the larger
the detection distance.
Bear in mind though that the motion detector only detects motion (natch! :)
So it won't pick up stationary or very slow moving players.
You can toggle detection of friends and enemies using impulse 1 and 2 after
the Pre-Impulse. For more information on Pre-Impulses, see the Impulse Summary.
[While a good number of hardcore scouts used the "scanner" in TF, it was deemed not popular enough
to give the development time to implement in TFC.]
Medikit:
The COMBAT MEDIC has a medikit which allows him to heal any other member
of his/her team by hitting them with his axe. Each hit will heal them
10 points and reduce the 'ammo' for the medikit by 10. You can see how
much 'ammo' for the medikit you have by looking at your inventory. If
the COMBAT MEDIC walks over a health box while at maximum health, the
health box will be used to replenish the medikit 'ammo'.
[In a later release, the medic was given a BioWeapon in addition to the medkit. The BioWeapon
would infect everyone (teammates) as would the medikit heal teammates and enemies. So you had
to be careful which one you were using. In another revision, the two weapons were merged (just like TFC's medkit, though it was a much more menacing axe in Quake).]
Detpack:
The DEMOLITION MAN has a Detpack. This is a large-scale explosive device.
When the DEMOLITION MAN places it he is unable to move for 4 seconds
while he primes it.
The timer on the Detpack is set by the DEMOLITION MAN. e.g. After the
Pre-Impulse, an Impulse of 10 sets the timer for 10 seconds. For more
information on Pre-Impulses, see the Impulse Summary.
New Rules
---------
Reloading:
All weapons except the Nailgun and Super Nailgun have clips. When all
the ammo in a clip is spent, the weapon is reloaded. This can take anywhere
from 1 second for the Shotgun to 5 seconds for the Rocket Launcher. Ammo
amounts in the clips varies between weapons.
While reloading, you cannot change weapons.
[In Quake, reloading was not part of the singleplayer or deathmatch gameplay for any weapon. This was another gameplay tweak
added to balance classes.]
Impulse Summary
---------------
The most important impulse number is 254. This impulse gives you a list
of all the impulses in the game. Simply read it.
The only other thing to mention is Pre-Impulses. A Pre-Impulse is an impulse
which must be used before another impulse. For example:
The SCOUT's Motion Detector has a Pre-Impulse of 249. You specify the
amount of energy you want to spend on the scan with an impulse after it.
So if you wanted to use 50 energy to scan, you would do Impulse 249
followed by Impulse 50. The recommended way to do this is to bind
a key to an alias. In the console, you could do this:
alias scan_50 "impulse 249; wait; impulse 50"
bind S scan_50
This would make 'S' do a scan using 50 energy.
Other Stuff
-----------
TeamFortress was written by Robin Walker and John Cook. Various other people
contributed ideas to it. I can't hope to list them all, but here's some of them:
Ian Caughley, Peter Wilson, Jason Grant.
Of course, some of out ideas grew out of random musings by other people
on the net.
Finally, some of the code for TeamFortress was influenced by other people's.
They are as follows:
Mirv Grenade code was influenced by Firewall code from Steve Bond (wedge@nuc.net)
Pipebomb code was influenced by code from AsmodeusB (tazq@sos.on.ca)
What are we working on now?
More classes :) Technician, Observer/Referee,
More items - Personal Teleporter devices, Deployable autocannons(like Aliens :)
- JumpJets, Personal Shields Generators, Rebounding Shield
- Armor protecting against specific weapons
More weapons - BioDiseases,
More grenades - Shock gren.(get out of the water!), Teleport Grenades
Skins for each class
Mdls for all weapons and grenades
And some maps built specifically for this code.
[As you can see, a lot more was planned that never made it in TF (for various reasons), and a lot
more ideas came out eventually that weren't originally concieved.]
If you're interested in using some/all of this code for a server,
then all I ask is one thing: Mail me (address below) and tell me.
I'd like to know if anyone uses it as a server, simply because I'd like
to play a server on the net using this code.
Since I don't have a server...;)
[TFS (Team Fortress Software) originally assumed (and intended) that this mod would only be used
at lan parties. As when it was first released, Quake's netcode... ... sucked.]
I'm happy to help with any questions about the source you have.
One thing that we took pains to do was to make almost _everything_ #defined.
You can 'tweak' 90% the game details just by editing the defs.qc
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