Concept: Strange Taunts

With plans to add new taunts to the game incoming sometime before the next ice age, I recently had this idea that alternate taunts could be added to weapons with customization tools similar to Strange Parts. Customized items are more valuable in the trade economy and taunts fulfill a particularly appealing aesthetic niche, and it could be an interesting way to incorporate some of these new taunts into the game proper. Parts attached to non-weapons will over-ride the primary weapon's taunt unless otherwise noted.

Now, this idea on its own probably shouldn't warrant a blog post, so I sat down and came up with some new taunts, ripe to be added to your weapons. Also check out this older post featuring some more taunt ideas.

Scout:
 Weapon Workout
All melee weapons
The Scout swings his bat as a warm-up exercise. 

Booms Brought
Boston Boom-Bringer Part
The Scout poses with his boom-box on his shoulder.

Soldier:
Jugglenaut
Battalion's Back-Up, Buff Banner, Concheror Part
The Soldier begins juggling for as long as the taunt button is held.

Huttah!
Can be applied to any weapon
The Soldier attempts to snap a neck as a kill taunt.

Pyro:
Storytime!
Can be applied to any weapon (except the Phlog)
Pyro plops down crosslegged.

Flashpot
Any Fire Ax
Adds flashpots to the ax solo

Demoman:
The Red Button
Sticky Launcher Part
The Demoman holds up a remote control with a red button and presses it dramatically, detonating his stickies.

Mortarboard
Targe / Veil Part
The Demoman smacks his melee weapon against his shield. 

Saloon Salute
All Launcher part
Demoman salutes

Heavy:
The Reverse Throw
Melee Part
The Heavy attempts to perform a suplex kill taunt. If it fails he lands flat on his back.

Etiquette Lessons
Sandvich Part
The Heavy eats his sandvich in a much more dainty fashion.

Engineer:
Taze Me
Short Circuit Part
The Engineer flexes to show off the Short Circuit, which flashes with electricity

Time Out
Any Hat Part
Engineer  takes out his build PDA and plays a game on it.

Medic:
Self-Medicating
Blutsauger Part
Injects himself in the arm with the Blutsauger. "Yes!"


Sniper:
 The Headshot
All Rifles Part
Points fingers at own head meaningfully.
 
Spy:
Your Mother!
All primary weapons part
The spy looks at some photos. Killcam pictures are replaced with a picture of the Spy having a nice dinner with the Scout's mom.

All Class:
Birdfeeder
Melee Weapon Part
Players with 50% health or less will feel their chests, hear a cooing sound, then call for a doctor

TF3: Portal Fortress

Super Freaking Crazy Idea:
"Portal Fortress". The game takes place inside test tracks in the Aperture Military Hardware Drilling and Home Office Supply Sphere, where Aperture-Brand Military Androids are field-tested to determine combat readiness.


Concussotron (Scout)
Personality: Barely Contained Emotional Breakdown
Weapon: Propulsion Gel Cannon / Rail Hook
This unit is highly mobile and capable of utilizing the robot mobility tracks. Someone pointed out the minor pitfall that those mobility tracks aren't generally available on active battlefields, but the lab boys assure us we can install them for a nominal fee.

Aggressor Core (Soldier)
Personality: Reincarnated Soldier
Weapon: Rockets
A repurposed Rocket Turret. We downloaded the personality of a decorated war hero to make it more deadly, but it turns out that guy was a homeless drifter covered in raccoon bites. Either way, he was willing to do it for $60, paid in expired soup.

Incinerating Unit (Pyro)
Weapon: Handheld Discourager
I'll be honest with you. This one was a pretty bad mistake. We tried to fire the team responsible, but the robot beat us to it. It also fired the files, some furniture, and several visiting astronauts. So we basically just locked the door on that wing, hung a fern on there, and walked away. You didn't put it into the testing rotation, did you?




Pitchomat (Demoman)
Personality: Pitchman
Weapon: Explosives
This midsize robot was actually designed to deliver hot popcorn at baseball games, from back before baseball was outlawed. Currently we're experimenting with a retrofit to make them throw live grenades, but nothing we do can stop them screaming advertising slogans.

