Watergate

Watergate
Basic Information
Developer(s):	Unknown
Map Info
Environment:	Maritime city/brewery
Setting:	Dusk
Map Photos
Map Overview

“

Science has shown They react violently being forcefed beer, good thing we're at a beer factory. — Invasion Update

”

Watergate is a community-created Player Destruction map set in a seaside town during an alien invasion. Watergate won 2nd place in the 2014 TF2Maps.net Major Mapping Contest #11, "Mercs vs. Aliens" and was officially included in the game for the Invasion Community Update.

The objective for the map is that both teams must kill players to collect beer bottles to deliver to the UFO. A team wins upon successful delivery of a set number of bottles. The amount varies depending on the number of players currently in the server.

This map features a custom unnamed announcer using the voice WillFromAfar from the acapela-group.com that announces progress and which team is in the UFO's beam.

Watergate was contributed to the Steam Workshop.

Gameplay

The goal of each team is to collect beer pickups dropped by dead players, and deposit them into a UFO at the center of the map to get it drunk and score points. When killed, a player drops 1 beer plus all of the beers they were carrying which can then be picked up by players on either team. Dropped beer bottles display a timer of 30 seconds before disappearing.

The non-Spy player on each team with the most beers also becomes the "Team Leader", making them dispense health and ammo to themselves and nearby teammates at the rate of a level 1 Dispenser. The player's HUD displays a gold star () next to the current number of beers carried. The Team Leader status also gives a team-colored outline visible through walls that can be seen by both teams with a beer number counter. If the "Use Glow Effect for Payload Objectives" is not selected in the Advanced Options, only the numbers are visible to the player.

Collected beers are dropped on the ground if a player tries to carry them into a resupply area, and can also be dropped manually by pressing the drop-item button (default key: L).

To score, players must deposit their collected beers into a UFO at the center of the map, which arrives every 52 seconds and flies slowly across the area creating a tractor beam, before getting to the edge of the map and leaving after 34 seconds. While in the UFO beam, players can move around as if they were swimming in water, and their collected beers are gradually deposited into the UFO and added to their team's score. Players can also contest beer deposits by jumping into the beam and blocking the enemy team from scoring.

As more beers are deposited into the UFO, it gets drunk, visibly wobbling more and more the higher a team's score is. Once one team scores enough points to win (the number scales based on the amount of players at the start of the round), the UFO flies away and drunkenly crashes into the mothership in the distance, destroying it and winning the game for that team.

Playing To Count

Player Count	Playing To
0	10
2	10
4	20
6	30
8	40
10	50
12	60
14	70
16	80
18	90
20	100
22	110
24	120
26	130
28	140
30	150
32	160

Locations

Alleys

• Open Alley: The team oriented alleys are open areas with multiple different paths to take. From the catwalk is the path to one of the gatehouses. Underneath the catwalk is the path to the interior corridors. Straight ahead is the canal.
• Dropoff: The path to the canal drop down to the bottom floor. To the side is a catwalk into one of the gatehouses that can be accessed by jumping from the trashbags.
• Central Corridors: Through a small storage room is a small corridor that connects to the central catwalks, the rooftop bar, and a dropoff into one of the cellars.
• Gatehouse: The gatehouses overlook the UFO spawn with windows that can serve as vantage points. On the second floor are medium health & ammo kits.

Basements

• Cellars: The team oriented cellars lead to the canal, either from the outside structures, or the central sewer.
• Sewers: Down the stairs is a sewer path that leads to the canal. Down in the path is a small health and ammo kit.

Central Canal

• Dilapidated Boat: In the center of the canal is a stationary boat containing a max health kit.
• Central Sewer: The central sewer has a catwalk that leads to the overhead catwalks. On the catwalk is a lone medium ammo kit.
• Rooftop Bar: The rooftop bar overlooks the whole canal and connects to the team oriented sides. The bar contains two small ammo kits and one small health kit.
• Overhead Catwalks: Underneath the bar are catwalks overlooking the map. In the center is a medium health kit.
• UFO: The UFO spawns periodically at the end of the canal near the gatehouses. It slowly flies over the canal and stops at the rooftop bar before flying out of the map. While it is flying overhead, its tractor beam will activate. When inside the tractor beam, players can fly into the air is if they were swimming.

• 

  Mid.

• 

  The watergate underneath.

• 

  BLU central area.

• 

  RED spawn.

• 

  The watergate above.

• 

  The RED drop off.

• 

  RED side supply area.

• 

  BLU side corridor

• 

  BLU side box room.

• 

  Central area bridge.

• 

  BLU primary spawn.

• 

  The rooftop Bar.

• 

  The midway bridge.

• 

  RED secondary spawn entrance.

• 

  RED side basement.

• 

  The central sewers.

• 

  The King Mary in the center of the canal.

• 

  Inside RED spawn.

Strategy

Main article: Community Watergate strategy

Changelog

This is the changelog of the map before it was added to the game.

