Valve has started offering the first details on the upcoming Scout update for Team Fortress 2, including a new weapon for that speediest of classes; The Sandman.

The Sandman will be a new unlockable weapon for Scouts and will essentially be a new baseball bat. Unlike the current aluminium bat though it won't be a typical melee weapon though, but a ranged attack.

The Sandman will fire a baseball bat at enemies that will do only small amount of damage, but will leave foes dazed for short amount of time - though the duration of the confusion can be increased by firing from greater ranges. Even better, The Sandman even works against enemies who've been made invincible by a Medic's Ubercharge, which means it's a great way to counter rampaging Heavies.

The catch though is that any Scout wielding a Sandman becomes unable to double-jump due to having to carry all those baseballs around, so the damage potential is offset by a dip in speed.

Valve has currently got a new website up that is teasing five further updates that'll be included in the new pack. The full roster will likely follow earlier moulds and include another two weapons or abilities for the Scout, as well as new maps or gamemodes. Valve will be unveiling one a day until the full launch by the look of things, so keep your eyes peeled.

The real mystery as far as we can see though is: why don't other developers offer such good and long-running support for their multiplayer games? If that's something you want to get to the bottom of then you can always ask Battlefield developer DICE in our upcoming community interview - we're taking questions in the forums now. Or you can let us know what you think about this update in the discussion below.