Sniper Scopes and Sniping Techniques

[Art Blade]

This is a little tutorial for snipers

Reference is M21 which appears to have the same scope as the PLA complement, the QBU88, what I called "mega-sniper". The scope only shows dots, no numbers... Apparently the distance between each dot equals 200m range. When I took out a guy in a house some 650m away, I had to use 3 and a fraction dots down the centre cross.

Most of the time I snipe from higher grounds, that means you need to subtract the height difference... like instead of three dots, only 2 if you fire downhill, or four if you fire uphill.

You aim more accurately the closer you are to the ground.

Stand: Only for action situations, like running away but wanting to shoot... Big recoil with real sniper rifles (M21, QBU88) Not the way of a sniper.

Crouch: Good for moving targets (enemies running around). Recoil doesn't matter, you'll need to look for your moving target anyway. Not the way of a sniper.

Prone: Now we're talking. Good for immobile targets (guard posts).
Use it with at least 300-400m distance to your target so it can't run at you with an assault rifle that might hit you when you least need it.

You will have almost no recoil.

Pull out your binoculars, train it on the target, then hit fire -- this will enable the laser pointer, returning the proper distance. The recorded distance will stay until you fire the laser again. Remember the distance, then check your scope for markers (if it has numbers, it's x100m. If there are only dots, it's most likely to be 200m per dot) Careful not to move your scope when you shoot and keep it on the target. Because:

If you hit, you'll see a red cloud. If you can see the body, check if it still moves, then shoot again for a kill.

If you missed: The shot will produce a cloudlet if you hit a surface, so keep your eyes peeled for that, and check if it was above or below your crosshair dot. Correct your aiming and wait for the target to pop up again (if you are like 400m away, they probably don't even hear your shot) or until it stops moving. Now kill.

Don't stay there! Move away after a few shots or the enemy will locate you.

If you can't hit your target with two or three shots, skip it! Leave your position, try a different location and a different angle. If you stay and shoot like mad until after 10+ rounds your target is down, if at all, you will be surprised and wondering where all the enemies came from that took you out without you ever knowing ;)

On a sidenote, sound travels slower than your bullet. I actually noticed that once in the game, I saw a guy shooting at me, saw the muzzle flash, heard the bullet zip past me, and only then I heard the shot  :)

Picture below: To the right of the second dot is a head I took out after taking that screenshot, I used that second dot :)

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Read more about the Lone Snipers mission during which the two following screenshots were taken.

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I didn't move the scope, that is exactly the hit position. I had gone prone in front of bunker #1 for that shot:

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[gvse]

Thanks for all the advice! I wasn't sure what kind of distance the dots covered; now I know!
The binoculars thing giving you precise distance is a nifty trick.

[Art Blade]

Cheers :)

I edited the first post, adding descriptions and a link for the pics used in it.

Sniping is the biggest fun in this game, I believe, apart from exercising own stategies.

[Art Blade]

Oh, added one more tip ("skip it, if you can't hit your target")

I know because I did it wrong myself. More than once. I was going like "Heck (bang) I'm going to take (bang) you (bang) out (bang) now (bang), I will kill you... (bang) ... where are you... there! (bang)  Now, take that! (bang) Damn, missed again... I'll get you when you stick your head... " BANG "?! What the frag was that? I'M FRAGGIN' DEAD?"  :D ;D

[PZ]

Excellent sniper tutorial Art - sniper activity is still my all-time favorite activity in games, and I enjoy setting up my target from afar.  Sounds like OFP2 is quite realistic in it's behavior.  In the example pic you provided it looks like you were aimed to the left of the head of the target - does wind have an effect on bullet travel, and if so, have you a wind speed indicator?

[Art Blade]

good question: The answer is no, the head is as big as the dot - you wouldn't have seen how small it was and that there was a head at all if I had aimed properly :) I did turn the dot on the head and then fired  :)

[fragger]

On a sidenote, sound travels slower than your bullet.

At last, someone modelled that properly. A tip of the hat to the devs for that one :-X

[Art Blade]

yeah, indeed :) The best way to experience travel of sound is a far away explosion, as you will see and hear during air strikes or artillery attacks. Shoot explosive barrels, for instance, that are pretty far away. You will see the explosion flash, then smoke emerging and spreading, and only then hear them set off  :) Impressive  :-X

[Art Blade]

Playing with the editor, I decided to do a 1,100 yards (1,000m) shot with a Model82A1 (NightOps) but I ran out of scope markers... needed to guess the distance and I was unable to see it (the big black vertical bar of the crosshair is thicker than the target at this range). But it worked :)

Don't worry about my team, they were trained for that. Plus, it was a training for my medic, who patched up my guys after every hit :) You can see he received orders to heal the wounded unit before I took the last screenshot  ;D

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[fragger]

I'm trying to make sense out of that first picture - is the pink, star-shaped thingy near the bottom where your target is?

[Art Blade]

I'm trying to make sense out of that first picture - is the pink, star-shaped thingy near the bottom where your target is?

Hard to spot the target, eh  ;D No, that is just the symbol of a laser, used to determine the exact range to the target, which is in the square in the middle. Compare it with the infrared view (2nd pic) which is "eyes on target" again. Look at the right side of that pic, see the white spots? Those are heat signatures of my men standing around. I have 4 men down there. 3  you can see, one is horizontally to the left of them, exactly in the middle of the pic, but lying flat on the ground (you hardly see the white because it is hidden by my crosshair's vertical bar). What you see to the left of the crosshair actually is the name tag with a yellow symbol, it is bigger than my men, even.


In case you are still confused, look out for the road as a signature in all three pics, follow it with your eyes, do that in all 3 pics :)
Compare now the first pic and the second, then the third, all have the same perspective (I didn't move my aim when taking those).

Tell you what, go to the gallery, even better, and go maximise the pic for more detail. The pics have been reduced in detail though, for saving server disk space and download speed purposes.

http://openworldgames.org/owg/forums/index.php?action=mgallery;sa=item;id=1582