5 Tips to Make you Better at DoD:S

A game of Day of Defeat: Source can get quite frustrating if you keep getting killed. The game is not your run-of-the-mill shooter, so it requires a little practice to get good at. Here are a few tips to speed-up your learning process, and help you get better at the game:

Use Only One Class Till You’ve Mastered its Recoil

Just like most first-person shooters, the guns in DoD:S have a good amount of recoil. For those of you who don’t know what recoil is, it’s the ‘kick-back’ from your gun when a bullet is fired, and this could end up ruining your aim so in order to fire efficiently, it’s very important to understand the recoil of the gun you’re using. Each gun in DoD:S has a different amount of recoil and it really helps if you stick to one gun/class and get a good feel for it. For instance, The Assault Class guns (M40, Thompson) have a controllable recoil, and you can shoot somewhat effectively even while moving, but the Support Class Guns (St44, Bar) do more damage and have more recoil, so you can’t really use it while running around. So, to get better at the game, I recommend that you stick to playing with one class (preferably the Assault class for beginners), till you’ve mastered it.

Crouching and Burst Fire

Now that we know how recoil works, let’s see how we can improve your accuracy. There are two ways to do this – (1) Going prone/crouching while shooting, or (2) Shooting in short bursts. Going prone is not always the best idea in the battlefield, since it reduces your mobility to a crawl, so your best (and safest) option would be to shoot while crouching. When you come across an enemy, instead of dancing around him and spraying bullets all over the place, you should hit the Crouch key, aim for his chest/stomach and unload your ammunition on him. However, if he’s a little far, you’re better of crouching and shooting in short bursts of 3-5 shots each. Additionally, while using an automatic weapon, you should pull your cursor down slowly while shooting to compensate for the recoil. If you want to get a good feel for your gun, try unloading a whole clip of ammunition on a wall to see how the recoil affects your accuracy.
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Sniping efficienty

I’ve lost count of the amount of times I’ve seen a sniper hang his body out of a window or off a ledge, and get a million bullets bored into him. If you’re sniping, make sure that your body is at least partially concealed. If you’ve found a nice window to snipe from, try and stay as far back in it as possible, and have only a small gap to snipe from. In this way, you become harder to spot and you’ll be more accurate since you’re providing cover to only a small area.

Also, when you kill someone in the game, his camera moves in the direction you are, giving him a clue about your location. So, if you’ve killed 3-5 people from the same spot, it’s a good idea to relocate yourself and find another spot to snipe from. These sniping spots don’t always have to be in windows or on higher ground. Try using long corridors that are frequently traveled by the enemies or other such places at times. Keep experimenting with different spots and it’ll definitely pay off.

Baking Nades

There are two types of grenades in the game – Fragmentation (Frags) grenades and Rifle grenades. Both of these take about 5 seconds to detonate, giving the enemy plenty of time to run away from them. So while using frags its important you know how to ‘bake’ your nades. When you press down and hold down the attack key while the grenade is selected, you waste a few of the 5 seconds it takes to detonate. This is known as baking grenades. So, if you time this right, you can throw a grenade that explodes in mid-air, even before the enemy gets a chance to retreat. Be sure not to hold the nade for too long, else it’ll blow up in your hand (Look Ma …No Hands!), killing you.

Rifle grenades are slightly more versatile than frags. They’re only available to the Rifleman class, as they get fixed on your rifle, allowing you to shoot them over long distances. You should make use of the force they’re shot out with and bounce them off walls to kill unsuspecting foes. Another way to use them is, shoot one at your feet, Press ‘E’ to pick it up, and then throw it. This has the same effect as baking a frag, as it wastes a few seconds before detonation. You can even pick up enemy nades using this method and throw it back at them.
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Using your Map + Team Play

DoD:S is not a deathmatch, so if you want to win, you need to coordinate with your team. The best way to do this is by using your map. Press ‘M’ to display a map of the battlefield that’ll show you the the location of your team mates and try and use this to sketch a plan of action, so that you can help your team by attacking, defending or holding ground, depending on the class you’re playing, and what you think your team needs help with. Also, if you ever need help at a particular location, press ‘U’ for team chat and type in %l (l = L in lowercase). This will give your team mates your location, so that they can help you out.

One last thing, if you see a friendly machine gunner either attacking or defending a point. Always go up to him and press the ‘H’ key. Pressing the ‘H’ key drops a box of your ammunition, which can be used by pretty much any class. Machine gunners play a vital role in holding ground, and in order to do so they need to burn up ammunition (which, thanks to the high rate of fire of the machine gun, gets burnt up pretty fast), so make sure that they’re always well supplied.

Those were all the tips I have for you for DoD:S, as of now. Remember though, that teamplay is the key in DoD:S, and if you can’t figure out what to do, stay with your team mates and support them to the best of your ability.