CS-Nation

Covering the future of Counter-Strike
teamwork (continued)
Implementation
Enough of this planning stuff, now its time to play. Let's take a look at one example of a CS game.

You have just started a new round—you quickly buy your preferred weapons, ammo and armor. Most of the people on your team quickly disappear along their favorite routes and you run to get to your preferred sniper point. As you round the first corner you turn back to see a couple of the newbies at the start point looking around. They'll learn! You consider yourself quite a good player and, by using your rushing and ambushing skills, you manage to pick up a few kills but unluckily get caught between two opposing players and die before the end of the round. Meanwhile, some others in your team meet different fates around the level and the outcome is fairly close, but somehow you lose.

This is quite a common scenario for a CS game and often works quite well as your team is well distributed around the level. There are many times when this kind of game-style is fun and effective. Nevertheless, although you have played ON A TEAM, you have not really played AS A TEAM. Improvements can be made to make your side into a TEAM rather than a group of trigger-happy terrorists running wild with AK47's.

For those who have planned special 'keywords' in advance—use it to your advantage! This tactic can add variety to your team's attack while also keeping you organized. Also remember one of Murphy's Laws: "A plan never survives first contact with the enemy." Chances are, the opposition is not going to sit around in your desired positions waiting for your 'great' plan to take them down. Expect the unexpected! Even the best plan will not always work out—so be ready to think on the spot! Have backup ideas for important areas in your plan.

So you haven't been lucky enough to plan a brilliant tactical ambush. Two words: Voice Communication. When it comes to voice comm and teams, it's use it or lose it! VC, that wonderful addition to CS 1.3 which can either transform your side into a slick teamwork machine or just give you a headache. Using VC doesn't equate to useful team work but it is the most important step in achieving dynamic team cohesion. Talk to your team-members and brief them on any of your ideas but make sure you keep moving as you plan! VC shines most when coordinating multi-faceted attacks to assault particular areas of the map. Cs_Assault is a great example of where teamwork (and VC) can prove invaluable. CTs can coordinate the assault to the multiple entrances and ambush the seemingly impenetrable T defenses.

For those of you with VC-phobia or are microphone-impaired, things aren't looking so bright for dynamic teamwork. Even if you are the Speedy-Gonzalez of the typing world, I'm afraid that chatting is not really an option. Basic phrases like 'cover-me' or 'get to the bomb-site' can be used but don't try anything to elaborate. Still don't know what you're doing? Time to improvise! An integral idea behind team play is groups. Now this doesn't mean that your team should stay in a little huddle waiting to be splattered by a HE grenade! Even so, do not underestimate the power of numbers.

While in groups, a number of different techniques can be used to outsmart the enemy.

Groups can be of different sizes and often, 'pairs' prove to be the most effective. The added combination of two players' LOS (line-of-sight) can allow a pair to defend/attack all directions. The two players should cover each other, defending different points as they advance/retreat. Also a pair of players can help each other out in dangerous situations such as when you are reloading or throwing a grenade. At the start of a round, try to split your team up into small groups and head off to the best positions while keeping an eye out for your team members. As said before, large and slow moving groups bring many dangers—a couple of sniper shots or well placed grenades could spell the end of your whole team in a matter of seconds.

Another strategy can be employed if there are some poor suckers on your team who started the round with no money and only a Glock and are not likely to make any kills on their own. Well, sacrifices must be made. Send them out as a decoy—to run and jump erratically and perhaps lure the opposition into a vulnerable position. This can aid an ambush or merely help as a distraction. A diversion like this can be extremely valuable—allowing the rest of the team to clean up the opposition with minimal damage from a flanking or advantageous position. Also, guarding or attacking objectives, such as bombsites and hostage points can be achieved much more effectively in teams. Again, groups can provide that extra cover to reduce the risks of surprise attacks.

I hope you have been able to get at least some idea of the importance of teamwork. These are just a few of the strategies that can be used by teams. Remember that this sort of team play is not always needed. By no means play in groups ALL the time—a balance of games where you play individually and as a group adds to the variety of CS games and makes it more fun! Remember, VC is integral to effective dynamic teamwork so use it. Team play sometimes requires quite a bit of extra effort to be accomplished efficiently but that extra work could give your side that 'edge.'

—Mr Bond