Gaming
Counter-Strike’s Train map has finally pulled into GO station, so here’s how to play it like a pro.
The long-awaited Train map redesign in CS:GO has finally arrived after suffering delays, presumably due to a signal failure. One of Counter-Strike's most popular maps now joins revamped friends Dust and Inferno in the competitive roster, with a couple of minor tweaks to keep players on their toes. Here's a quickfire run through of the level to get you reaquainted with an old friend.
As you can see from the reintroduction video above, Train has had a huge overhaul from the brick-and-mortar arches in the industrial station of yesteryear. Walls and surfaces have been brightened and cleaned up, making player outlines much easier to spot and call as soon as possible.
But on top of a texture update, the entire layout of the map has been rejigged to improve balance. For one, the trainyard (AKA Bomb Site A) has been moved slightly closer to the Counter-Terrorist spawn. This, along with the tweaking of tunnels and routes, mean each team's rushes meet at easier to defend points, and faster too. If both players hit a perfect roll-out, the action could start 11-seconds into the round.
However, a lot of the changes have focused on actually slowing play down. The alterations to the Terrorist entry to A – now directly opposite the CT entrance – allows them to more efficiently sweep the area before moving in. The trainyard, and the shed (Bomb Site B) are still large, long open spaces, havens for snipers, but cover and flanking routes now allow teams to make a site safe for pushes more easily. Alterations to the back hall entrance to B, for example, now allow smoke and flashbang deployments from Terrorists from the relative safety of their tunnels by aiming through the window above the door to B (see below at 1:45).
In tighter areas, like the Back Hall to B, or the Terrorists' long tunnel around A (AKA 'Ivy'), shotguns are a far more viable choice of weapon. They won't be as much use once clearing the tunnels, but avoiding open spaces is slightly easier now. The sniper nest for Terrorists at A has been removed, so there will be far more on-the-ground action, and the CT nest has been made smaller and brighter, so it should be easier to peek-check a sniper and flank them through Ivy.
The trains themselves have also been fixed up to help out any stealthy or acrobatic players. The roofs are flatter, giving you far more maneuverability from height, and the sidings have been lowered. No longer will you be sneaking around using a carriage for cover only to have your knees shot out from a crouched auto-sniper (or maybe you were the auto-sniper, in which case sucks to be you, buddy).
On top of that, the long straights of B have been evened up by the breaking up of the ramps from CT side. Where you might have been able to poke just above the ramp's cover and get shots off at any Ts entering the site, there are now crates and wire spools. If a CT wants to cover the doors, they have to put most of their body above cover and take a risk.
Sadly, one of the early additions to Train has now been removed by Valve, as reportedly it was a bug. So no more surfing a flock of birds from Ivy up onto the roof of A, and having free reign of every single entrance to the site. Actually, maybe this change was for the best.
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