Movin from the front to the back

[Tony]

Really the back player has no option other than to use a lot of paint, unless he's a REALLY good shot!! The reason he fires a lot of paint is to keep the oppo's head down, and keep them in their bunkers, in order for the front guys to work angles.

If you can see where your opponent is going to want to move to, you have to keep a steady stream of paint flying in order to stop him making his move. Unless he's stupid enough to try to move through it, in which case, BAM!, he's gone.


With limited paint events, check to see if you can share with team-mates during the game. If you can, it's worth your frontmen chucking a pot your way during the game.

As Killeronion said, communication is vital. Shout your calls untill they are responded to by EVERY member of your team. Not only does it mean you know everyone knows whats going on, but it also helps you work out how many people you have left on your team if your in a wide or forward position.

 

[Liz]

y not?

Originally posted by SYTRAXZ
y not buy bigger than a 14" barel? u cant buy a bigger back for the freaks so y not just buy the 16" or 18" freak then??????

(Very) short lecture on barrels coming up. There is a school of thought that the total effective length of a barrel is the length from the very back to where there is first any widening out or porting. By the very nature of the Freak, you get a slight widening the moment the ball is past the insert which is approximately 5 inches long hence an effective length of 5 inches. There is some effect on accuracy beyond this but by the time you're talking about 14 vs 16 inches it's negligible at the kind of range we play at, especially in arenas. I play back & have done off & on for many years both sup'air & woodland & use a 14 inch Freak - tried longer barrels in the past but found they made little difference & it wasn't worth it for the added inconvenience of an extra 2-4 inches of barrel sticking out & getting in the way when I changed sides of the barricade.

This is a subject that's come up a few times recently, how about someone with more technical knowledge than me writing an article for PGI?

 

[KillerOnion]

I suppose I could do the article. Basically the short version of my arguements for 14" and no longer stem from the compactness issue as stated above, plus unnecessary gas consumption which becomes more and more noticeable as operating pressure is decreased, squeegeeing issues (when you're a back, you either do it fast or often not at all....over 14" impedes that SEVERELY), and adverse impact on gun balance i.e. doesn't point in as neat and straight a line and raise up to level as fast. More little details on it, but I'll save them for the article should it be requested to be written.

 

[eric]

Reducing the cost for back men

You need to split the cost of paint between all team members. If your team wants yu to play back then they should help you with the costs. Why should you pay more then them? Take the total cost of all the paint, and divide between the number of team members(heres the real reason for having 6 players for a 5 man event-hehe). This way everybody pays the same ammount(unless your back guy is a lawyer or docter, then take him to the cleaners )If they wont do this thn refuse to play back.

 

[KillerOnion]

Length

Originally posted by Nick Iuel-Brockdorff
While there is no significant difference in accuracy.... a longer barrel will help you play your covers better on a Sup'Air Ball field.

The longer the barrel, the further into the barricade you can play, and thus be tighter.

-There is a reason most the top front guys use 16" barrels, where one should otherwise think a shorter barrel was the way to go !

Said another way... the longer the barrel, the easier it is for you to keep your loader in cover, while stille shooting at your target.... because of the covers being round and soft.... if you use a shorter barrel, you will need to play further forward in the barricade to actually shoot paint, and thus be more exposed.

- Get it ?

Nick

Notice this only works on Supair, which of course is the majority of tourney fields, but you will run into Hyperball, pallets, boxes, etc. where the 10-14" thinking applies. But, with the longer barrels as I have pointed out there are the problems that one runs into which are a reason why I personally avoid them. Yeah I might occasionally be inclined to use one on an odd note, but for the most part it's 14" for me all the way with really little reason to do otherwise.

Oh, and as to the paint issue, the previous guy is exactly right. One thing to add to that is to order all the paint at once, both tourney and practice, to get a bulk rate, thus everyone benefits. Between 5 people (the effect increases further with 7 and 10), if you order your paint with two to three weeks, two days each, with the tournament at the end of such period in mind, that adds up to being a lot. Say you want 10 cases for the tournament, a pretty standard supply as most will agree, then with two weeks of practice that should be 20 cases which is quite enough to get it at a rate that is inexpensive to practice comfortably and with frequency that will insure you adequate preparedness, which in any sport is 90% of winning.

 

[Liz]

Reducing the cost for back men

Originally posted by eric
You need to split the cost of paint between all team members. If your team wants yu to play back then they should help you with the costs. Why should you pay more then them? Take the total cost of all the paint, and divide between the number of team members(heres the real reason for having 6 players for a 5 man event-hehe). This way everybody pays the same ammount(unless your back guy is a lawyer or docter, then take him to the cleaners )If they wont do this thn refuse to play back.

Completely agree. What do you think your front player's reaction would be if they asked for some covering fire (definitely the back's job) & you yelled back no way, as you couldn't afford the paint bill? Half of them would have problems getting into their primary bunker if you aren't there shooting them in at goodness knows how may shots per second, so in the first 15 seconds or so you have got through the best part of a hopper & they have got through precisely 0 paint.

Team sport = teamwork & team bill at the end of the day.

 

[pbshadow]

quoted from "LIZ" towards the top of this post..hehe i like this one. shes agirl apparently..

ENJOY YOURSELF. ITS FUN!
i think we all know that!

 

[Liz]

Originally posted by pbshadow
quoted from "LIZ" towards the top of this post..hehe i like this one. shes agirl apparently..

ENJOY YOURSELF. ITS FUN!
i think we all know that!

I was referring to playing back rather than front - many front players don't think playing back is any fun at all whereas I love it.

With a name like Liz, of course I'm female! Bit too old to still be referred to as a girl sadly

 

[Philip]

Dont be putting yourself down Lizzy

 

[eric]

i am the same way Liz. I am far and away a front player, but its fun to mix it up in the back once in a while. Its cool to be able to just sit and dump paint at everybody on the field(a little expensive though!).