Skip to content
CTFLab

First Blood Bonuses

Give your CTF challenges a competitive edge by rewarding the fastest solvers with point bonuses. Perfect for tournaments, events, or communities that value both skill AND speed.

How It Works

Section titled “How It Works”

When a member solves a challenge, CTFLab automatically tracks their solve order:

  • 1st Solver → gets bonus points (default: +50%)
  • 2nd Solver → gets bonus points (default: +30%)
  • 3rd Solver → gets bonus points (default: +15%)
  • 4th+ Solvers → base points only

Configuration

Section titled “Configuration”

Enable First-Blood

Section titled “Enable First-Blood”
  1. Ensure points mode is enabled: run /ctf-config-points
  2. Run /enable-first-blood
  3. Use the interactive modal to set bonus percentages:
    • 1st Blood: 50% (default)
    • 2nd Blood: 30% (default)
    • 3rd Blood: 15% (default)
  4. Click Save

Customize Percentages

Section titled “Customize Percentages”

You can set any percentage you want. Some examples:

Balanced (Default):

1st: 50%
2nd: 30%
3rd: 15%

Speed-Focused (Large bonuses):

1st: 100%
2nd: 50%
3rd: 25%

Fair & Gentle (Small bonuses):

1st: 20%
2nd: 10%
3rd: 5%

Scoring Example

Section titled “Scoring Example”

Challenge: Web Exploitation
Difficulty: Hard (400 base points)
Configuration: 1st=50%, 2nd=30%, 3rd=15%

1st Solver (Alice):     400 + 50% = 600 pts
2nd Solver (Bob):       400 + 30% = 520 pts
3rd Solver (Charlie):   400 + 15% = 460 pts
4th+ Solvers (Dave):    400 pts (no bonus)

Another Example: Multiple Challenge Solves

Section titled “Another Example: Multiple Challenge Solves”

User Alice’s Day:

Challenge 1 (Easy, 100 pts):
  → 1st Blood: 100 + 50% = 150 pts


Challenge 2 (Medium, 250 pts):
  → 4th+ Solver: 250 pts (no bonus)


Challenge 3 (Hard, 400 pts):
  → 2nd Blood: 400 + 30% = 520 pts


Alice's Total: 150 + 250 + 520 = 920 pts

Member Notifications

Section titled “Member Notifications”

Success Channel Announcement

Section titled “Success Channel Announcement”

When a member solves with first-blood, a celebration message appears in your success channel:

@Alice solved **Web Exploitation** (Hard) in 2 attempts!
[First Blood]

Private Success Message

Section titled “Private Success Message”

Members receive a private confirmation showing their bonus:

Correct! You solved **Web Exploitation** (ID 1) in 2/10 attempts.
[First Blood]! +50% bonus points

Dynamic Recalculation

Section titled “Dynamic Recalculation”

If a first-blood solver’s solve is revoked (via /ctf-revoke-solve), positions automatically reassign.

Before:

Challenge: Web Exploitation
1st Blood: Alice (600 pts)
2nd Blood: Bob (520 pts)
3rd Blood: Charlie (460 pts)

Admin revokes Alice’s solve:

Challenge: Web Exploitation
1st Blood: Bob (600 pts) ← recalculated
2nd Blood: Charlie (520 pts) ← recalculated
3rd Blood: (nobody)

First-Blood on Event Leaderboards

Section titled “First-Blood on Event Leaderboards”

First-blood bonuses apply to both:

  • Guild-wide leaderboards
  • Event-specific leaderboards (within /setup workspaces)

This means first-blood is consistent whether solves happen in the main guild or in a tournament event.

Disable First-Blood

Section titled “Disable First-Blood”

Run /disable-first-blood to turn off bonuses completely.

Effect:

  • No more bonuses awarded on new solves
  • Existing points are NOT recalculated retroactively
  • Leaderboard continues as-is with historical bonuses preserved

Use Cases

Section titled “Use Cases”

Community Tournaments

Use first-blood to make events exciting. Speed becomes a factor alongside skill.

Practice Servers

Gentle bonuses (+10%, +5%, +2%) encourage participation without overshadowing difficulty.

Competitive Leagues

Large bonuses (+100%, +50%, +25%) make first-blood highly valuable, perfect for speed runs.

Casual Communities

Disable first-blood entirely and rely on solve-count or flat points for relaxed engagement.

Best Practices

Section titled “Best Practices”
  1. Communicate the bonuses — Let members know first-blood is active and the percentages
  2. Monitor engagement — Watch if speed or quality solving is more valued
  3. Adjust as needed — You can reconfigure percentages anytime with /enable-first-blood
  4. Combine with events — First-blood shines in time-limited tournaments

Technical Notes

Section titled “Technical Notes”
  • First-blood positions are tracked per CTF per user in the database
  • Positions survive bot restarts (stored in SQLite)
  • Bonuses apply to points mode only (solve-count doesn’t use multipliers)
  • Revoked solves trigger automatic recalculation of remaining positions

Next Steps

Section titled “Next Steps”