Quick disclaimer: as I think of useful tips, I’m going to start writing up some articles. Each article will focus on a particular topic or game play element. The majority of these tips will likely be things that experienced players already know. I welcome any additional feedback on any of the tips and I’m happy to update any OP if you have something useful to add to the topic. Each thread will be originally posted in the Demigod general forum (at least for a bit) and then moved to the DG strategy forums.
Topic of the day: Yellowing Flags (half capping)
We all know that flag control in Demigod is very important. Flags provide team bonuses like gold, experience, etc, and increase the rate that your team accumulates war score. Another thing that flags provide, which is actually the focus of this article, is experience. Any allied Demigod that is near the flag when it is captured will receive experience. And keeping this in mind, should impact your strategies.
So what is yellowing?
Yellowing is just jargon that many experienced players use. It can be explained as follows: an enemy Demigod attempts to capture a flag that your team controls at that time. You allow the enemy to half capture the flag (eg change it from your control to neutral control – or “yellow”), then you force them back and capture the flag before the flag changes from neutral to their teams color. As a result, any allied dg there gets additional experience.
Why is this important?
Any experience you get from yellowing enables you to level up at a faster pace. You also deny an enemy that experience as well. So – you level faster and they level slower. This generally happens more than once in a game, so that experience really begins to add up.
Video example with commentary by pacov:
Here's a link to the replay itself if you want to view it that way: http://www.jeeplays.com/replay/details/1/78
How do you yellow?
There are several way to accomplish a yellow. At its most basic level, all you have to do is show up on a flag that is half capped and be strong enough to chase away or kill the enemy dg there. And then, recapture the flag for your team. The most basic way is generally not the best. Yellowing usually requires a very good amount of map awareness. You need to know if an enemy player is heading to a flag to capture it, if they are likely alone, what their hp is like, etc. I’ll provide a few examples of how yellows typically go down.
Scenario 1: The map is cataract, 3v3. Your team controls the experience flag in the middle. You notice an erebus on the other team that is wounded with about 1500 hp. You see him leave the hp flag and go off into the fog of war. Now, you have to assume he’s either going to the experience flag to try to capture it or that he’s going back to the crystal. At this point, I start to move my dg into the fog of war a little bit and stay out of sight. I watch the map and pay close attention to see if the experience flag is being captured or not. If it is, I will MAKE SURE TO STAY OUT OF VIEW until after the flag will clearly be half capped. Then, I will move in while the flag is half capped, stop the full capture, and begin to attack and chase the erebus away. This is one of the more common ways of pulling off a yellow.
Scenario 2: This scenario is much like scenario 1, only you don’t know if someone is heading to experience flag or how much hp they have. You just know that you have no idea where the enemy is at (1 or 2 of them). And it’s quite probable that one or two of them will head for the experience flag as its probably the easiest flag for them to capture. Knowing this, I move off into the fog of war and get a bit closer to the experience flag (but still out of view). I’ll tell any teammate that is nearby to “yellow mid.” Then, as soon as the flag is half capped or about to half capped, we’ll move into position, stop the capture, and engage whoever is there if they stick around for a fight.
Scenario 3: The map is cataract, 3v3. Your team has 1 person on the HP flag and is about to engage with a stronger enemy dg. Have your teammate give up the flag (preferably while they still have quite a bit of HP) until it is half capped, then move back onto the flag to keep it from being captured by the other team. Teleport in to the tower on HP and fight off the enemy dg for a quick XP boost for both you and your teammate.
How to avoid being yellowed?
There are a few ways to avoid being yellowed by experienced players. Unfortunately, all of them involve decent map awareness. It all comes down to you knowing where the enemy is or is not, and speculating as to whether or not they are nearby and capable of stopping you from capturing a flag. Here are some scenarios including some warning signs that you are being setup for a yellow.
Scenario 1: The map is cataract, 3v3. I am playing erebus and I’m in the mana lane up against an enemy ub. The enemy team controls both the mana flag and the experience flag. As I’m not having any luck pushing the ub out and we just finished killing off a creep wave, I back off and start heading for the middle. Now, I have to pay a lot of attention to what the ub does. If he’s already pushing me around a bit, he might very well come after me immediately at the middle and yellow me. So, I while I’m heading to mid, I’ll keep my eye on what he does. If he even motions towards the flag, I will quite likely head back to the mana flag immediately to avoid the yellow. If I don’t see him moving toward the experience flag, I’ll check the HP flag and see if the other 2 dgs are there or not. If I see 1 or 2 of them on the hp flag fighting, etc, I’ll try to cap the experience flag. If I see no one, then its possible they are coming to yellow me or are just coming back from the base after healing and could potentially yellow me (this is why its really important to have enough map awareness that you know when someone has to retreat to the base, how long ago it was, or is perhaps laying in wait to yellow you). In this scenario, I’ll take a shot and try to capture the flag.
Scenario 2: Same setup as scenario 1, except this time one of the dgs that was off the screen tries to yellow me. We’ll say I’m a level 10 erebus. Before the enemy dg gets close enough to stop me from capturing the flag, I will do my best to stun him so that I will have enough time to finish the capture.
Scenario 3: You are on cataract. Your hp is somewhat low (about 1500 hp). You decide to try to capture the experience flag. You see someone that might (probably is) heading towards you to fight/yellow. Leave. Its best to avoid the yellow, so bail out quick if you don’t think you can fight or think the dg coming to fight you will have a friend show up to help him.
Caveats: You probably won’t yellow anyone on a regular basis if you have poor map awareness. Yellowing is about knowing where the enemy is and anticipating what they will do next. You already know they want the flags – so you generally know where they are going.
Anyway, those are a few tips and what I hope is a decent explanation of yellowing. So, next time someone says “yellow mid” in a game, you know what they are gibbering on about. J
Relevant Stats: Even when you aren't yellowing someone, you get 2 XP for every tic (roughly a second) that you stand on a flag and change its status. Anytime you take control of a flag, you get somewhere between 100 and 120 experience points. It might not sound like a lot, but it adds up quite a bit.
