Before starting this, I wanted to apologize for the delay. You are probably asking “Why say sorry, if it wasn’t promised?”. Originally, Community log #2 was supposed to appear in September, a week after the first Community log (published on Discord– will be shared at the end of this article), but due to many changes and preparations for the HAMMER MONTH II, I had to cancel it.

Originally the concept for Community log #2 was to show you the roadmap for this year, as well as that new admins have new ideas and plans for this year and potential plans for the future. The roadmap was supposed to show history of what happened before reorganization, during what I dub the “Great TF2C competitive depression and bot spam” era. Although original community log was scrapped, image of the roadmap and future plans was not! I can show you the unfinished roadmap here, if you are curious, look below at what month this roadmap was supposed to be shown.

Some things that I can say from the scrapped idea that still hold true are:
1. We still have ideas for next events, that is not a Hammer Month. Take a note on blurred text on roadmap.
2. We are thinking to do this event this year. However, we cannot guarantee it.

I hope despite the original log not being finished and eventually being cancelled, the material above can still do the job.
Now let’s talk about the second topic: Behind the scenes of preparing the HAMMER MONTH II.

“Oh man, where to start…”

A frequently asked question to the competitive TF2 Classified community from outsiders is how the mandatory VIP player (the “Civilian” class) is added to the existing game formats like 6s or Highlander. Do we add an extra player to increase the player count of the standard game formats, or do we keep the same player count and sacrifice one of the “normal” class players for the VIP? The answer is yes, and yes. Basically, no definitive decision is given, and both game formats are defined and played by the current competitive TF2C scene. If this sufficiently answered your question, you can stop reading here. I advice otherwise if you are interested in the history and discussions surrounding this unique, staple feature of our scene.

Competitive TF2 Classified has existed since April 2023 in the form of pickup games (PuGs) organized on its own Discord server, and as far as the knowledge of the author goes (member since January 2025), the approach has been to play “whatever” format to include everyone in the PuGs. Once CompTF2C (used synonymously with the competitive TF2C community since the website was published in April 2025) wanted to lay out proper win conditions, game formats and plugin/vscript tweaks for a viable gameplay in preparation of an event that never happened, this was one of the first questions raised. That period also coincided with the Double Down update of EMINOMA, which introduced the VIPR (VIP Race) game mode, and the question became bigger than ever. We looked at the possible answers, and their possible consequences.

“Rise and shine, map makers, rise and shine… Not that I wish to imply you have been sleeping on the job. No one is more deserving of a rest. And all the effort in the Team Fortress 2 Classified communities would have gone to waste until…well, let’s just say your hour has come again. The right mapper in the wrong place can make all the difference in the world. So wake up Map Makers, wake up and prepare Hammer++…” – Jaw-Man

After a one-year break, the Competitive TF2C and TF2C Mapping Communities are teaming up once again to bring you the HAMMER MONTH II ! The goal is to find viable custom maps for the competitive community, and to give map makers a chance to shine in the spotlight (well, may not be the brightest light source, but who knows?). The mappers will find the opportunity to see their maps in action while competitive players test how well they work in a competitive setting.

All the maps we chose for this event are recent community favorites– as fresh as hot bread from your local bakery (or as fresh as human meat, if you’re still feeling the Halloween spirit!). Like the last time, it will last three weeks, with two custom maps for each week. But unlike last time, in Week 3 we are going to have… well, I am not sure if I can disclose it already, but let’s say it’s something special…

The event will take place in CompTF2C pickup games (PuGs). Recently, since the revival, we have been having them once in every two weeks, but for this event, games will be hosted every Friday at 20:30 CET (19:30 UTC) on the European server and a few hours later at 19:00 EST (00:00 UTC) on the North American server, starting from November 6^th, Friday, ending on November 20^th, Friday.

Regardless of your skill level or region, you are invited to join the TF2C Competitive Discord server and take part. Everyone is welcome here!

HAMMER MONTH II maps showcase, a video by starm0nster. Intro footage, music: EMINOMA, Valve.

Since part II of the series in August, CompTF2C has found a new administration under its most recent technician and reviver, Xinayder, and one of its earliest members and a PuG runner since last year, kotowski. Check out the initial announcement by Güven on Discord, and then admin kotowski’s Community log #1 for more insight on the transition.

Now CompTF2C again offers a pickup game schedule. It hosts a North American server once again, and just as the EU one, it is 24/7 online, acting as an MGE server outside of pickup hours. This full-time availability makes spontaneous pickup games a possibility for the future of the scene. The previous financial and technical collaboration with AltTab servers is over– saluting Jaws for his long-time service. Our new technician/host Xinayder has been providing a seamless experience so far. In addition, wider community support is enabled, with Ko-fi tips. You can tip Competitive TF2C once to get the Derby Booster role on Discord for a limited amount of time, or set monthly tips to become a member of Jenkins Coal Co. ☕

Logs

Let’s not hold back the biggest tech news anymore: TF2 Classified has proper logs. In the previous article we reported that some match stats looked promising upon uploading the server logs manually to logs.tf. That was after a test game with bots and had its own drawbacks. Now after a proper PuG, we can proudly show what the first-ever parsed logs of a TF2C game looks like (koth_bagel_rc12, September 12^th, 2026). Xinayder went further and installed F2’s Supplemental Stats v2 and Medic Stats to the servers, which both worked, and gave us the first extended stats of TF2C in the next PuG session.

Source engine games never stop surprising us players in revealing ever more depth to a class, weapon or mechanic we thought we fully knew about. Firstly, there are the gimmicky depths. Many would have memories of watching B||oodsire’s Meet the PROro 2 and witnessing a reflect jump for the first time, or seeing a friend sentry sprint in-game and being left completely puzzled. These techniques certainly require effort and mastery, but the more striking fact about them is how the mechanic has always been a part of the engine, but somehow never appeared to you as a possibility. Much like bunnyhopping remaining hidden for years in Quake engine, Source’s ancestor. Then there is the other kind of depth, which is reached by repeatedly digging into familiar ground. Consider an era when players walked to mid fights, and the good old sticky jumping giving rise to the first roll-out schemes in the hands of Demomen like ryb^{1, 2a, 2b} and Byte who went the extra mile of finding and perfecting faster and more difficult options through choky layouts like Badlands’. Or top Medics like TheFragile* insisting on using Crusader’s Crossbow despite the drawbacks of its initial design, and proving to everyone that it is viable.

Team Fortress 2 Classified still offers a vast area when it comes to such exploration. And the latest YouTube video of Vooglet shows us the ultimate example of the sweaty, hard-to-reach type of depth. Vooglet plays and studies arcing R.P.G. Soldier, and he has been since six months before the game’s Steam release. The first image that comes to mind upon hearing the term is the blind, random rocket spam you stumble upon on public servers. In Vooglet’s hands, however, it becomes the Artillery subclass, or Arcsman as he calls it. He goes and figures out, for various positions in each map, where to place his crosshair in order to deliver rockets onto critical locations– like Counter-Strike players do for grenade throws. He records these findings on cheat sheets to use later in games, some of which he shares with CompTF2C.com readers through this article.