Christmas Event 2017: Wreck The Halls

Christmas 2017
12/25 - 1/1


Merry Christmas, SGMers!
I hope you brought something warm with you, because things are about to get pretty cold!

As the holiday spirit spreads throughout the air, the cold winds and chilly weather do as well. The temperatures have went well below the zero, and it was only a matter of time until... well, everything froze! Yes, even the ground! And with slippery floors and so much snow around, it doesn't take a genius to understand what's the next step...

Welcome to GMod's greatest snowball fight!
SGM On Ice, our new Christmas special event, is a holiday themed event round that'll run throughout the entire holiday in all of our TTT servers. It is a laid back, wild and hilarious round, running once an hour in all of our servers.

The goal of the event is simple: collect as many presents before time runs out, and stop the others from doing the same. Sounds simple, right? Well, it only sounds like that. The cold weather froze over the map, and the floor is covered in slippery ice! With barely any friction, it's much harder to get around, and you'll find yourself sliding around quite a lot as you try to regain your balance.
But that's not all - because what's a holiday event without some snowballs?! Each player is armed with an infinite stock of snowballs, which they can throw at the other players to push them and prevent them from collecting the presents. With the already-limited movement, these are not to be underestimated!
Thankfully, not everything is against you. When you collect a present, there is a chance for you to obtain a powerful (yet temporary) buff, that'll help you get an advantage over the rest for the next 30 seconds - stronger snowballs, faster movement, and even a shield against enemy snowballs! And - if you're lucky enough, you might even get hold of the legendary Icepoon - the ultimate tool that can freeze an opponent in place!

The Loot
At this point you must be asking, "why do I need all this?" Well, you didn't think we'll leave you empty handed, right?
By playing the event, you will be able to earn Event Points. The more you play, the more points you'll gather! Every present you collect is worth some points as well, and if you finish in the first, second or third place, you'll get even more of them!


Earn enough points, and you'll be able to unlock our event exclusive rewards:

Tier 1

Replace your harpoon with a giant, pointy Candy Cane, for the ultimate jolly death!


Tier 2

Unlock the Icepoon as a permanent cosmetic replacement for your harpoon! Throw it at your opponents and watch them freeze as they are sent flying towards the nearest wall!


Tier 3

A legendary cosmetic replacement for your incendiary grenade, this orange snowball will burst in blue FrostFires - blue flames!


NOTE:
All of the rewards are cosmetic replacements only and have no actual effect on gameplay.







The winter did not skip our sunny island map, and the snow turned it into the ultimate Christmas map, available only during Christmas!






If there's one thing that represents Christmas more than anything else - it is the spirit of giving and sharing. Exchanging gifts, cheerful family meetings and more - Christmas is all about giving from yourself to the others.
This year, SGM joins the holiday tradition as well, introducing a new, christmas-only item to our pointshop: "The Gift of Sharing"
This item is meant for the generous and caring individuals of our community to have a chance to share some of their fortune with others, while earning some themselves too. The Gift of Sharing can be purchased with normal pointshop points for the price of 5K. When purchased, the gift will award ALL of players currently on server with a random amount of Event Points, boosting them towards unlocking the event rewards mentioned above. The buyer will have a higher point margin for themselves too.

But that's not all: to celebrate the greatness of sharing, we are also introducing the "Sharing Hall of Fame" - a new Leaderboard that will be displayed publicly on our website, honoring those who gave the most to the others. Every gift of sharing you buy will be tracked by our system, and the top 10 most generous givers of SGM will be forever honored on the very top of the board.

Really a win-win scenario, right? If you have a few spare points, why not give it a go? Everybody wins when you give - including yourself.
Happy sharing!

NOTE: There must be at least 10 other players in the server when you purchase a Gift of Sharing, or it will not count towards your Hall of Fame score. You will still earn the points even if this condition is not met.
NOTE 2: The Sharing Hall of Fame is still under development and will not display immediately.



Merry Christmas!
In the name of SGM and its staff, members and leadership, I wish you a Merry Christmas, and hope you will enjoy our event!



