Team Survival Competition (TSC) - Gameplay Guide

Full guide how to play Team Survival Competition (TSC) game mode for Killing Floor.

Getting Started

This guide tells how to play Team Survival Competition (TSC) mod properly. If you are not familiar with TSC, then you should read TSC game info & rules guide first.

Once you've joined TSC server... wait! How to find TSC server? Probably that's the most complicated part of Team Survival Competition: a) find a server running TSC mod in your region; b) collect a team(-s) to play with/against.

From my experience, TSC becomes enjoyable starting with 6 players (3x3). We played TSC "duels" (1x1) and 2x2 too, but those games are not so fun to play as, for example, 5x5. And it becomes even worse, if there are odd number of players. Playing 5x4 is fine: one team has only 20% extra manpower and, considering that both teams are fighting against zeds not each other, there are almost no handicap at all. Besides, bigger team attracts more zeds and has a bigger chance to get teammate like this[i.ytimg.com] :) That's for big teams (3+ players). Playing 3x2 or even 2x1 is not fun at all due to significant advantage of bigger team: +50% and double manpower respectively.

TSC Servers

Click on the list below to find servers in your region or with playable ping:
TSC SERVER LIST *

Most of the servers run in mixed mode, allowing users to switch between regular KF and TSC modes. You can switch game modes via map voting menu, as you can see from the image below:

Summary

From my experience, to play Team Survival Competition you need to do the following:

1. Find your favorite TSC server from the list by matching region/ping.
   
2. Join the server. Mostly it will be running regular KF mode at this point.
   
3. Invite friends or just wait until there will be at least 6 players on the server. You can enjoy regular ScrnBalance game during this period ;)
   
4. Vote for TSC mode in map voting window.
   
5. Enjoy beating other team's ass :P

Login Menu

Once you've joined TSC server, you'll see TSC login menu, which is quite different from regular one:

Team Selection

There are one of two teams to select: British Squad or Steampunk Squad. Team selection doesn't affect the gameplay, but it has visual differences. British squad has classic KF HUD while Steampunks have blue HUD. Player character model are linked to the teams. For example, Paramedic Alfred Anderson is a British character and can't be selected while playing for Steampunks, but Steampunk Medic can't be played by British squad member. There is no team arrows or captions like "It is your enemy. KILL IT!" on the HUD, so knowing which characters belong to which team is the only way to identify your allies and enemies from the far distance.

Switching teams can be done by clicking "Join" button next to squad's title. After joining the team "Join" button becomes "Ready/Unready" button. As you can notice, there is no "Ready" button in the footer, ensuring that players have selected a proper team before reading up.

During the game, you can switch team by pressing "Switch Team" button in the Main Menu (press ESC key to access Main Menu) or by entering console command: "SWITCHTEAM" (no spaces). Switching teams instantly kills you, unless you are switching to smaller team during the trader time.

Team Balance

TSC uses relaxed even teams model, i.e. one team can have up to 2 players more than another team. There are several features to promote team balance. During the trader time member of the larger team can join the smaller "on-the-fly", i.e. without forcing suicide and loosing any money or inventory. Teams can be shuffled by calling a vote via console command (before the start or during the trader time):

MVOTE TEAM SHUFFLE

Perk Selection

You can select perk by clicking on character's avatar (it allows you to change character model as well) or from the Main Menu.

Game Info

Game Info shows map name, difficulty, number of waves and Human Damage setting.

Number of waves is shown in format: "Regular Waves + Overtime Waves (OT) + Sudden Death Waves (SD)". Default setting "7 waves + 2OT + 1SD" means medium-length game (7 waves) followed by 2 Overtime waves and 1 Sudden Death wave.

Human Damage shows when player-to-player damage can be done:

• OFF - completely disables p2p damage even outside Bases;
  
• NOFF - disables Friendly Fire even outside Bases;
  
• NORMAL - default mode, p2p damage is disabled only within own Base;
  
• PVP - Player-Versus-Player mode, Base doesn't protect from enemy damage.

