Capture the Flag

Overview

Strategy

Capture The Flag
Goal limits	Captures Time
Is team-based?	Yes
Appears in	Unreal Tournament Unreal Championship Unreal Tournament 2003 Unreal Tournament 2004 Unreal Championship 2: The Liandri Conflict Unreal Tournament 3 Unreal Tournament 4

"Advance on the enemy stronghold and take their flag while defending your own. Should your flag be taken, your team will be powerless to make a successful capture until it is returned, so defend it with your lives."

– Unreal Championship in-game pre-match screen

Capture the Flag, often abreviated as CTF, is a team-based gametype found in all of the Unreal Tournament and Unreal Championship games.

Overview

"Capture The Flag, or CTF for short, is one of the most popular ways to play a First Person Shooter (FPS) game.

The idea is not unlike the game a lot of people played when they were kids (and maybe still do :) with two teams trying to capture the other's flag and bring it back to their base without having their own flag taken. For most people who have experienced CTF, it provides a welcome diversion from regular deathmatch.

CTF involves strategy, teamwork and communication, among other things. Teams usually set themselves up into offence, defence and sometimes midfield as well. Most games now have "Teamsay" functions which allow team members to communicate with their team, without being overheard by the other team. This includes Unreal Tournament from Epic Games, which is the game this site concentrates on.

Because CTF is different from deathmatch and other game types, it requires its own maps (levels). The most obvious difference is that the flags need to be included, but other issues such as base placement, connectivity and playability need to be considered as well. Luckily, there are a lot (and I do mean lot) of CTF maps out there, with many of the best ones showing up on good CTF servers everywhere."

– Capture

Capture the Flag (CTF) is a team-based gametype where each team has a base and a flag inside of it. The objective of each team is to capture the other team's flag and return it to one's own flag. A flag cannot be returned if one's own flag is stolen. If the flag carrier dies or translocates, the flag is dropped. Dropped flags can be picked up by the team of the opposite color, and they are reset if touched by the team of the same color as the flag or if left untouched for 15 seconds. The flag is also returned if it falls out of the area of play (for example, if the flag carrier falls into a pit). The first team to reach the game limit wins the match.

Capture the flag maps tend to be highly symmetrical. This is to achieve a perfect balance between both teams, because asymmetrical layouts often lend a certain bonus to one team or another. In addition, there are almost always multiple entrances to the flag area and they're often from different directions. CTF tends to have at least 2-4 lower routes between flags, 1-3 upper routes, a large central area with a valuable pickup, and enough room to maneuver easily around the flag. Most CTF maps are linear (so that the bases are laid out across from each other--the very best example is the (in)famous CTF-Face) and as a result, the z-axis component and the degree to which paths overlap is extremely important. Both effect how easy it is for defenders to catch up to the flag carrier, as well as how easy it is for attackers to invade.

Capture the Flag maps range from the very rare 1v1 (CTF-1on1-Joust) all the way up to 32 players. The average is around 6-16 players. Depending on the size of the CTF map, there will often be at least two 50 armors and one 100 armor pickup, and finding a UDamage or a Big Keg-O'-Health is not uncommon. However, these items (except the 50 armors) are often difficult to reach or far out of the way to provide the necessary trade-off for reaching them.

Capture the Flag uses all standard "Deathmatch" weapons, and occasionally the grenade launcher or mine layer are thrown in there in custom maps. Players start with the shield gun, assault rifle, and translocator (unless disabled). In addition, all pickups are supported, including adrenaline. Often, the shock rifle, bio gun, or flak cannon is found close to each flag. The rocket launcher, if it exists in a CTF map at all, can be found pretty much anywhere, often opposite the flak cannon. The sniper, link gun, and minigun are usually found towards the center of the map, under the theory that they're more difficult to obtain there, which is justified because they're the more "hitscan" weapons and UT2004 is a hitscan-dominant game. Health vials and adrenaline are also prevalent, and health pickups can usually only be found near the flag (usually two of them) and sometimes, on larger maps, in the center.

Variants

Instagib CTF

Main article: Instagib Capture the Flag

Instagib Capture the Flag (iCTF) is similar to CTF, and is even played on the same maps. The main difference is the use of Instagib rules; that is, there are no items in the map, and the only weapon each player can carry is the Super Shock Rifle. There are also rules that allow teammate boosting and low-gravity.

Vehicle CTF

Main article: Vehicle Capture the Flag

Vehicle Capture the Flag (VCTF) is similar to CTF, however, VCTF has vehicles and is played in specialized maps. VCTF is only available officially in Unreal Tournament 3, though Unreal Tournament 2004 has it as a hidden mode with no maps. In UT3, with the exception of the Hoverboard, no player may use a vehicle when they have the flag; in UT2004, on the other hand, only the Manta and the Raptor are excluded from the flag-carrying vehicles.

