Team Armageddon Interview
Posted by alpha & RAiN on 2/12/2000.Clans come and go - there are very few that have a formula and set of members that "works" well enough for the clan to last. Even fewer clans actually manage to work their way up the ranks and come from humble beginnings to get several competition titles under their belts. [TA] was one of these clans. Formed a few months after TFC was released, the clan was running for about a year and a half until they decided to call it a day, and in their prime were undoubtedly one of the top 10 clans in Europe.
This is sort of a multiple interview, as we have interviewed the clan as a whole and also the individual members (both past and present).
The Clan
How was TA formed?
Team Armageddon was formed in the summer of 1999 by [TA]Wildfire and [TA]MrWrinkles (who then went on to become [LT]Daffy Duck and then Mr.Daffy). We were formed from a group of players from a previously failed clan called The Steel Claw (abbreviated to TSC) who can still probably be found lurking at the bottom of the ClanBase UK ladder. After TSC failed those of us who still wanted to play TFC wanted to go places in the clan world, but to have fun while doing it.
[TA]alpha: I was playing on a public server one day, 2fort I think it was, when some of the TA players arrived for an impromptu practice. They'd only just formed back then, so there were only a few of them. They seemed reasonably organised (how wrong I was!), and not having had any experience of the clan scene I thought I'd give it a go. I always played demoman back then, and they were looking for offy players so I was in.
[TA]Amnion: I set up a clan with a friend called Dust Monkeys, [DM]. We were one of those clans who managed to get about 40 members but not know who any of them are. When we thought [DM] was ready for a clan match, we decided to go onto a public server to find a terrible TFC clan. Who did we find? [DW], The UK number 1's. We didn't know that at the time though. Half our team didn't turn up, so we used some players from [UWE] and [CKC]. We lost. Badly.
[DM] split, I went onto a public server planning on joining the first clan I
came across. And it just happened to be [TA].
[TA]Apollyon: After I left Team Satan I was on the look out for a new clan. I looked at the DW's, iD's etc. and on my rounds was asked by [TA]Dispel if I would join TA. Initially I said no and went to [Dice] after a month or so there I left and took up Dispel's offer.
[TA]Cannon: I had just been playing on pub servers and [TA]Dispel thought I'd be worth trialing when I gave him a hard time as an engineer. So Wildfire trialed me and I got to play demo on Rock2, the rest is history.
[TA]Dispel: I may as well approach this by telling you my entire TFC story up till TA, so here it goes. I downloaded TFC about a week after it was released, and I took a liking to the HWGuy :P. Clans had already started blossoming and I didn't want to be left out, so I started my own along with So-com and a few Norwegian acquaintances I had online. The clan wasn't very active, but we were always on the lookout for new snipers and Hwguys :P. We gained a couple of new members but my need for perfectionist mind always stood in the way of fresh blood.
One day on an empty server me and So-com went in for a sniper war (ah those were the days), when 2 people from clan [DM] joined, these 2 members were Amnion and Leon, we went ahead to begin what we thought was a clan war, and we got to know each other pretty well. DM were challenged by DW (the old one) and DM accepted, however they didn't have enough member's for a full 8v8, so me and So-com volunteered, as expected we were slaughtered, guess our sniper defence wasn't doing its job. After that match CKC became KAT, and we began proper clan matches implementing tactics and sensible play. However a plague of unreliability swooped over the KAT members and due to this the clan split. DM had also split and Amnion had recently joined a clan called TA, so I thought why not, I asked for a trial and the rest is history (by this time I had decided I wanted to be a medic and learnt conc jumping from a bloke I forget his name).
[TA]Huckan: I'd been playing on Wireplay for many a year and as usual eventually the common muppets found the servers and began to take over, so I decided to broaden my horizons and go on the net to see what clans were out there. First and last stop was the UKTFCL. [TA] were 3rd I think so I went for them as they were the only clan I'd heard of due to Wildfire going l00py on the Wireplay boards. For the next couple of weeks I kinda roamed in their IRC room being nice to everyone. Luckily for me my good m8 Dispel was in the clan and he kinda helped me get a trial which was kewl and the best thing about the trial was it was on Cz2 - my ultimate capping map =]
[TA]Jez_Gafys Well I remember it like it was yesterday. Way back in September '99 I was playing on Well standing up defending our silo (god yes I'm sad as if I remeber that :)) using the name {WTF}Jez. I was asking round the server if any clan wanted a 1337 sniper. During this time Wildfire was having a conversation with soon to be [TA]Landshark asking him if he wanted to trial for TA. I was watching the speech and perked up "Hey I would like to join", Wildfire said to me aren't you in a clan already and I replied telling him that I am planning on leaving. He then asked me what other classes I played as and I replied Soldier and Scout he then asked me if I could conc jump and I said yes. He gave me his ICQ address and gave me a time to meet. What I never said until now was that {WTF} was never a clan name its just summit that I thought looked kewl before my name, and that I'd never even attepted a conc jump in my life :).
[TA]Jiveman: After the UK vs USA flaming which Amnion was a major part of arguing for the use of conc jumping, I asked Wildfire for a trial. He said I'd have to impress as we were pretty full so I was doubtful I would get in, but some people seemed to think I was good.
[TA]LandShark: I'd been playing for about a month with a now-defunct german clan, HKZ. I lost all my contacts with them in a PC disaster (motherboard got snapped, don't ask) and shortly afterwards bumped into Wildfire on a public server. He was impressed and invited me to join, and the rest is history.
[TA]Sprucemuce: I was in need of a clan for season 3 of the UKTFCL and so looked at the permiership clans. I hadn't really heard of TA previously but I did remember playing with a [TA]Cannon_fodder a few times who was a very good demo (yeah, no shit Sherlock), so I asked WF for a trial. My trial consisted of playing with TA people on public servers basically and after a week of playing I was told I could wear the TA tag.
[TA]Stalker: On a public server, Demon I think, had only played TFC for about a month, had my good and bad days, remember meeting some TFC crew, I know Wildfire was on the server. Must of been one of my good days, cuz wildfire asked if I wanted to join. I was so chuffed. Over the moon so to speak. I remember running to my mum and telling her all about it, rofl.
[TA]Tigerius: I met my current wife, [TA]Sta1ker on a Demon server fall 2 yrs ago. We had played with people for many hours and as it was way into the night the server was emptied and we found ourselves alone still playing on for a long time. Then after that he invited me to TA and got me in contact with Wildfire and MrWrinkles. And from then on I got into TA rather fast without proper trials, I was really nervous I remember.
[TA]Wildfire: Um... I dunno that's a really hard choice, but I think it might have been one of our last matches, which we played against [DW]. BaM was unsurprisingly a no-score draw and we had good fun trying to attack and defend with 600 pings all round on a toaster of a server. After that we moved to the [TA] FragPipe and things got better :). Crossover2 was the closest match I've ever played in my life, with both clans throwing everything at each other in their attempts to score. The lead swapped over twice between the two clans and in the last minute with both flags loose in the yards, DW managed to claw theirs away and as theirs was brought onto the bridge in the middle, they capped and the map ended 30-20 to them. Great game.
[TA]alpha: I've played so many that they all seem to blur into one. There were a couple of matches we played a few months ago when I was playing defence that stick in my memory - NSD in GWTFCL Season 1, |TC| in WPTFCL was a good laugh as well. We've had some pretty monumental matches but unfortunately I've missed out on a lot of them (our early encounters against SM., playing SHS...) through being at Uni. I have played in several of our encounters against DW though, including our GWTFCL Season 1 match which was the most tense game of TFC I've been in. If only I hadn't got stuck on that bloody lift at the end...
[TA]Amnion: Although at the time we hated each other, [TA] vs. [BIA] on crossover2 will go down in history as one of the closest maps ever. The score was 40-10 to BiA with just 10 minutes to go. We managed to pull it back, and we matched BIA's every move. The score was 60-60 with about 5 seconds left, then BIA managed to get home another cap. Great match.
[TA]Apollyon: I always enjoy DW matches most. When you play people that are at the top of their game it is a real challenge and even if you loose I always love these games cause they are fast and furious. There's never a moment you think you are coasting and you have to put in a real effort.
[TA]Cannon: Although I prefered TFC 1016, the best game I have played in was probably our loss to DW on TF1.5 for GWTFCL. Losing 30-20 on Crossover2 was heartbreaking, it was the closest game we played in and lost and played well, even DW admitted a draw would have been a fair result.
[TA]Dispel: My favourite match would probably be that against SHS the first time round. We played shutdown and rock2, two great maps for defenders and it eventually became a battle between who's defence was stronger, we won 10-0 on shutdown and they won 30-15 on rock2, definitely a excellent game.
[TA]Huckan: That I do, against PVC in the 1016 patch where we won 120-0 (I think) on 2fort. It was my old clan you see so it felt good 0wning them ;)
[TA]Jez_Gafys: Well this would have to be the TA v ESP match for the Clanbase ladder. Reason for this was the tightness of the match and the two clans virtually matched for skill, and also that I, yes I'll repeat that I, was voted man of the match (or was it gimp??). We were playing Rock2 and all through the match both defences were uncrackable, no-one could get a glimpse of the key, then all of a sudden I somehow managed to slip into their Warden's Office as a scout. Just as I picked up their key, the enemy also touched our key, so the only sound the enemy heard was "Your Team Have the enemy key" and not "The Enemy has your key". I then once again managed to slip into the yard, and conced jumped to the far right which was strange as it would appear that nobody noticed me go out. I then sat in that small room at the far end of the corridor near the showers, then one with the suit in it. I was constantly requesting removal of the gc defence, but it did not happen. and at the time there was an enginner/sg and hwguy ([ESP]Twelve) guarding the entrance.
All this time, the enemy must have touched our key about 100 times, with about 1 minute left of the match I was sat there thinking that the game was about to end then all of a sudden I heard "Enemy Scores, warning nerve gas release", and I thought shit I grabbed the suit and quickly ran down towards the gc, just as a reached there the HW guy came back out with a suit and blocked the door, a quick conc dislodged him and I moved closer to the gc. Just outside the gc was an sg I began to quickly dodge the sg and then circle it trying to kill it, then I thought what the fuck I have a suit I'm invincable, so I sodded the sg and quickly ran to the switch to even the scores, the match then virtually ended making a very
happy TA, and a super pissed off ESP.
[TA]Jiveman: TA vs. DW (GWTFCL) easily.
[TA]LandShark: No single game, but some clans are just fun to play...DW, MUF, SM. have all lead to some quality matches :).
[TA]Sprucemuce: I can probably think of 2 favourite matches: The first DW TA match (and my 2nd match for TA) was a lot of fun, even if we did end up losing 100-80. It was very close all the way through and I think I played pretty well for
my rather shite 33.6 ping.
The second match was the Season 3 UKTFCL ~A~ match which we went into expecting to lose because of ~A~'s then fearsome reputation (as well as the fact we knew them quite well and what they could do). The fact that was won well 40-0 is probably down to that fact that Edge was on fire at the front door, managing a rather nice 47/2 against the Icepik/Wizard combo. Cz2 next was incredibly close ending 88-83 to TA, neither team managing to get an all-cap in a game where both sides were matching each other blow for blow.
[TA]Stalker: The matches themselves aren't my favourite. Being with TA and the social aspect (i-series!) is the best. I can never quite enjoy myself in a match, not like I do in publics.
[TA]Wildfire: When I got a chance to play I can remember some fun times, especially a rivalry that developed with KASAP which doesn't seem to have faded :). Probably the best though was a hilarious game we had at i5 against a CS clan - [RoD]. They were newbies to the game so we (ashamedly ;)) all went engineer, put our sentry guns and went offence using only EMP grenades and spanners :) We won! Great fun but not very sportsmanlike... *ahem*.
[TA]Wildfire: I can always hope about Unreal Fortress and TF2, that is if we can keep the people together long enough to see either of them matured/released.
What was your first clan match and what was the result?
Our first match was a friendly against [UWE], who we seemed to end up playing practically every other week in one competition or another for the first few months of our existence. We won.
Who did you see as your main rivals when you were formed, and how has this changed over the course of your clan's history?
At the time we had no idea who our opponents were, but [TSC] had met [iD] in a previous match, so we knew they were pretty hot. We were also introduced to [~A~] very early on, as Amnion's brother is/was [~A~]Nialjo. We had seen the results of UKTFCL Season 2 and to name but a few of my inspirations at the time I would have to say SM. and [fivx] along with [s8n] and [-?-]. At the time [TA] folded, we had a very close rivalry with [DW], in fact our last 3 results were a Win, a Loss, and a Draw, so we still have some unfinished business :). We were also having a lot of fun playing friendlies against [MUF] which will be remembered as some of the most enjoyable games we played.
Out of all the clans you've played, who has surprised you the most?
That's a really hard question. I made it my business to check out opponents before we played matches against them, so we knew what we were up against most of the time. However, the degree by which [D-Walk] beat us in UKTFCL Season 3 sent us reeling, as we had just beaten [~A~] on one of the same maps, who had in turn beaten [D-Walk]. That really put us on the back foot, they really showed their class and we paid for underestimating them.
On your website you're described as a "TFC, CS and Quake III clan", however you've never actually played any Q3 matches. Why is this?
Uhh, uhh, well, the long and the short of it was a lack of organisation. We had a lot some avid Q3A DM players in myself, Sprucemuce, Dispel e.t.c. who could all hold their own in a fight, and we had planned to get some CTF games played. However we didn't know a great deal about the Q3A scene so the matches never really got going.
What made you decide to expand into CS, and why did you stop playing CS matches after a few months?
We were at the time chomping at the bit for more games! MORE GAAAAAMES!!! and once again we had some players that were in other top clans (the same list, encompassing =BH= and =TE= plus Cannon who played for =SOL=) so it seemed logical to have a few kickaround games after we had done fairly well at i3 in the LAN competition there. We got whipped though so we packed it in after a few months. *ahem* de_dust [TA] 23 - 2 =BmE= at i5 *ahem*.
