Upgrade Station

Upgrade Station

“

When a robot kills a human, we erupt into a pleading mist of blood, meat particles and tears, which you can't really trade for anything. But when a robot dies, he explodes in a shower of money, which, during between-wave lulls, you can exchange at any Upgrade Station for weapon, item and ability upgrades. — Saxton Hale

”

An Upgrade Station is a place for players to buy weapon upgrades, abilities, and Power Up Canteen buffs in Mann vs. Machine. Players may access one of the two kiosks in the base at any time to purchase upgrades with collected credits. The cost of each upgrade does not increase with a repeated purchase. Between waves, player may modulate the number of levels in an upgrade by pressing the + and - buttons to redistribute their credits if they have made a mistake.

Upgrades and used credits are lost during class changes between waves. Players may reselect their class in order to regain upgrades. This icon () will appear next to a class in the Class Selection Menu if that class already has upgrades applied to it. Upgrades can carry over class changes, if they apply to a different class. Changing weapons will lose all upgrades associated with that weapon, but will be regained once the player switches back to it. Disconnecting from a server and rejoining will allow the player to retain their current amount of credits and upgrades if they choose the same class.

Failing to complete a wave will refund the credits spent before that wave to give the player a chance to use a different strategy. Otherwise, credits will not be refunded after accepting the upgrades.

Since there are no Resupply Cabinets in the base, purchasing an upgrade from an Upgrade Station will restore health and ammo without needing to switch classes. Players cannot heal using the Upgrade Station during waves.

User Interface

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Upgrade Stations are accessed by walking up to them. By default, the primary weapon slot is selected. The UI automatically shades upgrades in a slot if the player cannot afford them. Players may cancel at any time or simply walk away from the kiosk before accepting an upgrade to regain the credits used during the session.

Class

Upgrade	Classes	Cost	Levels	Notes
+25% Blast Resistance	All Classes	350	3	Take less damage from explosions.
+25% Bullet Resistance		350	3	Take less damage from hitscan weapons.
+10% Movement Speed		200	3	Adds 10% to movement speed.
+2% Health Regen		200	5	Regenerates health every second.
+20% Jump Height		200	3	Jump higher.
+25% Fire Resistance		150	3	Take less damage from fire and afterburn.
+25% Crit Resistance		150	3	Take less damage from critical hits.
+5 Metal Regen	Engineer	200	5	Metal is regenerated every 5 seconds.

Weapon

Primary

Upgrade	Weapons	Cost	Levels	Notes
Destroy Projectiles	Minigun, Natascha, Iron Curtain, Brass Beast, Tomislav, Huo-Long Heater	600	1	Bullets destroy Rockets and Grenades mid-flight
Knockback Rage		350	3	+1 rage on damage, taunt to knock back targets on damage
+20% Damage	Rocket Launcher, Direct Hit, Black Box, Rocket Jumper, Liberty Launcher, Cow Mangler 5000, Original, Beggar's Bazooka Grenade Launcher, Loch-n-Load	500	4
+25% Projectile Speed		200	4
+25% Damage	Scattergun, Force-A-Nature, Shortstop, Soda Popper, Baby Face's Blaster Flame Thrower, Backburner, Degreaser, Phlogistinator, Rainblower Sniper Rifle, Huntsman, Sydney Sleeper, Bazaar Bargain, Machina, Hitman's Heatmaker, AWPer Hand	400	4
+2 Clip Size	Rocket Launcher, Direct Hit, Black Box, Rocket Jumper, Liberty Launcher, Cow Mangler 5000, Original, Beggar's Bazooka Grenade Launcher, Loch-n-Load Crusader's Crossbow	400	4
+50% Clip Size	Scattergun, Force-A-Nature, Shortstop, Soda Popper, Baby Face's Blaster Shotgun, Frontier Justice, Widowmaker, Pomson 6000 Syringe Gun, Blutsauger, Overdose	400	4
Projectile Penetration	Huntsman Hitscan	400	3 1	Projectiles penetrate enemy players.
Explosive Headshot	Sniper Rifle, Huntsman, Bazaar Bargain, Machina, Hitman's Heatmaker, AWPer Hand	350	3	Increased headshot explosion radius and damage to nearby enemies
+5s Bleed On Target	Huntman	250	4
+25% Faster Charge	Sniper Rifle, Sydney Sleeper, Bazaar Bargain, Machina, Hitman's Heatmaker, AWPer Hand	250	4
+50% Ammo Capacity	All Ammunition-Using Primary Weapons	250	3	Ammo pickups grant more ammo proportionately.
+20% Reload Speed	Scattergun, Force-A-Nature, Soda Popper, Baby Face's Blaster Rocket Launcher, Direct Hit, Black Box, Rocket Jumper, Liberty Launcher, Cow Mangler 5000, Original, Beggar's Bazooka Grenade Launcher, Loch-n-Load Hitscan	250	3
+10% Firing Speed	Rocket Launcher, Direct Hit, Black Box, Rocket Jumper, Liberty Launcher, Cow Mangler 5000, Original, Beggar's Bazooka Grenade Launcher, Loch-n-Load Hitscan	200	4
+25 Health On Kill	All damage dealing Primary Weapons	200	4	Health from robot kills can overheal players.
+25% Burn Damage	Flame Thrower, Backburner, Degreaser, Phlogistinator, Rainblower	250	4	Afterburn damage bonus
+25% Burn Time		250	4	Afterburn duration
+25% Airblast Force		100	4