Scoring

Each team gets a point per capture, and the capturing player gets 7 points. Flag carrier killers get 3 points. Individual points are just for comparison: only successful captures determine the winning team. The overall game can be played under Score Limit or Time Limit rules. The first team to successfully capture the flag enough times to reach the Score Limit, or whichever team has the most captures when the Time Limit is reached, is declared the winner.

Appearances

Unreal Tournament

Unreal Tournament Capture the Flag maps

CTF-Command • CTF-Coret • CTF-Dreary • CTF-EternalCave • CTF-Face • CTF-Gauntlet • CTF-LavaGiant • CTF-Niven • CTF-November • CTF-Tutorial Epic Bonus Pack CTF maps: CTF-Cybrosis][ • CTF-Darji16 • CTF-Hydro16 • CTF-Noxion16 DE Bonus Pack maps: CTF-HallOfGiants • CTF-Orbital Inoxx Bonus Pack maps: CTF-Face][ • CTF-High • CTF-Kosov • CTF-Nucleus Bonus Pack 4 (Christmas) maps: CTF-Beatitude • CTF-EpicBoy • CTF-Face-SE • CTF-Ratchet Semi-official maps: CTF-Command][ Pre-order bonuses: CTF-Baranco (Babbage's GOTY)

Unreal Tournament 2004

Configurable options

Configurable options
Item	Type	Default	Description
Bots
Number of Bots	Integer	3	-
Bots Balance Teams	Boolean	Yes	-
Bot Mode	List	Use Map Defaults	Options: Specify Number/Use Map Defaults/Use Bot Roster.
Bot Skill	List	Average	Options: Novice/Average/Experienced/Skilled/Adept/Masterful/Inhuman/Godlike
Game
Delay at End of Game	Float		-
Enable Player Highlighting	Boolean		-
Friendly Fire Scale	Float		-
Goal Score	Integer		-
Spawn Protection Time	Float		-
Time Limit	Integer		-
Weapons Stay	Boolean		-
Rules
Allow Taunts	Boolean		-
Weapons Shake View	Boolean		-
Allow Translocator	Boolean		-
Allow Weapon Throwing	Boolean		-

Unreal Tournament 3

Related Achievements

	I See How It Is  10
	Complete an Instant Action match in every game mode.

	Hat Trick  20
	Achieve a Hat Trick in 10 CTF or VCTF matches.

	Flag Waver  20
	Completed 100 CTF matches played to at least 3 captures.

	Let's Get It On  20
	Complete a multiplayer match in every game type.

	Equal opportunity destroyer  20
	Win a Ranked match in every game type.

Trivia

• 4-team CTF was planned for Unreal Tournament, but dropped halfway. According to Alan Willard, this was so mod makers could implement the mode.

"I just saw something on PlanetUnreal about 4Way CTF, and Epic deciding 1/2 way through not to support it. Not true. It was almost exactly the same amount of work to do the amount of 4 team support that shipped with UT as it was to only support 2. We put the other 2 flag colors in there so enterprising Mod authors could make 3+ team variations on CTF."

– Alan Willard

Manual descriptions

"The players are divided into two teams, blue and red. Each team has a base with a flag that they must defend. Points are scored for a team when a team member captures the opposing team’s flag, by bringing it back to the team’s base while their own flag is safely contained in the home base."

– UT manual

"Capture the Flag is a team game where one team must capture the other team's flag a predetermined amount of times to win the match. To capture the other team's flag, run over the flag in the other team's base, and then return to your base and touch your flag. You drop the flag if you are killed or use the Translocator."

– UC manual

"Each level has two team flags. In order to score, one team must penetrate the opposing team’s defenses, “Capture the Flag,” and return it to their home team’s flag. If the flag carrier is killed, the flag drops to the ground for anyone to pick up. If your team’s flag is taken, it must be returned before your team can capture the opposing team’s flag."

– UT2004 manual

"Grab the enemy flag and return it to your team's base. You can only score if your flag is safely at your flag base."

– UC2 manual

"Team based capture the flag. Invade the opposing team's base, grab their flag, and bring it back to your own to obtain glory."

– UT3 manual

Preview notes

"Good old team vs. team, capture the flag, just like you've seen it in the original Quake mods, Quake II, and Half-Life."

– IGN, UT

Gallery

Capture the Flag Tutorial

Capture the Flag tutorial in Unreal Tournament 4.

Unreal Tournament CTF Overview

Capture the Flag member roles in Unreal Tournament 4.

Capture the Flag artwork for the PS2 version of UT, as seen in Shane Caudle's website.

UT2003 artwork.

UT2003 artwork.

Cut trophy image found in UT2004. The trophy comes from the betas, and this would've been its image.

See also

• Instagib Capture the Flag
• Vehicle Capture the Flag

Gametypes for Unreal Championship 2: The Liandri Conflict
Solo gamemodes
Single player
Multiplayer gamemodes
Deathmatch • Team Deathmatch • Capture the Flag • Overdose • Nali Slaughter • Survival