Farming Guide

Forward

There were a few negligible additions and revisions to this tutorial that I lost access to when TWL shut down their Tribes forums earlier this week, so I'm going to post the tutorial as is. You'd be hard pressed to find a successful farmer who did not do what I prescribe here. Although I wrote this myself, much credit should be given to the players JT, Redeye, Caylen, Mooley, Wyze, and Thaen, for teaching me everything I know about farming. Much <3 for Tribes!

The Role of Farmer in Tribes 2 CTF

Tribes 2 CTF is notably different than most CTF games because there is a base game. In order to keep your flag offense and flag defense going, you need defend and repair base assets- the inventory stations, generators, sensors, and turrets. This makes a game of Tribes CTF a game about duality between “Production” and “Production Capability”. The game is not won by flag captures alone. You need to maintain your ability to capture- it's just as important. The base in Tribes is the pit crew to racecar driving, the off-season to a football team, and the rest to an injured athlete. All the talent in the world will not win you the game if you not pay attention to the base game. At the same time, you can overdo it- the goal still remains, you need to capture those flags, that is the primary objective.

There is no other role that you can fill, that will make this duality more obvious to you, than that of a farmer. As a farmer, you fill many defensive roles at once. You could be repairing a generator one moment, to fighting a HO the next moment. You could be laying down a turret farm. You could be filling in for your LOF or HOF while they were away from the stand. You could be holding a flag during a standoff. You are making critical decisions from one fleeting moment to the next, based on what is needed most from your team in order for it to run the most efficiently.

Farming, to an outsider, might seem like an easy job. But a farmer who does a good job will tell you, it's usually not easy. Generally stated, the maintenance of the base and turret farm is the farmer's unique responsibility. This does not mean that the farmer has to do this alone. It just means the tasks are assumed to be done by the farmer. If the farmer asks for assistance, his teammates should be ready to comply within reason.

The Responsibilities of a Farmer:

Defend the Base and Flag

This is worth mentioning first, as a bit of a disclaimer. Some farmers fall into the trap of farmer “tunnel vision”, only focusing on deploying and repairing equipment. It's understandable- it's really easy to get lost in, there's a lot to it. But a farmer needs to be be giving equal attention to maintaining the base, and fighting. There will be some situations on some maps where a good farmer doesn't really “farm” much, if at all. It all depends on what the team needs at the moment. A farmer doesn't need to be a superb fighter- although it certainly helps. But at the very least, a farmer should have a working knowledge of how to be an LD, a LOF, a HOF, and an HD- just in case the time comes to fill those shoes at a moment's notice. A farmer will often find himself defaulting to LD anyway, if his base ends up completely trashed.

Remember- the primary objective is to get flag captures. Imagine a long flag standoff. Both teams are working hard at protecting their capper, and attacking the enemy capper. If you were on the side that broke the standoff and got your flag returned, wouldn't it comfort you to know that your farmer was competent enough to fill in for your HOF who just got taken out, in order to keep the flag home those few extra seconds to get those points on the board, instead of expertly deploying a turret in the right place?

Okay, now to get into the nitty gritty of farming.

Deploying Inventory Stations – Deployable inventory stations are self-powered provide players anything their desired loadout needs short of an armor swap. The effectiveness of the deployable inventory station cannot be understated. It can literally be thought of as a base's auxiliary systems during times of trouble.

Through use of deployable inventory stations, your team receives many benefits. Teammates can heal and reequip within seconds. Turrets can be loaded up to be deployed in a hurry. People respawning can load into many useful light armor loadouts without having to visit a base inventory. Repair packs can be loaded up without needing to have access to or knowledge of the few repair packs scattered around the map. Your team can continue to function under a cluster (light armor only) strategy even if your base is trashed by the enemy. Deployable inventory stations have even been used by some top-tier farmers to block enemy attackers from accessing certain base entrances- while I'm not opposed to this idea, I normally do not do it because it also blocks friendlies from using the same entrances.

Besides protecting the generator and filling in for the LOF/HOF during times of trouble, deploying inventory stations (or delegating deployable inventory station deployment) is one of the most important roles a farmer has in the over-arching gameplay. It is the primary way you can ensure your team will continue to function throughout the course of a map.

