Clusterfuck
From TribalWar
When a whole team decided to play a map naked, it was called clustering. It was a tactic widely used on small maps such as Stonehenge and Dangerous Crossing that placed a high emphasis on individual dueling ability. A successful cluster dictated a fast pace by keeping a constant presence at the enemy base, dueling enemy defenders and keeping the enemy flag in play as often as possible.
Early in the game, clustering was used as a desperation technique by losing teams, such as when Run & Gun used 10 offense on Raindance vs. Imperial Elite, losing the map 1-8 [1]. It was popularized as an effective strategy by the tribe NuTz, resulting in impressive victories over teams such as the South Side Stoners (DX, 5-2) [2] and Imperial Elite (DX, 4-2) [3].
Clustering unfortunately led some players to quit as they felt it was a mindless strategy that debased the game, although it went on to become one of the dominant forms of gameplay. LT had a similar reception, both in how it was viewed and it's eventual popularity.
Contents |
Strategy
A basic cluster is:
Defense
The stay at home LD play on the flag stand, disrupting incoming enemy cappers and keeping the base clear so flag returns can be optimally timed to coincide with friendly cappers. The chase LD will play off the stand, interrupting enemy cappers before they reach the flag and chasing if an enemy capper escapes. During a standoff, the 2 chase LD will continue to go offense while the stay home LD keep the base clear.
Offense
- 6 Light Offense / Cappers
Or
- 4 Light Offense
- 2 Cappers
Depending on the map, it may be advantageous to have everybody on offense grab the flag to put maximum pressure on the enemy defense. For example, 6 cappers is extremely viable on Dangerous Crossing. DX is a relatively small map with cappers being able to make it home in the blink of an eye; if an enemy capper has the flag and their flag is home, you will usually not be able to wait on a designated capper to grab in time and vice versa. Conversely, on Rollercoaster it can be difficult to make it home unless you are running a route; free-for-all grabbing there would likely result in a quick death and a badly placed flag drop.
An important tip when clustering is to continue to make sure the enemy base is down. Teams will sometimes have a player begin to repair in the middle of a cluster, usually during standoffs when most of the activity is focused on the cappers and not the base. Getting the base turrets up on Dangerous Crossing can be a death knell to the opposing team, as can snipers and turrets on Rollercoaster or Raindance.
Principle
One of the reasons for the effectiveness of clusterfucking was that the offensive players, in effect, also acted as defenders -- except at the enemy base. Oftentimes in the chaos of a map in which clusterfucking was prevalent, there would be short stalemates in which both teams had the other's flag, and in these situations, the increased offensive pressure at the other team's base would lead to flag carrier kills (and thus, flag returns). It could also be argued that the simple act of grabbing an enemy flag by a player was actually a defensive act, in order to buy time for other teammates to kill the enemy flag carrier by preventing the enemy flag carrier from capturing the flag (the team's flag needs to be on the stand in order to capture the enemy flag). The thin line between offense and defense in this strategy made experience and good team chemistry essential.
