There are five Game Modes in Team Fortress 2, they are Capture the Flag (CTF), Control
Point (CP), Territorial Control (TC), Arena and Payload Race. The first two should be familiar
to any Team Fortress Classic players while TC, Arena and Payload are new additions to TF2.
Capture the Flag
This should be renamed Capture the Intelligence, but it doesn’t quite have the same ring to it as Capture the Flag so this game mode is known as Capture the Flag (CTF). The goal in CTF is simple, go to the enemy base, grab their fla…ahem ‘Intelligence’ and return it to your teams’ base. I must, however mention that instead of a flag the object to be captured is a briefcase of ‘Intelligence’. So a nice simple game mode, go get the briefcase and take it back to your base. There are no crazy rules like ‘you can’t capture unless your flag is home’ so you can simply take it back and score a point. If you drop the briefcase it by default remains awaiting someone to pick it up for 60 seconds, however the team that the briefcase belongs to can’t just run over it to pick it up, it only returns to base after the allotted time. Each successful capture gives your team a ‘point’ and a round is often first to three points.
Control Point
There are two varieties of the Control Point game type, on one hand you have the simple free for all any team can capture any of the points as with cp_granary, or you have an attack-defense take on the Control Point game like with cp_gravelpit. I’ll tackle the first type first.
There are a select number of control points to use my example from earlier cp_granary has five control points in total. Each team starts off with two ‘locked’ Control Points and a grey Control Point in the middle. The goal is to capture the grey Control Point first thus ‘unlocking’ the next Control Point of the enemy to be captured. At this point, if for example the Red team captured the grey Control Point the Blue team must capture what was the grey Control Point to be in a position to attack the Red Control Points. The game can go back and forth like this until either one team captures the final Control Point of the enemy or the time runs out. Once the time has run out Sudden Death occurs where the last man standing wins the round for their team.
In the other type of Control Point game mode the schematic of Attack v Defense is used. I will use cp_gravelpit as the example here. As the Blue team there are a total of three Control Points to be captured, ‘A’ ‘B’ and ‘C’. At the start of the round ‘A’ and ‘B’ are open to Capture while ‘C’ is locked until both ‘A’ and ‘B’ have been Captured. This is the basic premise surrounding the Attack v Defense Control Point games, capture the first open point(s) then grab the last one once it is unlocked. Before the round starts properly the Red team (who always defend)have 30 seconds to erect defenses and ‘Get Ready’. To win the a round the attacking Blue team must capture all the points before the time expires (they gain a time extension for every point captured) and for the Red team to win they must survive until the time expires with at least on Control Point under their control.
Territorial Control
Territorial Control (TC) is a game mode incorporating Control Point gameplay and taking it one step further! At the moment there is just one map showcasing TC, tc_hydro. In this game mode there are several ‘sectors’ to a map. There is a starting ‘sector’ where the battle originates and two further ‘sectors’ for each team, the second of these ‘sectors’ is where the game is decided. But back to the start! At the start of a game the Blue and Red teams start in the middle ‘sector’ where two control points are positioned, the ‘sector’ is won once a team captures both control points. From here the game moves to the next sector in the losers’ part of the map. From here the game can either progress back to the original starting ‘sector’ or move into a teams’ final ‘sector’. There is a twist that the ‘sectors’ can change which routes are open to the enemy control point whenever you return to that sector, a truly innovative gameplay element ensuring everyone pays attention to what is happening!
Arena
Arena mode is one of the most controversial game modes in Team Fortress 2, it has come along and thrown players a curve ball. The Arena mode is not quite what people were expecting in the Heavy Update, but it came regardless.
Arena mode places Red and Blu at two ends of a map which has one control point; however the control point is not the be all and end all of the game. The first task for anyone playing an Arena map is to choose a class which you think will help your team gain the victory by killing the entire enemy contingent. There are no respawns, once you die that is it, no second chances, well not until the next round anyway. There again an issue arises, if you are on the losing team there is a chance that you won’t be picked to take part in the next round.
If you aren’t one for the killing shindig then you are more than welcome to wait for that solitary control point to open up for capture. If you capture this, even as a lone gunman against a fully stacked opposing force then you will win. Life is tough in the Arena, that is for sure, it is also fast paced with rounds generally taking only a handful of minutes to complete. Take a shot at it, it may just suit you.
