[Vehicle] Putting a Kobalt on a Vanguard (Don't laugh...)

No seriously. Kobalt is underrated in it's effectiveness against infantry. It's the most viable long range AI crowd control secondary that the Vanny has. Canister is too short range to engage safely, Enforcer and Halberd can work, but Halberd is limited by it's 1 kill per clip and Enforcer requires 2 shots, which will likely miss a moving target.
Walker doesn't reach far down enough, and has a larger CoF. Same issue with ranger.
Basilisk.... is a basilisk. Worse CoF, RoF and while it takes fewer shots, the limited magazine and lower accuracy over range really kills it.
So yeah, if you can get past the giggling I'm going to put a kobalt on my vanny and would like some tips.

While the Basilisk might sound worse on paper I´d still say give it a try first before buying the Kobalt simply because you can use it against armor, unless you´re some pro Vanguard driver that can solo 2/2 AV tanks of course then by any means do pick the Kobalt for your AI needs.

I use it on my sunderer, amazing weapon.

Bulldog for short range, Kobalt for med-long range.

Kobalt can just murder infantry. It also provides a decent countermeasure to air atracks.

Yeah Kobalt is a solid choice for sure. I still think the CoF is a little too unreliable and the sensitivity needs adjusting (something I could fix myself if I stopped being lazy and configured this mouse.) But I also wouldn't want to just tighten up the CoF without giving the weapon more damage degradation (since I think all vehicle AI and infantry AV needs to stay short-ranged, due in large part to the ridiculously short render range.)

I find an upgraded thermal basilisk is quite effective on my sunderer.
I have thermal kobalts also, but I prefer to not be free certs to the first lighting I pass...

You may have a hard time getting a gunner though if your vanguard has a basilisk.. they gonna think you stock.

And they usually are. It amazes me how many people don't even think to put the single cert into the first level of zoom...

Canister #1.

The Kobalt is nothing short of godlike for any vehicle. It is a viable choice for anti infantry and air/harraser deterrant. If you want the versatility for your gunner to kill anything go for the Basilisk. If you want to handle Armor and your gunner to focus on infantry the Kobalt is the way to go and for 102certs for the gun and first zoom and ammo youve already got yourself a nice XP investment.

Kobalts can be effective... but why would you pull a Vanguard for AI work? You're better off with a pair of Viper Lightnings.

Vanguards are often outfitted for AV work. That's really the only thing Vanguards can sorta do. And there's nothing worse being the gunner in a Kobalt when there's a tank versus tank fight going on. Sometimes I'll just plink away, but usally now if I see a Kobalt on a Vanguard I'll just leave it empty.

At least give me a Halberd... I can be decent AV with that and it OHKs most infantry.

Actually, in the last month Kobalt was used on the Vanguard almost twice as often as on Magrider+Prowler combined.

The Kobalt does exactly what it needs to do with a metric crap ton of ammo extra when fully certed and i know what your saying when people scoff at the effectiveness, the kobalt IS the vanguards best ai option right now the halberd is nice but can't dish enough pain fast enough for ai (being an av weapon)

the basilisk is great when you have no idea what what your going into and i believe under loved too you just need your driver to understand what the basilisk can and can't do but that's another thread

and the canister, yeah no sorry troll weapon plain and simple

walker/ranger disregard for ai use unless your driver is willing to angle the tank to give you a shot even then.

back on the kobalt at 100m the thing rips infantry a new one quite fast but air and armour will rip you a new one if the infantry horde doesn't get you (why i like the basilisk's versatility)

That's b/c the canister make 0 sense to use on the vanguard. Its a blast to use on the harasser, but the vanguard can't utilize the canister at all b/c is you are in range to use it you are all in range of the C4 fairies

Had it on my Vanguard for a long time. I always had difficulties finding a gunner and when i finally had one, most of them were struggeling to get more that assists.

Somehow people don't like to gun for a tank with a machine gun on top. I had no such problems when I was using the halberd.

When SOE buffed the Canister I bought it and somehow it magically attracted people to my tank. They were getting kills too mostly.
The canister is now a really good weapon that can even hurt enemies at range. Plus it shreds everything within 30 meters.

If you have a competent gunner which you can communicate with the Kobalt may be very viable. For casual gameplay with random gunners not so much (my opinion).

Basilisk - does not attract people

^^this

what he said, I don't even bother with AI, just go AP, AV, and then get ready to practice your accuracy on infantry.

Random gunners are, based on personal experience, mostly horrible anyway and will shoot and the wrong target 9/10 times so you'd get the same result with any of the other secondaries + random.

But with the Basilisk they would at least be doing damage to that MBT / Lightning that hasn't spotted you yet rather than signaling them to head over your way for free certs.

After the whole buffs to the Canister I don't find the range being the THE argument for choosing Kobalt instead anymore, at least not for me personally (Kobalt is still better at range, but Canister has the stopping power closer and is also simply more fun). But the worse vertical aim range is a big pain. You can kill LAs dropping on you from above with Kobalt and you can plink the ESFs with Kobalt but with Canister you have to go out and use ther Carbine instead. That's pity, really.

I find the Kobalt to be significantly better than the Canister for AI defense because the kobalt can much more accurately hit players that are utilizing cover. Peek-a-boo heavies, players in windows, and players on balconies are near impossible to kill with a Canister because the shells do not go straight enough to consistently hit the small portions the enemy has exposed. A player that is in partial cover like that can take a full mag dump just to land a single pellet even at close-medium ranges.

I've tried to like the Canister, but even with the buffs, it is still pretty bad. The only real reason to use it is directives.

The Kobalt is still insanely inaccurate for a mounted weapon, the cone of fire is pretty rediclous, i mean its bolted to a perfectly stable firing platform, why are the bullets coming out with such a wide cone of fire ??