You know, something's been bugging me and I just couldn't put my finger on it until now.

It's the redline sniper QQ. Recently, I've seen a couple of posts about not being able to find where that Thale's in the redline was at. I snipe. I scout and stab. I drive tanks. I don't fly derpships. I've got a heavy alt, but I'm worse at it than I am at my assault alt. Haven't tried logi.

I'm not mr musturd, but I'm a good knifer.

I'm not a pro tanker, but I blow up more tanks than I lose (unfortunately, losing even a single tank in a match usually still means going ISK negative in a big way and I don't PC as often as I could/should, so meh... broke!)

I'm not Symbioticforks, but I've watched his vids and I don't miss any more headshots than he does on average. So I'd say I'm at least a journeyman sniper.

Whenever I'm in a squad and I'm particularly ISK poor, I may decide to snipe. I've noticed something when sniping in support of a squad: most of you people who don't snipe don't seem to even be aware that your death screen tells you how far away the person who killed you is. The typical exchange goes like this:

Greendot 1 > ******* charge sniper rifle got me :(
Greendot 2 > He tagged me once or twice but I got behind cover (Greendot 2 is in a scout suit, if a Charge tagged him twice, he'd be dead - this guy probably got hit by some other jerk with a militia SR, if not something else altogether - when you take damage and you don't see who shot you, it's ALWAYS a redline sniper, amirite? )
Me > Where were you and what was the range?
Greendot 1 > I was at Charlie, I dunno the range.
Greendot 3 > MotherFUKER! Sumbitch got me now!
ME > Where were you and what was the range?
Greendot 3 > I was uh...
Greendot 4 > They're pushing Echo, need help (he's over there in his fat suit all alone lol)
Me > WHERE WERE YOU AND WHAT WAS THE BLOODY RANGE???
Greendot 3 > I was at Delta, I think he's on that big hill in the redline
Me > WHAT WAS THE RANGE YOU TWIT???
Greendot 3 > I didn't catch it :(

Finally I find the sniper myself, on a rooftop, nowhere near the redline - name confirmed by his appearances in the killfeed with a Charge SR. He's in a ak.0 Sentinel. Pre-Delta, I push him off his perch with a couple of Charge SR headshots, but don't kill him because lolHP. Post-Delta, I waste him with one headshot from the Charge. No more red Charge SR in the killfeed for the rest of the match - instead that guy pulls out his SixKin Burst. I announce the sniper is dead. Nobody notices.

There are many matches where nobody so much as attempts to counter me, but I'll watch a red LAV drive in and out of my redline for ten minutes with his scanner running. But I'm not in the red line. It's just assumed that I am.

You lazy scrubs just assume every sniper is a redline sniper. You don't pay attention to the range of your death, which tells you where the sniper must be based on where you were when he killed you. I get tagged by a sniper, I'll look at the range, then I study the map for a moment and I know what his position must be within a grid square. Then it's just a matter of choosing the right rifle to kill him when I spawn back in and getting to the position where I have the best chance of surprising him.

To be fair, once in a blue moon I'll kill 6 or 7 people and an ADS will make a bee line for my position - this merc was smart, he looked at the range and figured me out. Depending on how many good spots there are on that map, I'll either respawn and go to a new perch, or I'll start stabbing people (no point returning to the same spot now that this guy knows where I am - as soon as he sees me in the killfeed, he'll be right back to kill me again).

Did the range reduction hurt? Yes, on a few maps. Spine Crescent, most notably. I don't snipe in the redline on that map, and I used to be able to reach the redline snipers on the other side from my favorite perches. Now I can't. Most maps, though, like Ashlands (where the only good spots to snipe from ARE in the redline, on either side of the map), 400m is plenty and if I get countered by an Ishukone from 430m, i'll pull out my own Ishukone and put an end to the enemy sniper's run, then carry on.

What's crippling is the max ammo reduction on the Charge. The clip size doesn't hurt, it's the miniscule amount of reserve ammo in a meta where only headshots = kills. You don't have enough ammo to take out equipment spammed in high places with the Charge and you don't have enough to settle for consecutive bodyshots. Every shot has to be a kill.

For that reason, I've been using the Ishukone more frequently. A headshot and a bodyshot followup finishes all but the toughest tanked heavies, and it's got the clip size and the ammo reserves to make this viable.

Anyway.

TL;DR: Motherfuckers aren't even in the redline, you're just too lazy or too stupid to find them.