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
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Mann vs. Machine (MvM) is a co-op game mode released in The Mann vs. Machine Update. In this game mode, a team of up to six players attempts to prevent a horde of AI-controlled robots from escorting a bomb to a drop-point located in a Mann Co. facility. During the game, players can purchase upgrades for their weapons and various abilities (resistances, movement speed, regeneration, etc.) using currency obtained by killing the robots, called credits. All purchased upgrades will last for the duration of the game, or until the player resets their abilities at an Upgrade Station. If a player leaves the game for any reason their upgrades will be retained, providing they reconnect, as well as any credits the player has spent and/or has remaining.
Mann vs. Machine mode currently has five separate difficulty levels: Normal, Intermediate, Advanced, Expert, and Nightmare.
Contents
Videos
| Trailer | Instructional Film |
|---|---|
| The Sound of Medicine | |
Mechanics
AI-controlled robots will attack the defending team in waves. The player's objective is to try to prevent the robots from successfully delivering a bomb to the player's base (somewhat similar to Payload). Each robot destroyed provides the players with credits, in the form of dropped "cash" piles of various sizes. When a player collects one of these "cash" piles, the resulting credits are divided equally amongst all players. At any time during the match, players may upgrade their weapons at an Upgrade Station inside their base using these credits. Players may also upgrade abilities for their current class. All upgrades for weapons and abilities are kept, even while switching to a different class (though classes can not be switched during a wave), but the purchased abilities and weapon upgrades are only available for the class that they were purchased for. Optionally, players may "refund" their credits between waves in order to change to different weapons, classes, or to optimize for a specific wave.
If the players lose against the robots, the game will restart from the beginning of the round that the players lost, until the players complete the round successfully. This can occur as many times as are necessary. Players may also vote to restart the map entirely.
Robots
Most of the robot horde is made up of plain robotic versions of the nine player classes, typically using basic or mediocre weaponry. However, there are also a number of special robots with unique abilities and/or weaponry.
While a robot carries a bomb, it loses half of its speed. However, the bomb-carrying robot gradually receives various buff effects, causing them to grow more dangerous and harder to kill. A HUD graphic displays the amount of time until the next buff. Buffs are activated by the bomb carrier via taunting, setting off an accompanying audio cue. These buffs are divided into three stages, which stack together:
| Stages | Upgrades | Time Interval (Seconds) |
|---|---|---|
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Defensive buff, shared with all nearby robots | 5 |
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45 health regenerated per second | 15 |
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Unlimited critical hits | 15 |
Giant robots cannot receive these buffs, nor do they lose speed while carrying a bomb.
Abilities and Upgrades
Players may use their accumulated credits at an Upgrade Station for the purchase of personal abilities for themselves, or for upgrades to their equipped weapons.
Players may also opt to fill their Power Up Canteen (if they have one equipped) with charges of a special buff effect—such as personal ÜberCharge, a five-second critical hit boost, ammunition refills, or the ability to teleport back to the spawn point. Engineer players may purchase a Canteen effect charge which allow for an instant, simultaneous upgrade for all of their buildings.
Players may purchase up to three uses of these effects at a time. Note that effects cannot be mixed-and-matched; players may only purchase multiple charges of the same effect. Purchasing a separate effect charge switches the canteen over to that effect.
 Scout
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 Soldier
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 Pyro
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 Demoman
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 Heavy
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 Engineer
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 Medic
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 Sniper
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 Spy
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Gameplay
For the sake of identification, all human players are placed on RED team (identified as team MANNCO), while all robots use BLU colors in their visual effects and in the kill feed. Games are played in waves, each containing a pre-set number of enemies. Various support classes also spawn in periodically until the wave is over.
When at least three players enter a Mann vs. Machine server, the option to ready up is enabled. Once one player declares they are ready, a 150-second countdown clock begins. As more players ready up, the countdown clock reduces to a minimum of 60 seconds until all players are ready. When all players are ready, the countdown reduces to 10 seconds. When the countdown ends, the wave begins. Players joining the server during the countdown will not increase the time.
Before each wave begins, the defenders are shown relevant information in the top HUD, such as the enemies the next wave will contain, the current wave, and the number of waves for that mission. Pre-set enemies have a number under each icon to indicate how many will be present in the wave, while support classes are listed to the right-hand side. A flashing blue icon means that the enemy or enemies will always fire critical hits. Note that typing cl_mvm_wave_status_visible_during_wave 1 into the console makes some of this information visible at all times, which can be very useful for players trying to learn a new wave.
During pre-wave intervals, Engineers are able to instantly place level 3 buildings and Medics have a notably faster ÜberCharge fill rate.