As a clan you've competed in a wide range of leagues (BWTFCL, ETFCL, GWTFCL, Clanbase, UKTFCL, WPTFCL, Stronghold, UKSL...). Which of these have you found to be the most enjoyable?
The ETFCL matches at the time were very good, competitive and good fun. To be honest the UKTFCL was a little too highly strung to be as enjoyable. Mentioning the UKSL and Stronghold leagues brings back memories though :).
You're known as the clan who "taught the Americans how to conc". What's this all about?
I wouldn't say we taught them how, most of them already knew. However, at the time it seemed to us and quite a lot of the UK TFC community that clans in the US thought that conc jumping was a lame cheat. There was a huge argument about this on the official TFC forums, eventually we asked a US TFC clan to play TA in a conc vs. non conc match. We beat them 410-0. Nuff said.
Why did you decide to fold?
We felt that the members had become uninterested in the game, or more specifically uninterested in doing well playing the game. I didn't want to see the clan dragged out in bad shape, because though we came under a lot of criticism in our time (and I mean A LOT), I'm very proud of some of the things we accomplished and I personally didn't want the memory of something that I had put thousands of hours of work into being ruined at the end.
The Members
How did you get involved with TA?
[TA]alpha: I was playing on a public server one day, 2fort I think it was, when some of the TA players arrived for an impromptu practice. They'd only just formed back then, so there were only a few of them. They seemed reasonably organised (how wrong I was!), and not having had any experience of the clan scene I thought I'd give it a go. I always played demoman back then, and they were looking for offy players so I was in.
[TA]Amnion: I set up a clan with a friend called Dust Monkeys, [DM]. We were one of those clans who managed to get about 40 members but not know who any of them are. When we thought [DM] was ready for a clan match, we decided to go onto a public server to find a terrible TFC clan. Who did we find? [DW], The UK number 1's. We didn't know that at the time though. Half our team didn't turn up, so we used some players from [UWE] and [CKC]. We lost. Badly.
[DM] split, I went onto a public server planning on joining the first clan I
came across. And it just happened to be [TA].
[TA]Apollyon: After I left Team Satan I was on the look out for a new clan. I looked at the DW's, iD's etc. and on my rounds was asked by [TA]Dispel if I would join TA. Initially I said no and went to [Dice] after a month or so there I left and took up Dispel's offer.
[TA]Cannon: I had just been playing on pub servers and [TA]Dispel thought I'd be worth trialing when I gave him a hard time as an engineer. So Wildfire trialed me and I got to play demo on Rock2, the rest is history.
[TA]Dispel: I may as well approach this by telling you my entire TFC story up till TA, so here it goes. I downloaded TFC about a week after it was released, and I took a liking to the HWGuy :P. Clans had already started blossoming and I didn't want to be left out, so I started my own along with So-com and a few Norwegian acquaintances I had online. The clan wasn't very active, but we were always on the lookout for new snipers and Hwguys :P. We gained a couple of new members but my need for perfectionist mind always stood in the way of fresh blood.
One day on an empty server me and So-com went in for a sniper war (ah those were the days), when 2 people from clan [DM] joined, these 2 members were Amnion and Leon, we went ahead to begin what we thought was a clan war, and we got to know each other pretty well. DM were challenged by DW (the old one) and DM accepted, however they didn't have enough member's for a full 8v8, so me and So-com volunteered, as expected we were slaughtered, guess our sniper defence wasn't doing its job. After that match CKC became KAT, and we began proper clan matches implementing tactics and sensible play. However a plague of unreliability swooped over the KAT members and due to this the clan split. DM had also split and Amnion had recently joined a clan called TA, so I thought why not, I asked for a trial and the rest is history (by this time I had decided I wanted to be a medic and learnt conc jumping from a bloke I forget his name).
[TA]Huckan: I'd been playing on Wireplay for many a year and as usual eventually the common muppets found the servers and began to take over, so I decided to broaden my horizons and go on the net to see what clans were out there. First and last stop was the UKTFCL. [TA] were 3rd I think so I went for them as they were the only clan I'd heard of due to Wildfire going l00py on the Wireplay boards. For the next couple of weeks I kinda roamed in their IRC room being nice to everyone. Luckily for me my good m8 Dispel was in the clan and he kinda helped me get a trial which was kewl and the best thing about the trial was it was on Cz2 - my ultimate capping map =]
[TA]Jez_Gafys Well I remember it like it was yesterday. Way back in September '99 I was playing on Well standing up defending our silo (god yes I'm sad as if I remeber that :)) using the name {WTF}Jez. I was asking round the server if any clan wanted a 1337 sniper. During this time Wildfire was having a conversation with soon to be [TA]Landshark asking him if he wanted to trial for TA. I was watching the speech and perked up "Hey I would like to join", Wildfire said to me aren't you in a clan already and I replied telling him that I am planning on leaving. He then asked me what other classes I played as and I replied Soldier and Scout he then asked me if I could conc jump and I said yes. He gave me his ICQ address and gave me a time to meet. What I never said until now was that {WTF} was never a clan name its just summit that I thought looked kewl before my name, and that I'd never even attepted a conc jump in my life :).
[TA]Jiveman: After the UK vs USA flaming which Amnion was a major part of arguing for the use of conc jumping, I asked Wildfire for a trial. He said I'd have to impress as we were pretty full so I was doubtful I would get in, but some people seemed to think I was good.
[TA]LandShark: I'd been playing for about a month with a now-defunct german clan, HKZ. I lost all my contacts with them in a PC disaster (motherboard got snapped, don't ask) and shortly afterwards bumped into Wildfire on a public server. He was impressed and invited me to join, and the rest is history.
[TA]Sprucemuce: I was in need of a clan for season 3 of the UKTFCL and so looked at the permiership clans. I hadn't really heard of TA previously but I did remember playing with a [TA]Cannon_fodder a few times who was a very good demo (yeah, no shit Sherlock), so I asked WF for a trial. My trial consisted of playing with TA people on public servers basically and after a week of playing I was told I could wear the TA tag.
[TA]Stalker: On a public server, Demon I think, had only played TFC for about a month, had my good and bad days, remember meeting some TFC crew, I know Wildfire was on the server. Must of been one of my good days, cuz wildfire asked if I wanted to join. I was so chuffed. Over the moon so to speak. I remember running to my mum and telling her all about it, rofl.
[TA]Tigerius: I met my current wife, [TA]Sta1ker on a Demon server fall 2 yrs ago. We had played with people for many hours and as it was way into the night the server was emptied and we found ourselves alone still playing on for a long time. Then after that he invited me to TA and got me in contact with Wildfire and MrWrinkles. And from then on I got into TA rather fast without proper trials, I was really nervous I remember.
How much clan experience did you have?
[TA]alpha: None at all.
[TA]Amnion: Very little. I had only been playing TFC for a few months, so I was still really a newbie. I learnt how to conc jump (I played defence engy for [DM]) the day before joining [TA], but they didn't know that.
[TA]Apollyon: When I first started playing online Quakeworld was the game being played. Two friends of mine from school had a clan called Team s8n, I joined them as an honourary member but never really played because I wasn't that good. On it's release I moved straight to Half-Life and went through the motions of starting a Halflife DM division of s8n. It didn't really take off at the time. Then TFC was released. On the day it was first released I downloaded it and a week later I formed Team Satan TFC division. This division actually went somewhere. We first joined some US league which was part of PlanetFortress. Our first game was vs a US clan whose name I can't remember. We won that match. Anyway enough of the history lesson. We joined UKTFCL season 1 and were beaten by iD in the second round. In season 2 we drew second place with DW - known as -?- at the time. Soon afterwards we split up.
[TA]Cannon: I had absolutely no clan experience whatsoever when I joined TA and I was on 56k too.
[TA]Dispel: Not very much considering, I had experience leading although not very successfully, and my old two clans were more discovering tactics than playing well, but I've always been a fast learner and I have always enjoyed first person shooter games.
[TA]Huckan: I'd played for many a clan, my main one being AK47 when they were in their prime back in season 1 but due to certain circumstances I was unable to play any more and had to leave.
[TA]Jez_Gafys Well really TA was my first proper clan, I did do mercing in the past for Doom, Duke3d, and Quake2 clans, but I was never officially in one.
[TA]Jiveman: I had been playing TFC since april '99 playing for GoD (my own clan), AaB on wireplay and then CSC. I felt that I wanted to play more than one game a week so went onto the UKTFCL boards looking for a clan. I played for (}{) and BiO for a while but they both split up after a while so I asked WildFire for a trial.
[TA]LandShark: Almost none. What I did have was playing medic on german servers, on 33.6k modem on screaming.net. So I don't really think that counts =]
[TA]Pyro: When I joined TA I had been in two clans: TLG (the lone gunmen), my first ever TFC clan and of course [s8n].
[TA]Sprucemuce: My first clan was [fivx] who had started in Q2 as a group of friends from my school. We switched to TFC as soon as it came out realising its huge superiority and decided to start the clan properly. So we had to miss season
1 of the UKTFCL recruiting people, but we were ready for season 2 and after some great games we ended up 5th. After over a year of fivx we decided to disband it as we really couldn't be bothered with the running of a clan. That time in fivx was my only clan experience when I joined TA.
[TA]Stalker: I was in DtH for a while, but the clan never really got off the ground. A great bunch of people though. We used to go onto servers with girls names. I was [DtH]Michelle. We just used to TK people, lol. Once I joined TA, I kind of left DtH in the process. I was in iD for a short spell. Left TA for some stupid reason, but I always wanted to go back, soon did as well, so I only got to the point of passing the iD trial before I left and went back to TA :o) I'm sure Anty from iD will remind me he beat me in the trial, hehe. Left TA again a while after for a month or so after an argument with wf and joined AGL. Fantastic bunch of people, great fun.
[TA]Amnion: Very little. I had only been playing TFC for a few months, so I was still really a newbie. I learnt how to conc jump (I played defence engy for [DM]) the day before joining [TA], but they didn't know that.
[TA]Apollyon: When I first started playing online Quakeworld was the game being played. Two friends of mine from school had a clan called Team s8n, I joined them as an honourary member but never really played because I wasn't that good. On it's release I moved straight to Half-Life and went through the motions of starting a Halflife DM division of s8n. It didn't really take off at the time. Then TFC was released. On the day it was first released I downloaded it and a week later I formed Team Satan TFC division. This division actually went somewhere. We first joined some US league which was part of PlanetFortress. Our first game was vs a US clan whose name I can't remember. We won that match. Anyway enough of the history lesson. We joined UKTFCL season 1 and were beaten by iD in the second round. In season 2 we drew second place with DW - known as -?- at the time. Soon afterwards we split up.
[TA]Cannon: I had absolutely no clan experience whatsoever when I joined TA and I was on 56k too.
[TA]Dispel: Not very much considering, I had experience leading although not very successfully, and my old two clans were more discovering tactics than playing well, but I've always been a fast learner and I have always enjoyed first person shooter games.
[TA]Huckan: I'd played for many a clan, my main one being AK47 when they were in their prime back in season 1 but due to certain circumstances I was unable to play any more and had to leave.
[TA]Jez_Gafys Well really TA was my first proper clan, I did do mercing in the past for Doom, Duke3d, and Quake2 clans, but I was never officially in one.
[TA]Jiveman: I had been playing TFC since april '99 playing for GoD (my own clan), AaB on wireplay and then CSC. I felt that I wanted to play more than one game a week so went onto the UKTFCL boards looking for a clan. I played for (}{) and BiO for a while but they both split up after a while so I asked WildFire for a trial.
[TA]LandShark: Almost none. What I did have was playing medic on german servers, on 33.6k modem on screaming.net. So I don't really think that counts =]
[TA]Pyro: When I joined TA I had been in two clans: TLG (the lone gunmen), my first ever TFC clan and of course [s8n].
[TA]Sprucemuce: My first clan was [fivx] who had started in Q2 as a group of friends from my school. We switched to TFC as soon as it came out realising its huge superiority and decided to start the clan properly. So we had to miss season
1 of the UKTFCL recruiting people, but we were ready for season 2 and after some great games we ended up 5th. After over a year of fivx we decided to disband it as we really couldn't be bothered with the running of a clan. That time in fivx was my only clan experience when I joined TA.
[TA]Stalker: I was in DtH for a while, but the clan never really got off the ground. A great bunch of people though. We used to go onto servers with girls names. I was [DtH]Michelle. We just used to TK people, lol. Once I joined TA, I kind of left DtH in the process. I was in iD for a short spell. Left TA for some stupid reason, but I always wanted to go back, soon did as well, so I only got to the point of passing the iD trial before I left and went back to TA :o) I'm sure Anty from iD will remind me he beat me in the trial, hehe. Left TA again a while after for a month or so after an argument with wf and joined AGL. Fantastic bunch of people, great fun.
What was your official (or unofficial) position or title in the clan?
[TA]alpha: I don't have a title as such but I guess I'm one of the "old boyz" in that I've been in the clan since almost the very begininning and have seen a lot of members come and go. I was always an offy support player (not a very rewarding position as you usually end up low on the score table - I enjoyed it though), but in the last few months of the clan I started playing defence quite a bit. I'm also responsible for the clan website.
[TA]Amnion: Officially I'm the TFC offence leader. Unofficially I'm the guy who sits in the corner issuing orders that nobody listens to.
[TA]Apollyon: Apart from being an attacking grunt I did the graphics for the clan website.
[TA]Cannon: My official title I think is joint deputy along with Jez, but I also arranged a few CS matches for us and also orgainsed the server.
[TA]Dispel: I liked to think of myself as the Ship's Doctor of the clan (no pun intended), someone who told (or tried to tell) everyone what to do despite having little or no authority. However as time went by I think I established a role as deputy offence leader next to Amnion.
[TA]Huckan: Erm, trying to become a bigger flamer than Wildfire, "clan fluffler", "where's wally". Thats about it. Oh and I have a bit of a rep for smoking too much, especially in prematch!
