Edit: The banner has been patched. It now takes 850 point of damage to charge.

Also, I did tests on the speed of the sword + pickaxe and damage dealt by the pickaxe.

Speed table (units per second)
Heavy = 230
Soldier (161-300hp) = 240
Soldier (121-160hp) = 264
Demoman (0 heads) = 280
Soldier (81-120hp) = 288
Normal = 300
Demoman (1 head) = 302
Medic = 320
Demoman (2 heads) = 325
Soldier (41-80hp) = 336
Demoman (3 heads) = 347
Demoman (4 heads) = 369
Soldier (1-40hp) = 384
Scout = 400
Demo (charging) = 750

The damage dealt by the pickaxe is 33 for >=200hp. Less than 200hp, the damage is determined as follows:

Damage = 33 + 0.65 * (200 - current health) [rounded down]

Important values to take from this formula are 125 damage hits at 58hp and 150 damage hits at 20hp. Max damage is 162 at 1hp.

I started making a table of what hp you'd need to 2 shot important health values, but I realized this was basically useless (you'll always take damage after the first hit).

Nice write up bro.. really helpful

Excellent work.

as a scout player this saddens me.

An interesting additional note: if you know an enemy player has damaged you a lot and is building rage fast, switching classes resets the rage he generates from you to 0 -- you don't need to suicide.

Nice to see some testing going on. :)

I had originally falsely concluded from testing that it was based on missing life because I never bothered testing with heals, but I just tested with healing involved and you're right in that it's based on damage they've received in that lifetime.

However, that damage doesn't need to be from the soldier. Even the enemy's self-inflicted and your team's damage adds to the rage gain when hit. I tested this myself repeatedly (literally restarted map between tests to make sure), both by having a bot self-inflict and having a team mate bot attack a target before I did.

For example, an enemy soldier who's RJ'd himself down to 100, who is then shot by a team mate down to 33, whom you then finish off with a 33-damage equalizer hit will give you the full 200 rage points, even though you'd only dealt 33 of the full damage in that enemy's lifetime.

Because of this, you don't need to necessarily keep hitting the same guy. The best way to build rage would probably be to hit guys that your team has been repeatedly hitting, not necessarily ones that you specifically have been hitting.

This was probably done so that the team with long-surviving members is easier to take down with fast rage building, even if you haven't been soldier long.

Wow, thanks for the input! I edited the first post to include your findings... that explains how it gets built so fast on mid.

So essentially, if your team puts pressure onto their pocket who is being actively healed, and does a total of 1500 damage to that soldier but he is still alive, if you hit that soldier with a 3hp shotgun hit.. you get insta-rage? Or am I understanding this wrong?

Because that's pretty wicked and could add a new layer of depth to the game.

So essentially, if your team puts pressure onto their pocket who is being actively healed, and does a total of 1500 damage to that soldier but he is still alive, if you hit that soldier with a 3hp shotgun hit.. you get insta-rage? Or am I understanding this wrong?

Because that's pretty wicked and could add a new layer of depth to the game.Yeah, that's correct. Though you can't shotty if you have the banner. Except for the bug ukm pointed out, where you could shotty then go switch to the banner and still have the rage.

Though you can't shotty if you have the banner.

*Headdesk*

Anyhow, I can only imagine the strategies that might emerge from this.

Of course, the same thing was probably said about Bonk!...

Nice work.

Sad that the scout's back speed is a mere 360. It is nice to know I can't out run soldiers and demos that way.

Significant patch to the BB today.

The rage meter now only fills from the hit's damage alone.

If you hit a guy for 100 damage twice, it would fill your rage meter only 200, instead of the old 300. It's no longer compounded by past damage they've taken, including yours.

It also looks like the rage meter needs 880 points to fill now (approximately).

Overall it'll probably charge considerably slower and doesn't have those weird effects of charging faster against pockets.

It's 850 every time now from my tests. So much for that entire formula. It's less stupid this way, though.

damn, I really miss charging to full by only spamming 2 rockets. I knew I would always go back to my trusty ol' shotgun.