Supercannon for high school water wars competition.

[C-A_99]

I don't recall any leaking with the XP215's and it shouldn't happen because they have valves that keep the PC shut out. (unlike a piston gun which can leak) I might be wrong because I've never had a 215 for more than a few days, and the thing is so small that I don't see how a full pull valve would fit in so if it leaks regularly, it may use a pinch valve or something unreliable, I'm not sure.

[martianshark]

You might want to buy 2-4 vaporizers as backup weapons, also you can leave them outside in a hiding spot for days before they will be needed. Plus they retail for about $5 apiece.b
-Zeda

I don't think the Vaporizer is very good. The Bottle Shot/Bottle Blitz has better output, better capacity (if you have extra bottles), and is more rapid-fire. The Blaster might be a good piston choice too.

But the best piston gun (at least in my opinion) is the Helix. It's hard to avoid getting hit by its unique stream.

[C-A_99]

I wouldn't gamble with piston guns in an assassins game. They have a delay when having to pump to fire, and some of them leak when positioned with the nozzle pointing down. Go with air pressure blasters instead. (while the CPS's are good for duels and bad situations.) The only piston you'd ever use is a squirt gun but only if you don't have enough XP215's to go around.

[zeda.beta]

That is just a suggestion for a convenient backup blaster. That way you can always have one more blaster that you can rely on. But the vaporizer is definately not meant to be the weapon that you have on you at all times. No, for that I would use an XP 215, a SS 10, or a SS keychain. Possibly my very trusty water gun, I have had it for 7 years with no leaks or breaks.
-Zeda

[C-A_99]

^ That squirt gun looks like the 6-pack I got at Wal-Mart for $1. Two of them broke initially and the other 4 haven't been used much. (though I may have lost one) The first one that broke, the finger pump started leaking. Second one's finger pump turned sluggish. Also, the casing itself is so weak that it can crack apart just by keeping it in your pocket.

Perhaps zeda simply got a different brand that happens to look the same. Those squirt guns I got were very unreliable.

The Max-D 2k or a small Water Warriors blaster is a best option for always carrying on hand if you have slightly more room to conceal your blasters.

[zeda.beta]

Would a Max-D 2000 work for almost any assasination attempt? I am thinking about starting one of these events at my school.
-Zeda

[cantab]

Should we wait for them to come to us (camp outside our house and wait) or go to them and wait for them to leave? Which is better and why?

If you want to kill people, you have to make expeditions. But they are risky. AIUI scoring goes by how many people your team has alive at the end of the round. If there is no activity requirement, and your primary goal is winning, then the better strategy is probably to turtle, and hope the active players/teams eliminate each other.
If, OTOH, scoring is by kills, then you should make expeditions.

'Lurking' is a good strategy. You wait in a location you expect the target to pass by, and ambush them. It's often better than knocking on doors, since in the latter case the target gets suspicious and simply won't open up. Takes patience though.

Of course, you could always arrange for a bit of cloud seeding, and then claim to have eliminated everyone when it rains! Or similarly but more practical - trigger a garden or building sprinkler system to soak your targets.

Thinking about it...with the size of the prize, I reckon it's gonna get ugly. Assassins type games have to work on an honour system; plenty of people won't admit to being killed when there's thousands of dollars at stake.

I presume the no-moving-vehicles rule is in part to prohibit car chases.

Try and avoid duels with your XP-215s. They're decent guns, but bigger stuff outranges them. That said, they can get surprising range - you can shoot clear across small to medium sized rooms. Foes not familiar with the 215 may underestimate it, to their cost.

The Max-D 2000 would be ideal, but personally I find the shape makes it hard to draw quickly. Also Max-D triggers have those nagging reliability issues.

[C-A_99]

I'd suggest a Water Warriors sidearm since many have recommended those over the Max-D's. If you've ever seen one, they are basically small pressurized reservoir blasters that are not excessively long like many pistons but are still more powerful than they are. (most Storm blasters should also do the job) The only time a sidearm as mentioned above would fail is if you got into a duel with people carrying CPS's and other higher level soakers and are capable of fighting with them.

Edit: Didn't see Cantab's post.

I'm not sure how common door to door confrontations are but if people do it to you, you have an advantage if you prepare properly for those encounters. It may be possible to rig a trap on the front porch for those people, so when the doorbell rings, check who it is and if it's a target, let loose the trap. If you can't get targets to show up at your door predictably, what you might be able to do is to sneak up and ambush them. Say a target rings the doorbell and you find out who he is. With a loaded CPS, run out the nearest door (without making noise) and proceed to sneak up on the people waiting at the door.

I'm unsure if the latter strategy would work, but Cantab should be able to confirm if it does or not.

The info on the XP215's has been covered several times. Treat them as if they were squirt guns. If you end up in a duel but the targets have only squirt guns, you should have a good chance with the XP215 but if you have a Max-D2k or Water Warriors on hand, you should be able to take out inexperienced opponents easily.

My MD2k has lasted for 2 years without any trigger problems, but it's not the best gamble to go for. Most people recommend WW sidearms but I haven't used one myself.

[cantab]

Of course if you are against CPS-wielders, your probable best option is to retreat. Few people can run fast while carrying a full CPS.

[soakernerd]

If we are now talking strategy, might I suggest a robotic water warrior!! Dun dun dun!
while definitely hard to build, you could attack others with impunity.
I have got to get one of those. do any major brands make this sort of thing?
Here's a manufactured one:
Robot Water Warrior 2.0

[C-A_99]

Setting up a remote sentry gun in places targets frequent would probably be better. A robot would be very difficult to work with because it would have to be larger and more powerful in order to carry more water than those tiny systems put on the links you posted.

Neither option is real useful when you can just plan better though.

[soakernerd]

yeah, but it would be really cool.
if you have a largish team, try ambushing your target outside the bathroom. it is the one place that the target will definitely go.
as sidearms, I would suggest a generic squirt gun. the trigger activated kind. keep a stash of larger weaponry (MD2k-ish) in lockers around the school.

oh, and I would definitely advise against activating the school sprinkler system. not only is it hard to take credit for, it will tick off a bunch of teachers.

[martianshark]

Speaking of robots, here's an interesting one.

Also, remember that your enemy might pull off some of the tricks we're talking about right now. So avoid sprinklers, be very cautous when doing door-to-door soaking, stay away from people with long sleeves, etc.

[TheBrogrammer]

If you want to kill people, you have to make expeditions. But they are risky. AIUI scoring goes by how many people your team has alive at the end of the round. If there is no activity requirement, and your primary goal is winning, then the better strategy is probably to turtle, and hope the active players/teams eliminate each other.
If, OTOH, scoring is by kills, then you should make expeditions.

'Lurking' is a good strategy. You wait in a location you expect the target to pass by, and ambush them. It's often better than knocking on doors, since in the latter case the target gets suspicious and simply won't open up. Takes patience though.

Of course, you could always arrange for a bit of cloud seeding, and then claim to have eliminated everyone when it rains! Or similarly but more practical - trigger a garden or building sprinkler system to soak your targets.

Thinking about it...with the size of the prize, I reckon it's gonna get ugly. Assassins type games have to work on an honour system; plenty of people won't admit to being killed when there's thousands of dollars at stake.

I presume the no-moving-vehicles rule is in part to prohibit car chases.

Try and avoid duels with your XP-215s. They're decent guns, but bigger stuff outranges them. That said, they can get surprising range - you can shoot clear across small to medium sized rooms. Foes not familiar with the 215 may underestimate it, to their cost.

The Max-D 2000 would be ideal, but personally I find the shape makes it hard to draw quickly. Also Max-D triggers have those nagging reliability issues.

The game is scored by most men standing at the end of the round, but since you're only put against one other team per round it's probably a good idea to try and get some kills in order to prevent the round from going to a tie-breaker. Tie-breakers can be anything (ping-pong, basketball, even rock-paper-scissors) and have to be agreed upon by both teams. Having the game go to a tie breaker seems really risky so I think getting kills and being offensive is the best route.

The game is going to get really ugly especially in the later rounds. People will definitely challenge some kills and judges will screw people over, but that's part of game and we'll just have to play above it.

I'm thinking a good strategy might be to camp out our own houses or neighborhoods. We would spend first day of the round scoping out their houses and figuring out what kind of cars they drive. Then for the rest of the round wait for them to come to us and for them to leave their cars (we might need a decoy to draw them out). Once we've separated them from their car all we have to do is wait (either inside the car if it's open or in a good position near it).

yeah, but it would be really cool.
if you have a largish team, try ambushing your target outside the bathroom. it is the one place that the target will definitely go.
as sidearms, I would suggest a generic squirt gun. the trigger activated kind. keep a stash of larger weaponry (MD2k-ish) in lockers around the school.

We're not allowed to play on school property because this is not a school-sanctioned event, but that's a good idea nonetheless.

[ncog]

I don't recall any leaking with the XP215's and it shouldn't happen because they have valves that keep the PC shut out. (unlike a piston gun which can leak) I might be wrong because I've never had a 215 for more than a few days, and the thing is so small that I don't see how a full pull valve would fit in so if it leaks regularly, it may use a pinch valve or something unreliable, I'm not sure.

I have 4 XP 215s myself and each of them dribble slightly out of the nozzle when fully pumped....iSoaker also mentions this in the Cons section of his XP 215 review: "The blaster will also dribble out the nozzle if overpumped." http://www.isoaker.com/Armoury/Analysis/2001/xp215.html

In saying that it's not too much of an issue though, the 215 is definitely the best soaker you can use for that size bracket. I'd definitely recommend a Sting Ray over it if you can fit its larger size (just for its better range/output/capacity) but the 215 will certainly get the job done for sneak attacks and the like.