I've been playing TF2 for a while and demoman has been, by far, my favorite class to play. I've gotten pretty proficient with the class, and though I have my off-days, I usually do well for myself and my team. I focus on defense, as I think that's where I function best, disrupting enemy advances, picking off spies, and trying to make sure no one gets our intel beyond the top of the spiral or the stairs.
My most used weapon in the demoman's arsenal is my sticky launcher, and I've been trying to come up with some mean places to put stickies to ambush people. I was wondering if other people have found some good places. I prefer placing stickies out of sight, usually around corners or doorframes where someone can't see them until it's too late. Though, obvious stickies can have some benefit too, making the enemy hesitate to take a particular route or you can use two obviously placed stickies to convince the enemy to take an alternate route which is hiding your six other stickies.
Here are some places where I like to put mine:
1) Above the doors coming into the courtyard. I'll put four above each doorway, and I can pick off spies walking in or aggressive players who try to charge me. This also lets me pick off enemy players who might be chasing my team mate, like a pyro trying to burn down a running medic. A few times of being blown apart here can make people hesitant about walking in, which is a nice psychological edge. This works for both Blu and Red.
2) The door leading into the large room outside the courtyard on the first floor. For Red, I put the stickies over the door because they have those nice wooden beams. For Blu, the wall to the left of the entrance is thicker, so I put the stickies on that thin edge. This is another nice ambush site, letting me catch people off-guard coming in to assault the courtyard or chasing me from the entrance to finish me off. Depending on the angle I expect enemies to come from, I might put the stickies on the large part of the wall inside the door itself. People coming up from the sewer can see those easily, but people coming in from the entrance have a harder time. For Red players, you can stick some grenades on the "roof" of the door between the wooden beams, which is a nice hiding spot.
3) The Long Hallway leading into the courtyard. Spies like to take this way a lot, as do Scouts that come in the bottom. I like to put four stickies around the first corner, set up so you don't see them as you enter the hallway, and I can catch those sneaky Scouts and Spies off-guard. I'll usually divide four between this spot and the #2 spot, standing in the large room and watching both doors. If someone runs into the Long Hall, I'll wait around 2 seconds and then blow the nades. Red players have a wooden beam at the entrance itself that can hide the stickies well.
4) The Grate. I recently found out that explosions can travel through the grate, but bullets can't. So, I'll put stickies ontop of the grate then sit near the wall overlooking the square hole and wait for people to come through. It's somewhat hard to see the stickies through the grate, so it's easy to miss them if a player is focused on something else (Like looking for the last place you put your stickies). When they walk under, blow the stickies. Watch out that you don't place them too close to where you'll be hiding or you'll blow yourself to pieces. This works for Blu and Red.
5) Top of the Spiral or Top of the Stairs. When I hear the enemy pick up our intel, I immediately try to figure out where they're going. Depending on where, I'll drop four stickies at either the doorframe leading to the stairs or near the first turn on the spirals. It's important to make sure you keep them at the corner,