When I first jumped into competitive game play for Day of Defeat: Source, I was amazed at the speed and skill of a lot of the players that I went up against.  Pushing over 20 years old, I had to come to the realization that my raw talent was in decline, and to keep up, I would have to rely on craftiness, overall knowledge and a little bit of luck.  Here is a look at a couple of non-ability tactics you can employ that should give you an edge, or at least bring you up to an even playing field.

Obviously you have decent individual skill or you wouldn’t be playing competitively.  The other important thing to work on is your teamwork and communication.  Day of Defeat: Source is a very teamwork intensive game that requires precise calls and accurate timing.  If you have neither of these assets, stop reading now.  Your competitive future will be pretty dim unless you can get both of these things.  Oh, you do have them?  Well then please proceed.

Buy a good computer!  No, I don’t work for Intel and I realize this isn’t really a viable option for a lot of people including myself, but when it comes to Day of Defeat: Source, size matters.  While a 1.2 GHz processor with a DirectX7 graphics card is the minimum you need to play the game (DX8 for CAL), this is definitely a game where the better your computer is, the better you will be able to compete.  I’m not saying that players with good computers are not good players; however, they do have an undeniable advantage over the rest of us bums.  At the very least, give your computer all the help it can get.  Shut down any other applications and keep it fresh with drivers and updates.

Pending you do not have the extra cash floating around to buy yourself a new machine, boost your frames per second (fps) by any means necessary.  The easiest way is to turn down those graphics settings.  Yes, the game is visually stunning, but that sun bloom is not going to help you when your opponents can practically see in the dark.  Check around various gaming sites, and you’ll be sure to find Day of Defeat: Source specific configurations that are bound to improve your frames.  The main thing you are looking for though, are CPU settings and heavy-load graphics settings (dead bodies hanging around too long and sky boxes).  It also might be beneficial to figure out what the different commands do.  This way you can alter someone else’s ‘config’ so that it fits your personal needs.  Just be sure to get it approved by one of the helpful AC-admins.  There is nothing worse then being labeled a cheater in such a small community.

Next, fix your rates.  Have you ever been playing in a scrim, been doing fairly well only to have a scrim star start yelling at you?  Get rates kid!  What does he mean?  Well, through no fault of your own, you are probably rate hacking.  CAL has set up minimum rate settings to keep everyone somewhat equal, and these are the next things with which you should concern yourself.  There are three main commands that deal with rates which you can go over.

rate: Rate refers to the number of packets of information that you are sending to the server.  Obviously the more information you are sending the better your registration, but the higher your ping.  CAL asks for a minimum of 10000, but common values range from 25000-30000.

cl_updaterate: This refers to the request value of the number of server updates from the client side.  Again, CAL asks for a minimum of 60, but common values range from 60-101.

cl_cmdrate: This refers to the number of updates you send to the server.  The main thing that this will affect is your choke (which affects shot registration).  CAL asks for a minimum of 60, but common values range from 60-101.

Bring up net_graph 3 and experiment with these commands.  Keep trying different values until you find ones that work for you.  Remember that you want both your “loss” and “choke” to be at or around 0, and also remember that settings that work on one server will not necessarily work on another server.

Finally, keep practicing.  The more you play, the more you learn.  Joining main or invite 12 mans will not only teach you humility, it will also teach you routes, nade spots, hiding spots and all the do’s and dont's you could hope to learn.  And although using any of the above tactics will not make you an all-star immediately, it should extend your competitive career by another 5 years, allowing you to compete with those cocky teenagers and their lightening fast reflexes.