Snipers

> You know, I don't think a sniper would get a suppression with a
laser
> unless he hit something.  It's hard to suppress someone who doesn't
> realize they've been shot at.

Interesting point. Even if he did hit there's not much chance of
getting a
suppression on a unit unless there's some pretty spectacular special
effects
when the target gets hit.

** If a guy in the unit drops, the unit is likely to be momentarily
suppressed.

With a modern day rifle there's all that blood and stuff to let people
know
that it's dangerous, and a far away report to let you know how far
away the
shooter really was. If all you've got is young Timmy quietly falling
over
there isn't anything to cause the need to hit cover.

** Hmm. Most modern sniper rifles can be equipped with suppressors and
flash hiders. That pretty much nullifies that thought... though often
military snipers use the report of their weapon to achieve the effect.

> Of course, there's always the lasers designed to make noise.

Which implies a sniper laser has to be tweaked to make sure it causes
special
effects in order to be efficient.

** Nope: Imagine I miss. I'll hit something near my target probably.
If I liberate 50 kW (I have no idea what a real value is) into a small
boulder, it could explode and throw shrapnel. If I hit a tree, it'll
spray bark and burst into flame. If I hit water, it'll sublimate to
steam explosively. In any case, the unit is confronted with being
under attack by a nasty weapon and NOT knowing where it is coming
from. Suppresionville, population YOU.

From: JohnDHamill@aol.com

But in combined actions, where the sniper or marksman is working with
a squad
or larger unit, firing in suppression attempts is a pretty common
practice,
it lets the squad move on the opposing unit, while taking much less
fire in
return. Most troops are more scared of snipers than auto-fire, and
will
freeze in place when sniped at.

** Autofire might kill you in some random impersonal way. A sniper is
trying very intentionally to kill you and they don't shoot to miss.
Missing is anathema to them. One shot, one kill is the motto of most
sniper types. So it is small wonder such fire is effective.

When I was in the Army ( longer ago than i want to remember) it was
fairly
common for our unit to detach our best shots into separate "sniper
teams"
(they didn't have the training of real snipers, but they were called
that)
who used just that tactic.

** So these were "regular" or "green" snipers rather than vet or
elite. Tactic still is viable.

 This is an unusual tactic, definately not "by the
book", but our CO was an unusual guy,

** Sounds like a smart fellow.

 and we usually won any exercise we were
in, because of his unorthodox tactics. It definately worked, as we
would
often hold up large groups by sending 2 or 3 man teams to plink at
them, from
different areas. Drove them nuts...

As to ranging on the shot and why we use pulse lasers:

A continuous beam that requires seconds on target is no good. Target
might move. We need to deliver the hit very much like a bullet - over
a very short period of time. Plus it makes ablative armour less
effective. A pulse will arrive packing a lot of punch, giving armour a
very short time to act on the large energy impulse, and will not
backtrack easily. It will probably be invisible due to the short
pulse, even in smokey scenarios. It won't allow the target to move
taking less damage. It'll be brutal to backtrack. And it'll cause
things with fluid in them (human cells, trees, rivers, dirt...) to
explode from superheating. (Well, the degree of this depends on laser
power). It might even kick a bit if the energy is high enough.

So, the laser sniper weapon will probably have much the same value as
a conventional rifle. If it is powerful, it might even have enough
kick to suffer the same accuracy issues justifying the same range
bands. (Though in space, with no atmosphere, it'd be preferable).
I imagine the sound of a laser would be a result of ionization as it
moves through the atmosphere... probably a sharp crack as air rushes
in to fill the void of ionized gas created by the beam... much like a
rifle. I've seen high powered lasers fire and heard them. They weren't
entirely quiet...and when they are fired into objects, those objects
tend to make noises (never seen them shot into a human, but I assume
he or she would make lots of noise).

And as to suppresion vs effect:

Sniper suppresion is not the product of mass volley fire like infantry
suppresion. Their is no "fire to suppress" for a sniper. It is fire
for effect. You might miss (try not to) but you'll suppress even if
you do due to the psychological impact of your attack type. Snipers
tend to not shoot when they don't have a target, and if they do shoot,
they try to hit. Match grade ammo is sometimes hard to come by, and
they don't carry enough of it to hose off the surroundings. They don't
always hit, but they don't shoot to not hit. IMO - YMMV.

Thomas Barclay
Software UberMensch
xwave solutions
(613) 831-2018 x 3008