Akira’s Blog Has Moved

Well, after considering it for some time I have decided to make my blog more of a website and to get my own domain etc. Therefore there will no longer be any updates on this blog.

All the tips and tricks from this site has been moved to there and all future posts will now take place at so be sure to add that to your favourites and subscribe so you don’t miss out on any new posts. There has been a lot of activity on here the last two weeks and I plan on making many more posts.

So come on over and bring a bottle of wine.

Basic Match Tactics for Dust 2 – Episode 4 – The Tour to Short

Yay, another tactic where everyone sticks together.

We’re going to go the long way to bombsite A, but on the way we are going to cause a distraction at B to hold off anyone there.

First step, lob a smoke from spawn to mid doors.  Everyone rushes tunnels and heads right.  Someone, not the lead guy, lobs a smoke into B and sticks with the rest of the crew.  Everyone runs from lower, up mid, and there’s a nice cloud of smoke at the doors to protect against any sniper.  The team need to be on guard for any CT rushing long doors, the could meet him head on at tree so get ready to take anyone down.  Head through to short, its important that everyone is still together, there will likely be someone at short but he/they wont stand a chance against five Ts.  Then it is the job to secure the sight and plant the bomb which the team should have their own tactics for this.

This is not a tactic that you are going to use every round.  The benefits of it though are the distraction at B, holding off B defenders, and it buys time to draw out any rushers from long.  Sometimes you want to hold outside of a site when you know the enemy have a tendency to rush most of the time, on this tactic, a long rusher will come face to face with the full team around the tree (if he goes through T spawn then thats one less guy to worry about for now).

Where to Plant at Bombsite B

I’m not going to discuss how to defend bombsite B in this post either.  But one crucial point to defending it is where you plant the bomb.  When planting the bomb on any map you need to find a spot where a defuser will be seen from the most angles, especial from a long distance (e.g. from pit at long).

So looking at the B site on Dust 2, below is a common spot to plant on a public server, and sometimes during matches.  First of all, it’s a nice safe spot whilst your planting and it kinda hides the bomb, right?  Well, nobody is going to be running around looking for the bomb, it’s going to be obvious where it is.  Now lets say that you plant it there and want to defend it directly.  As illustrated below there are only a few spots you can defend from where you can see a guy defusing.  What if the CT comes into the site and kills anyone in there, leaving one T left who is in mid?  The defuse starts, the T runs from mid doors to B doors, and then has to run to the back of the site before he can kill the defuser.  Or, he may go through tunnels, he enters the site, cannot see the defuser, and again has to run through the entire site before he can make the kill.  In almost every situation there is not enough time for the last guy to get to the site and kill the CT.  That’s one round to the CTs.

The wrong place to plant

Now look at the picture below.  It’s a different place to plant the bomb, but the difference is obvious.  Many more sight lines become available, making a ninja defuse very unlikely.  The two most vital sightlines, though, are the ones from B doors and from tunnels.  There are plenty of places for the B defenders to protect the bomb and any Ts who are elsewhere, such as mid and tunnels can easily rush in if needed.

The best place to plant

Basic Match Tactics for Dust 2 – Episode 3 – The B Rush

The B Rush may be one of the simplest tactics on paper, but it is also the easiest one to screw up by doing the tiniest things wrong.

The basic idea is to simply run as fast as your clogs will carry you into the tunnels, never stopping.  As the lead man enters the tunel he looks right, to take out anyone on the steps.  Without stopping he or the man behind, depending on who is in front after any stair shennanigans will flash into B as soon as they enter the final part of the tunnel.  Only one person should flash and that is whoever is in the front.  Everyone then piles in and then wipes out anyone in there, gets the bomb down and gets into a defensive position.

The first big problem to this plan is what the enemy does.  Sometimes the enemy will have one or two people rush tunnels, if this is the case then the T with the flash in his hands is going to get wiped out.   The second thing they could do is to double nade the tunnels, and with everyone close together, this could be deadly if well timed.  The third thing is that they could stay put but flash.  Now a noob team, time and time again will make the mistake of trying to turn back.  They are all blind, the guys at the front are trying to retreat and the guys at the back are trying to go forward with the rush.  This leaves one nice huddle of blind sitting ducks, waiting to be pot-shotted by a CT.

This brings us to the biggest cause for a B Rush failure.  Once you are in the final part of the tunnel on a B Rush, you do not stop or turn around until you are in the bombsite.  I’ll repeat that and put it in bold so that the nubcakes don’t miss it.  Once you are in the final part of the tunnel on a B Rush, you do not stop or turn around until you are in the bombsite. This still applies even if you come down with the Stevie Wonders.  Once you stop or turn around it throws the team into confusion with everyone getting in each others way.  Do not stop, do not turn around.  Get in there, visualise the site in your head, try to get to the steps at B platform where you will get at least some cover.