Once the wave begins, the top HUD will change to show a strength gauge depicting the quantity of pre-set enemies left. Robots will begin spawning into the battlefield in groups. Until the robots are in areas that are accessible by players, attacking one will do nothing but cause it to glow as if it was ÜberCharged. During the wave, information about certain enemies may appear in the top HUD, much of which will also be announced by the Administrator. Note that Snipers are not announced by the Administrator, and are instead called out by the players via automatic voice responses. These responses may also announce the presence of Tanks and Sentry Busters on the field as well.
- Sentry Buster - Sentry Busters are large, bipedal pressure mines that will run, stop, and self-destruct near Sentry Guns. If an Engineer is moving their Sentry Gun, the Sentry Buster will chase them. These enemies only appear in response to effective Sentry Guns built by an Engineer on the defending team and will spawn more often if there are multiple effective Sentry Guns. A common strategy is for the Engineer to pick up their Sentry and run away from other players on the map and touch the Sentry Buster. This causes the Sentry Buster to stop and then explode, before which the Engineer can escape with his Sentry Gun. Another common strategy is for the Engineer to sacrifice their Sentry Gun, by allowing the Sentry Buster to destroy it in a safe location. This will stop the Sentry Busters targeted at that Engineer from spawning for a period of time.
- Tank - Heavily armored tanks will enter the field from specific entry points. These do not attack players directly, but will move implacably towards the bomb hatch until they are either destroyed, or reach their destination. Knockback and slowing effects do not affect them at all. Aiming at the top of the tank does more damage. Unfortunate players can be crushed if they get caught between a Tank and a solid object. Tanks do not carry or retrieve the main bomb, as each one contains its own.
- Sniper - Sniper Robots spawn like regular robots, but will mostly try to snipe players from higher platforms instead of running with the horde. All Sniper Robots except those carrying the Huntsman are unable to headshot.
- Spy - Unlike other robots, Spy Robots may spawn anywhere where players aren't looking in the field, by use of their cloaking. They can disguise as friendly players, backstab players, and can sap Engineer buildings. The Announcer will call out to indicate when Spy Robots appear and when they have been destroyed.
- Engineer - Engineer Robots can enter in two ways - one more common variation of the robot will teleport into the map in preset locations near the bomb, while two rarer versions with a little over half of the other variation's health will enter normally. Upon reaching a predetermined nest area, the Robot Engineer commences building a Teleporter, which acts as a forward spawn point for the robots (not including giant robots and robots carrying the bomb), and a Sentry Gun to defend it. The Announcer will call out when an Engineer Robot has teleported in or if one has appeared, and upon defeating an Engineer Robot the Announcer will call out that it has been destroyed, but if its teleporter is still open she will say so as well.
After each successful wave, the defenders will be evaluated based on how well credits were collected, with a credit rating ranging from F to A+. If all the credits are collected (the A+ grade), the defenders will earn a $100 bonus. If under $50 credits are not collected, the defenders will instead receive a $50 bonus. If over $50 of credits are not collected, the defenders receive no bonus at all.
Once a mission is completed, the defenders will be given a final evaluation, and the server will load the next Mann vs. Machine map after an interval of 20 seconds. In Mann Up mode, defenders will receive item drops and will exit to the matchmaking lobby after an interval of 90 seconds, and this time will decrease depending on how many defenders are still in the server or are finished viewing item drops.
Abandoning
Introduced in the October 17, 2012 Patch, rules regarding players "abandoning" games have been created.
A player is considered to have "abandoned" a game if they meet all of the following criteria:
- Leave a game while playing a "Mann Up" game on an official server; and
- Have not played through a single wave to completion or failure; and
- There are 5 or more players currently connected to the server (including the player).
If none of these criteria are met, it is safe to disconnect a game without being considered "abandoning" the game.
If they meet all of the criteria repeatedly, however, the player will temporarily be placed in a low-priority match-making queue. This results in a significantly longer wait when trying to find a game.
If a player presses the disconnect button, the player will receive a message telling them whether it is safe to leave. The player will either abandon the game with or without a penalty, depending on the criteria. However, if the player leaves by other means (such as changing server via the console or the in-game Steam HUD), they will not receive a message and may get a penalty without being notified.
If a player loses their connection while in-game, the spot will be reserved for the player and they will have 3 minutes to rejoin. If the player does not rejoin after the time is up, the player will have been counted as leaving the server intentionally. If the game has crashed (or the player loses their Internet connection), then the player can restart Team Fortress 2 and will be given a prompt to reclaim their spot in the match. This prompt will inform the player of the penalties they will get if they decline. If the player fails to rejoin within the three minutes, and they fill out the criteria listed above, then it will count the player as having abandoned the match.
