I. Preface
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This is my first guide ever, so please send me any constructive criticism you
have.
This guide is intended to provide some concepts and tactics for the sniper
class.
Firstly, I'm not going to tell you how to aim the sniper rifle. I don't know
any specifics and anything I could tell wouldn't be very useful compared to
game experience. My current accuracy with the sniper rifle is about 35% so
I'm probably not a good source anyway. Also, you will not find any map-specific
tips. I'm not going through every map and cataloging where I have had success
for two reasons:
1) That kind of advice in nearly useless in an online game with dynamic
battlefields and thinking opponents, least of all for snipers.
2) It would take forever.
Stick with me and you'll learn evasion techniques, how to use all your weapons
effectively, and how to be effective by yourself and working with a team.
This guide has been provided to www.gamefaqs.com
Other sites are welcome to
host it but I ask you send me an e-mail beforehand and properly credit the
author. I reserve the right to ask any site to remove this guide for any
reason.
All of my information comes from my experience in the game along with some
things my brother has tipped me off to. Additionally, a few things have been
taken from chat during games; sorry I can't credit the individuals who gave
those to me but consider the BF2 player base to have taken part in this
endeavor too (both as mentors and as victims). A few minor tidbits have come
from the BF2 in game documentation in BFHQ.
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II. Introduction [INTR]
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This guide is divided according to basic general info, general tactics, and
then by main weapon type. Snipers with a Type-88 or a SVD Dragunov will
operate differently than a sniper with a M24 who will behave differently than
a sniper with a M95.
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III. General Information [GENI]
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I'm sure 99% of the readers could skip right over this section if you have even
just tried the sniper class, feel free to do so.
To start with, snipers spawn with one of four rifles. USMC snipers start with
the M24, a bolt operated sniper rifle. MEC snipers start with the SVD Dragunov,
a semi-automatic rifle. Chinese snipers start with the Type-88, another
semi-automatic rifle. The unlockable rifle is the M95 Barret, a bolt action
rifle.
The sniper also spawns with a knife, a silenced pistol, hand grenades, and
claymore mines.
Finally, the sniper spawns with a ghile suit, a body covering designed to
break up your outline and give the prone sniper the appearance of the local
flora. The ghile suit is always on by default.
The sniper doesn't have any body armor, this means you will take more damage
from small arms fire but you will have increased sprint duration. This isn't
as bad as it sounds, the medic, engineer, and special ops also don't have body
armor.
Snipers die from two shots from the M24 or M95 and from three shots of the
Type-88 and Dragunov. As always, a headshot is instant death.
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Iv. General Tactics [GENT]
Section A - How to remain undetected [HTRU]
Appearance [APPA]
Concealment [COCM]
Location [LOCA]
Section B - How stealth is Broken [HSIB]
Section c - How to use secondary weapons [HUSW]
Section D - What snipers do besides shooting everyone they see [WSBS]
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Don't let the name fool you; this section is more important than the
rifle-specific tactics. Here we go over stealth tactics along with some odds
and ends.
Section A - How to remain undetected [HTRU]
The ability to remain undetected is the sniper's most valuable asset. A sniper
achieves invisibility by keeping aware of the land around him. A sniper has
more roles than just shooting people from far away, he can recon effectively
and capture flags, but all require that he remains hidden. The three factors
in achieving stealth are appearance, concealment, and location.
Appearance [APPA]
Your options for changing your appearance are limited. In BF2 you always have a
ghile suit on with your face painted, the most you can do to change your
appearance is to change what weapon is in your hand. Sometimes when under
close scrutiny I feel more secure switching to my pistol to reduce the
silhouette of my weapon, but I don't know if it honestly makes that much
difference.
Concealment [COCM]
The second way to remain unseen is by keeping track of your concealment.
Concealment isn't a cut and dry answer; you will want to vary how much you
conceal yourself depending on the situation. The basic element of concealment
is breaking up your silhouette; in layman's terms, you use your surroundings
to try and make yourself look like anything BUT a sniper.
Concealment comes in a few forms, trees, buildings, walls, and earth offer
total concealment, an enemy on the other side of them can't see you at all,
however, you can't see him either. If you can't see him then you can't shoot
him and you can't report his location to teammates, either way you aren't
doing your job.
Concealment also comes from grass, bushes, and other assorted plants.
Concealment is a balancing act between risk and reward. Short grass is not
useful for concealment; it's too short and will not mask your silhouette.
Medium and tall grass can offer excellent concealment. The ghile suit of BF2
snipers seems to be made to look like grass and as such I feel deep grass is
possibly the best concealment you can find. I try to find dark green grass
that's at least as high as my avatar, if not higher. The maps between the
Chinese and the USMC are perfect for this. In battles between the MEC and the
USMC grass tends to be of a lighter complexion and less suited to good cover.
If you were to rate grass desirability on color alone I would say first dark
green, then shady dry grass, followed by light green and lastly very light
green or dry grass in direct sunlight. It's also important to note that most
patches of grass have a few little spurts of some kind of plant, it might just
be two or three stalks but positioning yourself under these can go a long way
towards breaking up your silhouette and making yourself that much more
undetectable.
Grass has two problems though, first, there has to be enough of it to cover you
effectively. The grass in BF2 is rendered by using flat grass sprites and
making a honeycomb of sprites. If I'm on the edge of a patch of tall grass I
try to leave at least two to four "layers" of grass in-between me and the
direction I expect the enemy in. Some places grass is denser and you don't
need as much to effectively break up your silhouette, other places grass is
sparse and you need more to achieve effective concealment. The second problem
comes from how the grass is rendered with the flat sprites; from the air grass
begins to look like a mess of interconnected lines as opposed to grass. Imagine
trying to hide behind a big piece of poster board. You would logically hide
behind the broad side of the poster board because it's actually big enough to
conceal a person. When a person views you from the air it's like you were
hiding behind your poster board but suddenly someone turned it a quarter turn
so they view it down the length instead of looking at its broad side, needless
to say, a sniper covered by grass is naked against a helicopter. It's also
useful to note that if you are on a hill that is steep enough you can fall
prey to the same effect that makes you visible to helicopters.
The other good types of concealment are the assorted bushes that dot BF2's
maps. These can be good or bad to hide under depending on the situation. Some
are big and leafy and rendered in 3D while others are a mess of 2D sprites
thrown together. It's my experience that the 2D bushes are much better cover
in most situations. A 3D bush can work well if it's surrounded by tall grass
but a 2D bush surrounded by medium or tall grass can be more effective. 2D
bushes tend to be more erratic and fit better with your grassy ghile suit. The
biggest advantage to being under a bush or keeping one near you is that they
are 3D objects and so they provide excellent concealment from the air and are
often enough to keep you safe from attack helicopters and Blackhawks.
Here are some tips for hiding in bushes. It can be a bad idea to sit directly
underneath the bush for two reasons. You can help break up your silhouette by
staggering the levels the enemy sees. There will be your level, the grass level
(there is grass, right?) and the level of the bush. This helps remove the
tendency of the eye to linger on things that stick out. If your bush is just a
little less of a landmark than the bush next to it then you have a better
chance for staying hidden. Secondly, everyone always shoots directly at the
bush as opposed to raking it; this means that if you aren't directly in the
bush you stand a better chance at survival. This is especially true of weapons
like the tank machine gun that have laser-like accuracy. If there is good grass
around it can be very effective to sit between two bushes that are close
together, the enemy will tend to look at the bushes when he glances your way
and hopefully won't notice you.
Trees offer useful concealment from the air, but don't rely on them to cover
you without grass around too.
Location [LOCA]
Location, location, location. It's true for snipers too. Where you position
yourself is just as vital as how much you conceal yourself. You want to
position yourself according to two factors, how noticeable your silhouette is
and where the enemy is likely to look.
The first seems easy enough but so many rookie snipers don't practice it. Some
ground rules for practicing good silhouette management.
The basic idea of silhouette is you want whatever is behind you to be roughly
the same color as you and the concealment you're in.
Never, never ever put yourself on a hilltop for any reason. Many people think
they'll be safe if they go prone on the crest of a hill and inch up high enough
so just their head and their gun poke out. Their thinking is that if I reduce
the amount of my body showing to the enemy, I will be much safer. It's easy
to come to this conclusion because every other class is better off taking cover
like this. However, you are a sniper, and you have that fancy ghile suit for a
reason. I'm sure you have heard the expression "hiding in plain sight". The
enemy is much more likely to scan horizons and the crests of hills as opposed
to the front of the hill or the ground in front of it. This, coupled by the
fact that you look like grass makes these locations much better than the crest
of a hill. The only exception to the no-crest rule is when whatever is behind
the crest is the exact same as what's in front of it. As illustrated below.
