Mannpower

Hellfire

Mannpower is a game mode originally announced alongside the Smissmas 2014 update in the Mann Co. Beta Program. It was officially released as a full game mode alongside the Scream Fortress 2015 update. Mannpower is a modified version of the Capture the Flag game mode.

Gameplay

Upon starting a Mannpower game, the player is prompted to equip the Grappling Hook Action Item. The Grappling Hook allows players to cling to surfaces and move rapidly across the maps. The player travels in a straight line to the point at where their Grappling Hook connected to the surface, and cannot use any of their weapons. Spies can use their Grappling Hooks while cloaked or disguised, and their Hook's rope color will be the same as their disguise.

To complete the objective of the maps, the player must capture the Intelligence 10 times, as opposed to the usual 3 times of a normal CTF game. To capture the enemy team's Intelligence, your team's Intelligence must be uncontested and at its spawn point. Unlike regular Capture the Flag, the timer that appears over dropped Intelligence is not reset if it is picked up again, making capturing the Intelligence harder. Additionally, if an Intelligence carrier does not have a Powerup, they will receive health regeneration equal to 0.1x the class base health regeneration. Flags will become poisonous and mark the carrier for death 90 seconds after having been stolen. If both teams flags are stolen and poisonous, they will return when next dropped. Unlike a normal CTF game, capturing the Intelligence awards the player with 10 points on the scoreboard as opposed to the standard amount of 2 points.

The respawn timer is shortened to approximately 4 seconds upon death from another player. The respawn timer is 0 seconds if the player kills themselves through means other than another player. In addition, players are given a short grace period of invulnerability upon respawning.

All melee weapons do an additional 30% damage. Demomen equipped with a shield do not receive this bonus. Random critical hits and Dominations are disabled.

Powerups

In Mannpower, the player can collect multiple different Powerups that spawn around the map. Neutral Powerups can be collected by any team, while team-specific Powerups can only be collected by the team that the color matches from the Powerup or disguised Spies (howewer, Spies can't collect the enemy's "Revenge"). In Casual Mode, only one instance of each Powerup is available (with the exception of each team's Revenge). Players with a Powerup will receive a 25% hook movement speed penalty when carrying the Intelligence, flag carriers without a Powerup do not suffer a speed penalty. The current in-game Powerups are:

Neutral Team	RED Team	BLU Team	Type	Usage	Icon
			Strength	Double damage for all weapons; Distance damage fall-off immunity.
			Resistance	Reduces incoming damage by 50%; Immune to Plague; Immune to Reflect; Blocks backstabs.
			Vampire	All damage dealt is returned as health. Flamethrowers and Miniguns return ~0.558x as much health; melee attacks return 1.25x as much; 25% damage resistance; Max health increased by 80; Immune to Reflect; Blast weapon clip size increased by 50%.
			Reflect	80% of damage received is reflected back to the attacker (but damage reflected this way cannot kill the attacker); Max health increased to 400; 100% of received Sentry Gun damage is reflected back to the Sentry Gun; Pushback force to players who damaged the powerup carrier.
			Haste	2x firing speed; 4x reload speed; 5x Flare Gun refire rate; Double clip size and max ammo count; Movement speed increased by 30%; Sticky bomb arm time reduced; Double Übercharge gain; Sniper rifles have quicker damage ramp-up and re-zoom after shooting.
			Regeneration	Ammo and metal is fully refilled every 5 seconds; Health is regenerated at a rate equal to the class base health regeneration.
			Precision	Bullet spread reduced by 90%; Distance damage falloff immunity; Sniper rifles have quicker damage ramp-up and re-zoom after shooting, and have double damage; Rocket and grenade travel speed increased by 250%; Blast weapon clip size increased by 50%; Explosive projectiles have no radius damage falloff; Immunity to self-blast damage.
			Agility	Movement speed increased by 50%; Grapple speed increase; Jump height increased by 80%; Immune to fall damage; Instant weapon switch; Reduced grapple movement speed bonus when carrying the intelligence.
			Knockout	Restricts the carrier to Melee and Grappling Hook only; Max health increased depending on the class: •Scout, Engineer, Sniper, Spy: 175 •Soldier, Medic: 150 •Pyro, Heavy: 125 •Demoman: 150 •Demoman with a shield equipped: 30 •Demoman with the Eyelander or Half-Zatoichi, with or without a shield: 20 Immune to airblast and damage pushback; Melee weapon deals 190% of base damage and forcibly shoves the victim away; Melee hit forces the victim to drop their powerup or the flag if they have it; 4X melee damage to buildings; Collects health pack health without subtracting their health bonus; -80% Shield charge refill rate, including charge gained from swords, the Tide Turner, and Ali Baba's Wee Booties.
			King	Max health increased by 100; Firing and reload speed increased by ~16.7%; 50% increase in Ubercharge gain; Health is regenerated at a rate equal to 0.3x the class base health regeneration; All effects except maximum health increase are shared by nearby teammates, though the regeneration buff is only applied to teammates and enemy Spies who also have powerups.
			Plague	Increased health kit collection range; Touching an enemy gives them and their nearby teammates the plague; Plague victims bleed to death in 10 seconds unless they pick up a health kit or touch a resupply cabinet; Plague blocks King’s health regeneration and team buff; 50% damage resistance against Plague victims.
			Supernova	Discharge your supernova attack (grapple secondary fire) to briefly stun nearby visible enemies; Requires full Powerup meter; Powerup meter fills over time and by dealing damage; Stunned enemies drop the intelligence, their Powerups and are pushed away from the Supernova attacker; Powerups dropped in this way are coloured in the supernova user's colour; Once discharged, the Supernova powerup disappears and respawns; When the Powerup meter is full, enemies will glow when in range, including disguised Spies.
			Revenge	Temporary full crit power for 30 seconds; Activates and spawns when a significant game imbalance is detected.

