properly using your cover

[U/\/registered]

Many new players and rec ballers don’t know how to properly use their cover. It takes some time to learn and get used to but once learned it will greatly increase your playing skill.
It’s the start of a game and the horn sounds; the first thing you do is run to your first bunker/cover and hide behind it. This is what separates the inexperienced players from the experienced players. Instead of “hiding” behind your cover you should learn to “use” your cover.
Most inexperienced players run up to their cover and hide directly behind it. This limits your sight because you have to pop up to see over your cover. You have to be able so see around your cover without having to pop up or move around too much. If you use your cover rather than hide behind it you will be able to keep a continuous eye on the field at all time. Instead of running right up to the cover take a few steps back and lay back off your cover, this will give you better view of the field. You will be just as covered when you lay off your cover as you were when you were right up on it. Trust me, this hleps a bunch. Another advantage to using your cover is that it will make it easier to snap shoot and you will expose less of your body. If you run right up on the cover you can’t move side to side without jerking your body to the side to get your head out far enough past the cover to shoot and this exposes much more of your body than needed. If you lay off the cover you have more room to move around and will expose less of your body because you can already see much of the field so you won’t have to move your head out as far.
This may take a while to get used to and it may feel a bit awkward at first but you will learn quickly to use this technique. If you’re a rec ball player the rule applies the same for trees. Rather than run up and hug the tree take about 5 steps back, get down on one knee, and use the tree to cover you. Just remember, the proper use of cover can make the difference between walking back to the dead box or walking the flag to the flag station.
Also, when you first run up and slide, then start backing up, watch cross field angles, especially if you are closest to a tape line, a Guy will have a clear shot if you don't check, if he does, then move again to another bunker that won't open up another shooting lane when you lay off your bunker
Make sure to read my Snap shooting article with this too!

 

[Meyer]

Also remember that "cover" doesnt just mean bunkers. Use paint as cover, a steady stream of paint will isolate a player just as well as a bunker. Also, I try to make my bunker moves so that I can spend a good deal of my run with some bunker or another between myself and my intended elimination. The opponent my not detect your move until your right on top of him/her, or at least you have moved up a bunker on him/her.

Most of all, remember to THINK. I try to keep a constant birds eye mental picture of the field in my mind (I play a lot of real time strategy video games). Use this schematic to predict which bunkers can conceal moves, and which bunkers will offer better shots. Case in point, I hate defending spools, because if you play them too low, you cant move into a different position quickly, and if you play off of the ground at all, then in order to reach around the side, you will already have exposed your feet. Also, home plates are easier to defend because the allow a player to expose only their head/shoulders/marker to take shots, not other parts of their body.

"Cover" can consist of many things. It is most commonly considered to be bunkers, but suppressive paint, other players movements, marker problems, loading, and even officials and eliminated players in transit can be used in a pinch.

 

[Kattman]

Good articles on using cover

I like the articles on using your cover, I'm new to the sport of paintball & can use all the help I can get.

If anyone knows about some 24 hour scenarios in the Colorado area let me know. My son and I are dieing to try one.

Thanks!

 

[Meyer]

OOHHHH!!!!
Cover in a scenario game is significantly different from cover in a speedball game. For instance, in the woods (where most scenarios are played) the concept of "cover" is a very wide brush that deals with a great many factors. A big thing I try to use in the woods is the ambient environs, a sudden gust of wind will create a great deal of movement in the trees/bushes, easily enough to disguise a quick move, and the noise created is enough to conceal a quick burst or a run.
Also remember in a scenario game there is a great deal of space to play with, some of the best routs I have ever experienced came as a result of a faked retreat. Most retreats are simply falterings in the line, but the pre determined ones only fall back to a certain point, at wich time there is either a regroup and assault straight back, or a broad flanking maneouver that places the force in an area not thought to be threatening.
The biggest thing to remember in a scenario game, or any paintball game for that matter, is that your opponent will be taking in a large amount of information and trying to make the best decision possible with that data, hence, it is to your advantage to control what you opponent knows. If you are able to convince your opponent, to the point of certainty, that a large assault will come from a specific area, that opponent will naturally divert a great deal of resources to counteracting that push; on the other hand, if an opponent does not suspect a push in a certain area, then he/she will leave that area exposed.
Sun Tzu wrote, "If you know both yourself and your enemy, than you will not know defeat in a thousand battles." Do your best to feed misinformation, to convince your opponent of something that isn't true, and just as importantly, be absolutely certain that what you think is true actually is.
This sounds very philosophical, I know, but in a scenario game this concept is vital, use it, or lose by it.