taotMF: Parts one and two

DenxiV2

Note: There may be another part, maybe not, it depends on whether or not I believe I'm bored enough to sit down and delve even deeper into this subject.



-Overview-

Hai der, my name is Denxi. I've been meaning to do this for a while. I've always enjoyed ****ing with people, whether it be in-game or out. This guide is a basic overview of, from my perspective, the average competitive player's psychology in CrossFire, and the best ways to manipulate it.

In this part, I go over the specifics of the "Ninja," the art of being sneaky and shooting your opponent in the back of the head, consistently, throughout the entire game. I've done this effectively in the majority of PUGs I play in, as well as any scrim where we are not sticking to the normal strats my team runs. If you feel that I have said something incorrect, have another viewpoint to share on the subject, or feel that I'm a complete ******bag for some reason, I encourage you to respond.

This guide will be using bombsites as the locations for examples, however please be aware that these tactics can be applied to almost anywhere on the maps.



-Intro-

http://uncyclopedia.wikia.com/wiki/Ninja

The picture/caption in this article (right hand side) pretty much sums up what I'll be trying to get across. You will be manipulating your opponent's thought process, eventually hiding in the most obvious of areas, yet still defeating them, making them double check every spot, only to find that you're behind them with your gun against their head. This is the Mind ****, and it is wonderful.



-The Basics-

There are a few things that you should know before attempting this. Those are:

Info

Gun switching/reloading can be heard up to 72m away from your character. It is very important that you switch to your gun before coming within that range.

Footsteps can be heard 30m away. It is therefore of the utmost importance that you do not make any footstep noise.

Jumping/Falling while holding shift does not make any noise, unless you fall from enough distance to hurt yourself. The noise made can be heard up to 25m away, and so it is important that you learn to Ninja Fall.

Familiarize yourself with your weapon's firing sound distance. A list is located here: http://forum.z8games.com/showthread.php?t=72823

The recommended gun to use is the M4-ADV, due to its broken sound mechanics (15m sound)



Movement

- The Double Jump

BlindRob has made a great tutorial for this, which is located here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qWKOgiv87To



- Silenced Crouching Bunny Hop

Modified to be effective in SnD, the Bunny Hop is just double jumping while holding crouch the entire time. This allows you to move forwards silently, at and increased speed. However, you will be transitioning into this from a walk, and as such, there is only one way to gain the speed advantage while still making no noise what so ever.

1. Turn so your back is facing the direction you will be traveling. Begin walking backwards

2. While holding shift, jump in the air.

3. The moment you leave the ground, let go of shift and begin holding crouch. This will accelerate you to maximum speed.

4. Release the backwards key and turn around.

You have now preformed a completely silent Bunny Hop transition.



- Crab Walk (C-Walk)

This is an original technique I do not believe has been "discovered" by anyone else at this time. The C-Walk is a technique to run at almost the same speed as normal, except silently. This works the same way as Soldier Front's "K-Walk."

The C-Walk is preformed by holding either one of the strafe keys, and tapping the Walk or Crouch key every 3/4ths of a second. This works because the footstep loop for the strafe is silent at the beginning, whereas the loop for the forwards/backwards begins with a noise. Whenever you tap the Crouch or Walk key, you reset the loop. This creates a movement that makes you look like some kind of tea-bagging crab.

Remember, this cannot be preformed while traveling forwards, backwards, or on a diagonal. This technique is useful when on steep slopes (BW A site stairs), or areas of the ground with uneven qualities making it hard to B-Hop on. It's also much easier than the B-Hop, albeit less effective.



-Analysis-

I will be using example, it's too much trouble to explain without them.

Principles

- The enemy will not expect you in areas they believe they have cleared.

- The when focused on one hiding spot, the enemy will ignore the obvious others.

- Obscure spots are good, obvious spots are better.



I only list steps up to a certain point because, after that, it really depends on the previous rounds and how the team reacted to where you played.

BlackWidow - A Site

http://i25.tinypic.com/5n3dqd.png

A-1 - Behind the train, on the leg.

A-2 - Behind Long-Box, a bit towards train so the enemy cannot see your legs.

A-3 - Behind Mid-Box, so the enemy cannot see you until they are all the way up ramp.


B-1 - Behind Window-Box.

B-2 - Behind Triple-Box, at such a point that they cannot see you from Long A or from the push onto A site.

B-3 - Lower stairs, NOT peaking long.

B-4 - Behind Double-Boxes.

S - Behind Cat Boxes.


