Keep in mind when reading that these are my personal opinions and don't mean that other guides are wrong [or vice versa]. Also, you should have a good understanding of common soaking terminology or parts of this article may not make sense.


Sniping

Sniping is most effective when used as an auxillary action instead of a sperate position. In other words, do not appoint snipers, let those whom are armed appropriately snipe when/if the opportunity/need arises. Sniping invloves hitting an enemy at long range from a concealed location. Departing from common, conventional thinking, it is NOT necessary to run away after sniping, and that can even have adverse effects. The best thing to do after sniping is to switch positions; from sniper to HWO. Only uses tap shots when sniping, never dump your whole payload. You need to get your gun back up to full pressure immediately after the shot[s]. Also take more than one shot. A good soldier can get up to 5 good shots before repumping and position change. Some helpful guidelines:


Position Switching:

Heavy-fast Troopers and medium-fast troopers bear the most repsonsibility for sniping. You will need to switch positions in order to snipe without losing your position afterwards. After sniping, repump your gun. The enemy might be coming for you, but that won't matter much. This is when you cease to be a sniper and become a HWO. Withdraw about 30ft. and then advance if the pursuing
enemy is near. Now you should be ready for open battle. See the subconscious change of role? With a powerful gun, you can easily snipe AND fight off the enemy when they discover you.

The other strategy here is to bring 2 guns. Load the extra and set it down next to you. After sniping, you'll have a fully loaded gun ready to soak the enemy who probably thinks you have 1 unpressurized gun. Deception here might score big.


Weapon Selection:

You should have a long range medium-heavy class CPS weapon or higher. This is the time to use that 2100[0], 2700[0], 1500[0], APH, CPH, etc. Most snipers are Heavy-fast/medium fast troopers, so your gun has to be top notch. Weight should not hinder your ability to move. Modded and/or homemade guns will preform better for sniping. A 1000 may be able snipe someone at 40ft, but a 2100[0] could snipe someone at [up to] 65ft.


Choosing a place to snipe from:

It's gotta be concealed, duh. Do some scouting [another position change btw-bet you didn't even think about switching there, you just went and did it, that's all position changing is] and figure out where the enemy is and which way they are moving. Next, find a good locaction. Bushes, ditches, hills, boulders, etc. are very good spots. A steep hill covered in vegetation is optimal, as the
height advantage will boost your range and help you hold out against a counter-attack. camouflage helps greatly in this situation. Adjust your camo as needed. Don't use the common green camo while hiding in a dirt-colored area!


Hopefully, these suggestions, tips, etc. were useful and hopefully you can see the faults with some of the common and widely accepted guidelines for sniping. Common sense should be utilized, a tool that can potentially be more helpful than any guide. Like don't run after sniping if you can take on the pursuing enemy. Use modded guns for more range. Change positions. Trick your enemy. Do the unpredicted, unconventional, and unexpected when you can use it to your advantage.

Good Luck!

-Duxburian

nice article...but aren't snipers supposed to carry a bunch of other stuff? Like gadgets and stuff...

What else would you need besides your gun[s]? I could see a backpack, extra water, a map of the park, some things like that. But those are optional, you really don't need anything but the bare essentials.

You need to change up the guns you talk about. It gets quite typical if you keep talking about 21k's. I like the idea of the article, but you missed out on some key ideas. One of them is sniping with a WBL. Some other guns you could of mentioned were the CPS 2000 and CPS 2500.

Nice article. In my opinion the CPS 2000 would probably be the best if not one of the best guns for sniping due to its very long range. The CPS 2500 is not far off though. I may be wrong here but wouldn't an XP 150 be good for sniping as it is light, fast to pump to full pressure, good range and good size.

In truth a WBL, Douchenator style or otherwise, would be the ideal sniping weapon. Just because it shoots a large round makes people think it's more of a cannon. However it's hard to pinpoint the user, and it has a larger range than anything else in the water warfare field.

I do agree that a WBL could be the best sniping weapon. Even if you miss an enemy at 150ft, it'll scare the crap out of them and they won't necessarily know where it came from. And the only reason that I mentioned 21Ks again was because they have the longest range of any water gun I've ever seen. Outranges the 2500, 2000, all stock guns, etc. When I put up the article on the site, I'll edit in sniping with a WBL and some more good sniping guns. B)

To be honest, I'm undecided as to whether the 2500 is a good sniping gun. It has the range, which makes most people automatically think great sniper, but it's just too heavy for a decent sniping weapon IMHO. But I guess I snipe, trap and scout so I generally go for my CPS 1000, Doesn't have as large a range, but it doesn't hinder me at all, and I sometimes just use water balloons.

If people are good at throwing, instead of sniping, why not just have... artillery?... anyway, I can throw a water balloon about 120 feet, and in cricket I can hit the wicket from a boundary so I'm pretty accurate.

It all depends on how old/strong you are. Some people can handle the 2500 easy, others it's a little heavy.

