A fullblown guide to Private CTF and how to get access to private servers

[Watermelon]

Stipsi made a nice guide on this but I can't grab it from google cache, so I'll just make one for you here.

Guide to Private CTF: Everything you need to know -- V1.0

Private CTF is private for a reason, it's to keep inexperienced people out who will just ruin the games for seasoned players who know what they are doing. Therefore if you're really wanting access to play private CTF you must want to get better. If you're an average player who doesn't score in the top or near the top of public CTF servers, you're going to get your ass handed to you probably, or at least outright trolled by players who get pissed off with inadequacies of playing style.

Do not let this set you off from attempting to join private CTF though. It is a very fun experience, you will make many friends (and enemies depending on your attitude) and ideally have a lot of fun doing so.

SECTIONS TO THIS GUIDE

1: CTF positions and port description

2: Commonly played maps

3: How to get better at CTF

4: How to get access to private servers

5: Essential threads to read

6: Protips





Section 1: CTF Positions and port description

CTF contains three positions

Offensive: Getting the flag (Known as 'O')
Middle: A whole lot of things, helps every position and controls (or rather, restricts) the enemy flow (Known as 'M' or 'mid')
Defensive: Prevents the flag from getting out (known as 'D')

You will probably have a major in one area, and minor in the rest. It takes years to truly perfect a position, and even more time to perfect it on most maps. You have to decide what you want at first. You can either be O or D. Do NOT try and take the middle unless you've got no choice, because the middle is a really tough position to play... as a beginner you won't know when to help the O or when to help the D, this only comes through time. Please see link 3 in the additional links section for more information.

Choosing to be offensive is like choosing to be a guitar player. Everyone wants to do it. Therefore if you're going to become an offensive player, you need to really up your game fast because pretty much all the newbies default to this due to their lack of ability to aim, and thus lose respect when someone experienced wants O, the newbie is shoved onto D and then screws everything up as D. Therefore I recommend you get some solid aim before even attempting CTF.

If you decide to do defense, you will probably be liked because no one likes this shitty position (I'm a defense player as of making this post). The reason is, you're mainly stuck in your base the whole time defending off beastly runners, and screwing up just amps the pressure beyond belief. Then if you manage to lose from captures, everyone blames you (silently, or out loud).
BUT -- if like me -- you persevere and deal with the crap, I promise you that you will get picked a lot more because everyone likes a defense player who knows what they are doing, so everyone else can be the 'guitar heroes' of the day.

The reason I consider offensive to be like guitar playing is that everyone wants it (because lets be honest, running in, juking and stealing the flag to win the game is a great feeling). It's like guitar because tons of people play guitar and suck, yet there are the amazing people who shine through and seem like heroes (ex: Jenova, may your deity help you if you're on D and he's on the enemy team as O). Therefore if you're going into this position, please read the guides I've attached and read section 3 heavily.

Mid I won't quite cover here because it's a very advanced position (to do it right), a bad mid player will pretty much blow the game harder than you can believe. Please see the links section of this guide to get a better idea on how to play it. If you're put on this position without and D/O experience, you're in trouble. A good mid player however will compensate for D or O problems and adjust accordingly to help you win.

In short, private CTF will consist of 3 players with each of those roles (unless the map has no mid then a player may float or get two O and 1 D for example. If its 4 players, usually there's an extra O in addition to the standard triplet set. Depends on the map really, but these are the positions you will be assigned or pick. Again there's no hard rules... you'll get a feel for it in time.

For ports, you're on this one because you like it. If you want additional experience, ZDaemon has some great players, though the IDL move to Odamex. Thus far all I've seen in ZDaemon is a bunch of Mexican clans that take nothing seriously anymore. Therefore it seems like Odamex and Zandronum are the future of CTF.




Section 2: Commonly played maps

You need IDL2012-.wad as of the writing of this guide, and this is what you should expect:

Most commonly played maps (know these inside and out)
MAP 01
MAP 04
MAP 05
MAP 08
MAP 14
MAP 20
MAP 26
MAP 28
MAP 29
MAP 30
MAP 31
MB4

Maps you should know that come up
MAP 02
MAP 03
MAP 06
MAP 09
MAP 10
MAP 11
MAP 12
MAP 13
MAP 16
MAP 17
MAP 18
MAP 19
MAP 32
MB3

Maps that rarely ever get played
MAP 07
MAP 15
MAP 22
MAP 23
MAP 24
MAP 27
ZDCTF07
MB1

Maps that will never ever get played ever
MAP 21
MAP 25
CURSED

To check out the maps, just type "map (namehere)" in console without quotation marks







Section 3: How to get better at CTF
This will be short and succinct, but this is what you should do:

