On the Fragility of Life

[Rupert]

Originally Posted by AlexanderHowl

Generally why I think that sniper teams should have four people in them. The leader identifies the targets while the flanker protects the team while the sniper and spotter take out the targets. Of course, the larger the force, the more intelligence the force has.

Two, and the spotter identifies and points out targets if the sniper hasn't seen them. Most of the targets will be located before you even open fire.

The leader just adds another layer of management, and a team of four has a lot more footprint than a team of two.

Just out of curiousity, what would you think of the effectiveness of a mixed weapon corps of four divisions? I was thinking that two sniper divisions supported by an anti-armor divisor and an anti-air division would be quite effective. What do you think?

That sniper units would suffer from the same problem light missile units have always had - they can't stop concentrated units from pushing through them. They make life hell, sure, but they can't stop them. Also, machineguns and mortars beat sniper rifles - the sniper units have precision, but lack raw power.

Sniper-heavy units are very useful in low-intensity wars, but when the heavy gear is rolled out they are just another specialist unit - past a certain point they just end up being used as very expensively trained infantry because there's a limited demand for their special skills, but major wars have a limitless appetite for infantry. Combat engineers experience the same thing - very, very useful, but all too often they're mis-used as grunts.