Suppressnik (Heavy)
Personality: Angry Janitor
Weapon: Heavy Cleansing Gel Hose
 Originally this fella was just there to pull skeletons out of test chambers and keep blood out of the groutwork, but when one was accidentally left in a live test chamber with a subject, we couldn't get it enrolled in the Combat Program fast enough. We also couldn't sleep for a week. On the bright side, turns out that cleaning hose is ideal for discouraging Concussotrons and Aggression Units from using their Mobility Gel Bombs.

Mobile Apparatus Vent (Engineer)
Personality: Phone Switchboard Operator
Weapon: Sentries
Yes, we're aware some robots were delivered to the Combat Drilling area by mistake. We're pretty busy right now, so we'll get to them in short order. Until then, just tell the other robots to leave them be. They're self-aware learning robots and we just taught them how to assemble the disassemblers for the fifth floor, so just don't let them near any scrap metal, overt violence or anything that might make them want to protect themselves or fear for their safety. I'll be down to move them right after Bring Your Daughter to Work Day.

Assemblybot (Medic)
Weapon: Repairing Magnet

--More Coming Soon--

The Drone

I have to admit, I haven't been playing a lot of TF2 lately. Between my computer's basic unreliability in the arena of "not catching on fire" and a million new games to distract me, I just haven't been thinking about it as much as I did when I started this blog in 2011. I picked up a new shooter, Plants Versus Zombies: Garden Warfare, which scratches that "colorful shooter" itch pretty nicely. However, that doesn't mean I've totally forgotten about my favorite, and PVZ has something I thought might be fun to try and adapt to TF2: the Drone. Used by the Cactus and the Engineer Zombie, the drone weapons are the most interesting gadget designs in that game.

Melee Weapon: The Light Touch
Replaces the Sentry Gun with the Hornet Dock.
Alt Fire while near Hornet Dock: Manually pilot The Hornet
Cannot Haul Buildings

Building: Hornet Dock
HP: 150 / 180 / 215
Battery: 30/60/90

The Hornet Dock is a stationary building from which Hornets are deployed. As soon as it builds, it will deploy its first Hornet, and subsequent Hornets will be deployed within ten seconds of the previous one exploding. The Engineer must use alt-fire on this to pilot the Hornet. While the piloting functions are being used, the Dock will drain battery: one second per unit of battery, plus an additional third of a unit of battery while ascending/descending. When the batteries are spent, the remote uplink will shut down and the Hornet will freeze in place wherever it is.


Sapping this building disables both the unit itself and the Hornet.

Building 2: Hornet
HP: 10
Primary Weapon: Nailgun (fires gently arced rapidfire projectiles)
Maximum DPS: 50 / 75 / 100
WASD controls. Crouch to descend, jump to ascend.
M1: Fire Primary Weapon
Taunt: Laser Light Show Aerial Taunt
M2 / Primary Slot Button / Secondary Slot Button / Melee Slot Button: Exit Pilot Mode

The Hornet is the actual drone sentry controlled by remote uplink. It will hover indefinitely in its current location whenever not being actively piloted. Park these in surprising locations to surprise enemies, or to distract them from fights on the ground.

The Skidloader

 The Skidloader

Engineer Secondary Unlock

Fires a harmless explosive that restocks allies in its AOE, restocking their current clip.

Alt Fire: Spend Scrap Meter Allies within range have buffed reload speeds and larger clips.

Over on the Engineer subforum someone had an idea for a passive unlock that shut down your sentry and dispenser, slowed you down by 15% and gave you the ability to fill allies' ammo up and give them an extra large clip. Obviously I thought that was a bad unlock. The extra ammo doesn't confer much of a DPS boost, and just reloading an ally's ammo stores isn't something that's really necessary, because there's so much ammo everywhere in TF2.

Plus, it was a passive unlock, which is aggressively boring, especially when this locks you out of the primary engineer weapons to administer such lame buff. So I wanted to create something a little more involved. I don't know how much I like these stats but I like the model of transaction.

Hit allies to give them more ammo.

TF2/XCOM Special Weapons

As I developed the XCOM mercenaries, unique weapons began to crop up. The Soldier's Light Rocket Launcher, the Demoman's Grenade Launcher and Melee weapons, the Pyro's flamethrower. So here's a collection of some original TF2/XCOM weaponry.

Flamethrower
During the initial invasion, operatives with flamethrowers were often dispatched to clean up residue from dead hostiles and their liquified civilian victims. As the war effort ramped up, these operatives were frequently retasked, and their equipment modified for combat.

A standard-issue XCOM flamethrower shoots a cone of fire that ignites tiles in a 2x2 shape. Tiles and cover may catch fire, which slowly destroys destructible cover and may ignite enemies that come into contact with it.

Refracting Flamethrower
Prerequisite research: Thin Man Autopsy, Beam Weapons

Investigations into the Thin Man's poison delivery yielded a new mechanism for firing a stream of superheated gas. Upon contact with the target, it can be ignited via laser, vastly improving the damage and range of flamethrowers.

 Light Rocket Launcher
Unlike the standard rocket launchers carried by Heavies, the Light Rocket Launcher carries a small payload, which allows them to be rapidly deployed. They also carry shaped charges that direct explosions away from the user, preventing them from harming themselves during use.

"Direct Hit" Rocket Launcher
Prerequisite Research: Improved Rocketry

A new Foundry project allows light rocket launchers to carry a more deadly charge, increasing their damage to 5.

Sword and Shield
Although it may seem a strange choice alongside plasma rifles and laser shotguns, units trained to close on enemies and maneuver swords between armor or chitin plating have proven to be extremely effective against the aliens.

Laser Edge Sword
Prerequisite Research: Precision Lasers
A contained laser field on the edges of the sword greatly improves cutting power and damage.

Mind-Meld Shield
Prerequisite Research: Sectoid Commander autopsy

Advanced nuerosensors along the blade and the surface of the shield allow users to swing the sword more accurately, dealing more damage and responding to threats more quickly.

Sticky Bomb Launcher
Fires a low-damage triggerable grenade. Going on Overwatch will cause the Demoman to automatically proximity-trigger grenades.

Grenade Launcher
These low-impact grenades are always free-aimed. Although they do area of effect damage, they do not damage cover upon connecting.

Plasma Grenade Launcher
Required Research: any 3 autopsies and  3 interrogations

Research into alien physiology as allowed by the capture of numerous live specimens has allowed the development of grenades that can do much more damage to enemies without excessive concern to nearby structures. Greatly increases grenade damage.

XCOM Scout

Normally in this segment, I create an XCOM class based on a TF2 Mercenary, but today I don't have to, because Steam Forum user WarVeterinarian sat down and created the XCOM Demoman. Good show, WarVeterinarian! As usual, if you have any comments or ideas, feel free to let me know about it in the comments section.

The Scout
Scouts are very mobile and agile units that are great for flanking, harassing, distraction and hit-and-run tactics. Like the XCOM Assault class, they are also invaluable at the front lines.

Scouts can equip rifle and shotgun type weapons.

Squaddie Rank Ability: Super Jump
Allows the Scout to jump over small obstacles and small heights without climbing aids.

Corporal Rank Ability 1: Bunnyhop
Confers +20 Defense against all reaction fire.

Corporal Rank Ability 2: Taunt
The Scout delivers a taunt at the first enemy that shoots at him, lowering its Will and Aim by -15 for the next turn. Enemies lose a bonus -5 Will if the shot misses.

Sergeant Rank Ability 1: Tactical Approach
+1 movement for each enemy that the squad can see.

Sergeant Rank Ability 2: Mad Milk
The Scout throws a mysterious milk-like substance that splashes upon impact. Coated enemies suffer a -33% to movement and -20 to Will, and any teammates who damage coated enemies will be healed by a certain amount.

Lieutenant Rank Ability 1: Atomizer
Allows the Scout to jump even greater heights without the use of climbing aids, and further increases movement by 2 tiles.

Lieutenant Rank Ability 2: Mr. Sandman
The Scout throws a baseball that deals light damage and stuns an enemy for 1 turn. Robotic units are immune. 2 turn cooldown.