• Practice your aim and movement in duels
• Play people who are better than you always, you will never ever get better by playing someone worse
• Watch demos, ask people for advice
• Watch people in game who are good
• Use SR50 everywhere
• Use binds on your keyboard for help
• If not on the above, join a teamspeak channel and use your voice
• Read the IDL CTF Guide for the New Guys posted in the additional links section
• You will lose, it's okay-- ask yourself what you did wrong and improve upon it
• When you ask for help, don't say "can you teach me and mentor me?", that's bad: just ask for advice on small sections like "how can I get better on O for map 08", that way people won't feel like they have to sit down and talk to you for 10 hours
• Play in private and public CTF as much as you can
• Play on other ports if this one doesn't have CTF and another has a public game active (like ZDaemon)
• Expect to be benched most of the time and not picked because you're new. EVERYONE GOES THROUGH THIS. EVERYONE. Do not think it's just you, every single person has gone through this (or at least 99% of the people who have played). It's best to join when priv starts
• Hang around in #priv on IRC
• If you don't have IRC, you're pretty much screwed if you don't have teamspeak to augment no IRC (there's no reason to not have IRC)
• Your mouse doesn't need to do 360 degrees, ideally if you can swing between 180/220 degrees comfortably, that's all you need (or your accuracy may suffer unless your name is Junior), most defenceman have a 'mouse_sensitivity' of 0.7 or less (type it in your console to check)

You should have SR50. Don't make excuses, it's usable by everyone and is not an exploit that one person has over everyone else. No excuse for not having it. Trying to be elitist and saying "I don't use SR50 because reason XYZ" will just make you lose harder and not get picked because as offensive you will be running slower than everyone following you (and thus die all the time, never cap and lose), or as defense you won't be able to catch up to the runner, and in turn you will let flags out, get raged at and benched.

DEFINITIONS:
SR40: Just means when you hold "run forward" and "strafe left or right" to give yourself additional speed
SR50: When you have a bind that makes you turn while strafe running, which is a glitch in zdoom that makes you go faster. It is slightly faster than SR40 (you can't turn), but enough that you will gain distance on them and escape SR40 (normal) strafe runners and capture easier.



Section 4: How to get access to private servers

There are two servers at the moment for private CTF;

1) NJ Funcrusher
You need to register on the site and an admin will approve you (assuming he knows you)

2) Grandvoid
Heavenwraith is gone AFK, so I'm taking over the CTF section until he comes back. Therefore, I give you three requirements, of which only two must be fulfilled

1. Tell us how much you've played public CTF (IDL public is heavily favored, but if you've played other CTF wads that is applicable here)
2. Get yourself a [good known] CTF player to vouch for you
3. Play me in a CTF map of my choice at random (updated)

For #3, you do not need to beat me, I don't evaluate like that. I just want to see if you'd get your ass handed to you or not through some varying tests on all three positions.
I leave this option here because I believe that if you somehow don't have too many connections because you're shy or something, that I'll give the opportunity for potentially good players to get around option #2.

Most of all, you must have a good attitude. If you're the best player in the universe and you're a complete asshole to everyone, don't bother asking for the private password.
If you want to play on NJ, please know some remote basic English as not to piss everyone off. Grandvoid is a whole other story however due to multicultural Europe.


Lastly, IDDQD hosts CTF but even European players trash its lag problems so I won't add it here unless IDDQD gets a better host or some people actually choose to play on it. It's mainly as a backup when GV goes down (which is almost never, so the server just collects dust).





Section 5: Threads to read

These are additional threads that you better read if you're serious about private CTF. If you have read these, you'll be in much better standing than one would think:

1. Legion's guide to beginner competition
Essential read on stuff I didn't cover here.

2. Getting SR50
Yes, this is essential. If you don't have it, you're at one HELL of a major disadvantage and won't be able to catch SR50 runners or escaping with the flag.

3. A guide on how to play your position better
A must read thread.

4. International Doom League
Where you can get wads, demos... etc




Section 6: Protips

- Getting good at CTF takes years. Don't kid yourself. You can get good relatively quick if you play like 10 hours a day, but becoming elite takes a very long time, no amount of grinding will get you there faster.

- Do not pull a SwiftShot (Samurai) and troll everyone. SwiftShot smells your lack of skill and will eat you alive, you on the other hand can't smell it yet. Thank him when he tells you that you're crap because he smells bad skill level very easily. Do not let this offend you, let it drive you to become better

- Join a clan if you can

- Learn how to play MAP08 properly (rocket jumping out, all the nifty ways in)

- Mobius is really nice unless you're a dumbass

- Razgriz and Ammar pick MAP13 mainly to troll, therefore know it

- You will never get to Caution's level unless you play in the IDL

- Do not pull a superhero and go D/O like capo does, that's why he loses all the time because the enemy just walks out with your flag and kills you on the way back

- Never pull a Tai and leave your position unless you're D and the flag is out; unless you're Tai because you're in R and have played for many years and know what you're doing

- Beware of Ivan's (Semper/Avernus) aim. Yes he can destroy you all the way from his home country with 1000 ping.