111 222 If the hill face right below the 111 is the same
______ as the hill face right below the 222 then the
/ \ spot marked by the 8 would be a very good hiding
/ \ 8 _ location. It would provide good protection while
/ \_/ \ not making you stick out.
_________________\_
In that exception when I say the same I mean the same, if the front face has
dark green grass and the back face has light green grass then it's a no-go.
The reason for that and for the whole practice of silhouette management is
because the human eye tends to gravitate to contrast. It's no secret, but not
many people think about it. You can try it too, if you happen to live in a
suburban or rural area, just glance across a field and notice where your eyes
tend to go. I'd bet good money that they are going to almost always follow the
horizon or other landmarks, perhaps a line of trees or a stream. This is why I
suggest just a grassy field as the best cover you can find.
Let's go over places that are hazardous to snipers seeking concealment:
The tops of hills, especially when the sky or the ocean is behind you.
The tops of buildings, I know that's what you see in movies but building tops
are generally bad places to hide both because of the contrast rule (you'll
almost always be viewed against the sky or another part of the building and
most buildings tall enough to be useful tend to be tan or some other not-sniper
colored color) and because that's where people expect snipers to be. People
think that snipers always prefer these high spots with big fields of fire so
they can cover more but that's a fallacy. You ought to be able to cover most
things adequately from ground level and you will never be able to cover a huge
area by yourself anyway and it's much easier to hit people with a rifle at
ground level also.
Beaches, there is usually some grass on beaches but if the ground below the
grass is the yellow it can make you stick out to someone nearby.
Right around the corners of buildings and other spots all the other classes
use for cover are bad because you are wasting that wonderful ghile suit,
there's no reason you need to hide where they do. Especially if you are in a
squad combat situation and defending a flag. Attackers are automatically going
to come in and cover corners, checking building corners, stacks of crates,
wreckage, ect. Generally the enemy expects a person to be places that protects
him from enemy fire, not out in the open. Thus, they look out in the open last.
Find a grassy place in the open. This gives you the edge you need to dispatch a
few of them. They probably won't even notice you until all your squad members
are gone and they get it in their heads there's a sniper they need to look for.
Your squad mates make much more tempting targets because they are easier to
notice and even if they do notice you most people consider a sniper at close
range to be pretty defenseless (Then you can surprise them, more on that
later.)
Lone landmarks that can be used as concealment are bad also. There is a Monty
Python skit where they demonstrate good hiding skills. The gag is they show you
shots of wide open fields with a single bush and ask you where someone could
possibly hide in this picture. Then they blow up the bush and you hear someone
scream. Well, the same idea applies to BF2, if someone is taking sniper fire
and all they see in that direction is a single bush, where do you think they're
going to look first?
Follow these tips and I promise you won't be let down. I don't know about you
but I have literally walked over an enemy sniper with good concealment. I hear
the tinny discharge of a silenced pistol and spin around to see a sniper not
five feet in front of me before he finishes me off. You may think that it can't
be that hard to see a sniper sitting in front of you but you would be
surprised,especially in levels like Kubra Dam with lots of different
elevations to watch it's hard to keep a close eye on the ground in front of
you.
Section B - How stealth is broken [HSIB]
There are a few ways people with good concealment give themselves away:
When your rifle is fired there is a muzzle flash. You might not think that this
is a huge deal but it makes it all the easier for the enemy to spot you. This
is compounded by how snipers like to hide in darker places like the shadow of a
building. The darker the location you are in the easier it is to see the
muzzle flash. If you are using the Dragunov or Type-88 and let loose a volley
of two or three bullets it's easy for an observer to pinpoint your position by
the sound and muzzle flash alone. Imagine trying to see the flame from a
cigarette lighter on a bright day as someone lights their cigarette 20 feet
away. However, think how easy it is to see even a small flame in a dark room
at that distance. I have experimented with trying to hide in lighter colored
grasses so as to make myself marginally more visible to observation but to
mask the muzzle flash against the light background, so far I haven't had much
success but give it a go yourself and tell me how it works.
When you fire your rifle there is also a loud report from the rifle. People
with any kind of decent sound system can at least get an idea from where you're
shooting while people who have a full blown surround sound system can get a
pretty good idea. With the semi-automatic rifles I try to limit myself to three
to five quick shots fired in under about two seconds. With the bolt action
rifles I make it a rule not to fire more than two shots in a row. Your enemy
will have an idea of where you are but probably not a good one. After you fire
just a few shots you should always move to a new location, especially if there
are many people in the area. You don't have to move terribly far, but I
wouldn't try more than a couple of volleys every twenty or thirty seconds.
Don't fire the first shot at people facing you. If you fire at someone's back
you are more likely to make them dive for cover or spin around wildly. Either
way they aren't going to notice you. Don't fire at a guy popping out from
behind cover looking for you, though you might kill him you'll probably give
away your position and he's probably closer to a respawn than you are and he'll
come looking for vengeance.
Don't throw grenades; first off, you shouldn't be that close, secondly their
long arcing trajectory makes it easy for anyone who sees it in the air get a
darn good idea of where you are.
Don't move an inch if you are under close observation. The human eye is made so
it notices movement. If someone is looking straight at you the smallest
movement could give you away, even while crawling.
As much fun as it is, try not to kill the same guy too many times. You'll
likely make the guy into a full time sniper hunter. Plus, snipers tend to ruin
people's games. You want to win the match but you don't necessarily want to
frustrate them into quitting or not enjoying the game. It's everyone's
responsibility to foster a fun and enjoyable gaming community.
If you find an enemy sniper unaware to your presence you should resist the urge
to knife him. As much fun as it is you should use a silenced pistol or a
grenade to do him in so as to eliminate any idea from where it came from.
Teammates have a habit of pointing you out to the enemy. Medics run up and drop
med kits and other attacking classes just tend to group together. Don't get
upset at them, but don't be afraid to tell them to bugger off. They think that
if you're sitting out there in the field there must be a good reason so they
figure they'll be safe out there too. If they do get you killed politely
explain over the chat that you enjoy a level of freedom that they don't, and to
bugger off next time.
It is possible that you just may have found a terrific sniper position, in
which case feel free to open up a little more often. There have been a few
times where for whatever reason they just couldn't pinpoint me and I pretty
much fired as often as I had a clear shot, breaking most of the tips I just
gave you. I have had times when a squad of guys with tank support and the
commander's support (he called artillery on me so I assume they had a UAV too)
and they ended up calling a Blackhawk to come out and find me.
Section C - How to use secondary weapons [HUSW]
Here we cover the weapons that aren't your sniper rifle. They are the knife,
silenced pistol, grenade, and claymore.
To begin, your knife is a useful weapon in some situations but hypothetically
you don't really want to be in those situations in the first place. The knife
does its job well as a last-ditch weapon however. In most first person shooters
the melee weapon usually takes two or more hits to kill, making it nearly
useless. However, in BF2 the knife is an instant kill so if you can land a hit
you just might save yourself. The knife can also be useful in a combat
situation where there are many people from both sides fighting, hide yourself
well and they'll probably get right next to you without noticing, then its
curtains for them. It can pay off to practice with the knife a bit, your
primary weapon isn't any good at extremely close range and the pistol will
usually run out of bullets pretty quickly in any kind of prolonged situation
so the sniper probably pulls out his knife a bit more often than other classes.
The next weapon is the silenced pistol. This weapon has a number of uses for
the sniper primarily because it's the stealthiest weapon in the game. However,
it's also got very very poor stopping power and a small small clip so it's
somewhat situational. When you can get the jump on a guy and take a second to a
im you can usually take him down purely with the pistol. I usually take most of
the clip to kill an opponent, always reload it even if you got lucky and only
need half or a fourth of the clip to take someone down.
The good news is that it's totally silent from anything but a few feet away.
You can hunker down in a nice patch of grass and pick a guy off, if you have
good aim he probably won't even realize where you are until most of his health
is gone. This can be a good tactic to use on the last guy at the back of the
squad; sometimes the rest of his mates won't even realize he's gone. The pistol
is also a good weapon to clean up with, the bolt-action rifles will demolish
most of an enemy's health no matter where you hit him so it will only be a shot
or two from a pistol to take him down, this tactic is useful in 1 on 1 sniper
battles where your opponent has a semi-automatic. It's terribly inaccurate but
I have used it to pick off people from long range after I have hit them with
the M24 or M95, just be patient with the bad aim and make sure they don't have
cover to get behind. All in all I wouldn't take it into a stand up fight with
any of the classes with body armor (assault, supply, and anti-tank). I haven't
tested it to see exactly how many shots you need on someone with body armor,
but I have noticed I succeed significantly less of the time.
