I just had a conversation with Will from the Jarate Sandvich podcast about spies dismantling an engineer nest. He had a solid set up as an engineer and a spy was unable to take down his nest, after repeated attempts. I have been playing spy a lot lately and threw out my ideas on taking down the nest.

The scneario that he described was on a payload map. Will was playing on RED as an engineer and had set up a level 3 sentry, teleporter exit and dispenser near the BLU spawn point. A lone BLU spy kept attempting to sap his buildings, but Will was able to beat the spy down with his wrench, while working on repairing his buildings.

As a spy, I saw one major flaw in the BLU spy’s tactic – sapping the dispenser. As a BLU spy disguised as a RED player, you can use RED dispensers to recover health, cloak and ammunition… unless you sapped the dispenser.

Personally, I would’ve moved back and forth between the teleporter exit and sentry, continuously sapping them, while avoiding the engie’s wrench as best I could, and sticking near the dispenser. The dispenser would keep my health up, mitigating damage from the engie’s wrench, and the contiuous sapping would slowly drain, and eventually destroy, the sentry and teleporter exit. Once those buildings were destroyed, this nest is pretty much handled. A single offensive player could finish the job, wiping out the engie and the dispenser.

After the sentry and teleporter are destroyed, you have a choice between engaging the engineer and attempting to solo the job, or backing off and letting him cry over the wreckage of his nest.

If you attempt to engage, you are best served immediately sapping the dispenser, so he can’t refill his health while you fight him. If he chooses to repair the dispenser, you can open fire or try for a backstab, if he ignores it, you are on even footing as far as health goes. His shotgun is more than a match for your revolver, so be careful.

If you decide to back off, you run the risk of him rebuilding, so you should alert your teammates that he is disabled, and hope one of them finishes the job. If he manages to rebuild, the same tactic might not work twice if he learned his lesson and changes his layout.

What are your thoughts on taking down a nest like this?

The official Team Fortress 2 blog has a new post that finally sheds a little bit of light on the upcoming sniper update. The most interesting part is

“In an effort to reduce some of the aggravation that other players feel towards the Sniper, we chose the goal of designing an unlockable that encouraged the Sniper to get a little closer to his target.”

What could the sniper possibly wield that reduces his range against the target? It sounds weird, but I’m definitely paying attention to this.

I was just playing Team Fortress 2 as a spy on cp_granary and managed to secure a very nice victory for my team because one engineer wasn’t watching his back. On the final cap, there is a little side area, with the base on one side, and fences on two other sides. It makes a great engie/heavy nest for final defense, but a lone spy can take out that whole cluster with one smooth hit.

My team was pushing hard against the enemy team, and in that little area was an engie, level 3 sentry, heavy and medic. I jumped over the wall by going onto a little crate that most people forget about, and came up behind them, disguised as a sniper. I sapped the sentry, and as the engie tried to repair it, I backstabbed him. With that taken care of, I nailed the medic and finally the heavy.

A single spy took down their final layer of defense, all because the engineer wasn’t watching his back. He also probably should’ve focused on taking me out, rather than repairing the sentry. If he takes me down, at the cost of the sentry, the heavy is still there to defend while he rebuilds. If he focuses on the sentry, I can take him down, permanently knocking out the sentry, and get the heavy and medic with impunity.

Five sentry defense

…but a single ubered demoman can wipe out this whole defense. I love the balance of Team Fortress 2.

The sentry on the far right was mine. This was immediately after the best kill streak I’ve ever had – 44 kills in one 49:06 life. That sentry held off enemies forever, and right at the end, a few other engies decided to build some sentries in the same area. Note that there are actually 5 sentries – one is on top of the grate.

Update: On May 21, 2009, with the Spy vs Sniper update, some of the rules for spy checking were forever altered. Spies can now appear to wield unlockable weapons, a spy disguised as a medic displays an ubercharge meter, and a  spy disguised as a spy displays a disguise mask.

I was recently playing a spy on cp_well, and I am often astonished at my interactions with other players. Spychecking is a pretty common little interchange, whereby two players confirm that they are not disguised spies through various means – the most reliable being simply open fire. However, a lot of players seem to be confused with what a spy can and cannot do, and I have thrown off several players by doing something they didn’t think a spy can do.

Here is a list of things a disguised spy can and cannot do.

Spies can switch weapons. Spies cannot use special weapons / weapon features.

