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Breaking Standoffs, or how to bust the Girl Scout Camp.
It happens. You're outnumbered but not outgunned. Everyone decides to begin to pitch tents and break out marshmallows, or as we shooting sport fans know it, begin to dig in and create a standoff.
I myself hate standoffs. It's like a bunch of Scouts beginning to get the s'mores ready while they shoulder a CrossBow or a brass modded Titan, a beloved "sniper's rifle", and get the picnic blanket out. Screw this. We're Nerfing here!
There are many ways to break up the monotony that a standoff can bring, but also as many ways to get shot unnecessarily and look dumb in the process. As such, it takes a holistic approach, finding out conditions, making wise decisions, and carrying them out with a sense of confidence and assertiveness that would insure minimal chances of getting hit and called out, and maximum chances of turning a bunkering situation into explosive gun action.
* First off is the necessity to break the standoff as soon as you see it beginning to happen. Every minute you sit back and watch, muscles get cold, adrenaline stops flowing, and the pace of the game begins to make it's way down. Being astute to the movement and tactics of your opponent helps to detect when everyone is about to plant their butts down and camp.
* The simplest way to end a standoff is the suicide run. Just pop out of cover and book it straight to the source of contention. Do a couple of John Woo moves, and if you don't get a micro stefan to the face or torso, you're in and there! Trouble is, most of us would get a stefan to the face or torso. And many times, they hurt some.
* Then there are flanking maneuvers that create multiple distracting targets (that is, if you still have teammates left). Make them shoot at one or the other, and it's only a moment before they're within firing range of your weapon and sidearm.
* My preferred method to take out a sniper (or one who thinks that's what they're doing) is what I refer to as "human shield". That is, two players rushing headlong at the target, with the front player likely to take the hit, and the back player to make the kill. Even a multiple shot weapon would be hard pressed to take two players who are doing a shield type maneuver.
Here's my teammates Nelson and Josh demonstating the human shield. Dickheads, I didn't tell them to actually SHOOT me too. In the head.
Oftentimes, the planted player would panic when they see two targets rushing at them, knowing that shooting one would mean the other is right there.
Even better is if the two player team can move laterally in unison, presenting a moving human shield and back up player. Shoot that, sniper!
* Finally, if it's down to you vs. multiple targets who begin to set up camp, it is entirely possible to do an "OK Corral" type of walk-out approach, knowing that each of you have a shot at each other, mano-a-mano, or if it's multiple adversaries, mano-a-mano-a-mano-a-mano.
You do have a chance of dodging the dart (or darts) that's fired at you, but the opponent can also do the same with what you throw at them. The main objective is to break up the standoff. Having your weapons out, loaded, and primed makes for an exciting, if not painful, way to get the action going again.
Win or lose, breaking a standoff allows good, continual gameplay, and makes the overall game a blast. Of course, unless you actually LIKE bustin' out the bipod and throwing on some shrubbery on your head and putting on face paint. In which case there's not much I could do about that except maybe have another Vault before taking out the "sniper's nest".
It happens. You're outnumbered but not outgunned. Everyone decides to begin to pitch tents and break out marshmallows, or as we shooting sport fans know it, begin to dig in and create a standoff.
I myself hate standoffs. It's like a bunch of Scouts beginning to get the s'mores ready while they shoulder a CrossBow or a brass modded Titan, a beloved "sniper's rifle", and get the picnic blanket out. Screw this. We're Nerfing here!
There are many ways to break up the monotony that a standoff can bring, but also as many ways to get shot unnecessarily and look dumb in the process. As such, it takes a holistic approach, finding out conditions, making wise decisions, and carrying them out with a sense of confidence and assertiveness that would insure minimal chances of getting hit and called out, and maximum chances of turning a bunkering situation into explosive gun action.
* First off is the necessity to break the standoff as soon as you see it beginning to happen. Every minute you sit back and watch, muscles get cold, adrenaline stops flowing, and the pace of the game begins to make it's way down. Being astute to the movement and tactics of your opponent helps to detect when everyone is about to plant their butts down and camp.
