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hitting your opponent. A good example is, again, the tunnel
in DE_DUST. Only go assault sniping in such places; otherwise,
switch to your Desert Eagle or follow in the wake of a team
mate who has a good close-combat weapon.

Most importantly, when assault sniping, keep in mind the principle
of Hot and Cold Firing.

Hot and Cold Firing Technique
----------------------------------
As discussed in the Techniques section, hot and cold firing is
moving, but at the moment before firing you instantly brake,
and fire from a motionless position. This is invaluable for
Arctic players who have to go assault for any reason.

Be careful; some inertia is present in the CS engine, and it is
not easy to stop immediately. Just letting go of the movement
key is not enough; you must counter your momentum by lightly
tapping the movement key of the opposite direction. This is
not as easy as it sounds, but with practice you should be able
to achieve it.

By instantaneously stopping your movement, you will increase
your assault sniping accuracy tremendously. Keep in mind, though
that the Hot and Cold technique does not quite bring your
accuracy to the same level as keeping still. Sometimes, you might
want to duck instead of braking; it's more accurate, the only
problem is that your aim will move a bit.

Assault Sniping Two
---------------------------
The previous lesson was about assault sniping at close range.
However, the more common use of assault sniping will be doing
it as sniping was meant to be: at medium to long range.
Examples of this would be storming under the bridge in DE_DUST.
In the case of long to mid range assault sniping, you proceed
cautiously and use the Hot and Cold technique when you spot
the enemy. However, I cannot stress how you must anticipate
where the enemy is. It is highly probable that the opponent
you will encounter in this case is a camper who is waiting
for you to show. You must therefore be ready for him the
moment you see him, and react swiftly.

Aside from the Hot and Cold technique, you must learn the
secret deadly sniping skills of the [gulay] school. These
will be detailed later.

For now, concentrate on positional awareness; this is the
key to anticipating where your opponents will be found.

Positional Advantage and Awareness
--------------------------------------
The most important aspect of Arctic Mastery, though, still lies
in your positional awareness. As mentioned earlier, developing
the keen sniping eye is just half of the total skill: the other
half is knowing where to be, and when.

This is difficult to teach, and as with most advanced skills,
experience is the best teacher. Specific map discussions would
help imparting this knowledge, by pointing out which points are
the most effective to cover.

Still, the basic rules to consider can be outlined:
1.) When camping, choose a remote position which is
difficult to reach without exposure to the AWP.
2.) When assaulting, choose enclosed spaces where
potential targets will have difficulty dodging.
3.) Seek out sniping points early in the game where
you can steal a quick kill before running away
to a more defensible spot. These points are usually
vulnerable positions where the enemy will not expect
you, but which are very narrow and offer an excellent
shot. Upon making a kill or two, withdraw to a safer
position.

Style of the Ages
-----------------------

"The Saotome Ougi is based on three principles: Speed, Seperation,
and Strategy. In other words, run away until you think of
something better."
-- Saotome Genma, Ranma Nibunnoichi

The third rule of positional awareness is what is called the
"Style of the Ages." Shoot once, kill, and run away. Discovering
such a point from which to use the technique is practically a
free kill. And since you do it at the start of the round, most
inexperienced players unfamiliar with your skill do not expect it.

To best explain this skill, I will give an example from DE_DUST.
You are a terrorist. This is the DE_DUST tunnel, where the
majority of conflict in Dust occurs.

to terrorist base
|O |
| |
|------- ---- |--------
--| O \ the tunnel |
--------------------------|
--| xO
|O------------------------| |-----------|
_________________________| |___________|
\ O
\ bomb
\ site
______________ ________ \____________________
| |
to CT base

O - Crates
x - Style of the Ages Sniping Point

The Style of the Ages requires you to move with incredible
speed to get to the key points before your opponents do.
Here is one of the riskier, but highly-effective points.
As a terrorist, make your way to the 'x' marked on the
map. From there, aim towards the crack of the double
doors that you can see. The faster CTs will probably have
gone ahead to the bomb site, but from your vantage point,
you will be able to easily snipe the slower ones still
heading either into the double doors or into the tunnel
where you are.

The ones entering into the double doors are easy targets.
The moment they are about to step through the thin slit
to the bombsite, you shoot and they are history. This
technique garners so many kills.