Exactly. Someone like my little sister (not so little, 5'7" and only 11 years old) would have trouble with my CPS 2700 but I am a bigger, stronger person so I have no trouble with using my CPS 2700 along with my SC Power Pack as a backup for sniping. ;)

I think for sniping a bolt action WBL is the way to go. Now all i have to do is get around to buildin it lol. :P

I think so too, but not that many people will build a bolt action WBL, no matter how much they want to. I just stick to guns. I will make my own WBL eventually, but until then I will just keep modding my guns and use them for sniping. B)

The basic theory behind a bolt action WBL isn't too complicated. Ok, maybe it is....anyway: the bolt is cocked back, and catched the sear, when it is cocked forward it pulls the hammer with it and chambers the next round. When the trigger is pulled the sear disengages, and the main spring causes the hammed to fly backwards, hitting the tube thingy. It then dissengages the cup seal from the valve seat and the released co2 pressure fires the WB. it should be a lot more effective and long range then a conventional WBL.

I think WBLs guzzle too much CO2 too quickly to make it practical. Imagine yourself, behind a bush with that WBL. You are trying to pick off a very experienced enemy holding a simple CPS 2500. You fire and obviously miss because you're at a ridiculous range. The enemy is now aware of your position, and sprints toward you, making enough side-to-side motion that you wouldn't be able to get a shot off even if you were done repressurizing with CO2 [the pc is empty]. When you are finally ready to shoot again, he has taken cover. By now you have also given away your position and if you don't move soon, you'll be in serious trouble. The enemy soldier has called in 2 more of his teammates, and they rush you from 3 different sides. Even if you hit one, [aiming is difficult under pressure] you would be soaked after that shot.

This of course assumes that your enemies know anti-artillery tactics, and how to execute the necessary manuevers.

My enemies are total n00bs who dont know the differance between a triples shot and an arctic shock (which is pretty much all they use)

If the people you fight are n00bish, teach them a thing or two about soaking. Refer them to the forums so they can learn the basics on soaking. Show them which guns to buy (Arctic Shocks suck) and at what prices to buy them at. Do something, or your water wars will become very dull, repetative, and boring. Without good enemies with descent guns, the wars get too easy to win. :P

Easy wins get boring. Almost every war I fight has been fun and challenging because of the experience levels on both sides. Veterans vs veterans creates interesting tactics, manuevers, and unique situations. No 2 battles are all that similar. The enemy puts up their best defense/offense, so you also have to raise the bar or lose the battle.

Well, the problem is that they think they know everything there is and won't listen to any advice. Even after I kick they're ass 20,000 times in a row :P.

You should try to show them how they are losing. If their teamwork is faulty or doesn't exist, try to show them how they can work better as a team. If they don't listen, try playing harder games such as 4-5 vs. 1, the 1 being you. At that point, they are almost forced into working as a team. If they don't, you can just pick them off one by one. B)

If they all have weak weapons like you said, it will be a walk in the park. Might I suggest using older XPs and XXPs against them? That would make the games more interesting as they are using weapons of similar firepower. Just trying to find ways to challenge you with the n00bs. :P

That's what I normally do. Whenever I bring soakers to the pool I bring evenly matched ones. It's way more fun than me just beating the living daylights out of them. I just bring pistols (liquidator, XP 240, etc.) and leave teh good ones (WBs, WBL, 21k) at home.

What makes me happy is that the people I play with will listen to me. When I started soaking only two of my friends had CPS soakers. I showed the ones that didn't have CPS soakers that they needed CPS guns to win and a month later, they all had CPS 4100s, Flash Floods, and some older CPS guns they had found in their basements, attics, etc. B)

I've been lending out guns at teh pool for a while now. It still kind of seems strange to me that nobody firgures out that they could go an buy their own gun that's more powerful and they would have a chance of beating me and definitely beat everybody else. I could still tell them though that they would win. Or what would be funnier on my part was to stop lending. It'd be funny to see how many people run to the nearby CVS to buy one. :P

I sometimes lend out my FF or devastator. Either way when I use a bigger cps gun I always kick their asses lol.

Lol, I normally only lend pistols and cheap guns (like my lightning). One time I actually let another kid use my 2100 (still stock then) and it was so funny. He could hardly aim it and had no idea what pressurization was. He held down the trigger and pumped it like it was a piston gun. I beat him witha a stock liquidator.

Yeah that method of firing always pisses me off. People like that seem to lose the idea that if you add more pressure, the further your gun will shoot. Mostly little kids and complete idiots shoot like that.

Yesterday I lent Nick my 2500 for our 1v1 duel. The pump kinda broke, so I gave him the 1100 to use instead. However, in a war when I am NOT the only person on my team, that won't be happening. When the rest of Nick's team ditched, they also took the guns. :P

Yeah, my enemy did that once against me (pump firing) I kicked their ass, thne they didn't want to play anymore lol...

What I meant by that is when his team ditched, they took their guns with them. I lent Nick some of mine since he was left with none.

How did this topic progress from sniping to lending guns? :P

Uh...I dunno lol...anyway, in my opinion sniping is just nailing someone withoiut them seeing you.

That would be ambushing...sniping is generally thought of as making a long range hit from a concealed position. There's a large grey area there.

Yea...soaker sniping can mean 300 ft WBL's or 50 ft CPS 2k's...