Turret Farming

One of the responsibilities unique to a farmer (the one from which the farmer gets it's name) is deploying a turret farm. There are two types of deployable turret- the Landspike, and the Spiderclamp. Landspikes can only be deployed on terrain. The landspike projectiles move slower, but do more damage. Spiderclamps can only be deployed on structures and rocks. Spiderclamp projectiles move faster, but do less damage.

Briefly stated, landspikes are more effective than spiderclamps, and a majority of the time spent deploying turrets is spent deploying landspikes. Spiderclamps are used to augment an already formidable turret farm.

A farmer needs to set up a turret farm in a small window of time, so he can turn his focus to more pressing matters. Because of this, a farmer cannot be hassled to run to a base inventory station every time he wants to pull another turret, so he should bring a deployable inventory station with him to the farming site, and use this to load his turrets. There are a few reasons for this:

• A deployable inventory station lets a farmer load up a turret in a fraction of the time.
• It cuts down on the time it takes to travel to a base station.
• If tucked out of the way, it can also serve as a station others can use to reequip themselves.

A farmer also cannot be hassled to run and grab another deployable inventory in the middle of farming if his station is discovered and destroyed by the enemy. Because of this, a farmer should learn and utilize the technique known as “Spewwing”. With this technique, a farmer can throw multiple turrets down onto the ground within a short time, which he can then deploy later. This minimizes the time spent at the inventory station, and eliminates the consequences of the station being destroyed.

Spewwing:

1. Deploy the inventory station somewhere close to where you desire to set up your farm, but out of the way of enemy sight.
2. Choose your desired turret loadout, and walk up to the deployable inventory station to load up the turret.
3. While in front of the inventory station, aim yourself in the direction you want to spew. Jump and simultaneously throw your pack (default bind is CTRL+R). This will throw your turret onto the ground to be deployed later.
4. When you land in front of the inventory station, you will automatically load another turret. Repeat the above step until you have about 3 to 4 turrets sitting in front of you on the ground.
5. Proceed with picking up the turrets off the ground and deploying them normally.

Location is just as important as speed when setting up a turret farm. You need to decide what requires coverage- the flag, or the base (or the MPB, on vehicle maps). On some maps such as Damnation, an enemy capping route just happens to run by a base entrance- this makes the most efficient location for a turret farm obvious. But in cases where the flag and the base sit further apart, you need to keep multiple things in account when selecting your farm location.

• How many flag routes does the enemy team have access to?
• How many entrances does your base have?
• Do you already have a competent flag D that can handle themselves?
• Do you already have a competent base D that can handle themselves?
• How good are the enemy cappers? How good are the enemy HO?
• Do you have access to a MPB? Is it exposed, and would it benefit from turret coverage?

Usually, if you can answer these questions, you can determine where your turret farm would best be deployed. Once you know where to place your farm, you can then pick the optimal location for individual turrets. Some top-tier farmers have specific turret locations memorized for each map. I'm personally not as detail-oriented- and I believe this comes down to preference; there are trade-offs to each approach. If you have certain locations you always put your turrets, you become predictable to the enemy- and you potentially waste time in perfecting the placement. If you improvise on your turret farm, you might not always get the most optimal coverage or use the terrain to the best advantage. In reality, performing somewhere in between is probably good for most cases.

If you're going to improvise on turret placement, there are a few good rules of thumb to go by:

• The farther apart your turrets are, the better. If you cluster them too close together, they are easier to take out en masse. A wider farm will be harder to take out, and more irritating to deal with.
• Hide your turrets as much as you can. Place them in dark areas on the terrain, on top of grass patches, or just beyond ridges facing away from the enemy base.
• Usually, the higher up a turret is, the more coverage it will have.

Swapping Turret Barrels

One of the neat but unnecessary features of Tribes 2 was the ability to swap out the barrels of the base turrets. It's great to have this amount of customization in a game- it's one of the things long celebrated in Tribes. That being said, not all turret barrels are created equal. You should almost always be using the Plasma Barrel on your base turrets. There are a few exceptions to this rule.

Vehicle maps, and maps that don't offer cappers low routes, promote the use of missile launcher barrels. Missile launcher turrets will automatically lock onto any enemy airborne vehicles in range. They will also lock onto any enemy cappers that have a heat signature resulting from jetting too much. A great example of a map where you should use missile barrels is Titan. Between two missile turrets, and a few D players using missile launchers, an enemy capper hardly has enough flares to evade all the missiles being launched at him.

