Cassius guide sniping

[Cassius]

Guid on sniping.

*the guide can be reproduced edited and published by everyone who cares to do so*

The sniper should try and meet the objectives to support his team outlined here . This guide is to outline how the sniper can meet the objectives, which objectives he can meet in which enviroments and the implementation of the sniper in a specialist squad.

But first on shooting and hitting the target. The sniper must set up in a prone position for maximum accuracy.
After a set up time of 8 sec, ie holding the gun still for 8 sec. the rifle should be centered. Moving the sight will requie the rifle to settle again but for a lesser time period.
Leading targets is difficult, the sniper should point the crosshair to where he thinks the target will move and fire when it enters his sights, to avoid issues with deviation.

Jungle Maps

Jungle maps are the maps where the sniper can meet all of his objectives with realitve ease. He should work alone on those maps to maximize his camo. His camoflauge is quite effective and allows him to scout out enemy positions and search for enemy assets with realtive safety and impunity. Insertion should not necessitate transport, if it does the sniper should request a cold insertion.
While moving from objective to objective the sniper should avoid roads and trails and try to circumvent approaching enemies.

The camoflauge allows him to get quite close to an enemy position, allowing him to set up wherever he finds cover and as close as 200m if he supports his team with the rifle. Due to the cover he should also be able to trail incoming troops back to their spawn location with relative ease.

If he has to engage targets on his own, to keep AA or heavy machine guns from downing deploying troops he should set up as far as he can though. To set up the sniper should look for bushes, they provide the best cover, but any kind of foliage will do. Alternatively he can look for trees that shape a V set up behind it and frire through the crook.
To avoid being spotted he should not fire while an enemy looking for him is facing his way, as the shot could be trailed back.
When the sniper supports an attack he should have realtive freedom to set up in an ideal position to deny the enemy cover as outlined in objectives. Just make sure to stay concealed in the vegetation while moving around the map.
Same goes for supporting a defense.

City maps

City maps are rather atrocious maps for snipers. Usually his camoflauge wont do the sniper any good, rendering the sniper just as visibile as ordinary soldiers. He should team up with a medic to get healed and have his back covered. In the early stage of the game the sniper should attempt to set up targeting AA if the team relies on airlifts, or target deploying forces trying to take down the officers to delay the build up of enemy assets. To do so the sniper can set up on a rooftop overwatching the enemy assets.

Later in the game the snipers first priority should be to clear rooftops from hostiles, which will have taken position there to engage incoming friendly forces. The sniper himself shouldnt be on a rooftop unless he gets to egage targets hundreds of meters away from an elevated position. It is far better if the sniper sets up in the hills cranes or any other distant elevated position to overwatch the city. With no vegetation around he can trail movement of trucks and the set up of firebases through his scope as long as it isnt obstructed by buildings, but scouting behind the enemy lines should be left to the spec ops.
If the sniper cant find targets from his very distant position and whishes to support attacking units he should avoid setting up sideways of the enemy, unlike in most other maps, the buildings will provide little opportunity to engage targets. He should either set up in the back of enemy forces, which is very risky if he gets spotted despite the enemy facing away from him, either because of bad luck or simply because the enemy takes position on the building he is hiding in, or facing them. In both cases he can take advantage of the open roads, engaging any incoming forces which have little cover themselfs. As soon as the fighting shifts indoors or to backalleys the sniper is out of the game, but he can contribute in clearing the main alleys and restricing the enemies movement.

The tactics employed in defense should not differ much from those used to attack, mostly only requirering the sniper to fall back to a different location.

Desert maps.

Desert maps offer advantages and disadvantages to snipers. In the open the sniper is as exposed as any other troop, the camo helps, but doesnt render him invisibile to the degree it does on jungle maps. Recon can be rather difficult for the sniper due to the lack of cover, but in the openess of the desert enemy assets are more easily spotted by friendly troops anyway than say in jungle maps. He should leave recon to the Spec ops especially if Air support is avaiable to instantly take out laser marked targets.
When he engages troops in the open his best bet is to rely on his marksmanship skills and max out the range of his rifle, trying to bring as much space as possibile between himself and hostiles. Usually the enemy does not have much cover himsel
so the sniper wont have to worry about setting up in the side or back of the enemy, I would even discourage it, him being to exposed to counter attacks. Friendly troops should shield him in the open.
However if the sniper supports an attack on an objective he should seek out to set up himself the way to deny the enemy cover, as outlined in Sniper Objectives.
In defense the sniper should just seek an elevated position on the objective he whishes to defend. Setting up outside might get the sniper killed.

On desert maps he might find himself under fire more frequently than on other maps, if he doesnt have a meatshield of friendly infantery in front of him, but he will be fine as long as he keeps distance between himself and hostile infantery. Typically armor prowls desert maps, he needs to watch out for it and be rather conservative in their vicinity.

Woodland maps.
Woodland maps usually offer a lot of cover but only limited camouflage. However they seem to have a lot of elevations.
If the sniper can bring some distance between himself and a targer the kit is aright, if the maps offers little possibilities for that it should be reconsidered to use the sniper kit.
As long as the sniper is aware he can do recon for his team, he can hide behind trees if he crosses the path of hostiles, but cant move virtually invisibile like on jungle maps.
Attack and defense should be exectued as outlined in Sniper Objectives the woodland areas will offer sufficient cover for the sniper to fall back.

Blended maps.

A lot of maps are a blend of any of the outlined maps containing city area elements. As long as the sniper is not involved in the urban portino of the map the guide applies as outlined above accordino on the setting. However if he engages in the Urban area he should take that into account. For example if the map is a jungle map and he whishes to overwatch a small city or village he should set himself up behind friendly troops overwatching the alley their are moving down as outlined in city maps, while taking cover between vegetation if possibile as outlined in jungle maps.

Counter sniping.

The sniper might need to engage hostile snipers either out of self preservation of because they are engaging friendly troops.
Before setting up for whatever role he whish to fulfill he should search the area for locations where snipers might have set up. His best bet i to look at spots where he would set up himself to defend an objective, if his team is attacking and vice versa. He can do so by sweeping the area on foot or employing his scope or binoculars, depending on how much camoflauge he has to work with. Work top down, look for the highest spots such as hills and cranes before you set up you do not want to set up in the sights of a sniper.
He should aslo keep an eye out for friendly troops, if they are getting shot up although they took cover a hostile sniper might have set up in their side/back.
Once the sniper is spotted he should take his time and try to take him out with a headshot. If he is unaware of having been spotted he will be lying prone and still making eliminating him easy.
If the sniper has been spotted himself by an hostile sniper he should avoid attempting to duel him and forward his location to the team instead if he can.

The sniper in a squad.

Even if the sniper works alone he should be in a squad with a fellow sniper or spec ops. All face the same kind of dangers and can warn each other about hot spots hostile snipers or dispersed infantery squads over VOIP.

On some maps especially maps that offer some camo the sniper can temporarily team up with a spec ops to take out enemy assets such as AA Firebases or bunkers as long as they are not too heavily guarded. The spec. operator can go into hiding nearby the objective and strike as soon as the sniper instructs him that it is free or only lightly guarded supporting him with sniper fire.
On other maps, such as city maps the sniper might want to team up with a medic, to get patched up and have his back covered to not get surprised by troops entering the building he is operating in for example.

[zangoo]

But first on shooting and hitting the target. As far as I know there is no difference in accuracy between shooting crouch or prone.After a set up time of 8 sec, ie holding the gun still for 8 sec. the rifle should be centered. Moving the sight will requie the rifle to settle again but for a lesser time period. Trailing targets is not possibile, so the sniper should point the crosshair to where he thinks the target will move and fire when it enters his sights.

First off, Prone is 5 times more Accurate then crouch, crouch is the same as standing. You can lead a target as turn deviation has been reduced but if you move your body it will increase deviation and you will have to wait the 8 seconds. Btw it is leading not trailing, trailing would inply you are following the target behind him and the bullet would never hit that way.

Now for the complaments, I like this guide it tells people what to do to help the team instead of getting kills, I find way to many people go for the sniper kit for the possible kills instead of spotting for choppers, longrange harassment, ect.

[Cassius]

Somebody said there is no difference in deviation between crouching and prone since 0.8. Id like feedback from the devs on it. Thx ill edit it to lead.

[Waaah_Wah]

Cassius mate, you might wanna check your facts before writing a guide The prone and croush deviation for assault rifles is the same not for the sniper.

After a set up time of 8 sec, ie holding the gun still for 8 sec.

You just have to lie still for 8 sec, not actually hold your scope still.

The camoflauge allows him to get quite close to an enemy position

Err... You have a rifle that can be used from VERY long range. Why the hell would you want to move closer? The sniper kit is useless on jungle maps, because of the view distance and the CQC nature of those maps.

It is far better if the sniper sets up in the hills cranes or any other distant elevated position to overwatch the city.

Cranes are pretty obvious spots and are checked first when you hear sniper fire. Hills with some sort of things to take cover behind (trees, logs or bushes) are far better.

[Cassius]

The deviation is the same only for assault rifle not sniper

I did not know that, thanks for the update

Why would you want to get close to an enemy position ?

to rush out of the hiding and stab the firebase/bunker, only if it is lightly guarded of course. And oftentimes you do have to get pretty close to an objective on jungle maps, sometimes as close as 400m because of the vegetation or simply because the topography requires it and because of the camo you can operate at such close distances. You couldnt use the marksmen kit effectively at 400m because thats the maximum effective range, so even a "perfect" shot would be subject to chance, also you dont have the camo the sniper has.

I wouldnt call it useless on jungle maps. You are FAR less likely to be spotted, the downside is you cant just go prone about anywhere and have a clear field of view true, but in my experience it is far from useless on jungle maps, quite the opposite.

Cranes are pretty obvious spots and are checked first when you hear sniper fire.

That is true, the idea is to stay on the crane only to engage hostile snipers below you if you can spot them, after you have eliminated such treaths and cleared the roofs of marksmen you should move down to support the troops. The idea is to work your way from the top to the bottom. If you are the one on the roof and the hostile sniper is on the crane you are far more likely to get killed, if the sniper is good and spends some time looking for enemy snipers below him.

[Waaah_Wah]

I did not know that, thanks for the update

Np

to rush out of the hiding and stab the firebase/bunker, only if it is lightly guarded of course. And oftentimes you do have to get pretty close to an objective on jungle maps, sometimes as close as 400m because of the vegetation or simply because the topography requires it and because of the camo you can operate at such close distances. You couldnt use the marksmen kit effectively at 400m because thats the maximum effective range, so even a "perfect" shot would be subject to chance, also you dont have the camo the sniper has.

I wouldnt call it useless on jungle maps. You are FAR less likely to be spotted, the downside is you cant just go prone about anywhere and have a clear field of view true, but in my experience it is far from useless on jungle maps, quite the opposite.

Jungle maps in PR: OGT and Tad Sae. The view distance is simply too short to use the sniper kit effectively.

That is true, the idea is to stay on the crane only to engage hostile snipers below you if you can spot them, after you have eliminated such treaths and cleared the roofs of marksmen you should move down to support the troops. The idea is to work your way from the top to the bottom. If you are the one on the roof and the hostile sniper is on the crane you are far more likely to get killed, if the sniper is good and spends some time looking for enemy snipers below him.

Sigh... He doesnt know where you are, but you know where the crane is at all times. Just like the Hotel building on Muttrah. Sure, you can see alot from there, but everything and everyone can see you.

All you have to do when you are on rooftops is to keep an eye on the crane.

[Christian92]

HEllo, my name is Crisisk, serving in CATA I and generally depploxed as DM or Sniper
So i read this thread and have a few things to add:

I often play Urban maps like MUttrah, and i can advice to every sniper to always follw the front line but to stay away from the combat: you'll probably not getting killd or spottet because in the heat of fire nobody will be aware of a sniper when hes beeing pinned down with nades.
You'll be able to stay on your position and kill one by one alot of enemys and alow ur troops to moove forward. If you have the chance to, after every shot just crouch a bit backwards, ur enemy will look around and maybe spot you. So just wait 10seconds and go back in postion, and continue

If you are DM and operating alone behind enemy lines(which is very funny), the primirdial tatic to stay alive is to shange postion after each frag: all enemays around who heard the shot will imediately searh you. The guy who got shot will come back at the postion he died: change postion and shoot him again they are soo dumb xD

[Astromici]

Sniper Deviation (I peeked at the files 10 while standing. 5 while crouching, 1 while prone .1 as the minimum possible deviation. Zooming cuts all deviations by a 1/5 or 20%. I don't know what the numbers mean, but

Crouching is 2x more accurate then Standing
Prone is 5x more accurate than crouching
Zooming is 5x more accurate than not.