And now - onwards to the rest of the update...​

 

First Pass
Written by Opalium


Background
(You can skip this part safely if you're not interested in the more in-depth stuff)
​

Weapon balance. The long awaited and controversial project that has been the talk of the community for a while now.
Weapon balancing is not an easy task, and the way TTT is designed and played doesn't make it any easier. It is a complex topic where many different factors need to be taken into consideration. One change can affect many other things, and therefore everything has to be done very carefully.

When I approached the task of weapon balancing, I have done so with three points in mind:

• Weapons need to be refined to a specific purpose, which is derived from both the class they are part of and their own set of abilities. Much like how you'd take a sniper for long range combat and a shotgun for close quarters combat, these come from the traits of those weapons and their class.
• Weapons need to have some uniqueness to them when possible. There's nothing more frustrating than "reskins" - different weapons that function almost identically. This is probably the main focus of this update - defining a "goal" to each of these.
• Balance is not about equality of the numbers, but rather about the potential of weapons in different situations and how well they compare to each other in said situations.

These concepts are what directed me as I worked on this project. With the very important feedback gathered from the community HERE and some internal play testing, I identified the first batch of weapons which needed the attention the most.

My workflow was as following:
After selecting the weapons that will take part in the first batch, I went over each one of them and planned its intended use and the playstyle it will fit to. Once I had that, I proceeded to make an initial prototype of the desired result. With the help of different community members who tested it out and gave their feedback, I tuned the results until I reached something I was happy with.
Later on, we had multiple testing sessions of said weapon with both staff members and players participating, where I continued to tweak the weapons until the results you see today.

We have a lot of weapons in our server. This makes it nearly impossible to really give each of them a unique personality and playstyle. Therefore, I had to be creative. You will notice some new mechanics and ideas in the new version of some weapons, which will hopefully open up new and interesting play styles and "metas", as well as strengthen and refine existing ones.

And so, ladies and gentleman - here they are:

For your convenience, you can find a spreadsheet with all of the changes here:
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1umGBfyWtxEbf4KvglrTr-sUuOO3eS3zvoQ4_lp1AKyU/edit?usp=sharing​

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The sniper rifles of TTT rise to power with a series of buffs, new features, and a completely overhauled code-base behind the scenes. Watch your head!

General changes - Scout (vanilla sniper), AWP, Barret M82, M24, Intervention (D), Dragunov (T):

• Rewrote the code base of all snipers. They should now feel a lot better to use, less inconsistent with each other, and will introduce less bugs. Also, the new base allows us to easily introduce new gameplay mechanics if we ever intend to do so in the future.
• All snipers now have a Zoomable scope: you can zoom in and out using your mouse wheel while scoped in.
• Bolt-action snipers will now correctly perform the bolt-back animation after each shot.
• Snipers will automatically re-scope after a reload or after a bolt-back.
• Accuracy of all snipers improved.
• Snipers will now keep their zoom level after re-scoping, after switching weapons or even after dropping.

AWP
The AWP is the signature sniper of source games, and as such it was pretty disappointing to see how underperforming it is on TTT. With this update, the AWP is getting some much needed love to put it back into the picture.

With more damage and better precision, the AWP now serves as a handy tool to quickly take a good chunk of health off a target in the distance. Being the fastest non-credit sniper, it will be a great companion to those who are not yet fully stable.


Barret M82
The M82 was in a strange place with this update. It was pretty much a stronger version of the AWP, with the same issues. After tuning the numbers on the rest of the snipers, we quickly figured it still feels very much like a barely tweaked AWP - the famous 'reskin' issue.
To counter that, we took the M82 in a different direction, making it the counterpart of the AWP.

The M82 took a It is slower and has less bullets in the magazine - but every successful hit is a punishing one. With more raw damage than any other sniper, this fellow is going to shine in the hands of sharpshooters who can aim well.


M24
The M24, the newest sniper in the kit, is being reintroduced with a completely changed concept, which is also the second new mechanic we introduce with this update: distance-based damage.

The damage of the M24 now increases based on the distance from the target. Starting with a low of 45 and scales all the way up to a monstrous 90, the overhauled M24 rewards long-range sniping and will hopefully open up new gameplay styles for those who prefer to take down their targets from afar.

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Next on our overhauls list are the pistols. All pistols went through a series of changes and tweaks, bringing new ideas and refining the purpose of each.