While very specific, if a base turret is near the flag, and the flag is standing on a high flagstand or over looking lava, your flag D benefits from placing an ELF barrel on the base turret. It will zap enemy cappers from energy and half the time will send them off the path of the flag- and into lava.

Some farmers advise the use of mortar launcher barrels on some maps, in order to “dominate”. I honestly don't advocate this at all. Mortar turrets have a tendency to kill teammates just as often as they kill enemies due to the large unforgiving splash damage. They should only really be used on large spawling vehicle maps where are teamed with incompetent people- and even then, you are probably doing more harm than good. Just... don't do it. Save your face. Don't frustrate your teammates.

To reiterate, 9 times out of 10, you need to be using a plasma barrel on your turrets. On the maps where other barrels are suggested, they are often set to those barrels by default. This means you hardly ever need to switch your turret barrels out. It's good for a farmer to at least know how to do it, in case the time ever came to need it.

Managing a Sensor Network

There are other deployables a farmer has access to that augment the base in various ways. A good farmer will either deploy these himself or delegate some of these tasks to other competent members of his team.

Pulse Sensors – Pulse Sensors are the smaller deployable cousin to the medium and large base sensors. Any enemy caught within the radius of a functional deployable pulse sensor will have their IFFs lit up on friendly HUDs and Command Screens. When base sensors are destroyed, it's good to have deployable pulse sensors up for backup. These can also be used to augment your already existing sensor network, showing you were enemies are setting up around the perimeter of your base. It's worth noting that enemies carrying a Sensor Jammer Pack or Cloak Pack will not be picked up by pulse sensors. As well, it only takes a single disc to render a pulse sensor nonoperational.

Motion Sensors – Any cloaked or sensor jammed enemy caught within the radius of a motion sensor will have their IFFs lit up on friendly HUDs and Command Screens as long as they are moving around. These are critical during flag standoff situations, where the enemy will try to sneak past your defenses in order to attack your flag carrier or strip the flag away from him.

Cameras – You can opt to replace your grenades with tossable cameras that latch onto any surface. Cameras can be used by you or any friendly to get a remote controlled view of any area by use of the command screen. The more practical use of cameras, however, is to render enemy sensor jammer packs inoperable, allowing friendlies to see enemy sensor jammer IFFs even if they are trying to jam your sensors.

Another benefit of using Pulse Sensors, Motion Sensors, and Cameras, is that turrets will use their effective viewpoints to augment their own. This means that turrets will be able to fire at cloaked and sensor jammed enemies, will be able to lock onto and fire at enemies sooner, and will be able to sustain a lock and fire at enemies for longer periods of time, within reason. While maintaining a sensor network is not a top priority, there is no reason why one shouldn't exist, especially during flag standoffs.

Repairing

The one thing a farmer is reluctant to do, but automatically comes with the role of maintaining the base- repairing stuff. Not to worry. Not only is it easy, it requires very little time to do it- if done right.

When you first load into a map that is foreign to you, you should learn the location of the repair pack as soon as possible so you know where to B-line it to in case you need to go on repair duty. Once you have the repair pack, set out to repair what needs repairing. Use the following as guidelines.

• If multiple things need repairing, prioritize them. There is no sense in repairing an inventory station if the generator is not working (it is outstanding how many people do this). Repair the generator first. Then move to inventory stations. Then move to base turrets. Then everything else.

Here is a generalized repair priority list:

1. Generators
2. Inventory Stations
3. Vehicle Stations (If on a Vehicle Map)
4. Mobile Point Base (If on a vehicle map)
5. Base Turrets
6. Deployable Inventory Station (you will often need to replace before repairing)
7. Turret Farm
8. Base Sensors
9. Other Sensors

• Only repair assets to operational condition. Nothing needs to be repaired to perfect health. It only takes two mortars to destroy most assets anyway. The saving grace of the repair pack is that the time it takes for a Heavy Offense to fire off a mortar and reload is almost the same amount of time it takes for any asset to be repaired back to operational condition. Use that to your advantage. Once the asset is glowing, move onto the next thing that needs repairs.

