Capture and Hold

(Introduction message at c&h)

A quick introduction to Capture and Hold

This mode takes place in small Geminus (Name not official), where the Covenant and the UNSC fight for the control of it.

The map is divided in two segments, north and south, each with its own hotspots and easy captures:

(IMAGE)

Starting off, the southern side of the city, the covenant zone. On this side the covenant has three options to drop into:

• South West: On this edge we can find the most famous but, not easiest to defend, we have the church. With glass on both sides and the entrace, the church is easy to get picked on by snipers and long range fighers, however also making it a great spot to set up a sniper camp. It also has a back door heading to the alleways, where you can get flanked by if not carefull. If the enemy is inside, they can hide inside the oration chamber, when you can also ambush, and get ambushed while trying to capture it.

• South: Close to the church, and the police station, this side is picked when the covenant wants to make a roadblock and controle traffic arround police station, church, AI and city hall, for the most experienced snipers, salon too. This drop location can be very risky, as it can be destroyed by snipers early on, but could be a strong strategical position if the fortification is built alright.

• South East: We have the AI core on this side, one of the least used and most hated locations for not being able to move the spirit, here you will have a hard time making fortifications, defending yourself, and can be picked on easily by the outside with long range weapons, not reccomended if you are unable to tear down walls. However, it is good if your strategy is to leave a detachment of troops on it and move into another position to defend or attack.

Now, the UNSC also has three positions where they can land on, all with different strategies:

• North West: This position will leave you on a small grass park, to the south you will found the salon, a famous and a great chokepoint great for quick in and out fights.With glass inside to stare into your rival soul, you have a lot of tight spaces good for hiding and shotgun tactics. However, due to the intensity of the firefights there, the walls tend to break very often, renderibg these positions rather useless unless repaired.

• North: In the middle of the street, just north of the city hall, this position is used almost never, being an equivalent to the south location of the covenant, they have a good time at defending at close quarters combat.

• North East: Just in front of the morgue door, we have a newbie friendly position, that allows you to capture as fast as you can say Covenant!. However, due to being exposed, it is a weak position if you plan on keeping your dropship alive.

Along with that there are multiple locations where you can drop pod to, for a quick scout or assault: (Drop pod locations)

In order to deploy, if you have: Lost both dropships, and, used all drop pods. The only alternative is to use an umbilical. And with this option, we have cons and pros, just like any other deployement option.

Pros

• Fast
• Reliable
• Moves a lot of soldiers in a row

Cons

• Easy to forget about
• If left open, your ship can be boarded
• Fixed locations, no adaptavility
• Very open to ambushes

Dynamics of the mode

Now, with all the pssible positions to drop, we move into the next minutes of the round. When the starting points have been captured, the main movement starts, both factions plan on what points to take next, and what assaults they want to do.

Playing on the defense

Playing on a defensive stance is complicated. If you don't prepare defenses quick your defensive tactics can turn into an ofensive quickly if your troops lack training. However, not to miss always, capturing the middle point on your side is a good play if you want to get points fast. But remember, leaving openings in your perimeter while defending, will lead to demise, death, murder, and eventually, losing the game.

Playing on the ofense

So, you want to go out and kill everything that moves right? This should't be so hard, the ideal for the best attack is to have snipers on both main roads, to block any enemy from the advance, once you reach the middle point, you want to break the obstacles to allow your snipers to reach further objectives. From now on, the battle may reach into two options: - Enemy is also advancing, in this case, a firefight will happen, and don't rely too much on snipers, because friendly fire exists and kills a lot of people. - Enemy is in their base defending, in this situation, break the last obstacles, and get into the alleways, if both sides have sniper support, this will develop into a firefight really fast, as they both have range on eachother. Your ideal is to flank any weak spot, and hope for the best to eliminate your rival.

If you don't like the idea of a frontal charge, you still have the option to harass the enemy points.

This can be done very easily, move part of your troops to a point where the enemy has influence on or to an empty one, the key is getting points faster than your rivals and not dying in the proccess.