Odd Gameplay Facts
Posted: Sun Jun 23, 2013 12:47 am
Over the hours, I have amassed some knowledge of TF2's more subtle gameplay facts. I'm sure there are more, so feel free to add them in:
Uber duration can vary: Total uber time on a single player is 8 seconds. If you switch the uber to another player, your uber duration is cut short by 0.5 seconds for ever second you uber that player. Basically, you can cut your uber duration in half by ubering three players at once. Oops.
Uber charge rate: Uber charge rate varies (and it's different than healing rate!). Charge rate is much slower when the player being healed is also being healed by another medic or by a dispenser. Don't have two medics healing the same person if you want to charge uber fast! The fastest way to build uber charge is by having a single medic constantly heal a player who is not at 100% health.
Uber-Disabling Taunts: The Holiday Punch for Heavy and The Huntsman for Sniper have taunts that will stop a player who is ubered. Very annoying. But did you know that a pyro's airblast will cancel out this effect? Of course, this only happens with a pyro on the opposite team as the uber, so you don't want to do it!
Uber vs. Teleporter: Don't ever stand on opposing team's teleporters! Even if you're ubered, you can still be killed if an opposing player uses the telporter...I wonder if a disguised spy can telefrag an uber from their own team....?
Pyro Reflects: In addition to rockets and grenades, pyros can also airblast and reflect jarate, flares, arrows and even rockets from sentries.
The Loose Definition of a back-stab: Spies can jump up from below if you are on a ledge and stab your feet for a "back-stab" - very annoying.
Random Crits Aren't So Random: Each weapon has a different probability for doling out a nice juicy random crit. The base for most weapons is 2% with most mele weapons being much higher (15-20%). However, you get extra bonus probability by doing more damage. For every 100 damage you do over the previous 20 seconds, you get an extra 1.25% chance of getting a crit, up to a max of an extra 10% on top of the base percentage. So if you ever wondered why one player seemed to always be getting crits, this is why.
Target Damage Location: With the obvious exception to sniper rifles and the spy's knife (and a few spy revolvers), it doesn't matter where on the target you are aiming. A shot on the pinky toe is the same as a head shot as far as a heavy is concerned.
Range Effects on Damage: Weapon damage decreases with range (except for sniper rifles, of course). Damage actually decreases in a sinusoidal fashion down to 50% of the base value (the formula is different for things like rockets and grenades), but the real catch is that they add in a randomizing effect that increases/decreases the range used to calculate damage by +/-15% for each shot. So there will always be some variability in damage dealt.
Weapon Spread: Weapon spread determines how each shot from a weapon travels. Basically, any hitscan weapon (one that fires "bullets") except a sniper rifle will have some "spread" that causes it to randomly travel away from the actual aiming point. The further away the target, the larger the spread becomes. So while a heavy at long range still does 50% of base damage for each hit (see above), the weapon spread can be so large that very few bullets ever actually hit a target even when the cross-hair is aimed perfectly. Now you know why I hate heavies that stand at the last capture point on Dustbowl and fire away! Even with perfect aiming, you are doing about 5 damage every few seconds - essentially nothing.
So who has some more?
Uber duration can vary: Total uber time on a single player is 8 seconds. If you switch the uber to another player, your uber duration is cut short by 0.5 seconds for ever second you uber that player. Basically, you can cut your uber duration in half by ubering three players at once. Oops.
Uber charge rate: Uber charge rate varies (and it's different than healing rate!). Charge rate is much slower when the player being healed is also being healed by another medic or by a dispenser. Don't have two medics healing the same person if you want to charge uber fast! The fastest way to build uber charge is by having a single medic constantly heal a player who is not at 100% health.
Uber-Disabling Taunts: The Holiday Punch for Heavy and The Huntsman for Sniper have taunts that will stop a player who is ubered. Very annoying. But did you know that a pyro's airblast will cancel out this effect? Of course, this only happens with a pyro on the opposite team as the uber, so you don't want to do it!
Uber vs. Teleporter: Don't ever stand on opposing team's teleporters! Even if you're ubered, you can still be killed if an opposing player uses the telporter...I wonder if a disguised spy can telefrag an uber from their own team....?
Pyro Reflects: In addition to rockets and grenades, pyros can also airblast and reflect jarate, flares, arrows and even rockets from sentries.
The Loose Definition of a back-stab: Spies can jump up from below if you are on a ledge and stab your feet for a "back-stab" - very annoying.
Random Crits Aren't So Random: Each weapon has a different probability for doling out a nice juicy random crit. The base for most weapons is 2% with most mele weapons being much higher (15-20%). However, you get extra bonus probability by doing more damage. For every 100 damage you do over the previous 20 seconds, you get an extra 1.25% chance of getting a crit, up to a max of an extra 10% on top of the base percentage. So if you ever wondered why one player seemed to always be getting crits, this is why.
Target Damage Location: With the obvious exception to sniper rifles and the spy's knife (and a few spy revolvers), it doesn't matter where on the target you are aiming. A shot on the pinky toe is the same as a head shot as far as a heavy is concerned.
Range Effects on Damage: Weapon damage decreases with range (except for sniper rifles, of course). Damage actually decreases in a sinusoidal fashion down to 50% of the base value (the formula is different for things like rockets and grenades), but the real catch is that they add in a randomizing effect that increases/decreases the range used to calculate damage by +/-15% for each shot. So there will always be some variability in damage dealt.
Weapon Spread: Weapon spread determines how each shot from a weapon travels. Basically, any hitscan weapon (one that fires "bullets") except a sniper rifle will have some "spread" that causes it to randomly travel away from the actual aiming point. The further away the target, the larger the spread becomes. So while a heavy at long range still does 50% of base damage for each hit (see above), the weapon spread can be so large that very few bullets ever actually hit a target even when the cross-hair is aimed perfectly. Now you know why I hate heavies that stand at the last capture point on Dustbowl and fire away! Even with perfect aiming, you are doing about 5 damage every few seconds - essentially nothing.
So who has some more?