As a spy, you can change which weapon you appear to be equipped with. You can disguise as an engineer and change your weapon to the wrench, which throws off a bit of suspicion. You cannot change to any of the unlockable weapons (so if you see a heavy with the KGB equipped – not a spy) (as of the May 21, 2009 patch, spies can equip unlockable weapons, if the player you are disguising as is wielding that weapon), you cannot change to any special weapons (any weapon that is not primary, secondary or melee, such as the engineer toolbox or spy disguise kit), and you cannot do anything special with the weapon (like a sniper bringing the rifle scope up to his eye to take a shot).

Spies can reload weapons. Spies cannot reload twice.

If a spy is holding his revolver, and that revolver is not at full ammo, and the spy is equipped with a reloadable weapon, he can appear to reload. As a spy, it can look like I just reloaded a rocket launcher if I am disguised as a soldier. But since the revolver is a single-animation reload (one animation, full ammo), and a rocket launcher is a multi-animation reload (each animation only reloads 1 shell), I cannot appear to reload two shots into the rocket launcher, and unless I fire my revolver (and lose my disguise), I can’t reload again.

Spies can change speed based on class. Spies cannot run faster than normal.

As a spy, if I disguise as a heavy, a lot of suspicion seems to fade away. Who would disguise as someone that runs at 70% speed? Upon getting the diguise of a heavy or a soldier, your speed will drop while you are disguised. When disguising as a medic or a scout, your speed will not increase. A scout at full speed cannot be a spy, because a spy can’t do that.

Spies can disguise as any class, on either team. Spies cannot disguise with special HUD text. (as of the May 21, 2009 patch, this is no longer true)

Spies can disguise as a friendly class (and sometimes this is useful, especially right after spawning and as you are making your way to the front line), but some classes contain special HUD text that a spy cannot mimic. A medic has an ubercharge meter that any ally can see, and when an allied spy is in disguise, the HUD lists what disguise is used. An enemy spy cannot replicate either one of these – so a medic with no ubercharge meter is guaranteed to be a spy. As of the May 21, 2009 patch, spies will display an ubercharge meter when disguised as a medic, and when disguising as a spy will contain a random mask and disguise text.

So, as a spy, here are a few tips to shake suspicion -

• Never disguise as a scout or medic. As a scout, you look like you are in slow motion and a moderately experienced player will recognize that immediately. As a medic, you lack an ubercharge meter, and that is a big giveaway to all but the freshest of fish.
• Always fire a round on your revolver as soon as you have a chance – at spawn, right after a backstab in a safe place, etc. This gives you the chance to reload if you have to, and that can throw off some less experienced players.
• Pick the class that is most appropriate for the area, and pick the most appropriate weapon for the situation. A sniper standing on the battlements gets very little attention. On cp_well, I’ve sometimes waited in that spot, disguised as a sniper, until a real sniper showed up, and then I backstabbed and left. On the other hand, a sniper in the basement of ctf_2fort is really weird.
• Ignore enemy spycheckers, except pyros. If an enemy engineer opens fire on you, run on by like you don’t even know what spychecking is. If you turn and stare, you are acting suspicious. If a pyro torches you… I don’t know what to tell you. Run. Don’t cloak, it’s a waste of cloak, but try to get out of the area.

As a spy checker, here are a few tips to catch the shape shifting rats:

• Reloading and weapon switching means nothing, to a point. If an engie equips the toolbox, or a soldier reloads 2 shells, that’s a solid confirmation of not being a spy. If a demoman reloads 1 round into the pipebomb, keep following.
• Pay attention for people who pay attention to you. If you start spychecking someone, and they simply stare at you without doing anything that can confirm not being a spy, keep your eye on them and keep shooting.
• An accurate flare can detect spies in wide open spaces, like much of cp_fastlane, cp_well and cp_granary.
• Try to run into players in enclosed spaces, and make sure you put your cursor over everyone. You can’t run through a spy, so if you bump into an “ally”, it’s almost certainly a spy (but sometimes, it’s just a bit of lag). If you put your cursor on everyone and watch for ubercharge meters and disguise indicators, you can identify spies disguised as spies/medics more easily.
• Pay attention to health. A spy gets a random health value upon disguising – but that value is never below 50%, when the meter turns red. Any player with his health in red is not a spy, don’t waste your time on spychecking him.