British snipers on Basrah

[combatwombat]

Lately I've been thinking about the usefulness of snipers on Basrah. Sniping is, by far, the favorite activity of newbs. Once they get their hands on a sniper or marksman kit they just park themselves either too far from the enemy to be helpful to the squad or way too close so they just get killed, giving up their precious kit. As such, they are often the bane of squad leaders: 2 snipers in a 6-man squad basically equals a 4 man squad.

Also, APCs/tanks can roll around relatively unopposed in the desert, and thanks to their zoom are basically just as good as snipers. Thus, on Basrah, the sniper's niche is more or less limited to urban areas.

In light of all this, where/when can snipers be useful? I can think of 5 possible places, only 2 of which would be really good.



Position 1 - on the tall building on the north of the island. This could be good when other team members are searching for caches on the island. It also has the advantage of being high enough to make it hard/impossible to molotov from the ground. Its proximity to the water is another advantage: you wouldn't have to worry as much about enemies coming from the north.

2 - On the hotel. This is probably the best sniping position on the map. It's high enough that it can't be molotov'd from the ground, and the only way to kill a Brit sniper on it would be to climb to the top or snipe him from a nearby building. From the top you can watch the island to the east, the city to the west, as well as the suburbs to the southwest (all of which are places where caches frequently appear). I also *think* this place isn't too heavily trafficked, so if you kept quiet and didn't open fire on every possible target, you could stay perched up there unnoticed for quite a while.

3 - On the roofs north of the mosque. This isn't a great spot - it doesn't overlook any frequent cache locations (except possibly industry to the east/northeast), is very near the main insurgent spawn point where insurgent sniper rifles can easily be obtained, and is quite vulnerable to molotovs as well as insurgents shooting with AKs from nearby rooftops. I only mention it because every once in a while you can get lots of kills (and therefore intel) from up there.

4 - on rooftops in the southwest suburbs of the city. These roofs are quite low and easy to molotov, so you'd have to be extra careful to not get noticed here. However, these rooftops are relatively easy to get to (as they are on the outskirts of the city), and provide a good viewpoint from which to monitor enemy movements to the east and north/northeast.

5 - on the 2nd floor or roof of a 2-story building just west of the village. This would be very dangerous spot, as the village is usually swarming with insurgents when there are revealed caches there, but it would be an excellent vantage point from which to cover an advancing squad. It is low enough to be vulnerable to molotovs, but the surrounding area is open enough that you have a better chance of spotting approaching insurgents.

In all instances, snipers would need to be accompanied AT LEAST by 1 medic/rifleman who could provide healing/ammo and keep a lookout. Probably at the more vulnerable areas, like positions 3-5, the sniper should be accompanied by a rifleman as well as a medic. At position 5, it might even be reasonable to have a medic, rifleman, plus a marksman and/or officer with the sniper (basically a whole squad) to back him up.

Anyone else know of any good sniping locations/tactics here?

[Howitzer]

The pipeline west of refinery as well as the towers there , some dont have stairs but thats why your spoter is a spec ops

[Outlawz]

You can get RPG'd off the Hotel and if you stick your head out of the edge you'll get shot in no time.

I also consider being at the position #3 being a cheap tactic, since you are basically spawn camping the Mosque

[Cyrax-Sektor]

If you ask me, there is only one good spot for a sniper, and that's with his/her squad. If you're surrounded by other guys, they can fend off people trying to get the sniper kit, and also cycle it until the sniper comes back.

Snipers in a spot all alone usually are spotted, found and then killed. One technical and he's gone, and some Insurgent has your sniper kit.

Another spot: west of refinery, in the hilly desert hills (overuse? ), position yourself properly and you can cover your squad moving in to check the area. Insurgents like to loiter over that little sloping wall southmost refinery.

Reposition to another hill, but adjust your profile so even if the hill doesn't render, you still have the "solid" hill covering one side of you. Snipers make the mistake of sitting on the hill, giving them a 360 view. It isn't king of the hill, it's master of stealth, sacrifice some views for cover. Often times (note: often, not always), you can't see them, they can't see you.

