The Sandman, He Comes

I hope you Spades are ready. Sept 21st. No joking, no kidding around. I get to break out the ol' TM7. Mo is breaking out the DE. Its going to be dirty if all goes well.

I've been playing this and I've found this to be good so far. Being in beta, its still been alot better then some other online releases. Of course, some people don't know the meaning of beta and think that its a horrible release. I even heard one guy say 'I can't believe they released it with this many glitches'.

Thats the purpose of beta.

With that said, this game has its more tactical side. Its not to be compared with COD4, where COD4 is alot more fast paced and arcade styled. I love COD4. But this is more tactical and more teambased. You have to know when to talk and when not to. Having an entire discussion over the mic = bad.

You have to know when to shut up in this game. Especially when you are close to other enemy players and on a stealth move.

Here is some of my gameplay footage


I've had hella fun playing so far. I tend to laugh alot during gameplay because of its slight awkward moments (like when the M203 doesn't work ever). Otherwise, its been good though. LOL

I have acquired my TM-7. Its been in my possession since early August. I've got one of the first 1000 made, without the embedded firing modes.

I've test fired it and I'm very pleased with how quiet it is, how accurate it is with the paint i used, and how very very air efficient it is.

I cannot wait to use this on the field. Expect some sort of video of the Sept 21st game.

Oh bro... I can't explain how badly I am waiting for this TM-7. 2.5lbs, 20+bps, safe, semi and full auto all switch adjustable like the real MP7.

Alot of people say 'its pricey'... too high priced for a marker... but when you think about it, alot of people buy a $100 gun, then end up buying like $300+ in attachments and upgrades when this thing out the box is going to shoot 20+ bps with no modding needed at all. And the best part of it IMO is what I have always been after... Air consistency. It has a lower PSI then what the normal BT-4s use. That means more shots per tank, means no more 'losing out on air' at the most inopportune moment.

Here are two videos showing the TM-7. First one is the commercial by BT, the second one is a dealer who received one in and decides to test it out. The second one is what really got me.

1.


2.

I've been a bit busy waiting on a whole bunch of stuff, but I figured I'd come back to add a few things.

#1 is the fact that the most recent game we played was on June 8th.
What I will say is that it was an overall good day. We played with some honorable people, except for the last 2 games, where we were moved to another group of ppl who loved cheating. And when i mean loved cheating... they loved it. Mask shots within 20 feet and they were wiping in FRONT of you! And I'm normally not one to take much cheating so directly so lightly either. You'll see some of my tactics from constantly shooting someone in his exposed ankle until he leaves to just my vast sailor-like profanities I spew as I reload, take cover, shoot and just overall breathe.

I had brought my nephew with me this game, and he had a blast playing. We only had to deal with the cheaters in the last 2 games of the day, but every other game was great.

Its been roughly a month since i updated this, however... Here is the news so far...

I purchased some rubber reballs...
These things are great for people without backyards (such as myself) and who may want to take some time for shooting drills, etc. On the first day of getting them, I set up my kevlar vest down my hallway, and did some moving and shooting drills. The balls drop a bit more then a paintball would, and I wouldn't recommend having your apex on for these... Anyway... I did a couple of drills and the wife showed up to do a couple as well, seeing as how she hasn't played in a while, and she will be going again on June 8th, she wanted to dust off...

Her BT is running the ripclip along with an egrip... So after a couple of shots, there was no more rounds...

I went to go pick up the rounds since they are reusable when I hear a long bang behind me. The wife let off a round just to scare me. I go back there, open her hopper, and inside sits one lonely rubber ball. I aired her out about the situation and how badly a shot from a rubber ball at under 10 feet would have been.

Anyway, fast forward thru that, and we'll go into the most latest gameday, which was May 25th. Here is the footage I got from that day.

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The day went great. Started out with two slow games at Black Hawk Down. Then we played a Tunnels game which was ok but didn't end up too great the first time. The second time ended up with a total domination with me standing on top of one of the tunnel mounds, letting off shots at the opfor. After that, the day ended up being great... Great flanks, great movement, and the woods were truly owned by us. Myself and Jesse put in some great work in one field. Great commo and movement led to a W.

