Team Fortress 2/Modes

Control Point (CP)
The primary game mode of Team Fortress 2. When a player stands on a control point owned by the opposite team for long enough (the exact time varies by which point on which map), it is "captured" and is now owned by the player's team. Some control points will be "locked", that is, they cannot be captured by either team. To unlock a control point, you usually have to cap a different one. The exact rules vary depending on map. Time spent capping CPs adds up; if a player caps a CP halfway, that CP will stay halfway capped for a little while.

In all CP maps, time is added to the clock whenever a control point is captured. If the round timer ends while a control point is being capped, the round will go into "overtime" and will stay that way until all progress on that CP is lost or the CP is capped.

Capture Point can be further divided into two categories: 2-way and Attack/Defend.

2-way
Examples: ../cp_well/, ../cp_badlands/

2-way CP is the standard form of CP map. All maps of this type have 5 CPs. At the start of the map, BLU and RED will own 2 control points each and another control point, positioned in the middle of the map, will be neutral. Both teams fight over the neutral CP. Once it is capped, a CP on the losing team will be unlocked. The team that owns the middle point will try and capture the unlocked CP, while the team that lost the CP will try and take back the middle.

Once all the CPs are owned by one team, the round is over and if the game hasn't run out of time, a new round will begin. If the game ends and neither team has scored, the game stalemates.

Attack/Defend
Examples: ../cp_dustbowl/, ../cp_gravelpit/

Attack/Defend maps vary greatly in gameplay. In all of them, BLU must capture all control points before time runs out while RED must prevent them from doing so. Once BLU has captured a control point, it is locked and cannot be recaptured by RED. If the time runs out before BLU captures all the CPs, red wins and the teams swap sides. If BLU captures all the CPs, the teams will either swap sides (Gravelpit) or the map will move on to the next stage (Dustbowl). These maps cannot stalemate.

Territory Control
Examples: ../tc_hydro/

While technically a separate game mode, this game type is played almost exactly the same as CP. The difference is that while the map itself has 8 CPs, each round divides the map so that only 2 points are reachable at any one time. Once one of them is capped, another round starts. To win, a team must capture all 8 CPs on the map.

Capture the Flag (CTF)
Examples: ../ctf_2fort/; ../ctf_turbine/

One of the oldest game modes around. Your goal is to steal the enemy's intelligence briefcase and bring it back to your Intelligence Room. You can still capture the intelligence even if your team's intelligence is missing. If you die while carrying the intelligence, it will drop on the ground and stay there until it returns. To return your intelligence to your base you must defend it for 60 seconds from the point it was dropped without an enemy touching it. If an enemy manages to grab your intelligence within those 60 seconds, the timer will be reset. In a standard game of Capture the Flag, the first team to capture the intelligence three times wins a round. Depending on the server settings, a new round will start or the server will change map. If the map runs out of time and neither team has won a round, the game will stalemate.

Payload (PL)
Examples: ../pl_goldrush/

In payload, the BLU team must push a cart to the end of a track while RED must prevent it from getting there. To push the cart, a member of the BLU team must stand next to it. The more BLU people next to the cart, the faster it goes. The cart's speed maxes out at 4 people. Any RED team member standing next to the cart will stop all forward progress until he moves away. If no BLU member stands next to the cart for 30 seconds, it will start rolling backwards. When the round timer runs out and no BLU team member has stood next to the cart for 30 seconds, RED wins. If the cart reaches the end of the track, BLU wins.

There are also checkpoints scattered along the track. When the cart reaches a checkpoint, time is added to the clock. In addition, the cart cannot roll back past checkpoints.

Dual Payload
In this mode, both teams get a cart—and must push it into the heart of the enemy's base while blocking them from doing the same. Not touching the cart when it's near the end of the track will result in almost immediate backing. Whichever makes it to the end first wins.

Arena
Examples: ../arena_ravine/

In arena, each team attempts to kill every player on the enemy team. There are no respawns, so staying alive is essential. If the game is not over after a certain period of time, a control point is made available. Whichever team captures the point will win.

When a team is defeated, the players on that team are cycled. Some players remain, while others are pushed into spectators and must wait for the next round. The new team will now need to engage the enemy and claim victory.

Arena games are typically played to a score of 5, with scores being reset once a new team wins. Reaching the score limit will reset the score as well, and split the players across the two teams before filling in the player slots.