VS Saxton Hale Mode (custom game mode)

Saxton Hale as he appears in the mod.

“

The name's Saxton Hale! Australian, C.E.O. of MANN Co. and the man who's gonna burn this place to the ground! Click to listen — Saxton Hale

”

The VS Saxton Hale Mode is an unofficial "Juggernaut" variation of Arena Mode, in which teams RED and BLU are pitted against each other in a battle to the death. Whilst the primary rules of kill or be killed still apply, the modification involves one player, taking on the role of an overpowered Saxton Hale, on the BLU team contending against the rest on the RED team.

Gameplay

This mode is similar to Arena: if a player dies, they will not respawn until the round has ended. Every player (save for one) is put onto RED, leaving the remaining BLU player in the role of Saxton Hale. Hale has unique stats which give him an advantage (such as increased health and a special jump ability), but can only use melee attacks to kill the other players. Hale's damange is modded to be much greater than a normal player's dealt damage, so most of Hale's attacks are one-hit kills.

Like in Arena mode, when the number of RED team players has dropped to a certain amount, a single control point opens up. The first team to capture it wins, meaning that the remainder of the RED team is not required to kill Saxton Hale.

The player is given crits with all melee weapons, because Hale has such a large advantage in close combat. Many actions that would instantly kill a normal player, such as a backstab or a kill taunt, will only deal a large amount of damage to Hale rather than killing him outright.

In addition, there is a small chance that the player will take on an alternative skin of Hale, most of which are varieties of internet memes or fads. Whilst several exclusive skins appear on specific servers (such as the Demopan), the core version of the mod includes a playable Horseless Headless Horsemann Junior, a smaller, player-sized HHH, and the Vagineer.

Boss Abilities

In order to provide balance for the greatly outnumbered Hale, several abilities (most of which are from numerous classes) are available to the Hale player. These include:

• Superjump: By crouching, looking up and releasing crouch, the player will be propelled upwards. The Horseless Headless Horsemann Jr.'s Superjump teleports the player to a random enemy. The player cannot move for a few seconds, giving his prey a chance to escape.
• Rage: When Saxton Hale has taken approximately 1,900 damage, his rage meter will be full. Taunting with a full rage meter will stun all close players and Sentry Guns similarly to the Ghost. The Vagineer's rage ability ÜberCharges him and stuns all close players. It does not, however, stun Sentry Guns.
• Equalizer Effect: Hale's movement speed increases as he takes more damage.
• Super Duper Jump: A variation of the "Superjump" that protects Hale from instant death or becoming trapped by falling into a precipice.
• Mantreads Effect: Falling onto players will induce damage relative to the distance fallen.

Strategy

Main article: Community VS Saxton Hale strategy

Balancing specifics

The bosses' health increases based on the number of players taking part in the game. The health follows a formula based upon the initial number of players on the enemy team at the start of the round. Health is calculated as [(759+n)*(n-1)]^1,04, where n is the initial number of players on the enemy team. When n<5, n increments by 2.

