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By: eko



I've decided to put down these thoughts because I see the same things happening over and over again during CTF games. I thought I would share some of the things that I do, to try and be competitive and have a good time. I am no authority, but these little pointers seem to work for me, and you may get some ideas from reading these.

First of all, CTF is a TEAM game, which means you don't ever worry about your personal score. Sure, it's a nice ego trip to be the highest scoring peep in a map, but trust me when I tell you there is no worse feeling than being the highest scorer and your team losing. I hate that.



So now that we know what our mission in CTF is NOT, what is it exactly that we are supposed to do when we play?

A succesful CTF team will have folks working together in various roles. So, pick a job, any job! CTF jobs boil down to three basic things you can do. Attack (Offense), Defend, and Roam (Cover). When you go on offense, announce it so that everybody else knows what it is that you are doing. Announce it a couple of times, to make sure everybody knows. Same for defense or roaming, make sure you TeamSay everybody two or three times. Folks will usually follow suit, hopefully, and once everybody has chimed in, it is easy to see where there will be gaps. If six folks say they are going on offense, and you only have six on the team... well, pick a new job, and politely say that somebody else do the same. It is up to YOU to make sure that everything is covered. If everybody has that attitude, you can't go wrong.

Offense is straightforward. Hog the powerups as much as possible, and go for the flag. Try and time things so that others on your team hit the opposing base at the same time. A lone ranger will get NOWHERE against a well organized defense. You need help.

Defense is also relatively simple to decipher. Find positions in the base which are advantageous to you and keep a VERY watchful eye. Try to move around as much as possible so that your tactics don't become obvious. You DON'T have to be right next to the flag. I sometimes find that roaming the periphery and touching back to the flag occasionaly works really well on certain maps. On some maps, however, the base is the place to be. Hunker down, and make their life miserable. You may get called a camper by the opposing team... ignore them... you are doing your JOB for YOUR team. I can not stress the IMPORTANCE of calling out which way the flag carrier is going if you can't kill them. You should have some keybinds ready for this that say, TOP, BOTTOM, LEFT, RIGHT, STILL IN THE BASE, THEY GOT AWAY NEAR THE MIDDLE, etc. etc.. I will show you some examples towards the end of this article. Suffice it to say, that knowing where the enemy flag carrier is is essential information, and should be one of the top priorities.

Roaming/Middle is a bit more tricky. The main thing you should try to do is control the middle of the map, and deny the powerups for the other team as much as possible. You are also responsible for backup when the offense gets the flag. You are responsible for cutting off the flag carrier who stole YOUR flag. Sometimes, you will be in the base, sometimes you will be following one of your offensive guys. You must always let the defense know that they have something coming their way. That is soooo important. The defense sometimes have to play blind, and if they know that they have incoming enemies, it is much easier for them to position themselves. The main thing to remember, is that you control the space in the middle, or the choke points in the map. You are constantly moving around, never staying in one place for very long. This is the toughest job on a map, IMHO, and you have to be very wise and very inteligent to be able to do it correctly. For example, your flag carrier just got the flag, BUT, there are some enemies going towards your base. What do you do? Cover your flag carrier, and annouce INCOMING! to your defenders. If you cover your flag carrier and you make it back to your base, there will now be a majority of your team in the base if you count the defenders. Your odds against those enemies you let go past you are now much greater. You could write a book about all the different things you need to be aware of when covering the middle. Just be smart, and realize you are not going to get too many points. Points don't matter anyway!

These jobs are not hard and fast rules. If somebody on your team has the flag, as many folks as possible need to try and help. Drop everything and go help, period! (At least one defender should always stay in the base, numbers permitting.) If you hear your flag get taken, go help! These are such simple things, but I see them done so little online. Use common sense. React to the situation and act accordingly. If you THINK, you're going to beat somebody who doesn't, even if they are a better player.



Here are some things I do when I get into situations. If the flag has been stolen, I try to always get AHEAD of the flag carrier so that I can meet them. I never, ever try to pursue from behind if at all possible. You have the translocator, he does not. Which means that you should be easily able to pass them up and "head them off". It is much easier to kill a flag carrier if they don't see you coming. Always pursue BEYOND the flag carrier, you get two cracks at them that way as well.

When covering the flag carrier, you need to be aware where THEIR pursuit is. If their pursuit has also advanced beyond your flag carrier, you must go meet them. This usually happens closer to your base, as that is a primo spot for trying to get the flag carrier. Don't leave the flag carrier behind too much, though, he may get into a tight spot and need your help. If the pursuit is behind, stay behind and fight them, sacrificing yourself to the last ounce of health to slow them down as much as possible. Use your body to shield the flag carrier, sometimes, the best thing you can do is take a rocket in the back to make sure the flag carrier doesn't. I do this constantly on FACE, especially if I am low on health and know I wont stand a chance in a fight. I become a human shield. If somebody is going to take a sniper bullet to the head, it's going to be me, not the flag carrier. I try to tail them as close as possible.

This get's said over and over again, but it bears repeating. When picking up ammo, don't take ALL of it if there are other players around. If you are by yourself in the base, and the two rocket packs come up and you need them, fine. If there is a teammate also going for the packs, you take one, and let them take one. This is a fundamentel rule which gets forgotten about all the time.



