TF2 Newbs (Team Fortress 2) Blog

Since Terraria is another game that Newbs members play–another half-silly, half-serious, casual-yet-deep war simulator–I’ve been posting Terraria updates in this blog as well as TF2 and Valve news.  Huzzah: Terraria’s first update in more than a year!

Below are MILD SPOILERS of what can be expected of this patch. Full patch notes will not be posted here; go to the Official Terraria Wiki for detailed patch notes.

New Features to Be Found in Terraria 1.3:

1. You can now create a world in “Expert Mode“, which does the following:
   • Tougher, smarter monsters with improved AI. Some monsters scale in difficulty as you complete events.
   • Enemies and pots drop more loot.
   • Boss health scales in multiplayer based on number of players.
   • Does NOT create the world in Hardmode.
2. “Lunar Events” are Hardmode, post-Plantera events that proceed after killing Cultists (see above) that spawn at the Dungeon entrance after Golem has been killed. These events will change several surface biomes to a temporary event version.
3. “Martian Madness” is a Hardmode, post-Golem event that creates waves of Martian enemies and a unique boss. Just look for the probes on the surface world….
4. Changed the spawn order for NPCs. Some cosmetic-oriented NPCs (like the Painter) only show up after you have a minimum number of other NPCs housed.
5. Chlorophyte can now revert the spread of corruption/crimson back to standard terrain, and turns dirt blocks into mud blocks.
6. Solid blocks and trees now show damage after beginning to mine/destroy them.
7. Over 800 new items to discover, including yo-yos, bouncy dynamite, and beach balls. Plenty of new stuff can be found by fishing in the Underground Hallow and the Underground Corruption/Crimson.

I’m not sure this is the full “Lunar Update” they promised over a year ago, nor do I think that this will be the final Terraria patch. I mean, you can’t go up into space and land on the moon, yet….

But apparently “Terraria: Otherworld” will soon be a thing! Think of a Terraria game where you enter a corrupted, ruined world and attempt to revert it back to a less corrupted state.

[N] Obey

Right on time–it’s the Steam Summer Sale!  Say goodbye to your money!

1. What is a Steam Summer Sale? What’s the big deal?
2. What’s new about this Monster Sale?

1. What is a Steam Summer Sale? What’s the big deal?

Steam is known for doing at least two giant sales a year (summer, and late December) where many titles are 50% off or more. Almost every popular title that is at least six months old participates, and you can commonly find short-duration flash sales for even better deals. Check the store page often to see what deals are still available, as they will rotate every 12 or 24 hours.

On top of that, Steam gamifies the sale by creating interactive events, such as sale-themed badges to craft (by collecting limited-edition cards during this time) and other wacky functions.

2. What’s new about this Monster Sale?

For the Monster Summer Sale, there is a browser game to play in, damaging enemies and trying to stay alive.  The browser game records the number of clicks, the bosses defeated, and more to unlock additional flash sales the next day. (These unlocked flash sales always start at 9 am PST/12 noon EST and will run for 48 hours.)

This is a clicker game in the vein of Cookie Clicker or the free-to-play AdVenture Capitalist–all you do is click buttons, which have short cooldown timers before you can click them again, and you can unlock more buttons, reduce the cooldown times on the buttons, and have buttons auto-click themselves.  Your Steam level and your Steam 2015 Summer Sale Badge level will grant you special abilities so that you can do more uhh, “damage” to the bosses. (Clicker games can also hog the performance of your computer’s hardware, so I wouldn’t advise playing on a battery-fed device.)

There are multiple waves or screens of enemies; use the buttons on the above-right to change them. If the sounds and/or music are annoying, toggle them on/off with the buttons on the bottom left.

As always, you are encouraged to play your new games, which will provide you with Steam Trading Cards.  Completing and turning in sets of cards increases your Steam Rank as well as your Summer Sale Badge rank (if done during the sale, which runs thru June 22nd). Of course, you can turn unused items into gems, buy more cards with gems, buy and sell cards in the Steam Market, and so on.  See this post for more information; note that there are no Steam Auctions at this time.

Let’s just hope these games aren’t hiding a bitcoin manufacturing system… I’m kidding.  I hope.  But the point is, Steam users can unlock additional sales, which are hinted on the sale’s splash page.

[N] Obey

P.S.  Obligatory “Praise Gaben” link.

Don’t forget: The Steam Summer Sale is coming soon! See the previous blogpost for more info.

1. The first Steam Machines are now available for preorder.
2. TF2 patched, launching the “Maps Workshop Beta”.

1. Steam Machines (and Steam Controllers!)

Steam Machines are PCs designed and built to run using Steam OS, a free operating system made by Valve that would function in place of another OS like Windows or Linux.  These PCs are intended at attach to your digital TV and/or a standard computer monitor; it is essentially a console to run all things Steam (games, music, streaming services, and other software).  Here are previews from C-Net and GameSpot. Pre-order direct from Valve here.

Of course, you can build your own and install the Linux-based Steam OS yourself; Valve assumes that some users will do exactly that. PC Gamer put out two builds over a year ago here.  (Convenient timing on that new GeForce GTX 980, and the relatively low $649 price tag, eh?)

What is fascinating the tech bloggers though, is the Steam Controller (MSRP US$50). The main buttons (pads?) are essentially a trackpad-like touch surface, but designed for use with your thumbs; the left one being oriented more for cardinal directions, but the right one essentially replacing a mouse, but with your thumb tip.  From there, the controller grows into an Xbox-like set of corner buttons and smaller, colored buttons around the pads. There are more features, so watch the official trailer and let it show them off: Polygon blogged about it, as did NBC News.

Keep in mind that Steam OS is a Linux-based OS, so it can only play Steam games that can be played on Linux systems–and the Steam Library should continue to grow in that regard, assuming the OS is popular. Which I think is a pretty safe bet, given how many people hate Microsoft and/or Apple and their OSes. Also because Steam and the Steam OS is free.

2. TF2 Patch… and “Maps Workshop”

If you like designing maps for TF2, or are looking for some new places to gib fools, TF2 now offers a Beta Workshop where anyone can upload, download, and critique maps. While some of us crusty veterans have no need of new places to fight, the game stays alive by attracting new blood and bringing players back with new features. Click on the official blogpost to learn more.

There also was a minor patch, mostly to apply the Workshop functionality to the game.

June 2, 2015: TF2 patch notes

• Announcing the Maps Workshop Beta!
  • Check out the blog post for more information
  • Added bsp_repack command to repack a BSP file with optimal compression
  • Maps uploaded to the workshop are automatically compressed
  • Added tf_workshop_refresh command to recheck tracked workshop maps and refresh subscriptions
  • Added tf_workshop_map_sync command to immediately install a map from the workshop by ID
  • Added sv_allow_point_servercommand to disable point_servercommand entities. Defaults to “official” Valve maps only. Can also be set to “disallow” and “always”

Undocumented changes

• Updated the localization files
• Added “Workshop” filter to the Server Browser

June 4, 2015: TF2 patch notes

• Fixed a problem that was preventing clients from uploading items to the Steam Workshop
• Fixed a stability issue with dedicated servers

[N] Obey