How to Play Tribes LT 5v5

Standoff

Now, the meat of LT: STANDOFF SITUATIONS. It is not rare for an LT game to spend more time in standoffs than out of them. It should not be surprising then that standoffs are an incredibly large part of deciding which team wins. In standoffs almost everyone’s roles and responsibilities change. I will again go through them in the same order as above. I am not splitting these up into different sections by role because you should read all of them. You should read the entire guide but you should definitely read the entire standoff section.

Cappers and Light Offense

Ask yourself the following question - “Did I bring the flag home?” The answer is either (1) Yes or (2) No.

1. You brought the flag home

• Your job is to STAY home with your Home D and pass the flag back and forth as necessary. This is not easy. Your secondary (and I do mean secondary) responsibility is to keep your base clear. If you have any doubt in your mind about your ability to hold the enemy flag then ignore the secondary responsibility entirely. You will have a much better idea of what all of this means if you spectate a game or play through a standoff in another role first (not including Home D).

2. You DID NOT bring the flag home

• Your job is to go try to end the standoff on the other team’s side of the map. As I mentioned above, coordinating who’s focusing on who is important here. If all of your standoff offense focuses on the enemy flag carrier then they will pass the flag and you won’t make a lot of progress. There will be three attackers on your team in standoffs (the two offensive players who didn’t bring the flag home and your chaser) and one of you needs to be focusing on the other team’s Home D at all times. Whoever isn’t focusing on the Home D focuses on the flag carrier.
• If you aren’t sure who is holding the flag with your Home D, figure it out. Better that you have 5 D for 20 seconds than that you lose the standoff instantly.

Chaser

Nothing changes for you except that you coordinate with your offense a bit more than usual. You go try to get your flag back. Again, I stress the coordination. If neither of your cappers is paying attention and just focus on whoever has the flag then your job is to focus on the other guy.

Home Defense

Your job is now to do what the capper who brought the flag home does. You need to communicate with them constantly: you need to tell him when you need to pass and he needs to tell you the same. You need to try to respawn so that you have full health when he needs a pass and he needs to do the same. When you respawn you need to tell him where you respawned and he needs to do the same. This is, in my opinion, by far the hardest part of playing Home D. Again, you will have a better idea of what all of this means if you spectate some standoffs first, and after listening to another Home D and Capper pair in a standoff. If you aren’t sure who’s staying home with you then raise all kinds of hell until you are sure. Better that you have 5 D for 20 seconds than that you lose the standoff instantly.

Standoffs rarely last forever. Someone is going to blow it at some point. How your team deals with the end of a standoff is almost as important as how they deal with the standoff itself. There are two options: (1) your team returns the flag, or (2) their team returns the flag.

1. If your team returns the flag: Everyone who was trying to return the flag should K out immediately and play defense until you either cap or enter another standoff. This generally means that if you just K’d out, you should be trying to stop enemy grabs coming from the front, or trying to clear your base (preferably, of course, both). If you were on D in the standoff, you need to try to cap the flag. Sometimes this means NOT rushing straight at it but passing to someone who can take a few hits on the stand.

2. If your team loses the flag: Everyone but the Home D should now be trying to get an emergency grab. Your primary goal is to return your flag but in almost every situation the best way for you to do this is to start another standoff so that should be your focus. Get their flag off of their stand.