Back to Index next: Spotting Spies (2)
Spychecking With Your Brain
Spotting Spies
On many TFC maps, spies can do serious damage to any defence. On assault maps such as Avanti and Dustbowl, they can tear a defence to pieces and ruin any chance of victory. It is therefore essential that defensive players learn how to spot spies.
Many players know that spies bleed when shot, and your team-mates don't (unless Friendly Fire is on, of course). However, shooting team-mates to check if they're a spy is unlikely to make you popular, especially if you use the wrong weapon to do so. You can do a lot of spychecking without blazing away at your own team, and the best tool for doing it is your brain. Here are a few ways to do it.
Know your team.
Spies disguise themselves as members of your team. So you should know what classes your team has. Often, a spy will disguise themselves as a class that your team doesn't have any of. So watch the score board - if your team doesn't have any medics, and there's a medic running around in your colours, it's a spy. Similarly, if you only have one engineer, but you can see two, it's time to start spychecking.
The most obvious form of this is when you see "yourself" - it's a spy, shoot them.
Watch their fire.
The one thing a spy can't do while disguised is fire a weapon. As a defender, this can give you two clues: if you see a teammate fire their weapon, they're not a spy. Similarly, if you see a teammate in a position where they have a good choice of targets and they're NOT firing, get suspicious.
Watch for grenades.
This is a really obvious one, but if you see it, you're probably too late. If you see a teammate throwing grenades at one of your sentries, it's probably a spy - go get 'em.
More subtly, the type of grenade thrown can give you a clue - spies only have Gas Grenades and regular Frag Grenades. If you see a player throw anything else, they're not a spy, while of course anyone throwing a Gas Grenade is.
Watch their stats.
When you look at a teammate, their health/armour are displayed on your HUD. Pay attention to the numbers - if the health is negative, the actual player is dead somewhere else, and you are looking at a spy. Similarly, if you see them take a hit, but the stats don't change, or the stats change without them taking a hit, the real player is elsewhere, and you're looking at a spy.