Counter-Strike: Source
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Counter-Strike: Source
Counter-Strike: Source (also known as CS: Source or simply CS:S) is a multiplayer, team-based tactical first-person shooter, developed by Valve and Turtle Rock Studios. It is a remake of Counter-Strike, the 1999 modification of Half-Life. Built on the Source engine, the game was released in 2004 along with Half-Life 2.
Game Details
Counter-Strike: Source games involve a team of counter-terrorists facing off against a team of terrorists in a series of rounds. Each round is won by either completing a mission (such as detonating a bomb or rescuing hostages) or by eliminating all members of the opposing team.
Map Types
Below is a list of the map types in Counter-Strike: Source. See the Maps page for more details.
Standard Maps
- Bomb Defusal (prefix 'de_'): Terrorists objective is to plant a bomb, while the Counter-Terrorists must defend the bomb site, or defuse the bomb once planted.
- Hostage Rescue (preifx 'cs_'): Counter-Terrorists must rescue the hostages from the Terrorists (usually at the Terrorist spawn point).
- Assassination (preifx 'as_'): A randomly selected Counter-Terrorist becomes the VIP, and must make it to the rescue point. The Counter-Terrorist's must defend the VIP against the Terrorists, which must assassinate the VIP to win the round.
Custom Maps
- Combat/Skill (prefix 'aim_'): No specific objective, except to kill all players of the enemy team.
- Fight Yard (prefix 'fy_'): Similar to 'aim' type maps, but usually smaller with limited features, and more like a 'yard' as such.
- Surf maps (prefix 'surf_'): An unusual type of map which requires server settings to be changed. The players aim is to 'surf' down ramps and slopes usually to get to weapon platforms or special areas that will give them an advantage. Game play is once again like 'aim_' maps as the main goal is to eliminate the other team.
- Awp/Sniper (prefix 'awp_'): Usually a very large map. The players spawn with an AWP (often a one shot kill sniper) and have the task, once again, of eliminating the other team. Maps like these require quick reactions as if you are 0.0001 seconds late, you are most likely dead..
Weapons and Equipment
Whereas in other games players are able to collect a wide arsenal of weapons (such as in the Unreal Tournament series of games), CS:S players must purchase a specific set of equipment and weapons at the start of each round. Each team spawns in their own "buy zone", which is the only area of the map where they can purchase items and weapons. The opposing team cannot use your buy zone (Ie. CT cannot buy in T buy zone). A small amount of money is allocated to each player at the start of the game, and further funds can be accrued by completing certain tasks during the round (such as killing an enemy or being on the team who wins the round). This is totaled at the end of each round, and available at the start of the following round. Players can also lose money by killing teammates or hostages.
Furthermore, there are limits imposed as to how many items a player can hold at once. Each player may hold at most one main weapon and one sidearm, plus a small number of grenades and other equipment (such as defusal kits, body armour, or night vision goggles). Also, no player may accrue more than $16000.
Counter-Strike: Source features the same weapons as Counter-Strike. Some weapons are only available to one team. (marked in brackets)
- Pistols: USP (CT), Glock (T), Desert Eagle, P228, Dual Elites (T), and the 5-7 (CT).
- Shotguns: M3, and XM1014.
- Sub-Machine Guns: MP5, TMP (CT), P90, MAC-10 (T), and the UMP.
- Rifles: Galil (T), FAMAS (CT), AK-47 (T), SG-552 (T), M4A1 (CT), AUG (CT), Scout, AWP, G3-SG1 (T), and the SG-550 (CT).
- Machine Gun: Para
Both teams have the same access to equipment with the exception of the defusal kit which is Counter-Terrorist only.
- Equipment: Kevlar, Kevlar and Helmet, Flash Bang, HE Grenade, Smoke Grenade, Defusal Kit (CT), and NightVision Goggles
Popular Mods
There are a range of server mods, or modifications, available for CS:S that have become very popular. Below is a list including some details about the mods.
NOTE: The links found in the description of these mods are for those running a server. If you only intend on playing on the server you will not need to download these files, as any files you need will be downloaded when you join a server running the mod. All of these mods are Server Side plug-ins/mods.
Deathmatch
The goal on a deathmatch server, also known as DM, is to get as many kills as possible. The original objective of the map (such as hostage rescue or bomb defusal) plays little to no role on a deathmatch server. The 'killing spree' will often continue indefinately, or will be restarted when a specified limit, such as a 'frag' or time limit, is reached. Unlike standard CS:S in which when you die, you must wait for the round to end to be respawned, in A CS:S DM server you will respawn instantly after death. This creates a very fast paced game.
