Tankers and Armored Outfit

Discussion in 'PlanetSide 2 Gameplay Discussion' started by Jon Lee Pettimore, Jul 8, 2013.

  1. Jon Lee Pettimore

    I know that MBTs are seen as less than desirable right now, but I was hoping to get some advice. In regards to tanks, specifically MBTs, but Lightnings and other vehicles as well, what certs are ideal for chasing early on when playing? What are good long term goals?

    Also, while we're on the topic, what would be ideal for an Armored Outfit? You see TONS of outfits focusing on air (which makes sense because Gal drops are solid), but I haven't seen a lot of Armored Outfits. Can anyone give advice on how one might go about building an Armored Outfit?

    Thanks in advance!
  2. Zenanii

    In regards to certing advice:
    You definitely want to upgrade your combat chassis first and foremost as well as a utility option (your faction specific utility or smoke seems the way to go, shield hands down for NC). You'll also want to get a AV top turret, either halberd or faction-specific.
    Defensive option is largely up to preference, but front/side armor are solid options, nano repair/minegaurd if the situation calls for it.
    While reload upgrade makes your main cannon straight up better, I've found it to to be a massive cert sink for a negligible benefit, it's best on the AP cannon to give you that slight edge in tank duels.

    Can't comment much on the armored outfit idea except make sure you have at lest a couple of dedicated skyguard drivers, as air will be one of your bigger threats. You might want to mix in a few harassers as well to deal with AV turrets.
  3. Redshift

    Real outfits focus on whatever is needed at any given time....
  4. SinMachine

    I am an Armor Commander for Imperial Reach (Watterson)
    I will try to make this sweet and short
    Having 100% armored outfit is inefficient and highly unsuccessful
    You need Infantry to deal with infantry and cap bases, like techplants with gens and cap points indoors
    You need Air Squad for keeping skies clear and providing necessary A2G support when needed
    This game is about combined arms, and as many will disagree with me it works!

    We usually run 3 infantry squads, one armor and one air squad
    Through practice and experience I learned that Tank VS Infantry fights are mostly won by infantry
    Because LockOns, AV turrets and C4 are easy to pull, and tanks are not
    We try our best to provide our infantry with ground support (suppressing spawn, killing off runners) but bottom line is we stay away from the hotspots
    As prowlers we deploy 200m+ away and do what we can
    Main goal for my Armor Squad is to hunt down enemy vehicles, such as Sunderers, Harassers, armor columns, SkyGuards harassing our Air Squads, occasional mediocre pilots who fly to low
    Thats why we run AP and we do pretty damn well
    We keep the area clean of enemy armor, giving our infantry advantage on the field, plus open field infantry battles without vehicles are gorgeous!

    I can not give you tips on how to cert out your Vanguard but I do have nifty ifty guide for prowler, let me just find a link

    EDIT: Typos, and turns out I didnt post the guide yet
    But here it is Prowler 101
    • Up x 1
  5. Jon Lee Pettimore

    Thanks guys!

    I figured a solely armored outfit wouldn't be feasible. If nothing else, you'd need engis for the tanks... and then you'd need medics for the engis... and it just snow balls from there. I was also figuring that being purely tank focused wouldn't work either. Especially considering just how pivotal Harassers can be and how important Sunderers are.

    SinMachine; Ah... Imperial Reach. I can't express how seeing your Outfit Tag on my death screen makes me feel.

    In all seriousness; much respect. Thank you very much! Looking forward to your link.
  6. 660/12

    Honestly I used to lo o o o o v e running armor for the first few months of the game, but it is very much a support arm now and not dominant. IMO armor needs to have more lethality against infantry. . . tanks should be feared, not cert pinatas.
    • Up x 1
  7. LowTechKiller

    Let me guess, your tank was hell on wheels with your HE turret parked outside spawn locations...right?
  8. SinMachine

    Haha thanks! See you on the battlefield! Updated link in my original post
    • Up x 2
  9. KlyptoK

    A tank outfit could work, but it could only exist as support and most likely divided into smaller squads operating in different areas (rarely moving together as a platoon except for on special occasions). Don't expect them to single handedly be taking bases either since that would require actually getting out of the tank. They will most likely move from base to base keeping the ground clear of sunderers and armor while wiping out any air force in the sky from a distance.

