Team Fortress 2 Maps: Likes and Dislikes!

The thing for todays update is this. After playing TF2 for a month, spending most of my time on the default VALVE maps (Only a few custom maps that are not an eyesore/badly released/custom gimmicks are worth mentioning at the moment) it is time for me to spill my guts (not really, My keyboard is crap as it is these days) and tell the interweb what I like, dislike and wish to see on these battlefields of comical gruesome genocide.





Name: cti_2fort

My Likes: Ah, 2fort. One of my personal favourites and one of the only official Capture The Flag type maps VALVE has seen fit to bestow apon the TF2 community. Based on the classic Quake Era of Team Fortress with a new interior and exterior look that fits the style of TF2 like a glove as a deranged Pet Detective once said and despite the clean sterile look in the picture, soaked with the blood of many who defy me. Why do I love 2fort? On a good server with a decent team, it is a map that can make a game last longer than the usual 20-15 minutes. This is however, also a bad bad thing I'll cover below too. The old school game mode and time extension are not the only plusses. I love how VALVE decided to give us several ways in getting into the enemy base as a lovely fuck you to all those annoying campers out there.

Seeing as I mainly a Pyro Class player, 2fort is my favourite map to defend the base in simply because of the fact there is so many routes to ambush, hide and backtrack. Think you and your Heavy buddy is going to push through because our Engineers are stacking turrets somewhere outside our base? Wrong buddy. Not if I set you alight via dropping from the grate from the sniper deck interior space.

My Dislikes: The stalemate, Oh god the stalemate! Nothing is more annoying playing a game of 2fort where you have a team full of idiots on both sides. People seem to sometimes think that TF2 is HL2 Death Match. It isn't. Your kill/death ratio does not count. It is not on the scoreboard, so it doesn't count. Quit camping, and either be a Scout or Spy and blow up all those stacked freaking turrets now. Stalemates in all TF2 maps are bad, but a 2fort Stalemate can lead to hours of repitition which leads to boredom.

I also despise the fact the open decks of the fort appeal to the whiny kiddy bitch sniper every gamer has in hit. When you see more than 2 Snipers on the deck, or more against a single player panic, go Spy, stab and end the insanity.

Personally, I think 2fort should have another route added in and VALVE should make a slightly larger version for servers that go over 24. Also, more things to blow up plz :(. And living, gibbable chickens.

Name: cp_well

My Likes: Well might be my favourite control point map by look alone. A train yard that sort of reminds me of the good bit of the Blue Shift Half Like expansion between two factories. The battle for the middle control point is also amusingly epic, as you must not be also aware of being out flanked by enemy team members but you must awesome beware of the two trains of death. Nothing is more amusing (Or annoying) than falling prey to these vicious beasts because through the miricle of coding VALVE have made them appear when you least need them to.

The design of the map is also a haven for those Demoman and Soldier chappies who love to jump to higher places. You can easily get into the building for the middle point of the map to gain the advantage at the possible cost of scorched toenails or missing the odd ankle. This map is also chock a block full of places when an eagle eyed Engineer can set up his or her turret. My Sentry kill cherry was lost on this map, just outside to the left of the middle spawn. A Pyro met my level one turret. Sigh.

It also has some watery bits where Spies and Scouts can sneak through. The reason for the name in the first place. It also have huge fricking missles outside the HQ spawn rooms. Awesome.

My Dislikes:

This map is a pain in the ass if you want to be sniper. Seriously. The Battlements are oddly designed, as if they were thrown in at the last minute. Also, the chutes that lead to the moat have an irritating one way only feature. Once you go out, you stay out. A shame if you leap in after some Pyro BBQ's you. Also, like 2fort this map suffers sentry camping. Sentry camping is where several Engineers place turrets right on the door stop of the enemy HQ. Which is sort of, you know, unfair.

It wouldn't suck if the Battlements for snipers were not such a death trap. Aside from that, Well is pretty much an okay well balanced map. It could also do with a few more middle points, but that could go under an extension sort of thing.

Name: cp_granary

Another control point map, which takes place at a Granary Silo. Which is pretty unique place to fight a violent epic battle. It also full of Cargo Containers, another VALVE art fetish from the days of Half Life. Those Cargo Containers are easy to access with the right kind of jump. Like well, it shares the same sort of design. Neutral point in the middle, Red and Blue base at the far top and bottom. In fact, I admit when I first started playing this map and well I kept mixing the two up. It is a common mistake.

This map is gold for Soldiers and Heavies, as death is impossible to escape from the wide sweeping corridoors. The Snipers also have a few choice places to snipe from. Also, it wouldn't be a map set in the Half Life universe without vents to crawl around, which makes Spy infiltration a lot easier. The middle neutral control point of the map is the perfect battleground for the epic Scout Rush. Plenty of cover to hide behind and jump on.

Dislikes: None. Seriously. Granary is the perfect map for a quick TF2 fix, It looks good and adheres to classic map design. No class is gimped on this map. All it needs is the odd pile of grain you can trample into the bloody corpses of your slain foes for the lol.

