If the lightning isn't allowed serious firepower it needs better durability

There's no way it will be worth pulling over a 1/2 MBT post viper nerf. It goes down too fast vs. MBTs to bother with AP, and with the slow reload on HE/HEAT it's quite bad for anything but sniping infantry.

The viper allowed you to farm infantry more aggressively, albeit you could still snipe. Now, there's not much point to pulling a lightning IMO. It's a single manned vehicle so sure, it can't be too strong, but it's still 300 resources that could be going to an MBT.

The only reason I pull it currently is to use the viper, which is a problem, but I'm not going to suddenly feel like I have a choice between HE/HEAT/Viper post-nerf, I'm just going to feel like "why bother pulling a lightning at all?"

I suppose if you have no MBT access or lack resources, but even then the HE/HEAT feel pretty pathetic.

I think the vehicle needs to be looked at armor balance wise, nerfing the viper is a bandaid fix.

Lightnings are not supposed to beat MBTs in 1vs1s...It's a LIGHT tank.

Learn to use AP and stop using it like an infantry combine harvester.

First they buff em then they nerf... just wait for the next buff after the nerf before the next nerf.

Never said they were supposed to, just that it feels pointless pulling an AP loadout out on one due to that. You're fodder for the real tanks, you can die so fast to them while the lightning AP is pretty pathetic.

It's also not mobile enough to really pull off the hit and run/skirmish approach, plus usually repair negates that entirely.

Farming infantry seems to be the whole point of the vehicle.

Before the secondary buffs they were perfectly capable of this. High speed and a low profile allows the lightning to take advantage of directional armor. We're still waiting for the heat and AP to be put back in line with MBT main cannons again. That said, I still run AP, and it still works

My platoon usually keeps at least two Skyguards(horribly overpriced in my opinion) operational to scare away any libs and/or ESFs...Eh.Kinda wish the Lightning had a stabilizer(or something) to give it some advantages IN COMBAT(doesn't include speed,usually negligible) against the stronk MBTs...

The Question I present, why pull tanks at all......they both seem pretty bad overall anyway.

But people hate dying to vehicles, they think they shouldnt ever die to vehicles......so they will cry till tanks cannot road kill them, blow them up wtih the gun and until tanks are little more then

The lightning in general needs small buffs to velocity and reload speed to its traditional cannons. As a paper tiger it needs more tiger. I'm cool with the paper part.
The main guns have the second highest DPS, but their TTK is the lowest in 1 on 1 battles. A slightly faster reload speed would even this out a bit, and make the lightning much more competitive as a tank hunter again. I miss those days when I would hunt prowlers and vanguards behind enemy lines.

I hate the Viper and I hate myself everytime I pull it. 4//5 times I end up on a kill streak that always has me questioning why I even try to play Infantry at all. The only times I die to infantry while inside one, is when a) I get distracted & forget to look around for C4-fairies, or b) I accidentally drive directly through a swam of Heavy-Assault b/c the Server is super-hard lagging and they weren't even rendering a few seconds ago while I was trying to figure out where to drive (this happened just last night infact near crossroads on connery).

Most people who pull a lightning these days are pulling it for the Skyguard anyway. Skard is love, Skard is Life

or air...
Yes, the viper was cheese. I wish they would nerf its indirect damage and general spamability whilst leaving direct hits intact.

Firepower and durability are fine - but there should be a bigger focus on what make it a light tank: Mobility.

It should be fast and be able to turn very quickly and responsively. It should be good at closing distances and getting flanking shots on your enemies.

It's quick but that's about it. It's got a turning circle the size of Venus and it's got a ground-clearance of 0.2 millimeters so it gets stuck on the ground constantly. I

Yeah I feel the same way about infantry combat in this game. As a frequent viper user/abuser I have to admit I'm often a ruiner of infantry fights myself though. Infantry just attracts farming vehicles like libs and vipers.

In small numbers it's very hard for infantry to deal with them, and a lot of the time I start feeling bad for some of the players because often I'm dealing ~10-20 poorly coordinated low BR players attempting to bring an autorepair thermal viper down by trickling out one by one attempting to hit me with dumb-fires.

Yeah both of you bring up mobility, and it seems like the lightning was probably intended to have high mobility but in reality it's not that great, I'd say the magrider tops it easily. The terrain limits just raw speed from being all that helpful most of the time. And driving away just exposes your rear in many situations.

A mobility buff would be good.


As for skyguard, it's not a duty I will ever take on myself as it's boring as hell and very unrewarding most of the time.

I said it before and I'll say it again: all tanks need main turret stabilization

With proper turret stabilization, Lightning's speed advantage will actually become useful in combat. A lot of new tactics will become viable and make vehicle speed + maneuverability a significant factor.

Lightning is fine.

The viper needed a nerf. Too OP as it currently is.
Currently it can take down swarms of infantry so fast that its not even funny.

The strength of the lightning is mobility, and it's slim profile that makes it hard for MBTs to hit you from the front when moving around.
Don't expect to take down a 2/2 MBT in a 1v1 fight, it's simply not going to happen.

But. You can definitely take down MBTs if you play safe, use cover, and use your mobility/small profile to your advantage. And if you think that it doesn't have as much mobility as a magrider or something, then you still have not learned to drift...

I personally play with the following loadout, and I recommend you to give it a try:

• Python AP:
  • Thermal Optics*
  • Reload Speed
  • Ammo
• Rival Combat Chassis
• Fire Suppression
• Nanite Auto Repair

*I don't recommend using zoom because it makes aiming inconsistent. What I mean is that it's harder to learn to use the helpers on your crosshair if you constantly switch between zoom levels.
But most importantly, the lightning is probably the most fun vehicle to use in the game IMO, besides maybe the ESF.

Skyguard? So you don't get huge kills with it but a competent skyguard can wipe out or do massive damage to an enemy's air force. Granted there's not always air, but besides that you shouldn't be comparing the pulling of a light tank to a MBT.

My problem has never been lightnings spamming rooms. I usually only see them on the field doing so. My problem has always been MBTs, namely Magriders, spamming AI and AV rounds in to besieged towers. They are by far spammier than Vipers.

This guy gets it. The Lightning AP actually performs extremely well, as it's just video game common sense that high mobility+high alpha is a fantastic combination.

CATCH A RIIIIIIIDE

I also want to say the Pheonix should be removed from the game it is total BS.

I know that opinion won't be popular because NC is popular but it is so unfair compared to anything VS/TR infantry get vs. vehicles.

Not to mention the winshield.

AP could still do with a little love. A long-overdue velocity buff alone would be fantastic.