CATEGORY: Event

“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.

TFC visiting FF visiting PF2 visiting TFC visiting PF2 visiting FF visiting TFC in return.

Three Fortress titles making up one of the closest related kinship within the realm of Fortress games are visiting, and being visited by, each others’ communities on three game nights over a week’s duration, in the 30^th year of the Team Fortress saga. This is as much of a collaboration to amplify the fun as it is a competition to prove their mastery over the others. How well a Team Fortress Classicer performs in Source engine? What about the Fortress Forever folk in GoldSrc? Can the usual Pre-Fortress 2 enjoyer pull off bunny hopping? All of this and more will be answered during the Classic Revival Week!

Fortress Forever Night ♾️
🗓️February 25^th Wednesday, 21:00 CET (20:00 UTC)
🔗Atlantia Vanilla Server #1 | 164.132.202.176:27012
Backup server: Atlantia Vanilla Server #2 | 164.132.202.176:27013
📣Discord server (Official community)

Team Fortress Classic Night 🪖
🗓️February 28^th Saturday, 22:00 CET (21:00 UTC)
🔗Royston Vasey | tfc.roystonvasey.org.uk or 51.195.252.162:27015
Backup server: [APG] Battle Fortress | 54.36.177.240:27020
📣Discord server (Royston Vasey)

Pre-Fortress 2 Night 💀
🗓️March 4^th Wednesday, 21:00 CET (20:00 UTC)
🔗[EU] FortressWorld | 57.129.123.44:27015
Backup server: [US-EAST] FortressWorld Backup | 108.175.8.158:27017
📣Discord server (Official community)

A Full Match of competitive TF2 Classic is played on August 30, demonstrating the unique game modes and how they are made viable with customized server tech.

The amount and quality of work put on strategies, map talks and map call outs in preparation of the match, and the resulting gameplay footage have exceeded our expectations; all of it contributing significantly to our collective know-how on the unique modes. Here is the complete set.

A Full Match: Viewer’s Guide
Overview of how 6v6+ format (including the VIP) and the TF2C-unique game modes play out.

A Full Match: POV Videos
Includes 🥯 koth_bagel, ⚓ vip_harbor, 🐓 td_sunnyside, ☔ vipr_drizzle
silvanFull POV
sagekoth_bagel vip_harbor vipr_drizzle
jrFull POV

A Full Test Match | August 23
Includes 🏔️ dom_sawtooth, vip_harbor, td_sunnyside (1 half)
silvan Full POV

Map talk including call outs, by Wag and silvan
Provisional positioning for vip_harbor by Wag and silvan – RED on 1st, BLU on 1st, RED on 2nd
Blank map overviews for call out image creation by Jaws – vip_harbor, vipr_drizzle, td_sunnyside, dom_sawtooth
Provisional call outs by Güven – td_sunnyside

After the TF2 Classic competitive scene decided to go more structured this year, the fundamental questions of rules, win conditions and game formats were raised. Like, how would one play the asymmetric Territorial Domination (TD) maps that spawns teams at random points at round start, and how many players a team would be composed of if the non-class Civilian (VIP) was involved… Not only were these formulated, but also the required server plugins and configs were developed until April to make competitive TF2 Classic possible and viable.

The pick-up games organized regularly already provided testing grounds for most of CompTF2C’s ruleset and server tech, and constant improvement followed the initial release. However, a full scale test was still due, and that is what we present today: A Full Match. In a match that will be played in the 6v6+ format, simulating the so-called sit out mechanic (of the “plus” format) for the Civilian (VIP) players, all four unique game modes of TF2 Classic will be demonstrated competitively: VIP, VIPR (VIP Race), TD and DOM (Domination).

You will be able to enjoy this show match live in the STV server (140.238.103.207:27021) on August 30, Saturday at 20:00 UTC (22:00 CET or 16:00 EST). Read the guide below for what you will witness that night.

The HAMMER MONTH, announced in May and played throughout June, is now over. This crossover event between the TF2C Mapping and TF2C Competitive communities brought enough participants to playtest experimental modes like 4teams (koth_blender by Milkman67) and a new take on domination with constantly moving objectives (dom_carts, by Voodoo People) in an organized competitive setting for the first time; while map makers gained a whole different perspective by observing 6v6, prolander and highlander gameplay on their maps for the first time.

One thing is clear: The TF2C Mapping Community is no one trick pony. Not only did multiple maps show good game flow, but the quality of modelling and artistry was also shown to be top notch. Both experienced competitive players and newcomers alike played through the event, with many of them providing valuable feedback in the post-event poll. Let us now look at that data.