Saxton Hale (and other bosses) Health Number of players on the server Modifier (n) Max (spawn) health of boss 1 3 2043 10 10 9857 20 20 21732 23 23 25412 30 30 34186 31 31 35459 Some weapons equipped by players on RED will be changed into their default counterparts or edited for balance issues: All classes: Non-backstab melee weapons will always perform Crits, to reward the player for taking risks with close-range combat. Scout: The Crit-a-Cola gives full Crits instead of Mini-Crits. The Fan O' War is replaced with the Sandman. The Soda Popper's hype is activated by right clicking, not when it is filled. Soldier: The Battalion's Backup is replaced with a Shotgun. The Rocket Jumper is not allowed and is instead replaced with the default Rocket Launcher. The Half-Zatoichi is replaced by the Shovel. Pyro: The Axtinguisher is not allowed and is instead replaced by the Fire Axe. However, the Postal Pummeler is allowed, even though it has the same effects as the Axtinguisher. Demoman: The Chargin' Targe and Splendid Screen block one hit from Saxton Hale. The Sticky Jumper is not allowed and is replaced with default Sticky Launcher. The Half-Zatoichi, the Eyelander, and the Horseless Headless Horsemann's Headtaker are replaced with the Claidheamh Mòr. Heavy: Natascha is replaced with the Minigun. The Fists of Steel and Killing Gloves of Boxing are replaced with Fists. The Minigun starts with 100 ammo. Engineer: The player can only find small metal packs. The player also starts with 158 metal. The Frontier Justice is replaced with the Shotgun. Medic: The Medi Gun is replaced with the Kritzkrieg. The Syringe Gun is replaced with the Blutsauger. The Medic spawns with 40 percent ÜberCharge. The ÜberCharge grants both critical hits and Invulnerability to Medic and patient, and lasts 50% longer. Needles from the Blutsauger grant 5 percent ÜberCharge on each successful hit. Crusader's Crossbow always performs Critical hits, and gains 10% ÜberCharge on a successful hit. At the end of an ÜberCharge the Medic gains 40 percent ÜberCharge. Sniper: All secondary weapons other than the SMG are not allowed and will be replaced with the SMG. All usable Sniper weapons perform Critical hits. The Bazaar Bargain is not allowed and is replaced with the Sydney Sleeper. Spy: A backstab from the Knife deals roughly 10% of the enemy character's max health in damage. Upon a successful backstab a message stating that the enemy was stabbed is displayed to him and Saxton. In addition, the Spy is unable to backstab again for approximately 2 seconds in a similar fashion to backstabbing a Sniper wearing the Razorback. Your Eternal Reward is not allowed, and is replaced with the Knife. Remember however that balance specifics such as boss speed, rage taunt damage, rage taunt distance, and appearance of characters other than Saxton Hale may vary from server to server, as these specifics are adjustable via server console variables. Plugin Information Current version: 1.35 Needed SourceMod extensions: TF2Items, SDKHooks, Socket Plugin is available to download from 31 December 2010 on Random Fortress Forum. From 2 January 2011 - on Allied Modders Forum. Changelog Changelog: Version:1.35 Special crits will not removed by Medic. Sniper's glow is working again. No errors in console. Less messages in chat. Added more natives. "Over 9000" sound returns! Thx you, FlaminSarge. Version:1.34_1 Fixed airblast reload when VSH is disabled. Fixed airblast reload after detonator's alt-fire. Airblast reload time reduced to 3 seconds. hale_special 3 is disabled. Version:1.34 Biohazard Christian Brutal Sniper! He's about 20% cooler! TF2_IsPlayerInCondition() returns! Fixed some bugs associated with this. Now sniper rifle must be 100perc.charged to glow Hale. Fixed Vagineer's model (there isn't spam on console and fire on ground). Added Natives. Hunstman deals more damage. Added reload time (5sec) for Pyro's airblast. Fixed hale_special X admin command. Version:1.33 Fixed bugs, associated with Uber-update. FaN replaced with Soda Popper. Bazaar Bargain replaced with Sniper Rifle. Sniper Rifle adding glow to Hale - anyone can see him for 5 seconds. Crusader's Crossbow deals more damage. Plugin uses TF2_IsPlayerInCondition(). Other code optimizing. Version:1.32_1 Fixed bug with replay. Fixed bug with help menu Version:1.32 added new Saxton's lines on... *round start *jump *backstab *destroy Sentry *kill Scout, Pyro, Heavy, Engineer, Spy *Last man standing *killing spree Fixed bugged count of CBS' arrows. Reduced Hale's damage versus DR by 20 HPs. Now two specials can not be at a stretch. Version:1.30 & 1.31 Bug Fixes Version:1.29 Fixed random crashes associated with CBS. Now Hale's HP formula is ((760+x-1)*(x-1))^1.04 Added hale_special0. Use it to change next boss to Hale. CBS has 9 arrows for bow-rage. Also