Counter Strike FAQ’s

This article is here to answer a few questions about CS:S.

A lot of people stumble across my blog when asking questions in Google about the game.  Unfortunately, this blog, as of yet, does not answer those questions and there is no way that I can get in contact with the people who pose the questions.  This section will grow as more questions are asked so be sure to check in from time to time.

So here is a compilation of the most common enquiries:

Q. How do you get a lower Steam ID?

A. The length of a Steam ID depends on how old it is.  Currently a new ID will be about eight digits.  If you wish to get a low digit ID, four or five digits, then you can purchase these from someone else, usually on Ebay.  This however is looked down on.  A lot of accounts get hacked and then sold on, so never buy a Steam Account from a source other than Valve.  If you want a Steam ID with four digits just to look good, then try and get good at the game instead.

Q.  How do you get someone’s Steam ID?

A. In console type ’status’ to see the name and Steam ID of everyone on the server.

Q. How do you turn off weapon recoil in the game?

A. Recoil is a part of the game.  To turn it off you need a hack.  If you do this then you are the scum of the Earth.  If you need to do this to play the game then go and play another game.  You’re not wanted in the CS:S community.

Q. H0w do you quick reload?

A. Different guns have different reload times.  You cannot make a gun reload faster than it already does.   If you are reloading and you come across an enemy and still have some bullets left in the chamber, tap the Q button twice to switch to a different weapon and then back to your main gun.  This stops the reload and gives you your remaining bullets.

Q. How do you use special characters in your name?

A. Go to your character map in your start menu ( Programs, accessories, System Tools) and choose which characters you want.  Copy and paste these into Counter Strike.

CS_Assault: Quick Wallbanging Tip

If you find yourself on a busy server running cs_assault and you are a CT, here is a nice spot to put yourself if you fancy getting some wallbang kills. The more people on the server the better as it increases the chances of people being where you want them to be.

This is your spot:

The terrorists on this map, more often than not, camp inside the warehouse including the catwalk that encircles the inside.

Get yourself a P90 and climb onto these crates. There are two places to fire at and they are as follows:

Now there is no guarantee that anyone will be there, that’s why it is best to try this on a very busy server. This wouldn’t work too well during a match, for example. All being well, after a bit of practice, you can notch up the odd cheeky kill.

Needless to say, you won’t get the top score on the server if you stay there everyday, but it’s fun when ya get one (not for them, lol).

News and Updates

Howdy,

Well after yesterdays 100+ visits, today followed suit, looks like traffic is getting a lot better here now. I know it’s nothing compared to other blogs but its a start. Plus, today saw its 1000th visit since its conception 2 months ago. Thank you once again.

I have added an RSS button to the site so that you can subscribe to this blog and have any updates sent to you immediately, one person has joined so far so don’t be shy. I know a lot of people don’t bother with them but they are woth it if you have a lot of sites that you check every day.

As for further articles I’m planning a mini series of Game Knowledge articles. This subject is quite broad and vague so I’m splitting it into different areas and releasing each part as I write it. Expect to see articles such as:

• Knowing whats going on: Using the radar, Using sound
• Common Sense and Reasoning
• Doing it for the Team
• How to use a server’s trend to your advantage
• Know your map
• Where is the bomb/bomb carrier?

I hope that sounds interesting. If you have any suggestions or complaints then either leave a comment to this post or contact me by clicking on the ‘Contact Akira’ page situated below the Blog Header.

A Very Big Thank You-Over 100 Visits in A Day

Just a quick post to say a big thank you to everyone that has visited the site and enjoyed the articles and commented on them, either here or to me personally on other forums or in game.

This site is just over two months old and today is the first day that I have received over 100 visits in one day. In fact visits to the site has shot up dramatically these last two weeks.

I must say, though, that I am disturbed by some of the visitors I get, haha. To those of you who don’t use WordPress there is a feature that shows different stats on visitors and who read what etc. It also shows visits made by people who do a search on Google (other search engines are available) and what they have typed to get here. Every day there seems to be people who are looking for ways to get hacks, to turn off recoil, how to always get headshots etc, lol. It’s just a shame that I don’t have their email addresses really. Oh well.