The hand grenade is pretty basic. Not many applications for the sniper except
it can be useful to lob over cover in a close range sniper duel. Otherwise
reserve it's use for combat situations and use it like anyone else would.
The claymore is the last of the sniper's special weapons. Many people use it to
cover ladders up to roofs, but like we talked about earlier you want to try to
avoid being on the tops of roofs anyways. I try not to just distribute them
around flags and the capture points mainly because there is always going to be
some fool on your team who isn't paying attention and walks into the mine and
then punishes you for it. I have found a few uses for them however. First, you
can toss them in the path of a FAV you spot coming down the road. They explode
and while they don't do major damage to the vehicle you can seriously hurt the
passengers. It's also possible to set up ambushes along roads if you think your
team is competent enough not to drive into it. If you get lucky and the
claymore takes out the driver the gunners are going to take a second to figure
out what just happened which is a perfect opportunity to take them out. I have
also found use for them when I'm deep behind enemy lines. For instance, when
sniping the airfield you are inevitably going to be found out by someone. When
that happens drop one or both of your claymores generally where you were and
high tail it out of there. By the time they get to where you were you could
plausibly be pretty far away, if they trip your mine and take a dirt nap you
should have a good window to find another good position to snipe from before
they respawn and come looking. The last situation I have found it useful is
when you round a corner and get surprised by one or more enemies you can go
to pistol quickly and snap off a few shots to get them to take cover. You run
around a corner and drop a claymore or two in their direction. They realize you
were just a pathetic little sniper who can't defend himself at close range and
chase you around the corner, thus getting a faceful of death.
Section D - What snipers do aside from shooting everyone they see [WSBS]
If you are such a soul that you find the greater good of the team better than
racking up kills you can be an invaluable resource to your team in the form of
a scout.
The best scouts are strictly not aggressive; never give away your position
unless it's necessary to defend yourself. The possible exception I give to
this rule is when you see an enemy squad leader attacking one of your
positions. Take note of your force disposition and see what's attacking it,
if you think your team can beat back the offensive then I would let the guy go.
So what makes a good scout? The only way to serve your entire team is on more
linear maps. Good examples would be the Chinese maps that are laid out in a
valley. When spotting for the entire team you want a good vantage point of the
entire front, primarily you want to spot enemy armor, other snipers, and enemy
troops heading towards an undefended flag.
The other alternative is attaching yourself to a squad. The first type of squad
based spotting I have found to be useful is attaching yourself to a squad
assigned to defense. Find a nice position overlooking the flag(s) you're
defending and call out any threats. If the map is more linear you're probably
free to open up on incoming troops as the enemy snipers tend to be behind the
front. Watch out if a point has changed hands a lot of times, it gives opposing
snipers ample opportunity to get into position. A lot of the MEC maps tend to
be awfully convoluted and they make for a much more 360 degree threat
potential.
The second squad role you can play is infiltrator defense. Attach yourself to
a squad with a dedicated attack helicopter pilot or with a few guys who are
set up to run interference, sit behind the front lines and call out anyone
foolish enough to make an end-run. You can take them out if they stop within
range, but if they don't let them go and leave it up to your squad. This might
sound like a tedious job but I'm sure you've been in a position where your
team's defense crumbled after having to divert resources to meet an attack from
the rear. This position ranks up with one of the most underplayed and
underappreciated but you'll come through for your team.
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V. SVD Dragunov/Type-88 Rifle Tactics [SV88]
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The SVD Dragunov and the Type-88 rifle is mostly the same rifle. People argue
over which one is minutely better at short/medium/long range. My personal
feeling is that they pretty much perform the same. As far as I'm going to go
is that the M24 and the M95 are clearly better for the long range sniper. At
any rate, I'm going to concentrate on the characteristic that sets these two
apart from the other two rifles. They're semi-automatic. For those of you not
in the know, semi-automatic means that it chambers the round automatically as
opposed to you pulling out your powder horn and manually chambering a new
round.
It is this author's humble opinion that these rifles should not be used as
sniper weapons if the target in question is smaller than roughly an inch tall
when viewed through your sniper scope. If you can achieve good accuracy with
it at longer ranges then kudos to you, write in and tell me how you do it
without using a whole clip on one person. This means that while you aren't
going to go sit out in the middle of nowhere and rack up 800m kills all day,
you make an excellent squad support gunner.
If you insist on the traditional sniper's role of firing from an undetected
position I would give you these recommendations:
Get close enough that you can hit 9 out of 10 times.
When you are ready to fire snap off three quick rounds, if you didn't take out
the guy then don't get greedy. Bide your time for at least fifteen seconds
before firing again. This is to prevent your acquisition by the gun's report or
by an observant grunt that spins around and sees your muzzle flash. The not
firing under observation rule applies doubly now. With a long range rifle
chances are someone will have to be looking for you through a scope to see the
flash well at all but it's easy for the unaided eye to spot you from the ranges
you're operating at.
The above rule doesn't count if it's only two or three lone guys and you're
relatively sure you're not under sniper observation.
When attacking squads, take out medics first, squad leaders, then other
snipers.
If someone is running for an open vehicle (transport chopper pilots if you have
a line of sight into the cockpit, or wait for gunners to come up, also note it
won't work through glass with this rifle) wait until he gets in. Then you have
a pretty good idea of where his head's going to be, if you don't get a headshot
right off then you can probably get in another shot or two. It can also be
funny to see a guy plough over a teammate when he gets spooked in an FAV. (I
have seen people wait for these opportunities in fact, try it out if you're
sadistic enough.)
If you sight a big squad coming down the road, lay an ambush and mop up the
lucky folks that didn't hit by your claymores. I find the best mine placement
is one on the road that's sure to go off, then one near cover or trees the
squad is likely to jump behind. If it's a squad with FAV backup, two claymores
are enough to kill most if not everyone in the vehicle, try placing them on
either side of the road looking in so they go off at the same time (don't blow
yourself up).
Anyways, if you want to be adventurous and slough off that sniper role I
recommend close squad support. You do great in the role of close range combat
because you can get off three quick shots in the time it takes full auto to
fire 4-6 bullets or one burst from an M16. However, your three shots can easily
all hit, where theirs usually don't or at least won't kill in three shots.
From close range it's easy to get headshots too. It's not hard to become
proficient to that level from close range. If you aim at lower to mid-torsos
the second shot should land on the upper torso from the recoil. If you don't
think the third would land then wait a split-second before loosing your third
round.
The first thing you want to do is find a squad that's working together. Snipers
don’t' do well in partial squads or squads that kind of come together when the
leader calls for an attack, it should be a close squad that travels together
and fights alongside each other.
It should be noted that the no-rooftops rule is still a good idea here, but can
be broken, mainly because the best spots for close squad support snipers are
the MEC cities/towns with lots of corners and the best fire position may not be
street level with the squad.
It's interesting to note that the SVD Dragunov was not actually designed for
the long range sniper application. It was created to add significant long range
fire potential for the standard infantry squad. Since it and the Type-88
behave nearly the same in BF2 they both work perfectly as infantry support.
There are a few situations that you'll find yourself in; attacking down a
street, attacking around a corner, attacking over open terrain, defending
down a street, defending around a corner, and defending over open terrain.
When attacking down a street you should typically be to the rear of the
formation because your gun will be marginally less effective where an a
non-sniper usually has to use iron sights and is probably more effective the
closer they are due to features like full auto. At any rate, the only class
without body armor that might want to hang back would be anti-tank, but a lot
of them have the DAO-12 shotgun so many anti-tank want to be right up there in
the thick of it. You should try to take a position in any concealment you can
find no matter how little it can be; in the heat of a firefight just a little
might be all you need. You don't have any useful abilities in this situation
so the best idea is to try and take out people who are prone first, anyone
who is standing or crouching are much easier targets for your squad mates. If
you are behind enemy lines and vulnerable to attack from the rear or flanks
you may consider laying a claymore mine to cover your tracks. Even if more
than one man may be moving to intercept you stand a good chance of rattling
them and forcing them to slow down as they check for mines. If you have a
second sniper in the squad nothing freaks out a squad more than running into
three claymore mines. You have a good chance of taking out the squad leader if
you remove three guys in a squad and nothing freaks them out more, seeing as
everyone only expects to see two.
If you are attacking around a corner you should pretty much act like you would
if you were attacking down a street. Try activating your scope and crouching or
crawling around the corner and taking them down as they come into view. At any
rate, don't go around the corner unless your teammates are already engaged. I
think the sniper kind of sticks out when he's standing up as an easy target.