[TA]Jez_Gafys: Deputy Clan Leader and Clan God Father.
[TA]Jiveman: "Dancing Jivepoo's", or clan "Wireplay m0ng".
[TA]LandShark: Enemy defence's bitch. =]
[TA]Pyro: Clan joker and lpb.
[TA]Sprucemuce: Queen.
[TA]Stalker: Started as defense but gradually got better to be put in offense :o). Never really had a position.
[TA]Tigerius: Swedish p0rnstar, very official.
[TA]Amnion: Officially I'm the TFC offence leader. Unofficially I'm the guy who sits in the corner issuing orders that nobody listens to.
[TA]Apollyon: Apart from being an attacking grunt I did the graphics for the clan website.
[TA]Cannon: My official title I think is joint deputy along with Jez, but I also arranged a few CS matches for us and also orgainsed the server.
[TA]Dispel: I liked to think of myself as the Ship's Doctor of the clan (no pun intended), someone who told (or tried to tell) everyone what to do despite having little or no authority. However as time went by I think I established a role as deputy offence leader next to Amnion.
[TA]Huckan: Erm, trying to become a bigger flamer than Wildfire, "clan fluffler", "where's wally". Thats about it. Oh and I have a bit of a rep for smoking too much, especially in prematch!
[TA]Jez_Gafys: Deputy Clan Leader and Clan God Father.
[TA]Jiveman: "Dancing Jivepoo's", or clan "Wireplay m0ng".
[TA]LandShark: Enemy defence's bitch. =]
[TA]Pyro: Clan joker and lpb.
[TA]Sprucemuce: Queen.
[TA]Stalker: Started as defense but gradually got better to be put in offense :o). Never really had a position.
[TA]Tigerius: Swedish p0rnstar, very official.
What was the first match you played in?
[TA]alpha: The first match I played in was also TA's first match, against UWE a long time ago. It was 6 vs. 6, and one of the maps was definitely Rock2 which was my favourite map at the time. We won.
[TA]Amnion: Because I had contacts with [UWE], I arranged a game with them. This was my first 'proper' clan match (and [TA]'s). We won quite easily, but I think it was quite possibly on the worst server on the planet, lowest ping was around the 500 mark.
[TA]Cannon: I may be wrong but I think it was a clanbase match vs WASTED. To be honest I rarely rememer indiviudal games (must be my age).
[TA]Dispel: The first ever match for TA, phew takes me back a bit, must have been TA vs ESP, I came on for the second map, as one of TA had dropped, although I didn't play all that well if I remember. As I recall we won that game.
[TA]Huckan: I can't remember who it was against but I do remember I 0wned in offence with Dispel and Sprz at my side on Well I think it was and then Cz2, RAH.
[TA]Jez_Gafys: Hmmm this is a tough one, errr I think it was a clan
called...(clanbase clan). What you don't remember them? Pah.
[TA]Jiveman: TA vs. AFH I think. We gave them a good beating :)
[TA]Sprucemuce: The first game I played for TA was against the then super Dutch clan SM. It was shortly after the end of season 2 and they were still on top form, needless to say they won 100-45 after 2 hectic rounds of Bam and Rock2. Blah
blah blah mumble grumble @ their 4 soldier defence on Bam 0wning our offy.
[TA]Amnion: Because I had contacts with [UWE], I arranged a game with them. This was my first 'proper' clan match (and [TA]'s). We won quite easily, but I think it was quite possibly on the worst server on the planet, lowest ping was around the 500 mark.
[TA]Cannon: I may be wrong but I think it was a clanbase match vs WASTED. To be honest I rarely rememer indiviudal games (must be my age).
[TA]Dispel: The first ever match for TA, phew takes me back a bit, must have been TA vs ESP, I came on for the second map, as one of TA had dropped, although I didn't play all that well if I remember. As I recall we won that game.
[TA]Huckan: I can't remember who it was against but I do remember I 0wned in offence with Dispel and Sprz at my side on Well I think it was and then Cz2, RAH.
[TA]Jez_Gafys: Hmmm this is a tough one, errr I think it was a clan
called...(clanbase clan). What you don't remember them? Pah.
[TA]Jiveman: TA vs. AFH I think. We gave them a good beating :)
[TA]Sprucemuce: The first game I played for TA was against the then super Dutch clan SM. It was shortly after the end of season 2 and they were still on top form, needless to say they won 100-45 after 2 hectic rounds of Bam and Rock2. Blah
blah blah mumble grumble @ their 4 soldier defence on Bam 0wning our offy.
Have you got any fond memories from "the early days?"
[TA]Wildfire: Most of it is pretty happy for me :). They were, relatively speaking, the most successful months of [TA]'s existence. Being accepted into the premiership of the UKTFCL without any kind of track record other than our first 2 or 3 matches together as a clan was a BIG confidence booster, and I guess we just rode that high for the whole of our time together.
[TA]alpha: Definitely :). When we started we only used ICQ and email to communicate, and our website was updated very sparsely as Wildfire was always having trouble with AOL FTP. Practices and matches would involve organising a time, finding a decent public server, and then "persuading" anyone who was on it to leave. I remember once when we were meant to be playing Chapter (a top clan at the time), and there was this one guy who just would not leave the server and started getting unnecessarily abusive. The map was Well, and we had the whole of [TA] and [Chpt] camping outside his respawn room pounding him with rockets everytime he appeared. This lasted for 10 minutes, 'was quite funny :).
[TA]Amnion: Yeah, sure. It was the first time I had ever seen teamwork in an online game. Also as we were pretty new everyone we played thought they could just put out a terrible team and still beat us, we didn't lose a match until about our 10th game.
[TA]Cannon: I suppose the best memories were being undefeated until the end of S3 UKTFCL :-(, and we enjoyed games more as a clan in the early days, towards
the end the expectation was too much.
[TA]Dispel: Oh yes plenty, the general atmosphere and inspiration each member offered was enough to keep anyone happy, my fondest days were probably before we discovered IRC, which in effect gave us a closer link with other clans. I think this stronger link really gave us a chance to advertise the clan, as we were the new boys in town, I think our cockiness is what first set the ball rolling for our flames.
[TA]Huckan: From my early days in TFC my main memory was being taught by the infamous Icepik who taught me pretty much everything I needed to know about concing and taking SG's down etc. which from then on boosted me above most people in the Wireplay community and getting me into AK47. Early days in [TA] was just the fact I was in them and that season we won the uktfcl, which was nice =]
[TA]Jez_Gafys: Well I don't really have any from the early days, cause I can't remember any, but I do have a fond funny memory that happen not so long ago, about 2 months. It was a time when Dispel and Wildfire had had an argument (what's that I hear you say...again), and it ended with Dis walking out. We all talked about it and agreed that we really do need Dis back in the clan, so they chose the best man for the job ....Der der dah der "SUPER JEZ". And now is how the biggest bluff to get a member back began. It started with me talking to Dis in irc but it was getting nowhere I then moved to icq... you can view the whole story here. Sorry Dispel but honestly we really did need you and want you back.
[TA]Jiveman: I joined at the end really, but playing with Sprz, Appz and Amnion or Dis was and always will be a good memory.
[TA]Pyro: Yeah Old SKOOL has to be the best UKTFCL season 2.
[TA]Sprucemuce: Most of my fond memories are from the early days, basically when we were able to get TAs 'best' team together with out much problem. Post patch I don't think TA ever put out its 1st team because of the lack of interest from some members. Basically TA really was a top clan in those days (before massive whoring started in the UK TFC scene) and to be a part of a top team
was great fun.
[TA]Stalker: Oh yeah, just the feel of it in those days was better. 1.0.x patches were around then. I remember concing around like some nutcase cuz it was so easy then :o). And of course all the great games me and Tigerius used to have after
hours each night :o).
[TA]alpha: Definitely :). When we started we only used ICQ and email to communicate, and our website was updated very sparsely as Wildfire was always having trouble with AOL FTP. Practices and matches would involve organising a time, finding a decent public server, and then "persuading" anyone who was on it to leave. I remember once when we were meant to be playing Chapter (a top clan at the time), and there was this one guy who just would not leave the server and started getting unnecessarily abusive. The map was Well, and we had the whole of [TA] and [Chpt] camping outside his respawn room pounding him with rockets everytime he appeared. This lasted for 10 minutes, 'was quite funny :).
[TA]Amnion: Yeah, sure. It was the first time I had ever seen teamwork in an online game. Also as we were pretty new everyone we played thought they could just put out a terrible team and still beat us, we didn't lose a match until about our 10th game.
[TA]Cannon: I suppose the best memories were being undefeated until the end of S3 UKTFCL :-(, and we enjoyed games more as a clan in the early days, towards
the end the expectation was too much.
[TA]Dispel: Oh yes plenty, the general atmosphere and inspiration each member offered was enough to keep anyone happy, my fondest days were probably before we discovered IRC, which in effect gave us a closer link with other clans. I think this stronger link really gave us a chance to advertise the clan, as we were the new boys in town, I think our cockiness is what first set the ball rolling for our flames.
[TA]Huckan: From my early days in TFC my main memory was being taught by the infamous Icepik who taught me pretty much everything I needed to know about concing and taking SG's down etc. which from then on boosted me above most people in the Wireplay community and getting me into AK47. Early days in [TA] was just the fact I was in them and that season we won the uktfcl, which was nice =]
[TA]Jez_Gafys: Well I don't really have any from the early days, cause I can't remember any, but I do have a fond funny memory that happen not so long ago, about 2 months. It was a time when Dispel and Wildfire had had an argument (what's that I hear you say...again), and it ended with Dis walking out. We all talked about it and agreed that we really do need Dis back in the clan, so they chose the best man for the job ....Der der dah der "SUPER JEZ". And now is how the biggest bluff to get a member back began. It started with me talking to Dis in irc but it was getting nowhere I then moved to icq... you can view the whole story here. Sorry Dispel but honestly we really did need you and want you back.
[TA]Jiveman: I joined at the end really, but playing with Sprz, Appz and Amnion or Dis was and always will be a good memory.
[TA]Pyro: Yeah Old SKOOL has to be the best UKTFCL season 2.
[TA]Sprucemuce: Most of my fond memories are from the early days, basically when we were able to get TAs 'best' team together with out much problem. Post patch I don't think TA ever put out its 1st team because of the lack of interest from some members. Basically TA really was a top clan in those days (before massive whoring started in the UK TFC scene) and to be a part of a top team
was great fun.
[TA]Stalker: Oh yeah, just the feel of it in those days was better. 1.0.x patches were around then. I remember concing around like some nutcase cuz it was so easy then :o). And of course all the great games me and Tigerius used to have after
hours each night :o).
Out of all the matches you played in, which would you say was the most difficult and why?
[TA]Wildfire: Hmm, probably the first time we played against Suspicious Minds SM. At the time we had never played against clans of their calibre and we were just blown straight out of the water. We put up the best fight we could and came out with a respectable score, but we were really outclassed in all departments. I can remember their scouts zipping past me on the rush on BaM! and thinking "holy shit they're quick!". I couldn't put a rocket anywhere near them and I knew from that moment that we were up against something new that we were going to have to rise to if we were going to be successful.
[TA]alpha: For me it would have to be when we played DW in the UKTFCL Season 3 final. I jumped in as a sub on Well when one of our offy players dropped, and we were already loosing by quite a large margin. Basically DW were using a defence strategy that was completely new to our attack, and we just fell apart completely. There had been sooooo much hype surrounding the match that everyone was pretty stressed, and there were a lot of people watching it in IRC which made it all quite a bit worse.
[TA]Amnion: I think that would have to be [TA] vs SM. on BaM. I've played in many really hard games, but this was the first time [TA] was really outplayed. I think I finished with a score of –4/50.
[TA]Apollyon: TA vs DW, ok so we played them hundreds of times and it
was never an easy match but the most difficult was when we met them on Crossover2 for GWTFCL.
[TA]Cannon: 2 matches stand out as the most difficult: DW and D-walk S3 UKTFCL. Although we lost other games, those two stand out because we had pretty much a full team out for both games, whereas in many of our other losses we had genuine bad luck, and yes I do mean you BIA.
[TA]Dispel: The most difficult game I ever played for TA must've been against Suspicious Minds. SM. Were at their prime and we were still getting to grips with the premiership quality of play, we weren't beaten all that badly mind but we definitely learnt a lot from it.
[TA]Huckan: Probably the 1st one we lost while I was in the clan because after about 6-7 games with them we'd never lost so I just kinda got used to it like =]
[TA]Jez_Gafys: Pah I've never found any matches so difficult cause I'm such a double 'ard bastard.
[TA]Jiveman: TA vs DW for GWTFCL was the most technically difficult as both sides were up for the game and we were evenly matched, probably only loosing because myself and Choke dropped for a short time. The most difficult would probably the last few games we played after Sprz had left for uni with Wildfire going mad at the attack for not capping, AGL on well was probably the worst.
[TA]LandShark: Most difficult was probably the first DW match. Defence was stretched to the limit, after a 'slight' misunderstanding made our top-spiral soldier defend the water spiral. (2fort) I was playing defence engineer, and we were basically getting massacred down in the basement :]
[TA]Pyro: Hehe afraid it wasnt TA but was s8n versus SM. because they were all so damn good and lpbs (and if I remeber rightly they all sat in the same room while playing matches).
[TA]Sprucemuce: The DW match of Season 3 UKTFCL was probably the hardest match I had to play for TA as it decided the overall winner of the season. I think the match had been hyped an incredible amount after the (vast amount of) flames between the 2 clans and so it made it very difficult to play with a clear mind.
[TA]Stalker: DW on Fortsaken a while back. We had a 10 min praccy b4 the match began and we got 2 caps. That got our spirits up, but during the actual game it proved a lot harder :o/ Although the frustrating thing was we were touching the flag non-stop, but never getting it home :o( I think we finished 50-10, cant quite remember.
