GOIN PAINTBALLIN!

[ping111]

Hey guys. My friend invited me to go paintballing with him this weekend. Yayz.

I guess on this here thread we can discuss paintball stuff, but I\'d like if you could give some advice for a total nub.

Cheers!

[TelluriumCrystal]

Advice: If you\'re getting shot at and your cover is inadequate DO NOT try to squeeze further into your cover. Run as fast as you can to safer cover. Quite frankly its hard to hit a moving target, so you\'re safer running than hiding. I\'ve seen many people get mowed down because they get scared and hunker down.

Good luck!

Also, is it speedball or woodsball? The two have very different strategies involved, and its useful to know before hand which you are getting yourself into.

[Lord Wasteland]

Paintball, and being in the military gives you very high chances of survival. I have gone against 10 people in a guerrilla-type movement, and got eight, before getting surrounded by the last two. Dropped a paint grenade, and we all lost.

[deadshot462]

Wear clothing that will cover up from your neck down to your hands (wear gloves). Paintball hits can cut your skin, leave bruises, or plain hurt, if they hit at the right angle. Maybe even wear a hat to cover the back of your head since most rental masks only cover up the front of your face, not your neck or back of your head.

Rental guns aren\'t accurate longrange so you\'ll have to move in close to hit anyone. If you do have your own good paintball gun, then you have an advantage and can pick off most noobs from far away while they fail to hit you. Don\'t hesitate to use ammo - it\'s easy to be conservative at the beginning but let\'em have it every round. You\'ll have the most fun if you have to reload a full clip after each 'round'

It\'s crazy fun. Best time of year to play is in spring and fall because the weather is cooler and you can wear a good layer of protection.

[Ydoow]

THICK.

CLOTHES.

I was sprayed at approx 1.5m once, essentially point blank.

You don\'t get bruises, you just get open exposed sores.

They always hurt, but at a distance it\'s very tolerable. Just makes you want to avoid it more often.

I\'d agree to running rather than hiding as well. They\'ll just wait for you to poke your head out anyhow.

Also don\'t use full auto. You\'ll have to reload way too much and hit very little. Just have a speedy finger and aim appropriately.

[Endeavour]

If it\'s your first time, and you see some guy who has all the gear and looks into it, get on his team. I was against this type of player my first time, and I went home with welts all over my back from his sneak attacks.

[Ydoow]

If it\'s your first time, and you see some guy who has all the gear and looks into it, get on his team. I was against this type of player my first time, and I went home with welts all over my back from his sneak attacks.

I saw some people like that, they were the ones with full auto guns.

Every 30 seconds 'RELOAD'

They had tons of ammo, but they we\'re basically pausing the game for themselves way too often to make it any fun.

[deadshot462]

Yeah if you can, aim to play with only your own friends so you can avoid the 'hardcore pwnage' paintball crowd. I thought about buying a cool gun but I only paintball once or twice a year with some friends so I wouldn\'t use a good gun much. Some places let you rent fairly decent guns rather than the very basic.

[Johno]

'Spray and pray' seems to work better than 'carefully aim each shot'. But it costs a lot.

On that subject, the cheapest way to get paint is with your initial pack. Buying an extra pod here and there will cost you a lot more than the 'Rambo' or 'Terminator' pack - plus often they give you better gear into the bargain.

If you\'re with a group of friends, SHARE AMMO. In the long run it\'s much more fun to play 5 games in which everyone plays than 10 games in which the same 3 guys with lots of bullets are the only ones on the field!

At lunchtime, eat everything you can stomach (and, in your case [if memory serves me correctly], anything Halakha allows!). Trust me, no matter how much food is on offer, your body will use it all.

WEAR A PROTECTOR. In Australia, we use the ones designed for cricket. I don\'t know what is available in your country, but not to put too fine a point on it, if you ever intend to have kids of your own, you\'ll need to ensure that no shots get you where it really hurts. One guy on a group I went on thought he\'d be fine without it; they\'re unlikely to hit me there.