Colt 1911
"Oh no! Not the Colt! Why are you doing this to us, Opal?!"
Don't worry. It's not that bad.
The colt is a weapon that revolves around the "golden 1-tap" - the headshot that leaves any target dead on the floor. This change builds up on this concept, maintaining this characteristic but refining it towards it as well.

The colt is meant to score headshots, so not doing that should penalize the user. Therefore, from now, it's body damage is weaker, it's slower between shots, and is no longer automatic. This refines its purpose to what the intention is: split skulls and nothing else. Use it well and be rewarded. Misuse it and suffer.


P228
The P228 found itself, together with many other weapons, in the "no reason to use" bin. Being rather weak and without any useful characteristics, it was just another pistol, outshined by others in the same class (mainly the colt). With this update, we are bringing the little guy back into the picture, moving it away from the usual 1-tap mature of pistols to give it some uniqueness.

The P228 is now designed to serve as a body-shooting weapon, useful in finishing off wounded targets and as a back up when you're out of ammo in your primary. The new stats attempt to redirect it to become a complementary weapon to your primary rather than a killing machine on its own like the Colt. With some very good raw damage and automatic firing, it will hopefully serve just as that, especially useful in the hands of those who are less skilled in headshots.


SIG Sauer P229R
The SIG Sauer is another one of these guns that have no actual reason to be used. However, now that we have a better definition for some of the other pistols, we can find this fellow a place as well.

The updated SIG Sauer excels in speed. It is the fastest pistol available, able to shred a good bunch of holes in your unfortunate target with impressive ease. With this change, the SIG is now a fine alternative for the usual power-house guns we offer.


TEC-9
The TEC-9 is a strange weapon. It is an odd hybrid of a pistol and a sub machine gun, and therefore difficult to refine. So... what is it?
And so, we got creative. Our take on the TEC-9 is also introducing the second new weapon mechanic we are adding to our servers with this update: Focus.

Focus is a mechanic that allows us to pack two different play styles in one weapon - exactly what the TEC-9 is about. When you use it normally, the TEC-9 will be quick and loose. However, when you scope in to the iron sights, you enter Focus mode: the weapon trades some of its fire rate for increased accuracy. In other words, you shoot slower, but more accurately.
Focus allows you to adapt into different situations with the same weapon, giving it a lot of versatility. It makes the TEC-9 into a jack of both trades but master of neither.
We hope this new idea will open up more options and play styles, and make the TEC-9 a viable choice.


HK45C
When we got to the HK45C, things became challenging. We already had a pistol designated to every purpose we had in mind, so what do we do with this one?
Indeed, it seems a "traditional" solution will not work here. And so, once more, we used our creativity, and came up with yet another new solution.

The HK45C is the first weapon to receive our third new mechanic: Burst-Fire. Pulling the trigger on this one releases a burst of three bullets in quick succession, making it lethal at close range but ineffective at longer range (and quite expensive on ammo). This new mechanic once again allows for new Gameplay options not available before, and we can't wait to see how it'll end up.

​

The detectives of TTT are getting a new toy to fight crime with. Or, rather, an old-new one. After being one of the least used weapons for a very long time, the Intervention is now reborn from the ashes, with a new and powerful concept that will place it higher up on the board.

The intervention has been recreated from scratch, using the new sniper code base mentioned above (which also gives it the other benefits like scope zoom, proper bolt-action and easier handling), and was given a new, powerful mechanic: Charge-Up.
Charge-Up allows charging up shots fired through the intervention, increasing their power the longer you charge them. Simply hold down the fire button to start charging, and release it whenever you feel like.
The damage range begins at 50, and increases all the way up to a clean, round 100 (before reductions). With proper handling and careful aim, the intervention is now one of the only weapons that can kill in one hit without a head shot. Yes, it's as brutal as it sounds.
However, there is a catch. To compensate for the greatly amplified damage potential of the weapon, you are forced to stand completely still while building your charge. Any movement will cause your charge meter to reset, and you'll have to start from the beginning. This means that with the great power comes a risk - standing still at the wrong time may very well end up in your death. This will require the user to carefully plan their moves and give a fair chance for the enemy to fight back.
Full details:

We hope this change will finally bring in the Intervention into daily gameplay, and will serve as a powerful tool in the hands of those who will know how to utilize it well. Enjoy!

