New to game and looking to spend some money to be effective at sniping/hacking

Friend of mine has finally talked me into playing and now I need a lil advice. Have 4000 in station cash at my disposal and could potentially get a bit more if need be. I played the game briefly tonight to get a feel for it but to be honest I have no idea about the game mechanics here.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated as to go about starting off.

Thanks in advance.

pls don't be another useless infiltrator

Hi the Infultrator is a great class to use once you know how to use it and get some certs into it. This is my favourite class to use and I have to class set ups that I use for different situations

1. A close quarters aggressive Infultrator for hacking and overloading/ capping objectives on this class I use a fully automatic gun (Artemis)

2. A long range recon type sniper with a bolt action rifle (Parallax) for spotting emeies and killing targets as the attack our base from a flanking position.

I enjoy both these classes but I find the 1st set up to be more satisfying. A bolt action for hacking and CQC will not work, do any of these Load outs sound like one that you would like to play...?

Let me know and we will go from there

P.S. What Sever and Faction are you playing?

Infultrators are very much useful if play correctly

Nice try.
You didn't even spell that correctly.

@ OP ... save your money for Engineer & Vehicle unlocks, much much wiser investments in the long term. There's nothing you can buy (including aimbots, lol) that will just magically make Infiltrator a whole lot more competitive than its stock setup (least of all Stealth & Semi-Auto upgrades)

Buy one of the new bolt action rifles. This is really all I found I needed to buy for my infiltrators.

VS: Parallax

TR: RAMS .50M

NC: Longshot

Stats for all 3 factions are the same but these rifles do 800 damage and have a velocity of 650. These are the highest damage rifles with the highest velocity for snipers.

I have read that even though the velocities are the same, the bullet drop is a little different on each weapon. Since I only own one of the Longshot, I can not tell you if that is true, but posters say the Parallax has the least amount of bullet drop.

Cloak has more uses than just running from one location to another. When you fire a weapon your character is marked on the radar for a few seconds. Cloaking erases this so you are no longer marked on the radar. Cloaking is also useful for erasing the targeting market people place on you when they spot you.

I have made it a habit to cloak after every shot and cloak while I acquire a shot.

Another tip, do not buy the silencer or forward grip for your sniper rifle.


If you want to go up close and want a CQC weapon, you may want to look at the fully automatic scout rifles. These all have 20 round magazines.

Not as useful as they should. An organized team cannoy play without a mix of medics, engineers, Max Units, heavy and light assault. But an Infiltrator is never something the team needs.
Best you can do as Infiltrator is some base back-capping to distract the enemy, or if you're really good you can spawn a Sunderer behind enemy lines (not always possible, not always useful).

Thanks for the tips from those that were on topic. I know everyone has their own favs but this toon is to fill a gap in a group of players. Will take advice on 2 loadouts and make initial purchases in weapon upgrades. Any other class related tips/advice welcome but it sounds like I have some grinding to do to lvl up my skills

Oh and I will be going as a TR.

I've tested LA-80 vs so-called 'Longshot' on a really long distance today. I am disappointed. So-called 'Longshot' has roughly 2,5 times worse bullet drop. When LA-80's bullet went down by 1 scope mark, Longshot's bullet went down by almost 3 marks. That is utterly ridiculous.

I've spent 1000 certs on it. Good thing, that was not real money.

lol feel free to explain what a useless infiltrator is. I am still waiting to see the "real" answer to this question

the useless infiltrator sits at max render distance for minutes on end, never moving from that point, and sniping at other snipers on the ridge, ignoring the larger engagement at hand
that said

now, i personally use the following as VS (convert to your faction of choice as you will as the rifles are identical as far as i know)

Long range engagements:
Paralax 6x scope (default) + 8x scope + 10x scope
most of the time i just use the 8x

Close in, assault style engagement:
Artemis + foregrip + silencer + 2x reflex sight. use it like a carbine, when taking accurate shots at targets further than 10 m, use trigger discipline and fire in bursts. highly recommend getting the NV sight for night operations, it helps

Midrange, designated marksman playstyle:
Nyx + laser sight + silencer + scope (i recommend the 3.4 holo for night fights, and a 4x of your choice, as well as the NV scope)
Ghost + silencer + scope (recommend the 3.4 holo for night fighting, and the 4x of your choice, i use the chevron one to compensate for the increased bullet drop

i've not yet played with the phantom much, but i'm contemplating picking it up as a harder hitting option to the nyx

all i play in Inf. and this is all you need in this order. i have no trouble snipping or hacking

1/ buy the ram .50 thats all you need for long range, with 12x scope
2/ youre standard pistol works fine for close quarters
3/ get dual claymores, life savors, and awesome for protecting your camp spot, as well as placing behind an occupied turret or on launch pads outside spawn rooms
4/ regen cloak, i got up to 40% regen, all you need.
5/ EMP grenade. why awesome for support, the fact that they shut down enemy shields and skills and work through walls
6/ grenade holder belt if you prefer more CQC / hacking or ammo belt if you prefer sniping

7/ couple lvl of hacking i only did 1 cert

sunderer ASM, when you hack an empty base, spawn a sundy and watch the xp roll in as your teammates use the sundy spawn

librator / zepher cannon: optional. i use the plan to get into nice camp spots sometimes, or if i just wanna blast around and rack up xp/kills

everything else is useless for the inf. im running about 2.5 K/D just using inf only not the greatest but ive had several session where ive gone 20+ kill streak, just left the game now at 16/2 and the last kill was cause i ran into an enemy claymore lol.

so once again, sniper rifle / claymores / cloak regen 40% / emp / ammo at lvl 21 have pretty much set.

- hacking i only usually do empty bases to get things started, its easy quick and safe. odd time ill risk it and go for turrets in a battle, more often then none you wont make it there in the heat of the battle.
- don't even bother trying to build a QCQ inf. weapons are to weak, cloak sound is ****, less armor/health. the fact that everyone use IR/NV and can spot you, you might as well be a heavy or engy at that point.

What you are reporting is in direct contrast to not only the published weapon stats but several tests done by people in this forum. Post a video or don't bother putting up unsubstantiated and controversial comments as fact, please.

As to the OP, with only a few thousand SC, I would recommend that you only buy one of the bolt action rifles (RAMS .50 is your best bet) and save the rest of the SC until you decide if infiltrator is the best use of your money or if other classes will suit you better.

The experience that a bolt action will provide is vastly different than the default semi-auto rifle and is worth the investment. Everything else you can take time to decide upon as you get certs and gain familiarity with the class. There are other threads on the forum that will outline the various builds and upgrades worth getting for a TR infiltrator that are worth your time to read. But start with buying a bolt action, you will either love it and keep exploring the class or hate it and try LA or another class (and still have SC to invest).

All the other comments about infils being useless etc. are just useless comments. Either you have fun playing the class or you don't. I have plenty of fun as an infil, and don't even begin to feel useless.

comments about inf being useless are majority true, have you read majority of the post for inf. there mostly complaints. CQC and infiltrating are bogus.

1/ cloak that last 12 seconds, thumbs down
2/ cloak that isnt completely invisible, thumbs down
3/ cloaked and cant shoot, thumbs down
4/ cloak sound, thumbs down
5/ being detected when cloaked by IR/NV, thumbs down
6/ hacking a terminal that eventually will get blown up or re-hacked, thumbs down
7/ CQC weapons, vs other classes, thumbs down
8/ small ammo payload, thumbs down
9/ sway, which doesnt completely come to a stop and short window of opportunity, thumbs down
10/ only having claymores, thumbs down
11/ starting health -100 vs other classes, thumbs down

i complain as much as the next guy, but i love the sniper classes in any game, by far this is the worst class, thankfully i have done well, mainly from sniping, most of my deaths and what brings my K/D down is due to infiltrating and vehicles.

if i sat on hill top 500m/y away im sure i could get a steady 10 kills to deaths easily, but it gets pretty boring sitting around Q spot/spamming and always missing on targets when they move at the last minute or forgetting your in cloak / holding your breath and go to pull the trigger.

just a quick FYI these 2 scout rifes HSR-1 and the SOAS-20 stats are messed up in-game the stats the HSR-1 is suppose to have is on the SOAS-20. and the SOAS-20 stats are shown on the HSR-1.

in-game stat


actual stats
http://wiki.planetside-universe.com/ps/HSR-1


http://wiki.planetside-universe.com/ps/SOAS-20

hopefully this helps and and u dont buy the wrong rifle.

I appreciate these arguments and while I have found ways to have fun and be successful at infiltrating (discussed in another thread on this forum), I see that many infiltrators would agree the class is lacking. That is why I suggest to the OP that he buy one bolt-action rifle, save the rest of his station cash and see if he likes it. It is the minimal investment imo to give the class a serious try and decide if it is worth spending more SC on or not.

First off StromRaven forget most of what you have read in this forum discussion. Here's the facts:

I am a long time Planetside player. Been through the ups and downs of PS1 and the transition to PS2. Infiltrator is and has ALWAYS been my favorite option. Why? Because it fits what I enjoy doing in the game. Play all the classes. Find the one that fits you most and rock it out. Whether you want to or not ,you will end up using all classes at some point and time to be an effective squad/platoon player.

TR infiltrator huh? Can't say I agree on your faction choice but I'm not here to start a flame war, rather, to help a new player looking for advice.

Pick up the RAMS sniper. Minimal investment for the most bang for your buck. Get a few certs and upgrade to either the 10x or 12x optics (my personal opinion 12x is over kill. If youre not going to hit the target at 10x youre not going to hit the target. Again just my opinion) Go into your infiltrator certs and make sure to learn the certs that only require 1 cert to start out with. This is extremely important as it will at least put you on a somewhat level playing field among other snipers and versus other classes.

You can cap bases and work effectively with a long range sniper in close quarters. Be smart. Learn your class and how you can become a viable asset, but stay true to your play style. I use a long range sniper in bases in close quarters all the time. No scope head shots and working with another player to drop enemy shields and get a quick assist is always a good safe bet.

Again gun preference is your joice. Obviously I prefer long range but the argument can be made for short range. Dont listen to just one side. Try for yourself and see what fits you. It's an MMO. Have fun and lean. We'll be here for awhile.


QUICK NOTE: STAY CLOAKED OFTEN BUT FRUGALLY.

Good tip for sniping in areas (say while defending The Crown)it's always good to only go out in the open while cloaked. Stay hidden while it recharges. When you do go out cloaked, find a target in your sights. Take your time. Dont waste a headshot because youre excited. If he moves then let it go or if you cant make he shot let him go. There are plenty more. DO NOT GIVE UP A GOOD SNIPING POSITION. Unlike most classes you arent instantly viable like say heavy assault. You need to be somewhere and doing what we do best. Be silent. Be deadly. Once you do have a good solid shot hold shift, line it up, press F to uncloak, and blow his/her ******* head off. Then press F and get back into cloak. Get back into cover and let your cloak recharge. Rinse and repeat.

Cloaked base running is also fun. Grabbing enemy generators and staying invis is always fun and can really help out the group.

Again remember, to be an effective player for your faction, for your class, for the game; you will shuffle between classes to fit what needs to be done. Having a main spec is fine but if your Sundy needs repaired and youve got enemies coming in hot for Gods sake just go engineer and heal the thing. Youll get a few quick 5 EXP rewards.


That's all Ive got to spill for now. If youre on the Sol Tech server I hope we run into each other one day. Ill be the VS infiltrator rocking a V10 10x optics blowing your head off.

-Leviath0n

easy...

look at what 99% of them are doing and you got your answer

Keep in mind that the VS and TR have to spend a 100 certs to get the same rifle that the NC start with.