Sniping is the act of dropping an amount of FP’s on someone’s GB thus, locking in a reward spot whereas you have no pre-arranged agreement of FP trade/swap with said GB owner and by doing so, the sniper usually steals away reward spot(s) from other contributing players that may have pre-arranged agreement of FP trade/swap with said GB owner and/or steals away reward spot(s) expected by players whom regularly contribute to the said GB owner via neverending guild FP swap threads.  Simply put, sniping is the proverbial “butting-in-line”.

Swooping is a similar occurrence in that someone drops an amount of FP’s on another’s GB thus, locking in a 4th or 5th reward spot at the final moments before said GB is leveled.  By doing so the swooper grabs a low level reward spot that would not have been taken otherwise before the GB levels.

The acts of Sniping and Swooping are generally looked at as both positive and negative inversely by each party involved.  Sniping is positive for the sniper (if successful) in that they profit from their “butting in line”.  The sniper gets what they are looking for which may be FP profit, medals, BP’s, or all three.  The owner of the GB snipped takes advantage of this in the fact that the GB levels faster and with no expectation of FP repayment from the owner to the contributor.  However, sniping is negative for the players who have diligently worked regularly on someone’s GB with the expectation that they will be assured a specific reward spot.  Of course, just because a player may have a swap partnership, such partnership does not and cannot guarantee a specific reward spot but only that A player swaps X amount of FPs to player B and player A gets same X amount of FPs back from player B.  There are too many variables within the game to believe that one is guaranteed a certain position by periodic incremental FP contribution, only a full-total one-time FP drop for a reward spot can do that.  Swooping just like sniping, is positive for the swooper.  As it affords them the reward that they would not have otherwise received and would have been lost on the leveling of the GB.  However, swooping can be detrimental to the GB owner, in that, there are now unexpected FP’s on ones building which can most likely cause it to level unexpectedly which would cause the owner to lose out on double takes.  However, just like sniping, the GB owner is rewarded with the GB leveling faster and with no expectation of FP repayment from the owner to the contributor.

So now that we know what these terms/actions are and how they positively and negatively affect players, how does it happen – what are the mechanics?

Swooping I will simply and briefly say occurs when there are open, untaken reward spots on GB’s.  This typically happens when the GB owner is self leveling or leveling with just one or two other players in pre-arranged FP swaps.  Eventually, one gets to a point that the GB is very close to level.  How close depends on the number of spots open, the level of the GB, and the need of the swooper.  But, typically we are speaking of the last FP’s to 20% within level when there are reward spots available.  As a basic example I will present the following;  player O has CDM at level 7 and over the last week has placed 437 FP’s, Player A has a FP swap deal with player O and as such has placed 79 FP’s on the CDM, this leaves 14 FP’s left on CDM till level 8.  Now, Player B who is a swooper from the neighborhood comes in and sees that player O’s CDM is only 14 away from level and only has one reward spot taken – player B drops a tiny 7 FP’s on the CDM, taking second spot reward (which pays 30 FP), and then player C from the neighborhood swoops in and drops 6 FP taking 3rd spot reward (which pays 10FP).  Both swoopers profited, did not take any rewards spots from anyone else (no one else existed) and the GB owner got an additional 13 FPs for free and the building leveled faster.

Sniping is a bit more devious than swooping – where as swooping is just folks trying to gather un-taken rewards; sniping is being aggressive to take rewards from others.  So the mechanics are the traits of the GB reward system.  Though each GB offers different amount of rewards based upon the type of GB and the level of the GB, the winning rewards compared to one another are all based off of a pattern.  So in other words; the 1st/gold reward is what Inno says, the 2nd/silver reward is half of the 1st, the 3rd/bronze reward is a third of the 2nd, the 4th reward is a forth of the 3rd, and the 5th reward is a fifth of the 4th, all rounded to 5.