- Do not challenge me and another tank D on Map31 (On NJ, I'm crap on GV UK)

- Legion will utterly destroy you when you least expect it

- Do not pull a John Zombie, ever

- Do not pull a Bojan and block your teammates with your super-size doom skin; to be fair though Watermelon is by far the biggest cockblocker for flags

- Pulling an infer/junior means randomly scoring captures in the most unthinkable of circumstances, do not try this at home

- If you face R (Renegade) members, you're probably going to lose

- Do not pull a SoulSucka and blame your teammates 24/7 when it's actually your fault the flag got out

- Do not rely on the rocket launcher as your sole method of defense (Vannesa), unless your name is Arman... because when it comes to using the SSG you will miss all the time. Rocket spam only on MAP09, and MAP14.

- If you're going to get into CTF, be like Dragon and support clans that aren't as good as yours. You make friends that way and bring everyone up

- Beware of EL members on MAP26, beware of Wario on frag heavy maps

- Beware of Jenova, the best player in doom. You will not beat him ever, but at least he will show you how to play better just by watching him

- Don't clan hop like Ammar/Mathayus; they get away with it because they're really good

- Take Catastrophe's Flag Picking Up 101 course at the nearest convenient store; your team will thank you

- Do not piss off Konar6, he owns Zandronum and every server you play on

- Skulltag's unlagged is utter crap at times and we don't know why. Rage is allowed when you whiff shots.

- Get a gaming router

- When you get the flag and you're running to your base, if you don't feel like you're playing Amnesia: The Dark Descent with a zombie chasing you... you're not worried enough

- Shotgun is good

- Play with Ivan's SSG fix. Skulltag's is crap.

- Slyfox is a beast on MAP08 with rocket jumping offense

- I made CTFCaptains, and I WILL UPDATE IT FOR ZANDRONUM. Skulltag doesn't offer the right features to add in some things that I want to.

- Stipsi

LASTLY:
If anyone has suggestions or contributions to this thread, post in here and I'll do my best to add it. After all, I'm one single biased player.
If I made a grammar mistake, I'll fix it (and I apologize in advance)










MY SR50 CONSOLE INI THAT YOU CAN COPY AND USE AS YOUR OWN:

Get it here:
My config

1) Backup your .ini file

2) Overwrite my .ini upload with yours

3) How to use:
Q = SR50 left (one key does everything for you, forward/left/sr50)
E = SR50 right (one key does everything for you, forward/right/sr50)
W = use
S = backwards
MouseRight = walk forward
MouseLeft = fire

Edit your keys to whatever, but this is what I use

[Ivan]

I approve of this guide and advise you mods it be stickied !

[Torvald]

That last protip is possibly the msot important one.

[Catastrophe]

You missed the biggest protip, don't ever forget to walk over the flag!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Wartorn]

Great thread. Stickied.

[Kongming]

Hmm, maybe another 'pro'tip:
"Every map works differently and learning maps as you play them will open up opportunities to learn from your mistakes and become creative in what you're doing, finding the weak point while capturing/defending the flag is one of the most important aspects. This way you can learn new/better/bolder ways to handle your current position. Not only does this make it easier for you and your team, but it also makes it more challanging for the opposite team.

[Devon]

This thread is amazing, thanks for the advice. Don't forget I clan hop probably more than anyone ever has on ST/Zan (I don't get away with it so well, but I scrape past).

[Mobius]

I have a few things to mention

• If your team mate had the flag but died and dropped it, do not stare at it. Do not ask it out on a date. Don't just stare there. PICK UP THE FUCKIN` FLAG. I have seen this happen way too many times from players that have been here long enough to know better. I don't give a shit if you only have a pistol; you grab that flag and you attempt to score with it. Do not leave it there waiting. Do not ever ignore it. Do not use it as bait. You grab it and you run to base. No hesitation.
• Return the fuckin` flag. Unless you are a glutton for punishment and like having me scream on you about how stupid you are for doing this, please return the flag. Now if the flag is a centimeter from the pedestal than I wouldn't care, but don't leave it anywhere else. I don't care if it's in the base, return that flag because every second is crucial for several reasons: Your teammate wants to score but he can't because the flag hasn't been returned and dies, the flag is somewhere closer to the entrance where the enemy can pick it up and stall the game, you look like an inattentive piece of garbage and certain players WILL notice this and exploit you, and when your team has the enemy flag believe it they will rush D and if the flag is closer to them they will grab it to stall a game or even score.
• Don't dance if you have the flag. I and many others have yelled at certain runners for attempting to square dance with entire teams and cost us scores. It's only good to do once in awhile if the circumstance really calls for it, but honestly just trust your teammates to cover for you. Please.
• Run behind your teammate if they have the flag and kill everything around them if you can. That way if your runner dies, you can grab the flag instantly and continue to score. I always die getting near our base with the flag so I rely heavily on my team to make pick-up plays so do it and do it often. Don't camp the enemy flag base excessively if you can support your runner instead.
• On certain maps, always help D after each score and then go back. There's something called a rebound capture, which implies the enemy went all o chasing your runner to prevent them from scoring but didn't. Sometimes right after you score there's a few enemy players in the base lurking around and beating you down. Kill them first. Don't let them grab the flag and definitely don't let them score with it. Otherwise 1 - 0 in the score board instantly becomes 1 - 1 and you did all that shit for nothing. 3 players concentrating fire at one thing will kill it faster. Don't stay in D too long.
• Clear THE FUCKIN` BASE. I don't care how many videos you plan to upload on youtube about your awesome rampage or Godlike or whatever. That's stupid as hell. Clear the base if you're D or even mid if you have to. You don't want the flag runner attempting to score to only get shot down at home and never score. That pisses me off to no end.
• We don't like beggers or guilt trip players, if you bench stay benched. Some better players bench because of terrible captains so don't feel so bad.
• For people that have bad days (like me), don't push yourself to hard. Sometimes it's just better not playing priv that day.
• STICK TO ONE NAME. A lot of us players HATE people that uses multiple aliases, and there's a rule against that in priv. Stick to the name everyone knows you as and that's it. It makes it easier for us to know who we're picking, and sometimes I miss out on playing with someone cause I didn't know who they were. I am also infamous for picking aliasers and this pissing off Jenova.
• Turn around and shoot behind you if you have the flag. You may be able to kill a chaser behind you if you are self efficient, and if you do it without losing much momentum than more power to you.
• Get on Teamspeak and get to know us more.