Health regeneration

Sources of health regeneration unique to Mannpower use a unique healing mechanic which scales in speed depending on the class being healed. Health is regenerated every 0.25 seconds and the green health number displayed is exactly half of the health added. The base healing rate of each class is as follows:

Class	HP/s
	128
	112
	96
	80
	64

Strategy

Main article: Community Mannpower strategy

Maps

Main article: List of maps

Mannpower

Mannpower has four compatible maps and does not have a specific prefix; community maps are identified with an italic font.

Name	Picture	File name
Foundry (Capture the Flag)		ctf_foundry
Gorge (Capture the Flag)		ctf_gorge
Hellfire		ctf_hellfire
Thunder Mountain (Capture the Flag)		ctf_thundermountain

Update history

December 22, 2014 Patch (Smissmas 2014)

• Mannpower was added to the game.

December 23, 2014 Patch

• Fixed disguised Spies using the incorrect grapple color.
• Fixed the grapple still being connected to players after they die and respawn.
• Fixed the Regen powerup preventing players from picking up health kits and ammo packs.
• Fixed the Resist powerup shield drawing for Spies while they are invisible.
• Fixed the Resist powerup shield using the wrong color for disguised Spies.
• Fixed not seeing the powerup icons for disguised Spies.
• Updated ctf_gorge to fix lighting issues.
• Updated ctf_foundry to fix lighting issues and to prevent players from getting outside the playable area of the map.
• When hud_fastswitch is disabled, pressing the ACTION key will select the grappling hook in the weapon selection menu.

January 7, 2015 Patch

• Fixed not always being able to equip the grappling hook.
• Fixed switching to the grappling hook from a weapon that prevents switching.
• Fixed the grappling hook attaching to players that are dead or no longer exist.
• Updated the Vampire powerup to give health for damage done by Sappers.
• Increased the spawn invuln time from 6 seconds to 8 seconds.
• Added enemy team func_nobuild volumes to the capture zone areas in ctf_foundry and ctf_gorge to prevent spawn-camping Sentry Guns.
• Updated ctf_gorge.
  • Fixed players being able to get outside of the map.
  • Opened access to the flat rooftop by the capture zone area.

