Headquarters (game mode)

Headquarters is a multiplayer game mode featured in all Call of Duty games in which teams capture a set point in the map, or headquarters, to gain points. It is one of the most popular game modes, as it has more of a goal than just killing, and offers large amounts of experience in just one game. Teams must coordinate a good defensive perimeter around a captured headquarters in order to keep it. In Call of Duty 4, the headquarters is marked by a metal box with a laptop computer on top. In Call of Duty: World at War a wooden table with a radio and helmet takes its place.

Winning
Points to win: 250 (200 in Modern Warfare 2)

Team points are scored in the following fashion:

 * Capture an HQ: 5 points
 * Hold HQ: 5 points every 5 seconds

Individual EXP are awarded as such (they do not count towards team total):
*Pivotal kills, such as those on players in the process of capturing the HQ, will yield double points (10 for a kill, 2 for an assist).
 * Kill: 5 points*
 * Assist: 1 point (1-4 points in World at War)*
 * Capture HQ: 20 points
 * Destroy HQ: 15 points
 * Hold HQ: 5 points each 5 seconds (max 65)

The killing and assisting are very simple. If you kill someone, you get 5 points. If you shoot someone, then a teammate kills that person, you will get 1 assist point. The capture points are the main method of scoring in headquarters. Every five seconds that your team holds a headquarters, all teammates are awarded 5 points, and the team's overall score rises 5 points. To capture a neutral headquarters, stand close to the laptop and a bar should appear at the bottom of your screen. As long as you are standing within capture range, the bar will slowly fill. Once the bar is completely full, your team will be given the headquarters. The headquarters is represented on your screen as an upside-down arrow, and it is represented physically as a laptop. When the arrow is gray, it is neutral. When it's red, the enemy team controls it, and when it's green, your team controls it. If at least one teammate is in the process of capturing in your absence, this is indicated by the grey 'Capture' waypoint slowly pulsating. There is no change in the icon if the opposing team is capturing until they are successful.

Not dying is very important in headquarters matches. When the headquarters is neutral, everyone re-spawns as normal. However, when a team controls the headquarters, the controlling team's players will not re-spawn until the headquarters is destroyed or 60 points are earned (though the HQ can give a maximum of 65 points before going offline, the controlling team will actually respawn in the last five seconds of the headquarter). There is no amnesty given; even should the player die before the headquarters is captured, if they do not skip the killcam and respawn before the instant the team captures it they will not respawn. The team not currently holding the headquarters will still re-spawn as normal. It can however be advantageous to deliberately die if you are the last remaining defender of an imminently expiring HQ, as respawning elsewhere with a full reload provides one more team member able to spread out and be ready for the next one to appear. Likewise, a team aiming to destroy would do best to spread out or gain advantageous terrain as soon as possible, leaving only a few players actively destroying an enemy HQ.

To destroy a headquarters, follow the same steps as capturing a headquarters. Approach the laptop, and wait for the bar at the bottom of your screen to fill. The Headquarters will only last for one minute. Once a headquarters has been destroyed, or the time on it has run out, a new headquarters location will spawn, and the battle will begin again! At this point, the team that controlled the last headquarters will all re-spawn.

In Modern Warfare 2, Headquarters team strategy must account for a 30 second delay after the spawning of a new headquarters location, when no one is able to capture the headquarters. After the 30 seconds has expired, the new location is able to be captured. This prevents one team from spreading out across the map to get an advantage over the other team, or eliminates any respawning advantage if one team happens to respawn much closer to the new headquarters location.

Tips

 * Bring Bouncing Betties/Claymores. Bouncing Betties and Claymores are very effective when defending a headquarters inside a building. So always pack them in headquarters matches. A good strategy is to have betties/claymores and an SMG. Set them at the entrances to the building and stay in a place where you can't be shot from outside the building. This forces the enemy team to come inside. Average players will be normally run right in and die by the betties/claymores. Once they are spent, use the SMG to fend off the rest of the enemies until the headquarters resets.


 * Teamwork is essential. When controlling, your team must be set up in a manner where all entrances to the headquarters is guarded. having a few team members with shotguns or automatic weapons guard any doors that may be present, along with a sniper or two sitting back in a hard to reach spot scouting to see where the enemy is coming from, and a few freelance soldiers with automatic weapons with a good range running around wherever needed can be a good setup.


 * Stay hidden. Many people like to bring sniper rifles or long-range assault rifles into these matches, since they already know where the opposing team is. They will simply go somewhere far away, use their scopes to zoom in on the headquarters, then pick you off one by one. The best way to prevent this is to conceal yourself to the point where only people that you can see can see you.


 * Bipod LMG's (WaW only). When capturing an HQ it is a notable fact that the enemy is in hot pursuit. It is somewhat useful to have someone on the team with a bipod machine gun, such as the DP-28 or MG42. This is best used in a defensive tactic. Machine Guns are useful for slowing down several enemies that are assaulting the HQ at once without putting the whole team at risk.


 * Have Support Ready. For efficient protection of an HQ it's always good to know where the enemy's at. When capturing the HQ make sure someone has a UAV/recon plane waiting. You need 3 kills to get a UAV/Recon Plane. If on a vehicle map in World at War then try to have tanks ready to defend against the enemy waves.


 * Watch out when your team is capturing - As mentioned before, respawns are cut-off the instant your team captures the HQ. This includes players in the process of viewing/skipping the KillCam after dying. If you know your team is about to capture, try to stake out a location no matter where you are to prevent waiting possibly as long as 60 seconds to respawn, depending on how long your team holds the HQ; in addition one less teammate to help defend in the case of a death upon capture.


 * When destroying an opposing team's HQ, spread out - It usually takes no more than one or two players to destroy the HQ, especially given that usually most of the opposing team has been eliminated by then. Therefore it is best for the other players to stake out as much area on the map as possible so that at least one of them will be near the next HQ location. This strategy of course changes in MW2 due to the 30 second delay after a new headquarters location spawns, where spreading out is very ineffective.


 * Watch for the HQ symbol - When your team is capturing, or the other team is destroying the HQ, the symbol will flash. This can be very essential if you are the last person left on your team.


 * Stealth Camp - A great way of getting easy kills, involving camping close to the HQ. Especially useful when you're the last man standing on your team and effective mostly in Call of Duty 4 Maps including CQC like Vacant or Backlot. Hide somewhere close to the headquartes, but out of sight and make sure you have silencers and UAV Jammer, so you're impossible to appear on the radar. Whenever anyone comes to destroy the HQ, shoot them, or place C4 on the Headquarters (but in a location outside the line of sight of any HQ destroyers.

Trivia

 * On Call of Duty 4, the laptops in Headquarters are the same as the pieces of enemy intel found throughout the single player campaign.
 * When playing Hardcore Headquarters in Modern Warfare 2, the Rangers make a mistake when announcing. Instead of " Hardcore Headquarters" they say "Hardcore Global Thermonuclear War". Another error is that Task Force 141's announcer, (Ghost) says "Hardcore Poise" Instead of "Hardcore Headquarters"