The basic premise of sniping is locking in a reward spot for profit.  This is done by looking at the number of remaining FP’s required to level a GB and applying dreaded math.  Why math?  So the sniper wants lock-in a position.  What is “lock-in”?  This is where you drop enough FP’s so that no one after your drop can overtake the said rewards position – your reward is guaranteed (as long as the GB eventually levels of course).  So how is this achieved.  So 1st/gold spot is locked-in at 50% + 1 of the total FP’s required to level, 2nd/silver spot is 33.3% +1 of total FP’s required to level, 3rd/bronze spot is 25% +1 of total FP’s required to level, and 4th spot is 20% +1 of total FP’s required to level.  This formula is applied to the GB and will show available reward spots even if there are current FP contributors.  Contributors to the GB lower the FP’s remaining on a GB till level by subtracting from the required level amount. 

Lets look at this example;  player O has a level 5 Arc and three FP swap partners.  510 total FP’s are required for level 6 and over the course of the last week player A has contributed 135 FP and player B has contributed 125 FP., and player C has contributed 60 FP  These are subtracted from the total FP requirement leaving us 190 FP remaining till level.  Now player D from the neighborhood snipes in and drops 163 thus locking in 1st spot.  How did this happen?  Again, our formula says our denominator should be the amount of FP’s required for level – How do we get that number?  We start with 510 required for level but that was reduced by 135 (player A), 125 (player B), and 60 (player C); leaving 190 till level adding back in the amount of 1st spot (player A) since this is the spot you want to snipe gives us 325 till level – so we now know our denominator is 325.  Again, returning to our formula; 1st/gold spot is locked-in at 50% + 1 of the total FP’s required to level – thus 50% of 325 is 162.5, well we can’t have halfs in the game so we round up (which gives us the +1), so our sniping number is 163.  Thus, if sniper drops 163 (taking 1st place) on the GB then the new required FP to level is only 27.  Player A (who was supposed to be 1st) now has no way of retaking the 1st spot – if player A adds 27 FP to his already 135 he only totals 162, 1 less than the sniper.

OK now we understand the mechanics, why would someone do this “snipe”.  Players have many unknown reasons for what they do to other players whom they have no relationship with.  Maybe the snipe just won 100 FP from GE, thus wants to take that free 100FP now in his FP bar and convert it to stored FP packages he can use later.  Or maybe FP’s are not what the sniper is looking at, maybe they need BP’s for a GB or new level, or maybe they need medals for an expansion.  Sometimes a sniper can get in on a GB that has little enough FP’s left till level because several small-amount contributors have closed the total required to level but none of them have locked-in a spot themselves - the sniper can drop just enough FP’s to snipe a reward but still profit a return of FP’s off the reward.  One can capitalize on this approach by taking the time to stalk each player in a neighborhood or friend list every few days, watching GB's for opportunity.  This is difficult to do for most players because it is time consuming and one has to be careful to watch how much one invests versus the payout, as the profit margin is usually very narrow unless...  This is were the importance or distortion of the Arc comes in. 

The Arc and sniping…  So as everyone knows (or should know) that players build Arcs not necessarily cause they want to be nice and donate goods to their guild but rather the Arc gives its owner a boost to the rewards given when contributing to other player GB’s.  Examine the Arc; at level 10 it gives 30% more bonus to GB contribution rewards.  That means that if 1st spot reward gives 10FP and you have a level 10 Arc, you actually get 30% more, or 10*1.3=13, your got 13FP reward.  Nice yes.  This bonus addition gives one an advantage over other players who may not have an Arc and relates into additional FP’s a player with a Arc can contribute above other players without Arcs and profit back on their rewards.  Thus the more bonus a Arc gives to its owner the more the opportunity for the said owner to make more FP’s back (profit) than is contributed. 

This concept is most perverse with a very high level Arc.  So much so, that one can snipe a GB without any other contributors and be guaranteed 1st spot and a profit back.  Be introduced to the level 80 Arc – this game changer gives its owner 90% bonus reward.  So as GB’s get higher and higher levels so do their rewards go up in value; this trend combined with the level 80 Arc hits a sweat spot. 

Lets look at this example; At Arc level 30, the reward for 1st/gold spot gives 420 FP.  A player with a level 80 Arc, will add a 90% bonus to that reward.  Which means that said player will get 420*1.90=798.   Now to secure that gold reward spot the sniper player must contribute 50%+1 of total FP for level from a fresh 0 position.  Lets look at that – Arc level 29 requires 1590 FP’s total for level 30, so 1590/2=795.   Thus, a player with a level 80 Arc can snipe a player with a level 29 Arc, invest 795FP, be locked into 1st/gold spot, and receive 798FP back in reward – a guaranteed 3FP profit, not to mention 20,180 in medals and 13 BPs!!!!!  How can one resist… 

This sweat spot phenomenon continues till about level 75 for a player with a level 80 Arc.  Now this example is only looking at Arc donations & rewards but similar phenomenon happen for all GB’s but at different level ranges.  After this range the FP’s required for GB levels begin to exponentially expand thus ending the guaranteed profit for the level 80 Arc owner, of course one can level the Arc even higher than 80 but at this range the bonus increase is very small from level to level – in fact, it takes another 100 levels from level 80 for the Arc to gain an additional 10% bringing it to a full double bonus (100%).  As the guaranteed profiteering goes away, sniping gets more risky again, just as it was at lower level GB’s. ie chance of truly getting more profit versus contributed but each GB contributed to is a bit different.  Typically the sweet spot for guaranteed sniping is generally GB’s between levels 25-85, with the highest profiteering percentage in the 35-65 range because of level 80 Arc bonus.

OK, so now we know.  How can one stop it.  Mathematically, it cannot be stopped and do remember there are 2 positives to sniping – rewards for the sniper (if that’s you) and GB leveling faster and free for the GB owner (if that's you).  Yes, yes, yes, but what about the reward seeker being sniped.  The best defense would be reading this article, thus knowing what it is and how it works.  Then you must apply what you have understood to GB’s you are contributing too.  What do you mean?  Well, as I said, there is really no guaranteed prevention unless you are able to contribute a whole 50%+1 from the 0 beginning of a level you are working on.  Thus alternative would be vigilance – constantly, several times a day, reviewing the GB’s you are contributing too, the owner can do the same – and by applying the formulas seek for times when the GB and swappers are venerable to sniping – at which point the owner can send out a alert message to swapper(s) and the swapper(s) can dump more FP’s on the GB to protect their investment.  Alternatively, one can 'disconnect' the GB -- this mean breaking the road connection from the BG to your Town Hall.  When this is done, the GB will not accept contributions but the drawback is, it will not bestow the benefits of having the GB to the owner either, also it's time clock will stop too (so no harvesting).  Of course, if the sniper is in your friends list, you could simply unfriend them.  You would not have such an option in your neighborhood list.   Another method of stopping sniping but much more effective for swooping would be for the owner of GB to list the GB on a “close to level” guild thread, so that guild members may swoop rather than neighbors.  There also exists some ideas of 50/50 dual swap partnerships where as 2 players both contribute half and half to each others GB thereby reaching a 34% total very fast and thus locking in 1st for your partner; and then there are the spreadsheet gangs which is complex and requires continuous active management.  None the less, the whole premise of schemes like these listed or others is to level the GB as fast as possible to time-limit the opportunity for sniping… again they cannot change the simple math or the chance opportunity for the vigilant and watchful snipe.

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The Noah's Arc Method of sniping

Utilizing 2 people, take the total FPs needed to level and divided by 3 ( T/3=Y).  Player A takes 1st with Y+1, Player B takes 2nd with Y, thus leaving Y-1 left to level GB.  1st makes a lot of profit. 2nd loses some but taken together the profit is greater than the traditional method of swooping where 1 locks at 50%, and 2 locks at 25% of the total FP needed to level a GB -- thus, the two players together are only spending 66% of total to profit versus 75%.  The two players act as partners to maximize profit taking, thus once the GB is leveled 1st pays 2nd a share of the FP profit.  Of course there is a lot of cooperation involved - you both have to be on the attack together to be most effective and prevent defensive action.

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