January 27, 2015 Patch

• Fixed a bug related to overhead icons disappearing (Powerups).
• New temporary powerup – Uber. Respawns at 1/3rd the speed of Crit powerup.
• Fixed some bugs that would cause powerups to stop spawning.
• Fixed the Action Slot key behaving different for the grapple hook depending on the setting for hud_fastswitch.
• Powerup changes:
  • Vampire: Flamethrower and Minigun return 80% of damage back as health instead of 100%.
  • Warlock: Added 25% damage resistance. 100% of sentry damage is now reflected back to the Sentry Gun.
  • Vampire and Warlock max health buffs are now additive (+80hp and +100hp) instead of multiplicative (x1.4 and x1.5).
  • Haste: Sticky bomb arm time reduced.
  • Precision and Haste: Sniper rifles now have quicker damage ramp-up and re-zoom after shooting.
  • Precision: Sniper rifles now have double damage. Increased blast weapon clip size by 50%.
• Scoring Support
  • Capture flag: +20 points.
  • Return team flag: +4 points.
  • Kill an enemy who is carrying a powerup: +1 point.
• Flag mechanics
  • Captured flags now take 12 seconds to re-emerge from the ground so they can't be stolen again right away.

February 11, 2015 Patch #1

• Fixed bug that sometimes caused two Intelligence briefcases to spawn.
• Reduced capture trigger size to match capture area on CTF_Gorge.
• Powerup changes:
  • Haste: Doubles the Medi Gun's ubercharge build up speed.
  • Vampire: Reduced health leeched when using the Flamethrower and Minigun.

February 18, 2015 Patch

• Warlock: Fixed reflecting damage even when invulnerable
• Added a delay of 0.2 seconds between releasing and firing the grappling hook again.

March 12, 2015 Patch

• Fixed a dedicated server crash caused by a Soldier with Mantreads landing on a player with the Warlock powerup equipped.
• Added new map ctf_thundermountain.
• Added new powerup: Knockout.
  • Restricts the carrier to Melee and Grappling Hook only.
  • Max health increased by 150.
  • Immune to airblast and damage pushback.
  • Melee weapon always crits and forcibly shoves the victim away.
  • Melee hit forces the victim to drop their powerup or the flag if they have it.
  • 4X melee damage to buildings.
• Grappling Hook changes.
  • Added hook jump- hit the jump key while being pulled-in to detach and jump extra distance (jump velocity convar "tf_grapplinghook_jump_up_speed").
  • Added support for hooking into enemy players.
    • Release the fire button once the hook has hit an enemy player to draw yourself to them.
    • Hooked victims will bleed for 2 health per second.
    • Unhook at any time by switching back to the grapple, or firing it again away from your victim.
    • Force detach if the hook is not in line of sight of hooked in enemy for more than 1 second.
    • Sound cue added when hooked by an enemy's grapple.
  • Added new Grapple weapon sounds and grapple projectile.
  • Reduced max firing distance to 4000 units (convar "tf_grapplinghook_max_distance").
  • Increased hook re-fire delay from 0.2 seconds to 0.5 seconds.
  • Re-enabled fall damage for the grappling hook (convar "tf_grapplinghook_prevent_fall_damage").
  • Fixed grappling hook rope drawing as the wrong color for friendly disguised Spy.
• Added Revenge temporary powerup.
  • Activates and spawns when a significant game imbalance is detected.
  • Temporarily grants crits, increased fire rate and increased clip size.
• Added unique powerup pickup sounds.
• Random Melee critical hits are now enabled in Mannpower (ConVar "tf_weapon_criticals_melee 2").
• Strength: Fixed Sentry Guns inheriting the double damage multiplier.
• Reduced the time it takes a dropped powerup to become available for pickup by 0.5 seconds.
• [Undocumented] Added new emitter model for Mannpower powerups.
• [Undocumented] Added new team-colored skins for Mannpower powerups.

March 18, 2015 Patch

• Added powerup icons to the HUD deathnotice reports.
• Fixed Thunder Mountain not showing up in the Quickplay dialog's list of maps.
• Fixed the Intelligence getting into a bad state and becoming unreachable under the ground at the cap point.
• Medics now move slower than their heal target while their heal target is using the grapple.
• Removed random weapon damage spread.
• Removed crit immunity from the Resistance powerup.
• Removed random melee critical hits.
• Increased all melee damage by 30%.
• Knockout powerup.
  • Removed melee damage critical hits.
  • Added double melee damage multiplier.
  • A Half-Zatoichi kill now refills to base health only, not buffed health.

