Sniper Side: Freedom Guard Type: Infantry Movement Type: Foot Ground Weapon: Sniper Rifle Anti-Air Weapon: None Range: 8 Damage: 150 Hit Points: 100 Sight Range: 12 Movement Speed: Fast Cost: 700 Requirements: Advanced Training Facility Built At: Training Facility

Capable of camouflage, and armed with high-powered rifles, a Sniper’s precise shots excel at taking out infantry.

Sniping

Put simply, Snipers are Scouts with rifles. They have the same morphing capabilities as Scouts, so read up on the Scout section to learn how to camouflage your Snipers. One thing to note is that in addition to moving, a Sniper will reveal herself if she shoots or takes any other action other than standing perfectly still. With wandering infantry this is not usually a problem since the Sniper can dispatch most infantry before they can even shoot back. But when facing vehicles and large groups of foes, it may be better for the Sniper to remain hidden. Set a Sniper’s Independence to LOW in this situation to prevent her from firing at passing enemies.

The Sniper is armed with a rifle that does terrific damage against infantry, but much less damage against vehicles and structure. The rate of fire on the rifle is relatively slow; however, a single shot can fell most infantry (although the Sniper has a bad habit of missing moving targets). If a lone Sniper is facing a group of enemies, you may wish to retreat out of their sight range and attempt to pick them off one by one.

Snipers outrange many other units in the game. With proper positioning, they can even shoot some types of turrets outside of the range of those turrets. Although Snipers do not do significant damage against structures, as long as they do not draw retaliation they can peck away at the building in peace. You may, however, require several Snipers to overcome the enemy’s repair rate.

Park Snipers, with their Pursuit Range set to LOW, along paths that enemy infantry travel to pick them off as they go by. You can also plant them in the path of Freighters. It will take some time to destroy a Freighter with a Sniper’s rifle, but they can definitely do some damage to the enemy’s harvesting operations, along with any infantry your foe sends in response.

Finally, don’t discount using Snipers as a regular part of your army. Because they are so effective against infantry, Snipers are useful grouped with a force of offensive units and sent into battle. They are particularly well paired with Mercenaries and other units that excel versus vehicles, since the Snipers can take out the infantry while your other units focus on any tanks that they encounter. If you have Field Medics along, leave the Snipers unmorphed so that they will be automatically healed.