TheFeniX

I don't play spy much anymore. Back in TFC, it was probably my favorite class after engineer. It's not that I don't like the class anymore. If anything, I like it more because it now takes a decent amount more skill. Good spies are hard to come by. But even then, a good spy generally isn't THAT much better than a mediocre one. I've seen the worst spies still score kill after kill. It takes a truly clueless individual to not be able to be at least semi-effective with the spy class.

No, I don't play the spy class anymore for the sole reason that my skills are better put into a class that fewer people play.

Now, here I'm going to go into the main reason spies score so well. It's not because they are godlike machines of death. It's much simpler than that. It's because players just are not paying attention to details that are punching them in the face.

Spotting a Spy
Most of this is common sense (which I've found is not so common). Spotting a dumb spy is quite easy, but it's still overlooked so often.

1. Have a good idea where your teammates are:
No, you don't have to keep a note pad, but if [TG]TheFeniX has been talking about his sentry gun down in the flag room for the past 5 minutes and you suddenly see him running around with a wrench upstairs: kill him. He's probably a spy.

2. Know how players operate:
Spies (when disguised) show the main weapon of the character class they are disguised as. The only exceptions are the Engineer and Medic (oh, and engineers also need to stop running around with their wrench out unless they are repairing. You have a shotgun for a reason). I'm pretty sure these are the only exceptions, but feel free to correct me.

Spotting Engineer spies is a lot easier, but other classes can be easy to spot with a little sense. Does the soldier on your team like to roll with his shotgun out? Guess what: if you see a soldier with a shotgun, he's not a spy. Same with any other class rolling with their secondary weapon.

Medic with his medi-gun out not healing? Blast him.

3. Know how the game works
Players can walk through their own teammates. Enemies literally slide off each other. If you run into a teammate are you're forced to "push" by him, blast him. He's a spy. This seems self evident, but it goes unnoticed so much. Hell, I've noticed it when I wasn't even the one "bumped" into.

Spies cannot shoot their weapon and stay disguised. So, if you see a bunch of players blasting away at each other and one soldier isn't firing or reloading, he's probably a spy. Shoot him to make sure.

4. Communicate:
Prove you're not a spy: "I'm not a spy" works just fine, but you can also just shoot your gun.

5. Watch your back:
Not just for spies mind you, but when you see a medic following you and he's not healing you... well... shoot him.

6. Be Observant:
This is technically already covered, but it can't be stressed enough. Pay attention to the little things that look out of place. DO NOT just blow them off. Did you walk around a corner and kind of get "bumped" for no reason? Sure, it could be the netcode, but it could also be a cloaked spy you bumped into.

Look for teammates just not acting "right" or in the wrong place.

I'm not saying I'm the master of spy killing, but I do tend to kill a lot more spies (or at least see them coming before getting killed) than they kill me. Just keep your eyes open guys. And it also helps to have a good count on how many spies the enemy team is fielding.

__________________

KnifeHeavy

Nice informative post - anything to help me from getting stabloed is good to me.

__________________

SmokingTarpan

I don't think this is true. I've been leaving the spawn (where there can't be enemies) and getting pushed to the side because someone else is running right next to me. I also had a match where I was hiding around a corner where a teleporter exit happened to be, and I kept getting pushed out into the open as people popped out of the teleporter.

__________________

[squadl]
"I am the prettiest african-american, vietnamese..cong..person." -SugarNCamo

Zoopy

I think he meant you can walk through people (be it they will be pushed to the side a bit) but walking into a Spy will cause you to stop. When walking through teammates, they get bounced to the side and you are uneffected, whereas an enemy will effect you.

I take offense to that. I can't do **** as a Spy.

TheFeniX

It's a "weird" effect that I will clarify in the opening post when I have more time.

Essentially, I look at it like this:

Teammates are small rubber ovals (squished circles)
Enemies are large stiff boxes.

You will automatically "slide" around the smaller rubber oval teammate, being pushed to the side only a little bit. Your ovals may bounce off each other a bit, but you're general movement will only be impeded a small amount. It's like you bounce off each other if you continue to move in the same direction.

