Hello all, I go by Tactical_Marksman in BF2 and Selectedmarksman in Americas Army and the AWBansunset.com forums. Someone stole my callsign for BF2 :evil:
For those of you who bothered to read this, I offer a couple of the dirty little secrets I've learned so-far. I'll lead off with a T_M original Spec-Ops tactic and finish with a Sniper tutorial (not just a rehash of what I've read here so far).
===HAHO Evilness===
This is one of my personal favorite evil tricks in BF2. It's silent, sinister, and simple. HAHO stands for High-Altitude, High-Open parachute jumps. To do this trick all you'll need is a plane and a buddy, with both of you in Special Forces Kits.
You and your buddy will take one of your team's jets (or even better, hijack an enemy jet) and fly it near an enemy held flag. Now, nose up and hit the afterburners. Get to about 1500 or 2000 Altitude and both bail-out. Open your chutes as soon as possible. Fly in silently the rest of the way towards your objective under canopy, use your map as you won't be able to see the ground. Even if the enemy can see you on their maps due to UAV or Scan, they won't know where the **** you are. Spiral around the objective until you can see the target through the haze. Now it gets fun.
Flair your parachute (pull back to slow forward motion) and start dropping your C4 kits. They will continue to move forward some as they fall, just like bombs, so you may need practice aiming. Between you and your buddy, you should be able to saturate area around the flag. As you come in for final approach, hit the detonators. BOOM!!! You have just hit the LZ with as much firepower as a full artillery strike all at once. Any enemy infantry, technicals, or armor will be wiped out.
Land and capture the enemy flag, now that you have it all to yourself. Naturally, they'll come running once they get over their "WTF?!" moment, but you should be gone by then. If not, you can always call in an artillery strike to blow them to hell when they swarm the flag in an overreacting effort to recapture it. Keep your head down and just toss frags over your cover while all Hell comes down around you and pray. In this case, you and your friend may become casualties, but that's two friendly player lives that can eliminate two full artillery waves worth of enemy, with a flag capture to boot. God I love this stuff.
[EDIT: Oh, did I mention this is a great way to get your Para badge? ]
===High Body-count Sniping (how to):===
1) To kill your enemy you have to stay alive. Find sniper-hides that offer both concealment AND cover. THESE ARE NOT THE SAME. Bushes and wooden fences provide visual concealment but do not cover you from incoming fire in BF2. Shape, Shine, and Sillouette are your enemies. Stay prone, whenever possible and blend your form with nearby objects. If in a building, don't sit AT the window, sit back in the room. Your field of fire will be reduced, but you will be invisible to anyone but another sniper looking directly at you. Also, if you think you've been spotted DON'T MOVE. Movement attracts the eye, especially in a computer game. Slither into your positions and stay put, or an enemy sniper will put you away. If you pay attention to this fieldcraft, you can place yourself in the midst of a target-rich environment and not be discovered (such as near or over an enemy base). Target-rich environments are what will put your kill-count through the roof (40+ per round) but only if you are crafty enough to survive in them.
2) Now that you're thinking like a sniper, try thinking like a COUNTER-sniper. Look at the maps from the overhead views or walk them yourselves. Find all the obviouis sniper-roosts that provide huge fields of fire (usually with little cover or on exposed roof-tops). Now, look for non-descript areas that provide good fields of fire on Flag Objectives as well as THOSE locations. BF2 hasn't been out long, but people already know where to expect snipers and are using artillery, aircraft, and hand grenades to wipe out the obvious roosts. Be subtle, be patient, be prosperous. You may think you'll get fewer kills this way, but you'll live longer and help the team by eliminating enemy snipers. Nothing is more bittersweet than living long enough to run out of ammo as a BF2 sniper.
3) Use your scope first, then use it last. When you first crawl into your chosen hide, or even WHILE crawling into it, use your scope to glass over all possible sniper-roosts with line of sight on your location. Eliminate any threats. Once in place, use your eyes to scan for movement instead of dragging your scope all over the place. Only when you've detected a target should you go to scope to stalk him. Whenever you have a lull in targets, be certain to glass those possible sniper roosts again. If you give enemy snipers a chance to find you first, not only will you be killed but your hide will be compromised for as long as you play on that server.
4) Prioritize targets. Your first priority is always a target you can actually hit. Stationary targets that offer the largest sillouette are first priority. Depending on your relative altitude this may be either standing or prone without cover. Among these, enemy snipers are number one. If you are very, very close go for a headshot if you feel like it. Our best military snipers always aim for center-mass. You may have to use two shots to drop him, but two hits to center mass are faster than five or more misses to the head. If you have to engage a moving target, watch him until he feels safe enough to run in a straight line, especially if he's running directly toward or away from you. Whenever possible, shoot when the enemy is not looking in your direction or when they are exposed from multiple directions so as not to give away your position.
5) Control the recoil. I could be mistaken, but I believe sniping in BF2 is similar to that found in AA. You need to pull down with your mouse just slightly when you pull the trigger to keep the recoil from raising your shot. I've played with both the pull and free-riding-recoil methods and am much more accurate with the pull method so far (40+ kills per round). Also, watch for a yellow X to appear. This indicates a hit with any weapon, but can be a good training clue for you in sniping too. Also, only shoot when you have a shot. Don't unload rapid-fire as you will simply be flinging bullets. Acquire, fire, assess... Acquire, fire, assess...
