TF2 Newbs (Team Fortress 2) Blog

This Terraria patch now includes a bunch of balance fixes; a lot of items will behave differently. Here are the main changes that you need to be aware of:

1. There is now an in-game Settings menu. Save and Exit has moved there. There are options for ambient sound, sliders for parallax and volume settings. The game also now loads your saved resolution and remembers if you use the maximized window.
2. Chests are now nameable. Dyes and buckets are now stackable. Ore now stacks to 999.
3. Switches and levers can now be placed on walls.
4. Accessories now have a toggle option to be visible on your character.
5. New paint colors: Brown, Shadow, Negative. New Team Dye changes colors depending on current team.
6. You can change cloth colors at a dresser (the furniture piece).
7. Tree saplings (planted by an acorn) can now be planted on all grass types.
8. Lots of sound effects added: waterfalls, lavafalls, critters such as birds, crimson monster sounds.
9. Lesser mana potions are no longer craftable; they can always be purchased from the merchant now. Using Mana potions now gives a debuff that lowers your magic damage based on how much time you have left on the debuff (your magic damage gradually returns to normal).
10. Spelunker potions and hunter potions no longer give off light; targeted items now glow (treasure gold, enemies red, friendlies green). This prevents the map from recording positioning of treasure after using a spelunker potion.
11. Waterleaf now only blooms in the rain. Rain chances slightly reduced.
12. Added hardmode Beetle Armor and Wings. Added Beetle Husks, which drop from Golem.
13. Critters: Merchant now sells a Bug Net for catching critters. Critters can be placed in Cages. Added 20 new critters.
14. Added 8 new crafting stations, including Heavy Workbench. Copper Plating, Stone Slabs, and Sandstone Slabs can be crafted at the Heavy Workbench.
15. Over 100 new furnitures were added to existing tilesets.
16. Added Stylist NPC. She spawns in spider caves….
17. Added Traveling Merchant, that randomly shows up once you have at least 2 NPCs, and sticks around for just one day. He sells random items from an inventory of over 30 possible items.
18. Lots of hardmode boss tweaks and hardmode weapon damage tweaks (see below).

Full patch notes (and spoilers!) are below.  And ReLogic has said that this is not the final patch.

 

Terraria 1.2.3

Features and Mechanics:

• You can now name chests.
• Added ingame settings menu.
• There’s now options for the ambient sound.
• Save and Exit is now in the settings menu.
• Added sliders for parallax & volume settings.
• Game now loads at saved resolution and even remembers if you use maximized window.
• Reforging cost is now 1/3 the value of an item, instead of 1/2 the value.
• You can now turn platforms into stairs using the hammer.
• Added infinite wiring support across the map.
• Updated Robe graphics.
• Updated Music Box graphics. Each music box now has a unique design.
• Music notes now come from music boxes.
• Update the graphics for Cobalt Shield, Obsidian Shield, and Paladin Shield.
• You can now place switches and levers on walls.
• Accessories now have an option to be visible and show on your character. This can be toggled off and on.
• You can now wear vanity wings.
• Wings can now be dyed.
• Dyes are now stackable.
• Buckets are now stackable.
• Ore now stacks to 999.
• You can now change cloths colors at a dresser.
• Added Ctrl + Z, X, C, and V (clear line, cut line, copy line, and paste into line respectively).
• Added Shift+Insert, Shift+Delete, Ctrl+Insert (paste, cut, and copy respectively).
• Added the ability to mine multiple tiles without resetting the hit count on every tile.
• Increased tile limit to 65536.
• Added cactus variations.
• Added biome specific stalactite variations.
• You can now place saplings on all grass types.
• Reduced the effect of campfire and heart lantern regeneration.
• Ancient Shadow armor drop rate was reduced slightly.
• Multicore Lighting added to options menu.
• There are now critter sounds.
• Added sounds for Waterfalls and Lavafalls.
• Birds are now more likely to spawn in mornings. Each type has several songs to sing.
• When you hover over text in the interface menu the text now turns yellow.
• Replaced Tree 9′s graphic.
• Players have a longer respawn delay after a non pvp death with a boss alive in multiplayer.
• Dark tiles on the map no longer tell you what they are when moused over.
• Added upside down slopes.
• Upside down slopes spawn in new worlds.
• Using Mana Potions now puts a debuff on the player that lowers magic damage based on the amount of time left.
• Mana potions all have higher stacks.
• Spelunker no longer gives off light. This prevents ore from showing up on the map
• Spelunker now causes ore to be gold colored on the screen
• Hunter potion no longer gives off light. enemies will appear in red, friendly creatures appear in green.
• Slightly reduced the chance for rain.
• Pyramids are slightly more common.
• Waterleaf now only blooms in the rain.
• Life crystals no longer spawn in the dungeon.

New Items:

• Added several new paint colors: Brown, Shadow, and Negative paint.
• Added Team Dye: Changes colors depending on team.
• Added Beetle Armor. There are two difference chest pieces, one for melee offense another for melee defense.
• Added Beetle Husks to craft Beetle Armor – drops from Golem.
• Added Beetle Wings.
• Added Shroomite Digging Claw.
• Added Gemspark Blocks.
• Added Gemspark Block waterfalls.
• Added Womannequin.
• Added several new wallpapers to the Painter.
• You can now craft an animated steampunk tileset out of Cogs.
• Added several new weapons racks that can be made at a Sawmill.
• All bosses now have a chance to drop a Boss Mask.
• Added Waterfall and Lavafall Walls. These are craftable by having a Crystal Ball and glass near a water or lava source.
• The Merchant now sells a Bug Net.
• You can now catch and release several critters using the Bug Net.
• You can now place critters in cages.
• Added Crimson seeds.
• Added 8 new crafting stations.
• Over 100 new furnitures were added to existing tilesets.
• Added Heavy Workbench.
• Added Copper Plating, Stone Slabs, and Sandstone Slabs. These are crafted at the Heavy Workbench.
• Added Venom Staff.
• Added Super Mana Potions.

New Npc:

• Added Stylist NPC (Congratulations Ripsand!) – Sells rare hair dye, changes hair style and color. (spawns in spider caves). She will also sell new hair styles! (Thanks Omnir)
• Added 20 new friendly critters.
• Added Traveling Merchant. He will randomly show up once you have at least 2 NPCS and stay for one day. His inventory will always be random and present things he has found during his time spent traveling. He has over 30 different things he can sell.

