James

By Pentadact


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Let Tom Francis tell you all what it's like, being male, middle-class and white.
 

 

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"Am I the only one who enjoys the mako combat? I found it nice to be in a pretty easy and fun situation after slogging through all the awesome, but tiring foot combat. I think I had..."

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Steel Yourself

 
 

The grand Team Fortress 2 update goes live tomorrow night, and there’ll be more details on what it contains tonight and tomorrow. I doubt the new community map, cp_steel, will be top of your trying-out priority list, but I hope you’ll get to it eventually. It’s an intriguing, ever-changing map, in a player-driven way rather than a random way like Hydro. It’s no less puzzling than Hydro though (I’m hoping some extra signposts are added in the ‘official’ version), so this clear, simple diagram by Ankich should make everything apparent right away.

In theory:

steelguidegu0

In practise:

steel psst, ich bin's... coco is looking good!

Wait, wait, that diagram is actually helpful. Obviously you need to see it full size. An awesome Valve-style video explains the basics when you first play the map, but what you really need to know is how to play it well. How many of the map-changing points should you try for until you make a dash for the final, game-winning one?

steel psst, ich bin's... shaytan is looking good!

I’ve been playing it whenever I can, and I’m really enjoying it so far. At the moment it feels weighted towards the attackers: we had a perfect round on Blu this lunchtime, where it went into overtime as we were capping C, we got shot off C, all our progress towards capturing C was undone, and just as it hit zero a cheeky Scout lept on E: the only cap that matters. We couldn’t even hold that consistently, but I kept as many of them as I could busy at C and eventually our forces at E won out, and we won with zero seconds on the clock.

Then the teams switched and we got destroyed. So I think we were actually sucking on offense, it’s just an offense-friendly map. But blasting Scouts off that final cap in the middle of a chasm feels like what the Soldier was born to do, so defense is still fun.

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Suraj: I have played this map quite a bit. One excellent strategy for BLU team is to set up a sentry at B at the very beginning. Most of the bog downs occur at point B as it is the easiest to defend. If you can secure it, rest of the game becomes easier.

roburky: I don't think I've been in a game of Steel that's gone beyond point B yet.

Sentry Gun: Anyone who thinks cp_steel is difficult to navigate is likely to be afflicted with downs syndrome. Granted, the map takes a bit of getting used to, but that's the same for all maps, and cp_steel is hardly more complex.

Also, the main reason the map seems offensive friendly is because tons of people don't know how to defend the map. The main thing people don't seem to get is that every area of the map is accessible to both teams at all times, only shortcuts and blockades appear.

Pentadact: That's a little harsh. I don't find it as hard to navigate as some, but there are moments when, defending your last point E, there are no signs from your spawn indicating which way E is. TF2 is unusual in having no map, so its levels need to be extra careful to explain themselves well. You have to learn every map, sure, but that takes longer when the thing keeps changing up on you.

Like I say, it's no less confusing than Hydro, which is TF2's least intuitive map.

I'm not surprised to hear it's usually more defense-friendly than my experience: when my team lost, it was because they all defended E until the attackers were capping D, whereupon they rushed to D just in time to let E get capped. THANKS TEAM. I'll defend the control points they're actually going for alone, shall I?

Tux: The majority of TF2'ers play the official Valve maps, and Steel is a damn sight more complex in comparison to 2Fort, Well or Dustbowl which typically have clusters of complexity around points with multiple but strictly linear routes between them. As for game mechanics, what other popular map has the same cap order as Steel?

I would guess that most people (including me, and I don't have Down's) find Steel 'difficult' to navigate at first and that is where most impressions come from. It's not a question of being 1337 but of recognising the difficultly curve associated with breaking old norms and establishing new rules of play - something Valve has done only very carefully.

Pentadact: Well put.

littleedge: Ever since I started reaidn 1Fort and saw the cp_steel review, and the interview with the maker, I started looking for servers with it playing. I've played it enough, and it's pretty even. E is the perfect size, so no one sentry reaches everywhere, and the other points are perfect, having good defense and offense positions. It may tend to go on BLU's side a bit, but it's nothing like Goldrush's RED/BLU win ratio. cp_steel is agreat map. I've played it 4 times, and I now know most of the routes, so playing it a coupe times lets you have fun.

Koslov: I run one of the 24/7 cp_steel servers and I find it to be a pretty even map. There have been times when one side will totally dominate the other but that comes down to either luck or superb teamwork.

I am actually extremly happy that its going to become a standard rotation map. Its too good not to give to the masses.

Shadowmancer: I still dont know why people are confused with this map there are big arrows pointing to where people have to go.

