We would like to congratulate RL on being selected the HKC player of the month! We know him as an engineer with a love for splitting heads with his feared wrench! Always on the top of the scoreboard we enjoy having him in our servers and the community :)

Q: How long have you been gaming and what was the first game you really got addicted to?

A: I think I've been gaming since I was about four. The first game that I really became attached to was the original Super Mario Bros. That, coupled with the Atari 2600 my parents had kind of sealed the deal.

Q: What originally brought you to HK's TF2 servers and why did you stay?

A: Originally, it was thanks to a certain friend of mine. He and I were really into TF2 on the Xbox (DON'T LAUGH). After so long, we decided that we wanted to play with the updates (and hats), and we each picked up a copy of the game on PC. He managed to find the HK servers through pure chance, and I followed suit. We ended up frequenting the servers since this seemed to be one of the few corners of the internet where not everyone was a complete douche. In other words, we love you guys <3

Q: What's your favorite map, and why?

A: It's a tossup between Dustbowl and Badwater. Dustbowl is one of those maps that I've been playing since the release of the game, and I have yet to grow tired of it. Honestly, I'm not quite sure why, but I won't argue it. Badwater is just one of those maps where I've had luck playing as any class, and I like the payload gametype. It seems like a good combination.

Q: What's your favorite class and why?

A: Engineer. Have you ever seen a swarm of dancing, yippee-ki-yaying Texans? That should be enough of a reason. Alternatively, I enjoy building things, both in game and out.

Q: And what do you consider your worst class to be?

A: Sniper, easily. I rarely play the class, and when I am in the mood to try my hand at it, there are usually a half dozen other people already sniping. I like to at least pretend to be useful to the team.

Q: What is your favourite weapon unlock?

A: The Gunslinger. I love being able to assasult with a shotgun, retreat, and leave mini sentries around the corner for my pursuer. You have no idea how much satisfaction I get out of doing that.

Q: And which unlock do you think should never have been added into the game?

A: I think I have to say the Equalizer. I have never been a fan of the weapon, and it takes away part of the teamwork of the game. Its taunt is fun, though.

Q: When in a game, what is the most annoying thing your team can do or not do?

A: Complete silence. Not only does it take away from any amount of teamwork, but it's pretty boring. Give me a losing team and some people with personality over a team of winning jerks any day.

Q: What single thing do you think they could add to TF2 to make it even better?

A: I would love to see some new game modes and server options. I know a lot of people have been clamoring for an option to revert back to vanilla game play with none of the new weapons, and I think I might be on that bandwagon, providing they can implement it without letting it be abused.

Q: That's all the questions I have for you, is there anything you would like to add or say to our readers?

A: Yes: Defeating a sandwich only makes it tastier.

Q: Congratulations on being picked :)

A: Thanks much. Send my love to everyone on the servers.

Well done RL and thanks to Emil for conducting the interview!

We would like to congratulate Sylo for being chosen the HKC player of the month!

Always in Stealth mode we weren’t sure how this silent yet deadly player would react to being exposed as the world renowned deadly gaming machine we know him to be. Below is the interview which was conducted by our own HK Emil on the promise that we hide his true identity and to maintain silence on his secret gaming tactics he has learned on his journey to the deep and challenging underworld of TF2. Congrats Sylo!

Q: How long have you been gaming and what was the first game you really got addicted too?

A: I think one of the first games i played would be Sonic the hedgehog 2 on the Sega, i guess i was around 4 years old. Although i also remember playing some game on a Macintosh, i think it was called lemmings? I'm not sure if i played that before of after sonic, so it might even been younger then 4. Now i think about it, i might just have been watching my brother play things before sonic. since sonic had multiplayer i could play it as well, I was always playing as Tails. Ehm, right, better go to the second part of the question before i tell my whole life story haha. Lets see, the first game i got addicted to. Hitman codename 47, The Sims, Counter strike are some of them, but going back in time even more. Hmm, Lego island? no wait, Twisted metal world tour on the PS1, that's got to be the first. That game was great fun.

Q: What originally brought you to HK's TF2 servers and why did you stay?

A: Well I got TF2 from the orange box, i bought it for everything except TF2. So i didn’t play it until quite some time after buying it. When i started i was abit scared, because i thought i would suck at the game. The last online shooter i played was counter strike, which was about 3-5 years ago at that point. So i went to look for a newbie server, first server i played was a 24/7 2fort server. Now I do like 2fort, but playing nothing but that? No thanks. So the second server i ever played on was, Yes that’s right, TF2 newbies only. One of the first people i remember talking was Arty, i remember this because he was quoting something from Idiots of Gary’s mod (youtube) which was one of the things that actually made me start playing TF2. Overall the people playing on the server were nice and fun to play with. At the start there were of course the occasional players (Mosin, Chicken) that made me almost angry that they were playing on a newbie server. But in time i understood why they played here, because the community is awesome! :D The Community events are really one of my favorite things, i loved playing them through all these years. Its a shame they get less popular nowadays.

TF2 Trading Tips

By TheBob!

First thing I would like to talk about is the value of items.  It's so important to know what your items are worth, because people will scam you any chance they get.  Even if it's not on purpose, hard feelings can be found when you find out you made a bad trade.  So first and foremost, a few utilities in finding the general value of items.

http://tf2spreadsheet.blogspot.com/
This is a nice spreadsheet of general item worth.  Things can sometimes change and this list may lag behind a few days in updating, but in general it will give you a decent idea of the value of your items.  The best way to find your way around this site is with CTRL+F and then search for the item.

http://www.tf2wh.com/credits.php   
I'll be talking more on TF2 warehouse in a little, but checking the price for items here is another good way to predict the value of your items.  Remember that a refined metal here is worth 4,500 credits, so figure everything by that number.  Doing this makes your base and the credit system here is much less confusing.

Finally, check updates and the wiki.  If something was just released in a crate or made easier to aquire in any way, the value will drop and people will try and offload them before it does.  New items are also usually inflated quite a bit.  If it's something you really want, scour around and find it, but if it's something that is just cool, wait a week or two and watch the price plummet.

Next up are some good places to make trades.

The HK forums are a good place to trade.  You may not make every trade you want fast, but you are trading with trusted regulars and friends, so it's for sure one of the most casual places to trade.