(The spots are labeled as such due to the fact that they tie in with another)


This is how I would play out a game ninja'ing A site. This is assuming I had people supporting Cat and Mid.

1st Spot - A-1. I would play there until a round when they pushed into A site, and I had to expose myself.

2nd Spot - A-2. By playing A-1 before, their attention is now focused on making sure no one is at A-1. Because of this, I can play A-2 with MUCH less fear that the enemy will check the box, as they are looking PAST it. The moment the initial person pushes past me and checks behind train, he calls it on vent. The enemy team then usually assumes that, because there is a person up at train, that they have "cleared" the area between them and the spot checker. They do not consciously think this, it is sub-conscious. Because of this, they will most likely push past me, allowing me to get easy kills on their backs as they take site.

3rd Spot - A-3. Even if the enemy decided to check A-2, I would play A-3. When the enemy pushes up, they will be forced to check A-2, as that was where I was last time. When they expose their back to me, I will kill them. Because this is such an unusual spot, I will have the jump on the rest of the pushers as well, and can possibly eliminate all of them, if not at least another one.

4th Spot - Here you will be rotating into the B sequence. You can start this off by playing B-1 or B-4. I'd recommend B-1. if you lead with B-4, then they will be more inclined to take that route to the stairs in future rounds, which ruins B-3 and possibly B-2.

If you decide to play B-1, then you should wait until they are in site and one of them has the bomb out before peaking. It is surprising how many teams do not think to check here. These odds are helped by the fact that you've played spots closer to long as well, when they clear those spots their guard lowers. If you feel that the spot is too insecure, then playing inside the window room is a viable option as well. Just beware of grenades.

5th Spot - B-2. Same premise as the relationship between A-1/A-2, the enemy is more focused on the spot BEHIND yours, so much to the effect that they do not check it.

As the enemy pushes onto site, you have 4 options.

- Stay put, hope they do not plant and rotate for cat, and pop out the moment you hear one of them switch to the bomb.

- Jump onto the railing, then rotate around behind the box. This is very risky, and is not advised when holding against more than 2 people, as it only works if the entire team has pushed onto site and are not stalling at ramp. By doing this, you can rotate around behind the enemy, and take them out from there.

- Jump over the railing and onto the stairs. This has the same effect as the second, however it is more secure against an enemy rotating back to ramp.

- Peak just as they push onto site. You may catch them off guard, is recommended when you hear clustered footsteps.

6th Spot - This depends on whether or not you believe they knew you came from B-2. If you believe they do not know, then continue playing B-2 until they DO know. When they do, begin to play B-3.

This is a risky spot, as the enemy may chose to hop on the railing in order to get B-2, instead of taking the route through site. If you feel uncomfortable playing B-3, then play either A-1 or A-2 again. If you play B-3, then be prepared to push up the stairs once the enemy has take site.

7th Spot - B-4. Wait until they pass you up on ramp, and then push to long A and the up ramp to site.

Quick note about "S" spots: These spots are used in specific situations. They combo well with the majority of spots, and should be used at your discretion.

---

BlackWidow - B Site

Some of the spots are too similar to describe, so I won't. There's no real point to at B site anyways.

http://i30.tinypic.com/1569wkw.png

Using the same psychology as before, I will list the order of areas that I would play. See if you can figure out WHY I'd play in that order.

1st Spot - A-1. If anyone came my right hand side, I would peak and kill them. If the enemy was solely coming up the left hand side, I would begin to rotate around the box counter-clockwise as they pushed onto site, to place myself behind them.

2nd Spot - A-2. Wait until they are on site and then push out to kill them. If possible, wait for the bomb switch.

3rd Spot - A-3. Wait until the bomb plant if possible. If you hear them pushing you, then peak just as they approach the corner of the fence. Getting the jump on them is always best if conflict is inevitable.

4th Spot - B-1. If one runs door, then jump window and kill those inside. If one jumps window, engage. This spot is purely to bait the next sequence, and possibly get a few kills of their entry.

5th Spot - B-2. Same deal as A-3. Wait until they push past, if they push you then get the jump.

6th Spot - B-3. Peak as they check B-2.

7th Spot - B-4. Wait until they pass or are just about to check B-2.

8th Spot - C-2.

9th Spot - S. Planting a smoke in Doors just as they are about to enter box room isn't a bad idea.

10th Spot - C-1. Peak just as they check S.

11th Spot - C-3. Wait until they pass.

