The Fun Is At "B"

DARK is exactly right. Hardpoint is great if you are not good at killing people. That is why I played exclusively Hardpoint for the first 6 months of TF1. Doing that made me one of the best Hardpoint players in the world in TF1, and it has carried over to being pretty decent in TF2. Look at DARK's numbers. That was an excellent Amped Hardpoint game and it shows that DARK totally gets the game of Hardpoint. 1100 Assault/2200 Defense, but 0 Kills. He is focussing on what is important. Nice job DARK!!!

OK, I'm sorry, but this may get a little long winded, but I absolutely love the game of Hardpoint and I love when people play it the right way as DARK obviously does, so I am going to try to share every little secret I have for anyone who wants to get good at Hardpoint in TF1 or TF2.

First, let me address Getmused's questions:
How do you get points? (you get points by capturing a hardpoint(assualt) or defending a hardpoint(defense))
Do you kill grunts? (there are no grunts in Amped Hardpoint in TF2, in TF1 there were and they helped reduce time to get titan)
What are defense points? (to explain this, I am going to explain assault and defense points at the same time below)

NOTE: At the end of the game, in TF1 they showed Kills and Deaths, and in TF2 they just show Kills. However, even though they show these they are not important in this mode, because they don't necessarily help you win, because all that matters is Assault and Defense, but especially Defense.

Assault/Defense Points Explained:

Boundaries - Every map has an A, B and C Hardpoint. The important thing to learn is that each Hardpoint has sort of an invisible boundary around it, which you can only learn where the edges are by moving around. This is actually easier to learn in TF2, because of the new Amped feature. You see, in TF1 there was only 1 level and once you captured it, even if you walked away it still stayed captured until an enemy entered the boundary, so by you walking out by yourself you couldn't test where the edges were. However in TF2, if you Amp a Hardpoint, as soon as you walk out of the range it will start losing the Amp. Then, if you turn around and go back in it will start getting the Amp again. This is a great tool to learn where the edges of the invisible boundaries are.

Assault Points - If a Hardpoint is not owned by either team and no enemy is there, you can just walk into the boundary and you will see it start turning blue. If it turns completely blue (in TF1 or TF2), it gives you Assault points. In TF2, if you stay there another 30 seconds on top of that, it will get the yellow Amped border and give you more Assault points. Now, let's say the Hardpoint was already owned by the other team and was orange in TF1 (or orange with a yellow border in TF2), there are 2 possibilites here. Maybe the enemies own it, but none of them are there. Or, maybe they own it and they are there waiting for you. If none of them are there, you can just walk right in and in TF2 if you neutralize the Amping, you get Assault points, then in either TF1 or TF2 if you neutralize the orange circle, you get Assault points. Now, let's say they were there waiting for you. In that case, you have to kill any enemies inside of the invisible boundary (or make them leave the boundary) before it will start neutralizing the Amp or the orange circle. Any enemies you kill inside the invisible boundary give you more Assault points.

Defense Points - In TF1, if your team owns the Hardpoint and it is blue, or in TF2 if it is blue with a yellow border around it, then as long as you stay within the invisible boundary, even if no enemies are there, you are going to keep getting Defense points about every 30 seconds or so. If any enemies come in there while your team owns it and you kill them inside of the invisible boundary, you are going to get more Defense points.

IMPORTANT POINT: Any enemies you kill that are not inside of the A, B or C invisible boundaries do not give you any Assault or Defense points. This is why K/D ratio is not necessarily important in Hardpoint. If someone comes into a Hardpoint game and is basically playing Attrition in the middle of a Hardpoint game and is killing people all over the map, but not caring about the Hardpoints, sure they my get the highest kill count, but their team may lose if they were not helping capture or defend hardpoints. The only kills that really matter are the ones inside of the invisible boundaries, and even then, it is not the actual killing that matters, but the Assault or Defense that came as a result of the killing.

I almost always say this in the chat at the start of a game:
"play defense if we have 2 hardpoints and we win"

And sometimes I will add this:
"no meaningless battles between hardpoints"

