Basic Clan Arena guide by Grrrdian

[*deega]

nice to come up with such a guide, most basics covered. i think the guide would profit from higlightning or grouping together at start the most important points to follow (which these are, will ofc be debatable)

i would take these:

-meet/don't solo at roundSTART/support mates

-learn how to get to the meets as quick as possible from all spawns (on publics it's mostly exactly ONE meet point each map. bridge dm6/eagle ca3...)
-if you know enemy is low on health (or mate is telling you) dont do "rail at long range" (unless u r very good or easy shot). try using mg/sg/pg/lg.

[muffin]

never RJ about anyone in an open space.... LG doom awaits!

[iSuckz]

bump - tho lots could be added

[ken10]

while entering a teleporter, move away quickly as you can get fragged instantly if someone else has also entered in the teleporter behind you. This seems to be the fault of player entering first but sometime you don't event get the chance to move away before you are fragged by a team mate or enemy following you.

[Ironb4lls]

Here's one thing I always struggle with -- how do people manage to keep track of both teammates and enemies simultaneously, all while fighting? I often find myself joining up with teammates to aid in a firefight, and then somehow ending up the only one from my team still there.

[krailed]

cg_drawfriend 1 will display triangles over teammates through walls. cg_drawteamoverlay(i think) will show their current location and and they are taking damage. The overlay is most useful to determine what direction ur team will be coming from based on spawn. During the pre round count down u should always be watching how many enemies are going where. Using the triangles alone with enemies you are fighting, you can determine where the other enemies are. Since you should be focus firing with your teammates, be aware if they get knocked of a ledge or are no longer firing at your target. Then you know you may need to adjust your position in the fight because you lost your support. Before the round even begins you are guaranteed to see at least 2 enemies in transit(based on the spawn system which has to spawns for everyone, alternating every round). So now you know where you teammates are exactly before the round begins, and where 2 enemies will be, and thus you can determine what type of engagement will occur at start. 4v4 spawning positions are very simple and you should have them memorized as their are only 2. Often in pubs the round is won by the other team every other round. This is often due to predictable positions of both enemy and your team, where one team spawns with more closer to the engagement area. Knowing this, you and your team should be adjusting strategies the seconds before the round starts once you determine the enemies plan. This is when competition level CA becomes extremely complex as all locations of the enemy can be known from what each team mate sees, and reacting to this information before the round begins. And if both teams are doing this, it can make for some interesting strategies. But in a pub you will not see anything like this for the most part. It really can become like a chess match as teams fake locations pre round and push and rotate and what not on the fly. It requires voice communication obviously. People often think CA is just 4 lgs fighting 4 lgs every round. This is something that a decent team wont engage in, as it is pretty foolish unless you can guarentee your teams accuracy will always be higher than the enemy. Even then, there is no point to use a strategy that allows the enemy to expect you in a specific spot with specific weapons every round. This is why a using a rail at distance is probably never going to be seen by teams who understand CA. The loner player will be called out by the enemy team pre round and most likely get 4 guys running over him while his team wonders why the bridge is empty. Again in a pub you can pull off railing like this, but I don't like encouraging bad habits in players in pubs because then they will have to unlearn them when they are competing with a real team. Ca can be an incredible display of constantly evolving strats during a single round, but most people haven't gotten to experience this. Although a pub teams chance of winnign can seem completely random at times, you can have a huge effect on the game simply by following a team mate where you know you will have a numbers advantage, instead of waiting for people to follow you. The teammate may not even be aware hes being used by you to win the game, but sometimes you need to adjust your ideas of strategy during games. That one guy thats always rail baiting and last alive is a great guy to follow. 2 enemies will cannot be ignored and will bring the battle to you while a single railer may not even be hurt until his entire team is dead. And you want to make him bait, make it clear to the enemy that you are headed to,for example, pillars, and then flank around back to your team for the round start. The railer will probably be suprised as 2 guys who were following you seem to gank him every round. It all depends on how dedicated to winning you want to be during a pub match. Once you become more aware, you will never be screaming "why am i all alone one bridge??". You should know what the bridge situation will be before the round starts. In the same way, often people who spawn bridge with the 3/1 spawn leave bridge immediately because all they focus on are 3 enemies there and no teammates. However you can see the triangles approaching the bridge and from where, and position yourself to be fighting where the most back up will be coming. The worst thing you can do it abandon bridge while 3 teammates are in route but not yet visible. This is how your teammates will be walking into a death trap while u circle the empty part of the map without a clue. Intimidation can for enemies to abandon a location when they aren't aware of their team approaching their position. Simply being aggressive pre round by bumping into and blocking an enemy player can be enough to prevent him from realizing his teams location. The opposite can be used to fake locations; by appearing that you dont plan to leave the bridge, you can keep enemy players there, and then leave right before the round begins. You then have them in once location and making them easy victims of spam. There is not a place on any map that can be "held". If the enemy is not at the bridge on dm6, having your entire team there and holding it is a terrible idea. You are on an open platform bunched together with more access points to the bridge than players. This is why I love when a team decides holding pillars is possible. There are 5 small entry points that are at varying heights and well covered that can be spam can enter into pillars but not leave. You cannot hold pillars versus competent players. I can't think of any location that you can hold until you win. Taking over a location is very simple. Because of this, you can abuse a teams lack of understanding of locations by letting them gather there first. For examle on CA2(trinity), a simple strat we used in scrims(which eventually became very complex) was to delay going there so the enemy would group in the middle of it. Then you can simply sandwich them from which ever directions you decide and cause them to lose their 4 man focus fire plan and have them bunched for easy damage and no place to avoid damage other than abandoning the team at grinder. In a pub if you can get your team to do this, the other team will believe they are simply being destroyed by better players. Its a powerful simple strat to use in a pub and also a psychological blow to the enemy that most likely will cause their players to go off on their on. Its a lot of fun when you can have a pub using simple tactics that just steam roll a clueless enemy. Have fUN!


WOAH DIDNT REALIZE I CREATED SUCH A WALL OF TEXT! Its a good read though.

[*starwars]

that wall of text makes my eyes water...its like looking at a baboons as.s

[Ironb4lls]

Whoa. Reading that was like listening to an auctioneer who knows a lot about CA. But at least there's a lot of good stuff in there, particularly the strategies about the beginning of the round. Everyone always yells "bridge!" or "grinder!" at the beginning, but you rarely hear what to do after that.

[quakestreme]

Here's one thing I always struggle with -- how do people manage to keep track of both teammates and enemies simultaneously, all while fighting? I often find myself joining up with teammates to aid in a firefight, and then somehow ending up the only one from my team still there.

Looks like your team-mates either ran away when they saw a fight coming or just split without even thinking of you.

In CA you need to stick with your team-mates, especially if they're already there and are depending on you to cover them and help in a fight. At least be someway near them. Being a lone wolf from the start is one thing. Actively running away from team mate(s) without looking back to check on them is a complete step assways. I see it all the time.

[Ironb4lls]

In CA you need to stick with your team-mates, especially if they're already there and are depending on you to cover them and help in a fight. At least be someway near them. Being a lone wolf from the start is one thing.

I like how you can see the yellow teammate arrows through the walls. It'd be even better if you could see the player's name and health/armor status as well, so you could stay near the strongest if you're low, or run to someone's aid if you see their health going down.[/QUOTE]

Actively running away from team mate(s) without looking back to check on them is a complete step assways. I see it all the time.

Yeah, it sucks when you go to help somebody, and they run off and leave you to fend for yourself when you get there.