[TA]alpha: For me it would have to be when we played DW in the UKTFCL Season 3 final. I jumped in as a sub on Well when one of our offy players dropped, and we were already loosing by quite a large margin. Basically DW were using a defence strategy that was completely new to our attack, and we just fell apart completely. There had been sooooo much hype surrounding the match that everyone was pretty stressed, and there were a lot of people watching it in IRC which made it all quite a bit worse.
[TA]Amnion: I think that would have to be [TA] vs SM. on BaM. I've played in many really hard games, but this was the first time [TA] was really outplayed. I think I finished with a score of –4/50.
[TA]Apollyon: TA vs DW, ok so we played them hundreds of times and it
was never an easy match but the most difficult was when we met them on Crossover2 for GWTFCL.
[TA]Cannon: 2 matches stand out as the most difficult: DW and D-walk S3 UKTFCL. Although we lost other games, those two stand out because we had pretty much a full team out for both games, whereas in many of our other losses we had genuine bad luck, and yes I do mean you BIA.
[TA]Dispel: The most difficult game I ever played for TA must've been against Suspicious Minds. SM. Were at their prime and we were still getting to grips with the premiership quality of play, we weren't beaten all that badly mind but we definitely learnt a lot from it.
[TA]Huckan: Probably the 1st one we lost while I was in the clan because after about 6-7 games with them we'd never lost so I just kinda got used to it like =]
[TA]Jez_Gafys: Pah I've never found any matches so difficult cause I'm such a double 'ard bastard.
[TA]Jiveman: TA vs DW for GWTFCL was the most technically difficult as both sides were up for the game and we were evenly matched, probably only loosing because myself and Choke dropped for a short time. The most difficult would probably the last few games we played after Sprz had left for uni with Wildfire going mad at the attack for not capping, AGL on well was probably the worst.
[TA]LandShark: Most difficult was probably the first DW match. Defence was stretched to the limit, after a 'slight' misunderstanding made our top-spiral soldier defend the water spiral. (2fort) I was playing defence engineer, and we were basically getting massacred down in the basement :]
[TA]Pyro: Hehe afraid it wasnt TA but was s8n versus SM. because they were all so damn good and lpbs (and if I remeber rightly they all sat in the same room while playing matches).
[TA]Sprucemuce: The DW match of Season 3 UKTFCL was probably the hardest match I had to play for TA as it decided the overall winner of the season. I think the match had been hyped an incredible amount after the (vast amount of) flames between the 2 clans and so it made it very difficult to play with a clear mind.
[TA]Stalker: DW on Fortsaken a while back. We had a 10 min praccy b4 the match began and we got 2 caps. That got our spirits up, but during the actual game it proved a lot harder :o/ Although the frustrating thing was we were touching the flag non-stop, but never getting it home :o( I think we finished 50-10, cant quite remember.
What did you learn from that match?
[TA]Wildfire: I learned that no matter how low your ping was, it was near impossible to lay a finger on SM's offence when they were in their prime :).
[TA]alpha: Just how badly things can go wrong when people stop communicating in a team game.
[TA]Amnion: That you can't get past 4 LPB soldiers by yourself in the BaM basement.
[TA]Apollyon: That organisation is the key. The fact that a number of our team where droping constantly may have lost us the match.
[TA]Cannon: Only thing I learnt was that our Defence was beatable, up till then we hadn't been touched.
[TA]Dispel: All in all I think the main thing we learnt was the need for teamwork in offence mainly, considering most of our players were used to solo play, against a top defence like that it rarely pays off, if ever, our defence were playing top notch that day but I guess not enough to hold off the scary SM. attack.
[TA]Huckan: Even the best can lose =]
[TA]Jez_Gafys: That I own the entire TFC community they are all my biatches.
[TA]Jiveman: The main thing I learnt was not to put pressure on players, they'll do their best and shouting at them wont make a blind bit of difference.
[TA]Pyro: How to become and lpb and use it to my advantage ;-). s8n learnt some good tactics and ideas from that match.
[TA]Sprucemuce: From that match I learnt that a team of good players (It was close to TA's best team at the time) really can play shite if they arent working together.
[TA]Stalker: That DW 0wn :oP
[TA]alpha: Just how badly things can go wrong when people stop communicating in a team game.
[TA]Amnion: That you can't get past 4 LPB soldiers by yourself in the BaM basement.
[TA]Apollyon: That organisation is the key. The fact that a number of our team where droping constantly may have lost us the match.
[TA]Cannon: Only thing I learnt was that our Defence was beatable, up till then we hadn't been touched.
[TA]Dispel: All in all I think the main thing we learnt was the need for teamwork in offence mainly, considering most of our players were used to solo play, against a top defence like that it rarely pays off, if ever, our defence were playing top notch that day but I guess not enough to hold off the scary SM. attack.
[TA]Huckan: Even the best can lose =]
[TA]Jez_Gafys: That I own the entire TFC community they are all my biatches.
[TA]Jiveman: The main thing I learnt was not to put pressure on players, they'll do their best and shouting at them wont make a blind bit of difference.
[TA]Pyro: How to become and lpb and use it to my advantage ;-). s8n learnt some good tactics and ideas from that match.
[TA]Sprucemuce: From that match I learnt that a team of good players (It was close to TA's best team at the time) really can play shite if they arent working together.
[TA]Stalker: That DW 0wn :oP
Do you have a favourite match out of all that you've played for TA?
[TA]Wildfire: Um... I dunno that's a really hard choice, but I think it might have been one of our last matches, which we played against [DW]. BaM was unsurprisingly a no-score draw and we had good fun trying to attack and defend with 600 pings all round on a toaster of a server. After that we moved to the [TA] FragPipe and things got better :). Crossover2 was the closest match I've ever played in my life, with both clans throwing everything at each other in their attempts to score. The lead swapped over twice between the two clans and in the last minute with both flags loose in the yards, DW managed to claw theirs away and as theirs was brought onto the bridge in the middle, they capped and the map ended 30-20 to them. Great game.
[TA]alpha: I've played so many that they all seem to blur into one. There were a couple of matches we played a few months ago when I was playing defence that stick in my memory - NSD in GWTFCL Season 1, |TC| in WPTFCL was a good laugh as well. We've had some pretty monumental matches but unfortunately I've missed out on a lot of them (our early encounters against SM., playing SHS...) through being at Uni. I have played in several of our encounters against DW though, including our GWTFCL Season 1 match which was the most tense game of TFC I've been in. If only I hadn't got stuck on that bloody lift at the end...
[TA]Amnion: Although at the time we hated each other, [TA] vs. [BIA] on crossover2 will go down in history as one of the closest maps ever. The score was 40-10 to BiA with just 10 minutes to go. We managed to pull it back, and we matched BIA's every move. The score was 60-60 with about 5 seconds left, then BIA managed to get home another cap. Great match.
[TA]Apollyon: I always enjoy DW matches most. When you play people that are at the top of their game it is a real challenge and even if you loose I always love these games cause they are fast and furious. There's never a moment you think you are coasting and you have to put in a real effort.
[TA]Cannon: Although I prefered TFC 1016, the best game I have played in was probably our loss to DW on TF1.5 for GWTFCL. Losing 30-20 on Crossover2 was heartbreaking, it was the closest game we played in and lost and played well, even DW admitted a draw would have been a fair result.
[TA]Dispel: My favourite match would probably be that against SHS the first time round. We played shutdown and rock2, two great maps for defenders and it eventually became a battle between who's defence was stronger, we won 10-0 on shutdown and they won 30-15 on rock2, definitely a excellent game.
[TA]Huckan: That I do, against PVC in the 1016 patch where we won 120-0 (I think) on 2fort. It was my old clan you see so it felt good 0wning them ;)
[TA]Jez_Gafys: Well this would have to be the TA v ESP match for the Clanbase ladder. Reason for this was the tightness of the match and the two clans virtually matched for skill, and also that I, yes I'll repeat that I, was voted man of the match (or was it gimp??). We were playing Rock2 and all through the match both defences were uncrackable, no-one could get a glimpse of the key, then all of a sudden I somehow managed to slip into their Warden's Office as a scout. Just as I picked up their key, the enemy also touched our key, so the only sound the enemy heard was "Your Team Have the enemy key" and not "The Enemy has your key". I then once again managed to slip into the yard, and conced jumped to the far right which was strange as it would appear that nobody noticed me go out. I then sat in that small room at the far end of the corridor near the showers, then one with the suit in it. I was constantly requesting removal of the gc defence, but it did not happen. and at the time there was an enginner/sg and hwguy ([ESP]Twelve) guarding the entrance.
All this time, the enemy must have touched our key about 100 times, with about 1 minute left of the match I was sat there thinking that the game was about to end then all of a sudden I heard "Enemy Scores, warning nerve gas release", and I thought shit I grabbed the suit and quickly ran down towards the gc, just as a reached there the HW guy came back out with a suit and blocked the door, a quick conc dislodged him and I moved closer to the gc. Just outside the gc was an sg I began to quickly dodge the sg and then circle it trying to kill it, then I thought what the fuck I have a suit I'm invincable, so I sodded the sg and quickly ran to the switch to even the scores, the match then virtually ended making a very
happy TA, and a super pissed off ESP.
[TA]Jiveman: TA vs. DW (GWTFCL) easily.
[TA]LandShark: No single game, but some clans are just fun to play...DW, MUF, SM. have all lead to some quality matches :).
[TA]Sprucemuce: I can probably think of 2 favourite matches: The first DW TA match (and my 2nd match for TA) was a lot of fun, even if we did end up losing 100-80. It was very close all the way through and I think I played pretty well for
my rather shite 33.6 ping.
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The second match was the Season 3 UKTFCL ~A~ match which we went into expecting to lose because of ~A~'s then fearsome reputation (as well as the fact we knew them quite well and what they could do). The fact that was won well 40-0 is probably down to that fact that Edge was on fire at the front door, managing a rather nice 47/2 against the Icepik/Wizard combo. Cz2 next was incredibly close ending 88-83 to TA, neither team managing to get an all-cap in a game where both sides were matching each other blow for blow.
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[TA]Stalker: The matches themselves aren't my favourite. Being with TA and the social aspect (i-series!) is the best. I can never quite enjoy myself in a match, not like I do in publics.
Which are your favourite maps to play clan matches on?
[TA]Wildfire: 2fort and CanalZone 2. 2fort 'cos, well, it's 2fort isn't it. It has a perfect balance of offensive and defensive opportunities and always gives very close games between evenly matches clans. CZ2 simply because it takes what made CanalZone great, speeds it up to something insane and challenges you to keep up with what's going on. A tactician's dream or nightmare that map is, the best I've ever played.
[TA]alpha: Pre-patch I used to love Rock2 and Well, but don't enjoy either of those so much any more. When I'm playing defence I enjoy 2fort, Openfire and Fortsake2. As for offence, I guess I'd say the Shutdown series of maps and some of the newer custom maps. It does depend who you're playing though. Am I the only person who got bored with 2fort a long time ago?
[TA]Amnion: I quite like 2fort, but every clan just uses the same tactics now so it can get quite boring. Probably my favourite now is either Openfire or Shutdown2. Openfire has a nice layout, a rare map that actually favours the offence, which I like a lot. Shutdown2 is nice and open, which means less backtracking.
[TA]Apollyon: I love 2fort, it's simple, fast and not at all one sided. If you get a top defence holding the basement it can be impossible to break, but when you manage it you feel pretty good about yourself. Secondly there is another old favourite - Well. Again same as 2fort it is fast paced. Another thing I love about both maps are the numerous entries, SG points and possibiities for fancy conc jumps.
[TA]Cannon: I love playing anywhere on def I can play demo, so Rock2 and Crossover2 are probably my favourite maps.
[TA]Dispel: 2fort has always been my favourite, along with Well, I've always enjoyed 2fort because it is such an open map, it could go either way, it is similar to that of Crossover however I think Co2 is a little too open not only making it very hard to defend but if you haven't got the right tactics on offence it can be a nightmare to attack as well. Recently I've taken a liking to Shutdown and Shutdown2, despite them both being very hard to attack on, if you do cap, it really gives you a real rush.
[TA]Huckan: I've taken to Monkey a lot and enjoy it a lot. The other map that I like has got to be 2fort, perfect map in every way and some of the best games are played on it. Cz2 used to be my favorite before TF1.5 patch due to the pure speed of the concing scouts =]
[TA]Jez_Gafys: My favourite map of all time is Rock2, due to the duels that can be had in the yard, and it's also one of the best maps for yard snipering.
I rememeber all those pissed of ppl who would conc into the yard only to be shatted in mid-air by a sniper round (hehe alpha :)).
[TA]Jiveman: 2Fort as it's very hard to lockdown effectively but also maps like Openfire and Crossover2 which are biased towards attack.
[TA]LandShark: Pre-TF1.5, I would say shutdown. The tactics were so varied, and attacking or defending were equalling challenging. More recently, 2fort, because it's rarely a 0-0 draw, and 2fort matches are nearly all very close.
[TA]Pyro: 2fort cause it is so yay and brings back memories of good matches probably rock2 cause its nice and hard for offence.
[TA]Tigerius: 2fort has been TA's backbone for so long time, our offence 0wning and our defense pressured but coping. We've had many great wins on it.
[TA]Sprucemuce: My favourite maps pre-patch were 2fort and Rock2 I think. 2fort because its simply the best map about.. and Rock because I used to love playing scout on it. Post-patch I still enjoyed 2fort the most, although my favourite class to play changed from medic/scout to offy soldier on it (gotta love the feeling of gibbing the entire basement def and getting out the spiral with the flag).
[TA]Stalker: Well, cuz its easy to cap :o)
[TA]alpha: Pre-patch I used to love Rock2 and Well, but don't enjoy either of those so much any more. When I'm playing defence I enjoy 2fort, Openfire and Fortsake2. As for offence, I guess I'd say the Shutdown series of maps and some of the newer custom maps. It does depend who you're playing though. Am I the only person who got bored with 2fort a long time ago?
