The Back Room

[The_Mather1]

Yeah, it's just a gamemode of Team Fortress; it's cooperative PvM with a team of up to six players facing thousands of robot versions of the characters. It's pretty teamwork intensive at the last waves, but it's hella fun and lets you try out some interesting strategies.

And it's not really something we have to organize beyond making sure we've added eachother on Steam and playing at the same time, to join the same server we just have to do it as a group.

[archimage_a]

Yeah, so someone just needs to organise a time...else we all stand around waiting for someone else to do something.

[Resistance]

Dibs Engineer

[The_Mather1]

It's often good to have at least two Engineers so that one sentry can help protect the other against busters.

 

I'd usually play Sniper, but since they're useless against huge hordes, I'll either play Pyro or give Medic a try.

 

One tip for all heavy damage dishers (Pyros, Heavies, Demomen and Soldiers) is to purchase health on kill upgrades first. At least for Pyros that can give you the ability to simply stand still in the middle of a horde of melee Scouts and constantly regenerate any damage they do.

[archimage_a]

but since they're useless against huge hordes

 

Challange Accepted

[The_Mather1]

No really, I'm the kind of player that duels against 3 enemy Snipers and wins. When I'm at my best, only 1 in 5 shots miss the enemy heads, but there are simply too many enemies for a Sniper to take out. Even assuming you use the Bazaar Bargain and land a headshot with every single attempt, you'd still only be able to take out a minute fraction of what any other class but the Medic and Spy would. I mean ok, against giants and Über Medics a Sniper can be useful, but other than that the only advantage is how quick it is to dispose of enemy Snipers.

[archimage_a]

If it is suboptimial I will do it.

[The_Mather1]

It's not suboptimal, it's like trying to hammer in a nail with a sponge; no matter how hard you hit or how long you try, it won't help.

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Hammering a nail with a sponge may, at first, appear useless, then you miss and don't damage the wall, and the usefulness of the sponge is revealed.

 

At anyrate, I will make up my own mind after a few games.

[The_Mather1]

You'll see it pretty much right away, the robots use the zerg rush strategy, they arrive at several times the Sniper's firing rate.

[archimage_a]

If I was planning to be the one man team then that might be a problem.

[The_Mather1]

Sometimes that's just what you have to be when a giant arrives, because then you might be the only one left alive.

 

As a Pyro, it's not uncommon for me to singlehandedly massacre hundreds of robots per minute, tanking the entire front-line without a Medic. And as an Engineer your Sentry may be able to hold back the wave for several tens of seconds while your team recuperates or falls back to purchase upgrades.

[archimage_a]

Then obviously the job of the sniper is to make sure that they aren't the last one left alive....

Sure the Sniper might not be the best at killing everything instantly, but someone who is actually giving assistance to other players as opposed to charging off to kill as many enemies as possible.

 

At anyrate, I will make up my own mind after a few games.

[The_Mather1]

Picking off enemy Snipers would serve that purpose, but they are rarely so easily visible that you can do such intentionally. Another thing you can do is kill Über Medics before they can do anything, but since they start the übercharge the moment their buddy takes damage and there are often up to five of them at a time, there's only a very small window of opportunity, and spies are better suited for this since their backstab is faster and more reliable than attempting a headshot from half the map away.

 

Support classes are good in usual gameplay, but despite being my favorites, only the Medic is able to do his part in Mann versus Machine, with a well timed regular or Kritzkrieg über being invaluable.

[Alg]

How well does Demoman do?

[Resistance]

How well does Demoman do?

The demoman is good manoeuvrability and damage at the cost of accuracy. It is single-handedly the best class for MVM ever. It's ideal to have the Loch-n-Load rather than the sticky gun since you have quite a long time between rounds and it is useful to concentrate the bombs on an area where the first boss is going to be.

 

The sniper hasn't been adjusted for damage like the other suboptimal classes (like the spy for example) and is therefore the weakest, most useless class ever. Their charged shots can be useful when dealing with the bosses but only if the team doesn't have a heavy, demoman, pyro or engineer active.

[Nexaduro]

If I can get it to work, I'll be playing Heavy

 

Vheres mah sandvich

[The_Mather1]

How well does Demoman do?

The demoman is good manoeuvrability and damage at the cost of accuracy. It is single-handedly the best class for MVM ever. It's ideal to have the Loch-n-Load rather than the sticky gun since you have quite a long time between rounds and it is useful to concentrate the bombs on an area where the first boss is going to be.

 

The sniper hasn't been adjusted for damage like the other suboptimal classes (like the spy for example) and is therefore the weakest, most useless class ever. Their charged shots can be useful when dealing with the bosses but only if the team doesn't have a heavy, demoman, pyro or engineer active.

It's good, but not the best. Pyros and Engineers with the Widowmaker can do more damage simply because of their ability to dish it out in a constant stream. The highest regen rate for metal is half the firing rate for the Widowmaker, so as long as you keep hitting you can keep firing forever without reloading.

[Earth]

Sniper is great with the Jarate, and Demoman is amazing if there's a medic with Kritz lying around. Is medic taken? I'd be happy to go as that if we need it, but if not I'll go Scout.

[The_Mather1]

Jarate doesn't really regenerate fast enough to be worth it. What's he gonna do in the meantime? Go melee with the Shahahansha or Tribalman's Shiv?

Scout is open, as is Medic if you want that.

[Earth]

You can upgrade it to slow enemies down and to recharge faster. Same with Mad Milk, which is why I use it with the Sandman when I go scout. It's amazing.

[The_Mather1]

It's still takes time. At least with Mad Milk you've got a weapon that's actually useful to back it up.

[Earth]

... You really don't know what you're talking about, do you? With the Jarate slow and the recharge speed fully upgraded, you can throw one every few seconds. the slow for keeping them from getting to the hatch and the mini-crits to kill em dead. Even with the regular sniper rifle, it's a great combo because you can snipe the big bots easily as they're slower and they take more damage from everyone else shooting at them. It's better than the Scouts Marked for death debuff with the Sandman, because it affects an area and more than one target.

[Resistance]

I didn't consider jarate, sniper is now a pretty amazing option.

[Earth]

Yes. And with guns like the Huntsman upgraded for Penetration and such, with bleed, it works wonders.