TIPS 'N' TRICKS
Neat Things to Help You Out
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Here are a few things I've picked up along the way, since 1984.
SHOOTING AT A MOVING OPPONENT.
Okay, here's the secret for this one. If you are sure that you know where your opponent is moving to, shoot at that place. For instance, there are two bunkers in front of you. Your opponent is moving from the bunker on your left to the bunker on your right. You should shoot at the right bunker as if the opponent is peeking out of the left side of that bunker.
What you are doing is making your opponent run into your paint. You may not have time to lead your opponent as he moves, so you must use his momentum against him. He with either get hit, as he runs into the paint, or think twice about moving. Either way, you've stopped him from doing what he wanted to do.
The best thing is to see him stop as the paint whizzes by in front of him. Pound a few more in his direction and he'll run back to the other bunker. As he's heading there, shoot beside that bunker.
HOW TO MOVE.
When moving, you should always try to move at right angles to your opponent. That is to say, left to righ, or vice versa. The reason being is that if you move towards him, he will get you. If you move laterally, he will make the mistake most players make, and not lead you. (Like I described above.) If your opponent does not know about the previous trick, you can move from cover to cover with less worry.
You also want to make the moves short, so they don't have time to shoot, even if they know the previous trick.
SHOOTING AT AN OPPONENT POPPING IN AND OUT FROM BEHIND COVER.
So you have an opponent that is popping in and out from behind cover. When you shoot at his elbow, he hears the shot and ducks in. By the time the paintball gets there, his elbow is gone. However, if you shoot close to the cover the opponent is behind, you have a better chance of tagging something as they duck back in.
AIMING POINTS.
In order to hit your opponent, you have to aim at them. This is difficult, if you do not know where he is going to pop up. What you have to do is find places to aim BEHIND your opponent, near likely areas where they will pop out, from behind cover. If you have prearranged aiming points, you don't really have to aim AT your opponent, when they stick their head up. They will be between you and the aiming point behind them. This is an old infantry sniper's trick.
SHOOTING FROM BEHIND COVER.
Everyone knows how to stay behind cover, if you don't, you probably don't play very much when you go out for a day of paintball. When you pop out from behind cover, you should have your marker up and ready to fire. Most people pop out and THEN raise their marker. This takes too much time. If you have a semi, or a pump (or you can fire fast with your stockgun) you should pop off a couple of shots. What this does is make your opponent duck, so now YOUR waiting for THEM to pop out.
The idea is that you shouldn't be at the business end of an opponent's marker when you pop out from behind cover. Tourney players start shooting before the marker clears the cover. I recommend that you be sure of your target before pulling the trigger.
SUPPRESSION FIRE -- ON A BUDGET.
Let's suppose that a teammate has asked you to keep an opponent's head down, while they work around to flank them. You don't have to pound a couple of hundred rounds to do it. If you teammate is fast enough, you'll use less than fifty rounds. Here's how you do it, I call in the One-Two-Three-Four-Five Trick. You shoot at the opponent (just a couple of times, to get them to duck), you then count to a number between one and five. Then you fire a couple of more balls, count to a DIFFERENT number between one and five and fire some more. You keep doing this until the opponent is eliminated, or there is no more use in pinning them down. The thing to remember is that you do not duck in behind cover after you fire. (Keep your head up and look around, to make sure no one else is moving on you.) You do not want the opponent to be able to start shooting at you, because this will prevent you from pinning him down. It also works because the opponent will wonder why you're not hosing him down. Perhaps you're having marker problems? Limited paint? Running out of air? It doesn't matter what he's thinking, as long as his attentions and focus are somewhere else and on you, not your teammate.
APPROACHING A SINGLE OPPONENT.
The best way to do this is from the strong side. That is to say that if the opponent is holding his marker in his right hand, you should ideally approach from that side.
The reason being is that if you come from his left side, his marker is already pointing that way. If you come from the right side, the opponent has to swing around to shoot at you. Imagine him standing in the centre of a clock face, that is lying on the ground. You want to absolutely stay away from the 9 o'clock to 1 o'clock position of a right handed player, as that is where their paintmarker is naturally pointing. Remember to ensure that the player is left or right handed, otherwise, you'll come in from the wrong side.
APPROACHING MULTIPLE OPPONENTS.
The best way is to line them up. Manoeuvre so that one is in front of the other. The players closest to you will block the other players and hinder them from firing at you, because their teammates are in the way. Always take out those opponents who are the closest, as they are the greatest threat.
Also, if you have this type of situation and you eliminate the ones closest to you, what are they going to do? They're going to stand up and get out of the way. Thereby blocking the players you didn't get. Some could construe this a cheating, by using eliminated players as cover. Perhaps it is. But if it is you against five, I'm sure many players would allow you some latitude, I know I would.
If you are facing your opponents, and you are not in the ideal position, the closest ones are still the best to deal with first. If you do not eliminate them, you should at leats try to make them take cover. When they duck behind cover, shoot at another. Keep the first one in mind, however. You should alternate between opponents so as to keep their heads down. If you have room to pull back, do so. The more room you have, between you and your opponents, the more time you will have to deal with them.
BAITING THE TRAP.
For you fellow paintball snipers, a trick from me that has worked. Let's say you're already set up, you have a good field of fire and you're well hidden. How do you get the opposition to come in range?
Easy. Place a loader, an old C/A tank (or whatever piece of equipment that would be attractive, but you can afford to lose) in the open. Folks will say, "Check it out, a loader!" and when they go to pick it up, let 'em have it.
Remember that they'll be stooping down to pick it up. Even the most wary player will have to look down. When they do, that is the instant when they are most venerable.
DURTY DAN'S RANGE-O-MATIC RANGE FINDER.
For this to work, you will require a sight on your maker. It doesn't have to be any type of sight, so long as you have to look through a tube, or box to sight. You and your teammate(s) go out to the field, and in a open area, measure and mark off the following ranges: 25 feet, 50 feet, 75 feet, 100 feet and 125 feet. Each one of you should unload your markers and remove the air source. Have one team mate stand at each of the ranges and let the rest of the group look through their sights. Note how much of the person's head and shoulders fill the sight. (Just use the head and shoulders because that's all you'll see, for the most part, during a game.) Get them to go to 50 feet, and do the same thing. Do this at all the ranges. It is this time you will realize how close 25 feet is and how far away 125 feet is. You are looking at someone at the 125 feet range so you'll know when someone is our of range. Now you have a range finder, and it hardly cost you anything but time.
CONCLUSION.
Feel free to use these trick and tips in your next game. If they work for you, e-mail me and let me know. They work for me, but then I'm abnormal. I'd like to know if they work for the sane, as well.
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