CS Strategy Guide

Hi there,
Here’s a strategy guide on Counter Strike based on my experience. Hope you’ve had a look at my previous article on CS in general at A Tribute to CS

DISCLAIMER:

• Please note that all ideas, tactics, thoughts and strategies in this article are purely IMO and are a result of my gaming experience alone!
• Secondly, this article is mainly for those who have had CLAN match experience and have mastered their basics. You will neither come across elementary tips like “Hold the crosshair near the head region to get a better kill” nor will you find intermediate assistance like recoil control of the CV (AK-47) or to “look away when the flash grenade is thrown” or about “wall-banging” or “spamming” as it is lovingly called. I’m assuming you know all this!
• This article is mainly based on CS: 1.6. References can probably be drawn to CS: Condition Zero and Source.

In case anybody feels the need to modify the strategies according to their game play, please do so and if you feel something blatantly wrong with my way of thinking, do let me know.

Well, moving on with the article at hand, here are certain things that I have noticed over the time I have been in this love-affair with the game.
There are thousands of good players in the game. And by good, I mean skill-wise. But most of us treat CS as a game, which automatically puts it in second gear. Finding a clan, getting into a groove with each other and going pro by looking for sponsors etc. is a tedious job which requires dedication and commitment which few of us are prepared to put. That’s probably the reason why we find so few pro-gamers who make it big and more so, in India, where the unconventional is considered taboo!
Still, there are many who play really well, but encounter an occasional ass-whopping now and then, and are unable to know what went wrong! You may find a couple of thoughts here worthwhile and put them to use.

Allow me to go with the flow. Let’s first analyze a couple of common scenarios I’ve encountered while playing.

• Firstly, a team should have a captain. Not in the strictest sense of the word, but rather an in-game leader with the best ‘game-sense’ in the squad who is capable of giving sensible orders. Once the leader has been decided, know that his one decision can change the outcome of a round and in turn change the course of the game. I'm sure all of us know this, but still, we falter. Why? When the leader calls (preferably ASAP), the team SHOULD listen to his orders and act accordingly. It should not happen that the leader calls for an ‘eco’ round and one smartass volunteers, “But I’ve already purchased a sniper rifle!”
  

• This can be achieved in many ways. One way which I prefer and is followed by many pros is that the team quickly broadcast their financial position in the beginning of the round curtly like “5k” or "3500" or so and the leader can in turn make a quick decision. Some of the general orders by the leader are “Buy up”, “DA”(Deagle [Desert Eagle] and Armor), “eco” in terms of economics.
  

• The details of the in-game movement/flanking/complex team strategies should never be decided over the course of the game and should always be pre-decided. This will reduce the burden on the already over-taxed leader!
  

• Speaking of natural strategies, grenading is of primary importance in the game. A great CS player can be identified by the nades he throws. A semi pro team that played against Team 3d was interviewed in WSVG LANWar and they said what distinguished them from Team 3D was not much in the skill department but in the perfectly co-ordinated strategies and the precise throwing of the nades and the flashes. The opposition’s movement was greatly hampered by the incoming flashes. Never underestimate the power of nades. Smoke grenade is optional and depends on the captain’s strategy but two flashes and one HE-grenade are a must in every round unless the captain says “buy-up” and you don’t have money for both a primary weapon and nades.
  

• As you play, you will realize that secondary weapons (pistols) can be turned into powerful killing objects in the hands of an expert but nades cannot be replaced. Gun economics are team specific and captain should co-ordinate, but contrary to popular opinion, nades are as important as are the guns.
  

• So in general, all necessities (like combinations of AK/M4+2 Flash+1 He-grenade+armor and other variations) can be bound to specific keys. For this you will have to prepare scripts for binding keys to specific tasks. You don’t have to sweat it. There are countless readymade scripts available for free on the net (http://www.counterscript.net/ for example) and you can bind the keys accordingly with minor changes or none. This will save lots of time during the freezetime which can be used for strategizing.
  