[Shane]

Tai does NOT know what he's doing, everytime I priv with him and he leaves D, he messes us all up. Leaving me to clean up his mess, or overpower him when I'm on the other team. Sorry Tai :) still love yah

[Hammerfest-]

Get on Teamspeak and get to know us more.

This. We don't bite, we are very friendly to newcomers (Except for Tosen.)

[FCx]

I'm not sure if this counts as advice.

If you are a high ping player, learn to know your delay. Rocket launcher is a bad idea if you do not know your own delay time (practise with it when you can).. However SSG and any other hitscan weapon in appropriate hands would be a nightmare for your enemies, because they see you shooting in other direction while you are killing someone.

[werewindle]

one thing even IDL level players don't fully get: if the game is anywhere near a close matchup, the mid dictates the pace of your team. you have to measure up the strengths of your d/o and decide where on the map your centre of gravity will be.

if you start helping your d too much, you will get locked in 2d basically, because you free up too much space on mid. this is fairly okay if you trust your superstar runner and it's definitely okay when you're ahead in important matches. yes, play it like italy plays football. it may often be ugly, but it wins you games.

if you stay on mid and just clean it from any opposition like it's king of the hill, you'll efficiently destroy any pace and plan the game had. and beauty. it will collapse into a fragging contest if you can stand your ground on regular basis.
the plus side: you're close enough to go on random, surprising 2o or 2-wave or 2-pronged attacks, whatever springs in your mind when you're not busy.
the minus side: it can be easy to lose track of opposing attackers once you die. you can hear "enemy flag taken" and have no idea what's going on. in that case, don't fuckin panic. don't run back if there are more ways out of the base and you're just guessing (and you're not good enough to guess right). it may often be better to intercept enemy's incoming support and perhaps let your runner do the defensive support when he dies.

if you move up front to 2o-like formation... well, you need either a strong def, or shared d support by anyone who dies, or some fucking ridiculous offensive force between you two guys. you may want to play like this for limited time only - start of the game, the end if you're losing, or sudden brutal changes of pace to surprise the enemy.

yeah, playing mid properly requires some brainpower. or at least instincts.

[Watermelon]

one thing even IDL level players don't fully get: if the game is anywhere near a close matchup, the mid dictates the pace of your team. you have to measure up the strengths of your d/o and decide where on the map your centre of gravity will be.

if you start helping your d too much, you will get locked in 2d basically, because you free up too much space on mid. this is fairly okay if you trust your superstar runner and it's definitely okay when you're ahead in important matches. yes, play it like italy plays football. it may often be ugly, but it wins you games.

if you stay on mid and just clean it from any opposition like it's king of the hill, you'll efficiently destroy any pace and plan the game had. and beauty. it will collapse into a fragging contest if you can stand your ground on regular basis.
the plus side: you're close enough to go on random, surprising 2o or 2-wave or 2-pronged attacks, whatever springs in your mind when you're not busy.
the minus side: it can be easy to lose track of opposing attackers once you die. you can hear "enemy flag taken" and have no idea what's going on. in that case, don't fuckin panic. don't run back if there are more ways out of the base and you're just guessing (and you're not good enough to guess right). it may often be better to intercept enemy's incoming support and perhaps let your runner do the defensive support when he dies.

if you move up front to 2o-like formation... well, you need either a strong def, or shared d support by anyone who dies, or some fucking ridiculous offensive force between you two guys. you may want to play like this for limited time only - start of the game, the end if you're losing, or sudden brutal changes of pace to surprise the enemy.

yeah, playing mid properly requires some brainpower. or at least instincts.

You know the IDL players are masters of the middle position right? They know everything you said and probably more about the position. The only thing is, the players are so good that to someone inexperienced it may seem like that.

