OK, enough practice! You've been on-line you've played against both good and bad opponents. You experienced good and bad teams, it's time you really learned how to handle yourself against the enemy.
One of the wisest men I know once wrote:
"When the animal is confronted, fear can turn the mind and cause flight, but when it is cornered fear can twist around and trigger an another... altogether baser reaction..."
To put the meaning of this quote into a different light, let me tell you a little story:
Once, about three two years ago, my hamster had escaped under my bed, and the little bastard hid so well that I was forced to go right under the bed to catch him, which was not easy as I am 6ft 3inches tall. After about 5 minutes effort to get down under there, and once I had moved all of the stuff under the bed aside, there was nowhere for him to go and he was completely cornered. He paused, raised himself onto his hind legs and looked at what was from his point of view an enormous pair of arms blocking both to the right and the left. I still swear to this day that I saw him take a little determined hamster breath, look me in the eye...
...and charge.
He flung himself forwards with all his considerable scampering speed and leapt up at my face. I was far too far under the bed to move in that split second and I still have the memory of a flying kamikaze hamster soaring towards me and attaching himself to my nose. His sharp little teeth caused a level of pain in my sinuses that I have never experienced before or since. I involuntarily jerked my head up which was a mistake because I cracked it on the metal underside frame of my bed, adding mild concussion to my list of injuries. The hamster quickly detached himself from my nose and ran out from under the bed via the gap under my armpits, and escaped for another three hours while I lay trapped and hurt and bleeding...
... a victim of my own feelings of superiority over one of Gods great creatures.
That hamster lived to 89 (in hamster years) and it has not gone without notice by my girlfriend and my friends that I treated my hamster with considerable respect and affection.
I hope that this little stories lesson is not lost on you, it wasn't lost on me I can tell you!
The greatest weapon you have is the other classes disdain for the sniper at close range and so you should use that to your advantage whenever you can.
This section is Advanced. I'm going to deal with the following topics:
THE DOT or HOW I LEARNED WHERE TO POINT MY GUN.
THE CROSS SHOT or HOW I LEARNED TO USE THE LAG TO SHOOT STRAIGHT.
CLASS KILLING or HOW TO KILL EVERY CLASS QUICKLY.
BATTLE PSYCHOLOGY or the ANGRY HAMSTER TECHNIQUE.
I am assuming by now that you know the basics of TFC and are itching to get to grips with that score board so that you can clamber your way to the top of it and web notoriety! Good. But first here are my credentials in score board form so that those of you who have skipped straight to this section will be patient with me.
THE DOT or HOW I LEARNED WHERE TO POINT MY GUN.
The dot is, as I have mentioned the most important part of the snipers weaponry to master. Knowing when to shoot is told to you by the dot and its actions. Hitting the target is determined by how well you learn it's behaviour. Consider the following examples:
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Here it would seem that I have given myself a
difficult task. This Soldier has brawn a bead on me and
my cross-hair and dot are not in in the correct position
to shoot. This is not where you should aim! However.... |
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...What this soldier doesn't realise is that ive let
him see me! Why? because by aiming at me he has totally
disregarded the level two sentry gun hidden against the
wall in the shadows just out of shot. ZAP! our boy fills
him full of lead :) Also what's this behind him? Looks like a sniper moving into position to enable a massive team rush. Behind him will be the bigger guns. |
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I hit him with a quick shot, which will spell doom
for him against the sentry gun, this way he cannot let
loose a grenade and break up our defence. Now for the bigger fish...I throw my grenades at the doorway and rush off to get a reload and come back. |
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As I get back, their attack has already begun, I need
to help break up this lot while the other team members
are taking on their spy's and medics in the back way in. A HWguy comes into my shot, probably their second prong, I need to kill this guy and get to our main door to cover the water. I hit this HWguy with a three second shot. This leads to a common HWguy manoeuvre: Jump Shooting. |
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Notice the thick blood from my shot, that tells me it
was a good hit. He now opens up with this cannon, which slows him down to a crawl. To compensate for his slow speed HWguys will now start jumping and shooting at the same time. this is quite disorientating for a Sniper. The trick is to let him shoot until you get another three second shot ready, and THEN wait your cross-hair at the bottom of his jump arc: like I am doing here. When he comes down make sure to hit him in the head and he'll die. |
THE CROSS SHOT or HOW I LEARNED TO USE THE LAG TO SHOOT STRAIGHT.
Valve has come under alot of attack for the behaviour of the sniper sight and red dot. I personally find it to be a very realistic feeling, comparable to real shooting. It requires you to have very sound judgement and timing of many processes going on around you. They include:
- Your movement in three dimensions
- You targets movement in three dimensions
- Your distance to the target
- Your targets rate of movement
- Your lag
- The servers lag
- And your targets skill over his character
Quite alot to calculate in a split second?, well here's how you can use the dot to your advantage.
