So imagine your teammate is shooting at someone. “I better go help” you think to yourself. You nudge right up to them and start shooting as well. Suddenly your teammate starts taking damage and tries to run but dies at your feet instead.
Oops, you just accidentally team killed them and you probably don’t even know it.
What I’m referring to, is this scenario:
The crime of blocking has been around snice the days of CounterStrike and exists in most modern day FPS’. I still see this happening all the time and it’s quite possibly one of the worst things you could do to yourself and your teammate. Let’s look at some of the things that could go wrong:
- Your teammate is being shot at and tries to run, but you block his path and he ends up dying.
- Let’s not mention that the above-mentioned team mate has Revenge on and TK’s you with his dropped nade after you just blocked them.
- Enemy throws a quick boom/RPG/grenade or other explosive at you and gets a double kill.
- One of you moves into each other’s view, obstructing what would be a kill shot for the other.
- You get flanked by an enemy who gets an easy double kill.
- Both of you try to fleet foot, but with the two people in the same narrow space, you end up blocking each other, taking damage and dying
Now I’m not saying don’t stick with your teammates or anything. In a team based game like U3, that would be ludicrous. What I’m saying is that in close quarters and narrow spaces, sticking too close to each other is counter-productive and a waste of resources. This also applies to going through tight doorways, especially in the Chateau, and when strafing from behind cover. You just end up blocking each other, giving the team a good opportunity to take both of you out at the same time as well as losing one team member’s worth of map control.
In the above London Underground scenario what the second player should do is watch the stairs for flankers, go check the ledge above the main room, or even drop down and try to attack the other team from a different angle. Two guys shooting at one enemy is good, but it’s even better when you can get a crossfire going and cut off their escape, and you don’t risk both of you getting killed with by one grenade.
CS veterans will remember the infamous de_aztec wooden door. This location has claimed the lives of many as their teammates butt humped them as they tried to escape the gunfire of the entire opposite team.
So remember folks, always give your teammates space, and if they are shooting at someone, you’re better off finding another space to help cover them!
