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 is a co-op game mode released in the update of the same name. In Mann vs. Machine, a team up to six players attempts to prevent a horde of AI-controlled robots from carrying a bomb to their base. Players can purchase upgrades for their weapons using in-game currency, called credits. All purchased upgrades will last for the duration of the game. If a player leaves during the game for any reason, providing they reconnect, their upgrades will be retained.
The only achievements obtainable in Mann vs. Machine are the Mann vs. Machievements. There's a different set of "Best Moments", and playing this game mode will not affect the performance report's bar graph.
Contents
Trailer
Introduction video
Mechanics
The team is attacked by a horde of AI-controlled robots, and must try to prevent the robots from successfully delivering a bomb to the players' base (as in Payload). Each robot destroyed provides the players with credits (when one player collects a money pile, everyone benefits and earns some money). Between waves of robots, the players have the chance to upgrade their weapons at an Upgrade Station inside the base using this money. They may also upgrade abilities for their current class. The upgraded abilities are kept, even while switching to a different class, but the purchased abilities are only available for the class that they were purchased for.
For a fee, the Upgrade Station can also fill a player's Canteen with a buff—such as personal ÜberCharge, a five-second critical hit boost, or ammunition refill—or an ability such as rapid building upgrades for Engineers or the ability to teleport back to the spawn point. All of these Canteens each provide up to three uses and must be filled with the same buff.
Most of the robot horde is made up of plain robotic versions of eight of the nine playable classes (there are no robot Engineers), with their respective basic weapons equipped. However, there are also a number of special robots with unique abilities.
The bomb-carrying robot receives buffs, which increase over time. 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 |
|---|---|
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Defensive buff, shared with all nearby robots |
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Health regeneration |
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Full crits all the time |
Abilities and Upgrades
 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 will be dressed in RED and will be identified as team DEFENDERS while all robots will have BLU colors in their visual effects and in the kill feed.
Before each round begins, Defenders will be given a graphic indication of the impending onslaught. Primary targets will have numbers underneath them and will be classified by class or (in the case of special robots) their specialty. Red groups indicate tanks as well as giant robots. Support targets will be noted as such and will tend to be focused on attacking the players rather than carrying the bomb (though some like Scout supports will try to carry the bomb at times). Snipers and Spies are always assigned support roles.
When at least three players enter a Mann vs. Machine server, the option to begin play is enabled. During the setup phase before the robots arrive, Engineers are able to instantly place buildings, fully upgraded to level 3, at no metal cost, and Medics can instantly fill their ÜberCharge meters and rapidly max out ally overheals. Once one player declares he is ready, a 150-second countdown clock will begin. As more players acknowledge they are ready, the clock time will be reduced in 30-second intervals (to 120, 90, 60, and 30 seconds, respectively, depending on the number of players present). Players joining the server during the countdown will not increase the time. If all players acknowledge that they are ready, the round is committed and the clock is reduced to ten seconds. Regardless of how it is done, once the countdown ends, the robots will begin their approach to the field.
Robots cannot attack or be damaged until they jump down into the players' field. A strength gauge will appear to note the remaining forces of the wave. Only primary targets count towards this progress. As they are destroyed, the gauge will empty. Once it is completely empty, the wave is defeated. During the wave, support icons may appear to indicate a specific threat.
- Sniper - Snipers are entering the field. They enter like regular robots but will be focused on attacking players from afar. Snipers will always display visible lasers from their rifles when scoped, making them easier to spot. Beware of their Special counterparts, the Bowmen. They don't produce visible lasers.
- Spy - Spy robots are on the field. Unlike the other robots, these used their cloaks to infiltrate the field and will enter from the player's side of the field (which means they'll be coming from behind you most of the time), already disguised as a human. They will act as your average Spy would: sapping Engineer buildings and attempting backstabs.
- Sentry Buster - Sentry Busters will fixate on a Sentry Gun on the field and try to get close to it. If it reaches the Sentry or runs out of health, it will stop and then explode powerfully after two seconds, destroying all buildings and players within the explosion's radius. Note the Sentry Buster will target the closest Sentry Gun to the ramp, regardless of how much damage it has received.
- Tank - Heavily-armored tanks will enter the field from specific entry points. They won't attack but will move implacably towards the bomb hatch until they are destroyed or reach their destination. They can however crush any unfortunate player that gets stuck between them and a static object like a wall or fence. Tanks do not need to carry or retrieve the main bomb as each one contains its own bomb.
After each successful wave, the defenders will be evaluated based on how aggressively money was collected (with a credit rating ranging from F to A+). If all the piles of money are collected (the A+ grade), the team will earn a $100 bonus. 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.
Maps
| Name | Picture | File name |
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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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| Mannworks | 
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mvm_mannworks
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Unused content
- RED versions of all of the robots can be found in the game files.
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_reloadscheme in the console or pressing TAB.)
- When killed by a dead bot, such as from afterburn, or when removing a destroyed Spy bot's Sapper, the kill feed may show that the bot has moved to spectator mode. This is due to the internal routine that reassigns bot players for the next attack.
- Sometimes after the wave is complete, the Administrator will continue to issue warnings about the bomb's progress. This does not impede progress in any way.
- Bots will occasionally become stuck when jumping down into the map from their spawn.
- Bots 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.
- It is possible for the Administrator to announce the team has failed the mission when they haven't, by destroying the bomb carrier as it is about to disappear into the bomb hole. The bomb hatch will be destroyed, but the game considers the bomb undeployed. In this case, the real bomb will never make it to the hatch as it will continue to kill anything that steps in to it.
- Currently, there is an exploit, allowing Demomen with Chargin' Targe and fully upgraded resistance to fire and explosions to receive no damage from afterburn/explosions at all.
- Hitting the F4 key will still toggle ready-up even if the ready-up command was set to another key.
External links
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