Abstract

Death-Matching (DM) is a fundemental skill that is the base of TFC and any online shooter. It is the act of fighting the enemy in a 1v1 situation. In TFC there are many ways of completing your objective, but being able to DM is an absolute necessity. If there is no other way around an enemy, you must dispatch him as quickly as possible while taking as little damage as possible. This will deal with the most common matchup and the matchup you can control if you are able to DM correctly: Soldier vs Medic.

Definitions

msd_dm : A map built from the ground-up to provide realistic DM training for match situations. This is achieved in two ways; 1) The architectural design of the map and 2) ammunition limitation entities. The map is an octagon. It is "small" by most DM map standards. However the map has a slightly larger diameter than the max effective range of a soldier. This means we aren't dealing with ridiculous distances that aren't useful in matches- most areas where you will DM in a TFC map will be the same size or smaller. Any larger areas are usually yards or other big areas that will be conced over or not guarded by a soldier. Secondly, the classes in msd_dm have grenade limitations. In a DM situation, the idea is to quickly dispatch an enemy. A soldier should waste no more than 1 grenade on any single medic, and a medic should never use more than 2 grenades on a soldier. Both have to conserve their grenades for future confrontations.



Long Range : Greater than 3/4 the diameter of msd_dm.

Medium Range : Greater than the radius of msd_dm up to 3/4 the diameter.

Short Range : The radius of msd_dm and closer

Technique

Soldier : A good soldier who is able to predict a medic's movement may be able to hit a medic at long range in msd_dm. It may be difficult in msd_dm, but on a real map situation you will find this much easier- most medics are going somewhere. They may have limited movement at long range. There are only so many places they can go. They will either fall back or move closer. If you are not confident in shooting at this range, do NOT waste rockets. You may fire one rocket, but no more unless the first rocket hit. You should wait until you are at medium range.

Soldiers should move towards the opponent to medium range before they fire. At this distance you should do damage to the enemy medic, one way or another. After the initial hit, you should be able to shoot 2-3 more rockets and connect. The idea is to get yourself in a position to connect with one rocket and quickly respond with the rest of your rockets as the medic is juggled into the air or generally off balance from the first shot.

This is why it essential that you do not waste any rockets. In a match, if the medic is too far away, wait till he comes closer. Let him mess around at a long distance, perhaps in another room of the map. Remember, you aren't going to be playing a position where you have to worry about long ranges often- if you are, its probably poor D strategy.

Soldiers should NEVER move to a short range position. For 2 reasons: First, you aren't here to shoot yourself in the feet. Damaging yourself is just plain idiotic. In a match you cannot just run up to enemies and shoot at your feet. Your job is to kill more than one enemy. Secondly, if you run up to short range on an enemy you are abandoning your position. You have to be able to find a balance between effectively DMing and giving up your position. If you give up your position to DM, others may simply walk past you- if you play too closely to your position, you may be unable to DM effectively, in which case you will be dead and not able to defend your area.

The only time a soldier should be fighting at short range is if the medic comes to him. Not the other way around.

Ideally the soldier should fire a shot as he is transititioning from long to medium range and he will hopefully do some damage. He should juke back and forth to avoid shotgun blasts. At this point he is at medium range. From here he should be able to fight the medic effectively. The other 3 rockets should kill the medic alone- if not, the grenade that is primed certainly will. Do not move to short range- msd_dm is a training map. The objective is not to eliminate the opponent. The objective is to become a better TFC player. It is certainly possible for a soldier to run at the enemy medic and shoot at each other's feet and kill the enemy; but this does not help the soldier get better nor does it do anything for the medic. Don't do it. You cannot rely on this method because of the reasons described earlier.

Again, 1 rocket at long/medium range, the other 3 to finish him off at medium range, all while moving erratically to avoid shotgun blasts. Well placed shotgun blasts and a grenade can kill a soldier, so do not move in a straight line.

If you are unable to hit at long/medium range, simply prime a grenade and move to medium range before firing. You must be able to defeat a medic at medium range. Get used to being able to finish a medic after connecting with 1 rocket. The medic should expect to die if he is hit with the first rocket. Take advantage of the fact he is no longer in control of his movements.

Medic :

When fighting a soldier as medic, you always want to stay as far away from him as possible At long range your shotgun is still effective and he will be unable to hit you with rockets. The shotgun is one of the most underrated weapons in the game. If you are able to hit with it effectively, soldiers are easy targets.

Of course in msd_dm and in a real match, you can't always fight at long range. You will have to fight at medium range. Remember, the goal is to destroy the enemy quickly . The longer you mess around with a soldier, the more time you are wasting and the more likely you will end up dying anyways.

As you confront the soldier you must be using your shotgun the whole time. You should connect with every shot. Keep your distance. If the soldier is unable to work effectively at long distance, there is no reason to get closer. If you are able to hit every shotgun blast as the soldier moves closer to you and toss a grenade right at his head, you will kill him. This means you even have a chance to kill him even if he's in the process of juggling you. The key is to avoid the long range rockets and connect with EVERY shotgun blast and place the grenade directly on the soldier. He may hit you with a medium range rocket, but you will be able to dispatch him.

