Question about snipers

[flakfernrohr]

Since the game and some mods have really nice sniper graphics and renderings, I am curious to know when you might use one of these units. If they are true to historical accuracy, their benefit was killing commanding officers and demoralization of opponent's troops. But in the PzC game it seems the the battles (or skirmishes) are more all out than anything else when you attack. So how can a sniper unit inflict substantial damage in an all out attack? I guess I am just not seeing how they fit into the game.

Also is the AI going to interpret sniper fighting as would be the case in combat of the real world? Say blowing the sh*t out of a suspected hideout, etc. And will you as the side with the sniper be able to hide them and move them out of danger when it is present or when the AI discovers them?

Sorry to be so tedious about it, but I am just trying to get my head around the real value of a sniper unit in PzC.

[brettz123]

Sorry to be so tedious about it, but I am just trying to get my head around the real value of a sniper unit in PzC.

I don't see how a sniper unit would have any value in the game. The units seem too large for a sniper to have any effect on.

[Kerloc]

all my sniper units have a range of one. So they can suppress enemy units. They have high soft attack values but no hard attack.

[Mark50]

Sorry to be so tedious about it, but I am just trying to get my head around the real value of a sniper unit in PzC.

What sniper units are there in vanilla PzC?

[yoky]

The initial idea about snipers killing officers gives me the idea of somehow eliminating heros awarded in previous battles.
I have no clear idea about the gameplay rule how to put it working but the result might look like the unit with several heros could lose one of these hero abilities once fighting with unit owning snipers.
The easiest way could be the introduction of new infantry unit "Snipers". The unit could be very weak but even the unit loses most of its lives during the fight, according Snipers unit experience there will be high probability the opposite unit will lose its hero or more heros.
Now PC game doesn't support any mechanics how to lose a hero.
What do you think?

[TheGrayMouser]

The initial idea about snipers killing officers gives me the idea of somehow eliminating heros awarded in previous battles.
I have no clear idea about the gameplay rule how to put it working but the result might look like the unit with several heros could lose one of these hero abilities once fighting with unit owning snipers.
The easiest way could be the introduction of new infantry unit "Snipers". The unit could be very weak but even the unit loses most of its lives during the fight, according Snipers unit experience there will be high probability the opposite unit will lose its hero or more heros.
Now PC game doesn't support any mechanics how to lose a hero.
What do you think?

I think heroes should have a chance of dying anyway, regardless of snipers

Methinks though that the game scale really doesnt support snipers as an "offical" item, but no doudt could be fun to have in various mods.

One thing you could do is give a really high SA value but then reduce the rate of fire, that way you might get 1 guaranteed hit but likly no more

[huertgenwald]

Well, they may shoot my "spotting" heroes, but NONE of the others !

[bebro]

Personally I like both the idea of heroes getting killed in general as well as the snipers having some extra chance in such cases.

However, how would this work? Afaik the AI hasn't heroes in campaigns, so it would be their turn to use snipers to take out the player's heroes....And how is it in MP? I thought there you hardly get to have heroes at all (I have no idea of MP, so this might be wrong)?

[Mark50]

Personally I`d see the snipers not as units, but some sort of trait/add-on to the existing infantry units. I just don`t see the military sense in deploying in block whole units of snipers of such size(comparative to the other PzC unit sizes). Imo it would negate several of a sniper`s fighting characteristics.

[bebro]

Just had an idea - dunno if it would work:

Maybe make it a unit having a max strenght of 2-3 (sniper team) and high soft attack as suggested in eqp file.

Then put it in the submarine class, but give leg movement. Could it be it has a chance to use the "evade" option like subs when attacked?

Of course could be the game just crashes

Otoh there's the prob then how to attack it at all, since subs get only attacked by DD and TAC type units...which would be strange But maybe there's some way to work that out.

[flakfernrohr]

Next quandry: If snipers are good snipers, they are basically undetected on the battlefield. So if you have a unit with heroes, you're not going to see the sniper unit on the battlefield, right? But in the game you will see the sniper unit, so you can keep your hero equipped unit away from the snipers. How you gonna kill the heroes then?

And bebro, in your Marines in the Pacific campaign, Japanese snipers were an absolute plague against the Marines on Guadalcanal and other islands. They were of course, hidden on the battlefield/jungle/rocks, etc.

Mark50, I agree that snipers as units is really against the "nature of the beast" both snipers as they are used in real life and in the game as it is played.

Maybe equip infantry units with snipers as a purchase option or something that would boost the lethal capacity of the unit when the snipers are with it. I just don't see them working in the game as a "unit". Maybe as an extra "weapon" of more lethal capacity for an existing unit would be easier to blend into the game. Pioniere and Engineers have special tools like the explosives and flame throwers, so it could work the same with infantry units.