Half-Life 2: Capture The Flag (Mod)

Half-Life 2: Capture The Flag is a multiplayer capture the flag mod for the computer game Half-Life 2. Players are divided into two teams, Combine and Rebels, and try to steal the other team's flag from their base, and return it to their own for points.

Gameplay
Players are divided into two teams: Combine and Rebels, and must fight each other over the flag(s) (depending on what mode you are playing). The mod uses the standard Half-Life 2: Deathmatch weapons along with a few new weapons and ability enhancing runes.

Modes of Play
There are three modes of play for Half-Life 2: Capture The Flag, Capture The Flag (ctf), Domination (dom), and Reverse Capture The Flag (rctf).

Capture The Flag (ctf)
Standard and most popular mode, where the two teams must attack the other's base, steal their flag and get the opposing team's flag back to their own to score points. One may only capture the other team's flag if his/her team's flag is back at their base. Players steal flags by running over them, and score by running over their own flag in its base while carrying the other team's flag. The team with the most points at the end of the time limit, or the team that reaches the score cap first wins the match. If it is a tie, there will be an sudden death overtime round where the team to score first will win the match, or if no one scores in the alloted time, the match will end in a tie game. Maps that use this mode are prefixed with ctf_.

Domination (dom)
In Domination mode, the two teams must battle over a single flag and hold it as long as possible, and the team that holds it the longest for a certain amount of time wins. Otherwise, this mode is very similar to Capture The Flag mode. Maps that use this mode are prefixed with dom_.

Reverse Capture The Flag
A very similar mode to Capture The Flag, only with a slight twist. Your base contains the opposing team's flag, and vice versa, and you must run your flag through the opposing team to get to their base (which contains your flag) and score. Like Capture The Flag mode, to score, one's flag must be at their base in order to score, and if a tie game it will go into overtime.

Server Modes
There are also two modes that servers can set that effect gameplay such as recoil, running speed, weapon damage and accuracy and the HUD; Pro mode and standard Half-Life 2: Deathmatch mode, with Pro mode being the most popular. The following chart demonstrates the differences between the two modes:

Runes
Another unique feature about Half-Life 2: Capture the Flag is the ability for players to pick up ability enhancing runes which gives them an advantage in combat. A player can only carry one rune at a time, and when a player has a rune, it is visible on the back of the player model of that player.


 * Double Damage: Characterized by its Red color, this rune will give the ability to do twice as much damage then normal.


 * Shield: Characterized by its Yellow color, this rune will absorb a portion of all damage done to you, effectively making your HP about 35% higher.


 * Regen: Characterized by its Green color, this rune will heal whoever has it 6 hp every second, to a max of 100 HP.


 * Drain: Characterized by its Purple color, with this rune, every time you do damage to someone, you get healed about 25% of the damage you dealt. Your HP and Armor both get healed with this rune, up to 100 HP and 150 Armor.


 * Cloak: Characterized by its Orange color, this rune will make you completely invisible if you stand perfectly still (and not using a weapon that has lights/lasers like the RPG), and if you are moving you will still be semi invisible, but people will be able to see a slight distortion where you are.


 * Lung: Characterized by its Blue color, this rune will make it so that you can stay in water indefinitely without taking any damage, even if your oxygen runs out.

Techniques
There are several special techniques and tricks that players use to aid them in capturing the flag or killing players more easily:


 * Grenade Jumping: When a player lobs a grenade (right click) and then quickly switches to the Gravity Gun and picks it up, and then holds the grenade under him, and right before the grenade goes off, the player jumps and the resulting explosion sends the player flying great distances very quickly. The explosion does not kill the player but will damage him severely.


 * Grenade Shooting: When a player lobs a grenade (right click) and then quickly picks it up with the gravity gun, and then holds it there for a period of time (depending on how far they want to shoot it) and then shoots it so the grenade goes flying at high speed, and if timed right, will explode in the general vicinity of an enemy player, killing him.


 * Wall Jumping: A technique used to jump over some walls, it is accomplished by strafe jumping into a wall, and quickly jumping again.

New Weapons
Half-Life 2: Capture The Flag features 3 new weapons, the Alyx Pistol, the Combine Sniper Rifle and the OICW.


 * Alyx Pistol: The pistol that Alyx used during Half-Life 2 and Episode One. This pistol has a 25 bullet clip, and has two firing modes: Semi and Automatic. The Alyx Pistol does 12 damage for a body shot and 36 for a headshot.


 * Combine Sniper Rifle: A sniper rifle that has a laser scope (only when zoomed in), and leaves a spiral trail after its been shot. The Combine Sniper Rifle can penetrate some doors and props, and the laser will still show up for other people if you have the cloak rune. The Combine Sniper Rifle does 100 damage for a body shot and 300 for a headshot.


 * OCIW: The OICW was originally planned for Half-Life 2, but was taken out for the final release. This is a machine gun that can use secondary airburst explosive rounds and can zoom. The Primary fire does 12 damage for a body shot and 36 for a headshot, while the secondary airburst rounds do anywhere from 75 to 80 damage.

Behind the Scenes Reloading
Most guns in Half-Life 2: Capture The Flag will reload behind the scenes if you switch out the weapon while its clip is partially or fully empty, wait the full time for the reload animation to play while using another weapon, and when you switch back to that weapon, the weapon will be fully reloaded. If you switch back too soon, you will have to watch the reload animation again. Every single weapon in the mod except for the SMG and the AR2 will reload behind the scenes.