The Sandman is an unlockable melee weapon for the Scout. It appears as a wooden bat with a smooth grip, complete with a logo reading "The Sandman" printed on the side. There is a band on the end holding a cracked section of wood together, presumably from the Scout beating someone a little too enthusiastically on a previous occasion. Accompanying the bat is an "All Ballers League" ball manufactured by "Ball Fortress". It is named after a folklore creature that would put people to sleep through the use of magic sand.
In addition to sharing the attack speed and damage of the normal Bat, pressing alternate fire with the Sandman will cause the Scout to launch the baseball towards the enemy. Successfully hitting a target with the baseball will stun the enemy. Stunning enemies will allow the player to close in on the victim to deliver further punishment. The baseball will also damage enemies provided that they are a sufficient distance away. The further the ball flies before hitting the enemy, the longer the victim will be stunned, ranging from 1 – 7 seconds. If they are hit with a baseball from extreme range, the victim will suffer a moonshot and will be completely immobile for the maximum stun duration. When this occurs an audio clip of an audience cheering is played. When the minimum distance necessary to stun is undershot the ball will still hit the enemy player but will bounce off and fall to the ground. This is similar to effect of sticky bombs launched at players. As a projectile, the ball will arc towards the ground, and can be reflected by an enemy Pyro. The ball can also hit and bounce off of enemy grenades, Jarate and Mad Milk. Also, if you time it well, you can hit back another Scout's ball in mid-air and even stun him, this is one way of getting the Beanball Scout achievement.
Scouts carrying The Sandman will have a 15 max health points disadvantage, lowering base health to 110. The Scout is also only equipped with one baseball, which will reload after a 15-second interval indicated in the cooldown bar on the HUD. Baseballs can be picked up off the ground, whether owned by the player or another Scout, or by visiting a Resupply Cabinet. Baseballs are not classed as ammunition and thus cannot be retrieved by picking up dropped weapons or Ammo packs. A baseball that does not hit an enemy will remain on the ground and disappear after 15 seconds, effectively the time it takes the Scout to gain a new one. After stunning an enemy, it will disappear much more quickly (after about three seconds), but can still be picked up and used again if acquired before it disappears.
With the Sandman equipped, the Scout can perform the Home Run kill taunt.
Damage
- Base: 35 (32 to 39 damage)
- Mini-Crit: 47
- Critical hit: 105
- Baseball All Ranges: 15 (stuns for n seconds depending on how far the baseball travels)
- Baseball Mini-Crit: 20
- Baseball Critical hit: 45
Damages are approximate and determined by community testing.
Function times
- Attack Interval: 0.5 (assumed the same as regular Bat)
- Baseball Hit Interval: 0.25
- Baseball recharge time: 15 seconds
- The stun ball travels around 1940 Hammer units per second, approximately 83 miles per hour.
All times are in seconds. Times are approximate and determined by community testing.
Related Achievements
Scout
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Brushback Stun 50 enemies while they are capturing a point or pushing the cart.
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Foul Territory Cause an environmental death by stunning or slowing an enemy.
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Moon Shot Stun an enemy for the maximum possible duration by hitting them with a long-range ball.
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Out of the Park Bat an enemy 25 meters.
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Strike Zone Kill or assist kill 50 enemies while they are stunned or slowed.
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Scout Milestone 2 Achieve 16 of the achievements in the Scout pack.
Reward: Sandman
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Soldier
Previous changes
February 25, 2009 Patch
- Removed the damage reduction against non-stunned enemies on the new bat.
- Fixed the BONK! particles appearing in the air when the bat's taunt kill is used on a target.
March 13, 2009 Patch
- Players who are stunned by a Scout now take 50% less damage.
- Increased the minimum distance to stun a player with the Sandman.
May 26, 2009 Patch
- Fixed kill descriptions for Force-A-Nature & Sandman so server logs can distinguish them.
August 13, 2009 Patch
- A Scout will receive 1 point for stunning an enemy and 2 points for a long range stun.
- Stunned players now take 75% of all incoming damage instead of 50%.
- ÜberCharged players can no longer be stunned.
- Heavies spinning their mini-guns will continue to spin when stunned (whether the left or right mouse button is pressed).
- The minimum distance to stun a target has been reduced.
- The negative attribute has changed from "no double jump" to "-30 max health".
December 17, 2009 Patch
- The Sandman now only stuns on a max range hit (when you hear the cheering).
- All shorter hits now force the enemy into the third-person fleeing state (also removed the damage reduction on them).
- Added recharge sound to abilities with a recharge bar.
December 22, 2009 Patch
- Updated the Baseball HUD indicator to stay on screen when full.
January 6, 2010 Patch
- Reduced the health penalty on The Sandman to "-15 max health".
January 13, 2010 Patch
- Fixed the Sandman being able to bat balls through doors.
April 28, 2010 Patch
- Added a slight speed reduction to stunned players.
July 8, 2010 Patch
- The Sandman now uses the Bat kill icon while the stunball uses the existing Sandman kill icon.
October 12, 2010 Patch
- Fixed server crash caused by a Scout using the Sandman on an enemy Scout who has used Bonk!
Trivia
- The in-game model and logo for the Sandman are based off of the "classic" Louisville Slugger baseball bats made by the Hillerich & Bradsby Company.
- Upon initial release, the stun ball was released upon attacking, unless very close to an enemy or solid prop. It has since been made into the Sandman's alt-fire feature, meaning the ball can be released at the opportune moment, as opposed to accidently when attacking generally.
Gallery
1st person without baseball view.
See also
External links
Scout |
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