• Do not try to repair every single asset in your base at one time. Remember, there are many things that need your attention. The flag game is the most important. And you should be preventing the enemy HO from being able to get into your base again. Your other teammates are very capable of repairing things if they really need to. Repair a few things to keep the team back on it's feet, and move on. Place a beacon near the operational inventory stations if you need to- that tells your teammates “Hey, this one works, go here.”

• Do not eat repair packs! I'm surprised how many top-tier players still do this. If you have picked up a repair pack, and plan to use an inventory station to load into any loadout that doesn't have a repair pack, throw the repair pack before you use the station. Repair packs are always useful to have around. It's good to hoard them. There is no reason you need to despawn one. Always throw the pack! It's alright to forget now and then, but any top tier player should be scolded for doing this frequently. This goes for non-farmers as well.

Light Defense Guide

Forward

This "Light Defense Guide" is the collective effort of StormcrowIV and Enigma, two kind high-level LOFs who have long played Tribes 2 competitively, and still do to this day. The guide first came in the form of multiple thread posts, and I have put forward my best efforts to merge and organize the posts together into one tangible article.

Not only does this guide provide a newblood Tribes player everything he needs to know to be a solid light defensive player, it speaks volumes about the metagame of the most popular form of Tribes still being played today (Tribes 2 Classic), and the metagame's underlying structure- a structure that should be respected by any faithful successor to the Tribes name. That is why I found it important to post this guide on this blog, and why I will endeavor to post other guides up on this blog that further illustrate what the metagame of a Tribes game should look like.

I will add, I do not agree with everything Stormcrow says here (ecspecially when he mentions the use of only certain weapons) but he does good to mention at the end that this is just his playstyle he developed after years of playing, and everyone "works in their own ways". I commend him for this.

The guide is mostly the writing of Stormcrow, with a few wise assertions made by Enigma added where appropriate. So without further ado:

Light Defense Guide

Basic Positions
There are two primary players in Tribes 2 Classic CTF: the flag D and the flag O.

The flag O is the capper or "FC". He grabs the flag and gets it back to his base via numerous routes, loadouts, and clearing methods.

The flag D is the LOF or HOF, and he stands opposed to the capper. For this guide, I'll be discussing the LOF only. His sole purpose in life is to see the capper, determine the capper's plan for taking the flag, and foil that plan without compromising his position on the flag.

Everything else in the game exists to support or distort these two positions.

The primary enemies of the LOF are HO and LO.

HO are there to clear the LOF by spam (firing from long range, usually with the mortar) or point clearing (getting into the LOF's face and tearing him to pieces-this is usually timed with the enemy capper).
LO are there to distract the LOF by making him compromise his position so that the capper can come in and grab on an uncontested flag stand, or to kill the LOF, so the capper can grab an uncontested flag.

With that groundwork laid out, let's get back to business.

Light Defense

When you are playing light defense, you are either playing as regular LD, or as a LOF.

Equipment

An LD should carry a CG, spin, GL, and flares.
An advanced LD might also incorporate concs, frags, and a sniper rifle (depending on the team he's playing with and against)
Note: NO LD should carry a shocklance or ELF. Ever. If you are not considered a godsend with the weapon, don't do it unless specifically told to for certain situations (Jagged Claw, or standoffs on indoor MMD, for example). Yes, it can be useful, and yes, there are times when it will help you. There are 9x as many times where any other weapon would have been more useful for your role, however. The shocklance can be a clutch mechanical weapon, but dynamically, it is horrifically weak.

Role

The role of the LD is twofold: negate enemy offense and chase enemy flag carriers. The single greatest way to sabotage your defense is to play on or near the flag as an LD. You will never help your LOF or HOF by clogging up the flag stand. You will help them by distracting or killing enemy offensive players trying to kill and distract them.

The LD must aggressively pursue spamming HO.

Note that I say pursue, not necessarily kill. Killing is the most effective way to get a HO off a hill for a period of time, but the longer he's shooting at you, the more he isn't shooting at your LOF. THIS is why the shocklance is a bad weapon for LD. The time you're setting up to SL the HO in the back, he's still killing your LOF and clearing your flag. If you miss, you're screwed within the duel (you have to wait before changing weapons, while the HO will probably starting chaining you at very close range, bye bye!) your LOF is now screwed because the HO got to fire more stuff at him, and now you're dreadfully out of position. Remember: you're a defender. Whatever the offense wants to do, is probably bad. Stop him from doing what he wants as quickly as you can without sacrificing your objective (protecting the LOF).

