Manual/Gamemodes

See also: Gametype

Gamemodes (also known as gametypes) are the various different types of matches available in the game, each of which uses the game's mechanics with its own set of rules which determines what the goals are and how they must be achieved.

Some aspects of the game can be changed through special game options.

The match duration usually depends from the Time Limit and/or Frag/Capture Limit. The Time Limit is the maximum match duration, in minutes, while the Frag Limit is the amount of racked kills and the Capture Limit the amount of times a goal was achieved.

Overview table

These are the gametypes available in stock OpenArena 0.8.8. Mods may have different gametypes.

G_gametype	Name	Team-based	In short
0	Free For All	No	Classic "deathmatch". Kill anyone in sight.
1	Tournament	No	1 on 1 battles. Winner stays, loser goes to queue.
2	Single Player	No	Special gametype used for Single Player Deathmatch mode only (no Skirmish, no Multiplayer).
3	Team Deathmatch	Yes	Frag people of enemy team. Help those of your team.
4	Capture The Flag	Yes	Grab enemy flag and bring it to your own base. Recover your own flag if the enemy steals it.
5	One Flag CTF	Yes	Grab white flag and bring it to enemy base.
6	Overload	Yes	Heavily attack enemy obelisk, in order to destroy it.
7	Harvester	Yes	Kill enemies, then collect skulls and bring them to enemy base.
8	Elimination	Yes	Kill enemies until only one team remains with alive players. Items are removed from the arena.
9	CTF Elimination	Yes	Kill all enemies or capture their flag. Items are removed from the arena.
10	Last Man Standing	No	Kill all enemies until you only remain alive. Items are removed from the arena.
11	Double Domination	Yes	Keep possession of both checkpoints for 10 consecutive seconds.
12	Domination	Yes	Keep possession of checkpoints to earn points for your team.

Gametypes

Free For All

In a Free For All (FFA for short) arena, also called deathmatch (DM), the goal is quite simple: kill the others and try not to be killed! You gain one frag each time you kill another player. You lose one frag each time you die by yourself (lava, rocket in wall, water...).

Number of points required to win the match depends from Frag Limit.

Tournament

Also referred to as 1on1, 1vs1 or tourney, this game mode features a sequence of one on one battles where everybody else is spectating. The winner of the battle will stay for the next battle to fight the next combatant, while the loser will return to the waiting list.

The score table shows how many battles each player has won and lost (e.g. "2/1" means two battles won and one lost), on the left.

The number of points required to win each battle depends from Frag Limit.

Single Player Deathmatch

See also: Single Player Deathmatch

Also referred as Unlock tiers mode, this gametype is used when playing the series of pre-defined matches against bots that you find in the "Singleplayer" menu (not when using the "skirmish" feature).

Number of points required to win the match depends from the Frag Limit, and it's automatically preset for each map.

Team Deathmatch

In Team Deathmatch (TDM) mode, each player is assigned to one of two teams: Blue team and Red team. The goal for each team is to kill the other team members and protect its own members. Scores of all members of each team are summed up.

In TDM, picking up a weapon again adds its full "basic" ammount of ammo also if you already had it (in other modes, if you already had a weapon's basic ammount of ammo, picking up that weapon again gives you one more shot only). All weapons respawn after 40 seconds by default, unlike other modes where they respawn after 5 seconds.

The machinegun weapon does a little less damage than in all other game types (5 hp per bullet instead of 7); also players spawn with only 50 ammo for it, unlike the usual 100.

In this mode it is advisable to turn friendly fire on, to force players to pay more attention to their teammeates than in other team-based modes (killing a member of one's own team lowers one's individual score, and thus the team's total score too).

Number of points required to win the match depends from fraglimit.

Capture The Flag (CTF)

Each player is assigned to one team - red or blue.

Team points are scored by capturing the enemies' flag: get hold of the enemies' flag (run over it), and then run over your own flag when it is at its home location.

When your own flag is not at home, you (or a team member) will have to get it back first. If an enemy is holding it, shoot him first. Then run over the flag he dropped. The announcer will tell you "red/blue flag returned" and you can score. Beware that the enemy will try to do the same.

The match ends when the Time Limit or Capture Limit is reached. Individual scores are shown in the score table: a player can get individual points when doing some actions, please refer to Appendix of this page for more info.

The only way to win in this mode is by capturing flags, so CTF involves a lot of team cooperation in order to achieve the victory.

Number of points required to win the match depends from the Capture Limit.

One Flag Capture

See also: One Flag Capture

Each player is assigned to one team - red or blue.

Team points are scored by capturing the white flag: get hold of the white flag (run over it), and then run over your enemies' flag.

Number of points required to win the match depends from Capture Limit.

Overload

In Overload (also known as Obelisk) each player is assigned to one team - red or blue.

Each base has an obelisk. The obelisk has a lot of health (default 2500) and health regeneration.

Team points are earned by destroying the enemy obelisk.

Be aware that the enemy will attack your obelisk too.

Number of points required to win the match depends from Capture Limit.

Harvester

In Harvester (also known as Skulls), each player is assigned to one team - red or blue.

Killing a blue player spawns a blue skull, and killing a red player spawns a red skull. Skulls spawn at the skull generator, usually at the middle of the map.

You can collect skulls of the enemy's team color, and you can carry more skulls at once. Touching a skull of your team color will make it disappear, preventing the other team from grabbing it. Skulls disappear when the skull carrier is fragged (they are not dropped).

Your current skull load quantity is shown in your HUD; other players will see your skulls floating behind you.

Running over the enemy skull receptacle will give your team a point for every skull you are carrying.

Number of points required to win the match depends from Capture Limit.

Elimination

See also: Elimination

Two teams. You begin with all "standard" weapons and prefixed health and armor. There are no items to pickup. When you get killed, you will have to wait the end of the round. The team which eliminates the whole other team wins.

Number of points required to win the whole match depends from Capture Limit (your team earns a point for each round it wins; a team will need to win by at least 2 rounds).

CTF Elimination

See also: CTF Elimination

Similar to Elimination mode, but with Capture the Flag rules added to it.

You can score by capturing enemy flag or by eliminating enemy team.

Number of points required to win the whole match depends from the Capture Limit.

Last Man Standing

See also: Last Man Standing

A "free for all" variant of Elimination, with some changes and different score modes.

Number of points required to win the whole match depends from the Capture Limit (a player earns a point for each round he wins).

Double Domination

See also: Double Domination

Two teams. Your team has to keep the control of both checkpoints in the map for 10 consecutive seconds in order to score.

Number of points required to win depends from the Capture Limit.

Domination

See also: Domination

Two teams. Each team has to get and mantain control of some checkpoints in order to gain points.

Number of points required to win depends from the Capture Limit. This should be set to a much higher value than usually used for other gametypes (e.g. 500 instead of 8).

See also

• Gametype
• Special game options
• Additional notes for this page

Appendix available
This page has got an "Appendix" sub-page, which may contain useful extra infos, such as console commands related with the features mentioned in this page, or hints for better usage. After reading this page, don't miss to give a look to its "Appendix", too: Manual/Gamemodes/Appendix