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This a good example of what I mean by the
"Cross-shot". Next to the action is a graphical
representation of what is happening. The top picture is me coming gace to face with a Demoman inside my base and he's seen me. He's moving into a firing position to get what he thinks I am an easy sniper kill. HA! In the second picture. As you can see I haven't powered up a full three second shot (its about one second at time of contact). The speed of the contact has led to me being slightly off by the time I bring up my gun, if I shot now id miss and then die. However coming to bear in front of him has given me the edge. The graphic on the right shows the basic movements of my crosshair, red dot and the opponent. My red dot is about to traverse the green line to meet with my crosshair, also his forwards movement is going to bring him directly infront of my crosshair too. So I wait a little longer... The bottom picture. I wait until I know I will get him directly. When all three variables are aligned together I shoot and kill him. In that split second I had considered all of the following:
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Another type of cross shot shown here against another
Demoman is the "Lagged Shot". The "Lagged Shot" requires you to aim far enough in front of a moving target that your lagged dot is actually over the target as it moves. This takes some practice and depends on a few variables to take into consideration:
Strangely enough the servers lag doesn't really matter (unless it really bad). Just judge enough distance infront of your target and he'll get a surprise! This is how a good sniper will pick off a seemingly impossible to hit scout. By aiming far enough in front! |
CLASS KILLING or HOW TO KILL EVERY CLASS QUICKLY.
This is a very simple, but useful technique...
Crouch aiming upwards when shooting.
- That way when you shoot an approaching enemy you are always on target and the closer he gets the further up his body the shot will creep.
- Also you are a smaller target and harder to hit.
- Also people behind you can back you up.
- Also you will be harder for his backup to hit.
- Also it is easy to get a head shot when he's bearing right down on you (the game equivalent of putting your gun under his chin and pulling the trigger!
Basically its a good idea OK? This is the quickest way to get headshots and therefore the best way to kill every class quickly.
BATTLE PSYCHOLOGY or the ANGRY HAMSTER TECHNIQUE.
But how to get in this exalted of posistion regularly? That takes Battle Event Planning.
All the classes are similar heights. The skill to learn is the ability to run along while aiming at the correct height for the distance you can see. Too many people run while aiming down. When you've experience enough you can easily judge where you feet are and so you don't need to look at the ground. Run while looking ahead. Keep your aim at head height for the horizon, and get ready to shoot.
If you consider all meetings with you and the enemy as single battles one on one, you can plan alot more effectivly. By crouch shooting you will win most of these and therefore become a better sniper.
Just like my hamster being trapped in a corner is not particularly a problem.
Its a situation that happens alot as a sniper. Your in your perch zoomed into half the map away and suddenly your hit from the side. Your toast right? Well probably but you can fight back!
- Cry for help
- Jump off the pitch (although this will sometimes result in you getting blown across the map by a grenade explosion!)
- Back round a corner, compose and reattack with grenades and full power shots.
If your unable to do these for one reason or another. Take him with you!
- Drop a grenade at your feet and watch your assailant get it in the ass as he gloats!
- Jump up with your crowbar and try to rearrange his face. If your lucky his rocket will impact into you too close and he will go up with you.
- Remember Quake 2, try circle-strafing.
Take my hamsters lesson to heart don't go down without a fight, the sniper may look like a wimp but he's got nothing to loose. And remember if they spend all day coming after you then they aren't anywhere else winning the game. Use their over confidence against them time and again, they never get sick of trying to get one over on the good old sniper.
Remember that every person plays TFC for the rush of the perfect kill (apart from scouts, but they are just too weird). Therefore they will try and get into the best position before they shoot. You know the sort of thing:
Sniper
- Wants the headshot.
- Will wait for his shot to be exactly on target.
Engineer
- Wants to shotgun you to death up close.
Demoman
- Loves to see his grenades actually hit the opponent rather than just splash damage.
Soldier
- Doesn't want splash damage himself.
- Aims for walls more than people.
HWguy
- Wants to kill you with one long blast due to spinup time.
- Doesn't like to move his fat arse much.
Spy
- Only gives it from behind - nuff said.
Medic
- In your face 24:7, likes it up close and personal.
Pyro
- I don't know really - does anyone play this character?
- Basically same as medic.
Use this knowledge to place you shot where he is GOING to be rather than where he is now.
To quote Sam Seed from Jackie Chan's "Drunken Master":
"Don't be confused by the way I stagger. It looks real weak... buts that how you win, by letting your opponent think he cant loose".
This page, pictures, and text were created by Carter. They may not be reproduced copied or printed without prior permission
