Sniper Team: How to let only the sniper shoot at enemies

[DeutschRitter]

Sniper Teams: Is there a way to let only the sniper shoot at enemies? 

[Ch53dVet]

1 hour ago, DeutschRitter said:

Sniper Teams: Is there a way to let only the sniper shoot at enemies? 

Man, I wish there was a way to do that, it's ridiculous, atm, the sniper always shoots first, misses 99.9% of the time, then his spotter and the rest of team goes full auto, including launching grenades, if included in the team, which compromises their position and instantly they become bullet and rpg magnets, 90% of the time the lead sniper gets killed.the rest of his team flees the scene. Just check out the snipers kill record at the end of a campaign, that is, if they make it that far, 3 or more kills per campaign is a rare number for my play time.

[SimpleSimon]

Make sure you're distinguishing between snipers and designated marksman. The two of them have different jobs. 

[tpr]

12 hours ago, Ch53dVet said:

Man, I wish there was a way to do that, it's ridiculous, atm, the sniper always shoots first, misses 99.9% of the time, then his spotter and the rest of team goes full auto, including launching grenades, if included in the team, which compromises their position and instantly they become bullet and rpg magnets, 90% of the time the lead sniper gets killed.the rest of his team flees the scene. Just check out the snipers kill record at the end of a campaign, that is, if they make it that far, 3 or more kills per campaign is a rare number for my play time.

Can´t recall an instance where I´ve observed this in my CMSF2 playthroughs. From what I´ve seen the spotters will only take part in combat when being under immediate threat or when getting the "Target Light" or "Target" command issued. At greater ranges the target command also will only lead to the commitment of the sniper.

I placed vehicles including a juicy soft truck target in the background to bait the complete team including the M203 into action but still they maintained fire and only the sniper engaged. Also later on when the M82 Barrett sniper proceeds to engage the vehicles, his spotters kept proper fire discipline.

Edited December 12, 2018 by Captain Reyes

[Euri]

At long (snipping) distances, only the sniper engages. Make sure not to issue target (normal or light) orders

[domfluff]

I wouldn't suggest using Target orders with snipers at all. Let them choose their own targets.

What they're really good at is putting out killing power at range. They won't hit with every shot, but they will hit an awful lot more often than a machine gun burst or the like.

That means that the ideal use case is to support a position, where the enemy is already under fire. If your MGs or small arms can suppress the enemy, then the snipers will finish them off quickly. In this sense, marksmen and snipers do very similar jobs, but snipers generally have larger weapons and can support over longer distances.
 

(This is in addition to their primary role, which is as scouts. Small teams with powerful optics make great scouts).

One thing that's really deceptive, and can be seen with testing, is how little of the enemy a sniper team can actually see. If you do some testing against them, it's very possible that although you  may see the whole squad, the sniper team might only see one or two guys.

Edited December 12, 2018 by domfluff

[Howler]

Further, use 'Target Arc' to encourage target selection rather than Target/Target Light.

[A Canadian Cat]

3 hours ago, Euri said:

At long (snipping) distances, only the sniper engages. Make sure not to issue target (normal or light) orders

This is the solution. If the rest of the team starts opening up it means the enemy has gotten too close.

[MikeyD]

Game players have the habit of forcing snipers to stand and fight (I do at least ). If you treat your snipers like infantry they'll act like infantry. If they are allowed to self-target, get off a couple shots then relocate or at least 'hide' for a play cycle or two, they probably will be engaging in firefights less frequently.