Part 2- Battle Group/ Urban Operations Guide



1) THE most important rule in sniping is patience and observation. Always be patient. There is a difference between patience and indecision. Take enough time to aquire, assess and eliminate each target, but be decisive about when to fire so you do not miss opportunities. This is especially important for countersniping and moving targets (which we will come to later) and is explained visually in my VIDEOS (which will be linked at the end) If you are sniping another sniper, you should wait for him to find his spot and stop moving, this will make for an easier kill, and should take 1 bullet.



Again, this is THE most important rule *PATIENCE*




2) Finding your spot, using it, and relocating. Finding your spot is more difficult than you might imagine. You have several factors to take into account: What colour are you? If you are wearing green NIU DPMs then it’s no use sniping from a sandy hill, for example. Another factor is your silhouette. If you sit right on top, or just behind the lip of a hill, your head sticks out like a big juicy dark lump against the sky, which countersnipers will love to blow away. Hiding somewhere where you have a backdrop is best then. The side of a cliff ledge, the foot of a hill where there is some shadow, a crease in the scenery where you are obscured from some sides while maintaining your field of view. The last factor is your positioning. You have to see who is winning at that point, where the bases are, how their troops are tending to move (observe their patterns). You need a spot that will overlook your killing area, which should have a good amount of traffic.



[img=http://img410.imageshack.us/img410/5162/jamesthing4ej4.th.jpg]



Therefore, the perfect spot is somewhere where you have a backdrop the same colour as you, that is high enough to give you protection and keep you obscured from view, that is overlooking your killing area and that has avenues of escape. You should be in a position of complete control, somewhere that you can see everyone before they can see you.



[img=http://img127.imageshack.us/img127/3576/jamesthing5qr7.jpg]



Using your spot. Keep firing to a minimum, picking off the easiest targets safely, when they are not looking in your general direction (especially important against enemy snipers). Try to use only 1 shot per stationary target and a maximum of 3 per moving target. (2 is the acceptable consistent level, as we shall see later) Use the important idea of patience, while being decisive and sharp for details. Do not get lazy, keep alert.




Relocating. The first thing to remember is BEFORE you start shooting, look for where your next spot will be. Then, as you are sniping, you should think about factors determining when you should relocate. These are: amount of rounds you are putting downrange; 3 per minute is an ideal situation. It means you can stay in 1 spot for up to 5 minutes. If you are reaching one magazine per minute, you are cut down to 3 minutes per spot, and more than that means you are coming in contact with too many enemies, or are not taking onto account the previous mentioned tips. Another factor is that if you have been seen, or even think you have been seen, relocate. Instinct and gut feelings are to be trusted, they are usually true. Other factors can include: teammates giving away your position (relocate immediately), hearing or seeing rounds hit around you (relocate immediately), being close enough for your rifle’s report to be heard by the enemy (relocate immediately if they were a sniper, if not, go with your instinct on whether you were seen or not, remember, people can look around while they are dead and waiting to respawn). Be aware that your muzzle flashes give you away, so you are more easily found than you think. Relocating is not just moving somewhere else in a building (if that's where you are) It is moving to a completely different area, preferably with a view to where you just were for taking out people who thought you were still there. There is one tedious aspect about Finding, Using and Relocating spots; which is the frequency it needs to be done to keep a great K/D:R.





3) Defending yourself: If you are shot at: By a close quarters combatant- Get as many aimed shots as you can downrange while they are over 60m away. After they get to 60m, take cover. Try to anticipate the time it has taken for them to reach 40m away before throwing out your nades. Then, as they get within 30m, dive out of cover and across their screen. This will take them by surprise as they did not expect you to launch yourself that far. Open up with your secondary weapon and dispatch them. If you killed them, still relocate as they and possibly others on the team will know where you are. ) If an enemy combatant comes into mid range, the most important thing is DON'T PANIC! Your gun is far more accurate than theirs. They will most likely do 1 of 2 things: Prone/ take cover and shoot in which case they will not get enough accurate bursts to kill you before you snipe them.
: Charge and shoot. Their firing will be wild and innacurate, take your time with the shot and dont fire frantically.
Of course, this is the optimal situation. Adjust where you're judgement lets you




: By another sniper- relocate immediately and cautiously, so they move on to another target, DO NOT shoot back as they have the advantage of having their sights on you already. You can take them out later. Alternatively, if you saw where their shot came from, take evasive action while shooting your secondary at them. This will suppress or make them hesitate for a moment, or make their shooting a little more frantic. Use your scope to see when they reload. They will most likely take cover, then crawl back out. Lie down and aim where they will pop out, then top them.



4) Sniping from unexpected places. Do not snipe from rooftops, towers, mountains (unless on Conturas or Engrene where there are so many mountains that you can’t check them all) too often as that is where people will be looking for you. You may want to snipe from behind their lines. Using the awareness skill taught in number 2, see how the battle is playing out and perhaps position yourself behind them, or parallel to them.




5) Use cunning to trick your opponents. Draw them into traps, use bait, use the patterns of your own team to see how the enemy will try to outflank them, then stay on the opposite flank and shoot them in the back. Your team are tools for you, but broken tools are no good, so help them out by being a spotter for aircraft and armour, and snipers that you cannot hit, but know where they are.










