on saturday i will play my first night game. im curious about peoples night game stories. id also like some tips, tactics and general advice.
thanks :unsure:

Flashlight. You'll need one. Most places that have night games are remote to say the least, so ambient lighting from city lights, just isn't there. I have an old(very old) "Ray-O-Vac" Stainless Steel 3-D cell flashlight that I upgraded with a Krypton lamp. I use this beauty due to the fact that it has a three posisition switch. Off/"Flash"/On. This is mounted on whatever gun I'm using, I made brackets for the KP, the Phantom and the Desert Fox so far. The "Flash" button is rotated to where I can thumb it easily. This flashlight is so dang bright, and it has a pre-focused beam, so when I thumb the "Flash" button, it lights where the ball is going to hit. It will draw fire, so use it sparingly.
I've found that dark gray clothing is better than all black. On nights with some moonlight, ot ambient light, the black tends to contrast with the background, while the dark gray allows you to vanish in the shadows better.
Move slowly, stay low, and stalk your opponents. Night games are slower, and should have longer time limits than day games. Elimination without recycle is a favorite. Some games lasted two hours, but they were hugely intense.
Have a blast. I have'nt played a good night game this year, I'm kinda jealous.

The first time I got nailed in the equipment was a night game. I learned the hard way that you don't take cover under the single solitary tree in an open field, the shadow of the tree will highlight you against the moonlight reflecting off the field itself, if that made sense.

Are we talking Rec ball, Scenario, or speedball?

I have a GREAT 2+ man tactic for Scenario's that might work for Rec.

gotta love night games their scarry!! :o but so much fun! The best tip i can give you is to try and walk the field in day light if you arent familiar with it. Idealy you should be intimately familiar with all the trails, good cover spots and pick out landmarks to keep you oriented at night.
A flashlight can be your best friend, or your worst enemy, depending on how you use it. But modern flashlights are great!! For about $20.00 at walmart you can pick up a brinkman stainless steel (and water proof) job with a super bright zenon bulb (these run through batteries quickly though, and the batteries are a small fortune.) Use this sparingly, and carry a $2 conventional light as well to save on the good stuff.. use the cheapo to navigate, and the good one after youve located your oponent and get in relatively close, then illuminate them! theyll see spot and be momentarily blinded , giving you about 15 seconds or so to pick em off before they can respond effectively.. more than enough time to take a few out and be gone..
In fact, i recommend these as a self defence tool as well, in the real world, they are quite effective if properly used..

Tracer rounds are also a great tool if correctly used (and the field allows them) , and help you dial in your shots. You do have to take great care and tape over any clear elbows if using a charging hopper (ricochet u/v) and make sure there arent any light leaks. Dont use a barrel mounted charger, they glow and leak allot of light.

in anyevent, "hit and run" type tactics are the way to go in night games if your going to use illumination of any sort. the shorter time the light is on the better.. and make sure your team mates are at least 15 to 20 feet away , as the whole area will get peppered blindly once that torchs lights up..but your chances of getting hit are greatly reduced if you surprise them.. :D

Alright, I'll chime in anyway without waiting for a response. If we are talking about a Scenario game on a good sized piece of land, pick yourself up one of those $30 1 mil candlepower rechargables.

What you do is work in a team. One guy on the light and one or more fireing. You can even use the light way back! The range of the light is far greater than that of a paintball; so you stand back out of paintball range and illuminate targets AND draw fire while your shooters close in for the kill. Just be careful and try your best to avoid backlighting your own teammates.

Note: This is an EXCELLENT tactic to route out those Scenario NV snipers!

Another trick at night is to stay in the shadows. 'What difference does that make?" you might ask, "It's night!" Well, your eyes can get accustomed to moonlight, so for example if you have to cross an open area try to skirt around it in a tree or bush line.

If the promoters or field owners are using pyrotechnics of any kind (ariel or ground flares) FREEZE when they light up and try to wait them out before you move! Remember the human eye is attracted to movement and at night your senses are going to be really sharp, and so are your opponents. If you get lit up don't move.

Also if you get lit up with a spotlight while you're in a bush or something don't automatically assume they see you and freak out. Freeze in place and wait to get a fel as to wether or not they see you. Did they shoot at you, or did someone say "I see him?" Color definition is bad at night.

Lastly, keep quiet and calm. A friend of mine and I heard a large group of opponents coming and we didn't want to engage because 1) whe had to get to an objective and 2) there were far more of them! We squated in tall grass no more than a foot from the path and stayed still. They stopped about 10 feet from us and discussed their approach to our base. They never saw us. They moved on. We radioed the base and told them there was an incoming attack and then we moved on to our objective.

