What Makes A Great Stage?

[JFlowers]

I think a great stage is one with options. All the other items - round count, props, targets, etc - go into it, but the big thing is options. I can do it this way and play it safe or that way and risk it all. Many stages we see are very much one way stages. There is really only one way to shoot them. But really good stages give you choices.

[Jim Norman]

I like a stage that offers a moderately high round count combined with a variety of shot types, Tight, Wide Open, Near, Far. Toss in a mover and never forget to have more than one way to shoot the stage. It might be that one way is "Best" for many shooters, but not for all. Don't set up 4 walls with 4 ports and make us run port to port to shoot, might as well leave the walls out and put a box on ground.

I like to run, I like tight movement, and I like a wide open stage. No match should have all of one kind of stage in it. We have a multitude of skills in our repertoire; we should have matches that utilize as many as possible. No one should complain about a Popper at 35-50 yards, or a 8" plate at 25 yards. A fast swinger is fine, even if only available for a brief instant. No-shoots and hard cover make us aim for the real target. Not just the center of the brown paper.

I do think that there are a few things we should avoid, Prone and deep squats are fine, but they should generally be reserved for the end of a stage. A lot of our shooters are not athletic and making them dive for a prone position and then get up and sprint isn't going to keep them coming back for more. A lying down start is OK, IF you are on a platform, don't put it on the ground. Mix it up.

As for "Monkey Motions" they are fine IF they are well set-up. Make the WSB specific enough that you have to complete the Monkey Motion and also that one can't beat it by biting the rabbits ears or stuffing the bunny in their pants or anything else. State clearly what you expect and review that line for gaping holes. Do have a plausible reason other than 'because' for your monkey to show up. Carrying a briefcase with "The CODES" in it is fine, you can't leave it behind, you must get it to a safe position, make the stage so that you have to complete the motion and that doing the motion essentially off the clock can't occur. Mybe make the case be required to activate a target array?

Do make sure that all your ports and props are strong enough to support your shooters. Do make sure to indicate that all walls go to infinity, UNLESS otherwise specified so that the 6-8 shooter can’t just clean house over them. Do make sure that your props and movers are in good condition and where ever possible have back-ups. No matter how good a stage it is, it will stink if it falls apart half way through the match and has to be tossed. Some that trashed it may applaud, but those that did well will be upset.

[XRe]

Stages with a WSB that reads "Upon signal, engage targets as they become available from within the shooting area only."

If I get to pick two, that plus multiple viable options to shoot the stage.

If I get to pick three, those two, plus a solid mix of distance, partials, wide open, close, technical position, on the move hose fest, risk/reward on technical moving targets (yes, you can have all of those on one stage).

[Lee King]

Variety. Choice. And a lot of it.

Variety of shots. Long. Short. Tight. Wide open. On the move. Static. Mix it up.

For me this game is as much mental as it is shooting. My favorite stage was after you shot a bunch of stuff up close, you had a shooting lane about 30 yards long with a wide open plate rack at the end. The lane ended about 7-10 yards away. There were no other targets along that lane. After shooting the 1st part, you had to choose when to engage the rack. From the back with long shots? Run up to the front? Somewhere in the middle? Seems simple enough but I watched every conceivable way including some dropping and going prone. You had to do the math and decide whether the time running for a close shot was better than taking slow deliberate long shots. Give me something to think about.

Lastly, I like to shoot. Not stand around and paste. When it's a quick stage I always feel like I stood in line at an amusement park for an hour to ride a 10 second ride.

[brnhp35]

High round count and choices on where to shoot what from. movement between shooting area's doesn't hurt when running the wheel gun either.

[Nik Habicht]

Choices.....

Thinking required to do well.....

[M ammo]

I like stages that can be shot in a variety of ways.

Not the stand here shoot here, move to box B stand here shoot here.

For example. In a multi Gun match, mix the stages up by allowing the competitor to decide what gun to use. For part of the stage. Shotgun or pistol for example.

Make sure that stage is thought out in a way that causes thought, about the strengths and weaknesses of each gun and the competitors skill, so that they solve the problem.

They best way they can.

Jim M ammo

[bigbrowndog]

A stage that can be shot fairly by all no matter the weather, light, or time of day. one that can be exactly or closely repeatable for every shooter, can be reset easily and quickly, which means something not requiring tricky props that are complicated or unreliable. also a stage that is within every shooters capability of doing, the better ones will just do it faster.

this has been posted from a 3 gunners perspective not a pistol shooters, with 3 gun or multi gun there are Stage max times given, which on several occasions come into effect due to stages being too intricate, or not repeatable for all participants. It really is not a problem with pistol, most all stages are doable by all, the better shooters just do it faster. Why this is not the case with # gun I do not know.

trapr

[Blueridge]

A stage that you want to do over because of all of the different ways that you considered approaching it from.

A stage that is fun to shoot due to the variety of decisions that you have to consider, but not mentally taxing.

[calishootr]

choices in a stage are a good thing, multiple ways of solving the problem in the least amount oftime w/ a decent to above average hit factor is the goal right??? tho we walk a fine line between too many choices(ie. daunting for the newbies) and the same ol 'baby elephant walk' where everyone in the squad shoots it like they are in some sort of armed conga line...

for me lately, teaching and training newbies has become my new calling of sorts, and it never fails that I will hear at least one comment from the newbies that while they are/or had fun, it was a bit on the overwhelming side, and we end up losing them to another shooting sport, I do my level best to educate and prepare them for whatthey may get themselves into...but still it is up to them, like i tell them, hey, go out and BE SAFE, that is word one....after that...havefun

[JimmyZip]

Right now any stage that has you shooting moving forward, backward, sideways, heck upside down even would be cool. I just like the movement stages. I also like it when you have a section that you're hosing and they throw a far popper, or a far partial in the middle of it. It just tweaks me right now and I like the challenge.

