Snipers

[Rob88]

Is it worth using snipers and hunting rifles.

 

They have low damage (or at least the ones I have do), and there's no way to put a sniper on a roof or up a tower to have a good vantage point.

 

The game seems to be more of a skirmish style of game rather than a game where sniping is useful.

 

Comments ?

[zeddius]

They are abit usefull. I never train a soldier though to become a sniper, but I rather let the soldier who has the best markmanship carry a sniper rifle in his back pack. The only time I use them are when fighting mutants that paralyze. There are a couple of monsters that can paralyze from a great distance. So i equip the sniper rifle to take them out from a safe distance....takes afew hit thoughs.....because as you said the dmg isnt that big.

[systems]

I have 3 snipers in every squad now. They out-range all the enemies so that by the time they get close the other boys take them down fast. Make sure they have high observation, aliens and marksman skills.

 

Of course, you should never bother with snipers in UFO missions.

[OpTi]

a sniper with heroic marksmanship and aliens skills can take down most things beforethe get into range

[X-COM]

Later in the game I've been using the snipers on the UFO mission jsut for the outside bit, but then packing them with shotguns and stuff as well for when they get inside.

[bulldogc]

definatly worth it. and they can use some mega good guns later on. dont wana specify what thay are thoguh(spoilers and all)

[m00]

Snipers are a must. My minmum for a mission are 2 snipers.

 

I had a mission where ufo landed in the tundra and i had to kill 8 aliens. After 30 seconds i could see all aliens but they could see me too.

 

The snipers saved my squad, i lost only one soldier. ???

[Jarlian]

I consider sniping to be VERY usefull... specially when you get the Acuracy Int. L115AE rifle. You can blow dose damn big eyed buggers away with a couple shots if you want to... After that it get's even better... You the ZVI Falcon and M82A1A Barret. You blow up their heads long before they can even touch you!

 

Very usefull tactic to have a rabbit running and avoiding those alien rockets... In the rear you have a couple of good snipers.. This got me past the Russian base mission... (Along with lopping grenades over the walls like hell ;-)

[bulldogc]

t6he falcon sucks(if its the blueish one that holds 2 shots) its extra damage is practicly useless due to the fact that it doesnt hold any ammo.

[Skeelo]

I agree with bulldogc because of its low mag size u have to carry masses of ammo with u and having to reload the weapon every two shots kinda takes away any advantage the high damage gives.

But sniping in general 4 me is a must, I completed the final mission with 3 snipers (and of course 3 gatling cannon men )

None of that alien weapons 4 me just good old' fashioned bullets.

[talltom]

:angel: Snipers are, IMHO, essential. They'll be taking out the aliens while all the other guys are finishing their Big Pacs (we don't want product placement here now do we!) In the turnover (aliens with Sky Armour, Rocket Launchers etc, etc...) missions they rank up there with my Medic (six Medpacks and a gun if he's lucky!) Don't underestimate the power of the Sniper!

[rezaf]

Snipers can be useful, but they're far from essential. I stopped using them after a few missions, and I never missed them. Kinda depends on what kind of tactics you use, I guess.

 

Most of the late game, I used Advanced Alien Laser Riftles, 3 or 4 of them, 2 Steyr Aug and one or two heavy weapons. Bio and Sky Armor.

In a few key missions, I had to use Advanced Heavy Armor and Miniguns or the likes, though.

_________

rezaf

[Kal Cyann]

I agree, snipers r useful. I had a sniper the second i managed to get a rifle in my bases, now i hjave 2 snipers an they r top notch. Did'nt help on Russian mission though ???

[Paganarh]

In wilderness missions, ALL in squad have sniper rifles, in urban missions there are 3 snipers in my squad.

 

Needless to say, I find them very useful.

[Rob88]

Just tried a mission with a sniper in my team.

 

Bloody useful.

 

He can shoot from a distance while my SMG and assualt rifle guys advance.

 

Not much use inside a base.

Maybe I'll give him a backup weapon for when he gets inside.

[Paganarh]

yea, do that. all my snipers run around with Neostead shotgun in their backpacks

[zowrath]

Personally I would say sniper are a musthave in every troop formation, 1 or 2. But also pick the best suited person to be trained to be a sniper. You need good ratio in Marksmanship- and Alien-skill to be a well trained sniper, though you get well by with everything from Very Good on both skills. My sniper now has Super-Heroic on both stats and he rarely misses and takes down most outdoor aliens before they even understand where the noise is coming from, at a distance that is. His secondary function is MP7 handgunner indoors/close quarters. Intelligence affects alienskill and so does some other stats to a lesser degree, and good Alien skills gives multiplier damage when hitting aliens. So high Alien-skill means more damage pr. shots fired, which is essential later in the game

 

Z.

[Tinyviel]

I carry 2-3 snipers on every mission. They are great. I learned that they are very usefull in one base defence. I put one sniper in the middle of extremely long corridor. ( I wasn't even supposed to have her armed with sniper in base defence ) She saved me from a lot of trouble. I got the enemy down before they could even think of hitting me. They came from both sides but learned their error quite quickly. When you have good marksmanship and alien knowledge.. you shouldn't have any trouble hitting critical hits +500 dmg with the low end sniper rifles.