Name: cp_dustbowl

My Likes: Another Quake era map redone for the fans, Dustbowl is a map of tension and bloody conquest in dusty late gold rush eras mines. The map is devided into several different areas which can be unlocked if the Red teams advances against the Blu team by capturing the single point. Blu team can win by simply keeping the Red team back as the clock counts down. Like Gravel Pit, teams should be stacked by the classes of the offensive or defensive varieties with Blu and Red.

Visually, the map is excellent. It however, could do with a little bit more bloom. Dustbowl is THE map for close combat. If you want to kill a guy with a melee weapon, this is your map. The best section, in my opinion for the map is the second one with the mine and the little outpost outside it. Players here can easily perfect their skills as Demomen as Medic, as either class is a must for both sides during the game.

Each little section also has an alternate route for attack, which like always is quite handy.

My Dislikes: The first section. The control point is simply too close to the spawn point. Seriously. A short walk away. In other words, a good offence can simply sweep away what little defence is assembled because of the BLU team is trying to camp the main spawn point entry way. This doesn't work, becuase they forget the side entry point and the small canyon entry point. Moving that point back a little would make the map last longer on certain rounds.

Name: cp_gravelpit

My Likes: This is one of the new boys, a different type of control point compared to the simple go to a point and stand there. Gravel Pit, a map set in a quarry somewhere Midwest America needs you to take a certain point first. To unlock one of the other points, or both. In other words, this map promotes pure offence or pure defence. In other words, hardcore Heavies, Demomen, Pyro, Soldiers and Medic will love this map. Sniper, Engineers or Spies will not.

Point A, B and C are completely unique. All the CP are in structures, from easy to defend (Point B, which is usually the bloodiest of the map) to the hardest to defend (Despite being on a tower, a simple Pyro can easily ruin every defenders day ontop of Point C). A series of tunnels and the odd warehouse leads to all areas of the map which hosts the points which leads to some interesting ways of getting there (Go the riskier bloody route, or attempt a sneak attack with a spy?)

Gravel Pit is also one of those maps scattered with handy bits of cover of both sides, because, you WILL need it. Especially if you are the attacker. Demomans grenades love bouncing off stuff, including the odd rock and landing at their own masters feet.

My Dislikes:

Turrets should not be allowed to be built ontop of point B's freaking roof. That is annoyingly unfair, since it makes cover worthless. I don't mind death from above from the rockets of some Soldier or a Snipers bullet, but a Level 3 turret just makes the grinding assault annoyingly worthless. Also Valve, do something about Point C. At least make the platform on the top a little bigger.

Name: tc_hydro

My Likes:

Hydro is a biiiiig map. Really big map. Several different maps combined with one. It also has another VALVE art staple. A Dam, A Dam that suspiciously looks like the one in Half Life. You know the one. Territorial Control is an interesting sort of gameplay mode. Red and Blu team own half the map and are given a random section to right in at the start of the game. This happens until most of the map is taken. To do this, you must take the singe control point on the enemies team while guarding yours. This map is one of the most unique in my opinion, and Hydro maps when both teams have decent skill can take the longest or next to 2fort, most likey to end in sudden death themed Stalemates.

I can't quite pin down the area I like of this map. It is the one with the dish ontop and the CP inside, where you can attack the enemy CP from the slope or go into the bedrock of the canyon. I suspect a lot of VALVE artists had Half Life waves of nostalgia. I wouldn't be surprised if Red and Blue were fighting over construction rights of Black Mesa it very self.

Demomen players will espcially lover the interior control point node areas of the map.

My Dislikes:

With a really poor team, Hydro is not fun. But that is pretty much true in most maps. I have no other dislikes for Hydro really. This map must have got the most attention during design because it has areas for everything. Heights and cover for Soldiers and Heavies with ze Medic, narrow rock corridoors for the Pyro, nice little bits of cover for Snipers and Sentries to hide and plenty of alternate routes for Spies to cloak and sneak though.

The only bit of improvement I suggest is adding a new area, where we're fight ontop of the very Dam it self.

In the future, when Badlands and Goldrush are released, I'll do an extension for this article and bring up a few of the best custom maps for TF2 as well.

Mod Play: Empires 2.0

Yes boys and girls, it it is time once more for another edition of Mod Play!

I have a gun! At last! Now world, you put YOUR hands up!

Name: Empires 2.0

Game: Half Life 2.

Type: Multiplayer FPS/RTS Hybred.

War! Hah! Good God, What is it good for? Fun apparently...

Now Empires has a small history, It was originally a Battlefield 1942 Mod which would explain the slight resemblance to the Models, The grid map and the diverse list of user friendly mechanised killing machines which you don't usually see much bigger than a few vehicles in your average HL2 Mod. Vehicles aside from the Buggy and Air boat were rare in HL2 mods because of the SOURCE engine at the time, but the Mod as you can see has worked around such problems and benefitted greatly with a huge amount of engine upgrades since 2004.

Soldiers in Empires are attracted to free ammoz like gazelles to watering holes.

