Counter-Strike: Global Offensive

A Guide To Understanding A Competitive Match

View Google Doc

Introduction

The goal of this document is to explain, in the most simple terms, the mechanics for watching a competitive game of Counter-Strike. By the end of this document you should have enough information to watch a game and follow along.

The Basics

Premise

Two teams, an offense and a defense, consisting of five players on each team, use guns & grenades to battle one another. If one team kills every member of the other team, they’ll get a point. If the offense destroys the defenses base, the offense gets a point.

The Object Of The Game

The two teams will play in a match that consists of 30, 2 minute rounds. After 15 completed rounds, the teams will switch sides so each team has the opportunity to play both defense and offense. The first team to 16 rounds is the winner of the match.

The Teams

The offensive side are the Terrorists (“T’s”). The defensive side are the Counter-Terrorists (“CT’s”). The Counter-Terrorists defend two different locations called bomb-sites. The Terrorist’s objective is to kill all the Counter-Terrorists OR plant a bomb at one of the two bomb-sites and defend that location until the bomb goes off. If a player is killed during a round, they do not get to play again until the next round starts.

The Locations (“Maps”)

Maps are different locations that a match is played on. Every map has two bomb-sites to defend. A Map can be considered a ‘level’ in normal gaming terms. Each map looks different and has different layouts, but the objectives for the game itself does not change.

The Weapons

There are a number of different weapons each player can individually use. Ranging from pistols, to sub-machine guns, to rifles. Each player, for both teams, can have one rifle or submachine gun, and a pistol. There are also grenades that each player can hold multiple of. The offense and defense each have special weapons that are only available to them.

The Money System

Every player, on both teams, has an individual amount of money. You can acquire money individually by killing an enemy, or completing an objective (planting a bomb if you’re on offense, or defusing a bomb if you’re on defense). Everyone on your team receives money if the round is won. Money is used to buy weapons, grenades, and armor at the beginning of each round.

The Game

Starting A Match

The home team starts on the defense (“CT’s”) and the away team starts on the offense (“T’s”). Each player, for both teams, starts with $800. The first round of a match is called “Pistol Round”. Whichever side wins the Pistol Round will win enough money to buy sub-machine guns or rifles and has a clear advantage to the losing team who has less money to buy weapons.

At the end of the 15th round the game goes to half-time and each team switches sides.

Methods Of Scoring

There are two ways that a team can get a point:

1. Kill every member of the opposing team in a single round

OR:

1. Detonate (offense) or defuse (defense) the bomb in a single round

Strategies

Each map is designed with different locations, scenery, and bomb-site locations. Strategies on offense and defense will differ for every team on every map on both offense and defense.

Generally, the defense (“CT’s”) will divvy up their players and sit in or around the bomb-sites to protect them. The offense (“T’s”) will divvy up their players to pick off defenders in bomb-sites, or rush into a bomb-site and plant the bomb, then defend it until it explodes.

Player Stats

Each player has individual Hit-Points (HP), starting at 100 at the beginning of each round. Every time a player takes damage, their Hit-Points (HP) goes down. When it hits 0, the player dies and can only come back at the beginning of the next round.

Each individual player has three different statistics in any given match. These statistics don’t have any impact on the score of the match, but are used to tell each individual player’s performance.

1. Kills – The total amount of people that an individual player has kill throughout a match
2. Assists – The total amount of people that an individual player helped kill throughout a match.
3. Deaths – The total amount of times a player has been killed throughout a match

Glossary

Round – Where the game begins. There is a 2 minute timer that goes down. The offense and defense have 2 minutes to complete their objectives. Once a team has scored a point, the round ends and a new round begins. Each new round resets and both the offense and defense go back to their starting locations.

Match – Consists of 30 rounds. After the first 15 rounds, the teams switch sides. The first team to get 16 rounds is declared the winner of the match.

Terrorists (“T’s”)- The offensive side. Consists of 5 players who are trying to plant a bomb at one of the two bases or kill all the counter-terrorists.

Counter-Terrorists (“CT’s) – The defensive side. Consists of 5 players who are trying to defend two bases and kill all Terrorists.

Maps – The physical locations where a match is held. Each map has a different location, layout, and ambiance, but the objective of the game does not change. Each map has two bomb-sites that the defense needs to defend. Each map will garner different strategies that both the offense and defense will come up with.

Bomb-site – The base that defensive Counter-Terrorists (“CT’s) have to defend from the offensive Terrorists (“T’s”). There are two bomb-sites on each map.

Half-time – A 3 minute break after the finishing of the 15th round. Both teams switch sides (offense and defense) and reset the money system.

Pistol-round – The 1st and 16th rounds of a match. Each player for both teams starts with the default pistols and $800. No one on the map can afford anything more than a pistol to start the game on an even playing field.

Rush – Rush, or rushing, is a strategy where every player of a given team will infiltrate a specific location in an attempt to kill the opposing team by sheer force and numbers.

Hit-Points (HP) – Each player has individual Hit-Points (HP), starting at 100 at the beginning of each round. Every time a player takes damage, their Hit-Points (HP) goes down. When it hits 0, the player dies and can only come back at the beginning of the next round. Analogy: In the game of dodgeball, when you are hit with the ball, you have to sit out until the next round.

Are we missing something? What could we have described better? Let us know! hello@discoveresports.com