MessiaH's Guide to Effective Communication & Strategy

[MessiaH]

Communication is an integral part of any competitive game, even more so in the team game Counter-Strike:Source. This guide explores and explains the different techniques gamers can use to communicate effectively with their teammates to give them the edge over the competition. From the basics most of us know in theory but forget to practice, to the advanced strategies used by top tier gamers, this guide will have it all. Enjoy.


Contents

1.0 Programs Used for Voice Communication
1.1 In Game
1.2 Teamspeak
1.3 Ventrilo


2.0 Calling 101 for Players
2.1 Footsteps
2.2 Being Flashed
2.3 Damage
2.4 The Bomb
2.5 Backseat Calling
2.6 Killing the Enemy
2.7 Counting Grenades
2.8 Calling your Position

3.0 Calling 101 for Captains
3.1 Base/Default Strategies
3.2 Money
3.3 Employing Strategy
3.4 Call the Shots
3.5 End Game

4.0 Advanced Strategies for Captains
4.1 Advanced Terrorist Strategy
4.1.1 The Flank
4.1.2 Fakes
4.1.3 The 2-1-2 Slow Push
4.2 Advanced Counter-Terrorist Strategy
4.2.1 Probing Pushes
4.2.2 Goblin Holds and Stacks
4.2.3 Random Positions
4.3 Counter Strategy



1.0 Programs Used for Voice Communication
This section of the guide will list the different programs that can be used for voice communication with your team mates, listing the differences and benefits of each.


1.1 In Game
In game voice communication is not widely used in the competitive scene. Not being able to call for your team mates while dead is a huge disadvantage to any team so it is not recommended that you use this method of communication. That said it is the easiest to use for a new team who may not have the knowledge required to set up a channel for another 3rd party voice program.

1.2 Teamspeak
Teamspeak is the first of the two third-party voice programs which will be explored in this guide. There are a number of free providers of Teamspeak servers out there and with a little effort; it shouldn’t be hard to find one.
Teamspeak is a better method of voice communication than In Game as you have the ability to call once dead. Another advantage is that Teamspeak sound quality is much better in game and you have a better chance of hearing (and understanding) your team mates.

http://www.teamspeak.com/

1.3 Ventrilio
Ventrilo or vent as it is more commonly called throughout the community is similar to that of Teamspeak. Ventrilo however is more widely used than any other of the 3rd party voice programs for one simple reason, it’s just better. The sound quality of ventrilo due to the codec’s they use makes it far better than any other program and in addition, its interface is very user friendly.

There are a few providers of vent channels the best of which being the Tomato Family and Reality Gaming. Both will generally be happy to set up a channel for you so find them on #tomatofamily #reality-gaming or #gotgames on irc.gamesurge.

http://www.ventrilo.com/

2.0 Calling 101 for Players
It is no longer enough to just call positions of enemies and leave it at that so it’s time to explore the basic techniques of good calling. You have chosen your method of voice communication, you have everyone in the server and you are about to war. Good. Let’s get started.


2.1 Footsteps
Just because you can’t see a player does not mean you can’t call. Take up a goblin spot and just listen. Most of the time you will be able to hear the opposing team making noise. Listen for their numbers, learn to differentiate between one set of footsteps, two, or a whole team AND THEN CALL IT. This information will give your team the advantage because your team mates will have a better idea of the entire situation if they know the numbers of the enemy near a particular position on the map. This will result in good controlled pushes as CT if they are confident that they will be pushing a lightly defended position, or potentially and undefended one and come in for a flank attack.

2.2 Being Flashed
Well you are now blind, can’t do much to help your team, right? WRONG. Being flashed gives you three vital pieces of information which, if relayed to your team can be highly beneficial. First, if you are blind this means there is an enemy nearby. Secondly, after being flashed there will most likely be a push. Thirdly, you know where you are but the enemy doesn’t (if you are hiding) so for all they know, you were not able to call their position.
If you are blind, call that you are blind and call WHERE. This gives any of your nearby team mates the opportunity to react and cover you. If you don’t call, you will be flashed, pushed then killed. If you do call, the pushing enemy will be caught off guard by your team mate covering you and the tables will be turned.

