When operating as part of a squad I tend to spam recon darts, keep an ear out for enemy INFs (dastardly backstabbing cowards), hack terminals (vital war work) and general catch bullets for the seemingly oblivious HA next to me. However, I've decided that rather always running around with an SMG I might try one of our other weapon options. I had a go with the close range BASRs. If I was a competent shot this might work out better. I definitely need a lot more practise with these as I am still very uncomfortable with them. Then I tried a silenced Semi-Sniper. I quite like these but I didn't feel as if I was contributing much more than a SMG user - although I was able to pick of HAs with RLs and other Snipers (wicked, dishonourable cads). I'm not sure if 500 Certs to pick up the Semis with the lower mag scopes would be worth it - although I do like the way these weapons work. Having had some fun with the NS Scout Rifle El Vandalisimo I thought I would give that a whirl instead. It certainly seems to fill the fill of popping enemy LAs (Ariel Vermin) and putting extra rounds into the enemy during heavy fights. So I was wondering what other folks use to help support their squad? Cheers.
IMO a regular SA/BAR sniper is still pretty good for squad work if you use the scopes/cloak to spot flankers and snipe people who try to get a vantage point on your squad as they advance. Aggro sniping is still a thing and everybody doesn't have to be farming kills from the middle of nowhere or trying to backstab people.
I primary VS so I'm only familiar with semi-autos available to VS. The Vandal is a great rifle, but I prefer using the Nyx. 2-3 shots to the face puts down most targets. However, the infil is a very unforgiving class accuracy wise. If you can't land a majority of your shots you are going to lose the engagement every time, you definitely need to be able to aim to get the most out of the class. For bolt-actions I prefer the ghost over the parallax as there are very few times where I need anything over 4x magnification to hit a target. Also, the ranges you will be using the higher-powered scopes at don't contribute as much to coordinated squad play compared to smgs or semis.
Don't know what to use? Use scout rifles! They are universal. Just don't try a direct engagements with em, DPS is not that good. I got 4 weapon configs for different types of fights, with the longest range sniper being the Phaseshift.
either semi auto scout or a cqc semi auto sniper hell even the default semi auto works well when spamed in cqc BASR just dont work for me in cqc, i used them only in medium-very long range (300m)
I am not necessarily a "marksman" for my squad, but I will go into an area and take out a lot of targets with my SMG by prioritizing my targets and staying in the shadows. Its kinda like a hitman job. But for those areas that I can't get into really easily to go CQC, I'll go with my good ol' SAS-R w/a 3.4x scope. Happy Hunting! -Shotgun
I've been enjoying the medium range SASR lately. It puts you at roughly the same effective range as most other (non-CQC) team members, but you can still pull off one-shot+knife kills at point blank range, assuming your enemy doesn't have nanoweave. The hipfire is terrible, so i always run with a silencer to reduce the risk of people sneaking up on me. Spamming it will get you killed more often than not, but if you stay calm you can kill your enemies very quickly with one headshot + one bodyshot.
My preferred gun is the RAMS .50 Although I could do the job with any gun thats able to OHK on a headshot. When doing marksman duty I look for a place where I can see my target are (ofc) and have little room to move, so the counter-snipers don't just have to wait for me to reappear at the same spot. Basically I sit way back and try to protect the rest of TR from those pesky MANA AV, HAs, other snipers... and generally anthing that stops for a second in my FOV. OHK on HS is important, because they rarely give you a second shot.
Although I am not the greatest of players I have enjoyed the challenge of using the M77-B and on occasions have got some nice killstreaks( well for me anyway) with it. I have fallen in love with the Vandal (El Vandalisimo) and it is the first none bolt action weapon I have a positive k/d with (remember I said I wasn't very good). I also have the TSAR-42 sitting in the locker, I am hoping that by the time I auraxium the Vandal I will be semi-sufficient to effectively use the TSAR-42 with a 3.4 scope in the medium range engagements my thought process being that although the M77-B and TSAR-42 are essentially the same gun, with out having to deal with scope sway I can put more lead in the air and maybe drop a few more foes.
For squad support I use the Artemis Scout Rifle. It's a good ambush/close quarters weapon that still maintains some mid-range functionality. But the main reason I bought it is because it's cheap.