Alternatively, if the corner has thick grass growing around it you can
volunteer to crawl around the corner and scope out the situation. If there are
many people, tell your squad mates to rush and open fire, if just a few guys
you can open up on them yourself and your squad mates can follow up.
If you are attacking across open terrain you are probably your squad's most
valuable asset. Especially if you are engaging at medium range you should be
able to take out a few enemies at least. With all your squad mate’s rapid
firing you should be able to dodge most of the heat thrown at you, leaving you
free to make good shots. Find a patch of grass if you can, go prone and open
up. This kind of assault is dangerous though, so be aware if your squaddies
start to rout.
Defending in either of those situations is the same as attacking except for
one difference. If you are falling back as you go feel free to drop a mine or
two to break up the enemy advance. Just be sure to notify your squad if the
battle turns and you run back towards unexploded mines. You might even martyr
yourself on one so your squad doesn't have to circumvent them. It's important
to note that defending over open terrain makes it easy to spot the squad
leader. If there is one, take him out.
It's important not to underestimate these rifles at point blank range. If the
man in your scope takes up your entire scope you should just center him and
let off three as fast as you can. One time I engaged eight enemy soldiers
successfully (one squad, two respawns) with a little bit of cover for myself
because they came around a corner in file and they were so close to me I took
three down easy, ducked, reloaded, took the next three down, reloaded and
finished them off.
You can also use either of these rifles at point blank from the hip. If you get
jumped but your clip is full it's very possible you can get a guy just by
firing all ten of your rounds as fast as you can. If you are literally right
next to the guy then it's probably more effective than your pistol. (Of course,
you have ten fewer headshots you can make, but oh well)
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VI. M24 Rifle Tactics [M24T]
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The M24 is the exact opposite of the first to rifles I covered. The M24 is
bolt-action and the clip holds six rounds. Two rounds are enough to kill people
usually and are accurate at most any range.
I know I said I wouldn't tell you how to aim, but I'll add a few things here.
First, you need to lead a moving target, I don't know if BF2 has travel time or
not, but you surely need to lead it a bit for lag. I don't think there is any
bullet drop, but there might be. It's one of those things I'm not sure about
yet. It's near impossible to hit vehicle drivers unless they are moving
straight to or away from you.
If you want to be really adventurous you can try to do close squad support, but
I wouldn't suggest it. The only things you have in really close range are your
pistol and your claymores, both of which aren't great barring certain
situations. I would recommend shooting people who are being shot at by your
teammates; your bullets will nearly kill a man without body armor so if your
teammates soften a soldier up just a bit you can take him down easy. If you do
shoot a guy and he doesn't die I would suggest just leaving him for your
teammates to finish off, a stray bullet could probably take him down. If you do
want to take the same guy out, it's probably just as fast to pull out your
pistol as it is to chamber a new round. With the pistol you have a second shot
ready if you miss the first time.
Seriously, the most use I have had in a squad with this gun was my grenades and
claymores.
Anyways, this gun is the best long range killing weapon short of an artillery
strike.
I find the best way to use this is to find a nice shady area and just run your
bullets dry. Try to find a hotspot so you don't have to move around a lot to
find targets. If you can, set yourself up so you have good shots down bridges
or the like, in addition to being a lethal kill zone you have nice shots at FAV
drivers, works the same for rivers and boat drivers.
In fact, this is the perfect weapon for attacking or defending across some kind
of natural barrier like a chasm or a river. Be sure to take their snipers out
first, followed by medics (unless the medics are helping the snipers). Squad
leaders are always a priority, you know this stuff already.
I do have to say this is my favorite weapon for sniping an airfield. Although I
have found that while doing so this sniper is prone to artillery strikes as
he's a bit more prone to staying still and lining up shots, and is less mobile
than his semi-automatic counterparts.
There's not a whole lot about using this gun I can tell you past staying
hidden, which we already covered in detail.
Suggestions for this section are more than welcome.
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VII. M95 Rifle Tactics [M95T]
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
The M95 is the unlockable rifle. It is also a bolt action rifle. Purportedly it
does the same amount of damage as the M24 except it works better against
enemies with body armor and it also goes through windshields on the strong
FAVs, helicopters, and aircraft; the latter is true, while the thing about body
armor may or may not be.
It would be great if they scaled this gun up to what it's like in real life,
pretty much anything would be a one hit kill with this gun, in reality this has
the capability of shooting through an engine block, so some measly wad of flesh
and bone wouldn't be much of a challenge.
There is debate about which of the M24 and M95 is better at medium or long
range, personally I think they are again the same gun, with the M95 gussied up
a bit. I don't have the gun unlocked though, so I only have some experiences
with it after I nabbed it off some guy's corpse.
I use this gun the same as the M24, except I'm more prone to waiting around
spawn points on maps with lots of transport choppers. The helicopters come in
and just hover in mid-air for a few seconds... a perfect opportunity for a
shot. I haven't actually shot down a helicopter yet because once the pilot
realizes what's happening he usually pivots like mad and runs away. I have
had a couple of guys fly into trees before, which was pretty entertaining.
Otherwise, I can't offer any advice, again, contributions welcome.
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VIII. Tag Team Sniping [TTSN]
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What's more fun than one sniper? You guessed it! Two snipers!
Seriously, I have had great fun sniping with people who have I have cooperated
with. It yields great results and many kills for the both of you.
The most rudimentary form of tag team sniping is two snipers, set up to
overlook the same positions (don't get too close to each other though),
cooperating and shooting the same person. Easy huh? Over the voice comm it goes
exactly like, "Okay, let's get the guy on the right."
"Okay"
"Three, two, one, shoot."
This is especially useful with the M24 as it's then an instant kill; it still
works fine with the Dragunov and the Type-88. Those have the added ability that
each sniper fires twice so if one of them misses once, it's not a problem.
There are many more advanced things you can try. Suppose you have two guys
waiting for a plane, try to take both of them down at once and really screw
with them. If you coordinate each shot so you fire at the same time it royally
confuses the targets by masking where the sound. I'm not sure what it sounds
like from the victim's perspective, but I imagine the sounds blend together
and give the target a false idea of where the shot is coming from.
Another simple variation is to have one sniper aiming into an aircraft hangar.
The second sniper shoots and flushes him into supposed safety, only to get cut
down moments later. This eliminates the need to get down on ground level to
shoot underneath the hangar at people's feet.
It's also easy to set up ambushes, particularly if you have the semi-auto
rifles, just set up claymores and just open up when they trip them, sounds
simple enough but you make much quicker work of your targets.
Other variations that have been successful are a sniper watching another
sniper. The rear sniper is preferably behind friendly lines, and watches the
other sniper for threats. If someone makes a move on the exposed forward sniper
the rear one gives him a nasty surprise.
Another one, but a bit more boring, is one sniper spots targets and doesn't
fire at all. When the other sniper is rooted out and killed the second one
starts shooting. When the first sniper gets back he spots for the second sniper
until the second sniper dies, repeat. This way you can keep the enemy under
constant sniper fire. It has a terrible effect on morale and can even keep
people from spawning at certain points.
I have yet to try this one, but I imagine two snipers with M95s could instantly
take out a pilot. You could camp the airfield and just shoot whoever jumps into
a plane or helicopter, effectively grounding their force for as long as you
were operating. The only problem I could see with this one is if the damage
through the windshield isn't as much as it is normally.
Experiment and send your successful tactics in.
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IX. Snipers as Squad Leader [SSLE]
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I have found snipers can make effective squad leaders by supporting their
assault troops and staying out of the way. They serve as an effective mobile
spawn point while still providing fire but staying a distance away from the
bulk of the fighting.
Being removed from the immediate battle makes sniper squad leaders able to
request good artillery strikes.
Just be careful your spawning squad mates don't give away your position.
Otherwise, follow the tactics according to your rifle.
Admin Edit: You seem to have forgotton a few sections...Here, allow me.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
X. What's New [WHNE]
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
This section will have copies of all the information added after v1.0 so if
you come back after a version update you can find anything new here as opposed
to having to look for it in document proper.
*******************************************************************************
XI. Contact Information [CTIN]
*******************************************************************************
Feel free to contact me with suggestions, constructive criticism, and
questions (if I have time).
If you mail me a suggestion or other information I would include in future
versions please specify if you want me to cite you with your name (what name),
email address, or both. (Or something else if you prefer)
My email is [email protected]; I don't check it terribly often, but maybe once
a week if I get around to it.
*******************************************************************************
Thanks for reading!
Copyright 2005 David Ferry
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
This is my first guide ever, so please send me any constructive criticism you
have.