The "large stiff box" will force you to stop and slowly move around each other. This requires effort on both players in that if you continue to walk straight into each other, neither will move. One player (or both) has to change his actual direction in order to "break apart."

This is the best way I can think of to explain it. It's hard to understand on paper, but when you see the difference in effect happen first-hand in game, you will understand it fully if you're paying attention.

If you run into a teammate and you both stop completely, he's a spy.

__________________

ednos

Quick question about this: if a spy is disguised as me and I use VOIP, does the little icon appear over both our heads or just mine? I haven't been able to test this yet.

Note that if you bump into a cloaked spy, you see a translucent silhouette of his color.

Suggestion: if there's an area you're trying to protect from spies, having a pyro or two won't hurt, since it only takes a quick click to test--spies will catch on fire, unlike your teammates.

__________________
The trouble with the world is that the stupid are cocksure and the intelligent are full of doubt. ~ Bertrand Russell
I have a tendency to key out three or four things and then let them battle for supremacy while I key, so there's a lot of backspacing as potential statements are slaughtered and eaten by the victors. ~ Magna Centipede

Zoopy

No

TheFeniX

I forgot to mention this, but sometimes it happens so fast (and he's likely crouched anyways) that you have precious little time to either look or act before he's on you.

Pyros are great for spy checking, but I find they are overused. It's kind of a "nuclear option" for spy finding when a lot of it could be handled by other players. I find people rely on pyros to find spies for them when it's not really needed.

__________________

ednos

They're much more useful in the confusion of the "final push", since there are usually four engineers running around with wrenches anyways.

__________________
The trouble with the world is that the stupid are cocksure and the intelligent are full of doubt. ~ Bertrand Russell
I have a tendency to key out three or four things and then let them battle for supremacy while I key, so there's a lot of backspacing as potential statements are slaughtered and eaten by the victors. ~ Magna Centipede

icky

If a guy seems abnormally keen to stand just behind you, he's a spy. If a guy has a little bit of smoke coming off of him, he's a spy. If you see a spy running around without a mask on his face, he is very likely a spy.

And obviously, if you see someone with your team's colours mingling with the other team, he is a spy on the way into your end. Before you die, make sure your teammates know what is going on. A spy won't often change his costume once he has chosen it on the way in.

__________________
Peace through fear... since 1947!

MagnaCentipede

I enjoy the Spy class, but I don't play it much anymore because I feel I'm most effective as a Scout.

I don't fire on teammates because wasting ammo can be bad sometimes, but I like to bump-check for spies. Any spy who's close enough to stabbage me is bumpable.

If Spy was just a little bit faster... for example, if his Scout speed was his normal, Spy would be much more attractive. I feel like a total dweeb when I'm running behind an oblivious enemy for over ninethousand miles and not catching up enough to poke.

__________________

TheFeniX

Ok, for clarification: I have seen spy engies running around with either a shotgun or a wrench out. But, I've never seen them change weapons while I'm in-sight of them. Does anyone know how the computer selects the weapons you see, or is it completely random?

__________________

Zoopy

It should always be the default (slot 1 weapon).

MagnaCentipede

You know, spies can carry knife (melee) and revolver (primary)... why wouldn't they map to the other classes' weapons? Better yet, why not two people go into the server, find out for sure, report the findings, and put a knife in the back of this baseless discussion about things no one participating knows a concrete fact about.

__________________

XCliPsX

Whatever you are disguised as is what your speed is. If you disguise as heavy then your pretty slow. The exception is the scout in which you are the same speed as without disguise (spy speed).

__________________





Quote from the Tactical Gamer Primer:

Within Tactical Gamer, ANY activity that capitalizes on the limitations of a game to provide the advantage rather than that advantage coming from superior teamwork, strategy and tactics, is frowned upon. We all want to win when we play, but the focus at Tactical Gamer should be one of winning with some sort of dignity, honor, and skill, not because you were able to out-exploit the other team or box them into a corner built on technological weakness that gives you the advantage.