The dot on the 3.4x scope is too bulky to use for the TSAR -- I'd recommend the TMS 4x. Thin crosshairs with just enough magnification to be effective. I'd recommend the exercises here if you'd like to be good with the TSAR -- It's a high skill floor, high skill ceiling weapon, and you honestly will hate it if you're, as you say, not very good: https://forums.station.sony.com/ps2/index.php?threads/your-accuracy.181413/page-3#post-2640697
From a competitive standpoint, close range BASR's like the GHOST, TSAR-42, SAS-R, are wonderful if you can aim. Allowing the infiltrator to reach out and touch enemies at greater distances kill effectively with quick headshots. See any of Elusive1's videos as an example. https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC-YO7uBNTyUvg90W1GZSs9g Another good combination, if your aim is not as godly, (most of us fall under this category <3) is to pair NAC (Nano Armour Cloaking) with a hard hitting SMG like the Armistice, Cyclone, or the Eridani. When your fighting in a group setting, inside a building for example, your goal is to make kills quickly and these SMG's (generally speaking) favor good aiming skills, and don't wobble all over the place. They feel less messy and allow you to take down targets faster. This is essential to preventing team deaths, and prevent ACHMED's from reaching the medics. For Stalker Cloak, I use the Xbow and Knife, 4 EMP's, and 2 Proxies. It is an ambush and flanking orientated loadout. I pull this when I am not sure what exactly the Squad or PL is going to ask me to do. If he wants me to leave the building, or team at any point Id rather be running this then NAC with an SMG. The type of cloak, and suit slots you tend to use also changes in a SCRIM and Team based environment. Hunter cloak becomes very lack luster under heavy fire, and doesn't provide enough stealthyness in general to be effective outside rooms. Your left in a position where depending on the situation... you should be running NAC (Nano Armour Cloaking) for the extra damage mitigation, or Stalker cloak when you need to be outside sneaking around. What you pick, really comes down to what your group is asking of you. Their structure can have a dramatic effect on what you are expected to do. Circumstances like being inside a building holding down a capture point, under heavy grenade spam, or flanking require different loadouts. Cloak mechanics also tend to matter. I found hunter cloak too noisy when sneaking from location to location with my team. It became a detriment, and good players, like those in [TIW] could pinpoint our entire squads location based on the cloaking sound alone. This is why I have been pushing myself towards using NAC and Stalker Cloak. NAC rewards not constantly using cloak, and only cloaking on reloading or seeking cover. Basically only the times when you need to mitigate incoming small arms fire and your life depends on it. Paired with medkits, flak, asc, or nanoweave, you become very difficult to kill. On the flip side, stalker cloak allows you the mobility to run around outside and place beacons on enemy sundies, assassinate enemy support classes from behind, or give over-watch information. I suspect when the new implants go live this will be an important role since radar and motion spotters can be fooled, but human eyes can still tell you when a MAX crash is coming. I recently switched outfits from [VETZ] to [3GIS] and made a little 1st week montage to celebrate some fun times. It might help illustrate what I mean about loadout choices and expectations. For example If I were to try flanking outside during that final [NUC] attack it would have been lights out, with no chance of recovery. When the populations are more balanced it becomes more practical **cough** sane **cough** to flank as support.
On the topic of the OP, though, the TRAP is a great support weapon. It's harder to kill individual targets with than the HSR or KSR, but easier to do a larger sum of damage to multiple targets in the same amount of time (the definition of a "support" weapon).
If I'm running infiltrator I'm usually gonna be using the parallax from a high vantage point not mainly to snipe, but to coordinate my squad. From a high vantage point it's easy to see the flow of battle and place markers accordingly. I do enjoy picking off engineers on the AV turrets too of course though. You may want to consider using a silencer too if you're close enough. I find that at long ranges it creates too much of a velocity loss to be worth not showing up on the map, and being that far away I'm fairly safe except for other snipers (a risk you mitigate by cloaking and relocating in between shots). But at closer ranges, I'll usually put on the silencer. You can drop a lot of people without even being noticed.
My main job in a squad/platoon is scouting out and marking enemy sunderers with my trusty(?) sneaky Flash. Since I usually don't know what ranges I'll be infantry-ing at, I use the Vandal, as it really is a go anywhere do anything kind of weapon. Versatility is huge for that kind of gameplay. Attachments I use the most is 2x, flash supressor and laser sight. Works pretty well both indoors and out, at least for me. YMMW