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Can you hear that? Me neither. But as we speak, more names are added to the list of the dead. And not a single sound is heard.
This update introduces the new and better Silencer. Building up on the idea of the existing version, and improving it completely through your feedback, the Silencer finally unlocks its true potential through a series of changed and new features.

• The Silencer is no longer a grenade. Instead, it is activated almost immediately from your location when fired.
• Upon activation, the Silencer covers the affected area in Total Silence, a redesigned of the old silence effect which does the following:
  • Affected players are unable to communicate in any way - this includes text chat, voice chat and radio commands.
  • The guns of all the players in the area become completely silent. Shooting will not make any sound at all.
  • Players who die within the silenced area will not scream or make any noise.
• In addition to all that, with the help of other Traitors, multiple Silencers can now be chained to prolong the effect, allowing you to completely suppress areas through teamwork.

With all these changes, I hope the silencer will finally become a useful tool in the hands of the able, and provide new and interesting ways to take down your targets. Just keep it quiet...

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AK47
The king is dead!... or is it?

The Ak47 is one of the signature weapons of our servers and in general, and as such required twice the careful handling. Being a "symbol" at this point, the changes this weapon will likely take the biggest hit from the public. However, as glorified as it is, there is no doubt this fellow is simply too good at what it does.
My goal with the AK was to reduce its lethality to be more fair to fight against, while on the other hand preserving it as a worthy pick by the masses and as an efficient killing machine.

The AK is used for quick and painful outbursts, taking down a target before they can properly react. Such an action needs to be properly calculated, and the new AK builds on this idea. It is still lethal, but now you need to be more careful before using it or it will backfire pretty hard.

With this change, the effective range of the AK47 is reduced quite a lot, fitting it into shorter range combat. There was simply no reason for it to be so good at longer ranges - why would such a quick rifle have this range? In addition, the additional kick from the recoil and the cone requires the user to be a lot more calculated when using it as it is much more punishing for misuse. In other words: no more careless spraying and praying with this one.
This is all done without taking from its lethality - the AK is still damn powerful at its designated range, and can still take down targets with ease - you'll have to be more precise and controlled to do so efficiently.
Overall, this is not too much of a major change, however it will definitely affect the use of the weapon quite a bit. My hope is that the changes to the rest of the weapons will also add to this one, so that we'll see more weapons being used rather than just a weaker AK47.


HK-SL8
You knew it was coming. We all knew it was coming.

The SL8 is the weapon of choice for the (x)pro player. It's fast, accurate, and kills in a single headshot. This weapon quickly gained some popularity in our servers since its introduction - and for a reason.
Still, in its current state, the SL8 has little to no disadvantages. A weapon such as this, which can drop you dead in a single tap, needs to have a fairly good punishment for misuse, and this is exactly what I aimed for with this change.

Holy crap. Red across the board!
The new SL8 is still a one shot weapon. Tap the head and drop them dead. But, in return, it is now much more punishing to its user for misses and misuse. With a significantly lower fire rate, smaller clip and lower body damage, you will need to be very precise with this fellow from now on - or you will pay the price. Even a missed shot can now give your opponent a fair chance to upperhand you back, but the skilled and professional among us will still be able to wreck those skulls with ease.
Indeed, the SL8 takes a major hit today. But even after this, we are certain it will remain powerful in the hands of the able. As with all changes, we will closely watch how this old unfolds, and perhaps adjust accordingly. For now - get crackin'.


The Jackhammer
It's a shotgun! It's a rifle! No - it's the Jackhammer!

The jackhammer is the living nightmare of the traitors - it's as powerful as a shotgun, fast as a rifle, and pretty damn accurate on top of that. This hammer sure hits the nail on its head - but maybe that's too much?
The Jackhamner is unique. Crazy, but unique. The idea of an accurate shotgun contradicts itself in its essence, yet - surprisingly - it works fairly well. When I approached this fellow, I knew I wanted to keep this special behavior. However, something had to go.
Going back to the main focus points mentioned at the start of this post, it made sense which of the three aspects needs to go - the speed.
The Jackhamner is a credit weapon - it HAS to be strong. But there's strong... and there's absolutely insane. Therefore, the best approach was to take from its speed. It may be powerful and accurate, but why on earth does it need to deliver so fast?
This idea, together with some more tuning, resulted as following:

The Jackhamner is now slower, has a slightly smaller clip, and fires one less bullet per shot. It still maintains its legendary trait of being a damn accurate shotgun, but no longer can it wreck so much havoc without a chance to be stopped. The smaller clip also adds another handicap which should stop users from careless spraying sprees, which, again, was the main idea behind this change.
There is hope once again to those who face this mean hammer, but don't get too comfortable - it's still a beast, and well prepared to kick your sorry ass.