The day was great. I felt a bit hurt when I noticed the lack of footage at the end, 1 reason due to the camera having paint on the lens, the other due to the camera moving mid-game. I will be working out a method of keeping the camera aligned perfect, and I will also be making a mental checkpoint to check the camera lens after each game.

I'd also like to welcome Ray to the Spades, which now officially consist of:
J Rok - Specter
D Block - Sandman
Nilda - Neckshot Nil
Chee-Chee
Juan
Lito
Private Neo
Trigger Finger
Burger
Jesse
Luke
Rus - Rush
Nado - Vash
Veito - Nomad
Mo
Mark - Marcus Aurelius
Ray

I will have an M4A1 BT-4 Assault, and an AN-94 BT-4 Banshee up for sale.

A teammate of mine is interested in one of these. Which I'm not exactly sure. I will be selling the AN-94 BT for $240, and I will be selling the M4A1 BT for $200.

The AN-94 is very similar to the AK-47 look, except its in Black. It is basically the Black AK, but I have to show it some love, because the AN-94 was THE best weapon to have, back when Socom CA was the only thing me and moose ended up playin online. So if you hear me say AK, you know what I mean.

Anyway, so an M4 and an AK. Both BT-4 paintball markers...
These markers are used. They are not new. The Banshee (AK lookalike) has polished internals, which make it perform slightly better then a BT-4 right out the box.


Truth is, online, these things go for like $300+ on eBay, which as we know is home to the used and repackaged shit.

So yeah, just throwin it out there.

So what is Paint to Bore and why is it important?
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Well, Paint to bore is very important. And the reason is... You want accuracy? You are willing to spend hundreds of dollars looking for that special barrel, the one that does it all? Truth is, it doesn't exist. GASP, you say? Yeah, I said it. Though there are some barrels that do allow greater distance, there is no 1 barrel that gives you perfect accuracy. Why is that? Because paintballs vary in bore sizes, and because of that, not 1 barrel can shoot all paintballs perfectly. The goal is to match the barrel with the paint.
How is this done, pray tell? Well, the jist of it is... Ya get yourself a barrel, and you get yourself some paint, and ya hold the barrel so the front tip is facin the ground, and then ya drop a paintball in that mother. If it rolls clear out, then its not a match. Obviously the paint is too small for this barrel, and vice versa. Now the issue here becomes... Do you want to match the paint to the barrel, or the barrel to the paint? In my case, I want to match the barrel to the paint. Why? Because where I play, as with alot of locations, you are required to use field paint. Field paint is the only paint allowed, and because of that, I want my barrel to match their field paint, for the best possible accuracy.
I have an apex tip by BT Paintball. If you haven't heard of this item... Its a great little item that provides friction on one end of the paintball as it exits the barrel, causing backspin and producing a better flight for the paintball. This increases the distance, but ultimately, the accuracy is dependant on the barrel. I have invested in a barrel called the Aradus. It has a functionality of being able to switch between bore sizes, so you can match the paint to the barrel, and switch to another size if you had to! Now this looks like a great concept, but I have yet to try it, so I can't speak for it. For now, I will use my large bore barrel with this paint, and cower at the fact that its not cutting it for me. Some may match paint to the barrel, saying "Why should I buy another barrel, when I can just buy different paint?" and thats great. Some may be in the same position as me, or some may just say "I can buy this paint really really cheap. It'll save me money to buy a barrel to match, instead of buying other brands of paint." Thats true too.
So Einstein, how do you know so much about paintball physics? Why are you making it out to be a science?! Well in reality, I only really know what I've read, and what I've physically seen and been thru. I can say without a doubt that my Apex adds distance while maintaining accuracy up to a certain setting. Of course, at 300 feet, I've seen my apex put rounds all over the place, except where I was aiming. Truth is, in woodsball (at least where I play) you averagely end up confronting the enemy at roughly 100-150 feet. Having a distance advantage over the opponent is great. And I recommend the Apex for that. As for the specific BARREL? Hmmm.... That becomes your decision, when you match paint and barrel, etc.

Misc Discussion
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I normally get people who ask me... 'Sandman, Does paintball hurt?'
Yes. Yes it does. There's nothing quite like a 68 caliber projectile traveling at 190mph having direct contact with skin (specifically on the hand). Another one is 'Where do the shots hurt the most?'... I can say honestly that the shots that I have yelped over have been on the fingers, and on the back of the hand since they were all raw skin when the shots landed. I can only imagine being shot in the twins. That would possibly end the day of paintballing, when your balls have been painted black and blue. LOL

I got into techniques the last time, but didn't get into any SPECIFIC techniques. I'd like to mention that several branches of the military use paintball as a training tool, for weapon and tactical training. Alot of armed force bases contain paintball fields as well. I'll go into discussion here on some techniques I use and I would expect alot of players to as well. (You may be reading this saying 'oh i do that, thats what its called'.)

1. Target Practice: Get somewhere, lay some targets out at variable distances and take some shots. Practice your stances, adjust your red dot and just get used to plinking off the targets that don't shoot back.
2. Moving, Target Acquisition and Weapon Drawing: Get used to moving safely, checking all corners you can, and properly holding and walking with your weapon. Don't telegraph or silhouette. Its great if you have a good sniper spot on the enemy players, but when someone sees a gun sticking out of the 3rd floor window, they have a good idea where you are at. Get used to these tactics. Take a step back before attempting to peek around corners, etc. Cut the pie (i'll explain later). And always remember, slow is smooth, smooth is fast. Don't go rushing thru this until you are good enough to. Take it slow. Once you develop your skill, you will be able to move faster and think faster. You should also practice shooting with your weak hand. You never know when you'll have to switch it up.
3. Field Practice: Once you feel comfy with movements and your aiming, etc... take it to the field. Get some scenarios going. Just remember a few things I like to point out...
- Don't redo the same scenarios over and over. Mix it up. Real games won't have people already where you expect them.
- Duck if someone is aiming at you and you don't have your weapon ready. It takes longer for you to aquire that target then for him to aquire you if he's already in the ready position. The goal is to get the kill without being killed, basically. If you like the John Rambo style of play, knock yourself out, you may get lucky, or you may get gogged.
- Play to Win. Playing to take a couple down with you may be good, but nothings better then actually pulling the victory off. I've played a 6v6 match where 5 of my teammates were taken out, and there was 4 tangos left. I managed to take out roughly 3-4 the entire game, and survived the entire game until it was over, hence ending in a draw. Now, a draw is not a win, but its not a complete loss, and since I couldn't outshoot 4 people, I held my own by putting suppression fire, and moving and tactically thinking and taking cover.
- Battle plans never survive first contact with the enemy. I've read this from a few people, including a post this paintball player by the name of fightingfiveoh had posted on a forum.
Check his page out at www.fightingfiveoh.com. Anyway, he mentioned this, and it rang true. I've played alot of games where people say 'ok, we're going to all go right, then we'll take them on that side, then we'll go around them and win'. And I'm thinking 'yeah, and they'll all go left, meet us in the same spot, and we'll have our hands full.' Truth is, you never know what to expect, and your plans never really survive. Tactics and plans are made mid-battle, when you got a general idea of where you shouldn't walk to. LOL
- Cut the pie. YES CUT THE DAMN PIE. This is essential for every single corner. When I get to a corner, I take a step back from the corner, then slowly look from one side to the side i'm trying to side around, the whole time adding 'pieces to the pie' as I cut it, basically. This is a mathematical idea, where you slowly look around the degrees until you reach the end of the corner. Seems a little complicated written down, hopefully I'll put up some nice pics for ya. Its also useful when an enemy is around a corner and you are going to go in for the kill. Lay suppression fire on that corner continously and then cut the pie at the end of the corner and get the kill.
- High Peek, Low Peek. This is basically the rule of 'Don't stick your head out the same place twice.' Look low first, then look high if looking around a corner. If looking over an object, first try to look around it (its safer to look around then over). If you can't look around, then look over, move a bit, then look over again. Take quick peeks. Don't stay there gazing off into space. You will get gogged.

