Top 10 tips

[Lee]

I thought it would be interesting to see what other peoples top tips are for being the best of their technical ability, so feel free to post.

Here are mine:

1. I think the most important aspect in playing well, is to be relaxed whilst playing, as soon as you see someone, don't crap out! Try to think rationally in the situation, don't just stand in one position, spraying, hoping for that lucky shot, think what would heighten your chances of winning this fight. It might seem a lot to do in a split second, but it becomes second nature in time. Although i must say i'm still learning this, as it's not always easy to keep  calm.

2. Work as a team! Make sure you know what the others are up to at the start of the round, not necessarily by asking them - check the radar to see where the little blobs are heading to, if there are 5 or so going to a big bottleneck where a grenade could take most of their life, let them know so they can split up.
Make sure the bomber is always in close proximity, this should be second nature on our server really, but make sure he's not the person who is leading the pack, keep them in the middle and secure, this way they will be able to retreat in either direction if either the front or back is being threatened.

3. Don't be predictable, if someone sees you a split second before you see them, retreat behind a wall, you need to have the slight advantage, because in this game, it really matters.
If you are trying to get through one point, approach it from different paths, for example the long passage on Italy, swap sides around. You could try coming in from the right, then retreating back behind the wall, stay there for about as long as you reckon it would take to get to the left side, then suprise them by coming out of the right side again.
If you manage to look around a corner and see that a person has permanently got their sight positioned on one side, namely your side, then this is a sign you are being too predictable.
Have slightly differing play styles now and again, use crouching when they least expect you to, or vice-versa if you are a croucher.
Throw a smoke into a room near to the place where someone is, this is effective if you dont have a flashbang, as for a split second they will think it is a flash and you can assassinate them before they have realised, then the smoke grenade should be able to hide your cover temporarily.
Always be on the lookout for new places to hide, either be it on the attacking or defending team, as most people will tend to look in typical places, if there is no-one there, they will run in.

4. Use sound to your advantage. Whilst playing, make sure you are listening to whatever is happening in the surroundings and also strive to make no noise yourself. It can be frustrating when your position is given away solely due to the fact that your teammate is deciding to run around like a headless chicken.
If others are walking, walk too, or if the rest of your team is running aimlessly, there's not really much point to walking yourself (although i find walking at times can help me aim better due to the fact that if i turn around a corner i don't have to move my cursor as much as if i ran around it).
Listen out for any flashbang/smoke grenade "clunks", if you hear one near you retreat around a corner that would shield it. Flashbangs or he grenades are easy to spot, as soon as you see one, dive around a corner that can shield you.
Listen carefully for any other noises which aren't related to your teammates (check the radar if you hear a noise nearby), this can give vital enemy positions away.
Listen for footsteps, you can usually get a good guess how many people are in a certain section by the amount of footsteps and this gives you time to be prepared for their appearance.

5. You're not invulnerable. Don't dive into situations thinking or hoping you can take the whole team, usually you can't. Just before an attack, think about what would rationally be the best option, this will usually involve using the environment as a shield while taking pot shots, if you believe they have taken a fair bit of damage from yourself throw a grenade to finish them off.
If you find you are being damaged fairly heftily at a certain area, refer to some unpredictability.
Buy Kevlar and a Helmet, these really can be life-savers and are basically a second chance once you have been hit. On the note of being prepared, if you are CT on a bomb map, be sure to get a defuse kit.

6. Don't shoot your own teammates, you're just helping the opposition. Easier said than done sometimes, but at times you will all be travelling in one direction, if the enemies suprise you by coming in front of you, a lot of the time the players at the back of the group will try to get some shots in between the players infront, this is usually a bad idea and just ends up with you hitting your own teammates instead, you would be much more useful by throwing grenades over and into the background to help the players infront to defeat the opposition. If you have no grenades, it's usually better to take cover until the players infront decide they want to pull back, or hide themselves, then you can take the initiative.

7. Use your radar. The latest radar in CSS is possibly a bit too informative! If one of your teammates spots an enemy, the enemy position will appear on the screen, you can then decide to take another path towards the enemy. In the other extreme, if a teammate has died, and you were in the radars radius of him, you will be able to see where he died, and then assess where the enemy are travelling. If a blob is bigger than your blob on the radar, it means that specific person is on a level higher than yourself, and of course smaller means they are on a lower level. If someone uses the "need backup", "enemy spotted" commands, their position will flash on the radar temporarily, allowing you to act accordingly.

