Capture the Flag

Capture the Flag (CTF) is a team-based game type where two teams try to steal and capture each others flag. A typical CTF map has two flags at both ends of the map. A flag is usually located next to team respawn points.

• CTF can only be played on CTF maps

Default rules

Rule	State
Team-based
Team damage
Item pickups
Points awarded for	Capturing the enemy's flag
Fall damage
Self damage
Starting health	100
Starting armor	0
Respawning mid-game
Time limit	20
Score limit	0
Overtime	5 minutes
Starting weapons	(Instagib only)
Starting ammo / Max ammo	0/100, 0/20, 0/20, 0/20 0/150, 0/150 0/10
Stunning
Challengers Queue

Item respawn times

Item	Time (s)
Ammo respawn time	20
Armor respawn time	25
Weapon respawn time	5
Health respawn time	25
Powerup respawn time	90
Mega Health respawn time	20
Ultra Health respawn time	40

Strategy

Farmz0r (CTF pickup veteran) chatting about tactical basics:

• For 4v4 the easiest way is to organize your team is to split it into 2 defenders and 2 attackers.
• Usually the defenders split areas. 1 tries to control Red Armor and the surrounding area/entrances and the flagspot (if it's closer to his items), the other takes Yellow Armor and tries to handle other parts/control other resources.
• With current default settings (14.03.2021; flagsteal has to be unlocked 2s; flag capture has to be unlocked 3.5s) the most important thing for defense is to make sure that the enemy does not get any "free flags": Opponents should never be able to sneak in, pick up the flag and disappear into a unkown route-branch UNCHALLENGED. Given the 2s unlock time, you can almost always inflict damage before somebody can disappear with the flag... don't miss out the chance!)
• The Health and Armor resources in your homebase are primarily dedicated for your defenders (unless they are superstacked already and leave for example the Red Armor to their attacker; in this case they might also want a temporary role swap to use their stack for attacking - but make sure somebody else fills the defense hole meanwhile)
• weapons in your base are for everyone, though you do not want a "naked" defender, so in doubt... leave that weapon to your freshly respawned defender
• Recovering your own flag when stolen is #1 priority in 99% of cases. This holds for you also if you are attacker. You don't want the enemy to score, and in the 99% of cases it will be a lot harder to steal the enemy flag and get it out alive than to simply (b)lock down the guy who has your flag.
• Pretty much every map has chokepoints or points where you can see all the connections between bases. If your flag is stolen but didn't make it out yet, it usually makes sense to block the most popular exit routes/position on above mentioned chokepoints and try to close down the exits.
• If that failed, don't worry. Try to rush to the enemy base (usually: the enemy flagspot) and recover there! DO NOT CALL it quits if the enemy escaped your base with flag, it's not Quake! We have a realistic chance to recover (due to the flagtimer: with current settings the capturing process takes at least 3.5s of "standing still" at the flagspot). Merely interrupting the cap is good too - maybe it delays the capture long enough for your teammates to arrive and get the job done.
• As attacker, it's often a waste of time for you to take fights with the opponent attackers - this doesn't get the enemy flag stolen, it might cost you health, it grants the enemy defenders time to stack up and prepare, and gang up on your teammate 2v1.
• If you are attacker and your teammate attacker has the enemy flag, escort him! (unless you are 110% sure he will get the cap alone anyway, or 80% sure that it's a hopeless situation that not even the two of you can work out. In these cases, you can try to be at the enemy flagspot when their flag is being recovered, so you can get a clean flagsteal while the enemy defense is still off guard.)
• If one of your guys has the flag and is capturing, the whole team should help out securing the cap. Like 3 guys at your own flag just to def it out... is totally ok. It's easy to rush down somebody who has to stand still at the flagspot for minimum 3s. You want to help the guy make sure it doesn't happen.
• As attacker it can be important to get the most important items (talking about armors and megahealth etc. here, weapons have very short respawn times and can hence barely be controlled) of the enemy base. But you can also try to abuse the timing for a sneaky flag steal/setup. It opens up some opportunities to know when the enemy wants to be somewhere/probably cares about certain items.
• You usually really want more than 100/0 stack when trying to clutch enemy def. But trolling around in enemy base can also get you there.
• There's some map dependent positioning/game plan stuff that would be best shown ingame.