Half-Life: Opposing Force Capture The Flag

	This article is non-canon.
	The subject matter of this article does not take place in the "real" Half-Life and Portal universe and is considered non-canon.

Half-Life: Opposing Force Capture The Flag is a team based online multiplayer game mode for Half-Life: Opposing Force. It was announced to be in development May 3, 2000; and was added to the game in patch version 1.1.0.0, released on June 8, 2000. It was also included in the North America release of Half-Life: Blue Shift.

Overview

In the capture the flag game mode, each team has a flag in their base. The teams must enter the opposite team's base, capture their flag, and bring it back to their flag in their base to score, also defend their flag to prevent the opposite team from capturing it. The team who captures the most flags is the winner. When the player enters a capture the flag game, they must select their side and character, before playing the game. The players may join either the Black Mesa team (civilians), represented by the color orange and the Lambda symbol, or the Opposing Force team (soldiers), represented by the color green and the Star symbol. The game has Power-Up items that gives its owner enhancements or abilities, inspired by the ones in Quake. The player can only carry one Power-Up at a time, and must drop the one they currently own to pickup the new one. There is also a command point mode where teams must take control of four points in the map to score.

Teams

The two teams features a number of selectable character models, each presented with their own biographical information.

Black Mesa

Character	Image	Biography
Barney		As captain of the security guards, Barney dedicated himself to protecting the civilians of Black Mesa against the invading soldiers. Barney's training with a variety of weapons and his cool under pressure allowed him to be very effective in combat.
Cleansuit Scientist		The shortage of available HEV suits required many Black Mesa scientists to wear cleansuits to survive the toxins released throughout the facility after the accident. The protected scientist often then took up arms against the soldiers sent to destroy them.
Gina		As the first scientist to work with the HEV suit, Gina became the HEV instructor and senior physicist assigned to the handling of anomalous materials. When the soldiers came, Gina's HEV suit gave her a combative edge against the Kevlar armored troops.
Dr. Freeman		Gordon may have caused the rift that started all of the troubles at Black Mesa, but his ability to adapt and his strong will for survival make him an effective agent against the soldiers.
Otis		Otis, the enthusiastic, overweight security guard, always kept his .357 loaded. When the soldiers came, Otis (for the first time) became a true asset to the Black Mesa civilians.
Walter		After being at ground zero during the accident, Walter managed to survive long enough to arm himself. When the soldiers came, Walter became a valuable fighter for the Black Mesa team.

Opposing Force

Character	Image	Biography
Squad Leader		When it comes time to call the shots, the Squad Leader's quick judgment in the field is invaluable. When the civilians of Black Mesa began fighting back, the Squad Leader was required to quickly redefine objectives in order to maintain control.
Drill Sgt. Sharp		While many soldiers learned to loathe Sgt. Sharp during advanced training, others are glad to know he's on the military's side. In active duty, Sgt. Sharp provides the soldiers an edge with his influence of discipline and morale.
Grunt Soldier		As the mainstay of the assault group, soldiers are trained and equipped with a huge variety of weaponry and combat tactics. The Grunt Soldier should make quick work of any civilian resistance.
Recruit		Since the Black Mesa operation was going to be a cake-walk, green Recruits were sent in to learn from the operation first hand. When the civilians became organized and fought back, the Recruits became an important part of the military's force.
Cpl. Shephard		Separated from his group after his insertion craft went down, the Corporal wasn't able to join the assault on Black Mesa with the initial group. Shephard's experience in the facility, however, makes him pivotal in action against the resident resistance.
Pvt. Tower		Tower went in with Cpl. Shephard in the first wave. After his insertion craft was taken down, the attack group got separated and it was every man for himself. Tower's training enabled him to go ahead with his mission of rounding up the civilians.

Behind the scenes

• David Mertz of Gearbox Software released a map development kit to help level designers build their capture the flag maps on August 31, 2001. This pack contains design and technical guidelines, example maps, game definition files for Worldcraft, and prefabs.
• The original Steam release of Half-Life: Opposing Force didn't have the capture the flag mode. It was later added in an update, along with a new main menu background, featuring Gordon Freeman and Adrian Shephard carrying flags.

Gallery

• 

  Black Mesa flag.

• 

  Opposing Force flag.

• 

  Black Mesa flag base.

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  Opposing Force flag base.

• 

  Black Mesa logo.

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  Opposing Force logo.

Maps

• 

  Black Mesa Biodomes.

• 

  Chasm.

• 

  Crash Site.

• 

  Gun Yard.

• 

  HairBall.

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  Hydro-Electric Dam.

• 

  Mortar.

• 

  Power Struggle.

• 

  Repentagram x2.

• 

  The Wonderland.

• 

  Xen Dance (CTF).

See also

• Half-Life (multiplayer)

External links

• Capture the flag on Wikipedia