If a player is kicked for being idle whilst in a match, then it will be counted as quitting intentionally and therefore will incur a penalty. If a player is vote-kicked from a server, they will not be considered as leaving intentionally and will not incur a penalty.
Strategy
Maps
Mann vs. Machine maps carry the mvm_ prefix.
| Name | Picture | File name |
|---|---|---|
| Big Rock | 
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mvm_bigrock
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| Coal Town | 
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mvm_coaltown
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| Decoy | 
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mvm_decoy
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| Example | 
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mvm_example
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| Ghost Town | 
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mvm_ghost_town
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| Mannhattan | 
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mvm_mannhattan
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| Mannworks | 
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mvm_mannworks
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| Rottenburg | 
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mvm_rottenburg
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Related achievements
Update history
- Added Mann vs. Machine.
- Added maps: Coal Town, Decoy, and Mannworks.
- Fixed a client crash related to Mann vs. Machine stats.
- Fixed a crash related to server plug-ins spawning a Tank before the game is ready.
- Updated the dedicated server to exit when attempting to start a Mann vs. Machine map with less than 32 maxplayers.
- Fixed
mp_timelimitcausing Mann vs. Machine mode to not reset properly when the defenders lose. - Fixed the Mann vs. Machine wave loss/victory dialog buttons not being clickable sometimes.
- Fixed the Mann vs. Machine victory dialog getting stuck on the screen.
- Fixed the Mann vs. Machine wave summary dialog showing up at the beginning of the first wave.
- Fixed the disconnect reason not being localized properly for Mann vs. Machine mode.
- Fixed player glow colors not based on player health in some community mods outside of Mann vs. Machine mode.
- Removed console spew related to missing movement warnings.
- Updated the matchmaking ConVar
tf_mm_strict.
- Fixed matchmaking sending players to out-of-date servers.
- Fixed the server browser showing an incorrect player count in MvM games.
- Fixed MvM intro video not playing on some Macs.
- Fixed the sound precache string table being nearly full in non-MvM games.
- This was causing the "error writing string table baseline" and "failed reading message net_SetConVar" errors.
- Added a command
"player_ready_toggle"for players to ready-up.- Can be bound to any key in the Keyboard tab of the Options dialog.
- Fixed a few MvM sounds not being precached properly.
- Added Taskbar Window Flash and Drum Roll sound on successful match making for Windows users.
- Sound will play even if the game is minimized.
- Added difficulty text "Normal" and "Advanced" to the MvM scoreboard when playing official Valve missions.
- Fixed UI Bugs related to the MvM splash screens (Wave Loss and Victory).
- Server browser will now show MvM mission name in the "map" column. (E.g. "mvm_mannworks_advanced").
- Fixed a crash when spawning the tank in non-MvM games. Added SetHealth, SetMaxHealth, AddHealth, and RemoveHealth inputs to the tank entity
- Fixed an issue in the Server Browser where replay bots would add to the player count.
- Fixed a bug that would sometimes cause the bomb to get positioned incorrectly when dropped.
- Added safeguards to prevent bots from getting stuck in certain cases.
- Fixed Steel Gauntlet robots failing to destroy mini-Sentry Guns on slopes.
- Fixed the party leader’s mission completions showing in the game lobby instead of your own.
- Matchmaking search criteria supports selecting multiple missions.
- Matchmaking will prevent late joining into the a server near the end of the last wave.
- Added the tour number to the information on the scoreboard.
- Fixed a false positive for the achievement "Clockwork Carnage".
- Added a new command "
bot_hurt".- Parameters
-name [bot name],-team [red/blue/all],-damage [amount].
- Parameters
- Fixed a bug where players could only buy 1 upgrade at a time from the Upgrade Station.
- Fixed a bug where the Victory dialog would sometimes show during incorrect times.
- Added two tours of duty, each with unique loot:
- Operation Oil Spill, with 6 intermediate skill missions.
- Operation Gear Grinder, with 3 expert skill missions.
- If a player connects to a MvM game through matchmaking and loses their connection, their spot will be held for a brief duration and they will be given a chance to reconnect.
- After victory on a Mann Up server, the players will be put into a lobby together.
- Improved matchmaking searching status screen.
- Balance changes:
- Explosive Headshots
- Damage is now 150 regardless of upgrade level.
- Damage is done in one tick instead of the previous six.
- Added a slowing effect based on upgrade level (50%-80% slow, 2-4 second duration).
- Radius still scales with upgrade level (unchanged).
- Marked For Death duration reduced to 7 seconds from 15 seconds when the target is a giant robot.
- Reduced the "effect bar recharge rate increased" upgrade from 20% increments with an 80% cap to 15% increments with a 60% cap.
