Flag

Attacking a Flag

When attacking a flag, you have the goal in mind of capturing the point. To start capturing, you must have at least three players in the point and if enemies are present, you must have one more player than them present in the cap. With this information, you can estimate the number of people in the capture point if you are not capturing. If you enter as three people and instantly start capturing the flag, you can be certain there is not a single player in the capture point. If you only start capturing the flag when the sixth ally enters the flag, that means there are five enemies on the capture point. (chevrons help too).

Many strategies can be used to attack a flag and I will not cover them in this guide (other than the one below) as I want to focus on individual play and being an asset to your team. As a rule of thumb, if you are close to the point and you see that the capture process is being stalled by the enemies, it is good practice to enter the flag to contribute to the capturing (bodying the flag). If you stand 1cm away from the flag while it is capturing, you have 0 game sense.

Attack flag by taking HAB

A very self explanatory title, but I found that many inexperienced players overlook it. You can put immense pressure on a flag by blocking the enemy defensive HAB, in turn making the enemy run back to save the HAB. This frees up gaps for other squads/players to push into the flag and attack. The opposite scenario applies, attacking a flag and starting the capture could make the opponent panic spawn on the HAB and run into you as you hold smart angles.

Holding a Flag

Once you have cleared the enemies out of the capture point, and your squad is responsible for finishing the capture, there are different things you can do to defend the flag. These elements also apply to holding a capture point from enemy forces as you capture. Fundamentally, the team should cover all the possible angles the enemies can come from, often this is 360 degrees around the capture point.

First of all, on most capture points in the game (especially bigger maps), a “coffin style defence” is one of the hardest ways to hold a flag and is usually not optimum. A coffin style defence is when the whole squad stays on the capture point and attempts to hold angles. Yes, it is very important to have infantry players on the capture point holding angles, but they are very vulnerable to explosives and mortars, and you do not give your team much time to react if you lose your hold.

When holding a capture point, some players need to “buffer” the flag by pushing and covering ahead or on the flanks to wipe enemy rally points or overwatch the flag from a different area (early warning system). This in turn will allow for a stronger spread and allow these players to obtain accurate intelligence on the movement of the enemy team; ultimately allowing for a better reaction of your own team. As an infantry player, if your squad leader does not specify exactly what they want you to do, you will have to take initiative to either hold an angle on the flag, or buffer out and cover your squad from the outside of the capture point. It is important to note that if the enemies are capturing the flag and you are in the area, you should probably go on the capture point in order to stall the capture process.

Lastly, over-reacting to call outs should be avoided. If an enemy is called out on a section of the capture point, or even your spawn, not all infantry should react to this as it will create gaps in the hold.

Rushing a Flag and its Counters

Rushing a flag means assaulting a flag before the enemy’s middle flag and attempting to hold it in the opener of a round of AAS. Often, a rush will be very chaotic and hectic and players will tunnel vision on tasks such as taking down a FOB or killing an enemy logistics truck entering the flag. Countering a rush in the current meta is extremely easy for most capture points as the enemy team only has to sneak one person into the capture point in order to start capturing.

The primary task when executing a rush in AAS is to ensure the enemy cannot capture the objective. To do this, the individual player must be very aware of the capture zone status (to know if someone is in the point capturing… look at chevrons). If someone is capturing the point, everyone must work together to search the point and neutralise them. Efficiently clearing someone off the point during a rush requires experience and knowing the flag layout. Once you are certain the back cappers are killed flag is empty, you must hold a perimeter around the capture point to prevent people from sneaking in.

As mentioned, countering a rush is very easy but squads often become overwhelmed. The priority is to sneak someone into the capture point and this can be done in many ways for example: having squadmates shoot the enemy from an opposite direction to divert attention, swiftly jumping out of a vehicle that is driving around the capture point, or having an intelligent back capping position (more on this in the next point). Game knowledge helps as knowing where the capture points start and end are helpful to know where to sneak to.

Back Capping

“Back capping” signifies a player capturing the first set of objectives. The primary task of the back capper is to hide in an intelligent spot to keep capturing the flag in the event the enemy team rushes it. By hiding in an intelligent spot, the back capper can relay information when being rushed (if they need help) and stay alive for as long as possible. An intelligent back capping strat could include blocking yourself in with fortifications, allowing a safe cap even if enemies are present. Every tick of the capture process counts as it will help with countering the rush later in the event the back capper dies. While sounding unimportant and boring, one or two intelligent back cappers is extremely important to a round of AAS. Again, game knowledge helps immensely in order to know hiding spots and which caps are more rushable than others.