This guide is intended to provide some concepts and tactics for the sniper
class.
Firstly, I'm not going to tell you how to aim the sniper rifle. I don't know
any specifics and anything I could tell wouldn't be very useful compared to
game experience. My current accuracy with the sniper rifle is about 35% so
I'm probably not a good source anyway. Also, you will not find any map-specific
tips. I'm not going through every map and cataloging where I have had success
for two reasons:
1) That kind of advice in nearly useless in an online game with dynamic
battlefields and thinking opponents, least of all for snipers.
2) It would take forever.
Stick with me and you'll learn evasion techniques, how to use all your weapons
effectively, and how to be effective by yourself and working with a team.
This guide has been provided to www.gamefaqs.com
Other sites are welcome to
host it but I ask you send me an e-mail beforehand and properly credit the
author. I reserve the right to ask any site to remove this guide for any
reason.
All of my information comes from my experience in the game along with some
things my brother has tipped me off to. Additionally, a few things have been
taken from chat during games; sorry I can't credit the individuals who gave
those to me but consider the BF2 player base to have taken part in this
endeavor too (both as mentors and as victims). A few minor tidbits have come
from the BF2 in game documentation in BFHQ.
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
II. Introduction [INTR]
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
This guide is divided according to basic general info, general tactics, and
then by main weapon type. Snipers with a Type-88 or a SVD Dragunov will
operate differently than a sniper with a M24 who will behave differently than
a sniper with a M95.
???????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????
III. General Information [GENI]
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I'm sure 99% of the readers could skip right over this section if you have even
just tried the sniper class, feel free to do so.
To start with, snipers spawn with one of four rifles. USMC snipers start with
the M24, a bolt operated sniper rifle. MEC snipers start with the SVD Dragunov,
a semi-automatic rifle. Chinese snipers start with the Type-88, another
semi-automatic rifle. The unlockable rifle is the M95 Barret, a bolt action
rifle.
The sniper also spawns with a knife, a silenced pistol, hand grenades, and
claymore mines.
Finally, the sniper spawns with a ghile suit, a body covering designed to
break up your outline and give the prone sniper the appearance of the local
flora. The ghile suit is always on by default.
The sniper doesn't have any body armor, this means you will take more damage
from small arms fire but you will have increased sprint duration. This isn't
as bad as it sounds, the medic, engineer, and special ops also don't have body
armor.
Snipers die from two shots from the M24 or M95 and from three shots of the
Type-88 and Dragunov. As always, a headshot is instant death.
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
Iv. General Tactics [GENT]
Section A - How to remain undetected [HTRU]
Appearance [APPA]
Concealment [COCM]
Location [LOCA]
Section B - How stealth is Broken [HSIB]
Section c - How to use secondary weapons [HUSW]
Section D - What snipers do besides shooting everyone they see [WSBS]
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
Don't let the name fool you; this section is more important than the
rifle-specific tactics. Here we go over stealth tactics along with some odds
and ends.
Section A - How to remain undetected [HTRU]
The ability to remain undetected is the sniper's most valuable asset. A sniper
achieves invisibility by keeping aware of the land around him. A sniper has
more roles than just shooting people from far away, he can recon effectively
and capture flags, but all require that he remains hidden. The three factors
in achieving stealth are appearance, concealment, and location.
Appearance [APPA]
Your options for changing your appearance are limited. In BF2 you always have a
ghile suit on with your face painted, the most you can do to change your
appearance is to change what weapon is in your hand. Sometimes when under
close scrutiny I feel more secure switching to my pistol to reduce the
silhouette of my weapon, but I don't know if it honestly makes that much
difference.
Concealment [COCM]
The second way to remain unseen is by keeping track of your concealment.
Concealment isn't a cut and dry answer; you will want to vary how much you
conceal yourself depending on the situation. The basic element of concealment
is breaking up your silhouette; in layman's terms, you use your surroundings
to try and make yourself look like anything BUT a sniper.
Concealment comes in a few forms, trees, buildings, walls, and earth offer
total concealment, an enemy on the other side of them can't see you at all,
however, you can't see him either. If you can't see him then you can't shoot
him and you can't report his location to teammates, either way you aren't
doing your job.
Concealment also comes from grass, bushes, and other assorted plants.
Concealment is a balancing act between risk and reward. Short grass is not
useful for concealment; it's too short and will not mask your silhouette.
Medium and tall grass can offer excellent concealment. The ghile suit of BF2
snipers seems to be made to look like grass and as such I feel deep grass is
possibly the best concealment you can find. I try to find dark green grass
that's at least as high as my avatar, if not higher. The maps between the
Chinese and the USMC are perfect for this. In battles between the MEC and the
USMC grass tends to be of a lighter complexion and less suited to good cover.
If you were to rate grass desirability on color alone I would say first dark
green, then shady dry grass, followed by light green and lastly very light
green or dry grass in direct sunlight. It's also important to note that most
patches of grass have a few little spurts of some kind of plant, it might just
be two or three stalks but positioning yourself under these can go a long way
towards breaking up your silhouette and making yourself that much more
undetectable.
Grass has two problems though, first, there has to be enough of it to cover you
effectively. The grass in BF2 is rendered by using flat grass sprites and
making a honeycomb of sprites. If I'm on the edge of a patch of tall grass I
try to leave at least two to four "layers" of grass in-between me and the
direction I expect the enemy in. Some places grass is denser and you don't
need as much to effectively break up your silhouette, other places grass is
sparse and you need more to achieve effective concealment. The second problem
comes from how the grass is rendered with the flat sprites; from the air grass
begins to look like a mess of interconnected lines as opposed to grass. Imagine
trying to hide behind a big piece of poster board. You would logically hide
behind the broad side of the poster board because it's actually big enough to
conceal a person. When a person views you from the air it's like you were
hiding behind your poster board but suddenly someone turned it a quarter turn
so they view it down the length instead of looking at its broad side, needless
to say, a sniper covered by grass is naked against a helicopter. It's also
useful to note that if you are on a hill that is steep enough you can fall
prey to the same effect that makes you visible to helicopters.
The other good types of concealment are the assorted bushes that dot BF2's
maps. These can be good or bad to hide under depending on the situation. Some
are big and leafy and rendered in 3D while others are a mess of 2D sprites
thrown together. It's my experience that the 2D bushes are much better cover
in most situations. A 3D bush can work well if it's surrounded by tall grass
but a 2D bush surrounded by medium or tall grass can be more effective. 2D
bushes tend to be more erratic and fit better with your grassy ghile suit. The
biggest advantage to being under a bush or keeping one near you is that they
are 3D objects and so they provide excellent concealment from the air and are
often enough to keep you safe from attack helicopters and Blackhawks.
Here are some tips for hiding in bushes. It can be a bad idea to sit directly
underneath the bush for two reasons. You can help break up your silhouette by
staggering the levels the enemy sees. There will be your level, the grass level
(there is grass, right?) and the level of the bush. This helps remove the
tendency of the eye to linger on things that stick out. If your bush is just a
little less of a landmark than the bush next to it then you have a better
chance for staying hidden. Secondly, everyone always shoots directly at the
bush as opposed to raking it; this means that if you aren't directly in the
bush you stand a better chance at survival. This is especially true of weapons
like the tank machine gun that have laser-like accuracy. If there is good grass
around it can be very effective to sit between two bushes that are close
together, the enemy will tend to look at the bushes when he glances your way
and hopefully won't notice you.
Trees offer useful concealment from the air, but don't rely on them to cover
you without grass around too.
Location [LOCA]
Location, location, location. It's true for snipers too. Where you position
yourself is just as vital as how much you conceal yourself. You want to
position yourself according to two factors, how noticeable your silhouette is
and where the enemy is likely to look.
The first seems easy enough but so many rookie snipers don't practice it. Some
ground rules for practicing good silhouette management.
The basic idea of silhouette is you want whatever is behind you to be roughly
the same color as you and the concealment you're in.
Never, never ever put yourself on a hilltop for any reason. Many people think
they'll be safe if they go prone on the crest of a hill and inch up high enough
so just their head and their gun poke out. Their thinking is that if I reduce
the amount of my body showing to the enemy, I will be much safer. It's easy
to come to this conclusion because every other class is better off taking cover
like this. However, you are a sniper, and you have that fancy ghile suit for a
reason. I'm sure you have heard the expression "hiding in plain sight". The
enemy is much more likely to scan horizons and the crests of hills as opposed
to the front of the hill or the ground in front of it. This, coupled by the
fact that you look like grass makes these locations much better than the crest
of a hill. The only exception to the no-crest rule is when whatever is behind
the crest is the exact same as what's in front of it. As illustrated below.