Hardmode Balance Changes:

• Drastically increased the drop chance of Keymolds.
• Ice Golem now drops a Frozen core that is used with Hallowed Bars to craft Frost Armor.
• The Pickaxe Axe now requires 1 soul from each Mech boss to craft.
• The Drax requires a soul from each boss to craft.
• Plantera bulb’s don’t spawn until all 3 mech bosses are defeated.
• You cannot summon the Golem until after Plantera has been defeated.
• Mech bosses are now slightly more difficult.
• The Golem has had its life, defense, and damage increased slightly.
• The Golems attacks now penetrate walls.
• The Golem now shoots 2 beams if you are directly above or below him.
• Increased Golem Fist damage and knockback.
• Increased the size of temple boss rooms.
• Wasp gun damage increased by 3.
• Golden shower debuff time was reduced to 10 seconds..
• Golden shower now only penetrates 5 targets.
• Golden Shower now does slightly less damage.
• Autohammer can only be bought after killing Plantera.
• The Mushroom Spear can now only be obtained once you have killed one of the mech bosses.
• The Mushroom Spear has had its sale price increased.
• The Hammush can now only be obtained once you have killed a hardmode boss.
• Souls now sell for less.
• Gungnir now sells for less.
• The Hammush has had its sale price increased.
• Poison Staff and Frost Staff do less damage now.
• Chlorophyte is slightly more rare and grows slower.
• Crystal leaf does a bit more damage and shoots faster.
• The Rod of Discord now takes 1/6 of your life rather than 1/5.
• The Rod of Discord debuff now lasts 8s down from 10s.
• Slightly buffed Shotgun, Marrow, and Ice bow.
• Slightly buffed Repeater Damage.
• Increased the damage of Terra Blade.
• Increased the damage of True Excalibur.
• Increased the damage of True Night’s Edge.
• Terra Blade, True Excalibur, and True Night’s Edge shoot beams more rapidly
• Rainbow Rod does more damage.
• Rainbow gun’s rainbow now lasts 10 seconds.
• Buffed Unholy Spear use speed.
• Lowered the damage of Chlorophyte Bullets.
• New hardmode ore spawns slightly less and is slightly harder to craft.
• Palladium pickaxe can no longer mine Adamantite and Titanium.
• Meteor heads no longer drop loot in hardmode.
• Increased Lost Girl spawn chance.
• Scourge of the Corrupter does slightly more damage.
• Corruption, Crimson, and Hallow Grass wall spreads further.
• Frostburn debuff now does more damage over time.
• Added Spectre Mask and Spectre damage set bonus.
• Nerfed Spectre Healing helmet.
• Spectre Healing Armor: Now uses more mana instead of decreasing mana usage.
• Retinazor shoots lasers a bit slower, and they do slightly less damage.
• The North Pole now does less damage and has a cap on its projectiles.
• Increased Scourge of the Corruptor’s damage.

Pre Hardmode Balance Changes:

• Lesser mana potions are no longer craftable. They will always be sold by the merchant.
• Tim is now more common.
• Increased Bee Gun damage by 1.
• Natures gift is now slightly more common.
• Increased mana usage of gem staves.
• Slightly lowered damage of higher tier gem staves.
• Lowered value of Magic dagger and Beegun

Optimizations:

• Sped up world loading a bit by directly copying tile data from runs.
• Terraria has a more efficient format for the World saves. On average it’s 20% of their previous size.
• Lighting no longer loads on servers, saves 50 megs of memory.
• Sped up world clearing when changing from one offline world to another.
• Optimized lighting code for better performance.
• Optimized rain performance.
• Sped up Rain Cloud code and made it draw better.
• Reduced netcode data usage for tiles by 75% to 85%.
• Map drawing changed to work over time rather than lock the machine up while it happens.
• Maps draw much faster and their save files are 60% smaller.
• Moved tile framing to real time to cut out having to do it during world load.
• Removed overhead from drawing tiles and walls. Light mode 0/1 run 15% faster.
• Checking World Alignment sped up significantly.
• Checking World Alignment folded into LoadWorld. Gets rid of a lot of overhead.
• Sped up the Water moving code a bit. 5-10%.

Bug Fixes:

• Pumpkin Moon and Frost Moon can now be started when using a Snowman pet.
• The game will now verify there is a lihzahrd altar at the end of world gen. This should hopefully fix the bug with there sometimes being none.
• Mouse will no longer function if you have a window over Terraria’s window.
• You can no longer waste boss summon items by using them after that boss has spawned.
• Fixed a bug where too many Waterfalls would crash the game.
• Fixed a bug with mana stars not dropping in multiplayer.
• Fixed a bug where numerous NPCs could spawn if you beat a hardmode boss in a non-hardmode world.
• Instead of consuming 2 blocks, extractinating has a chance of giving a smaller amount of money.
• The Golem’s evil plans are no longer foiled by platforms.
• Invasions can now spawn enemies anywhere near friendly NPCs instead of just the middle of the world.
• One of the twins can no longer despawn as long as the other is still active.
• Destroyer now drops loot on the closest segment to the player
• Fixed Sugar Cookie typo.
• All waves in Frost Moon correctly use “Flocko” in the warning.
• Boulders with Chests on them no longer crash the game if the boulder is hit.
• Red Stucco no longer spreads corruption.
• Piggy Bank and Safe now correctly combine coins when Quick Stacking.
• Changed how damage/tooltips are generated so weapons get the full damage boost % instead of losing a bit to float precision.
• Nurse no longer charges for, or removes the potion cooldown, heart lantern and campfire buffs.
• Fixed a bug where moving very large quantities of water could leave some water floating.
• Fixed bug where ancient cobalt armor pieces did not grant critical strike chance.
• Fixed bug where inactive tiles counted for sticky purposes.
• Fixed bug where wings appear too high when on a mount, made hoverboard not appear on a mount.
• Fixed bug where sign bubbles would appear in the wrong place at reverse gravity.
• Fixed two of the floating player bugs where the player is wildly off the surface they are standing on.
• Fixed a bug with leaving honey having water sound and particles.
• Fixed bug where featherfall potion did not function equally on reverse gravity.
• Fixed minor bug with rain sounds.
• Fixed bug where you didn’t get the set bonus by mixing Ancient Cobalt & Jungle armor pieces.
• You can now see the archery buff’s damage bonus in the item tooltips when its up.
• Fixed bug where blizzard staff could shoot upwards if you stand in hell’s bottom.
• Fixed exploit where queen bee could get stuck in tiles and not move
• Fixed a bug where Crimsand deserts were not making the water show up red.
• Mechanical Glove only improves melee damage.
• Fixed bug where you cant hurt the clothier with clothier voodoo doll using projectiles (bows / guns / thrown items / spears / flails and so on)
• Fixed a bug with guns not shooting bullets with the correct velocity
• Fixed bug where spawn rates were higher than intended everywhere rather than when below the middle of dirt layer.
• Fixed bug where NPCs that don’t really die (Slimer, Mother Slime, Corrupt Slime) drop hearts and mana stars on shapeshifting (dying).
• Fixed bug where you can respawn skeletron prime if you kill its prime cannon hand and not skeletron prime himself.
• Fixed bug where heart crystals could spawn in nonsolid areas.
• Fixed bug where skeletron hand hook did not remain attached to tiles as much as the rest of the hooks in the game.
• Fixed bug where info accessories displayed info when you looked at empty signs but not when you looked at texty signs.
• Fixed bug where the selected item was affected by pressing numbers while editing signs.
• Fixed a bug where health bars would appear empty when really full.
• Fixed bug where Dust would grow massive when you paused the game.
• Improved Dryad’s world status dialog
• Coins now stack as best as they can when you deposit or quickstack them in chests.
• Fixed bug where fairy bell would not sync properly in multiplayer.
• Fixed bug where fairy bell fairy color would not save / load.
• Fixed bug where Shadewood Bow could not be reforged.
• Fixed bug where Restoration Potion’s rarity was lower than Mana or Life Potion’s rarity (despite being the same tier).
• Fixed bug in world gen where Restoration potions could generate with their stack over the max.
• Fixed bug where platinum candle did not emit light in non-rgb lighting mode.
• Fixed bug where piranha gun would chase invincible enemies (blazing wheels and dungeon flails).
• Fixed bug where nurse would charge money to remove water candle debuff.
• Fixed bug where north pole projectile could attain enough gravity velocity to pass through blocks.
• Made Frozen debuff not hide your armor.
• Big Fix:You can no longer interact with stuff when fullscreen map is open.
• Fixed hoverboard bug where you could walk on air while in reverse gravity.
• Added unimplemented crimson monster sounds.
• Fixed general bug with gravity where it did not account some terms for half blocks.
• Fixed issue where you cannot jump while in reverse gravity in water.
• Fixed bug where certain hats would be placed weirdly under reversed gravity.
• Fixed bug where rune robe particles appeared on player’s head in reverse gravity.
• Fixed bug where chat bubbles displayed “wrong” in reverse gravity.
• Fixed tile sheet for Water Fountain to remove two bars that vanish when you turn them on. (Jungle/Snow biomes).
• Fixed bug where blazing wheels didn’t get placed into tiles.
• Fixed bug where Crimsand Blocks couldn’t be shot out of a Sandgun (added crimsand friendly projectile).
• Fixed bug where merchant would not spawn if you own over 21k platinum.
• Fixed bug where you couldn’t pick up crimson grass and hallowed grass with dirt rod.
• Fixed bug where dirt rod ball shakes erratically in water.
• Fixed bug where dungeon guardian still tried dealing 9999 damage (and was exploitable thanks to that).
• Fixed bug where flesh walls didn’t return the item when destroyed.
• Fixed bug where gingerbread men dropped yeti head gores for feet.
• Fixed bug where attempting to move npcs with reverse gravity used the opposite screen height position.
• Fixed bug where Brain of Cthulhu wouldn’t make dryad spawn or stop talking about the chasms.
• Fixed bug where guide will tell you to press ESC to open inventory even if you changed your keys.
• Fixed bug where chests could be placed in bad positions (e.g. ice blocks or sloped tiles in worldgen).
• Fixed bug where hooks would break if they try to attach to blocks with liquid in them.
• Flocko & Elf Copter now both correctly run away at dawn.
• Summoning Golem will now properly only use one Power Cell.
• Title Screen music can now be correctly captured when it plays from another Music Box.
• Fixed a typo on the Alternate Undeground Music Box.
• Fixed bug where special armor visuals don’t apply with auto-pause on (robes / werewolf / merform).
• Necro Armor reports the right ranged boost on it’s Tooltip.
• Touching Lava while in Merform will no longer force the player to leave the water and renter to get the Merform back.
• Teleporting from Honey to Water will no longer leave the player moving slowly, as if they are still in honey.
• Fixed bug where Guide would talk about crafting lens when you don’t have any.
• Fixed bug where Guide would talk about shadow orbs and corruption in a crimson world.
• Fixed bug where Guide would keep talking about shadow orbs until you beat Skeletron rather than eater of worlds / brain of cthulhu.
• Fixed bug where Dryad would mention the corruption in purification powder suggestion while in crimson world.
• Fixed bug where zooming with sniper scope / binoculars would go in opposite height direction when in reverse gravity.
• ‘Down’ button in reverse gravity with feather fall now correctly does the same thing as ‘Down’ in feather fall without reverse gravity.
• Fixed bug where Crimson hearts would be called shadow orbs in minimap
• Rod of Discord works properly when gravity is flipped.
• Fixed the bug where removing walls in the Underworld would not update the map.
• Fixed bug where certain items would be invisible when using flame dye.
• Using a Rod of Discord releases all grapples.
• Fixed a typo in the Steampunker dialog about the Pirate.
• Using a teleporter tile releases all grapples.
• Touching lava while in water will now properly put the fire buff out when you leave lava.
• Fixed issue where merman / werewolf transforms are visible when you’re invisible.
• Fixed bug where wing items showed on player’s back when in merman form.
• Fixed bug where pirate captains would be dismembered into 5 heads instead of 1 body.
• Fixed robe lower body animation issues when using items.
• Fixed precision with hydra staff in reverse gravity.
• Fixed starfury getting magic prefixes despite being melee weapon.
• Fixed starfury projectiles being magic instead of melee (no longer triggers spectre set or scale with magic crit).
• Fixed bug where you could place campfire in water.
• Fixed exploit with moving items around in auto-pause.
• Fixed bug where Sand falling was not unsloping tiles.
• Fixed bug where mannequins wouldn’t draw robe bottoms.
• Fixed bug where skeletron hand hook would emit glows of melee enchantments.
• Golem and plantera now drop money (15 gold each).
• Fixed bug where Staff of Earth’s boulders would sink through tiles if they’re in water.
• Fixed issue where magma stone fire particles would apply to bug net.
• Crimson Hearts now have the right name when hovered over on the map.
• Fixed Princess robe not having a bottom.
• Fixed bug where chaos elementals can spawn prehardmode.
• Fixed exploit where shadow dodge buff wouldn’t be removed if its the last buff in a full buff list.
• Fixed exploit where you could throw torches to activate hotbar items without costs.
• Fixed dying by demon altar having no message.
• Wearing Frost Armor no longer makes Spiky Ball Traps give Frostburn debuffs.
• Spear traps will vanish when reaching the trap, whether it is inactive or not.
• Enemy attacks no longer trigger Spectre set healing from hitting friendly NPCs.
• Running underwater no longer causes flashes of the Suffocation debuff.
• Dark Mummy and Pixie no longer drop both Status Protection accessories at the same time, 100% of the time.
• Ancient Cobalt gear no longer drops both Armor and Legs at the same time.
• Crimson Altar now shows up when you hover over it on the map.
• Bug where Spectre Staff was trying to chase a Wyvern off the top of the map fixed.
• Fixed bug where Crimson Axe npc wouldn’t drop Nazar.
• Fixed bug where Crimtane’s name wouldnt be displayed in mouseover on map.
• Fixed bug where mayan dart trap darts were affected from frost armor
• Thorns potion now properly requires worm tooth to craft.
• Fixed issue where Ice Torch would not emit light when thrown on the ground.
• Fixed bug where wisp spazzes in water.
• Fixed frost moon wave display test (Elf Zombie to Zombie Elf).
• Fixed a bug that was causing the Map to draw over already drawn areas.
• Fixed the Nymph Banner typo.
• Fixed a crash when you destroy a teleporter with a chest on top.
• Fixed a typo causing Bezoars to drop from the Steampunker (178) instead of Moss Hornet (176).
• Fixed bug where platinum candle was not right clickable.
• Fixed crash on minimizing the game.
• Fixed torch duplication bug.
• North Pole can no longer fire through walls.
• Fixed a bug with the Christmas Hook.
• Extractinator now only consumes 1 block at a time (bug fix)
• Golem and Plantera now flee to despawn after all players have been killed.