[They carried him . . err . . her off. ]

You\'ll notice that when you start the game, a bunch of guys will walk in like they were Dirty Harry himself. Don\'t pay any attention to them; they\'re the noobs. It won\'t last past the first paintball in the head. Instead, you duck behind the first piece of cover you can find, even (especially!) if that happens to be another player.

Hope this helps!

[socket7]

Listen very carefully to the rangemaster about how to avoid breaking paint balls in the barrel of your gun. The range guns are never as good as you\'d like, so don\'t gunk up your barrel and make it any worse then it already is!

You\'ll have some bruises, but it\'s a great time. I second wearing thick clothing if at all possible. I don\'t think you\'ll need a cup. All the ranges I went to have minimum range restrictions and check to make sure players who bring their own guns don\'t have their pressure up to dangerous levels.

Also, bet your friend a dollar he cant eat a few paint balls. They\'re 100% non-toxic and edible (the rangemaster will back you up on their edibility). The look on his face when he bites down on one will be fantastic

One more thing. Don\'t forget to lead your target.

[Seanoog]

Wear lots of clothing, an take a cup for the precious parts.

Will never forget charging, my friend taking point, running 5 Meters an him falling too the ground curling into the fetol position an screaming in pain, cus two paint balls hit him in the goonies.

Hide behind suitable cover, an conserve ammo.

Also make sure you get good head gear, ones that allow good breating, because if you wear glasses they will steam up.

[ping111]

'Spray and pray' seems to work better than 'carefully aim each shot'. But it costs a lot.

On that subject, the cheapest way to get paint is with your initial pack. Buying an extra pod here and there will cost you a lot more than the 'Rambo' or 'Terminator' pack - plus often they give you better gear into the bargain.

If you\'re with a group of friends, SHARE AMMO. In the long run it\'s much more fun to play 5 games in which everyone plays than 10 games in which the same 3 guys with lots of bullets are the only ones on the field!

At lunchtime, eat everything you can stomach (and, in your case [if memory serves me correctly], anything Halakha allows!). Trust me, no matter how much food is on offer, your body will use it all.

WEAR A PROTECTOR. In Australia, we use the ones designed for cricket. I don\'t know what is available in your country, but not to put too fine a point on it, if you ever intend to have kids of your own, you\'ll need to ensure that no shots get you where it really hurts. One guy on a group I went on thought he\'d be fine without it; they\'re unlikely to hit me there.

[They carried him . . err . . her off. ]

You\'ll notice that when you start the game, a bunch of guys will walk in like they were Dirty Harry himself. Don\'t pay any attention to them; they\'re the noobs. It won\'t last past the first paintball in the head. Instead, you duck behind the first piece of cover you can find, even (especially!) if that happens to be another player.

Hope this helps!

Thanks for all this! Just a few funny things:

1. I\'m not actually kosher. Thanks for the tip, though!

2. I don\'t have a cup (jockstrap) yet, so I decided to use my dad\'s 30-yr-old one. It was far too small big.

[ping111]

Alright, ETA T-24 hours! (13 to be exact).

I\'ve set up my clothing with all your opinions in mind, and personally think I look pretty sweet, if not goofy. Oh well, it\'s fun!

Now, my friends and I are going in a squad, and so in order to communicate we have our own codenames. My two experienced friends are 'Piper' and 'Woods', and I obviously chose 'Ping'. My other friend, on the other hand, decided to go as 'Pong' (after convincing him not to be Soap or Roach [he plays too many video games ;P]) So I was alongside Pong, and an attacker was behind me, perhaps I\'d hear: 'Pingpong, on your six!', which would be really cool.

So a quick loadout of my stuff:

Baseball pants

Thick socks

Boots

Backwards hat

T-shirt

Chest protector (like a hockey thing)

Shirt

Eyeblack

Fingerless biking gloves

How \'bout it? Anything I\'m missing?

[ping111]

I\'M BACK!

I had 200 or so balls and a semi-auto gun. Took all your advice, and wore 4 layers. Also, I unconfidently tended to camp. I got shot close-up several times, and now I have 5 welts on my back.