---

Port - A Site

http://i30.tinypic.com/15owg3r.png

Spots like S work well because when the enemy pushes site, they believe that they have cleared areas with spots like that. It is an uncommon spot, so they do not think to look there. However, there are few uncommon spots that are in the right area to have this effect, which is why you need to combo uncommon and common spots. This allows you to hide in spots that are normally checked, and get behind them in areas that you shouldn't be able to.

The B spots are only good for "first strike" spots. They are areas where combat is inevitable, and are used to put yourself into a position where you have the jump, and therefore the advantage.

The A spots should be used first. Always get your enemy focusing on a point past your hiding spot, as they will pass it over much easier.

The C spots should be used after the A spots, however not immediately after or before the S spot. Using one of the C spots, a B spot, and then the S spot would be the ideal combo in my mind.

You want to initially move closer and closer towards where they push from, and afterwards begin playing off their reaction. If they play slow, play B spots for the jump. If they play fast, play spots they'll overlook because of it.

---

Port - B Site

The spots labeled [D] are specifically for defending bombsite AFTER the bomb has been planted. So when you are on T side you would use there.

http://i32.tinypic.com/103d01w.png

In this case, the B spots should be played first. This takes the attention away from on the actually site, the area where the A spots are located. You can also play S-1 after the B sequence is done with.

Note: B-3 is on top of the box, whereas B-4 is on the ground beside it. To properly perform the ninja, silent DJ onto the box, then take their flank.

C should be played after S-2, to get the jump when they check S-2. S-2 can be played at any time, however in my experience it is best played after the enemy gets into a defensive take pattern (They get into bombsite and don't push lower/spawn much, if at all.)

Always play A-2 when playing that corner against a T push, it is harder to see you there when compared to [D]-2.

When traveling to B-2, jump on the boxes and then jump into the corner. This prevents a sniper picking/seeing you through the fences.

S-1 should only be played when they stop positioning someone to look through fences.

---

Hopefully you understand what I'm trying to do here. IMO teaching through example is the best way to teach, so long as you fully understand what I'm trying to get across. Hopefully this showed you how to utilize different spots, and taught you what you needed to know to allow you to do the same on different maps in different spots.

If you have any questions, post here or xFire me at colossalkoala. If you want to argue with me, I'd prefer you posted here.

Thanks for your time in reading this, hopefully I'll get enough Root Beer to jack me up enough to do the sequel sometime soon.

Note: Yes, there are grammar/spelling mistakes. I think faster than I type. The most common ones will be "The" instead of "They, word"ign" instead of word"ing," and things along the lines of "andt hey" instead of "and they."

If you spot a typo that you feel makes the section harder to understand, then xFire me and I will get it fixed.

DenxiBanned

Article/TAotMF Part 2: Basic Strategy (B)

Rawrawrawrawrawrawrawrawrawrawrawr.

Even with the lack of Root Beer Imma do it.

This guide will cover a large amount of aspects of strategy pertaining to CF. The really basic stuff however can probably be applied to anything.

Again, I WILL BE TEACHING THROUGH EXAMPLE. Like the Ninja guide, I'll be throwing a whole bunch of plays out there, with some guidelines for interpretation. It's up to you to make the logical connections needed to read them properly.

Another thing, I play on a team with no designated sniper. However, there are 3 people on my team who can all snipe decently. If one of us ever feels the need for a sniper, then he just switches out. Because of this, all strats will be assuming this is the case for your team. IMO a sniper really isn't needed in this game, and you can easily work one in to the strats anyways.


Terminology
Wedge - normally applied to a push designed to separate one group of opponents from another.

Spike - Used to describe a sudden push, and then an immediate retreat, used to either intimidate the opponent, stop an impending rush, or get a few kills.

Pincer - A maneuver described as surrounding on 3 sides, used to entrap the enemy for easy kills, or to make them play more passively.

Blitz - Used to describe a rush where you don't ****ing stop. Ever.

GR Side

One thing I will say before anything else. Do not, not ever, not in a million bajillion years, try to play GR side like chess. Don't do it. You WILL lose. Why? Because as GR, you have no freedoms. You have a set area to play. You are a wall. Your entire job as GR is to set up a shifting wall. If you try to predict BLs movement, any competent caller will realize this and wreck you. If anyone wants to debate me on this, just post.

There is one deciding factor in calling for GR. That is finding the point on each map that is crucial to the success of the team (let's call it the CP, the crucial point). By controlling this section, you can eliminate up to half of the map in some cases.

Another minor factor for GR is prediction. As pattern setting (see BL) has no real use here (except if you play like kamikaze crazies), all prediction is based on responding to pushes. As long as you remain in control of the CP, all prediction can be focused into the other 1 or 2 sections of the map. You in some cases, the only call needed (beside player placement) is whether or not to push up or stay back.

