Consciousness

Just speaking pragmatically, I usually use the stock rifle IF I know I am going to be defending and use the advanced rifle if attacking OR on a titan map (so I can take out mines + not so much activity on titan maps). It is good to have the quickness of the stock for defense when you are dealing with an onslaught of a 'zerging' team running up on the flag. It is important when attacking though to have those one shoot kills and the zellar at 60m or less can deliver even with a shot to the chest/sternum (head shot sometimes not even needed). Also, usually if defending, the attacking enemy team will be very much on the move and so your accuracy will go down, which means you need to balance that with a larger mag and quicker reload time (stock rifle), whereas if attacking the enemy team is defensive and so usually is entrenched and so not moving much, which means you need accuracy and kill power (zellar). The stock also is best used at distances of about 80m or less but use the zellar if the territory demands you to be more than 100m from the enemy.

Tarenth

The Zeller will take someone in heavy armor down to 20 and someone in light armor down to 10. It will NEVER be a one shot kill center mass unless they are already hurt that much. All rifles have unlimited maximum range and will do the same damage point blank as they would at the theoretical 500 yard shot. And again, all rifles will do 100 damage to the head droping them to critical wounded (though close range head shots may make the body fly a bit which if made from the top of a hill could make the body unrevivable).

While attacking you're better off with the stock because, as you said, the enemy will be in an entrenched position. If you're firing off only 3 rounds before you've spent your load then that means a medic in that entrenched position can easily negate all the work you do and you'll be rocket fodder. With the larger mag you have a better chance of keeping heads down with suppression fire to let a squad get up close and personal and just that much longer while they're suppressed before they start serving you your rear end via rockets.

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My sanity is not in question...
It was a confirmed casualty some time ago.

HeatSurge

I personally favor the Zeller. It has a low clip size, but it really helps squad members mow people down faster (it only takes a shot or two after they're down to 20 or 10), and I find that taking frequent breaks to reload reminds me of how vulnerable my position is and helps me look around and choose better targets, if any.

MDFubar

If you are sniping and you have time to look around and spot other targets, all I can say is that you are not fighting a TG squad. Scenraio:

SL - "SL down NW, Sniper NNW"
Medic1 - "Coming for you SL"
Medci2 - "Looking for Him"
As you shoot for the Medic, the Zeller has a tracer.
Medic3 - "sniper NNW 50 meters, on Him"

Rockets now balzing in your direction, if you live....you are lucky.

From past experiences.

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HeatSurge

I usually snipe from really far and pick off people who are trying to flank and break from the main group before firing into the main "action" if any. I also change position very often. I've had plenty of medics fire 30 feet away from where I'm standing (where I was), not hurting me one bit. These are the "breaks" I'm talking about to change positions. If someone's onto me and a medic, I usually change position more or wait for their salvo to finish (hopefully somewhere away from me) and then fire at them, usually resulting in a kill. It's just my style. I get pretty good kills usually.

Tarenth

The problem with this in a TG envionment is that you're getting kills and doing literally nothing of any worth for your team. While typically successful sniper behavior on PUBs, the TG server's emphasis on teamwork and squadplay will ensure that medic laying down fire 30 feet away will be backed up by 5 other players (the first killing already being revived while your head is down) and then when you kill the medic those 5 other players will be happy to open fire on you.

That's why there's such an emphasis on there being a 'normal way' and a 'TG way'. The normal way just doesn't cut it when you go 6 vs 1 with only 3 bullets in the mag.

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My sanity is not in question...
It was a confirmed casualty some time ago.

Cpt.Pierce

I used to snipe a lot, and preferred the stock rifles for their clip size and lack of giant blue beacon leading straight to you. Now, as I've been on TG servers more often, snipers are in less demand in organized squads, and I have found that the best precision rifle is the Baur. Not only can you fire about the same distance as a mid range sniper shot, you are not useless at close range, can revive+heal squadmates, and have rockets or the shotgun attachment. All this allows you to stick with and support your squad while being more mobile. Overall, the benefits of the Baur far outweigh the disadvantage of the lack of one shot kill you get from it.
Well, thats my two cents worth anyway. Baur>Stock Rifles>Zeller

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Await the moment for one, and only one, well aimed shot.

Bagheera

Two headshots with a Baur isn't hard to do, if you know what you're doing. However, I wish that damn red dot sight was a helluva lot less opaque.

