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Capture the Flag is a gamemode featured in the Battlefield series. Both teams must try and take each other's flag from their respective bases while protecting their own.

Gameplay[]

The objective of the game is to capture the opposing team's flag while defending one's own. This can be done by getting in to where the flag is located in the enemy base, taking it, and returning it to the player's base alive. This task is usually much easier said than done, as the opposing team's base is usually heavily defended and players are alerted once a flag is taken from its base, causing the team whose flag was stolen to frantically try to get it back at any cost.

Unlike Conquest, Capture the Flag has infinite tickets for each team, but it has a time limit of 15 minutes (or more depending on the server settings), allowing players to score points by capturing flags within that time period.

Flags can be held while on any vehicle as well, regardless if it is piloted on land, sea or air. It also does not matter whether the flag-carrier is on the driver or passenger seat of the vehicle as well. This allows for much faster delivering of flags to other bases due to the large nature of the maps playable in the game mode.

Battlefield 1942[]

In Battlefield 1942, Capture the Flag is a custom gamemode based on the standard Conquest gamemode, and thus has some differences to traditional appearances.

Both teams start off with two bases that they can spawn in (which may or may not be the flag to be captured by the opponent), while there can also be other control points that start off neutral and can be captured by both players just like in Conquest.

The main objective for both teams is to capture the other team's flag at their furthermost base.

To capture a flag, a player only has to stand near it for a couple of seconds. Only the player who reaches the area near the flag first can have the flag. Although players can carry the flag in vehicles, they must be on foot if they want to capture the flag in the first place.

If an enemy has captured the flag, all players need to do is to kill the enemy flag-carrier, stand near the flag for a while, and the flag returns to the base.

The team with the most flags captured before the time limit expires is the winner of the match.

Battlefield 2[]

BF1 Trash Cut content
The subject of this article, Capture the Flag, has been cut from the final version of a Battlefield game.


Battlefield 2[]

Capture the Flag has been cut from Battlefield 2 during an early stage of development. However, icons for this mode can still be found in the files for all factions, including the factions for Special Forces and Euro Force. The icons are located at \Menu_client.zip\HUD\Texture\Ingame\Flags\Icons\Minimap\(team)\miniMap_Flag.dds.

During an interview with the magazine Computer Gaming World, Michael "Mike" Doran, assistant producer of Battlefield 2, commented that "90 percent of the Battlefield 1942 community plays conquest", and that Capture the Flag was cut "to focus on polishing other parts of the game".[1]

Battlefield 2: Modern Combat[]

In Battlefield 2: Modern Combat, Capture the Flag shares some similarities to the one in Battlefield 1942. Players can still capture flags instantly and carry them while driving vehicles. However, Modern Combat's Capture the Flag takes a more traditional approach by only allowing one base per team, instead of two along with the neutral bases in Battlefield 1942.

One difference from Battlefield 1942 is that players can still capture flags while inside a vehicle instead of having to exit it and enter in it again.

Players must also retrieve dropped flags by themselves if they want them returned to their bases after they've killed the enemy flag-carrier. This also gives the flag-carrier's teammates a chance to continue carrying the flag to their base in order to capture it.

Just like in Battlefield 1942, the team with the most captured flags by the end of the time limit will win the match.

Battlefield Heroes[]

Capture the Flag is a gamemode featured in Battlefield Heroes.

CTF Flags

Each team has one flag placed on the map, which a player of the opposing team can pick up by touching it. By taking the enemy flag to his own team's base and placing it at his own teams flag, the team scores a capture point. With three captures a team wins.

The enemy flag can not be placed at the player's own base, if they carry their teams flag. If the flag-carrier is killed, a flag timer will start. Once it reaches 0, the flag will return to its base. If the flag is picked up before the timer runs out, the flag timer is reset. The speed by which the flag timer decreases can be influenced by the team owning the flag. The more player standing near the flag, the faster the timer will reach 0. However a maximum of 4 player can influence the timer at a time.

In case both flags are being carried by the other team, a second timer will start to avoid a stalemate. If none of flags have been captured before the stalemate timer runs out, both flags will return to their respective base. The stalemate timer is map specific, but is per default set to 180 seconds. Should a flag-carrier drop the flag during a stalemate, either by dying or entering a vehicle, the stalemate timer is paused. If the flag is picked up by another team member, the timer will continue, but if the flag returns to its base before it's picked up, the timer will be reset.

Additionally, a 10 minute timer is in place. Once it expires, the team with the most flag captures wins, or in the case that both teams had an equal number of captures, the team that first saved a flag wins.

