In trying to get practice for the upcoming 9v9 TF2 competition, I'm interested in seeing if there's any insight on how to play a spy against a lower number of players. Spies tend to work better the more chaos and confusion there is, and additionally work better when there are multiples of the same class playing.
In the upcoming competition, it will be strictly 9v9 with 1 of each class per team: no more, no less. Being used to playing spy on 24 (12v12) and larger servers with little to no class balance, this is kinda foreign ground and, to me, seems like a much higher degree of difficulty compared to the other classes scale for the competition.
The only thing I can think of is the relative power of the Cloak and Dagger in this scenario, and the benefits of certain maps. Does anyone have any links to tips for playing spy vs. lower player counts or tips that they, themselves, can provide?
Best Answer
As a spy, you're best off spending your time working to assassinate the opposing medic. Since the other team has only one medic, it is a huge advantage to your team if you can kill (or badly hurt) the other medic, even at the expense of your own life.
Since this is a competition-level play, you can expect full communication from the other team. You will very rarely fool them into thinking you're on their team. They all should know where everybody is. (Whether or not they really do is another matter). The simplest way for you to be effective is to find a nice sport to Cloak and Dagger, wait for the enemy medic to run by, and revolver or ambassador them from a distance.
Mix up your spots, be unpredictable, and stay hidden. You may also want to spend some time hounding the enemy sniper, depending on his skill level. I've seen highlander teams completely fall apart from a skilled enemy sniper. On the off chance he's razorbacking, the ambassador will be the weapon you want to go with. Mix your disguises, but definitely use the sniper disguise - that class matches closest with this play-style.