The Soldier (Team Fortress 2) Discussion: MAGGOTS!

We currently do not have a FPS representative in Crusade, and I suppose with good reason. Who actually likes FPSes right?? No characters could fit in correctly with Smash’s colorful cast of characters, nor could any of them be actually unique… right?

Well, actually.
I’m going to bring up an option here that I think could fit in well with the Smash Bros. cast, represent the FPS genre, and be fairly unique at the same time

THE SOLDIER





Hold up, hold up. Soldier? I thought HEAVY was the face of TF2.
Now, there’s no denying that the Heavy is a well-recognized face of Team Fortress 2. But, Soldier is as well.
Soldier is arguably the “main” character of the TF2 comics, so he’s definitely got some relevance within the “TF2verse”. But another thing that should be noted is that the Soldier is arguably a more popular class within TF2 than the Heavy, and while the Heavy is recognizable, the Soldier is more popular in-game and would arguably bring a more unique moveset to the table than the Heavy could. Soldier uses a rocket launcher, which is currently not seen at all in-game outside of Snake’s moveset in one move (I’m pretty sure anyway). He seems like he would be more fun to play as than the Heavy personally, though if we're going solely by representation the Heavy would arguably the better choice, though the Soldier definitely poses as good competition in the popularity department.

So… now that is out of the way.

Why should TF2 be chosen to represent the FPS genre in the first place?

Good question.

I would argue because it fits in the most while also being still popular (after 7 years, to boot). While not official at all, which game has a popular deathmatch map based off Mario Circuit? Which game has custom game modes based off Smash Bros, Mario Kart, and WarioWare? Team Fortress 2 does. While not official by any means, technically the TF2 cast is not foreign to Nintendo at all really, and would certainly not feel out of place.

How could the Soldier be unique, however?

Certainly the most unique thing about the Soldier is his ability to Rocket Jump in TF2, and it is arguably one of the fastest ways to get around in the game. The Soldier has weapons based around rocket jumping, including a parachute and a shovel that deals 1.5x stronger damage when hitting an enemy during a rocket jump. Certainly this could be used within the moveset to perhaps create an aerial-based character that excels/is amazing in the air, but is a bit slow and clunky on the ground. The soldier could easily fire a bombardment of rockets onto his opponents below, meet anyone in the air face-to-face with a high-powered shovel to the face, and overall just be annoyingly fast and powerful in the air.

Here is a rough moveset of possible specials.

Neutral Special - Rocket Launcher
The Soldier pulls out his rocket launcher and fires a rocket that travels somewhat slowly and suffers from damage falloff, meaning it deals less damage the farther it travels. Holding the special button can have the soldier fire up to four rockets, before the Soldier automatically puts the rocket launcher away. For every rocket fired, the soldier must wait 1.5 seconds for that rocket to be “reloaded”, meaning if you fire all four rockets you must wait 1.5 seconds to fire at least one rocket again, 3 to fire 2, 4.5 to fire 3, and 6 to fire a full clip again. Using this move while rocket jumping allows the soldier to fire rockets diagonally downwards, and there is a noticeable increase in firing rate.

Side Special - need to think of something

Up Special - Rocket Jump
The Soldier, against all logic, fires a rocket at his feet, damaging himself slightly, though to compensate the Soldier has super armor during the initial animation. During this animation, you have a brief moment to select a direction to rocket jump in. The soldier then fires himself off, and he is able to perform any action he could perform in the air normally while rocket jumping. All aerials, however, instead of using a shovel, use a market gardener, which deal a lot more damage than soldier’s normal aerials. Pressing the up special in-air have the soldier deploy a parachute, which greatly reduces his fallspeed but also increases the damage he takes slightly. Pressing the up special button again retracts the parachute; Soldier cannot use it again until he lands. Using this move removes a rocket from the soldier’s clip, which is reloaded within 1.5 seconds.

Down Special - Buff Banner
A move that requires dealing damage to “charge”. When used before a full charge, the soldier does some sort of animation that means he can’t use it yet. When used at full charge (based on some % of damage done), he blows a horn and all of his attacks deal an extra .5x extra damage for a time.

I was considering making a Heavy moveset, but you do make some good points.... I definitely would rather play as the Soldier than the Heavy. Spy would be interesting too, but I think Sly stole the spotlight there.

So far, the 3 specials presented are fairly interesting. I'm just worried that he'll be too focused on his shovel/pickaxe/shotgun and thus won't really feel like the Soldier. Basically, he's going to need rockets in his normal A moves too... somehow.

The Side Special could be a different rocket laucher - maybe Beggar's Bazooka? Where there's a long charging animation before he launches up to 4 rockets at once. But that would better fit as a neutral special with the normal rocket launcher as side...

His neutral special could be the Cow Mangler, make it chargeable. I do agree with Roy that it the rocket launcher may want to be incorporated into the normal attacks, I'm not sure how though.

But I definitely support this character, he's one of my favourite classes (well, I love them all really) and he's absolutely hilarious.

This reminded me that I made a Soldier move set a while back. (Though thinking about it now I feel like I need to change some of the moves)

Soldier (Team Fortress 2):

I don't like the idea of using the Cow Mangler - while it's a funny sight to see in TF2, a laser gun doesn't really fit the Soldier and might ruin his aesthetic. (On the other hand, a lot of TF2 is crazy stuff and hats...)

The shotgun could probably fit into his smash attacks. And from your moveset, I like how he uses the grenades for a few moves.

In my opinion a character like Turok, Joanna Dark or Duke Nukem would fit more in to the rooster. This character is from a pc game and have no reference to nintendo.

In all seriousness, I'm fine with any TF2 character getting in. I much prefer the Heavy, but Soldier would definitely be my next pick. A side special based off of the Shotgun would probably be the ideal choice, but I'll see if I could think of something else.

My Side Special idea called Grenade Toss

The Soldier takes a grenade off of his chest sling. You can place up to 3 grenades at a time on the field of battle. Deployed grenades go off after 10 seconds or upon contact with an opponent. Each greande deals 10% damage.
Oh yeah what about his Final Smash?

I support. Big TF2 fan here.

Support

I support, but I would much rather say Heavy gets in. Tons of people know Heavy but not the Soldier; Heavy is just that popular.

Maybe I'll make a Heavy thread. Support for now though