The LD must aggressively pursue incoming HO who might point clear.

Get these guys off their routes so their timing is messed up (in case the timing was coordinated with a capper) and slow them down to kill them easier. Nothing like a HO flopping at the bottom of a hill eating a rain of mine discs.

Note: These two mean you must be a talented and resourceful dueler. HO are completely overpowered from a numbers perspective and you have to defeat them. You don't have time to suit up before pursuing these guys all the time, either. You have to inflict massive amounts of damage to the right players within a very short period of time.

The LD must adapt to the team being played.

If this team employs a medium to chaingun the LOF to death, then charging out to attack a HO spammer 500m away as the medium skies in isn't a good idea.

The LD must chase flag carriers.

The LD's job is to clean up after the LOF, as well. If a capper gets out, you need to break off your HO-killing and chase the FC down. Again, the shocklance takes away a vital weapon slot for this task. Do not snipe, unless you were designated as a snipe LD. If you do, you are no longer chasing, which your team was counting on you to do. DJ to an interception (never go directly after the capper) and get the capper off his route. If you don't have a hilariously easy MD on him, you should be chaining the whole way. The single lucky shots here and there add up quickly, especially when you're talking about a capper taking DJs to get home. You won't be the only one chaining, either. If you slow down the capper, your team will have a better chance of setting up an egrab or an offensive return.

The LD must escort the flag carrier home.

If you're chasing an FC and your team grabs the flag, stop and cover your flag carrier.

This is pretty debatable, but here's why I think this is the better option:

To succeed against the enemy flag carrier, you have to ski into the enemy base alone, fight off their defense and spawning offense alone, kill the FC alone, then fight through turrets etc to return the flag...after you just DJ'd twice and ran out of ammo chasing the guy down.

To succeed when escorting your flag carrier, you have to distract or kill 2-3 light chasers (who weakened themselves with DJs) with the help of your teammates.

If you return your flag, your defense is unorganized and will be unable to defend it because of the instability of the game that occurs when chasing an enemy across the map and getting a clutch e-grab. If the enemy team has another capper waiting in the wings (I promise they almost always will), then you just gave them a free cap, and nothing you just did was worthwhile. If you escort your carrier home, you still have their flag (so you prevented them from scoring [which is the point of the defense!!!] and the game goes to stand-off-a stable form of the game-and things move from there.

The LD must be vigilantly aware.

This is most important. The LOF can't see everything. Call out cappers and LO with priority. Give directions (left right, back front) and whether they are setting up or going in (EX: "Capper setting up back route." "Capper right, now"). You're there to help the LOF, and the LOF's main asset is knowledge. If you give that information, through sensors or your own reporting, you are being a massive help.

LOF (Light On Flag)

Being a LOF is very hard work, but it's incredibly exciting and satisfying to excel at. It's like T2 as a whole. You'll get your ass kicked at first, but with enough work and practice, you WILL know that there's nothing better out there. I honestly believe that there is no better position, no better game, no better feeling than shutting down an enemy flag O. You're the most exposed player-the entire enemy offense is gunning for you-and you're the only one who stands directly opposed to the only player who can score points in a game of T2 CTF. You are the shit. Here's how to make the most of it.

Equipment

Weapons

A LoF should carry a CG, spin, and a shocklance, sniper rifle, or grenade launcher. This heavily depends on how his team is built up and, more importantly, what the LOF needs to get the job done.

CG and spin are basics.

The shocklance is good for guys who can't yet body block exceptionally well. It gives you a ton of reach and will either stop, throw off, or slow down incoming cappers when shot in the front. Do NOT go for back lances on incoming cappers. It's a show trick, nothing more. Stonehenge is a great SL map. The small window of a flag stand means that an SL shot on a light will almost always send a capper into the wall. That's assuming you go forward, of course. I'll cover that in a bit.

The grenade launcher is a solid weapon that great for chasing and self defense against HO coming in to attack you.

