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Stealth Part 1 - Noise Discipline By Jamie Innes - 23/11/05 Stealth 1. The act of moving, proceeding, or acting in a covert way. 2. The quality or characteristic of being furtive or covert. One of the big reasons that people love to play paintball in the woods, is because they get to use stealth. So what is stealth? well as described above, it means being covert, not being detected, being unseen and unheard. However... the game of paintball is a far cry from the latest Tom Clancy special ops video game, in the real world it's a much harder fight against people who live and breath. So what tricks are at your disposal to decieve your fellow man? As you play, it's often VERY hard to be "unseen". However it's less difficult to be "unheard". And sometimes being unheard (instead of unseen) can be the essential skill you want at your disposal. Many a time have I been behind 'enemy lines', and/or in a flanking manouver where keeping quiet was just as important as staying out of sight. If you're by yourself, you can remain quiet easily. However if you need to communicate with somebody, use some basic hand signals... or failing that, take whatever steps are necessary to remain silent. Communicate using whispers or use a prearranged battle plan which minimises your need to communicate with your team mate(s). And remember... once you start shooting (and your opponent is shooting back), there's no need to remain silent, at least until such time as you move to another concealed position. Secure your equipment. The biggest noisemaker for a paintballer are your pods of paint. If you have pods half full, or a hopper that's half full, do your best to minimise rattle by keeping your hopper or pods full. If you have a few balls leftover, you can put them in your pocket if you so choose as long as you don't forget about them and leave them there :) Walking and moving quietly is very important, particularly in thick bush, where you could be mere meters from your opponent without seeing them. This is also an essential skill for night play. There are several schools of thought on walking silently.... * Some say heel then toe * Some say toe then heel * Some say put your weight down slowly as you walk * Some say use your leading foot to brush away twigs and branches as to avoid cracking them as you walk Ultimately what's most important is to know what kind of terrain you are walking on, and adapt to that. You don't need to be overly cautious when walking through grass or over pine needles. On the other hand, walking through small felled branches, twigs and crunchy leaves requires more attention. Use your common sense. Lastly, learn to use ambient noise to your advantage. For all intents and purposes this is going to be your opponent's shots! Moving towards an opponents while he is shooting at somebody else is one of the best tricks you can use. Logic suggests if he's shooting at soembody else, not only will be not hear you, he probably won't see you move either. However, any ambient noise can be your friend. Secondmost is usually gusts of wind. A strong gust of wind makes a noise and will blow trees which can help camouflauge your movement, and any noise you make when you move. Following wind there are things like a plane flying over, or sounds of wildlife. Take it all with a grain of salt because these are bush skills that you ought to know, but won't always use. Credits: "Try to keep pods and hopper full" thanks to Flatline's Up! "the sound of silence is your friend" thanks to Gian Strabo Jamie Innes