2.3 Damage
If you have been involved in a gun fight with one or more enemies and are killed, check the console and see how much damage you did to each player. This information relayed to your team can be vital in winning the round. Two players on 20 health can easily dispatch your last remaining member if he is kept in the dark about how much health they have. However, knowing that the enemies are low, the round can be won with a simple well placed grenade. On the other side of the coin, if the remaining enemies are on full health, knowing this your last remaining member may choose to save, or pick up an AWP to get long range kills.

2.4 The Bomb
When holding an area as counter-terrorist, if you see the bomb, CALL IT. If you don’t see the bomb and you are being rushed, CALL THAT ALSO! Far too often teams will fake a site with three while the bomb and another sneaks into the other site. Unless the bomb is called, good players will not rotate, so if you are playing on a team and you don’t call the bomb if your site is under assault, don’t expect any backup.
Bomb down is also another vital call. If you have bomb with you call it IMMEDIATELY. All the remaining members of your team should set up camp around that area to prevent the opposition from collecting the bomb and taking the round.

2.5 Backseat Calling
When you are dead and you have called information pertaining to your demise, unless you are the captain of that team, sit there and be quiet. There is nothing worse than a backseat caller stuffing things up for the alive players. (This rule is void if you are actively coaching a player). Leave the calling up to the captain, alive or dead.

2.6 Killing the Enemy
When you kill an enemy, call where he died. This information will paint a picture for the captain in order to make his move. On DUST2 for example, if you killed on short, and then long and you called both of them. Chances are you have a pretty easy run to A. If you don’t call where you got the kills, you have the opportunity of being picked off by the remaining members which would be the exact opposite of what you would want.

[MessiaH]

2.7 Counting Grenades
Everyone has heard of counting cards, but counting grenades? I’ll explain. When holding a site, be aware of the number of different grenade types thrown and count them. For example, three smokes just got thrown into your site. Common sense suggests that there has to be a minimum of three players in that area. Calling this information to your team mate and a quick flurry of nades from the both of you could decimate the opponents push or at least leave them on low health for quick easy kills.

On the other side of the coin, if you are about to take a site and two grenades and 4 flashes just got thrown to stop a push, you can be safe to assume that those in the site are out of grenades. Call this to your team and you may have an easy site take if the enemy hasn’t rotated yet.

2.8 Calling your Position
If your team gets split up for any reason while you are on the attacking side, don’t just walk/run around the map trying to get the last kills. Meet up with your team mates, get the bomb, and go for the objective. Call your position to your remaining members and have them call theirs. Work together and get to a central location, then regroup and take a site together. This will be a lot more effective than going Rambo.

If you are on CT and you are one of the two remaining members without a dropped bomb. Don’t hold one site together, call your position to your team mate and decide who will hold where. When the enemy pushes one site, get the call in early, but don’t attack them. Let them think they have taken the site for free. Try and goblin the planter if possible but give your team mate time to get there and retake together.

3.0 Calling 101 for Captains
This section is designed to assist eager players wanting to tune their calling skills and become callers for their teams, or new captains looking to improve their calling.

3.1 Base/Default Strategies
A team should have three basic strategies for each side, terrorist and counter-terrorist. Remember, less is more when you are starting out because an advanced strategy executed poorly is worse than a simple strategy executed well.
In their most simple form, the base strategies for terrorist would be a hard rush, slow push (hold and pick) and a delay rush.
For counter-terrorist you have an aggressive hold, passive hold (goblin) & aggressive push.
If you are in a stable team, design your strategy around your player’s strengths and weaknesses. If you have a strong sniper in the team, don’t call strategies which put him in close combat situations.
If you have a team full of entry killers, play hard aggressive strategies on terrorist and aggressive holds on counter-terrorist.

3.2 Money
By now your team should be typing their money at the start of every round so that you can call what to buy. If they aren’t then you aren’t doing your job as a captain properly. Rage at them, threaten their lives, do whatever you have to do to get them to type their money because without this knowledge, you can’t effectively call.