8. Try not to do much social chat on the voice comms whilst playing as this has the adverse effect of your own team not being able to listen out for enemy noise, instead try to keep it for when you are dead.

9. Always be on the lookout for more equipment while on the battlefield, try to keep your items full as much as possible, if someones dropped a grenade, pick it up! If a dead persons gun is on the floor, pick it up if it will be more use than your current one. I believe it's very important to be on the lookout for dropped defuse kits, these are one of the best pickups to get.
If you bought a rifle at the start of the round, but along your travels happen upon a deagle, change to your pistol and swap them over, it will be much more useful than a usp for example if a situation arised where it was needed.

10. Use different weapons, some are much more suited for some maps than others, this is one i should probably take up myself. Pistols are pretty poor on de_port, get a scout or a rifle, which are much better at long range. Don't go for a sniper on a very compact map, a p90 can do some pretty serious damage on these type of maps instead. Experiment with different guns and weigh up their pros and their cons. Try some gungame servers, which helps you gain experience with each weapon.

Now for a few short but useful tips.

- Everyone know this, but they don't always do this, whatever you do always aim for the head!
-When on your travels, make sure you keep your crosshair in the place where an enemies head is most likely to appear.
- Keep as little of your body exposed as possible while attacking.
- Try not to lose sight of an enemy, you should always try to think as the enemy.
- Don't lose your anger, this will just have a negative effect on your quality of play.
- Use a high DPI setting on your mouse, this way more of your movement will be registered.
- Use headphones!
- Record yourself playing sometimes and play it back and assess what you could have done better.
- Play around with different crosshair colours for each map, yellow is rubbish on dust for example! I created this script for myself to cycle through the colours easily:

alias crosshair col0
alias col0 "cl_crosshaircolor 0 ; alias crosshair col1;"
alias col1 "cl_crosshaircolor 1; alias crosshair col2;"
alias col2 "cl_crosshaircolor 2; alias crosshair col3;"
alias col3 "cl_crosshaircolor 3; alias crosshair col4;"
alias col4 "cl_crosshaircolor 4; alias crosshair col0;"
bind kp_ins crosshair

When you press the Insert key on your numpad it will change to the next colour.

- Set up some buyscripts so you can get straight into the action faster.
- Use different player skins based on the map, to blend in as good as possible.

Well that's all i can think of at the moment, i'm sure i'll think of more! Hope some of these were of use.

[T-Bag]

T-Bags Top Tips:

1: Flash-Bangs. Flashes are 2.81 times more useful that HE grenades, a blind enemy is a scared enemy. Rembember you have two flashes, and it's not illegal to throw both while they can't hear it bouncing due to the first.

2: HE Grenades. The key is to bounce them so the enemy can't tell where they're going till it's too late. They hear it round a corner but might be just dodging nearer to it.

3: Sit Upright. Eyes work better at the same height as the screen, plus your arms will be at the right level. You spot more and react faster if you're in the right position

4: Look at the Radar when you pick a route,know if there is someone infront of behind, then you know that the footsteps are good or bad...and if that "shing" (knife) sound is the last noise you'll hear, or a team mate running

5: Listen to the gun noises. It's pretty safe to run in to help team mates if you hear AK spray, your teammate will take most of the focus. But if you hear the AK going "pop, pop, pop" Pause.."pop pop pop" for the love of god don't rush in, if you can find a different approach or flash/smoke. They're probably a little way away watching the entrance point, and will most likely spot you before you spot them. The other reason to listen is for reloads rush you opponent when they've less bullets left that they need to kill you (I know one can be fatal, but it's often alot more) and they might have to fall back to pistol, and then they've two guns to reload.

6: Point you gun at head height at the most likely point you'll see the enemy. So if they'll probably run round a corner, go a little past the edge to give time to react. They won't stand a chance.

7: No money? Buy Armour, then a pistol. You can pick a gun up not armour. Your team mates will probably kill someone even if you're all on pistols and you'll have a nice gun soon enough. Search the floor at all times

8: Stealthy people don't pick up items or switch weapons, if you want to knife someone pick the knife when you hide not when someone walk past you. Check for items before you sneak over a spot and avoid if possible.

9: Jumping gets you further if you've no time to react. If an HE is heading for you jump out it's way, it might get you that little bit further away  so you survive.

10: Use the AK/M4 like it has 3 ammo. If you don't hit someone in three shots you need to stop reaim. Or move so you can crouch. The only time spray will work is if you're luck at mid range. or you opponent fills the screen (but not so you're clipping into him so you can walk any further then sometimes it'll miss unexplicably.

