Musician Class: Overview & Mechanics

The Musician is a specialized auxiliary unit in Holdfast: Nations At War. Beyond their contribution to the game's historical atmosphere, Musicians serve a vital tactical role by providing passive combat bonuses to friendly infantry.

1. Combat Buffs & Mechanics

Musicians provide a rhythmic cadence that improves the combat effectiveness of nearby Line Infantry, Guards, and Grenadiers.

Accuracy Bonus: Playing an instrument grants a base 8% accuracy buff to nearby qualifying units.
Buff Stacking: If two or more Musicians play the same song in unison, the bonus increases to a maximum of 12% accuracy.
- Note: The buff caps at 12% regardless of how many additional musicians join the ensemble.
Armament: All Musicians are equipped for self-defense with a Pistol (short-range) and a Sword or Sabre Briquet (melee).

2. Musician Class Variations

Class	Nation Availability	Primary Instrument	Unique Traits
Fifer	All Nations	Fife	Agile: Can crouch while playing to reduce their profile.
Drummer	All Nations	Drums	Standard: Essential for coordinating buff stacking with Fifers.
Bagpiper	Great Britain	Bagpipes	Faction Unique: Exclusive to the British Army.
Violinist	GB & France (Naval)	Violin	Light Swimmer: Increases swimming speed by 35% (Naval Maps only).

3. How to Play: Controls & Interface

To begin playing, players must access the Musician Tunes Menu. This menu uses color-coded text to assist in tactical coordination:

Green Text: Indicates the song you are currently performing.
Yellow Text: Indicates a song currently being played by a nearby ally. Select this to stack the accuracy buff.

Console & PC Control Mapping

Action	PC Command	Xbox Controller	PS5 Controller
Open Music Menu	`Q`	Hold RB	Hold R1
Select Tune	Mouse Click	Right Stick	Right Stick
Start Playing	Select Tune	Release RB	Release R1
Auto-Walk	`Num Lock`	D-Pad Down	D-Pad Down
Crouch (Fifer)	`Left Ctrl`	B Button	Circle Button

4. Best Practices & Etiquette

To maximize your effectiveness as a Musician and maintain a positive community environment, consider the following:

Tactical Coordination: Always prioritize playing the song highlighted in Yellow. Reaching the 12% accuracy cap can significantly alter the outcome of a line-battle engagement.

Positioning: Stay behind your Rank & File. As an auxiliary unit, your survival is key to maintaining the accuracy buff for the front line.
Audio Standards: While the game encourages atmosphere, players should use VoIP music sparingly. Ensure any external audio is clear, not distorted, and ideally period-appropriate.
The "Last Stand": Musicians often lead the charge during the final moments of a round to boost morale; however, during standard play, focus on staying alive to provide buffs.

5. Playing Custom MIDI Tunes

To play MIDI tunes, you first need to place them in your Holdfast game folder, next to Holdfast NaW.exe. Typically this would be located at: <Drive>:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\Holdfast Nations At War.

Alternatively you can have them somewhere else on your PC, but you will need to provide the entire file path (in double quotes) when playing the song in-game instead of typing just the file name.

Whilst in-game and holding an instrument, open the console by pressing F1, and then enter the following command:

playsong filename.mid

If you are pasting a file path in, your command may look more like:

playsong "C:\my music\filename.mid"

To play along with another musician, you can join their band by pressing E on them.

If you prefer to join a band through the console instead, you can do so using the following commands:

Use the -bl/-bands option without a filename to list all bands:

playsong -bl

Use the -b/-band option without a filename to join a band:

playsong -b <name>

Use the -bi/-bandinfo option to get info about what a band is playing:

playsong -bi <name>

As a band leader, you can also add some options to the command to have more fine control over your playback.

Use the -b/-band option to create a band with a name (default: auto-named):

playsong filename.mid -b <name>

Use the -solo option to play a song without creating a band:

playsong filename.mid -solo

Use the -t/-time option to start a song at a particular timestamp, argument in seconds:

playsong filename.mid -t 15

Use the -v/-volume option to control volume, from 0.0 to 1.0 (default 1 = max loudness) Scales based on peak velocity so dynamics are preserved:

playsong filename.mid -v 0.5

Use the -vmax option to play every note at max volume:

playsong filename.mid -vmax

Use the -a/-analyze option to analyse a MIDI file, which will provide a suggested shift value and note coverage:

playsong filename.mid -a

Use the -s/-shift option to shift a MIDI file's pitch, argument in semitones:

playsong filename.mid -s 12

Use the -c/-channels option to list available channels or play specific channels only, special arguments: <list>,<all>:

playsong filename.mid -c 1,3

Use the -x/-exclude option to list available channels or exclude specific channels, special arguments: <list>:

playsong filename.mid -e 1,3

Use the -bd/-bandstartdelay option to edit the countdown before the band starts (default: 2, range: 0-30):

playsong filename.mid -b <name>

Use the -nf/-nofit option to disable note fitting and play the MIDI file as it was created instead (May lose notes that fall outside your instrument's range since they are not shifted if disabled.):

playsong filename.mid -nf

You can combine multiple options to get the desired effect, for example:

playsong filename.mid -s 12 -c 1,3,6 -vmax

6. Obtaining MIDI files

Due to the nature of the implementation, MIDI tracks with many channels will not typically sound as good, so try to find or create files with as few channels as possible.

MIDI File repositories:

BitMidi
OnlineSequencer

MIDI File Creators:

OnlineSequencer

Musician Tunes

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