[Guide]Some cs 1.6 Tips

[BS®]

Some tips for counter-strike 1.6

 

I know most people on this forum play cs:source, but for those who play 1.6 I'd thought I'd post some info based on my own experience that might be useful to "newer" players looking to improve. Some of this probably translates over into source though.

 

Anyway...

 

I've been playiny cs off and on for years due to the insistence of friends. But I've never really liked it much, because, well, I sucked. My friend, who is rather proficient I'd say, kept offering to teach me how to play and I finally took him up on the offer a few months ago, combined with what I've learned on my own through play I've been improving ever since. I've gotten to the point that I'm frequently called a hacker on pubs, so I'd say I've become perhaps a moderately skilled player.

 

As for some fundamental stuff you should know:

 

-Learn how to set rates, ex_interp, and monitor choke.

There are lots of guides on the web about how to do this. learning about ex_interp almost made it seem like I was playing a different game.

 

-Stop running you retard!

Walk, don't make noise, and listen. It's so simple but so many bad players don't seem to understand this. Make as little noise as possible. Take advantage of people firing loud weapons and run then. You should also use a headset in order to get a better sense of sound direction.

 

-Learn to strafe fire.

By strafe fire I don't mean strafing to one side, stopping and firing a burst, then strafing to the other. If you're doing that you're doing it wrong. What you want to do is strafe to one side and then when you you're ready to shoot, strafe the opposite direction and fire at the same time. The shot will go straight. This is critical when it comes to using rifles like an AK47 effectively, but not all.

 

-Aim at the head. THE HEAD, NOT THE CHEST.

When asked what's best to aim at lots of people will tell you the chest, because recoil will land a headshot. When you ask someone who gets almost nothing but headshots where they aim, they'll tell you they aim at the head. The reason that it's better to aim for the head, in my opinion, is that you will kill the person shooting at you before they kill you.

 

One of the major issues with aiming at the chest is that most of the time you're not even hitting their chest, you're hitting their left arm. When holding most guns the left arm is held infront of the chest. While the arm doesn't appear that big, The hitbox is bigger than what you see. Arm shots do less damage than chest shots. This is why you'll frequently shoot at people, land a ton of hits and they'll still kill you. If you're playing on a server that has stats, check your stats by saying /rankstats and notice what body part you're hitting the most, you'll usually have around 3x more left arm shots than anything else.

 

-But it's hard to aim at the head!

It is at first, but with practice it becomes second nature. Also the head hitbox is somewhat larger than the head you're seeing and the neck counts as the head too. The most important thing about getting headshots is to ALWAYS KEEP THE CROSSHAIR AT HEAD LEVEL. When on level ground with the target it's all about accurately lining the crosshair up left or right as fast as possible.

 

How I got better at aiming:

 

-Improving aim.

I used to suck at aiming, I'd always concentrate on trying to drag the crosshair over the target as accurately as possible and would end up trailing behind them or over them, aiming when they move around, and generally getting really frustrated to the point that I figured I just didn't have the ability to do it, so I stopped caring. Turns out that was the key to success.

 

Finally discovering what my friend, whom I hadn't been paying attention to, had been telling me all along. I realized that the key to aiming is being relaxed. By being relaxed, I mean physically, not sitting tensed up leaning towards the screen, and mentally, not thinking about what I'm trying to do. This involved leaning back and not really focusing my eyes on anything other than the center of the screen, watching for movement/enemies with peripheral vision, and not caring if I'm sure I'm actually on target when I fire. Aiming becomes more of a reflexive process than anything.

 

When playing I try to remain as calm as possible then when I notice an enemy I pretty much move the mouse in their direction, which is often only left or right a little, and strafe to the left or right as I'm doing it, then when the shot feels lined up I strafe the opposite direction and fire, doing this as one quick sequence.

 

A benefit to strafing while targetting is that a lot of people will miss their shots, and others will sometimes try to wait until I stop moving to fire, which generally works to my advantage since I fire the second I switch directions.

 

Mouse sensitivity is key to actually hitting anything though. When I first started doing this I noticed my shots were frequently going off just after the target, usually to the right, so I adjusted mouse sensitivity gradually until I started landing shots, which for me, happens to be 2.0 with my mouse.

 

The whole process of quickly strafe shooting has gotten to the point where it's become almost a reflex for me, and in some cases it is. On good days I perform the whole process so fast I'll end up shooting someone in the head without realizing what I'm doing. I constantly get called a hacker when this starts happening. Sometimes people who realize I'm aiming at nothing but the head will duck right before I fire and I'll miss which makes it even funnier because then I look like an aimbotter.