The FPS bit is also quite BF1942-esqe. You and your fellow grunts must capture the Refineries dotted around the map while icing as much as the enemy possible with various weapons and vehicles. The RTS bit, with the Commander, places buildings down, organises the Squads of Infantry to actually do something instead of the usual anarchy in these sort of games for rewards that unlock the further skills for their classes (we'll get into that in a little bit) and help win the game for their side. The Commander (Who at the start of each round is elected) also has a RTS view of the entire map without fog of war inside his own vehicle, the Command Vehicle. If this is eliminated, the game is lost. Destroying the Command Vehicle is one of the easier ways to win a game. The other is to simply smash the opposite teams tickets down to 1 and kill all the Engineers to stop them re spawning. The attrition way. Commanders can also research and upgrade their teams technology giving them better vehicles, improved body armour and improving the damage dealt to the enemy forces with ease.

I am the Angel of Death. There will be no survivors.

They flushed away a perfectly good Engineer, only a little blood on him!

There are three different games modes, The RTS mode where bases must be built and tickets wore down until you smash the enemy commander with your bigger better armoured army as well as the classic Conquest where your team must capture strategic areas of the map in man on man urban combat. The 3rd mode, escort I have sadly not played but with a title like that I imagine it has something to do with keeping your Commander alive and moving.

Lots of manly uniformed men holding manly guns about to do a deal of great manly things Like dying manly! and shooting manly!

In fact, Empires was one of the first FPS multiplayer game with the RTS Commander Modded in modern times . So when you are having fun as the Commander in Battlefield 2 or 2142 thank Empires for adding this little system, otherwise we'd have something cheaper and less appealing. It actually is sort of fun, when you listen to your Commanders orders and get something right. Don't be too upset somehow is a Donkey instead of a Lion is elected leader and has no idea what the hell is doing. Empires is also one of the games where a Mic is incredibly useful. The interface DOES of course come with an excellent menu of voice commands but a mic usually makes thinks easier getting your Commanders attention and also adds a layer of amusement to the game.

We have got to stop conscripting the blind, they are terrible at this.

We know of the bone of the game, you cry, but what of the meat? Empires 2.0 has lots of it. In addition to over 12 unique maps for the game, all of them very well done (some Imported and Retooled for the SOURCE Engine from the BF1942 version) the two armies of the game the Northern Faction (Crazy Yellow Loving Slav Rebels) and the Brenodi Empire (Evil-Commie Nazi's!) have two unique styles with not only their appearances, but with their vehicles, weapons and buildings too. Each side however, has the same four combat classes. Rifleman, Scout, Engineer and Grenadier.

Two APCS depart a Brendoni Empire base, destined to spawn nubs into war!

You can ride shotgun in most of the vehicles, and shoot from the top too!

Rifleman is the jack of all trades, master of none. He can choose between the normal Rifle, the heavier offensive version or the MG for defence and suppressive fire. Scout is your typical Artillery Spotter and Saboteur Commando. Engineer can build buildings and walls, heal and revive fallen comrades and upgrade turret defences with ease. Grenadiers are masters of everything explosive. They can drop bombs onto campers with Mortars, Shatter armoured hulls with their Anti-Tank Rocket Launcher or drop mines that are hazard to man and machine. All classes can help an Engineer build up structures and walls by helping with the welding by pressing E.

The Engineers humble pocket Calculator, creator of Empires.

Engineers can drop Ammo and Health Supply crates for Infantry

for when the base armoury is too far away or the player is too fat/lazy.

The FPS bit gets even more diverse with classes and skills as well as selectable weapons. For example, after joining Bravo Squad I choose to be a Scout. Tapping the B key, I choose my first skill (You get a free skill point for joining and working with squads, which makes not going solo even more appealing) cloak and then instead of the sniper rifle grab a machine pistol and Flash bang Grenade. I catch a ride with the APC leaving the base, leave halfway through the intended route and sneak behind enemy lines to disrupt Engineers Turret production by cloak, shoot and sabotage. As I gain points for the kills and damage, I will soon unlock up to three more skills for myself as I gain Rambo-esqe experience from the battlefield.

Tense stand offs between Tanks overrunning Engineer outposts happen a lot.

The Mortar, A Campers worst nightmare.


Vehicles in the game can also be customised. You can choose what kind of engine to put in your APC to make it faster or go up hills better, or to make your tank heavier with that extra grenade launcher. Most vehicles can be multi-crewed, the most useful vehicle in the game next to the Commanders little Camper van is the APC, which is a mobile spawn point players can spawn from as long as it is standing on its own two wheels. Vehicles cost resources to spawn and create, and unlike BF1942, wasting one is a pretty serious offence. Luckily, Commanders have an option to limit what the Vehicle Factory can produce, or just decide what needs to be built so rounds are not spoilt by smacktards building waves of pointless jeeps.


Two cannons good! One cannon bad!

When playing the game, you will indeed have some excellent moments like I have had and will keep on having. Desperately building a wall with two Engineers under enemy APC turret fire, watching in satisfaction as you dive behind cover a fully loaded Northern faction jeep rolls over your mine, sneaking deep behind enemy lines and sabotaging their refineries or simply getting a kill with the Shotgun Pistol. Yes. That is one of the Northern Faction sidearms, a Pistol that fires shot. It has the best animations I have seen in ages on a HL2 game weapon. All the guns in the game are pretty, from the Brendoni Empires Engineer SMGs, To the Northern Factions Steam punk looking Landmines. However, melee combat is also there, in the Halo-esqe manly form of beating an enemy to death with your weapon. Most of the non-scoped or Machine Gun Rifles also have iron sights. Deep joy!



