Probed

Probed
Basic Information
Developer(s):	Unknown
Map Info
Environment:	Farmland/Alien Spaceship
Setting:	Night
Hazards:	Aliens, Alien air
Map Overview

“

No one expected our last stand in the invasion to be at a quiet farm house, especially Them.

— Invasion Update

”

Probed is a community-made King of the Hill map created for and won the 2014 TF2Maps.net Major Mapping Contest #11, "Mercs vs. Aliens". It was included in the game with the Invasion Community Update.

Two identical paths separated from each other conjoin together at a central point. Along the paths are balconies connected via bridges providing defensive positions for Snipers and Engineers.

To win, your team must hold the lone Capture Point for three minutes like any standard King of the Hill map, while avoiding the alien UFO that periodically flies over the point to abduct unaware players.

Probed was contributed to the Steam Workshop.

Locations

Note: If you're having trouble with finding the locations listed here, you can scroll down to the Helpful overview section to see their exact position marked on the map.

Barn Spawns: Outside the spawns are three pathways to choose from. All three lead to the same pathway to the control point.

Rural Pathways: Over the dual pathways to the control points is a catwalk for height advantage.

Grain Silo Control Point: At the control point is a second floor structure for Sniper advantage. The grain silo in front of the point is open on both pathways.

Alien UFO: Periodically, a saucer will fly over the Control Point and activate its tractor beam, sucking any players near the point inside. Speed is increased inside the craft; however, all players will begin taking damage due to the alien craft's toxic atmosphere. On both sides of the craft are corresponding team Teleporters that will return players to their team's side of the capture point. Upon exiting, the player is restored to full health and given a few seconds of ÜberCharge and mini-crits.

Inside of spaceship
BLU's base
RED's base
The Control Point

Helpful overview

1.Spawn Yard
2.Transition building
3.Sheds
4.Grain Silo

Strategy

Main article: Community Probed strategy

Control point timing

Control Point

×1

10

.000

×2

6

.667

×3

5

.455

×4

4

.800

Update history

October 6, 2015 Patch (Invasion Community Update)

[Undocumented] Added Probed to the game.

October 8, 2015 Patch

Fixed generic bomb entities (in the Invasion maps) damaging teammates when shot with an arrow

October 28, 2015 Patch (Scream Fortress 2015)

Improved optimization of map (especially on mid)
Fixed clipping issues (thanks Muselk!)^[1]
Fixed Engineer imbalance on mid (thanks Uncle Dane!)
Added in missing explosion sound effect on aliens
Fixed a few prop/ material issues
Reduced prop usage

November 13, 2015 Patch

[Undocumented] Added the Invasion Community Update maps to regular quickplay lists.

Changelog

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

Changelog:

Beta 94-24-15
Overhauled alien explosion damage filtering to fix exploit where players could kill teammates
Doubled alien explosion damage
Reduced capture time slightly
Reduced capture zone back to original placement
UFO now hovers for 3 seconds before starting tractor beam over point. Stil stops 8 seconds after arriving. (this gives you a chance to run away/ hide from it)
Nerfed buff coming out of ship significantly. Uber half as short (still there to help disorientation coming out of tele), now gives you mini crits for 6 seconds.
Changed speed boost type on board ship (no longer infinite jumps variety)
Fixed missing pre-teleport in particles for on-map alien spawns (warning of telefrag)
Adjusted some health/ ammo placement (experimenting a bit here)
Lighting tweaks
Detailing adjustments here and there
Beta 8
3-19-15
(Experiment) Extended the capture zone to under the mid building roofs
Widened/ optimized new structures created last update
Removed wall dividing ramp rooms up to the building behind mid
Broke up huge line of sight towards mid
Streamlined a few routes
Lowered tractor-beam UFO timer slightly (so it comes out more often)
Moved a little cover around
Changed some material usage to make the map more cohesive
Tweaked some lighting
Beta 7
3-13-15
Remade mid-field structures to be a lot more interesting and direct combat flow differently
Removed large ramp going into the building behind the capture zone and replaced it with a drop down, this should help direct combat more towards the center and reduce players upstairs at the start of the match
Reduced alien's health to 5hp, they should now all explode in one hit
You can now hide from the UFO tractor beam by standing under the roof, this no longer sucks you into the ceiling
Refined the cuts on the tractor beam triggers to avoid any interior areas
Added speed boost/ infinite air jumps condition to players inside ship
Adjusted some of the health and ammo
Blocked all exploitable openings on spawn buildings
Adjusted some material usage/ detailing
Tweaked lighting/ prop lighting
Beta 6
11-17-2014
Fixed the health pack in the center of the ship occasionally getting blocked by func_door moving the parts above it
Fixed missing point_spotlight on middle
Beta 5
11-17-2014
Added new route from lower area behind capture point to upper area above it
Okay finale is definitely insane now
Removed tractor beam pulls from inside the silo at mid
Lowered middle structure on ship and minimalized extra brushwork
Got rid of a bunch of in-the-way details on ship
Added clipping boxes that catch you as you teleport onto ship, killing off momentum
Cleaned up a few routes
Did I mention particles yet? Because Particles
Did a lot more clipping
Started optimizing lightmaps
Adjusted lighting
Beta 4
11-14-2014
Added aliens that spawn into the map over time and can be destroyed by the player
These aliens are trying to take out the mercs defense system before their mothership arrives
Near-finalized finale events timings, particle effects, and audio
Implemented a whole lot more of FissionMetroid's particles
Streamlined the crate jumps next to middle into mostly a ramp
Big optimization pass
Did more detailing
Adjusted lighting
Some other stuff, I forget...
Beta 3
11-10-2014
Finished finale event actions, audio still WIP
Made the UFO ship event happen slightly less often (Random between 50 and 90 seconds before, now 65 and 95 seconds)
UFO ship now also stays for a shorter time (10 seconds before, now 8 seconds)
Reduced capture time by 2 seconds (10 seconds before, now 8 seconds at x1)
Reduced damage per tick inside of ship (9 before, now 7)
Gave those entering ship a very slight overheal on top of getting healed up to full
Moved alien ship Teleporters to opposites sides of where each team spawns.
Added health packs to ship
Added ramps facing Teleporters on ship
Lowered to almost ground level locations where players teleport back in from ship
Remade 3d skybox
Fixed some visleaf issues
Adjusted lighting all over
Beta 2
11-07-2014
Remade alien ship entirely
Massive detail pass
Preliminary lighting pass
Added new route behind capture point with health/ ammo pack
3d skybox added (it sucks, I'm going to remake it)
Tweaked UFO buffs, added crit boost
Started finale event animation stuff, no finished though
Redid how the tractor beams work using the new impulse entity
Removed a buggy UFO ship
Added more MvA custom props
Added more custom particle effects (thanks, metroid!)
Beta 1
Private test build
Detailed a bunch
Reduced UFO buff uber length from 10 seconds to 3
Added 6 second Quick-Fix type overheal effect to UFO buff
Made tractor beams more reliable
Alien ship now does damage over time to anyone inside of it (9 damage per tick, same as underworld on viaduct_event)
Added 3 more non-interactive UFO's
Added new particle effects
Added a few of the new MvA custom props
Fixed some clipping issues (always)
Made a bunch of visible nodraw faces and forgot them before compile lol
Cows

Bugs

As spawning inside the UFO counts as being freshly respawned, any dropped weapons picked up by the player will instantly become discarded once the player enters the UFO.

Trivia

Alien UFOs will sometimes fly around out of bounds and abduct wooden cows that were first seen on 2Fort.
To the right of the BLU Base in the background, there is a scarecrow wearing An Extraordinary Abundance of Tinge painted Ghastly Gibus.
On the roof of the structure in front of the RED Base, there is a small train. This is a reference to the map Trainsawlaser, which was another map made by UEAKCrash.
There is a hidden room that can be found with a link to UEAKCrash's YouTube channel as well as a poster referencing his name and a Teddy Roosebelt with a bed near the Control point. Sometimes the Teddy Roosebelt moves slightly.
- There is also a Map Maker's Medallion and a Spycrab seen in the room as well as a Sawblade and tiny Train underneath a bed. The train and Sawblade are another reference to Trainsawlaser.
  - There is a circular portrait on the wall of FissionMetroid101's avatar, who made particle effects for Probed, Watergate, and Trainsawlaser.
In each team's spawn, there is a hidden Alien shattered in a side room not enterable by the player.

Gallery

Spaceship
A cow being abducted by a spaceship
Alien NPCs that spawn around the map. They can be attacked with any weapon to be destroyed.
The hidden signature drawn using clip brushes
The Gibus wearing scarecrow in the background near BLU spawn.
The tiny train near RED spawn.
The center point.
Crash Construction poster that appears in certain locations on the map, and on other maps Crash has made.
Side view, Showing the bed, the Teddy Roosebelt a UEAK crash poster, and other items
The tiny train and sawblade in the hidden room.
Another view of the side room, showing a JimiJam poster on the right and FissionMetroid101's avatar on the left, as well as a Spycrab on the fireplace.
The Teddy Roosebelt and Map Maker's Medallion
The building which holds the secret room inside of its roof.