Given that the graphics are a little dated, Paintball 2 stresses its gameplay as its selling point. However, there is a small learning curve with Paintball that this article will go over.

Paintball Equipment

You'll need the usual Paintball equipment: a gun, CO₂ canisters, a barrel, a hopper, and paintballs (the ammo).

• You'll need CO₂ (carbon dioxide) if you want to propel your balls. The stuff comes in differently sized canisters. By default, players start with a wee-tiny canister. Smaller canisters run out quicker, forcing you to sit there in harm's way as you wait until you finish reloading your canister. You can never run out of CO₂ completely, otherwise you could no longer shoot.
• Barrels improve the accuracy of the gun and come in different grades. Players don't start with a barrel in most maps, but getting one will help you hit targets better.
• To store your paintball ammo, you'll need a hopper. They come in two different capacities in the game: 100 and 200. Some maps don't provide you one, so the most you can hold is 40 balls at once, which tends to be very little.

Image	Item
	CO2 canister
	Barrel, large pipe-like object
	Hopper

Remember to swap your current equipped items with better ones if you come across some.

Weapons

In the game, you have access to several different weapons of different abilities. The most basic of these is the PGP. As a player, you are only capable of using and carrying one gun at a time, but if you do drop your current gun, you will default with the PGP. You always "carry" around the PGP, so you can never not have weapon.

Pick-up Image	Weapon	Rate of Fire	Ball Speed	Accuracy
not picked up	PGP	1.0 (61 balls/min)	1.08	decent
	Trracer	2.4 (147 balls/min)	1.10
	Stringray	3.4 (208 balls/min)	0.95
	VM-68	4.00 (245 balls/min)	0.90
	Spyder SE	4.6 (277 balls/min)	0.94
	Carbine	5.1 (306 balls/min)	1.10
	Autococker	5.4 (329 balls/min)	1.08	best
	Automag	6.2 (375 balls/min)	0.90

If your current gun is not the PGP, you will have to drop your weapon (default key: 1) to pick up another weapon or to use the PGP.

Grenades

Grenades are another tool of warfare in Paintball and there are two types of them.

Pick-up Image	Grenade	Use
	Paint grenade (paintgren)	Killing a large group
	Smoke grenade (smokegren)	Obscuring sight

Only one grenade can be held at the same time, and you can pick up another one once you throw what you have. If you pick up a grenade you don't want, like a smoke instead of a paint, drop the grenade (default key: 6), not throw it (people hate it).

The HUD (interface)

• Messages appear in the top left. The second message in the above screenshot is a team-only message;
• In the top right are the number of kills you have obtained and the streak you have (kills before a death);
• In the bottom left, the bottles are the CO₂ canisters (smaller canisters are smaller) and the selected canister has a yellow outline;
• In the bottom left, the orange to white bar is the amount of CO₂ gas left in the selected canister
• In the bottom left, the usually empty bar with a white outline is the amount of overheating your gun is experiencing;
• At the bottom, the colored head is a picture of yourself and your team color;
• At the bottom, the white object is the current hopper; if you have none, there will be an empty space;
• At the bottom, under the white object is a bar; this is the barrel and if you have none, there will be an empty space;
• The numbers in red represent the amount of paintballs (ammo) left;
• To the right of the numbers is the current grenade carried, if any;
• To the right of the paint grenade is the count of how many players there are on each team, with one white bar for each number of players alive;
• On the bottom right is the time left in the current game;
• On the bottom right are the scores for each team; if there is a flag in place splat, that specific team has the flag in their hands.

Game Modes

Maps can be played in different ways: these are called game modes. The following is a description of all the game modes in Paintball 2.

Capture the Flag

Capture the flag is probably the most popular mode of play, evident in the number of maps designed for it. The goal is to capture the other's team flag (it is colored the same as their team) and return it to your own base. Usually, this will get you five points in most maps, but some maps may vary the number of points for a flag capture per flag, and some maps may even have more than one flag per team. Eradicating the other team will get your team one point, unless your team holds their flag, giving you an extra two points per captured flag on most maps.

1-Flag Capture the Flag

One flag capture the flag, in contrast to regular capture the flag, puts one or more neutral (colored grey) flags on the map that does not belong to any particular team. Capturing a neutral flag and returning will usually get you 5 points. Eradicating the other team will get your team one point, unless your team holds their flag, giving you an extra two points per captured flag on most maps.

Deathmatch

The point of deathmatch is to kill every player you see and try to rank up in kills. Usually, the person that reaches fifty kills first wins the game, though some servers may have different kill count ceilings. The score list will list players by amount of kills in descending order, so you can see your rank at a glance. There is no respawn wait time in deathmatch.

Team Elimination

The point of a team elimination game is to elimate the whole other team, giving your team one point. This game mode is like speedball in the (real) Paintball sport.

King of the Hill (KOTH)

There will be a neutral flag that cannot be captured, but it will turn into a certain team's color if a member of that team is in the very close vicinity of the flag. As long as that team is in the area of the flag, they will earn a point every few seconds until the game ends.

Siege

In siege, a team holds control of an area. Members of the defending team usually cannot leave their zone, or they will be eliminated for the duration of the round. The opposing team must capture the neutral flag and return back to their own area to score (usually) five points. If the offense eliminates the defending team, the offense will score one point, with a bonus of two points per captured flag. The defending team earns a point for every offensive team player eliminated. Teams switch sides every round.

Pong

Send the large white pong ball to the enemy's base to score a point. The ball can be shot to send it farther. On most servers, you cannot kill others in this mode.

Getting Better

Now that you get the basics of the game, head over to our game strategy guide to get the low down on some tips for better play.