Once the soldier is within his effective range, you must be able to do more than simply strafe back and forth. If you strafe back and forth, the soldier knows you will be in one of two places AND you are in his effective range. Put simply, he will kick your ass if you haven't killed him already. Once the soldier is in position to defeat you and you are unable to move back to long range, you must start considering manipulating the gap between both of you. Glide-jump in close between rocket shots to short range- then get out before he fires- he will probably shoot himself in the feet. Moving in all 8 directions when you are in the soldier's effective range is the only way you will avoid rockets long enough to defeat him. Never move in a straight line and always manipulate the gap.

It is important for a medic to know how many rockets a soldier has left at all times. Assume 4. If you are at medium range with a soldier and he uses his last rocket, you now have complete control over the soldier. You can move into short range at pleasure to deliver shotgun blows for devestating damage. But remember- move backwards and perhaps to one of the sides or back and forth before he can fire. When you are at short range with a soldier and moving around him, he is desparately trying to line up a rocket shot close to him and has to move his mouse around quickly. He is anxious for another rocket to be loaded and knock you into the air. When that rocket gets there they are still in "short range mode" and will probably completely miss you if you suddenly widen the gap. If the soldier is out of rockets and you are simply at medium range strafing back and forth, he can keep the crosshair in your general location and fire immediately and probably hit you since you are in his effective range and moving back and forth like a dummy. If he's out of rockets, there is no reason you shouldnt alter the gap between you. He's little threat. Of course we are dealing with no more than a second of time, but in-game, this is quite a bit.

Again, you must be on with your shotgun blasts. Ideally you will hit every shot as the soldier moves to medium range, toss your grenade at him, and he will die. This will be more difficult in msd_dm than in a match. In a match you will have a grenade primed before your confront the enemy. Either way, you must remember to hit with the shotgun or you will have to use 2 grenades to kill the soldier and you are at risk of running out of grenades and possibly wasting too much time and letting the enemy D adjust to your presence.

Medics can kill a soldier at full health suprisingly quick if you pay careful attention to your shotgun and grenade. There should rarely if ever be a situation in a match where you are unable to DM a soldier 1v1 and win. I'm not suggesting you will win every time, but if you don't kill him, another O will easily finish him off. A soldier should not be able to DM 3 or 4 O in a row and be victorious. This shows the medics lack DM skill. Even against very strong soldiers, the medic should apply these techniques and win. If the soldier's maximum effective range is larger, take that into consideration.

And of course, if you are able to fight outside his effective range, then do so- don't play with the gap unless he poses a threat to you.

General :

ROF Dodging - Most players do not have the ability to aim instantanously as they fire. This should be taken advantage of. If you are able to conciously alter your strafe movements based on the rate of fire (ROF) of the enemy's weapon, it will frustrate him. This is especially true for a soldier avoiding shotgun blasts. Simply strafe back and forth in timings relative to the ROF of the shotgun, preferably a moment before they fire. Most people "track" the player with their crosshair between shots. Make them track in one direction, and then quickly move in the opposite direction before their next shot is fired. Dodging rockets is slightly more difficult on this principle alone seeing as the splash damage might hit you anyways, but you can still use this along with the other techniques described above.

Grenade Dodging - You can use the ROF Dodging principle to avoid grenades as well. Again, you may get hit with splash damage, but at the same time, some people are very sloppy with grenades. They will just assume you are moving in the same direction when they throw the grenade and they tend to throw it early while you still have time to reverse your direction. In order to effectively avoid grenades, you must be able to time in your head when the grenade is going to go off. With this in mind you want to be able to change directions AND alter the distance between you and enemy. If you are fighting at close or medium range with the enemy, he will prime the grenade a long time; You have to identify the "sweet spot" of where he primed it too long to hit someone at long range and if you have enough time to quickly move backwards and then the opposite direction to maximum avoidance. If the player is at a close mind-set, he is less likely to realize that he has to toss the grenade a long distance until you are already too far away to receive any damage. This is very similar to a soldier out of rockets and a medic at short range. The medic falls back as the soldier reloads a rocket and he fires short range while the medic is already at medium range. Alternatively, there is also a sweet spot of the time when an enemy is ready to throw a grenade a long distance and you are able to quickly move forward and away from the grenade and take little damage as you are on now medium range from the opponent. Most long range grenade hits are because both players are strafing back and forth at the same distance and ignore the fact they can simply alter the gap between them to gain an advantage. The key is to stay alert and be able to move in any direction in a moment's time.

Conclusion

You have to be able to DM to be effective. Being a shitty DMer is like playing professional baseball without knowing how to catch a fly ball. You MUST be a serious threat to the other person when you are forced to DM. If the other person has adequate DM skills and you don't, he will simply run over you for the entire match, O or D. To be beat in DM is one thing, but to lack the fundemental skills to even have a chance is another. Even if the opponent is a better DMer, you should still be able to do sufficient damage to be effective. Don't lose a match because you are a DM gimp. Don't lose because you lack fundemental skils that can be easily learned and practiced. Lose because their teamwork and overall skill was better than ours.

Appendix

Latest Version of msd_dm ( beta 8 ):
msd_dmb8.zip