he has stun rage, but on little distantion. Teammates gets 2 scores per each 600 damage. Demoman with Targe has crits on his primary weapon. Removed support of non-Arena maps, because nobody did't use it and they were buggy. Pistol/Lugermorph has crits. Version:1.28 Christian Brutal Sniper is a regular character. CBS has 3 melee weapons ad bow-rage. Added new lines for Vagineer. Now Mode uses in-game model change function. (Attachables are broken from Hatless Update) Version:1.27 Many bug fixes and code optimization. Version:1.26 Added the second URL for auto-update. Fixed problems, when auto-update was corrupt plugin. Added a question for the next Hale, if he want to be him. (/haleme) Eyelander and Half-Zatoichi was replaced with Claidheamh Mor. Dispenser and TP won't be destoyed after Engineer's death. Mode uses the localization file. Saxton Hale will be choosed randomly for the first 3 rounds (then by queue). Fan O'War replaced with Sandman Version 1.25 Fixed silent HHHjr's rage. Now bots (sourcetv too) will not be Hale. Fixed invalid uber on Vagineer's head. Fixed other little bugs. Version 1.24 Fixed destroyed buildables associated with spy's fake death. Syringe Gun replaced with Blutsauger. Blutsauger, on hit: +3 to uber-charge. Removed crits from Blutsauger. CnD replaced with Invis Watch. Fr.Justice replaced with shotgun. Fists of steel replaced with fists. KGB replaced with GRU. Added /haleclass. Version 1.23 Added Super Duper Jump to rescue Hale from pit. Removed pyro's ammolimit. Fixed little bugs. Version 1.22 Now it's working. Also little optimize about player count. Version 1.21 Point will be enabled when X or less players be alive. Version 1.20 Added new Hale's phrases. More bugfixes Improved super-jump. Coming soon: point will be disabled until last X living players. Version 1.12 More bugfixes. Now "(Hale)<mapname>" can be nominated for nextmap. Medigun's uber gets uber and crits for Medic and his target. Fixed infinite Specials. Now gamemode's ConVars saves in file (addons\sourcemod\configs\saxton_hale_config.c fg) And more bugfixes. Version 1.11 Fixed immortal spy. Fixed crashes associated with classlimits. Version 1.10 Added hale_enabled convar. Fixed bug, when all hats was removed...why? Version 1.00 Release!!! Saxton Hale dialogue For version 1.20, many new custom lines of dialogue were added to the mod. These additional Saxton Hale responses take place during specific events. Bugs When Saxton is defeated, he will leave a Soldier ragdoll. This is the same case with Vagineer and Horseless Headless Horsemann Junior. They will leave an Engineer and Demoman ragdoll respectively. Because the Razorback and Darwin's Danger Shield are prohibited, a Sniper equipped with either one will wear it on his back while carrying the SMG. The Schadenfreude taunt can be used by all of the boss characters, albeit without any facial movement. When a Spy backstabs Saxton while he has less than 10% of his health, he may glitch and become stuck with a negative amount of Health. If Jarate is applied through the Sydney Sleeper, the yellow effect will show momentarily, then disappear. The extra damage still takes effect however. When Saxton Hale scares an Engineer wearing the Hotrod, the mask flips down. Fight Night Fight Night is an offshoot of Vs Saxton Hale Mode. Instead of the team facing a random boss, players are split into two teams, like in a "normal" game, with one player from each team being randomly chosen to play that team's "hero". Each team must protect and assist their own hero while eliminating the other team's hero. The team that defeats the other teams boss wins the round. Unlike in normal Vs Saxton Hale Mode, all players (with the exception of those selected to play the the randomly chosen heroes) are allowed to respawn, despite the top-screen messages to the contrary (it still runs on Arena Mode rules). Trivia Saxton Hale's line "Screw gravity!" is a reference to asdfmovie3, a popular flash video by Thomas Ridgewell. Some servers have "Goomba Stomp" enabled, where if players jump and land on Saxton Hale, the same damage as a backstab is applied, as well as in the chat, "Player Name" has goomba stomped "Saxton player name". Similarly, Hale can goomba stomp the other players. The mod was created by Dr. Eggman in October 2010. Gallery Saxton Hale RED Vagineer BLU Vagineer Saxton Hale Horseless Headless Horsemann Junior.jpg Horseless Headless Horsemann Junior. A Sniper wielding both the SMG and Danger Shield due to a bug. Update history April 14, 2011 Patch (Hatless Update) Server-side model attachments are now entirely disabled. Now it uses in-game model change function. See also Community fads External links Random Fortress Forum Official Steam Group Mode Credits Thread on Steam Forums News on Kotaku.com Christian Brutal Sniper