[[R-MOD]dunehunter]

A great place used to be in one of the ruins between VCP and the city, but after the recent changes to the map no one seems to frequent that area anymore

But I agree with 1 and 2, especially with 1, though there are some other decent roofs on the island too. They allow you to cover the rest of your squad there, while also keeping an eye open for possible additional insurgents coming from Palace or the west side.

[[PR]CATA.Mobius]

Also, APCs/tanks can roll around relatively unopposed in the desert, and thanks to their zoom are basically just as good as snipers.

That's what you think. Those ditches and gullies around the north of the map cab make it very hard to spot enemy suicide cars and insurgent cells until it's too late.

[Defiyur]

I know a fabulous spot which in my curiosity in practice mode I got to with the trusty civilian grapple. During an actual game me and one other guy who saw what I was trying to do now know about it. I don't know how many know about it now but I can say I've never seen anybody there except me and the 1 other guy. Shhhhh

[Neoboy]

Originally Posted by Defiyur

I know a fabulous spot which in my curiosity in practice mode I got to with the trusty civilian grapple. During an actual game me and one other guy who saw what I was trying to do now know about it. I don't know how many know about it now but I can say I've never seen anybody there except me and the 1 other guy. Shhhhh

Wouldn't be that white tower thing in the refinery now would it?



Was an excellent spot at taking out the British side when they assaulted refinery only problem was resupply.

I can't actually think of that many stationary positions for the British side and as mentioned before they are better off with a squad. I still think that sniper and heavy AT kits are largely useless on Al Basrah. Heavy AT takes too long to deploy to be useful against suicide truck/technicals, however, causes a lot of problems when lost to enemy. Only time I found it useful was when I was defending VCP and there was a bunker up so I was basically standing on top of that taking out targets in the village and when nothing was there I was sticking rockets into west side of the city destroying the buildings and giving less cover for the insurgents in there. After about 10 minutes of that no one would dare to get within the visible distance of VCP.

The visibility on the map is only around 300 metres I believe making the sniper kit too just to cumbersome for that distance as even a normal rifle with a SUSAT can take out targets at that range. Marksman is a lot better in that respect as it also has an auto mode making it just about as good at close range combat as a standard issue rifle. So IMO stationary sniper positions/kits are only good for insurgents on this map.

[chimpyang]

Using snipers or marksmen on basra should be done as a 2 man squad IMO. The SL takes a Spec Ops kit whilst the squadmate takes the sniper kit. Then using the better zoom on the laser targetting device, the SL an mark out targets for the sniper, whilst maintaining cover watch and closer range protection. This team however, is largely uneffective inside the city and should be used to scout out empty areas of operation, hopefully finding caches (Spec Ops does have C4) and supporting infantry moves into and around refinery and the village. Other than those pushes, the sniper team is subjected to vulnerabel positions (expecially within the city, where enemies can spwan closer than a friendly squad's operation area) and you also run a higher risk of losing the kit to the other team. One possible sniping spot would be the big tower (using the spec ops grapple) but resupply would be really obvious (chopper drops a BIG supply crate) and options to run away are very limited.

[Zekeadalic]

If a sniper really wants to go into the city, he should always bring his Spec-Op to climb houses which wont be accessible by insurgents that fast to steal the kit (except a civi with ropes is around). And there are a lot of those unaccessible houses with tactical use. As long as the sniper only takes out squadleaders and doesnt fire at everyone, his location wont be found.

Never ever bring a sniper into the city without beeing prepared. Beeing insurgent its my favorite task to hunt down snipers and get their kit. Its always fun hearing the first sound of a british sniper-kit and chasing him down. One time i got a british sniper kit and killed that many people, that an opponent even switched the team to kill me (foul action -.-).

But really. Sniper kits should actually be forbidden at Al Basrah. Except beeing really really well prepared with a spec op to climb unaccessible houses. Dont just let any noob take that kit into the city. Dont hide at locations with ladders or stairs. It wont take 10mins until someone comes and says "shukeren luck" (or something) for that kit.

Dont take the sniper with an infantry squad. A marksman does it as well.

cheers