In Counter-Strike 2, Valve’s networking architecture designed to process input between server ticks is the sub-tick system.
Valve introduced sub-tick processing as a major technical feature of Counter-Strike 2. The system records the precise time at which actions such as movement, shooting, or throwing a grenade occur, rather than treating every input as if it happened only at the next fixed server tick.
The change was presented as a way to make important actions more accurately represent player input. Counter-Strike 2 still uses server updates and network communication; “sub-tick” does not mean that the game has no ticks or that latency disappears. It describes how the server accounts for events within the interval between regular updates.
The architecture became a major point of discussion among players because competitive Counter-Strike depends heavily on timing. Community comparisons of responsiveness, hit registration, and movement have continued since Counter-Strike 2 replaced Counter-Strike: Global Offensive in 2023, but the official name of Valve’s feature is the sub-tick system.