My first experience sniping at night, and some tips for newbies to avoid being sniped

[hoorah (DayZ) 36]

Hey guys,

I always thought people who sniped in cherno and elektro were the biggest douches of all. After getting a chance to try it myself....my opinion hasn't changed. I never liked shooting people for the fun of it, I always preferred to stay hidden. A few days ago, I ended up killing a ghillied up guy with all the gear - NVGs, AS50, rangefinder - the works. I figured since with my play style I don't really come across these items, I'd give sniping the old college try. Since I've never done it, I figured I'd be sniped myself pretty quick anyway so no biggie.

I climbed up on top of an industrial building in cherno, and when I was ready to play, it was night. As in complete darkness. Gamma hacks helped some, but not significantly. Must have been a moonless night.

Anyway, I get out the NVGs and take a look around - wow, this is nice. I can actually see stuff. More importantly, I can see light sources. I'm sure you can see where this is heading - this is how I found my targets. At night, if you are looking for people, flashlights stick out like a sore thumb. Sure, flares and chemlights let you know a player is around, but with a flashlight I know exactly where you are and where you are looking.

Since the AS50 doesn't have night vision, I had to track my targets with the NVGs and wait until they stopped moving, aiming for the flashlight, or I had to track them until they moved into a somewhat lit area (flares, fires, etc). I didn't get any satisfaction over killing people that didn't know I was there. I don't much care for the number of kills I have. I actually feel bad that I ruined those people's day. However, the feeling of tracking that flashlight through the night, waiting for the perfect time to strike, was intense.

Since I couldn't use the rangefinder at night, I found distances to certain known positions of light sources and made estimations based on that . It worked okay, but wasn't perfect.

I ended up killing 4 people with the as50 and then I had had enough. No point in doing it any longer. I was about to get down when I heard someone coming up the ladder. Switched to my m4 just as he was getting off the ladder, we shot at each other, I won. Dude was loaded with tons of non-dayz items (radio, laser finder, soldier clothes, some other junk I had never seen before). He had the l85 with a thermal scope, but I left that there.

So, TL,DR;

Your flashlight gives your position away at night like no other. Flares tell me someone is in the area. Flashlights point me exactly to your location.

Flares eff up NVGs. Throw a few flares in an area and all I see is white.

If you don't want to be sniped, play on servers with nametags. They give away your position, yes, however, they are much more detrimental to a sniper trying to hide.

If you are smart enough to not use your flashlight, dont stop in lit areas (fires, flares, other peoples flashlights). If you want to loot or mess with your gear or type, do it in the dark.

If someone is shooting at you at night, run AWAY from the sniper points and light sources. It will change your range and hopefully the sniper has no re-zeroed.

I won't be sniping anyone anymore, however, hunting flashlights at night from ground level is my new favorite thing.

[[email protected] 300]

Since I couldn't use the rangefinder at night

Press N while looking through rangefinder. It will switch to night vision mode.

[hoorah (DayZ) 36]

Press N while looking through rangefinder. It will switch to night vision mode.

WHAT?!!? I'm just learning this now....wow. I'm an idiot.

Thanks though.

[hoorah (DayZ) 36]

One other thing - using your flashlight inside a building is still visible outside through the windows.

[IncognitoNico 71]

you have mt beans