Astromici's guide to shooting sniper rifles.

[Astromici]

Updated for 0.87


1/4/2010 Guide fixed for PR 0.874, addedum for Marksman added, addedum for spotter and team efficiancy.






Astromici's guide to the sniper rifle

Table of Contents:
1:Introduction
Section two on ping removed with BF2 Patch 1.5
3:Aiming
3a:Sights
3b:Zoom
3c:Stance
3d:Sensitivity
4 ynamics
4a rop
4b:Speed
5:Rifles
5a:M40
5b:L96
5c:L115
5d:M24
5e:SSG-P1
5f:Lee-Enfield
Addendum #1: The Marksman kit
Addendum #2: Working with a spotter/medic
6:Conclusion
7:Contact



1:Introduction

This guide is intended to teach you how to fire PR's sniper rifle as well as be useful to the team. Key point to know:

Deviation: The space between the the center of your scope and the place where the projectile goes.
In simpler terms, how good your aim is.

3: Aiming

I'll start with the basic laws of sniping: After moving, any sort of movement, whether you've ran 500 meters or crawled two feet, you have to wait 8 seconds not moving while holding the scope at least relatively still. It's move your scope while still maintaining near-perfect. After each shot, you must wait four seconds before taking the next shot. If you press your main weapons key (3), you can hear the breathing sound which is about 8 seconds long; useful as reference for how long to hold your rifle steady.

3a:Sights

Do not trust the rifle's "Mil-dots". Each screen is different for each set of settings. The only true point on the scope is it's center. I've heard the M40A3 praised for it's sights, which are realistic. However, I can't guide you on using Mil-dots. What is possible, however, is to use each aiming bar as a reference point. For example: If there's a walking target, I should fire when he reaches the second bar on the left. For each game, you have to get a feel for where to aim at due to variations in ping and other factors. I can't advise you any farther, due to the wide, wide variety of systems out there.

3b: Zoom:

Some Coalition sniper rifles have two levels of zoom. Each level of zoom is useful for it's respective range. However, keep in mind that during the first level of zoom, moving your scope will cause a greather increase in diviation than if you were doing it during the second level. Instead, you should use the first zoom level to scan for targets, and to track a moving target(s) until an opportunity presents itself. The second level of zoom should be used to fire not to track targets. You will not gain any deviation by zooming in and out of the rifle.

3c: Stance

Your accuracy over long distances is severely affected by stance. Over short distances, however, it's possible to crouch and fire with considerable accuracy, provided that you follow the basic guidelines of movement (See section 3). Lowering your stance will immediatly decrease deviation, but going prone will increase it for a short time. Despite that, prone is the most accurate due to bipedal support.

3d: Sensitivity

In PR, "twitching" is discouraged. Any fast, sudden movements will raise deviation, so it's not the best idea to rapidly move your mouse. In the settings for the controls, there's an option to change the sensitivity for the cursor. For the standard 800 DPI mouse, I recommend a setting of 0.20 . A mouse with a DPI any higher shouldn't be used for sniping.

4: Dynamics:

Deviation is how well the projectile impact will match to the aimpoint. The minimum possible deviation for PR sniper rifles is 0.1, so it's not 0. This has minimal effect, because over a distance of 600 meters, you still won't deviate quite enough to have too high a chance of missing. Damage, however, will be reduced as the bullet slows down. Up at close range, a shot to anyplace will kill or severely injure. Upwards of 400 meters, the bullet will NOT kill except for headshots.

4a: Drop
Sniper Rifles ARE zeroed at 600 meters, however, it's best advised to aim at the very peak of the head due to the engine rendering your targets a fraction lower than they really are in the game world. The projectile never drops more than 1 inch from the aimpoint.

4b: Speed
Bullets cannot travel at infinite speed, because the time it takes for electronic information to circulate around your computer is "infinitely" longer than 0. There cannot really be a calculative measure for bullet speed, due to differences in ping. Bullet speed DOES increase of distance, but it's best to simply make an educated guess for wherever you're shooting.

5: Rifles:

In PR, each coalition sniper rifle has the exact same ballistics, zoom, recoil, and they all fire the 7.62mm NATO round. However, the differences end there.



5a: United States Marine Corps: M40A3
This rifle is made from the Remington Model 40x. It's the standard sniper rifle used by the USMC.

Sound: Quiet
Zoom: 2 levels.
Scope: Marked

Comment: Excellent for moving targets due to scope.

5b: People's Liberation Army: L96A1
The Accuracy International Arctic warfare Rifle is a world-class rifle that can operate in extremely cold temperatures. In PR, the People's Liberation Army uses it as their primary sniper rifle.

Sound: Quiet
Zoom: 2 Levels
Scope: Very Thin

Comment: Silent long range rifle.

5c: Great Britain: L115A1
The Accuracy International Arctic Warfare Magnum is a modified version of the L96. It's used by the British Armed Forces as their primary sniper rifle. It also has the ability to chamber larger rounds, much like the M24.

Sound: Loud!
Zoom: 2 Levels
Scope: Very Thin

Comment: Loud Extra Long Range Rifle.

5d: United States Army:M24 Weapons System
Also crafted from the Remington Model 40x, it has the ability to use .300 winchester in addition to the 7.62 NATO limit that the M40 has.

Sound: Alright
Zoom: Two levels
Scope: Good

Comment: Excellent all-purpose rifle.

5e: Middle Eastern Coalition:SSG-P1
The Steyr SSG 69 P1 is the main sniper rifle used by the Australian Army.

Sound: Alright
Zoom: One level
Scope: Good

Comment: Due to the one level zoom, this weapon works best with a spotter. It's scope is slightly thinner then the M24's. It is a very fine, very accurate weapon.