MP5 Navy
Be careful who you call useless in middle-school.

The MP5, being an SMG, is all about speed. Quick, surprising bursts of bullets, and damned be the accuracy. However, even this was not really happening with the MP5. It couldn't live to its very purpose!
Well then, I suppose this change is an easy guess...

Now THAT'S fast. More than twice as fast, to be precise.
The MP5 is now a total speed demon, serving a frightening wave of bullets that'll send you screaming back to your Traitor room.
However, to make sure it doesn't become too ridiculous, the raw damage each bullet does was tuned down, and the added kick will also ensure the speed has its drawbacks.
The MP5 screams spray and pray, and there's nothing wrong with that tactic really. However, as with everything in life - it's going to cost you. Use it wisely!


AUG
What do you call a rifle with a scope that is as inaccurate as a shotgun? The AUG!

Nothing with the AUG makes sense. It's slow, not very powerful, has an awful kick - and holy crap, why can't it hit what I'm aiming at?! It has a scope, damn it!
Indeed, simply changing numbers was not really enough in the AUG's case. Just making it into a viable rifle won't do much with so many other guns that do just the same. Nope, the AUG needed something different. And we know just what it is.

The AUG is the second weapon in this list to receive the Focus mechanic. Like before, when unscoped, this weapon is pretty normal. The base stats were boosted a bit to make it stand better with the rest of the competition as well. However, as soon as you scope in, it changes: the gun becomes more accurate and has less recoil - but sacrifices some of its speed for that.
This makes the AUG an incredibly versatile weapon, which you can use to better adapt to different situation. Of course, like the TEC-9, being a jack of both trades means it doesn't excel in either - but the utility it provides opens so much more possibilities with it.
I am very curious to see how it will be used. Looking forward to your feedback!


FAMAS
The FAMAS is yet another weapon without much to it. Nothing about it would really make anyone want to pick it up over the options. This tweak is an attempt to refine the goal of the weapon, and make the FAMAS a more viable choice in different situations.

Similar to how it works in CS, the FAMAS is now a burst-fire weapon. Each pull of the trigger unleashes three bullets one after the other, allowing you to quickly reposition between each burst and compensate for the kick. If your aim is steady, this weapon is for you, ready to unleash hell.


FG42
One of the first thing anyone can notice about the FG42 is simple - it has a pretty big magazine. Yet, for some reason, this "big magazine" could only hold 20 bullets! This makes absolutely no sense!
But clip size is not the only problem with the FG42. Another problem is the fact that - well, again - there's no reason to ever use it.
And so, considering both problems at once, we came up with an idea.

The FG42 now houses a whoppin' 35 bullets in its big magazine - a much more reasonable number considering its physical size. In addition, the gun has been tuned to follow that same concept - a lot of ammo to use over a greater length of time. It's slower and less accurate, but every hit deals more damage in total. This means that, combined with the larger clip, you can now sustain your fire for much longer, making this an excellent weapon for prolonged exchanges.


Winchester 1887
The Winchester 1887 shotgun is a blast. Literally. It blasts the target with a fuck-ton of bullets and makes them fall before they even know it. That's fine, actually - this is the purpose of a shotgun. But this needs to be possible within a reasonable range only - not across the whole damn map.
The Winchester is too accurate. During our play tests, even a fairly average player could chip a nice chunk of health from a long range target. We already have a jackhammer, we don't need another one.
However, this creates a new problem: if I just make it less accurate, we're going to get merely a slight modification of a shotgun. And what value will it have over the others then?
For this very reason, we needed a deeper change than that. And that's what we did.