Human Damage resets to Normal at the end of every game and can be changed via console command:

MVOTE TEAM HDMG

Clan Games

When player joins the game, TSC parses his clan tag and auto-assigns him to the same team with clanmates (if such are playing), ignoring team balance. This helps building teams, when one clan is playing against another, or if you always want to be in the same team with your friends.
Clan assignments are done only during lobby period. When game is started, new players always will be sent to smaller team, ignoring their clantags.

TSC supports the following clantag formats (country tags are ignored.):

[Clan]Nickname
(Clan)Nickname
-=Clan=-Nickname
{Clan}Nickname
<Clan>Nickname
*Clan*Nickname
Clan-Nickname
Nickname.Clan

First Wave

Game started, and let's see what is different in TSC, comparing to regular KF:
As you can see on the image above, names of opponent team's members are drawn in red (teammates are drawn in white). You can't see opponent's health bars, unless you are playing as Medic. Yes, Medics can see opponent players' health bars the same way as Commandos can see health of the zeds.

Gameplay hints are drawn in bottom-center of the screen. First hint is "Welcome to TSC! Watch this place for useful hints". Gameplay hints tell you what to do, or at least reading them can prevent you from doing something stupid, for example the next hint:
"You can't hurt other players during first wave. So focus on zeds!"
But statistics say that more than half new players are retarded, unable to read or both. So they just keep wasting ammo on shooting other players. But since you are not one of them (you wouldn't be reading this guide otherwise), you need to do as a hint ways: focus on zeds, killing as many as you can. And that part is really, really important.

Money, Money, Money

Short theoretical part first. Killing zed gives you and your team money (dosh). For example, killing a Clot on Hell on Earth difficulty gives you £4, plus adds another £4 to team's score, also known as Team Budget. At the end of each wave Team Budget is split on survived players.

In regular KF money shouldn't be a problem: all team members should have enough money to equip tier-3 inventory before first Fleshpound appears (or even before Scrake waves), unless team is playing insanely lame or some ♥♥♥♥♥ are not sharing their dosh.

But in TSC financial part of the game is very important. First, there are less waves comparing to the Long game, which is used for 99% of regular KF games. Second, there are less zeds-per-player. Third, Fleshpounds start spawning from wave 5. Fourth--and this is most important--there is another team. In regular KF Team Budget is guaranteed at the end of each wave. No matter who kills most zeds, you'll get a part of the dosh. In TSC teams have separate budgets. If your team got less kills, then you'll get less dosh. If your team didn't scored any kills, then you won't get any money at the end of the wave.

That's why it is very important to score as many kills as possible during early waves. Kill stealing is not longer a bad way of playing, but a key of success. If you stole kill from your teammate, then you always can share your money with him. But stealing kills from opponents grants you extra dosh, which is pretty sweet ;)

PRO-TIP for the First Wave

Run close to zeds, kill as many as you can to get more dosh. But don't die :P

Trader Time / Setting up a Base

As in regular KF, you need to do shopping during the Trader Time in TSC too. Each team has own trader. You can't do shopping at opponent's trader!

Besides shopping, you have to set up a Base. Refer to TSC Game Rules for more information about a Base and why it is needed.

It is a good practice to talk with your team before a start of the game and decide who'll be setting Base. Usually it should be Berserker or Medic, because they have movement speed bonuses (can do it faster) and they do not need much shopping.

Following the Green Arrow

If you are not a Gnome Carrier, then you don't have to worry about setting up a Base. You need to do shopping, and then get to your Base. In regular KF players usually are staying at the same place for the entire game (except kiting games, but that's a different story). In TSC Base's locations can vary. Mostly because previous place has been already taken by other team.
That's why after the shopping you need to follow the green arrow.
Green arrow can have different captions, depending from Base's state:

• "Guardian: XXm" (red) - Base Guardian isn't been picked up or is dropped on the ground.
  
• "Carrier: XXm" (yellow) - your teammate is carrying the Base Guardian (gnome).
  
• "Our Base: XXm" - Base is established and you are outside it (yellow) or within its range (green).