Rules[]

  • Players can not place the enemy flag in their own base if they carry the flag
  • If both teams are carrying each others flag for too long, a "stalemate" protection kicks in, and both flags return to their base (this is map specific time, but default is 180 seconds) If a player drops a flag by dying or entering a vehicle during this time, the stalemate timer is paused. It will continue if that flag is picked up again, but if the flag manages to return to its base, the timer will be reset.
  • First to 3 wins
  • All maps currently have a 10 minute timer
  • At a 0-0, 1-1 or 2-2 result, the game defaults the Nationals as winners
  • When the flag is dropped in the world, it stays X seconds (varies from map to map). The team owning the flag can influence the time it takes for it to return home, by standing near the flag. Up to four players can influence this time (the more players stand near it, the faster it returns, pretty much in the same fashion as capturing a control point in Team Death Match works)

Scoring[]

  • 2 Valor Point Small awarded to team that drops off enemy flag
  • 1 Valor Point Small awarded to team that wins by capturing all flags
  • 300 Experience Points awarded to player that places flag at the drop-off point
  • 100 Experience Points awarded to player that picks up the flag

Maps[]

Gallery[]

Battlefield 3[]

Capture the Flag is an official gametype featured in the Battlefield 3: End Game expansion.

Flags must be captured while on foot, but are captured instantaneously when the player touches the flag, and can be carried in any vehicle. If the flag carrier is killed, the flag is dropped at the location at which the flag carrier died.

Recovering the team's flag if dropped is accomplished similar to Conquest, by standing in the flag's (re)capture zone. The capture rate is increased when more allies are present. The flag will automatically return to the respective team's base after a set period of time, although this is far longer than waiting to return the flag by standing in its (re)capture area. Dropped flags can be immediately picked up by an enemy, resetting the recapture timer if dropped yet again.

In order to score a flag capture, the team must have their own flag at their own base, and also bring the enemy flag. If both flags are loose, both teams must recover their own flag while safeguarding the enemy flag. If the flag carrier moves outside of the map boundary, the flag will be automatically dropped at that location.

Both teams must capture three flags (by default) if they want to win before the time limit expires. Otherwise, the team with the most flags at the end of the match wins. In the event that both teams have captured an equal number of flags when the timer runs out, the highest cumulative score of each team will be compared, and the highest scoring team is the victor. In the rare occasion that both teams’ score is equal when the timer runs out, the victory will be given to the US team by default.[2]

Achievement/Trophy[]

Main article: Battlefield 3 Achievements and Trophies
Image Name Criteria Achievement Points Trophy Type
BF3 EG Capture the Flag Trophy Capture the Flag Capture one flag while playing Capture the Flag. 20G Bronze Trophy
BF3 EG Transport Pilot Trophy Transport Pilot Transport a flag carrier in an air vehicle while playing Capture the Flag. 30G Silver Trophy

Battlefield 4[]

Capture the Flag is a gametype featured in the Battlefield 4: Second Assault, Dragon's Teeth, and Final Stand expansions.

Gallery[]

Achievement/Trophy[]

Main article: Battlefield 4 Achievements and Trophies
Image Name Criteria Achievement Points Trophy Type
Risky Business Risky Business Kill the Enemy Flag Holder While Carrying the Flag in Capture The Flag 30G Silver

Battlefield Hardline[]

Battlefield Hardline features the Capture the Bag variant of the CTF gamemode, set to be added in the Battlefield Hardline: Getaway expansion. As the gamemode's name suggests, players must capture a Money Bag instead of a flag and attempt to bring it back to their deployment.

Achievement/Trophy[]

Image Name Criteria Achievement Points Trophy Type
Bag of Tricks Bag of Tricks Get a kill with an RPG while carrying the bag in Capture the Bag 25G Bronze

Trivia[]

Battlefield 3[]

  • Capture the Flag is the only Gamemode to feature a time limit.
  • The actual time in a game of Capture the Flag is one to five seconds longer than the set time. This is possibly due to latency.

Battlefield 4[]

  • Similar to Battlefield 3's latency bug with CtF, matches last a few seconds past the actual set time limit. During this time, players still might be able to kill enemy players, among other actions, though the window for this is very brief.


Reference[]

  1. Elliott, S. & Doran, M. (2005, October). Post-Mortem: Battlefield 2. Computer Gaming World, 255, 54—55.
  2. 'Capture the Flag' 2013, in Battlefield 3: End Game Primer, Prima, pp. 2
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