- Explosive Headshots
- Added a penalty system to deter players from repeatedly abandoning Mann Up games.
- Corrected the respawn time for the Mannslaughter mission.
- Updated MissionCycle behavior. Servers will always cycle to a mission listed in the MissionCycle file.
October 26, 2012 Patch (Spectral Halloween Special)
- Added map: Coaltown Event.
- Fixed a Linux dedicated server crash related to Mann vs. Machine mode.
- Fixed a dedicated server memory leak when running Mann vs. Machine mode.
- Fixed an Mann vs. Machine exploit that allowed permanent ubercharge/critboost effects on non-Mann-Up servers.
- Fixed Mann vs. Machine popfiles not properly resetting on changelevel.
December 20, 2012 Patch (Mecha Update)
- Added a tour of duty with unique loot:
- Operation Mecha Engine, with 3 advanced skill missions.
- Map mvm_bigrock.
- Engineer Botkiller items.
- Added Engineer robot.
- Added "Benign infiltration" to the Mann Vs. Machine mission-cycle file for servers.
- Fixed a Dead Ringer Spy exploit in Mann Vs. Machine mode.
- Fixed a lighting issue in mvm_bigrock.
- Fixed clients being able to issue mp_tournament_restart, tournament_readystate, and tournament_teamname commands.
- Fixed an exploit that allowed players to stun a mini-boss.
- Updated mvm_bigrock with some new func_nobuild areas.
- Fixed spectator bots picking up the bomb in Mann Vs. Machine.
- Fixed a bug with item sets incorrectly applying their bonus when using Mann Vs. Machine upgrades of the same type.
- Fixed giant robots sometimes getting stuck in Mann Vs. Machine.
- Fixed the boss health bar sometimes disappearing.
- Fixed the uber Medics in Wave 4 of the Broken Parts mission charging at the incorrect rate.
- Fixed Engineer bots in Mann Vs. Machine building disposable Sentry Guns that upgrade into tiny, red, level 3 Sentry Guns.
- Fixed a bug in Mann Vs. Machine related to carrying buildings and using the "Upgrade Buildings" canteen.
- Fixed a bug that allowed level 3 mini-sentries in Mann Vs. Machine mode.
July 10, 2013 Patch (Summer Event 2013)
- In MvM, if all team members unready, the pre-round countdown will stop.
- In MvM, when robots are killed by sniper headshots or explosive headshot upgrade, they will drop 'red' money that will automatically be collected when it would otherwise dissolve.
- Renamed mvm_coaltown_event to mvm_ghost_town to fix a problem with voting for challenges in MvM when on Coal Town.
- mvm_bigrock:
- Fixed players building on rock in cave section.
- Fixed incorrect projectile speed attributes being applied to giants in Mann vs. Machine.
- Fixed some missing Sapper particles in Mann vs. Machine mode.
October 29, 2013 Patch (Scream Fortress 2013)
- Enabled Mann vs. Machine event map Wave 666 in bootcamp.
- Fixed not being able to earn the Brotherhood of Steel achievement in MvM. (play with 5 friends)
- [Undocumented] Inspecting a player in Mann vs. Machine (default key: F) now shows the upgrades of the player who is currently being inspected.
November 21, 2013 Patch (Two Cities Update)
- Operation Two Cities
- Two maps:
mvm_mannhattanandmvm_rottenburg - Advanced tour (Operation Two Cities) featuring four missions (Empire Escalation, Metro Malice, Hamlet Hostility, and Bavarian Botbash. These missions are also playable from Boot Camp.)
- Two extra Boot Camp-only missions (Big Apple Barricade and Village Vanguard)
- Added 14 achievements.
- Two maps:
- Players can earn a "Refund Upgrades" credit by collecting money during waves.
- The amount required is listed in the scoreboard, and varies per-mission.
- Any money collected – whether winning or losing – will count toward earning a credit.
- To redeem, visit an Upgrades station and click the "Refund Upgrades" button.
- Any money spent on buy-backs and Canteen charges will not be refunded.
- Detailed player performance stats added to the scoreboard.
- Damage and Tank. Total damage done to Gray Mann's forces.
- Healing. Direct healing done to other players.
- Support. A composite value that reflects anything a player has done to help their team:
- Examples: reset a bomb, stun or slow an enemy, provide increased damage, block damage with invulnerability or shield, and lots more.
- Money. The amount each player has collected.
- Players can inspect upgrades on teammates via the "Inspect" key. ("F" by default)
- Medic
- Revive (no upgrade required)
- Teammates leave behind a revive marker when they die.
- Target the marker with your Medi Gun to revive them.
- Projectile Shield Upgrade
- Build Energy by healing teammates, reviving and preventing damage via Invuln ÜberCharge.