Again if they truly have this problem, you should be able to beat every IDL team then.

[Shane]

Which is why they took all said players, placed them in a league and told them to fight eachother.

Team WAD all the way o/

[legion]

[spoiler]Stipsi made a nice guide on this but I can't grab it from google cache, so I'll just make one for you here.

Guide to Private CTF: Everything you need to know -- V1.0

Private CTF is private for a reason, it's to keep inexperienced people out who will just ruin the games for seasoned players who know what they are doing. Therefore if you're really wanting access to play private CTF you must want to get better. If you're an average player who doesn't score in the top or near the top of public CTF servers, you're going to get your ass handed to you probably, or at least outright trolled by players who get pissed off with inadequacies of playing style.

Do not let this set you off from attempting to join private CTF though. It is a very fun experience, you will make many friends (and enemies depending on your attitude) and ideally have a lot of fun doing so.

SECTIONS TO THIS GUIDE

1: CTF positions and port description

2: Commonly played maps

3: How to get better at CTF

4: How to get access to private servers

5: Essential threads to read

6: Protips





Section 1: CTF Positions and port description

CTF contains three positions

Offensive: Getting the flag (Known as 'O')
Middle: A whole lot of things, helps every position and controls (or rather, restricts) the enemy flow (Known as 'M' or 'mid')
Defensive: Prevents the flag from getting out (known as 'D')

You will probably have a major in one area, and minor in the rest. It takes years to truly perfect a position, and even more time to perfect it on most maps. You have to decide what you want at first. You can either be O or D. Do NOT try and take the middle unless you've got no choice, because the middle is a really tough position to play... as a beginner you won't know when to help the O or when to help the D, this only comes through time. Please see link 3 in the additional links section for more information.

Choosing to be offensive is like choosing to be a guitar player. Everyone wants to do it. Therefore if you're going to become an offensive player, you need to really up your game fast because pretty much all the newbies default to this due to their lack of ability to aim, and thus lose respect when someone experienced wants O, the newbie is shoved onto D and then screws everything up as D. Therefore I recommend you get some solid aim before even attempting CTF.

If you decide to do defense, you will probably be liked because no one likes this shitty position (I'm a defense player as of making this post). The reason is, you're mainly stuck in your base the whole time defending off beastly runners, and screwing up just amps the pressure beyond belief. Then if you manage to lose from captures, everyone blames you (silently, or out loud).
BUT -- if like me -- you persevere and deal with the crap, I promise you that you will get picked a lot more because everyone likes a defense player who knows what they are doing, so everyone else can be the 'guitar heroes' of the day.

The reason I consider offensive to be like guitar playing is that everyone wants it (because lets be honest, running in, juking and stealing the flag to win the game is a great feeling). It's like guitar because tons of people play guitar and suck, yet there are the amazing people who shine through and seem like heroes (ex: Jenova, may your deity help you if you're on D and he's on the enemy team as O). Therefore if you're going into this position, please read the guides I've attached and read section 3 heavily.

Mid I won't quite cover here because it's a very advanced position (to do it right), a bad mid player will pretty much blow the game harder than you can believe. Please see the links section of this guide to get a better idea on how to play it. If you're put on this position without and D/O experience, you're in trouble. A good mid player however will compensate for D or O problems and adjust accordingly to help you win.

In short, private CTF will consist of 3 players with each of those roles (unless the map has no mid then a player may float or get two O and 1 D for example. If its 4 players, usually there's an extra O in addition to the standard triplet set. Depends on the map really, but these are the positions you will be assigned or pick. Again there's no hard rules... you'll get a feel for it in time.

For ports, you're on this one because you like it. If you want additional experience, ZDaemon has some great players, though the IDL move to Odamex. Thus far all I've seen in ZDaemon is a bunch of Mexican clans that take nothing seriously anymore. Therefore it seems like Odamex and Zandronum are the future of CTF.




Section 2: Commonly played maps

You need IDL2012-.wad as of the writing of this guide, and this is what you should expect:

Most commonly played maps (know these inside and out)
MAP 01
MAP 04
MAP 05
MAP 08
MAP 14
MAP 20
MAP 26
MAP 28
MAP 29
MAP 30
MAP 31
MB4

Maps you should know that come up
MAP 02
MAP 03
MAP 06
MAP 09
MAP 10
MAP 11
MAP 12
MAP 13
MAP 16
MAP 17
MAP 18
MAP 19
MAP 32
MB3

Maps that rarely ever get played
MAP 07
MAP 15
MAP 22
MAP 23
MAP 24
MAP 27
ZDCTF07
MB1

Maps that will never ever get played ever
MAP 21
MAP 25
CURSED

To check out the maps, just type "map (namehere)" in console without quotation marks







Section 3: How to get better at CTF
This will be short and succinct, but this is what you should do:

• Practice your aim and movement in duels
• Play people who are better than you always, you will never ever get better by playing someone worse
• Watch demos, ask people for advice
• Watch people in game who are good
• Use SR50 everywhere
• Use binds on your keyboard for help
• If not on the above, join a teamspeak channel and use your voice
• Read the IDL CTF Guide for the New Guys posted in the additional links section
• You will lose, it's okay-- ask yourself what you did wrong and improve upon it
• When you ask for help, don't say "can you teach me and mentor me?", that's bad: just ask for advice on small sections like "how can I get better on O for map 08", that way people won't feel like they have to sit down and talk to you for 10 hours
• Play in private and public CTF as much as you can
• Play on other ports if this one doesn't have CTF and another has a public game active (like ZDaemon)
• Expect to be benched most of the time and not picked because you're new. EVERYONE GOES THROUGH THIS. EVERYONE. Do not think it's just you, every single person has gone through this (or at least 99% of the people who have played). It's best to join when priv starts
• Hang around in #priv on IRC
• If you don't have IRC, you're pretty much screwed if you don't have teamspeak to augment no IRC (there's no reason to not have IRC)
• Your mouse doesn't need to do 360 degrees, ideally if you can swing between 180/220 degrees comfortably, that's all you need (or your accuracy may suffer unless your name is Junior), most defenceman have a 'mouse_sensitivity' of 0.7 or less (type it in your console to check)

You should have SR50. Don't make excuses, it's usable by everyone and is not an exploit that one person has over everyone else. No excuse for not having it. Trying to be elitist and saying "I don't use SR50 because reason XYZ" will just make you lose harder and not get picked because as offensive you will be running slower than everyone following you (and thus die all the time, never cap and lose), or as defense you won't be able to catch up to the runner, and in turn you will let flags out, get raged at and benched.

DEFINITIONS:
SR40: Just means when you hold "run forward" and "strafe left or right" to give yourself additional speed
SR50: When you have a bind that makes you turn while strafe running, which is a glitch in zdoom that makes you go faster. It is slightly faster than SR40 (you can't turn), but enough that you will gain distance on them and escape SR40 (normal) strafe runners and capture easier.



Section 4: How to get access to private servers

There are two servers at the moment for private CTF;

1) NJ Funcrusher
You need to register on the site and an admin will approve you (assuming he knows you)

2) Grandvoid
Heavenwraith is gone AFK, so I'm taking over the CTF section until he comes back. Therefore, I give you three requirements, of which only two must be fulfilled

1. Tell us how much you've played public CTF (IDL public is heavily favored, but if you've played other CTF wads that is applicable here)
2. Get yourself a [good known] CTF player to vouch for you
3. Play me in a duel or 1v1 CTF

For #3, you do not need to beat me, I just want to see where your skill level is at. Even then, you could be great at duels but absolutely suck at CTF since its totally different. Do not think that an elite duelist will do great in CTF.
I leave this option here because I believe that if you somehow don't have too many connections because you're shy or something, that I'll give the opportunity for potentially good players to get around option #2.

Most of all, you must have a good attitude. If you're the best player in the universe and you're a complete asshole to everyone, don't bother asking for the private password.
If you want to play on NJ, please know some remote basic English as not to piss everyone off. Grandvoid is a whole other story however due to multicultural Europe.


Lastly, IDDQD hosts CTF but even European players trash its lag problems so I won't add it here unless IDDQD gets a better host or some people actually choose to play on it. It's mainly as a backup when GV goes down (which is almost never, so the server just collects dust).





Section 5: Threads to read

These are additional threads that you better read if you're serious about private CTF. If you have read these, you'll be in much better standing than one would think:

1. Legion's guide to beginner competition
Essential read on stuff I didn't cover here.

2. Getting SR50
Yes, this is essential. If you don't have it, you're at one HELL of a major disadvantage and won't be able to catch SR50 runners or escaping with the flag.

3. A guide on how to play your position better
A must read thread.

4. International Doom League
Where you can get wads, demos... etc




Section 6: Protips

- Getting good at CTF takes years. Don't kid yourself. You can get good relatively quick if you play like 10 hours a day, but becoming elite takes a very long time, no amount of grinding will get you there faster.

- Do not pull a SwiftShot (Samurai) and troll everyone. SwiftShot smells your lack of skill and will eat you alive, you on the other hand can't smell it yet. Thank him when he tells you that you're crap because he smells bad skill level very easily. Do not let this offend you, let it drive you to become better

- Join a clan if you can

- Learn how to play MAP08 properly (rocket jumping out, all the nifty ways in)

- Mobius is really nice unless you're a dumbass

- Razgriz and Ammar pick MAP13 mainly to troll, therefore know it

- You will never get to Caution's level unless you play in the IDL

- Do not pull a superhero and go D/O like capo does, that's why he loses all the time because the enemy just walks out with your flag and kills you on the way back

- Never pull a Tai and leave your position unless you're D and the flag is out; unless you're Tai because you're in R and have played for many years and know what you're doing

- Beware of Ivan's (Semper/Avernus) aim. Yes he can destroy you all the way from his home country with 1000 ping.