Well, let’s assume that your team got into the bombsite ok, get the bomb down at the front of the site, near the barrels.  This allows for maximum coverage of the bomb.  A lot of the time in a public server someone will plant in the back corner, under the window, or in the middle behind a box but this is foolish.  In these places the bomb can only be protected by one or two positions.  If someone was defusing then you would have to run all the way into the site to kill him (or even knw that he was there).  By planting at the front the bomb can be guarded by the platform, by B Car, the tunnels and anyone outside B who pops through the door.

Whilst the bomb is being planted the team need to secure the position, firstly by protecting against anyone outside B doors.  I am not going to go into how to defend the bombsite in this post, there are many ways to do this and no single one is the best way.  I will say that it is handy to have someone in tunnels indicated by the arrow.  There may be a seperate article on bombsite defending in general in the future, but not at this moment.

To flash bombsite B, one of the best methods is to rebound it off the wall as shown below.  This will get the flash more centrally into the site as well as away from the sightline of the rushing Ts.  The Ts should also turn their backs to the flash but whilst still advancing into the site.  Once in, spread out and take out anyone in there.  If anyone is hiding at the back, double nade it if possible.

Basic Match Tactics for Dust 2 – Episode 2 – The Decoy

The Decoy is an interesting tactic as it takes a step up from other tactics by introducing the team to the concept of mind games and tricking the enemy.  The idea behind decoy tactics are to keep some members of the opposite team busy at one site, whilst your team get into the other.

Team B, consisting of 4 players and the bomb, are heading to A, in this instance they are going to go via long.  They hold off either outside long doors or at long a behind the corner, not letting the enemy see them.

Meanwhile, team A, a lone wolf, trots off to B tunnels.  His mission is to let any enemies at B know that there is someone there.  A nice flash and a smoke, as well as some shots into B will keep anyone there occupied.  Until they know for sure where the bomber is heading, they have to stay there and protect B, a noob may even call B just because they have seen someone.  A CT covering mid may also come over to protect.

Once adequate noise and presence is made known at B, team A then head down to A.  At this point it is usually 4 vs 4 or 4 vs 3 in the Ts favor, with one or two tied up at B still.  It is then their job to obviously get the bomb down and secure the site. Note that once the bomber is spotted, any half-good team will call the play as A and get his team mates over as quickly s possible.  This is when the lone wolf heads to lower tunnels to provide back-up against any CT heading through mid and short.  He can stay in the tunnel entrance or use his discretion to go up mid and short to guard the site or to go through mid doors and CT spawn.

In this example we used bombsite A as our target, but it can easily be flipped by having the Ts wait outside tunnels whilst the decoy smokes and flashes long A and generally makes his presence known.  If the bomb gets planted at B then he can head to crossover to snipe or go through mid to doors or lower tunnels.

Basic Match Tactics for Dust 2 – Episode 1 – The A-Split

Intro

In the first of a new series I will be discussing basic match tactics for Dust 2.   When I say ‘basic’ I mean basic; these tactics are what every new clan should learn and they are the foundation upon which every advanced tactic is built upon.  When it comes to tactics, a lot of the time you want to keep them simple anyway, even the best of clans seldom use a complex strategy, occasionally slipping one in to clinch an important round or to throw the enemy off guard.  Once your clan has learnt these and get comfortable using them, then you are free to adjust them to suit the strengths of your team.

So here’s tactic number one:

The A-Split

This tactic consists of two teams; Team A, a two man team a Team B, a three man team, including the bomber.

Team B will rush through long doors and hold at long A and Pit Side.  Team A will rush down catwalk (being careful of any snipers looking through Mid Doors), though short and up steps.  When team A get to the steps, team B pop around the corner at Long A.  Both teams can now pick off any enemies on A platform or ramp.  If team B pop round at long too early then a sniper stands more of a chance picking people off, but if done at the right time, both teams can attack them from two different angles and should clear the area with much less casualties.

This is a very simple tactic, yet it helps a team to work together with their timing, keeping an eye on their team mates on their radar for the right moment to attack.  Once the team has got this down well, then they will learn to add to it by team A smoking through mid doors to block crossover, making team b’s trip down from long to ramp safer from snipers etc.

Dust 2 Map

A general overview of Dust 2, with the names of the main areas.  It is important for teams to all learn the same terms for the zones so that calling can be done without thinking about it.  It doesn’t matter if they are different terms to the one below, just as long as the whole team are on the same page.

The Perfect Counter Strike Server

OK, there are two reasons we need to look at what is the best way for a server to be configured, which features should it definitely have and should absolutely not include and so on.  You may be starting up a public server for your own clan so that in between matches you can practice.  Or your clan may not have a server and so you are browsing random ones, looking to make one your home.