- Press
ATTACK3to activate when Energy meter is full. (mouse3by default) - While active:
- Blocks all enemy projectiles.
- Damages enemies on touch.
- Mad Milk Syringes Upgrade
- Syringe Gun needles apply Mad Milk (heal-on-hit for teammates) on contact.
- Healing Mastery Upgrade (previously two separate upgrades)
- +25% heal rate per point.
- +25% revive rate per point.
- +25% self-regen rate per point.
- Overheal Expert Upgrade (previously two separate upgrades)
- +25% more overheal per point.
- +50% duration per point.
- Canteen Specialist Upgrade
- Shares canteen charge effects with heal target.
- +1 second charge duration per point.
- -10 canteen charge price per point.
- Revive (no upgrade required)
- Soldier
- Rocket Specialist Upgrade
- +15% rocket speed per point.
- On direct hits
- Stuns target (duration increases per point).
- +15% increased blast radius per point.
- No range-based falloff damage.
- Rocket Specialist Upgrade
- Heavy
- Attack Projectiles Upgrade
- Now has two levels.
- Level one is less effective than before.
- Level two is more effective than level one used to be.
- Price reduced from 600 to 400 per point.
- Now has two levels.
- Rage Pushback upgrade activation moved to
ATTACK3(mouse3by default)
- Attack Projectiles Upgrade
- Fixed a server crash related to damaging the tank with the new Medic shield.
- Fixed bots trying to attack an old sentry location after the gun has been picked up by the Engineer.
- Fixed a bug that would cause robot "gate hat" items to be craftable. Gate hats that were crafted while the bug was active have self-destructed and become limited-quantity Glitched Circuit Boards as a commemorative token.
- Fixed the Health Regen MvM upgrade string mistakenly displaying %.
- Fixed the Mann vs. Machine return-to-lobby timer not updating properly after a mission has been completed.
- [Undocumented] Removed the Gatebot Light hats from the Mann Co. Catalog.
- Fixed a client crash related to the Mann vs. Machine mission victory panel.
- Fixed players who join in the middle of a mission not receiving the Upgrade Refund credit if it has been earned by the team.
- Fixed an exploit that allowed purchasing upgrades for weapons other than what they were intended for.
- Updated
mvm_rottenburg- Fixed a bug where the bomb could get stuck out of reach in the corner near the cap.
- Fixed a bug where bots could be instantly killed by being pushed into the tank tunnel once opened.
- Fixed a bug where money could get stuck in the tank barricade when it was rebuilt, preventing collection.
- Updated
mvm_mannhattan- Rebalanced Empire Escalation.
- Fixed credits not always being collected when they fall into the grinder.
- Fixed a bug that allowed the gates to be captured out of order.
- Fixed a lighting bug related to lower graphics settings that cause the map to be too dark.
- [Undocumented] Giant Bonk Scout: Reduced bonk regen bonus from +65% to +45%.
- [Undocumented] Colonel Barrage: Removed -90% rage attribute.
- [Undocumented] Colonel Barrage (gatebot variant): Removed -90% rage attribute until after all gates are captured.
- [Undocumented] Major Crits (boss gatebot variant): Increased projectile speed penalty from -60% to -65%, and reduced rage penalty from -90% to -80% after all gates are captured.
- [Undocumented] Major Crits (non-boss gatebot variant): Decreased reload rate bonus from +78% to +60%, increased projectile speed penalty from -60% to -65%, and removed -90% rage attribute.
- [Undocumented] Giant Heal-On-Kill Heavy (boss gatebot variant): Increased rage giving penalty from -10% to -40%.
- Fixed being able to inspect Blue-team bots.
- Fixed the mission victory screen not always showing the correct information for each player.
- Fixed the Mann vs. Machine scoreboard not always displaying values correctly.
- Fixed an exploit in Mann vs. Machine related to purchasing upgrades.
- Fixed the bots not being able to equip multiple cosmetic items.
- Fixed Scout bots not playing the correct animation when stunned with the Sandman.
- Fixed not being able to reset the countdown timer if a player disconnects while Ready.
- Updated the countdown logic to un-Ready a team if someone quits during the final 10 seconds or disconnects while everyone else is Ready.
- Updated
mvm_rottenburg- Improved collision near barricade to reduce players getting stuck.
- Fixed credits not always being collected when they fall into the barricade.
- Updated
mvm_mannhattan- Fixed being able to construct buildings inside the respawn room.
- Fixed a material problem near the hatch.
- Fixed the MvM upgrade menu closing when a Strange item has its counter increment.
- Fixed an exploit in Mann vs. Machine mode related to purchasing upgrades for free.