Look! The Shottie Pistol, and the Rebel Wall Fortifcation.

Northern faction Mine, Cutest Mine Ever.

Empires 2.0 at the moment as a pretty successful player count when it comes to a HL2 Mod, On average around 200-300 players are playing. The main appeal to the thing I expect, is mostly the vehicles and promised tactical and team work moments of the game. It is indeed something a little different from the usual frag and smash of HL2 Multiplayer gaming. The maps and general atmosphere of the game is very well done indeed. The interface needs a little more tweaking and the models need to look a little bit more pretty (Both promised in the up coming updated SOURCE Engine update, along with flying vehicles) and the sticky grenades of the Rifleman have an annoying habit of not, well sticking to a rampaging blood thirsty target when needed. You will also need to do a little bit of keymapping.

Angered and lonely due to years of war, Soldiers communicate their feelings through the means of bullet graffiti.


The next update should be very good for Empires, because it is increasing the highest player cap to 64 player. I have never heard of a HL2 Mod with that many players before and I will be quite interest indeed to see how this one does turn out. Hopefully, It won't lag and we will see some magnificent battles. The Installer file for the game is pretty large (Over 700 Megabytes) and I suggest the most reliable way in downloading the game is to simply join Filefront and use their IGN Downloader Client. It gets the job done efficiently.




Good Leadership and teamwork ensures you stride over the corpses of your fallen enemy...


...or gets you reduced to a bloody splatter on the landscape because of smacktardation.


Empires is lovely Mod, revived from the BF1942 Engine to the SOURCE Engine and your Empires need you soldier to fight in this crazy ragdoll physics explosive Warfest! Right now! Join Squad Bravo on the double man! And pick up a Rifle. Remember to press F10 in the game for all the info and you need and for god sake, don't become a Commander. Please. Don't waste noble, intelligent and well loved tickets. And your soldiers lives too, I guess.

This is my rifle, there are many ones like it, but this is mine. Because I aimbotted it.

A Battlefield 1942 Veteran Remembers

Now, in online gaming terms I didn't arrive in the period of old school Quake and CS fragging, but a few years later in 2003. The first actual game where I was put against my fellow man online was Battlefield 1942. Looking back at it now, nothing of this kind of FPS fraggery appealed to me until I read the review of BF1942.

Back in the boring school days of 02 the thought of jumping online and sharing a virtual world war 2 themed Battlefield stocked with all the toys and guns a boy could dream of and eventually I was granted that dream the coming Christmas. I remember my first map, Operation Battle Axe. I spawned in one of the bunkers as a Medic rignt in the thick of combat in that bitter little Battlefield and quickly began my Support Career in FPS games from now on. When I fix somebodies armour in Planetside or heal somebody in a MMO I will always think of my little British Medic, trying to press the Medical Satchel against his wounded comrade under German GM fires.

BF1942 addicted me like crack, I was determined especially to Master the Engineer Class and crush all those in my wake with the one shot one kill bolt action rifle of death. The game it self was incredibly arcadey and as I grew a little older I desired more than the simple cartoony anarchnosims and downloaded Forgotten Hope, which extended me playing the game for an extra three years.

My favourite Vanilla BF1942 map was eventually, after playing quite a few several times over, was El Alamein. I always played for the home team when I could, slapping down Landmines in the middle Control Point and blasting those damn Jerry Planes from the sky in my Ack-Ack Anti-Air gun. Interesting fact, I quite enjoyed using AA guns. The satisfaction of downing those showboating Pilot clowns from the sky and watching the blackened twisted wreckage of their plane slam into the ground after was brillaint.

I was quite rubbish when it came to flying too, I somehow could not master the act of coaxing the buxom and darling mistress of gravity into keeping me steady enough when going into the air. I crashed more than a 3rd World Nation Airline Jumbo Jet and rarely hopped into planes unless they needed a gunner. The latter action saw more action with FH, Especially with the deliciously sexy Bombers.

One thing I HATED in the game was the blasted grenades. The second you saw one of the enemies grenades plink next to you while crawling on the ground over the Bocage bridge (This happens a lot) you know your fragging is inevitible and you groan as your poor avatars body is comically tossed into the air with the cartoony explosion. Another thing that drove me to FH, was the stupid act of balance in making HAND GRENADES do damage to tanks. Madness. As for weapons I loved, The Lee Enfield with the Road to Rome bayonet came the closest to my heart.

Speaking of Tank Damage, next to the Engineer the true Warrior of the BF1942 field of conflicts was that mighty manly man the Anti-Tank guy with his Slow Mo Rocket, Piddily Pistol and Combat Knife against the world of many mean lean killing machines. I remember fondly, Clutching my American issued Bazooka (?) as a Soviet in the Kursk Map hopping around and shooting a German to death easily with my Colt. Thankfully, Tanks in Vanilla Battlefield could only take Three hits to the front and rear and two hits to the side. Makes you thank god they didn't make tank armour like that in real life or the 2nd World War cost of life would have been even more terrible eh?

The most unique maps that BF1942 offered were the Pacific Campaign ones, Because of the Navy Combat. Everyone wanted to crew the Battleship or Destroyers or the sneaky Submarine (The latter requiring the most patient BF1942 player) and simply causes havoc by bombarding the enemy bases. Mastering the Torpedo Bombs during Battle of the Coral Sea was something every player wanted to do, copying the act from the rather nifty Intro Movie.

What really makes me smile, Is remembering playing against the bots of the game as general hands on practice before carting myself online. The AI of the bots in these games was incredibly dismal these days. You can NEVER replicate the random cunning of fighting against a person online (Nowadays, bots have come almost as close as possible) and the things the bots did in 1942 were so insane you would NEVER see such actions on an actual public server.

For example, sometimes Three AT Class boss would go prone and fires their missles at you, despite the fact you are foot and can dodge them like a mouse dodging an OAP driving at half a mile an hour with ease and shoot them in the head. Bots in the game all had habit of crounching and throwing themselves on the ground for no reason. Bots would also spawn camp the areas where vehicles respawned, even long after said means of transport were long taken. Bots were even more addicted to TKing or suiciding than the FF players. Bots were even more terrible at flying planes than me, you had to be careful to not get caught in a plane crash. Bots, no matter how hard the AI was were easy to kill people would only play a single player game just to try out a map they haven't played or to improve their skills. A few years later, Modders of the game managed to pound out something decent from the glitchy coding of the AI and removed all the inane smacktardation code.

Another thing I loved about BF1942, were the useful Radio Commands on the F buttons. Most of the time, people actually used these and they helped a lot to encourage teamwork. It was a custom to F5-F5 an Engineer or Medic for doing their job. The phrases themselves echo still in my brain (MEDIC!, TALLY HO and my personal favourite SCHNELL LOSS) and unlike most command menus you see in the games it is quicky and easy to use.

I played a few Mods to BF1942, All of them excellent total conversations. Battlefield 1918, Galatic Conquest and Forgotten Hope were my personal favourites. I also wanted to get around to playing Desert Combat, Eve of Destruction or the Pirate Mods of the games but never had the time or harddrive space. Most of these mods have continued onto Battlefield 2 or 2142.

Sadly, I haven't been able to play the sequals to Battlefield 1942. Battlefield 2 and 2142 need an extremely better Processor much to my grief. Battlefield 3 doesn't sound that much appealing to me too. I think it is sad EA bought DICE now and we will never see Battlefield Imperial Era or Battlefield Korea.

The influence of the game had spread very well, most FPS games these days go for the old conquest node capture mode they streamlined and the proof that several of the mods have moved on to different engines (SOURCE, Crystis etc) by retaining the streamlined team against team with lots of guns and vehicle action. PlanetSide the MMO remindes me a lot of the game, and is excellent to buy if you are an old junkie like me who wants to capture positions and appear the most on the kill message portion of the screen with your signature weapon icon.

One of these days, I must reinstall and see if a few Vanilla servers are still going...

City of Heroes/Villans: Best MMO ever?

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Memories of Star Wars Galaxies Episode II

Tonight, I'm going to post some more memories I gleaned from my past in classic SWG and entertain you all. This time I will be gleaning a few from my Bria toon. First a little background about how I started out on Bria. Like I mentioned in the previous SWG memory post the CU had hit and driven most of my friends to quitting or migrating to busier servers. Eventually, I decided I was bored hanging around the quiet Cantina in FarStar with nothing but the occasional AFK Entertainer bot for company so I created my toon on the busiest and more notorius server SWG had.That server was Bria. Bria was infamous for several things, it was the first and laggiest server SWG has ever had and it was big on PVP. It was also an AmericanWest Coast server which operated on a different time zone to my previous European server.

I cared not and created my human male (I regret not making any interesting alien toonswhen SWG finally bit the big one) named Akrady Renko. I heard that for once, The GalacticEmpire on Bria was the top dog in the GCW and from the very start when I got SWG I decidedto become an Imperial. I was finally determined to grind up and get a full suit of Stormtrooperarmour. I also decided to grind up a Ranged toon, Pistoleer, Carbineer with a mixture of Scout.
I made the toon my main after the effects of the CU became fully apparent and began playing Ak more than Rom.

I joined the Imperial Navy instead of the Army and worked hard in my training TIE Fighterand soon was wearing the full gear of an Imperial Navy TIE Fighter Pilot. Sadly, I didn't feel Imperial enough. Then I spotted groups of more than one player wearing Stormtrooper armour all around Tatooine, which was once again my playground planet. I asked earnestlyif I could join and it turned out to be an RP guild. I cared not, and begged. I was givenan interview with one of their Officers in the City Cantina where their PA Hall was.

I passed and became a fleging member of Stormtrooper Gamma Company in its glory days.With ST-G, I worked hard and RPed with them to my hearts content even getting the hang of the CUeventually and began hanging around exclusively with them in general. Several members workedhard and helped me slowly earn the FP for purchasing Stormtrooper armour (Before the CU you just neededFP to get the stuff from a recruiter) but eventully one of my friends gave me a lucky break and boughtme a full post CU crafted set of Stormie armour. I was most impressed, But I still needed an assload ofFP to equip and wear it.