3.3 Employing Strategy
OK, so now you have your base strategies, your team is typing their money and you are calling when to buy and when to eco, it’s time to call.
Your job as a captain is to make sure everyone is doing what they are supposed to. If you are with an inexperienced team, call what each player should be doing rather than call a general strategy. This will leave no room for error. Call the strategy as early in the round as possible to everyone has a clear picture of what they are supposed to be doing without being rushed for time or stuff up their spawn by going the wrong way initially.

3.4 Call the Shots
So you have called your initial strategy and you are now halfway through a round. The initial strategy has not gone to plan so what now? You don’t have a man disadvantage so it all comes down to what you do from here. Midgame calling is crucial to the result of the round, simply calling at the beginning of the round then leaving it to be played out without further input from the captain is a recipe for disaster.
You need to think about three things.
1. Where your opponents were killed.
2. Do they have enough time to rotate to the position where you have the majority of your manpower?
3. Do you have time to wait it out and let them rotate so they are spread thin for a delayed attack?
Now is the time to call the shot. Whatever decision you make, it is imperative you make it immediately so you can regroup. Always keep your team mates working towards a common goal so that time will not catch you out.

3.5 End Game
You might be dead, but that doesn’t mean you can’t keep your team in line by calling what they should be doing. This is an excellent way to win rounds if you are more experienced in the game than your team mates. This rule is obviously void if you are confident in the remaining player’s ability to work it out themselves if they are already aware of the techniques advised in this guide.
If you see your team deviating from a plan, or think that there is another way they can go about wining the round (assuming you are privy to knowledge they are not due to previous calls throughout the round), let me know to give them a better chance at winning the round.
You should also be calling saves or clutch attempts. If the team has enough money to buy next round and there is no more than a 2 man advantage to the opposition, call for them to attempt to win the objective rather than save.

[MessiaH]

4.0 Advanced Strategies and Calling for Captains
So now you have called some wars for your team, becoming confident and have the ability to notice patterns in play. You win some; you lose some, but all the while gaining experience. You are beginning to thirst for the finer detail of strategies and how to call them. Let’s explore some.

4.1 Advanced Terrorist Strategy

Now that you have the basics down of how the terrorist side should be played, we can go into the specifics of how the three basic strategy templates can be manipulated into more technical strategies.

4.1.1 The Flank Strategy
Simple in theory, not so simple to employ is the Flank strategy. It is a hybrid of a hard rush and a slow push as members of your team will be doing different things. This is where you have four of your team attack one bombsite from two positions with the bomb drawing the defenders to rotate to this bombsite while the remaining member hangs back and waits. Winning the round lies on the shoulders of the flanker as pushing too early will result in them being spotted as the defenders may not have rotated yet, or pushing too late will result in the defenders retaking and defusing before the flanker has time to reach them.

The easiest way to call the flank strategy is to call for a split attack on a bombsite having two of each of your team mates attacking an area while you yourself play the flank at the furthest most point on the map. When your team is attacking the area you slow push the other bombsite coming from behind. You want to be doing this only after you can confirm that the defenders have spotted your team with the bomb at the other site otherwise they may not rotate.
Once the bomb has been planted the flanker can practically all out run up behind the opposition as at this stage the opposition will be running to retake themselves and not notice the extra set of footsteps due to all the noise.

Successful execution of this strategy would be losing one or two members taking the bombsite while taking out and equal number of defenders (depending on which bombsite it is) and getting the bomb down so the flanker clean up the rotating opposition. To help the flanker do his job properly, calling numbers of defenders and calling their deaths is vital.

The benefit of this strategy is that you are not putting all your eggs in one basket. Basically your best player should be made to play flank. Even if your initial attack gets shut down, if you have managed to get 3 or 4 kills, the flanker with the element of surprise, coming from a behind, and being your best player, chances are he will win the round.

MessiaH’s Strat Tip: If you are playing flanker and you have come up behind the enemy, do not shoot them if they have not seen you. Hold your fire until you are at extremely close range then kill them all together quickly. This is better than giving away your position by killing one from long range allowing the opposition to react and possibly kill you.