Overall it is far different from your average spedball game. Rather than thinking "GO! GO! GO!" you should be thinking "sneak!sneak!sneak!"

get thermal lenses and use anti-fog

:ph43r: no tunnel vision!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :ph43r:

dont try 2 snipe from a distance, use the dark 2 your advantage and move ^ :pow:

finn i was talkin rec ball and your comments are very helpful to me hopefully ill get rathbaster and ill dedicate it to you



p.s. rathbaster , juuusst kidding

night games can be a blast if thought out a little. Most of the basics already got covered in here before I could post (darn company firewall!). When travelling in a group to an objective - spread out! If the opposing team hits you with a light, you don't want your entire group to be seen at once. When walking through brush or leaves, lift your leg up higher, and bring it straight down on the step. It looks funny, but you make far less noise by bringing your weight down on top of foliage, than if you just shuffle through it. Keep the chatter to a minimum, and use a red-lens flashlight aimed towards the ground in rough areas. Any ambient light will give you away. In the dark, honesty becomes policy #1. If you get hit, and feel the paint on you, call yourself out. In the night game I played not long ago, alot of players used the cover of darkness to wipe multiple hits, and it took the fun out of it for everyone.

keep your eyes moving . . . do not fall into the trap of staring intently trying to spot something. Sometimes you can better spot something by looking to its side, not directly at where you think it is. Use your ears as radar. While dressing in all black may look 'cool' stick to camoflage - it actually works the best at night. Remember, the point of camoflage is to break up your outline, your silhouette. Someone dressing in all black can 'blob out' too much and actually stick out.

Avoid using a light as much as possible. Remember, everytime you use a flashlight you will 1) kill your night vision, and 2) possibly expose yourself. It takes your eyes a few minutes to really adjust to the darkness. Using the red filter on the light like amhildreth suggested will help on both these counts.

If someone on the other team whips out a flashlight and they are not *RIGHT THERE* then freeze as your first response. Just because some yahoo is trying to light up the night does not mean they have spotted you.

And if you find yourself knee deep in it do not be afraid to get up and run away! People are a whole lot less likely to chase you in the dark - just be sure of your exit route lest you surprise yourself with an obstacle.

And if you get in one of those "whose team are *you* on?" debates - just shoot the other person

I used to love night games - untill NV became cheap enough to be popular.

I don't like Night Vision.

I like the old-fashioned use-your-wits-and-ears type night game.
Ears. You'll hear players before you see them. This becomes a good tactical advantage if you use it correctly. Working as a small squad, front men move till they're fired on, mid players focus on where the shots came from, back men start shooting(even just air) to cover the sound of the mid players converging on the enemy. When the back men stop shooting, the mid players freeze and the front men make noise to draw fire. Repeat untill you triangulate and remove the obstruction.

And Flashlights are for front men, otherwise you illuminate your own team. But having a big light carried by the wingmen can light up the area from an angle and allow the main party to see without being seen.

I don't have any personal experiance on this, but I was just thinking about it...

Wouldn't it be better to wear clothes that best match your surroundings, just like you might wear during the day? It seems that if any light gets on you, even moonlight, you would best blend in with something that matches your surroundings.

For example, I live in a big frickin' desert. Although I've never played a night game out here, I'm pretty dang sure that if I was to wear black clothing I would stand out way more against the white sand than if I wore desert cammies as usuall. Since it's a desert we usually always have clear skies, and when the moon is out, you can see very well.

But this should apply in every environment.

mmmmm...Desert. (Been a while since I've been in one.)

Well the game went off in a different place than planned. I'll leave it to Monkeyman to add his comments and observations.

We used glow in the dark paintballs with tracers. Mine kept malfuntioning and I shot maybe 2 that glowed.

What I learned:

1) Stock class at night has no disadvantage against semis.

2) Getting seperated is the surest way to get into a fire fight with your own team.

3) Moving up on a suspected opponenet who is sitting still is the best way to get shot out.

4) Glowing paintballs are frightening when they burst on top of the rock in front of you. (Or zip in between your legs. Don't worry, I wore a cup.)

5) When I have a plan to draw fire and accidentaly get the flag, walk, don't run-stumble-fall all the way back to the flag station. Ow.

6) Even the semis use less paint in the dark.

7) The field can be very small and still seem huge when you can't see well.

