Armor Tactics and Fun

[Ghiblian]

I finally got my Aircraft Combat Medal today (8000 kills, 100 hours), and now I'm trying for the Armor Combat Medal. But I'm finding after flying gunship, anything on the ground is painfully dull and slow.

With the gunship, there is nothing you can't counter (TV missile/rockets take out every single other unit in the game; on the ground, it's quite difficult countering a good gunship pilot that just keeps TVing you from right outside of viewing distance, and have fun avoiding rammers and jihadders and all kinds of nasty tactics).

With the gunship, you can get to any point on the map within seconds; travel time is painful on the ground, even with an FAV (which doesn't even count in the scenario I'm examing).

With the gunship, you have only the enemy gunship and the occasional SAAW to actually watch out for. You have 100x more space than a ground troop, and you can choose whether you want to be exposed to danger or not.

Anyways, all that aside, I'm trying to find interesting things to do with the tanks and walkers and APCs. There isn't anything particularly interesting in them as far as I can tell. With the gunship at least, soloing is an interesting skill that you don't really run into by default. With the tank, no matter how skilled you are, there is one basic attack: aim and shoot. With the walker... basically a glorified infantry. Is there anything with the ground armor that comes even close to providing the kind of rush that flying gives? Any interesting things to do with armor?

[Fingulfin]

First off, congrats on the Aircraft Medal! I know a guy who has all the awards except that one, and is having a hard time with it.

Anyway, to get alot of armor kills fast, join a 64 Man Fall of Berlin. Get a squad of people you know to play engi, and drive the APC. You take the second position (flaming balls of doom). With 2-3 Engis repairing it, not even the walker can stop you (Driver EMPs it, Engis all fire rockets, BOOM). You should rack up at least 50 Kills per round using this tactic. Your buddies will rack up driver kill assists and repair points like crazy. If one or two of them plays support or medic, its even more driver ability assists for them. Point whoring for everyone! If you want to see it in action, join any server where [N)@(M] is playing conquest :|:

NOTE: I don't personally use this tactic. Like the above poster, I prefer to take to the skies... Until I have my 8000 Aircraft kills, I'm not even going to worry about the armor medal. I was just suggesting a completely legit way of getting easy armor kills fast

[RottnJP]

LOL Kill gunships? Seriously, once you get good with the walker, you can make life difficult, at least, for gunships attacking you.

I hear you though- I've always been a ground-pounder, but I'm having a lot of fun getting the hang of the gunship. The thing I like about the armor is it's support role. Ultimately, if you don't cap flags or silos, you lose. No matter how good the gunship pilot is, if he makes a habit of hovering over flags, he's gonna die. So in armor or a walker, you're not as "untouchable" as in the gunship, but you're right in the mud helping win the battle. (And to me, W:L is more important than K) You ideally shouldn't even be capping flags directly, especially in a tank, but coving the infantry. So even though you won't rack up the kill count of a good gunship romp, the armor job is very satisfying when you have a little bit of decent support/teamwork with some infantry.

Also, if there is a gunship giving you trouble, my standard "vehicle crew" loadout includes the SAAW, vehicle sensor, and MMB. You may not kill a lot of gunships, but you can definitely kill the careless ones, and make the hot-shots be more careful/less effective. Down side of this loadout is if you don't have a vehicle, your about as effetive as a newborn in the woods.

[Zarious]

I find that learning how to effectively use a Nekomata was great fun. It's strength lies in it's distance kill ability. Stay back from your targets, and make sure you keep your nose to any threats. Forget about the Tiger, it's only useful as a stationary artillery piece. The walker is good, and it's death to gunships unless either the pilot is really good, or you have a nub in your AA. The secondary gun position on the APC is a great way to get kills in conquest maps, but that requires a competent driver, which can be hard to find.

I usually have the most fun, rolling with the Nekomata, and long distance sniping anyone who pokes their head out. I usually don't worry too much about gunships. In my experience, once you get quick on the shield trigger, and learn what the missiles sound like coming in, you'll find that even experienced gunship pilots will have difficulty killing you on the first run. If you're having trouble with a gunship, carry the saw, shield the second you hear them making a run on you, hop out and pop them. I've found that their are very few truly good gunship pilots in this game. A really good one, who knows what their doing won't fall for your tricks, and can shut you down, but their few and far between. If a gunship pilot is shutting you out, give it up for that round, and go back at it once they leave.

