Sniping for the Layman

[AshleyP 121]

I've been playing this game since it was called Operation Flashpoint - back then it had Russians instead of zombies - and so I approach it more as an infantry combat simulator with zombies, which means that I kill every living thing that comes near. I've generally moved to the standalone now, so I barely touch the mod any more.
 
You know, I'm not a good shot, I have no inclination to learn about the mildot system, I don't play computer games professionally, but I find that the lessons of Sun Tzu's The Art of War can be applied to computer games, so that even a nobody with no skills can kill and kill again. This post is not an opportunity to laugh at dead people and I'm certainly not trolling just out of boredom because the weather is poor (cough) besides which, the screenshots are months old.
 
1. "Sun Tzu said: The good fighters of old first put themselves beyond the possibility of defeat, and then waited for an opportunity of defeating the enemy. To secure ourselves against defeat lies in our own hands, but the opportunity of defeating the enemy is provided by the enemy himself. ... The general who is skilled in defense hides in the most secret recesses of the earth; he who is skilled in attack flashes forth from the topmost heights of heaven."



Sniping is essentially a form of active defense; in DayZ "he who is skilled in attack" has a helicopter and some teammates. Defense essentially involves making yourself invulerable and then letting the enemy kill himself. The dockyard cranes are as near to invulnerability as you can get in this game without cheating. They're essentially armoured, elevated bunkers. They're generally close to good loot spots, which are a powerful lure, they're impossible to assault, the zombies can't get up there, and in the spot above you can see (a) the woodyard (bee) the warehouses © the town and the field beyond (d) the helicopter spawn point. And no-one can see you. It's great! You just wait until zombies start spawning in one of those spots, and then wait for the enemy to kill himself against one of your bullets.
 
2. "By discovering the enemy's dispositions and remaining invisible ourselves, we can keep our forces concentrated, while the enemy's must be divided."
 
It's tempting to hang your rifle out of the window and fire off potshots at anybody who comes along. Don't. If you miss, you lose the element of surprise; I can't count the amount of times I fired on someone and, as if by magic, they vanished, because they combat logged. Unless you can hit and kill the target reliably and in a single blow, don't fire. Don't ever speak. "He who exercises no forethought but makes light of his opponents is sure to be captured by them." From the target's point of view, they are running around and then suddenly YOU ARE DEAD. There was also a small number of targets that didn't die, even though I plugged them full of bullets; in which case it's time to log out, because you can't beat hackers.
 
But what about multiple targets? On several occasions I engaged squads. One typical track in the game is to drive up to these warehouses in a Humvee or jeep and loot them. Usually someone hangs around at the jeep whilst the other guy loots. Wait until they're separated and then shoot the overwatch and then wait to see what the looter does. Consult the following screenshots:
 

 


Taken two months apart on the same server. I have no idea what the "1, cease fire" message means. In both cases the targets attempted to counter-snipe after I had killed their comrades, but sadly they had no idea where I was, because I shot sparingly. It's entirely possible that you might end up sitting in that crane for long periods doing nothing, because the looter logs out; but otherwise you would spend long minutes running through forests. Imagine the fear those players felt, when they suddenly realised that the jeep they were counting on for safety had become a death trap and their friends were dead. When they realised they were trapped in a warehouse with a killer outside. That is your reward.
 
3. "If we wish to fight, the enemy can be forced to an engagement even though he be sheltered behind a high rampart and a deep ditch. All we need do is attack some other place that he will be obliged to relieve."
 
This is the funniest one. Players get upset when their friends are killed. Which is hilarious. And understandably so. Considering the following two screenshots:
 

 


Jon seems to have been a five-year-old child; he was helpless, and I think I shot him twice in the space of a couple of months. In the first screenshot he was providing "overwatch" for a looting session, not that it did much good. His friend drove off, and then drove back, and ran around in circles for a few minutes in order to flush me out. But because I was mindful of lesson (2) above I did nothing, so he decided to countersnipe by getting into a crane. I think in the end I shot at him, but the shot hit the ladder - and in a panic he ran off the edge of the crane and died. Thus "the general, unable to control his irritation, will launch his men to the assault like swarming ants, with the result that one-third of his men are slain, while the town still remains untaken."
 
4. "Making no mistakes is what establishes the certainty of victory, for it means conquering an enemy that is already defeated."
 
I am a thoroughly mediocre gamer, reason being that I play computer games for entertainment; they are not my life. Probably the most famous of Sun Tzu's maxims is "if you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles. If you know yourself but not the enemy, for every victory gained you will also suffer a defeat. If you know neither the enemy nor yourself, you will succumb in every battle."
 
In my opinion Sun Tzu is wrong. I'm reasonably sure that Roger Federer knows his opponents as well as themselves, but still he loses, because skill is important, and skill comes from practice and natural talent. You can mitigate a lack of practice and natural talent by being smart, taking the easy shots, waiting. I did quite well in Aces High II despite owning a crappy joystick and no fancy headgear, simply by knowing my plane back to front and attacking from unexpected directions and never letting the red mist cloud my mind. I was a terrible shot so I only fired at close range or when the target's apparent motion was static.
 
