Welcome to FOoM's TeamFortress Files
Movement and Agility


For years FooM's Ghob and /tmp's Rimuladas taught a TFC skills class called Assault. It was centered around gliding and agility movement training for the TFC game. Here is a basic description of the 3 main movements. To this day the assault guys will tell you that gliding , if mastered, will improve your game more than any other technique including the infamous bhop. Rimuladas occasionally still offers the training classes, go here for more info (or irc.gamesurge.net #assault).
Why how you move changes your speed:

The half-life engine has a quirk inhereted from it's quake origins. When a player goes around a corner he gets a speed boost. This was originally intended to give the game a smoother feel. The various techniques below have evolved as a way to the turn cornering speed boost into permanent movement speed gains. The diferences are in when you do the cornering turns, whether you are runing forward turning on the ground, or jumping and cornering in the air.



Technique Instructions:

These techniques are being listed in accordance to their over all speed, from slowest to fastest.


Strafe Jumping:

 Strafe Jumping is the simplest of all movement techniques and offers a slight speed gain. The speed boost is from cornering while running on the ground. In order to Strafe Jump, simply press your forward button, and then execute a jump.  As you press the Jump button press the right strafe button and hold it until you land. Then very quickly without any delay do another jump just as you are about to land, and this time press the left strafe button and hold it until you land. Then keep repeating this general pattern until you get the hang of it. If you are new to Strafe Jumping, I strongly recommend not moving your mouse around too much. Just center the mouse and keep it
steady as you press these buttons. Once you have mastered the keys  themselves and the pattern of their use, which allow Strafe Jumping, you can move on to Gliding, which  utilizes mouse movement to give you additional speed.

Buttons:
'Forward + Jump + Left Strafe' then 'Forward + Jump + Right Strafe'
Keep repeating the pattern.
The Good:
- Allows for greater speed over normal running
- Allows the HW to fire the AC while running at full speed for a short period of time.(taken out last patch and in steam)
- Allows for a great deal of stability while maintaining momentum after an Explosive Jump

The Bad:
- It is not as fast as the other techniques.
- It takes a couple of leaps and therefore time to build up momentum and speed.




 Gliding:

 Gliding is a variant of Strafe Jumping, and uses the same exact keys as Strafe Jumping, but it adds a certain type of mouse movement which allows for leaps that are 30% larger than a Strafe Jumping leap. The longer leaps then translate to more speed, and their speed boost comes from a combination or cornering while in the air and a bit of moveup. First center your crosshair, then move the crosshair to one of the corners of the screen. Then press forward, and quickly as you press the Jump button, bring your mouse to the opposite corner of the screen in a diagonal format, and press one the Strafe keys, and keep
repeating this. The mouse movement in general depends on how you wish to take off and where you wish to land. As long as the mouse moves diagonally across the screen, you are gliding. Keep in mind that the mouse should only make a diagonal move once during teach leap. You do not have to continuously swing the mouse back and forth :)

Buttons:
'Forward + Mouse Movement + Jump + Left Strafe'
'Forward + Mouse Movement + Jump + Right Strafe'
Then repeat the pattern.

The Good:
- Allows for 30% increase in speed over Strafe Jumping
- All momentum is gained in the first leap; no longer need to build up momentum.
- Allows for great agility due to longer leaps and lack of the need to build up momentum

The Bad:
- It is difficult to aim properly at first, but this does go away with practice.



Bunny Hopping:

 In this technique the player only needs to press three buttons: jump, left strafe and right strafe. The speed boost comes from cornering while in the air (aka "airsteering") with an emphasis on holding all speed gains by minimizing contact with the ground. Most of the work is done by mouse movement, which shifts from right to left as the person does the bunny hopping technique. Unlike all other techniques, in this technique, the "Forward" button is NOT pressed. This is in fact the very reason why it makes for a horrible combat technique. Forward movement depends strictly and purely upon the swinging of the mouse, and if the swinging of the mouse stops, a dead stop is the consequence. Since swinging the mouse is critical and needs to be done continuously, being able to aim is rather difficult to put it mildly, and since the forward button is not being pressed, the movement itself is extremely unstable. A single mistake, or a single grenade or rocket to the feet, and the bunny hopper comes to a quick stop due to ground friction. Many scripts for jumping have been written for the purpose of minimizing ground contact so that speed gains in teh air are kept.

Buttons:
'Jump + Swing Mouse + Left Strafe'
'Jump + Swing Mouse + Right Strafe'
Then repeat the pattern.


The Good:
- Allows for 35% greater speed over Strafe Jumping
- An excellent technique for Soldiers to use.

The Bad:
- It is a highly unstable maneuver, and too easy to make a mistake in
- Makes for a bad combat technique due to lack of aim and control
- It takes a couple of leaps and therefore time to build up momentum and speed.
- It destroys the class speed balance since maximum speed reached by all classes is the same.
- Note: The _special based jump script lets players jump without mistakes, though that is an exploit. It is heavily used by clan players who will readily boast of their skill (given by the exploit).



General Notes:

 - Make your first leap a Glide leap, and then switch to whatever other technique you wish thereafter.
- Do not stand still, as any class. Always strafe jump around, even if you are just going back and forth, unless you have learned Gliding, then you can just stand still, since you know have momentum on the fly.
- Always aim for the head, particularly if you are playing the HW and using the AC.
- Never let an enemy know what you will do next, use Gliding to dance around an enemy.
- If you are low on health, retreat and regroup. The enemy will come for you, and then ambush him.
- NEVER fully retreat from a battle if you are a heavy class. Only a pesky retreats and runs. If you run, you will always end up dead.
- Prioretize targets, when playing HW. Kill Medics and Engies first, everyone else comes second.
- As an HW, do not enage snipers at long range with your AC. Use the shotgun to distract them, and glide towards them as you shoot. Then finish them off with the AC.
- And most importantly, be nice to others and do not yell or swear at them :)
Written by  Maj GHOB
Rewrite by  Fornaught