Payload Race
You've guessed it, it's Payload but in race form. In this mode both RED and BLU must attempt to escort a payload along parallel tracks to a final point. Whoever reaches the point first, wins.
Capture the Flag
This should be renamed Capture the Intelligence, but it doesn’t quite have the same ring to it as Capture the Flag so this game mode is known as Capture the Flag (CTF). The goal in CTF is simple, go to the enemy base, grab their fla…ahem ‘Intelligence’ and return it to your teams’ base. I must, however mention that instead of a flag the object to be captured is a briefcase of ‘Intelligence’. So a nice simple game mode, go get the briefcase and take it back to your base. There are no crazy rules like ‘you can’t capture unless your flag is home’ so you can simply take it back and score a point. If you drop the briefcase it by default remains awaiting someone to pick it up for 60 seconds, however the team that the briefcase belongs to can’t just run over it to pick it up, it only returns to base after the allotted time. Each successful capture gives your team a ‘point’ and a round is often first to three points.
Control Point
There are two varieties of the Control Point game type, on one hand you have the simple free for all any team can capture any of the points as with cp_granary, or you have an attack-defense take on the Control Point game like with cp_gravelpit. I’ll tackle the first type first.
There are a select number of control points to use my example from earlier cp_granary has five control points in total. Each team starts off with two ‘locked’ Control Points and a grey Control Point in the middle. The goal is to capture the grey Control Point first thus ‘unlocking’ the next Control Point of the enemy to be captured. At this point, if for example the Red team captured the grey Control Point the Blue team must capture what was the grey Control Point to be in a position to attack the Red Control Points. The game can go back and forth like this until either one team captures the final Control Point of the enemy or the time runs out. Once the time has run out Sudden Death occurs where the last man standing wins the round for their team.
In the other type of Control Point game mode the schematic of Attack v Defense is used. I will use cp_gravelpit as the example here. As the Blue team there are a total of three Control Points to be captured, ‘A’ ‘B’ and ‘C’. At the start of the round ‘A’ and ‘B’ are open to Capture while ‘C’ is locked until both ‘A’ and ‘B’ have been Captured. This is the basic premise surrounding the Attack v Defense Control Point games, capture the first open point(s) then grab the last one once it is unlocked. Before the round starts properly the Red team (who always defend)have 30 seconds to erect defenses and ‘Get Ready’. To win the a round the attacking Blue team must capture all the points before the time expires (they gain a time extension for every point captured) and for the Red team to win they must survive until the time expires with at least on Control Point under their control.
Territorial Control
Territorial Control (TC) is a game mode incorporating Control Point gameplay and taking it one step further! At the moment there is just one map showcasing TC, tc_hydro. In this game mode there are several ‘sectors’ to a map. There is a starting ‘sector’ where the battle originates and two further ‘sectors’ for each team, the second of these ‘sectors’ is where the game is decided. But back to the start! At the start of a game the Blue and Red teams start in the middle ‘sector’ where two control points are positioned, the ‘sector’ is won once a team captures both control points. From here the game moves to the next sector in the losers’ part of the map. From here the game can either progress back to the original starting ‘sector’ or move into a teams’ final ‘sector’. There is a twist that the ‘sectors’ can change which routes are open to the enemy control point whenever you return to that sector, a truly innovative gameplay element ensuring everyone pays attention to what is happening!
Arena
Arena mode is one of the most controversial game modes in Team Fortress 2, it has come along and thrown players a curve ball. The Arena mode is not quite what people were expecting in the Heavy Update, but it came regardless.
Arena mode places Red and Blu at two ends of a map which has one control point; however the control point is not the be all and end all of the game. The first task for anyone playing an Arena map is to choose a class which you think will help your team gain the victory by killing the entire enemy contingent. There are no respawns, once you die that is it, no second chances, well not until the next round anyway. There again an issue arises, if you are on the losing team there is a chance that you won’t be picked to take part in the next round.
If you aren’t one for the killing shindig then you are more than welcome to wait for that solitary control point to open up for capture. If you capture this, even as a lone gunman against a fully stacked opposing force then you will win. Life is tough in the Arena, that is for sure, it is also fast paced with rounds generally taking only a handful of minutes to complete. Take a shot at it, it may just suit you.
Payload Race
You've guessed it, it's Payload but in race form. In this mode both RED and BLU must attempt to escort a payload along parallel tracks to a final point. Whoever reaches the point first, wins.