[TA]Amnion: I quite like 2fort, but every clan just uses the same tactics now so it can get quite boring. Probably my favourite now is either Openfire or Shutdown2. Openfire has a nice layout, a rare map that actually favours the offence, which I like a lot. Shutdown2 is nice and open, which means less backtracking.
[TA]Apollyon: I love 2fort, it's simple, fast and not at all one sided. If you get a top defence holding the basement it can be impossible to break, but when you manage it you feel pretty good about yourself. Secondly there is another old favourite - Well. Again same as 2fort it is fast paced. Another thing I love about both maps are the numerous entries, SG points and possibiities for fancy conc jumps.
[TA]Cannon: I love playing anywhere on def I can play demo, so Rock2 and Crossover2 are probably my favourite maps.
[TA]Dispel: 2fort has always been my favourite, along with Well, I've always enjoyed 2fort because it is such an open map, it could go either way, it is similar to that of Crossover however I think Co2 is a little too open not only making it very hard to defend but if you haven't got the right tactics on offence it can be a nightmare to attack as well. Recently I've taken a liking to Shutdown and Shutdown2, despite them both being very hard to attack on, if you do cap, it really gives you a real rush.
[TA]Huckan: I've taken to Monkey a lot and enjoy it a lot. The other map that I like has got to be 2fort, perfect map in every way and some of the best games are played on it. Cz2 used to be my favorite before TF1.5 patch due to the pure speed of the concing scouts =]
[TA]Jez_Gafys: My favourite map of all time is Rock2, due to the duels that can be had in the yard, and it's also one of the best maps for yard snipering.
I rememeber all those pissed of ppl who would conc into the yard only to be shatted in mid-air by a sniper round (hehe alpha :)).
[TA]Jiveman: 2Fort as it's very hard to lockdown effectively but also maps like Openfire and Crossover2 which are biased towards attack.
[TA]LandShark: Pre-TF1.5, I would say shutdown. The tactics were so varied, and attacking or defending were equalling challenging. More recently, 2fort, because it's rarely a 0-0 draw, and 2fort matches are nearly all very close.
[TA]Pyro: 2fort cause it is so yay and brings back memories of good matches probably rock2 cause its nice and hard for offence.
[TA]Tigerius: 2fort has been TA's backbone for so long time, our offence 0wning and our defense pressured but coping. We've had many great wins on it.
[TA]Sprucemuce: My favourite maps pre-patch were 2fort and Rock2 I think. 2fort because its simply the best map about.. and Rock because I used to love playing scout on it. Post-patch I still enjoyed 2fort the most, although my favourite class to play changed from medic/scout to offy soldier on it (gotta love the feeling of gibbing the entire basement def and getting out the spiral with the flag).
[TA]Stalker: Well, cuz its easy to cap :o)
In what ways (if any) have you improved since you joined?
[TA]Wildfire: I got a cable modem so I've become a skill-less LPB :P which naturally means I can shoot better (don't worry it's only because I have a ping advantage).
[TA]alpha: When I joined the clan I only really played Demoman, and I was using a slow Winmodem giving me an average ping of 400+ on good servers (if you look at early TA screenshots I always had a ping 200 higher than anyone elses). Since then I've gradually gained more experience with the other classes and I'm pretty equal with all of them now. At Easter I bought a new modem which knocked 250 off my ping (made a big difference). Not having had any pre-TA clan experience, I've also learnt a lot about team communication, anticipating what your team-mates are doing and using that to your advantage.
[TA]Amnion: TFC was still quite new, so most of the stuff people can do now were unheard of. Also back then I was still a newbie, so you could say I've improved quite a bit.
[TA]Apollyon: I was never extremely fast in my old clans. I played the 2 fastest classes, Medic and Scout, yet didn't utilise diferent techniques to be quicker. One thing I noticed when joining TA was that Spruce and Dis could conc through half the map and get the flag back to base before I was even in the flagroom (over exageration :P). With a bit of practice I was soon doing all the same stuff and realised how helpful it could be.
[TA]Cannon: I'd like to think I am an experienced player having played for TA for over a year now, I can pretty much expect anything an offense has to throw at me, although stopping it ain't always so easy.
[TA]Dispel: Definitely in the field of teamwork, without the amount of work TA put into their offence team work and communication we would never have gotten to where we did, and further more I doubt I or the other attackers like me would have gotten very far in the TFC clan scene.
[TA]Huckan: I've learnt small things watching people play that I never considered before and its made a massive difference in playing games both clan and
public!
[TA]Jez_Gafys: Well for starters I leart how to conc jump, plus improved drastically with ever other class, I also leart how to be one serious flamer :).
[TA]LandShark: When I joined, I was a poor medic and an OK offy demoman. Now I can play any defence class very well and most offence classes well. TA taught me to adapt, to communicate, playing with TA gave me timing and judgement. Apart from that, they taught me loads of new swear words :P.
[TA]Sprucemuce: To be honest being in TA didn't really change my style of play in any particular way, I just did what I always have done as offence: don't stop moving.
[TA]Stalker: When I first joined TA I was a solly junky. But it was early days, and with TA I've learned all the classes through the excellent tuition :o) (Especially medic, RAH!)
[TA]Tigerius: Oh.. well.. I joined so long time ago, way before TA had it's peak. Everything has changed. I used to be better pre-patch, I don't at all like the new soldier as much. So I recall myself as better, especially since I've taken a long break off TFC during the patch-change. But realistically I'm better at most areas, mainly a more resourceful player, and my grenade skills are l33t.
[TA]alpha: When I joined the clan I only really played Demoman, and I was using a slow Winmodem giving me an average ping of 400+ on good servers (if you look at early TA screenshots I always had a ping 200 higher than anyone elses). Since then I've gradually gained more experience with the other classes and I'm pretty equal with all of them now. At Easter I bought a new modem which knocked 250 off my ping (made a big difference). Not having had any pre-TA clan experience, I've also learnt a lot about team communication, anticipating what your team-mates are doing and using that to your advantage.
[TA]Amnion: TFC was still quite new, so most of the stuff people can do now were unheard of. Also back then I was still a newbie, so you could say I've improved quite a bit.
[TA]Apollyon: I was never extremely fast in my old clans. I played the 2 fastest classes, Medic and Scout, yet didn't utilise diferent techniques to be quicker. One thing I noticed when joining TA was that Spruce and Dis could conc through half the map and get the flag back to base before I was even in the flagroom (over exageration :P). With a bit of practice I was soon doing all the same stuff and realised how helpful it could be.
[TA]Cannon: I'd like to think I am an experienced player having played for TA for over a year now, I can pretty much expect anything an offense has to throw at me, although stopping it ain't always so easy.
[TA]Dispel: Definitely in the field of teamwork, without the amount of work TA put into their offence team work and communication we would never have gotten to where we did, and further more I doubt I or the other attackers like me would have gotten very far in the TFC clan scene.
[TA]Huckan: I've learnt small things watching people play that I never considered before and its made a massive difference in playing games both clan and
public!
[TA]Jez_Gafys: Well for starters I leart how to conc jump, plus improved drastically with ever other class, I also leart how to be one serious flamer :).
[TA]LandShark: When I joined, I was a poor medic and an OK offy demoman. Now I can play any defence class very well and most offence classes well. TA taught me to adapt, to communicate, playing with TA gave me timing and judgement. Apart from that, they taught me loads of new swear words :P.
[TA]Sprucemuce: To be honest being in TA didn't really change my style of play in any particular way, I just did what I always have done as offence: don't stop moving.
[TA]Stalker: When I first joined TA I was a solly junky. But it was early days, and with TA I've learned all the classes through the excellent tuition :o) (Especially medic, RAH!)
[TA]Tigerius: Oh.. well.. I joined so long time ago, way before TA had it's peak. Everything has changed. I used to be better pre-patch, I don't at all like the new soldier as much. So I recall myself as better, especially since I've taken a long break off TFC during the patch-change. But realistically I'm better at most areas, mainly a more resourceful player, and my grenade skills are l33t.
What do you think you have brought to the clan apart from your TFC ability?
[TA]Wildfire: A lot of anguish and grief :). I never claimed to be the best leader in living memory and at times it really showed through, but I think if there was one thing I did for the clan, I managed to keep people together and having fun through thick and thin.
[TA]alpha: The voice of reason, common sense and maturity in tense situations. Or something. I also have always hoped that the clan website helped the clan out more than people realised, from simple organisational things like match schedules and map tactics, to keeping the clan spirit up through the use of the site forum and quote of the day. The site is still quite popular, with quite a few daily visitors.
[TA]Amnion: Bad English, bad jokes, bad lag and bad scores.
[TA]Apollyon: Well I have the best name, Apollyon, so Dis always tells me :P and I gave our site a bit of colour.
[TA]Cannon: I'd like to think I brought a senes of responsibility to the clan members, although I think towards the end I failed :-(.
[TA]Dispel: I always liked to help in any way I could, and offer a bit of inspiration and praise for issues or events in the clan, as I said above I also liked to take control and in times of crisis I would try my best to help solve or offer my input into the situation.
[TA]Huckan: Ooo a toughie. More flames? Erm... someone to take the piss outta if they're ever feeling down, tbh I'd just like to think I'm special in my own way and all of that ;)
[TA]Jez_Gafys: Plenty and Plenty of Humour.
[TA]Jiveman: A bit of calm and someone else who would stand up for the attackers if we lost.
[TA]LandShark: Weirdness and diplomacy. Not neccessarily in equal amounts :P.
[TA]Pyro: A laugh every now and then like to have a but if a joke.
[TA]Sprucemuce: Fuck. All.
[TA]Stalker: Erm, you'd have to ask the rest of them that, I honestly have no idea what I personally have brought. After all, its a team game :oP
[TA]Tigerius: I don't know really, I held a low-profile for a long time before and with so many outstanding personalities I would believe I wouldn't be noticed, but if the others would speak I believe they'd claim my l33t Swedness, my acting skills (p0rn) and general weirdness.
[TA]alpha: The voice of reason, common sense and maturity in tense situations. Or something. I also have always hoped that the clan website helped the clan out more than people realised, from simple organisational things like match schedules and map tactics, to keeping the clan spirit up through the use of the site forum and quote of the day. The site is still quite popular, with quite a few daily visitors.[TA]Amnion: Bad English, bad jokes, bad lag and bad scores.
[TA]Apollyon: Well I have the best name, Apollyon, so Dis always tells me :P and I gave our site a bit of colour.
[TA]Cannon: I'd like to think I brought a senes of responsibility to the clan members, although I think towards the end I failed :-(.
[TA]Dispel: I always liked to help in any way I could, and offer a bit of inspiration and praise for issues or events in the clan, as I said above I also liked to take control and in times of crisis I would try my best to help solve or offer my input into the situation.
[TA]Huckan: Ooo a toughie. More flames? Erm... someone to take the piss outta if they're ever feeling down, tbh I'd just like to think I'm special in my own way and all of that ;)
[TA]Jez_Gafys: Plenty and Plenty of Humour.
[TA]Jiveman: A bit of calm and someone else who would stand up for the attackers if we lost.
[TA]LandShark: Weirdness and diplomacy. Not neccessarily in equal amounts :P.
[TA]Pyro: A laugh every now and then like to have a but if a joke.
[TA]Sprucemuce: Fuck. All.
[TA]Stalker: Erm, you'd have to ask the rest of them that, I honestly have no idea what I personally have brought. After all, its a team game :oP
[TA]Tigerius: I don't know really, I held a low-profile for a long time before and with so many outstanding personalities I would believe I wouldn't be noticed, but if the others would speak I believe they'd claim my l33t Swedness, my acting skills (p0rn) and general weirdness.
TA have something of a reputation for post-match flaming. Why has this reputation developed, do you think it's justified, and does it bother
you?
you?
[TA]Wildfire: It doesnt bother me, plus we also branched off into eating babies and stealing daughters, so if you need someone for either of those tasks, give us a call ;).
It all started when we played [HB] as a Wireplay match all those many years ago. The server was for some reason absoloutely atrocious for us, and all of our players either kept dropping or had the dreaded u_remove on full update flashing away at us. We complained to the admin but didn't seem to get any response. At the time we were a "big bad net clan" as far as wireplay were concerned, so when we presented our case on the forums saying that we thought it was unfair and that we would like it replayed, we were razed to the ground and we unwisely responded (ok I responded) with a return salvo of my own. The rest is history. Whether or not the reputation was justified depends on your point of view really, but there are still hardcore [TA]-haters out there (hello phatb0y!)
[TA]alpha: Imagine this situation - Clan A are a very well known clan who're generally renound as being "good" (they've won a couple of leagues, win most of their matches etc.). Clan B are a pretty average clan, and they play Clan A. Clan A drops 3 players half-way through the first map who never manage to return, and consequently Clan B wins the match. Clan B then go post all over loads of forums saying "We beat Clan A, we beat Clan A!!" Clan A feel obliged to point out that they probably wouldn't have won if they had been playing a full squad of 8 players. Flame war develops. Clan A gets a reputation for flaming.
Unfortunately this sort of thing snowballs, "mud sticks" as they say. Whenever a clan gets a reputation like the one we had, it's almost impossible to shake off. What might start off as an innocent post-match discussion turns into an "Oh look TA lost so they're flaming again" which is often what turns the discussion into a flame war in the first place.
At the end of the day it's only a game and a lot of people take it too seriously, but I guess when you start meeting the people you play against at LANs and so on it starts getting a bit more personal. The rep didn't bother me that much, what annoyed me was the prejudice. On a couple of occassions I got abuse from players who had never played TFC with me before, all they saw was the tag. People made up their minds without having experienced things first hand, see this thread on our forums for a perfect example.
