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- Finally, the multiplayer level starts. You shouldn't start hunting for players at once (unless you're playing with 16 or more). Try to find some good weapons first and get as much armor as you can. I always go look for the long jump module too, because I feel safer while having it.

- You really should study the level a bit before playing. Explore the level on your own until you know all the good spots where to hide and where to find weapons. This really will give you a lot of advantage, but don't go extreme. Don't explore the levels until you know where to find ANY texture, you will be sick of playing Half Life until then.

- When you know where to find most things and the level starts, go look for some strong weapons first and try to find the enemy later. If you're really a rushing person, you can try to take him out, while he's only having a pistol. Listen carefully if you don't hear any footsteps nearby when the level starts. If you're confronted with another player while only having the pistol, simply use the secondary fire function and empty all your ammo in his head. If you can't take him out, flee.

- The secret to knowing your way around in levels is based on experience.
Don't worry about memorizing where a certain weapon is for every level.
Instead, run around and pick things up until you realize that you know what's around the corner.

3.5 Multiplayer Opponents
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- When you play multiplayer games, logically, there are opponents. The nice thing about multiplayer games is that they can be very suprising, since no
AI Routine can match the capriciousness of a Human Mind. That's why there are so many different playing styles. In this section, I'll try to explain some styles and how to deal with them.

- Keep in mind that I invented all the terms to describe Player Types, so don't use talk about Hot Shots and Mister Ambush, because people who haven't read this Strategy Guide won't understand it.

A Sitting Duck

- This player never does something rational, he just runs like a whirlwind in every room and never thinks about his actions. His aim is to damage you as much as possible, not kill you. He usually plays using keyboard which means you can take him out from height because he'll need a second or 5 to aim up. If there's too much shooting, he hides in a corner until everything is back calm, a real beginner ! The Sitting Duck usually doesn't know the level, so he runs a bit around on places hes never seen before, a bit of sightseeing and then BANG !

- He's very easy to kill. Usually, he doesn't know nothing about strafing, circle-strafing or even aiming, so simply take a good shot at him from a high place and he goes down.

B Fragger

- Fragger (to frag = to get a kill) is someone who only tries to get as much kills as possible. He does a lot of running around and always uses the best weapons to kill everyone off quickly, mostly the secondary fire of the
Sub-Machine Gun (a grenade). He first goes looking for some armor and then he tries to clean the entire level, while he stays near respawning places for easy kills. Fraggers are extremely dangerous persons since they're the type that can kill you with a blink of their eyes. They don't care about health or weapons. They use everything they have and if they get killed:
"So What ?" they just start over again. If a fragger hasn't much health left, he won't go looking for new one, only if he would accidently bump into some, but he will go for one more frag instead for health.

- A Fragger can be hard to kill. If he's used to Quake 2 Games, he's trained to give some accurate response to your fire. He stays cool in massive fire fights and has a good aim. Try to get him from the back or lure him into an ambush. Since he tries to get as much frags as he can, you can easily lure him with some weapon sounds. Sniping can be usefull too.

C Hot-Shot

- A Hot-Shot is a very enerving and nervous person. He can aim very quickly and likes to jump and duck around you all the time like one of those damned flies. He doesn't need strong weapons, since his movement is his strongest weapon. He can perform a combination of ducking, strafing and jumping so you can't aim at him while he takes you out. A hot-shot can also be described like a advanced fragger. Someone who dances around you like a prima ballerina while killing 3 persons in less than two seconds.

- There are less hot-shot player than in Quake 2, because Half Life is a lot slower than Quake 2 (I mean the movement of the person). Still, this is the most annoying person to meet, especially if he uses the long jump module to fly around you all the time. I really hate it when someone kills me by jumping around me all the time, so I do a lot of misses. These players often have strange and wacky player models, like Homer.

- A hot-shot is really hard to hit. I always switch to weapons that do radial damage. You will lose your health, but when you think you can hit the hot-shot, jump backwards while firing something painful at him to finish him off. If you don't think you're fast enough to beat a hot-shot, try to shoot from a high position with a weapon that does radial damage. A crossbow can't be used with these players because their moving too fast.

D Camper

- A camper is someone that always stay at places where there are a lot of weapons. He doesn't like to lose health or to have bad weapons. He always wants to be sure of his kills although he doesn't get much kills since he always stays at the same place. A smart camper doesn't exactly stay at a weapon's spot. If the weapon is lying in a room, he will hide behind a wall or a crate and get you as soon as you're going to take the weapon. The most annoying campers are the one at a higher place guarding a crossbow or other good weapons (like the crossbow weapon spot at the map Bounce, high in the air). Usually, there's always a back-door to take him out, but not in the map bounce, so that's really annoying. Having a camper in team play can be very usefull, because you can use that camping place as a basis then, where you know you're safe. A camper also usually knows where to find every weapon on any level.

- Campers can be hard to take out. If they're hiding at their camping place, they're hard to spot. But they can trick you once, not twice. If you know where they're camping, you really should be able to take them out the second time. If the camper is camping near a respawning place, report this to other players to take him out a few times in group. It really sucks to be killed all the time one second after your revival. mmm, maybe hot-shots are the most annoying ones, the campers get a pretty good score in annoying too.

