Counter Strike Maps

The maps in Counter-Strike determine the gameplay and mission objectives. There are three official types of maps in Counter-Strike:

• Hostage rescue maps, identified by "cs" before the name (eg. cs_militia, cs_office), where the counter-terrorist team's objective is to free several non-player characters that are present near the terrorist base
• Bomb defusal maps, identified by "de" before the name, (eg. de_dust, de_aztec), where the terrorist team must try to plant explosives at specific
  sites in the map and protect it for a set amount of time while the counter-terrorists attempt to defuse it. Counter-terrorists can purchase a kit to cut the bomb defusal time in half.
• Assassination maps, with an "as" prefix, (eg. as_oilrig), in which one member of the counter-terrorist team becomes a VIP, and must be protected from assassination until he reaches an escape zone. This game mode is not present in Counter-Strike: Source.

Terrorist Escape maps were tested in the beta, where the terrorists' started in a jail and had to reach a checkpoint within a time limit, finding better weapons along the way. It was discontinued as it gave the counter-terrorist side too much of an advantage. During beta, player-controlled vehicles were tested on a racing map which was also discontinued.

Professional tournaments only involve bomb defusal maps. The Counter-Strike and Counter-Strike: Source map de_dust2 is currently the most played first person shooter map in history. [citation needed]

There are hundreds of unofficial prefixes in Counter-Strike now, including:

• AWP Arena maps, with an "awp" prefix, are small arena-type maps where players fight using Arctic Warfare Magnum Sniper Rifles only, which are often misnamed AWPs.
• Frag Yard maps, identified by "fy" before the name, (eg. fy_iceworld), are also small arena-type maps with various weapons lying around at the spawnpoint. The players must use these weapons to beat the other team, however the weapons have limited ammo. These maps usually have a buy zone somewhere in the middle instead of the spawnpoints, at a fair distance.
• Surfing maps, prefixed with "surf", (eg. surf_legends, surf_graphia), are maps where players use their strafing keys to "surf" special ramps. These maps are sorted into two categories – skill maps where players need extreme skill to complete the map and gun games where shooting each other gets a bigger role. These maps usually have a "jail" where players who fall off go. Those who beat the map often get the privilege to execute the prisoners.

Players also have the ability to create their own maps using the Valve Hammer Editor.

Weapons

One of the features of the original incarnations of Counter-Strike was that it did not feature fictional weapons like most games, instead using only existing firearms used the world over by real terrorist cells, counter-terrorist squads, armed forces, and law enforcement units.

The weapons are, however, only semi-realistic; many of them are incorrect in small details such as the caliber of ammunition or in their naming. Part of the reason for straying from realism is to balance the game; the Glock 18 pistol for instance lacks the auto fire mode as that would have given the player a potent submachine gun, the Five-seveN and P90 lack Kevlar piercing capabilities, the Colt M4A1 Carbine had its scope removed since it was positioned as a closer-range assault rifle in contrast to the Steyr AUG, and SIG 552 is not used by real terrorists (because of its high price). The Beretta Elite 96G dual pistols (the game incorrectly lists the ammunition as 9 mm instead of .40 S&W) and Desert Eagle are not practical weapons for special operations and were added as a homage to popular movies.

Others do not operate their firing movement quite as their real-life counterparts do, and many of them are inaccurately 'mirrored', wherein the spent cases are ejected from the wrong side of the weapon. This is attributed to the fact that one of the designers was left-handed, and modeled the weapons being held in the left hand. They were then mirrored to the right side, resulting in these inaccuracies. The Counter-Strike team acknowledges that "not every weapon will be perfectly accurate or realistic".

When early versions of the mod were released, the weapons were presented in the menus with their actual names and manufacturers such as Colt M4A1 and AK-47, but versions from 1.6 on featured fictional manufacturers (and some models) instead, such as "Maverick M4A1" and "CV-47" respectively. Fictional names had to be made up as the actual weapon names were trademarked by their respective manufacturers. However, the internal names used by the developer's console, key bindings and macros were not changed and thus often preserve the original designations; for example, the "Bullpup" (Steyr AUG) is still named "aug" internally, and so is the M4A1.

List of weapons

Counter-Terrorists

• Knife – melee weapon.
• USP .45 ACP Tactical – default Counter-Terrorist pistol w/ removable suppressor.
• Desert Eagle Mark XIX .50 AE – pistol.
• SIG P228 – pistol.
• Five-seveN – pistol. (Unique to Counter-Terrorists)
• Benelli M3 – shotgun, pump-action.
• XM1014 – shotgun, automatic.
• MP5N – submachine gun.
• Steyr TMP – submachine gun. (Unique to Counter-Terrorists)
• P90 – submachine gun.
• UMP45 – submachine gun.
• FAMAS – assault rifle w/ burst capability. (Unique to Counter-Terrorists)
• M4A1 – assault rifle w/ removable suppressor. (Unique to Counter-Terrorists)
• Steyr AUG – assault rifle w/ scope. (Unique to Counter-Terrorists)
• Steyr Scout – bolt-action sniper rifle.
• Arctic Warfare Magnum – bolt-action sniper rifle.
• SG 550 Sniper – battle rifle w/ scope. (Unique to Counter-Terrorists)
• M249 Para – machine gun.