The winch87 is now less accurate at longer ranges (as it should be), and has a much heavier kick, which makes sense for a shotgun that explodes into a blurry fo bullets every shot.
However, it also offers another twist: it now shoots more bullets per shot, but each bullet deals less damage. This lives it up even more to the intentional use: at close range, this guy is still an immediate threat. On longer ranges - not anymore.

Important
Weapon balance changes are obviously a big thing. It is not impossible that further changes will be required. We will be monitoring the status of all the affected weapons carefully and introduce additional changes as required.



And now, once again, onwards unto the next part...​

 

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Our map roster is getting an update once again. This time, however, it's not only about the new, but also about the existing.
Throughout the years, our map cycle has been growing steadily with more and more options being added every time. While not all of them are popular, they are still there, growing dust between their more popular counterparts. The reasons for the lack of popularity these maps suffer from are many, but the result is the same: unused maps that generally keep players away while being played. And honestly, no one likes to get lazertag after picking a random map.

This update will finally bring some balance to our map list. We're not only adding, but also changing, updating and removing. With the help of the great feedback from the map survey I've done a while ago, we were able to identify which maps require our attention. This, together with a sweet pack of new additions, will hopefully make some order in the chaos that is our map cycle.

Let's get started:

It's time to celebrate, Vanilla players! After quite some time, we are finally adding some new entries to our Vanilla map cycle - and this time we're going big, with the biggest map pack ever: 6 maps!





MC Fantasy, a new, original map by the ever-talented Skyrossm, is a lovely medieval kingdom, with castle, fields and tall walls. This beautifully designed map is also a well designed battlefield, with a combination of open and tight areas, fit for all kinds of encounters.
But that's not everything. Rumor has it that somewhere in the peaceful kingdom lies a dark secret, away from the public eye. A terrible force that could reign terror upon its inhabitants - and maybe even worse! Will the terrorists be able to find this threat and get rid of it? Or will they too fall before it?
There's only one way to find out...




BRING BACK JONDOME! BRING BACK JONDOME!
Your prayers have finally been answered. Jondome is back, better than ever! With most bugs and glitches patched up and the map generally improved, Jondome is here to take back its place in the map pool to please you all.
Jon may be a weird name for a dome, but it sure is a hell of a map!
I'd like to thank Skyrossm for his work on the map that made it possible to bring it back.




A recreation of the well known island map, MC Island is a vast, well crafted map that continues to glory of its former. Set on a stranded island in the middle of the ocean, this map has everything you'll ever need: large open areas, underground tunnels, Traitor traps, sniping locations, and an unlockable tester!
But that's not all: Island features a special victory condition for those willing to work for it! Find all nine coal ores hidden throughout the map and load them onto the ship to start sailing to your freedom! Where's the catch, you ask? Well, both the innocents AND the Traitors can win this way - whoever is on the ship when it passes the buoy wins!
Hyped? So are we. We hope you will enjoy this new map!




The earth splitted in two... And the fissure was created. Right between the old mine and the lumber mill, a scar of lava now spans across the earth, splitting the map in two. There are secrets to unlock, hidden objects to collect, and things to kill - just make sure to watch your step... or you may get really uncomfortably hot.




In the heart of the forest stands a beautiful village, full of surprises. Drybones village offers a mixture of tight, close quarters combat and sneaky Traitor gameplay, with well placed traps and a vast underground area. Relax inside the many different homes, spend some time near the fountain and the hedge maze - but most important - always watch your back...




TCannon is one of the most clever MC maps I've personally seen, and I bet you will agree as well. This map, being one of the most popular MC maps out there, is sure to surprise you over and over with its capabilities. With a vast and complex underground area, a carefully planned design, and some really impressive and innovative Traitor traps, TCannon is sure to bring you hours of excitement.
Oh, and most important: Cake!


With so much many new maps, Vanilla finally gets the love it deserves. We hope you will enjoy all these! Have fun, vanillians!






Our modded servers are also joining the party, with 3 new additions to their cycle as well!





