Guide Fluv's snipe guide (browser)

Fluvisol

Phrourach
So after 2 years of bot accusations people have finally bothered to ask how I actually get perfect snipes every time. I decided to write this little guide, currently still adding to it when I remember something as sniping goes almost automatic for me now.
This will go over how to always get a front snipe one second before the cs and a back snipe the same second as the cs, but ONLY on same city snipes (troops from the city that is being cs'd). This is 100% consistent (if we're not factoring in lag). Sniping from a different city is pure luck, you can try to send and recall as much as possible but at the end of the day it still depends on RNG. It's up to you to decide which of the two you need, sometimes a LS frontsnipe is the only way to save your city for instance.
This works in both conquest and revolt, but obviously you don't backsnipe in revolt.

Part 1: The basics

a) Front snipe

1. Open the window of the CS attack and leave it on the info tab
2. Open a support window to a city you can dodge to (more on which city later)
3. Choose a time X before the CS lands, make sure it has an ODD amount of seconds
4. When the timer on the CS window hits X, click send
5. When the timer on the CS window hits (X+1)/2, cancel your own command
6. Your snipe will now return exactly one second before the CS

b) Back snipe

1. Open the window of the CS attack and leave it on the info tab
2. Open a support or attack window to a city you can dodge to (more on support/attack later)
3. Choose a time X before the CS lands, make sure it has an EVEN amount of seconds
4. When the timer on the CS window hits X, click send
5. When the timer on the CS window hits X/2, cancel your own command
6. Your snipe will now return exactly on the same second as the CS

Part 2: Lag mitigation

The biggest problem with his method is lag. This is when the timer on your end isn't completely in sync with the serverside timer, resulting in the time left on the enemy CS jumping back and forth a second or two when you send your snipe out or cancel it. In particular for a front snipe this can be worrisome, as clicking the cancel button one second too late will result in your front snipe being a back snipe, which usually does not end up pretty. Luckily there are a few methods to reduce lag. Depending on how important it is that you get a perfect snipe you can do more or less of these methods.

a) Browser

I've found that lag varies between browsers, for instance Chrome will have more lag than Firefox, therefore I usually switch to Firefox when I need to snipe.

b) Clearing cache

If your cache is too big your browser might slow down a little, normally this isn't a problem but when you have to be precise to the second you can see why this can be an issue. Different browsers have different ways of clearing cache by default, but because I'm a lazy bum I use extensions do do it with one button.
Chrome: https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/clear-cache/cppjkneekbjaeellbfkmgnhonkkjfpdn?hl=en
Firefox: https://addons.mozilla.org/en-GB/firefox/addon/empty-cache-button/

c) Reducing CPU usage

Having too much stuff open on your pc can also slow everything down, so closing programs like skype can reduce lag as well.

d) Restarting your pc

Restarting is always good to make sure you have nothing running in the background and to flush your RAM, making everything faster again. Make sure you don't do it too late before the CS or windows might decide to update just to spite you.

e) Don't use the command overview

The command overview will also cause lag to all the timers in the game, despite Inno saying they reduced the load. The more attacks/supports the worse the lag gets.

f) Dodge to your own cities that have no or less incoming attacks/supports

For the same reason as in e, more commands mean more lag. If possible, send the troops out to your own city, then switch to that city while still having the CS attack open, and cancel at the right time from in that city.

g) Refresh the timer

If you click to the spell tab on the attack then back to info, you refresh the timer, making sure it wasn't lagging behind. Closing and re-opening the attack also refresh the timer.

h) If the timer jumps

If you had lag, you will notice the timer jump a second ahead when you click the send button (at least if you keep your eye on the timer while doing so, which I strongly recommend). Try to leave enough time when sending to have at least a couple of tries, that way you can cancel if you notice the timer jump. Due to front snipes needing a odd amount of seconds and back snipes an even, you can't just calculate a new time, except if you were trying to frontsnipe with units that can both attack and defend (see 3.d).
 

