Tec-9 nerfed in big CS:GO update

Today's update was long expected since Valve announced Operation Vanguard would be extended until the end of March, fuelling expectations of an update around then.

The long-awaited update brings a plethora of changes with it: including the hinted-at replacement of de_nuke with de_train in the Active Duty map-pool, an update to tagging especially for weapons with a higher mobility, nerfs to the tec-9 and various other weapon changes, map changes, and changes to the arbitrary nature of smokes for both spectators and players.

The update also marks the end of Operation Vanguard meaning that such maps as existed with the operation have now been taken out of the game.

In terms of maps, various changes include: an addition of a grenade skybox around short and long A on de_dust2, changes to skyboxes in apartments and mid on de_mirage, a rework of bombsite A on de_overpass, small optimizations on de_cbble, a few fixes and visual tweaks to de_cache, the re-addition of de_shorttrain for Demolition mode and finally an extensive overhaul of de_train.

If such a short summary does not pique your fancy, please find the entire comprehensive changelog included below:

[OPERATION VANGUARD]

• Operation Vanguard has come to a close.

[MAP GROUPS]

• Train has been added to the Active Duty map pool.
• Nuke has been moved to the Reserve map pool.

[GAMEPLAY]

• Smoke grenades are now more reliably kept track of on the client to prevent mismatches between smoke particle visuals and screen overlay visuals.
• Fixed players being able to double stack inside a smoke to peek out of the top (and be really hard to see from outside the smoke).
• Updated expiration of the smoke screen overlay to match more closely to the visuals of when the third person particles expire and vice versa.
• Updated the vertical position slightly of the smoke particles to reduce seeing though edges of the smoke (particularly at the bottom). 
• Fixed spectator sometimes not getting the smoke overlay for the player they are spectating when that alive player is inside smoke. 
• Improved spawnpoint selection code to not spawn at occupied spawn points or spawn points of a different team.
• Tagging values have been tweaked slightly to increase tagging on higher mobility weapons, and updated values for tagging on multiple hits to make it more effective (Added a guide to explain how tagging works: http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=412879303) 
• Increased price of the M4A1-Silencer from 3100 to 3200 to align the weapon’s price with its utility. 
• Increased Tec-9’s damage fall-off to reward players that close engagement distance. 
• Lowered Tec-9’s magazine size to 24 to reward more discriminate firing. 
• Lowered scoped movement values for AWP and Autosnipers. 
• The accuracy of the MP9, MP7, and Mac-10 have been improved.

[STATTRAK]

• Trade up contracts work on StatTrak weapons. 
• There is now a StatTrak swap tool available for purchase. It swaps the StatTrak value between two of the same weapon.

[SERVER BROWSER]

• Fixed the server browser showing the map workshop path in the “Map” column. 
• Added a sortable column to the server browser to display whether a server is running a map from the workshop or not. 
• Added a sortable column to the server broswer that displays icons for popular game mods running on that server. 
• Server browser will save the layout changes made between game sessions. 
• Updated the first time server browser pop up message.

[UI]

• Fixed scoreboard hiding at match end when you bring up a player’s Steam profile. 
• Added a game option in team options section to control whether lobbies get created with public access or private requiring invites for friends. 
• Added Flavor Text to the Bank collection.

[MISC]

• Add surround sound support (quad/5.1) on Linux. 
• Marked nav commands as a cheat to protect against potential server exploits. 
• Chicken kills are now logged in CS event logs on game servers including attacker and weapon information. 
• HE grenade detonations are now logged in CS event logs prior to logging player deaths from corresponding HE grenade explosion. 
• Added sv_reliableavatardata 2 game server setting for LAN tournaments production. In this mode the game server will load player avatars from corresponding csgo/avatars/76512345678-.rgb files (or csgo/avatars/default.rgb if the corresponding SteamID avatar is missing), and avatars will be recorded in GOTV demos. To produce avatars rgb files tournament operators can place 64×64 png player avatars as csgo/avatars/76512345678-.png and run the client-side command cl_avatar_convert_rgb to convert all 64×64 png files into rgb format. 
• Optimized the process of logging in players to matchmaking backend during game updates.

[MAPS]

Dust2

• Opened up skybox around Long A double doors, Catwalk and Short 
• Improved visibility around blue car in Long A
• Fixed render distance on a crate in CT spawn

Mirage

• Opened up skybox around back of apartments 
• Simplified sides of CT sniper window in mid 
• Raised cover slightly in upper mid 
• Fixed visibility through a crate in Bombsite A

Overpass

• Opened up and simplified Bombsite A 
• Added back stairs to pit near Bombsite A 
• Opened up semi-open door in bathrooms, fountain side

Cobblestone

• Smoothed out movement in Bombsite B 
• Removed corner on left side of T tunnel into Bombsite B 
• Haystack near Long A now requires a jump to get on top

Train (Thanks c0tton and adreN!)

• Various optimizations 
• Removed collision at top of ladders 
• Pushed Bombsite A further back towards CT side 
• Added a third train car to A site to reduce amount of long sightlines 
• Added a peek-position inside T main 
• Opened up area on the left side of T main exit 
• Moved dumpsters in Ivy 
• Raised crane in Bombsite A 
• Blocked extremely tight angle from lower CT ramp towards T ramp in Bombsite B 
• Prioritized CT spawn positions

Cache

• Fixed an exploit boost at A 
• Added a decal indicating the boundaries of the A bombsite’s plantzone 
• Made white tarps on crates more spammable (Thanks Mod645!) 
• Fixed shadows casting into A main shed from boost spot 
• Improved readability from middle to A site container

Shorttrain

• Added back to map rotation

Additionally, a March 9th version of the game's previous build has been pinned to the beta opt-in options in the case of upcoming events (such as Copenhagen Games) not wanting to use the newest version for time reasons.