Thats my overall rant for the tactics. Hopefully you picked something up out of it. Add that onto the whole Shoot, Move, Communicate rant, and you should be ok. LOL

COD Claymore Guide
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Also, for those of you interested in Claymore techniques for COD4, Ya need to check the link out below. Copy and paste into your address bar.
http://www.donmoose.com/cod/claymore.pdf


I've found this guide to help me with the usage of claymores. All it does is discuss the claymores in the game, some effective spots to put them at, and how to properly place them for kills (there is a specific way!)

Ok, with new COD4 maps coming out, you guys better dust up on your game. I'm here to give some pointers that I use when I play COD4.

MULTIPLAYER COD4 TIPS:
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1. Shoot, Move, Communicate...
Lets discuss communications first. A team that can actually communicate where the enemy is, will not necessary rely on UAVs and other things, and this can come in handy, especially if someone says 'hey sandman, you got someone coming up the stairs behind you' or 'they are all in the 3rd floor middle building. Drop the airstrike there'.
Next, Shooting and Moving... since these seem to co-incide most of the time. Once you shoot someone and kill him, you can probably kill 1 or 2 more guys from that same spot, but then its time to move. I normally move after I kill 1 person, unless my judgment tells me that I can own about 50 people from the same spot. The reason for that is, once you kill someone, they get upset, watch the Killcam, and then go STRAIGHT for where they saw you in the Killcam. You can easily use that to your advantage by stalking them, or planting claymores, Charlie-4, etc.
Most people do this. This is another thing... Now that I've mentioned Claymores, and we're on the topic of movement... Once you hear that click, RUN AND JUMP! In all honesty, most people are not good at planting claymores... If you run and jump, there is a slim chance that the blast will miss you. Slim is better then sitting there and getting pwned.
As for shooting... Aim. Take your time and aim... If the tango is moving in a way that they are getting closer to you, and opening up your line of sight to kill them, then wait a bit. There's nothing worse then having the drop on someone, then all of a sudden, you shoot, he ducks, and the element of surprised was just raped and discarded. Eventually you'll find your sweet spot in all this.

So remember, shoot, move, communicate. Combined its all you need.


PAINTBALL TIPS:
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1. Shoot, Move, Communicate.
Paintball and COD4 aren't much different, except in 1 aspect... The concept of 'suppressive fire' truly exists in paintball. So don't be afraid to let a couple of your buddies shoot off like crazy so you can move up. Remember, two into danger is always best. Nothing sucks worse then being by yourself, with no ammo and no backup. And besides, you don't have eyes in the back of your head, and flanks DO happen. So basically using the same SHOOT, MOVE, COMMUNICATE you should be able to do some damage. Also, don't be afraid to hang back and let others get the kills. Its cool to shoot people, but sometimes, when everyone wants to be John Rambo, Rambos lose. LOL. Lone wolfs are no match for an organized pack.
And always remember my personal two rules... Goggles ON AT ALL TIMES (Not just mine) but also DONT STICK YOUR HEAD OUT THE SAME SPOT TWICE. You stick your head out, you hear fire, you duck back. You are an idiot to stick it out the same place and basically ask 'duhhhh whose been shootin at me?!' because by then, the guy who missed, won't miss again. LOL


Those are some basic 101 tips, I guess. I'm no professional, but this is what I've picked up.

Errr... Not really a blogger, but gonna try it out anyway. Gotta start somewhere. I won't be bloggin anything personal here... just alot of Call of Duty 4, Paintball, and some electronics talk might show up. Also gonna have to ask that u visit my boy Mooooooooooooose's blog page at:
http://donmoose.blogspot.com

I may be doing video bloggin in here also, discussing games, tactics, and things like cleanin your paintball gun, etc etc etc... and other crap. Guess your ass just gotta stay tuned.