For the progressing team
So you have the basics down – you have a set of defensive positions, tried and tested, maybe you have played them enough to understand what weaknesses open up to the enemy when a single teammate dies. This is where team rotation comes in. When a teammate drops, if his position is further from spawn than yours, take his position and tell him to switch to yours – switch back only when there is a lull in the fighting. This may mean you have a medic or lieutenant out of position, but certain areas require the manpower to stop the rush.
Preparation
Preparation separates the medium tier from the top tier.
Yes, you will need a set of different attacking strategies to break through strong defensive positions, but that is not enough. If you break through, what do you do next? Once in control of an area you must have positions to ensure you hold it. If you can think of strong, aggressive positions which the enemy will not anticipate then that is the ideal situation. Do not let the enemy regain lost ground.
So what would I say to give you the edge in tournament play?
Rule 1: Whenever possible - do the unexpected.
Even if that means potentially suicidal positions, the element of surprise gives you a huge advantage. It may only work the once, but it can give you an opening to control the map. It also keeps the enemy on the back foot.
Rule 2: Scout.
If you do not know where the enemy is coming from, you have already lost. At a high level most attacks will come from all angles, but if not, you need to know where the enemy is massing. It is the difference between mowing down 6 men in an organised crossfire, and being swamped in 2 seconds flat. Keep a man at blind corners - you need to be ready.
Rule 3: Attacks must be coordinated
Attacking in set-pairs is always effective. Firstly, your attacking groups will head in different directions, keeping the whole team covered from opportunistic back-shooters, plus you can practice your positions/movement on a public server easily with your teammate, which is not only good fun, but will assist massively once you can anticipate your partner’s play style.
Tip - If you are the front man and come face to face with an enemy - hug a wall. Also if you can crouch or go prone, do so. You may appear to be an easy target, but the enemy will die quicker than you will. (Sadly CoD has the tendency to take an instant headshot when you press the ‘prone’ key). Just hug the wall or leap out of your teammate’s firing line. Draw the enemy fire and your combined damage will take him down instantly.
Rule 4a: Psychology
The stronger you appear to be, the more organised your team is, the harder your opponents will find it. Against a badly prepared team, you can destroy them mentally and have the game sewn up in a couple of minutes. Do not show mercy.
Rule 4b: Do not give up
If you feel you have no chance, you have already lost. You might be getting pwned backwards, forwards and sideways, but hey it is only a game – talk to your teammates whilst you wait for that respawn timer to tick over, and try to blast your way out of the problem.
CS style games - a new round could be considered your respawn, if you have to hide for an entire round to discuss why you are failing – do so, and try to remain calm and regain the momentum. You can always make a come-back. Hopefully this will not be in an official tournament match – see “preparation”!
Make use of whatever armaments you have available. If you can set different spawn locations with binds, do so. If the enemy does not expect you, you will gain an advantage.
Rule 5: (Not CS/CoD) Watch your Spawn times
On defence try allocating a player to pure “suicide duty” – harass the enemy and disrupt their attacks. Make the enemy run all the way back whilst you respawn in safety. If they cannot coordinate a planned attack, their job becomes nigh on impossible against an organised defence.
When attacking you must keep the enemy spawn time in mind at all times. There is generally no point attacking on their short spawn time - it is counter-productive (unless the map design dictates otherwise). Attack just before it flips over, putting the enemy to the decision “Fight or respawn”. If one man survives an attack, keep him hiding and call the next attack based on the opening he will create.
Step back:
Look at each map afresh – see what areas or objectives are defensible, judge times and distances from your spawn.
If you need to call a ‘full respawn’ to sort yourselves out and get in position – do so!
Positions are only effective if you actually get into them before the opponent arrives. Half the time, games can come down to a struggle to make it through a choke point a second or two before the enemy can cover it. Learning movement skills in any game is massively important.
Next Time
There is a great deal I have not mentioned, so watch this space. I may also finish off with a breakdown of tactics for one specific Return to Castle Wolfenstein map, this should give people some ideas for their particular game of choice, be it CS/CoD style, or respawn – tactics and strategies are universal, the differences are in the implementation.
So you have the basics down – you have a set of defensive positions, tried and tested, maybe you have played them enough to understand what weaknesses open up to the enemy when a single teammate dies. This is where team rotation comes in. When a teammate drops, if his position is further from spawn than yours, take his position and tell him to switch to yours – switch back only when there is a lull in the fighting. This may mean you have a medic or lieutenant out of position, but certain areas require the manpower to stop the rush.
Preparation
Preparation separates the medium tier from the top tier.
Yes, you will need a set of different attacking strategies to break through strong defensive positions, but that is not enough. If you break through, what do you do next? Once in control of an area you must have positions to ensure you hold it. If you can think of strong, aggressive positions which the enemy will not anticipate then that is the ideal situation. Do not let the enemy regain lost ground.
So what would I say to give you the edge in tournament play?
Rule 1: Whenever possible - do the unexpected.
Even if that means potentially suicidal positions, the element of surprise gives you a huge advantage. It may only work the once, but it can give you an opening to control the map. It also keeps the enemy on the back foot.
Rule 2: Scout.
If you do not know where the enemy is coming from, you have already lost. At a high level most attacks will come from all angles, but if not, you need to know where the enemy is massing. It is the difference between mowing down 6 men in an organised crossfire, and being swamped in 2 seconds flat. Keep a man at blind corners - you need to be ready.
Rule 3: Attacks must be coordinated
Attacking in set-pairs is always effective. Firstly, your attacking groups will head in different directions, keeping the whole team covered from opportunistic back-shooters, plus you can practice your positions/movement on a public server easily with your teammate, which is not only good fun, but will assist massively once you can anticipate your partner’s play style.
Tip - If you are the front man and come face to face with an enemy - hug a wall. Also if you can crouch or go prone, do so. You may appear to be an easy target, but the enemy will die quicker than you will. (Sadly CoD has the tendency to take an instant headshot when you press the ‘prone’ key). Just hug the wall or leap out of your teammate’s firing line. Draw the enemy fire and your combined damage will take him down instantly.
Rule 4a: Psychology
The stronger you appear to be, the more organised your team is, the harder your opponents will find it. Against a badly prepared team, you can destroy them mentally and have the game sewn up in a couple of minutes. Do not show mercy.
Rule 4b: Do not give up
If you feel you have no chance, you have already lost. You might be getting pwned backwards, forwards and sideways, but hey it is only a game – talk to your teammates whilst you wait for that respawn timer to tick over, and try to blast your way out of the problem.
CS style games - a new round could be considered your respawn, if you have to hide for an entire round to discuss why you are failing – do so, and try to remain calm and regain the momentum. You can always make a come-back. Hopefully this will not be in an official tournament match – see “preparation”!
Make use of whatever armaments you have available. If you can set different spawn locations with binds, do so. If the enemy does not expect you, you will gain an advantage.
Rule 5: (Not CS/CoD) Watch your Spawn times
On defence try allocating a player to pure “suicide duty” – harass the enemy and disrupt their attacks. Make the enemy run all the way back whilst you respawn in safety. If they cannot coordinate a planned attack, their job becomes nigh on impossible against an organised defence.
When attacking you must keep the enemy spawn time in mind at all times. There is generally no point attacking on their short spawn time - it is counter-productive (unless the map design dictates otherwise). Attack just before it flips over, putting the enemy to the decision “Fight or respawn”. If one man survives an attack, keep him hiding and call the next attack based on the opening he will create.
Step back:
Look at each map afresh – see what areas or objectives are defensible, judge times and distances from your spawn.
If you need to call a ‘full respawn’ to sort yourselves out and get in position – do so!
Positions are only effective if you actually get into them before the opponent arrives. Half the time, games can come down to a struggle to make it through a choke point a second or two before the enemy can cover it. Learning movement skills in any game is massively important.
Next Time
There is a great deal I have not mentioned, so watch this space. I may also finish off with a breakdown of tactics for one specific Return to Castle Wolfenstein map, this should give people some ideas for their particular game of choice, be it CS/CoD style, or respawn – tactics and strategies are universal, the differences are in the implementation.
like in track and fields or smth theres this peak moment when goal goes from improving skills to performing the best and focusing on winning
Also for instance in RtCW, the general defence would always run with two Lt's, where as in ET you will only generally have one and he will more than likely only spam leaving the medics to salvage what weapons and ammo they can or, read above. ;)
i would like to give it a try!
Found it really good
Thumbs up!!
not to be confused with the people who do this all the time aka bad players
i remember snb trying to sneak west on radar last stage all the time around the time of cc6, making them one of the easiest top teams to fullhold :PP
Feels good man.
RTCW 4 EVER
I agree. Random unexpected positions, jumps and prones ftw
:(
I think this is worth for an article, too, with examples, etc.:
"Individual skill is not going to cut it against a well-organised team. There is a place for it, but it is secondary to organisation and strategy."
(Most of) the players should:
1. learn to enter into their opponents' mind
2. learn to think as a team
3. know what would their teammates do in a concrete situation
Example:
2 medics are in fight with the opponents in front of a door. They are outside, 2-3 opponents inside the room, close to the door. Somehow both of the medics start reloading in the same time, so all the enemies could leave the room and kill them until they are reloading if they don't do anything. What could they do?
1. Moving back, running away, and usually getting killed. If they do so, they give space for the opponent and they can start everything from the beginning.
2. One of the medics stands in the door while reloading, leaving the opponents to kill him since he can't shoot back. Till that time the other medic reloads his weapon and immediately changes to syringe to revive the other. Both of the medics are now with full ammo, the one in the door with shield. The opponents could not leave the room and they are with less ammo and without shield.
As most of the players can't think as a team, they usually select the 1st version. It's enough if 1 of the 2 medics selects the 1st version (because he doesn't know what the other will do), both of them will getting killed much to the delight of the opponent.
Unfortunately, most of the players, even after 3 years of gaming, are still making the same gaming mistakes.
My mistake.