Aeon Amadi
A.N.O.N.Y.M.O.U.S.
2877
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Posted - 2013.09.13 15:13:00 -
[1] - Quote
CCP Rattati wrote:hmm, my least favorite thing is being Thale'd. I was so angry yesterday I spent all my night driving around on the redline with a proto scanner trying to seek and destroy. Half the time I just don't find the sniper no matter how hard I look. What are your sniper hunter methods? One thing I noticed, that occasionally if you zoom all the way in, you can see nanohive globes on the deployment map. That is a fun minigame. If I could see muzzleflare from that as well (am going to thoroughly investigate tonight), I may have the answer. It is harder to see in the redline though. Sorry snipers for picking on you, but you got it good with no killcam 
I utilize a combination of methods learned from Rangers and Marines - generally, you're not trying to blend into your environment. Let me explain a bit better...
Think about a deer in the forest. Does a deer match anything in that forest, color-wise? No, so how does it remain concealed? Silhouette. By destroying the shape of your body or dampening it you can be more effective at remaining hidden. This applies in Dust to a degree as clinging to walls where there are lots of piping/objects will be much better concealment than sitting at the top of a mountain.
Nanohives should be placed -AT LEAST- thirty to fifty meters away behind cover. Your firing lane should only be as large as necessary, you don't need to see the entire map if the only objective they have is Echo, so utilize the surrounding terrain to shield yourself from the other directions as much as possible.
Only fire once and only fire for a kill-shot. This will significantly reduce the likeliness of an enemy being able to triangulate where you based on two significant factors: A.) The distance shown in the kill feed is exactly where you are and they can weigh that against where they were at the time with factor B.) Which is the red UI that appears when you've been hit from a certain direction. When that shows, they have at the very least a general idea of where you are.
Now, it might be considered "kill stealing" but I try to only land the final shot against a target who's already engaged in combat with another player as he's focused on them and will probably not be paying attention to where the shot came from. Head shots are also great for this because you instantly go monochrome and it's even harder to find where the shot came from when you're clone has been instantly terminated.
Snipers in obvious locations (on top of buildings, commonly used spots) will many times stay in those spots habitually and refer to them frequently, rather than finding new spots. A sniper who KNOWS he's been seen or has strong suspicion of such should move locations when and if necessary.
Lastly, communication is everything. A sniper is only as good as the people he's guarding and vice versa. If you're witnessing 6 v 6 combat, a sniper needs to be able to relay information to his team so that they are aware of flanking shotgunners or incoming reinforcements and be able to make snap decision on target prioritization from highest to lowest, loosely associated with this order:
- Logistics, for their repair capabilities.
- Squad Leaders, as indicated by their chevron as they are only able to call in orbitals if they're alive and can see what's going on.
- Support players, like Mass Drivers and Laser Rifles due to their niche roles.
- Scouts, because they're easy to dispatch and if left unchecked are hard to put down.
- Heavies, because of their sheer firepower and damage absorption.
- All other suitable targets.
Now that you know how to think like a sniper, you know how to counter act them. A few basic tips to aid in this though:
- When a friendly nearby takes sudden, significant damage, look for the smoke trail left by the round.
- When dying by a sniper, consider where you died and the range at which the shot was made - then estimate a circular range around your death zone at that range.
- A sniper rifle is only good if it can land a shot. Put as much cover between you and it as possible.
- If you cannot provide yourself sufficient cover, utilizing a fast moving vehicle is your bread and butter.
- Sometimes they may be in the red line, in this case your best bet is to counter-snipe or inform friendly snipers of their position. |