Training Mode

“

Do you own Team Fortress? Did you play it once or twice, but found it too complicated? YOU ARE A COWARD. But there IS a solution!

— The Soldier

”

Training Mode is a single-player game mode that helps players learn the basics of the different classes in Team Fortress 2. The mode is designed for inexperienced players and demonstrates gameplay mechanics and teamwork within a "safe" environment. A series of specific scenarios are given for each class.

At present, training is only available for the Soldier, Demoman, Engineer, and Spy.

Basic training

Basic training consists of two sections: "Target training" and "Dustbowl training".

Target training

Target training is composed of four sections: Soldier, Demoman, Engineer, and Spy training in sequential order.

In Soldier training, the player begins in a simple spawn room and is instructed on basic movement commands, including W, A, S, D directional movement, crouching, and jumping, and is instructed to move to a small booth supplied with health and ammo. Upon reaching the booth, the player is taught how to fire the Rocket Launcher, Shotgun, and Shovel using MOUSE1. Wooden targets appear at each weapon's optimal range, which the player has to destroy by shooting. Upon a successful hit, a special 'HIT!' particle appears; otherwise, the target remains indestructible. After finishing all wooden targets, the player is given live targets which move around, making them harder to hit. At this stage, the player can use any of the three weapons to destroy targets. After completing Soldier target training, the game proceeds to Dustbowl training which, upon completion, unlocks Demoman training.

In Demoman training, the player spawns in the same booth. Similar to Soldier training, the player is first given wooden targets and required to use the appropriate weapon to destroy them. However, the player is given targets specifically designed for the Demoman; For instance, one target is partially hidden behind an object, to be destroyed with the Grenade Launcher, a group of five targets must be destroyed at once, using a single stickybomb detonation, and a target is placed far away, to be destroyed by a charged Stickybomb. Unlike Soldier training, there are no live targets. After completing Demoman training, Spy training is unlocked.

In Spy training, a friendly Spy bot demonstrates how cloaking allows the player to move past a Sentry Gun without being targeted. The barriers of the booth are then lowered, and the player is asked to do the same. After an explanation of how disguises and Sappers work, the player is directed to employ these techniques against a hostile Sentry Gun. Live targets are then provided for training the backstab ability, and to demonstrate how an enemy Spy can adopt the appearance and name of a teammate. After completing Spy training, Engineer training is unlocked.

In Engineer training, the player is taught how to use the Build PDA to build a Dispenser, and how metal is consumed when doing so. It also shows the player that hitting a building with the Wrench speeds up its construction, and how the Dispenser replenishes player health and metal. This is followed by a run-through of how to upgrade buildings, and the player is required to upgrade their Dispenser to level 3. After this, the barriers lower, and the player is required to build a Sentry Gun at the indicated position and upgrade it to level 3. The player is also taught that metal can also be obtained from ammo boxes. Afterwards, the player is told to use the Sentry Gun as cover as the Red team attacks. The Red team damages the buildings, and the player is taught that the Wrench hits can repair and refill ammo for their Sentry Gun. The player is instructed to haul the Dispenser next to the Sentry Gun and informs the player that a Dispenser nearby can provide health and metal during an attack. Afterwards, the player is told to build a Teleporter entrance and exit. It mentions that repairing one end repairs the other and that on the Teleporter exit. Finally, it instructs the use of the Destroy PDA. After the player destroys all of their buildings, Engineer training ends.

Dustbowl training

After the player completes Soldier target training, they are able to proceed to a training version of Dustbowl. Once there, basic instructions are provided on the rules of the Control Point game mode. The first round reviews the basics of play, the second round introduces the Medic, and the final round introduces the Engineer. After the final point is captured, the player "graduates" Soldier training and is returned to the main menu. After completing Soldier training, Demoman training is unlocked.

Offline Practice

Offline Practice allows the player to begin an independent round with no class limitations against only Bots in three Practice modes: Control Points, King of the Hill, and Payload. Bot difficulty and the amount of total players (recommended to be set at 16-24) can be configured before setup. Currently the maps Dustbowl, Gorge, Viaduct, Badlands, Nucleus, Lakeside, Sawmill, Upward, Thunder Mountain, Hoodoo, Gold Rush, Badwater Basin, and Barnblitz can be played in Offline Practice. Stats and achievements are disabled during Offline Practice, though item drops still occur if connected to Steam.

Maps

Main article: List of maps

Training maps carry the tr_ prefix.

Name	Picture	File name
Target		`tr_target`
Dustbowl		`tr_dustbowl`

Related achievements

General achievements

Ready for Duty
Complete each class to unlock the next.

Update history

June 10, 2010 Patch #1 (Mac Update)

Added Training, with support for General gameplay & Soldier class training for now.
Added Offline Practice mode, with support for KOTH maps and Dustbowl.

June 10, 2010 Patch #2

Fixed training servers showing up in the server browser for other users.

June 11, 2010 Patch

Made the training HUD code more robust, so it doesn't crash if the client has modified HUD resource files.
Disabled quick-switch UI in training to reduce confusion.

April 14, 2011 Patch (Hatless Update)

Added training courses for the Demoman, Engineer, and Spy.
Added the Ready for Duty achievement for completing all of the training courses.
Added Payload maps to Offline Practice.

April 18, 2011 Patch

Fixed listen servers sometimes not authenticating with Steam. (not being able to use Offline Practice)

April 20, 2011 Patch

Added more instructions to the Engineer training regarding metal resources.

March 1, 2012 Patch

Fixed being able to call server votes for training maps.

August 2, 2012 Patch

Fixed Engineer training Shotgun and Pistol images being swapped.

November 1, 2017 Patch

Fixed bots constantly respawning during Training mode.

Unused content

Localization strings related to Demoman training show that a map called tr_goldrush was to be included in the Training Mode, but was later scrapped.^[1]
- Additional strings reference an unused Engineer training for defending the 2nd point of Dustbowl that tells the player how to deal with Sappers and Stickybombs.
Unused string references for Spy indicate that an additional training section taking place on Dustbowl was in the works, but never finished.^[2]
In the player's "tf" folder, there is a text file called "trainingprogress.txt" that indicates the player's training progress. There are unused strings referencing the Scout, Pyro, Heavy, Medic, and Sniper. These classes were intended to have training tutorials but they were never finished.

Bugs

In Spy training, the player is unable to switch to the Revolver at first. However, the player can switch to the Revolver by pressing the quick-switch key (default key: Q).
In Engineer training, the inability to build can be bypassed using the build command.

Trivia

On the day Training Mode was added, it was possible to join other players' training sessions through the server browser. It was fixed in a patch later that day.
In trainingprogress.txt, the values for "progress" tell the player how much of their training they have completed. "-1" is no progress on a class, "0" is some progress, "1" is completed, and "2" is for completing both parts of the Soldier's training.