Table of Contents

1. Getting Started
2. User Interface
3. Combat
4. Game Modes
5. Classes
6. Scoring
7. Pickups

Installation

To install PVKII you will need 3 things.

First: A copy of Steam
Second: You need to have at least one legitimate Source game installed. Click Here for a full list.
Third: You need to download a copy of the Source SDK Base which can be found in the 'Tools' tab of steam and requires a Source game to download

Once you have taken these three steps, visit our Steam Store page to install the game.

Finding a server

You will now need to find a server to play on. Run Pirates, Vikings and Knights II by opening the game through your 'Games' tab in Steam. Click on "Find Server" from the main menu. A menu listing all PVKII servers that have bypassed your filters will pop up. Find a server with the lowest ping that has people playing and click "Join Game".

MOTD

Upon joining a server, you will see the Message Of The Day screen. Read this carefully, many server operators use the MOTD to explain their rules.

Teams

After the MOTD screen, you will have the opportunity to select a team. Choose to be a Pirate, Viking, or Knight. You can look at the scoreboard ('Tab' by Default) to see which team has the least number of players. You may also choose Auto-Assign if you can't decide which team to join.

Classes

After selecting a team, you will have your choice of which class to play. As you hover over each class, a list of that class's weapons and general descriptions of each will show on the right. If you still can't decide which class to play, select random.

Kill stuff

That's its! If all has gone well, you have now spawned and are ready to do some serious fragging. Go look for some enemies and stick a sword in 'em. For more in-depth information on objectives, see Section 4. Game Modes. For more information about sticking swords in people, see Section 3. Combat.

2 - User Interface

a) Health bar

The current amount of health you have.

b) Armor bar

The current amount of armor you have.

c) Special attack bar

The special attack bar fills partially whenever you damage an enemy. Once full, the eye will light up and you will now have the oportunity to use a special attack; each class has a different special. See Section 5. Classes for descriptions of all special attacks available.

d) Round Counter

On some maps, a round counter may appear. This counter displays how close each team is to winning the round. The first team to reach zero wins.

e) Weapon select

By default, use the scroll wheel to see the weapon selection panel. Scroll through the weapons to find the one you want.

f) Ammo

On the lower right you'll find the ammunition counter. This can be crossbow bolts, longbow arrows, throwing axes, blunderbuss shots, javelins or pistols. For the flintlock pistol, there are two icons - one of them represents how many pistols you have loaded and the other is how many bullets you have for reloading.

G) Power Meter

This meter represents the power charge of your weapon. You can charge your melee and ranged attacks to do more damage. Be careful when charging your weapon, if held for too long the bar will go back down and your attack won't be at full power.

H) Territory Icons

These icons represent the territories of the map and who controls them. A blinking territory is in control of that team and will reduce their tickets.

3 - Combat

Parгўsitos - Carl Zimmer.epub Here

One of Zimmer's most compelling themes is the terrifying precision of parasitic manipulation. He describes organisms that function as expert "neurosurgeons" without tools, such as the Toxoplasma gondii protozoan that rewires a rat’s brain to lose its fear of cats. These examples serve a larger point: parasites have mastered the chemical and biological pathways of their hosts far better than human medicine. By controlling host behavior to ensure their own transmission, parasites prove that they are not mere passengers but active directors of their environments.

Carl Zimmer’s Parasite Rex (Spanish title: Parásitos ) is a landmark in popular science that redefines our understanding of biology and ecology. This essay draft explores how Zimmer elevates parasites from "biological criminals" to essential drivers of life and evolution.

For centuries, parasites were dismissed as "degenerate" life forms—biological footnotes that evolved backward into simplicity and laziness. In Parasite Rex , Carl Zimmer dismantles this prejudice, arguing instead that parasites are the most sophisticated organisms on Earth and the primary architects of our natural world. Through a blend of travelogue and deep-dive biology, Zimmer reveals a "secret empire" where these creatures do not just survive, but actively steer the course of evolution. The Mastery of Host Control

The Architect of Complexity: An Essay on Carl Zimmer’s Parasite Rex

4 - Game Modes

Last Team Standing (LTS)

The simplest game mode of them all - Kill everyone you see who is not on your team. The last team with living players wins the round. Win the most rounds to claim overall victory!