Thanks to the Official Terraria Wiki for this information.

[N] Obey

Here’s the short version:

1. You can no longer apply Jarate to invulnerable targets with the Sydney Sleeper.  Apparently that was a bug.
2. Fixed the annoying infinite Ubercharge exploit (which I’m sure you saw if you played on Valve servers lately).
3. Lots more accessories now get assists when you’re in Pyrovision.
4. You can now search for “no damage spread” servers in Quickplay. Also, some Quickplay bugfixes for Linux clients.
5. A new bow (reskin) for the Sniper!

Here’s the long version:

Patch notes

• Fixed an infinite ÜberCharge exploit related to loadout presets
• Fixed a case where players that are the target of a vote kick would not be banned from the server
• Fixed a Quickplay crash for Linux clients
• Fixed Linux servers getting disconnected from Steam when multiple servers are run from the same IP
• Fixed taunts not previewing in the character loadout screen after being equipped
• Fixed the High-Five! taunt not hiding the Engineer‘s weapon
• Fixed some missing knobs on the level 2 dispenser
• Fixed being able to jarate invulnerable targets with the Sydney Sleeper
• Lugermorph Killstreak Kits can now be applied to all Lugermorph guns
  • Apparently there was a bug that prevented this in some cases
• Updated several cosmetic items that were missing an item_type description
• Updated several cosmetic items to count as assisters in Pyrovision
  • Applies to: Red Army Robin, Cobber Chameleon, Compatriot, Lieutenant Bites, Li’l Snaggletooth, Pocket Horsemann, Accursed Apparition, Ivan The Inedible, Polly Putrid, Guano, Unidentified Following Object, Carious Chameleon, Lieutenant Bites the Dust, Archimedes the Undying, Carrion Companion, Quoth, Larval Lid
• Updated the Medi-Mask to use equip_region beard instead of face
• Quickplay: Added option to search for “nodmgspread” servers
• Quickplay: Removed disabling of non-vanilla option radio buttons when official servers are selected

Undocumented changes

• Added the Fortified Compound

 

A New Sniper Bow!

Actually, the “Fortified Compound” is just a reskinned Huntsman.  But it looks pretty awesome. When equipped, it will add a quiver of arrows to the Sniper’s back. It is not yet available, but expected to be a promo item for another Steam game.

 

Hey! {N} Kit’s birthday is almost here!

 

[N] Obey

EDIT 2/8/2014:

1. Added the secondary fix patch
2. Added very minor patches since January 7, 2014 (bottom of post).
3. Added a list of the 43 items in the #81 Strongbox.
   
4. Updated my “TF2Newbs Guide to MvM Item Hunting” post
5. There are now 3 promotional TF2 cosmetic items available for players who purchase the BioShock Infinite Season Pass on Steam before March 24, 2014, currently $19.99. (March 23, 2013 is the date the Season Pass originally launched.) Here are the 3 cosmetic items, awarded in Genuine quality for those who purchase the Pass:
   1. “First American” headslot item for the Soldier, with the likeness of Benjamin Franklin
   2. “Mister Bubbles” accessory (pocket region) for the Engineer
   3. “Big Daddy” headslot item for the Soldier, with the likeness of George Washington

Undocumented changes (from patch 2/7/2014)

• Added new promo items.
  • First American, Mister Bubbles, Big Daddy (see above)
• Soda Popper
  • Removed no random critical hits as a negative attribute.
• The #81 Strongbox will become a rare drop after February 24, 2014.
• #81 Strongbox drop list (43 items in all):
  • Scout items: Ticket Boy  (yep, only one!)
  • Soldier items: Ground Control, Killer’s Kit,
  • Pyro items: Cute Suit, Sole Mate
  • Demoman items: Bushi-Dou, Dark Falkirk Helm, Juggernaut Jacket, Sangu Sleeves, Sole Saviors, Stylish DeGroot
  • Heavy items: Bullet Buzz, Combat Slacks, Eliminators Safeguard, Gone Commando, Heavy Lifter, Leftover Trap, Rat Stompers, Sammy Cap, Trash Man, War Goggles, Warmth Preserver
  • Engineer items: Antarctic Researcher, Ein, Scotch Saver, Trencher’s Topper, Trencher’s Tunic
  • Medic items: Colonel’s Coat, Dough Puncher, Fashionable Megalomaniac,  Gaiter Guards, Heat of Winter, Heer’s Helmet, Mustachioed Mann, Smock Surgeon, Teutonic Toque
  • Sniper items: Archers Groundings, Deep Cover Operator, Huntsman’s Essentials, Toowoomba Tunic
  • Spy items: Backstabber’s Boomslang, Deep Cover Operator, Napolean Complex
  • All-class items: Law

My favorites:

Eliminators Safeguard                               Dough Puncher

 

Law (all-class)                                             Bullet Buzz

Patch 2

• Fixed a client crash related to the Quickplay menu
• Fixed the Crafting menu not showing the inputs/outputs correctly
• Fixed the Backpack not drawing paint splotches for items that have been painted
• Fixed the Engineer’s belt and pocket equip_regions conflicting for some items
• Reverted the changes to The Half-Zatoichi until the effects on the Soldier can be investigated

Note missed from the previous update:

• Fixed the MvM upgrade menu closing when a Strange item has its counter increment

 

 

 

Original post:

 

I warned you all that a new patch was coming!  Anyway, here’s the news:

1. TF2 patch notes (see below)
2. The TF2 Strongbox (crate #81) is now unlockable with Strongbox Keys.
   • Like many of the other recent variant crates, its drop list includes a possible 43 community-created Gold Star items
3. Some weapons that did not have available Killstreak Kits (the AWPer Hand, Lugermorph, Big Kill, etc.) now do. So this may create a run on the demand of these items.
4. Borderlands 2 is free-to-play from now through Sunday night
   • Its many incarnations, including the Season Pass, are 50% off until Monday morning

 

Weapon Updates

Most of the weapon updates of late have focused on rarely-played and unpopular weapons, tweaking them so that they become relevant to the TF2 game once more. Expect to see way more Natascha heavies and Degreaser/Reserve Shooter pyros in the near future.

• The Shortstop
  • Reduced extra knockback penalty from 80% to 40%
• The Short Circuit
  • Added Penalty – No longer gain metal from dispensers when active
• The Cleaner’s Carbine
  • Changed OnKill effect from gain crits for 3 seconds to gain mini-crits for 8 seconds
• Natascha
  • Added +50% extra ammo
  • This makes the weapon more viable in MvM also!
• The Reserve Shooter
  • Increased clip size from 3 to 4
  • Time to mini-crit airborne targets changed from 3 to 5
• The Beggar’s Bazooka
  • Changed penalty No primary ammo from dispensers to no primary ammo from dispensers when active
• The Quick Fix
  • Fixed the Medic not gaining the proper speed boost when a Demoman uses the Chargin’ Targe or Splendid Screen
  • Read: “Medics can now run like hell” and “Brace yourself for more Medic-Demoknight pairings”

Weapon Fixes

• Fixed deflected projectiles not affecting Strange and Killstreak counts
• Fixed the Mini-Sentry range-sphere not accurately displaying the range for the sentry when it is being placed
• Fixed the Spy’s revolver using the incorrect reload sound
• Fixed third-person Medi Gun beams appearing jittery
• Fixed the Heavy not playing his response rules lines after eating a Sandvich, Buffalo Steak Sandvich, etc.
• Fixed The Half-Zatoichi using the wrong animations for the Loadout screen and the HUD 3D Character

Community Updates

• Added the Strongbox Key to the Mann Co. Store
• Added 43 community-contributed items to the Strongbox Crate
• Added the Tumblr Vs Reddit Participation Medal

Mann vs. Machine

• Added Killstreak Fabricators for the following weapons to the Two Cities Tour reward list:
  • The Lugermorph, The Big Kill, The Iron Curtain, The Frying Pan, The Black Rose, The AWPer Hand, Chargin’ Targe, Splendid Screen, and The Mantreads
• Fixed an exploit that allowed players to purchase/sell the Canteen Specialist upgrade to get more money than they originally spent
• Fixed an exploit where players could stand on a robot’s head to block their movement for an easy kill
• Fixed players not being able to earn the Frags to Riches achievement if there is money in the world when the mission is completed
• Fixed a bug that caused players to not receive an Upgrade Refund Credit when they should have
• Fixed the UI not updating properly if an Upgrade Refund Credit is earned after the wave has ended

Quickplay

• Added advanced options page, which allows you to search for a few commonly-requested non-vanilla options: 32-player servers, nocrits, and instant/modified respawn times
• Added “Show Servers” button to quickplay. This will run the normal quickplay search, but instead of joining the “best” server, it will present a list of about 20 servers and let you pick.

Other Changes

• Improved loading of item information panels to prevent hitches when cycling through backpack pages
  • Use the convar tf_time_loading_item_panels to control how much time is spent per frame loading item panel data.
• Fixed Australium items not using the correct images in the Steam Community Market
• Added missing payload audio for the Medic, Soldier, Demoman, and Spy
• Added the server command “sv_setsteamaccount” for logging in with a persistent game server account using a login token. Login tokens may be acquired via the IGameServersService/CreateAccount web API. Using a login token is not required to run a game server, but allows Steam users to continue to access your game server from their favorites list if your game server changes IP in the future.
• Added the game server’s SteamID to the output of the status command
• Fixed the Killstreak counts not being accurately portrayed in the scoreboard
• Fixed seeing the incorrect LOD settings for models when they are being previewed during submission to the Steam Workshop
• Fixed a UV/skinning problem on the level 1 sentry
• Fixed a problem where “activate virtual reality” doesn’t work if you have 2 monitors + headset
• Fixed a client crash caused by trying to load an invalid URL
• Fixed achievements getting stuck in a completed state and not being awarded to the player
• Fixed not hearing hit sounds after a level change when using tf_dingalingaling_repeat_delay
• Fixed the “equipped” label being displayed on incorrect backpack panels when equipping items
• Fixed the upper-left backpack panel always being highlighted when equipping items
• Fixed player names being clipped by item images in the Freeze Cam and Inspect panels
• Updated the equip_region for The Extra Layer
• Updated the Blue team material for the Ambassador to be less red
• Updated ctf_2fort
  • Fixed a rendering bug on a silo prop in the skybox area for the Blue base

 

1/10/2014 Patch: Undocumented changes

• Added Mann Co. Strongbox Series #81 to the drop list.
• Fixed crashing problems on Upward and Watchtower, as well as some custom maps.
• Strange Wranglers now track wrangled kills properly.

1/9/2014 Patch:

• Added the ability to change an item’s style in the class loadout menu
• Fixed not being able to apply Killstreak Kits to the Sleeping Dogs promo items
• Fixed Killstreak sheens for the Gunslinger and the Heavy‘s Fists
• Fixed Killstreak counts being limited to 128 kills
• Fixed projectiles not drawing correctly in old .dem files
• Fixed not being able to gift wrap the Festive Sapper
• Fixed the Mann vs. Machine scoreboard not always displaying values correctly
• Fixed an exploit in Mann vs. Machine related to purchasing upgrades
• Fixed not being able to use the Festive Crusader’s Crossbow in Medieval mode
• Fixed Medics seeing the incorrect string when trying to heal a target with the Escape Plan equipped
• Fixed Medigun healing beams staying on when the Medic dies while healing someone
• Fixed a problem that caused the Steam Holiday Sale 2013 promo items to be untradable for some accounts
• Updated Strange Wranglers to track wrangled sentry kills^[1]
• Updated the Heart of Gold so name tags and description tags can be applied to it
• Updated the localization files
• Updated the Short Circuit
  • Damage lowered
  • Consumes 15 metal per projectile destroyed
  • Can no longer fire underwater
  • Fixed a bug with orphaned particles

Undocumented changes

• Fixed Killstreak sheens for the Bat Outta Hell
• Removed Heraldic Targe from tf_english.txt

 

[N] Obey

 

 

 

This guide focuses more on the items that can be found in the TF2 MvM game. See the links below if you’re looking for something else regarding MvM. Thank you for all the clicks! 17,000 hits and counting!

Links

• The official TF2 Wiki has a page of strategies and tactics for playing MvM.
• This Community guide does a great job in telling you what upgrades you should/shouldn’t purchase in MvM.
• Go here to learn about the kinds of items in TF2, and how to get more of them.

 

Table of Contents

0. Updates

1. MvM Game Modes: Mann Up vs. Boot Camp

2. Tours of Duty, and the Rewards They Give

3. Botkiller Weapons

4. Killstreaker Weapons, Kits, Fabricators, and Robot Parts

5. Australium Weapons

 

0. Updates

Updated August 11, 2016:

1. Added links at top, incl. upgrade guide.
2. Added more pictures to break up all the text, and some clearer explanations. Removed price information.

