Flag Domination

by David Catmull
uncommon@uncommonplace.com
http://uncommonplace.com/

Intro

Welcome to Flag Domination 2004! For those that are new to this, the idea is, as you may have guessed, a cross between Capture the Flag and (Double) Domination. A map has either two or three flags, each of which starts in a neutral location somewhere in the middle. Each flag has a designated spot for each team to capture it, and (except in Scavenger or Incursion mode) flags may be stolen once they are captured.

Capture points are marked with a rotating hologram showing the flag's symbol. Press the M key while carrying a flag to see the route to your capture point. The HUD will also show you in which direction the capture point lies, and in Vehicle Flag Domination the radar map will hilite the capture point's location.

Installation

.ut4mod package:

Double-click on the FlagDomination.ut4mod file and follow the instructions.

On the Mac version, you'll need to use the Terminal to install the files. Assuming UT2004 is in your Applications folder, and the Flag Domination package is on your desktop, the command will be as follows (all on one line):

/Applications/Unreal\ Tournament\ 2004.app/System/ucc-bin umodunpack -x ~/Desktop/FlagDom/FlagDomination.ut4mod

.zip package:

Extract the contents of the archive into your UT2004 directory.

On the Mac version, you can use the "Merge contents into destination" option in StuffIt Expander's destination preferences, or you can install manually: expand the archive and then copy the contents of the folders into corresponding folders in your [home]/Library/Application Support/Unreal Tournament 2004/ folder, creating any that don't already exist. Don't replace any folders that are already there (like System); just add to their contents.

Vehicle Flag Domination

VFD plays on Onslaught maps, with flags and capture points placed automatically where the power nodes and cores would be.

These are the vehicle rules:

Scoring modes: Rounds, Timed, Scavenger, and Incursion

There are four scoring modes:

Rounds (as in Double Domination)

A team must hold two flags for ten seconds to score a point. Some maps have three flags, which adds another dimension to it:

Timed (as in UT Domination)

A captured flag scores one point every 10 seconds, or 15 in VFD. The interval is controlled by the Time To Score interval.

Scavenger

You score a point each time you capture a flag. The flag reappears at its home base after 10 seconds.

Incursion

Like Scavenger, but inverted - you must go to the enemy capture points.

Flag Points

With the Flag Points option, each flag has a limited number of points that can be scored from it. This means that the pace and strategy of the game will change over time as the easy flags get used up.

If the flags do not have enough total points left for the losing team to catch up, the game ends. A bar in the HUD will show this: the colored portion shows how far ahead a team is, and the white portion indicates the total points left before the game ends. With Timed scoring, there will also be a countdown for the projected time that this will occur; the countdown may be a bit erratic as flags are captured and stolen.

If the teams are tied and no more points can be scored, then a sudden death round begins where each flag has one point on it. With Rounds scoring, this happens when only one flag is left and domination cannot be achieved. In the other modes, it happens when all flags have expired.

Maps

So far there are eight maps: seven conversions and one original.

Onslaught Maps

When playing Vehicle Flag Domination on Onslaught maps, flags are placed either automatically or as specified in the FlagDom.int file.

Automatic placement looks for power nodes in the center of the map to place the flags, and nodes near each base for the capture points. ONS-Crossfire, for example, works well because it has enough nodes for all three flags.

Flag placement works on all standard maps, though it may fail on some others. There must be at least one central power node, plus two others for the capture points.

Custom placement uses a string in the FlagDom.int file to specify where the flags and capture points go. Currently there are four specifications, for Dawn, Torlan, Icarus, and Dreamus (a third-party map). Each string is laid out like this:

"Map Title|A Flag Base|B Flag Base|C Flag Base|Red A Capture|Red B Capture|Red C Capture|Blue A Capture|Blue B Capture|Blue C Capture"

The map title is the title as it appears in the map selection screen or in the scoreboard, which may be different from the file name (ie ONS-Icarus is "Icarus Plaza"). Each location is given as the name of a power node, PathNode or some other kind of NavigationPoint. The name of an object can be seen in UnrealEd by double-clicking it and opening the Object section. Usually it's the class name followed by a number, like RoadPathNode27. If you have suggestions for custom flag placements, even for custom maps, feel free to e-mail them to me.

Known issues

Problem maps

Some Onslaught maps have bot problems that can only be solved by fixing the paths in the map. These include:

Future features

Changes in 3.3

Changes in 3.2

Changes in 3.1

Changes in 3.0

Changes in 2.0.1

Changes in 2.0

Changes in 1.1

Changes in 1.0.1