* The simplest way to end a standoff is the suicide run. Just pop out of cover and book it straight to the source of contention. Do a couple of John Woo moves, and if you don't get a micro stefan to the face or torso, you're in and there! Trouble is, most of us would get a stefan to the face or torso. And many times, they hurt some.
* Then there are flanking maneuvers that create multiple distracting targets (that is, if you still have teammates left). Make them shoot at one or the other, and it's only a moment before they're within firing range of your weapon and sidearm.
* My preferred method to take out a sniper (or one who thinks that's what they're doing) is what I refer to as "human shield". That is, two players rushing headlong at the target, with the front player likely to take the hit, and the back player to make the kill. Even a multiple shot weapon would be hard pressed to take two players who are doing a shield type maneuver.
Here's my teammates Nelson and Josh demonstating the human shield. Dickheads, I didn't tell them to actually SHOOT me too. In the head.
Oftentimes, the planted player would panic when they see two targets rushing at them, knowing that shooting one would mean the other is right there.
Even better is if the two player team can move laterally in unison, presenting a moving human shield and back up player. Shoot that, sniper!
* Finally, if it's down to you vs. multiple targets who begin to set up camp, it is entirely possible to do an "OK Corral" type of walk-out approach, knowing that each of you have a shot at each other, mano-a-mano, or if it's multiple adversaries, mano-a-mano-a-mano-a-mano.
You do have a chance of dodging the dart (or darts) that's fired at you, but the opponent can also do the same with what you throw at them. The main objective is to break up the standoff. Having your weapons out, loaded, and primed makes for an exciting, if not painful, way to get the action going again.
Win or lose, breaking a standoff allows good, continual gameplay, and makes the overall game a blast. Of course, unless you actually LIKE bustin' out the bipod and throwing on some shrubbery on your head and putting on face paint. In which case there's not much I could do about that except maybe have another Vault before taking out the "sniper's nest".
More Tactics
To start off, I would just like to say that I havn't nerfed in the past two months or so. We really need to get a war together. However, some of these tactics are adapted from paintball, which I just played last weekend.
Camouflage = good
Duh.
I can't stress this enough. If you're in a fairly large environment, and wish to play the part of stealth at all, you will need camouflage. Not the new digicam crap, but basic tri-color. It works.
Teamwork is important, but not to the point of complete coordination. At any time, you should have a general idea of where every member of your team is, what they are doing there, what gun(s) they have, and what they can do with them.
Know your terrain. If you're in a place of decent cover, and have a fairly long-range weapon, you can defend it against up to three people for as long as need be.
Coming off of that tangent, always use cover. Any cover is better than no cover at all. ALWAYS.
Keep your weapon loaded, and ammo in an accessible pocket.
If you and your team are advancing on a known enemy position, it is best to split up into two groups and try to flank them, coming at them from two different directions. Also, when advancing, a leap-frog type movement would be advised, where one person goes ten feet up, takes up cover, and covers the last person while he moves up ten feet in front of him. Etc.
Diversions are great. Really. If you have one large force moving in, but send one person out with two autos to the complete opposite side, having him rush in screaming will A) scare the crap out of the enemies, and B) give you a generous portion of time to sneak in from behind and own them.
Know your environment. If you're going to be playing in dense woods, you would want to use a long-range rifle, such as a crossbow, singled AT2K, SM1.5K, etc...whereas if you're playing in a generally open, small space, you would want a high rof pistol, or medium-arm.
Crouching is good. Very good. It reduces the mass of the target you present the enemy by 30% or more, depending on how much you crouch.
Pick up ammo. You need it, and it limits the enemy's supply as well.
Take your time and aim.
Most of all, have fun. It's a game. I can't stand it when my clan members start screaming their lungs out at each other over whether a shot hit or not, or whether -this- was in the rules...
Chill. Have fun. Win.
Camouflage = good
Duh.
I can't stress this enough. If you're in a fairly large environment, and wish to play the part of stealth at all, you will need camouflage. Not the new digicam crap, but basic tri-color. It works.