Enemy Base

Third arrow on the HUD points to enemy base. It is drawn only when enemy base is established: it doesn't point on guardian or carrier unlike the green arrow does. The only rule you need to learn about the enemy base: STAY OUT OF IT!!! Or Base Guardian will kill you. When you are at enemy base, you are taking 5 damage points per second, "Enemy Base: XXm" caption turns yellow and big hint is drawn on the screen.

Base Intersection

You can't set up own base at Enemy Base, but you can do it right next to it, meaning that some parts of both bases will be intersecting. Effects from both bases are applied in the intersection zone (yellow segment of the image): you'll be protected from Friendly Fire by own Guardian and hit by other Guardian at the same time.

Human Damage / Friendly Fire

Starting for wave 2 you'll notice another difference between regular KF and TSC: limited Friendly Fire or--in TSC terms--Human Damage (a.k.a. player-to-player damage). Of course, you can enable FF in regular games too. But in that case it will always be in place. TSC turns Human Damage on or off depending from current game conditions and player location. If playing right, you can be protected from Human Damage for an entire game, giving no chances for opponent team to hurt you. All you have to do is to read hints on your HUD and listen what they say.

Understanding Human Damage

Human Damage is any damage dealt by one player to another, excluding self-damage. Human Damage is constant 10% of weapon's base damage (rounded down) and it isn't affected by perk bonuses. For example, SCAR deals 65 damage. 10% of 65 is 6.5, rounded down to 6. So if one player is shooting another with SCAR, it deals 6 damage points per each successful hit. And it doesn't matter if SCAR is used by Commando level 0 or level 6. Or even by a Sharpshooter. Human Damage will stay constant 6.

Medic is extremely effective in killing other players. Medic can see enemies' health, has better armor, faster movement and magazine bonus. He doesn't have damage bonus, but it is ignored by Human Damage anyway. For example, Commando level 6 deals 97 per SCAR bullet to zeds. But only 6 damage to player. 150 per magazine (25*6). Medic deals 30 damage per MP5 bullet to zeds. 3 damage to player. 192 per magazine (64*3) and with faster fire rate! Besides, Medic's movement speed bonus allows easier dodging from enemy fire.
PRO Tip: Don't try to fight versus Medic! Unless you are a Medic too ;)

Staying Protected From Human Damage

As far as I've noticed, most KF fans don't like PvP games, or at least don't want any kind of PvP features in KF. So let's see how we can stay out of it in TSC.

1. First time Human Damage turns on at the beginning of wave 2, so no worries before that.
   
2. Stay at your base during the wave. It protects you from any player damage--teammate's or enemy's--except self-damage, of course. Pay attention to the caption of green arrow. If it is green, then everything is fine: you are at the base. If it is yellow, then you are outside your base and can be killed by other players: enemies or teammates.
   
3. When 9 or less zeds are left in a wave, Human Damage turns off. So it is time to move on to the trader. 30-second wave-end timer is activated at this point. You can't kite last clot as long as you want. So hurry up!
   
4. Shop as fast as you can. Get back to the base before next wave starts to stay protected.

If your base got lost (zeds pushed you away or your dumb teammate put the Guardian in ridiculous place), then first thing you need to take into account is Friendly Fire. Don't worry about enemy team too much: in 9 of 10 cases they won't follow you to kill. Just stay far from enemy base and try to avoid crossing their line of sight. But be aware of Friendly Fire! Loosing the base means FF is on and there is a big chance of hurting teammates or being hurt by them, if not paying attention.

Using Human Damage

Human Damage is in the game for a reason. In TSC killing other players is more an exception rather than a rule. But in some condition it becomes a vital part of the game. Here are reasons why would you want to use Human Damage:

• Protecting your base. For example, you have a welded door at your base (Biotic's spawn, Departed's room etc.). But opponent player comes and blows it up. Does he deserve a death penalty? Of course he does! Another example: opponent kites 2+ Fleshpounds, gets next to your base, rages them and runs though your squad...
  