...to be continued upon request.
For those of you who bothered to read this, I offer a couple of the dirty little secrets I've learned so-far. I'll lead off with a T_M original Spec-Ops tactic and finish with a Sniper tutorial (not just a rehash of what I've read here so far).
===HAHO Evilness===
This is one of my personal favorite evil tricks in BF2. It's silent, sinister, and simple. HAHO stands for High-Altitude, High-Open parachute jumps. To do this trick all you'll need is a plane and a buddy, with both of you in Special Forces Kits.
You and your buddy will take one of your team's jets (or even better, hijack an enemy jet) and fly it near an enemy held flag. Now, nose up and hit the afterburners. Get to about 1500 or 2000 Altitude and both bail-out. Open your chutes as soon as possible. Fly in silently the rest of the way towards your objective under canopy, use your map as you won't be able to see the ground. Even if the enemy can see you on their maps due to UAV or Scan, they won't know where the **** you are. Spiral around the objective until you can see the target through the haze. Now it gets fun.
Flair your parachute (pull back to slow forward motion) and start dropping your C4 kits. They will continue to move forward some as they fall, just like bombs, so you may need practice aiming. Between you and your buddy, you should be able to saturate area around the flag. As you come in for final approach, hit the detonators. BOOM!!! You have just hit the LZ with as much firepower as a full artillery strike all at once. Any enemy infantry, technicals, or armor will be wiped out.
Land and capture the enemy flag, now that you have it all to yourself. Naturally, they'll come running once they get over their "WTF?!" moment, but you should be gone by then. If not, you can always call in an artillery strike to blow them to hell when they swarm the flag in an overreacting effort to recapture it. Keep your head down and just toss frags over your cover while all Hell comes down around you and pray. In this case, you and your friend may become casualties, but that's two friendly player lives that can eliminate two full artillery waves worth of enemy, with a flag capture to boot. God I love this stuff.
[EDIT: Oh, did I mention this is a great way to get your Para badge?
]===High Body-count Sniping (how to):===
1) To kill your enemy you have to stay alive. Find sniper-hides that offer both concealment AND cover. THESE ARE NOT THE SAME. Bushes and wooden fences provide visual concealment but do not cover you from incoming fire in BF2. Shape, Shine, and Sillouette are your enemies. Stay prone, whenever possible and blend your form with nearby objects. If in a building, don't sit AT the window, sit back in the room. Your field of fire will be reduced, but you will be invisible to anyone but another sniper looking directly at you. Also, if you think you've been spotted DON'T MOVE. Movement attracts the eye, especially in a computer game. Slither into your positions and stay put, or an enemy sniper will put you away. If you pay attention to this fieldcraft, you can place yourself in the midst of a target-rich environment and not be discovered (such as near or over an enemy base). Target-rich environments are what will put your kill-count through the roof (40+ per round) but only if you are crafty enough to survive in them.
2) Now that you're thinking like a sniper, try thinking like a COUNTER-sniper. Look at the maps from the overhead views or walk them yourselves. Find all the obviouis sniper-roosts that provide huge fields of fire (usually with little cover or on exposed roof-tops). Now, look for non-descript areas that provide good fields of fire on Flag Objectives as well as THOSE locations. BF2 hasn't been out long, but people already know where to expect snipers and are using artillery, aircraft, and hand grenades to wipe out the obvious roosts. Be subtle, be patient, be prosperous. You may think you'll get fewer kills this way, but you'll live longer and help the team by eliminating enemy snipers. Nothing is more bittersweet than living long enough to run out of ammo as a BF2 sniper.
3) Use your scope first, then use it last. When you first crawl into your chosen hide, or even WHILE crawling into it, use your scope to glass over all possible sniper-roosts with line of sight on your location. Eliminate any threats. Once in place, use your eyes to scan for movement instead of dragging your scope all over the place. Only when you've detected a target should you go to scope to stalk him. Whenever you have a lull in targets, be certain to glass those possible sniper roosts again. If you give enemy snipers a chance to find you first, not only will you be killed but your hide will be compromised for as long as you play on that server.
4) Prioritize targets. Your first priority is always a target you can actually hit. Stationary targets that offer the largest sillouette are first priority. Depending on your relative altitude this may be either standing or prone without cover. Among these, enemy snipers are number one. If you are very, very close go for a headshot if you feel like it. Our best military snipers always aim for center-mass. You may have to use two shots to drop him, but two hits to center mass are faster than five or more misses to the head. If you have to engage a moving target, watch him until he feels safe enough to run in a straight line, especially if he's running directly toward or away from you. Whenever possible, shoot when the enemy is not looking in your direction or when they are exposed from multiple directions so as not to give away your position.
5) Control the recoil. I could be mistaken, but I believe sniping in BF2 is similar to that found in AA. You need to pull down with your mouse just slightly when you pull the trigger to keep the recoil from raising your shot. I've played with both the pull and free-riding-recoil methods and am much more accurate with the pull method so far (40+ kills per round). Also, watch for a yellow X to appear. This indicates a hit with any weapon, but can be a good training clue for you in sniping too. Also, only shoot when you have a shot. Don't unload rapid-fire as you will simply be flinging bullets. Acquire, fire, assess... Acquire, fire, assess...
...to be continued upon request.
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