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MessiaH · 30-08-2007

4.2 Advanced Counter-Terrorist Strategy
Many teams overlook the potential strategies that can be used when playing on Counter-Terrorist. Most simply find a hold and stick to it doing the same thing every round. This can work against low to mid tier teams, however against a top team, don’t expect to win any more rounds after the first few if you keep using the same hold. The captain on the opposition will easily counter-strat your hold and leave you wondering what happened.

4.2.1 Probing Pushes
The probing push is a good way to get a first kill of the round giving you a man advantage. As a captain you should call a probing push of a location intermittently to catch the attackers off guard. The probing push should be executed by a two man team, one to flash the area and one playing close ready to push and take advantage of the temporary blindness of the opposition. If the probing push is successful and you get a kill, DO NOT PERSUE. Fall back and return to your standard hold as your job is done. With a man disadvantage for the attackers, 75% of the time the round will be yours. Pushing further will most likely result in your death as the opponents will be aware of your actions having received this information from their dead team mate.

If you have probed an area and find that there are no enemies there, it still gives your team an advantage as that eliminates one of the many possible attacking avenues. Having read the previous tips in this guide your team should be calling that the area is clear and you can stack the remaining avenues of attack. The pushed player should set up in that location to either flank or catch a rotate if the team returns to that area. Having the element of surprise, they should be able to dispatch the enemy easily.

MessiaH’s Strat Tip: Have the flashing member do so from far away. This will mean that as the flashbang enters the designated area, the grenade will go off immediately instead of bouncing around first then going off. Using this method, the enemy will not have time to turn away from the flash and thus increase its effectiveness.

4.2.2 Goblin Holds & Stacks
If forced to eco, you have an extreme disadvantage firepower wise. Playing normal holds when on an eco will almost always result in you losing the round. To give your team a chance at winning the round, the captain should call a goblin strategy, a stack or a combination of both.

A goblin strategy is when the holding counter-terrorists hide in the site and do not peek. You allow the attackers to enter the site letting them think it is undefended. As the bomb is being planted, the defenders call and try and stop the plant. This does three things. Firstly, you have bomb down, secondly you have a man advantage and thirdly, your team mates are on their way to where you have the bomb.

Properly executed a goblin strategy can clutch victory from the jaws of defeat.

A stack strategy is when you put all of your manpower in one bombsite. The captain, using his experience, will call which bombsite to stack hoping that this site is the one the enemy will attack. Using a combination of goblin spots and having all of your manpower there, it increases your chance of winning the round.

MessiaH’s Strat Tip: If the majority of your team have been killed and you are hiding in the bombsite at which the bomb was planted. Do not give away your position, instead stay there quietly watching the enemies. Most of the time, the opposition will think that you have picked up the gun of one of their fallen team mates and are saving it. As they move out of the site to hunt you and prevent you from keeping the gun you don’t actually have, go for a ninja defuse. You’ll be surprised at how often this works.

4.2.3 Random Positions
Another good strategy to employ as counter-terrorist is to find the weirdest place to hold from. Why not just hold from somewhere safe and behind cover you ask? Because everyone holds from those spots and chances are if you are playing a good team, you will be prefired and killed.

Stand on a box or do strange boosts with your team mates. Anything that puts you in a position where you normally wouldn’t be can catch the enemy off guard and give you the opportunity to kill them while they rage in vent “who holds from there wtf?”.

Another reason to hold from these spots is no one knows that to call them. Normally when you play inside a site and you kill the enemy, you have to reposition because they have no doubt called where you are and staying in the same spot is suicide. When you are in your random spot, you can stay a little bit longer with the knowledge that you should be safe to kill two or three before they catch on to what you are doing.

MessiaH’s Strat Tip: Random positions coupled with an aggressive hold or probing push can be very effective. A failed probing push might not be so bad, as the enemy will be baited to where you are holding from in your random position thinking that it is lightly defended.

4.3 Counter Strategy
This brings me to the last section of this guide, counter strategy. Counter strategy is easy to understand in theory, but extremely difficult to master. This is the real test of skill for any captain.

It all comes down to your wit, vs the wit of the other captain (assuming the teams are of an equal skill level). I won’t pretend that I have mastered counter strategy, and I won’t pretend to be able to teach it to anyone, so I will lay down the theories and the rest is up to you, the captain to develop on it.

When playing terrorist and losing rounds, you need to be asking yourself what you are doing wrong. Every hold has a weakness and your job is to find that weakness.

Losing rounds (believe it or not) is not always bad, SO LONG AS YOU LEARN FROM IT! When you are dead, think about how you could take the site differently. Once respawned, relay this to your team and call a strategy which will effectively counter the opponents hold.

Change your strategy, go aggressive if you have been playing slowly, throw in a fake to put them off. When you win a round, do the same thing again. You will find that most captains won’t change their strategy mid game when they have only lost one round.

If you win another round, expect a minor change in how the opposition holds and play on that. Fake the same strategy so they think you are doing it again, then do something completely different.

Play with the other captains mind.

You just got smashed three times in a row while taking a site. Why? Are they stacking the site? Where are they playing from? This is the time you have to think and learn how they are holding.

When playing counter-terrorist you might keep losing a site to the opponents. Ask yourself the questions. Have they learnt a weakness? Are they rushing your worst player and taking him off guard? If you are in a decent team, you should have people who can play anywhere. Rotate a player or change your hold strategy as above. Perhaps if you play an aggressive CT hold next round it will catch them off guard. Try everything and find what works for you but don’t use that strategy for too long otherwise any decent caller will counter strat you back and you’ll be left in the same situation.

Anyway I hope you enjoyed the Guide. I enjoyed making it. I wish all you new captains the best of luck with your teams!

