In a 1/2 solo prowler do you avoid vanguards even in ambush situations?

Although AP cannon has ZERO reload speed upgrades yet. Seems I get owned even in advantageous ambush situations where I hit all my shots.

Another way of phrasing the question is do you avoid vanguards when solo in every situation if possible if they are at full health.

The Vanguard is not a tank that can be ambushed in a 1v1 situation. The second they take damage, They will activate the shield which will give them 6 seconds of invincibility. As a 1/2 tank, You will not out damage that shield before it expires. This gives them ample time to catch back up to the damage you may have done in an ambush.

You should be using your prowlers deploy ability from extended ranges to make the most out of it. Under no circumstances should you deploy if that tank is within 150m of you.

In order to deal with a Vanguard you have to deploy at an advantageous angle on him where he cant pull around a corner lockdown and hit him with all you got even with his shield you should out dps him however he will still likely nearly kill you. Vanguards are something you cant engage from close range unless you get a full blown ambush of creeping up behind him locking down and unloading into his back armor. But overall the prowler excells the best at being a seige tank you set up from afar and shell armor from the next base.

That's not how the Shield works at all. It only grants about 2,000HP, which is dependent on where you hit it.

If you "ambush" a Vanguard, I assume that means you're getting rear hits. With an AP Prowler, the 1,250x2 AP cannon do a total of 1,977.5 damage to the rear of the Vanguard, and can do this every 3 seconds (2.5 second factory reload speed plus 0.5 second refire time).

So a single salvo will pretty much eat through all of the Vanguard's Shield. Just two hits!

Now if you Anchor, then you can deal that damage in 2.7 seconds (Anchor 1) to 1.8 seconds (Anchor 4). And if you add in the Reload Speed upgrade, that goes down even more to 1.7-1.3 seconds.

Essentially, an ambush Prowler can destroy all of a Vanguard's Shields in 1.3 seconds, while dealing 1955 damage against the Vanguard itself.

A 1/2 Prowler can easily destroy a 1/2 Vanguard, and probably even a 2/2 Vanguard if it sets up the perfect ambush position.

you can still meet new players driving Vanguard with 0 upgrades

I don't completely agree. A starting 1/2 MBT is hard to take on other 2/2 MBTs, but the Prowler has by far the best shot. In an ambush situation 1/2 Prowler vs 1/2 Vanguard, the shield does only so much. They still have to turn their gun to aim at you, which means a second or two already down from the shield. That means they have one reload "for free". One extra shot isn't that good, and their alpha is lower than the double shot of the Prowler. 2075 damage with full front (63%) or maybe side (58%) reduction and 15% modifier versus a 2500 damage with rear (30%) and a 13% modifier makes the Prowler the winner of that part of the fight. If the Vanguard gets in 2 shots, you are about equal and you have the higher DPS tank. The fight is over if you keep your head cool and just try to dodge and keep your position advantage or even just standing there taking it from the front.

But here is the quirky part. People fear the shield. They perceive no damage on the shield, thinking their action had no effect. It starts with the same fallacy as buying one item and getting the other one for free. You did pay to get the free item, but people don't feel it that way. The Vanguard uses its shield, meaning you've already made it give up its ability, which will be active for 6 seconds and then an at least 45 second cooldown. Still, people already think their actions are useless, often making them do stupid things like retreating. Instead you could just get out and repair, or keep your position advantage until the shield is done and make the fight a close one. You'll win.
Which bring me to this. If the shield only reduced damage, but lasted longer in such a way that it would prevent about as much damage as the current shield, people would feel that shield much less powerful. Every shot they put into the Vanguard still does damage, making them feel more capable to take down the Vanguard.

Although the Vanguard needs the shield to stay competitive against the other MBTs, it should be changed. The reason that I find good enough here is that the mechanic is sufficiently annoying to fight against to warrant change. It is a game, so the mechanic needs to stay within certain boundaries to be fun.

And 2/2 MBT vs 2/2 Vanguard in an ambush scenario is really a clear loss to the Vanguard. For example, a few days ago I started again on my VS with a friend. We quickly bought level 1 magburner, level 1 stealth, level one rival and the Saron. Saron and main gun (still HEAT) with some extra ammo and both a scope. Then we started hunting in the mountains. We approached 2 2/2 Vanguards who didn't think we could boost over a ridge, but we did. We landed behind the first, shot into its rear and it popped its shield. We killed it a second after the second HEAT shot with the Saron, practically ignoring the shield. The second Vanguard hadn't noticed that we had boosted over and got the same treatment. We had to boost after it as it could escape, burning, behind a rock, where we destroyed it.
A fully upgraded 1/2 Prowler that anchors is a fearsome sight, and can destroy any 2/2 MBT if it has first shot and the enemy has little cover. So yeah, 2/2 Vanguards aren't all they are cranked up to be if you ambush them.

