Author:John 'Jojie' Cook Release: November 30, 1997

GENERAL REMARKS

2fort5 is a simple map in the sense that you can run through it once and have a fair idea of what the lay of the land is. Rooms are simple, cover is only available at certain positions, but always relatively easy to weed out any opponents.

The terrain of the map is layered within the fortressess, which offers good opportunities for defence. However, the layers are placed in such away that groups on the offensive can easily keep their momentum. There are no rooms or hallways where a player will be sl owed down by anything (except defense). The direct route into the opponents fortress can be fairly well covered by snipers, but gives enough space to evade shots. The alternate route into the base is through water, which does slow down, and it can only be taken by fast and medium speed classes.

DEFENSIVE STRATEGY

The defensive setup of 2fort5 is a fairly straight forward operation.

We will begin outside.Outside is a dangerous place, the enemy fortress contains two entrances which are fairly dark, furthermore, you are in full view of the enemy sniperdeck. This means that a relatively average sniper could take you out, even if you are moving. The only cover provided is two pillars on the bridge entry. These pillar can hide you exactly and make it difficult for a sniper to get a hold of you. Unfortunately, the width of the firing range can view fairly well behind the pillars, so these form only temporary cover. However, running around there, will certainly draw sniperfire, if you are meaning to do this. It has been observed that snipers will go for the target, which they think is easiest.

The entrance to your fort is slightly higher then the surrounding area, which is a defensive advantage, and a disadvantage. The advantage is that you can point down, when firing at enemies, and when they fire back in the normal upright position, this will only hit the ramps. However, it does create a fairly large blind spot in front of your fortress, between the ramps, and you can only come out in the open to fire directly at any enemy hiding there. This will pose no direct problem, as the walls in Teamfortress are unbreakable. But it does mean that an opposing force can hide there.

In the entry hall itself you have always one door with a fairly large amount of shadow, and one door with only shadow on the outerwall. In these shadows a hit and run defense could be set up, hit-and-RUN because, these shadows can be fairly easy covered from the other sniperdeck.

When walking back into entry hall , you�ll notice on the lefthandside the downward stairs toward the water, behind you the direct entry to the fortress, upward a possible rocketlaunchers entry towards the upperroom, on the right hand side the main route to the ramproom and on the front the alternative route. These routes can be divided into two groups. The front, right handside and the upward are friendly or fall back positions, the left and the entrance are hostile positions. The difference is, that from the fall back positions you will not have to expect much threat if an enemy attack is beginning, they lead to your core territory and are, up to a certain extent defendable positions. Furthermore, if an enemy attack is driving you back, you can always fall back into these entrances. The hostile entrances are areas which, during an attack will hold enemy operatives, and must be treated with caution. Furthermore, they are the entrances which hold the key to the defense.

Many players fall back into the ramproom for their defense. They will place major defenses around the central ramproom, and guard the place. A quick look at the map will show that this is not correct, as you give the enemy the opportunity to rocketlaunch into the upperroom and either take the flag or take you from behind.Moreover, in an attack involving three or more enemy operatives, it will be more than likely that one of them will reach the lift area, and jump down to get your flag.

I therefore propose that the main defense should be in the entry hall, with a hwguy in the corner, facing stairs and entrance, a pyro/soldier on the grate upward and a sentrygun/engineer combination next to the hwguy. (As you can see, this is the combined offensive/defensive layer from my tactics articles).

A rocketlaunching enemy operative can be seen directly, and hindered, and anyone breaking through the defenses can immediately be noted. If executed correctly, it will basically mean that if anyone breaks through, they will be seriously damaged.

If we first take the main route toward the ramproom, we notice that this is a fairly large room, with a huge dark corner. (I have once stood there in the enemybase for half the duration of a game, reporting on enemy movements.) This corner is also a good place to put a defending person, but, an even better spot in on the right, next to the door coming from the entrance hall. If you stand in this corner during any game, you will notice, that hardly anyone will look there when entering this room. Everybody is focused on the ramproom at the end, trying to see whether there are any defenses. I propose to put a medic there who can move quite quickly and infect people; this means that if enemies run through your initial defense, they will die. The medic will also be in a position to check on health of the outer defense layer. An engineer should be running around to keep this outer layer up on ammo and armour.

If we take the alternative route to the ramproom, it becomes quite obvious that this cannot actively be defended other then somebody standing on the landing of the second spawnarea. However, any defender here will be seriously impaired, as there is no jumping onto this landing (except maybe with rocket launchers). Therefore, I would propose to leave the defense of this to ramproom people.

