| Camouflage This is probably the most neglected aspect of CS I've come across, while it goes hand in hand with cover, I feel it deserves its own section. A successful sniper is felt, but not seen. When a new map starts or you're joining a server, think about the colors associated with the level. Are there a lot of shadows? Boxes? Bushes? What can types of cover will I be using and where will I be taking the majority of my shots? Then choose your uniform accordingly. I see a bunch of bullshit thrown around by clans who are hoping to derive some form of unity by dressing alike and hoping to scare their opponents by appearing to have an overwhelming force of similarly clad idiots. If I was ever going to be frightened of a player or a clan, it would be because they possessed significantly superior skill to my own, or managed to hold together some form of strategy rather than charging in to a firefight and hoping things came out for the better due to sheer numbers or ping times. So rather than being an idiot, how about we think first and choose wisely. Now because we can all match colors I feel that going into which player skin would be best for which maps would be pointless. So with those words of advice, I leave it up to you the player to choose which uniform is best suited for the job. The Types of Target In this section we'll discuss basic tactics of attacking different types of targets, what type of cover to use and what risks are associated with each target. As an avid chess player I see an analogous situation with strategies employed in counter-strike and in chess. When learning to play chess I wanted to perfect my opening game, I thought by mastering the weirdest opening possible I could throw my opponent by simply freaking them out with something they hadn't seen before. The parallel here is I see new counter-strike players trying all these advanced strategies in situations where they aren't appropriate and being slaughtered. I solved my chess problem and consequently my counter-strike problem (although the overlap was unbeknownst to me at the time) by mastering the basics first. Then it was easier to develop my own strategies and carry them out effectively. Once you master the basics you can better see where an advanced strategy would apply as well as the strengths and weaknesses inherent to it. I will put out an advanced sniper strategy system soon. It will be targeted towards the lone sniper, a two to three member sniper team, and full interaction in a clan situation. When the round is starting, or if (God forbid) you've been killed, think about whom your target will be. Are you going to be a counter sniper and help the members of your team try to breach a position of another team by picking off their sniper so he or she doesn't interfere with what your team is trying to do? Are you going to pick off the members of the opposite team who are trying to rush? Are you looking for one specific kill, like the VIP or a certain member of the other team? Perhaps you're the last member of your team left alive in a round, and you're trying to eliminate the last enemy? This choice will dictate what aspects you should consider when attempting to neutralize your target. Lets examine the first situation to start off. The first thing you should consider is the weapon strength of your opponent. They will be using a gun with equal or greater power than yours, with full or limited scope capabilities. This makes the decision of selecting a position with a good deal of cover paramount in the steps you take to neutralize your target. In this case, boxes may or may not do the trick. These guns can usually cut through a box like it wasn't even there. Granted, the box will soak some of the damage, and make it harder to get a clean shot of you, but your goal here is to take no damage, and maintain your position until your target is neutralized (there are ups and downs to this issue we'll discuss later). Your opponent cannot hit what they can't see, with any sort of scope the likelihood that they might spot you is greatly increased. That being the case, waiting for your target to become preoccupied with killing someone, or looking in another direction is the best time to take your shot if you're in his field of vision. If at all possible, maneuver yourself so you face your opponent from the side, and the majority of his attention is focused on the ground in front of him (i.e. not where you're hiding). Then take the shot at your leisure; if you miss, he'll spend the time you're reloading looking for you, assuming his position hasn't changed drastically you can probably pop him. Because all these guns make so much noise, you may find your position has been compromised, even if not, it's probably a good idea to move to a different location in case anyone witnessed your attack. Attacking rushers might be one of the easiest or hardest jobs you'll face. In contrast to attacking a sniper, your target may be highly mobile. Add the friendly fire setting and a couple of your buddies in the melee and you may find yourself in shit