Advanced positioning and tactics pt.6

Escape Routes and Cover
Always consider an alternate destination, or an escape route wherever you go. Think about whether or not your opponent can predict your path or whether your opponent(s) will be able to hit you wherever you plan to go.

The reason "newbie" players are so easy to kill is the simple fact that they don't know how to take cover or where to go if they are under fire. And not knowing where to go makes you a "sitting duck".

In these cat & mouse situations, luring your "cat" to the "dogs" will make you one very safe mouse. Sometimes, you have to move in such a way that exposes the person that's chasing you to open areas. This is a beneficial tactic if you have a sniper in your team.

Anything that stops or draws fires away from you will be to your advantage. Find a way to make it happen.

Things to consider:

Predictability, likeliness of your predator(s) to know where your going to go.
Opportunity, likeliness of your predator(s) to have their fire stopped completely or drawn away.
Rebound, knowing where to go after to gain the upper hand.
Cover, going from A to B while receiving the least possible damage.
Awareness, knowing that any action not plan could affect the teams success in the match(that doesn't mean you can't make a winning smart match move.)
Spawning - Bad Spawns and Manipulating Spawns
Sometimes you'll spawn right in the sights of your opponents, or in a position where you're at an imminent, but not immediate, disadvantage. If you aren't already dead, your best bet is to play as safe as possible; wait until the situation has changed before acting decisively. The capabilities of the weapon(s) you spawn with are of utmost importance when considering your options. Finally, If you don't see any option other than dying, make sure your opponents have to pay for their kill.

Team positioning can also give you a massive advantage by manipulating enemy spawns. When attempting to tackle the problem of lone spawning and predictable spawning that was apparent in Halo 2, Bungie decided that they would solve this problem by giving more emphasis on player positions (in particular teammate positions) when deciding the location for an individual players spawn. This means that the majority of the time teammates spawn together. Whilst in theory this tackles the problem of players spawning in or close too danger areas a major problem occurs when this system is manipulated by the opposition. Here is a practical example;

The Pit is a symmetrical map designed to give two teams a base each to fight from and some middle ground to fight over - because of this the spawning system is relatively simple, offering multiple spawns along the back walls of each base and an 'emergency spawning room' if the base spawns become crowded by the opposition. Because of its level structure the spawning system prefers to spawn teams on their own side only changing this pattern if the opposite team flood their base. An organized team that knows this can then position themselves on the spawning fringes in such a way that the opposition's spawning becomes predictable and in the favor of the attacker. This allows a steady stream of kills to be had with a weakened (no weapon control) and demoralized team to face.
A personal team tactic that my team uses is to have 3 people on the fringes not pushing then have the last player boost themselves into the 'emergency spawn room' stopping the team from gaining any height advantage and giving the rest of the team helpful information such as which side of the base they're attempting to come out of and if they're going for any particular weapons.