Secondary

Upgrade	Weapons	Cost	Levels	Notes
+20% Damage	Stickybomb Launcher, Scottish Resistance, Sticky Jumper	400	4
+2 Clip Size		400	4
+50% Clip Size	Winger, Pretty Boy's Pocket Pistol Family Business SMG, Cleaner's Carbine Revolver, Ambassador, Big Kill, L'Etranger, Enforcer, Diamondback Lugermorph, Pistol Reserve Shooter Shotgun	200	4
Projectile Penetration	Hitscan	200	1	Projectiles penetrate enemy players.
+25 Health On Kill	All damage dealing Secondary Weapons	100	4	Health from robot kills can overheal players.
+50% Ammo Capacity	All Ammunition-Using Secondary Weapons	125	3	Ammo pickups grant more ammo accordingly.
+20% Reload Speed	Detonator, Flare Gun, Scorch Shot Stickybomb Launcher, Scottish Resistance, Sticky Jumper Reserve Shooter Shotgun	250	3
+20% Recharge Rate	Bonk! Atomic Punch, Crit-a-Cola, Mad Milk, Flying Guillotine Sandvich, Buffalo Steak Sandvich Jarate	250	4
+25% Buff Duration	Buff Banner, Battalion's Backup, Concheror	250	2
+10% Firing Speed	Stickybomb Launcher, Scottish Resistance, Sticky Jumper Short Circuit Hitscan	100	4
-35% Speed On Target	Mad Milk Jarate	200	1	Does not stack.
+100% Charge Recharge Rate	Chargin' Targe, Splendid Screen	150	4
Share Canteens	Medi Gun, Kritzkrieg, Quick-Fix	600	1	Share canteen powerups with heal target
+25% Übercharge Rate		300	4
+25% Heal Rate		250	4
+2s Über Duration		250	3
+25% Max Overheal		200	4
+50% Overheal Time		150	2	Decreases overheal decay rates.

Melee

Upgrade	Weapons	Cost	Levels	Notes
+10% Attack Speed	Any Melee Weapons	200	4
+25% Damage	Eyelander, Scotsman's Skullcutter, Horseless Headless Horsemann's Headtaker, Claidheamh Mòr, Half-Zatoichi, Persian Persuader, Nessie's Nine Iron	400	4	Upgrade will only appear if Demoman equips a Shield. If Demoman equips any Stickybomb Launcher, this upgrade will no longer appear; any previously purchased levels will still apply, however.
+25 Health On Kill	Any Melee Weapons	100	4	Health from robot kills can overheal players.
Armor Penetration	Knife, Your Eternal Reward, Conniver's Kunai, Big Earner, Wanga Prick, Spy-cicle, Sharp Dresser, Black Rose	400	4	Allows backstabs against giant robots at X% (out of 750) damage
+2s Crits On Kill	Bottle, Eyelander, Scotsman's Skullcutter, Pain Train, Frying Pan, Horseless Headless Horsemann's Headtaker, Ullapool Caber, Claidheamh Mòr, Half-Zatoichi, Persian Persuader, Nessie's Nine Iron, Scottish Handshake, Conscientious Objector Knife, Your Eternal Reward, Conniver's Kunai, Big Earner, Wanga Prick, Spy-cicle, Sharp Dresser, Black Rose	350	2	2 seconds of 100% Critical hit chance per level; switching weapons retains critical hits.
+20% Recharge Rate	Sandman, Wrap Assassin	250	4	Faster baseball/bauble recharge rate.
+100% Max Misc Ammo		100	4	Gives the Scout one extra baseball/bauble per level.
Ball Marks Target	Sandman	500	1	Marks one target at a time, similar to the Fan O'War, on hit with the baseball

Other

Sapper

Upgrade	Weapons	Cost	Levels	Notes
Robot Sapper Power	Sapper, Red-Tape Recorder	350	3	Increases robot Sapper radius and duration

Buildings

These are available only to the Engineer.

