Should I hear someone sniping at me?

[bfisher 561]

This might be a stupid question, but I'm new so please bear with me.

So I'm cautiously making my way through the hills a couple of clicks north of Cherno. Keeping to the trees. Keeping to a defilade position behind the hills. Basically just trying to avoid being seen by anyone.

All of a sudden I hear a couple of pops of gunfire in the distance. It's so far away, in fact, I can't even be sure I hear it. Then I hear a couple more. Louder, but still pretty far away. Keep in mind, I'm prone behind an evergreen tree in the middle of the woods. So I'm thinking, just stay here under cover while I try to decide my next move.

Next thing I know, I just keel over dead!

So my question is basically should I have expected to hear a *crack* of incoming near misses? Because I couldn't even tell that fire was directed at me.

[Josh225 129]

Usually you do hear a loud crack if the bullets are in your direction but if you get hit by a sniper rifle often you get hit and hear the shot after you're dead.

[kryvian 123]

yes you should have herd the other bullets landing near you, but if it was a supersonic sniper (most likely), then you don't hear it coming until it's too late.

[dallas 5195]

Depending on whether you hear the sonic boom or not, the bullet travels at 7-800m/s, while the blast from the barrel only travels at 342m/s. It's a bit like counting after you see the flash of a lighting. If you can count to three, before you hear the sound of thunder, it means the lightning struck one kilometer away.

ArmA's predecessor Operation Flashpoint said it best: "Once you see the flash, you're already dead."

Edited September 18, 2012 by Dallas

[puppetworx 474]

The 'crack' originates from the bullet not the gun, it is the result of a sonic boom which occurs when a suitably large object travels through air at over the speed of sound. You hear the crack as the bullet passes you, or comes close enough to you. The bang of course comes from the explosion of the cartridge within the gun. With most weapons the bang and crack arrive within a very short space of time. Sniper bullets travel at extremely high velocity and if they travel far enough the crack and bang may be separated by a few seconds of delay.

If you didn't hear the crack but did hear the bang this could be because the guy was hitting trees or the ground between you and him. Bullets that land short of you would produce a much quieter crack then bullets that pass you by, theoretically. I have experienced the 'lack of a crack' while being sniped at on occasion also and presume this is the reason why.

[Dalt0n 1]

i had the same happen to me but he got the hole server :(

[aggressivek 22]

If someone is sniping you, yes, you will hear it. It will usually be a loud crack that pretty much says someone is trying to kill you.

[sostronk 334]

I get a delay when Im shot. Like 10 seconds from when a bullet hits me until it registers damage. I don't know why. Its pretty much enough time to turn around and kill someone after they have "theoretically" killed me, which has happened.

[Mandalore (DayZ) 76]

If you can hear shots and you were moving (meaning that you were clearly visible to someone looking your way) drop down and start rolling towards all directions until you get to a place with adequate cover.

If someone is shooting at you full auto however, you're done for.

[dakilla187 28]

Sometimes ill just drop dead and not hear a thing, thats when I yell hack on the side server lol

[Kenti 16]

If someone is sniping you, yes, you will hear it. It will usually be a loud crack that pretty much says someone is trying to kill you.

best signature on these forums. have my beans.

[suKi 43]

When bullets are practically next to you at your feet you will hear this crack or if you are hit.

Some advise since you are new, the best thing to do if you hear shots and you are already running, keep running, zigzag just do dumb shit whilst running where you want to be/safe spot.

Stopping to prone is a great idea if you want them to have an easy shot regardless of if you were behind a tree they will just blindly shoot at you if they want the kill.

On another note. If you did not hear a crack you may have experienced a random glitch death and/or hacker.

[n'Zapador 20]

Nice trick:

Play around in ARMA II, this way you will learn a lot about what you want to know - like how different weapons do sound, distance to the one shooting, direction etc.

You will also get a chance to get some useful practice with different weapons, without using up all your hard earned ammo in DayZ.

[llodka 4]

Ofcourse, it's also possible that the shots fired prior to you dieing may have no relevance to the one(s) that killed you. ie - other people firing elsewhere.

[bfisher 561]

When bullets are practically next to you at your feet you will hear this crack or if you are hit.

Some advise since you are new, the best thing to do if you hear shots and you are already running, keep running, zigzag just do dumb shit whilst running where you want to be/safe spot.

Stopping to prone is a great idea if you want them to have an easy shot regardless of if you were behind a tree they will just blindly shoot at you if they want the kill.

On another note. If you did not hear a crack you may have experienced a random glitch death and/or hacker.

Yeah, I figured since I was in the middle of the forest and the shots sounded so far away it was safer to stay put.until I could figure out what's what.

[- Valkyrie - 89]

Sometimes you can hear an AS50 or M107 in the far distance, and by the time you think oh shit a sniper is up that hill side, the bullet arrives and gives the wall behind you a sloppy red paint.