And now it’s time for something a little different.
Sometimes, I like to mess around in Mannpower Mode, the little-used mode where you have a grappling hook and access to powerups. Although it’s mainly for fun, Mannpower has some very interesting balance that has been fine-tuned over the years - just look at its extensive “Update History” listing.
One of the chief problems is the prevalence of killstreaks. Because powerups are very, well, powerful, and not everyone can have one, it’s possible for a single player to do a lot of damage over an extended period of time, shutting down counterplay. Mannpower has a lot of features in place to help counteract that, most notably the automatic crit boost that players on the losing team can pick up after the enemy scores too many kills. But today I’m talking about the Supernova powerup, introduced in the official release of Mannpower Mode.
Supernova works a little differently than the other powerups: it’s single-use, and once it’s used it immediately respawns somewhere on the map. Once you get it, it charges up for 30 seconds; you can accelerate this charge by dealing damage.
When you discharge the supernova (alt-fire on your grappling hook, which is weapon slot 6), enemies in a fairly large radius will be stunned and knocked away. In addition, they will drop any powerups they’re carrying, allowing you or your teammates to pick them up. This discharge is unblockable - your enemies’ only resort will be to run far, far away.
Remember that Supernova respawns immediately once it’s used, so it is functionally always in play. It’s an extremely powerful way to shake up the game; even if someone has a good powerup and is stomping through the enemy team, any Supernova user can find and end them, stealing the powerup for themselves.
Remember, though, that it’s not an automatic win condition. Supernova charges rather slowly by TF2 standards, forcing you to deal some damage if you don’t want to wait the full half-minute. Additionally, its range is large but not overlarge, so you can’t hit an enemy a great distance away.
Getting hit with Supernova is really quite brutal - you lose your powerup, which is probably then stolen, and you’re fully stunned (read: no movement or attacking) for several seconds. There’s virtually no counterplay other than to run away from any opponent with it (you’ll know, since they have a glowing particle effect). A few powerups facilitate this better than others, but it’s still an unblockable attack. Your best defense is to coordinate with your team to stay away from the Supernova user.
This is almost a heavy-handed solution, but in many ways it’s a necessary one. Mannpower is a game mode that’s often dominated by a single player with a good powerup, so countering that is often necessary. Supernova accomplishes that role by almost immediately ending the killstreak of anyone hit with it, forcing good team coordination and impeccable timing to stop it.
Is it too much? Is it too little? Have you ever played Mannpower? Let me know!
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