111 222 If the hill face right below the 111 is the same
______ as the hill face right below the 222 then the
/ \ spot marked by the 8 would be a very good hiding
/ \ 8 _ location. It would provide good protection while
/ \_/ \ not making you stick out.
_________________\_
In that exception when I say the same I mean the same, if the front face has
dark green grass and the back face has light green grass then it's a no-go.
The reason for that and for the whole practice of silhouette management is
because the human eye tends to gravitate to contrast. It's no secret, but not
many people think about it. You can try it too, if you happen to live in a
suburban or rural area, just glance across a field and notice where your eyes
tend to go. I'd bet good money that they are going to almost always follow the
horizon or other landmarks, perhaps a line of trees or a stream. This is why I
suggest just a grassy field as the best cover you can find.
Let's go over places that are hazardous to snipers seeking concealment:
The tops of hills, especially when the sky or the ocean is behind you.
The tops of buildings, I know that's what you see in movies but building tops
are generally bad places to hide both because of the contrast rule (you'll
almost always be viewed against the sky or another part of the building and
most buildings tall enough to be useful tend to be tan or some other not-sniper
colored color) and because that's where people expect snipers to be. People
think that snipers always prefer these high spots with big fields of fire so
they can cover more but that's a fallacy. You ought to be able to cover most
things adequately from ground level and you will never be able to cover a huge
area by yourself anyway and it's much easier to hit people with a rifle at
ground level also.
Beaches, there is usually some grass on beaches but if the ground below the
grass is the yellow it can make you stick out to someone nearby.
Right around the corners of buildings and other spots all the other classes
use for cover are bad because you are wasting that wonderful ghile suit,
there's no reason you need to hide where they do. Especially if you are in a
squad combat situation and defending a flag. Attackers are automatically going
to come in and cover corners, checking building corners, stacks of crates,
wreckage, ect. Generally the enemy expects a person to be places that protects
him from enemy fire, not out in the open. Thus, they look out in the open last.
Find a grassy place in the open. This gives you the edge you need to dispatch a
few of them. They probably won't even notice you until all your squad members
are gone and they get it in their heads there's a sniper they need to look for.
Your squad mates make much more tempting targets because they are easier to
notice and even if they do notice you most people consider a sniper at close
range to be pretty defenseless (Then you can surprise them, more on that
later.)
Lone landmarks that can be used as concealment are bad also. There is a Monty
Python skit where they demonstrate good hiding skills. The gag is they show you
shots of wide open fields with a single bush and ask you where someone could
possibly hide in this picture. Then they blow up the bush and you hear someone
scream. Well, the same idea applies to BF2, if someone is taking sniper fire
and all they see in that direction is a single bush, where do you think they're
going to look first?
Follow these tips and I promise you won't be let down. I don't know about you
but I have literally walked over an enemy sniper with good concealment. I hear
the tinny discharge of a silenced pistol and spin around to see a sniper not
five feet in front of me before he finishes me off. You may think that it can't
be that hard to see a sniper sitting in front of you but you would be
surprised,especially in levels like Kubra Dam with lots of different
elevations to watch it's hard to keep a close eye on the ground in front of
you.
Section B - How stealth is broken [HSIB]
There are a few ways people with good concealment give themselves away:
When your rifle is fired there is a muzzle flash. You might not think that this
is a huge deal but it makes it all the easier for the enemy to spot you. This
is compounded by how snipers like to hide in darker places like the shadow of a
building. The darker the location you are in the easier it is to see the
muzzle flash. If you are using the Dragunov or Type-88 and let loose a volley
of two or three bullets it's easy for an observer to pinpoint your position by
the sound and muzzle flash alone. Imagine trying to see the flame from a
cigarette lighter on a bright day as someone lights their cigarette 20 feet
away. However, think how easy it is to see even a small flame in a dark room
at that distance. I have experimented with trying to hide in lighter colored
grasses so as to make myself marginally more visible to observation but to
mask the muzzle flash against the light background, so far I haven't had much
success but give it a go yourself and tell me how it works.
When you fire your rifle there is also a loud report from the rifle. People
with any kind of decent sound system can at least get an idea from where you're
shooting while people who have a full blown surround sound system can get a
pretty good idea. With the semi-automatic rifles I try to limit myself to three
to five quick shots fired in under about two seconds. With the bolt action
rifles I make it a rule not to fire more than two shots in a row. Your enemy
will have an idea of where you are but probably not a good one. After you fire
just a few shots you should always move to a new location, especially if there
are many people in the area. You don't have to move terribly far, but I
wouldn't try more than a couple of volleys every twenty or thirty seconds.
Don't fire the first shot at people facing you. If you fire at someone's back
you are more likely to make them dive for cover or spin around wildly. Either
way they aren't going to notice you. Don't fire at a guy popping out from
behind cover looking for you, though you might kill him you'll probably give
away your position and he's probably closer to a respawn than you are and he'll
come looking for vengeance.
Don't throw grenades; first off, you shouldn't be that close, secondly their
long arcing trajectory makes it easy for anyone who sees it in the air get a
darn good idea of where you are.
Don't move an inch if you are under close observation. The human eye is made so
it notices movement. If someone is looking straight at you the smallest
movement could give you away, even while crawling.
As much fun as it is, try not to kill the same guy too many times. You'll
likely make the guy into a full time sniper hunter. Plus, snipers tend to ruin
people's games. You want to win the match but you don't necessarily want to
frustrate them into quitting or not enjoying the game. It's everyone's
responsibility to foster a fun and enjoyable gaming community.
If you find an enemy sniper unaware to your presence you should resist the urge
to knife him. As much fun as it is you should use a silenced pistol or a
grenade to do him in so as to eliminate any idea from where it came from.
Teammates have a habit of pointing you out to the enemy. Medics run up and drop
med kits and other attacking classes just tend to group together. Don't get
upset at them, but don't be afraid to tell them to bugger off. They think that
if you're sitting out there in the field there must be a good reason so they
figure they'll be safe out there too. If they do get you killed politely
explain over the chat that you enjoy a level of freedom that they don't, and to
bugger off next time.
It is possible that you just may have found a terrific sniper position, in
which case feel free to open up a little more often. There have been a few
times where for whatever reason they just couldn't pinpoint me and I pretty
much fired as often as I had a clear shot, breaking most of the tips I just
gave you. I have had times when a squad of guys with tank support and the
commander's support (he called artillery on me so I assume they had a UAV too)
and they ended up calling a Blackhawk to come out and find me.
Section C - How to use secondary weapons [HUSW]
Here we cover the weapons that aren't your sniper rifle. They are the knife,
silenced pistol, grenade, and claymore.
To begin, your knife is a useful weapon in some situations but hypothetically
you don't really want to be in those situations in the first place. The knife
does its job well as a last-ditch weapon however. In most first person shooters
the melee weapon usually takes two or more hits to kill, making it nearly
useless. However, in BF2 the knife is an instant kill so if you can land a hit
you just might save yourself. The knife can also be useful in a combat
situation where there are many people from both sides fighting, hide yourself
well and they'll probably get right next to you without noticing, then its
curtains for them. It can pay off to practice with the knife a bit, your
primary weapon isn't any good at extremely close range and the pistol will
usually run out of bullets pretty quickly in any kind of prolonged situation
so the sniper probably pulls out his knife a bit more often than other classes.
The next weapon is the silenced pistol. This weapon has a number of uses for
the sniper primarily because it's the stealthiest weapon in the game. However,
it's also got very very poor stopping power and a small small clip so it's
somewhat situational. When you can get the jump on a guy and take a second to a
im you can usually take him down purely with the pistol. I usually take most of
the clip to kill an opponent, always reload it even if you got lucky and only
need half or a fourth of the clip to take someone down.
The good news is that it's totally silent from anything but a few feet away.
You can hunker down in a nice patch of grass and pick a guy off, if you have
good aim he probably won't even realize where you are until most of his health
is gone. This can be a good tactic to use on the last guy at the back of the
squad; sometimes the rest of his mates won't even realize he's gone. The pistol
is also a good weapon to clean up with, the bolt-action rifles will demolish
most of an enemy's health no matter where you hit him so it will only be a shot
or two from a pistol to take him down, this tactic is useful in 1 on 1 sniper
battles where your opponent has a semi-automatic. It's terribly inaccurate but
I have used it to pick off people from long range after I have hit them with
the M24 or M95, just be patient with the bad aim and make sure they don't have
cover to get behind. All in all I wouldn't take it into a stand up fight with
any of the classes with body armor (assault, supply, and anti-tank). I haven't
tested it to see exactly how many shots you need on someone with body armor,
but I have noticed I succeed significantly less of the time.
The hand grenade is pretty basic. Not many applications for the sniper except
it can be useful to lob over cover in a close range sniper duel. Otherwise
reserve it's use for combat situations and use it like anyone else would.
The claymore is the last of the sniper's special weapons. Many people use it to
cover ladders up to roofs, but like we talked about earlier you want to try to
avoid being on the tops of roofs anyways. I try not to just distribute them
around flags and the capture points mainly because there is always going to be
some fool on your team who isn't paying attention and walks into the mine and
then punishes you for it. I have found a few uses for them however. First, you
can toss them in the path of a FAV you spot coming down the road. They explode
and while they don't do major damage to the vehicle you can seriously hurt the
passengers. It's also possible to set up ambushes along roads if you think your
team is competent enough not to drive into it. If you get lucky and the
claymore takes out the driver the gunners are going to take a second to figure
out what just happened which is a perfect opportunity to take them out. I have
also found use for them when I'm deep behind enemy lines. For instance, when
sniping the airfield you are inevitably going to be found out by someone. When
that happens drop one or both of your claymores generally where you were and
high tail it out of there. By the time they get to where you were you could
plausibly be pretty far away, if they trip your mine and take a dirt nap you
should have a good window to find another good position to snipe from before
they respawn and come looking. The last situation I have found it useful is
when you round a corner and get surprised by one or more enemies you can go
to pistol quickly and snap off a few shots to get them to take cover. You run
around a corner and drop a claymore or two in their direction. They realize you
were just a pathetic little sniper who can't defend himself at close range and
chase you around the corner, thus getting a faceful of death.
Section D - What snipers do aside from shooting everyone they see [WSBS]
If you are such a soul that you find the greater good of the team better than
racking up kills you can be an invaluable resource to your team in the form of
a scout.
The best scouts are strictly not aggressive; never give away your position
unless it's necessary to defend yourself. The possible exception I give to
this rule is when you see an enemy squad leader attacking one of your
positions. Take note of your force disposition and see what's attacking it,
if you think your team can beat back the offensive then I would let the guy go.
So what makes a good scout? The only way to serve your entire team is on more
linear maps. Good examples would be the Chinese maps that are laid out in a
valley. When spotting for the entire team you want a good vantage point of the
entire front, primarily you want to spot enemy armor, other snipers, and enemy
troops heading towards an undefended flag.
The other alternative is attaching yourself to a squad. The first type of squad
based spotting I have found to be useful is attaching yourself to a squad
assigned to defense. Find a nice position overlooking the flag(s) you're
defending and call out any threats. If the map is more linear you're probably
free to open up on incoming troops as the enemy snipers tend to be behind the
front. Watch out if a point has changed hands a lot of times, it gives opposing
snipers ample opportunity to get into position. A lot of the MEC maps tend to
be awfully convoluted and they make for a much more 360 degree threat
potential.
The second squad role you can play is infiltrator defense. Attach yourself to
a squad with a dedicated attack helicopter pilot or with a few guys who are
set up to run interference, sit behind the front lines and call out anyone
foolish enough to make an end-run. You can take them out if they stop within
range, but if they don't let them go and leave it up to your squad. This might
sound like a tedious job but I'm sure you've been in a position where your
team's defense crumbled after having to divert resources to meet an attack from
the rear. This position ranks up with one of the most underplayed and
underappreciated but you'll come through for your team.
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V. SVD Dragunov/Type-88 Rifle Tactics [SV88]
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The SVD Dragunov and the Type-88 rifle is mostly the same rifle. People argue
over which one is minutely better at short/medium/long range. My personal
feeling is that they pretty much perform the same. As far as I'm going to go
is that the M24 and the M95 are clearly better for the long range sniper. At
any rate, I'm going to concentrate on the characteristic that sets these two
apart from the other two rifles. They're semi-automatic. For those of you not
in the know, semi-automatic means that it chambers the round automatically as
opposed to you pulling out your powder horn and manually chambering a new
round.
It is this author's humble opinion that these rifles should not be used as
sniper weapons if the target in question is smaller than roughly an inch tall
when viewed through your sniper scope. If you can achieve good accuracy with
it at longer ranges then kudos to you, write in and tell me how you do it
without using a whole clip on one person. This means that while you aren't
going to go sit out in the middle of nowhere and rack up 800m kills all day,
you make an excellent squad support gunner.
If you insist on the traditional sniper's role of firing from an undetected
position I would give you these recommendations:
Get close enough that you can hit 9 out of 10 times.
When you are ready to fire snap off three quick rounds, if you didn't take out
the guy then don't get greedy. Bide your time for at least fifteen seconds
before firing again. This is to prevent your acquisition by the gun's report or
by an observant grunt that spins around and sees your muzzle flash. The not
firing under observation rule applies doubly now. With a long range rifle
chances are someone will have to be looking for you through a scope to see the
flash well at all but it's easy for the unaided eye to spot you from the ranges
you're operating at.
The above rule doesn't count if it's only two or three lone guys and you're
relatively sure you're not under sniper observation.
When attacking squads, take out medics first, squad leaders, then other
snipers.
If someone is running for an open vehicle (transport chopper pilots if you have
a line of sight into the cockpit, or wait for gunners to come up, also note it
won't work through glass with this rifle) wait until he gets in. Then you have
a pretty good idea of where his head's going to be, if you don't get a headshot
right off then you can probably get in another shot or two. It can also be
funny to see a guy plough over a teammate when he gets spooked in an FAV. (I
have seen people wait for these opportunities in fact, try it out if you're
sadistic enough.)
If you sight a big squad coming down the road, lay an ambush and mop up the
lucky folks that didn't hit by your claymores. I find the best mine placement
is one on the road that's sure to go off, then one near cover or trees the
squad is likely to jump behind. If it's a squad with FAV backup, two claymores
are enough to kill most if not everyone in the vehicle, try placing them on
either side of the road looking in so they go off at the same time (don't blow
yourself up).
Anyways, if you want to be adventurous and slough off that sniper role I
recommend close squad support. You do great in the role of close range combat
because you can get off three quick shots in the time it takes full auto to
fire 4-6 bullets or one burst from an M16. However, your three shots can easily
all hit, where theirs usually don't or at least won't kill in three shots.
From close range it's easy to get headshots too. It's not hard to become
proficient to that level from close range. If you aim at lower to mid-torsos
the second shot should land on the upper torso from the recoil. If you don't
think the third would land then wait a split-second before loosing your third
round.
The first thing you want to do is find a squad that's working together. Snipers
don’t' do well in partial squads or squads that kind of come together when the
leader calls for an attack, it should be a close squad that travels together
and fights alongside each other.
It should be noted that the no-rooftops rule is still a good idea here, but can
be broken, mainly because the best spots for close squad support snipers are
the MEC cities/towns with lots of corners and the best fire position may not be
street level with the squad.
It's interesting to note that the SVD Dragunov was not actually designed for
the long range sniper application. It was created to add significant long range
fire potential for the standard infantry squad. Since it and the Type-88
behave nearly the same in BF2 they both work perfectly as infantry support.
There are a few situations that you'll find yourself in; attacking down a
street, attacking around a corner, attacking over open terrain, defending
down a street, defending around a corner, and defending over open terrain.
When attacking down a street you should typically be to the rear of the
formation because your gun will be marginally less effective where an a
non-sniper usually has to use iron sights and is probably more effective the
closer they are due to features like full auto. At any rate, the only class
without body armor that might want to hang back would be anti-tank, but a lot
of them have the DAO-12 shotgun so many anti-tank want to be right up there in
the thick of it. You should try to take a position in any concealment you can
find no matter how little it can be; in the heat of a firefight just a little
might be all you need. You don't have any useful abilities in this situation
so the best idea is to try and take out people who are prone first, anyone
who is standing or crouching are much easier targets for your squad mates. If
you are behind enemy lines and vulnerable to attack from the rear or flanks
you may consider laying a claymore mine to cover your tracks. Even if more
than one man may be moving to intercept you stand a good chance of rattling
them and forcing them to slow down as they check for mines. If you have a
second sniper in the squad nothing freaks out a squad more than running into
three claymore mines. You have a good chance of taking out the squad leader if
you remove three guys in a squad and nothing freaks them out more, seeing as
everyone only expects to see two.
If you are attacking around a corner you should pretty much act like you would
if you were attacking down a street. Try activating your scope and crouching or
crawling around the corner and taking them down as they come into view. At any
rate, don't go around the corner unless your teammates are already engaged. I
think the sniper kind of sticks out when he's standing up as an easy target.