Terrorists

• Knife – melee weapon.
• Glock 18 – default Terrorist pistol, with three-shot burst capability.
• Desert Eagle Mark XIX .50 AE – pistol.
• SIG P228 – pistol.
• Beretta 96G Dual Elites 9 mm – pistols wielded akimbo. (Unique to Terrorists)
• Benelli M3 – shotgun, pump-action.
• XM1014 – shotgun, automatic.
• MP5N – submachine gun.
• MAC-10 – submachine gun. (Unique to Terrorists)
• P90 – submachine gun.
• UMP45 – submachine gun.
• Galil – assault rifle. (Unique to Terrorists)
• AK-47 – assault rifle. (Unique to Terrorists)
• SG 552 – assault rifle w/ scope. (Unique to Terrorists)
• Steyr Scout – bolt-action sniper rifle.
• Arctic Warfare Magnum – bolt-action sniper rifle.
• G3SG/1 – battle rifle w/ scope. (Unique to Terrorists)
• M249 Para – machine gun.

Players are permitted to carry a pistol as a sidearm and primary weapon, whether it be a shotgun, submachine gun, rifle or machine gun. Shotguns are useful in a handful of maps for ambush situations. Submachine guns are affordable and moderately effective at medium and short ranges, but ineffective against armored players at longer ranges. Rifles are generally the most expensive weapons, however they are long-ranged and can penetrate crates and doors.

The Desert Eagle is unique among pistols in the fact that it can penetrate soft objects (such as wooden crates and doors) like rifles. The P90 has the second largest magazine (the largest magazine

belongs to the M249 and its belt-feed system) of any weapon in the game. After several rounds, with enough money accumulated, players opt for the assault rifles, most commonly the M4A1 and AK-47, and the next most popular being the scoped AUG and SG 552.

With the exception of the Steyr Scout, sniper rifles will significantly weigh down a player's movement, so one member of the team will perform a sniping role. The most popular is the AWM (often misnamed the AWP) which is much feared since it can kill an enemy with one shot, with the Steyr Scout being a less powerful but lighter and cheaper alternative. The G3SG/1 and SG 550 are less powerful than the AWM but are semi-automatic and have the option of full-automatic fire, thus giving room for error. (The G3SG/1 and SG 550 Sniper are classified as sniper rifles in the game, but they are properly named battle rifles due to their large size and auto fire capabilities.)

Cheating

Counter-Strike has been a prime target for exploitation by cheaters since its release. In-game, cheating is often referred to as 'hacking' in reference to program or 'hack' executed by the user.

Typical cheats are:

• Wallhacks, which allow the player to see through walls. These work by altering the display driver to display objects that are normally obscured.
• Speedhacks, which give the player increased speed. These work by sending false synchronisation data to servers.
• No recoil, which keeps the players gun shooting straight on the x axis without a kickback by removing gun physics. No spread is used to make a players gun shoot straight along the y axis.
• Aimbots, which helps the player aim at enemies. These work by moving the player's view to anticipate an enemy's position.
• ESP, which shows textual information about the enemy, such as, health, name, and distance
• Barrel hack, which shows a line that depicts where the enemy is looking
• Anti-flash and anti-smoke, which remove the flashbang and smoke grenade effect.
• Grenade Dodger, which moves player farther or closer to a grenade, depending on settings.
• Fanatic, the worst hack of them all. Aimbot, speed, lasers, WALLS, esp, and the newest one: Team kill bot.

Valve has implemented an anti-cheat system called Valve Anti-Cheat (VAC). Players cheating on a VAC enabled server

risk having their account permanently banned from all VAC secured servers.

With the first version of VAC a ban took force almost instantly after being detected, and the cheater had to wait 2 years to have the account unbanned. Since VAC's second version, cheaters are not banned automatically. Rather, they are banned according to a delayed banning system, and bans are permanent. Many cheats are still not detected by VAC, and often the only effective anti-cheat device is a human administrator watching an online game; however, it can be very difficult to differentiate between skill, luck and cheating (however, there are some obvious signs – for example, if a player's screen shakes all the time while being spectated, they are most certainly using an aimbot) and server admins only have the power to ban users from their server. VAC, while being effective in some ways, has also provided a boost in the purchasing of private hacks. These hacks are updated frequently, as to prevent detection, and are only available to those who pay to use them.

Player skins

Before a player may join a match, he or she must first choose a faction (either Counter-Terrorist (CT) or Terrorist (T)) and select one of the following player model

skins, a visual representation of the player in-game.

Counter-Terrorists: Counter-terrorist player skins are based on real-world international counter-terrorist forces.

• SEAL Team 6 (DEVGRU) – Counter-terrorist unit of the United States of America
  . Olive drab camouflage, suitable for woodland maps.
• GSG 9 – Counter-terrorist unit of the Federal Republic of Germany. Cerulean uniform with desert camouflage helmet. Camouflage suitable for urban maps.
• SAS – Counter-terrorist unit of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. Black camouflage and gas mask, suitable for any dark areas or night-time maps.
• GIGN – Counter-terrorist unit of the French Republic. Navy blue uniform (with a riotsquad helmet in Counter Strike: Source), suitable for urban maps.

Terrorists: Terrorist player skins are based on fictitious terrorist cells.

• Phoenix Connection – Terrorist cell formed out of the former Union of Soviet Socialist Republics during its fall. Based in and around Eastern Europe. Dark blue shirt with ski mask and ballistic vest, with winter camouflage trousers. May be mistaken for Counter-terrorist from afar, suitable for urban maps.
• Elite Crew – Mysterious terrorist cell, probably based on Valve programmers. Claims to have "world domination" as its objective and is based in and around the Middle East. Green jacket and khaki trousers, moderately suitable for desert maps, but more for woodland and jungle maps.
• Arctic Avengers – Terrorist cell based in the Kingdom of Sweden. Ski mask with winter camouflage, very suitable for snow maps, unsuitable for everything else.
• Guerrilla Warfare – Terrorist cell based in South America and the Middle East. Woodland camouflage, suitable for woodland and jungle maps.

A former terrorist skin was the Irish Republican Army. The old SEAL model was similar to the current GIGN model, though the SEAL had a darker uniform and thicker vest.