Nuclear Power is one of the most well known maps in TTT probably - and for a good reason. The talented creator, @<[Matt]>2468rv, has crafted one of the highest quality maps I personally happened to see.
The Vanguard nuclear power facility is a secret research and production facility, deep under the ground, surrounding a gigantic nuclear core. This hi-tech complex is home to amazing technology and great scientific search - but also a dark and dangerous plot by the dreaded Traitors. Now, the red team is on the hunt once more, with a new goal: blow the whole place up! And if they'll succeed, doom will be upon us all...
But there's hope for the innocent terrorists: a secret keycard, the only way to override the nuclear core systems and bring doom upon all, must be destroyed! Locked inside a top-security vault, a four digit code is the only thing standing before the terrorists and their death.
Can you find it in time and save the day? Or will the foul terrorists succeed in their plan and bring death to us all?

Nuclear Power is truly one of the greatest masterpieces in TTT's history, and we are happy to finally bring it to you as well! With tons of areas, special traps and secrets, and quite a few easter eggs - this map is going to be a certain hit!
Of course, we'd like to give a huge thanks to @<[Matt]>2468rv, the man behind the map, for his amazing work. Way to go!





Our classic map, White House, is getting a facelift. This brand new version is a complete overhaul of the map, with more areas, better visuals, a vast underground area, Traitor rooms, traps, and so much more!
We hope you will enjoy this upgrade!





Devoz may look bland at first, but don't let the looks deceive you. This is a well designed map with many different areas fit for all kinds of encounters. It has it all: traps, a tester, and even some map secrets! The compact layout encourages fast paced rounds, and the clever construction is definitely surprising.
Don't judge it by the look - give it a try!​

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As mentioned before, with this update we're also saying farewell to some of the less popular options we have in our map roster. No more lazertag in random, eh?
This decision was based on multiple factors. The map survey done awhile ago provided us with a lot of valuable feedback, and with some additional internal data and gameplay statistics from our servers, we were able to highlight the maps which need to go. These maps will be retired from all our servers permanently, and will hopefully find their home in the great map heaven in the sky. Or something like that.

Lazertag
Dog
Amsterville
Old Factory
Rats Kitchen
Parkhouse
Terrortrain
MC Rooftops
MC Tiptsky
MC Craftroom​

 

Show your inner colors! Be your favorite character! Or just look awesome in general!
Wreck the Halls introduces 14 player models to our servers! Video game characters, superheroes and more - we have them all.
As I already mentioned, this update is not only about the new, but also about the existing. In addition to adding new models, we are also upgrading some of our older models to newer, better versions that look so much better. And to wrap it all up, we're also updating some of our broken/imperfect models so they can finally be used once again.

With so many changes, I am sure you are as excited as I am. Let's get to it!






Kicking off our new models list is the cunning beauty Kat, a well known character from the Devil May Cry series. She will be taking her place in the VIP section of our pointshop.




This epic set of armor will be immediately recognized by the fans of the world of Tamriel. With this fancy model, taken straight from the historical entry in The Elder Scrolls series, Skyrim, slaying Traitors will be just as fun as slaying a dragon. Pick one up from the Supporter section of our pointshop!




Gaige the Mechromancer, an awesome character from an awesome game in an awesome series (Borderlands 2), lands in our TTT servers, ready to wreck havoc! She will be waiting in the Elite section of the pointshop.




Joining her aforementioned colleague, the legendary siren, Lilith, is here as well, ready to kick some ass! This beautiful and awesomely badass character will also be available for our Elite members.




Meryl Silverburgh is a well recognized face to the fans of Metal Gear Solid. This model of her from MGS4 is sure going to be favored by many of them, as they pick it from the VIP+ section.



Raiden, or Jack The Ripper, is another character from MGS. This fellow here decided to leave the mercenary business behind and instead kick some terrorists' asses. If you'd like to join him, just check the Elite section of our pointshop.




Triss Merigold of Maribor, the well known sorceress from The Witcher 3, follows the tracks of Yennefer from last year and joins the battle of the terrorists, available now for holders of the VIP+ rank.




Closing off the new models list is a name who needs no introductions: Ironman himself, from the successful Marvel series. This iconic superhero can be found in the Elite section of our pointshop.






Lara changed a lot throughout the years - there's no reason she won't change on our servers too! Lara will now present herself in an updated form, taken from the modern games in the series.




Being a superhero is great - but why not also look good while doing it? Green Lantern is getting a fresh new look with much higher detail and awesome quality.