Maps

Black Widow
Before I get into anything else, let me just say that playing spawns is the most important thing on this map. The distance between spots is huge, you HAVE to take advantage of it.

The crucial area on this map is cat (this includes bridge and windows) and the mid section just beside it. By controlling this area, or at least the perimeter, you have either an easy defense of an area or a fast rotate elsewhere. However, spawns will sometimes make it a better option to bypass this point all together, because a fast long A will allow for a surrounding of middle and a rotate back to A if middle is overrun immediately.

This is how my GR setup for BW works. I play mid doors, typically to the B side for a fast rotate. 1 person permanently plays B, no matter what their spawn. The last three people play A, but off their spawns.

I assign one person to be the "leader." Let's call him player A. The other 2 are players B and C. Player A micro manages players B and C for me. If 0 or 1 of them spawn under cat, they all push down cat. If 2 of them spawn under cat, then they both push long and the guy who spawned plat played cat where player A tells him to (If it was player A, then he just tells himself =\). If all 3 spawn under cat, then B and C push up A long, and player A plays cat.


Ceyhan
There is no obvious CP in this map. But there is one. The point is BL middle. The one with the pipes. The entire point of a CP is to restrict your opponents movements and to allow for a quick rotate to either side. Because it's possible to be jumping through doors and behind the boxes just as BL peaks mid, a 5 man rush mid is actually a good strat. That mid is almost never fought over when actually played, it's normally just assumed to be in ownership of BL. A 1slow - 3hard - 1slow would also work just as well, especially after they catch on and start running flanks.

If your opponent knows certain things, he'll begin to take mid from you. Once you start to get defeated in mid, a pincer formation is you best option. This being 2hard - 1slowstall - 2hard. Playing the pincer is a hard maneuver to counter without BL giving you back mid. You can play this rotation over and over (Once they start taking mid, you play the pincer, once they start countering, play the mid, etc.) until you win. The most obvious counter for BL would be to just 5 man rush straight through mid, which you can then counter pretty easily with a nade spam small pincer (1hard - 3ninja - 1hard). Your goal with the pincers is to get them back into a position where they're either spread out, or rushing either site, so you can get an easy mid take.


Port
Right off the bat, Port's CP is central B tuns. You play this by having a play push mid to lower tuns, and then sit right by the entrance of BL tuns to central (not peaking). You have another rifler play inside barn, waiting to peak. The moment that the attackers start to shoot at the guy in central, the guy in barn pops out spraying like crazy and mows them down. BL's most obvious counter is to play a sniper watching barn entrance from way back at BL entrance, but this can be prevented by the lower player throwing a smoke as he runs up steps.

That's really all there is to port. Playing 2 guys A, rushing or not depending on calls made by the B tuns guys, and 1 guy mid. Make sure the guy mid has a good view of it, he needs to make sure that no one walks up it and either ninjajumps him or flanks the B tuns. If you're really having trouble with mid, either spiking it with the 2 guys at long and the mid guy, or having the long guys boost cat is a decent solution.


I'm only giving these examples because it's to teach you how to see the CPs yourself. If I just told you where every one was, you wouldn't learn anything.

SO DON'T COMPLAIN.


BL Side

Remember what I said about not playing GR like chess? Yeah, forget that for BL. Your entire goal on BL is to get your opponent following a predictable pattern and for you to be able to exploit that.

Before I get started on the in-depth stuff, a few quick things.

Few things I want to touch on.

• Always call progressively. Call a general set up at the beginning of the round, and as the players are traveling towards it, specify your instructions. This is due to the very brief freeze time. If you try to specify each person’s job right off the bat, you’ll have people wandering around until you’re finished specifying the strat before theirs. This means valuable rush time is taken up.

• Intricate strats are a big no-no. Call a general push, fake, spike, split, double fake, spike fake, or a combination of them, but never specify minute movement details. Your team needs to have enough game sense to know which small movements to make.

• Know your team. For example, I know that my teammate Pimpin can get a little carried away with his pushes, and likes to see just how far he can push. When calling strats, I use this to my advantage.

• Make sure your TEAM knows your team. If I call a mid blitz drop 3 B through tuns, everyone pretty much assumes that Pimpin and probably Sauce will be the guys who keep going.
• Do not be afraid to make modifications as the round goes on.

• Changing on the fly is a huge asset, as almost no strats go as planned.