 

But again just my opinion.

[Cascading Darkness]

Snipers own, in certain situations. They are decent on urban missions, godlike on open outdoor missions. Indoors they have less use. In human bases they are good for long corridors and open rooms. They are however almost useless in alien bases and ships.

 

I have used snipers soley so far (Almost to russian mission), and they have made missions extremely easy up to this point. The Acuracy Int. L115AE rifle will drop anything in 2-4 hits, except maybe car crabs, and bigger trans guys. I usually move as one group and cover all directions. Most of the time once spotted the enemy will be dropped before it even gets a shot off. I feel that assult rifles are worthless, you have to be in their attack range to use them, and they do the same or less damage as a rifle, plus burst fire sucks (unless you are point blank, but I would want a shotty then anyway). I use sniper rifles, shotguns, and plasma rifles solely. During alien base or ship missions I have 2 shotgun guys, and 3 plasma to cover the halls. You just have a shotgun guy crouch next to a door and burst fire any rect that walks by. They will drop dead instantly. Plasma has perfect range to cover the medium range alien hallways too.

 

Like is said tho I haven't gotten to the Russia mission yet, so I may have to change these tactics, but sniping is very important in my opinion. I get through 95% of outdoor missions without even being injured, and that 5% is more like a simple flesh wound. I would suggest a back up shotgun or plasma rifle for indoors.

 

Plus it is just funny to spot an alien and down him before he even knew you were there.

[Accounting Troll]

I find snipers essential against the Reticulans. I didn't have any the first time I went up against a couple of Reticulans and one of them had a plasma gun - he killed three of my soldiers before I got him with a grenade. Now I take them along each time I fight the Reticulans as sniper rifles have a greater range than any of the early alien weapons.

 

I found out the hard way that while sniper rifles are good in the first part of the Area-51 mission, they are quite useless in the room to room fighting of the second part.

 

I have started taking a couple of snipers on missions against the mutants, however I am trying to conserve the ammunition so I only use snipers aginst the more dangerous mutants.

[quasarstrider]

IMHO the Human plasma weapons aren't worth much. Low rate of fire and low damage per second. On Reticulans with high Plasma defense armor they are even worth less. For close quarters base missions you really want SMGs like the MP7 or that über weapon: Alien Microslug Accelerator.

 

I mostly found Plasma useful against normal fleshy Transgenants. Against Reticulans Plasma is ok until they get Sky Armor and Alien Rocket Launchers + Alien Microslug Accelerators.

[RedBear]

Earlier on in the game, and at easier difficulty levels, there may actually be a place for Sniper Rifles in your squad, but, later on in the game, they are simply a waste of space, for there are weapons, such as the Gatling gun, or the Double -Barreled MG that can inflict vastly greater amounts of damage at appropriately long ranges.

 

Personally I prefer any generic type of Assault Rifle, my favourite being the HK G3 - good range, good long range firepower, good "burst" mode at shorter ranges and an acceptable "shot" and "reload" rate.

 

The low "shot" and "reload" rates of your average sniper rifle means that it generally, in this game anyway, has little real utility in your average mission.

 

Try taking one into a UFo.

 

Normally i'm a great fan of sniping weapons and sniping generally, but the lack of a specialised critical hit system (as in shots to specific body parts, such as the "head", "torso" or "eyes") and its associated damage penalties ("dead", "blinded", "immobilised") renders sniping of little real use.

 

I generally prefer a good "all round" weapon, and the G3 fits the bill.

 

The best implementation of "Sniping" and "Critical hits" systems that i've seen so far is in the "Fallout" series of games, where sniper rifles can actually be quite deadly. Favoured tactic - shot to the eyes. If you hit, at best - dead, worst - blinded. Can't ask for better than that. :devil:

[Cascading Darkness]

Well as I said I love snipers. My tactics with them work effectively. I just beat the dreaded russian mission with a squad of 5 guys in sun armor. Only weapon I used for every member was Acc. International sniper rifle. It was one of the easiest missions I have played yet. I had to load once because a rocket guy spotted 1 team member as I was moving. Other than that one guy got injured when an alien beat my draw and got 1 shot of laser pistol off before dying instantly.

 

I realize this tactic isn't going to work for everyone, especially if you didn't focus your guys training on marksmanship.

 

It just made sense to me. The second an alien is spotted I have my whole squad (of 5 usually) fire. It's rare that they don't drop in the first volley, and usually I'm the one that caught them by suprise so they get a second shot in before the alien anyway.

 

This tactic works even better for trans baddies, since they usually have lower resistances and hp.

 

Hopes this might help someone stuck on that russian mission. Good luck, and make those Greys Pay!

[bulldogc]

that wont work well atall soon. youl need atleast 2 lasers fairly soon as human weps stop effecting 2 of their shields cant recall which ones i think one if bio though.

[Kal Cyann]

THats only half the prob. U want to have good effienacy v the aliens with shields on u take a look at the shield stats when its researched, THEN pick ur weapons for ur squad. Depending on mission depends on what kind of aliens ur liking to be facing, jsut take whats most effective vs there shields. Simple really.