Still my advice is the same. Don't go against Vanguards without friends or with little upgrades. They can wreck you on short to middle ranges very badly with help of the shield, especially if you have no position advantage.

If you have an advantageous ambush position = yes

It only takes 8 shots (8.1) 120AP from the rear on a shielded vanguard (<4sec ttk). Very unlikely the vanguard is going to survive that considering he needs to seek cover in relation to the direction of fire. I wouldnt attack and reveal my position if you are not directly behind the vanguard, so positioning its very important.

My Prowler has maxed reload speed and anchor.
If i get the ambush on a Van, all i do is anchor up and start shooting, It doesent matter if they use shield, they die if they cant get behind cover.

When going from TR to NC, i was really excited about the Vanguard at first.
But when i actually tried it, it felt like a slower sluggish version of the Prowler with less damage.
I figured it was because it wasent fully certed, but im almost done certing it now and it still feels weak and slow.

i don't avoid anything in my prowler, i don't move! i find a nice spot above the battlefield and rain hell from there!
thus is the way of the prowler

That's totally incorrect, the shield doesn't work like that at all now.

If you're a 1/2 Prowler vs a 1/2 Van you've got a very good chance of beating them in an ambush (the only sensible position to ambush is from behind) all other things being equal.

1/2 vs 2/2 any 1/2 MBT is going to struggle if the 2/2 crew has half a clue.

There is an easier way of doing this. Just take your Prowler or Harasser equipped with a GateKeeper and find yourself a nice tall hill with a view. While soloing you then rain death down on anything with pinpoint accuracy at max range.

Statistically, Chingles is correct, but from a gameplay perspective I would avoid a 2/2 Vanguard(Assuming AV) at all costs if you have a 1/2 MBT, even a Prowler. Any skilled Vanguard is going to turn his turret towards the damage, see that it's a Prowler and already be turning his chassis towards you. If he even gets his side armor towards you in time, you're not gonna be able to out-DPS him once both his guns bear down on you. If you are 2/2 AV then I'd say go ham on his ***, with a Vulcan you will completely chew through his HP and shield from the rear. From the side it becomes an even match, from the front don't even bother, you are just giving the Vanguard free EXP.

Unless of course you are Lockdown behind him, but those situations are pretty rare. But from close range, just ignore the 2/2 AV unless you see he's been weakened by another attacker.

But as I said, if you want to make armor cry then go Stealth 2/2 AV with the Vulcan. Half the time you'll kill your target before they can even fire a return shot, and if they are good they might get 1 in. Still a bit of a step up from, say, any other vehicle in the game save for the Liberator, but that's an entirely different topic that we shan't discuss here. Unless you'd actually like to learn, in which you can just PM me and I'd be happy to vomit my extensive knowledge all over your screen

Get over it whiner.

Alright, Go post a video of a 1/2 prowler within 150m not using its deployability dropping a vanguards shield before it runs out of time. I would like to be proved wrong.

Do you have any top weapons? If you don't I HIGHLY suggest getting a halberd/GK or maybe even a vulcan depending on your playstyle. Getting a good secondary is more important than your main gun. You pick up a good secondary people will jump in your tank. Then its not an issue going up against a vanguard 1v1, always assume its a 2 person tank unless you can confirm he's by himself.

Ummm... Do you even prowl?

Nope, I soar up mountainous terrain you couldn't even climb in your dreams and rain death from above in my beetle shaped tank.

ColonelChingles just did the maths above.

All tanks can kill all tanks. Except for Lightnings. The advantage of surprise is practically another gunner. With the damage you deal with a tank, having the first shot is very important. Prowlers are very mobile or can anchor, hugely increasing DPS. Vanguards are Vanguards. They can shield to help them through a fight, and have a powerful cannon. Magriders can strafe, making it harder to land shots in longer distance battles.

Also, if a tank can hit the rear of the enemy tank, that's practically a win provided you can hit them. The damage bonus is too large. This is another reason why ambushing is so much stronger.

When I play TR or VS, I ambush Vanguards all the time... people think the shield makes them OP, but as both someone who kills Vanguards and drives Vanguards, it's really not. Most Vanguard drivers roll with Racer Chasis because of the uber slowless of the tank... unfortunately, that also makes them easy targets, and lets you get the rear shots incredibly easy. All you need to do is force the Vanguard to engage its shield, then either take the shield out, or wait the few seconds it takes for it to disappear. Maintain a position behind the tank, and unless the Vanguard is a high seasoned driver, you'll generally destroy it. The only Vanguard that's a dangerous Vanguard is one with a good driver and the Combat Chasis.