Pattern Setting
If you go A every round for 5 rounds, a normal caller will think you're going A next round. A smart caller however, will start blitzing mid and playing a sniper at A long. Why? Because, for me at least, the more someone runs a site, the higher the chance for them to run the other one on the next round.

This is the issue with pattern setting. You have to be able to get out of locked situation like that. IMO that's one of the most dangerous situations in calling for T side. And in reality, the solution is preventing it from even happening in the first place, while still setting a pattern. How do you do this?

Nades.

Grenades add a completely new variable to the thought process of the opponent. By using nades, you can train your opponent to subconsciously ignore their conscious view of the strat pattern. Meaning that any subtle pattern portrayed in your calls will be unseen by your opponents. For example, if we began on port with a B push, no smoke, and prenades B. Then for 4 round we smoked mid and went A. The next round we smoke mid and go B, no prenades and BHopping. We've effectively broken pattern by creating another pattern for them to focus on making correspond with our movement.


Describing my thought process for calling is hard as ****. It's like the section in my skill article where I show how I devise an entry plan, except with infinitely more variables.

If I sat down with a replay for like 5 hours then I could probably lay it out step by step. But as I'm way too impatient for that, I'll just say this.

Spam the **** out of the minimap button. I have that up on my screen so much it's not even funny. You need to know where everyone is, when they engage the enemy, how they engage the enemy, the specific angle they died on, etc. Information is power, and the more you know, the easier it is to call a strain of strats that'll win.


--


So yeah. I'm almost certain I missed something in BL, but if I remember later I'll add it in. Thanks for reading, hope you learning something, yadayadayada.

This guide was made possible by SNSD and Gorillaz. Oh and spaghetti. So yeah.

Movement guide will hopefully be released in the next while. Probably a video guide, so yay for that. Xfire is colossalkoala if you need anything, or want to ***** at me because you're offended somehow.

Bai now.

[MOD]D34d3y3

Chopped up and sewn back together into a more coherent beast. Enjoy.

KayzN

Denxi trollololololol

DenxiBanned

WTf thread needs more views.

If a mod reads this, can you change the title to its full name: The Art of the Mind **** - Parts 1 and 2

newtonking

awesome guide, i totally love reading your guides.can i add you in game pls?

Thy_Merlin

So basically after skimming and scam this giant thread i have come to the conclusion that you encourage people to backreap through the whole game , B hop (Soon to be nerfed) and Sneak up on people with better guns
Have you no shame?
Anyone can shoot you in the back , the teal trick is killing them while getting shot before they kill you
Thats like promoting camping

newtonking

Hitman_XLVII wrote: »

So basically after skimming and scam this giant thread i have come to the conclusion that you encourage people to backreap through the whole game , B hop (Soon to be nerfed) and Sneak up on people with better guns
Have you no shame?
Anyone can shoot you in the back , the teal trick is killing them while getting shot before they kill you
Thats like promoting camping

aka tactical play.

Thy_Merlin

newtonking wrote: »

aka tactical play.

So.....Shooting someone in the back is skill
O.O
KThnxBai

newtonking

Hitman_XLVII wrote: »

So.....Shooting someone in the back is skill
O.O
KThnxBai

sneaking behind some1s bak is the skill part

DenxiBanned

newtonking wrote: »

sneaking behind some1s bak is the skill part

Exactly my point, thank you.

DenxiBanned

Hitman_XLVII wrote: »

So basically after skimming and scam this giant thread i have come to the conclusion that you encourage people to backreap through the whole game , B hop (Soon to be nerfed) and Sneak up on people with better guns
Have you no shame?
Anyone can shoot you in the back , the teal trick is killing them while getting shot before they kill you
Thats like promoting camping

I AM promoting:

- Back******
- BHopping (Will not be nerfed =\)
- And sneaking up on people.

Is it legit in the game? Yes. Will you win? Yes. Is it fair? YES.

Just because you're too stupid to check spots doesn't mean someone else should have to play like an idiot as well.

LunesC

Nice guides Denxi. I hardly do any scrims, but some of it is useful in publics. I enjoy exploring the psychology (mind**** as you call it) in most games I play, and appreciate the time you have taken to give examples in this game.


Regarding what Hitman brought up - I disagree with a few things people constantly complain about:

1. Camping - are we supposed to all run out in the open, guns blazin? I really don't understand the complaint

2. 'Gun Stealing' - don't drop it/bring it to the fight?

3. 2/3/4 vs 1 etc. - This is a team game, duh?

TAYLORRRRRR

LOOOL. I remember you, you told me you were ''doop'' and I somewhat believed you.
... I'm so gullible.