Which maps support bots?
I want to play a couple of TF2 games with a friend to get them interested in the game, but I don't want to have them go up against human opponents as players tend to be harsh on newbies. I know that some maps have playable bot support, but others don't. Which maps of each game type (Payload, Capture the Intelligence, Control Points, King of the Hill, etc.) support bots?
The currently officially supported game modes for bots (according to my reading of the official wiki) are:
- King of the Hill (KOTH)
- Payload
- Attack/Defend Control Point
- Capture the Flag
In particular, Arena is not supported, nor are unofficial deathmatch-only maps. If the bots do not see a known objective they will simply sit in spawn doing nothing.
The officially supported maps (also from the wiki) are:
- Badlands (KOTH only)
- Badwater Basin
- Barnblitz
- Dustbowl
- Gold Rush
- Gorge
- Hoodoo
- Kong King
- Lakeside
- Mann Manor
- Nucleus (KOTH only)
- Sawmill (KOTH only)
- Thunder Mountain
- Upward
- Viaduct
You can cause a navmesh to be computed for any map using the following commands, but that doesn't necessarily mean the bots will act sensibly:
map <whatever>
sv_cheats 1
nav_generate
sv_cheats 0
To complement @Kevin Reid's answer, there's also the cooperative game mode:
Man Vs. Machine
MvM is a game mode where up to 6 players try to stop waves of robotic (A.I.) players from deploying a bomb in different Mann Co strongholds. (Source)
Whilst the gameplay (Wave defense) can be a bit different from the regular maps (King of the Hill, Attack/Defend, Payload or Capture Points), it can be a good training ground to get used to the different classes and how they operate.
MvM Trailer