Things YOU can do:
One of the things I note (I have my reticle set with Pen Indicator as a dot) is that when I have a very tight area for a pennable shot, I do my best to take into account that the shot is going to be IN that circle somewhere and MOST of the time it will be in the area of about 50% of center of that circle. So I have a 50/50 shot, essentially, of hitting within the 6 to 10 ring were I shooting at a standard 100 yard silhouette.
Knowing this, I aim my center point so that I get the maximum opportunity to hit that pennable surface area. Sometimes, this means aiming at a spot you cannot really expect to hit exactly just so you have a good chance to hit at all. If the Pen Indicator shows green over most of that area, aim for the center of where you saw only a green indicator. This allows you a better chance at hitting some part of that area.
The Pen Indicator is NOT a guaranty of Penning. It is a Good Guide and Better than just praying to RNGesus for a hit. The Pen Indicator is sort of like 6th Sense. If you use it like you think you should, you'll be disappointed. If you learn to leverage that information stream a bit differently, though, you can find ways to maximize your damage potential -- or at least know if you should even keep popping your boomstick at that impenetrable steel wall. If the Pen Indicator shows Red, you can pretty much forget a damage causing strike.
Lastly, if you're going to be a sniper, you have to get good at leading moving targets. If you are well positioned, almost all your targets will have to be either advancing or retreating in your Line of Fire (LoF). This makes the next shot more an issue of timing and elevation, which is much easier than leading a target moving across your LoF. When going across your LoF, however, you have to have a pretty good idea of how fast your shot arrives at distance to target. Sometimes this is worth a 'test' shot when not in contact at something like a house or car so you can 'time' your shot distance. This allows you a better idea of how far to lead a target depending on how far away it is as well as how fast it is going.
Things YOU Should Do:
Your Crew:
A Sniper type TD Crew should start right away with things that help it be a sniper. As I tend to get 75% Crews when I start a unit (if I don't have a 100% crew already trained for that tank) I have to get them up to 100%. I do this all with Credits, because I am a FTPP and, as such, Gold is precious to me. So let's say I do have that crew at 100% Qualification and that I intend to Keep that Crew for Some Time. If that were the case, here's how I'd go about starting my initial Skills and Perks for my Crew:
Crew Member: 1st Skill 2nd Skill 3rd Skill 4th Skill
100% 100% 100% 100% 60%
Commander 6th Sense Recon Concealment Repairs/Firefighting
Driver Off Road Driving Concealment Clutch Braking Repairs/Firefighting
Gunner Concealment Repairs Snap Shot Firefighting/Deadeye
Loader Concealment Repairs Firefighting Safe Stowage
Radio Op. Situational Awareness Concealment Repairs/Signal Boost Signal Boost/Repairs
Once I got those and started on the 4th, I would just grind until the 4th hits 50% to 60% and then I'd reset the entire Crew Skills to this:
Crew Member: 1st Skill 2nd Skill 3rd Skill 4th Skill
100% 100% 100% 100% 10%
Commander BIA 6th Sense Recon Concealment
Driver BIA Off Road Driving Concealment Clutch Braking
Gunner BIA Concealment Repairs Snap Shot
Loader BIA Concealment Repairs Firefighting
Radio Op. BIA Situational Awareness Concealment Repairs/Signal Boost
Note the difference in the percentages. If you Retrain your Crew for 20K Credits per Crewmember (the Reginmental Level of training), when resetting Crew Skills/Perks, you lose 10% of your 100% levels and an additional 10% on the last skill. (This is based on the Regimental Restriction on training, such that, when retraining to a new tank of the Same Class or Resetting Crew Skills on that Crew in that Tank, Regimental Training provides a 75% New Crew or a 90% of original value if higher than 75%).
In this manner, the 60% Skill at the end gets 'skimmed' for 10% as do each other Skill and the Primary Crew Qualification, (CQ= 100% - 10 = 90%; S1= 100% - 10 = 90%, S2 = 100% -10 = 90%; S3 = 100% - 10 = 90%; S4 = 60% -10 = 50%) and then, to make up the difference between 90% on the CQ, S1, S2 & S3 percentages, the Final Skill (S4) gets those 10% bits taken from it to ensure they are all at 100% (Now, CQ = 90 + 10 = 100%; S1 = 90 +10 = 100%; S2 = 90 =10 = 100%; S3 = 90 + 10 = 90%; S4 = 50 - 10 - 10 - 10 - 10 = 10% ). This is the "complex" and complete explanation, just rest assured that if you retrain with silver this is how it works.
If you use Gold, then 200 Gold per Crew Member for a penalty free Skill/Reset.
Your Tank:
When it comes to equipping your tank for a sniper role, you have to consider two things first: How far can you see and how hard are you to spot? For this reason, you most probably should consider these things as Modules (Complex Equipment) for your tank:
Binoculars/Coated Optics:
Depending on your playing style, you'll either want Binoculars (adds 25% to VR when stationary for more than 3s to a max of 445m) or Coated Optics (adds 10% ALL THE TIME to VR up to 445m). In this game, if you want to snipe, you gotta see. View Range is your most critical tool for success. Some folks swear by using both Binocs and Coated Optics so that they have advanced vision all the time of at least 10%. I'm not sure I want to sacrifice DPM for VR, but the guys that swear by this method are all Very Good LT players, so you should consider that as a potential Thing.
Gun Rammer/Gun Laying Drive:
(depending on your reload to aim times) If you have a fast load time, then you might not require a Gun Rammer, which improves your load time. As an example, if your tank's gun has a 10s reload and a 6.5s aim time, a Rammer will boost your DPM by reducing that 10s to 9s. At that point, you don't really need a Gun Laying Drive to improve DPM and so you might consider NOT using a GLD and place another piece of equipment on your tank instead. A Gun Laying Drive improves aim time and reduces the bloom (dispersion ring) while on the move (chassis movement only, turret and gun aim movement still increase bloom as normal) so, if you plan on shooting, moving, relocating, shooting, moving, relocating, a GLD might make more sense depending on your concealment factor and view range.
Camo Net:
Most TDs have good concealment value relative to all other units of other classes. This does not mean they are invisible, just, all other things being equal, they are harder to spot. The harder you are to spot while sniping the better. A camouflage net is cheap, removable and, like the Binocs, activate 3s after going stationary. The addition of a camo net to your base concealment for a TD is enough of an overall improvement that it's usually worth it. If you have room for a Camo Net, get one and place it.
Camo-Skins:
You can 'rent' camouflage skins for 75K credits for 100 battles. This is 750 Credits a battle. It increases your concealment factor and stacks with your base concealment, the crew Skill level of Concealment you have and your Camo Net when active. In the right spot and angle, you can be very, VERY hard to spot even after firing.
You have gotten some great advice already and I hope that anything I provide here is remotely helpful to you or anyone else.
GL, HF & HSYBF!
OvO
Edited by dunniteowl, Sep 07 2019 - 17:17.