Last Friday a 19-year old boy ran amok in a school in Erfurt, Germany. He killed 16 people before finally killing himself. The victims were 12 teachers, a secretary, 2 pupils and a policeman, most of them killed by headshots from a handgun. The perpetrator also carried a pumpgun which he didn’t used and 500 rounds of ammunition.
The boy had been excluded from school in February after being exposed to have forged attests to avoid exams.
As always with such incidents people are in shock and (...)

It’s pretty empty here in The Fort. And pretty silent, too. I left the drawbridge open when I left after the last update. Didn’t matter, noone invaded and took over. Those cannons and weapons look rather rusty. They could use a bit more care. And maybe they should be used occasionally. Especially those ’Smart Cannonballs’. No, they are not called that because they seek their targets, but because they are aimed on dumb people. Heck, there’s even no need to aim, because it’s hard to miss those (...)

It has been a tradition on the Fort in the previous years to post the following poem on Christmas, and even though I have been silent for quite some time now I have no intention to break with that tradition.
While the poem focuses on a soldier I’d like to point out - just like Totentanz did last year - that this poem is dedicated to everyone serving the public. I guess the events in September has shown us once again that heroes exist in many forms, and if you look thoroughly enough you will (...)

I can’t think of a lot to say here, but I feel the need to say something. I think a lot of people feel the same way, and that’s evident in most of the forums I’ve seen so far. What happened today (or yesterday in most of the world) on the east coast of the US is obviously something that most of us will not have a full grasp on for some time.
The US has not seen this level of destruction and loss of life inflicted on our own soil since our Civil War, and it’s made all the worse by the fact that (...)

Okay, once again several weeks have passed without an update to The Fort
As far as I’m concerned I admit that I’m a little burned out at the moment. I am tired of the game and the community. Well, actually not tired of TFC, just of the kind of game you find when playing on the pubs. There’s so much crap and idiocy going on, complaining, whining and bickering. No sportsmanship, not much fairplay and - in a way most sadly - no proper gameplay. Playing on the pubs always gives me the impression (...)

There was a very good editorial on the topics of ’Newbies’ in PF Editorial Section last week, written by TheNemesis. He very nicely described the problem of newbie bashing which is by no means new and yet sadly becomes more common each day. Recommanded reading!
But besides the editorial of TheNemesis there was an excellent post on the PF Forums by The Hal, a former PF newsie, to that issue. This one’s not only a keeper, but should be mandatory reading for every TFC player. The more it saddens (...)

You may or may have not read my latest little rant in my ’I hate it here’-section on the left. Those rants are usually coming from my guts. I don’t spend a lot of time to construct these rants and I don’t waste too much time in the phrasing or the words used, I just aim to get a point across as directly as possible, which often happens to be in a rather cynical and negative way (why else would I have adopted this headline).
Why do I tell you all this? Because obviously people have problems to (...)

Okay, I’m going to break out my first rant with what I consider an epidemic of sorts in TFC. There are two issues that are making this game miserable to an extent, and it’s a two-part problem. The first is the prevalence of Defense. Or not always the preponderance of D, but rather the serious lack of Offense. If you have ever ventured into the enemy base, you know first hand that the odds are stacked against you. First off, the D begin their job with full health/armor. They don’t need a (...)

Big woot!
I’m honoured and pleased to welcome another proud warrior to the Fort, one I was looking forward to join us for quite a while now. So, a big welcome to 12PackAttack!
Not only he is one hell of a TFC player and without doubt one of the meanest demomen in TFC, but for all the time I know him now (almost 2 years) he has always shown respect for the game and the people playing it. The fact that he is a very skilled player has never compromised his sportsmanship and has never kept him (...)

Sigh, some people tried their best to misunderstand my latest editorial. But what can you expect from a community which discusses respawn camping as if they had never seen a lame demo hanging around the enemy resupply exclusively for kills ...
Of course most of the issues I described in my editorial are by no means new.
It’s quite logical that many people who started playing this game with TFC have few insight into the history of TF. But the gap in understanding the history and development (...)