The Grappling Hook

What is the Grappling Hook?
The grappling hook is an essential part of CTF. It's a spike ball attached to a chain that you can throw at an object or wall. When the spike ball hits an object or wall it sticks and you're drawn towards it as long as you hold the fire button down. With it you can reach high platforms that normally aren't accessible, hang from the ceiling shooting rockets at innocent(?) people passing by, and even grapple on to an enemy, slowly killing him/her!

How do I use it?
To switch to the grappling hook press '1' twice or bind a key to impulse 22.
That is done by typing:

   bind "h" "impulse 22"
To use the grappling hook, select it, aim at the place you want to go to, and then press and hold the fire button. When the spike ball hits the wall or an object, you will be drawn towards it.
Then you have two options:
Let go: If you want to release the hook and get down, just release the fire button.
Hold on: You don't have to keep on pressing the fire button to hold on to something. Just select another weapon while holding down the fire button to keep on hanging. This is useful for sniping, just grapple on to the ceiling and hang there.

(note: The sky is actually a ceiling with a special texture. So you can hang from the sky too.)

How do I kill someone with this thing?
One way to frag an enemy player with the hook is to grapple the enemy and hanging on to him/her. This will only hurt the enemy a little, and if the enemy still can shoot you, he/she probably will.
But if the enemy can't shoot you, he/she will die a slow and painful death. So if you're standing on a ledge, grapple on to the enemy and jump down and make sure you get stuck under the ledge.
The enemy is chanceless, unless he has his buddies with him.

To kill the enemy faster, instead of just hanging on with the grappling hook, grapple on to the enemy, select a non-explosive weapon and start shooting at the enemy. The enemy will now take damage from both the grappling hook and your shotgun. Doing this is very useful if you end up in one of those 'shotgun vs. shotgun' fights, to do that extra damage and walk away as the winner.

Grappling Hook alias
A fancier (and easier) way to use the grappling hook is to create a config-file that will bind a key to select the grappling hook when pressed and switch back to the previous weapon when released.
To do this, create a file called HOOK.CFG in your QUAKE\ID1 directory.
Then enter these lines:

   alias +grap "impulse 22;"
   alias -grap "impulse 69;"
   bind "MOUSE3" "+grap"
This will bind the middle mouse-button to the grappling hook.
Then add this line to your AUTOEXEC.CFG in the QUAKE\ID1 directory.
   exec hook.cfg
(note: impulse 69 is not a standard CTF command, but works on most servers. If it doesn't work, you'll have to select another weapon to unselect the grappling-hook)

How to use the grap alias
Press and hold the button bound to the grap alias, the 'grap' button.
Press and hold the fire button.
Then if you want to Hold On, just release the 'grap' button before you release the fire button.
If you want to Let Go, release the fire button and then the 'grap' button.

If using the left mouse-button as the fire button and the middle button as the 'grap' button, Holding and Letting go can be done very quickly. To Hold On, just release the middle finger before releasing the index finger, or vice versa to Let Go.
This can be a little tricky in the beginning, but after a while using the hook will be easy. It's a bit like getting used to using the mouse after having played with only keyboard, but easier.