December 22, 2014 Patch (Smissmas 2014)
- Added chance to find Australium Weapon rewards to all Advanced and Expert Mann vs. Machine tours. Previously only available on Two Cities tour
- Added Killstreak kits for Quickiebomb Launcher, Iron Bomber and Panic Attack in to Two Cities MannUp loot tables
- Fixed using the Holiday Punch to tickle Mann vs. Machine enemy bots.
- Fixed the Explosive Headshot upgrade in Mann vs. Machine not applying to the Classic.
- Players no longer drop their weapons in MvM.
- Fixed the Mann vs. Machine Medi Gun shield not being re-created after switching away from the Medi Gun and back while the charge is draining.
- Fixed some alignment issues in the HUD meters for the Mann vs. Machine rage knockback and Medi Gun shield.
- Fixed a server crash related to Mann vs. Machine mode.
- Fixed a bug where players would see cosmetic items following them around while playing Mann vs. Machine
- Fixed missing crit rocket sound for giant Soldiers in Mann vs. Machine mode
- Fixed control point HUD not being displayed for Mann vs. Machine maps with control points like Mannhattan
- Fixed not being able to sell playerclass upgrades in Mann vs. Machine mode
- Fixed bots sometimes not spawning in Mann vs. Machine mode
- Fixed Mann vs. Machine Mann-Up victories sometimes failing to take player tickets and reward loot
- Fixed bots equipping the canteen in Mann vs. Machine mode.
- Fixed a regression with the explosive-headshot upgrade sound in Mann vs. Machine.
- Fixed erroneously being warned that leaving a bootcamp match will result in an abandon penalty.
- Fixed servers running
tf_mm_strict 2mis-handling bootcamp matches. - Fixed servers failing to recover properly from crashing while running a bootcamp match.
July 7, 2016 Patch #1 (Meet Your Match Update)
- Fixed multiple Mann vs. Machine bugs caused by bot AI functions being executing after the bots have died.
- Fixed Medics sometimes instantly reviving players in Mann vs. Machine.
- Improved Flamethrower flame performance in Mann vs. Machine on clients and servers by up to +500%.
- Fixed a common server crash that occurred during Mann vs. Machine matches.
- Fixed Mann vs. Machine players receiving abandon penalties after playing at least one wave.
- Fixed Refill Ammo canteens not refilling the ammo for all weapons in Mann vs. Machine.
- Fixed mini-Sentry Guns not having full health when they are built quickly during the setup time on Mann vs. Machine maps.
- Fixed a regression in Mann vs. Machine where stunned bots could not pick-up the bomb.
- Fixed the Sentry Buster sound being orphaned if the Sentry Buster detonates while invulnerable.
- Fixed zombies not using the correct skin in Ghost Town.
October 21, 2016 Patch (Scream Fortress 2016)
- Fixed a bug with the vote-kick timer in Mann vs. Machine mode.
- Fixed Mann vs. Machine zombies not using the correct skin in Ghost Town outside of the Halloween event.
- Updated Mann vs. Machine to use the new ping information system already in use for Casual and Competitive matchmaking
- In particular, parties with members from differing regions should now have a better queue experience.
- Fixed players not always returning to the matchmaking lobby screen at the end of a Mann vs. Machine match.
- Fixed Mann vs. Machine bots not playing the teleport sound effect and becoming invulnerable after teleporting.
December 21, 2016 Patch (Smissmas 2016)
- Fixed the
ShouldPreserveSquadflag not being parsed correctly in Mann vs. Machine mode. - Fixed a bug related to bot Engineers and Teleporters in Mann vs. Machine mode.
- Fixed a case where late-joining a Mann Up match during the final wave could result in erroneously receiving a ten minute cooldown.
- Fixed a bug causing Invader's buildings to blow up if another Invader building of the same type is destroyed after the Engineer has died.
- Players who leave an MvM match for any reason cannot be re-matched into the match in question for a few minutes.
- Players who are vote-kicked from an MvM match cannot be re-matched into the match in question for several hours.
- Fixed Rescue Ranger bolts healing disposable sentries in MvM.
October 20, 2017 Patch #1 (Jungle Inferno Update)
- Fixed the announcer sometimes saying "The tank is halfway through!" when a tank first spawns in Mann vs. Machine mode.
- Applied the match rejoin limitations in Casual to Mann vs. Machine as well.
- Players who leave a Mann vs. Machine match cannot matchmake back into that same game for several minutes.
- Players who are vote-kicked from a Mann vs. Machine match cannot matchmake back into that same game for several hours.
October 26, 2017 Patch (Scream Fortress IX)
- The Thermal Thruster no longer fully stuns mini-bosses in Mann vs. Machine mode.