March 31, 2015 Patch

• Updated grapple model and player animations.
• Fixed not hearing some of the powerup sounds.
• Removed ctf_foundry from the default map cycle to focus on gathering information on the remaining maps.
• Knockout: reduced melee damage multiplier.
• Knockout: max health buff has been reduced for the Heavy and for the Demoman with a shield or decapitating sword equipped.
• Grapple: increased base damage for attaching to a player and increased bleed damage while attached.

October 1, 2015 Patch

• Updated the grapple impact sounds.
• Updated reduced damage taken sound.
• Heavy can no longer switch to the grapple until the Minigun has finished its spin-down.
• Fixed an exploit related the Knockout powerup not switching to the melee weapon.
• Fixed players sometimes getting stuck in the grapple.

October 28, 2015 Patch (Scream Fortress 2015)

• No longer in Beta.
• Added map: Hellfire.
• Three powerups: King, Plague, Supernova.
• Grappling hook changes:
  • Reduced max rope distance
  • Reduced grapple dismount jump height.
  • 30% hook movement speed penalty for Heavy.
• Flag rule changes:
  • Flags can no longer be returned by touching them.
  • When dropped, flags return after a timeout. This timeout does NOT reset if the flag is picked up again before it returns or is captured.
  • 25% hook movement speed penalty for powered up flag carriers (with the exception of Agility).
  • Small health regeneration for non-powered up flag carriers.
  • Flags and capture zones are disabled for 30 seconds after a capture.
• Powerup rule changes:
  • When killed, your powerup will drop as the enemy team color. Deliberately dropped powerups are neutral colored.
  • You cannot pick up enemy colored powerups.
  • Team-colored powerups will attempt to respawn in that team's base if not picked up in time.
• Other changes:
  • Overhead powerup icons are now team-colored.
  • Warlock powerup renamed to Reflect.
  • Reduced Knockout max health bonus for demos carrying swords and shields.
  • Haste now increases Huntsman firing speed.
• Bug fixes:
  • Reflect damage no longer occurs after death (Pyro afterburn).

November 6, 2015 Patch

• Spies disguised as the enemy can now pick up enemy colored powerups
• Reduced Knockout powerup health bonus for Demomen carrying shields and/or swords
• Fixed grappling hook sometimes being reselected when fired (instead of switching back to previous weapon)
• Fixed a client crash when switching away from the grappling hook

November 9, 2015 Patch

• Fixed a server crash related to Mannpower mode.

November 13, 2015 Patch

• Updated health kits to give players the normal amount even if their powerup increases max health.
• Updated the Vampire powerup to slightly reduce the amount of health received from flamethrower attacks. The flamethrower now matches the Minigun in this regard.

November 25, 2015 Patch

• [Undocumented] Mannpower is no longer the first option in quick play.
• [Undocumented] Fixed an exploit related to the Buffalo Steak Sandvich and dropping Powerups in Mannpower mode.

December 2, 2015 Patch

• Supernova
  • Reduced charge up time.
  • Increased the amount that damage contributes to charge.
  • Fixed a bug where outline effect showed on invisible Spies.
• Fixed a bug where crit melee attacks were multiplying on top of a base damage increase. Crit melee attacks now do the same damage.
• Demomen equipped with shields are now excluded from the across the board 30% melee damage increase.
• Added highlight effects to active revenge powerups.
• Reduced points for a flag capture now that the enemy cannot return a dropped flag by touching it.

December 17, 2015 Patch (Tough Break Update)

• Flags will become poisonous (mark the carrier for death) 90 seconds after having been stolen.
• If both teams flags are stolen and poisonous, they will return when next dropped.
• Fixed players being able to grapple during the pre-round freeze period.
• Reduced the number of flag captures required to win from 10 to 7 on official servers.
• Regeneration powerup
  • Health regeneration amount changes - Scout, Sniper and Spy increased, Engineer decreased.
• Reflect powerup
  • Added pushback force to players who damage the powerup carrier (except for flame damage).
• Added overheal effect to players whose max health is increased by a powerup.

