Overview[]
Certain rooms on the grid contain unique combat-linked features called Capture Points. These points can be held by anyone and serve multiple purposes:
- Combat Bonuses - While you hold a point it may convey certain bonuses to you
- Combat Penalties - Some points have bonuses offset with penalties (similar to the bonus/penalty structure used by defense levels)
- Attacks - Some points give you access to unique attacks
- "Winning" - During some plots, "winning" a battle may be decided by the faction who controls X capture points for Y rounds. An alternative to the usual "beat each other senseless" scenario!
Taking Control[]
Each capture point has a Fight Factor associated with it. This shows up on the !cappoints listing. If a capture point is currently empty, the first person to !capture it will automatically take control. However, if the point is occupied, the Fight Factor will come into play. Sometimes this factor is a combat stat like Strength, or Agility. Other times it is a less-obvious stat like Intelligence, Courage, Armor, or even Energon.
Commands[]
| !cappoints or !caps | This will list any capture points in your current room, if any. Each capture point is indicated by a single-letter code. (e.g. A, B, C, D, E) |
| !cappoint <letter> or !cap <letter> | Displays more detailed information on a specific capture point. Usually you will have to be in control of a point for it to tell you all of the bonuses & attacks it provides. |
| !capture <letter> | Can be done on your turn, and takes up your Combat Action for the round. One of three things. (1) Captures an unheld point. (2) Attempts to wrest control of a point from someone else. (3) Increments the Rounds Held indicator if you are already in control. |
| !uncapture <letter> | Relinquish control of a capture point. Can be done on your turn and does NOT take up your Combat Action for the round. However, it must be done before any attacks or other combat actions. |
Bonuses[]
Attack[]
Applies to your Accuracy (ACC) and affects your to-hit chance for every attack while in control of the capture point.
Defend[]
Applies to your Agility (AGL) and affects your chance of dodging any attack while in control of the capture point.
Damage[]
This bonus (or penalty) will apply directly to any damage you dish out while in control of the capture point.
Armor[]
Applies to your Armor stat and will affect the amount of damage you receive while in control of the capture point.
Holding[]
Some capture points have holding bonuses. For each round held (e.g. use !capture on your turn when you are already in control) the capture point will get harder for others to steal.
Attacks[]
Some capture points come with attacks. These will show up under your usual !attacks command while you are in control of the capture point.
Using Capture Points[]
There are 2 ways to handle capture point rooms:
1) Treat it like a regular battle.. just with capture points being available
2) Require one side to control a majority of the capture points for a certain number of rounds to win. When you !capture a point you already control, it increases the number of turn helds. Once you reach the pre-agreed number of turns held (we recommend two), consider that capture point 'off the table.' That player can then !uncapture and move onto another point. Whichever faction gets a majority of points first wins the scene.
This should be up to the players and/or admin to choose.
To cover faction turns, there can be a maximum of 2 "uncontested" captures per round. Since if the Autobots go first, they could in theory just have 5 of their guys do !captures right away and that would pretty much be the end of that.
Strategy[]
Capture Point battles typically go for capturing 3 out of 5 points, for 2 full rounds each. It seems usually it comes down to the 5th capture point. So, if the other team has captured the last capture point, you'd be better off having your whole team try to steal that cappoint to prevent a win by the opposing side, even if some of your team has a low chance of suceeding. 'A low chance' to beat them is better than not trying!
Capture points can let characters that normally do not do well in combat to shine! Intelligence and Technical cappoints abound, along with velocity and other stats, even armor which almost everyone has the same of. Don't be afraid to bring a non-combat character along, they might be the one who wins the fight!
There are, of course, still some strategies that can be used here. Battling over an Endurance point? Hit them with an attack to whittle down thier end, making them easier to !capture from!
Ditto for using Shatter to make someone weaker at Armor cappoints, or Fear to make then weaker at Courage cappoints.
Speaking of Courage... Using !inspire on your teammates can give them a boost to winning Courage points!
Just because a capture point uses a stat you might not be 'great' at doesn't mean you can't give it a shot; the randomization on using !capture to steal a cappoint is quite broad, so even a 63 Intelligence can sometimes outsmart a 107 Intelligence!