UT CTF is all about having fun, and I myself have been guilty of getting too fustrated and yelling. Usually because things are not going my way, or my team is clueless. Alas, the only piece of advice I can give you is "don't be a dork". Everybody understands that folks get emotional... just don't get PERSONAL. If you do that, you will win the respect of everybody on the server. Another thing you need to be aware of when playing online is to show good sportsmanship. Even games are MUCH funner than blowouts. Keep a bind handy so that you can check the teams and score. If one of the teams is down by two peeps, swith teams. Switching teams should become second nature to you. If everybody does it and the teams always have equal players, you will have a lot more fun online in the end, and enjoy much better games. Realize, that sometimes you are just going to have bad luck and/or things are not going your way. Your connection may not be that good, the server or the internet may be acting up. These are all things you can't control, so try to shove them aside from your brain as much as possible. Let's face it, we've all been in the situation where everything you do isn't working, and all the other guy has to do is spit on you and you die. That's life. It happens. Play through it, and realize that you don't "suck".



Well, only one more thing I want to say, and that is proper configuration of your User.ini. I am not even going to touch the subject of weapon selection/binding, etc. What works for me, won't necessarily work for you. We may like different weapons, we may be good at different weapons. Using weapons effectively in UT is a whole article withing itself.

You MUST, if you play CTF, have proper keybinds. They are essential to communicate information quickly, and make you one hell of a CTF player if you use them. Here are the keybinds I use, straight out of my User.ini.

// ============================================= COMMANDS
NumPad1=Teamsay <--- Current Position
NumPad2=TeamSay Cover The Middle!
NumPad3=TeamSay Cover The Flag Carrier!
NumPad4=TeamSay Getting The Flag... | speech 0 2 0
NumPad5=Teamsay Base is not secure, need help! | speech 4 6 0
NumPad6=TeamSay Base is *HOT* Wait Outside!
NumPad7=TeamSay I've Got Your Back... | speech 4 15 0
NumPad8=TeamSay I'm On My Way... Hang in There | speech 4 10 0
]NumPad9=TeamSay In Position... Standing By | speech 4 9 0
Enter=TeamSay INCOMING! | speech 4 14 0
NumPadPeriod=TeamSay AMP Incoming!
G=Say RGR | speech 0 1 0
N=TeamSay <--- Current Position... I need backup! | speech 4 13 0
O=TeamSay Engage! | speech 2 4 -1
M=TeamSay Cover me... | speech 2 3 -1
B=TeamSay More Defense... | speech 2 0 -1 Backslash=TeamSay Attack their base...NOW | speech 2 2 -1
2=TeamSay On Offense
3=TeamSay On Defense
4=TeamSay Roaming/Covering The Middle
Left=Teamsay -Left
Up=Teamsay -Above
Right=Teamsay -Right
Down=Teamsay -Below
NumPad0=Teamsay -Middle
Y=Say Nice...
U=Say Thx...
I=Greets Everybody
Ctrl=ShowScores | OnRelease ShowScores
F4=MenuCmd 2 1



Ok, that's a lot of stuff. The main thing I like to do is reserve all my numeral pad keys for CTF commands. You don't have to use the same wording I do, but you should have similar messages. NumPad1 gives my current position to teammates if the map has proper zone infos. It is very helpful for your team if you've got the flag and you tell them where you are. You can also check the scoreboard, which is why I have the CONTROL key bound to show me the scoreboard when I press it, and go away when I stop pressing the key.

The next couple of commands are self explanatory. Cover The Middle should be used by anyone if our flag carrier is on the move. Cover the Flag Carrier can also be used in the base, if there is a flag standoff. Getting the flag means that you are announcing that you are leaving to go and get your flag back. Base is not secure is for when your base is not free of enemies and you are actively trying to get rid of them and you need help! Base is HOT is meant for the flag carrier. If you know your base is an ambush because there are still enemies in there, this tells the flag carrier to be very careful, or wait for support before trying to cap, or wait to cap.

I'm on my way is something I use all the time to respond to pleas for help. In position is when I am ready to attack, but I really don't want to do it alone. Remember the Lone Ranger rule! INCOMING is sooo important, I think I hit this key more than anything else. I also have one for when somebody has the AMP and is attacking. An AMP is deadly if being used by an offensive player, my defense needs to know that.

The N key is very similar to the NumPad key, except that not only will the text be displayed as a message, but the built in UT voice command will also be heard. If you notice, some of the bindings have these in addition to just the text. The O key is for the bots, so they know what to do. M is for the bots, but is also useful as a flag carrier. B is also for the bots, but has additional text for human players as well. The backlash also directs the bots, and comes in quite handy too when playing with humans!

Numbers 2, 3, and 4 across the top of the keyboard I use for my main three messages regarding picking a job. The arrow keys are for telling folks which way the enemy flag carrier is going, OR which way YOU are coming in with the flag, so that the support can find you easier. The Y, U, and I keys are standard greetings I like to shout out during a match. The F4 key takes you DIRECTLY to the player setup dialog box in UT, where you can change teams immediately if the game needs it.

I have the commands bound to keys that I like. You can bind them to whatever keys YOU like. The main thing to remember is just to USE them and HAVE them. Set them up any way you like, changing them to suit your tastes, but please have them and use them in game!



There are MANY more things about UT CTF which can be said, but this little article is meant to just give the basics of what I think everybody who plays CTF should do while online. If everybody followed the humble advice this article gives, all CTF games would probably rock.

Thanks for listening!

Peace...

eko