Guide [Issue 72] Pro's Advice #8 - Defense in «Capture The Flag»

[Hex 11,520]

 

 

Pro's Advice #1: Swinging Your Hull

Pro's Advice #2: Controlling your Hull in Format Battles

Pro's Advice #3: Knocking Off the Enemy's Aim

Pro's Advice #4: Railgun's Warmup Time

Pro's Advice #5: Simple and Useful Techniques For Railgun

Pro's Advice #6: Isida

Pro's Advice #7: DMs in Polygon

 

Welcome, welcome! In the previous months, we were reviewing and going over the aspects of Isida, currently one of the most powerful turrets in the game. We also looked at some of the tips Crimminal provided us on playing Deathmatches in Polygon.

 

However, this month, instead of discussing attacking and its strategies, we'll be turning the tables around and follow PARD as he talks about defense in the Capture The Flag.

 

Let's take a look!  

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The Basics
 

Right off the bat, PARD explains how winning a match is actually more fruitful for your crystal count rather than losing it and being in the top positions of the leaderboard. Personal results should never be taken into account while playing a battle because whatever you try to do to be on the top will directly fall in line with actually winning it. This is the mistake many people do while playing battles, so take care.

 

Now, let's take a look at some of the actual tips!

 

Evening Out The Numbers:

If your base is being attacked by two or more enemies, and you see that one of them has a lower amount of health than the others, it is advised to concentrate your fire on that tank. It is important to even out the numbers in a fight, which means that both the attacking and defending sides should have an equal amount of hitpoints for the highest percentages of winning. Hence, take out the person with the lowest amount of health first, and then go for the others. In simpler words, doing this will not only take out one person from the attacking team but also decrease the damage output, giving you and your teammates more health to warden off the remaining enemy attackers.

 

Another scenario which occurs a lot in team objective-based games - such as Capture The Flag and Assault, is that sometimes, you're the only one left defending the base. All alone, you're highly prone to any light hull zooming past you, grabbing the flag and then speed off to its base, to any Shaft that might snipe you at any moment. In cases like these, the best thing to do is to deal the maximum amount of damage possible to the enemy attackers currently invading your base.

 

Owing to this strategy, the best turrets to use in such conditions are Firebird and Freeze, both of which sport a secondary effect - namely the after-burn and freezing. As PARD explains, these can make all the difference for your teammates in returning the flag.

 

 

Blocking The Flag:

Another great strategy to use when evening out the numbers for your teammates is to simply... block the flag! This basically means that whenever an enemy tries to get close to your flag, simply come in their path and block the way to your flag. Similarly, a tactic known as 'sitting on the flag' also falls under the same category. It basically takes a heavy or medium hull and places it right over the flag's podium; which makes it even harder for enemy attackers to grab your flag. If you want to take it a step further, place an Isida right next to the person sitting on the flag, which will make it even harder and next to impossible for someone to grab your flag.

 

However, this strategy will only work if you have no mines placed right next to your flag. Why? People with light or medium hulls can easily go over you with the additional explosive momentum of the mine, making the entire strategy fail.

 

All in all, this strategy is great for two major reasons:

• Firstly, it adds an additional layer of protection for your flag with everything else, like the defenders, mines etc.
• Secondly, even if you're alone, doing so will make the enemy waste more time trying to grab the flag and ultimately, it will leave them little to no health while they escape - which can be easily dealt with one or two shots.

Just remember, coming in the way of incoming attackers will most likely kill you, but it will definitely give your teammates that extra time to mount a solid defense and punch the enemy back where they came from, a.k.a indirectly winning the battle for your team!

 

 

Interacting With Teammates:

This little but very effective tip goes over the tactics of communication, and mainly communicating with your teammates and letting them know important things going on in the battle, for example; number of shots it will take to kill the person holding the flag, or simply the area where the flag is being kept.

 

Remember, this works best if you're voicing with your teammates, but since this isn't possible in random games yet, make good use of the chat. Thus, here's an example of what not to do in a battle:

 

 

Rather than that, you should focus on highlighting important occurrences for your teammates, for example, by saying the number of shots it would take to kill the person holding your team's flag, or more importantly, where is the flag being kept. Things like these help a team build up chemistry between it even faster, and will lead to a productive ending in the end.

 

The Last Tip:

A final tip to really succeed in the battle is to help out your attackers by still defending in, or close to your base. Basically, grab a long-range turret and pick a spot in your base that also allows you to shoot some areas of the enemy base. This way, you'll be favoring your team's attackers and increasing there chances of successfully bringing the flag back to the base.

 

In the picture below, we can see the opposite happening, where a tanker is helping with defense while on the attack in the enemy base. This type of strategy is extremely useful for any defenders in a team, as it helps takes some load off of their shoulders.

 

 

 

What's Changed Since

Since this Pro's Advice installment only went over some major and important defensive tips for an objective-based game-mode, it would be safe to say not much - or nothing really - has changed since the release of the video. Every single tip mentioned in the video is still extremely relevant to today's boundaries and limits, so I guess there's that.

 

In A Nutshell

 

In a nutshell, PARD emphasizes on the following points:

• Even out the numbers while defending your base by dealing the maximum amount of damage possible! Make use of the secondary effects of Firebird and Freeze, since these could make all the difference!
• Block off the paths to your flag from incoming attackers by running into them or their path.
• Communication is key, so keep your teammates well informed about anything major happening in the battle. Use the chat only for serious announcements, and don't distract your teammates!
• Help out the attackers fighting for the enemy flag by using a longer ranged turret. You could multi-task by attacking and defending at the same time.

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So, there you have it - an explanation of some of the most useful tips you may need to defend a base in the Capture The Flag mode. Well, what are your opinions on them? Got some tips as well? Don't forget to post below!

 

Next month, we'll be talking all about Hammer. See you then!

 

 
 

 

 

 

 

 

[C.O.N.Q.U.E.R.O.R 3,845]

It was all great until I read, 'Next month, we'll be talking all about Hammer.'

 

 

 

 

I'm halfway through a Hammer guide. Now, I'm going to release it on the next newspaper day for competition :P

[You.Have.to.die 519]

Speechless. I very much enjoyed reading this guide and I have learnt some new tactics. This certainly was professional advice. Excellent work as always Hexed. :)

Edited February 2, 2018 by You.Have.to.die

[GrandExecutioner 1,403]

I rate this.

[herman357 0]

Sitting on the podium to block the enemy flag carrier doesn't seem to work. I have tried it, What happens is, the flag carrier gets close to the podium, usually in contact with my tank, and the flag still goes through. I don't know if it was a glitch or a hack or what.  My tank doesn't move and the enemy doesn't go over my tank. Usually they reverse and try to go back the way they came. When I try to attack with the flag,I usually have to get on the podium to get it to stick.

I'm certain when I defend my tank covers the whole podium.  I don't know how much of the podium the attacker needs to touch with the tank for it to count.

[Pout 2,283]

Now I really want to see that 360 from Hexed :(

[GrandExecutioner 1,403]

Now I really want to see that 360 from Hexed :(

As if it happened.

[sensei_tanker 3,098]

Every railgun shot is a no-scope. Railgun is not a shaft.