If I'm worried about making my bunker, I just run. But I'm prepared to shoot if I see an opportunity...you don't pause to shoot unless there's a bunker inbetween you and the backman shooting at you though.
If it's grass, or an even surface, and the bunker is tall enough for me to sit behind, then I might slide in on my knees. If it's a hard bunker, I tend to not go in on my knees 'cause I'm clumsy and if the ground stops being a good sliding surface, my knees catch and I tend to get thrown forward and then I snap my hopper on the bunker...I just did that a couple of weeks ago. At one World Cup, we played in the late morning, and the morning dew had dried up and I was heading to a low bunker on the 40 on a big field. I lifted my legs up and when my knees hit the grass I immediately did a face plant and my hopper hit the bunker long before I did...my mask was off a little so I just kept my face on the ground and pushed it into the bunker with a quick crawl. If I am going in on my knees though, I do keep my head up and look for someone going into the same bunker. If the bunker is off the center line and on the 50 then I usually have a half second or so where I can fire a few shots at the guy and hopefully eliminate him. My backman and I usually argue about who got the kill, but "I" know the truth
Also, sometimes you are the only one who has a shot on someone else trying for a longer run to a tape bunker if you hit the center 50 (like that big field at the last Las Vegas Pan Am where the show tape 50 was on an upslope), so if you have your head and your gun up, you and put a few shots on him and if nothing else, give him a heart attack and a few bruises.
Granted it takes a bit of practice to do this on the run, without slowing down, but if I'm heading for a nice tall bunker on the 50, I sometimes will shoot back at the guy who's laning me. I don't expect to really hit him, but I do try to get him to stop firing and to go into his primary bunker earlier than he wants to. Plus, if someone runs a pattern in front of me, I'm already firing and I have a greater chance of hitting them. Also, if I can get to my bunker without any acrobatics, and I'm already firing, I can make it hard for a specific target to pop out and take any of my teammates still moving.
Most of the time if I hit my belly as I'm going in, I really can't shoot 'cause I end up doing a quick crawl to make it the rest of the way to my bunker, and far to often I get a nice little dirt plug in my barrel if the ground/grass is soft, but if the grass is slick, you sometimes can shoot as you're sliding on your belly. I hate that though 'cause I usually have to have one hand to make sure I don't slide past my bunker. A really hard way to bunker someone is to jump in a snake, have your backman yell that you'd better get to the other end of the snake #@$%& before he runs out of paint keeping his mirror in, and you have to shoot as you're doing your quick crawl 'cause the other guy knows that you're coming and he tries to snapshoot you everytime you have to quickcrawl past an outside elbow...if the spectators aren't protected by netting they tend to scatter as you aren't all that accurate at that point. Then when you get to the final elbow and your ears hurt 'cause of the other guy's screaming, you have to
decide if you want to "do" him on the ground or standing up...I chose standing up (my backman 10 yards from my end of the snake finally had to reload so I had a half second before the paint would start coming overhead the other way) and in front of a very prominant paintball figure, tripped (actually my front foot missed the ground as I tried to keep myself from falling over) just as I started firing, and got shot out 'cause the guy figured I had to go over the top and had his gun ready. I was pissed off, but the spectators told me it looked really cool , as though I meant to go down really quick after snapping off a shot, and I would've been better off keeping quiet. Oh well, I'm telling stories again...I'd better finish up and get back to the point...
If you try shooting on the move, and you're getting eliminated, just concentrate on making your bunker. I know some front guys who like to grab their guns so they CAN'T shoot 'til after they get to their bunkers. To each, his own...but if you can shoot on the move, you can be a bigger threat to the other team.
If it's grass, or an even surface, and the bunker is tall enough for me to sit behind, then I might slide in on my knees. If it's a hard bunker, I tend to not go in on my knees 'cause I'm clumsy and if the ground stops being a good sliding surface, my knees catch and I tend to get thrown forward and then I snap my hopper on the bunker...I just did that a couple of weeks ago. At one World Cup, we played in the late morning, and the morning dew had dried up and I was heading to a low bunker on the 40 on a big field. I lifted my legs up and when my knees hit the grass I immediately did a face plant and my hopper hit the bunker long before I did...my mask was off a little so I just kept my face on the ground and pushed it into the bunker with a quick crawl. If I am going in on my knees though, I do keep my head up and look for someone going into the same bunker. If the bunker is off the center line and on the 50 then I usually have a half second or so where I can fire a few shots at the guy and hopefully eliminate him. My backman and I usually argue about who got the kill, but "I" know the truth
Also, sometimes you are the only one who has a shot on someone else trying for a longer run to a tape bunker if you hit the center 50 (like that big field at the last Las Vegas Pan Am where the show tape 50 was on an upslope), so if you have your head and your gun up, you and put a few shots on him and if nothing else, give him a heart attack and a few bruises.Granted it takes a bit of practice to do this on the run, without slowing down, but if I'm heading for a nice tall bunker on the 50, I sometimes will shoot back at the guy who's laning me. I don't expect to really hit him, but I do try to get him to stop firing and to go into his primary bunker earlier than he wants to. Plus, if someone runs a pattern in front of me, I'm already firing and I have a greater chance of hitting them. Also, if I can get to my bunker without any acrobatics, and I'm already firing, I can make it hard for a specific target to pop out and take any of my teammates still moving.
Most of the time if I hit my belly as I'm going in, I really can't shoot 'cause I end up doing a quick crawl to make it the rest of the way to my bunker, and far to often I get a nice little dirt plug in my barrel if the ground/grass is soft, but if the grass is slick, you sometimes can shoot as you're sliding on your belly. I hate that though 'cause I usually have to have one hand to make sure I don't slide past my bunker. A really hard way to bunker someone is to jump in a snake, have your backman yell that you'd better get to the other end of the snake #@$%& before he runs out of paint keeping his mirror in, and you have to shoot as you're doing your quick crawl 'cause the other guy knows that you're coming and he tries to snapshoot you everytime you have to quickcrawl past an outside elbow...if the spectators aren't protected by netting they tend to scatter as you aren't all that accurate at that point. Then when you get to the final elbow and your ears hurt 'cause of the other guy's screaming, you have to
decide if you want to "do" him on the ground or standing up...I chose standing up (my backman 10 yards from my end of the snake finally had to reload so I had a half second before the paint would start coming overhead the other way) and in front of a very prominant paintball figure, tripped (actually my front foot missed the ground as I tried to keep myself from falling over) just as I started firing, and got shot out 'cause the guy figured I had to go over the top and had his gun ready. I was pissed off, but the spectators told me it looked really cool , as though I meant to go down really quick after snapping off a shot, and I would've been better off keeping quiet. Oh well, I'm telling stories again...I'd better finish up and get back to the point...
If you try shooting on the move, and you're getting eliminated, just concentrate on making your bunker. I know some front guys who like to grab their guns so they CAN'T shoot 'til after they get to their bunkers. To each, his own...but if you can shoot on the move, you can be a bigger threat to the other team.
