Note: Currently, hashashins are revealed from their cloak when an opponent gets close, making a ninja capture nearly impossible as of the public beta.
Overview[]
A ninja capture is a very risky, though very sneaky way to gain a CP. It requires the use of a hashashin to capture a CP while still invisible. The only evidence that the capture is taking place is the color shift of the CP itself, which is frequently subtle enough to avoid notice from a distracted opponent.
Hashashins will reappear if they reach the end of a movement order. Units can, however, trigger the capture of a CP while moving across it. The trick, then, is to give a hashashin a movement order that loops in very small circles inside of the CP. The movement need not be large; most of the time during a ninja capture the hashashin may appear to do nothing more than spin around.
Tips and tricks[]
At the start, give your hashashin a movement order in a different direction than the CP to start with. You want your opponent to assume that the hashashin is going to be used to attack, not capture. This movement order should not be the same as the ninja capture order. Draw the order towards a location that makes sense for the hashashin to attack from. Then draw the other movements that your units will need to start with. Don't draw the actual movement order until all of your units are in motion; the capture order will take several seconds to draw sufficiently.
The actual capture order should be a forced-march so that the hashashin does not attack other units along the way. If the hashashin reaches the end of the movement order it will reappear and can be given another order, though you'll almost certainly have lost the element of surprise.
Don't allow any friendly units to approach the hashashin. Area attacks (such as from a siege beast or Lord of War) may reveal the hashashin or even stop it in its tracks.
It doesn't matter whether there are enemy units on the CP at the time that you issue the order, so long as the computer doesn't think in the end that you're issuing an attack. The hash will try to sit on the CP and follow the path until it runs out of path and with any luck the opposing unit will leave to engage other, visible foes.
Caveats[]
Ninja captures have been more or less safe depending on a variety of factors in the engine and their feasibility is likely to shift slightly from time to time for the entirety of TEC's existence. In the past, some of the factors that have impacted ninja captures are:
- bugs allowing certain units to initiate melee with a hashashin.
- pathing that allowed opposing units to "push" the hash off of the CP.
- pathing that simplified paths, eliminating "excess" drawing. This prevented the drawing of an order that kept the hashashin from being able to have an order that kept them moving while on the CP.