Do not be afraid of the CTs who plan to enter into the
tunnel! This is what I meant by narrow spaces. The
entrance to the tunnel is a very narrow space; you can
easily shoot any CT the moment he shows his face into
that small entrance. However, upon grabbing a few kills
and giving away your position, you should retreat to a
safer position. There is such a thing as being too greedy;
be sure to leave and get to a better position. Knowing
when to withdraw is as important as the agression of
getting there in the first place.

That is the gist of the technique; this example will
hopefully help you master the fine points of the Style
of the Ages and assault sniping. That's what it's all
about. Find points like this, and you have learned the
other half of the important skill of Arctic Sniping:
Positional Mastery. The other half is the usual camping
points, of course.


Instilling Fear
-------------------------------------
Another important aspect of [gulay] sniping is to control or
at least influence the movements of your enemy. I have always
emphasized that mental state is the underlying key to winning
your battles. As such, battle exists on two levels: the
physical and the mental. You must learn to badger and scare
your opponent for the twofold purpose of breaking his mental
concentration and teaching him where to move.

"Get out of my way, you maggot-infested piece of shit."
-- Shinomori Aoshi, Rurouni Kenshin (Hecto version)

By controlling key sniping points on the map, you can effectively
limit your opponent's movements. It's the same principle as with
the backstab technique: you scare your opponent with such deaths,
teaching him to look out for those dark corners. As a sniper, you
instead teach him to be wary of open spaces.

A good example of this is for the terrorists in CS_MANSION. Most
people think that the terrorists should cower in fear in the mansion
while CTs assault to rescue the hostages. Wrong! Terrorists rule
CS_MANSION, and snipers are the key to doing it. From the two top
windows and the balcony, a sniper can control the middle field of
the map and severely limit CT movement. Another terrorist must
jump out of the house immediately on the terrorist's right side
to cover the mousehole. When that has been accomplished, the CTs
are deadly paralyzed with only one option: the sewers. And the
sewer is so easy to defend from above ground.

After you have instilled the fear of death in certain places,
you must push the advantage in suceeding rounds. Presumably,
your enemies are scared stiff of charging the well-beaten
path, so they will tend to hang-out and camp a little farther
back. Once that has happened, you repeat the vicious cycle,
taking control of the ground they have relinquished, and
expanding your circle of fear. By doing this, you can rout your
opponents.

A good example would be the Style of the Ages snipe point I
showed earlier in DE_DUST. If you scare the CTs enough with
that technique, they will eventually be so scared to pass
the double doors that they will no longer rush to defend the
bombsite. Which makes your job as terrorist really easy: no
CTs to guard the bombsite, you can plant away.

By using techniques like this to frighten your opponents, you can
easily break their fighting spirit and mental concentration, and
severely limit their physical movement: you have won the battle on
both levels. The weapons best suited for teaching such fear is of
course, the Arctic. Learn to use it to strike fear in the hearts
of your foe, and you have mastered one of the key secrets of the
[gulay] school.

Some day, I hope to release detailed map strategies that will
teach you how to utilize these psy-war tactics. For now, you
must content yourself with the principles of it, and learn how
to apply them on your own.


Taunting (minumura)
-------------------------------------
As a student of the [gulay] school of sniping arts, you should
make it a habit to taunt your opponents. Even if you do not mean
it, taunting is a great way to get under your opponent's skin
and make him lose his focus. The degree of your taunting is
totally up to you; if you're a congenial guy you can tone it
down, but if you're a real asshole feel free to say whatever.
But in the spirit of my teachings, you should taunt whenever
possible.

For the pride of the [gulay] school, an acceptable form of
taunting is to bind a message to a key. After killing someone,
press the key to taunt. This becomes your "signature," and if
you're good enough and do it regularly enough, that phrase
will strike fear into the hearts of your opponent.

This technique, thus, serves four purposes: to help instill
fear, to ruin your enemy's focus, to establish your presence
on the battlefield, and to simply make you feel good about
yourself. Morale is important in battle, remember that!

If you wish to take up the [gulay] battlecry, bind this
message to a hotkey, to be pressed upon slaying an opponent:

"Main Cannon, Eva Black, FIRE!!!"

Of course, if you think that sounds corny, you are free to
make up whatever taunt you want. I just have a personal
bent towards anime quips.

Finally, if you feel like being even more irritating, bind it
to your attack key so that you say it each time you fire:

BIND MOUSE1 "+ATTACK;SAY MAIN CANNON, EVA BLACK, FIRE!"

I don't recommend that last bit, though. Even I haven't done that. ^_^


Team First, You Last
-------------------------------------
One of the great vulnerabilities of the Arctic is to close combat