 

I find a negative side effect of strafe firing all the time to be that I can have a hard time actually standing stationary and firing. I have like friggin CS ADHD. If I start camping something and remain still I'll end up getting anxious and then I'll start thinking too much about aiming and I start missing.

 

-The Scout.

I learned to aim using this gun. It's my favorite gun. I am a scout whore. I didn't actually start to enjoy playing CS with friends until I played scoutzknivez after learning about strafe firing. Once I started realizing I could hit people with it, and consistently, I got hooked on scout and pretty much used nothing else for a month, lolz and such. Played lots and lots of scoutzknivez and other scout friendly maps in that time.

 

In my opinion, the scout is the best weapon to learn to aim with. It's perfect for strafe firing because while holding a scout you run as fast as you do holding a knife, and you can run while zoomed. Practice with it helps improve shot accuracy too.

 

Aside from movement speed, the scout is friggin great at walling. It can shoot through damn near everything. Firing has become more than just pushing the left mouse button due to the way I play, it's the whole process of acquiring the target while moving, locking on and then firing. The mental decision the fire is really at the start of the process. If I see someone who I'm going to shoot at and they run behind a corner/wall/etc when I fire the crosshair is usually still on them resulting in a 100+ damage headshot through the wall. This can also happen in reverse where I move behind cover and they're still in the open. Walling like this works really well on Scoutzknivez and I get called a wallhacker a lot because of it.

 

A side effect of using a scout all the time was developing the subconscious habbit of aiming at the head via use of pistols. Using a scout at close range isn't real practical, so I got lots of pistol practice.

 

Despite the fact it can't shoot through walls, my favorite pistol is the P228. It's a headshot magnet. When going up against someone with an assault rifle with a pistol there's really only one real way to do it if you want to survive. Shoot them in the head. Pistols have good accuracy while moving so strafing isn't an issue. I just run at the target firing at their face. It only takes two headshots, or a couple upper chest and a headshot. The key is conserving ammo and not just spraying, and being aware of where your shots are going. The USP is also good for this. Lots of satisfaction too when you manage to kill multiple people at once without reloading.

 

-AK47

After like a month of only using scout I finally decided to use an AK47 due to friends whining at me. I was pretty surprised the first time I used it. Without any practice with it I was suddenly destroying people with it. The constant strafe firing and subconsciously keeping the crosshair at head level, due to all the pistol use, was the perfect combo for AK. I was playing Dust2 at the time and was amazed that I'd turn corners and immediately land headshots on the first burst.

 

An observation I've made over time is that if I don't kill a target within the first 3 shots/bursts I'm probably going to die(true of all weapons). I generally start to panic and start firing too fast, and AK recoil builds up, or else if I get pegged that puts an end to strafing. Long range with an AK can also be pretty difficult.

 

A trick my friend taught me for long range AK firing is too aim at their head and then crouch right as your firing, for some reason this gets lots of headshots. It only works some of the time though, and if it misses don't keep trying because if you keep crouching and standing you're going to get shot in the head.

 

As for other weapons, well I don't tend to use many others unless I have to. I have problems with the M4 because I usually end up trying to use it like an AK out of habbit. The recoil is totally different, and strafe firing isn't so necessary as it's pretty accurate even when moving.

 

I also stink with an AWP. The biggest issues being that I forget to stand still when I fire, I forget that I move slow as crap zoomed, and that I run slow as crap in general while holding one. I've been getting better though.

 

-Some days are better than others

I find, as most people probably do, some days I just really suck. Some hours I really suck. My play is never consistent and usually gets worse the longer i've been playing.

 

-Learn the maps

This is probably the most important advice someone can give you. You can be a great shot, but if you don't know the maps it doesn't matter. This is why I consider myself a mediocre player overall, because there are too many maps I'm still not familiar with.

 

Credits:Boinky from overclock.net

[cees]

this was a really nice lecture...

i've been playing CS since the 6.0 edition :)... that's like 10 years ago i think... and i play a lot like you... but i think i know a little more than you do about one thing...

 

the difference between the ak47 and the m4 is that the ak47 is more powerful and so it has a bigger recoil, when playing with ak47 you gan get headshots with only one bullet out of the 3-4 bullets you burst ...right?.... well... with the m4 you have to hit 2 bullets to the heat to make a headshot... so... you burst while you strafe... but when you fell the first bullet hit... don't stop the burst like when you use the ak... instead continue to fire 2-3 more bullets... the headshot will eventually come...

 

hope you understand what i meant :D