Team

Team RED

Team BLU

“

I joined this team just to kill maggots like you! Click to listen — The Soldier

”

There are three teams which a player can join upon entering a game: RED, BLU and Spectator. If the teams are unbalanced upon joining you may be unable to join the larger team or, if you do, you may be auto-balanced by the team balance system after a designated time. You can display the players on each team along with their score by pressing the "Tab" button. You may also switch teams by using the "." key, as long as your team has one more player than the enemy's, or has more and is pending an team balance.

At this point, there are no plans to add any more teams than the default two, as was seen in Team Fortress Classic, though this may be added either by custom modification, or officially at a later date.

Ingame

When in a team, you will find yourself with a number of players of mixed class and skill, with whom you must co-operate to achieve your overall objectives, be it fighting on maps#payload and Maps#Attack.2fdefend maps, where one team will typically be attacking while the other defends, or struggling to capture a flag or control point in a Capture the Flag, Maps#control_Point map, where both teams have equal objectives and the layout is symmetrical, with the only differences between the two sides being aesthetic.

Working as a team is critical in Team Fortress 2, as each class has various weaknesses which can be compensated for by the strengths or abilities of a different class. Some of the classes are designed around team play, such as the Medic, who, if alone is useless, but with a attack class to support, becomes a valuable asset which can turn the tides of a game.

Spectator

In spectator mode you can watch the match from the perspective of any of the participating players, or roam around freely. In this mode you will take up a server slot but not a player slot. You will also go into spectate mode during the respawn period, though if you enter spectate in this fashion, you will still appear to be on your own team, and a skull will appear next to your name on the player board (TAB). The spectator camera will automatically try and seek out a player with the same class as you to spectate until you appear at a respawn area. [1]

When spectating, you may use the primary and secondary fire button to cycle through different players, and the spacebar key to switch between a first and third person perspective, or go into "noclip" mode (fly freely around the map, passing right through everything).

Trivia

• Whilst RED and BLU are an abbreviation of Reliable Excavation and Demolition and Builders League United, respectively, they were actually named after REDmond and BLUtarch.