with not only your team mates, but also dead. People who rush have some huge disadvantages working against them; if you're smooth you can make all of the work for you. First and foremost, the weapons they'll use. Shotguns, pistols, sub machine guns, and rifles (usually with the scope disengaged). With the exception of the last choice, all these weapons are highly inaccurate at long distances and with out the scope the rifles aren't as accurate as they could be. Take advantage of this; put as much distance between your opponents and yourself as is possible with out sacrificing firing angle. As such cover is probably a non-issue due to the fact that any fire aimed at you will most likely miss. However be wary of counter-snipers who may wade in with the melee of the rushers looking to pick off snipers just like you. The second disadvantage is the fact that they're rushers. Which implies that they don't have much of a strategy working for them, and are relying on their pings or sheer numbers to save them. There is a unique identifier to the HPB rushers; you'll find their names at the bottom of the player listing, usually with a ratio that looks like 1/5. Hopefully due to your direct involvement. So, the question emerges, how do I take advantage of their stupidity? If you can't get a clean shot off during the melee wait around for the dust to settle, any rushers who are left will usually peek out from where they're hiding to see if they're in any grave danger. What they don't know is they can't always see their death coming. While they're looking around a corner or checking on a noise, go ahead and nail them. If you're hunting for targets in a melee, you can usually stay in the same position assuming you've killed everyone who's seen you after the melee have ended. Be warned though, if a rusher slips through your fingers, they can come up on you while you're in scope and grab an easy kill. g3/sg-1 cost: $5000 description: this terrorist auto-sniper rifle is auto-useless. -gun running VIP or single player hunting is hard. You have to avoid the members of the opposite team and focus on one entity. With a VIP it's a bit easier, they look different than anyone else on the team, they can't be hunting for you, and you've got an idea of where they're going. With one or two escape zones and some pointers from teammates on the route they're taking it'll be easy to stake out the appropriate spot and lie in wait. Due to the amount of armor they've got on you'll need either a head shot (not recommended if you're a HPB) or several to the chest. Which is why (shameless plug) I recommend using the G3. Hunting for a single player when all the other players are still active is probably the most difficult. He might look the same as all of this team mates, he may have an automatic weapon, grenades, and armor. If he uses them well it will make your job even more difficult. The first inherent problem in targeting one specific member of the opposite team is singling them out from the rest of the herd. Sometimes they may be wearing a different uniform from the rest of their team, but often cases people go with the default seal uniform. By placing your crosshairs on an opponent you can determine who they are and what kind of health they have left. But, as this takes a few seconds to resolve it will cost you precious exposure time, and it can be tricky keeping your cross hairs on them long enough to resolve a name. While I'd like to stress that hunting someone with a sniper rifle is a bad idea if they get wise to you following them, just one quick duck and turn maneuver is all it will take to send you packing. If you are hell bent on getting down in the trenches with someone, my advice is to use your secondary weapon due to the rate of fire is has, if you're packing a desert eagle, you have just as much power as a sniper rifle only its hand held. We'll get more into hunting in another tutorial. For anyone of these target classes its good to observe your target, when you're dead or if you're following them while still alive, is probably the best time to do this. Ask yourself some questions, do they check behind boxes? Do they know the "classic" sniper hiding spots? Are they relying on ping to save them? What type of weapon do they use and do they wear armor? Do they follow a set path once they spawn? Are they a rusher and as such will they likely have taken some damage? When you've developed a miniature profile of your target you may be able to predict his movements and adjust your position accordingly. Taking the Shot So, you've got an opponent setup right in your crosshairs, he's not even looking at you, things are golden and you're looking forward to the glory of another digit in your kills column. But what's this, he's moving around! He's not standing still! You can't possibly hit him now, can you?! Bullshit. If a target is running, jumping, strafing, ducking or any other verb you'd like to use, it's still possible to nail him. Taking a shot is pretty stressful, if you miss there's a chance the guy and whip around and nail you