Changelog:

rc4 (september 8th, 2015):

• Clouds around mothership
• Remade assorted map models
• Raised sand in sewer and added small healthpack
• Optimised collision mesh of the boat to be less arbitrary
• Put teleporter-nobuilds on previously trappable surfaces

rc3 (august 27th, 2015):

• New mothership model with associated particle effects!
• Optimised areaportal locations (portal rendering)
• Optimised occluder locations (prop rendering)
• Added LODs & fades to props (poly rendering)
• Made the UFO timer more obvious of its purpose
• Fixed crash relating to low model quality
• Fixed players getting stuck at the top of the UFO beam

rc2 (july 17th, 2015):

• A barricade has been added to the dropdown inbetween the crane and window buildings.
• The UFO has been given a neutral outline when it appears in the area which helps with goal recognition.
• We've spruced up the spawn with some juice.. and beer taps, and better chalkboard textures.
• Bright light added to attract attention to the tower route.
• A small fence has been added onto the raised spawn battlements to block a potentially powerful sightline to the spawn room door.
• The middle bridge has been widened a bit.
• The crane building upper floor has been given more light so you can see the silhouettes of Snipers easier.
• Patch added under healthpack.
• Patch added under healthpack, critical changes these.

b10 (july 3rd, 2015):

• We've changed the UFO beam water trigger from the halloween Jarate condition to a plugin-based "you're now in water" mechanic, which allows Pyro flames and sounds to be played in the beam uninterrupted while still allowing good player movement.
• We've spruced up the bottom sewer to mid connectors with better detail.
• More detail to the insides of the crane buildings also.
• Cool new map image and text for the chalkboard and the loading screen!
• We've given some more light contrast around important locations on Red side to make it easier to notice these places and to make the area less boring to look at.
• We've fixed a bug that allowed players to contest beer deposits while being below the tower platform. We've also re-added the gentle-fall trigger_push from the UFO beam arriving at the tower.
• The speed of the UFO flying past the map has been reduced from 100 hu/s to 70 hu/s, making it last about 11 extra seconds in the map. This makes it easier to hop into the beam if you notice its entry late, or to catch up to it as it scrolls past the map.
• Steps have been added to these middle side platforms.
• Getting onto the boat has become easier: it's been lowered into the sand, the animation has become static (it used to sway), and there are boxes with ladders (all clipped nicely) leading onto the platform.
• There's a new bottle pickup model and collision mesh (old collision mesh was butts so it sometimes didn't work when it should have).
• And we've added some more details to spawn!

b9c (june 21st, 2015):

• added new dropdown route from tower to sewer area near spawn - can be used as rollout
• added dx80 versions of the ufo & nuke particles
• added sign in front of front door to direct flow better just in case
• added ability to contest beer deposits by jumping into beam while an enemy attempts to score
• improved clipping all around the boat and ledges next to it
• improved clipping on prop pillars around the map
• improved clipping on windows and ledges around spawn area
• improved clipping & displacements in mid sewer section
• improved readability of the arrow signs near crane building
• improved maneuverability up the garbage bag route near crane building
• changed around some prop fade distances
• opened up the mid sewer section and lit the bottom for smoother gameplay
• made the saucer incoming and outgoing sounds quieter
• made watergate brush metal darker
• made default beer deposit speed 1 beer every 1.2 seconds, decreasing by 0.033 per player
• made tractor beam lift trigger the swim-in-air condition trigger to improve maneuverability
• fixed the Mann Beer sign edges showing up

b7a (may 14th, 2015):

• changed some detail to improve flow
• made LODs for a few existing models
• fixed a lot of perch spots on the pillars with clips
• added skybox animations for the ufo entering/leaving the map
• added finale animation and sounds
• added animations for differing amounts of ufo-drunkness

b6p (march 27th, 2015):

• changed the gamemode
• added a new route from the bottom exit of spawn that leads to bottom of tower sewer
• changed some of the connectors to be more open and dynamic
• cleaned up detail
• improved fps all over the map

b5 (november 17th, 2014):

• added more detail
• optimised map more
• fixed some broken things with the cores from the ufo
• fixed the ufo going through the building at mid
• fixed some clips around the map
• added just a lot more clipping around the map
• added some more signs
• added some more background noise
• added scorch marks from lasers / some particles / broken stuff
• added paint cans near the graffiti

b4 (november 12th, 2014) (Internal):

• optimising stuff

b3 (november 10th, 2014):

• actually fixed the broken things
• publicly released map for testing

b2 (november 10th, 2014) (Internal):

• fixing broken things

b1 (november 10th, 2014) (Internal):

• full artpass

a5b (october 16th, 2014) (Internal):

• made a new route from the sewers' start, up onto the bridge with the box climb up to medium healthpack walkway
• made it so if you hold the tower then when the ufo comes it will drop 3 less cores for your team
• made it so players can escape along the sides of the ufo beam
• made it so you can get up the pipe jump without a crouch jump
• made it so you can't capture the point while standing on the Sniper ledge
• made the healthpack in apartment a medium, and added a small health to the top of tower
• added a small health and ammo to the room in between spawn and tower
• added more signage showing where the point is
• fixed some clipping issues at mid that would slow players down if they walked backwards up the ramps
• fixed up the box / barrel climb so its easier to climb up without hitting your head

a5a (october 10th, 2014):

