Welcome to Capture the Flag for Dummies. I just signed up to this forum (although I have used it since SRO began), and this is my first guide. I was surprised to find the lack of CTF guides here, and, since I believe it to be an important aspect of the game (along with fortress wars, which needs more guides as well <hint hint>...), I am writing one now. Please comment, as I welcome any suggestions.
I first learned of the power of CTF from a friend who was plvling me. I had tried it once before, but it was bugged then, and I hadn't touched it since. This friend told me to try it again, and I was hooked as soon as I started. In 20 minutes, I had gained as much exp as a small quest, not to mention a few tickets as well. I even had some good fun, which was welcomed break from the regular cycle of grinding. Now I'm here to tell you some basics about how to play CTF, along with some secrets to using it to get some good pocket change (in SRO gold, of course).
Let me give you an outline of what I wish to cover:
1) Signing up for Capture the Flag
2) Starting out
3) Tips to help your team win
4) Tickets
5) Getting rich quick with CTF
Now let's begin.
Signing up for Capture the FlagFirst off, you need to be level 20, so if you aren't there yet, start grinding. I also recommend you get your character higher than level 20, but by the way CTF is made, even level 20's can have fun and get a few tickets.
After reaching level 20, wait for a green line with words to pop up saying that CTF will start in 10 minutes, 5 minutes, 1 minute (it happens every two hours).
Now go to So-OK to sign up. Click "Capture the Flag Match Registration"
Starting OutWhen the match starts, you will be teleported to an arena.
Run into the back hall (circled in blue) and buff up. If you have a fast computer, have party settings set to Auto-Share before the match starts, then quickly invite everybody when you are teleported into CTF. If not, type "party plz" (*1*) in the chat bar every so often to notify others you are not in a party and wish to be in one. Unless your group is extremely ignorant, you will soon have a party made up of all the players on your side.
Now that you have buffed, either go out and lure in
a single mob, or stay inside and wait for one of your party members to do it. Once it is inside, play as the position you usually do in a party. I highly suggest that pure int builds stay inside the back hall, as you will not have enough hp to survive if your nuke attracts more than one mob. Most likely, if this situation comes upon you, your team will leave you to your demise, so make the best of it. Unless your party has a much higher average level than the monsters you are fighting, "making the best of it" means running out to a far corner and allowing yourself to die.
DO NOT run into the back hallway if you have more than 3 mobs on you, because that will most likely overwhelm your team, kill them all, and lower your chances of winning significantly. I have seen too many CTFs ruined because some noob could not handle 2 mobs, started running around screaming his head off (gathering more mobs in the process), then eventually running into the center of all of the other players and dying, causing the mobs to immediately aggro onto everybody else and kill them. DO NOT do that.
To review: Go into the back hall, buff up, get into a party, blow up mobs, make sure you do not attract more mobs than your team can handle.
Tips to Help Your Team WinHere are a list of tips I have learned from my many CTF games:
1) Play your part. If you are a European, you should know what this means and how to do it. If you are Chinese, just do your stuff; if you don't know what to do, use your STR/INT ratio to determine your role.
2) Resurrect your friends if you have res. This keeps the party at maximum strength.
3) If you are a buffer, try to buff the party before a clash with the other team. It makes a world of a difference.
4) Picture this: the other team has the flag, and now they are sitting at your gate waiting for it to open. In such a situation, DO NOT PICK UP THE KEY!!!!! Doing so will allow the other team to come in. Wait till your mages and rogues nuke them all down, then pick up the key, buff your team, and charge over to the other side. If you pick up the key right away, you are basically letting the other team take over, as they are probably buffed and totally ready and organized, while your team is still in mob killing mode. Don't pick up the key right away; it put your team off to a good start if you don't.
5) Don't worry if your team is getting clobbered, there is still a chance. First, try to res at the same time as your teammates. To do this, use the chat box to coordinate res times. When you do res, you have pretty much two choices: run into the back hall, or make a break for the other team's area and the flag.
#1~~If you do not have a speed buff, I suggest going into the back. Quickly buff up if none of the other team is there, and WAIT. When the other team comes, make a last stand. If your teammates come back with you, shout "Spartaaaaaaa!!!!" and rush in for an epic final battle, giving your all in the fight to the bloody death. Res your teammates when possible; if you stay alive long enough and take out enough of the other team, you might even consider running out and finishing off the rest of them. Also, you can stealth and run for the opponents side if the opportunity comes. The cons of this strategy are that the other team is sitting outside and could overwhelm you at any second; a single earthshock from a mage can take out your little group.
#2~~If you think you have a chance, make a break for the other team's side immediately after you res--it works best when you res because you have 5 seconds to get a head start. Turn on your speed buff as soon as possible; if you make it around the first corner, you probably won't be one-shot. If you think you have enough time, turn on de-stealth so that you don't get caught by hidden players. Once you are over to the other side, turn a sharp left, buff up, set traps, etc., and wait. Don't go for the flag first because the other team is probably close behind. Sit just past the corner so that you can click on the other players, but they can't click on you.
This way, you can pretty much guarantee that you hit first. Once you take out everybody who followed you, you can either wait for them to res and then kill them again, or pick up the flag in hopes that you will draw attention to yourself, making a sacrifice so that your team can res, organize, and buff. In either situation, turn on stealth if you can so that you will have a better chance of taking the other team by surprise. Remember, the point of doing all this is to give your team as much time as possible. Cons are that a firetrap set by an enemy mage anywhere in the hall or at an entrance can and probably will one hit kill you and render your time wasted.
TicketsTickets are the main reason you should play CTF. You turn 10 of them in to So-OK, and you get special items in return. To get one, you must 1) win CTF, or 2) kill a player on the other team. Winning CTF gives 1 ticket, so I suggest not concentrating as much on that as taking out players on the other team. Every kill yields 1 ticket. With an Sox weapon (or full Sox set), I do not doubt you could easily get 50 or more tickets in a single round.
Getting Rich Quick with CTFNow, the secret: STALL THE ITEMS YOU GET FROM THE TICKETS. If you are lucky and get something better than a grain, congratz, stall it, don't use it. On my server, shield elixers and parry scrolls go for 100-200k, while weapon elixers, HP scrolls, etc. can sell from 300-600k. Bingo. Your "lack of gold" problem is fixed. No more grinding or wind2 element selling. With CTF ticket items, noobs like you can get a wolf/sox in no time. The money you get will be enough to start you on the buying-low-selling-high schemes. Even leveling a guild is no problem anymore for a level 20-30.
If you have a hard time getting tickets with your warrior, cleric/bard, pure str Chinese, etc., start a new character as a wizard or rogue or bard (Chinese nukers work well too, although they take quite a while to get started). For this character, get cleric as your subclass (or lvl up the force mastery tree; for bards, I suggest wizard as subclass) so that you will be most useful in CTF. Reasons? Wizards and rogues get the most tickets. Wizards 1 hit kill and do awesome area damage, while rogues also 1 hit, but sacrifice the area damage for better stealth, range, and hp. Bards have the fastest nukes--which helps a lot when dueling nukers--but often fail to 1 hit (thus the wizard side). Again, a Chinese nuker has the potential to do just as well as European nukers, but unless you want to spend a lot of extra time on this side character, wizards and rogues (and bards) are the right way to go.
Thanks for reading this guide. Again, please comment. I will edit and add on to the guide when I see something good.
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