If you’re a First Person Shooter player looking to improve your skills, then my FPS Self-Improvement Series of articles is exactly what you’re looking for.
I’ve played FPS games competitively for nearly a decade and have decided to share my knowledge of FPS gaming in six thematic articles. Each entry takes a look at a different aspect of FPS gaming and how to improve your performance in that regard.
This fourth entry in the series details 7 tips for improving your map control. Learn methods of quickly adopting new maps, of using the environment to your advantage and of creating your own map routes.
1. Prioritize Your Memorization
Memorize key areas of a map first, such as the locations of your favorite weapons and power-ups.
At first it’s best to ignore the smaller details such as ammo pickups and minor health/armor items.
In general you’ll want to prioritize health, armor and power-up pickups over weapon or ammo locations. If you know where to find health and boosting items, then you can run away more effectively and survive battles more easily.
Another good method for quickly getting a handle on maps is to take the tips offered in this article one map at a time.
It’s better to learn to dominate on one map, than it is to not-quite-suck on all of them. Once you’ve ‘mastered’ one map, it becomes much easier to improve on others. And focusing on all of them at the same time will merely result in not retaining most of what you’ve learned.
Memorize the locations of your favorite weapons first
2. Take It Offline
The best way to learn a map’s layout is to run around in it uncontested.
Just fire up a bot match – sans bots – and run a few rounds; explore the environment. It’ll be a simple affair to get the gist of the map’s layout without people trying to kill, murder and mutilate you constantly.
Obviously this is a time-consuming process, so it is best reserved for only the most popular of maps. I wouldn’t do this for a map that is hardly ever played, but for a map like QZDM6 (Quake Live) I might run through it a couple of times.
3. Spectate, Imitate, Adapt
A good method for learning map layout, structure and item placement is by spectating skilled players. Note what locations they frequent, and which routes they use.
Most skilled players have a number of paths they tend to follow on the maps they know best and you can often learn a lot from this. You could also download demos of top-level clan matches for this purpose.
After getting an idea for how the pro’s play, you’ll want to join a server and follow a skilled player around the map. This way you’ll get a feel for proper routing through maps while actually playing and this will help you get a feel for the map layout very quickly.
If you can find one, then you’ll want to spectate/follow a player with a similar play style to yours. Someone with an aggressive play style will have entirely different routes and priorities than a more defensively oriented player.
You could copy their moves, but it’s best to merely imitate and then adapt them to your own preferred style.
4. Logic Prevails
Did you know that most CTF maps are symmetric? Use this to your advantage and spend a match simply defending in your own base. Once you know the layout of your own base, then you know their base as well. This cuts your learning time in half.
Likewise you’ll want to keep in mind your own play style to determine your learning priorities. If you’re playing team modes then keep in mind whether you’re a defensive or offensive players and study the map accordingly. Study those parts of the map that you’ll be likely to frequent (this does not apply to 1 vs 1/DM/TDM).
Also keep your own skills in mind when moving about. If you favor the railgun more than the rocket launcher, then you’ll want to skirt closer to the former.
Gaining the high ground in a fight will give you the advantage
5. The Environment Is Your Friend
Maps in first person shooters are strewn with boxes, walls and other obstacles that you can use to your advantage.
Once you’ve got the essentials down, it’s advisable to take a deeper look at the map, perhaps in offline mode again. You might be able to hop from ledge to ledge, to make your way to the top of the roof for an ideal sniper spot. Or you might be able to dodge up against that wall and jump to a higher level of the map.
These kinds of shortcuts and gimmicks are useful in all game modes. Whether it is to get the enemy’s flag to your base, or to unexpectedly jump up to a different level in an intense 1 vs 1 match, learning these tricks will help you greatly.
Not only will you be able to pull them off, but you’ll be expecting them as well, which will help in predicting the movement of your opponent.
6. Pacing Is Key
While you’re still groping your way about an unknown map, you’ll want to take it slow. Don’t go rushing about strafejumping and dodging after enemies across the map: it might improve your score, but it’ll take you longer to learn the map layout.
Pacing is also important in other ways. On defensive duty in CTF, you’ll want to stick to set positions and swap between engagements, never rushing for pickups. But you need to be ready to race after a flag at a moment’s notice.
On offensive duty you’ll be racing for pickups, and only slow down to time attacks with your team members. Yet you may well need to slow it down in the enemy base to throw them off and race for the flag at the perfect moment.
In TDM you’ll probably be placed on a key pickup position, but should be ready to bolt at max speed should you be in danger of losing a fight.
To be able to do this, you need to know the map intimately and practice these spur-of-the-moment changes in pacing offline. Try going from dead stop to full speed in as many different situations as possible: near a teleporter, near a ledge, in a dead end, on a slope, from a roof, etc..
Quake Live actually facilitates this with its offline training maps for sprintjumping and circlejumping.
7. Remain Unpredictable
There is more to unpredictability than mere pacing. You’ll want to purposefully change your routine, so that your pickup routes / angles of attack don’t become too obvious.
Never become predictable in your movement across the map, nor your movement during combat. Either of these will mean your death.
GameDrone FPS Self-Improvement Series:
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