[Ghiblian]

Well, the reason why I overestimate the gunship is because I'm a gunshipper. I've seen all the different ways others have attempted to counter me while I'm in a gunship, and the only two things that even have a chance are the SAAW or a gunshipper even more skilled than I am. The shields recharge only so fast that if you manage to block the first TV missile, the gunship can get into position and fire a second before the shield comes back on. And a single shot will get you out of basically any vehicle, at which point a machine gun or a third TV missile will easily take you out.

As for Berlin... I haven't seen a single Berlin server that isn't a knife server since I've been back. =[

I guess it's just a matter of getting good at the ground armor now. I must applaud people who ground pound in armor as ground armor is much more difficult to use than the gunship.

[cyberzomby]

Yea one thing a lot of people do wrong with vehicles is assault with them.

I use them in a support role like Zarious said. That is much more fun. Just stay back and pick of enemy tanks that come rolling in to crush youre infantry. Attack enemy positions and clear them out. Use it like an artilery piece. I even use the walker like this. It kinda feels like a heavy machine gun. :P

[ebevan_91]

I like sitting on a hill in the EU Tiger tank and shooting at people at flags.

[Ghiblian]

Yea one thing a lot of people do wrong with vehicles is assault with them.

I use them in a support role like Zarious said. That is much more fun. Just stay back and pick of enemy tanks that come rolling in to crush youre infantry. Attack enemy positions and clear them out. Use it like an artilery piece. I even use the walker like this. It kinda feels like a heavy machine gun. :P

Yah. That's pretty much what I've been doing. Must say it's not nearly as fun as gunship. =P

[[-NM-]-SS-]

I finally got my Aircraft Combat Medal today (8000 kills, 100 hours), and now I'm trying for the Armor Combat Medal. But I'm finding after flying gunship, anything on the ground is painfully dull and slow.

With the gunship, there is nothing you can't counter (TV missile/rockets take out every single other unit in the game; on the ground, it's quite difficult countering a good gunship pilot that just keeps TVing you from right outside of viewing distance, and have fun avoiding rammers and jihadders and all kinds of nasty tactics).

With the gunship, you can get to any point on the map within seconds; travel time is painful on the ground, even with an FAV (which doesn't even count in the scenario I'm examing).

With the gunship, you have only the enemy gunship and the occasional SAAW to actually watch out for. You have 100x more space than a ground troop, and you can choose whether you want to be exposed to danger or not.

Anyways, all that aside, I'm trying to find interesting things to do with the tanks and walkers and APCs. There isn't anything particularly interesting in them as far as I can tell. With the gunship at least, soloing is an interesting skill that you don't really run into by default. With the tank, no matter how skilled you are, there is one basic attack: aim and shoot. With the walker... basically a glorified infantry. Is there anything with the ground armor that comes even close to providing the kind of rush that flying gives? Any interesting things to do with armor?

Suez Conquest. There in lies your answer.

GL trying for the ADA Gold. That is all I have left and can say that is the hardest badge to get. Average about 20+ kills a round -just cant get 30.

I refuse to get a purple heart too. haha.

[Rugerdog]

The tree shooting of infantry can be fun and thats a pretty advanced skill.

[Biotech2142]

Try Suez Conquest with Nekomata.

Nekomata is the best tank in game once you master it. It can even kill walkers in CQC if you know what to do.

[Rugerdog]

You just have to use the tank splash damage to you advantage or the walker chaingun accuracy.

[Ghiblian]

Try Suez Conquest with Nekomata.

Nekomata is the best tank in game once you master it. It can even kill walkers in CQC if you know what to do.

Definitely been playing Suez Conquest a lot. I'm just so sick of Suez at this point. So many hours of gunshipping spent on that map. =[

I wish there were more Belgrade servers.

[Avenger_One]

An excellent Armor map is Sidi Power Plant. There's long ranges for tanks, short ranges for walkers. You just need to use terrain to your advantage.

Battlefield is all about position.

[RottnJP]

Verdun conquest is fun- don't see it nearly enough. When the patch comes out, my 2 year old ought to be old enough to enjoy Highway Tampa.