Probably learned some other things but I've got to reflect upon the game for a while.

all i have to say is if you have bad knees wear knee pads. the second game =p snuck up beside me when i dove for cover i landed on a nice pointy rock. it was game over for me. but the tracer units make the game very cool and let me tell you the first time someone fires one at you it is a bit startleing (but the best adrenaline rush i have had yet) over all my first night game was very cool. i cant wait to play another oh yeah one other thingas one of the guys playing last night said " new england mosquitos like bug spray it adds flavor" i may have wracked my knee up a little but the 17,000 mosquito bites i am enduring help me to take my mind off my knee.

and i think the tracer units were malfunctioning because of humidity combined with the oiliness of the paintballs we were using :pow: :vangry: damn tracer unit

I was the one who organized the game that Rathbaster and Monkeyman are talking about..

what we used were the tracer units from http://www.tracerball.com/. The tracer units charge the ball up so bright that when it leaves the barrel, it illuminates the area as it flys. The downside to them was that we had a few that were flaky, as Monkeyman stated and there was some minor light leakage when you shot. As Rathbaster noticed, if you were looking straight down the barrel when someone shot at you (from a safe distance during the game) you could see the flash of light which made it easier to zero in on the person.

the games we played:
we used a bunch of different colored glow sticks to mark flags and boundries..

*Blue and Red/Green where the flag stations. we used the normal glow sticks to mark the flag stations, and used the Glow Necklaces in about a 16" diameter as the flags - making it hard to hide them and also forbade the attempt to tuck them into clothing or packs (like a normal flag game)...
*Purple glow sticks were marking dangerous hazards..
*a multi-colored necklace was hung at the opening of the safe area so we could find our way back

some of the things I/we noticed (some of theses have been stated before, I'm just posting my thoughts)

- the glow sticks are DAMN bright and can/will mess with your biological night vision
- the tracer units are flaky and need to be kept clean with fresh batteries
- you go through a VERY little amount of paint (stock, semi, whatever..).
- everyone is paranoid - no one wants to do anything for fear of giving away thier position
- to play effectivly, you need to get through your own paranoia.. no, there is VERY LITTLE chance that they can hear you breathing.. and most of thier own movement/breathing will mask the little noises you may make.
- solid black stands out as bad as white and light gray (Hi Rath ;)) - camo or random camo like colors seemed to work the best.
- when a brightly glowing tracer round hits a tree 2 feet from you and sprays everywhere, it scares the shit out of you, and yet the little flecks landing everywhere look DAMN cool..
- lack of movement when being fired at or when a flashlight shined on you may be enough to convice the person shooting at you that you are not there..
- even at night, use the shadows to your advantage..
- when there is no cover around, your best rock impression may work.
- watching the other team lose track of themselves and start a ferocious friendly-fire battle is damn hilarious.
- falling off a 8' drop that you forgot was there is a big oops. continuing to run and then looking down at the flag in your hands and realizing you only have 1/4 the flag is a bigger oops. looking back at where you fell and seeing the other 3/4s of the flag and realizing you need to run back to get it is the biggest oops...
- If using the glow necklaces, tape 3/4 of joints together so the flags to fall apart. leave the other joint open as an "expansion joint" so that if it must break, it'll break there
- never underestimate the power of a good sneak.
- firing a volley at night, and then running to a different location while they shoot where you fired from is a good way to gain a lot of ground quickly. them fireing at where you were will mask your running for you.
- quick movements - unless you REALLY, REALLY, REALLY know your surroundings will result in pain (I got up close and personal to way too many trees, and that drop off)
- games may seem 3x as quick but really are 3x as long...
- fields may seem 3x as small during the day, but are 3x as large at night..
(if we were playing this during the day, and barring any trees/obsticals in the way - a paintball shot could have made it between our flag stations)
- a large man's startled "squeal" when shot at is hilarious - holding your breath to keep from laughing just makes it worse.
- Flashlights & Tracers work both ways.
- OFF - doesn't. (like one of the guys said: "It adds Flavor")
- Fireflys are not slowly traveling paintballs or the other flag station.
- Precharging the tracer rounds during the day didn't do jack at night..
- do not look directly at something.. always be aware out the corner of your eye - it's something to do with the rods&cones in your eyes are how they are sensitive to light/dark - looking straight at something usually makes it worse
- a mask fan helps fogging at lot, but removes the ability to hear - sometimes you need to figure out which is more important when...
- when a flashlight is shined on you, look down to prevent your lense from reflecting the light right back to them.

I am eagerly awaiting our next game..

=P

edit: fixed spelling and readability mistakes

:lol: You forgot to add: "When shot at from really close and the ball zips between his legs.

" Saved again by the "Chubby Guy" force field. :P

Your rock impression was great in that instance. :lol:

Hey =P, welcome to SCP. (I knew you'd post here eventually hehe.)

I also await another night game. It was like being new all over again, unsure of when to move and where, what would provide cover and even what colors work the best. (I almost staked out the flag station in that last game but I fell down the hill in the dark and felt it was to much effort to go back up. :lol: )

welcome p. i also eagerly await our next tilt. but this time ill have my knee pads so rocks wont stop me hahahahaahaha :lol: