Sheep tag

Sheep Tag is the general name given to a group of player-made maps in Warcraft III. The map is separated into two teams; the sheep and the shepherds. The objective of the sheep team is to avoid capture from the shepherd team for a specified period of time (usually around 25 minutes). If all sheep are captured before the time runs out, the shepherd team is awarded a victory. There are a large number of relatively different versions of Sheep Tag, but all versions share some basic similarities.

General Information

When the game begins, all players appear in the center of the map. For the first ten to thirty seconds of the game, the shepherds can not see anything or move, but are still allowed to communicate with other players. Following the sheep team's head start, the shepherd team is allowed to see and move as normal. Once the shepherds successfully "tags" a sheep by attacking them, the tagged sheep will appear as a wisp-like unit in the center starting area. These wisp-like sheep spirits are confined to a "cage" that they cannot escape from. Only when a sheep player takes a risk and comes to the cage to rescue the sheep spirit can the spirit become a sheep again.

Sheep General Information

Sheep normally have little to no health so that the shepherd may tag (kill) the sheep in one hit.
Sheep can build farms of varying size and health that are used to block the shepherds path and provide protection or offer an escape. The sheep can usually build around 10 different kinds of farms.
Sheep players can rescue captured sheep by going to the cage in the center of the map and attacking the sheep spirit to free that player. The freed player becomes a sheep again.
There must be at least one sheep alive at all times in order for the sheep team to win. If there is still at least one sheep player alive after the time limit is over (usually between 20 to 30 minutes,) the sheep team wins.

Shepherd General Information

Shepherd players must wait for a period of time before hunting down the sheep team.
Shepherd players normally have a massive amount of health so that they cannot be killed.
Shepherd players normally have access to buy items from shops at the price of gold that will allow the shepherd players to better capture the players of the sheep team.
Gold is normally generated for Shepherds in small ammounts over time or by destroying the sheep's farms. Capturing a sheep will award the shepherd player a large bounty.
It should also be noted that "shepherd" is often misspelled "shepard" in various versions of Sheep Tag.

Gameplay Tactics

The Sheep

Jumping

The term "jumping" refers to a common tactic in Sheep Tag. The tactic evolved from a glitch in Warcraft III. After a unit constructs a building, the unit must then be relocated to the closest open area. When the closest open area happens to be a wide distance apart of the sheep, it is refered to as "jumping". This tactic can be used to jump over objects such as walls and farms.

Massing

The term "massing" refers to the most common tactic in Sheep Tag. The sheep builds farms in the shape of a grid so that small objects (such as sheep) can pass through freely, but large objects (such as shepherds) can not. Massing is considered to be the most efficient and effective tactics in Sheep Tag. For this reason many lesser players may complain. Another type of massing is diamond building, where sheep build farms in a diamond formation, to reduce the number of farms needed to cover a large area.

Runtag

The term "Runtag" refers to one of the most advanced tactics in Sheep Tag. In order to avoid evasion, the sheep actually builds a minimal amount of farms at critical locations. One particular technique involved in Runtag is the Back Build. In order to escape evasion, a sheep is often able to build a farm directly behind himself with such precision that he can stop a shepard long enough to escape capture. Runtag is more difficult than massing, and leads to an impossible kill verse any bad shepherds.

Mazing

Mazing is usually attempted when a single sheep is attempting to evade a single sheherd. In order to trap the shepard, the sheep constructs an elaborate a maze of farms, leaving small cracks for the sheep to escape if necessary. The goal is to lure the shepard into the maze, which usually results in a chase. At a precise moment, the sheep uses the "jump" tactic in order to move to a desired location of the maze. The sheep then springs a trap for the shepherd, which usually involves closing off the exits of the maze leaving the shepherd trapped inside. Of course, there are many modifications to this tactic, making it open to creativity. However, using various tactics (listed below), the shepherd can use the maze as an advantage to catch the sheep off guard.

The Shepherds

Mirror Jumping

When playing as a shepherd, one can "jump" over farms, walls (at times, depending on many variables such as the height of the wall), and in some cases, sheep. In order to execute this tactic proberly, the shepherd must to stand parallel with a line of farms. The shepherd then uses one of his skills, Mirror Image (Hotkey R), to create an illusion of himself. Due to the way Warcraft III is designed, the illusion created from this ability is placed horizontally from the original shepherd. In some cases, this means that the illusion will be created on the opposite side of a line of farms. This tactic gives the shepherd a 50% chance to spawn its true form on the opposite side of the wall of farms. This can often be used to catch sheep off guard, as they believe they are protected by their wall of farms. This tactic can also be executed to teleport over walls, but only in certain locations.

Golem Jumping

This tactic performed by the shepard requires some necessary components such as a golem. This tactic follows the same principle of the mirror jump, but is executed slightly differently and can be performed with ease. When the shepherd is in posession of a summoning item, an item which summons a fictional creature of such as a golem, the shepherd can stand perpendicular to a wall (or wall of farms) and summon the golem over the wall, thus "jumping" the golem over the wall. Jumping farms is also very common, especially against the "mazing" tacted described above. In special occasions, the shepard can also summon the golem over sheep when the sheep is quite close, but too far to be reached by the shepard himelf. When this is done properly, the golem appears on the opposite side of the sheep, making evasion nearly impossible.

Camping

This is a common tactic in which the shepherd (or shepherd controlled unit) guards the sheep-spirit cage in the middle of the map to prevents any sheep from rescuing captuerd allies. Many people may view this as a "cheap" strategy however it is perfectly fair and legal. In fact, it is a silly idea to just let the sheep save on your own if you expect to win. Most pros will try to trick sheep while they are camping. They may use an invisible potion or hide just outside of range, and then attack once the sheep are AbOUT to save.

Team Assault

This tactic can be easily summarized as being teamwork. Instead of using one shepherd to capture a sheep, the shepherds combine forces to more efficiently conquer the sheep. This tactic is especially efficient when attempting to capture sheep using the massing tactic as an experienced sheep can create farms faster than a shepherd can destroy them.

Sheep Tag Clans

Sheep Tag Clans in U.S. West

LaS (Lazy Azz Sheep)
SoRT (sheep of the round table)

Sheep Tag Clans in U.S. East

Lss (Last Sheep Standing)
StH (Sheep Tag Homies)
FsW (Forsaken Sheep Warriors)

Sheep Tag Clans in Europe

sT (Sheep Tag-The Resurganc)
SSR (SuperLativeSheepRegimen)
FG4E (Fun Games 4 Ever)
Behh (Behh)

Game Versions

Sheep Tag Maps

Although there are literally hundreds of versions of Sheep Tag, below is a list of popular series (original creators are in parentheses). It is very difficult to trace the history of Sheep Tag maps and as a result, some information below May Be unreliable. Sheep Tag started probably around August 2002. These maps featured 9 sheep versus 3 shephards (outdated) A few months later the [MD] Team edited many versions with 8 sheep verse 4 shepherd gameplay. They had the first popular versions, such as 1.2 LE, 1.2C, 7.1, and 7.5.

Sheep Tag 7.1 - Created by [MD TEAM] headed by [Star] this map had a short original lifespan as it had terrain problems. However it still started off the most popular sheep tag series.

Sheep Tag 7.5 - Also created by [MD TEAM] this is considered the "classic" sheep tag map. The first to become reasonably balanced and playable 7.5 remained popular for a year, and still is played in some circles. The vast majority of sheep tag maps are taken from a 7.5 unprotected verison, including the Ultimate, Advanced, and ROTS.

Ultimate Sheep Tag - A Sheep Tag that has been modified into different versions. It was originally based off of a version by [Star]. This version GeneRally favors Sheep at the expense of Shepherds. (THEWlNNER)

Ultimate Sheep Tag 3 - A popular 7 sheep vs. 5 shepards Sheep Tag series that is based off the original Ultimate Sheep Tag series. This version has a more balanced Sheep/Shepherd distribution and includes more jumping options for Sheep and items for Shepherds. This map plays a large role in the development of the Runtag tactic. (Zeroshadow1)

Sheep Tag Tough EDition - A Sheep Tag version in which both the sheep and the shepherds have special abilities. A common complaint about Tough Edition is the introduction of the "Ensnare" ability, which temporarily traps the sheep making it unable to avoid shepard capture. This ability is considered to highly overpower the shepard team, mainly because it becomes nearly impossible to use the "runtag" tactic (see above). However, the Ensnare ability is only given to one of the shepards, the Hunter (who is controlled by the the Dark Green player). The name "Tough Edition" was chosen to reflect its disadvantage toward the Sheep team. Many aspects of the game were left incomplete, and the official version ended at Beta 32. (Strangel)

Sheep Tag: Return of the Shepherds - A sheep tag in which the Sheep and Shepherds have special powers and abilities. For example, the pink Sheep has Mirror Image and the dark green shepherd has the ability Ensnare. (CowardlyShoe)

Sheep Tag v7.1 Revised III - This version features more imbalanced terrain. The terrain, while hilly, favors sheeps in the long run with prebuilt ramps and trees. It introduced a "stack" farm which enables sheep to build on any surface such as a wall or even on shepherds.

Sheep Tag v7.1 PE - Sheep Tag v7.1 PE incorporated fixes and changes to balance the game, making it more challenging for the sheep. Wisps skills and various farm types were also removed from the game (e.g. stun farms). Several new aesthetical features were also added to the game allowing players to change the scoreboard display (e.g. farmcount, hide, show). This version was based off of the map [Star] created and was heavily modified. (Team-X: Collaboration between clan fr0z and jedi. Arxon_havenloft, Mitnek, and Ubersheep)

Sheep Tag Evolution - This version is based off of the Team-X version of Sheep Tag v7.1. The triggers underwent complete restructuring for the purpose of implementing a swap system. Evolution is the first sheep tag variant to feature swapping, along with a voting system at the start of the game to choose between three modes of play: King of the hill, Evolution, and Classic sheep tag. Evolution never gained mainstream popularity as version 7.5 SE by [Star] was the most widely favoured version at the time. (Mitnek)

''Sheep Tag Alternative - The most popular and official map of East for RoC (Reign Of Chaos). An attempt at making a significantly more balanced map on fresh new terrain. (drewisfat/Philosophize)

Sheep Tag 7.1 Reborn TFT - The official description reads "Based off the original maps by Team [MD], Sheep Tag 'Reb' has been made by one of the worst mapmakers of all time - Gosusheep. It contains very imbalanced playing and has since caused the death of sheep tag almost worldwide.(GosuSheep)

Perfect Sheep Tag - An old version of sheep tag, with 9 sheep and 3 shephards, often seen as very imperfect, as the shephards are overpowered, but find it hard to catch all the sheep, as it is a 3v9. (Unknown)

Just Another Sheep Tag - This 7 sheep vs 5 shepard Sheep Tag series has three game types: Normal, Swap, and Vamp. In Swap, Sheep and Shepherds switch places on a Sheep's death. In Vamp, any Sheep that are killed become Shepherds (without a switch). This series includes various versions with different terrain.(Radne)

Related Custom Games

Kodo Tag
Tree Tag
Tropical Tag
Catch the Tree

External Links

1 - Clan aFc in USWest