Cover & Concealment

Cover is any object that provides protection from both observation and fires. Concealment is anything that prevents an opponent from observing you, but will not stop incoming fires. These two elements have a great impact on shaping your Engagement Zone.

In a paintball game, cover is easier to come by than in combat. Paintballs are relatively fragile and nearly any object in their path will cause them to break. This means that many bushes and trees that provide almost no concealment can actually provide cover from incoming rounds. This is very odd in a military sense. Being within engagement range and visible but immune from fire is extremely rare in a combat, yet it happens in paintball quite often. You must become aware of the little things that will break paintballs before they reach your target to ensure clean lanes of fire to your target.

Conversely, you have to learn what will not stop a paintball. Light leaves, like cedar trees, make decent concealment, but ineffective cover. Flexibility is the key factor here. If the object will flex with the paintball rather than resist it, it will likely be concealment only. Anything stiff or brittle will break the paint. Some brittle cover can actually be shot away by repeated fire, but this is uncommon.

Cover and concealment are critical to closing the gap between the Visual Zone and the Engagement Zone. If you can get inside the EZ without being detected, you are in a superior position and likely to eliminate your opponent.

Using cover is another core skill for a paintball player. The first step is identifying what constitutes cover. As mentioned above, almost anything can stop a paintball. If it is large enough to cover you from opposing fire, you are in good shape. Partial cover is better than none, but can usually be exploited by a smart opponent. The relative size of cover is inversely proportional to the engagement range. In other words, you can use smaller or partial cover more effectively at longer ranges.

If you are forced to expose yourself to opposing fire when shooting from your cover, be sure to vary your point of exposure. Predictable or repetitive movements over or around cover will result in you getting eliminated. Your opponent will simply put paintballs in the air and in the area he knows you will pop out of. For example, if you are right handed, be ready to switch to the left side of your cover to keep your opponent guessing.

Small holes that expose little more than your barrel can be very effective if you can also see your outgoing shots or impacts. This gives your opponent almost nothing to shoot back at.

Cover usually has a facing. A bunker that is flat only protects from angles immediately opposite the player. This is critical to understand in Small Field games, where true envelopment is difficult, and ranges are short.

Be sure that your exposure from your cover is as small as possible. Hits on barrel tips, hoppers and toes are just as much an elimination as if you were shot in the chest. Become aware of how you position yourself within your cover to minimize this exposure.