User:Neon Knight/BUCaptureCTFMaul

Originally posted in the old Capture website, at capture.beyondunreal.com, now defunct. I had a copy in my backups.

CTF-Maul "As you walk among the shattered ruins of the old retaining wall, the hip deep grass tugs at your clothes. The twisted skeleton of an ancient tree towers above you, giving lie to the fragile beauty that has slowly reclaimed the abandoned fueling station. There is still poison moving through the soil beneath your feet, and still many battles to scar the land."

One of the smallest Capture the Flag maps is Maul. It is great for small teams to conveniently practice their attacking and defending skills on a small scale which can then be applied to the larger maps within the Tournament. Maul has a very standard CTF map layout with the common 'mirroring' that we see in almost all of the DDOM and CTF maps. The flags are located within the 'command centres' at each side of the map.

This map isn't chosen by clans very often because of the side; it's small, making it difficult to design complicated strategies for. An effective defensive player should be able to switch between camping the flag and rushing the enemy invaders. Because of the size, there are plenty of opportunities to go for the frag, as long as you have team members to cover your flag runs, this strategy should be ok. Ever felt like rushing blindly over the hill, not knowing what was on the other side? You'll have plenty of opportunities to do so.

The flag rooms are in the old command centre on either side. Not much within these apart from a Rocket Launcher and ammo. Above the flag room, on top of the command centre structure, is a Lightning Gun and ammo; great for picking off the other team as they run down the hill.

With various ammo placements, the map is easy to attack, as you can run down with a Link Gun, and hit the base hard with just the pick-ups outside. On defense, some of you who like to pitch tents can wait for attackers to come up the jump pad or through the window.

To get in, you have two options: going up the jump pad, or through the window using your translocator. The easiest way in is down the hill on either left or right side, hugging the cover provided by the oil tanks and terrain, then in the door on either side, and up the jump pad. You have to watch for campers at the top who will guard the jump pad with Rocket Launchers or Flak. To plan your attack well, you need to know who or what is up in the flag room. Just in front of the command centre is a Flak Cannon and ammo, so get the Flak spam going into the window quickly to cover your entrance.

Once you have the flag, watch for campers on top of the command centre, who will be waiting to nail your ass as you start running up the hill. So long as you have cover and can jump around like a bouncy ball, you should be able to get over the hill.

Defenders need various weapons to try and stop the flag runner from getting over the hill. However, once the enemy flag carrier is over, the defenders become attackers and will be slaughtered as the other team lets their flag carrier come home. Just so long as you have enough firepower, you can get your flag back and move in for a swift counterattack.

Hiding in this map isn't an option. So don't try it. Instead, get your weapon of choice and ammo and get your team members to cover your ass if the flag isn't home.

Guest Article Written By HUNTER