UKTerrorist

Economics 101

Ever found yourself in a reoccurring dilemma of not affording the gun of your choice? Round after round your team bites the dust, and you're stuck with the MP5 time and time over. UKTerrorist takes a look at the basics of the economics behind the fighting, and what you can do to maximize your checkbook and still carry the gun you want. From basic scavenging to full Pistol runs, and how you effectively maximize the output of the early rounds. When winning money quickly becomes unimportant, but when on the losing side the lack of it very commonly creates a powerful downward spiral.

Basic Economics

This is nothing new to the experienced player, but necessary facts to establish ground for a few strategies below.

Win Round: $3500 Lose Round: $1500
Escort Hostage: $150 Rescue Hostage: $1000
Kill Hostage: $-2250 Kill Opponent: $400
Hostage Rescue Bonus: $2400 *Team*
Start Cash: $800 Max. Cash: $16.000

The few basic things we can learn here. Saving hostages makes you AND your team damn rich, a full house (3500+4000+600+2400) makes for a startling $10.500. Continually winning supports buying Rifles each round, while a loss puts you in the SMG category.

The Early Rounds

The few first rounds of each map are worth taking a special notice to, not only does the limit amounts of cash force special things, such as the 1st Pistol Round. The result of these rounds are also usually very decisive, here you can take a grip on the economics, and hold it, continually limiting your opponents to a b-rate of firearms, while saving cash to ensure premium warfare even if the tides turn. I won't look into team/clan strategies for limiting the opponents economics here, this article is aimed at getting by on your typical public game.

The very first round, the Pistol round, there are but a limited ways to go.

1. Vest + Extra Ammo $650 + $25-100.
   
2. Upgrade Pistol (P228, Desert Eagle, 5-7) + Ammo $600-750 + $50-200.
   
3. Save the lot.

While this guide is aimed as much at individual success as team, and how to save and control cash flow, I don't recommend option C. The first round is usually fought between the 4-10 first to connect after map change, usually a low number on each side, making the impact and importance of each higher. Therefore even a small upgrade can make a big difference. It should be noted though, if you spend your cash and your team lose the round, you are going to be in a bit of a spot, but more on that below. As CT I'd go with path A, already equipped with a capable gun the Vest is at it's Premium in stopping low AP guns like the Glock and DE (both very likely to face). Count on scavenging a nice DE for yourself soon anyway. As T I'd go with path B, the Glock simply doesn't hold the standard and against the economical thinking, a more powerful Pistol is needed.

Hopefully it turns out well, you survive and your team wins, under path A that puts you with a decent amount of armor left from Round1, and enough cash to buy any of the Assault Rifles. Compromising Armor a bit, you should be better armed than most. Following Path B (as T), you can go for Armor and an AK47, all good there too. If you lose (usually means dying too) however, you will be put with merely enough to get a SMG and some ammo, OR.

Advanced Scavenging or Pistol Running

I think you all know the Scenario of running through the Main Tunnel on dust, it littered with guns, you drop and trade your MP5 for your pick of Rifle, what a waste. You just threw away 1500, and there was probably 10.000 or more just in guns on the ground. Yes you can claim that you traded your MP5 for a better gun, and all is good. But odds are you still don't have any armor, and are still back on 0 cash if you die. So what's the option? If you are on the losing side, earning a 1500 or so per round as we established above, never surviving long enough to build a budget or keep a bought gun. Instead of chucking all your money on a decent SMG like all you're teammates, buy the one thing you can't pick up, Armor and use your pistol. Obviously you aren't gonna throw yourself into the fry and own just because you have armor, no simply stay a step behind your teams main attack force, when they hit the choke point, firing breaks out and people start dying, you leap out, grab yourself your poor fellows MP5 and fight on in his place.

