CS:GO 101 – Basics of the economy

Welcome to CS:GO 101, where the basic aspects of the game are explained down to the very intricate details. Today it is time to take a look at the economy, a vital part of the game.
What is the economy in CS:GO?

If you have ever played a game of CS:GO, you will have noticed that you are always holding a certain amount of cash (unless you managed to spend it all). This is your money, ideal for acquiring equipment and advanced weaponry to tackle your enemies with that edge you might just need to turn things to your advantage. Far more goes on around this money than you might realise though. There is an entire system dedicated to handing out money to the players: the economy.

Sources of money

So, first things first: where are you getting the money from? This depends on a whole myriad of factors: whether it is the first round of the match, if you won the round, how many people did you kill and what did you do it with, … As you can read, it gets confusing fast. So it is time to create a neat overview of where you will obtain your cash influx:

  • You start off your rounds with money. The first one of every match starts with $800 on both sides. As the rounds progress, the winners receive $3500 if they manage to let a bomb explode on the Terrorist side; the Counter-terrorists get the same if they can defuse it. $3250 will be awarded for eliminating an entire team or letting the timer run out as CTs.
  • On the other hand, if you lose, you start off with getting a measly $1400. This amount goes up by $500 with every loss that adds up to the loss counter (wins subtract from this counter) and is capped out at $3400. Important to note: on the Terrorist side, everyone gets an $800 bonus if the bomb was planted in case of a loss. The planter gets $300 extra.
  • Because yep, there are also individual bonusses. As said, a bomb plant or defuse will get you alone another $300 extra. Pistol, rifle, and grenade kills will get you $300 as well. SMG kills run $600 a piece and it even goes up to a whopping $900 per kill for shotguns. The highest reward of all is the knife kill: $1500. There are a few outliers: an AWP kill only awards $100, a P90 $300. If you want to go into the negative, a teamkill will get you -$300.
What to spend it all on

Now you have all this money, you are probably wondering what you might be able to use it on.

  • The main thing is weaponry. AKs, M4s, or even an AWP if you are feeling particularly adventurous ($4750!). These will be your main costs.
  • Another vital part to remember is armour: $1000 for a full set, $650 if you skip the helmet, which is sometimes done on the CT side to save money, because fighting against AKs or AWPs, head armour will not protect you.

That still leaves money to be spent on utility like smokes, flashes, molotovs, … which are also equally important to open up sites and create opportunities for your team. Once you get onto a site as a CT the $400 that you can spend on a defuse kit will definitely have been worth it to cut the defuse time down to five seconds instead of ten.

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