• I have seen many cases where a person has $10000 while his teammate is an employee of an Indian software company (read - penniless!). CS is all about teamwork. Never hoard in any round. If you have killed four opponents in the previous round, you will undoubtedly have gotten more money than your teammates in this round. Buy up for your teammates instead of hoarding for the subsequent rounds. A team with two Famas(Clarion) guns is better than a team with a Maverick(M4/Colt) and a pistol only!
  

• Continuing from the previous point, if you want a weapon from your teammate, simply asking him should be augmented by making some symbol in the game, by say, jumping up and down or repeatedly operating your flash-light. This will help your teammate locate you in the game and can throw the weapon in your direction, thus eliminating the need to run back to collect the weapon. This point may look elementary now, but it’s of infinite importance in a Terrorist rush when speed and reaching the bombsite first is of utmost importance.

Alright, enough of economics, here are some general thoughts.

• Many people(including me) have begun with CS:Condition Zero and since, the pros deal only with CS1.6 (for a number of reasons which I’ll say later), the CS 1.6 gun ‘lingo’ has to be adapted. So here’s a quick walkthrough of CS terms w.r.t general terms!
  M4 = M4A1 = Colt = Maverick ( B -> 4 -> 3 of CTs)
  CV = CV47 = AK47(although CV is used in CZ too)
  Famas = Clarion ( B -> 4 -> 1 of CTs)
  Galil = IDF Defender ( B -> 4 -> 1 of CTs)
  Steyr AUG = Bullpup ( B -> 4 -> 4 of CTs)
  AWP = Arctic Warfare Police(Rifle) = Magnum Sniper Rifle
  

• One thing I’ve noticed is a learning curve in CS that follows the graph of series resonance! Let me explain. In the beginning, you take time to shoot at a person even if he is standing in front of you. As we gain more experience, we develop itchy trigger-fingers and shoot at the very first person we see, resulting in several team kills too! But as you go pro, you learn pro and realize that in CS, shooting a guy, even an enemy, is not always the best option.
  This theory should not be pushed to its limits like what SK SpaWn did in CPL Winter 2005***(please look at the bottom of the article), but there are times when you need not shoot an enemy too.
  
  For example, if you are well-concealed and are waiting for the opponents, don’t start shooting at the first person u see.. This way, you might get one guy at the most, but the others will hunt you down because of your reload etc. Remember, people generally (especially Terrorists) come in packs. Only international pro level go single to separate places because they have the skill to go solo….So even if one guy comes, contrary to what your trigger-itchy fingers tell you, wait. Let 2-3 guys pass you, they wont see you coz you are hidden, and then start shooting. This makes more game sense.
  

• I am not a great sniper. I am above average and used to be good, but I got so accustomed to assault weapons and became a better assaulter through practice and worse at sniping realizing that assaulting is what I like! So, I have realized that we need to play only with what we are comfortable with. If you feel you are good at assault, do not practice sniping just to become better at it. Get better at assault.
  

• Having said this, when it comes to sniping, if enemy is close we generally switch to secondary weapon; this is what we generally do. I’m not asking you stop that, but now, if you haven’t done it yet, try adapting to giving unzoomed shots, it works many times, though not perfectly accurate as the scoped shot, it will hit roughly in the center area which is more than enough at close range. This type of single-shot-kill is more effective than switching to secondary where you need many pistol shots to kill the opponent.
  

Well, that’s it for now I guess. I made this article quite elementary and borderline intermediate level. I’ll be back with more complex (and probably more useful!) T and CT specific strategies. Hope this was useful to you. Till then, take care!

***Full marks to SK_Spawn fro his brilliant performance in CPL Winter 2005, which is considered by many to be last great CS tournament which had the best teams from all over the world. After this, unfortunately, America fell to the CS : Source marketing wave. Anyways, Spawn shone in the eyes of the world for his brilliant ninja style defuse in De_Cbble map against Swedish powerhouse NiP, where he, as CT, almost defuses the bomb with 4 Terrorists still alive in the opposition guarding it! The 1 Vs. 4 eco klutch round of Spawn versus Begrip Gaming in De_Train map is also a visual treat.