Team Fortress 2 Strategy

Forward defence is a term I use quite a bit, because it’s a very effective one, so I’ll summarise it here instead of in the middle of every other article. The term was half lifted from cricket (and half common sense), where a forward defensive shot involves stepping forward and blocking the ball. This cuts down the time the ball is in the air, meaning it has less chance of swinging and beating the bat, plus if the ball does get past the bat and hits the pad, there’s less chance of being caught LBW because you’re further forward. Sorry to all the Yanks out there for the cricket analogy (there’s probably a baseball one, but I don’t know it), but it pretty much sums up the two advantages of the forward defensive position in TF2.

Here’s how. Dustbowl is a great example, so I’ll use stage 2 of that (it works similarly for all stages however). The forward defensive positions here are right up in the mouths of the attackers’ tunnel exits for the first point and in and around the tunnels for the second point. By defending from there rather than sitting up on the hill for the first point or just outside spawn for the second point, the defenders receive the two advantages I brought up earlier in an analogous context, and that I will decipher to TF2 language.

Firstly they control the choke points, making it much harder for the attackers to break through into the open, which in turn means they have little to no room to manoeuvre, and their movements become very predictable (perfect for demomen). Secondly, if the forward defensive line is broken and the attackers do break through, all they gain is a foothold, whereas if you’re defending around the control point itself, then they have immediate access to the control point, and they become the defenders until they capture it, a situation you do not want to put them in. And remember, often all it takes is an über rush to overrun a single defensive line, so this can happen in the blink of an eye.

I won’t say that people don’t defend like this, because they often do. The problem lies in what they do after the forward defensive line is broken (often following an übercharge). The answer is that the defence, together as a team, must push forward and take back the line they just lost. If the attacking team is any good, they’ll put up a good fight to solidify their foothold, but from a defensive point of view, sitting back (on your haunches, if you will) and only defending is often suicide. If you let the enemy see the control point, they will hit you endlessly with rockets, grenades, sniper rifles, miniguns, whatever they’ve got, until you break down (again, übercharges are often a catalyst) and they can walk onto the control point. Control of the map is crucial (see the Map Control article for a more detailed look at why), and forfeiting it cheaply is unforgivable.

The bottom line is that the act of forward defence ensures that you maintain control of strategic locations (the little huts on Dustbowl stage 1 or the little house with the bunker on stage 3) and the attackers can’t exploit them. In fact in 5 words, forward defence can be summed up as disallowing the attackers a foothold. As a result, they are forced to engage your defence in a choke point (tunnels in dustbowl, doorways in most other maps), which gives the team that doesn’t have to move (the defence) a major advantage. Finally, it also means that the attackers have to break through that line before they even consider making a run for the control point, so it’s like a safety buffer. When it does break down, remember to get your team together and take it back. It’s worth it.

Finally, a quick note on engineers. Most every class that is defending should be in a forward defensive position to prevent the enemy getting organised with a foothold, but the engineer is a bit more situational. At least one engineer should be sitting around the control point with a sentry in case a spy or scout or something sneaks through, but there are advantages for forward defensive engineers. For starters, a sentry gun and dispenser just behind your forward defensive line gives your team a place to retreat to without losing too much critical ground. And let’s not forget about the all-important teleporter exits, which are protected by the sentry gun and can be moved forward and rebuilt straight away, without the engineer having to run 500 metres beforehand. So as long as your team is not losing, consider helping out the front line with a few buildings.