- Removed the "Faster recharge rate" upgrades from The Dragon's Fury.
- Fixed the missing "Increased Airblast Push Force" upgrade on The Dragon's Fury.
- [Undocumented] Fixed the new airblast not honoring airblast vulnerability modifiers on Mann vs. Machine bots.
- [Undocumented] Fixed the new airblast not benefiting from the airblast force upgrade in Mann vs. Machine.
- Fixed being able to buy airblast upgrades for the Phlogistinator in Mann vs. Machine mode.
- Fixed a bug related to the Medi Gun overheal upgrade in Mann vs. Machine.
- Fixed Squad Surplus Vouchers only being usable by the party leader in Mann vs. Machine.
- Fixed Mann vs. Machine robots sometimes using human voices instead of their robot voices.
- Fixed Mann vs. Machine matches with open slots not receiving late-joiners.
- Fixed Mann vs. Machine late-join failing for parties of two or more.
- Fixed client crash when playing Mann vs. Machine.
December 19, 2018 Patch (Smissmas 2018)
- Fixed a Mann vs. Machine bug with giant robots reported by Justin G. (sigsegv).
- Fixed Medi-gun/Wrench items not dropping for the Mann vs. Machine rewards.
Unused content
- RED versions of all of the robots (besides the Tank and Sentry Buster) can be found in the game files.
- Tan/skin colors were originally going to be used for the robots (Sniper Robot's tan head textures can be found in game files).
- The robot mothership originally made a humming sound the first two days MvM was released, but was removed later.
- Expired cash would have originally made a sound, but was ultimately scrapped.
- All giants originally had their own unique footstep sounds.
- There's an unused siren sound which is similar to an air raid siren.
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_reloadschemein the console or pressing Tab ⇆.) - Occasionally in a listen server, and after changing to a custom mission, the robots may begin attacking before you start the wave. This only happens the first time you change to the mission in a given session.
- When killed by a dead robot, such as by afterburn, or when removing a destroyed Spy Bot's Sapper, the kill feed may show that the robot has moved to spectator mode. This is due to an internal routine that reassigns robot players for the next attack.
- The Wave Summary sometime displays incorrect numbers of Uber Medics for certain waves.
- Sometimes after a wave is complete, the Administrator will continue to issue warnings about the bomb's progress. This does not affect gameplay in any way.
- Giant robots have been known to die upon falling from a decent height, regardless of health remaining.
- Robots that are destroyed while speaking and players who are killed while using Mann vs. Machine-related responses will continue speaking after their destruction/death. Tank Robots that are destroyed as they stop to deploy the bomb will continue to play the "buzz and ding" sound sequence.
- Rarely, you can get your screen whited-out by a Sentry Buster's explosion without being affected. This can happen by being somewhere under it, without being able to see it. This can happen often on MVM_Decoy in the middle building when going towards the middle of the stairs, or below the roof while jumping, provided there is a Sentry Buster on the roof.
- It is possible for the Administrator to announce that a mission has failed when it has not. This can happen when destroying the bomb carrier as it is about to drop into the bomb hole. The bomb hatch will be destroyed, but the game considers the bomb undeployed. In this case, the following bomb carriers will never make it to the hatch as it will continue to kill anything that steps on it.
- Sometimes, when a Mann Up mission is finished, the loot screen shows up empty. This can be fixed by entering
hud_reloadschemein the console. - There are a small number of Sentry Gun placements that are immune to Sentry Busters. If the target sentry is in one of these areas, the Sentry Buster will spawn, and without jumping down or exiting spawn, they will detonate. This does not show in the kill feed, and the Sentry Buster icon at the top of the screen will remain.
- Certain sounds will become stuck in a loop if a wave is failed while they are playing. A notable example of this is the sentry buster ticking sound. This can be easily fixed by typing
snd_restartinto the console. - Rarely, before the round, the bomb will appear in the spawn points for the robots for all maps with no robot carrying it. An extremely rare case of this is the bomb being teleported to the hatch at the start of the round.
- Rarely (although occasionally in listen servers), most of the robots' voice lines may not be robotized at all. For example, the death cry of an Engineer Bot or the laugh of a Sentry Buster.
- This can also happen if a robot speaks while far away from the player.
- Robot Spies' voices will not be robotized when heard from a distance (this excludes the laugh that is constantly heard when they are present on the map).
- Sometimes the laugh is cut (this is because the robot Spy's voice files have a second delay on them).
- Rarely, near the last third of the sixth wave on MVM_Bigrock, if one or more players leave and are matched back onto the server, the spawn rate of the robots will drastically decrease, and many robots will not spawn at all. If a special class (Spies, Snipers) is active when this occurs, they will spawn in groups of two at a speed of about once per thirty seconds. When this occurs, friendly Sentry Guns will attempt to target players, though they will not do any damage. The only known method to overcome this bug is to restart the game entirely.