Updated December 26, 2014:

1. Added: Now all Advanced and Expert Tour Completions grant the same chance of earning an Australium weapon.

Updated September 18th, 2014:

1. Completing the same Mann Up mission over and over does not consume your tickets, nor does it earn you any items.

Updated July 13th, 2014:

1. Added this link which provides GIFs showing all of the Professional Killstreak eye effects in every color.
2. Added this link which shows many of the Specialized Killstreak weapons’ colored sheens.

Updated June 24th, 2014:

1. The five weapons released during the Love & War Update now have Killstreak Kits that can drop.
2. Added “important waves” to Two Cities’ Tour mission descriptions.

Updated April 4th, 2014:

1. Some killstreak kits are now available in Mann Co. Crates, starting with crate #83.
2. Tour of Duty Tickets are US$0.99 each, and Squad Surplus Vouchers are US$1.99 each in the Mann Co. Store (not the 49 cents and 99 cents respectively I had posted). The tickets had been on sale during my original post.

Updated February 8th, 2014:

1. (My mistake!) Standard killstreak kits, which drop at the end of every Two Cities’ Tour, are only useable for one specific weapon. This is also true for Specialized, and Professional Killstreak Kits and their Fabricators.
   • For example, you may finish a Two Cities’ Tour and receive a “Black Box Killstreak Kit”, along with your other item drops.
2. As of the 2/7/2014 patch, the following weapons can now drop killstreak kits and fabricators (and did not before):
   • Lugermorph, Big Kill, Iron Curtain, Frying Pan, Black Rose, AWPer Hand, Chargin’ Targe, Splendid Screen, and Mantreads
3. (My mistake!) A Tour Badge is earned by completing any one mission of that Tour, not the entire Tour.

 

1. MvM Game Modes: Mann Up vs. Boot Camp

Boot Camp mode is the free-to-play version. You don’t need tickets to play, but you’re not going to get any item drops at the end of the missions; you still get your usual timed item drops as you play. You can also play Boot Camp mode on private servers, so you can enjoy benefits on those. A change implemented in 2016 allows Boot Camp games to hold more than 6 players, depending on the permissions of the server. I’ve played in games with 10 players. Boot Camp mode is perfect for practicing a new class, weapon, or map.

 

Mann Up mode is the pay-to-play version, and it has completely different missions (waves of enemies) on the same maps. Mann Up rewards players with item drops and, for those who complete Tours of Duty, special weapons such as Botkillers and Killstreakers! Mann Up mode is only available on Valve-run servers. Players in Mann Up mode are seriously trying to win, and the number of Tours they have on their belt speaks to their knowledge of what works and what doesn’t; unlike TF2, some weapons or methods are useless, and some are almost essential (like having a medic and an engineer, or resistance upgrades on a heavy). Practice in Boot Camp until you’re familiar with the meta, or frustrated players may leave or kick you.

 

NOTE:  You should already have a Power Up Canteen (or the Battery Canteen is the same thing with a different look). If you don’t have one for some reason, you can craft one for 4 scrap in the Crafting menu.

If you’re hoping to earn a very rare Australium weapon (see below), you need to complete an Advanced or Expert Mann Up Tour, which will require between 3 to 6 tickets to complete each Tour.

 

Six MvM Maps:

 

Big Rock (mvm_bigrock) is a very long MvM map that launched with the introduction of robot Engineers into the game.

 

 

Coal Town (mvm_coaltown) is an MvM with a single downhill dirt ramp leading to where the robots spawn.

A Boot Camp-only reskin of this map, Ghost Town (mvm_ghost_town), takes place at night with the robots reskinned as zombies. Neither of these have robot Engineers.

 

Decoy (mvm_decoy) is a short map known for a wooden overpass bridge near the robots’ spawns, and where two bridges cross a deep gulch near the bomb drop point. Robot engineers are never present in this map.

 

 

Mannhattan (mvm_mannhattan) is one of the Two Cities Update maps. This map features two additional forward spawns (doors A and B) where gatebots–robots with a glowing yellow head–will attempt to unlock, in order to have a shorter route and more bombs to deliver to the bomb drop point.

 

 

Mannworks (mvm_mannworks) is a foggy map surrounded by gray rocks, with two robot spawns and a tank spawn set into the cliffs. This map never has robot Engineers.

 

 

Rottenburg (mvm_rottenburg), the other Two Cities map, takes place in a German-style town. The robots’ paths wind around buildings and over ramps, and the city proper can be confusing to get around.

 

2.  Tours of Duty, and the Rewards They Give

A Tour of Duty is a collection of missions, across several maps, on official Valve MvM servers. Each tour has from 3-6 missions, and each mission requires a Tour of Duty Ticket. The tickets (which cost US$0.99 in the Mann Co. Store) are tan with a picture of Saxton Hale on them, and are only used up if you succeed in the mission.  “Mann Up” Mode refers to this pay-to-play style, as opposed to free-to-play “Boot Camp”. Each player has the option, before beginning a mission, to use one Squad Surplus Voucher each. These vouchers are grey with a treasure chest on them (and cost US$1.99 in the Mann Co. Store), and are likewise used up only if you succeed in the mission. If you beat the mission, each player receives one extra standard item drop. (They don’t provide any more robot parts, nor do they provide a better chance for Australiums or other random loot. It’s functionally a six-player Secret Saxton that your team receives when you win.)

Rewards for a Tour of Duty

This player completed a single “Two Cities” Tour mission.

The real rewards are earned when completing the Tour.

  When you finish a single mission, you will receive:

• Credit for that current mission if you haven’t already done it on your current tour
• You earn the badge for that Tour, if you haven’t already
• One random item drop (for example, a Mad Milk)
  • Plus one additional random item drop for each Squad Surplus Voucher used
  • All of these random item drops have the usual ~3% chance of dropping a hat or other cosmetic/tool item.
• (Two Cities tours only) A random number (4 to 7) of robot parts, some of which may be rare

 

“Two Cities” Tours grant Killstreak Fabricators and Kits.

The other tours grant different varieties of Botkiller Weapons.

All Tours of at least Advanced difficulty have a small chance of dropping an Australium weapon also.

 

When you finish the last mission in a Tour, you will get the above, and also:

• You will receive a random Special Weapon or Kit
  • Two Cities Tours grant a random Standard Killstreak Kit, plus one or two random Killstreak Fabricators also (see below)
  • All other Tours grant a random Botkiller Weapon, depending on which Tour you completed (see below)
• One increment is added to the applicable badge’s Tour Counter
• (Updated 12/22/14): You also have a roughly 2% chance of getting an Australium weapon as well, if you completed an Advanced or Expert Tour
  • Perhaps Australium weapons are slightly likely to drop soon after Valve pushes a new TF2 update or sale, but who knows?
• All the missions are cleared so that you can complete another Tour and get its reward again

 

You will not get the weapon/kit granted by the Tour until you complete every mission in the Tour. Tours are repeatable; you can keep earning weapons each time you complete all of the missions of the Tour, and ramp your Badge’s counter. Be warned: You can complete the same mission repeatedly in Mann Up mode, but you will not get any item drops whatsoever.  But you keep your tickets too, so you can play again.  You do have to have a ticket in order to begin play, however. See below for more information on the reward items.

