Introduction.

Well, this is the section of the page that will explain to you how to snipe in Team Fortress. Before you begin I must stress that no guide will help as much as practicing. I have been playing Team Fortress since the spring of 1997 (as far as I recall), and quake since 1996. I beleive myself to be a competent Sniper, and hope this Guide will help.

Shot accuracy and ping.

People are ALWAYS complaining about ping, especially the snipers. This is because a Sniper with a lower ping will be able to kill you more easily due to the fact that he connects to the server faster. There is a way around this. I do not have a good connection, a 33.6 modem to a POS ISP to be precise, but I have still been able to own people with cable modems etc. This is done through anticipation. its a difficult thing to explain, but here goes.

*****TIP*****
Your sniper crosshair may tell you where you are aiming, but if you pulldown the console, and type "crosshair 1" you will be able to more accuratly tell where it is that you will end up shooting the bullet. A small + should appear on the screen. use that, as your little red dot means dick anyway.
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OK, when you start chargin up your rifle, move it around some. There should be a small delay between your movement, and the sniper dot. It will look as if the red dot is chasing the middle of your screen. Remember that your shot will be taken from the middle of your screen, not where the red dot is pointing, or rather, the dot will chase the center of your screen, and will then shoot... So, lets say you see a guy standing on the 2forts bridge, you train your dot on him, and chances are, if you shoot too quickly, your shot will miss. if you make sure that the middle of your screen (follow that tip above) is on him , then his head should relocate all over the map. Jeez, I sure hope you understood that, its veeerrry important.

The sniper war.

The sniper war is possibly one of the funniest things you will see during a Match, and also the most annoying. The problem is, that there is virtually no way of getting rid of the opposing sniper, until you make him realize that every time he comes out from cover, his left eye will effectivly be splattered against the wall behind him.

There is a strange problem in with walls in TF and TFC, They make a better window than a door. That is, you can see through anything that touches them, or comes close to them. Although this is not true to every wall, for some reason, when looking at the opposing base in Two Forts, you can see the Enemy sniper's dot on the cover wall to the left or right. If the Sniper is touching the wall, you can see a black silhouette of his body. SO STAY AWAY FROM THE WALLS! also, keep you sniper rifle off of them.

When emerging from your covered position onto the playing feild, remember that there is a sniper just waiting to claim your head to mount on his wall. So have your rifle charged BEFORE you go out there. to acomplish this, aim the dot at one of the perimeter walls outside of your base. As you come out from your cover, you should be strafing, so that the second you come out, your rifle is ready to pop that sniper's head off. So, to review: Aim your rifle dot out onto the battlefield while still in your covered postion. Then, strafe out, correcting aim as you go. So if you are strafing right, slowly pull your mouse (always use the mouse) to the left... its pretty much just a slow version of circle strafing.

As you strafe out onto the Sniper deck, you spot a enemy sniper. WHAT NOW? Well, you gotta train yourself to stop worrying whether or not your shot hits the mark. If you miss, get your ass outa dodge. Better to keep the Enemy knowing you're around, rather than giving him a kill.

Covering the bridge.

Covering a Bridge is possible one of the easiest, and most vital parts of the game. Using anticipation, coupled with predictabiliy of Enemies, makes for easy kills. The enemy will ALWAYS jump off of the sniper's nest. From there it is easy to kill the falling moron, because he has only one way to go, which is down. if you miss him on the way down (how the HELL did that happen?) then you have to try again. Now people going across the bridge in Two Forts will try to move in an erratic patteren so that some trying to get a bead on him or her will have incredible difficulty. Well, Dont even bother trying unless you are confidents that you're gonna kill him. Personally, I prefer to put my dot on one position on the bridge, wait for the person to cross my line of fire, and POINK! there he goes. If someone gets across the bridge, you have two options... run away, or kill him. if you do neither, you WILL get a grenade thrown in your face. Throwing grenades into the sniper's nest is one of the most predictable enemy moves. I suggest walkin up to the ledge of the sniper loft, peek down, and chances are he's standing there priming his grenade...prime shooting target, and he's not even moving! If he isn't there, then he's on his way to the Ramp room, another great chokepoint to make a kill, and stop another potential flag carrier.

Haul ass to the Ramp room and stand at the top of the ramp closest to the Respawn Room. An uneducated enemy will run blindly up this ramp, and by the time he realizes you're there, you should have killed him already. If he goes to the other ramp, he still has a small ramp to come across and cant dodge very much.

Offensive sniping.

Offensive sniping is easiest in a large base (obviously). I mainly Snipe on the Rock, due to its Large proportioned sniper area. Shoot quick and move quicker, as nothing pisses off people worse than getting killed in their very own base.