Captain Ability 1: Bonk! Atomic Punch
Consumable item, 2 uses per mission. Confers +80 Defense for the next 2 turns. 3 turn cooldown.

Captain Ability 2: Crit-A-Cola
Consumable item, 2 uses per mission. Confers +80% Critical Chance for the next 2 turns. 3 turn cooldown.

Major Rank Ability: Pattern Prediction
Confers +20 Defense against enemies that fired at the Scout in the last 2 turns.

Colonel Rank Ability 1: Hit And Run
While moving, the Scout gets a free shot at the first enemy that he sees, provided that there is enough ammo to do so. Shot has a -15 Aim penalty.

Colonel Rank Ability 2: Force-A-Nature
Firing at enemies within 4 tiles will push them towards the direction fired at. Shotgun weapons can push further than rifle weapons. 

XCOM Demoman

Normally in this segment, I create an XCOM class based on a TF2 Mercenary, but today I don't have to, because Steam Forum user WarVeterinarian sat down and created the XCOM Demoman. Good show, WarVeterinarian! As usual, if you have any comments or ideas, feel free to let me know about it in the comments section.
The Demoman

Demomen, like their TF2 counterpart, can specialize in 2 different types of combat - there's the "explosives specialist" Demoman for delivering explosive payload through indirect fire, and the "Demoknight", a melee combat specialist who prefers to deal with his foes up close. Each of the ability trees lets the Demoman specialize either in explosives or melee combat.

The Demoman uses a grenade launcher as his primary weapon, with each grenade dealing 3 damage (can be increased with appropriate Foundry upgrades). His secondary could either be a stickybomb launcher or a melee weapon, such as sword or battleaxe.

The stickybomb launcher fires two stickybombs per turn, which can be manually detonated for 4 damage each (can be increased with appropriate Foundry upgrades). Overwatch with the stickybomb launcher will have the the Demoman automatically detonate stickybombs if an enemy walks within 2 tiles of one.

The melee weapon is... well, you guessed it - a weapon used for hand-to-hand combat. It deals high damage up close, potentially OHKing some types of enemies, and can be used to destroy cover. Overwatch with the melee weapon will have the Demoman run up an enemy who goes within 2 tiles of him, attack with his melee weapon, then run back to his original location.

Squaddie Rank Ability: Loch-N-Load
Allows the Demoman to aim for a direct hit with the grenade launcher, which removes its AOE ability but makes it deal much higher damage.

Corporal Rank Ability 1: Bomb Jump
Allows the Demoman to use the blast of a grenade or stickybomb for propulsion towards higher ground or great distances, in exchange for some ammo and a portion of his health. Stickybombs can propel farther than grenades.

Corporal Rank Ability 2: Targe Charge
Sends the Demoman charging headlong to a designated location. Deals a melee strike with a +30% crit chance where the dash ends. Can be used as long as there is an action remaining.

Sergeant Rank Ability 1: Hurt Locher
Reduces all explosive damage taken by 67%.

Sergeant Rank Ability 2: Dark Age Defender
Damage taken from within 4 tiles is reduced by 33%. Stacks with other resistances.

Lieutenant Ability 1: Grenade Suppression
For a high ammo cost, allows the Demoman to rain down grenades over an area, suppressing all enemies inside it and dealing some damage if they try to move. Does not destroy cover.

Lieutenant Ability 2: Braveheart
Confers +20 Defense when out of cover, with an additional +5 for each enemy the Demoman can see.

Captain Rank Ability 1: Advanced Artillery
Further increases the range of projectile weapons by 50%.

Captain Rank Ability 2: Long Reach
Further increases the range of melee weapons by 1 tile, and allows for attacking diagonally.

Major Rank Ability: Sleight of Hand
Firing, reloading or swinging a weapon no longer ends the turn.

Colonel Rank Ability 1: Scottish Resistance
Allows 1 more stickybomb to be deployed per turn, and allows for selective detonation of stickybombs.

Colonel Rank Ability 2: Eyelander
Each kill with the melee weapon gives +1 to movement and maximum HP, and +5 to Will.