So prone while zoomed is 10x more accurate than just standing. Here's the code if you want to interpret it.

rem ---BeginComp:SoldierDeviationComp ---
rem Long Barrel 762 Optical Sight Sniper Rifle
ObjectTemplate.createComponent SoldierDeviationComp
ObjectTemplate.deviation.minDev .1
ObjectTemplate.deviation.setFireDev 5 5 .021
ObjectTemplate.deviation.setTurnDev 5 .3 .3 .1
ObjectTemplate.deviation.setSpeedDev 10 10 10 .042
ObjectTemplate.deviation.setMiscDev 5 5 .05
ObjectTemplate.deviation.devModStand 5
ObjectTemplate.deviation.devModCrouch 5
ObjectTemplate.deviation.devModLie 1
ObjectTemplate.deviation.devModZoom .2
rem ---EndComp ---

This is true for all sniper rifles except for the Mosin Nagant.

[Cassius]

thx astro

[tp94]

sorry havn't got the game (downloading now) but from what i knew i thought that snipers were supposed to spot not shoot standard infantry anyway.

[Rollonio]

I wrote this as a sniper guide for people in the FFTF tournament, hope it helps.

Role:
The sniper has two jobs: Providing intelligence and engaging targets; in that order.

Providing Intelligence
Before you take position make sure you have lines of communication with your team. If you have a commander, become a squad leader so you can talk to him and place move markers for him to see.

If you have a spotter use him to find additional targets and to relay(type) messages to the team.

Make sure you take positions that allow you to view large areas ideally covering the CPs in play but remain at least 300m from the CP.

Relay positions of RBs/AA/RPs, and postition as well as direction of movement for vehicles and groups of infantry.

Engaging targets:
The sniper rifle is perfectly accurate out to 600m after the full settle time of 8 secs. That means if you wait 8 sec after moving or 4 secs after firing you will hit what you are aiming at. Deviation increases with distance but decrease with time so you can hit closer targets with less settling time. While settling you may move your mouse without effecting accuracy!

If you hit infantry there are 3 outcomes:

1. Head shot: Hard to do but an instant kill, no revive possible.

2. Torso: Easiest but soldiers have body armor so they will be wounded and bleeding out but still mobile. Their single patch will not save them but they will leave in search of a medic.

3. Legs: My favorite target. Much easier to hit than the head but no body armor. A hit leaves the target critically injured so they are immobile but can be revived.

Target Choices:
You must be able to tell the friends from foes at distances where tags won't show up. Use your map, the color of the body armor and the shape of the weapon to differentiate enemies from friendlies.

If you are engaging a group of targets I like to employ the following tactic:
Shoot at kits of value first (big backpack = Squad Leader, Tube on the back= LAT/HAT). When the target is down stay trained on it. The guy that comes running is the medic. You hate medics. They are your nemeses. Make sure you kill him next even if he revives the previous target. If you kill the medic he will just bleed out again.

If the squad is looking for you, kill the guys with the binocs. They generally hold still. If they find you, make sure you move before they can get within range.

Hitting targets in AA, MGs, other mounted weapons is tricky but generally gets them to leave the gun. Plus if you do kill them they cannot be revived.


Survivial: Distance is your only chance:

Don't snipe on wooded/jungle maps: lots of cover for targets, short sight lines, and lot of opportunities for enemies to sneak up on you.

The Sniper kit is rare and you should treat it that way. Make sure you take the safest, not the fastest way to your planned destination. Also make sure you have a plan to get ammo.

Take position away from CPs.

If hostiles are in the vicinity, stop firing and hide or leave if you can.

If you've been spotted, move. People love knifing the sniper.

Turn your sound up so you can hear approaching footsteps.

The Spotter

Personally I think that spotters are better of fighting in the field and putting bodies on flags but they are useful for:

Protection while on the move.
Ammunition.
Tracking additional targets.
Communicating to the team.

[Human_001]

It seems to me that Bullet drop for sniper, like US M40, has different bullet drop at same distance depending on if you are using first zoom, or second zoom.