Crosshair Placement
In all FPS games, one of the nuances that separate the good from the bad is crosshair placement. The core concept of crosshair placement is that you always keep your crosshair at where your enemy’s head will be in order to set yourself up for the easiest shot possible.
Given that victory can be decided in less than a second you want to minimize the amount of time you spend getting your aim on target before you can begin to fire. By keeping your crosshair at head level at all times you are eliminating almost any vertical adjustments and focusing entirely on horizontally tracking your target. Note that experienced fps players will crouch during engagements to throw off the attacker’s aim.
Visualize where the enemy character model’s head will be, and set yourself up for the easiest shot possible for when you/they turn that corner.
Yellow-line Trick
In Planetside 2 most building walls have a yellow stripe, in many situations, the top border of this element is head level.
Notice the yellow band in relation to the nearest player head, the user’s crosshair is a bit high but the situation is controlled. Further, this applies at varying ranges, notice the max behind the red dot sight and the friendly player to the right.
Burst Fire
If you have played an FPS game before you are familiar with the concept of recoil. In Planetside, you are affected by a few types of recoil: Horizontal/Vertical Recoil, Cone of Fire and First shot multipliers. Before you can learn how to properly handle your weapon of choice it is important to understand how it’s recoil behaves.
| Vertical Recoil: When you pull the trigger your weapon will kick upwards by varying degrees. |
| Horizontal Recoil: When you pull the trigger your weapon may also kick from side to side. |
| First Shot Multiplier: The first round from your weapon will always kick more than the subsequent shots. This effect is most apparent on weapons with strong vertical recoil such as the LA1 Anchor (NC). |
| Cone of Fire (COF): Cone of fire is how off-center each shot will land off-center after you begin firing (counteract this with burst fire!). |
Below you can see each of these stats reflected in the mouse-over desciption in-game.
Your first shot will land where your sights are aimed almost 100% of the time (not accounting for moving target or weapon velocity). The following shots will land further and further off center depending on how long you hold the trigger down.
Your first shot will always be nearly 100% accurate. (On some weapons your first shot will land not quite center, but very close.) The following shots will land further and further off center depending on how long you hold the trigger down.
For Example: The T9 CARV’s(TR)’s first maximum bloom on the first shot is 0.4 degrees, meaning that the first shot can land anywhere between the center of your screen and 0.4 degrees away. After every shot your weapon’s maximum bloom increases by 0.05.
T9 Carv weapon simulation: Black circles represent cone of fire expansion, cyan lines represents the maximum amount of horizontal drift you’ll experience with a gun before it self corrects back towards the center.
These deviations seem small on paper, but consider that you are aiming for a small target (the head), and the further your target is from you the more punishing these deviations will become.
Because of these deviations it is absolutely crucial that you are burst firing at almost all times. (With the exception being an opponent in your face, or hip-firing)
While every weapon has a unique COF, a good rule of thumb is to reset your burst when you start missing. In a firefight consistency will beat volume of fire 90% of the time. It’s all about how much damage you can reliably land on your opponent.
Head to the VR with your weapon of choice and study its COF, in addition to looking up its stats. Get a feel for when you need to let it reset.
Note: 4-5 shots is a safe bet with any gun, but practice with your weapon and see how accurate the cone is at any given range. Some weapons can be bursted in larger groupings, some require a more delicate touch. The amount you can fire while still being accurate changes dramatically based on range.
Your first shot will land where your sights are aimed almost 100% of the time (not accounting for moving target or weapon velocity). The following shots will land further and further off center depending on how long you hold the trigger down.
For Example: With the T9 CARV (TR) the first shot is always 0.1 off-center, the second will be 0.2 off, the third will be 0.1 off, the fourth will be 0.4, and the fifth will be 0.05. After these initial shots, the following rounds will land further and further off center until the maximum Cone of Fire is reached.
These deviations seem small on paper, but consider that you are aiming for a small target (the head), and the further your target is from you the more punishing these deviations will be magnified.
Because of these deviations, it is crucial that you are burst to fire at almost all times (except when targets are in your face).
While every weapon has a unique COF, a good rule of thumb is to fire in bursts of 2-3 shots depending on the type of weapon. In a firefight, consistency will beat the volume of fire 90% of the time. It’s all about how much damage you can reliably land on your opponent.
Originally adapted from Conflictt’s Guide – https://docs.google.com/document/d/159imSj9un6dDW3s54QBdsGYy5sV03VUZc_2D5oj0VOk/edit