#medieval mode

[falco-lombardis-guyliner]

what if we kissed in the clusterfuck  on the final point of degroot keep

[tf2workbench]

Like gentlemenne of olde

One of my favorite maps in the game is DeGroot Keep, which enables Medieval Mode - melee and archaic weapons only, no guns! While it’s often a stew of anachronisms (note that the Scout’s sodas are usable), Medieval Mode has a kind of balance in and of itself. Granted, it’s a lot more straightforward than regular gameplay, but you can get some really interesting strategies in there.

Unfortunately, not all the classes are viable, and not all of the available weapons see any kind of use. This post, mostly for my own amusement, takes a few of those weapons and revamps them, specifically for Medieval Mode. I won’t delve into the balance of the individual classes quite yet - while there are clear imbalances, reworking a class is a much more difficult thing than redesigning some weapons.

Note that this is only a sampling of weapons. There’s plenty of things that don’t get much attention in Medieval Mode, so there’s definitely more for me to work with - if you all want to see more of that.

Bonk! Atomic Punch Bonk is a great tool in the Scout’s regular arsenal, but it’s not used very often in Medieval Mode. There’s very little undodgeable damage that you actually need Bonk to soak up - Scouts are faster and more maneuverable than anyone else on the battlefield, and there’s no rapid-fire weapons to deal with.

Rework for Medieval Mode: (+) Drink to gain +350% jump height for 8 seconds (-) While under effects: Any hit will cause you to fall to the ground (-) 20-second recharge

DeGroot Keep is a map with a lot of vertical space, courtesy of the big ol’ castle that houses the final control point. If I’m calculating this right, using this Bonk should allow you to climb the castle walls and get inside to wreak havoc - just be careful not to get shot down.

Sadly, I think this iteration of the Bonk might be less useful once the castle gates have opened, although a flanking route is always nice. It also forces you to use your melee weapon, which puts you within range of the enemy’s own hits; you also lose the benefits of a more combat-viable secondary like the Mad Milk or Flying Guillotine.

Market Gardener The Soldier is a slow-moving, awkward class when deprived of his signature rocket jump. In Medieval Mode, his main assets are the three battle banners, which can really turn a fight around if you deal enough damage to deploy them. Because the Market Gardener relies on rocket jumps, it has no real use without the rocket launchers, and almost always loses out to another melee.

Rework for Medieval Mode: (+) +100% rage gained on hit (-) No random critical hits

A simple change that synchronizes well with your available secondaries. However, its damage output is lackluster - a lack of random crits really hurts in Medieval Mode. You also lose out on the powerful attributes of other melees, such as the Disciplinary Action.

Homewrecker The Homewrecker sees a lot of use in standard gameplay thanks to its ability to remove sappers from friendly buildings. With no buildings and no sappers in this 10th-century Scottish keep, it becomes dead weight.

Rework for Medieval Mode: (+) Briefly slows enemy on hit (-) -50% damage

Because getting hit with a sledgehammer will slow you down, but probably won’t kill you as quickly as a fire axe. This is useful for getaways and for pinning down problematic targets, either for you or your team. My main concern is how it might be annoying to be slowed down, since it often feels impossible to avoid and frustrating to play with - especially because the Pyro has a decent movement speed and can catch up to at least a few targets.

Ubersaw It’s far and away the most popular Medic melee in regular gameplay, but Medieval Mode has no Ubercharge.

Rework for Medieval Mode: (+) On kill: Store a medium health kit (+) Alt-fire: Deploy health kit (-) -30% swing speed

All players drop a small health kit when they die in Medieval Mode, but this takes it a step further.

This Ubersaw is mainly going up against the Amputator, which provides a radial healing taunt. The advantage of this saw is that it lets you deliver strong burst healing without the immobility of a taunt. Is it enough? Maybe... maybe not.

[dissidentaggressor]

The Sharpened Volcano Fragment is not thaaaaat good.

[nesica1up]

MvM Medieval Mode

MvM MM... That's a lot of M's. But, I like it!

So I was randomly invited to play MvM with a group using Medieval Mode rules. I only knew one person in the group and I never played MvM with him before. I figured that we weren't going to win, but it gave me a chance to play some much missed MvM. We made our own server, so we have a time limit. When the time runs out, you cannot fail a wave otherwise the game is over and you have to start all over. Needless to say, we freak'n ROCKED it. We played three maps on normal mode with MvM MM and won them all! We also got all A's on the waves. It was so much fun and hilarious, I definitely will be playing with them again :D I've never heard of Medieval Mode before, so they had to be explained. In this case, it was:

-can only play as demo, medic, or sniper -demo can only use the Eyelander sword -medic can only use the Crusader's Crossbow and the Amputator -sniper can only use the Huntsman and the Jarate and a sword like the Bushwacka

Pretty much, no weapons that require a more advance technology.  I didn't play demo (I really suck at it), so I'll explain the details on how I played the medic and sniper. How to Play Medic (in MvM MM) Heal, heal, heal! You can't use any healing guns, so use your Amputator  taunt and Crossbow to shoot your teammates. I would advise not to try to saw the robots. It does crap damage and you die really fast, but it's pretty good against the tanks. Shoot the bots with your crossbow and keep an eye on your teammate's health. Being ably to heal your teammates by shooting them keeps you from harm's way. As for what to upgrade, reload and firing speed for the Crossbow is really nice. If you're dieing a lot, focus on resistances. 

How to Play Sniper (in MvM MM) I'm shocked with how well I played this class. It was so much fun for me, which I did not expect at all. Use your Jarate to mark those large bots and clusters of bots. You can also upgrade your Jarate to make it decrease bot's speed by 35%, which helps a ton with those big scouts. Recharge rate is also good to upgrade. For your Huntsman, definitely upgrade the damage done. It's a lot faster to kill the bots with one headshot. Penetrating shot is also a really good thing to upgrade right away. Don't bother using your sword, unless you're in close combat and need to react fast like if they're about to cap the bomb. If you're going to be in the line of fire with rockets, raise your resistance. You can deal a lot of damage as compared to the other classes, so we don't want you to die!

How I Saw Demo Being Played (in MvM MM) This was a very important class. We had around 3 demos at once. Their charge and slash do great and they would get crits with every bot kill. So once you get your first kill, you can just keep slashing at groups. It makes a pretty gory noise every time, so it's pretty funny when everyone is slashing robots that are splattering blood. Upgrade your resistance a LOT. You're right in the hand-to-hand combat, so you're getting shot directly at. Demo's are great at defending the bomb as the bot attempts to cap.

A little photo relief. 

We figured that we could use canteens by calling them "magical potions". Kind of how the medic's amputator taunt heals - just magical!

So much fun playing this way! The time limit sucked, but we never failed when the time ran out, and it definitely did with every map.

DAMN I LOVE MAN vs. MACHINE!!! Thank you Valve for making me sooooo happy ಥ_ಥ

[uberchain]

"GottverDAMMT, I'm on my vay, you arschlochs! Shut the hell up and make it a point instead to not fall prey for the ambushing Demoknights up on the castle, shit!"

Got distracted from a current project I'm working on, and a background element ended up becoming a main focus with some pimping just because I thought Medic looked really sweet.

1920x1080 Wallpaper Here!

[atoleajinx-blog]

Medieval mode in a nutshell

There are just too many things I love about this gmod. xD