In the ramproom there are two ramps going to a path attached to the wall. There is an exit upward which leads to the socalled upperroom, and there is a ledge which leads to the lift area. Now, this ramproom begs for defensive troops. The ledge near the lift area is pretty dark and can be inhabited by a sniper. Unfortunately, if there is no other diversion, this sniper will be sniffed out pretty quick. The best defense on this one would be a soldier on the floor, covering the downstairs entries to the ramproom (which effectively covers the alternative route: an enemy operative coming through this is commiting suicide as you have an unobstructed view of most of the alternative route.). A hwguy, or sentry gun could effectively cover the room from the top. However, there is a note of caution there: a sentrygun is a permanent fixture which cannot move. If it is standing on one of the "wooden" ledges or paths in the ramproom, it can easily be taken out from underneath, a soldier or pyro can fire rockets at the sentry position to take it out. a hwguy can move around and take a few hits. This socalled inner layer of defense should be backed up by an engineer to keep armour and ammo in order.

The ledge towards the liftroom is the alternative route to the flag. However, it is shorter than the normal route. Therefore, it is prefered by weak fast moving classes, as it is also a route which is seldomly defended. To prevent any enemy operatives moving through there, let the engineer build an ammo dispenser in the doorway, you now will hinder all enemies trying to come t6hrough there, and set them up for a kill. However, you need to be fast, otherwise they will use the dispenser for a refill. Engineers should only blow up this one if there is no other possibility, otherwise you open up a direct route to your flag.

Moving from the ramproom to the upperroom, you will find yourself in one of the busiest rooms in the fortress, as you enter the room, the main spawn area is to your left. the entry to the sniper deck is in front of you and to your right is the entry to the grate room and to the sloperoom towards the basement. This room technically could use some defense, so if you have decided not to use a sentrygun in the ramproom, then place one next to the grate room entry pointing towards the spawn area. This I have found to be one of the best places for a number of reasons:

1. There is little chance that somebody will come up through the grate, if you have a defense in the entrance hall.

2. A sentry gun in the cornber can easily be taken out by lobbing grenades from around the corner in the ramproom. The sentryguns react slower then a scout can. However, to take one out that�s more in the direction of the sloperoom an enemy will have to come out completely, making himself vulnarable to attack.

3. A sentrygun placed in the far corner can also be targeted by throwing grenades out of the entryhall to the sniper deck. A sentrygun more to the left has the benefit of lookiung further into the sniperhall, therefore giving enemies no physical possibility to hurl a grenade without dying.

Again, any sentrygun should have its engineer near to revitalise it and replenish its ammo.

From the upperroom we move through the sniperhall to the sniperdeck. The sniperdeck is a tricky place to be. Its open and gives an excellent view of the theatre, but it also means that enemy operatives can see you from afar. As discussed earlier the only reasonably safe place is the shadow behind the bunker. The tricky part is: there are shadows in the wrong places, i.e. places where an unnoticed enemy can wait, prepare and execute kills. One such a place is the corner if you come on to the sniper deck from the sniperhall. It is dark enough to leave people unnoticed if you run passed them, but we will deal with them.

As a sniper please be aware never to stand with your back against the back wall: incoming rockets will do maximum damage, and we need it for another feature of the defense.

If you stand only a little bit away from the wall, and a rocket hits next to you the damage will be manageable, and even a lone sniper can in that case withstand a rocket attack.

On the deck we need two snipers at both ends. This too cross their firing range, and minimize the blind spots

Another necessity is a pyro/soldier to counter any unwanted rocket jumpers, and to hinder the enemy sniper deck. By continuously firing rockets at suspected sniperspots in the enemy fortress, you will serve them up for the snipers on your side. You will also make it a hazardous affair for an enemy sniper to be on the enemy sniperdeck. To effectively do this, put your back against the wall, face the enemy fortress and strafe along. However, when you strafe, stop and strafe back at different points, as an enemy sniper will be able to just wait for you to make your return.

If a rocketlaunched jumper attack does come through, pull back immediately to respawn area 2: you�ll be lower then the attacker and when firing you fire at their feet, while they fire over your head.if snipers survive let them retreat into the respawn area and wait for the all clear signal. I mean, we are not in the business of giving away frags. When re-entering the sniperdeck, let the pyro/soldier go first. If he is closely followed by careful snipers, he will draw fire, but immediately expose any enemy sniper.

Back inside we move from the upperroom to the sloperoom. This room is a sort of corkscrew slope tunnelling down to the basement. It might be interesting here to take into account that if somebody with a high ping enters this room, the amount of brushes ussually clogs up their computer. It makes them very vulnerable to attack. Any defensive/offensive player could take them out here. To be on the safe side put either a medic (bioweapon) or a demoman (grenades) here.

If we go down the slopes you will come into the main basement area. If you have defender here (which is wise) let them stand at the far end in the corner of the flagroute. This corner has a surprisingly effective shadow. Ans allthough you maybe tempted, do not stand in the middle of the basement, and do not look expectantly up the slope. The first thing on your mind should be defense, and not making your back vulnerable to attack. Here use one of the offensive classes, as most enemies will not fight, but rather grab the flag and run. The alternative route to the flag (if you come into the basement, turn left at the first opportunity), should be covered by the same defender. on the right end of the basement you will see a hallway to a lift and a dark path which is an ammoroom. This doesn�t need such an active defense because enemies will come your way in any case.

