Castle Wars
Introduction
Castle Wars is a multiplayer team combat/capture the flag game available in /v/scape. There aren't any direct rewards from playing the game like there are for Pest Control, but it is a fun game with some cosmetic items available upon completion of the game.
There are two ways to get there:
1) Walk west from Yanille. The Watchtower Teleport will get you close.
2) The faster way is to use the Castle Wars teleport option from the Ring of Dueling. This will put you directly in the lobby.
The command ::cwactive will tell you if a game is currently running.
How to play
Before the match begins, there is a bank chest in the corner that you may use to gear yourself up. There are three portals in the lobby. You may not enter any of them if you have a helmet and cape on. The blue/red ones will put you on the Saradomin/Zamorak teams respectively, and the green one will assign you to either team, depending on which has less players. If a game is not currently active, after a two minute wait the game will begin.
As a capture the flag game, the main objective is to storm the enemy castle (located in the opposite corner of the arena), take their flag, and return it to your own base while preventing the enemy team from doing the same to you. The game will last for 20 minutes. Each captured flag will give one point to the capturing team, and at the end of the 20 minutes the team with the most points will be the winner.
The Arena
Team Castles
Both teams have a castle in opposite corners of the arena. Each castle is divided into four floors.
- 1st: The bottom floor and outer walls of the castle. All the entrances into the castle can be found here, along with a resource area that contains various items, among them barricades and pickaxes. The catapult is found in the corner of the outer walls of each castle.
- 2nd: Contains the spawn room for the team. The spawn room contains a ladder up to the third floor, and has a table that gives infinite bandages. (Each bandage will heal for 10% of your maximum health.
- 3rd: A trapdoor leads down into the spawn room.
- 4th: Contains the flag. Try to keep your enemy from reaching here at all costs.
Center Island
The central island of the arena. Contains two ladders that lead into the underground tunnel network. Good for tricking your enemies if you're running with the flag. Along the river there are some stepping stones, but currently these do not work yet.
Underground
Can be accessed from the ladders in the team castles and the central island. Each tunnel has a collapsible area. Every game will begin with the tunnels pre-collapsed, however the rubble can be cleared (or put back down again) by anybody with a pickaxe. If you manage to collapse a tunnel on top of another player, it's instant death for them.
Tactics
- Ancients are always a solid choice for Castle Wars- ice spells in particular, as a frozen enemy cannot run with the flag. If you do not have access to the Ancient Magicks, then spells such as Bind will do.
- There are several ways to get into the enemy castle. Randomize your use of them, as the enemy cannot be everywhere at once. One sneakier way in is to throw a rope on the outer walls of the enemy castle.
- Obviously, set up barricades in high-traffic locations. However, do not lock your teammates out.
- You can use bandages on your teammates to heal them. (Needs confirmation.)
Feel free to add more less-obvious tactics to this list.
Rewards
After completing a game, you will receive two tickets if your team won. You may exchange these tickets for various cosmetic items, such as decorative armor or a commemorative banner. As you might tell by now, Castle Wars is mainly a 'for fun' minigame.