Awhile back, I did some scratchpad figuring on how travel time and bullet drop would affect the performance of Sniper Rifles. At the time that I posted this, I didn't have the stats in front of me.

I felt that it was important to go back and redo the math using the maximum range (just under 600m) and velocity (a bit over 2,500m/s) from the actual weapons in question to have a clean discussion about SRs.

Travel time to 600m at 2,500m/s is 0.24s (~1/4 second).

In that time, a sprinting Militia Scout dropsuit (7.8m/s) can move 1.872m. While other suits sprint more slowly, all of them could move more than enough to cause a miss.

Bullet drop at a range of 600m would be about 0.28m (a bit less than a foot).

--- So my question becomes, is this how they are performing? ---

• Does a long-range (>300m) shot have a travel time of more than 1/10 of a second?
• If you fire long-range at the current position of a fast moving dropsuit, does the shot hit behind it on arrival?
• Does a long-range shot hit slightly below the point of aim?

If not, then the Sniper Rifles are not working as described. If they are not working as described, then they should be made to do so or the descriptions should accurately reflect how they work.

However, given the limitations of our bodies and equipment, I'm not sure how to test this accurately. Here's the best I've come up with so far:

{Bullet Drop Test} The easiest, I guess, is to test bullet drop. We can test this by having two snipers looking at the same inanimate object (behind the redline to avoid interference) and using voice comms. If Sniper A is aiming at a particular point on the object (say the fourth ladder rung), then Sniper B should see the impact slightly below the rung.

{Travel Time Test} Patsy C in a Scout suit runs along a very predictable path (again behind the redline), say along the edge of a platform. Snipers A & B zero in on him. Sniper A fires at C just as his reticle turns orange. If working correctly, Sniper B should see the impact just behind C.

I have experienced things ("shoot the chevron" for instance) that suggest to me that this is how they are working, but I haven't been able to test it with other people in a non-combat situation. Has anyone done any tests with the recent builds?