Got any tips for a Counter Strike Noob?

[Continuity]

YEah, on the question of spraying, or more specifically learning not to, I tend to do a warm up with some bots whenever I get back into CSS. I often take just the deagle and only allow myself to shoot at heads... gets you into the right mind set for the game.

Also another rather more pro tip will be to get your mouse sensitivity right, there is some disagreement on exactly what sens is right but the source engine does support some pretty fine mouse configuration.
Some advocate high sens because the fights are quick and you need to get your cross hair onto the target quick, and as people go down so quick there is relatively little need for tracking say compared to UT... On the other hand many (myself included) advocate a medium or high sens to give you that extra accuracy, getting the crosshair onto the target quick is fine but if you can't consistently place the crosshair on their head then the effort is wasted.

I suggest you google mouse sens in CSS, you will get a lot of configurable settings come back plus a lot of suggestions.

Remember sens is usually measured in how far you have to move your mouse on the pad to create a certain amount of turn from your character in game. Personally I play at 10 inches per 360 degrees of turn, which is pretty much moving my mouse from one end of the pad to the other to turn my character around in a complete circle.

There is a lot to be said on the subject of your mouse, which one to use, and how to set it up... http://www.overclock.net/mice/173255-cs-s-mouse-optimization-guide.html

 

[Aphex Demon]

Use the AK47 when you're on the T side, and M4A1 when your on the CT side, when you have the cash. Oh and ALWAYS BUY A KEVLAR AND HELMET

 

[blankedboy]

Try to walk ALOT. You'll want to be walking most of the time in combat unless you're running for cover or standing still, which is probably a bad idea. The slower you move, the more accurate your shots are, but the easier you are to hit. Find a good compromise and set up your playstyle from there.

Also, make sure you're not buying shitty guns. The MP5, M4A1, AK47 and P90 are probably your best shots in terms of price and efficiency. Try not to spam with the autoshotgun, it's probably better practice to use the M3 anyway. Make sure you know what you're doing if you're rushing in with an autosniper, light SMG or M249. Once you get better with those first four (or five if you use the M3 alot), then it's probably better to move into other weapons. Don't snipe too much unless you do it alot in other games, no need to hinder your team by standing still and getting shot.

Oh yeah, and while cover might not seem very important in a game like Counter-Strike, USE IT. Use it lots. You can absolutely decimate the enemy team if you utilise cover properly. This goes for pretty much any FPS, come to think of it, no matter how open and fast-paced they get.

Learn to make distractions, too, like smoke-grenading areas nowhere near you or flashbanging people at the right time and place. That's certainly useful if you need to get somewhere fast, or distract a sniper, or sneak up or whatever.

Oh yeah, and try not to get into the habit of constanly changing weapons. If it helps, bind mousewheel down to jump and mousewheel up to fire, and just use 1, 2, 3 and 4 to change. This'll get you less inclined to change and quite often save you from a surprise encounter that you otherwise would've lost from just not having your weapon out.

Well, there's my set of tips. Go nuts :>

 

[cpnichol]

You need to have realistic expectations as you'll be playing against people who've put in 1000's of hours over years, so you will die a lot. To get past that you will need practice and patience.

Pick a small number of guns to use and get used to how they handle, M4, AK and Deagle are probably the best to start with but feel free to try out some of the others and see if you like them. Pick a couple of maps to play and get used to them, Dust2 and Office are popular and are a bit more open than maps like Dust or Assault.

As far as aiming goes, the Deagle and AK will 1 hit kill with a headshot, the other guns (except for AWP and Scout) take more than 1 hit to kill. So Deagle and AK aim for the head and other guns aim just below the head so you score a chest hit and then a headshot as the recoil raises your crosshair. You can spray but it's a bad idea unless you are very close to the target, to get an idea of how spraying works just create game and empty some guns into a wall from different ranges. If you do spray, most people do at some point, pull downwards as you do as this compensates for the upward recoil. It won't do anything about the bullet spread through.

Try to fire in 1 or 2 shot bursts as this is when the guns are at their most accurate. If you are moving, jumping or climbing ladders and firing you will miss unless you are very lucky.