30-08-2007	#4 (permalink)
MessiaH Pro Member Join Date: Jun 2006 Location: Ven.Priv!!![2g] Age: 23 Posts: 5,317 Rep Power: 8	4.2 Advanced Counter-Terrorist Strategy Many teams overlook the potential strategies that can be used when playing on Counter-Terrorist. Most simply find a hold and stick to it doing the same thing every round. This can work against low to mid tier teams, however against a top team, don’t expect to win any more rounds after the first few if you keep using the same hold. The captain on the opposition will easily counter-strat your hold and leave you wondering what happened. 4.2.1 Probing Pushes The probing push is a good way to get a first kill of the round giving you a man advantage. As a captain you should call a probing push of a location intermittently to catch the attackers off guard. The probing push should be executed by a two man team, one to flash the area and one playing close ready to push and take advantage of the temporary blindness of the opposition. If the probing push is successful and you get a kill, DO NOT PERSUE. Fall back and return to your standard hold as your job is done. With a man disadvantage for the attackers, 75% of the time the round will be yours. Pushing further will most likely result in your death as the opponents will be aware of your actions having received this information from their dead team mate. If you have probed an area and find that there are no enemies there, it still gives your team an advantage as that eliminates one of the many possible attacking avenues. Having read the previous tips in this guide your team should be calling that the area is clear and you can stack the remaining avenues of attack. The pushed player should set up in that location to either flank or catch a rotate if the team returns to that area. Having the element of surprise, they should be able to dispatch the enemy easily. MessiaH’s Strat Tip: Have the flashing member do so from far away. This will mean that as the flashbang enters the designated area, the grenade will go off immediately instead of bouncing around first then going off. Using this method, the enemy will not have time to turn away from the flash and thus increase its effectiveness. 4.2.2 Goblin Holds & Stacks If forced to eco, you have an extreme disadvantage firepower wise. Playing normal holds when on an eco will almost always result in you losing the round. To give your team a chance at winning the round, the captain should call a goblin strategy, a stack or a combination of both. A goblin strategy is when the holding counter-terrorists hide in the site and do not peek. You allow the attackers to enter the site letting them think it is undefended. As the bomb is being planted, the defenders call and try and stop the plant. This does three things. Firstly, you have bomb down, secondly you have a man advantage and thirdly, your team mates are on their way to where you have the bomb. Properly executed a goblin strategy can clutch victory from the jaws of defeat. A stack strategy is when you put all of your manpower in one bombsite. The captain, using his experience, will call which bombsite to stack hoping that this site is the one the enemy will attack. Using a combination of goblin spots and having all of your manpower there, it increases your chance of winning the round. MessiaH’s Strat Tip: If the majority of your team have been killed and you are hiding in the bombsite at which the bomb was planted. Do not give away your position, instead stay there quietly watching the enemies. Most of the time, the opposition will think that you have picked up the gun of one of their fallen team mates and are saving it. As they move out of the site to hunt you and prevent you from keeping the gun you don’t actually have, go for a ninja defuse. You’ll be surprised at how often this works. 4.2.3 Random Positions Another good strategy to employ as counter-terrorist is to find the weirdest place to hold from. Why not just hold from somewhere safe and behind cover you ask? Because everyone holds from those spots and chances are if you are playing a good team, you will be prefired and killed. Stand on a box or do strange boosts with your team mates. Anything that puts you in a position where you normally wouldn’t be can catch the enemy off guard and give you the opportunity to kill them while they rage in vent “who holds from there wtf?”. Another reason to hold from these spots is no one knows that to call them. Normally when you play inside a site and you kill the enemy, you have to reposition because they have no doubt called where you are and staying in the same spot is suicide. When you are in your random spot, you can stay a little bit longer with the knowledge that you should be safe to kill two or three before they catch on to what you are doing. MessiaH’s Strat Tip: Random positions coupled with an aggressive hold or probing push can be very effective. A failed probing push might not be so bad, as the enemy will be baited to where you are holding from in your random position thinking that it is lightly defended. 4.3 Counter Strategy This brings me to the last section of this guide, counter strategy. Counter strategy is easy to understand in theory, but extremely difficult to master. This is the real test of skill for any captain. It all comes down to your wit, vs the wit of the other captain (assuming the teams are of an equal skill level). I won’t pretend that I have mastered counter strategy, and I won’t pretend to be able to teach it to anyone, so I will lay down the theories and the rest is up to you, the captain to develop on it. When playing terrorist and losing rounds, you need to be asking yourself what you are doing wrong. Every hold has a weakness and your job is to find that weakness. Losing rounds (believe it or not) is not always bad, SO LONG AS YOU LEARN FROM IT! When you are dead, think about how you could take the site differently. Once respawned, relay this to your team and call a strategy which will effectively counter the opponents hold. Change your strategy, go aggressive if you have been playing slowly, throw in a fake to put them off. When you win a round, do the same thing again. You will find that most captains won’t change their strategy mid game when they have only lost one round. If you win another round, expect a minor change in how the opposition holds and play on that. Fake the same strategy so they think you are doing it again, then do something completely different. Play with the other captains mind. You just got smashed three times in a row while taking a site. Why? Are they stacking the site? Where are they playing from? This is the time you have to think and learn how they are holding. When playing counter-terrorist you might keep losing a site to the opponents. Ask yourself the questions. Have they learnt a weakness? Are they rushing your worst player and taking him off guard? If you are in a decent team, you should have people who can play anywhere. Rotate a player or change your hold strategy as above. Perhaps if you play an aggressive CT hold next round it will catch them off guard. Try everything and find what works for you but don’t use that strategy for too long otherwise any decent caller will counter strat you back and you’ll be left in the same situation. Anyway I hope you enjoyed the Guide. I enjoyed making it. I wish all you new captains the best of luck with your teams!