4.1.2 Fakes
Fakes are quite important to any terrorist side game. If you directly attack a bombsite every round without throwing in a fake every now and again, the defence will become privy to your play style and rotate earlier when a site is under assault. You can expect to be met with a flurry of grenades, flashes and spam fire which will thwart your attack. Nine times out of ten if you do an all out assault on a bombsite when the opposition still has their grenades your attack will be shut down so a good use of fakes is to draw grenades from the defence. This will also leave the opposition without grenades to retake once you have faked their site and assaulted the other. Another way to go about it is to double fake, drawing grenades from the site you intend to assault, faking the other, and then going back to the first site.

When calling a fake, make sure everyone on your team knows the true destination for the bomb. In addition, call an exact time on the countdown clock for everyone to regroup after the fake and assault the other site. This will ensure there are no stragglers and keep everything in line.

Standard fakes are easy to pull off because the entire team can run to one site, throw a flurry of smokes and flashes, then run together to the other site. Double fakes require a certain level of precision and timing.

When calling a double fake, call for three of your team to hold the choke point of the site you intend to assault with the bomb. The other two will go to the other site. Call for a fake at the first site (the true destination) and have them send a few flashes and smokes. Now, the other two at the other site will fake that one twenty seconds later (depending on rotate times of the map, extend this delay if the distance between bombsites is greater than normal eg. Season). The team of two will use all of their grenades smokes and flashes to draw as many defenders back to this site as possible. The team of two will now join the rest of the players at the first bombsite as they are flashing in to take it.

If correctly executed, you should be able to draw four defenders to the other bombsite making it easy pickings for the first team of terrorists.

MessiaH’s Strat Tip: Leave the second fake as late as possible in the round. The opposition will think that this fake must be where you intend to attack as it wouldn’t be possible for you to go back to the other bombsite.

4.1.3 The 2-1-2 Slow Push
The 2-1-2 is the bread and butter of counter-strike strategy. It is generally a mirror of your oppositions defence set up and pits your players against theirs. Terrain and positioning set aside, whoever has the quickest & sharpest aim will win.

This strategy is very player friendly because it is simple; however you still have a lot of work to do as a captain. At the start, make sure your players know which site you intend to assault and at what time on the counter. The purpose of this strategy is to develop a presence on all parts of the map meaning that the defence cannot rotate and must hold their set-up because at this point, they do not know where you intend to attack. Smokes are your friend for this kind of strategy. You want to block the view of your opponents so that at a time designated by the captain, 2 of your team can rotate to join the 1 in mid and split one bombsite together without being spotted.

To call this strategy, simply say 2-1-2, and call who should be holding which position. When your team gets better, you can play a 2-1-2 and have whoever has the closest spawn play that position. At the time of your assault, flash all areas together. This will no doubt cause confusion as most of the defence will call “flash in x area”. A quick rotate should see a team of 5 taking a position defended by two.

Getting in quick and as a group is the key to this strategy as the defence will still have their grenades and retakes will be harder to defend against.

MessiaH’s Strat Tip: This strategy can be turned into a Flank strategy on some maps such as de_dust2. Play the 2-1-2, but at the time of the A split, only have 2 short and 2 long leaving one in lower dark to catch rotates.

[MessiaH]

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!

[VLADTHEIMPALER]

Originally Posted by MessiaH

This guide is aimed at helping new players

STOPPED READING AFTER THIS

SUPER EFFORT THOUGH

-VLADTHEIMPALER

[MessiaH]

Originally Posted by VLADTHEIMPALER

STOPPED READING AFTER THIS

SUPER EFFORT THOUGH

-VLADTHEIMPALER

Don't worry, the more advanced stuff is coming soon.

[Zyther]

good guide

[Zaku]

Stopped reading when it said "MessiaH"

Did you also put in that an advanced caller whos team gets 16-0'd should dispute matches for unsportsmanlike behavior?

[Voodz]

Nice work thus far Messi. Good detail for an introductory guide, especially for new teams and players.

Can we move this to articles and leave a stuck redirect for a week or so?

[ze german]

<reserved 4 >

i mean gw mess. good read and good info for new players or players wishing to advance their skillz

[pod0087]

Actually worth reading great effort.

[esjay]

stopped reading when it implied messiaH actually knew something :P