Sniper character design!

[Ducimus]

I have to chime in.

Sniping was something that i picked up and put down many times.

Theres two parts of building a sniper i think.

The first part is your personal view at the job. I see it as a support role. Much like a Engineer is to repair base facilties, or a medic is to heal, a sniper is to attack, interupt, harrass or otherwise surpress certain targets, or troop movements in a battle. I view myself less as a sniper in the traditional hollywood sense (since 1 shot 1 kill doesnt exist here), and we don't have ghille suits, and more as a sharpshooter.

With my bolt driver i have the unique ablity to impede the enemies movment in many ways, hamper enemy snipers, hamper AV use, the list goes on. I'm also a lookout, as a sniper is also a scout. A kill to me is just gravy for a job well done, but scoring a kill is not my primary focus.

The second part of building a sniper is obviously in the certs and implants.

Firstly, implants. advanced targeting and surge, i think it would be nice, but having only 2 implant slots most of the time, you have to have priorities. Darklight and audio. The theme here is detection. Which is of greater overall importance.

Secondly certs.
Medic. You have to have medic when facing other snipers. If your hit, and you have an idea from where, you take cover and heal. I rarely die to snipers doing this - unless its a tag team and both target me at once or i lag out.

CE. - Aces are a must, or Cloakers will piss you off to no end.

Mediem assault.- You need a decent backup weapon.

Rexo - To carry it all


My typical loadout is:

slot1: Ace
slot2: medic applicator

Slot3: Cycler
Slot4: Bolt driver

Inventory:
1 box 9mm (100 rounds total including loaded mag)
3 Aces (4 total including holster)
4 box's of bolts (20 rounds total)
1 engie gun
2 med kits

I support my squad, and my outfit, In that role i also picked up adv medic; and left any ego or preconcieved notions behind. This is all just my opinion, take it as you may, your mileage may vary.

[GreyFox]

I agree, a Sniper is a support role. Although I think you need Adv.Targeting to be really efficiant. With it you can see if there is a target with less then 75% health, which is a one shot kill.

And if you have a long drawn out sniper battle with someone who keeps healing himself, and he doesn't have Engineering, he will run out of Armor sooner or later, and he will become a one shot kill if he has 0 armor.

I had Adv.Medic just like you do once, but I had only used it one time when I got a spare point so I traded it for Armored Assault. I intend to recert it once I get my next level (I'm BR15), because I have a spare point. This time I'll use it more effectively.

And another plus with Adv.Targeting, you learn how much damage a weapon actually deals. And the biggest plus, you can pick damaged targets.

[Ducimus]

I agree about adv targeting, provided your in range to where you can acutally see it. I tried it a long ago before the fps optimazation and found it of little use as my range tended to be from long, to extremley long distances (used to snipe at X24 at one point with the ranged zoom implant). I havent tried it lately so maybe thats changed. It is also none the less, the next implant i pick up - err whenever that 3rd one comes in, i dont remember. Ive taken a few long breaks from the game when it started to frustrate me so my memory can be a bit foggy.

[Warborn]

I find Advanced Targetting somewhat superfluous. As a dedicated sniper myself, I rarely used it when I had it, never use it anymore. If I see an enemy exposed, either stationary or running for cover, I shoot him. Sometimes he dies, sometimes he lives, sometimes he runs out of stamina and gets to walk around a bit before I shoot him again. Whatever, either way, the point is that good shots don't grow on trees. If you can shoot someone, shoot them. Even if you don't get the kill, someone else might, and that's almost as good.

*edit*

Except when it's another sniper who I don't know that shoots my target right before I get off my killing shot. That's always kind of annoying.

[noxious]

Originally Posted by Warborn

If you can shoot someone, shoot them. Even if you don't get the kill, someone else might, and that's almost as good.

Well said. The sniper doesn't always have to get the kill. Simply supporting friendly troops and forcing the enemy to watch itself is sufficient.

Snipers have saved me more times than I can count. Earlier today I was alone in a CY and two enemies in agile started attacking me. I killed the first as a friendly sniper hit the second guy. At this point I was down to about 15-20 hp, can't remember exactly, and my lasher's clip was well under half full. But since the second guy got hit by the sniper he died from just 3 orbs and I lived with 4hp

[GreyFox]

I agree about only damaging. The good thing about that is that they usually abort what they are doing, or gets killed.

BUT, I still think Adv.Targeting is the best Implant.

[SandTrout]

I've played sniper on and off, and my sister plays it almost exclusively. I agree compleatly with the just-wound philosophy. I actualy find that I get more kills when not neccisaraly trying to get kills b/c I'm just poping off shots at anyone I think I can hit, which are usualy wounded.

Medical and CE are a must for the dedicated engiee, and AV(particularly the Striker for AAA) is useful fro keeping hard tagets off your back

[Warborn]

Originally Posted by GreyFox

The good thing about that is that they usually abort what they are doing, or gets killed.

Yes. I think the psychological effect of a sniper is a definite strength unto itself. People usually adjust their actions when they get plinked by a sniper, otherwise they will (and they know it) get shot a second time and killed. I've seen through the scope of my rifle many, many individuals who get shot by me, run out of their cover to find new cover, and end up getting shot and, due to their weakened state, kill by friendly infantry in their vicinity. The mere presence of a sniper is sometimes enough to cause damage to enemy forces.

[Dharkbayne]

True, it's alot more psychological than actual damage, I get a max of 10 kills /death when sniping, but it's funny seeing everyone surge from cover to cover, watching their backs

[Queensidecastle]

Snipers seem to really like to hunt in packs. Also Generic sniperX doesn�t pay any attention to anything going on around him. I cant count the number of times I am playing my Infiltrator and find a pack of snipers. You can usually kill each and everyone of them because they are not paying attention to the fact that an enemy infiltrator just gunned down the sniper next to them.

Just some advice for snipers from an Infil perspective since I don�t actually play one: Do not hunt in packs. Whenever I become aware of snipers I go hunt them immediately. This can take a few minutes to setup as sneaking out to sniper locations can be difficult, but when I get there its kills in the bank. I am in total agreement that Sniping is more psychological than actually an effective killing machine. I have been killed by far more reaver runs on a tower than getting sniped on them. Having said that, Infiltration has the exact same effect on snipers. Good Infiltration can completely shut down all sniping and when you shut down sniping, you lose the psychological pressure you had previously

[Warborn]

Originally Posted by Queensidecastle

Having said that, Infiltration has the exact same effect on snipers. Good Infiltration can completely shut down all sniping and when you shut down sniping, you lose the psychological pressure you had previously

A good sniper should be fast enough to turn on Darklight and point blank the infiltrator before being killed himself.

[Dharkbayne]

Usually, you don't need it, just spin around and fire, they should be shooting at you, so visible, and point blank sniper rounds hurt, killed many a cloaker that way, they aren't expecting it, most snipers just sit there and die

[Queensidecastle]

A good sniper should be fast enough to turn on Darklight and point blank the infiltrator before being killed himself.

The infiltrator holds all the keys. If he has snuck all the way to put a pistol at the back of your head, its too late. If you do manage to survive, it has a lot less to do with how good you are and much more to do with how much that Infiltrator must suck. For Example, I kill Rexos with Heavy assault equipped all the time. If they cant even stop me most of the time, snipers crouched and zoomed dont have a chance. Sneaking up on a Sniper and killing them is about the same as killing an NC using a Phoenix - easy

[Dharkbayne]

One thing i've noticed is infs attack EXACTLY behind you, never to the side, so all you have to do is unzoom, quickly spin 180 degrees, fire, dead cloaker, don't even need to aim, or, just move forward and to the left and right while turning

[Warborn]

Originally Posted by Dharkbayne

Usually, you don't need it, just spin around and fire, they should be shooting at you, so visible, and point blank sniper rounds hurt, killed many a cloaker that way, they aren't expecting it, most snipers just sit there and die

Infiltrators typically (well, in my experience) don't just stand there. They move around a bit. A lot tend to be beside you too. You'll have far better results if you can actually see them, rather than only being able to see the flash of their gun, which often times is obscured by the pain flashes. If you spin around and fire, you'll likely miss, and then you'll die. If you take the time to figure out their location while they're moving and shooting you, you'll likely die. I'm not saying it's impossible to kill them without Darklight or anything, just that when a stealther is on you and unloading an AMP into you, you don't really have time to dick around. Darklight gives you the quick targetting ability that many times is the difference between living and dying.