Mann vs. Machine

“

Gray Mann has built an unstoppable automaton army with a single purpose: to destroy all things Mann Co. Luckily for you, the majority of this robot legion is equipped with basic weaponry that could never level an entire building. Unluckily, they also have access to giant bombs, which they’d drag through hell if it meant dropping one in a Mann Co. bombhole. And it’s up to you to stop them. — Mann vs. Machine publicity blurb

”

Mann vs. Machine is a co-op game mode released in the update of the same name. In Mann vs. Machine, a team of six players attempts to prevent a horde of robots from carrying a bomb to their base. As well as the AI-controlled enemies and co-op gameplay, another distinguishing feature of the game mode is the ability for players to purchase upgrades for their weapons using in-game currency. All purchased upgrades will last for the duration of the game.

Mechanics

File:MvM Upgrade UI.jpg

A sample weapon upgrade menu for the Grenade Launcher.

The team is attacked by a horde of AI-controlled robots, and must try to prevent the robots from successfully delivering a bomb to the players' base (as in Payload). Each robot destroyed provides the players with credits (when one player collects a money pile, everyone benefits and earns some money). Between waves of robots, the players have the chance to upgrade their weapons at an Upgrade Station inside the base using this money. They may also upgrade abilities for their current class. The upgraded abilities are kept, even while switching to a different class, but the purchased abilities are only available for the class that they were purchased for.

For a fee, the Upgrade Station can also fill a player's Canteen with a buff—such as personal ÜberCharge, a five-second critical hit boost, or ammunition refill—or an ability such as rapid building upgrades for Engineers or the ability to teleport back to the spawn point. All of these Canteens each provide up to three uses and must be filled with the same buff.

Most of the robot horde is made up of plain robotic versions of eight of the nine playable classes (there are no robot Engineers), with their respective basic weapons equipped. However, there are also a number of special robots with unique abilities.

The bomb-carrying robot receives buffs, which increase over time. These buffs are divided into three stages, which stack together:

Stages	Upgrades
First stage	Defensive buff, shared with all nearby robots
Second stage	Health regeneration
Final stage	Full crits all the time

Abilities and Upgrades

Main article: Mann vs. Machine Upgrades

Scout	Upgraded Mad Milk slows affected enemies. All Scouts have the following innate skills: Extra-large cash collection radius. Health boosts from collected cash. Instant respawns.
Soldier	Upgraded Buff Banner can empower entire team. Upgraded Rocket Launcher to increase damage, firing speed, reload speed and projectile speed.
Pyro	Upgraded airblast pushes targets further. Use airblasts to separate Medic robots from their targets and push bomb-carrying robots into mineshafts. Upgraded Flare Gun becomes a lethal long range weapon.
Demoman	Use a Critical Hit Boost canteen to lay deadly sticky traps. Use damage-upgraded Sticky Bomb clusters to instantly destroy all but the strongest targets.
Heavy	Upgraded rounds pass through multiple targets. Upgraded Minigun can shoot down projectiles. Upgraded Heavy can generate rage, causing rounds to knock back enemies.
Engineer	Upgraded Engineer can build a second, disposable Mini-Sentry. Use a Critical Hit Boost canteen to temporarily boost Sentry Gun to three times its firing speed. Remember: The Wrangler excels against long-range targets.
Medic	Upgraded Medi Gun or Kritzkrieg boosts overheal amount and duration. Upgraded Medic can increase ÜberCharge build rate and lengthen deploy duration. Upgraded Medic can share his Canteen effects with heal target.
Sniper	Upgraded Jarate slows affected enemies. Upgraded Sniper Rifle rounds and Huntsman arrows pass through multiple targets. Combine Jarate and bleed effect on rounds and arrows to take down larger enemies. Upgraded Sniper Rifle and Huntsman cause explosive headshots.
Spy	Upgraded Sapper can disable groups of regular robots and slow Giants. Spies' disguises fool all robot enemies; robots may detect a nearby backstab, and will always detect a Spy who is on fire. Upgraded Knife can penetrate armor, allowing increasing effectiveness against Giants.

