Hi
I'd suggest the basic sniper just has squad sight and long watch. The middle sniper maybe has death from above also, and the advanced sniper has all of them plus snapshot.

That's probably not doable though is it? Or maybe you put the skills onto the sniper rifle itself rather than on to the class?

Or perhaps give them run and gun instead of snapshot, so once in a while they can move and shoot, but not often.

Great Idea, but SNapshot is too hard

I think snapshot doesn't make the advent sniper too hard. It's more like a flavor issue. If my sniper can't do that, why can Advent's? That kind of thing.

I suppose if it didn't have snapshot, the AI might either waste a lot of turns repositioning, or stay camped in a suboptimal spot. Or maybe not. If the advent sniper couldn't move and shoot, I would definitely want it to be able to move and do something--either fire with a weak sidearm or use some kind of mark target ability. Or just hunker, whatever.

My dream version of this mod is an advent sniper that starts the battle activated on top of a roof. Or gets called in as a reinforcement at some far-off point while you are engaged with another pod. That way, every pod on the map gets squadsight backup until your concealed ranger can climb up and take them out.

Snapshot is totally fine imo

Originally posted by Smarmbot:

If my sniper can't do that, why can Advent's?

I believe this is the crux of the issue. Unless more Advent troops are balanced around this perk/unit fighting this unit won't be fun.

EXALT snipers were snapshot too, it's all about tweaking his hitchance.

I agree with Gratch, snapshot is fine maybe later in the game when your squad is more prepared to handle it, but I think at the very least the basic sniper should not have it

Originally posted by Wandering Broom Salesman:

Originally posted by Smarmbot:

If my sniper can't do that, why can Advent's?

I believe this is the crux of the issue. Unless more Advent troops are balanced around this perk/unit fighting this unit won't be fun.

THIS.

Snapshot is fine

From a gameplay stance, I find Snapshot is fine. It's not like they ever get into really dangerous positions and shoot me even with it, but flavor wise it feels funky that ADVENT Snipers have access to an ability that normal Human Snipers can't get.
Additionally, I imagine that the Sniper's AI might find it a bit confusing trying to operate as a proper sniper if you remove Snapshot. I worry that they'll spend too long just hanging out in one place having really poor shots, or all of their turns moving around and not shooting.

You could give them a separate ability after they move, like a rushed shot.

After moving normal shot will be disabled, and instead they'll be able to take a rushed shot with a high graze / dodge chance. If that's not possible due to game mechanics, just make the shot do half damage.

I'm for removing snap shot, they are indeed brutal

Three of my five dead soldiers have been lost to snap shot attacks (on legend). All were in high cover but he sniper moved to get a better angle and smoked my guys. Once the sniper was even poisoned and still made the shot so either the snap shot ability needs to go or make the penalty greater.

I like the idea of Advent having snipers and the weapon mod is nice but after this playthrough I may disable the mode.

@ThatGuy I made an option in the INI files to remove snapshot, I also added squadsight and sniper rifle range penalties.