E Sniper

- The sniper is some sort of camper, only he doesn't guard a place, he wants a place to be safe and calmly take out some enemies out without being hit or spotted. A sniper usually uses the crossbow or the secondary fire mode of the
Magnum. A smart sniper won't always stay at the same place, onca he's spotted he'll go look for another place. A sniper doesn't like trouble and mostly isn't good at one-to-one combat. He doesn't have fast reflexes or cannot strafe and jump at the same time, he's very slow. Still, a smart sniper can do a lot of kills, especially when he's hidden in a very huge, open area where they're a lot of places the sniper could be hidden.

- A Sniper isn't that hard to take out. If he shoots at you and misfires with the crossbow, you'll hear a little "poooiiing" next to you. If you get the chance, look at the way the arrow is stuck in the ground, this can give you information about the position of the sniper. Then, if you're sure where he's hiding, shoot with a lot of weapons that do radial damage to his direction or throw a grenade. If that doesn't work, hide behind something. As soon as the sniper thinks you're gone (OK, you do not know what he thinks, but you can guess a bit), you move from behind the wall and take a good shot at him while he's not hidden. Because the sniper doesn't have such great reflexes, there's a big chance you hit him. You can also aim with your crossbow while you're ducking behind a crate or wall and then quickly stand up to fire at him.

F Mister Ambush

- Mister Ambush can also be a combination of other player types. It's the type of person that quickly drops satchels while you're running behind him or lures you into a room with a lot of well-placed tripmines. You won't meet this player types in Quake 2 because they're simply no weapons to perform the mister Ambush technique there. But, this is Half Life and it sure gives you the opportunity to perform some neat tricks (more on neat tricks further in the tricks and strategies section). I won't go deeper into the special ambush tricks now, but it really feels good to lure a good player into a simple trap. Record a demo to make him look like a fool :)

- Getting Mr Ambush is quite hard. There are so many possible tactics for
Mr Ambush, I won't explain them all right now, continue reading further and get a look at specific ambush situations to come up with a solution.
Especially sound is important. When you're running behind someone and suddenly you don't hear no footsteps anymore when he disappears around a corner, you can be sure he's waiting there for you.

G Mister Perfect

- Ok, if you use a bit from a all playing kinds above, you become the perfect player. The most perfect player is the one that has perfect control of his controls (hot-shot), can do a lot of fragging at once (fragger), knows all the ins and outs of the level (camper). He is flexible in all situations and isn't afraid of some mean strategic tactics (Mister Ambush). Of course, if you want to become Mr Perfect, you need a very good aim (Sniper) and you are not afraid to take risks at cost of health. The only category you don't have to get some experience from, is the Sitting Duck, but I guess you al- ready knew that :)

- Mister Perfect is extremely hard to get. Just look at some Quake 2 demos of players like Immortal (although he'll quit multiplayer gaming) and Thresh

- I'm a bit a mix of a Mister Ambush, Sniper & Fragger. I'm pretty good at using traps and neat tactics and I can do a lot of quick movement and shooting, but when I'm with 5 people in a little room, I mostly lose control of the situation and die.



3.6 General Tactics
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A. Defend yourself by running away.

- The first thing I learned with 3D-shhot-em-up multiplayer games was that going after someone with your pistol right after you respawn is useless. You die right away. A lot of newbies just stand there and shoot right after they respawn. Experienced, well armed people know a quick score when they see one
So, try to avoid all fire until you bump into some good weapons. Most people will chase you until they see someone else to frag; they are easily distracted. However, if you run don't let them keep shooting at your back.
They will eat through your health extremely fast. If you have to run away, you can also consider running backwards while firing at your opponents.
You can only do this when you've experience with the map. If you get stuck in corner while running backwards, you'll be an easy frag.

- After a while, you'll find some good escape routes. Escape routes are places to go that involve an elevator or some kind of maze to get lost in.
Your attacker will be right behind you until you go up an elevator which doesn't go back down for a few seconds. That elevator gives you enough time to lose yourself.

- Also always make sure to auto-enable auto run. You already move quite slow in Half Life, you need the extra boost. So, when you have enabled auto-run, run like mad ALL THE TIME. If you stand in one spot for too long you become an easy target.

B. Vary your movements

- Don't always move in the same way. Some people duck all the time if someone shoots at hem, or they always strafe right. Once your opponents get used with the way you move, you're lost. Use differents styles of strafe, jump and duck movement.

- Varying your movement is not the only thing, also vary the paths you take.
If you always move in the same circle around the map to get all good weapons, people will ambush you. Try different routes and try to find as much new ones as possible.

C. Strafing

- While you are learning how to run practice strafing. Strafing is a great way to avoid getting hit. If you're good they won't be able to touch you.
If someone has a powerful weapon, you can use the strafing tactic to empty his ammo supply. It's also very useful at the egon gun. If someone get a two second full hit at you, you'll be killed, but if you strafe all the time you'll be a harder target and your opponent will lose a lot of ammo. First learn to strafe to avoid bullets, then learn to strafe and KILL !!!

D Circle Strafing

- Now that you can defend yourself, or at least know how, you can work on fragging. If you are good at strafing backwards and forwards you are ready to learn circle strafing. Circle strafing is what happens when you aim with the mouse, strafe, and/or run all at the same time while keeping something in the middle aimed at. This action is confusing to someone who is not used to it, especially when you combine shooting. That is why you should get used to plain old strafing while aiming forward first.

- A good exercise is to find an object that you can walk all around. Keep it in aim while strafing and shooting. Strafe left for a time and then right while keeping the target in aim as well as strafing all around it. If you