    (Sitting and waiting for a base cap is a huge waste of time in a tank, especially since destroying an enemy vehicle or two is worth waaay more than a simple base cap.)

    That is of course, if they were all real tankers like me. :3

    Sounds horribly inefficient.

    In a Vanguard-based outfit, this wouldn't be necessary at all.
    • Up x 2
  10. SinMachine

    Klypto! I must find you and we must duel for tank superiority!
  11. 660/12

    Naaah, that's boring. My favorite type of fight is big, open-field combined arms fights that roll back and forth from base to base. The SW corner of Indar was perfect for this. BTW, it's still very possible to camp spawns with a mag (the PPA is in fact perfect for this) but even fights are a much better time.

    And given that I play VS mostly, the "hell on wheels" thing was never going to be accurate ;)
  12. SinMachine

    [IMG]
  13. Vortok

    Either an armor division inside an outfit with a decent infantry force, or be strongly allied with infantry outfits so you know where support is needed. Pure armor outfit would be a little silly once it had more than a dozen or so people.
  14. Redshift

    Inefficient would be shoving 45,247 certs into a vehicle the majority of which will never get used
  15. KlyptoK


    Well, friend request me.
    I offer to pull tanks for other people and ask them what they want on it. It lets me build anything they request to try it live in the field. Same with camo.

    I pretty much have no use for certs anymore, but sitting with 10,000+ certs like some people do is a guaranteed waste. Might as well expand on those options for others who might want it.
    • Up x 1
  16. Blitzer

    Surely you aren't seriously suggesting bunch of vanguard main cannons alone somehow qualify as a respectable anti-air, are you?
    A pair of ESFs (let alone additional threats such as high alt liberator) that systematically dive down from near flight ceiling and focuses on same tank at a time (so it would be one gibbed tank per dive), would easily reduce your whole convoy into scrap metal in timely manner and there's nothing you could do about it.
    • Up x 1
  17. Bearcat

    An armored outfit would work great as long as you found enough people that wanted to do the same thing. I see that several people said that it wouldn't work because you can't do everything in a tank, but who says your outfit has to do everything. It's not that hard to look at a map to see where armor is needed. Do things like make coordinated and quick strikes on vehicles that are spawn camping your spawn rooms. That would be a lot of fun. Like someone else stated, I would make sure you always brought along a few Skyguards with your armored platoons.
  18. KlyptoK

    I'm saying that based on my experience, a single Vanguard can outperform Skyguards as AA. Multiple Vanguards with accurate shots would make short work of a small air force.


    If the convoy is that close together that not one tank in that convoy can over the other's airspace there is already a problem. Tanks aren't like infantry. Their combat effectiveness decreases per tank much more quickly the more of them there are packed together than compared to the rate that infantry does.

    They should be onlyclose enough to easily assist each other, but independent enough that they aren't taken out altogether should something happen. Even as little as 150-200 meters between each tank in the open or 100 min in tighter spaces with good voichat communication can get outrageous results.

    It would also make sense to have one or two of them lag behind as a rear guard and double as effective AA cover over the advancing force like a sniper covers advancing troops.

    The only real threat is a High alt. lib, which would require that the group pull back one to two hex bases (if not further) as soon as they see it it climbing, and arrange themselves in two groups on two inclines inclines like artillery far enough apart to not compromise the other's position and coordinate fire to quickly bring it down.
  19. Alarox

    Klypto isn't exaggerating about Vanguard AA. You need skilled tankers, but it works.

    However, you CAN be overwhelmed by a bunch of air, so that's the main problem. But a couple of mosquitoes would be swatted down.

    Having outfits with people skilled at a specific thing is useful for the same reason that virtually every technologically advanced society has groups like the Navy and Air Force.

    Versatility is nice for certain types of outfits, but it's often better to have the best in charge of doing what they do.
  20. Redshift

    Yea that just doesn't pan out in games, your whole outfit can find itself redundant in certain fights, coherent group who use the best option for any given situation will always win out in the long run over groups who insist on trying to brute force the same tactic for everything