One of the interesting things we did in ST-G when we got together and formed a nice littleImperial Platoon full of immaculately armoured Stormtroopers and Officers was either RP PatrolMos Eisley or help the Empire in general on the server by scouting out and removing PVEor rarely, PVP bases on the planet. The experince of storming the first base, getting into cover and shooting out the defensive turrets and then charging in ready to take on the Rebel Soldiers inside with aims to activate the self destruction sequince still is in my fond memories now.

I remember a Veteran, Clad in Clonetrooper Expansion Pack Fodder armour giving me an entireset of Scouttrooper armour for free, much to my friends envy. I loved that armour and I stillwish I wore it, even only just once before I left the game. Sadly, I needed 20k fp to wearand bind each individual piece to me. Towards the late CU, a friend in the Guild also gave me his TIE Interceptor which I never got a chance to equip up and fly.

Apparently, Our PA had to leave the city we were stationed in because the New Mayorwas Pro-Rebel and ST-G resettled on the green Gungan and Spider infested swampy plainsof Naboo in a player city known as Central Dogma. One of our PA Allies, COMPNOR had createdthe city and welcomed us with open arms. From now on, Naboo and Theed Cantina would be mynew home but the Patrols on Mos Eisley never stopped then. I got my favourite home for free for joiningCentral Dogma, before once more it was another small Tatooine Mudhut. The Medium sized Naboohome was huge and I decorated it finerly with furniture, memoirs of my travels and loot.I even kept a Pet Dewback which I couldn't ride because of the CU in the basement. I named him Billy. I used Imperial butter to get him through the doorway.

I remember as the Episode III Hype was getting big that SOE forced LA to unleash a prequal-tastic Expansion called Rage of The Wookiees. With that expansion, we got an entirelynew planet (Kashyssk) which was basically just a huge, laggy and slightly bug filled theme park.I remember reading in the Bria forums the Ryatt Trail Controversies between the ever growingnumber of J3di and Bounty Hunters. I remember myself how laggy it got on this planet for myPC and when the novelty of the new place wore off I rarely went.

The J3di Rift that swallowed the whole game even hit ST-G, A few Commanding Officers and 3rd generation ST-G members began grinding Jedi despite the fact the already anti-canonicalpresence they had on the game and the fundemental rule of nothing BUT Stormtroopers being in a PA based on Stormtroopers. A lot of bad words were said between the Jedi Guys and theFundies and rifts opened. Old school PA members leaving the game or losing interest becausethey were free trial players was also getting common.
The PA needed rebooting and became much more strict after the storm passed.

I rememberwhen players were finally allowed to be passengers in other players speeders, severalnew Landspeeders were introduced into the game including a people carrier that could holdeight people. Two of these were adopted into ST-G and painted Imperial Colours. Our bestcampaign on Corellia involved fourteen of us blasting three PVE Rebel bases and hittingthe Alliance hard on its traditional homeworld.

I had grown to love my Stormtrooper armour so much, I rarely took it off and was eithereither wearing that or the Grey Imperial Officer uniform. I occasionaly wore my casualclothes (Especially during the rift era of the PA where I was removed temporarly) butlike with my other toon I had solidified my 'style'. I also grown attached to theE-11 Mark II Combine, Which you needed to Master Carbineer to wield.

I remember taking part in Mr Bria 2005 at Club Shim on Lok (In SWG slang, A shim is usually a female toon played by a male toon) and wearing nothing but hawtpants, Stormtrooper booties,gloves and my helmet. I sadly did not win, but I got to the semi-finals much to peoples amusement.

Another memory is receiving the Interesting Person Badge from the guy in charge ofall the events, Pex, while touring a little spice party on Tatooine with a small crowdof semi-RPers. Don't ask why an Imperial Stormie was there, he just was. Perks you know?

I remember trying out different physical features with Ak too. At first, he was pale dueto the fact he was going to wear a Pilot suit/Stormtrooper armour all the time. Eventuallyan ID friend made him less pale, gave him a tan and a new haircut. For a while, this wasAk's lady killer look. Eventually, I bored of the tan and asked for a normal pink skin pigmentation. Towards the end of the CU era I experimented and gave Ak a moustache and goatee.

Another fond memory of mine with Ak is defending Bestine during one of the infamous Sand PeopleAttack. Pre-CU Sand People were HARDCORE. I mean it, You'd have trouble with them unless youhad a decently branched skilled Combat Toon or a decent group. The Imperial City of Bestine onTatooine would be flooded with every type of Tusken Raider NPC, from the basic grunts tothe deadly Warlord Chieften who could have pwned my n00b ass easily with one hit. However playersflooded Bestine and pushed the scum back. The fighting came to a climax in the Bestine TownHall building, as small army of every type of players took on the Warlord and his body guards, followedby attacking the mighty Dark Jedi behind the invasion. I remember kneeling on the top of the raised portionof the room firing down into this massive melee with a Tusken Rifle (Oh the irony).

On the night before the NGE was going out, Me and some reformed ST-G buddies armoured up and decided to join in several mass PVP raids while we still could. It was great fun, crushingthe Rebels in Bestine and seizing the Shuttle Port before they could rally enough men to defend it.I remember even getting my first and only PVP kill in my history of the game.

