Ok guys, I see this way too often. An Infiltrator, a stray Light Assault, or a tank finds your sundy. What happens next? Absolutely nothing on your side. You sit there and either kill the Infiltrator, Light Assault, or tank, but then you die soon after. Why? Because they come back. Listen. You can continually play this charade of "Theres no way they will try to kill me AGAIN", but I'm telling you, they are going to come back. Not only will they come back, but after a few attempts, they are probably going to destroy your sundy. They will most likely have the superior positioning, since they are in motion, and you probably don't have 3 or more Engineers dedicated to that sundy to repair the damage or 2 Light Assaults or Heavy Assaults to deal with the tank. You just probably don't have the manpower. Therefore, after you deal with that threat, MOVE YOUR SUNDY! Don't be afraid to find a new position! Move under the protection of either some Engineers or H/L Assaults. If you can't destroy the vehicle coming after you before you need to move, just move anyways. You only have 2 choices: sit still and almost surely die, assuming players who spawn don't switch to Engineer immediately, or move and have a chance to redefend yourself. If that tank is still alive, break line of sight with it and place some mines or a c4 on the path you take. Drop off a Heavy Assault to wait for them and buy you a little bit of time while simultaneously doing some damage. Win-win. Keep changing positions when you get found. Its the only way to ensure the battle can stay alive. Another good thing to remember is that Sunderers have a ton of HP! Create for yourself a battle bus sundy, used specifically for charging vehicles. Strap two Bulldogs to it or a Bulldog and a Fury or two Furies or create a mobile air assault platform or an Anti Infantry loadout. Turn your sundy into a good weapon, and keep it supported. I don't see a lot of people running the Ammo creator for their Sunderers. Its a good idea to pull it from time to time to support a tank that could be defending you, so that they don't have to leave. Do whatever you need to to make sure your sunderer stays alive. Be creative. Use good judgement. And dont be afraid to reposition! Thank you.
My solution: actually equip that shield module. Any half-used Sunderer is instantly safe from LA's as it takes too much time to take down the shield and damage it enough to destroy it. It also offers plenty of time for players to come to the Sunderer's defense. Any Sunderer is dead if no one defends it, if you move your Sundy then the vehicle will see an empty area and come looking for it, so you've just shifted the problem while preventing players from spawning there. I think we need some Sunderer-only utilities designed to buy time for the Sunderer. Like a shieldwall that needs to be placed within +/-10m of the Sunderer to buy time against concentrated fire for example and similar methods to slow down enemies or warn the owners of impending destruction.
Moving your sunderer doesn't really work so long as no deploy zones exist for attackers. There are only a finite amount of tolerable sunderer spots and moving away will mean your allied infantry are: Taking a potentially worse sunderer spawn instead. Dying and having no means of repsawning at all, whilst the defenders will always have their infinite spawn cube. Travelling even further to the point than the way before. Even if you somehow navigate these massive pain points for sunderer placement, it won't even last because an LA or tank or whatever only has to follow the ant line of infantry to the new sunderer spot. Just put a router on the point instead, it's a far better chance of capturing the base without overwhelming numbers.
Yeah but it doesn't warn you, the driver, when the shield is taking damage. You have to pay attention to its health go down. So yeah, it buys you time in a dedicated sundy defense, since they can't just blow the thing; they have to take down the shield first. But my point is that if your sundy gets found, you better move it. Its better for them to have to go look for where you moved it than to come back to destroy it in the same place again. Also, it changes where the front lines of your battle are, because allies are coming from a new direction, leading to a possible tactical advantage. Players typically won't run around and flank to create a new front line, so doing that will help you. And yes, I understand any sundy is dead if no one defends it, but if you do have people defending it from the same attacker as the threats to your sundy continue to grow, you are especially dead, hence why I say to move it. If enemies are making their way towards your spawn, move it before they get there. Sure, you cut off defenders for a little bit, so get as many in that sundy as you can before you move it, and move it. When the enemy knows where you are, your defenders probably will get overwhelmed, so displace yourself. Yeah those are good suggestions. I like them.
Just solve the bug that it doesnt tell you its under attack when the shield gets hit? In fact, why isnt everyone and their dog warned? Why doesnt any Sunderer instantly get a minimap+map icon with flashing lights and a notification to all nearby allies when an enemy is detected within Xm or it is damaged? These would be easy and quick QOL improvements for this problem. Players should not be responsible to take up the slack of design mistakes the developers build.
THATS A BUG? I also hate the bug that doesn't say when your sunderer is critically damaged or getting damaged. It just goes from hit to destroyed, and it wasn't even a C4 that ended it. Regardless, this doesn't negate the strategy of moving your sunderer when someone finds it. Having to constantly be under attack while your troops spawn will get your sunderer blown up eventually. As more and more enemies keep coming toward it, you are going to get quickly overwhelmed, so you gotta get it out of there. Therefore, I'm not really wrong, but neither are you. Shield is useful too.
It warns you if upon deploying, you spawn back into your sundy. "The last sunderer you spawned at is under attack"