Gameplay

See also: Mann vs. Machine strategy

For the sake of identification, all human players will be dressed in RED and will be identified as team DEFENDERS while all robots will have BLU colors in their visual effects and in the kill feed.

Before each round begins, Defenders will be given a graphic indication of the impending onslaught. Primary targets will have numbers underneath them and will be classified by class or (in the case of special robots) their specialty. Red groups indicate tanks as well as giant robots. Support targets will be noted as such and will tend to be focused on attacking the players rather than carrying the bomb (though some like Scout supports will try to carry the bomb at times). Snipers and Spies are always assigned support roles.

When at least three players enter a Mann vs. Machine server, the option to begin play is enabled. During the setup phase before the robots arrive, Engineers are able to instantly place buildings, fully upgraded to level 3, at no metal cost, and Medics can instantly fill their ÜberCharge meters and rapidly max out ally overheals. Once one player declares he is ready, a 150-second countdown clock will begin. As more players acknowledge they are ready, the clock time will be reduced in 30-second intervals (to 120, 90, 60, and 30 seconds, respectively, depending on the number of players present). If all players acknowledge that they are ready, the round is committed and the clock is reduced to ten seconds. Regardless of how it is done, once the countdown ends, the robots will begin their approach to the field.

Robots cannot attack or be damaged until they jump down into the players' field. A strength gauge will appear to note the remaining forces of the wave. Only primary targets count towards this progress. As they are destroyed, the gauge will empty. Once it is completely empty, the wave is defeated. During the wave, support icons may appear to indicate a specific threat.

• Sniper - Snipers are entering the field. They enter like regular robots but will be focused on attacking players from afar. Snipers will always display visible lasers from their rifles when scoped, making them easier to spot. Beware of their Special counterparts the Bowmen. They don't produce visible lasers.
• Spy - Spy robots are on the field. Unlike the other robots, these used their cloaks to infiltrate the field and will enter from the player's side of the field (which means they'll be coming from behind you most of the time), already disguised as a human. They will act as your average Spy would: sapping Engineer buildings and attempting backstabs.
• Sentry Buster - Sentry Busters will fixate on a Sentry Gun on the field and try to get close to it. If it reaches the Sentry or runs out of health, it will stop and then explode powerfully after two seconds, destroying all buildings and players within the explosion's radius.
• Tank - Heavily-armored tanks will enter the field from specific entry points. They won't attack but will move implacably towards the bomb hatch until they are destroyed or reach their destination. Tanks do not need to carry or retrieve the main bomb as each one contains its own bomb.

After each successful wave, the defenders will be evaluated based on how aggressively money was collected (with a credit rating ranging from F to A+). If all the piles of money are collected (the A+ grade), the team will earn a $100 bonus. Once a mission is completed, the defenders will be given a final evaluation, and the server will load the next Mann vs. Machine map.

Maps

Name	Picture	File name
Coal Town		mvm_coaltown
Decoy		mvm_decoy
Mannworks		mvm_mannworks

Unused content

• Models of robots of the RED team can be found in game files.

Bugs

• Sometimes a menu such as team, class, or upgrade choice will freeze on screen, forcing the player to refresh the HUD. (This can be accomplished by typing hud_reloadscheme in the console or pressing TAB.)
• The hole in which the bomb is placed kills everything, including bots carrying bombs.
• When killed by a dead bot, such as from afterburn, the kill feed shows that the bot has moved to spectator mode. This is due to the internal routine that reassigns bot players for the next attack.
• Sometimes when a robot delivers the bomb, the game will continue. The hole will remain for the entire session and it will be impossible to fail, unless a second bomb is delivered (for example, if a tank is in the mission).

Trivia

• Two grenade weapons cut from the game, the Bear Trap and the Frag Grenade, can be seen in the Upgrade Station.
• Using taunts that normally deal damage, like the Fencing taunt, will not affect the tanks.
• It is possible for the Administrator to announce the team has failed the mission when they haven't, by destroying the bomb carrier as it is about to disappear into the bomb hole. The carrier will be destroyed, and the game considers the bomb undeployed.