Teamwork is important, but not to the point of complete coordination. At any time, you should have a general idea of where every member of your team is, what they are doing there, what gun(s) they have, and what they can do with them.
Know your terrain. If you're in a place of decent cover, and have a fairly long-range weapon, you can defend it against up to three people for as long as need be.
Coming off of that tangent, always use cover. Any cover is better than no cover at all. ALWAYS.
Keep your weapon loaded, and ammo in an accessible pocket.
If you and your team are advancing on a known enemy position, it is best to split up into two groups and try to flank them, coming at them from two different directions. Also, when advancing, a leap-frog type movement would be advised, where one person goes ten feet up, takes up cover, and covers the last person while he moves up ten feet in front of him. Etc.
Diversions are great. Really. If you have one large force moving in, but send one person out with two autos to the complete opposite side, having him rush in screaming will A) scare the crap out of the enemies, and B) give you a generous portion of time to sneak in from behind and own them.
Know your environment. If you're going to be playing in dense woods, you would want to use a long-range rifle, such as a crossbow, singled AT2K, SM1.5K, etc...whereas if you're playing in a generally open, small space, you would want a high rof pistol, or medium-arm.
Crouching is good. Very good. It reduces the mass of the target you present the enemy by 30% or more, depending on how much you crouch.
Pick up ammo. You need it, and it limits the enemy's supply as well.
Take your time and aim.
Most of all, have fun. It's a game. I can't stand it when my clan members start screaming their lungs out at each other over whether a shot hit or not, or whether -this- was in the rules...
Chill. Have fun. Win.
Lob Shots
The Lob Shot, or "What goes up, must come down--and hopefully kill someone."
With all the talk about ranges and other debates, most of our Nerfing consists of flat-line shots.
But you all know you've done it before. Your opponent or opponents are skirting around at the periphery of your weapon's effective flat range, and are just waiting for someone to make a move. It's beginning to reek of another standoff. So you gauge the conditions. You angle that barrel up a few degrees. Then you let off a dart into an angled trajectory, right at your target.
And you pray.
(Hey, everyone could use a prayer every now and then!
)
But it can, in and of itself, become a very effective outdoor technique, especially with the dawning of the newer breeds of Nerf blasters and variants going with multi-dart capability. Lobbing your shots with some basic guidelines in mind can prove itself to be an effective technique in outdoor combat.
Opponents bunkering down behind barricades? Have a teammate push an angle on them with a couple of straight-line shots, while you send a few tiny Scud missles into sub-low altitude trajectory, and catch them at a unique angle...darts raining from the SKY.
Back to the wind? Get that extra range you've always wanted by lobbing your darts up a couple 30 degrees and ride em on the wind.
Facing into the wind? Fahgetabboutit. A lobshot is counterproductive shooting into the wind. In fact, it'll reduce effectiveness, even in what might be considered a "light breeze" (5-10 mph), which is enough to negate any hoped-for advantage. Better to rush and do a couple of "John Woos" instead, and hope for the best.
Indoors? Well, if you have high ceilings, lobbing your shots may get you some desired results, but if not, you may have either stock suction micros stuck to the ceiling, or dents if using stefans. Watch out for those expensive ceiling fixtures!
Then again, if you're indoor warring with ball blasters, I think that bouncin' shots off the ceiling, and practically every other solid surface, is extremely cool, if not hilarious to watch.
Yep, lobbing isn't the normal way to go, but it can and does have a place as a viable tactic in your "bag of tricks", and to mix and match with your outdoor offensive strategy.
With all the talk about ranges and other debates, most of our Nerfing consists of flat-line shots.
But you all know you've done it before. Your opponent or opponents are skirting around at the periphery of your weapon's effective flat range, and are just waiting for someone to make a move. It's beginning to reek of another standoff. So you gauge the conditions. You angle that barrel up a few degrees. Then you let off a dart into an angled trajectory, right at your target.
And you pray.
