Hey all,

If you visit GotFrag, you'll notice I posted a script that helps with timing enemy medic ubers. I'll paste my original post here, but I just wanted to get some discussing going in this forum also. What is your opinion? Were you aware of charge times? Do you believe paying attention to this kind of variable is important? How will this affect your gameplay? Discuss! :D

From : http://www.gotfrag.com/tf2/forums/thread/413277/

<DOWNLOAD LINK>
http://www.mikemarcin.com/gaming/team-fortress-2/loperts-uber-timing-script
</DOWNLOAD LINK>

Inspired by an item timing script from Quake, I decided to see if it was possible to create a similar script in Team Fortress 2.

This script tells the user and their team the fastest possible time the enemy team can get uber/kritz from a user-supplied time. Basically, this means you can know when they definitely don't have uber, allowing you to know how much time you have left to pick the medic before he can uber.

I had intentionally wrote this as a medic-only thing, figuring that they had the most time to monitor enemy medic spawns, but I found myself doing it as other classes so I made it a general thing.

Here's the readme while I wait for jaeger to upload it.

<README>

Author: Lopert

Special Thanks
-----------------------------------------...
klown, whom I know through QuakeLive, and who gave me his
config and item timing script.

Jaeger, for hosting this on his awesome website.

Objective
-----------------------------------------...
Inspired by an item timing script from Quake,
I decided to see if it was possible to create a similar
script in Team Fortress 2. This script allows you to easily
calculate the fastest possible time the enemy team can have
their uber / kritz charge ready.

Installation
-----------------------------------------...
Follow these steps.

1. Extract the .cfg files from the archive to your
Steam\steamapps\<your account>\team fortress 2\tf\cfg
folder.

2. Add the lines from the
ADD_THESE_TO_AUTOEXEC.cfg
config file to your personal autoexec.cfg,
this will bind your numpad keys to the required aliases.
You can delete "ADD_THESE_TO_AUTOEXEC.cfg" once the lines
have been added.

Usage
-----------------------------------------...
1. Press the NUMPAD_PLUS key to prepare the number keys, this
tells the script that you wish to time uber/kritz. (More
"items" may be added later, such as timing jarate, etc. I
felt the only real important thing to time at this point
was the medic's charge)

2. When the enemy medic spawns (you can see this by holding
the scoreboard open), make a note of the current time,
and enter the seconds on the NUMPAD.
Ex: If the enemy medic spawns at 8:46, enter 46 on the
NUMPAD.

3. This will send a team message with times stating what the
fastest possible time the enemy medic can get uber/kritz.
Ex: Entering +46 will generate
"say_team Enemy Uber @ :06 - Kritz @ :16"

</README>

Any questions / comments can go in this thread. If you find a bug let me know and I'll fix it, but it should be fine as I've been using it for awhile myself now. :D

<FAQ + ADDITIONAL NOTES>

I'm getting the impression that some people believe this to be "automatic" in the fullest sense of the word. A snippet from another of my posts

QUOTE:Once again, I emphasize the script does NOTHING automatically, it requires teams to be actively paying attention to another very important detail I feel is often missed. Even with the script, I don't catch it and print it 100% of the time, as I am often busy doing other things.



Won't this destroy "mindgames"?

QUOTE:Mindgames only work if your opponent isn't already timing you. I can tell you of numerous times where I timed enemy medics and laughed when they bluffed ~25seconds and proceeded to stomp them. Once again, I emphasize the script does NOTHING automatically, it requires teams to be actively paying attention to another very important detail I feel is often missed. Even with the script, I don 't catch it and print it 100% of the time, as I am often busy doing other things.

With uber, I often fake when I am 75% charged (30 seconds is 75% of 40 seconds :D), even if you are timing me with this script, there are still a few possibilities: I could have kritz, I could have 75% uber, or I could have nothing. With kritz, I often conceal when charged, and fake 10 seconds later, making the possibilites: I have uber, I have kritz, I have nothing.

</FAQ + ADDITIONAL NOTES>

Awesome work.

I haven't actually downloaded the script (I play medic and I need my mouse hand at every second), but it's always good to see this much work being put into content.

The original thread of this on Gotfrag actually motivated me to look into the times it takes for the mediguns to charge in various states and got me to think more about actually timing an opposing medic's charge as opposed to guessing at his charge; so, this script was really helpful for me because it added a new technical dimension to my play that was previously mostly just gut feeling.

I don't plan on using the script, though, as the script seems to be...tedious. That is it seems like a lot of work for little reward. It just seems like it requires a lot of user input to do something that most people should be able to do in the same time it requires you to input the medic's spawn time: namely, subtracting 30 or 40 seconds from the game time.

But, yeah, thanks for posting this even though the general reception seemed to be kind of a mess because it really made me think about faking more strategically and about judging the opposing medic's charge more effectively.

Yeah. I generally think that, although the actual script might not be used by that many people, it's brought timing Medic Uber/Kritzes into the minds of more people, which is overall a good thing.. it also gave birth to another trolled-to-hell GotFrag thread, but overall, good job Lopert. :D