Booty (BT)

The objective of booty mode is to infiltrate the enemy bases and bring back as many chests as you can to your own base. Every chest at your base will lower the counter. The first team to reach zero on this counter wins the round. On some maps, a particular team may start with all of the chests with the objective of defending them from the other teams who have no chests. To compensate for the advantage, the team will have a much higher counter. In other maps there may be chests in areas of the map outside of team zones. The effective team must strike a balance between offense and defense, for if everyone is on offense, an enemy may steal chests from the base while no one is there. Should everyone be concentrated on defense, there is no possibility of obtaining more chests. Capturing a chest that was previously owned by another team will remove 5 tickets from your counter and add 5 to theirs. First team to hit 0 tickets wins.
Standing in an enemy's chest zone will stall their tickets from decreasing.
Use your special while carrying a chest to gain a speed boost for a few seconds.

Territory (TE)

Territory is exactly as the name says. The objective is to capture and hold the territories throughout the map. Once a territory is captured, it will count down that team's tickets. The more territories your team holds, the faster your counter goes down. In some maps, holding all of the territories at once will initiate a final countdown; if your team holds all of the territories for the duration of that countdown, you win automatically. Otherwise, the first team to reach 0 wins the game.
Standing in an enemy territory, even when outnumbered, will slow the rate that their tickets will decline.
Standing in a territory you control will prevent an equal or lesser number of enemies from neutralizing it.
It's impossible to capture a neutral territory without first clearing out all the enemies inside.

Objective Push

This is an interesting game mode as it will change depending on the map. Mappers have free reign to make anything an objective as long as it has an input/output ability. The designated team that defends must hold out until the timer hits zero, the designated attackers must complete the objectives before the timer reaches zero. If you're a mapper, check here for a quick guide.

Trinket Wars (TW)

In Trinket Wars, each team gets its own ancient relic to protect. The objective is to score kills on enemy players whilst holding your teams trinket or being near your team's trinket carrier. Once you've collectively scored enough points to satisfy the level's ticket requirement, you win! Teamwork is very heavily emphasized in this mode. Only losers fly solo!

5 - Classes

The Architect of Complexity: An Essay on Carl Zimmer’s Parasite Rex

6 - Scoreboard

Team Scores

The left most side of the scoreboard lists the three teams with their appropriate flag backgrounds. The larger number next to the gold trophy icon is the number of times that team has placed first in the map. The second number, next to the silver trophy, is the number of times that team has placed second. There is no trophy for third place, because third place doesn't count for anything!

Players

The next section of the scoreboard displays the players. The players are separated by which team they are on and are arranged, in descending order, by score.
The first icon represents the player's avatar; if that player is a steam friend of yours they will also have a friend icon attached to their avatar.
Next to the avatar is the player's steam name.
The icon next in line is that player's class icon. Check the scoreboard to see which classes are already being played on your team.
Next to the player's icon is a section for showing when a player has died. This section may also have a tag under it for Developers, Testers, Admins, Contributors and Donators. Server admins can also set sv_communitygroup to the ID of a specific group; that group's title will show up for any players in that group, as long as the title does not conflict with the tags previously mentioned.
The section to the right of here is reserved for Score and Latency, as well as a speaker icon that shows when a player is using their mic. Click on the speaker icon to mute a player's microphone and text chat.

Score Breakdown

The section on the right side of the scoreboard is your personal score breakdown. This is displayed under the name and 3D representation of the class you are currently playing.

Kills - The number of enemies whom you have killed.
Assists - Your kill assists. You get an assist any time you were the last to damage a player within a few seconds of a teammate killing them.
Death - The number of deaths you've suffered. (Good thing it's just a game!)
Kill Bonuses - You get kill bonuses from things like getting revenge in last team standing, grail kills, etc.
Assist Bonuses - Just like kill bonuses, but when you get the assist.
Healing - Points you get from healing your teammates. Not currently used.
Captures - You gain capture points from completing objectives. This includes capturing a chest, capturing a territory, etc.
Defenses - The number of times you've defended an objective. This could be returning a stolen chest, defending a territory, etc.

7 - Pickups

Food

Look around the map for plates of delicious chicken to restore your health. Don't be frightened by the much anticipated burp that comes after downing an entire chicken in half a second. What a pig you've become!

Armor/Ammo

Armor and Ammo are strategically placed throughout each map. Armor is important for absorbing damage and ranged weapons don't work without ammo!