Strategies (I'm going to share my TF1 strategies, some of which translate, but I haven't completely found my groove in TF2 yet):
1) Always capture the Hardpoint closest to you at the start of the game.
2) Go capture the next closest, which many times is B and is usually titan friendly, but in the beginning of the game there usually are no titans yet. (Examples: Demeter on TF1 or Blackwater Canal on TF2)
3) Now, try to quickly assess your team (Are they new players?, Are they even playing hardpoint? Are you going to have to carry the load?)
4) Also, try to quickly assess the other team (Are they new players? Are they even playing hardpoint? Are you going to have to hold the fort and hope for help later?)
5) If my team has 2 hardpoints, I will stay at the one I'm at and defend it as long as we have 2, because the team that has at least 2 the longest wins.
6) If we have 2 and I see we are losing one, I will usually try to run to help hang onto the one we are losing or get it back.
7) However, if my assessment in #3 and #4 told me the other team is a little better or at least playing hardpoint more than my team, I may hunker down even if we only have 1 Hardpoint, because I know that when you give up all 3 it goes downhill fast. If I can at least hold on to 1, then maybe my team will wake up later or maybe new players will get added in and we can make a comeback.
8) If we are losing badly, then even if we get 2 hardpoints, I will not play defense, but will rush to try to get the third hardpoint for 2 reasons (it will help us catch up faster, it will give the other team more to worry about).
9) In each Hardpoint, find a spot that you are very comfortable in if you have to sit there and play defense. Protection for you is more important than your visibility, because of the next point.
10) You don't have to see the enemy to know they are there. If you are inside of the invisible boundary we talked about, then if you look at the top/center of the screen where it say A, B or C (the hardpoint you are at), then right beneath that it will say "CONTESTED" as soon as an enemy enters the invisible boundary. This is extremely useful. Here is what I do if there are 2 entry points the enemy could come in. I am always looking right at one of the entry points, but at the same time paying attention to see if it say "CONTESTED", because if it says that and I don't see them where I'm looking, then I know they came in the other entry point. This is probably the single most underused critical advantage in the game. I view it as my secret weapon. It is like having eyes in the back of my head.
11) Stay out of your titan unless there is a titan friendly hardpoint on the map and the other team has it. This is probably one of the biggest mistakes I see people make, especially newer players, on Hardpoint. When their titan is ready, they get in it no matter what is happening with the hardpoints, even if their team has no hardpoints, and they will just wander around aimlessly in their titans. Titans can be more of a distraction than anything in a Hardpoint game.
12) Find the fastest routes between hardpoints, because when your team is behind or if you are going to have to carry most of the load, you are probably going to have on your running shoes, so you want to be as effective as possible. This is one thing CTF is good for, because it forces you to find the fastest, most effective routes between 2 points. Also, don't be affraid to set yourself up a Private Match and experiment with what are the fastest routes between 2 points.
13) For loadouts, think about what you are going to be doing. You are mostly going to be rushing into an occupied hardpoint and usually 2 of the 3 are in smaller, enclosed rooms. I like to throw 2 arc grenades in first and then rush in and finish off any stunned pilots that might be left. Plus, most battles, assault or defense, are going to be at close range, so I prefer the EVA-8 shotgun for this. To have the running shoes if necesary as in #12 I use Stim.
14) If you are defending a hardpoint, and you know you are spotted, move like a crazy person. I mean, wallrun around that room like a maniac, changing direction, changing elevations, no matter how small the room is and just be looking for that clean shot while you are doing so.
15) DEFENSE!!! DEFENSE!!! DEFENSE!!! It is the key to hardpoint. If you pay attention to the stats at the end of games. In almost every case, the team that won played better defense. Also, if 2 players had generally the same stats besides defense, the player with the higher defense will be the MVP. That is why I always say, "play defense if we have 2 hardpoints and we win"

Hope this helps. Now you have all of my secrets so I expect to get destroyed in Hardpoint games now.

 

Thanks for the kind words DARK! Your attempt was not feeble. Your's was more succinct and I know you get Hardpoint by the stats you shared from your game. I just love Hardpoint so much, because sadly, outside of work and sleep, it has been the dominant part of my life for the last 2-1/2 years, so I felt it was time to share any wisdom I might have acquired.

You bring up a very good point that I think deserves a seperate thread about the placement of text.

You also bring up a very good strategical use of the titan that I must admit that I don't use as much as I should, which is to distract the enemy or guard you while you are trying to take a hardpoint. Too often I make the mistake of "saving" my titan in case I want to get in him later, when I probably could have been using him as you suggested.

Also, you bring up another great point that especially applies after the titans start dropping. If you are a pilot, forget B or any titan friendly hardpoints and just go back and forth between A and C as necessary, because if you can hold those 2 you will win, while the other team is being distracted trading B back and forth with some of your other teammates.

It's OK DARK, I can still tell that you get the game and know what is important in Hardpoint and that's all that matters. Don't get me wrong, I get destroyed too in TF2 sometimes and I feel pathetic. Much of it does come from the other team communicating as you mentioned.

Exactly! Don't even think about B if your not in your titan. At least not after the beginning of the game.