Happy fragging.

De_Cbble: Planting the Bomb at Site B

There may be a full overview of Cbble in the near future but, in the meantime, here is a handy hint for Terrorists.

Bombsite B:

Here it is, a bunch of crates and some steps. Not entirely sure what the strategical advantages of blowing up this area could be, what exactly is in those crates?

The common place to plant the bomb here is behind the two crates on the left and then to camp next to it, opposite it or to go up the stairs and camp there. What’s wrong with this?

Well, when I’ve been a CT and come trotting to a beeping site B and couldn’t see the bomb, I knew tat the bomb was behind the boxes and, therefore, that there were some nasty terrorists somewhere in that area. No surprises then that out come the flashes and the nade and, if I’m hacking lucky I can pop a few off and maybe even get the defuse. If there are more than just me then we stand a good chance of winning the round.

Plus, if one of gets in and starts the defuse and there are other T’s approaching the site, they cannot pick off the defuser as they are hidden by the boxes. They have to waste time running all the way up to the site.

The solution?

Ok, so what do we have here? Bomb out in the open, any defuser is going to need some good defense around him, very low risk of a ninja defuse. Plus, a few more places for camping T’s to be hiding. So that’s all very nice, some people may say ‘yeah, each to their own, no clear cut advantage’. But here is what makes this spot super happy 1337:

Planting the bomb here allows you to keep an eye on it from a very nice little spot out of the way of most flashbangs and nades and crossfire that may be happening around the site. Your cosy lookout post is here:

From here you have a great view of the bomb, obviously any sniper is laughing at this distance. Should you see someone start a defuse you can safely fire at him. Even with a pistol you can take them out before they finish. A funny thing is to watch them try and figure out where the shots are coming from. This position is especially good if you are the only guy left and have managed to get the bomb down with the enemy elsewhere in the map.

You are fairly safe, a nice distance from the bomb means that the explosion won’t kill you, the enemy will take a while working out where you are and if they get to you and kill you they still ahve to get back to the bomb. All the while the bomb is ticking, not much time for them really.

A word of caution: Your only main point of vulnerability is from here:

Depending on how many people you are playing against determines the chances of people passing through here. Against a small team, say in a match, the chances are that they are already at B and maybe some are at A and are coming the other way. Keep your ears open. With the bomb placed anyone coming through this way will be running and these corridors aren’t exactly lined with wall-to-wall shagpile carpet. Your main focus is the bomb but occasionally make brief, visual checks of this doorway.

This trick can be used a lot of times because even if they know what your doing, they still have to waste time coming after you.

The only tricky part is getting the bomb down in the first place…

Tips on Spotting Hackers

Hackers are the scum of the Earth! Only three groups of people are worse: Nazi war criminals, suicide bombers and people who bought Daphne and Celeste singles (you know who you are).

For some reason they like to highlight their nabishness (c’mon Oxford Dictionary 2008, make me a hero), and show that they spend evenings cheating at a game which is very easy to be reasonably good at.

Obviously, the easiest way to beat them is to ban them and stop them from playing on the servers we all enjoy. Before we can do that though, we need to determine that they are cheating and then we need proof.

What to look for:

Here are just a few things to look out for when speccing a suspected hacker. There are many others and please feel free to name your own with a comment at the bottom.

• Ridiculously high score. Its not difficult to get a score of 30-5, 40-7 etc but if it’s waaaay high and the death count is low. This first point is only a hint or a suspicion raiser. A high score does not mean a cheater.
  