Contemplate the following:
 

 


In the top screenshot I've killed a man called Jack (the other kill was coincidental). In both screenshots the targets ran around like ants for a minute or so beforehand. I could have tried a deflection shot; at this range I probably wouldn't have missed. With practice and training I could have used the mildots to estimate the correct deflection, but what if they suddenly jinked? So I waited until they were static. If they had kept moving I would not have fired.
 
5. "A kingdom that has once been destroyed can never come again into being; nor can the dead ever be brought back to life."
 
Sun Tzu was also big on variation. The above screenshots are months old; I no longer use that spot. It's dead now. I can't think of a practical way of assaulting it - short of silently spawning just beneath it with a satchel charge, setting the charge, and then swimming away - but it can be neutralised with covering fire, and of course hackers can have you. There are other sniping spots; the trick is to find somewhere that has cover, that you can observe, that isn't obvious, and that actually has targets. For example, there's a clump of rocks in a forest on the western edge of the map, overlooking the road that goes up to the north-west corner of the playfield - you know the spot - but it's frustrating because almost no-one goes there, and the few targets that present themselves are cars driving at speed. Only engage cars when they are moving directly towards or away from you, because that way you don't have to deal with deflection.
 
So, if you've learned one thing from this sermon, it's that shrewdness can compensate for a complete lack of humanity and talent - which was also the lesson of Barry Lyndon - and... really, that's a powerful lesson for real life as well. It's why Kim Dotcom is richer than you, it's why Alex Chilton died poor. Of course, Kim Dotcom would have been richer if he had split before the FBI decided to make an example of him; he's still very rich, but you have to wonder what kind of reception he would have if he went to prison, and I imagine that preys on his mind. The other prisoners would treat him like a particularly comfortable sofa. With that mental image I bid you goodnight.

[gannon46 788]

so your saying if you suck at combat hide in the shadows like a coward and use a sniper rifle. thx for ruining art of war for me.

[leviathanapsu 94]

so your saying if you suck at combat hide in the shadows like a coward and use a sniper rifle. thx for ruining art of war for me.

Hey. You know who usually call the stealthy people cowards? Dead people.

[AgainstAllAutority 126]

nice post, thanks!

 

However I consider snipers who can only hit non-moving (slow moving etc) targets bad... thats why I'm always in enforcer squad (im even worse sniper then you - impatience) with cover  of 1-2 extreemly skilled snipers, who can kill a rabbit from 500 meters :)

[gannon46 788]

Hey. You know who usually call the stealthy people cowards? Dead people.

I guess you could say that I actually would like more fighting mano a mano I used to just get into gun battles a lot honestly it got boring to me but I might give it another whirl again. unlike OP I don't follow the art of war I try to follow the big boss mantra and use stealth and the ability to fight in CQC and medium range. honestly I like stealth/avoidance for the simple fact that both parties get to live. I don't die and they possibly don't have to die because all player interaction result in death 99.8 percent of the time. And I actually used to fell bad just shooting folks I usually would start with the intention of killing then they would just be maimed and I would have to help them I felt like an asshole like a piece of shit. hope that sums it up atleast from my perspective for you. Call me a coward all you want at least more folks survive the way I play as of now. Not talking like I'm a badass I would probably get fragged more then they would who knows.

[Jayz1331 62]

i quite liked this post, i know now a days people call them self a sniper when they hold an m24 or DMR but always seem to rush to fire a shot, more often than not then getting themselves into a gun battle wasting ammo, i like the way you described it all, sniping comes down to patience and timing waiting for the person to stand still long enough to pull off the kill shot.

[geryon 180]

My only concern with the cranes is that there is no egress outside of jumping or stairs.  If you are spotted it's going to be a waiting game especially against a good counter sniping team.  It's also not a dead spot for zombie spawns so that will give you away to a good counter sniping team.  I'm not saying you do but logging out from the crane especially if you know a team has spotted you yet you are not in combat (technically not combat logging) is a easy way out (not a fan if this is an out).

 

A few good sniper teams on US 434 follow these rules:

Work in 2 man teams.  

One guy has an LMG plus sniper rifle for security and spotting and the other takes the shot.  

More then one option of escape.  That means going up in a building has to have more then one exit (ladders don't count as exits).  This typically eliminates any man made structures.  

Sniping location must not spawn zombies.

Once the shot(s) is taken and the kill is made they leave to set up another spot

Travel only on foot or with bikes (silent and fast)

Don't get greedy

[Karmaterror 982]

This is a pretty good guide. Only thing I disagree with is that hiding in the cranes is a good idea. Because they are man made you stick out in the ghillie whenever you move say...past a window...or take a peek over something. Personally id feel so much more exposed up there than in a tree somewhere. Theres a lot to be said for concealment over cover :)