CCS: Counter Strike Source Help

Recommended Videos

Siuki

New member
Nov 18, 2009
706
0
0
I've recently been playing Counter Strike: Source looking for an extraordinary multiplayer experience, and I'm getting my ass kicked. I know I would suck badly when I went in, just ask my K:D ratio of 1 kill to 4 deaths, but there has to be some way to play the game right. I haven't spent the 2 minute respawns staring at a wall. I take cover, fire in short bursts, stick with my team, look away from frags, and have been generally playing it safe with no avail. I still get gunned down, time after time. I don't know if it's the weapon choice(I stick with the main assault rifle, or the Bullpup AUG if I'm feeling bad and the Night Hawk(Desert Eagle) for my secondary) or my patience(slowly edge out of corners, fire off a few rounds, miss, get sniped by an AWP).

TL;DR: I know there are some great CS:)S) players on the Escapist, and you've proven to me on my Fallout 3 help thread that the inhabitants of the Escapist give helpful advice, so I'm looking for some tips, tricks, or any strategies that have helped you stay at the top of the scoreboard when it comes to playing CS:)S).

P.S. I'll be leaving this thread up overnight(I live in California, state/province in the U.S.), so don't expect my to reply anytime soon. Good night.
 

Jim From Accounting

New member
Mar 10, 2010
446
0
0
you could keep playing until you get better. thats the only way so stop winging.

the 1st fue months u played i sucked but i got better.

so suck it up.
 

koeniginator

New member
Jul 29, 2009
188
0
0
Play on some of those deathmatch servers, that were you die, you instantly respawn and can get back in the action again.
It's very helpful for learning the guns, and the extra gunplay time doesn't hurt either.
Also, it's CSS, not CCS, look at your title.
 

archaicmalevolence

New member
Jul 16, 2010
227
0
0
you could always try practicing with bots but i recently bought counter strike source eswell this week am only 6 hrs into and my performance is hit and miss. Just really need to practice to get better and find the right settings on your mouse and keyboard for you.
 

teqrevisited

New member
Mar 17, 2010
2,340
0
0
I would avoid going head on with an AWP user. You're trying to play an fps while they're playing a point & click adventure game where everything they click on falls over backwards.

Don't rely on frag grenades too much as you pretty much have to throw the grenade down their throat to have it do any real damage. Only in enclosed places like short A stairs and B tunnels do they become nice room clearers.

If you're out in the open, keep moving. When an AWP user brings the bolt back it's your time to get some shots in. Same with reloading enemies. Just don't charge in recklessly as they will be standing still with greater accuracy. Round a corner with a prepared enemy; Flash first, shoot second.
 

MR T3D

New member
Feb 21, 2009
1,423
0
0
quite simply, you need to learn to aim in the game.

PROTIP: gun's have recoil that climbs OUT OF THE CROSS HAIR, as you spray, aim lower.
 

BeeRye

New member
Mar 4, 2009
327
0
0
There will be no substitute to practice, but there are things to focus on right away. First of all, like ted said the recoil will actually be going above your crosshair when you spray, and you need pull down quite a bit. Don't bother trying to learn recoil patterns, unlike 1.6 source has no set recoil patterns, only vertical climb followed by random left and right movement. Try not to spray unless you're at close range or shooting at multiple targets closely grouped. Don't bother crouching to control your spray either, it might help but against any player of decent skill crouching results in extremely quick death.

Don't fire while moving unless you are extremely close. When head on with an enemy strafe side to side, bursting during the brief moment when you are stopped between changing directions. Come to a complete stop before you fire. To do this don't just let go of one strafe key, you should tap the opposite strafe key to come to a stop quicker. You can also tap off shots, especially with the ak at long range. This should give you an idea of what i mean.


Don't bother using weapons other than the ak, m4, awp and deagle, as well as the usp and glock. Once you've learned those, using anything else won't make sense as they can out perform every other weapon in all situations. Although it's personal preference I'd find the lowest sensitivity you're comfortable with and then lower it a bit more. It can really help accuracy in the long term. To put it in perspective it takes me about 80cm of mouse movement to do a 360 turn. You don't have to go to extremes but lower sensititivities tend to make long range aiming easier, and it's easier to learn to make long sweeps with your mouse to aim at close range opponents using low sensitivity than it is to make tiny movements to aim at long distances with high sensitivity.

Sound is important, if you're not already using headphones then I would start if at all possible. Just make sure you can hear all the important audio cues such as footsteps and reloading sounds. If you think an enemy is around a corner you can use a nade and listen for the dink noise.

There's really piles of stuff to learn to become decent at the game, too much to mention on a form post. The key is to keep playing and try not to get frustrated, which is easy to let happen because you have to wait between rounds. Common sense is pretty much king though. If you think peeking a corner is going to get you awped, don't peek it. Try and get yourself into positions where you can duke it out with enemies on your terms, if you're currently struggling to hit long range shots then avoid peeking long sight-lines and force them to come to you. You can add me if you want to ask anything specific but keep playing and you'll start to improve. :)
 

Siuki

New member
Nov 18, 2009
706
0
0
koeniginator said:
Also, it's CSS, not CCS, look at your title.
Ah, crap. Knew I missed something. There are deathmatch servers? Sorry for being a newbie, but I've been playing a lot of cs_offices.
BeeRye said:
When head on with an enemy strafe side to side, bursting during the brief moment when you are stopped between changing directions.
I remember a youtube vid gave a demonstration on that. It helps a lot. Also, I'll try firing in short clicks to reduce recoil.

Overall, thanks to everyone for the help.
 

BeeRye

New member
Mar 4, 2009
327
0
0
stinkychops said:
Bait people.
Well baiting is one way to amass a kdr on a public, but to be honest all it does is make you horrible at the game and you'll still get smashed by decent players when you do it.
 

Beryl77

New member
Mar 26, 2010
1,598
0
0
I've noticed recently that in games like mw2 and bfbc2 it didn't take me long to get good but in css it took me a long time to get from negative to positive kdr. What you should do to get better is just play play play. Maybe watch some videos from pro players, play against bots but just stick to it, even if it's hard at the beginning.
 

Motoko Minato

New member
Jul 21, 2010
23
0
0
BeeRye said:
Don't bother using weapons other than the ak, m4, awp and deagle, as well as the usp and glock. Once you've learned those, using anything else won't make sense as they can out perform every other weapon in all situations. Although it's personal preference I'd find the lowest sensitivity you're comfortable with and then lower it a bit more. It can really help accuracy in the long term. To put it in perspective it takes me about 80cm of mouse movement to do a 360 turn. You don't have to go to extremes but lower sensititivities tend to make long range aiming easier, and it's easier to learn to make long sweeps with your mouse to aim at close range opponents using low sensitivity than it is to make tiny movements to aim at long distances with high sensitivity.
So, wait? Its better to have a lower sensitivity than a higher one?
 

Firetaffer

Senior Member
May 9, 2010
731
0
21
It takes time, when I first played CS/S, jesus I was shit.

Now I pretty much have a 1-1.5/1 k/d ratio. Join a gun-game server, some say it doesn't help, but it's fun and you get to try out new weapons!
 

ActivatorX

New member
Sep 11, 2010
127
0
0
M4 - Incredible weapon, easiest one to use for a beginner, but still very effective in the hands of a "pro".
AK47 - Incredible weapon, very hard to master. I would say it's my favourite assault rifle.
Glock - Totally useless and ineffective, but in the hands of a "pro" it can do serious damage.
Elites - Very "newbie-friendly" weapons, incredibly easy to use, and can pose a serious threat in the hands of an experienced player.
Deagle - The best pistol, not so hard to master but extremely efficient. I think it's fixed now, but a few years ago the Deagle was the most feared weapon in close combat, due to the 1st bullet of the round always flying exactly at what you were pointing at.
AWP - Easy to learn, not so hard to master. AWP is basically a 1-hit kill. The drawback of an AWP is incredibly slow running speed and the long reloading.
Scout - My favourite weapon. Very hard to master and very efficient. With the Scout, you have the fastest running speed (even faster than with the knife). The reloading is very fast. In my book, it's just the best weapon there is, and I always use it, along with a Deagle.
TMP - The most under-rated weapon, seriously. It shoots incredibly fast, reloads incredibly fast and your running speed with it is amongst the highest.

Basically, I suggest you use the m4 all the time until you get a hang of it and the gameplay.
When you've spent some hours on CS:S, you will be able to use any weapon efficiently.
Oh, and try to stay away from the Para, it's the crappiest weapon out there.

Motoko Minato said:
BeeRye said:
Don't bother using weapons other than the ak, m4, awp and deagle, as well as the usp and glock. Once you've learned those, using anything else won't make sense as they can out perform every other weapon in all situations. Although it's personal preference I'd find the lowest sensitivity you're comfortable with and then lower it a bit more. It can really help accuracy in the long term. To put it in perspective it takes me about 80cm of mouse movement to do a 360 turn. You don't have to go to extremes but lower sensititivities tend to make long range aiming easier, and it's easier to learn to make long sweeps with your mouse to aim at close range opponents using low sensitivity than it is to make tiny movements to aim at long distances with high sensitivity.
So, wait? Its better to have a lower sensitivity than a higher one?
I wouldn't recommend low sensitivity. If you hear someone coming from the back, you'll be dead before you turn around.

