Well is a very linear map that cover quite a lot of ground; that is the distance between your spawn and the action is significant. Therefore the most important thing to do is ensure your team has teleporters active as soon as possible. Aim for 2 or 3, although even 1 is far better than nothing. There are a number of places to hide teleporter exits, so keeping them active shouldn’t be a problem. See tips for more information on this.
Once you’ve got you teleporters up, you can start worrying about objectives. As I mentioned in my overview, your first priority is to capture and hold the middle point. People tend to miss the importance of this point – even if you’ve been pushed back to defending your last point, your target should still be the middle control point (although you obviously have to go via your second point). If you didn’t catch it the first time, here’s another link to the importance of map control.
When the setup timer hits zero, both teams charge into the middle room to contest the control point. They will fight it out and whoever wins should be able to capture the point before the opposition’s respawned reinforcements can arrive. The first thing your team can do increase its chances is make sure every player is attacking the point, be they engineers or snipers, and especially medics. As I’ve said, it’s a 20 second respawn followed by a long walk, and medics can save you about 40 seconds with a quick heal.
But what’s the most effective method of controlling the middle point? All classes fall into either the offensive, defensive, or harassing role. The defenders have the simplest job, to prevent the enemy troops from reaching the control point. This role falls mainly on the sniper, picking off targets before they can do too much damage, the engineer, getting a sentry gun and dispenser set up as quickly as he can, and the demoman, whose sticky bombs act as a serious deterrent when placed on the control point or entrances to the train yard. Once the enemy is pushed back, placing 4 sticky bombs on each ground floor entrance on the enemy side generally leads to them forfeiting the point and falling back.
The offensive job goes to the soldier, the heavy and the medic. These are the classes that should head straight to the control point, since they have the most health and the most firepower and can repel enemies when faced with direct combat. Apart from the medic who should be healing, the other two classes should first be killing off the enemy’s offence, then spamming anyone on the ground floor with as much ammo as they can spare while capturing the point.
The harassment role falls on the scout, the spy and the pyro. These classes cut off the enemy’s attack, not head-on but either through flanking or rushing from the rear. As soon as the gates drop, the pyro should turn the corner and start igniting those waiting at the enemy gates, reducing the enemy’s strength by the number of enemies that flee for the water. The scout rushes in from the top floor, either engaging or bypassing any other scouts, and getting to the enemy’s enclosed balcony place as quickly as he can. From there he can drop down on either side and gun down undefended enemy troops looking into the train yard, especially medics and snipers. The spy has the same job as the scout, but of course is more stealthy about it. As a spy you might want to cloak and come up behind the enemy via the water out the front of their base – water access is the right hand side door on the wall on their side of the train yard.
I’ve only covered about the first 2 minutes of the game, but once the middle control point is captured, the rest of the map is simply a matter of defending it – make sure engineers move their teleporters up, both entrances and exits, as the game progresses – and launching attacks on the enemy base. Two effective strategies to help here include and übercharged demoman to rush the second last point and sticky bomb all the defences (sentry guns and dispensers) that the opposition is sure to have built, and for most classes (especially snipers and soldiers) to take the upstairs route to the final point, resulting in a flank that prevents the defence from pushing forward. Note that the very top floor (with the 4 ammo and health pickups) is a very effective place for a teleporter exit.