Fluvisol

Phrourach
Part 3: Some extra tricks

a) Buffing back snipes

If you're back sniping you can buff the attack. To do this you have to send the troops out as an attack instead of support. This is of course risky if you send them to an enemy since they can spell the troops and reduce your snipe.
To buff the snipe, just send the attack out and buff them before canceling, the buff will still work on the return of te troops.

b) Choosing which cities to dodge to

When sniping, always try to dodge to your own cities (see 2.f). This won't always work with land locked troops obviously. Always make sure that the travel time for the troops is more than half the time left on the CS when you send them, else they will land before you should cancel.

c) Choosing when to send out

1) Front snipe
Try to send them out after the closest attack has been sent. Due to the rule of first sent first lands, your snipe will then always land AFTER the attack, even if the attack is one second before the CS.

2) Back snipe
Try to send them out as close to 20 minutes left on the CS as possible (20 minutes being the earliest you can do it due to the 10 minute cancelation limit). Due to the rule of first sent first lands, this means that any support sent after you send out the snipe will land after your backsnipe, even if they are on the same second as the CS

d) Front snipe vs back snipe

If you have a choice (e.g. tris), always try to go for a front snipe. Not only can you make sure that there will be no attacks between the snipe and the cs (see 3.c.1), but if your timer jumps ahead one second during canceling you will have a back snipe one second after the cs instead, which is still not bad.
A point is also to be made about when the timer jumps ahead a second when you're sending out to back snipe. If you would still cancel at the normal time, you have a perfect front snipe instead.

e) Splitting up snipes

When you had a chance to wisdom the CS, you can calculate how much you need to kill it, for example 50 bir. If you have more than that amount you can split them up into groups of 50 and try to snipe with them separately. Make sure you use luck +30 for the CS attack and -30 for a backsnipe in the simulator, as well as factoring in all possible buffs to make sure there's no way they land.

Part 4: Examples

a) Front snipe

Last attack: 0:20:29
CS: 0:20:30
First support: 0:20:30

Sniping with bir

First, check the closest TT for any unknown enemy city or LS city. Say in this case this is 8 minutes
Open the CS command so you can see the timer
Open support window to your own city
Fill in the bir
When the CS timer hits 7:01, click send
Switch to the city you're supporting
When the timer hits 3:31, cancel the command

The bir will now return at 0:20:29, and because you sent them out after the last possible LS nuke could've been sent there won't be any ls between the bir and the CS.

b) Back snipe

Last attack: 0:20:29
CS: 0:20:30
First support: 0:20:31

Sniping with ALU

Open the CS command so you can see the timer
Open attack window to your own city
Fill in the ALU
When the CS timer hits 19:30, click send
Buff the attack
Open the CS command again
Switch to the city you're attacking
When the timer hits 9:45, cancel the command

The ALU will now return at 0:20:30, and because you sent them out as soon as possible, any DLU with less than 0:19:30 TT will land after your backsnipe.

c) Images

w7hMoeC.png

bSS1bFI.png

Part 5: Have fun

Well now you can snipe virtually any cs that's coming at you, but since this is a public guide it's very likely your enemy knows this too. This means a CS will require more planning and specifically built troops in case the enemy is online. Which honestly makes the game more fun in my opinion, since it requires more tactics, more planning and more knowledge on the game to take cities from active players.
Hopefully this also reduces the amount of reports on legit players for same second snipes from the same city, although I doubt it because people will never want to accept that someone else could be as good or better than them.
nothing is 100% consistent not 4 times in a row, I consider myself a pretty good sniper and agree same city snipes are easier but I honestly don't think you are playing clean
Fun fact about that message, player finally turned around 8 months later to ask me how to do it, and that's why I wrote this guide in the first place.

Some notes

This guide is made for the browser version of Grepolis, I have a way of doing it on the app as well, it's a bit less consistent due to slower connection and takes a bit more calculating effort, but I'll write a guide on it later

If anyone wants I can add some screenshots to clear things up

Feel free to ask questions, either down below, in pm or on skype (search for fluvisol)
 
Last edited:

TobiramaSenju

Phrourach
Haven't finished reading this (great guide btw, will be using this) but would love if you could actually put the screenshots like you'd suggested ... would help me a lot !
 

Fluvisol

Phrourach
Will do in a minute, need to ask someone to cs me so I can actually take the screenshots as nobody tries anymore :|
 
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