Civilian

Civilian
Basic Information
Icon:	N/A
Type:	N/A
Health:	50 /75
Speed:	100%

“

Enemy TELEPORTAH activated! Destroy it! Click to listen — The Administrator warining about the civilian's use

”

The Civilian is an unused class in Team Fortress 2. He is the unfinished equivalent of the Civilian class from the Team Fortress classic series of games.

Information

Civilian class

By default, the Civilian class uses the Scout class model, though this can be changed to other class models. He possesses very low health – the lowest of any class – and the same as the Civilian from the Team Fortress classic series of game. He does not have any weapons or form of attack, lacks both voice commands and taunts, and uses generic speech files when he is wounded or killed. Civilians do not possess animations except for the ragdoll or gibbing effect upon dying, and therefore appear to glide along the ground in a reference pose when moving. The Civilian was originally able to be selected by typing join_class civilian into the console upon joining a game.

The existence of the Civilian class seems to indicate a planned updated version of the VIP Escort game mode from the Team Fortress classic series of games. Alternatively, the class may have been included in the game files so that independent map makers and modders could add this feature. Additionally, the Administrator possesses a sound file in the VPK in which she commands the team to "Stop the courier!", suggesting an official Hunted game mode was in the works at some point.

The reference pose

The reference pose is often referred to as "the Civilian". It places the player in a "reference pose" without animations or the use of weapons. It does not change the player's actual class, so health and movement speed is unaffected, along with all special abilities of the class (such as the Scout's double jump).

Entering the reference pose

• There are glitches which allow the player to enter the reference pose, giving them a similar appearance to the original placeholder Civilian model.
  • While playing as Soldier using the Gunboats or Mantreads, enable the "Remember The Active Weapon Between Lives" option in the Advanced options, then make sure that you have anything but the Gunboats or Mantreads equipped, have the weapon active and die. Before you respawn, change your weapon back to either the Gunboats or the Mantreads. This works for every class that uses a weapon that cannot be "used", like the Sniper's back items or Demoman's shields.
  • While playing as Spy, hold out the Sapper and use an action slot taunt, then quickly open the console and type in build 3 0 before the taunt ends. (You can also hold the h key while using the High Five! taunt as an alternative to this.)
  • While playing as Engineer, equip an action slot taunt such as the Director's Vision and open the developer console. Type in build 1 and hit enter. Then, use the action taunt, and quickly go to the developer console again and type in build 2 and hit enter.
  • You will lose the pose if you die or select a weapon to use.

Tenth class legacy

While the Civilian class may have been removed from final release, the possibility remains that a tenth class may or may not arrive in the future. In an interview with Escapist Magazine in 2009, Robin Walker said:

“

Walker says they haven't made any decisions about adding new classes yet, but that doesn't mean they're not considering them. "We've got several new class designs floating around, some of which we like a lot, but right now we're focusing on the broadening of our existing classes through the addition of the unlockables" — Robin Walker in an interview with Escapist Magazine's Nathan Meunier

”

However, in a later interview with TFPortal.de, Walker redacted his point on the matter:

“

TFPortal.de: In another Interview you mentioned about a 10th Class for Team Fortress 2? Do you think that would be a good idea? We have now 3 Supporter Classes, 3 Offense Classes and 3 Defense Classes. Also the part of 9 Classes which we got in Team Fortress Classic. Robin Walker: We've got some ideas for further classes, but right now we're focusing on new game modes and items that are additive to all classes. A 10th class is something we'd really like to do, it's just an order of magnitude more work than adding a new unlockable. Also, the 9 classes provide a wide spread of gameplay for us, and often we find that new class ideas are more like subclasses of an existing class. In some cases, we're able to design an unlockable that provides a boost to that style of play, essentially creating the subclass in the game." — Robin Walker in an interview with tfportal.de

”

Since the release of Team Fortress 2, the Tenth Class, while teased during development, had become a running joke with the developers, beleaguering the community even more.

The Guard Dog, a proposed fake Tenth Class

“

TUESDAY, APRIL 6th, 2010 ...Big team meeting today. I came prepared. I've been programming a playable demo version of TF2 with an entirely new tenth class. I had to teach myself programming, modeling, level design, character design and about twenty other skills, but I think the results speak for themselves. Everybody took a crack at playing it. "This is pretty balanced gameplay," admitted Robin. "I like how we haven't found any hats yet," said Brandon Reinhart. "It sets up the suspense better. I'm all, 'When am I going to find a hat already?'" Everyone laughed. "I hope it's soon, I can't wait much longer," said Corey Peters. "Look how stupid this tenth class's bare head looks!" More big laughs. "Actually, there aren't any hats in this demo," I said, chuckling. Deathly silence. Then everybody got up at once and stopped playing. Eric Smith got really mad and threw his keyboard through a wall, then stormed out and went home. Robin asked to speak to me privately. — TF2 Blog's A Week in the Life of the TF2 Team blog entry

”

The joke hasn't escaped the fans either. The idea of a new member to enter the fray has inspired the community to search through for clues in each game patch and even design their own idea of a tenth class; The most infamous would be the Guard Dog Update, a fan-made update by graphic Designer Diogo Lima. The idea proposed of a dog fitted with a machine to help be a suitable contributing mercenary in battle; this design with its attention to detail, imitated TF2 style and convincing character model took the community by storm and even got the attention of Valve, sending a very (jokingly) passive-aggressive thank you letter from Saxton Hale himself.

Additionally, the Harvest Event map contains a tombstone that reads "RIP The Tenth Class".

Update history

December 20, 2007 Patch

• Prevented players from playing the Civilian class

July 22, 2011 Patch

• [Undocumented] Fixed players going in the reference pose when changing the currently-held weapon and taunting near a resupply locker. Players still can do the Reference pose in the same way.

August 23, 2011 Patch

• Fixed supply closets regenerating players while they are taunting.

Trivia

• The Sniper keeps a bobblehead of the Civilian from the Team Fortress classic series of games in his RV. This made a brief cameo appearance in the beginning of Meet the Sniper.
• The original "Scout" Civilian possesses completely unique death screams. These sounds can still be found in the game files under crit_death1-5.wav in the player folder. These were also the death sounds for all classes before they were given unique voice acting. One Two Three Four Five

Gallery

• 

  The original Civilian class from the Team Fortress classic series of games.

• 

  A caricature of the Civilian (Classic) on the right as seen in Meet the Sniper.

See also

• The Hunted
• Unused content
• Glitches
• Civilian (Classic)
• Griefing