Sticky bomb launcher usage in pubs

[Wrecking Balls 2,507]

I'm going to temp ban you until you watch all the "Meet the...".

[BloodRedWidow 3,508]

Especially the pyro and medic ones! =D

They are awesome!

Especially medics....

[- Mike - 2,728]

Anything to do damage to the other team and win.

[fever 9,884]

I am more in the "deal with the stick traps" camp, I think if you don't like stick traps there are ways to circumvent them as has already been said.  Sure, harder to airshot people with them or hit them on the move but at the end of the day...if I'm a noob for laying a trap and you die....who's dead?  I can see both sides of the argument...I'd rather be a better shot with stickies but we have to start soemwhere

[Wrecking Balls 2,507]

And from that day forward every time a bunch animals are together it's called a ZOO.

unless it's a farm.

[BloodRedWidow 3,508]

Let's go practice medicine... >=]

[Asjo 90]

A bit more advice for you, Fever:

 

• If you're running backwards while being chased by someone who is almost in melee range, it might seem hard to get stickies down in time. It will seem that the ones placed most quickly are at your feet. However, what's even more effective is staying with your side against the wall and putting stickies on the wall. It's quick for your mouse to move to look at the wall and the sticky will stick right away, giving you a better chance of doing more damage to your opponent than you, thus surviving without suicide.
   
• When you are being chased by a class faster than yourself, the priority for your first sticky is to knock them back. Once you've done so, you will have plenty of time to kill them with the following stickies. So, if necessary, take a bit more time to fire that first sticky, since it's crucial that you don't accidentally knock the opponent towards you, which will surely get you killed.
   
• In many situations, it's useful to pre-load your sticky bomb launcher, giving you the possibility of firing a quick sticky that can easily get range if you need it. If you don't end up needing it, you simply switch away from the sticky bomb launcher and back again, to cancel the load. The only handicap this provides is that fully loaded sticky shots take more effort to aim close to yourself, for instance if someone catches you around the corner. Since they are faster, an instant detonation will be further away from yourself if you aim straight, so will have to try to shoot at your feet. So, you have the judge the situation, and not blindly pre-load the stickies.
   
• Sticky bombs do not lose momentum, so if you fire high enough, they will travel the difference. An example could be that you are on 2Fort, on one side of the bridge. You just have time for one crit shot, and you spot a sniper on the enemy balcony. So, you can pre-load the sticky for half a second, fire it almost straight up into the air while still using the cover of the bridge against the sniper. About a second later you right click and kill the sniper.

 

Personally, I find camping soldiers more annoying, especially when they rocket jump their way right above the spawn and somehow get krits 99% of the time. Don't even get me started on the Revenge Engi with the minishit pointed somewhere in the corner of your eye and has revenge crits ready.

 

From most to least annoying...

 

1. Camping Heavy w/Medic

2. Camping Soldier

3. Camping Engi

4. Camping Demo

5. Camping Heavy w/o Medic

5. Camping Sniper (REALLY PEOPLE?!)

 

Yes, heavy/medic is such a powerful combo that if they camp a choke point, where only the heavy is visible, it can be impossible for a team that doesn't have good offense or an über to beat them. But I think it's easier to get good position on them, where lots of your teammates can fire at the same time, compared to they sticky camper, who can sit at an advantageous vantage point where you cannot really get to him. It's very map-specific, of course, but no doubt heavy/medic comes very close to being as annoying campers as a sticky demo. Still, that's two players defending compared to one.

 

Camping soldiers often cannot do much to a team. What's really frustrating about them is that they deal damage so flexible, so they can easily pop out and kill you are the worst time or at impossible angles. A soldier camping the grill on 2Fort, for instance, can get endless kills if his camping is combined with heavy defense from the defenders on the ground. But if it's just him against superior firepower (say, two soldiers), he's dead quickly.

 

Camping snipers are a pest to anyone, and often one of the worst problems on 2Fort apart from sticky campers. However, they can often quick easily be beaten if you do a focused effort. And once you've beaten a team filled with snipers once, they are often overrun as a consequence. Camping snipers are mostly a problem because they don't really contribute to the fun, just picking easy kills from a distance. They don't necessarily break the gameplay as a whole.