Also, players who like to bhop and surf, usually have higher sensitivity.
 

fix-the-spade

New member
Feb 25, 2008
8,637
0
0
Siuki said:
my patience(slowly edge out of corners, fire off a few rounds, miss, get sniped by an AWP)
Never ever go around a corner slowly. Either run out full pelt or find another route, but don't slowly move round as your shadow and/or the end of your gun will give you away. Plus bits of you are exposed before you can see to shoot.

Other than that, Body armuor, the M4 and MP5 are your friends, watch what your team mates do and practice, lots.
 

KiKiweaky

New member
Aug 29, 2008
970
0
0
Aye I'd say deathmatch is probably your best bet. No coonsequences for dying.

Keep chipping away, you'll improve over time.
 

BeeRye

New member
Mar 4, 2009
327
0
0
ActivatorX said:
I wouldn't recommend low sensitivity. If you hear someone coming from the back, you'll be dead before you turn around.

Also, players who like to bhop and surf, usually have higher sensitivity.
If a good player gets behind you, he will kill you before you can turn around, no sensitivity will change this. Bunnyhopping is essentially killed off by the new updates, and is not used competitively. I've never really played surf, but granted higher sensitivity is probably necessary for it.

Low sensitivity makes it easier to achieve consistency in your aim, as most of the action in CSS takes place in a very small field of view. The main drawback of low sensitivity is slow turning speed when avoiding flashes or tracking enemies up close. However, it's a far smaller problem than the difficulties created by having a high sensitivity while aiming at distant targets.

Basically, on low sensitivty the smallest possible distance you have to adjust your crosshair to hit a target will require a movement of the mouse that is significant and repeatable. This distance will require minute movements when on high sensitivity, sometimes in the millimetres - which is extremely difficult to replicate correctly, especially when under pressure.

You shouldn't consider the sensitivity as a tool for turning. It's a tool for aiming. The only times you actually "turn" in CSS are when you move to face a completely new direction. Everything else is really just aiming within the 90 degree fov that is currently on your screen. It's preference really, but lower sensitivities are easier to achieve consistent aim with than higher sensitivities, and you will learn to move your mouse faster to make quick turns when needed.
 

BENZOOKA

This is the most wittiest title
Oct 26, 2009
3,919
0
0
Aim is very important. You can go a long with just the skill to aim well. The best way to practice that, is to play on Deathmatch servers. Prefer the ones where you can spawn all around the map, rather than in regular spawns, and prefer regular maps as well, so you can apply some same face-off plays on normal play you might learn in deathmatch. It's a totally different game there though. The skill level there can be very low (or adequate if you're lucky). You have no objectives and there's also a better chance to get to the back of your opponents or otherwise catch them off guard. Something you won't come across on a regular game of CS:S.

You can learn to aim very well on normal games as well (you can also learn a lot of other stuff, opposed to deathmatch), it's just that you get a lot more repetition, more heads to hunt, quicker actions and so on: Through repetition the action of aiming becomes more automatic. You don't even need to think about it and you've got your crosshair where it should be.

Pay attention where you are aiming at the current time, also when you move: It's a common mistake to run around aiming at the ground 2 feet in front of you. It's a long way from there to the corner where the enemy might be approaching.

Try not to get excited/frustrated/angry. It can ruin your game. If you get shot by an AWP and it seems like he was just lucky: It doesn't matter. You get to be lucky at times as well. On the other hand, if you're facing 4 enemies alone, being the last one of your team, and manage to kill 3 of them, and you have began to tremble with excitement, you'll have a harder time catching the last one. Leave the cheers to the end of the round.

Know where the enemy is. Know where you're teammates are. Some players can actually tell where their enemies are, even though they haven't even seen a glimpse of them:
A flash was thrown there (without a 'fire in the hole' or from a place you know your teammates can't be at).
A teammate got killed. I know where he went so.
I heard an AWP there.
An enemy shot at me and went back to cover again. Now he's back, nope. It's a different model/nick/weapon so it's another enemy. There might be even more than two of them.
If they were to come that way, they would already be here.
That's the sound of two footsteps.
And so on... Some players guess where the enemy is coming from. Some players know, because they think.