- Do not challenge me and another tank D on Map31 (On NJ, I'm crap on GV UK)

- Legion will utterly destroy you when you least expect it

- Do not pull a John Zombie, ever

- Do not pull a Bojan and block your teammates with your super-size doom skin; to be fair though Watermelon is by far the biggest cockblocker for flags

- Pulling an infer/junior means randomly scoring captures in the most unthinkable of circumstances, do not try this at home

- If you face R (Renegade) members, you're probably going to lose

- Do not pull a SoulSucka and blame your teammates 24/7 when it's actually your fault the flag got out

- Do not rely on the rocket launcher as your sole method of defense (Vannesa), unless your name is Arman... because when it comes to using the SSG you will miss all the time. Rocket spam only on MAP09, and MAP14.

- If you're going to get into CTF, be like Dragon and support clans that aren't as good as yours. You make friends that way and bring everyone up

- Beware of EL members on MAP26, beware of Wario on frag heavy maps

- Beware of Jenova, the best player in doom. You will not beat him ever, but at least he will show you how to play better just by watching him

- Don't clan hop like Ammar/Mathayus; they get away with it because they're really good

- Take Catastrophe's Flag Picking Up 101 course at the nearest convenient store; your team will thank you

- Do not piss off Konar6, he owns Zandronum and every server you play on

- Skulltag's unlagged is utter crap at times and we don't know why. Rage is allowed when you whiff shots.

- Get a gaming router

- When you get the flag and you're running to your base, if you don't feel like you're playing Amnesia: The Dark Descent with a zombie chasing you... you're not worried enough

- Shotgun is good

- Play with Ivan's SSG fix. Skulltag's is crap.

- Slyfox is a beast on MAP08 with rocket jumping offense

- I made CTFCaptains, and I WILL UPDATE IT FOR ZANDRONUM. Skulltag doesn't offer the right features to add in some things that I want to.

- Stipsi

LASTLY:
If anyone has suggestions or contributions to this thread, post in here and I'll do my best to add it. After all, I'm one single biased player.
If I made a grammar mistake, I'll fix it (and I apologize in advance)










MY SR50 CONSOLE INI THAT YOU CAN COPY AND USE AS YOUR OWN:

Get it here:
My config

1) Backup your .ini file

2) Overwrite my .ini upload with yours

3) How to use:
Q = SR50 left (one key does everything for you, forward/left/sr50)
E = SR50 right (one key does everything for you, forward/right/sr50)
W = use
S = backwards
MouseRight = walk forward
MouseLeft = fire

Edit your keys to whatever, but this is what I use[/spoiler]

ok so this is all, well. comprehensive, to say the least. it will certainly take awhile for me to read and post a response to each of these things.
(right now it's 10:11 pm!! lets get started)

for the sake of my sanity and brevity I will post this:

1: CTF positions and port description

2: Commonly played maps

3: How to get better at CTF

4: How to get access to private servers

5: Essential threads to read

6: Protips

1: ctf positions and port description
all the positions are extremely important and if one is slacking then the rest of the team will show it and crumble like so much stale bread.
offense needs to get flags/touches. for ideal offense, look at someone like ralphis. he runs and doesn't give two shits if your defense consists of stallion and tai. offense needs touches, but dont forget to shoot things. flags are worth more than frags but if you dont shoot things then the rest of your team will have to pick up your slacking ass.
perfect defensive players tend to not hang around playing with their hairless inchworm dicks all day and throw themselves in mid like a real man. what you do not do is play tai. tai thinks he is hot shit and a perfect defense but he has not won a masterbowl in 30 years and supermans like soulja boy. dont be soulja boy.
however, no position is more important than mid. mid covers o when needed and helps d when needed. mid, as ralphis so bluntly put, needs to be the best player on the team. if you are on a good private ctf team then they will suck up their egos and determine who this dude will be. if you are on the other 99 percent of teams then you will probably be placed in a stupid dumbfuck position that you probably aren't suited for.
-I can't stress proper positioning enough-

2. commonly played maps

I renamed this list for you. here you go
brainless maps for the brainless masses (you can probably train monkeys to properly play these maps)
MAP 01
MAP 04
MAP 05
MAP 08
MAP 14
MAP 20
MAP 26
MAP 28
MAP 29
MAP 30
MAP 31
MB4

maps for people with massive balls
MAP 02
MAP 03
MAP 06
MAP 09
MAP 10
MAP 11
MAP 12
MAP 13
MAP 16
MAP 17
MAP 18
MAP 19
MAP 32
MB3

even bigger ball zone
MAP 07
MAP 15
MAP 22
MAP 23
MAP 24
MAP 27
ZDCTF07
MB1

rename yourself to dragon ball z (ok not really)
MAP 21
MAP 25
CURSED

3. how to get better at ctf
I agree with most of that stuff. it takes a while before you can grasp this game fully. easy to learn, hard to master.
what I disagree with is that sr50 isn't really -that- necessary. plenty of people get along without it (like me!) I would stress concentrating on learning how to evade/have better movement first before even bothering with sr50. sr50 cant save you if you move like you have epilepsy and gonorrhea at the same time.

