Nucleus (King of the Hill)

Nucleus has multiple variations, including Arena

Nucleus (King of the Hill)
Basic Information
Variants:	Arena, Versus Saxton Hale and Galleria
Developer(s):	{{{map-developer}}}
Map Info
Environment:	Spytech
Setting:	Indoor
Map Photos
Map Overview

Nucleus is an alternate version of Nucleus (Arena) that has been modified to fit the King of the Hill gameplay type. Along with Viaduct and Sawmill, it was released with The Classless Update as the first official King of the Hill maps for Team Fortress 2.

The goal is to capture the control point and defend it for 3 minutes.

Locations

• The Device - The swirling, colorful Doomsday Device which dominates the center of the map. It contains the map's Control point, which unlocks after 60 seconds.
• The Pit - Directly below The Device is a bottomless radioactive pit with a narrow catwalk suspended just above it. The catwalk holds a Medium Health Pickup, but the pit is an unavoidable death for anyone unfortunate enough to fall in.
• The Perimeter - The series of ledges and catwalks which directly surround the Pit. The Perimeter is further divided into "RED-Side Perimeter" and "BLU-Side Perimeter", based on which spawn room is on that side of the map. Narrow bridges to the control point appear across the pit after the control point is opened.
• Roofs - On top of the buildings along the perimeter are roofs which are accessible by Rocket Jumping or Sticky Jumping. These are useful spots as they give great height advantage and a view of the entire area.
• The Bridges - One the timer has ticked the control point will open and bridges will extend out so that it is reachable. There are three bridges, one on each side infront of each team's spawn, and one far bridge in the center between the spawns.
• Flank Building - The flank building is one of the buildings on the perimeter. It is mostly blue colored and has no bridge connecting to the point from it, but has a bridge connecting to the catwalks below the point.
• Access Building - Directly across from the flank building is the access building. It is entered from each team's side by a set of staircases and in its center are two sets of staircases which lead down to the central bridge of the point. On each side there are entrances to balconies which overlook most of the area.

• Arena nucleus0000.jpg

  Closed Control Point

• Arena nucleus0001.jpg

  Flank Building

• Arena nucleus0002.jpg

  Flank Building

• Arena nucleus0003.jpg

  The Pit

• Arena nucleus0005.jpg

  Access Building

• Arena nucleus0006.jpg

  Access Building

• Arena nucleus0008.jpg

  Area View

See also: Category:Nucleus images

Strategy

• Note that due to their exploitable nature the extending catwalks and the point itself are stick-proof: stickies and Jarate will simply bounce off them.
• Snipers can be deadly on this map, owing to the unobstructed sightlines available from every side onto the point. For this reason, it is wise to run flanking Scouts/Spies and counter-Snipers to allow your Soldiers, Heavies and Medics to get onto the point without being killed. Be sensible about this; too many Snipers and not enough combat classes and the point itself will go uncaptured.
• Engineers will have a tough time on Nucleus. Sentry Guns erected to overlook the point will be easily taken out by Snipers and Soldiers from the other side. You can try setting up a "surprise" Sentry Gun on the lower catwalks, or alternatively try setting up in the upper balcony area with the medium ammo box to deny that area to the enemy. Use of the Wrangler is effective here, due to the wide, open areas.
• Gunslinger-wielding Engineers can exploit the major fight for the central point - due to the concentrated size of the map - to slip by enemy defenses and place Mini-Sentry Guns around the map, effectively being able to flank the enemy forces. It's also a good strategy to place a Mini-sentry below the point, on the Health Kit, in order to surprise both injured enemies looking for health and players on the bridges.
• Due to the control point's small size, Demomen and Soldiers are very effective at clearing the point. If there are several enemies standing on the point, the Grenade Launcher's splash damage allows a Demoman to kill most of them very quickly.
• A good place to hang out after the point is captured, particularly for Heavies, Demomen and Pyros, are the entrances to the two side catwalks leading onto the point. The enemy is usually concentrating straight ahead at your spawn opposite; with this in mind you can catch them in some devastating crossfire if you are clever about it.
• The roofs of the surrounding buildings are open for Soldiers and serve as a great spot to rain rockets down from.
• Pyros work well around the lower areas of the catwalk as they can easily poof enemies into the pit or ambush low health enemies from getting the medium healthpack.

Control Point Timing

Control Point	Multiplier	Seconds
Control Point	×1	24 .000
	×2	16 .000
	×3	13 .091
	×4	11 .520

Update history

May 27, 2010 Patch

• Changed side spawn exits to prevent sniping from inside the spawn door.
• Fixed graphical glitch on platform floor.
• Fixed blue-colored models in RED area.

Trivia

• The particles seen in the device are re-used from Portal's ending.

See also

• Nucleus (Arena)

External links

• The Classless Update: Day 2 - King of the Hill game mode, Viaduct, Nucleus (King of the Hill) and Sawmill (King of the Hill) maps.