Try not to get edged out. Try to get that edge yourself If an enemy with an AWP is keeping a look at on open space where you're going to go next; he has the edge over you. You know it'll take a one in a million shot with the deagle to get him down before he does that for you. So, do something different instead: try to flash him or go another way.

If you're on an area where there are several places to keep a look at the approaching enemy, and all the enemy has, is a spot to peek and try their luck from: You've got the edge. If you were the enemy, you'd do anything to get pass that peeking point (with flashes, suppressing fire, smokes...), because after you get pass that, the enemy will no longer have the huge edge over you.

Kind of the same thing with bomb places. If you know there are 5 CT's guarding A, then go B, because you know there's only 2 of them tops watching that. Then you'll have a better chance going there.

Look at the scoreboard occasionally, especially in the end of the round. It helps to know how many enemies you're facing and if you have teammates still alive.

More importantly, look at the clock occasionally. If you don't complete the objective until the time runs out: you lose.

It might help if you've tweaked the game to run in DirectX 8.1, having every quality option set to 0 or off / have the best config for you, have a 120hz monitor, a million dpi mouse, are running the game in 500fps, have a 200 ? sound card with an excellent headset. But even then it's more about what you're used to, and these kind of (minimal) differences are enough to create differences amongst the very best. Then again, if a moderate player were to play with that kind of a setting against a better player with a worse computer, having default settings, 60hz monitor, and clocking 50 fps, at best: The better player would still probably win.

Just a couple lil' tips more:
Don't be afraid! You can go to places as the first player instead of blocking every other player when you decide "I don wanna" in a narrow doorway.
Kind of on the same subject: If you're rushing somewhere, you can really go rushing and very hard there: straight running, throwing flashes, it doesn't matter if you get flashed, the enemies will be flashed as well and running for cover. That's a good way to take many for a surprise, as many players won't be expecting that.
Pick your targets: If you've got to the back of your enemies, you might want to take your time and headshot the one running around, instead of that AWPer on deep concentration, not to mention that AFKer, whose the least threat to you.

I suppose that's of some use. Just the first couple things that popped into mind.
 

Siuki

New member
Nov 18, 2009
706
0
0
Thanks again for all the great advice. I've tried a deathmatch game on dust and I got around a 1:1 ratio. Bots are fun to play around with, but they're pretty stupid when it comes to confrontations though. The M4/Deagle combo did me well in deathmatch, so I'll be using that along with a flash grenade for normal games. Unless I'm a Terrorist. Then I'll probably pick the Elites and the AK.
 

TheYellowCellPhone

New member
Sep 26, 2009
8,613
0
0

Well, for more serious tips:

1. Use the M3 over the M1014
2. ONLY use the AK-47 and M4 when you first start off
3. At first, don't use grenades, you'll kill or blind your team.
4. For sniping, use the AWP/AWM, since it's just a "shoot in the general direction while scoped" gun. Overpowered and you usually don't have to hit an enemy.
5. Frag grenades are weak. Never use them.
6. Knife makes you run the fastest.
7. The best SMGs are the MP5 and the P90.
8. If you have the M249, don't take your finger off the trigger -- 100 rounds per clip, and at least three shots have to hit someone.
9. Yes, the Desert Eagle is powerful and good, but learn the default pistols (USP and Glock) so you don't always have to buy a Deagle
10. Always buy armor
11. Nightvision is practically useless
12. Learn maps by creating a server and walking around for a while
13. The Sig 552 (CT scoped assault rifel) is boss
14. Building on from the above tip, the Sig 550 (CT auto sniper) is also boss
15. Strangley enough, get skins for weapons here [http://www.fpsbanana.com/skins/games/2], and see if your skill increases. I know when I downloaded a Kriss model for the UMP I really became good with it.
16. If you want accuracy and fast fire rates, use the FAMAS, and activate its three-round burst mode.
17. Crouch and use bursts with rifles at a range; with SMGs or shotguns either spam bullets or hide.
18. Usually you never reload, always switch to your other weapon. (with an exception to shotguns and debatably the Deagle and TMP)
 

Siuki

New member
Nov 18, 2009
706
0
0
TheYellowCellPhone said:
15. Strangley enough, get skins for weapons here [http://www.fpsbanana.com/skins/games/2], and see if your skill increases. I know when I downloaded a Kriss model for the UMP I really became good with it.
Damn good advice. Thanks. I've already used FPSBanana before for TF2 skins, and I've noticed the gameplay difference. Some guns feel stronger if you use the right skin for 'em. I'm trying the Scar skin on the front page. Looks pretty sweet.