Upgrade	Building	Cost	Levels	Notes
+1 Disposable Sentry Gun	Combat Mini-Sentry Gun	500	1	Gives the player a disposable mini-sentry. The Mini-sentry cannot be upgraded, repaired, refilled or wrangled. Once the mini-sentry runs out of ammunition, it self-destructs. Not affected by building health and sentry fire rate upgrades.
+100% Building Health	All Buildings	400	3	You have to build new buildings for this to take effect.
+10% Sentry Firing Speed	Sentry Gun Combat Mini-Sentry Gun	350	3	10% faster sentry fire rate.
2-Way Teleporters	Teleporter	250	1	Teleporters will teleport players regardless if they are standing on an Entrance or an Exit.
+50% Max Metal Capacity	Engineer	200	4	+50% metal to the Engineer, not the buildings.
+100% Dispenser Range	Dispenser	100	3	Players can stand further away from the Dispenser to gain Ammo and Health.

Power Up Canteen

These are available to any class with a Power Up Canteen in their Action Slot.

Upgrade	Classes	Cost	Uses	Notes
Become Crit Boosted	All Classes	100	3	Crits and doubled sentry fire rate for 5 seconds.
Become Übercharged		75	3	ÜberCharge and puts a Wrangler shield around your sentry for 5 seconds. This Wrangler shield does not stack with existent Wrangler shields.
Refill Clips and Ammo		25	3	Instantly refills all weapons' clips and ammumition. Refills metal for Engineers and Cloak time for Spies.
Teleport to Spawn		10	3	Instantly teleport to spawn and grants a 5 second speed boost.
Building Upgrade	Engineer	50	3	Upgrades all existing buildings to Level 3.

Note certain weapons cannot be upgraded. These include:

• Gunboats
• Mantreads
• Ali Baba's Wee Booties
• Bootlegger
• Wrangler
• Razorback
• Darwin's Danger Shield
• Cozy Camper

Related achievements

Mann vs. Machievements

Maximum Performance Max out all resistances on a single class.

System Upgrade Max out all primary weapon upgrades.

Update history

August 15, 2012 Patch

• Added Mann vs. Machine

August 17, 2012 Patch

• Fixed a client crash related to the Mann vs. Machine upgrade panel
• Fixed seeing incorrect upgrades in the Mann vs. Machine upgrade panel
• Updated upgrade icons to remove numbers

August 23, 2012 Patch

• Fixed the Metal Regen upgrade displaying a percentage instead of an incremental value

Bugs

• Occasionally, upon a failure, the Chargin' Targe's upgrades will be reset. However, the money used on the upgrades will not be refunded.
• The +20% Recharge Rate upgrade can apply on Dalokohs Bar and Fishcake though they lack a recharge mechanic.
• The +2% Health Regen upgrade displays health regenerated as a percentage, even though it is incremented additively by 2.
• The +50% Overheal Time upgrade is intended to stop overheal from decaying, but in the code is set to add 50% faster overheal decay time up to 200%, not subtract it to 0%. As a result overheal decays 100% faster.
• Only during the first wave, upgrades can be bought and sold during the setup phase after leaving the upgrade station. Every wave setup afterward will prevent selling upgrades after leaving the upgrade station having made a purchase.
• By changing a weapon via load out before walking up to the upgrade station, then buying a single upgrade will prevent buying or selling any upgrades.
  • In the case of the Chargin' Targe and Splendid Screen, using this glitch will remove all upgrades for them, even those bought in the previous rounds.
• The +25% Blast Resistance upgrade reduces self damage taken from rocket jumps and sticky jumps.
• The descriptions for the reload speed and firing rate upgrades are slightly misleading. Rather than making these actions a set percentage faster, they actually reduce the function time by the stated percentage. E.g. A weapon with a culumative 60% faster reload time will reload in 40% of the normal time (i.e. 100% - 60%), not 62.5% (100% / 1.6).
• Although not mentioned, the Ball Marks Targets upgrade also upgrades the normal melee swing to mark an enemy for death like the Fan O'War.

Trivia

• There are several items visible inside the Upgrade Station, the most notable being the Bear Trap and the Frag Grenade which are both grenade weapons that were cancelled.
• There is a file named mvm_upgrades.txt that controls the cost of individual upgrades, effect of individual upgrades and the cap on how much one can upgrade a specific attribute.
  • It is found within Team Fortress 2 content.gcf inside the tf/scripts/items/ folder. It may be extracted and edited (as a custom hud would be.) A server may use an edited file to provide a different game. Note though, that clients' file not matching a server's causes the upgrades to mismatch and may prevent upgrade purchases.
• Inside the above noted file there are 3 upgrades to be found that are not currently in the game. They are radius of Sentry Gun upgrade, regeneration of a percent of a mercenary's max ammo every 5 seconds upgrade, and gaining more credits through an additively stacking percent multiplier upgrade.
• There is an unused song in the game's files that was supposed to be played whilst the player used an Upgrade Station.

See also

• Credits

External links

• "The Mercs" update page