4: how to get access to private servers
I will gladly give a new guy the password to nj as long as they promise to follow the rules. however if you break the rules then I will get very unhappy and you will probably end up on unsolved mysteries

5. threads to read
you forgot to add http://forums.intldoomleague.org/index.php?topic=209.0
as already stated I disagree with the sr50 as being necessary.

6. doom pop culture references
I disagree with only some of those things (tai doesn't know what he is doing. shame on you for this oversight)
also being in R means you are a good league of legends player, not necessarily a good doom player.

- Do not challenge me and another tank D on Map31 (On NJ, I'm crap on GV UK)

I will challenge u whenever I feel like

and its 10:48! I want this time of my life back, will be sending a bill

[Samurai]

Firstly, real nice thread Watermelon, Thanks for taking some time to type it up for people.

Secondly, i'm just gunna offer some of my views to your posts in quote-to-quote format.

You should have SR50. Don't make excuses, it's usable by everyone and is not an exploit that one person has over everyone else. No excuse for not having it. Trying to be elitist and saying "I don't use SR50 because reason XYZ" will just make you lose harder and not get picked because as offensive you will be running slower than everyone following you (and thus die all the time, never cap and lose), or as defense you won't be able to catch up to the runner, and in turn you will let flags out, get raged at and benched.

I was talking to Legion a few days about the sr50 / sr40 debate ironically. I wouldn't say SR50 is a necessity at all. We both use SR40, and it seems to work well enough for us. Like you said, yeah SR50 gives you better speed whilst using, but it also takes away your ability to aim. Personally when I play O, i prefer to frag people as I run, rather than rely on speed to run with the flag, so it's great for that. But for people who prefer to rely on speed, then yeah I do recomend SR50 for those people.

- Do not pull a SwiftShot (Samurai) and troll everyone. SwiftShot smells your lack of skill and will eat you alive, you on the other hand can't smell it yet. Thank him when he tells you that you're crap because he smells bad skill level very easily. Do not let this offend you, let it drive you to become better

I contest this, I rarely troll anybody, unless it's for a reason that if I mention, I'll probably get banned from this forum. All that I ask in Priv is for people to use common sense. Such things include:

- Sticking the positions that you are told to play during the intermission of games, Please, please do it, otherwise it can really throw games for everyone in your team.
- It rarely happens, but if you're a new player just joining the server, please don't randomly join a team mid way through the game, It's not public CTF, it's private for a reason.
- Don't pull a Thomas and vote for maps within 5 seconds of picking teams, and without even telling the other team what map you've chosen.

For the majority of people who don't fall under that catagory, I usually get on fine with. I'm not a monster :(

Beware of EL members on MAP26, beware of Wario on frag heavy maps

To be fair, I think we are only unbeaten when Wario, Kiwi, Kongming and myself played as a 4's there. But records are made to be broken, I'm sure it will be sooner or later :(

[Arman]

Awesome Guide, helpfully.

- Do not rely on the rocket launcher as your sole method of defense (Vannesa), unless your name is Arman... because when it comes to using the SSG you will miss all the time. Rocket spam only on MAP09, and MAP14.

WTF! IM THE BEST D ON MAP26!!!!

[Ivan]

6. doom pop culture references
I disagree with only some of those things (tai doesn't know what he is doing. shame on you for this oversight)
also being in R means you are a good league of legends player, not necessarily a good doom player.

I'm so pro at LoL, but I don't see myself in R, what is this madness !

On-Topic : This guide is so good, I learned not to challenge Watermelon's tank D, ever.

I'd also like to add one thing, if you just play ctf only to go O, you will not survive. You need to try all of the positions to find what suits you the most. I see in public games FAR TOO MANY TIMES everyone jumps on O and when I'm about to score this headless chicken crowd block me in the worst possible time... That's not the way :/

[werewindle]

You know the IDL players are masters of the middle position right? They know everything you said and probably more about the position. The only thing is, the players are so good that to someone inexperienced it may seem like that.

heh, no. one thing is to be mildly aware of general tactics and the other is to carry them out ingame. and don't confuse "masters of the middle position", which sounds awfully ssssexay, with "seek & shoot enemies better than most", which many know as the only way to play mid. the player in this position should be aware of where everyone else is.

and don't you worry about my experience. :)

[Watermelon]

You know the IDL players are masters of the middle position right? They know everything you said and probably more about the position. The only thing is, the players are so good that to someone inexperienced it may seem like that.

heh, no. one thing is to be mildly aware of general tactics and the other is to carry them out ingame. and don't confuse "masters of the middle position", which sounds awfully ssssexay, with "seek & shoot enemies better than most", which many know as the only way to play mid. the player in this position should be aware of where everyone else is.

and don't you worry about my experience. :)

Would you claim then, that you are better than every IDL player who goes to the middle position, regardless of your experience?
dewww^2