with a burst, and it will tip off anyone in the area as to your position. This is why I recommend the G3 to new and old users alike; if you miss with your first shot you stay in zoom and have a chance and neutralizing your target before you've got to run. Once you have a pretty good idea where your target will move or pause or look next, breath in, and on the exhale fire. Take stock of your surroundings, do you hear footsteps other than your target's? Is someone else firing in your general direction? Have you been spotted? Consider that before you make your shot, those factors will dictate when and if you shoot. You can also do a lot you direct where your opponent will look or what he'll do. I'm talking about grenades, smoke, flash bangs, or HE. Flash bangs in my opinion have limited value but can be useful. If you flash bang a target it has been my experience they they'll run around like idiots waiting for the blindness to wear off. If you're new to CS this will make hitting them harder because they won't have a predictable range of movement. HE grenades are much more useful. A simple tactic is to throw one good and away from your target, when it goes off and he sees he hasn't taken any damage, he might turn to look or go to investigate. Seize the opportunity and rain down upon him with great vengeance and furious anger (Pulp Fiction). Smoke grenades can work for this purpose Weapon Choice More experienced users, and those with lower pings can use the AWP or Scout with great success, they're both lighter than the G3 and the AWP packs more of a punch, however, they're both bolt action rifles and you come out of scope while you reload which can be very disorienting. The G3 being semi automatic, high caliber and in my opinion more accurate (although I exclusively use this guy for sniping, so I'm pretty proficient with it) makes for the better gun. There are those who would argue that you couldn't beat the AWP's one shot kill element, but I think the semi-automatic feature of the G3 more than makes up for that. Check out CS-Nation weapons info page for relevant stats. Of course these all means nothing if your especially good with one weapon. My advice, start up a LAN game, pick a gun and just play with it for a while, see how it effects your movement, speed and accuracy. We'll talk more about how to practice with in the next section. You can't be an effective sniper if you don't have the tools to do the job. Whenever I go out to snipe I make sure I have some variation of the following. The SG-1/G3 (max ammo) SIG or Desert Eagle (max ammo) Full body armor (with or with out helmet) HE Grenade Flash bang Night Vision (depending on the level) The one constant in my arsenal is the body armor. I really can't stress this enough, it separates the men from the boys in my opinion. They give you a second chance, if you make a mistake and get yourself into a firefight. So you've Been Spotted Well shit, you've been spotted and you didn't even manage to get a shot off. What are you going to do now? Assuming you've chosen your cover wisely for an escape route, you're probably not in such bad shape. If you've looked at my suggested practice routines you're probably proficient with changing your weapons quickly, this being the case, load up an HE grenade, or a flash bang and hurl it in the direction of your on coming opponent. He can have a few reactions, run away with or with out firing in your direction, he can run towards you, or he can be a moron and stand still. If you didn't get blinded with the Flashbang, pop up with your sidearm and pop off a few rounds. The sniper rifle is probably a bad idea, because you've attracted so much attention you'll need the rapid fire of your pistol to deal with any on coming targets. Once you've established your attacker is otherwise occupied, or dead, haul ass out of your area. I find it helps for me to run a for five seconds, turn and fire off a couple of rounds, then keep running, this process is especially effective if you've rounded a corner and your attacker can't see anything. When he hears the bullets hit the walls around him he can't assume you're blindly firing, for all he knows you're camping right around the corner waiting for him. This will give you a few more seconds to make your escape and hopefully come out alive. Staying Put or Keeping Mobile The eternal question for a sniper. Which is better? A) Finding an excellent camping spot, sticking with it and nailing anything that passes by, but risking a grenade, or ambush upon detection? B) Taking a shot and staying mobile, but risking a firefight with a sniper rifle or pistol while in transit to a new location? These aren't easy questions, and depending on what type of player you are, both may be really bad options. Personally, I like a mix of both; I may make a shot, and then vary my position slightly, but stay in the same general area. Usually I try to keep my old position in view in case someone spotted me on my previous shot so I can neutralize them when they come back looking for the easy kill. |
| SNIPING STRATEGY |