The DeathMatch mod homepage can be found here. The DeathMatch mod also requires the server to be running SourceMod.
CS:S DM also works well when paired with other mods such as Zombie Horde and GunGame.
GunGame
The best way to learn about this mod is to play it, but I will try explain anyway.
Players can't buy weapons, but are instead given a weapon to use. Once a player gets a kill with this weapon, they advance to the next level and are given a new weapon. The aim of the mod is to be the first player to complete all levels.
You will often begin with a glock (and knife), and then work your way up through all the weapons in order of strength. (eg. go through all the pistols, then shotguns and smg's, all the way up to rifles and machine guns). However, if you manage to knife someone instead of killing them with the required gun, you also jump to the next level, as well as knocking the victim down a level. The final two levels are generally the hardest. These last two levels are the HE Grenade and the knife, in that order. Get a knife kill and you will be the winner. Occasionally a server will run a reversed weapon list (eg. you start with the machine gun and work down to the glock, then do Grenade and knife.). This requires a little bit more skill as the further ahead you get, the more disadvantaged you are.
A requirement to be able to run a GunGame server is that the server must be running Mattie's Eventscripts
Note: Most of the files for this mod are posted in a forum, so the links may eventually become out of date and need updating.
Some of the current links (as at 31st July 2007) are as follows:
Zombie Horde
In this mod all human players are forced to be on the same team, sometimes with the exception of 1 or 2 players who are allowed to 'command' the zombie horde. The other team is populated with Zombies (bots). The zombies can only use a knife. Too easy you say? Wrong.. Zombies will generally have 500HP which also regenerates. This is supposed to make the zombies 'real' as the only true way to kill them is with a few good headshots (the way zombies are meant to be). There are also a few different zombie classes in which the zombies are given different 'abilities'. Some of these include extra speed, or the ability to set fire to themselves and the player they attacked.
The homepage for this mod is here
RPG Mod
RPG Mod (CSSRPG) is a level based mod originally based on the UT2K4RPG Mod for Unreal Tournament 2004.
As you kill enemies, you gain XP (Experience Points). This XP can be used to 'purchase' upgrades for yourself that give you an advantage over other players. Some of these upgrades include stealth, extra health, and health regeneration. Each upgrade has several levels to it (eg. Stealth level 2 makes you harder to see than Stealth level 1).
More details can be found on the CSS RPG Mod's Homepage
WCS Mod
WCS, or WarCraft Source, is a mod that tries to incorporate WarCraft in to CSS. When you join the server, you must select which 'race' you want to be. Each race has its own set of skills/upgrades available and they all have their 'pros and cons'. Similar to RPG Mod, you gain XP for killing enemies. When you reach a certain XP limit, you will gain a level in that race. Each new level allows you to 'purchase' new upgrades, which again include things such as extra health or stealth as well as some more warcraft inspired upgrades (set fire to your enemies? Sounds like fun to me!). The more you play, the better your 'character' will become, and therefore the harder you will be to kill!
There is, however, a limit to the level that your character can be upgraded to. For the first 4 races [Undead, Human, Orc, and Elf] there are 32 levels for which you can 'buy' a skill. After this 'maximum' your levels just accumulate and may get you into the WCStop10 (showtop10 command in game).
Other races include: Blood Mage, Archmage Proudmore, One that I've Forgotten [someone save me], Warden, Crypt Lord, and Succubus Hunter.
Surf
While surf isn't exactly a server mod, it does require some changing of the server configuration. These changes (mainly sv_airaccelerate) allow the players to accelerate quicker. As mentioned above in the Map Types - Custom Maps area, the aim of a surf map is usually to 'surf' down slopes and ramps to other areas which may be weapon platforms or teleporters. A popular feature of surf maps is jails. This means that if someone falls off the ramp, if they are in the right area (determined by the map maker) they will be teleported to a jail. This can mean one of a few things: 1) Their team mates who successfully 'surfed' the map can release them from jail by pressing a button from another location. Or 2) The player becomes an easy kill for an enemy standing outside the jail (usually the jail has one-way walls so that people on the outside can see in). Be careful though! That button might not always free your team mates, it may squish them to death! But you won't know until you try will you...
Surfing can require a bit of practice, but for a quick guide visit this page: Surfing Instructions