I think it\'s safe to say that is one of the most fun things I\'ve done in a long time. Would have been better if it were lighter, though.

[deadshot462]

Good you had a good time.

What kind of field was it? Flat, forest, forts, barrels, something else?

The most fun I had was in a true forest field that had a central fort one team protected while the other attempted to infiltrate without getting shot or sniped.

[ping111]

Good you had a good time.

What kind of field was it? Flat, forest, forts, barrels, something else?

The most fun I had was in a true forest field that had a central fort one team protected while the other attempted to infiltrate without getting shot or sniped.

Uber-urban. Barrels, buildings. T\'was covered in sand. Sgt Splatters, if you want to find out.

Some of the favourite matches we did included Attack & Defence, in which one team had to infiltrate a building while the others defended it, King of the Hill, and plain-out Team Deathmatch.

[Randox]

Chest protector is an interesting idea, though I normally operate with natural cover (I generally cover people. I\'m at my prime about 100ft out, so I do a lot of cover fire for the up close people, and defensive fire trying to keep people form advancing on a position), and consequently almost all my shots are to my gun, face/head, hands, and arms. I\'ve also taken a few to the legs. Never been shot in the back though.

Around here, there is an epic course that is a \'village\' at the bottom of a hill, consisting of short walls, and a couplemore enclosed rooms, and one tower. The hill is barren until halfway up where there is a \'small\' trench (small here meaning a ditch that is about 4-5ft deep, and a couple wide). Two thirds of the way up is a much larger trench that is more like 6 ft deep, with a ledge on the low side to stand on for shooting. ITs about 4ft wide, and the center has like a net roof with a nice 1 ft slit for shooting through. This trench is backed on one side by a command post of sorts which is a tiny 1 floor shack with windows for shooting out of. Both sides are flanked by heavy woods on the outside, and a bunch of U shaped walls made of branches that are dug out on the back side to provide excellent cover as long as no one gets behind you. Once your at the top of the hill it goes to strait walls with no digging, all the way across and angled towards the 2 story castle that gets used when you have 40+ people on the field.

Standard play is that every couple hours the teams rotate so that no one gets stuck with the highground advantage all day, and at the end, they normally have a round in the village alone for anyone who isn\'t exhausted.

Wondering how long you played, since in the great scheme of things that isn\'t a lot of ammo. I think during my normal 6 hour day, I always use at least 500, and often closer to like 700 or more. And that\'s semi automatic. If I stay alive for a long time, I can easily blow through 200 balls in an hour though if the other team is making a big push. I always carry a couple canisters with extra ammo to provide reloads for those really good stretches.

[ping111]

That sounds like a really cool course!

I played for about 4 hours in 15-20 minute bursts, and almost never went in. I didn\'t hit anybody, though; I used my ammo as suppressive fire so that I or teammates could change cover, or wasting it and shooting at the windows. Although my reflexes are good - I did a full 180 and hit a teammate directly in the chest I don\'t really care though that I didn\'t hit anyone, because it was tons of fun finding ample space to hide and making up really complex attack plans.

[popeter123]

i may be going paintballing in 2 weeks

any tactics?

should i go trigger happy or snipe?

[deadshot462]

If you are using a rental gun, chances are it is too inaccurate to snipe any far distance. Trigger happy usually is never a bad way to go. Just don\'t be the first one to run out when everyone took cover. Best to let them come to you and shoot them as they switch from different hiding spots.

[popeter123]

well i am disprascic

should i hide up in trees of stufflike that?

[ping111]

Welp, looks like I\'m going again tomorrow!

I\'m going to learn from my past mistakes, listen to my commander (my friend), and have more fun! ;D

[DonLorenzo]

One tip I haven\'t seen here yet (all good ones though) is that the balls drop a fair bit while flying. Just like real bullets actually, but here it\'s really noticeable because they don\'t go as fast and far. This means that in some situations you can curve your bullets over cover and still hit people behind. Some call it lame though