5f: Taliban Scoped Lee-Enfield
An old scoped rifle from WW2, it can be counted as a “true” sniper rifle.

Sound: Loud
Zoom: ?
Scope: Excellent.


6: Conclusion
Sniper Rifles are the most accurate weapons in the game. They have a minimum deviation of .1, meaning the shot will deviate .1 meters every hundred meters. Certain Sniper Rifles have different capabilities, different ranges.. It would be wise to work as a spotter, or to practice in PR SP. It's a good idea to ask for advice from a more experienced sniper whenever possible.

Addendum #1: The Marksman Rifle

Marksman rifle vary greatly, but they are highly accurate weapons. My recommended range for use of the Marksman rifle is UNDER 400 m, as the victim's head can become smaller than the aimpoint above that range. The best accuracy in achieved under that range. However, be aware that shots upwards of 600 m have been reported to hit. It takes the marksman 4 seconds to get ready to shoot and 2 seconds between each shot.

THE ROLE of a marksman is to STICK WITH THE SQUAD and provide accurate fire support. Treat the role of marksman as you would treat the role of a ordinary rifleman. Follow orders, don't fall behind, and build stuff when asked to. However, try to stay to the rear of the squad when moving, as you need the most time to deploy and have the least close-range capability. The marksman should be the person to look behind while everyone else looks ahead.

Addendum #2: Spotters Snipers are recommended to work with spotters, as a spotter can provide a more realistic experience as well as do all the work of team communications. For the purposes of simplfication, I will divide this section into the roles of each person. Note that the primary tasks are the immediate priority, while the secondary tasks are simply things that need to be performed if there is no one to perform them.

Primary member: Sniper
Primary Tasks: Shooting the target
Secondary Tasks:
Communication with the team and commander to provide neccesary information.
Lasing targets for imminent destruction
Accesing range and placing target markers.

Secondary Member: Officer
Primary Tasks:Communication with the team and commander to provide neccesary information.
Lasing targets for imminent destruction
Accesing range and placing attack markers
Spotting targets
SETTING A RALLY POINT

Secondary tasks:
Cycling the sniper's kit in case of death
provide bandages
accesing the situation and calling for support if needed
Close range support

Secondary member: Medic
Primary tasks:
Ensured survival of sniper team
MAINTAINING A 360 DEGREE AWARENESS OF THE IMMEDIATE SURROUNDINGS, including enemy snipers, squads, HAT personnel.

Secondary Tasks:
Cycling kits
Spotting targets
Communicating with the team in order to provide neccesary information.



7:Contact
Post or PM me if you have any questions or comments.
Xfire:Astromici

Credits:
Astromici: Writing the guide
Special Thanks to the PR Dev team for creating the sniper rifle. And I suppose PR is a good game too.

[Havoc134]

The only part of this guide that does not make much sense to me is the section on the ping. Ping has nothing to do with tempurature, range, or humidity, it is simply a measure of the quality of your connection to the game.

[McBumLuv]

Well, Rhino's actually said that Ping is what affects deviation, as well... Or something like that.

[Cassius]

The only part of this guide that does not make much sense to me is the section on the ping. Ping has nothing to do with tempurature, range, or humidity, it is simply a measure of the quality of your connection to the game.

He just wanted to add atmosphere.

[Astromici]

Thank's for commenting-edited for claritry.

[KSorrow]

Looks nice.

["SJT"]

Basically what you are saying about the ping is, if the target is running, aim further in front of him if a high ping, but considering nobody would have a ping above 1000. It's won't make much difference.




You also forgot the earths rotation, equator and gravity depending where you are in relation to the equator. Packet loss maybe?

Na mate, oj.

nice guide

[KSorrow]

Basically what you are saying about the ping is, if the target is
You also forgot the earths rotation, equator and gravity depending where you are in relation to the equator. Packet loss maybe?

Lol.
But that would be more realistic
No. really.
...
But that with the ping is a little bit important. But mostly for close combat.

["SJT"]

Well. When playing sniper I tend to avoid close quarter combat as much as possible.

If it comes down to it. Knife, pistol and f*cking leg it.

No time to adjust for ping haha.

[goguapsy]

You also forgot the earths rotation, equator and gravity depending where you are in relation to the equator. Packet loss maybe?

someone has watched shooter recently, ammi right?


btw Astromici, I remember when you asked "the point of a sniper in PR". Yes, IT IS MY SIG! link there if you want to refresh your memory!

good guide, but lets suppose you know your ping... does the tweaking affect anything at all? if YES, shouldn't everyone (including normal infantrymen) use it?
thanks, and cheers!

[McCree]

I find the marksman kit to be most useless kit of them all. Haven't had a single game where a marksman in my squad would have been useful. They cannot do CQC well plus their weapon is inferior to the normal rifleman's scoped assault rifle.

At least snipers can laze targets if needed. (though i don't like to have them in my inf squad either)

[TheLean]

I find the marksman kit to be most useless kit of them all. Haven't had a single game where a marksman in my squad would have been useful. They cannot do CQC well plus their weapon is inferior to the normal rifleman's scoped assault rifle.

At least snipers can laze targets if needed. (though i don't like to have them in my inf squad either)

The marksman is so underappreciated. I can see why SL dont want them since the kit sometimes makes squadmates wander too far away from the squad, essentially becoming rambos. But boy can those rifles kill! Usually one shot is enough and the targets is dead and they can hit up to view distance on some maps if you know how to acount for the bullet drop. It seems to me like the marksman rifles of certain factions works better than others. I have never had any luck with the british, but the m21 is a great bolt action rifle. The chinese works fine too, as do the SVD. Supposedly all marksman rifles have the same values for deviation and drop, so its probably placebo anyway. Btw, forget about the below 600 m no drop for marksman as stated in the manual, it is simply not true anymore.