Sniper Cannon

Long-range support

99 (Elite)

142 (Heroic)

298 (Heroic)

Weapon can only shoot in a straight line

## Introduction

The **Sniper Cannon** is General Kwai's Tier 1 light artillery unit. It's a highly accurate tank destroyer designed to destroy enemy vehicles from afar with deadly accuracy.

 Overview

One of the biggest gripes *Zero Hour* players have against vanilla General Kwai is the lack of an artillery unit, this combined with the overall dire lack of mobility of his forces makes it extremely frustrating to take on enemies with powerful defenses or enemies that rely on hit and run tactics. Many players agreed that it's better to have a flawed or weak artillery than none at all. Thus, the Sniper Cannon was born, to compete against the other tier 1 artillery units in *Contra*.

The Sniper Cannon is a long-range anti-tank mobile cannon which, unusually enough, does not have the design of a typical tank: Its chassis is a low trapezium similar to APCs with four tank tracks to move. Its turret is even more bizarre with the shape of a "single pole toggle switch" and cannot turn around both horizontally or vertically. Its main weapon is a sleek-sharp aerodynamic high caliber AT cannon firing shrapnel shells that can easily penetrate any standard-grade armor. The shrapnel produced by the collision is also effective against infantries that are unlucky enough to be in its detonation range. However, since the turret is engineered to be able to fire the shells in at least a quarter the speed of sound, the turret itself holds sensitive firing systems that will break if the turret is turned around. Hence ,it only can fire in a straight line instead of a parabolic line.

Powerful, high-caliber shells, coupled with precision and accuracy, makes the sniper cannon extremely effective in taking out key units in enemy tank squads, such as Propaganda Crawlers or Ambulances, or even other artillery units. However, the sniper cannon is not just limited to targeting vehicles; it also excels at destroying structures and enemy base defenses, clearing the path for the main battle tanks behind.

While powerful, the sniper cannon is weakly armored and the weight of the cannon limits the movement speed of the unit. Moreover, the sniper cannon is actually more of an anti-tank cannon instead of a conventional artillery, therefore it requires a clear line-of-sight and unobstructed view of the target, meaning that it cannot fire over mountains and cliffs. Also, although it is meant to demolish vehicles and buildings, it is equally good in killing infantrymen in one shot. The only backlash is that it cannot fire the shells from above to below in a parabolic shape, so a clear view is needed for it to accurately hit its target.

Like most artillery units, the Sniper Cannon **does not** gain horde bonus.

## Upgrades

**Nuclear Tanks:**

* Increases movement speed by 30%. Available at the Overlord Headquarters at Rank 5.

**Uranium Shells:**

* Increases shell damage by 25%. Available at the Overlord Headquarters at Rank 5.

## Assessment

Pros:

* Long range.
* Strong against tanks and structures.
* Surprisingly good against infantry.
* Highly accurate, can hit fast moving targets more reliably.

Cons:

* Slow movement speed and deployment speed.
* Expensive ($1400)
* Long reload time.
* Weak armor.
* Vulnerable to aircraft.

## Quotes (in English)

Prior to Patch 3, the Sniper Cannon used the Troop Crawler voice lines.

### When Selected

* Sniper Cannon reporting for duty.
* We have the ordinance.
* No armor can resist our shot!
* Long-range support.
* Our cannon is ready General!
* Flat trajectory artillery reporting!

### When Ordered to Move

* Moving threads.
* Going to marked location.
* Setting up cannon there.
* We are going General.
* Sniper Cannon movement alters.
* Artillery en route General.

### When Ordered to Attack

* Load cannons men!
* We are firing!
* Aim cannon and fire!
* Show them Chinese ballistic superiority!
* They will not survive this.
* Adjusting for target General.

## Quotes (in Chinese native language)

### When Selected

* 有何命令，首长?
* 我们是中国自行反坦克火炮！
* 需要火力支援吗？
* 我们已经严阵以待！

### When Ordered to Move

* 马上转移阵地！
* 嗯，遵命。
* 炮兵不能老呆在一个地方，走！
* 明白了。

### When Ordered to Attack

* 一定给他们个迎头痛击！
* 瞄准，射击！
* 一定打敌人个措手不及！

## Trivia

* Before Patch 2, The Sniper Cannon cannot attack infantry directly.