[quote author=TheKillerNacho link=topic=532.msg5316#msg5316 date=1321025036]<br />So , if you&#039;re playing D ... Both flags are stolen (standoff), should you leave the base to Return the flag or not?<br />[/quote]<br /><br />This is a really tough question to answer, and my opinion will differ strongly from most players, due to my playstyle and that I&#039;ve played primarily defense for a very long time, but that in no way puts what I&#039;m about to say above other opinions!<br /><br />I feel that in a standoff it largely depends on the position and skill of the runner. If he&#039;s well-off in both health and in a position to defend himself from chasers the other team sends in, you can venture out, and typically you will already have died from their mid covering their runner or have gotten a not-great spawn off dying to their runner. In both cases, I tend to move to mid and clear out their next &#039;wave&#039; of chasers. Since they&#039;re moving for speed and not necessarily taking time to wipe out everyone crossing paths, you can have the advantage, and then push up to deny further choice &#039;paths&#039;/weapon spots which gives your flag carrier even more leeway.<br /><br />[b]I never[/b] ignore enemy chasers, because you&#039;re still a defensive player, and you&#039;ll want to at least damage them while they seek out your runner. At the same time, I have to make a decision to either hunt down their carrier, which most of the time takes a lot of time to track and kill and effectively you&#039;re not doing anything to their other ranks as they do the exact same to try to hunt down your carrier.<br /><br />Occasionally, if I see my third go towards where their carrier is, I will divert to enemy spawns or SSG locations and deny as hard as I can to buy more time. I&#039;ll watch obituaries ([i]every[/i] player in mid or defense should do this all the time anyway) to get an idea of how the battle is unfolding, and if their carrier kills my other chaser, I&#039;ll give pursuit since usually he&#039;s damaged, or if I feel I can drop him quick, then hightail it back to mid and then defense to &#039;reset&#039; the flow of the battle.<br /><br />What do I mean by that? Typically if you return your flag, the entire enemy team will push hard at your base, and even if your team scores, you will still be hammered and typically against the ropes position-wise as they continuously rush in to try to get a score through sheer might, as now your whole team is usually near the flag, and essentially on defense. Other times, you may have another player on your team hang back in the enemy base to try to run a back-to-back flag, and this can either work for you or against you. Again, the mere [b]awareness[/b] of this happening as a defensive player can alter your positioning and handling of an onslaught of enemy players rushing you down.<br /><br />The rule of thumb of post-cap defense is generally if you can hold off two waves of attackers, their own defense will fall back to protect their flag again. Why is that? Typically your runner will have been able to apply pressure again.<br /><br />Now for something unconventional. What if your runner isn&#039;t so great or is in a bad spot? I will do one of two things. Guard him for a little while and escort to any health if he&#039;s bright enough to go grab it or if there is any health to grab period. Then I might apply pressure. If I choose to do as before and apply pressure to their carrier, and a standoff ends with your carrier getting destroyed and they&#039;re in a position where I&#039;m in my team&#039;s side of the map, I will hang back and clear the base of any people trying to do the back-to-back cap. This will reset the flow and allow me to set up for another wave of attackers. [b]If you cannot see / do not know the position of every enemy team member, assume they are in your base waiting to run another flag instantly or camping key points[/b]. This is a very focal point of standoffs.<br /><br />[i]Never[/i] get caught out of position, and err on the side of preparing for someone to run a back-to-back. In the long term this is preferable for the less-certain chance to return your flag if the enemy team has the better position, and allows your offense to spawn again and go for another flag attempt without being pushed in by constant streams of enemies or set off balance by the mayhem of letting enemies in behind you post-cap. The opposite is also true, if you clear too much, their passive defense position (being that they have all three of their team on their side of the map) will make their carrier harder to assassinate as well. It&#039;s a very fine line, but I always try to heavily damage enemies seeking my carrier, rather than outright kill them. It gives time for me to move easier around the map without running into another wave of enemy spawns, and set up a better position to kill their carrier.<br /><br />Defensive players in standoffs are positively the most integral part of the team, and the actions of them in those situations can easily make the difference between wins and losses. A lot of it is experience, a lot of it is awareness, but above all, never let the enemy team have the run of your base. Even if their members can outgun out, putting pressure on them will make your carriers job significantly easier. Note that if they have two people hunting your carrier in a 3v3, their carrier is alone. If you are damaging/clearing, then not only does your carrier benefit, but the enemy will be more inclined to push back, and leave their carrier solo. That&#039;s where your third person should be, assassinating the enemy carrier!<br /><br />In priv these points hold less water due to 4v4/5v5 being the standard and changing the dynamic flow of defensive roles, but in 3v3, proper defense positioning is incredibly important. Mental awareness of enemy locations is 100% key in preventing very quick losses of 2 flags. In short, dance with them, but don&#039;t let them set the tempo. That&#039;s your job as a defensive player.<br /><br />A footnote, I don&#039;t condone suiciding as a runner unless the map is very sizeable, and you can easily get back to that point before possible enemies in your base realize where you died. It can backfire very, very badly. It&#039;s a chance the carrier takes, however. Just be prepared to fall back very fast to deny any chance of them returning it as best you can. A lot of what I said varies based off team makeup and the map being played. That&#039;s where experience comes in. I tried to only cover principles I utilize that apply to the situation, and it ended up being a fucking thesis. Whoops.