Not sure if these are as helpful as Lee's but I use them and they're pretty good. Things to remember that are extras: if you need help ask your team, better than dying and moaning later. And if you keep getting hit and loosing health, don't keep trying the same guy. back off and think it through. you're no use dead, even if you *might* kill one enemy.

[Dr Sadako]

1. Enable EAX AND 5.1 surround sound if possible. Buy Speedlink Medusa headphones. They DO give you an advantage.
 
2. Radar have become a really good tool in source. As Lee pointed out use the fact that teammates put enemies on the map for you. Also use the fact that on many maps the minimap within the radar gives you really detailed information where all visible players are. Use that fact to estimate where the enemy will be.
 
3. Use the sound from HE or Flash to hide the sound of you defusing the bomb.
 
4. Save your HE to the end of the round. When health is low HE is a killer.
 
5. Check the score board many times throughout each round. This way you will know how many enemies are left and how many team mates are left.
 
6. THINK when you play. If you as T on dust2 have spotted the last CT at A take the bomb to B while your teammates stall the CT (if you have any left). By planting you will give your team extra cash instead of only you maybe recieving $300 for the kill. I can't count the times I see people insisting to go head on head with the last guy instead of going for the easy plant. Use the fact that you KNOW where he/she is.
 
7. Set your opponent up! Use the fact that some players blindly go for the kill. On inferno as CT for example two players can do the following. CT1 takes the position by the orange crates closest to T approach and CT2 hides by the back way with a view of the fountain and CT1. Note that CT2 should not be visible from T approach route. CT1 responds to all T attacks with nades and gun but CT2 keeps hidden and waits. CT1 moves back and forth until the Ts rush in. CT1 then falls back behind the last orange crates. CT2 then has a clear shot of the rushing Ts and can easily pick them off from the side. Most of the time Ts think that CT1 killed the rushing T and just continues to rush in the same direction. Silenced M4 is the weapon of choice. :devil:
 
8. If you run out of time for reload but you badly need one pick up a gun from the ground if possible. Sometimes you will get lucky.
 
9. When on the defending team. Change your position EVERY round.
 
10. Use the time available on the round. A rush at 0:45 can be more effective than one at the beginning of a round. Just make sure you have enough time to complete the objective.

[Luminance]

Thanks for posting this, knew alot allready ofc, but its always handy to get a few extra tips

i'll make sure to make good use from them

[T-Bag]

I like the way the tips started as a massive long list with details and has been gradually narrowed down to the point, I can see in a few months time this list being.
1. Point, 2. Click, 3. Use various combinations of W, S, A, D to position your character.

Seriously though, more tips here would be cool, i know it takes a while to post but it could flip one of the readers FPS world on it's head (in a good way - I know flipping something onto it head doesn't initially strike one as a good thing, but it's a fairly common expression).

[Lee]

Indeed T-bag, but then again it's the most important 10 tips for you, the ones you follow. But, it's good to have extra tips which haven't been covered. Doesn't need to be a big amount of info for each point. So get posting guys!

[Le Rouge]

have a ping lower than 160. that works for me (IF I can get it) :-)

[kregoron]

1. Point, 2. Click, 3. Use various combinations of W, S, A, D to position your character.
 

So thats how you guys do it!
 
1. Know the map travel times well, then you can figure out fast where you might encounter then enemy's first
 
2. be aware of your sorroundings.
 
3. Cover your team mates, be aware of their line of vision, so you can cover their backs.
 
4. Walk instead of running can save your day
 
5. When getting flashed, turn away from the flash, generally lowers the period where you are flashed a little..
 
6. Use your smokes at diversions
 
7. Dont stop in the middle of a rush, can mean doom to your team
 
8. Use the radar to be aware of your team mates, nothing is worse then getting naded by a teammate
 
9. Dont run in a straight line, vary it a bit, then the enemy will have a lot harder predicting where your head will be the next second
 
10. When hiding in a corner, or in a small alcove (no idea how its spelled) stand up instead of crouching, your knees, and gun is less visible then.
 
Just 10 fast tips, and all the good ones were taken

[T-Bag]

10. When hiding in a corner, or in a small alcove (no idea how its spelled) stand up instead of crouching, your knees, and gun is less visible then.

Thats any interesting one, I see so many people stick through the door in office because they crouch or face towards the door, whereas you're (almost) impossible to see (at a glace) if you stand up and face the gap you came in through.