• Shaky crosshair. If you spec them and their crosshair is all over the place, in a manner that you would have trouble playing like that, chances are its an aimbot.
• Constant headshots. As a pistol whore I aim for the head always, on most servers my headshot percentage is around 50-65% (on a good day). A pro would be higher, obviously. Aimbotters tend to get headshots with most weapons and very often. However, more advanced aimbots dont just aim for the head but also the torso. If you suspect someone of cheating but they aren’t getting too many headshots, dont dismiss them on that fact alone. But, a high number of headshots in itself is not proof of hacking. Please see the next point.
• Look at them run, where are they aiming? A good player will run with his crosshair at head height, thats a reason they get a lot of kills. Now, going on the point prior to this, if they get a lot of headshots but always run around aiming down like a lot of noobs do, this is a good sign that they may have some kind of aimbot.
• Looking through walls. Yes wallhackers look through walls. The real morons out there actually do it blatantly even when there are seven people in spectator mode.
• Pre-fire. Some people pre-fire at every obvious hiding place, this is OK though a bit wasteful and a great help to the enemy to let them know someone is approaching. If someone has radar hacks or wallhacks they will pre-fire only in places where the enemy actually is.
• Look at the player. What is his Steam ID? If it’s four digits then there’s a good reason why he’s kicking your arse. If it’s eight digits then be suspicious, but this isn’t proof by itself. What is his name? Is his name offensive, immature or full of random characters and 1337 speak? Member of a clan? Check them out.
• Running super fast. Obvious one really, if he’s running twice as fast as you, then its speed hacks and I’ve never seen a speedhacker that doesn’t have aimbot, apart from the ones who only go for knife kills.

How to deal with hackers:

You have two choices: Leave and join another server or try and get rid of them. The first choice is easy, the second is not.

Once you have suspected someone of cheating (and it’s not just you being a nab at CS:S) here is what to do. Spec them. Go into the console and type ‘demo ***’ instead of asterisks type something that you will remember. Then continue to spec him for a while until you feel as though you have seen enough ‘proof’. This will be saved into your counter strike folder and the file can then be sent to others.

At no point announce that you think he is hacking. A lot of cheaters will then promptly leave for another server. if you have to talk about him do it in team chat (press ‘u’) or talk when you’re dead and he isn’t. If an admin is on the server type @ and your message to send it to them alone.

Ok, you have your demo, you feel there is enough in there to convince people that this guys is cheating. Go to your console again and type ’status’. This will bring up a list of everyone on the server along with their Steam ID. Make a note of it or copy it and paste elsewhere. Or, on some servers, you can type ‘zb_netinfo’ which gives the same info plus the rates that they are using. I have a big thing about people having low rates, but that’s another rant for another post, lol.

Ok, so now you should have a demo of the hacker and his name (at that time) and Steam ID. The next step is to find an admin for your favourite server. You may already know one and how to contact them. If not then visit the forums for the clan who run the server, most have the website address pop up in intervals so keep an eye out. If one is online then add to your steam friends on on x-fire, their details should also be on the website.

Send them a message stating when this hacker was online, give their name and Steam ID and send them the demo file (what did you name it as again?). Also say why you think they were hacking.

It is now in their hands. If they decide it was a hacker then they will be bitch slapped off the server.

Another option is to send to Steambans.com. This is very popular but I have my doubts about their effectiveness. At the end of the day (you go to bed), it is very rare to be 100% sure that someone is cheating. An admin has the right to decide whether one person should be allowed on their server. I don’t like the idea that a handful of so-called experts can stop someone from going on thousands of servers because they think they are cheating.

If you get banned off a server for cheating and you are innocent it’s very annoying, especially if that is one of your favourite servers, believe me, I’ve had it done to me many times. But imagine how much more worse it would be if you couldn’t get on loads of servers and you were innocent. Mistakes are made by even the best of ’spotters’. My personal preference is let each server’s admin take charge of their own server.

So there you have it, it’s not an exhaustive list, but it should point you in the right direction and give you a good place to start.

I’ll end it here as I fancy a frag. Now, where did I put my aimbot mousepad?

CS:S Quick Tips

Never put your full trust in a flashbang.

The Q button is your friend, make sure you know what you’ll switch to though.

Use a smoke as a fake flash.

If you are in the middle of reloading but still have some rounds left in the mag and someone pops out and attacks you, dont wait for the reload to finish. Instead, press Q twice to switch back to your gun and cancelling the reload. This also works when taking a silencer on/off.

