Team Fortress
TeamFortress is a team-based, goal oriented modification of Quake. It implements a variety of character classes, each with unique abilities and equipment. Furthermore, TF allows for a number of different gameplay modes and up to four teams. Exact goals for a level are dependent upon the level; most maps are capture the flag, but some have other goals like releasing gas or damaging structures.
The original release of TF, version 1.0, was made in July 1996 -- making this one of the oldest mods still in wide use. Since then, the TeamFortress team (now incorporated as TeamFortress Software) has added a huge number of features, including QW support, more classes, and a complete set of skins for the various classes and their equipment. The current release is 2.5. The advanced features of TF were once somewhat inaccessible to inexperienced Quake players because of the dependence on binding keys. The newer releases fix this problem through the extensive use of menus.
The TeamFortress classes include the Scout, Spy, Sniper, Pyro, Soldier, Heavy Weapons Guy, Demolitions Man, Medic, and Engineer. Each class has advantages, disadvantages, and unique abilities. Furthermore, each class carries different types of grenades.
- The Scout is the fastest moving class, but also has the least powerful weaponry and the weakest armor. He can scan the area for enemies or friends with his motion detector. His grenades, the flash and concussion grenades, do little damage but make it difficult for enemies to attack him. His primary weapon is the nail gun.
- The Spy is medium speed with medium-weak armor. He has the ability to either become invisible or to disguise himself as a member of the enemy team, depending on the server setup. His disguise is abandoned as soon as he fires, picks up a flag, etc. The Spy can also feign death. He carries the super shotgun, the nail gun, and two new weapons. The knife is used like the axe, except it does twice as much damage and six times as much damage if used from the back. The tranquilizer gun slows the enemy down and reduces his firing rate. Finally, the Spy carries both regular hand grenades and gas grenades which give the enemies hallucinations.
- The Sniper moves at medium speed and has the weakest armor. His unique ability is his weapon, the sniper rifle, which does an immense amount of damage at long range. However, the Sniper must hold almost completely still in order to use the sniper rifle and it has a slow reload rate. The Sniper also has a nail gun and the ability to fire his sniper rifle on fully auto, which does much less damage but is far better at close range. The Sniper carries regular hand grenades and flares.
- The Pyro is medium speed with medium-strong armor. His special weapons are the flamethrower and the incendiary cannon (rocket launcher), both of which set enemies on fire. His armor is fire resistant. He carries regular hand grenades and napalm grenades which set areas on fire.
- The Soldier is slow speed with excellent armor. His best weapons are the super shotgun and the rocket launcher. He carries regular hand grenades and nail grenades which spew projectiles in a circular area.
- The Heavy Weapons Guy is the slowest class, but also the most heavily armored. His primary weapon is the autocannon, which fires shotgun shells at an incredible rate. However, it requires cells and a few seconds for the autocannon to 'spin up' and begin firing, and the HW Guy must stand still while he is firing it. He carries regular hand grenades and MIRV grenades, which spew multiple grenades upon exploding.
- The Demolitions Man is a medium armor, medium speed class. He has a grenade launcher which can also be used to fire remotely-triggered pipebombs. Furthermore, he can set detonation packs which will clear an entire room. The Demoman carries regular hand grenades and MIRV grenades.
- The Medic runs at medium speed and wears medium armor. He can heal his teammates and give diseases to his opponents. He also carries the super shotgun and the super nailgun. The Medic carries regular grenades and concussion grenades.
- The Engineer is a medium speed, lightly armored class. He can repair his teammates' armor with his 'spanner'. Each Engineer can also build one sentry gun (an automatically targeting but stationary gun platform) and one ammo/armor dispenser (which generates ammo and armor for team members to use). The engineer has the super shotgun and the railgun, which is a medium-speed firing medium damage weapon. He has regular hand grenades and EMP grenades, which detonate their target's ammunition.
To play TeamFortress you will need to download the following files:
- TeamFortress 2.5 (client and server): the main package.
- TF 2.5 Fix: a fix for a couple of minor problems missed in the initial release.
These files are compressed into the "zip" format, and must be expanded and installed. TUCOWS has a great collection of compression utilities, and I would recommend trying WinZip by Nico Mak Computing, Inc.
To install the TF files, use a compression program to unzip the files into a directory named "c:/Quake/fortress/" (assuming Quake is installed on your C drive). WinZip will allow you to create a directory automatically, but other programs require additional steps. Once the files are in your Fortress directory, you will need to add a line to the command line to tell Quake where to look for additional information. The line for Team Fortress should be "-game fortress".
Spotlight
TeamFortress Mission Control is the official home page for Team Fortress. Hosted by PlanetQuake, it is the first place to go for the latest TF-related information and files.
Lock and Load is a hosting service that provides web space to many excellent Team Fortress pages. There is no one definitive page for Team Fortress, but this site hosts almost all of the best contenders.
Text by David
"Ender" Brewer
This page is maintained by Darren L. Tabor,
aka DaKoTa