The sniper rifle lets you clean up your own mistakes. It's also highly distracting. Do NOT do NOT do NOT be a sniper. Be a sniping LOF if you must. If you spend more than half a second throwing a snipe at someone, don't snipe anything except a guy carrying your flag. It has uses, but seriously, the LOFs who carry and frequently use sniper rifles have practiced a very, VERY long time. Awareness will always be more valuable to your team than the couple of points of damage you're inflicting, while draining your energy, compromising your position, giving your location away.

Grenades

A LOF should carry flares, frags, or concs.

Flares are always a great, safe bet. Good for chasing and keeping your assets alive, you can't go wrong with flares.
Frags are good for nade+mine throws at range, and for self-defense.
Concs, same thing, but concs are harder to use.

Concs can cripple a HO at short range by stripping their pack, but they are incredibly inconsistent at doing so. The real value of concs comes from their knock-back, which IS consistent. If you get a conc to explode within 5m of an enemy capper, he will never grab your flag on-route. This is the grenade I switched to when I decided that I needed another tool, and it hasn't let me down since I invested in the time to learn the loooong fuse and long distance throw. Throw up and at an angle. ~40 degrees upward while jumping forward= ~70m detonation. Draw a mental map of where the capper will be there, throw accordingly, laugh.

Once you learn that, try it with nade+mines. These do damage in addition to huge knockback, but the mine can be shot in your face and backfire. Like the sniper rifle, these things can be distracting, and I'd recommend mastering the basic techniques (covered below) before worrying about this stuff. Stick with flares to start.

Role

The role of the LOF is the most simple in principle, but the hardest in practice; keep the flag out of enemy hands.

The LOF must know proper LOFing techniques.

Enigma says:  

As a LOF you always want to keep your head on a swivel, you need to know the primary capping lanes for the map and keep glancing back and forth while being aware of immediate threats and dodging fire. Just being around the flag is important, but you need to be around the flag to prevent those grabs at the right moment. The more knowledge you have of enemy positions, the better you can judge when you need to be at the flag. As a LOF you're extremely vulnerable, so being directly on the flag is often not wise. You need to be off flag, ideally in the path of the enemy's strongest route, and with some ability to avoid splash damage (bump in the terrain, on a spire, behind a little hill, etc) but able to quickly respond with a mine disc on the stand.

There are three techniques a LOF can reliably use to keep enemy flag cappers from capturing his flag. Two techniques use a foreward position, and one technique uses a backward position.

Before jumping into that, let me walk you through a pretty simple guide to how capper/LOF relations work. All of these variables can be mixed around and added or removed, but these are the most basic steps to a flag grab.

1. The capper sees LOF and spams GL on his approach.
2. LOF sees capper, moves into position to BB, MA, or MD.
3. Capper throws mine anticipating to MD LOF's actions.
4. LOF throws mine anticipating capper's actions.
5. Discs are fired.
6. Someone dies, someone wins. Note that the someone who dies isn't always the one who loses.

Watch Enigma's video here and focus on how quickly these steps occur. I'm not even talking about seconds here. This video also gives amazing examples of every technique I'm about to discuss.

Let's go through the techniques. First, the forward techniques:

1. Body Block (BB) This involves going forward into the capper's flight path and stopping or severely hindering his movement with your own player model. This is the surest method of pissing a capper off because it's the easiest to clear for the capper. If you miss your BB, the enemy carrier has a free shot at your flag. You are very vulnerable to being MA'd or MAMD'd. It also compromises your position, so even if you block one capper, you are unable to stop a second capper because of the movement it requires. You can add to this method, however, by chaining the capper as he comes in, or by trying to MA him in addition to setting up for the BB.

Once you get better as a LOF, you'll get a feel for how to approach a BB and when you should and shouldn't do it against lights. Against medium cappers, it's very very helpful, because an MA won't always throw them off. Against HO cappers, it's necessary because it's the only way to stop a HO's movement.