You can create your own game and play against some bots, this can help you get used to the maps and basic gun handling but bots behave differently than real players. A deathmatch server can be a good place to get a lot of combat practice as you respawn when you die rather than having to sit around and wait for the next round. You can also just choose your weapons rather than having to worry about cash.

I could go on but this and some of the other suggestions should get you improving.

 

[Roserari]

Have fun. Don't play the game straight for a while. Use knives through entire rounds or something. Just go out there and try to mess with people's heads. You'll get used to the game, learn about the maps and then get better automatically.

 

[TheRyry]

Most importantly try to have fun with the game and you'll eventually get better in time.

 

[Jordi]

One thing that I think can be really useful for beginning players is to play on deathmatch servers. As a new player you need a lot of practice, and since you'll probably die a lot (and early) and you don't respawn until the next round in the vanilla game, that can be extremely time consuming. Not to mention that it can be frustrating to have to wait 5 minutes every time in order to play for 1.

With deathmatch you can get a lot more practice in a lot shorter time. If you can find a server that let's you choose your weapons, that will be great, because you can get easy practice with all of them. I usually set it to "random", so I'll be forced to adapt.
Alternatively, you could try playing with the gungame mod (and deathmatch). You'll start with a gun and every time you kill someone your gun is upgraded. This will also let you experience all guns, but only if you're good enough to keep up with the best on the server (because the game ends when one person killed someone with the last gun, which is usually the knife so that could actually take a while).

Do note that this will only help for practicing with the game mechanics and your reaction time, etc. The pace of these games is very different from the vanilla game. It is much faster, there is far less team play, a life is worth much less (since you respawn instantly), and there are no bombs or hostages. The vanilla game is much more strategic and to learn that aspect, you just have to play it (put some effort into finding a good, friendly server or clan). But I do think that the things deathmatch can teach you are very useful in the vanilla game as well.

 

[SL33TBL1ND]

Just enjoy yourself, you'll probably never be any good. I'm not, and yet I play anyway.

 

[GraveeKing]

Never stay still, unless you know the map and it's impossible for there to be a threat on either side - so in which case crouch and aim, one of the biggest killers for noobs is their shots get spread out and the spray doesn't hit anyone enough to kill them before they kill you.
Oh and jump around corners - Don't casually walk. A jump into a crouch can help as it gives mobility and accuracy in most cases.

 

[Strazdas]

there are still people buying this game? gosh and i though people have moved to more complex team deathmatch games 3 years ago. i guess its hard to root out the weeds.

 

[zalfy]

"Community is kind".......I laughed for a solid 15 minutes after reading that part.

 

[Serving UpSmiles]

1) aim for the head.

2) aim for the head.

3) aim for the head.

4) fire.

Truer words have never been spoken.

Also, try to memorize the various maps so you'll know what weapons to use and which corners campers will be lying in wait for you.

Personally I don't care for Counter-Strike, as it inevitably boils down to whichever team camps corners better wins. Also, many of the players I encountered were total dickwads.

The UK servers were nice enough to not flame me for being a noob, and some of them helped me figure out some of the mechanics like buying weapons and hotswaping etc.

 

[Continuity]

1) aim for the head.

2) aim for the head.

3) aim for the head.

4) fire.

Truer words have never been spoken.

Also, try to memorize the various maps so you'll know what weapons to use and which corners campers will be lying in wait for you.

Personally I don't care for Counter-Strike, as it inevitably boils down to whichever team camps corners better wins. Also, many of the players I encountered were total dickwads.

The UK servers were nice enough to not flame me for being a noob, and some of them helped me figure out some of the mechanics like buying weapons and hotswaping etc.

Yeah there are some good servers around in uk and Europe if you look for them, some of the public clan servers particularly are great but of course it varies from server to server.
The older ones with guys that have been playing together for years are often best but they only tend to convene at certain days and times at this point, and most have moved on to other games.

Also with the corner camping remark above, yeah some times it can get bogged down like that but on a good server you do still get reasonable teamwork and tactical play.. Especially if the awp is restricted as it is on most of the servers I play.