My 2-centsUse your kitA sniper is not his rifle, but he HAS a rifle.
You have a mine for area-denial, smoke for concealing your get-away (Never for offensive), a pistol for 'if-all-else-fails' and binocs are actually your best friend. Using eyeballs are even closer still. Learn to stay still both to avoid being noticed, but also to notice everything around - Get used to how the trees move, and know when they shouldn't be. Use binocs for closer inspectiion.
Prepare the nest The game design automatically makes you use sniper scope with both eyes open, well, do the same for everything else. Stand back from the window and try to spot targets well before they get close. Depending on where you are a house may be as good as a hedgerow or worse...
If the first option is option A, go for option B and make a nest of it i.e make a good cover of yourself. Learn to take the best position to fire.. Don't run-and-gun, obviously. Don't stand if possible, try to go prone as much as possible. Forget your breathing, watch the crosshairs original position and go on that.
Get used to crawling into positon, not walking, or at worse, kowtow and move. But if you must stand, dash from cover to cover, stop, observe and THEN move again. Prepare your sniper location.
s-mines at the entry... doesn't have to be a door. binocs in hand, smoke, one click away and rifle prepared. Binocs have greater magnification than scope so use those more often - And it gives your position away less as it doesn't extend infront of you.
The devs should add reflection to the scope so that a sniper needn't hold it up for too long.
How effective is shade... A question I askRelocateIf you can, get a situational awareness of the battlefield and determine the axis of enemy advance. And locate yourself apprioporately. While doing so, note 2ndary locations to be able to relocate to. A terrible sniper gets killed after his first shot, an average sniper gets shot trying to relocate to a terrible spot, a good sniper takes down a squad and is realized as nothing more than a ghost...
Tanks are your enemy - Avoid sniper-action when they are around. Especially if you are one-HE-shot away. The best shots are done when the enemy is not facing you, such that he wont even guess where the shot came from. If there is more than one, go for the rear-most
BF2 engine has the rare ability of having sound travel over distance making distant sounds take a few secs to reach you. I think the sound should be most improved to make use of this. A sniper of WW2 isn't quite, a fact he needs to deal with.How soon you relocate is not determined by how many you kill, but how hot the area seems to be getting. Sometimes one kill is enough for a relocation, sometimes 5, sometimes, none at all - But then, you shouldn't be holding that feeking rifle then, should you :-P
Take on an air of invisinsibility - BE invinsible - DON'T die to keep this up. Relocate often and when the going is good - And keep an area completely out of enemy hands by your single hand - Strike the fear of death into him, but prepare your rear exit if they call in heavy artillery to take you out - Or bring up the cavalry.