It isn't very nice, it doesn't win you any games alone, it can backfire, but the beauty of it is that you just saved yourself several hundred (saving up for a round with a GOOD gun), got the same gun you would anyway AND armor, without really compromising your teams odds of winning, just making use of the basic principles of a typical round. To be used at best, you need a typical chokepoint where your main attack wave stops and has a shoot-out, preferably with a corner you can await behind for the opportunity. Also fairly big teams, so that you initially being useless doesn't hurt the team (in these shoot-outs you as often as not just end up waiting behind the rest, being just as useless with or without gun). It can for obvious reasons not be applied by an entire team, you might do good in knife rushing to hide the fact that you don't carry any Primary armament, we don't want your teammates to get upset over you vulturing them. It can also backfire, if your attack force gets quickly overrun and you are rushed by opponents, but in those a SMG would hardly make a life/death difference, maybe you'd get a frag but hardly stop them all. Another backfire is on maps with several paths and no real chokepoint, is that you can get separated from your main force.

The Hostages

As we established above, Hostages is your key to be insta-rich, that it also gives all your teammates a bonus doesn't hurt. They are commonly considered risky, a bit boring, and just more trouble than they are worth, and people instead go off to kill the opposition. And they most certainly are a pain, get stuck in doors, give away your position, but if you really are in need of the cash, it's your best shot. You know what they say, little profit without risk. First of all you get 150 per hostage you start escorting, this is something you can make use of even if you have no hope of rescuing them, such as the final seconds of a round, just activate them for an easy cash bonus. Next you can look at the possibility of rescuing one or two of the closely placed hostages, maps such as backalley, estate maybe even office, offer a few hostages close that are easy to rescue first for 1000 each. Don't necessarily be greedy and go for them all at once. Learn to make use of these smaller bonuses at first, because quite frankly a full Hostage rescue is going to be rare.

That was the CT way of profiting of them, and well as Terrorist you can't specifically profit from them, but you sure can play them as economic factors. Even the most unscrupulous CT thinks twice about going in with guns blazing, when each Hostage kill costs him 2250. Not only can you ruin his budget, but more likely you can make him hesitate and let you gain advantage. I won't go fully into exploiting hostages here, but basically you slash/shoot your poor Hostages to 10-20% health (what kind of Hostage taker would you be if you let them leave in prime condition!), then place them in a position where they just 'might' get shot. Classical positions are, just around a corner typically bombarded with HE grens, in a dark window usually camped by snipers, blocking a door (commonly making the CT shoot through the door) or simply as a wall in front of you. For a more advanced map-by-map description of applying these tactics, I suggest you read Kram's "How to be a Hardcore Terrorist".

Balancing your checkbook

Lets give a slightly more positive scenario, with your team winning some, losing some. You get the occasional cash boost, survive a few rounds, but don't quite pass over into the stage where you hit the roof and money loses it's value. Here I wouldn't recommend compromising on your primary firearm, it's the one most important thing, instead look to the accessories for saving a few cents and dimes. You don't always need full ammo for the gun, 2 additional mags usually gets you by fine. As useful as it can be, you don't need a $200 defuse kit every round, especially not if you intend to rush in the first ranks. Grenades are very important on some maps and in some strategies, but spending $500 a round is a bit of a rich mans luxury, buy when you have to and really use them, otherwise leave em to teammates. Finally, think twice when buying armor, the additional save factor of buying a Helmet for $350 is small. As you've surely found out, most headshots kill you anyway.

A few last words of advice

Remember the Max of 16.000, and the least round income of 1500. Knowing this, always buy to spend the cash you otherwise wouldn't get. Full set of grenades, defuse kit, good pistol, restoring 5% lost armor. It just might make a difference, and otherwise the money would just be lost anyway. This can even be used for buying guns to teammates, even though they are most likely in the same seat.
Don't buy more Ammo than you'll realistically use if cash is short. Also think of what Ammo your default secondary armament uses (Glock 9mm, USP .45in) and remember that you can make use of the 2 free mags for your Primary Gun.

Don't spend money like it will keep coming, until you pass into the stage of maxing out money, don't spend it aimlessly. The tides can turn, and you will then be happy for every round you can live on cash from previous rounds.

Don't let the economics get in the way of your playstyle, in spite of everything I've said, the obvious point in the end is to make your game benefit. If it doesn't in the end (remember the effects are somewhat long term) then don't bother.