Sadly, My memories with Ak ended painfully once and for all with the sudden mound of poop thatwas the NGE. One of the first blows was having to choose one of the lame 8 classes after losingall my skills from the FOUR diverse classes I had grinded hard for. I choose Officer, whichwas a mistake because it was one of the most gimped classes. Much to my annoyance most ofmy guns which I carried in my pack as a Mini-armoury did not work with Officer and all I couldwield was this piddily generic looking slug pistol. This, along with other stupid changes of the NGEmore or less made my urge to play SWG die inside me.

ST-G had to move again because the NGE sadly killed off the dwinding population of Central Dogma.Infact, ST-G formed a new city on Naboo and our HQ went to its third and final transformationinto the Mustofar bunker. I remember coming back from the little party we had opening the place, sitting downin my Naboo Medium houses bed and logging out. I never logged back in again. I sadly simply lostinterest and did something else. I really sometimes faintly miss Bria, Theed Cantina which instantly emptied after the NGE and my fellow ST-G members including the friends who stuck close to me all times. Thesame goes for my comrades on FarStar.

Maybe one day, we'll meet each other when SWG-Emu is finally completed next year. I would certainlyre-equip my Stormtrooper armour once more for the Galactic Empire.

The General State of HL2 Multiplayer Mods

First off, before we begin this little rank have a look at this:

http://www.steampowered.com/v/index.php?area=stats&

Click the bit below the graph and scope out the numbers and come back and read. Done it? Good. I guess you have noticed the Counter Strike three, CS, CSS and Condition Zero being the top dogs when it comes to the most amount of players and active servers. If not, awesome it means finally the HL2 and VALVe gaming community has decided to freaking branch out a little.

Now don't get me wrong. I don't hate CS. I love it, my first article on this thing was about CSS! But I can only play the game now and again and only a few maps before getting satisfied or bored. Occasionally, a new map spices things up a little but that is as exciting as things get with CSS. Shoot the baddies and save the same four terrorists/stop the bomb with uber guns. Nothing else. Yet, I seem to be one of the few these days that actually bothers looking around for alternatives to my online shooting people in the face action.

And apparently, a lot of free very well done Mods and cheap Independent games are out there these days. However, only recently TF2 has barely come close to beating the three CSS games off the chart after years of development. A lot go equally good games however are floundering. It is pretty sad when the most highly populated mod out there is based on an anime where grown muscle men with weird hair scream at each other for majority of an episode before shooting LAZER BEAMZ at each other endlessly. What the bloody hell?

It isn't like there isn't variety, Mr Nurdbot you cry! WRONG. HL2 CTF pretty much spices up HL2 DM which gets old after a few hours with adding two different flag capture modes, Unreal Tournie Runes and some new weapons to main the opposite team with. Insurgency is a Realism based mod set in the curret Iraq Crisis, The Ship is Hitman meets Cluedo with cartoon graphics and style just as good as TF2! Battlegrounds 2 is the only FPS with freaking muskets! Zombie Master and Empires, Fight with or against your RTS god! Hell, Fortress Forever is an excellent Mod for those who want a more gritty old school Team Fortress Classic. Sometimes, Even Garrys Mod Player count is low! Hell, I am surprised one of the daddies of modern Death Match Goldeneye SOURCE has such a low player count too!

How do I know this? Because I have played MOST of those mods on that damn list over the last few years. And uninstalled them sadly when the numbers drop to the point where only a few decent servers remain. I am a little guilty of that too, but sadly my HD space isn pretty small these days. All of these mods have taken years to put together with extreme dedication by their developers. Occasionally, a Mod gets lucky and is mentioned on STEAM or in a big named PC Games Magazine though sadly sometimes some Mods only get word of mouth via Mod DB and a few hardcore fans. This worries me, if gamers keep on playing Counter Strike and not make the effort to at least try and download and play something new before returning to their comfort food of FPS gaming then why should these people care? Aside from the happy few hoping their hours of their lives going into this free quality entertainment get plucked and employed by VALVE like the creators of Counter Strike and Day of Defeat.

Oh yeah, CS was a Mod once. The sick irony eh? So people do me a favour if you can. If you have the right specs, time and room check some of these Mods out on YouTube or Mod DB. Consider at least giving them a try, you might like fragging somebody outside CSS! who knows?

Mod Play: Zombie Master

Welcome to the first Mod Play, a semi-review/rant/analysation of whatever Mod for whatever game has taken my fancy.

So, Lets begin shall we?

Name: Zombie Master.

Game: Half Life 2.

Type: Multiplayer FPS/RTS Hybred.

Status: Public Beta.

The only way to survive a Zombie Apocalypse it with a man pile!


Now I have been playing ZM for quite a while now, since it was first announced it was going to do the public Beta. That is right, if you were part of the first wave you like me will remember no Mac 10, Endless Servers playing Docks Of The Dead and the wall spawn bug.

But anyway, what is Zombie Master about? Simple. A team of survivors (FPS bit) fighting off a huge crowd of different types of Zombies controlled by a player (The RTS bit) while completing to pull off objectives on the map. The ZM wins by obviously, killing them all. The ZM receives the magic evil resources from Satan I assume when he finally kacks off a player. At the start, ZM has pretty meagre amount of can only spawn the classic Dawn of The Dead style Shambler Zombies (All moaning ammo sponges only good in ganking crowds). The ZM is limited to the amount of Zombies, A hoard (Around fifty-sixty at the most) is currently allowed to be spawned for server and connection reasons.

