Spy Tactics?

[Laivasse]

Really? I thought there was no animation apart from lipsync for the shorter clips. I know with the battle cries they sometimes pump their fists and stuff...

 

[Druckles]

You can't tell as a spy. I still don't know if spy's do taunts.

 

[-Psy-]

You can't taunt whilst disguised. However, there is a bug where you get stuck in the third-person camera for a few seconds if you push the Taunt key.

 

[ríomhaire]

Calling for medic is still risky, and looks more fishy if you're doing it with full health, but the thing with the medic call is that it still produces the red cross symbol which draws people's attention (away from the chat log). Voice commands like 'Thanks!' which normally are accompanied by a text echo produce no visual sign at all as spy, which can be jarring to someone watching you. Of course in the heat of battle not many people are going to be watching the chat log, but in that type of situation you can get away with a lot more anyway.

I read before that Spies are automatically given a fake amount of health that they appear to have when the enemy team looks at them and that it's never 100%.

 

[-Psy-]

It's always around 50% so it's even easier to make assumptions that somebody is a Spy.

 

[Operational]

It's also really easy for medics to know when they are healing a Spy due to how quickly they get healed.

 

[Druckles]

You can't taunt whilst disguised. However, there is a bug where you get stuck in the third-person camera for a few seconds if you push the Taunt key.

I'm aware of that, but I wasn't sure whether I was taunting or not.

It's also really easy for medics to know when they are healing a Spy due to how quickly they get healed.

Not necessarily.

Also spies can have 100% health. I'm sure it relates to how much you had when you disguised.

 

[Eejit]

The revolver can be insane if you get kritzkreiged. Good for a laugh.

 

[Operational]

Not necessarily.

Spies have the equal lowest health (and none of the others are regularly healed by a Medic).
The fake health meter is unaffected by what class you are disguised as (i.e. it's healing rate is always that of a 125hp class)
The 15 second healing buff applies to Spies (a good Medic will keep his teammates around him buffed and rarely sees this effect).

When all these are combined it becomes really easy to tell when you are healing a Spy.

Also spies can have 100% health. I'm sure it relates to how much you had when you disguised.

It doesn't. After disguising the fake health meter is randomly set to 50%-100% regardless of what the Spies actual health is. Unless the Spy is injured the only way to guarantee a 100% fake health meter is by getting a Medic to heal you.

There are lots of minor improvements Valve can make to the Spy.

 

[Laivasse]

Coming next: Valve's Doug Lombardi says "we chose the wrong word in 'spy.'"

 

[huntingbear]

I notice also, while disguised as the other team, it's sometimes good to do a taunt or try one of the class' verbal commands, it kind of throws people off, makes you think you are one of them instead of some suspicious quiet guy trying to get behind people.

Spy disguised as Heavy: "I am feeling really happy!"
Teammates: "Chuckle Chuckle oh Heav-"
*Stab*

i do this all the time...i NEVER cry medic...it's like screaming "SPY CHECK ME!! PLZ!!"

 

[huntingbear]

Sounds like a good tactic but make sure to stay away from those voice commands which produce echo text onscreen - stuff like 'Thanks!', etc. I'm pretty sure that as a spy and a member of the opposing team, you don't cause that text to appear for your enemies. If they're observant enough your cover will be instantly blown.

i've been told that it appears in the chat log as the char I'm disguised as.