Why should Green Lantern get all the good perks? The iconic Captain America joins the upgrade party as well, giving it the charming superhero look he deserves!




He may not be the usual superhero, but he's definitely worth of that level of an upgrade! Robocop is getting a serious boost for his looks, with a shiny new black suit and much better quality.



Yes, she is actually the opposite of a superhero, but we just couldn't let this beauty go unnoticed. Her new model comes from her appearance in Suicide Squad, and I'm sure you're all going to love this new style she's rocking!




John-117, the one and only, is the last model in the upgrades list, receiving some well-earned love with a fresh new model taken straight from the latest Halo game. Brace for impact!






The three ladies from last update are getting patched up and ready to capture your hearts again!

Quiet
I have to agree, this one was pretty embarrassing. As awesome as she is, it's hard to look at Quiet the same when she is... well, completely deformed. But don't worry, Opal got you covered, and Quiet finally has her skeleton fixed.

Miranda
Another model which suffered from unfortunate skeleton issues, the bio-wearing lady is now back in the game with proper bones and a much more reasonable look.

Yennefer
This one may have not been so easily visible, but our current Yennefer model was suffering from some pretty bad issues. This update features a brand new model built from scratch, which will hopefully do more justice to the original.



Whoops! The man in the bat costume has been a bit of a headache for us now, with a sneaky bug that caused some players to crash. This has been resolved now, thankfully, and Batman Beyond should now be once again properly playable.


To sum it all up, here is a list of all the changes:
​

 

Leave your mark on your victims as you blow their brains out with a cheerful, ridiculous or just plain dumb Jihad Sound!
Wreck the Halls adds 8 more Jihad sounds to our pointshop - the sounds YOU suggested.
Have a blast!


PICKLE RICK!


Did Somebody Say BOOM?!


Oh, oh, oh, EXPLODE!


Fuck this shit, I'm out!


Now THAT'S a lot of damage!


Omae wa mou shindeiru


Keep firing, assholes!


You are not prepared!
​

 

Opalium
For leading the project and creating the update as a whole

Highwon
For his programming work, his general awesomeness, and for many, many other things.

Casual
For planning and designing the update, and for the brilliant screenshots of all the content.

Verified
For his awesome UI and programming work.

Doben
For creating the candy cane harpoon and for her amazing graphic work.

Xproplayer
For creating the model hitboxes.

The SGM Community
For the many suggestions and for their continuous support (and occasional hatred)




============================================================================

Finally, on a more personal note:
As Highwon mentioned at the beginning of this thread, today also marks my promotion to Owner at his side.
I am accepting this rank in great honor, and I am sincerely thankful for everyone who made this possible. Members, staff and the leadership of SGM - this could have not possible with your help, encouragement, and, yes - challenges.
This update you were just reading about is the result of months of work. Hours and days of our free time, sinked into the creation and preparation of all this content - without expecting anything in return. I am, as the rest of the staff here are, a volunteer. I receive no repayment in return for all the work I do for SGM. And yet, I am putting my heart and soul into it - because this place has a powerful meaning for me. SGM is a place where people feel at home - sometimes more than in their real life. It is a place we are connected to with our very hearts, and for me, it really is one of the best things in life. Seeing so many of us finding their place among the rest... is truly heartwarming. Not many things in life get such a powerful grip in one's life. Do not take this for given: we are doing something amazing here. Something wonderful. Something... awesome.

It has been my pleasure and joy serving this community for so long, and I am certain it will only continue to grow now that I enter my new role.
And once again, with all my heart - thank you.
Thank you for making this place so amazing.

And as always...
Stay awesome.


May this Christmas be full of joy and cheer for you all, and may you all have a fantastic new year, full of opportunities and greatness.


Signed,
Opalium & Highwon​

 

Good shit

 

yeah can i get a tldr of the good bits please

 

new content

 

ayyyyy lmao

 

jondome!?

 

wow my expectations didn't get ruined for once

 

This looks amazing. Thank you so much. <3

 

In read this tomorrow but Triss makes up for the no Ela.

Love ya Opal

 

Um, does this mean no new round end music?

 

Great job @Opalium! You deserve owner at this point. Merry Christmas everyone!

Also, I'm loving those player model poses. Awesome posing work there @Casual