(Hey, everyone could use a prayer every now and then!
)But it can, in and of itself, become a very effective outdoor technique, especially with the dawning of the newer breeds of Nerf blasters and variants going with multi-dart capability. Lobbing your shots with some basic guidelines in mind can prove itself to be an effective technique in outdoor combat.
Opponents bunkering down behind barricades? Have a teammate push an angle on them with a couple of straight-line shots, while you send a few tiny Scud missles into sub-low altitude trajectory, and catch them at a unique angle...darts raining from the SKY.
Back to the wind? Get that extra range you've always wanted by lobbing your darts up a couple 30 degrees and ride em on the wind.
Facing into the wind? Fahgetabboutit. A lobshot is counterproductive shooting into the wind. In fact, it'll reduce effectiveness, even in what might be considered a "light breeze" (5-10 mph), which is enough to negate any hoped-for advantage. Better to rush and do a couple of "John Woos" instead, and hope for the best.
Indoors? Well, if you have high ceilings, lobbing your shots may get you some desired results, but if not, you may have either stock suction micros stuck to the ceiling, or dents if using stefans. Watch out for those expensive ceiling fixtures!
Then again, if you're indoor warring with ball blasters, I think that bouncin' shots off the ceiling, and practically every other solid surface, is extremely cool, if not hilarious to watch.
Yep, lobbing isn't the normal way to go, but it can and does have a place as a viable tactic in your "bag of tricks", and to mix and match with your outdoor offensive strategy.
Sniping Tips
The Tactical Advantages and Disadvantages of Different Weapon Types
Basically, I'm going to go over the different weapons and how they are useful.
The list goes as follows:
Often having superior range over most other guns, single-shot pump guns can be highly effective at longer ranges than a lot of other guns.
A couple of them, the Titan, AT2K, and SM5K have been known to achieve ranges well over a hundred feet. They are also very accurate, more often than not. If the gun has a turret, the RoF (rate of fire) can be relatively good too.
The only glaring downside to them is the fact that the can sometimes eat up a lot of time with the need to pump them. One of the few guns that avoids this problem is the AT2K, requiring a mere four to five. The only other one besides that is the RoF which *can* be slow.
Overall, these are best suited to long to medium range fire fights.
Pump Gun: Multi-Shot
Sometimes achieving a rate of fire of ten rounds per second, these little buggers can be used as crowd control or other similar applications.
These guns usually don't have the best range or accuracy, but they make up for it in the sheer firepower they are granted with. A gun like the RF20 can blast out rounds fast enough that in close quarters, you don't stand much of a chance. The only problem with this is that they tend to empty out faster than you can reload.
There is a solution though.
Semi-automatic Nerf weapons are also in production, and they fire as fast as you can pull the trigger, meaning that you have more control over the RoF. A good example of such a weapon is the Hornet (or a Blastfire, I say Hornet because it is more well known among the newer members). It offers the semi-automatic firing, and you can also press a button to fire all six rounds at once.
These buggers have weaknesses too, more than the single shooters, in fact. For one, the priming time can be ridiculous. Another is the range and accuracy. Not exactly the best. Sometimes they're also bulky and cumbersome.
Overall, these are used best indoors or in close quarters.
Spring Gun: Single-Shot
These, in some cases, are even better than single-shot pump guns.
One reason is that they have a much faster priming time, meaning that you can get shots off much faster. Another is the fact that they are more reliable in combat (Nothing like an air leak to spoil the fun, am I right?).
The only thing is that they usually don't achieve the ridiculous ranges of the Titan and such, but then again, little more that a hundred-foot range is needed in battle.
For these, well, I'd always keep one on hand if I were you, even the sidearms get good ranges (hint hint, Nite Finder).
Spring Gun: Multi-Shot
These can be very useful sometimes.
The Maverick isn't half-bad, it's reliable, it can get relatively good ranges, and it has a commendable RoF.
The few problems these have are that they can be hard to modify, and that they don't get the ranges of their single-shot cousins.
Why not? Keep a Mav on you in case things get hairy.