2. Mid Air/ Mid Air Mine Disc (MA/MAMD) This involves jumping forward and attempting to MA the flag carrier as he is coming in for your flag. It's tricky to do reliably, but it's very effective. MAing a capper moving in a mostly straight line is all about timing and confidence. If it feels right, do it. But if he's too far away, you'll probably miss, and if he's too close, you'll probably get a mine disc to the face before you can fire. Likewise, you have to anticipate when the capper will throw his mine and/or fire so that his shot doesn't destroy your mine, taking you out of play. It's very tricky when you get into this contest with the better cappers because they WILL anticipate your shot, so you have to vary your timing to keep the upper had. MAs will stop lights and will normally stop mediums. MAMDs are immediate stops on lights (death) and mediums, and will stop HO grabs if they are placed properly. Yes, you can (and will have to learn to) place mine discs on incoming players. An example of this can be found here.

Notice that I account for my speed, the flag's movement, how the terrain will affect the flag movement, the enemy player's movement (assessed via where the flag will be), and throw my mine and fire the disc so that it separates the enemy from the flag (keeping him from picking it up) without throwing the flag so far out of my own path that I cannot return the flag.

You have to practice your MDs until you can do those kinds of calculations in a heartbeat and make those kinds of shots before you realize it needs to happen, because that's what being a LOF is all about. It's the fullest integration of reflexive chess and once you get your feet in, you'll never be okay with any other kind of gameplay.

And now, the rearward technique:

3. MD on Flag Stand This involves moving back-out of range of the capper's shot-or up, to get a better angle on the stand, in order to MD the flag as the capper is grabbing it. Difficulty comes from the capper anticipating your mine and discing it while it's still in your face, or you hovering in a single spot and getting MA'd by the capper. Both things will prevent you from making the stop. Varying your timing and moving, rather than hovering, will ensure the success of this technique. Furthermore, make sure that you are moving downward as you throw your mine. This adds your momentum to the throw, getting the mine away from your player faster. This makes the MD easier, and it drastically shortens the time the capper can use your mine against you.

This is the safest and easiest way of stopping a light flag carrier. It will cripple medium cappers as well, so it's very effective, and the vast majority of your stops should be with this technique. It does nothing against HO, however.

You can always mix and match these techniques, too. Go forward for a BB then MA the carrier. If you miss the MA, you still have him BB'd. Jump backward into his flight path while still MDing the flag stand. Both of these things double your chances of preventing the capper from grabbing.

My personal stops will often involve throwing a mine+hand nade forward, then attempting either MAMDing or MDing the stand while flying backward over it. I'll also try to mix it up by MDing 5 meters in front of or behind the stand, so the capper is not expecting it. Subtle things like that will always keep the capper on his toes, and his shots are only a little easier than yours-a little doubt in your enemy's head goes a long way.

Perform these proper techniques at an incredibly proficient level.

Enigma says:  

There are trade-offs for body blocking (BB) and mine discing (MD) that you have to take into account given the situation. If your enemy is in light energy you know that a mine disc will take them out, miss it and they're out scott free with 100% health. If your target is capping medium energy, it will take 2 mines and a disc to kill them. This is really only an option if your foe is dumb and lets you stack an extra mine on the stand or if you have a backup LOF.  

Body blocking is the safest method of stopping caps, it can also be the hardest as it requires precise positioning. It puts your reticle on the direct path of the capper which guarantees damage with chaingun. Even if you miss the BB you can easily chew up 50% of a light's HP or more. BBing is also a very easy way to get mine-disced by the oncoming capper and that is often a good thing. I consider it a victory when the capper gets killed or knocked off course from the splash damage off me. 

If the enemy is heavy capping, they not only have the hit points to shrug off a mine-disc on the stand, but if they get out cleanly with the flag they can almost always get home with their hitpoint buffer. BBing a heavy capper is the safest bet, but even if you're successful you have a heavy in your shit ready to punish you and clear the flag for a delayed light capper. You need to be quick, clever, and try to disc the heavy before he discs you and be ready to fall back if need be. 

Always try to put yourself in the path of the capper, even if you go for a mine disc you can BB them on their out-route as seen below.

2 LOFs can often interfere with each other by setting off early mines. The safest method of preventing grabs is to mix it up and have one BB and one MD. Worst case scenario, a body blocker that gets MA'd will put the capper's disc in refire cooldown to prevent them from stopping the MD on the stand from the backup LOF.

The LOF must stay alive.