Now that the Mod has been out for quite a few months, the really shabby amateur mod maps have mostly vanished from the servers and some quite well done ones have popped up in their place. Good maps is THE selling point for ZM, since everything else still is its limited beta form I sadly must say. Map Objectives are usually long and sometimes require team work not camping which is always a plus. You don't HAVE to have a full set of Survivors but enough trigger pullers with decent intelligence and co-ordination to make it out alive is fine. And as if they had enough to worry about, the ZM can manipulate the map setting many traps including devious physics based ones. He also makes a mean Caesar Salad I hear. Caesar Salad of the Damned! Oh, and prepare to stay bleeding if you get hurt. No Medkits/Medics/Medical Dispensers in the Zombie Apocalypse People.




This fellow thinks that camping will save his sorry ass. No. It won't.

The reason why Survivors have such a hard time is because aside from the Shamblers, The ZM has some pretty hardcore Legions of the Dead under his Command. There is the annoying screaming climbing and leaping Banshee (Inspired from the HL2 Fast Zombie) the terrifying deformed giant known as the Hulk or can rip out your lungs with his flick of his wrist and a wiggle of his deformed spinal cord, The Blood Acid hawking floating Drifters (Death by spit, icky) and two more promised Zombie buddies for the future (One who buffs and one who creeps out of nowhere and sets him and things around him with FIRE, sweet sweet fire). The Living have a few tools to hold back these rather hungry corpses.

The Rustic Rifle, The Shotgun, The Mac-10, The Pistol and the Crowbar or Sledgehammer are the current Arsenal of doom for the game at the moment. Each does his own thing, and each one has its own weakness. For example, the Sledgehammer is slow as hell but it sends most Zombies flying with a single manly blow. The Pistol is the jack of all trades master of none weapon and the Shotgun is the ideal defensive weapon while the Mac-10 is the shredder of rotting flesh. You can sort of guess what the Rifle does. Most of the weapons have their own skins, minus Crowbar and Rifle but it IS beta and the Games Forums offer clientside weapon reskins in their custom section if you are that fussy. The gun weapons also chew up their ammo, which is a tendency when fighting a never ending army of undead minions so players are encouraged to conserve, GO FOR THE HEAD or risk trecking back to an ammo spawn point on the map where ammo slowly respawns. I have to say, taking out Zombies with melee weapons is indeed quite a manly thing to do if you can master the timing.

A group of Survivors, Doing what Survivors do.

The average server count for ZM servers is around 10-11 Survivors which is quite balanced, because on the bigger servers the ZM starts off with more resources and gets an arseload more when the more clumsy players meet their horrible ends. Being the ZM is slightly tricky at first, but the games forum has quite a few written and video guides worth looking up. Both the FPS and RTS experience in this game isn't bad at all when you get the hang of it. ZM also has a decent amount of players for a STEAM Mod (Some which sadly suffer from something I'll rant about in the future) and there will always be a nice amount of players online when you connect.

This toilet, a horrible horrible trap by the looks of it!

Now we get to the point where I have to say some mean stuff to keep this thing neutral. ZM is a great mod, and it IS Public Beta so what I have to say isn't bad and all the stuff will forever be cast in stone. Changes will happen in the next update. First complaint, the ever suffering cast of HL2's minor characters are dragged once more into the role of being a players avatars in the FPS world of the Source Engine. Yes, they have the haunted desperate look of survivors but it is sort of weird the fact they are all wearing matching Denim Jumpsuits or dirty Sweaters. Just because it is the apocalypse doesn't mean your guys can dress like members of the Janitors and Beggars Guild people! The Zombies also suffer from HL2 Skin-itus. The Shamblers are all reskinned Sweatshirt dudes who now look quite palid with horrible choice in clothes (Lime Green Shamblers argh) and the Zombies themselves are either HL2 Zombie skins or the corpse skins on the frames. The game also lacks more spooky gruesome sounds which is a must for the horror survival thing.
Another complaint is for the weapons. Now, I kind of understand the Mod wants to level the playing field out a little and not include Military Hardware like Submachine Guns, Assault Rifles or Missile Launchers. But weapons need more variety. In a FPS game, weapons NEED to be interesting because they are the main way you interact with the environment. The current amount of weapons are great, they just need a few tweaks and reskins. Adding a few more weapons would be indeed bitching indeed.
Some talent you have there, Lazlo....

Still, Zombie Master is an awesome mod. Get it. It doesn't take up much room, and you will have to download a majority of maps before connecting but nothing can beat the experience or building a shoddy barricade out of the many crates and other jump on the map and holding a huge hoard back, being chased by leaping Banshees while carrying that needed can or fuel or luring some boob of a Survivor a poorly propped up bridge with a car underneath. My favourite maps that come to mind is Gasdump, With the Tornado trap and the rush to plant the C4 and Blue Velvet when you hold the Zombies off a player trying to take a door down with the wield torch with nothing but a Pistol and bloody Crowbar. ZM should update soon and give us two new weapons, (A Magnum Pistol and Molotov Cocktails) and the Pyro Zombie. See you on the servers!