Mr. Brit: arena mode revealed on official heavy website!!!!!!11!!!!!

 
 

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    Previously, On James...

     
     

    2008 In Games That Were Better Than Other Games     GTA IV Shorts: Cut Off     PC Gamer Podcast: The Future’s Dim     Thoughts On The Team Fortress 2 Christmas Changes     Dear Sir     Extra Mirror’s Edge Levels Blocky, Unrealistic     Dead Space: The Right-Hand Side Of A Good Game     So My Vesper Became Your Chariot     Fallout Girl: The Road To Tenpenny Towers     Revenge Of The Psycho Graverobber     I’m Not Making The Plan Next Time     HERO CLOSET     The Gold Ribbon Goldberg Device     Fallout Girl: Anywhere But Megaton     Bethesda Ruin America     Fallout Girl     Left 4 De-     The American Public Announce That Tom Francis Is Right     Right To Live     Far Cry 2: What I Do Like     Far Cry 2: What I’d Like     Far Cry 2: Impersonation Of A Buddy     New PC Gamer Podcast: Eau De Toilette Radioactifs     Far Cry 2 Released, Forest Fires Up 8000%     !     Deadly Toads Of Death     World Of Goo Is Coming To Steam, Gentlepersons     Trust Me With Your Ears: Volume Three     Plan B Is Complete     The Fate Of The Nation And, More Importantly, My £5     Multiwinia Mathematics     A Stab At Meet The Spy     Clear Screen     Trust Me With Your Ears: Volume Two     Retro Team Fortress 2     Sounds Like The Spy Update Is Next     Status Report     Field Studies 6: The PC Gamer Sporecast     I No Longer Feel I Have To Be James Dean     Plan B Chapter One Is Complete     Field Studies 5: My Spore Review     I Read A Thirty-Eight Page Comic About Google’s Browser     Heroes Of Medicine     Red Versus White     Soviet Power     Plan B Is Live     Trust Me With Your Ears: Volume One     He Looks Truly Mortified     Lumber Yard Wallpapers     Heavy Update Thoughts So Far     Relic Announce That Tom Francis Is Right     Team Fortress 2 Goes To The Rockies     Steel Yourself     Vote Tom Francis In The Games Media Awards     Heavy Update: Sandwiches And Fresh Green Grass     Chris Livingston Stops Considering A TF2 Comic     Seriously, Buy Braid     Braid Is Out On Filthy Consoles     Film Catch-Up     Tweak Fortress     Field Studies 4: Vu To A Thorough Game Demonstration     The Middleman     What’s Happening In Kansas     Mirror’s Edge     Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog     Weltpolizei     The Prop Cigarettes You Smoke, They Show Who You Are     Cutting Verses Down To Size     The Sun Is Shining But We Stay Inside     Mrs D Mrs I Mrs F-F-I, Mrs C Mrs U-L-T     I Propose A Less Serious Vote     Valve Completely Out Of Weapon Ideas, Beg For Help     I Know The Commander Because He’s My Pal     Blizzard Announce That Tom Francis Is Right     Regarding Matt’s Location     Oh My God What The Fuck Barbecue     Cube In Memoriam     Pyro Flare Pistol Thingy Shown In Meet The Sniper     Field Studies 3: My Pretties     Field Studies 2: I Will Save You From The Wangs     Field Studies 1: Sporegasm     Muxed Feelings     You Don’t Have To Be An Engy To Work Here But You Do     Someone Already Made An Ubersaw     Team Fortress 2 Unlockable Ideas     A Riposte To Valve’s Defense Of PC Gaming     Randy Smith Has The Worst Game Design Ideas Ever     Sire, My Regard For You Is This Big     Crysis Suit Modes Revisited     Fractal Hasselhoff And Football Management     What A Shame     The City That Rarely Enters Sleep Mode     The Most Needlessly Complex Terror Plots In Film History     No-One Drove In New York, There Was Too Much Traffic     In One Thousand Two Hundred And Ten New York Minutes     That Band You Like Has A New Thing Coming Out     A Slice Of Fried Gold Rush     Achievement Unlocked: Typed Achievement_Unlock     Bracing Oneself     It’s A Democratic Gaming Landscape, Bitches     Non-Problems Of The Obscenely Over-Privileged     Wanking ‘Not Inappropriate’ To Government Commerce     Dispensing Justice     Getting Owned     This Just In: Frogs Aren’t Morons     Der Uberdoktor     Jon Stewart On Presidential Elitism     I Actually Can’t Stop The Music     Offlyin’     The Life And Inevitable Death Of Bloopi     PC Gamer 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