The question is ‘what kind of server is going to be ideal in order to help you train for clan matches?’

Well, my opinions will, no doubt, differ from yours but I shall list them and also offer explanations as to why I feel that these following features should or should not be integrated on a server.

1. Friendly Fire=On

Without out a doubt, this is so important to me.  I will never play on a server that disables friendly fire.  It is so important for a CS player to use every shot well.  This includes quickly identifying an enemy and shooting, rather than shooting at anyone you bump into and it not matter if they are on your own team.  Also, at a distance, you need to be able to shoot an enemy who is being blocked by your team mate strafing across him.  If FF is off then you will just spray at him, but do that in a match and you may need to turn the volume down as your team mate screams down your ear for TKing him.  this will also help you to be more careful with a nade, which needs to be aimed just as well as your gun.

2. Enable Team Kill Punishments

A no-brainer if FF is on.

3. All-Talk Settings

Only allow team mates to chat to one another whilst alive.  If all-talk is on then you wont be practicing team calls and tactics over the mic.  No point in calling that 3 men have gone catwalk, cos if they hear you, then a decent team would then divert to lower tunnels.  I find a lot of clans struggle when it comes to calling during a match, they hardly let anyone know where the enemy is, how many they see, which spots are clear, which route they are taking etc.  Public servers are a good way to practice and, for this reason, all-talk should be set to teams only for those who are alive.

However, all-talk can be set to on for those who have died.  In fact, I absolutely love this.  If the server has a strong community of regulars then you want to be able to chat to them and have a laugh with them, even if they are not on your team.  Plus, there is no greater feeling than pwning someone and then, when you finally die, being able to abuse them verbally.

4.  Map Rotation

Definitely need most of the standard maps, obviously ones that you intend on playing in matches.  There are some I dont care for (Aztec and Italy) and it’s up to the server admin whether to have ones like these on.  Despite it being a rare occasion to play matches on a hostage map, it’s good to keep those on for a bit of variety in gameplay and tactics.

Custom maps should be used with discretion.  Have some in for sure, new maps add to the training of new tactics and teamplay, but only include ones of high quality and ones that are even for both sides.  A good place to start are the ones used in CAL and other tournaments, cpl_mill, cpl_fire, nightfever.  There are so many maps out there that look good and yet are so unbalanced, or vice versa and so many servers that have them in their rotation.

5. Admin

Ah, admin, the ruiners of so many good servers.  No matter how wonderfully set up the servers are, a bad handful of admin can easily ruin it.

First of all, none of this ‘paying for admin’ bullshit.  Admin should be entrusted to those who can be trusted.  If the server is a clan server then only the responsible and mature of the clan should have the power to kick and ban people.

6. Rates

I constantly bitch about peoples rates.  A server should enforce the use of correct rates, either by automatically adjusting them or by admin and regulars asking people to correct them.  Also, the server should be configured so that anyone can type ‘zb_netinfo’ into console and see everyones rates.  This is especially useful when no admin are on.

7. Money Money Money

Start up money should always be $800.  Why?  Because this is how much you get in a match and getting used to it in a public server will help you to get used to those all important eco rounds.

8. Awp

In my mind this should be disabled, yes I know, very controversial but everyone knows I’m not an awp person.  It is an important weapon during matches and teams do need to have one or two good awpers, but a lot of people get too used to it, they almost rely on it and are at a loss when they cannot afford one.  If anyone wants to practice then go on a random server where people are just pissing around.  there’s nothing worse than your only teammate having an awp and just camping a spot whilst the bomb is ticking away.  Real players use real weapons and get in there and get the job done.

9. Enforce Objectives

It is possible to have a server slay all remaining CTs if a bomb isn’t defused and all Ts slayed if time runs out before the bomb is planted.  This seems to be the only real way of at least trying to get people to complete the objectives, even if they are the last man standing.  Most of the time when there is one guy left they will camp and try and pop off a couple of enemies who are runing away from the blast.  This is very frustrating for the other team members who are dead.  When people know that they will die anyway they are more likely to get in there and try and defuse against all odds.  This is all great training for those times when it’s just you versus 2 or more enemies.  Of course, in a match there are occassions where the last man may need to keep his weapon and so would not engage if his chances were slim.

These are the basics that I feel make a great server, but remmeber that this is all to help a player who is serious about training for matches.  There are plenty of fun servers out there which are great to mess around on and have laugh, some have ridiculous ragdoll physics, others have a banking system for money not to mention all the zombie, surf and gun game servers, just make sure you keep visiting these from time to time.

As always, let me know your thoughts by commenting at the bottom or by emailing me at toeandno@googlemail.com