February 29, 2016 Patch

• Grappling hook movement speed penalty for powered up flag carriers increased by 10%. Flag carriers with no powerup still have no penalty.
• Reflect powerup
  • Removed 25% resistance attribute.
  • All classes can now have up to 400 health.
  • Fixed a bug where reflection damage was being calculated prior to distance falloff reduction.
  • Reflection damage increased from 50% to 80% of damage received.
  • Fixed a bug where sentry rockets would reflect damage to the owning Engineer rather than the sentry itself.
• Supernova powerup
  • Minimum stun duration increased from 1 to 2 seconds.
  • Stun duration increased by 0.5 seconds for each additional victim stunned (max 4 seconds).
• Vampire powerup
  • Melee attack now returns 1.25x damage as health (up from 1.0x).
• Regen and King powerup
  • Increased the frequency of health regeneration. Rate of heal is increased for Scout and Spy.
  • Increased metal regeneration amount.

March 29, 2016 Patch

• Reduced Demoman health bonus when carrying Knockout with a decapitating melee weapon.
• Reduced Demoman shield charge regen rate when carrying Knockout.
• Reduced Tide Turner shield charge refill amount on kill when carrying Knockout.

May 11, 2016 Patch

• Players can no longer change teams in Mannpower Mode.

June 22, 2016 Patch #2

• Fixed Mannpower game mode showing up in the wrong quickplay UI categories.

July 7, 2016 Patch #1 (Meet Your Match Update)

• All official maps now set Mannpower mode without requiring the use of the tf_powerup_mode convar.

July 9, 2016 Patch

• Updated Mannpower Mode to use 7 captures per round on matchmaking servers (was 3).

February 14, 2017 Patch

• Fixed powerups sometimes being removed from the game in Mannpower mode.

April 13, 2017 Patch

• Fixed incorrect strings and HUD image for the Reflect powerup in Mannpower mode.

August 2, 2017 Patch #1

• All-class
  • Players can no longer taunt when grappled to an enemy. (you can still taunt if an enemy has grappled to you)
  • Players can no longer grapple while frozen before a round starts or while stunned.
  • Fixed not equipping the grapple when accepting the prompt about equipping it.
• Engineer
  • Halved the number of Wrench hits needed to upgrade buildings.
• Pyro
  • Reduced grapple movement speed when hooked into another player because of their advantage in close quarters.
  • Reduced the rate of rage gain when carrying a powerup.
• Agility
  • Reduced grapple movement speed bonus when carrying the intelligence.
• Knockout
  • Reduced melee damage bonus.
  • Updated health bonus per class:
    • Spy, Sniper, Engineer, Scout, and Heavy increased.
    • Medic, Soldier, and Demoman unchanged.
    • Pyro and Demoknight decreased.
• Precision
  • Removed radius damage falloff on explosive projectiles.
  • Removed self-blast damage.
• Resistance and Vampire
  • Added immunity to reflect damage.

August 2, 2017 Patch #2

• Fixed a server crash related to sentry rockets in Mannpower mode.

October 20, 2017 Patch #1 (Jungle Inferno Update)

• Knockout powerup now collects health pack health without subtracting their health bonus. Results in Knockout carriers collecting more health from each health kit.
• Resistance powerup now blocks backstabs.

March 28, 2018 Patch

• Added ctf_foundry to Casual Mode.

August 21, 2020 Patch (Summer 2020 Pack)

• Increased the default caps_per_round for Mannpower mode.

October 1, 2020 Patch (Scream Fortress 2020)

• Gameplay Changes
  • Flag carrier grapple movement speed reduced
    • Scout with no powerup or with Agility powerup – reduced to 0.8x regular grapple movement speed (down from regular grapple movement speed in previous version)
    • Scout with any other powerup - 0.65x normal grapple movement speed (no change from previous version)
    • Any other class without a powerup or with Agility powerup - reduced to 0.65x normal grapple movement speed (down from 0.8x in previous version)
    • Any other class with a powerup - reduced to 0.5x normal grapple movement speed (down from 0.65x in previous version)
  • Critical hit damage rules changed
    • Weapons that score critical hit boosts on airborne targets will no longer do so in Mannpower since being airborne is a far more important and commonly utilized movement style than in the base game
    • Melee weapons that score mini-crit damage no longer have their base Mannpower 1.3x damage boost
  • Medic
    • Free ride removed. Previously when healing a target, you’d be pulled along with them when they moved by grappling hook.
    • Reduced heal rate and ubercharge build rate when carrying a powerup or healing someone with a powerup
      • Medics carrying Haste or Agility are exempt from Medic powerup checks
      • If Medic has no powerup and target has no powerup – regular heal and uber build rate
      • If only one of the Medic and the target has a powerup - half heal and uber build rate
      • If both Medic and target have powerups - quarter heal and uber build rate
    • Removed overheal from targets carrying powerups
  • Heavy
    • Removed the jump up boost when grappling. You can still jump to disconnect the hook, but the Heavy no longer gets the height boost when doing so.
  • Soldier
    • Battalion’s Backup rage build rate reduced by 2.5x to counter the additional benefits of an extra 20hp and critical hit immunity when compared to the Buff Banner
  • Engineer
    • Carried buildings will now deploy instantly
  • Scout
    • Removed falling damage
  • Spy
    • Backstabs disallowed if you’re connected to an enemy by the grappling hook. This applies if you’re hooked into someone or if they’re hooked into you.
    • Knife deploy time is no longer instant when switching between weapons, even when carrying Agility
    • Conniver's Kunai no longer considers the victim’s powerup boosted health when taking damage dealt as health
  • Haste buffs
    • Reload speed increased from 2x normal to 4x normal
    • Pyro Flare Gun re-fire rate increased from 2x normal to 5x normal
  • Vampire changes
    • Fixed a bug where the Vampire carrier wouldn’t receive health from damage dealt by an explosion that also caused self-damage
    • Increased blast weapon clip size 1.5x
  • Resistance changes
    • Vampire no longer gets a 25% boost to their health received on melee attacks against a player carrying resistance
  • Fixed bug where grapple would auto disconnect after a couple of seconds if the hook embedded in geometry behind clip volumes
• Game Balance Changes
  • When the game detects a skill imbalance between teams, select players will be moved between teams to address the imbalance
  • If a player is dominating the game for long enough (kills count is very high relative to the rest of the players in the game), they’ll enter a dominant state for a period of time. This state has these effects:
    • Marked For Death
    • Powerup modifications
      • Reflect – maximum health reduced 400 to 320. Reflect damage reduced from 80% to 50%
      • Vampire – damage resistance removed. No blast weapon clip size increase
      • Strength – game multiplier reduced from 2x to 1.4x
      • Regeneration – health regenerates at 70% of the regular rate
      • Haste – weapon firing rate increase reduced from 2x to 1.5x.Weapon reload speed increase reduced from 4x to 2x
      • Knockout – melee damage increase reduced from 1.9x to 1.4x
      • King – max health increase reduced from 100 to 20
      • Plague – damage resistance to infected players reduced from 50% to 20%
      • Precision
        • Sniper Rifle - Scope speed increase reduced from 2x from 1.5x. Shot charge speed increase reduced from 3x to 2x. Damage bonus reduced from 2x to 1.5x
        • Blast weapons - Regular blast radius falloff. No clip size increase
      • Resistance – damage resistance reduced from 50% to 35%
    • Server variables associated with this feature:
      • tf_powerup_mode_dominant_multiplier – the multiple over the server median that a player’s kill count needs to be in order to be determined dominant
      • tf_powerup_mode_killcount_timer_length – the time interval to wait between tests for dominant players

Unused content

The Über powerup model

• There's an unused powerup call Über with effect that provides an ÜberCharge for 35 seconds.

Bugs

• The Knockout icon on the freeze-cam appearance gets cut off.
• The backpack description for the Knockout Powerup is outdated, saying that it still gives critical hits.
• It's not normally possible to carry buildings while having the Knockout Powerup; however, it's still possible to create new buildings by using the console command build (number) while having the Grappling Hook activated.
• The damage noise from the Plague Powerup will continue to play if it is stopped by a Dead Ringer.
• The critical effect on the grappling hook is always colored according to the player's actual team, and gives away a Spy's disguise.

Trivia

• Many of Mannpower's mechanics, such as the Grappling Hook and powerups, were heavily inspired by the Threewave CTF mod for Quake.
• The King powerup symbol actually resembles the standard chess queen icon.

Gallery

• 

  In-game notification.

• 

  The image that was used for beta Mannpower maps.

• 

  The active powerup emitter.

• 

  The inactive powerup emitter.