[TA]Amnion: Justified? Yeah I think so. Sometimes we went way over the top. Clans refuse to play us, players refuse to even be on the same server as us and some people even quit TFC because of us. Eventually we started getting ignored, so some of our valid points never got heard. Probably for the best though. Most of the flames were because of our opponent using tactics we didn't agree on; playing for a draw, backtracking, spamming etc. I think we managed to get our point across in the end, as all these tactics are now considered to be lame. Did we have anything to do with it? Who knows?
Does it all bother me? No not really, it was kinda fun being in all those arguments. We had a very bad reputation for treating others (which wasn't all true) and a good reputation for being great players (which wasn't all true). I suppose we were the bad guys of TFC, everyone likes the bad guy, don't they?
[TA]Apollyon: I saw some of the flames, laughed at them and moved on. It really is a game at the end of the day and however much you hate it when some clan goes 7 man defence on you what can you do? Maybe forum flames are used to make the llamas, **cough**, over defending faggots, realise how lame they are. Nah only kidding if you wanna camp and you enjoy doing it then there's your reasoning. Most people enjoy a fast and furious game, some enjoy and stalemate.
[TA]Cannon: The flaming has bothered me and I have been involved in a few sometimes myself. I have to say not all TA's rep is deserved, clans knew they could wind us up in advance of major games and a lot of the time the flames were just a knee jerk reaction to some really childish behaviour from opposing clans. After we gained this rep, then people just took cheap shots. Some of the flames were definitely our fault though, but thats due to our competitive nature :-). We hate losing.
[TA]Dispel: I think our reputation got worse and worse going from one event to the next, but I think it was moulded really by the ignorant people who think they know best, or perhaps those who exaggerate the situation. As Chino Moreno said, "it's so easy to look at what I do wrong and so easy to overlook what I do right" think that explains itself really.
[TA]Huckan: I have to say some of it probably is justified but at the end of the day......I don't care =] People can think what they like of me but I will always stick up for myself and [TA] regardless of what we're saying is right or wrong, thats just me =]
[TA]Jez_Gafys: Well as said above I like to flame. As such it doesn't really bother me, I most of time win the flames, 'cause I'm a good bull shitter ;).
[TA]Jiveman: It has developed because a lot of people loose their rag when they feel they should have won, I think it was justified and it did bother me but whatever we tried to do about it nothing worked.
[TA]LandShark: We did have a tendency to flame, but I would like to stress that we never flamed merely because we lost.
[TA]Pyro: Reputation hehe I didn't even know we had that. No it dosen't really bother me, it's other people opinions and it dosent effect the way that we
play.
[TA]Sprucemuce: I always made sure never to get involved with TA's post match flaming, in irc on forums or whatever as I didn't think it was necessary or had a useful result. The reputation we got was probably half deserved, we did flame quite a lot but a lot of the time we were pulled into it by the actions of the other clan. It did bother me somewhat but I wasn't going to leave just because other people didn't like my clan.
[TA]Stalker: It's not justified at all. TA would be perfectly ok if people wouldn't use that reputation to start flame wars. Imho I think some people out there just love to start a board war with us cuz they know we bite. We only stick up for ourselves.
[TA]Tigerius: I don't think it's justified cause everyone's pretty much the same. I know of a couple of instances, not of some others. I do think it's an unfair rumour, none of the higher ranked clans have displayed any special sportsmanship. I'm not bothered by it as it's never been me doing it so I haven't taken it personally, and the big-mouthed attitude still suits me, but it's lame for people to blame others of stuff they're just as bad at.
It all started when we played [HB] as a Wireplay match all those many years ago. The server was for some reason absoloutely atrocious for us, and all of our players either kept dropping or had the dreaded u_remove on full update flashing away at us. We complained to the admin but didn't seem to get any response. At the time we were a "big bad net clan" as far as wireplay were concerned, so when we presented our case on the forums saying that we thought it was unfair and that we would like it replayed, we were razed to the ground and we unwisely responded (ok I responded) with a return salvo of my own. The rest is history. Whether or not the reputation was justified depends on your point of view really, but there are still hardcore [TA]-haters out there (hello phatb0y!)
[TA]alpha: Imagine this situation - Clan A are a very well known clan who're generally renound as being "good" (they've won a couple of leagues, win most of their matches etc.). Clan B are a pretty average clan, and they play Clan A. Clan A drops 3 players half-way through the first map who never manage to return, and consequently Clan B wins the match. Clan B then go post all over loads of forums saying "We beat Clan A, we beat Clan A!!" Clan A feel obliged to point out that they probably wouldn't have won if they had been playing a full squad of 8 players. Flame war develops. Clan A gets a reputation for flaming.
Unfortunately this sort of thing snowballs, "mud sticks" as they say. Whenever a clan gets a reputation like the one we had, it's almost impossible to shake off. What might start off as an innocent post-match discussion turns into an "Oh look TA lost so they're flaming again" which is often what turns the discussion into a flame war in the first place.
At the end of the day it's only a game and a lot of people take it too seriously, but I guess when you start meeting the people you play against at LANs and so on it starts getting a bit more personal. The rep didn't bother me that much, what annoyed me was the prejudice. On a couple of occassions I got abuse from players who had never played TFC with me before, all they saw was the tag. People made up their minds without having experienced things first hand, see this thread on our forums for a perfect example.
[TA]Amnion: Justified? Yeah I think so. Sometimes we went way over the top. Clans refuse to play us, players refuse to even be on the same server as us and some people even quit TFC because of us. Eventually we started getting ignored, so some of our valid points never got heard. Probably for the best though. Most of the flames were because of our opponent using tactics we didn't agree on; playing for a draw, backtracking, spamming etc. I think we managed to get our point across in the end, as all these tactics are now considered to be lame. Did we have anything to do with it? Who knows?
Does it all bother me? No not really, it was kinda fun being in all those arguments. We had a very bad reputation for treating others (which wasn't all true) and a good reputation for being great players (which wasn't all true). I suppose we were the bad guys of TFC, everyone likes the bad guy, don't they?
[TA]Apollyon: I saw some of the flames, laughed at them and moved on. It really is a game at the end of the day and however much you hate it when some clan goes 7 man defence on you what can you do? Maybe forum flames are used to make the llamas, **cough**, over defending faggots, realise how lame they are. Nah only kidding if you wanna camp and you enjoy doing it then there's your reasoning. Most people enjoy a fast and furious game, some enjoy and stalemate.
[TA]Cannon: The flaming has bothered me and I have been involved in a few sometimes myself. I have to say not all TA's rep is deserved, clans knew they could wind us up in advance of major games and a lot of the time the flames were just a knee jerk reaction to some really childish behaviour from opposing clans. After we gained this rep, then people just took cheap shots. Some of the flames were definitely our fault though, but thats due to our competitive nature :-). We hate losing.
[TA]Dispel: I think our reputation got worse and worse going from one event to the next, but I think it was moulded really by the ignorant people who think they know best, or perhaps those who exaggerate the situation. As Chino Moreno said, "it's so easy to look at what I do wrong and so easy to overlook what I do right" think that explains itself really.
[TA]Huckan: I have to say some of it probably is justified but at the end of the day......I don't care =] People can think what they like of me but I will always stick up for myself and [TA] regardless of what we're saying is right or wrong, thats just me =]
[TA]Jez_Gafys: Well as said above I like to flame. As such it doesn't really bother me, I most of time win the flames, 'cause I'm a good bull shitter ;).
[TA]Jiveman: It has developed because a lot of people loose their rag when they feel they should have won, I think it was justified and it did bother me but whatever we tried to do about it nothing worked.
[TA]LandShark: We did have a tendency to flame, but I would like to stress that we never flamed merely because we lost.
[TA]Pyro: Reputation hehe I didn't even know we had that. No it dosen't really bother me, it's other people opinions and it dosent effect the way that we
play.
[TA]Sprucemuce: I always made sure never to get involved with TA's post match flaming, in irc on forums or whatever as I didn't think it was necessary or had a useful result. The reputation we got was probably half deserved, we did flame quite a lot but a lot of the time we were pulled into it by the actions of the other clan. It did bother me somewhat but I wasn't going to leave just because other people didn't like my clan.
[TA]Stalker: It's not justified at all. TA would be perfectly ok if people wouldn't use that reputation to start flame wars. Imho I think some people out there just love to start a board war with us cuz they know we bite. We only stick up for ourselves.
[TA]Tigerius: I don't think it's justified cause everyone's pretty much the same. I know of a couple of instances, not of some others. I do think it's an unfair rumour, none of the higher ranked clans have displayed any special sportsmanship. I'm not bothered by it as it's never been me doing it so I haven't taken it personally, and the big-mouthed attitude still suits me, but it's lame for people to blame others of stuff they're just as bad at.
How did the release of TF1.5 and the changes associated with it affect you?
[TA]Wildfire: It caned the crap out of our offence for a start :(. Pre-patch we were a clan that relied on our offence being very good with conc grenades and using speed to get past the enemy rather than brute force to go through them. The patch essentially made our players re-learn everything they had got used to, and for some it just never came together again. Hux would naturally like me to mention him at this point :P, and Amnion was never the happiest of people with the situation after that :(. We only had a couple of losses though, notably BaNaNa and Marbz.
[TA]alpha: It basically buggered me up completely. I was away at Uni when the patch was released, so I didn't actually get to play on it until a month or two after. By that time, the people who hated it had left, and everyone else was used to it. This put me at a major disadvantage, and I had to relearn a lot of things before I could play in matches again.
Unfortunately, the TF1.5 client-side concussion grenade prediction is pretty crap. I can HH conc fine if my ping's around 120ish, but as a modemer I'm never going to get that sort of ping on a full server in the middle of a match with 4000 things going on around me. I can do the non-HH concs ok, but basically the patch forced me to completely change the way I attack. Luckily, the netcode allowed me to get better at the Soldier, as I could suddenly hold my own in a one-on-one with a defending soldier in close-combat situation, so my attack became more soldier-based.
[TA]Amnion: Before the patch I could conc jump every time and land where I wanted to, now I can hardly pull off the move. I could if I practiced it, but I have a different style of play now, I find it easier to kill the defence rather
than get past it.
[TA]Apollyon: You had to get used to the changes made. I'm not gonna rant on about the game being ruined because it wasn't. About from the netcode being slightly fooked for some the minor class changes didn't ruin it, it just meant you had to relearn old skills and adapt to some classes different powers.
[TA]Cannon: The changes have made the game slower and some maps just plain boring (can't remeber last time we gave caps up on Well and Rock2) so it's made my job easier in def which is a bad thing. It also completely destroyed our lightning quick 1016 offense and we struggled ever since.
[TA]Dispel: I was outraged at the thought of concussion jumps being toned down, but it never got as serious as it did for me (petitions etc.) until I actually tried a leaked version, I considering quitting TFC at that point but I decided to stay as I enjoy the community I enjoy the game itself and furthermore I doubt I would have fitted into any other game and its community.
[TA]Huckan: Utter w@nk the cr@pest thing ever to hit TFC, may Valve all die horrible deaths for ruining the game I loved, does that anwser it? The fact Is I can't stand this patch, It's ruined so much of what I could do and basically ruined the whole game for me, simple as that!
[TA]Jez_Gafys: Before 1.5 came out I used to enjoy playing offence, mostly due to some of the succesful conc jumps that I could perform, but now I found playing offence just too damn hard, especially if they were using HWGuys which were just to over-powered to even consider using fast scout on attack.
[TA]Jiveman: It made TFC even less enjoyable than it was already.
[TA]LandShark: Personally, I wasn't all that bothered. However, TA lost a number of quality players, and TFC in general lost many good clans and players. It was a sad sad day.
[TA]Pyro: Umm they didn't really affect me apart from I began to see a hell of a lot more lpbs about, so I wasnt the only one anymore.
[TA]Sprucemuce: I think the release of the patch made me into a far less effective attacker for whatever reason. I did relearn to play TFC with the new system but never as effectively as before.
[TA]Stalker: Of course they did, I think they effected everyone. But "Adapt and Survive" was what WF always said and its exactly what I did. Lots of personal practice to get the feel of the patch was needed. I still don't like it and always think back to the old patch, but hey, nothing I can do about that now.
[TA]Tigerius: I was away for a few month due to lack of inet connection during the patch-change. Which means when I returned I was A) Not entirely sure about pre-patch conditions B) Generally out of shape. My initial reaction was not so much change (since I didn't remember much), but on a later notice I can say I'm far from becoming the Soldier I was then. I believe the patch accounts for some, seem to die a lot easier, but I guess some will always be me too.
[TA]alpha: It basically buggered me up completely. I was away at Uni when the patch was released, so I didn't actually get to play on it until a month or two after. By that time, the people who hated it had left, and everyone else was used to it. This put me at a major disadvantage, and I had to relearn a lot of things before I could play in matches again.
Unfortunately, the TF1.5 client-side concussion grenade prediction is pretty crap. I can HH conc fine if my ping's around 120ish, but as a modemer I'm never going to get that sort of ping on a full server in the middle of a match with 4000 things going on around me. I can do the non-HH concs ok, but basically the patch forced me to completely change the way I attack. Luckily, the netcode allowed me to get better at the Soldier, as I could suddenly hold my own in a one-on-one with a defending soldier in close-combat situation, so my attack became more soldier-based.
[TA]Amnion: Before the patch I could conc jump every time and land where I wanted to, now I can hardly pull off the move. I could if I practiced it, but I have a different style of play now, I find it easier to kill the defence rather
than get past it.
[TA]Apollyon: You had to get used to the changes made. I'm not gonna rant on about the game being ruined because it wasn't. About from the netcode being slightly fooked for some the minor class changes didn't ruin it, it just meant you had to relearn old skills and adapt to some classes different powers.
[TA]Cannon: The changes have made the game slower and some maps just plain boring (can't remeber last time we gave caps up on Well and Rock2) so it's made my job easier in def which is a bad thing. It also completely destroyed our lightning quick 1016 offense and we struggled ever since.
[TA]Dispel: I was outraged at the thought of concussion jumps being toned down, but it never got as serious as it did for me (petitions etc.) until I actually tried a leaked version, I considering quitting TFC at that point but I decided to stay as I enjoy the community I enjoy the game itself and furthermore I doubt I would have fitted into any other game and its community.
[TA]Huckan: Utter w@nk the cr@pest thing ever to hit TFC, may Valve all die horrible deaths for ruining the game I loved, does that anwser it? The fact Is I can't stand this patch, It's ruined so much of what I could do and basically ruined the whole game for me, simple as that!
[TA]Jez_Gafys: Before 1.5 came out I used to enjoy playing offence, mostly due to some of the succesful conc jumps that I could perform, but now I found playing offence just too damn hard, especially if they were using HWGuys which were just to over-powered to even consider using fast scout on attack.
[TA]Jiveman: It made TFC even less enjoyable than it was already.
[TA]LandShark: Personally, I wasn't all that bothered. However, TA lost a number of quality players, and TFC in general lost many good clans and players. It was a sad sad day.
[TA]Pyro: Umm they didn't really affect me apart from I began to see a hell of a lot more lpbs about, so I wasnt the only one anymore.
[TA]Sprucemuce: I think the release of the patch made me into a far less effective attacker for whatever reason. I did relearn to play TFC with the new system but never as effectively as before.
[TA]Stalker: Of course they did, I think they effected everyone. But "Adapt and Survive" was what WF always said and its exactly what I did. Lots of personal practice to get the feel of the patch was needed. I still don't like it and always think back to the old patch, but hey, nothing I can do about that now.
[TA]Tigerius: I was away for a few month due to lack of inet connection during the patch-change. Which means when I returned I was A) Not entirely sure about pre-patch conditions B) Generally out of shape. My initial reaction was not so much change (since I didn't remember much), but on a later notice I can say I'm far from becoming the Soldier I was then. I believe the patch accounts for some, seem to die a lot easier, but I guess some will always be me too.
What things do you think make a successful clan?
[TA]Wildfire: Friendship, teamwork, and a love for the game. I don't think [TA] would have lasted half as long as it did if the players didn't have a good relationship with each other outside of matches, which included wasting many hours typing endless jibberish into IRC :).
[TA]alpha: Committed members and a good leader. You need members who want the clan to do well as these are the people who will turn up to practices and work on what needs improving. Without a good leader any clan will eventually fall apart. Also, never lose sight of the fact that you're just people sitting in front of computers playing games - if it's not fun, stop.
[TA]Amnion: Communication. I wont say teamwork because teamwork is over-rated in TFC.
[TA]Apollyon: First of all the members have to be friends. Everyone has to be dedicated and whether or not they are highly skilled or not they have to be willing to learn. All members have to be treated the same, otherwise members won't get better. Practices are essential etc. etc. Play loads of matches and play clans that are better than you. And learn from it.
[TA]Dispel: Definitely team spirit, dedication, and most importantly friendship, although TA may have seemed like we were just a bunch of skilled players only caring about winning, behind the scenes we always stuck up for one another and put everything we could into the clan. I think another reason we all stayed in the clan is because there were so many good clans out there those which had been here from the very start, we didn’t want to be the best, we wanted the excitement of pursuing that goal.
[TA]Huckan: 1) Good clan leader 2) Willing players 3) Tactics.
[TA]Jez_Gafys: Well really the obvious: players I think make a big part, all regular contact with each other (no wiffling), friendship and of course trust.
[TA]Jiveman: A good leader(s) and commited members.
[TA]LandShark: Apart from skilled members and good friendships between them, morale. If a clan can avoid getting disheartened when they lose, they'll go a long long way.
[TA]Pyro: A bonding between the players they need to know each other like the back of their hand, then to follow this up good leadership and good tactics.
[TA]Sprucemuce: Good players, good teamwork. Both of those things are essential in my eyes, a team with good teamwork but poor players just isn't going to get very far.
[TA]Stalker: It isn't so much skill as it is on reliability. If clan players dont turn up for matches and do what all clan players are asked of, then
the clan will be a flop. I've seen it so much in the past, 8 fantastic players that when playing would whoop any clans ass, but when the time comes they dont turn up for the match :o( I reckon if from most needed to least it would be Reliability, Teamwork, Skill.
[TA]Tigerius: Christ... I remember being suprised at TA's great succes, but I guess that's much because I was un-experienced with TFC clan-playing and just didn't realise how good we were ;). I can't really say what makes a good clan, I could say the standard "Good leadership, good attitude, commitment, strong ties and work", but I don't believe in that really. In a way TA has been disorganised, strategy was conducted in pre-game, ppl getting drafted to play games only minute before it, but still we've had a leader who've cared and promoted us more than I can understand, Wildfire who've played in every game, his work has gone a long way. At many points did TA lack in teamplay and rely on individual skill, and it worked, but we've also always had a good mood in the clan (bar post-game losses), the TA spirit, disliking by others ofcourse increased the groups ties. Even with so many different members through the years. All in all I can't say why, TA had the magic to make it happen. My answer is Magic =) TA were pre-destined.
[TA]alpha: Committed members and a good leader. You need members who want the clan to do well as these are the people who will turn up to practices and work on what needs improving. Without a good leader any clan will eventually fall apart. Also, never lose sight of the fact that you're just people sitting in front of computers playing games - if it's not fun, stop.
[TA]Amnion: Communication. I wont say teamwork because teamwork is over-rated in TFC.
[TA]Apollyon: First of all the members have to be friends. Everyone has to be dedicated and whether or not they are highly skilled or not they have to be willing to learn. All members have to be treated the same, otherwise members won't get better. Practices are essential etc. etc. Play loads of matches and play clans that are better than you. And learn from it.
[TA]Dispel: Definitely team spirit, dedication, and most importantly friendship, although TA may have seemed like we were just a bunch of skilled players only caring about winning, behind the scenes we always stuck up for one another and put everything we could into the clan. I think another reason we all stayed in the clan is because there were so many good clans out there those which had been here from the very start, we didn’t want to be the best, we wanted the excitement of pursuing that goal.
[TA]Huckan: 1) Good clan leader 2) Willing players 3) Tactics.
[TA]Jez_Gafys: Well really the obvious: players I think make a big part, all regular contact with each other (no wiffling), friendship and of course trust.
[TA]Jiveman: A good leader(s) and commited members.
[TA]LandShark: Apart from skilled members and good friendships between them, morale. If a clan can avoid getting disheartened when they lose, they'll go a long long way.
[TA]Pyro: A bonding between the players they need to know each other like the back of their hand, then to follow this up good leadership and good tactics.
[TA]Sprucemuce: Good players, good teamwork. Both of those things are essential in my eyes, a team with good teamwork but poor players just isn't going to get very far.
[TA]Stalker: It isn't so much skill as it is on reliability. If clan players dont turn up for matches and do what all clan players are asked of, then
the clan will be a flop. I've seen it so much in the past, 8 fantastic players that when playing would whoop any clans ass, but when the time comes they dont turn up for the match :o( I reckon if from most needed to least it would be Reliability, Teamwork, Skill.
[TA]Tigerius: Christ... I remember being suprised at TA's great succes, but I guess that's much because I was un-experienced with TFC clan-playing and just didn't realise how good we were ;). I can't really say what makes a good clan, I could say the standard "Good leadership, good attitude, commitment, strong ties and work", but I don't believe in that really. In a way TA has been disorganised, strategy was conducted in pre-game, ppl getting drafted to play games only minute before it, but still we've had a leader who've cared and promoted us more than I can understand, Wildfire who've played in every game, his work has gone a long way. At many points did TA lack in teamplay and rely on individual skill, and it worked, but we've also always had a good mood in the clan (bar post-game losses), the TA spirit, disliking by others ofcourse increased the groups ties. Even with so many different members through the years. All in all I can't say why, TA had the magic to make it happen. My answer is Magic =) TA were pre-destined.
Did you ever play CS for the clan?
[TA]Wildfire: Yeah I was the one who thought it up! I decided to stop playing in the end though because I was getting too frustrated with our results, and it was having a negative impact on the others.
[TA]alpha: No, I was at Uni when [TeAr] was in full force. This was probably a good thing though, as I suck at CS. I'm one of these "oh this is getting boring let's run into the middle and shoot anyone I see" players who tends to die very quickly at the beginning of rounds.
[TA]Amnion: Yeah, a few times. I think I was only there to make the others look good.
[TA]Apollyon: I did yes, I was the HPB sniper that beat everyone :). Since TA stopped playing CS I've gone to =TE=.
[TA]Cannon: I arranged our CS games, unfortunately not really knowing the clan scene we played some of the best clans in the UK and got a good ass-whooping which left people a bit despondent about our CS future.
[TA]Dispel: Yes I did, many TA players had been discovering CS, and I had just joined a CS clan which consisted of many TFC players. Cannon was the real CS head in the clan, and he suggested a CS division of TA, we all agreed and surprisingly were pretty good, I think we kind of faded out however when the TFC end of things started getting heavy.
[TA]Huckan: ROFL once but my skills for the game at the time were limited to say the least so my [TA] CS din't last too long =]
[TA]alpha: No, I was at Uni when [TeAr] was in full force. This was probably a good thing though, as I suck at CS. I'm one of these "oh this is getting boring let's run into the middle and shoot anyone I see" players who tends to die very quickly at the beginning of rounds.
[TA]Amnion: Yeah, a few times. I think I was only there to make the others look good.
[TA]Apollyon: I did yes, I was the HPB sniper that beat everyone :). Since TA stopped playing CS I've gone to =TE=.
[TA]Cannon: I arranged our CS games, unfortunately not really knowing the clan scene we played some of the best clans in the UK and got a good ass-whooping which left people a bit despondent about our CS future.
[TA]Dispel: Yes I did, many TA players had been discovering CS, and I had just joined a CS clan which consisted of many TFC players. Cannon was the real CS head in the clan, and he suggested a CS division of TA, we all agreed and surprisingly were pretty good, I think we kind of faded out however when the TFC end of things started getting heavy.
[TA]Huckan: ROFL once but my skills for the game at the time were limited to say the least so my [TA] CS din't last too long =]
[TA]Jez_Gafys: I played about 2 matches (not including LAN parties), and really I'd never played CS before, but I think I was like the errr best player on the whole server :).
[TA]LandShark: Yep, despite almost never playing CS online... Some of the most entertaining CS i've ever played was with TA, even though the only map we knew how to play as a clan was de_dust. :)
[TA]Tigerius: Yes at the I-series LAN's the loudest of the loud struck distress in our opponent with our howls of victory and team pep-talks:
"Tig you're alone vs. 4"
"Thank you that's more than I needed to know"
"Tig you're a fucking one man army"
"It's all in the slippers" =)
What memories do you have from playing for TA at the I-series LAN parties, and are the rest of them normal?
[TA]Wildfire: When I got a chance to play I can remember some fun times, especially a rivalry that developed with KASAP which doesn't seem to have faded :). Probably the best though was a hilarious game we had at i5 against a CS clan - [RoD]. They were newbies to the game so we (ashamedly ;)) all went engineer, put our sentry guns and went offence using only EMP grenades and spanners :) We won! Great fun but not very sportsmanlike... *ahem*.
[TA]Amnion: Normal? No comment. Yeah it was good; I recommend that everyone meets up with their clan at least once.
[TA]Huckan: Great memories, I look forward to the next LAN all the time. We've had many great games and flames here there and everywhere. Good meeting the lads all decent blokes (yes and you Wiffle). Jez is some you want to watch out for because he has a strange calling to shout out at any given time without warning. They're all ugly as well, not including me of course =]
[TA]Jez_Gafys: Well now I wish I hadnt have gone to the lan parties cause It means I have to write more then the rest of yah.....PAHHH. Well of course the memories have to be meeting most of you guys, the lot of you from small pixies to super druken alcoholics, just fucking rock.
[TA]LandShark: No less normal than me =]. All the i-series events have been great fun, although I missed i4. I fondly remember walking into i3 and putting my PC down on the sleeping form of [TA]Sta1ker and losing to a pair of mediocre CS clans at i5, then beating =BmE= by *lots* in the group final :). Oh, and if anyone dares call my computer an overgrown iMac at i7...
[TA]Pyro: Hehe was a great laff one of the best times I think all shouting and screaming to win hehe so much fun hehe well they are as close to normal as they are ever gonna get.
[TA]Sprucemuce: Never been to one of the I-series LANs, to be honest they all sound like freaks though.
[TA]Stalker: LOL. Yeah they're all quite normal, except maybe Jez, hehe. Actually I'm surprised how normal the lot are. Even if TA was to be dead and buried, I'm sure we would all still meet up at the i-series, they just rock. Ever seen Jez after 50 Red Buls? Scary.
[TA]Tigerius: Oh I have many memories, though only really from i4, at i3 I was sat alone and at i6 I was over-worked with CS admin and could not dare think about fun. Everyone claimed we were very loud, yet I seem to have no memory of that =P It's all a lovely bunch. Jez: always generous always weird; Hucks: friendly online bitching IRL; LS: weirdo online quiet distant IRL; WF: mouthy online mouthy IRL; Amni: normal; Phal: who I've come to more see as other than TA; Stalks: nothing as I had expeced, a good laff... and to those of you I've forgotten to mention, or those of you who I didn't dare to ask who you actually were ;). When I arrived everyone seemed to know each other so all I could do was play along and seem to know who all were.
Would you liked to have seen TA expand into other games, and do you think/hope this will happen at some point in the future?
[TA]Wildfire: I can always hope about Unreal Fortress and TF2, that is if we can keep the people together long enough to see either of them matured/released.
[TA]alpha: If UnF's any good I hope a few of us will appear in the clan scene for that in one form or another, but I don't know if that'll happen as TA. It'll be interesting to see what TF2's like when it does eventually get released, and I'm sure the clan scene for that will take off very quickly. We'll all be getting our pensions by then though.