The unloaded start is cool, the laying down and go grab your gun is cool. I shot one where you were on a swing that was cool. The floating platform suspended by chains is a good one. Poppers activating things, extreme transitions, action is what I'm talking about. Stages where you can see half or a third of the targets from two or three positions or sweet spots, and you have to remember which you shot from where. Stages where you have options to shoot close or far on certain targets based on your ability to either move faster or shoot more accurately.

In breif, a stage that is fun and safe with movement and possibly a twisted side to it too, that would be my choice.

JZ

[warpspeed]

Movement. Not necessary a lot of movement but I do not like stand and shoot stages. I get enough of that shoot the Steel Challenge.

Also, as XRe pointed out, a WSB that reads "Upon signal, engage targets as they become available from within the shooting area only."

[TWHaz]

+1 on Brian TECHNICAL shots with MOVERS,SWINGER, BOBBERS AND STEELS..

plus more than 1 option to shoot the stage.

SB

Ditto

[TreblePlink]

NOT being a "memory" stage. A POX on memory stage creators.

[JThompson]

Stages with a WSB that reads "Upon signal, engage targets as they become available from within the shooting area only."

If I get to pick two, that plus multiple viable options to shoot the stage.

If I get to pick three, those two, plus a solid mix of distance, partials, wide open, close, technical position, on the move hose fest, risk/reward on technical moving targets (yes, you can have all of those on one stage).

Yup. The WSB I like best. Proceed to shooting area and engage as visible.

[gino_aki]

High Risk VS. Reward Factor. This is much easier to say than to actually execute in design and set-up as it involves incorporating most of the elements others have stated. Some of the things that can be tried are shots through ports where you can't run up to the port, tight or only partially exposed "A" zone shots that will let you skip one or more other positions, restricting different shooting areas to strong hand/weak hand only, unusual target groupings (really good in L-10 and Production), multiple starting positions or freestyle start position i.e. anywhere along back fault line, toes touching fault line....

We actually had a few today...they were both relatively simple stages and kinda "hosey" but because of set-up they allowed shooters to engage way differently based upon whether or not they wanted to play safe or push. I guess another way to make stages more challenging is to let a left-hander design them.

[KyroWebs]

I really like multiple ways of shooting a stage and several options such as "take a long shot at this popper now so I can time my reloads later in the stage" type of thing. Don't care for Shoot T1-T4 from box A, then move to box B and shoot T5-T8 type stages.

Along the same lines, I love start anywhere in the shooting area and "shoot 'em as ya se 'em" stages.

My #1 peeve.......Reactive targets are always fun, just make sure the kinks are worked out and they are calibrated and won't hang up the match. Nothing sucks more than stopping after every shooter because an activator isn't working properly (or won't stay set between shooters) This is especially frustrating if the activator that isn't working is at the end of a 25-30 round stage. Shooting a small match's worth of ammo on a single stage due to REF 2-3 times in a row is not my idea of a good time.

[RobMoore]

I like to see multiple places to shoot a target from, but I think it should have a risk vs reward. I've seen more stages than not where there was no advantage to engaging from a further distance.

I also think hoser stages are underrated. Its just damn fun blasting away a magazine at a row of 3-5 yard targets.

Stages with activated movers with more than one option for targets to be engaged while waiting. I like watching the time to wait between the steel and the mover and deciding "Ok, I can hit 2 of the _ targets during that time". If there is only 1 or no targets there, there is nothing decision to be made, nothing to gamble on. Its good to have situations where two equal competitors have to decide "should I go for it, or lay up and play safe".

[Glen]

A stage that can be shot fairly by all no matter the weather, light, or time of day. one that can be exactly or closely repeatable for every shooter, can be reset easily and quickly, which means something not requiring tricky props that are complicated or unreliable. also a stage that is within every shooters capability of doing, the better ones will just do it faster.

this has been posted from a 3 gunners perspective not a pistol shooters, with 3 gun or multi gun there are Stage max times given, which on several occasions come into effect due to stages being too intricate, or not repeatable for all participants. It really is not a problem with pistol, most all stages are doable by all, the better shooters just do it faster. Why this is not the case with # gun I do not know.

trapr

I completely agree with trapr for 3-gun.

For hangun only, I like stages that can be shot in several different, yet equally

challenging ways.

Glen

[Supermoto]

I like stages you have to think about the risk vs reward. I have shot simple stages with wide open targets with 3 boxes, looked very simple and boring. But the targets were at a distance were shooting them on the move was a risk, some more of a risk than others, so do you take some on the move, starting and stopping, or try to flow through the stage smoothly while shooting on the move. The stage allowed new shooters to shoot in the boxes, but entices more experienced shooters to take risks.

Another good stage was an activator, max trap and 2 other static and another popper. do you try to hit the activator then get all the other targets before the max trap or do you play it safe and get the statics max trap than the last steel. Once the first fast guy got all the targets before the max trap, it forced the other shooters to do the same