A Sniping Guide

[Jamoe]

I found this on another forum.

"I'm a good sniper in every other game, how could I possibly be worse in this game."

Before, when I tried sniping in this game, I found the class so useless/inaccurate. How naive I was. So, I stuck to being a medic, but many, many nights ago I had a rude awakening on how deadly the sniper class is in this game. Now, I continuously get top 10 rankings in 64 player servers with the sniper rifle. Here is my sweet, quick, and easy guide for more effective, lethal sniping which will hopefully open up a few doors to the class:

Number 1 Rule: (Fundamentals)
Be a sniper.
Sounds easy right? Negative. Being a sniper involves many actions, intuitions, and techniques that must be perfected. (I will go in depth with these later)

Number 2 Rule: (Positioning)
Move, move, move, move... Unless you have a really, really good spot.
If you're out in the open, you'll have a good view, but you'll be a sittin' duck. So pick a nice spot in some brush, grass, or even proned underneath a bush so that the enemy couldn't spot you with a telescope. In terms of ducking, and standing, or laying when firing your weapon, I found that if you use the aiming technique correctly, (will go in depth later), you'll still have perfect shots, so make sure that what ever position you're in, you're absolutely, positively, hidden.

Number 3 Rule: (Attitude)
Be merciless, but at a good pace. Before firing at your opponent, wait for them to slow down or stop. If they sense a sniper they'll sprint away. So you gotta make them feel like they're safe, hehe. After learning ABF, the special aim technique which I will cover later, place the cross hairs on the head, or better yet in the upper chest between the shoulders (this is the game's idea of where the heart is.) I find it better to aim for the chest from afar, and the head when they're up close and personal for obvious reasons. Read on.

*Number 4 Rule* AIMING TECHNIQUE (mucho importanto)
Patience, patience, patience. Here's the thing about this class. The game wants you to act like a sniper, so act like one. When an enemy is present, Do not just swing the cross hairs over to his body and fire right away. I gurantee, you will not hit your target. These aren't like the sniper rifles from counter-strike:source. *The technique* is aim, breathe, fire or ABF. The "breathing" is the mind focusing aspect of the sniper. So, if you're aiming for an enemy's heart, wait 2 seconds. Don't just fire, make sure the sight is on his heart, and take a "breath", then fire.
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EXTRA ADDED TIDBIT
"Breathe?" There isn't any scope drift in BF2! You see, he doesn't mean literally breathe. He means focus. Really focus for a second before shooting.
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What the game wants snipers to do is actually aim. It takes a small period of time for the scope to "settle" after you have moved it a bit.

If you can aim for the head, do so, but do it while thinking ABF (aim, breathe, fire). I gurantee, if you follow this technique, you will kill 95% of everyone you aim at. Remember, if you move your scope, even the tiniest bit, you need to let it settle before you fire. This is the equivalent to how a real sniper would aim, knowing that pulling the trigger will do the job. Even if your sights are clearly put on an enemy's head in an instant, for example, don't just fire! I assure you that you will be disappointed when you pull the trigger. Again, wait a 2 second minimum (or more for even more accuracy) if you want a sure shot. I stress that if you do this it feels much more "sniper like" and is very effective. Also, when you fire, hold the fire button. This will keep your scope up after you fire. I highly recommend holding the fire button down after a shot. Normally, if the scope is zooming in and out after you pull the trigger when you're not holding down the fire button after a shot, it's going to make you want to fire faster, which is a very bad thing. The point is to take your time and make each shot, a sure and focused shot.

If you miss:

If you miss don't get mad. Keep thinking ABF and continue executing. If you think about it, real snipers would have 9999 problems when facing enemies that could strafe left and right on a dime, and leap in the air like Michael Jordan would. So you won't hit your target everytime, but you will kill them.

Quick notes:
If an enemy is very, very nearby, and he's proned, ducking, or standing. Don't shoot his body. Aim for his head, or the back of his neck. If you shoot his body, he only gets hurt, and by the time you realize this, he has either spotted and killed you, or he ran to safety. Sometimes an enemy would just stay put if you're lucky.

Land mines.. Use them wisely and you will kill your enemies and not your friends.

Intuition.
Focus, think, be creative.

I might be nice to have guidesl ike this on all classes. Also, a few tips and tricks, like whre/how/when to use the claymores and c4 packs.

[suicidal_monkey]

interesting - I might try sniping again after reading that... wondered how I wasn't getting any hits when the crosshairs were clearly on their heads! Would be nice if they made the crosshairs wobble abuot but gradually settle - they could go a step further and make it take longer to settle if you've been sprinting

[Jamoe]

I actualy thought of you when I found that, remember you saying in another thread that you hadn't taken to it.

The Sniper class is also good for spotting and booby trapping flags with claymores. (noted by Ranger in another thread)

[Ranger]

Originally posted by Jamoe@Sep 29 2005, 09:23 AM
I actualy thought of you when I found that, remember you saying in another thread that you hadn't taken to it.

The Sniper class is also good for spotting and booby trapping flags with claymores. (noted by Ranger in another thread)

[post=96826]Quoted post[/post]

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Well it's funny - I gave it another go...

This time I 'layed off' a little further back, and this time it worked better. I also started sticking a claymore behind me to protect me as I sniped (you get so focused on your next victim sometimes that you never hear anyone sneak up behind you!).

I have taken out people regularly using a claymore for personal defence - particularly when on a roof and I place the claymore at the top of a ladder!

 :devil:

[DuVeL]

From |TG|:

Originally posted by TychoCelchuuu
I've always had trouble with the sniper rifles in Battlefield 2; I wonder how much to lead my target, how much bullet drop there is, what my accuracy is like when I'm standing or prone, if the bullet will actually go where my crosshair is pointing...

So basically I just left the sniper rifles alone. Then I saw this video (warning: some bad language, written not spoken) and it was really helpful. Basically the sniper rifle is like the one in Starsiege: Tribes; the bullet travels there instantly and doesn't drop or anything. I went and picked up a sniper rifle today, and I got 10+ kills real fast without worrying about bullet drop or anything.

So there you go. I just wanted to share the video, since it helped me see visually how the rifle works, especially compared to all this crap we've been hearing about bullet drop and stuff.

[suicidal_monkey]

Originally posted by DuVeL@Sep 29 2005, 10:41 AM
this video

wow...
You can, um, blow up choppers with the sniper rifle? I'm guessing that's not the "regular" sniper rifle then but the unlocked one?

[Jamoe]

Perhaps thats why the above guide doesnt really fit to well with whats going on in that video.

[suicidal_monkey]

Originally posted by Jamoe@Sep 29 2005, 12:31 PM
Perhaps thats why the above guide doesnt really fit to well with whats going on in that video.

[post=96855]Quoted post[/post]

[/b]

I think the guide comes close, but I'd say it's quite a bit less than 2 seconds settling time - the guy is definitely leaving a pause, albeit a short one, after aiming before firing. I will have to give it a go again, used to love the awm in CS "in the old days" as some of you may recall... :devil: