Tribes 2 // Mod Development Handbook GitHub

26 · Capture and Hold

At 466 lines, the smallest objective gametype in base/scripts.vl2 — and, like Bounty, untouched by Classic.

The rules

scripts/CnHGame.cs’s header [script]:

Teams try to capture marked objectives
Capturing player gets a point 12 seconds after a capture
Hold objectives in order to score
A team scores 2 points per second it holds an objective
Turrets and inventory stations convert when their switch is taken

Two timers govern it, both set to the same value [script]:

%game.TIME_REQ_PLYR_CAP_BONUS = 12 * 1000;  //player must hold a switch 12 seconds to get a point for capturing it
%game.TIME_REQ_TEAM_CAP_BONUS = 12 * 1000;  //time after touching it takes for team to get a point

Touching a switch does not score by itself — the capture has to hold for twelve seconds before either the capturing player or their team is credited. That window exists to stop a drive-by touch from scoring against a switch that is immediately retaken; a capture only counts once it has survived contest for a meaningful stretch.

Once secured, an objective pays its owning team 2 points per second for as long as they hold it — a continuous rate, the same scoring shape Defend and Destroy uses for its switches (section 23). Multiple held objectives stack: five objectives held simultaneously pay 10 points per second, which is why matches tend to snowball once one team establishes map control.

Turrets and stations convert

The distinguishing mechanic, and the one the rules text states plainly: capturing a switch converts any turret or inventory station attached to it. It does not merely disable the loser’s defences — it hands them to the new owner, functioning. A team that captures aggressively inherits its opponent’s emplacements rather than facing them.

This makes Capture and Hold territorial in a way none of the other base gametypes are. CTF and Siege fight over a fixed target; Bounty and Deathmatch have no map objectives at all. Capture and Hold’s objectives are the map — every switch you take is infrastructure you gain and your opponent loses in the same motion.