Manual Gun: Single and Multi-Shot
In most cases these are better to stay clear of.
They have already seen their day come and go, but a few of them are still usable.
The Bn'A was a manual springer, and it got decent range and a relatively good RoF.
The Ballzooka may yet still be usable. It's a ball gun, so that means the ammunition will bounce off of walls, it has a wonderful RoF, and its range depends on your push/pull strength.
A bad manual gun is the Slingshot. It has almost no range or accuracy. 'Nuff said.
Overall, really, just don't bother.
Summed Up
Every type of gun has its advantages and its disadvantages.
In the same way that there is no best gun, there isn't a best type of gun.
Find what best suits you.
Basically, I'm going to go over the different weapons and how they are useful.
The list goes as follows:
- Pump Gun: Single-Shot
- Pump Gun: Multi-Shot
- Spring Gun: Single-Shot
- Spring Gun: Multi-Shot
- Manual Gun: Single and Multi-Shot
Often having superior range over most other guns, single-shot pump guns can be highly effective at longer ranges than a lot of other guns.
A couple of them, the Titan, AT2K, and SM5K have been known to achieve ranges well over a hundred feet. They are also very accurate, more often than not. If the gun has a turret, the RoF (rate of fire) can be relatively good too.
The only glaring downside to them is the fact that the can sometimes eat up a lot of time with the need to pump them. One of the few guns that avoids this problem is the AT2K, requiring a mere four to five. The only other one besides that is the RoF which *can* be slow.
Overall, these are best suited to long to medium range fire fights.
Pump Gun: Multi-Shot
Sometimes achieving a rate of fire of ten rounds per second, these little buggers can be used as crowd control or other similar applications.
These guns usually don't have the best range or accuracy, but they make up for it in the sheer firepower they are granted with. A gun like the RF20 can blast out rounds fast enough that in close quarters, you don't stand much of a chance. The only problem with this is that they tend to empty out faster than you can reload.
There is a solution though.
Semi-automatic Nerf weapons are also in production, and they fire as fast as you can pull the trigger, meaning that you have more control over the RoF. A good example of such a weapon is the Hornet (or a Blastfire, I say Hornet because it is more well known among the newer members). It offers the semi-automatic firing, and you can also press a button to fire all six rounds at once.
These buggers have weaknesses too, more than the single shooters, in fact. For one, the priming time can be ridiculous. Another is the range and accuracy. Not exactly the best. Sometimes they're also bulky and cumbersome.
Overall, these are used best indoors or in close quarters.
Spring Gun: Single-Shot
These, in some cases, are even better than single-shot pump guns.
One reason is that they have a much faster priming time, meaning that you can get shots off much faster. Another is the fact that they are more reliable in combat (Nothing like an air leak to spoil the fun, am I right?).
The only thing is that they usually don't achieve the ridiculous ranges of the Titan and such, but then again, little more that a hundred-foot range is needed in battle.
For these, well, I'd always keep one on hand if I were you, even the sidearms get good ranges (hint hint, Nite Finder).
Spring Gun: Multi-Shot
These can be very useful sometimes.
The Maverick isn't half-bad, it's reliable, it can get relatively good ranges, and it has a commendable RoF.
The few problems these have are that they can be hard to modify, and that they don't get the ranges of their single-shot cousins.
Why not? Keep a Mav on you in case things get hairy.
Manual Gun: Single and Multi-Shot
In most cases these are better to stay clear of.
They have already seen their day come and go, but a few of them are still usable.
The Bn'A was a manual springer, and it got decent range and a relatively good RoF.
The Ballzooka may yet still be usable. It's a ball gun, so that means the ammunition will bounce off of walls, it has a wonderful RoF, and its range depends on your push/pull strength.
A bad manual gun is the Slingshot. It has almost no range or accuracy. 'Nuff said.
Overall, really, just don't bother.
Summed Up
Every type of gun has its advantages and its disadvantages.
In the same way that there is no best gun, there isn't a best type of gun.
Find what best suits you.