[TA]Amnion: I think some of our members will stick together and move onto another game, but I'm unsure if we'll use the [TA] tag. Not until we're good anyway; we can't have the [TA] tag associated with a bad clan.
[TA]Apollyon: I would like TA to move into the Q3 CTF area, although as much as I'd like to play, to win and beat the likes of Clan E and 4k u gotta be sub 100 ping. Which I'm not.
[TA]Cannon: I am still undecided about TA's future, I suppose we will just have to wait and see.
[TA]Dispel: I believe TA is planning a UnF division but it looks bleak. I would've liked to carry on with the CS side of things because although we never really got involved with the CS community on any large scale we still had fun playing together especially when we won :D.
[TA]Huckan: I really want to see [TA] move into FLF (Front Line Force) due to the fact it's a great game and Jez and I literally 0wned everyone the other night! =]
[TA]Jez_Gafys: At the time I didn't think we should be playing any other games. But now we have stopped TFC I can tell you that talk is happening about the future of TA.....the furure looks bright the future look RED (hmmmm bloood...fleshhh....braaaains).
[TA]Jiveman: It would be nice to see TA carry on but I feel my time with TA as they were has finished, I think this is true for a lot of the rest of the clan and therefor I doubt TA will rise again.
[TA]LandShark: I was sad to see the CS side of TFC go down, but I don't think that we'd have had time to play more than TFC and CS. I personally don't want to be a part of any new TA that may form for other mods. I'd rather remember the good ol' days ;)
[TA]Pyro: Nah I only play TFC and CS so I wouldn't follow them altough I
think they may revive and expand at some point.
[TA]Sprucemuce: I can't see any games on the horizon worth expanding into, that includes TF2, so I think TA should be left to lie.
[TA]Stalker: I thought they already did? So far as I can see it they are starting to play Q3, UNF and CS. I cant see many other games that I would actually want to be a part in. but UNF looks good and I played my first Q3A at i6 and loved it, dunno what its like on crappy modem though.
[TA]Tigerius: I don't think it's a good idea having 1 clan for several games, I liked playing CS with TA/TA ppl but I don't think we should be permanently into it. Now that we've putten down TFC, I would rejoice to see us gather together over a new game, TF2 anyone? Cause right now I'm nostalgic of the old days, the old TA, the guys.
Do you still play TFC on public servers? If no, why not; if yes, which maps do you find you generally have more enjoyable games on?
[TA]Wildfire: I only really play on the Anomaly server these days, because as with many other players who have been TFC'ing since the early days, I HATE DEM F00KIN N00BIES! Sorry I'm not much of an example to new players, but I am a veherement warrior in the fight against the Player armies that invade the servers and spam rubbish all over. Die (1)Player die!
[TA]alpha: I still play on pubs quite a bit although I tend to leave pretty quickly if there are just HWGuys or Snipers everywhere. I find Warpath to be a good map to play as it's one of the few maps where most of the people on the server actually work towards the team objectives. I also play quite a bit of Dustbowl, as it can still be pretty enjoyable even when filled with muppets. I always play defence though.
Rock2 can be good, but it doesn't take many HWGuys camping in the water/entrance/yard to turn it into a crap game. Well is generally too easy as nobody ever watches the water route. 2fort is good in small doses. Cz2 is usually very dull, as nobody bothers with the flag running, and one of my favourite pastimes in TFC was going for the enemy command centre as a demo. If you flag run yourself then as you can't conc quite as effectively now you end up spending most of your time walking along with a flag sticking out of your arse waiting for a sniper to pick you off from nowhere. Hunted and Epicenter usually get my finger wandering to the 'Escape' key pretty quickly.
[TA]Amnion: No I gave up with public servers. Unless the server is full of people I know, of course. I just find it boring, it's so hard to get a good game when playing with random people.
[TA]Apollyon: I haven't played TFC at all for a while now. I've been very busy with CS and a little project I'm running. I do however plan to get back into it. And hopefully be as good as before. As for publics I've never really been fond of them as team work was never the focus of the players. Once every now again you would get 5 or 6 clan members from a few clans on a server and a real fun match would occur. But not often.
[TA]Cannon: I do still play on pubs, but it is difficult to find a decent game. Also, nearly every time I go onto a pub I get branded a skilless spammer or cheater, and that gets on my nerves. When will people realise 1 mirv thrown at your head ISN'T spam. I'll play most maps on public servers but dustbowl and epicentre just suck.
[TA]Dispel: Public servers are really my last resort in doing something, although generally fun they can become tiresome and in many cases very irritating, I tend to play under alias as I enjoy playing classes I generally wouldn't normally play, so it gives me a chance to test them out.
[TA]Huckan: Public TFC servers have gone to pot - they have nothing appealing any more therefore hold no interest. The servers are full of Snipers HW's and Engys attacking and defending half of which don't even know what they are doing. hame it went into this but it was inevitable after so much more public release as of late :O(
[TA]Jez_Gafys: Yes occasionly I do still have a good ole bash on TFC, I like some of the newer maps, like Avanti and Dustbowl, they just make a good change to the usual 2fort style capture the flag.
[TA]Jiveman: Sometimes, I only really enjoy playing with people I know and who aren't messing about, to be honest I've not had a good game for a while.
[TA]LandShark: I took a break from public TFC for a couple of weeks, and now that I'm back, I'm enjoying most public matches. Favourite maps are Crossover2 and the Shutdowns.
[TA]Pyro: Umm dont tend to anymore cause all you normally find on servers now a days is a hell of a lot of lamers who have not online gaming etiquette or know anything about the game, its not as fun playing on pubs as it used to be.
[TA]Sprucemuce: I can't play TFC at the moment, behind a fuck off huge firewall at uni.
[TA]Stalker: Yeah of course I do, every day! But I try and only play the classic maps (2fort, Well, Rock2 and Cz2) the new ones are just downright .. erm ... shite. And Avanti makes me wanna puke, it's a CS map ffs.
[TA]Tigerius: Yes I do quite a lot. The regular maps rarely work online with the lack of teamwork (half of each team as sniper), bar a few good clanservers. So I find Hunted and Cz2 to be quite enoyable for DMing.
What other games do you play online?
[TA]Wildfire: Counter-Strike, Front Line Force, Homeworld: Cataclysm, Quake 3 Arena, Rocket Arena 3, Unreal Tournament, Unreal Fortress, Allegiance, X-COM-by-Email, and I have been known to play Ultima Online (at least I did until I sold my account).
[TA]alpha: I don't have so much time for online gaming anymore, but I do play a bit of CS and I have been known to dabble in Quake 3 a little. At the moment I'm giving UnF a go, but I'm not convinced yet.
[TA]Amnion: I play CS quite often now, also just started playing FLF and Unreal Fortress.
[TA]Apollyon: I play CS mostly. I have sometimes played a bit of Q3 but not often.
[TA]Cannon: I play for OSC in CS now and have recently started playing Front line force and Unreal fortress.
[TA]Dispel: Very few at clan level, Counter-strike and TFC is one, but the other games I haven't really found time, or inspiration to join a clan for.
[TA]Huckan: Front Line Force, Counterstrike erm............I like a dabble at Everquest if I have a bit of time to waste!
[TA]Jez_Gafys: since the finish of TA TFC, I have mostly been playing FLF (Front Line Force) and RA3 (Rocket Arena3).
[TA]Jiveman: Quake 3 Fortress, Unreal Fortress, Counter Strike, FrontLine Force.
[TA]LandShark: Rocket Arena 3, CS. I'm currently in the same CS clan
as [TA]Cannon, {OSC} (formerly =SOL=).
[TA]Pyro: CS and thats about it.
[TA]Sprucemuce: The only game I can play online at the moment is Yahoo dominoes, and it really doesnt get me as excited as TFC for some reason.
[TA]Stalker: Used to play Ultima Online a lot, may start playing it again soon :o). I play CS just as much as TFC. Other than that I just chat in IRC
and ICQ :oP
[TA]Tigerius: At the moment not so much, some CounterStrike, BloodBowl... but on and off it's alot. With a cable it's all so easy.
Where are they now?
| [TA]Wildfire: | Wildfire (that be me) now plays his TFC for [BIA], and works part-time for bread and water for Multiplay UK. He also plays for [MUF] and hopes that the clan will someday reform for Unreal Fortress or TF2. |
| [TA]alpha: | alpha continues in his quest to run more websites (including this one) at once than is humanly possible. He's currently away from Uni with the bubonic plague or something, but normally he uses that as an excuse for not being clanned. |
| [TA]Amnion: | Amnion is currently campaigning for womens rights in some 3rd world country, but maintains a link to civilisation through #[TA]. He's also the PR blokey for TF2 mod Kommandos, and is playing TFC for [HDMC]. |
| [TA]Cannon: | Cannon now plays CS more than anything else but is hanging around in hopes of TF2 being released someday, somewhere. |
| [TA]Catachan: | Catachan is now working for Gamespy Industries and is the site director for the forthcoming Planet Black & White among others. |
| [TA]Choke: | Choke is still writing for PCZone and playing loud engine noises across the office speakers before commenting on whether the car has 8 or 12 valves. |
| [TA]DsX: | DsX is running =BmE=, a very successful Counter-Strike clan, but still parades up and down streets in Soho looking for "business". |
| [TA]Edge: | Edge can usually be found on a QuakeWorld server somewhere if you look hard enough. |
| [TA]FrozenDwarf: | FrozenDwarf is probably eating croissants or baguettes or something. |
| Gokou is still playing for TFL and prides himself on being a complete, total, unquestionable m0ng. | |
| [TA]Guv-Vibes: | We believe Guv-Vibes has been abducted by aliens, but instead is probably roaming around London trying to find something to shag. |
| [TA]Huckan: | Huckan went on to become a prize mong and now sits on his arse all day living off the army. He's currently looking for a TFC clan. In his "recruit me" thread he describes himself as a "chain smoking vodka drinking alcoholic". |
| Jez_Gafys is still workin' them mine shafts up north, and passed his level 2 alphabet test just last week. He know nows 15 of the 26 letters, in order. | |
| [TA]Jiveman: | Jiveman is still running MI-CSC who now have about 200,000 members and are busy working on their death-star and plastic white space-suits |
| [TA]Kompressor: | Kompressor is playing for a US clan that I can't remember the name of, gimme a shout and I'll have this thing edited mate. |
| [TA]Koppo: | Koppo now plays for [SHS] and rumors suggest he is soon to star along side Jackie Chan in "Pyromaniac Leprechauns from Hell". |
| [TA]LandShark: | LandShark also now plays for [SHS] and is finally coming to terms with the fact that yes, he has an afro and it ain't going anywhere. It has already consumed one barber who tried to give it a trim. |
| [TA]Ma$e: | Ma$e has hung up his TFC boots and now has a Real Life(tm). |
| [TA]Replica: | Replica has now learnt how to use a knife and fork. |
| [TA]sp00ky: | sp00ky is still throwing rockets around for [AEG] and squatting in #[TA] without paying any rent. He does the odd IRC nick change so that we know he's still alive. |
| [TA]Sprucemuce: | Spruce is trying to ejukate himself by studying Physics at Imperial University in London. In his spare time he rules the world of Yahoo dominoes. |
| [TA]Sta1ker: | Sta1ker is probably out practicing his l33t h4X0r art, by nuking and spamming people at all opportunities and babbling about Back Orifice and Black Ice. Plus he seems to have taken up the pastime of spilling pints over brand new 850MHz T-Bird laptops at LAN parties. |
| [TA]Tigerius: | Tig continues to make pr0n movies for small fees from his penthouse in Sweeden, but plays for [MsA] between ****sms (censored, you naughty monkees) |
| ...the rest: | ViSiON still plays for [TGC] and is as l33t as ever, while Apollyon and Pyro are still living it large in Eton. Dispel has recently joined [SHS], while Mr.Cheddar has probably totalled his nervous system and is probably shouting "/me cums" at everyone he meets. SPRiTE now plays for [UE] who recently won the UKTFCL. MrWrinkles plays his games for the Mr.Men these days and is still a nymphomaniac muppet. Cassidy moved onto greener pastures and is generally believed to have one of the strangest, most unpronounceable aliases in the modern world. Evil-Sperm is either still kicking it with [MORAT] or [GT], we can't keep track. Snow is still shouting lots at [TGC] aaaaaaaand... BaNaNa is as you may have guessed occupying a fruit bowl near you. |
Vital stats
| Website: | http://www.teamarmageddon.co.uk/ |
| Clan leader: | [TA]Wildfire |
| Deputy: | [TA]Jez_Gafys [TA]Cannon |
| IRC channel: | #[TA] on Quakenet |
| Achievements: | UKTFCL Season 4 Winners UKTFCL Season 3 3rd place GWTFCL Season 1 4th place i3 TFC Tournament Winners i4 TFC Tournament Runners-up i5 TFC Tournament Winners Wireplay Cup Semi-finalists |
| Interviewed by: | Clan interview by RAiN, member interviews by alpha. Collated and edited by alpha (November 2000) |
Search UKF
Shoutbox
Wolfie
alpha, watch your language man! flibble...
18:01, 30/8/2003
Huckan
your times up timski
11:47, 11/5/2003
alpha*
212.42.1.233:27019 <- UKFortress/UKCSR ProTF beta server, first one in the UK. Gonna be announcing this properly in the next couple of days.
23:57, 15/10/2002
Huckan
flob
20:07, 13/9/2002
MeTa*
flep!
22:48, 9/9/2002
alpha*
flibble
11:41, 5/9/2002
alpha, watch your language man! flibble...
18:01, 30/8/2003
Huckan
your times up timski
11:47, 11/5/2003
alpha*
212.42.1.233:27019 <- UKFortress/UKCSR ProTF beta server, first one in the UK. Gonna be announcing this properly in the next couple of days.
23:57, 15/10/2002
Huckan
flob
20:07, 13/9/2002
MeTa*
flep!
22:48, 9/9/2002
alpha*
flibble
11:41, 5/9/2002