Alternatively, if the corner has thick grass growing around it you can
volunteer to crawl around the corner and scope out the situation. If there are
many people, tell your squad mates to rush and open fire, if just a few guys
you can open up on them yourself and your squad mates can follow up.
If you are attacking across open terrain you are probably your squad's most
valuable asset. Especially if you are engaging at medium range you should be
able to take out a few enemies at least. With all your squad mate’s rapid
firing you should be able to dodge most of the heat thrown at you, leaving you
free to make good shots. Find a patch of grass if you can, go prone and open
up. This kind of assault is dangerous though, so be aware if your squaddies
start to rout.
Defending in either of those situations is the same as attacking except for
one difference. If you are falling back as you go feel free to drop a mine or
two to break up the enemy advance. Just be sure to notify your squad if the
battle turns and you run back towards unexploded mines. You might even martyr
yourself on one so your squad doesn't have to circumvent them. It's important
to note that defending over open terrain makes it easy to spot the squad
leader. If there is one, take him out.
It's important not to underestimate these rifles at point blank range. If the
man in your scope takes up your entire scope you should just center him and
let off three as fast as you can. One time I engaged eight enemy soldiers
successfully (one squad, two respawns) with a little bit of cover for myself
because they came around a corner in file and they were so close to me I took
three down easy, ducked, reloaded, took the next three down, reloaded and
finished them off.
You can also use either of these rifles at point blank from the hip. If you get
jumped but your clip is full it's very possible you can get a guy just by
firing all ten of your rounds as fast as you can. If you are literally right
next to the guy then it's probably more effective than your pistol. (Of course,
you have ten fewer headshots you can make, but oh well)
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VI. M24 Rifle Tactics [M24T]
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The M24 is the exact opposite of the first to rifles I covered. The M24 is
bolt-action and the clip holds six rounds. Two rounds are enough to kill people
usually and are accurate at most any range.
I know I said I wouldn't tell you how to aim, but I'll add a few things here.
First, you need to lead a moving target, I don't know if BF2 has travel time or
not, but you surely need to lead it a bit for lag. I don't think there is any
bullet drop, but there might be. It's one of those things I'm not sure about
yet. It's near impossible to hit vehicle drivers unless they are moving
straight to or away from you.
If you want to be really adventurous you can try to do close squad support, but
I wouldn't suggest it. The only things you have in really close range are your
pistol and your claymores, both of which aren't great barring certain
situations. I would recommend shooting people who are being shot at by your
teammates; your bullets will nearly kill a man without body armor so if your
teammates soften a soldier up just a bit you can take him down easy. If you do
shoot a guy and he doesn't die I would suggest just leaving him for your
teammates to finish off, a stray bullet could probably take him down. If you do
want to take the same guy out, it's probably just as fast to pull out your
pistol as it is to chamber a new round. With the pistol you have a second shot
ready if you miss the first time.
Seriously, the most use I have had in a squad with this gun was my grenades and
claymores.
Anyways, this gun is the best long range killing weapon short of an artillery
strike.
I find the best way to use this is to find a nice shady area and just run your
bullets dry. Try to find a hotspot so you don't have to move around a lot to
find targets. If you can, set yourself up so you have good shots down bridges
or the like, in addition to being a lethal kill zone you have nice shots at FAV
drivers, works the same for rivers and boat drivers.
In fact, this is the perfect weapon for attacking or defending across some kind
of natural barrier like a chasm or a river. Be sure to take their snipers out
first, followed by medics (unless the medics are helping the snipers). Squad
leaders are always a priority, you know this stuff already.
I do have to say this is my favorite weapon for sniping an airfield. Although I
have found that while doing so this sniper is prone to artillery strikes as
he's a bit more prone to staying still and lining up shots, and is less mobile
than his semi-automatic counterparts.
There's not a whole lot about using this gun I can tell you past staying
hidden, which we already covered in detail.
Suggestions for this section are more than welcome.
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VII. M95 Rifle Tactics [M95T]
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The M95 is the unlockable rifle. It is also a bolt action rifle. Purportedly it
does the same amount of damage as the M24 except it works better against
enemies with body armor and it also goes through windshields on the strong
FAVs, helicopters, and aircraft; the latter is true, while the thing about body
armor may or may not be.
It would be great if they scaled this gun up to what it's like in real life,
pretty much anything would be a one hit kill with this gun, in reality this has
the capability of shooting through an engine block, so some measly wad of flesh
and bone wouldn't be much of a challenge.
There is debate about which of the M24 and M95 is better at medium or long
range, personally I think they are again the same gun, with the M95 gussied up
a bit. I don't have the gun unlocked though, so I only have some experiences
with it after I nabbed it off some guy's corpse.
I use this gun the same as the M24, except I'm more prone to waiting around
spawn points on maps with lots of transport choppers. The helicopters come in
and just hover in mid-air for a few seconds... a perfect opportunity for a
shot. I haven't actually shot down a helicopter yet because once the pilot
realizes what's happening he usually pivots like mad and runs away. I have
had a couple of guys fly into trees before, which was pretty entertaining.
Otherwise, I can't offer any advice, again, contributions welcome.
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VIII. Tag Team Sniping [TTSN]
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What's more fun than one sniper? You guessed it! Two snipers!
Seriously, I have had great fun sniping with people who have I have cooperated
with. It yields great results and many kills for the both of you.
The most rudimentary form of tag team sniping is two snipers, set up to
overlook the same positions (don't get too close to each other though),
cooperating and shooting the same person. Easy huh? Over the voice comm it goes
exactly like, "Okay, let's get the guy on the right."
"Okay"
"Three, two, one, shoot."
This is especially useful with the M24 as it's then an instant kill; it still
works fine with the Dragunov and the Type-88. Those have the added ability that
each sniper fires twice so if one of them misses once, it's not a problem.
There are many more advanced things you can try. Suppose you have two guys
waiting for a plane, try to take both of them down at once and really screw
with them. If you coordinate each shot so you fire at the same time it royally
confuses the targets by masking where the sound. I'm not sure what it sounds
like from the victim's perspective, but I imagine the sounds blend together
and give the target a false idea of where the shot is coming from.
Another simple variation is to have one sniper aiming into an aircraft hangar.
The second sniper shoots and flushes him into supposed safety, only to get cut
down moments later. This eliminates the need to get down on ground level to
shoot underneath the hangar at people's feet.
It's also easy to set up ambushes, particularly if you have the semi-auto
rifles, just set up claymores and just open up when they trip them, sounds
simple enough but you make much quicker work of your targets.
Other variations that have been successful are a sniper watching another
sniper. The rear sniper is preferably behind friendly lines, and watches the
other sniper for threats. If someone makes a move on the exposed forward sniper
the rear one gives him a nasty surprise.
Another one, but a bit more boring, is one sniper spots targets and doesn't
fire at all. When the other sniper is rooted out and killed the second one
starts shooting. When the first sniper gets back he spots for the second sniper
until the second sniper dies, repeat. This way you can keep the enemy under
constant sniper fire. It has a terrible effect on morale and can even keep
people from spawning at certain points.
I have yet to try this one, but I imagine two snipers with M95s could instantly
take out a pilot. You could camp the airfield and just shoot whoever jumps into
a plane or helicopter, effectively grounding their force for as long as you
were operating. The only problem I could see with this one is if the damage
through the windshield isn't as much as it is normally.
Experiment and send your successful tactics in.
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IX. Snipers as Squad Leader [SSLE]
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I have found snipers can make effective squad leaders by supporting their
assault troops and staying out of the way. They serve as an effective mobile
spawn point while still providing fire but staying a distance away from the
bulk of the fighting.
Being removed from the immediate battle makes sniper squad leaders able to
request good artillery strikes.
Just be careful your spawning squad mates don't give away your position.
Otherwise, follow the tactics according to your rifle.
Admin Edit: You seem to have forgotton a few sections...Here, allow me.
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X. What's New [WHNE]
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This section will have copies of all the information added after v1.0 so if
you come back after a version update you can find anything new here as opposed
to having to look for it in document proper.
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XI. Contact Information [CTIN]
*******************************************************************************
Feel free to contact me with suggestions, constructive criticism, and
questions (if I have time).
If you mail me a suggestion or other information I would include in future
versions please specify if you want me to cite you with your name (what name),
email address, or both. (Or something else if you prefer)
My email is [email protected]; I don't check it terribly often, but maybe once
a week if I get around to it.
*******************************************************************************
Thanks for reading!
Copyright 2005 David Ferry
Last edited by AlphaDrake (2005-10-03 08:45:47)
