Looking at the sniper rifle
On Legions Players we'll be taking a look at various aspects of the game in our news articles, trying to explain how certain things work. Some of these things are likely to change, but we'll try our best to give you an accurate view of what you might expect.
Our first indepth look will be the sniper rifle.
Snipers, love it when you're doing the sniping, hate it when you end up being the victim. I'm sure many of you have played different games where a skilled sniper can be deadly, zapping his opponents to death from vast distances.
First off, the Legions sniper rifle is a hitscan weapon. Instead of being a projectile like a bullet, it instantly sends damage to the target in a straight line once you click the button to fire it. Another thing we know about the Legions sniper rifle is that it's also hitscan over time, which will make it slightly different to most sniper weapons in other games.
The current duration for the laser is around 200ms and it deals between 175-200 damage. This should be enough to take out a player in normal armour (around 100). A direct hit to the target at the start will deal a decent amount of damage, but if your aim isn't perfect then your target might graze the beam for part of the time.
Another thing we know is that it's a charged weapon which requires 3 seconds to load. You can't use your jetpack whilst charging the rifle and it's also all or nothing, you have to fully charge the rifle before you can use it.
One problem snipers will face is that their position will be given away by a small targetting beam whilst aiming. This could cause your target to move erratically, or someone else could try and quickly take you out before you even get the chance to fire. It is apparently possible to hide this beam, although it will be harder to track your target - something which is vital to try and get the best shot.
So, looks like it can be a powerful weapon in the right hands, but timing is going to be essential if you have to prepare yourself. There are going to be weaknesses snipers face, especially with the charge time and the targetting beam. A few images of what we've seen on the sniper rifle so far are available in our gallery.
That summarises what the sniper rifle could end up like in the game. Please remember that many things could end up changing during the development of the game!
Comments
#2 MungeParty on Sun, 24 Feb 2008 07:34
Actually, the rifle doesn't use your jet energy. As soon as you fire you can escape or quickly shift to a new vantage point nearby. The idea behind the laser rifle is that only truly badass snipers will be able to get away with sniping in an open area for more than a few minutes because nobody will be able to get close.
You don't need to zoom to fire.
Also, LEGIONS DEV SPOTTED! :P
#3 Writer on Tue, 26 Feb 2008 18:51
Hopefully it's still hitscan with more than one target box (headshots :).
I'll be sad if you'll need to continuously track the target for the sniper rifle to be effective; that kind of goes against the "park your reticle, time your shot" technique that I learned to use in Tribes.
Legions can't come a minute too soon for me. :)
#4 damien on Wed, 27 Feb 2008 20:10
How about just copy the old t2 sniper, if it isnt broke dont fix it. The 3 second times is garbage, encourages camping.
#5 MungeParty on Wed, 19 Mar 2008 10:21
Encourages camping? It's a sniper rifle. I... what?
#6 Dajob on Mon, 07 Apr 2008 04:02
hmm. sounds like a fun lazergun i guess... but isn't the whole idea of the sniper to be "Stealthy" and kill someone without any1 seeing wtf just happend to the guy whos lieing on the floor with a hole through his eye?
yeaaaa thats a cool image in ur head isn't it!
#7 Barbarian on Mon, 14 Apr 2008 07:50
Yes Dajob, but even today there's technology availuable on army humvees and such so that if anyone takes a shot at them, the people in the humvee know exactly where the shot came from.
Another way would be if it would be about 100-150 instant damage, no tracking time, but everybody would know where you were (note i said WERE, not ARE. It tells them where you fired from) due to some kind of beacon (due to shiny future-suits picking up the noise and triangulating)
But their way works too, just throwing around ideas.
#8 Paan on Fri, 26 Dec 2008 05:00
3 seconds are good. And if you're great at sniping (especially if you're the host), snipers could go head to head with enemies. That IS cool.
Who cares about being stealthy if you have an over-powered snipe gun?
#9 soveit72 on Sun, 22 Mar 2009 20:10
they should make the sniper shot reach its target instantly, like you just have to put the crosshair on them and shoot and they are dead. because you know you go really fast in legions so if they did that then snipers would be like the scourge of the game.
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#1 Novack on Tue, 19 Feb 2008 02:31
So, pros: one shot one death.
cons: your gun exposes you before even fire, 3 seconds reload, all or nothing, no jetpack while reloading.
Sounds like you'll have to run very quickly after firing, and even then, if your way out involves the jetpack... well you'll be fried.
A lot of adrenaline for the old' snipas, that is how it sounds actually ;)
Can be fired without focusing the long range sight?