6) Be aware of your surroundings and how the battle is playing out. I have mentioned this before in less detail. If you are on the stronger team, go to their base to snipe, or where the trffic from their base will be using as an escape avenue. If it is evenly matched, go to a place with a good overview of where the most traffic (targets) is concentrated. (as in 2) If their team is stronger, then you have 2 options: stay in your base and find good spots or get out and find a spot where you can snipe at the highest proportion of enemy snipers (on engrene, get to the hill behind the tower at 10/11 base for example) The best way of doing these things is to find a secure place, press T, then TAB, then see where the enemies are, and what their patterns are. You can then set up your own avenue of escape, from which you can find a good spot to use as a miniature, personal counter- attack.




7) Be a ghost- when relocating, too many people take my advice literally and just GOGOGO. They can be seen easily and either killed in the open or killed once they settle. Relocate slowly and methodically, taking cover and watching through your scope for 20 seconds to see if it is clear. A relocation of 300m once took me 7 minutes.




TURN YOUR SPEAKERS UP! If you hear something, look at you mini map, if nothing shows near you, it must be an enemy. You can hear vehicles, footsteps, firing, reloading, crawling, throwing of grenades and changing of weapons.



9) Observe patterns- Watch how the other team works and use it to your advantage. Again, tying in with number 6. You should watch how your team plays, how their team responds, how your team responds as well. Without there being any spoken teamwork, people instinctively and subconsciously work together. Defending or attacking key points, for example. If they have patterns, mess it up for them, see how they change, mess it up again. This again ties in with PATIENCE. This rule of PATIENCE is applied to every single aspect of sniping.



10) Try to take out their key players first, those who are inflicting the most casualties. It is important to spend extra time observing the patterns of these people, so you can increase enemy casualties while restricting your own.



11) Keep your eye on respawn spots, medic points, most used sniping spots, flags, and other key places that the other team attacks or defends.




12) Remember the importance of nades. They can be a lifeline. They can kill people as they advance toward you, or cause them to slow down, they can be used to throw behind yourself as you retreat, they can be used to persuade vehicle personnel out of their vehicles etc.




13) Bullet Drop. This is one thing I always get asked about. It is more complex than you might think. At 100m with an m24, the bullet drop will be just under the tip of the triangle, for 200, twice that distance, and for 300, three times etc. HOWEVER! You must also take into account the size of your target’s head at this range. Obviously it is smaller the further away it is, meaning you have to be more precise, but because mouse movements move the crosshairs further (appear to be more sensitive) at this range, precision becomes more difficult. You may make your own range markers if you wish (perhaps out of blue tack or a wipe- clean pen that won’t wreck your screen)




14) Sniper teams- If you want to be a sniper team it should consist of 2 or possibly 3 players, and you should be able to have vocal communication with them. The best combinations for this I believe are as follows: Sniper+ Heavy Trooper; you can take out people and vehicles while maintaining distance, the Heavy Trooper is also the 3rd most camouflaged class, with dark skin and little showing. Sniper+ Engineer; a great combo: short range battles are made easier with his SMG, and he may carry invaluable ammo boxes, plus, escaping is easy when you can fix a vehicle and get the hell out The 2nd most camouflaged player, with no skin showing. Sniper+ Sniper; stay on opposite sides of the map, being able to see 100m either side of each other at least. GREAT way to watch your backs. Sniper+ Combatant; can be good if the combatant is patient enough. Works well on UO, poorly on BG. This is great if the combatant has a belt- fed weapon, the massive firepower can mow down approaching troops or at least weaken them for you. Sniper+ Medic; You’d think this was good, and it is, provided the medic is TOTALLY out of site. Her blond hair, pale skin, and much skin showing will easily give you away if she is spotted. The obvious advantage being that she can heal you.





15) If you are hidden on a map with few good spots (like Alberon) and someone gets close but doesn’t see you, don’t kill them. It will give away your position unnecessarily. Wait till they get further away






16) Changing mags. This is a tricky procedure; the movement of doing it can give you away, and the fact that you are vulnerable is off-putting, but, staying in the open is better. You can still se what’s going on, whether anyone is looking for you to get out of view so they can position themselves for a shot. The very act of moving into cover while changing mag will give you away just as much as changing it, so on balance, it is better to stay still.



17) Re- Ammo-ing/ getting health while in the field: use the 3rd seats of covered trucks or a friendly base, or your enemy's main (I advise not killing anyone). Be very cautious, act like you would when relocating, a good player will see what you are doing then track you to your next position, killing you when you stop moving (especially if they have read this guide, because I mentioned that earlier)



18) Vehicle encounters: very tricky business. If you are not well hidden, run to somewhere below the vehicle, if they are on a steep hill or cliff face, run past them and down it, they will not be able to get you then. If you are well hidden, remain PERFECTLY still until they pass by, certainly don’t fire.



19) Good Target/ Bad Target: This is to do with keeping hidden, it is important from the point of view of getting kills and conserving ammo to not shoot any and every target, but also to not give away your position, for example, if you shoot a sniper looking in your general direction, he will undoubtedly now know where you are when you respawn. Likewise if you shoot someone too close to you or when no one else is near. These are examples of Bad Targets.



Examples of good targets are: far off enemies who are not snipers, anyone facing away from you at mid- long range, snipers shooting at someone else (even better if they are taking fire, they will assume they were killed by the person they were shooting)



It is for this reason that, if someone is close to you, you don't whip out the MP5k, Glock, Deagle etc. to kill them, but wait till they have become a good target. It takes patience and all of the above listed skills to be made truly effective however.