• Punishing long shoppers. Are opponents shopping too long and can't get to the base in time? How about killing them to hit opponent team's wallet and manpower? And loot their bodies after that? Sounds sweet :P
  
• Ending the game faster. Tired of Berserker kiting zeds around the map, slowing down spawns and making game boring? Let's see how will he "kite" your M32 ;)
  
• PvP fan. Why not? Maybe you've joined TSC just for ability of killing other people...

Changing Human Damage Rules

You can make an agreement with other team to not shooting each other. Or opposite: you want PvP-style game, when you are able to kill people even at their bases. TSC allows you vote for different Human Damage styles via console command:

MVOTE TEAM HDMG

There are 4 HDMG styles avaliable:

MVOTE TEAM HDMG OFF
MVOTE TEAM HDMG NOFF
MVOTE TEAM HDMG NORMAL
MVOTE TEAM HDMG PVP

OFF means complete disabling of player-to-player damage. From one side, it allows pure zed survival competition. But from the other, it doesn't prevent other team of nading your doors or stealing your base.
NOFF means NO Friendly Fire. In this case teammates can't hurt each other even outside their base. For those who can't control their fire trigger.
NORMAL is normal :) The way it's meant to be played.
PVP Player-Versus-Player mode. Base protects only from Friendly Fire. Enemies still can hurt you.

HDMG voting can be disabled by server admin. It is always disabled in Tourney Mode.

Advanced Basing

After you've learned how to setup a base, let's learn how to master it.

Electing Gnome Carrier

When playing on pub server, where anybody can join, you'll probably want to prevent noobs from picking up Base Guardian (a.k.a. Gnome or Totem), setting up a Base in the middle of ****ing nowhere and ruining an entire game. This can be done by electing Team Captain and/or Gnome Carrier (a.k.a. Assistant).
First, person who wants to be a captain starts an election by entering the following command in the console (can be bound to a key):

MVOTE TEAM CAPTAIN ME

If majority of team members agrees (by saying "Yes" or typing "!yes" in the chat, at least 3 players required), player becomes a captain. Team Captain chooses who should set up a base by assigning his assistant:

MVOTE TEAM CARRIER <player_name_or_id>

Or that player can promote himself:

MVOTE TEAM CARRIER ME

When gnome carrier is chosen, nobody else can pick up a gnome, except the captain.

There are aliases to make commands shorter: "C" for "CAPTAIN" and "A" for "CARRIER" (Assistant):

MVOTE TEAM C ME
MVOTE TEAM A ME

Speeding it up

The video on the right shows how to setup a base as fast as possible:

1. Don't go to the trader. Just grab a Guardian and run to the place where you want your base to be.
   
2. Set up a base and move to the trader. But don't leave the base, or it will be lost! You can move up to 25 meters towards the trader while still being at the base.
   
3. Wait for the first teammate coming back from trader. Only them move to the trader yourself.

Base Stealing

There are several points of view, what counts as Base Stealing and what doesn't. In my opinion Base Stealing is setting your Base Guardian just in front of (or behind) another Gnome Carrier. Usually you want to put your Guardian in the middle of your base. Theoretically guardian is always in the center of the base, simply because base is built 25 meters around guardian. But there could be a difference between where you want your base to be (designed point) and where you are setting the Guardian (actual point).

Let's take classic camping spot at Bedlam for example: "L-shaped" hallway. The best base setting point would be in the corner to fully cover both sides. But, for example, gnome carrier puts a Guardian in the middle of long hallway. Why would he do that? There are two answers:
a) he wanted to steal base from other team (which was carrying gnome to the corner);
b) he was afraid that other team could steal his base by putting gnome before him.
No matter why he did that, but now base is shifted the Courtyard, opening a part of the right (short) hallway, which in turn can be used by other team for Base Crossing.
There are many pros and cons of Base Stealing.
pros:

• Base Stealing allows you to set up base quicker.
  
• Other Gnome Carrier must find another base location n very limited remain of trader time.
  
• Opponents who are at your Base will get damage, which later can be lethal.

cons:

• If opponent carrier manages to put his Guardian half a second before you, your base will be stolen, and you'll be the one who needs find another place from the base.
  
• "Shifting" a base can leave uncovered places on your camping area. Staying there opens players for Human Damage.
  