Consciousness

It is true that on TG servers, the sniper class has a much harder time being effective on the battlefield. However, there are certain things you can do to be an integral part of the squad. Always follow the squad and provide cover on the flank. Use those orange boxes! Always be aware of orange boxes in the area and get your squad to funnel another squad into the area - you can take out quite a few guys with one shot if they are close to the box/canister. Spot enemies (probably number one priority). Be one with the body shot/pistol kill tactic - it works great : just get a quick body shot, then run in on the guy with a pistol (in this way, you really are not useless at mid/short ranges. At close range you really are NOT useless with RDX. Once the squad is approaching the flag, hang back and place some APMs and patrol the perimeter - a lot of defending squads will get a perch and fire on your squad trying to take the flag, a nice silent sneak up and knife or rdx can take out whole squads. Finally, you can lace the flag with RDX after the capture so that enroute to the next flag, if the enemy gets the flag neutral, you can blow them all to hell to give your squad a minute or two to run back to the flag and re-capture it before it turns to the enemy. I think there are many immediate ways to help a squad as a sniper, and even though it requires trickery and basically being a pest on the map, I wouldn't completely call the sniper class useless for team based tactics; it just requires a more subtle approach than meds, revives and suppresive fire.

Tarenth

Consciousness, you are getting the difference between a RECON role and a SNIPER role mixed up. If you're using stealth and resorting to your knife to make kills then you're talking about stealth recon and not a sniper.

In all those instances you're talking about the Lambert is just as effective, if not more so, than either the Zeller or the Stock rifle.

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My sanity is not in question...
It was a confirmed casualty some time ago.

Bagheera

In that situation, I'd venture that an assault medic with a quiet gun, such as the PAC base weapon, would be very suited as well. He could even survive such encounters, heal up, and move on. In either case (Lambert or PAC base gun), the SL with the drone would even have diamonds for enemy locations, and can plan attacks to a fine degree of accuracy and stealth, thanks to the 3D HUD diamond icons.

Cowtipper

I use the Zeller, since if someone is up close I fire a quick bullet (hopefully hitting him) and then I switch over to pistol.

Bagheera

But that thing can be heard for miles, and while you're switching between Zeller and pistol, you've got several new holes in your torso from the guy with the assault weapon.

Even if you do manage to take out the first guy while "trying" to be sneaky, the loud report of the Zeller will bring all of his squaddies running in your exact direction, and I can guarantee you won't survive a second guy, and the first will quickly be revived.

The knife, or the PAC pistol (and PAC assault weapon) is far quieter. You can use any of them to get a kill, and someone just around the corner typically won't hear you. With a Zeller, you might as well set off illegal firecrackers after killing someone in CQB, if you're lucky enough to live.

SKsniper128

There is an easy solution to this.

Don't let them get close enough to take advantage of their higher rate of fire. keep the guy at at least 100m, any closer with the Zeller will get you killed. Take your shot, call out the enemy squad's position, and then reposition yourself for another shot. Medics are priority targets, everyone else can wait.

That and set up some APM's to cover likely routes to your position.

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300 to 1? No problem. Might need more bullets though...

Tarenth

Actions that are useless for your team. You take the shot and reposition. Okay...they make the revive and keep going. You've gotten a kill and that's about all you've accomplished. You've also given away your position so now they can saturate the area or call in UAV/IDS support to pin point you.

If you're with your squad then you've also given away your squad's position and if the enemy can't fire at you from 100 yards than neither can your squad fire on them.

If you're away from your squad...um...you're away from your squad and already useless. If you die you're an automatic ticket loss. 6vs1 isn't very good odds especially when 2-5 members of the opfor are medics that can undo your kills and you only have 3 rounds in the mag.

If your squad engages the enemy you've called out then congratulations, you've sent them into a fight at a disadvantage. Your squad of 5 people will engage a squad of 6 (your kill already having been negated by a defib use) and you won't be providing fire support because you're too busy repositioning in order to save your own life. That squad will also be on the alert since you gave away the fact that there is an enemy presence in the area when you opened fire so the use of an ambush has been taken away from your squad leader.

You're also forgetting that 'keeping someone at 100 yards' is a lot harder with the Zellar and without squad support as you are apparently acting. As you're repositioning that enemy squad is already at full strength due to a revive 5 seconds later and you now have 6 people bearing down on your last position. Fire-Reposition is only a good process when you are trying to whittle down the opposition. Can't exactly whittle anything down when regardless of how many kills you string in a row the enemy will just pick them back up again.

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My sanity is not in question...
It was a confirmed casualty some time ago.