Now walking back into the flagroom, look at it very carefully, there is one corner which is very dark indeed, and invites a defender. If you have anybody left on your team, place them there. Attackers usually do not look first, but see only the flag. Do not put grenades around it, because this will tip off any attacker that a defender is close. It must be clear to anyone on your team that this is the last stand: so, to prevent spies from coming in this last defender should be instructed to shoot at anything, friend or foe. As I said in another piece on defense: if everybody knows their place and has the discipline to stay there, an enemy spy will have a difficult time getting around.

The use of a spy on the defense is an interesting one. My proposal would be that a spy uses the waterroute to get into the enemy base and... joins the attack. During the attack there will be enough confusion around to come up behind the enemy to shoot them in the back.

OFFENSIVE STRATEGY 2FORT5

The offensive setup is much along the lines of the defensive setup, be it that you move everything forward, except defensive classes.

Starting at the entrance, leave the bulk of your defenders there, this way they can easily connect with your reserves. Be aware, however, that it is usually pretty easy to break through a defense when an attack is in progress: the main focus is on the attack, so the defense will be thin and spread.

The basic idea is to stretch out all your troops into enemy territory. Many teams in this map (as in other maps) make the mistake of not taking control of the various parts of the map before entering the next. This means that any support for your team is either dead or wounded. Furthermore, back up in most attacks is virtually impossible, as you have a number of enemies walking behind your lines.

In 2fort5 it is relatively easy to close of the defense much like a wall: no holes.

IF your offensive troops have entered the enemy base, immediately secure the centre court. This will serve as the major highway for your troops, so it is important that they arrive safely.

With the assistance of your engineers, secure a basehead outside, of the enemy fortress. As noted in the defense, the area right under the sniper bunker is a blindspot. There you can set up an ammo dispenser and a medic, this will allow wounded team members to be healed and refitted with ammo/armour. use it as a waypoint for respawned incoming offensive troops. Let the engineer also build here a sentrygun pointed at the bridge. Enemy operatives breaking through the frontline will head for your base and, specifically when the offensive is still on the groundfloor, use the sniperdeck to jump off from. Leave a hwguy patrolling the entrance area, spot snipers and alert your team on this. Luckily the hwguy, unless shot to the head, can easily deal with some shots.

Offensive troops standing in waiting at the ammodispenser can also start to fire on intruders.

No offense is ready without a defense, therefore leave at least one pyro/soldier in the ramproom.

Also, leave the sentrygun in your entrance area intact, this you will need when you fall back.

On the sniperdeck, have at least two snipers ready at the far ends of the deck, so as to cross their fire range and have a go at enemies going through.

The attack itself should go through on the basis of the waypoint created at the outside of the entrance of the enemy fortress. Therefore take out any snipers by launching rocketjumpers onto the enemy sniperdeck. If they have secured the sniperdeck, move the offensive force forward to the enemy fortress. Launch a major attack trough the normal route to the ramproom, keep the alternative room under fire from the entrance area. However, make sure that you keep the grate room under fire as well. Regroup with two operatives in the large room connecting entrance with ramproom, and keep another two operatives ready. Furthermore, make sure your scouts or and one of any other fast moving class is ready.

When moving the two first line of attack people into the ramproom, let the other two follow immediately and attack any defence. Your fast moving class should now go towards the ramproom and move in on the flag. the scout using the lift, and the other fast moving class using the sloperoom. In the meantime, keep up your attack, and if necessary devote reserve troops to it. If the enemy caves in, take the upperroom and secure it, connect to the sniperdeck and hold the spawn areas secure. if you devote a couple of men to this you basically hold the base, as only spawnarea 2 allows two people at the same time to go out. Rig spawn area 1 with pipebombs, and pull a sniper forward. Then let one sniper sit in the darkness of the grateroom and aim for the door of spawn area 1. Keep half your force on spawn area 1 and the rest on spawn area 2. Furthermore, do not return to your base to fill up, but use enemy left overs and the ammo dispenser/medic at waypoint one. Congratulations, you have the enemyfortress under control and can score as much as you want.

Only make sure that enemy operatives wandering out are dealt with in an expedient way. However, never move your own defense forward, leave them in your own fortress as they form your last fall back point. If the enemy manages to break out, and is inflicting damage, call out the fall back and retreat to the first defendable position in the areawhich, in 2fort5 would be the entrance hall. The higher the damage, the further you pull back, next fall back point would be the waypoint, and then in your fortress. To do this in an orderly fashion, do not run, but let a third of your respawned colleagues form the defense behind your position, 2fort5 has sufficient small doors to build up an good defense (but also a very disorderly retreat). If it happens that a groupat a spawnpoint is really wiped out, order all your respawning operatives to take up their defensive position regardless of anything happening at the front. That way you minimise the damage.