In a match when you kill someone then can still see from their corpse for a few seconds, they will call which way you are heading. So wait a few seconds and then change your direction, especially useful if you’re the last man standing on your team.

On Dust2 when going short A there is a ledge along the catwalk. Running on that will sound as though you are running down mid rather than the heavy footsteps of the paved catwalk.

The Magic Bullet

This doesn’t involve a grassy knol, a second shooter or even a dead president. Here is a cheeky trick to use on a pistol server or when you and your opponent both have pistols.

Ok, imagine the scene: Your tearing round a map and come across a hostile, you both have pistols and start squeezing triggers. Sooner or later you both run out of bullets, if one of you don’t end up a bloody heap on the floor, then you both start either reloading or switch to knives. Maybe one starts to reload whilst the other one gets his knife out.

When I’m out and about pistol whoring, not that I do it that much lol, I always have my knife ready and waiting for a quick tap of the Q button to get that cheap frag. Now here’s where the sneaky, down right cheeky and cheap tip comes into play. Engage the enemy, fire ya little army of lead soldiers but stop and switch to knife when you have one bullet left. All the while trying to dodge his shots, obviously. He may have a few rounds left, especially if he’s using the deagle and firing a bit slower. Come at him with the knife, strafing all the while. Be careful though, he sees you with a knife out and he may take extra care with his last few rounds. When he runs out he wont be too fussed because he can reload whilst still backing off from you and plus, you haven’t reloaded yet.

This is the moment when you switch back to your pistol and deliver ya final package, BOOM! Smeg shot!! Out of ‘nowhere’ a bullet magically appears in your chamber without you reloading. Obviously, you can save a few bullets in the chamber so that you have back-up should ya first shot miss (noob), but it feels a whole lot better if ya save just one.

Reading this may seem a bit strange, but it does work. Make sure that knife is on Q and that you keep advancing towards him whilst firing and continue when you draw your knife. Strafe out those last rounds and take him out once he’s spent.

Be a Gunslinger…Sling Your Gun!

Ok, its been a while since an update and , as I’m at work, here’s a nice, short and quirky tip I can get away with writing whilst sat opposite my boss. Only ideal for public servers with noobs on:

Trapped with no flashbangs or smoke nades: Right, so your trapped behind something, a box or a corner, and a guy knows your there and you can sense him just crouching and aiming head height ready to pick your noggin off. You’re out of flashes, you even used your smoke to spoil the noob AWPers fun.

Don’t worry, it’s not over yet!

There are two last ditch efforts you can try before just leaping out John Woo style, hoping to pick them off before they deliver a lead nugget to your head. Most likely you’ll have a pistol and a rifle (noob, lol). The first thing you can do is throw your pistol just as you would a flashbang and then pop out and try and catch him off guard. He may think its a flash (though few good players do) and turn away, or it may just distract him enough for you to get your noob rifle off first, thus ending his sorry round.

Secondly, if you’re good with a pistol and feel extra cocky (and suicidal) you can do a reverse of the above. Now, nobody in their right mind would see a rifle hurtling towards and think ‘crap, a flashbang, I must turn my back and retreat’. So, you don’t throw it like a flashbang. Instead the aim hear is purely distraction and when i say distraction I’m talking fractions of a second. The guy isn’t going to be staring at a pretty M4 (‘oooh, it even has a fancy silencer’) flying through the air all day. You’re gonna have to through it, not to him, but straight across where you would strafe out. Try and get it as high and far as possible. The important thing here is to get out as soon as you throw it so that as your pistol is ready to fire, your crosshair is on him.

This sounds a bit daft but it really does work on the average schmoe you find on public servers, but don’t expect everyone to fall for it and to get away with doing it every time with the same guy. I’ve even seen people firing at rifles that have been thrown, lol. If you try this in a mid+ match then you must be very desperate or just want to die in style, lol.

Final tip: If you only have a pistol, don’t throw that and hope to get a knife, otherwise you’ll be dead before you have time to write and complain on here.