- Sometimes on Mann Up servers, a glitch will occur where players are unable to join the server. The only way to fix this is for every player to leave the server.
- Rarely, a Demoknight Bot will become glitched, causing only his sword to be visible. This robot can not be killed by any means. The only option is to let the robots deploy the bomb to restart the round. If players choose to vote to restart the round, there is a small chance that the resulting restart will cause all robots to spawn at a slower rate. Although this may make the round easier to win, it will increase the amount of time it will take to win the wave (all waves are affected) to over 10 minutes per wave.
- Very rarely, a robot may appear as a giant when it shouldn't be, or vice versa. Sometimes, the giant may still have the health of the smaller counterpart, or it may have the health that the giant version would have.
- Rarely, if an Engineer Bot's Teleporter is not destroyed by the time the wave ends, the Teleporter will not self-destruct and continue spawning robots when the next wave begins.
- Occasionally, if a Giant Robot is destroyed with the Medic's Projectile Shield, it will die as a ragdoll rather than exploding.
- This can also happen with any weapons that would cause ragdolls to normally be vaporized, such as the Cow Mangler 5000.
- If a player is inspected during setup or mid-game, upgrades may be lost. If occurring during setup, money spent on the lost upgrades will be refunded. If occurring mid-game, however, there will be no refund on lost upgrades.
- This happens most often with building upgrade canteens.
- Rarely, robots may stop spawning, causing the wave to be unbeatable. This can only be fixed by restarting the map.
- Sometimes, when playing two Mann Up missions in one play session, the second mission completion loot screen may show the loot screen from the previous mission and the notification for "Found Items" won't show up. Items will still be obtained after updating your backpack.
- Rarely, a human ragdoll will appear rather than a robotic one.
- This happens almost every time players kill a Spy robot programmed to have the Dead Ringer.
- Very rarely, a RED Demoman's projectiles may appear to be blue instead of red when fired. Damage to enemy robots is unaffected.
- If a player is set to be votekicked and leaves the game before the voting is finished, the player is recognized as Banned from the server if the vote was successful.
- There's a popular method of gaining 'infinite' refunds by either joining Spectator and then picking random when selecting a team OR by going into the team selection screen and then pressing "1". These methods can only work if the refund credit was earned already.
- Rarely, in Mannhattan, stray radio waves will appear in midair, even if no robots are under them, when a robot successfully captures a point.
- Rarely, the gate before Gate A in Mannhattan will appear to be still open even though the gate closing sound plays and there are no robots passing through it before it closes. The same situation may apply to Gate A when Gate B is captured.
- If a player suicides or is killed on top of the wooden tank barrier in Rottenburg, the reanimator will disappear underneath it and cannot be used by a Medic, regardless if the barrier is destroyed or not.
- If the "Change mission" vote is successful while the round is about to begin, the next round (after the game restarts and spawns everyone to the first wave of the new mission) will have the wave start instantly, without giving the players a chance to ready themselves.
- Additionally, the Announcer does not say that the mission is about to begin, and no music plays.
- Entering a round that is in progress during the set-up phase, will cause the Announcer to not say anything and no music will play. The rest of the waves will play normally, however.
- Deploying a Mini-Sentry during the setup phase causes the Mini-Sentry to retain 50% of its health after construction. This happens because the Mini-Sentry begins with 50% health when deployed, and regenerates health back to 100%.
- If you spawn bots through the console, it will add maximum bots on each team.
- Doing this causes BLU Humans with robot voices and RED Bots spawning in the carrier. The wave will likely progress slower because there are too many bots spawned.
- Rarely, in Mannhattan, it is possible for there to be no bomb, regardless of spawning bots. It is likely this is caused by the bomb being trapped behind the spawn gate. This can be fixed by killing all the robots that are outside of their spawn area.
- There is a random chance for an Ullapool Caber to spawn in mid-air when a Sentry Buster spawns.
- The caber spawns in random places around the map, and cannot be interacted with.
- Rarely, when connecting to a server, the player will be connected to a different match while still on the load screen.
- This sometimes results in the game placing the player in an empty server with no robot waves.
Notes
- Mann vs. Machine uses a separate set of "Best Moments" and thus keeps track of a separate performance report. These will appear after the usual set of "Best Moments" as a client connects to a server.
- Normal achievements cannot be obtained while playing this game mode. The only achievements obtainable in Mann vs. Machine are the Mann vs. Machievements.
- Optionally, players can utilize .pop files to create custom waves of robots, either for practice or to create entire new missions.
External links
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