Clocktower

I wrote this guide, at least the first draft of it in the middle of school, because I had nothing better to do, and I found myself getting increasingly good at the Clocktower map as my friends and I played it quite a bit. I decided that it might be interesting actually compiling my findings in a little guide of sorts, so… here you go!

Clocktower is my favorite map in base RTR. It offers a really linear design that still lets you get the drop on people, is compromised of narrow hallways and wide open spaces alike, and offers really high item spawn rates so anyone can get back on there feet really easy. Clocktower is a map where the powerful, are only powerful as long as they can lock down both northern rooms and they have vast amounts of health.

Map Description

From south to north:

• The southern most room of the map is a small room with two fountains in it. Doors connect several small, rectangular rooms leading north. These can be decent places to lay in wait for someone, because if you squeeze into the corner, especially of the door that they are coming in, there radar usually won’t pick you up. This is useful if you want to ambush someone, or even just hide from them.

• Generally in the center of the map is what is labeled as “The Beep Room” by my friends and I. It is a slightly larger room with several beeping items that are shootable. Upon being shot, they release a beeping countdown which ends in a piercing shriek of a sound. I don’t really recommend fighting in here because it’s very easy to get confused by all the sounds.

• To the north of this room is a longer hallway. As you proceed north, the walls close in, forcing you to walk in the center of the hallway. This is a nice spot to catch someone from behind because If they are near the beginning or middle of the hallway, they don’t have time to really get out. The end of the hallway marks the only room change that doesn’t have a door in it.

• This room is the best source of items. It’s roughly rectangular, with it being longer along the east west axis. Items spawn incredibly quickly and it’s wide openness makes it a great place for spray and pray weapons. The hallway we mentioned before marks the southwest corner, while a door in the northwest faces it, marking the entry to the 2 by 2 laundry room with a shootable laundry machine, at least, that’s what we think it is. In the center of the southern wall is a short carpet hallway, with a door in the west wall near the south.

• This door leads into a mirrored hallway in the northwestern corner of another large metal room with a great item spawn. It is very rare for someone to spawn here, so it’s a good place to camp. In the southwest corner is a door that leads back into the hallway in front of “The Beep Room”, making a neat little rectangle of exits.

As you can see, the map is quite simply lain out, it’s just a matter of remembering where exits are and how long it takes to get to them.

Strategies

When running north through “The Beep Room”, often times I’ll hold “D” as well to quickly run out of the “Beep Room” door and quickly into the Metal Room’s. I’ll almost always use the northern door to ambush people in the main northern room, or even just because I’m able to check both rooms for items if I take that path. I use a similar trailing technique to pop out of the door to the main northern room, and jump as soon as the door opens to try and evade any incoming fire. I will usually start moving towards the northeastern corner because that offers a good sense of stability and is a good place to spray if multiple people are there. Be careful not to get caught in corners of these rooms, especially if you’re not facing a direct 90 degree angle, because you may not be able to dive out the way before you get pumped full of lead.
Also, if you have breathing room or other people are occupied, try running south through the entire map. A lot of items will start to pile up in those rooms as other people don’t try to go south. Usually by the time you get back, there will be more items in the Northern rooms waiting for you.

One on One

When I’m alone on a server, I’ll usually camp out in the two northern rooms. Often times, they will come to you knowing that you hold the best resource in the game.

3 Players

A lot of times with 3 players you can allow the other two players to fight over a room while you sneak off south to get more items and take down the remaining one. Also, if all three of you are in a room together, they start fighting and you have a good spray weapon, you can try and stay in corners and shoot them both as they fight, just remember to keep moving so they are more concerned with the player actively engaging them.

More Than 3 Players

I haven’t played verry much with more than 3 players, but a lot of strategies still apply. Thankfully, it’s a lot more chaotic, and thus it’s very easy to stay on the sidelines and kill steal if you’re not very well equipped.

Weapon Guides

What follows is a list of weapons with recommended strategies and methods of use. Note that a lot of weapons act similarly and thus have similar strategies.

• MK14:
   

  • As the spawned weapon, the goal of mine when I start with this is to GTFO of a big room that people are in. Usually I'll go to get items and come back as soon as I have anything else,

  • If you're of an oppinion that you want to try and take someone with this poor excuse of a weapon, then the corners of big rooms are your friend, especially when there are multiple people fighting. Generally just try your best to pepper there flanks and stay as mobile as possible. never be afraid to jump past the muzzle of a firing gun, because you won't be hit in the air,

  • Fighting it: MK14's do relatively no damage, so if you are fine on health, you are fine to take a few hits to kill the user with a quick burst.

• M60:
   

  • This is a very good weapon if you wish to have crowd control. Often times, people will get nervous from the amount of bullets you are spewing forth, but you have to be careful not to overextend or you'll run out of ammo, causing you to reload, really slowly,

  • Overall, I'm not  a big fan of using this for fights where you are the target, but in a pinch it works,

  • Fighting It: Overall, the damage output is pretty low for this weapon provided they don't get you trapped. Generally try to stay mobile, and bait out long bursts to make them have less ammo.

• SOSS-90:
   

  • This weapon does a lot of damage, and if you catch them unawares you can sink several shots in. Three or four shots will take out a newly spawned, and clips come in 50s,

  • A good place for this is actually in the hallways, where cornering someone because they panick is really easy,

  • Fighting It: I'm sounding like a broken record, but stay mobile. Try to scircle around them as they shoot so that they are facing away from you when you start sinking lead into them, they will apreciate it.

• MG4:
   

  • Ah, the MG4. The best weapon for this map. A well timed burst takes out a newly spawned, and stepping out of a door, surprising someone facing away from you with a full clip and then stepping back into the door has killed so many people,

  • The mG4 is really good because it can be used practically anywhere. It excells in the big rooms, it's really nice if you corner someone in a hallway... etc,

  • Fighting It: It's always fun to have an MG4 VS. MG4 battle. Usually, you can only fight and MG4 with a good weapon, because otherwise, you'll almost always get caught. Interestingly, I've found that A SOSS or Shotgun works really nicely for this, because it forces you to be precise and calculated with your movements.

• Doom-90:
   

  • This weapon actually tends not to be as good as usual on this map. With the abundance of faster, more accurate weapons, you have a hard time getting a bead on someone,

  • That isn't to say that this weapon sucks. It's quite good, in fact. If you can corner or surprise someone, you can sink several shots into them provided you are a fast spammer and generally accurate.

  • Fighting It: The Doom can be scary, but you just have to keep a level head and not get stuck.

• Shotgun:
   

  • This weapon is quite similar to the SOSS, where it's very low ammo, but it packs a punch. Often times, as long as you can stay close to your oponent and not get hit, you'll d pretty well,

  • I've found that if two people are fighting close together, you can blast away at them with a shotgun pretty much without being punished for it,

  • Fighting It: People usually have to commit to standing still and shooting at least once, because the shotgun has such a small range and speed. If you can get a handle on how your oponent moves, you can usually catch them landing.

• MP5
   

  • This weapon does a lot of damage quickly. It's good if you need to clear a room or need cover-fire to exit a room,

  • It does tend to run out of ammo quickly, although you do pick up a good amount of clips quickly,

  • Fighting It: Honestly, this weapon is kind of hard to fight, because it really does a lot of damage. The best advice I can give is to be extremely careful, and try to dive through or around the shots, because usually they'll end up committing to a burst for longer than other weapons.

  \

• AK47"
   

  • This gun is very, very good. It has a high ammo pool, is pretty fast, but not fast enough to be a huge ammo dump, and does really good damage,

  • You don't get a ton of clips with the weapon, so you can run out of ammo if you're not careful, and the weapon really isn't useful in tight spaces because you'll be firing long enough that the recoil turn will have you shooting a wall quite quikly,

  • Fighting It: It's best to avoid a good person with an AK unless you have a decent weapon you're comfertable with, and nor you can lure them into a hallway, where they struggle a little.

• M16:
   

  • I'm not a huge fan of this mainly because the damage and speed are  underwhelming. It does have a good ammo capacity, though,

  • It tends to do better in hallways due to it's slower speed, and you won't run out of ammo very quickly,p/*]

  • Fighting It: Provided you don't get stuck in a corner or in a hallway, you shouldn't have to much trouble fighting something with an M16.

• MJ420:
   

  • This gun kind of sucks, I'd honestly put it not much above MK14. It has pretty bad damage, really low capacity and subpar firespeed,

  • It's ok in a pinch, but I'll take anythin but the MK14 if I have it,

  • Fighting It: Honestly, you shouldn't have too much trouble fighting this weapon as long as you don't stand in one spot.

Conclusion

Over all, the main  thing to remember in Clocktower is that you will not keep power forever. Someone will probably manage to corner you in one of the big rooms with an MG4 or a Doom90 and you will die. That’s the fun of it, though. You can build up, have a long, chaotic fight between a few friends, and people die in huge bullet hells. The problem is, if you start collecting way before anyone else logs in, especially if they’re not nearly as knowledgeable or experienced as you, you can easily hold the northern room with an MG4 or Doom, with out even taking damage. Overall, if new people log in and I’m ridiculously powerful, I try to log out and back in so it’s more fun.