Player Information & Guides

Table of Contents

Introduction

Welcome to the TFpugs community! We hope you join us for many great matches of great games. We've built the discord, bot, and website to be simple, intuitive, and easy to use. If you are experienced in gaming and pickup games, you may not need this guide at all. Rather, this guide is here as a reference or a map to what is possible on our server. Please let the game runners or admins know if you have any problems on our servers! Good luck, and have fun!

We play organized pickup games (pugs). This is in contrast to a casual public server (pubs), where people join and leave the game ad-hoc. Pickup games are formed in a discord chat room using bot commands. The bot tracks players joining the queue and when the match is ready to begin the bot will create teams from the first people who had joined the queue. Players then join the designated private game servers using the links or server info provided, and play their match. The scores are reported at the end of the match to adjust rankings.

While some people embrace the competitive rankings, the primary reason they exist is to automatically form balanced teams for every match. Rankings does not mean games have to be overly-competitive, but classic games are inherently imbalanced and have a vast skill curve. Our server additionally has designated rating adjusters who are experienced players able to adjust the rating of people joining the server to get them to their appropriate rating as quickly as possible, since many people who are new to the server have previous experience with the game.

Our server primarily plays Team Fortress Classic, the goldsrc engine title / Half-life 1 mod. We are offering an expanding number of ways to play beyond 4v4 pickups, including 1v1 queues, team tournaments, and integrated leagues. Our match servers feature a variety of configs and plugins to tune the grenade limits, auto-matically block some game exploits and issues. There are also a variety of other channels and queues available on the server. We hope you find many opportunities for great games and good times.

Use the buttons in the role selection channel to select which queues you want to participate in, which channels you want to see, and which notifications you want to receive from the bot.

Server Rules

  1. All players are expected to use microphones for voice communication, even if you have limited English language vocabulary in an English speaking queue.
  2. Trash talk should be confined to the designated trash-talking channels and the people in there. This keeps the pug channels and in-game chat focused on the games and matches.
  3. Don't join the queue if you are not ready to play. It's rude to leave people waiting when a game starts while you boot your PC and find your headphones.
  4. Joining a game is a commitment to finish it with the teams that are assigned, even if the score becomes lopsided or other factors arise. Good sportsmanship is the standard here and you should aim to exceed the standard.

Profiles and Avatars

Your profile shows your previous matches, rankings, points, achievements, and your selected avatar. Players can view their own profile with the command /viewprofile or view someone else's profile with the command /viewprofile @username. Players can view their rank history with the command /rank or view some else's rank history with the command /rank @username. View the top ranked players on the Leaderboards page or with the bot command /top. View information about all the available achievements on the Achievements page or with the bot command /viewachievements. Earn achievements and complete other challenges to unlock new avatars and colors. Select your displayed avatar with the command /avatar and set your color with the command /setcolor. If you would prefer your rank and achievements not be publicly visible on discord or the website, you can toggle your privacy settings with the command /private.
Register your steam ID with the bot with the command /registersteamid STEAM_1:1:111111 to receive achievements from in-game events or compete in league matches.

Queues and Matches

To play a pickup match you must join a pickup channel for that game or variant. When a game is being formed you will see other users adding to that queue. Add yourself to the queue with the command /add or !add or ++ or !join.

When the match forms you will be assigned a team and you will receive match information, like which server to join and what the password is. Join the voice channel for your team and speak with your teammates. If you are new to the game let them know what classes or roles you are comfortable playing and the more experienced teammates will fill in the rest of what is needed.

Joining a queue is showing your commitment to play an entire match, which will typically take between 30-40 minutes. If you will not be able to finish a match, you should not join the queue. If you need to remove yourself from the queue you can do so with the commands /remove or --.

If you join multiple queues within our discord server, the bot will automatically remove you from any other queues when one queue fills. You can view information about the active queues and which ones you are in with the command /viewqueues

Information about ongoing matches can be viewed on the Servers page or with the bot commands /viewmatches

Detailed information about a previous match can be viewed on this website or with the bot command /matchinfo 123456

Recently completed matches can be viewed on the Recent Matches page or by using the bot command /recentmatches

The current map pool for a particular format can be viewed using the command /mappools

Bet Shop and Items

The bot will award gems and xp for participating in matches and other events.

The top gem holders can be viewed on the Leaderboards page or in discord with the /topgems command.
The top xp holders can be viewed on the Leaderboards page or in discord with the /topxp command.

Gems can be spent on items, including items that will affect the matches.
View the items available for purchase on the Shop Items page or in discord with the /viewitems command.
Spend your gems in a PUG channel before the match begins with the /buy item command.

There is an opportunity to bet gems on matches for 3 minutes following the voting and team assignment as the match is starting up.
Bets will default to betting on yourself using the command /bet 300 if you are in the match.
You cannot bet against your team in a match you are in.
Specify the team number to bet on with /bet 100 2 to bet on a match you are not in.
Bets will be paid out at the end of the match or refunded in the event of a tie.

Conc and Climb maps

Complete conc maps, climb maps, and other skill maps on any of our partnered servers to have your time recorded in the bot. Earn points and achievements by completing different maps and setting the fastest times.

Use the command /fastest mapname to view the fastest times.

Watch the race channel for the weekly contest map.

Currently there are no partnered skill servers. We are planning to change this soon.

Tournaments and 1v1s

These features are currently in development, 1v1 servers and queues are coming soon.

1v1 queues typically form small 4 person tournaments where the winners and losers of round 1 then play each other in a Finals and 3rd place match.

Joining a queue in a 1v1 game will enter you in one of these mini-tournaments.

Your match results from each round will automatically print stats in the stats channel and the bot will generate the next round of matches when ready or announce the winner in the tournament channel.

Watch the tournament channel for news on any larger tournaments.

Use the command /viewtournaments to view information about live on-going tournaments.

Use the command /tournamentinfo to view information about a completed tournament.

Teams and Leagues

These features are currently in development, teams and leagues are coming soon.

Pre-formed teams can join seasonal leagues, or challenge other teams to a challenge match.

All teams commands are used in the designated teams channel.

Use the command /freeagent to show yourself as available and looking for a team.

Players are allowed to join any number of teams but may only captain one team.

Typically events like tournaments and leagues will require participants to only be on one participating team and have registered their steam ID. Team rosters should be sorted out by the time the event begins.

Use the command /registerteam teamname to register a new team with the bot and become its captain.

Captains can use the command /recruit @username to recruit team members.

Captains can use the command /boot @username to boot a team member.

Team members can use the command /leaveteam teamname to leave a team.

Captains can use the command /challenge teamname to challenge another team to a scrimmage match.
These matches can be on a specific map or a map chosen in a vote.
These matches can count towards your team's elo rating or be unranked.

Captains can use the command /joinevent to join an event (such as a seasonal league).
Watch the teams channel for announcements about upcoming events such as leagues and team tournaments.

Use the command /viewleagues or visit the Leagues page to view ongoing leagues.

Use the command /leagueinfo name or visit the Leagues page to view information about a previous league.

Conclusion

If you have any questions or suggestions regarding a game or the server feel free to ask a runner or an admin.

We hope you have a great time gaming here with us!