A dead LOF isn't a LOF. You have to preserve yourself. Don't die to spam in order to stay on the flag half a second longer when there isn't a capper coming in. If you see a capper, then do what it takes to make the stop, even if it mean dying (back to what I said about how dying doesn't necessarily mean losing for the LOF). This means you have to...

The LOF must be aware of EVERYTHING.

A LOF has to be aware of everything going on.

- He has to keep mental tabs on which cappers he knows are set up on fast routes because he hasn't seen them in awhile.
- He has to keep track of spamming HO so he can avoid their mortars.
- He has to be aware of shifts in enemy offensive tactics so he can call for adjustments. If I see that a HO stops spamming, I know that HO is coming in to attack up close and I call in an LD to stop him. If the enemy team stops spamming, I know that a capper may be coming in. If they stop spamming and start sending LO, I know I need to keep an LD close by to cover the flag when I die. This stuff is what makes or breaks a LOF. Without this grasp of the game, LOF is an impossible position.
- A LOF has to keep track of cappers and decoys.
- If a capper grabs and darts to the left, the LOF has to know if the LD over there is dead or too busy fighting a HO to chase the FC. If so, the LOF knows that taking a snipe shot takes priority over maintaining his position.

The LOF MUST to know where the enemy flag is.

If you fail to return a flag as your friendly capper is coming in, you have probably cost your team a cap. If you know your team has the flag and the enemy carrier gets out, you need to know whether your next move needs to be to take a pot shot snipe at the FC or if it needs to be a lined-up shot in defense of your carrier.

Enigma says:
When the flag is in the field you have more control over the flag game because it opens up many options on defending. You can disc the flag against an object or flag stand to block off potential cap routes, or leave it in the field to force cappers off their practiced routes. Mine disc the capper as he tries to grab, return the flag just before the capper grabs, or you can disc the flag away when a capper is incoming and watch him fly right by. The latter being a great solution when the enemy capper is medium or heavy armored and a single mine disc will not instantly kill them. It does take a little practice and timing though. The biggest benefit to playing the flag in the field is the timed return. Wait until just before your capper will cap to return the flag. You’ll be preventing the enemy from getting an emergency grab or forcing a standoff.

Closing Thoughts

In poker terms, being good in T2 is more about rigging the deck than winning hands. If you have a bad CG, don't get into a short-range flying duel. If you don't like getting MD'd, stay fast or stay off the ground. If you don't like getting sniped, stay low and fast and strafe at the apex.

A lot of LOF play centers around preventing the capper from using this philosophy. You want to reduce the capper's options as best as you can so that he has to play at your table, rather than letting the enemy offense run the show (which is what normally happens).

Reviewing and Thinking Critically

Enigma says: 

The best advice I can give you is to watch your demos and be super critical about your decisions, positioning, weapon selection, and make note of anything that's getting by you too much for comfort and how you can counter it. Every time you play you should be trying to work on something.

Economy of Movement

Demo review sessions are what I attribute to my rise from silly sniper to LOF and a specific concept from either Darkstrand or Fling always stuck with me. They called it economy of movement. Essentially, you have to be decisive about what you're going to do. If you go forward to face the capper, great, you have tools. If you go backward to face the capper, great, you have tools there too. If you hesitate or start forward then doubt yourself and back-pedal, you're eating a mine disc on the stand.

You must make a decision and commit to it. Once you make this a habit, your demo reviews will get even more helpful, because you'll be finding concrete mistakes to learn from, rather than realizing you should done something, or you, know... anything.

Getting MD'd on the stand tells you you should have moved. Duh.

Getting MD'd by your own mine because you didn't anticipate the capper's shot gives you substantial insights into how a capper shoots, letting you adjust for next time.

 

Choosing your Playing Style

I'd also like to point out that Enigma and I are both successful LOFs despite having different approaches to doing things. He carries flares and chains cappers as they come in, doing a guaranteed amount of damage while I prefer the all-or-nothing nade+mine combo. Do what fits your style and do whatever it takes to keep your flag out of enemy hands. No matter how goofy it is, if it works, it works. I have to say that a lot of the conventional stuff is conventional for a reason, however. There's not a lot of trail-blazing to be done in an eleven year-old game, but everyone works in their own ways. I'm offering the strategies that work for me and the things I was taught to do. How you use it and mold it to fit your playing style is up to you.