Economy Decisions: Eco, Force Buy, or Save?

The rules in brief

• Every round pays a base salary; losing grants a loss bonus that grows with a losing streak, then resets
• Kills pay (200 for a rifle, 50 for a sniper), and a successful plant pays the whole team
• Winning raises the team's salary, and keeping your weapons is the biggest advantage

Three choices

• Eco: buy only a pistol and light armor, or nothing at all, and bank for a full loadout next round. The rule: if you eco, everyone ecos together — one player forcing alone is pointless
• Force buy: buy up despite a bad economy, for a key round such as match point, an opponent who is also broke, or the round after pistols
• Save: the round is lost, so hide and keep your weapons — especially an Operator

The decision in one line

• Everyone is short: eco, then full-buy next round

• Just short, or they are broke too: force a fight

• The round is gone: with three or more alive, save; in a 1v3 clutch, you can gamble

Common errors

• One player sneaking a rifle into an eco round, wrecking the plan with no numbers advantage
• Winning a round but dying with everything, handing the weapons straight back

Aim decides a round; economy decides a match. Teams that play the economy well recover from two losses.