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(I went to a bunch of trouble making this, so please at least read it and tell me what you think.)

Well folks, I've decided to let you all in on a few trade secrets on my personal craft, sniping.

The first thing you must remember about sniping is: It's hard.

Not just hard, it's downright damnable to try and get a GOOD score with a sniper rifle. Especially if you're used to using an auto, or even a non-scoped boltie. This thread will help all of you use the sniper rifle better. Maybe eventually one of you will be a match for me in a sniper fight.


Section 1: The Scythe of the Boogie Man; The Rifle

If you're in game, and you have a choice between a scoped kar and a normal kar, most of you will pick the normal kar just because iron sights are easier to use.

When you come up on an enemy at close range with a normal kar, you can strafe left and right, pull up your sights very quickly, and pop a shot off. This is easy for most people to do. You can keep moving while aiming down the sights without too much trouble adjusting your aim, and take them down in two shots. With a sniper rifle, you don't have this luxury. If you run up on an enemy while you have a scoped kar, you don't have the option of scoping in quickly and popping off a few accurate shots. It takes too long to scope in and out, it's easy to lose them while scoped in, and you simply can't move while scoped in if you want to shoot accurately. This means you will have to rely on the crosshairs.

This is step one. Learn to use crosshairs. Start off using an MP44, not firing on auto, and try to pick people off with 5-6 shots from a window or a tower. Practice centering them in your crosshair and keeping them there while they move. Once you can do this reliably, move on to using a semi-auto rifle. For this, you will need to move in close to the enemy. Don't worry, they'll kill you. A lot. A whole lot, in fact. It will be aggravating. It will be very difficult. And you WILL want to bash in some skulls.

Don't. Trust me, if you can become skilled with a sniper rifle, everything else becomes easy.

Just keep at it. Learn to anticipate how people move when confronted up close. You will need to keep moving. Don't stand still for a SECOND. Practice keeping them within your crosshairs. Make sure that you are aiming at their neck area. You CAN aim for the chest, but if you aim for the neck, there's a greater possibility of getting a headshot and ending it quickly.

Once you've gotten better (Better being not getting a negative score) at using a semi-auto with ONLY using the crosshairs, NOT the sights, then move on to a bolt.

This will be much harder to get used to. Most bolt action rifles have five rounds, and it takes roughly six seconds to fire off all five. Generally, if you HAVE to fire off all five, you're in trouble. This is what we're trying to avoid by practicing like this. If you're not GOOD at taking enemies down with your crosshairs, you WILL die. Because you will miss, and they will kill you.

(Continued..)

part 2(cont)

Same thing as last time, except THIS time, here's what you do. The semi-auto had ten rounds that you could fire quickly, so even if you miss with half, they'll still probably go down. The bolt action has five slow-firing rounds. This means that you have to hit with the first few. So, in stead of ALWAYS moving, move a BUNCH. Side-to-side, down, up, lean, prone....But suddenly stop. Stop, crouch, center the target, and fire. The crosshairs on a bolt shrink significantly in the crouched position. But once you've fired, get moving again. Confuse them. Get them to waste their ammo. If you can survive until a reload, you have about two-three seconds in which you can calmly aim and fire at them. This is what I call "Fire time". That few seconds between clips is your best friend in the world, and once you've played enough with a sniper rifle, you will learn to treasure that "Click" of a clip being removed. If you're facing a heavy auto(PPSH, MP44) that has already started firing at you from close range, then don't do the stop-crouch-fire...Do the RUN-RUN-RUN. With practice, you will eventually gain the skill to take on full autos in a situation like that, but for now, try to take them by surprise if you can. But facing them head-on is generally suicide. Once you've gained enough skill with this, move on to the sniper. When moving, the crosshairs on the normal kar spread apart about an inch. However, with the scoped kar, the crosshairs will spread apart about an inch and a half. This means that if you have to make a moving shot, you'd better be praying. That's why I had you practice stopping and firing quick shots before. Because while moving-crosshair shots are possible(and actually pretty reliable) on an unscoped rifle, the scoped rifle isn't nearly as easy to use. When using a sniper rifle, the idea is to try and stay far away. But sometimes it can't be avoided, and close range combat will find you. Sniping far range is simply a thing of practice. It's the close-range combat that shows who's a good sniper, and who's a GREAT sniper. If you can take down a PPSH with a sniper rifle when the PPSH is coming at you and firing full auto, THAT'S when you know you're good. If you can sit in a tunnel with a sniper rifle and take down three PPSHers before they even knew what hit them, that's when you know you're great.Unfortunately, I can only take on two PPSHers in a tunnel, generally. Oh well. Moving on...Just practice. When sniping far range, learn how to lead. You usually need to lead one body (Imagine there's another person RIGHT in front of them, and aim for THAT person.) when they're running. When they're sprinting, it's about one and a half. Remember to adjust for the scope movement, and to listen. Sound is your greatest friend. With sound, you can hear people sneaking up on you, of a shift in the location of the main battle, of enemy snipers or riflers trying to take you down...It's a very useful tool. So use it. (Continued...)
helium1

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Section 2: When all else fails...

There will come times in close-range sniping that you will run out of ammo. This is why god made the pistol. The pistol is a last resort type of thing. You should try to use your rifle when you can, but when that fails, and you can't retreat to reload, pull out the ol' handgun. Don't fire it FAST. Take a bit of time and try to AIM your shots. If you use up all your pistol ammo, you ARE screwed. So try and make every shot count. This is another one of those "It's all about practice" things that your mom told you about. Though I doubt she was referring to using pistols in video games.