• brang spawns even closer to mid, and made the second exit instead route down to the sewer section
• added a point icon showing it has something to do with cores
• added some point arrow signs around the map / resupply signs too
• made it so Snipers aren't affected by the ufo beam
• refined some ufo stuff still

a4b (october 9th, 2014):

• moved spawns 256 units even closer to mid
• redesigned the junction area and just linked the bottom sewer up to the window buildings
• added a second way out of spawn and gave a one way window too
• some ufo changes with lift speeds and arrival times

a3 (october 7th, 2014) (Internal):

• moved spawns in 256 units closer to mid
• blocked off the apartment line of sight so it was safer to move into the building
• experimented with point / gamemode ideas

a2 (october 5th, 2014):

• cut out the bottom section of the tower wall, opens up the point area for combat + Sniper sightlines from bridge
• increased occurrence of UFO
• increased UFO speed / lift speed
• tried adding neutral outline to point but that seems to have not worked
• added an overhang from the windows, adds route from tower > windows / windows > lower tower
• added blockbullet all around the boat so cores don't go through it
• made the point's core drops in groups of 3 / 15 seconds, instead of 1 / 5 seconds

Update history

October 6, 2015 Patch (Invasion Community Update)

• [Undocumented] Added Watergate to the game.

October 8, 2015 Patch

• Fixed the reason in the win panel at the end of a round referring to robots
• Fixed a case where players were able to get outside of the map
• Fixed a sound cache problem

October 15, 2015 Patch

• Fixed the countdown timer not always drawing on pd_watergate
• Fixed seeing the team leader's Dispenser health while spectating on pd_watergate

July 28, 2016 Patch

• Fixed the pd_watergate HUD not drawing.

December 21, 2016 Patch (Smissmas 2016)

• Respawn times will now change depending on which team is in the lead: 8 seconds to leading team, 4 seconds to trailing team.
• Moved the current beer amount to the center of the HUD.
• Added a jump to low spawn route to give respawned players something to do en-route to mid.
• Added a light to illuminate roof-Snipers better.
• Adjusted some clipping.

December 21, 2017 Patch #1 (Smissmas 2017)

• Respawn times of the teams will change dynamically based on the difference in scores. This should help balance any extreme differences in the team skills/scores.
  • <50% difference in scores: 8s for leading team, 4s for trailing.
  • >50% difference in scores: 12s for leading team, 0s for trailing.
  • Equal scores: 6s for each team.
• Relocated the player beer pickup counter on the HUD to the lower left, but made it slightly larger.
• Updated the soundscape to have more alien-y sounds in the main areas.
• Adjusted detail in the center and spawn rooms.
• Adjusted clipping around the map.

July 20, 2023 Patch #1

• Fixed pd_watergate capture zone not working properly.

Bugs

• Occasionally, when loading the map, certain roof textures and the beer symbol on the HUD do not load.
• Beer pickups do not become invisible when Spies are cloaked.
• Playing on Watergate occasionally crashes the game due to an error with the memory/address space.

Trivia

• The map was inspired by the 2012 video game Dishonored, in particular the Draper's Ward portion from the Brigmore Witches downloadable content.
• There are several references to Dishonored and Les Misérables.
  • Various Whale Bone Charms and the Lacking Moral Fiber Mask can be found hidden in a box in the corner of the central sewer drain.
  • Another Whale Bone Charm can be found perched on the top of the demolished wall on the uppermost floor of the brewery.
  • Whale Bone charms can also be found on the slanted roofs near the main RED and BLU spawn entrances.
  • Wall graffiti "DOOM BE UPON US" and "THE END IS NIGH" resembles those found in Dishonored.
  • The number "24601" can be found printed on the wall next to a barrel underneath the staircase by the secondary RED spawn entrance.
• The dilapidated boat's name is the King Mary as opposed to the Queen Mary.
• An Ap-Sap can be found by noclipping into the crates by BLU's secondary spawn entrance. It speaks when hit.
• In each team's spawn is a passed out Demoman. Next to him is a beer spill that, if stepped on, causes the player to slip forward, similar to the banana peel from Mannhattan.
• There is an out-of-bounds platform with a square plank floating at its end. Upon hitting the plank twice, an edited version of the Upgrade Station's unused music plays along with a scrolling text on the player's screen "THANK U FOR PLAYNIN THE MAP !!!!! _ _ PLS SUPPRT US BY BUYIN LOTTTTAAA MAP STAMPS THANK YOU  !!!!!!!".

• 

  The Ap-Sap hidden behind the crates near BLU's secondary exit.

• 

  The Lacking Moral Fiber Mask & Whale Bone Charms in the box in the central sewers.

• 

  Close up of the Lacking Moral Fiber Mask box.

• 

  A Whale Bone Charm hidden in the cracks of the destroyed wall in the central bar.

Gallery

• 

  A bottle of Mann Beer for the beer counter that appears on the HUD.

• 

  HUD timer until the UFO touches down.

• 

  HUD timer until the UFO flies off.

External links

• Watergate development page on TF2Maps
• Mapping contest results