 

I don't think I've ever heard of "camping engineers", but engineers as such are sometimes a necessary evil. The teleports and dispensers can be a great facilitator in the offense, keeping things going with sufficient intensity. In 16 vs 16, I don't mind each team having 1-2 engineers. One can definitely be necessary to prevent the maps being won quickly by scouts. Before the Short Circuit buff, sentries were quite easily killed by good players, unless they were very well defender. Having sentries to fight against does after all give the game a sense of natural progression, with the attackers going from breaking one sentry defence to the next. The problem is when there are too many engies, because no one likes constantly fighting sentries, being forced to spam endlessly from a limited position. If defended well, they take quite a bit of time to kill, so if a team has four engies, you might find that they've built two in the time that it took you to destroy one. It's especially bad when engies camp places like the bridge on 2Fort, because suddenly all action is halted. The defenders are forced to stay in their base and spam at the sentries. This spam triggers counter-spam from the attackers, who often end up camping the bridge instead of just attacking the base and winning.

[Gloves 945]

[fever 9,884]

If someone is too close I tend to place a sticky close by but slightly behind me, then I back up until the sticky is between us both. Then I detonate which propels us both away from each other.

[Asjo 90]

If someone is too close I tend to place a sticky close by but slightly behind me, then I back up until the sticky is between us both. Then I detonate which propels us both away from each other.

 

Think closer. If they're close enough, putting a sticky behind you will mean that you're dead

[fever 9,884]

Think closer. If they're close enough, putting a sticky behind you will mean that you're dead

No, not at all. I use it to jump away. I place it maybe a metre away and if I'm pushed back I walk past and use it to split us, if I'm not pushed back I just detonate it as I don't need it.

Edited February 9, 2014 by Fever

[Asjo 90]

No, not at all. I use it to jump away. I place it maybe a metre away and if I'm pushed back I walk past and use it to split us, if I'm not pushed back I just detonate it as I don't need it.

 

Let me give a specific example, just so we don't talk in different directions. Putting a sticky behind yourself is a decent choice if you still have a few seconds to run. However, consider this situation: You're walking out on balcony on 2Fort and a scouts jumps in your face. It's too late to push them away, because you have to do damage now or die. He's too close that you can fire stickies at him. The scout lands his first shot, you turn around around to place a sticky run over it and blast yourself away. With the scout landing the first shot, you will either kill yourself when you blast yourself away or be killed by the second shot of the scout. The point is try to kill your opponent quickly, knocking them slightly back, while minimizing the damage to yourself. You have the same problem if a pyro gets too close. If they are further away, what you describe is a decent tactic for escape, since it's a quick move and you're running forward, maximizing your speed. However, there is only a very specific window where this would be the best choice. In all other cases, the best choice would be to try to deal damage, or a good opponent will beat you.

[D-Bee 3,448]

Let me give a specific example, just so we don't talk in different directions. Putting a sticky behind yourself is a decent choice if you still have a few seconds to run. However, consider this situation: You're walking out on balcony on 2Fort and a scouts jumps in your face. It's too late to push them away, because you have to do damage now or die. He's too close that you can fire stickies at him. The scout lands his first shot, you turn around around to place a sticky run over it and blast yourself away. With the scout landing the first shot, you will either kill yourself when you blast yourself away or be killed by the second shot of the scout. The point is try to kill your opponent quickly, knocking them slightly back, while minimizing the damage to yourself. You have the same problem if a pyro gets too close. If they are further away, what you describe is a decent tactic for escape, since it's a quick move and you're running forward, maximizing your speed. However, there is only a very specific window where this would be the best choice. In all other cases, the best choice would be to try to deal damage, or a good opponent will beat you.

 

This just seems like a good opportunity to bust out some Ham. Or Pan, whatever you prefer.

[Asjo 90]

This just seems like a good opportunity to bust out some Ham. Or Pan, whatever you prefer.

 

Yes, good luck meleeing a pyro or scout

 

That said, if you were Se7en, you would get kritz, so one well-timed melee hit would be a good idea.

Edited February 9, 2014 by Asjo