Posted by: Clayphoto on May 11, 2003 at 15:17:16

I think the word "Sniper" will always cause an instant debate in paintball. Part of the problem to me is that "Sniper" is a somewhat flexible term based on your own concept of what a sniper is. So for that, I'll define a sniper as a set of skills and tactics as follows; 1) Use of concealment and terrain to avoid detection; 2) Maximize eliminations and disruption with a minimal amount of resources and firepower. 3) Generally accurate within the range of a paintball. 4) (normally) used as support for the larger team, with specific purposes and objectives. I think it's the last point that is most often overlooked and probably is rubbing you the wrong way. Occasionally I play the sniper role, particularly in large woods games. There have been a few games where I've "broke open the game" or had half a dozen eliminations. NONE of them were when I played sniper. That does not mean that I was less valuable during the game as a sniper. Once you have somebody with the skills listed above, you have to decide how to employ those skills to the team. For me, that usually falls into the following objectives; 1) To eliminate a key player, usually somebody who gives the orders for the other team or a communication link (like a mid player communicating between two of their teams) 2) To be the eyes and ears of another team. Works especially well with walkie talkies. I also fall into this at times if my cover fire has been seperated from me and I'm vulnerable if I were to reveal my position. 3) To confine movement of the other team. You do NOT have to eliminate somebody to be an asset to your team. If you can be enough of a pain in the butt to a teams advance that you deny a 30 yard area of your woods field, you have given your team more room and give the other team fewer options. ESPECIALLY effective if done along the tape so that you force their team into the center where more angles can be created against them. 4) To cause confusion to make the rest of my teams jobs easier. "Shock value" can break a series of moves if coordinated with your team mates. For example, you can signal that 5 seconds after your first shot to eilminate one member of a 3 man squad, the rest of your team will move and fire at the squad. While thesquad is busy looking for you, they see your other squad move from another direction. Then if you're spotted, you switch roles into a covery fire person. If you're not spotted you can try for another elimination. But you'll notice that in all of those occasions, I am not trying to win the game for my team. All I am doing is feeding information, trying to make the most critical single elimination, create confusion, and/or deny a portion of the field. It is up to my team to win the game based on the tactical advantage I hopefully gave them.

Follow Ups: Post a Followup Show your name as: DefaultRealnameBothNickname E-Mail address (eg: joeschmoe@aol.com): Show your e-mail address? DefaultYesNo Your Password: Don't have a password? CLICK HERE - Forgot your password? CLICK HERE Subject: Subject:Message: : I think the word "Sniper" will always cause an instant debate in paintball. Part of the problem to me is that "Sniper" is a somewhat flexible term based on your own concept of what a sniper is. So for that, I'll define a sniper as a set of skills and tactics as follows; : 1) Use of concealment and terrain to avoid detection; : 2) Maximize eliminations and disruption with a minimal amount of resources and firepower. : 3) Generally accurate within the range of a paintball. : 4) (normally) used as support for the larger team, with specific purposes and objectives. : I think it's the last point that is most often overlooked and probably is rubbing you the wrong way. : Occasionally I play the sniper role, particularly in large woods games. There have been a few games where I've "broke open the game" or had half a dozen eliminations. NONE of them were when I played sniper. That does not mean that I was less valuable during the game as a sniper. Once you have somebody with the skills listed above, you have to decide how to employ those skills to the team. For me, that usually falls into the following objectives; : 1) To eliminate a key player, usually somebody who gives the orders for the other team or a communication link (like a mid player communicating between two of their teams) : 2) To be the eyes and ears of another team. Works especially well with walkie talkies. I also fall into this at times if my cover fire has been seperated from me and I'm vulnerable if I were to reveal my position. : 3) To confine movement of the other team. You do NOT have to eliminate somebody to be an asset to your team. If you can be enough of a pain in the butt to a teams advance that you deny a 30 yard area of your woods field, you have given your team more room and give the other team fewer options. ESPECIALLY effective if done along the tape so that you force their team into the center where more angles can be created against them. : 4) To cause confusion to make the rest of my teams jobs easier. "Shock value" can break a series of moves if coordinated with your team mates. For example, you can signal that 5 seconds after your first shot to eilminate one member of a 3 man squad, the rest of your team will move and fire at the squad. While thesquad is busy looking for you, they see your other squad move from another direction. Then if you're spotted, you switch roles into a covery fire person. If you're not spotted you can try for another elimination. : But you'll notice that in all of those occasions, I am not trying to win the game for my team. All I am doing is feeding information, trying to make the most critical single elimination, create confusion, and/or deny a portion of the field. It is up to my team to win the game based on the tactical advantage I hopefully gave them. [ Follow Ups ] [ Post Followup ] [ WARPIG Tech Talk - Miscellaneous ]