 

 

 

 

There are five levels of mission difficulty:

1. Beginner, the easiest (Boot Camp only)
2. Intermediate (Boot Camp or Mann Up)
   • “Oil Spill” is the Mann Up Tour
3. Advanced, the “middle difficulty” (Boot Camp, or Mann Up)
   • “Steel Trap”, “Mecha Engine”, and “Two Cities” are the three Mann Up Tours
4. Expert (Boot Camp or Mann Up), the hardest mission difficulty
   • “Gear Grinder” is the Mann Up Tour
5. Nightmare, a single zombie-themed mission (Boot Camp only)

 

Here is a list of the current “Mann Up” Tours of Duty, in order of difficulty:

“Operation Oil Spill”

• Difficulty: Intermediate (2 out of 5)
• Special Weapons: Rust BK Mk. I (common), Blood BK Mk. I (uncommon)
• Chance of Australium Weapon on Tour Completion: no
• Number of Missions: 6
  • Map: Decoy
    • “Doe’s Doom”
    • “Day of Wreckening”
  • Map: Coal Town
    • “Cave-in”
    • “Quarry”
  • Map: Mannworks
    • “Mean Machines”
    • “Mannhunt”

“Operation Steel Trap”

• Difficulty: Advanced (3 out of 5)
• Special Weapons: Silver BK Mk. I (common), Gold BK Mk. I (uncommon)
• Chance of Australium Weapon on Tour Completion: yes
• Number of Missions: 6
  • Map: Decoy
    • “Disk Deletion”
    • “Data Demolition”
  • Map: Coal Town
    • “Ctrl+Alt+Destruction”
    • “CPU Slaughter”
  • Map: Mannworks
    • “Machine Massacre”
    • “Mech Mutilation”

“Operation Mecha Engine”

• Difficulty: Advanced (3 out of 5)
• Special Weapons: Silver BK Mk. II (common), Gold BK Mk. II (uncommon)
  • Mark II Botkiller weapons feature Engineer heads, instead of Heavy heads.
• Chance of Australium Weapon on Tour Completion: yes
• Number of Missions: 3
  • This Tour introduced the use of Engineer robots, and their teleporters and sentries
  • Map: Decoy
    • “Disintegration”
  • Map: Big Rock
    • “Broken Parts”
    • “Bone Shaker”

 

“Operation Two Cities”: with notes so you can differentiate between them

• Difficulty: Advanced (3 out of 5)
• Special Weapons: Killstreak Kits, Specialized Fabricators (common), and Professional Fabricators (uncommon)
• Chance of Australium Weapon on Tour Completion: yes
• Number of Missions: 4
  • The only way to earn Robot Parts is by completing Two Cities missions.
  • Map: Mannhattan
    • “Empire Escalation”
      • Wave 5: 10 Giant Black Box Soldiers start spawning in the 2nd sub-wave, and 8 Giant Bonk Scouts start spawning late
    • “Metro Malice”
      • Wave 1: 8 Giant Rapid Fire Soldiers spawn with 3 Uber Medics each, making a demoman team member almost required
  • Map: Rottenburg
    • “Hamlet Hostility”
      • Wave 3: 3 Giant Super Scouts with a Tank shortly thereafter
      • Wave 4: at end of wave, 12 Giant Super Scouts, and 3 Giant Heavies with 2 Quick-Fix Medics each
      • Wave 7: 3 Tanks in quick succession
    • “Bavarian Botbash
      • Wave 1: 2 Giant Super Scouts in the fist sub-wave
      • Wave 7: Tank, 4 Giant Deflector Heavies, 4 Giant Spammer Soldiers, and 8 Giant Burst Demos, each spawning no more than 30 seconds apart

“Operation Gear Grinder”: the hardest Tour to date

• Difficulty: Expert (4 out of 5)
• Special Weapons: Carbonado BK Mk. I (common), Diamond BK Mk. I (uncommon)
• Chance of Australium Weapon on Tour Completion: yes
• Number of Missions: 3
  • Map: Decoy
    • “Desperation”
  • Map: Coal Town
    • “Cataclysm”
  • Map: Mannworks
    • “Mannslaughter”

 

3.  Botkiller Weapons

All Botkiller (BK) weapons are Strange quality, keeping track of the number of the (human player) kills you inflict with them, and they are able to take up to 3 Strange Parts as well. Each time you complete the Tours “Oil Spill”, “Steel Trap”, “Mecha Engine”, or “Gear Grinder”, you will earn one random Botkiller weapon. See above for the list of Tours, which correspond to the types of botkiller weapons (rust, blood, silver, gold, carbonado, and diamond) they reward. There are only 9 kinds of Botkiller weapons at this time, and they are the stock trademark weapons for each class:

• Scattergun for the Scout
• Rocket Launcher for the Soldier
• Flame Thrower for the Pyro
• Stickybomb Launcher for the Demoman
• Minigun for the Heavy
• Wrench for the Engineer
• Medi Gun for the Medic
• Sniper Rifle for the Sniper
• Knife for the Spy

Trivia: The level of the BK weapon is equal to the number of those Tours you completed when you earned the weapon (i.e. your 5th completion of Gear Grinder may grant you a Carbonado or Diamond BK Weapon that is Level 5). BK weapons are essentially reskinned Strange weapons, which are a mild status symbol in the greater TF2 community; players equipped with Botkiller weapons are usually players who have invested more time in the game, and act as a trophy to their skill.  They are tradable, but players can simply invest time and tickets to earn a weapon, unlike unusual hats. Fortunately, when you earn a BK weapon, it is ready to use! That is not the case with some Killstreaker weapons, which are much more complicated.

 

4.  Killstreaker Weapons, Kits, Fabricators, and Robot Parts

Killstreaker weapons count your current “kill streak” or number of kills that you have made since your last death. The number of kills in the streak made by killstreaker weapons the player possesses is announced in the killfeed in the top right corner after the player’s name (i.e. ” 2 >” ), and at intervals of five, the killstreak is announced to the whole server at the top of the screen. There are 3 ascending tiers of killstreaker weapons, in order:

1. Standard Killstreak weapons only do the killstreak counter, as counted above.
2. Specialized Killstreak weapons do the killstreak counter, and also display a colored sheen to the weapon. The color grows brighter as the wielder’s killstreak increases. There are seven possible sheens:
   • Team Shine (Red, Blue)
   • Hot Rod (Pink)
   • Manndarin (Orange)
   • Deadly Daffodil (Yellow)
   • Mean Green (Lime Green)
   • Agonizing Emerald (Green)
   • Villainous Violet (Purple)
3. Professional Killstreak weapons have both the killstreak counter and a killstreak sheen. Also, they cause a glowing particle effect to the wielder’s eyes when a killstreak of at least five kills is attained, similar to the Eyelander’s. There are seven possible effects:
   • Cerebral Discharge (yellow bolts)
   • Fire Horns (orange fires and a glowing orange pentagram overhead)
   • Flames (pink-red cloudy flames)
   • Hypno-Beam (lavender concentric circles)
   • Incinerator (green-to-gray smoke floating straight up)
   • Singularity (yellow-green dancing lights near eyes)
   • Tornado (gold-bordered dust clouds floating upwards)

Click here to see GIFs of all of the possible Professional Killstreak glowing eyes effects. See this forum thread to see what many weapons’ sheens look like (and to vote on your favorite glowing-eye effect!).

 

Killstreak kits are the tool items used to make a weapon a killstreak without changing its item quality or other traits. They are keyed to a specific type of weapon, such as a Flare Gun Killstreak Kit. Kits can be applied to a stock item if you choose, creating a separate Unique item in your inventory. Let me say that again: Killstreak kits can be applied to ANY weapon of its type. Yes, you can have a Collector’s Professional Killstreaker Sandvich. Or a Botkiller Standard Killstreaker Stickybomb Launcher. Or a Vintage Specialized Killstreaker Backburner. But as you will see below, only Unique-quality Killstreak weapons can be used in the creation of better ones.

 

Killstreaker fabricators are tool items used to make even better killstreaker kits. They are keyed to a specific type of weapon, such as a Specialized Killstreak Shotgun. However, each fabricator comes with a list of robot parts and weapon(s) needed to construct the kit. It also shows the specific weapon it is keyed to, and what sheens/effects it will grant. Killstreaks and the kits and fabricators required to make them are tiered:

1. Standard killstreak kits are found each time you complete a Two Cities Tour.
2. Specialized killstreak fabricators are commonly found each Tour you complete also. In order to finish the kit, each requires:
   • 24 random Battle-Worn robot parts
   • 5 random Reinforced robot parts
   • 1 Unique-quality Standard Killstreak weapon of your choice
3. Professional killstreak fabricators are rarely found each Tour you complete as well. In order to finish these rare kits, each requires:
   1. 16 random Battle-Worn robot parts
   2. 6 random Reinforced robot parts
   3. 3 random Pristine robot parts
   4. 2 Unique-quality Specialized Killstreak weapons of your choice

Fortunately, killstreaker weapons, kits, fabricators, and robot parts are all tradable and giftable, so you’re not forced to earn every single part if you don’t want to. Just remember that only yellow Unique Killstreak weapons can be used in construction of kits, even though they can be applied to Strange, Collector’s, Vintage and others. The robot parts are:

• Common
  • Battle-Worn Robot Money Furnace
  • Battle-Worn Robot Taunt Processor
  • Battle-Worn Robot KB-808
• Uncommon
  • Reinforced Robot Emotion Detector
  • Reinforced Robot Humor Suppression Pump
  • Reinforced Robot Bomb Stabilizer
• Rare
  • Pristine Robot Currency Digester
  • Pristine Robot Brainstorm Bulb

 

 

An Example: Chung decides to begin a Two Cities tour, and manages to complete the Empire Escalation mission. He finds a huntsman (his random item drop), two battle-worn taunt processors, two battle-worn money furnaces, and a reinforced emotion detector. He has to complete a Tour to get a beloved killstreaker kit. Encouraged, Chung finishes the tour. Besides the other items and robot parts he has found, he earns a Standard Scattergun Killstreaker Kit, and a Specialized Killstreak Black Box Fabricator (Deadly Daffodil) . He’s been playing as Scout, so he applies the Standard Scattergun Killstreaker Kit to his stock Scattergun, giving him a Unique Killstreak Scattergun. Looking at the fabricator, he sees the randomly-generated formula required to earn a Specialized Killstreak Black Box:

• 1 Unique Standard Killstreak Weapon
• 13 Battle-Worn Money Furnace
• 9 Battle-Worn KB-808
• 2 Battle-Worn Taunt Processor
• 5 Reinforced Bomb Stabilizer

Chung decides to begin another Tour in order to earn the Spec Black Box. After finishing the Tour of four missions once more, and trading off some scrap for three Money Furnaces he was still missing, he has all of the parts he needs to make the Spec Black Box. When he finished the second tour, he earned another Killstreak Kit–which he will apply to an Ubersaw because he wants to keep his Killstreak Scattergun–and he also got a Professional Killstreak Sandvich Fabricator (Agonizing Emerald, Flames). Chung decides to use the Ubersaw and finishes the Black Box. But he’s not going to use the Black Box to make a ProK Sandvich; he’s going to shop the fabricator around for something he would like to have.

 

5.  Australium Weapons

Very rarely (about 2% of the time) when finishing any Advanced or Expert difficulty Tour, you may be rewarded with an Australium Weapon of a random type as well as the standard Tour Rewards. These are Strange-quality weapons with a very obvious golden sheen continually visible.

These are the weapons currently possible to exist as Australium versions:

• Scout: Scattergun, Force-a-Nature
• Soldier: Rocket Launcher, Black Box
• Pyro: Flame Thrower, Axtinguisher
• Demoman: Grenade Launcher, Stickybomb Launcher, Eyelander
• Heavy: Minigun, Tomislav
• Engineer: Frontier Justice, Wrench
• Medic: Blutsauger, Medi Gun
• Sniper: Sniper Rifle, SMG
• Spy: Ambassador, Knife
• All Class: Frying Pan

The Frying Pan is an oddball among these. Being an all-class weapon (unlike other versions of Frying Pan) it will build and repair buildings when held by an Engineer, and it will backstab when equipped by a Spy; don’t think it’s a do-it-all tool for every class. They just allowed the given animations to perform the essential functions for each class.

If you get an Australium Frying Pan, keep it! There are perhaps a couple of dozen in existence, and they are worth thousands of US dollars!  This is not a joke. With it in your inventory, people will immediately start to offer you lowball trades for it, and you should ignore them.

 

I hope this guide is useful to you. Ten hours’ time went into the creation of this guide, drawing heavily from the Official TF2 Wiki and the TF2Newbs community alike. But since many of us were confused about what was required to acquire some of the high-end killstreak weapons, I figured a clear document detailing the process would be an asset. I will try to update this document on occasion as needed.

[N] Obey

 

P.S.: Other TF2 guides I’ve written:

• “TF2 Newbs Guide to Halloween Events and Maps”
• What the heck do “Commodities” and “Buy Orders” have to do with TF2?
• “TF2 Newbs Guide to Getting More and Better Items”

Thanks for reading, and be sure to bookmark!

Steam is giving away a downloadable copy of Left 4 Dead 2, its popular mission-based, team-oriented zombie survival shooter. Regularly $9.99, it is available for free on Steam… but only if you download it TODAY! Click here.

This is one reason why the Steam store is very slow today. The other is because of those Steam gift cards everybody’s cashing in.

[N] Obey