Grenades are your friends. Thrown a grenade at an approaching enemy and he will go into shellshock(Or die). This allows you to move in and finish him off(Or get his health, gun, and leave) while he's dazed (or dead.).

They also allow you to retreat. Toss a grenade at the ground while running through a door, and the guy(s) chasing you will either A) Die from it, B) Stop and wait for it to explode before going in after you, or C) It will hurt them and make them easier to take out later, and putting them into shellshock will slow them down.

Or D), they'll pass over it and make it far enough away and not be harmed. But if that happens you're dead anyway.

Smoke is generally your enemy. But it has it's uses sometimes. Smoke a street so you can cross to a good sniping position...Smoke an enemy-occupied room and then fill it with grenades and a satchel. Smoke yourself so that you have time to hide and reload. But usually, smoke is bad and only blocks your line of sight.

Section 3: Location, location, location...

When you have a sniper rifle, the front line is not where you belong. You should try to find an elevated location where you can see a broad area, away from the main part of the conflict. Pick out some spots that give you good views of a machine gun, so that if that MG is giving your team trouble, you can save the day by picking off the guner, and covering your team's approach. You have to remember: You are not a combat role. You are a support role. Your job isn't to get as many kills as you can, it's to keep the ENEMY from killing YOUR guys. If you focus on picking off enemy snipers, you won't get as many kills as if you run around with an MP44, but your team will have an easier time of winning because they have one less thing shooting at them. Remember; Your place is away from the battle. Find a nice spot, set up, snipe for a minute, and move. Don't stay in the same spot too long. Eventually, the enemy will figure out where you are and they WILL kill you. Keep moving, and don't set up any patterns. You are the most flexible soldier on the battlefield. You can sit back and relax, watching an MG nest and keeping it clear. Or you can trudge into some tunnels and keep the enemy from using them to their advantage. It's all up to you.

Section 4: The voice from beyond!

As a sniper, you will have a better viewpoint as to the big scheme of things. The guys up there fighting know only that there's enemies in front of them, and they must die. YOU, however, can keep an eye out for enemies that are trying to flank your team. If the enemy's spawn has moved, etc... Remember to WARN your team. It takes only a few seconds to type in team chat "They're flanking around through the graveyard!", and you will save a lot of trouble for yourself. Because if they flank your team, they will kill them all. And you will suddenly find yourself cut off from friendlies. Your job is to keep your TEAM winning. Remember that.

That's all I have for now. Tell me what you think. I'll probably add more later, but it was getting really long. o.o

OK Helium I thought it fitting to bring this back it is a priceless piece of info .,..as far as COD UO is concerned

Section 5A: Bumps in the road...(Common problems...)

When you're moving to a new sniping location, there's a decent chance that you will run into enemy soldiers. This means that any sniping position that is in the direction of where you were heading is now a hot zone, even if you win. If you win, you need to head back the way you came and find another area. The enemy you killed will be looking for you in the area you were heading towards. If you die, just don't go back to that place. If the enemy knows your general location before you're even set up and sniping, then it's useless.

Artillery is a great tool. Just don't try to snipe near it. The shells shake your screen and make it near impossible to get accurate shots off...you'll just alert the enemy as to your location.

Section 5B: It takes a sniper...

To kill an enemy sniper, you have to think on your toes. He's set up somewhere, and is more than likely aware that you're out there. He's waiting for you. So, don't go looking for him. Wait a while. Don't shoot unless you have to. See if you can draw him out. Good snipers seek out enemy snipers, as they are the BIGGEST threat. Sure, a PPSH running up is a threat, but one that can be dealt with. An enemy sniper will blow your head off from a distance while you're trying to pick off some machine gunner. And no matter how good you are, once he has you in his scope, things will get dicey fast. Even if you survive the first shot.

So, make sure you listen for other sniper rifles going off. Watch the kills list to see if anyone is using one that you can't hear. Be aware of the real threat that you might be sitting right in the scope of an enemy sniper. Keep your eyes and ears open.

Section 6: Lead, Lead, Lead!

I covered using the spawn weapons for a sniper, but now I'm going to cover secondary weapons that you may find on the ground.

When you are sniping, you can't be selective. If you find an MP40 on the ground, pick it up. I don't care that you hate the mp40. I don't care that you suck with it. The fact of the matter is, some situations are just impossible to get through using only a sniper rifle, no matter your skill level. Hell, even another sniper rifle or a non-scoped rifle are much better than nothing. They give you more rounds to fire without having to reload. So; You see that PPSH on the ground there? Oh, it's surrounded by enemies? Toss a frag, run in and grab it, and use it to mow them down while they're in shellshock.

If there's a weapon on the ground, but you are spotted while going to pick it up, don't stop to fight. Get the gun. You have a better chance of making it all the way there and picking it up and then WINNING than you do of simply fighting with the rifle.

When gathering weapons, avoid being spotted if at all possible. Also make sure you time it right. You don't want to miss a shot because you had to jump down and pick up that '44. You should wait until you're changing locations before going shopping for guns.

That's all for now...more later.

2354 words so far.

WOW so that is y u r so good!! i wonder though if i should keep using wiggsy's method or urs.

superman01 wrote:
WOW so that is y u r so good!! i wonder though if i should keep using wiggsy's method or urs.

Helium's

k

Thanks alot for the post! but really, serious..
Banana sniping is WAY more effective, you could shoot a goat from about 10 miles! :O

banana rumble ?

YEZ
EPICNEZZ