• High chance that opponent will do Base Crossing after you have stolen a base from him.

Base Crossing

You can't put your Guardian on enemy base, but you can do it just next to it like it is shown on the image on the right. When bases are crossed, nobody can stay in an intersection zone, because they will be taking damage from enemy Guardian. Intersection zone is drawn in yellow on the image.
As it was said before, Base Stealing is a common reason for Base Crossing, simply because the trader time is limited and opponent carrier may not be able to run far enough to avoid an intersection.

Another reason is that one team is doing it for purpose to get opponent wiped. Imagine if in Bedlam's L-shaped room you couldn't enter long hallway at all and would be supposed of choosing between staying in tiny right hallway or at the spawn? That would be hard, wouldn't it? That's why you need to think about potential crossings before placing a base. Good news is that other team can cut your base from one side only. And they will be supposed to stay there for the next wave. And how much they are cutting from your base, the same part you are cutting from their.

Dumb Base Crossing usually ends up with a wipe of both teams. As Egon Spengler said: Don't cross the streams bases ;)

Overtime / Sudden Death

There are no boss wave in TSC!
If both squads survived regular waves, then Overtime wave(-s) will be played. Overtime is a regular wave with 2 differences:

• Overtime wave always consists from Long game's Wave 10 zed squads, no matter of selected game length.
  
• Team Budget is cut off by 25% per each Overtime wave (the money you get at the end of the wave).

With each subsequent overtime wave teams get less and less money at the end of the wave. So financial aspect can cause real problems here. Laying pipebombs everywhere is not an option during overtime.


If both teams somehow managed to survive Overtime, then Sudden Death wave(-s) will be played (1 by default). Sudden Death is an overtime wave, where player's death means wipe of the entire squad. Survive all or none.

PRO-Tip during Sudden Death: DO NOT DIE!!!


If both teams survived Sudden Death, then... yeah, both teams are survived ;)

Advanced Key Bindings

Tired of accidental setting the base instead of door unwelding or medgun healing? There is a solution for that!

By default, pressing secondary fire key (alt.fire) while carrying the Guardian sets the base. And you can't drop the weapon while carrying the Gnome: you need to drop it first. But this can be changed.

Open User.ini file with text editor (<steamdir>\steamapps\common\KillingFloor\System\User.ini) and look for the lines below. Change bTSCAdvancedKeyBindings to True:

[ScrnBalanceSrv.ScrnPlayerController]
...
bTSCAdvancedKeyBindings=FalseTrue[/code]
RedCharacter=Paramedic_Alfred_Anderson
BlueCharacter=Steampunk_Demolition

This disables using of standard keys for base interaction. Now you have to assign new keys for setting and dropping Base Guardian. Go to the [Engine.Input] section in the same file (user.ini). In the next example we are using G for setting up the base and Backspace for dropping Guardian:

[Engine.Input]
...
G=SetupBase
...
Backspace=DropFlag

That's it! Launch a game and check it you! Pressing G sets up the base. And you can use secondary fire while carrying a Gnome.

Speeding up the game

Are zeds spawning too slowly? You can speed up a wave by entering the following command in the console:

mvote BORING

If other players will agree on your vote, then zeds will start spawning faster. It is useful in early waves or on boring maps. Remember: If it gets boring, then mvote boring :)
But keep in mind: when voted, faster spawns last until the end of the current wave or until somebody dies.

You can bind a key for this too (in user.ini). For example, let's bind B:

[Engine.Input]
...
B=mvote BORING

[Lok1ch]

Cпасибо Poosh , опробую на работе завтра )

[[ScrN]PooSH]

@Lokich
Можно. Только надо прописывать не в ScrnBalanceSrv.ini, а KillingFloor.ini. Или подавать параметров в командную строку сервера или KFMapVote.ini: ?MaxPlayers=20

[Lok1ch]

А можно ли увеличить количество народу для TSC ? Прописывал в ScrnBalanceSrv.ini до 10 человек . а там все равно максимум 6 .

[[ScrN]PooSH]

Guide updated with Advanced Key Bindings