Any Tips For New Tank Drivers?

Ok, new to the forums and all, so hi.

I've been playing Planetside 2 for some time now, probably about 2-3 months or so, and I thought it would be kind of fun to switch over from infantry support to tanks.

It would be nice if I got some tips on what I could to maximize my performance in the battlefield.

"Any Tips For New Tank Drivers?"

-When you are surrounded by friendly infantry DON'T MOVE

Yeah I can see that as being a good idea heh.

A good strategy for staying alive and maximizing your cert gain would sadly be to stay a little in the back of everyone and farm infantry with lockdown or something

I assume you play TR so you would mean the Prowler tank? If so, use the HEAT shells on the Prowler until you get your aim down, and get Thermal vision for them. You don't have the armor of the Vanguard, so stay out of heavy fire lanes. The Prowler gets two shots per reload, so make them count. Lockdown is powerful at levels 3 and 4, but if you only have levels 1 or 2, I would be very sparing in my use of it. Drive as Engi and start by using cover to protect yourself from firing lanes, popping out to do some damage then going into cover to repair damage. The rest will come with time, the hardest part is knowing when it's a good time to pull a tank that it won't just be wasted.

See signature.

It's quite a read though, expect to spend some time on it. I might go around to rewriting segments, a couple things had changed. Most is universal such as "Front towards enemy" or "Don't be afraid to go off road and gain the high ground".

There's also FM 3-20.15 (Field Manual of the US Army for running a Tank Platoon, search for the things you need as it's got everything from positions to gunnery to risk management and logistics):
http://armypubs.army.mil/doctrine/DR_pubs/dr_a/pdf/atp3_20x15.pdf

Expect to spend even more time on the FM than on my "5 Tips for Tanks".

And if need be I ned to charge into battle, is it a good idea to get the nanite auto repair system?

Positioning and picking your fights is everything.

HE cannons are a joke, don't get them. HEAT do more damage and unless you're drunk at the wheel you'll be able to hit people with the splash regardless.

If you're TR get the Vulcan.

Auto-repair is super nice and a perfect generalist cert line to have.

Get a chassis asap.

Proximity radar keeps the c4 fairies away.

If you are TR. I give you protip: NEVER FIGHT VANGUARDs alone. 2-3 prowlers vs 1 vanguard is pretty even.

Or actually just avoid any tanks, just shoot infantry with heat, dont buy HE they suck.

And what if all that's around are tanks, because there are those big tank raids that happen time from time.

Just play your tank as you would play infantry.

Always fight from cover.

Always flank the enemy.

Always have a clear path of retreat.

Always be aware of your surroundings and never get locked down in "tunnel vision".

Always work with a team and be in constant communication with them.

Of course I usually play as a Lightning, so I'm a bit closer to squishy infantry than a MBT is!

Be aware of you surrounding. There's always a crazy guy with C4 running to you from your blindspot when you stop.

Heh, Auto-repair doesn't do any good if you are charging into battle..... It does help if you manage to survive and escape damaged... you can pop behind cover and it will start repairing, but it's still slower than you popping out and repairing with a decently certed repair tool.

Each time you take damage... the timer to activate auto-repair resets... So even if you take a front AV shot that does minimal damage, you'll have to wait the full 8 seconds (or whatever it is at whatever level you have it certed) before it starts healing ya.

It's probably just as good to make sure your engy repair tool is certed up and just use cover and hop out and repair to begin with. Once you get decently-certed, you can work on the auto-repair.

It holds true for all things, but is key for a prowler. They tend to lockdown, start sending shells and get locked into what they are killing. I've literally driven my Mag up behind a Prowler, jumped out and threw down some mines and detonated them with a grenade (didn't have any maingun ammo left). That was how "locked in" the driver was and wasn't aware of his surroundings.

Those that complain about C4 fairies the most are those that tend to get into this tunnel vision mode way too often.

1, Use you standard cannon for as long as you wish is very good. AP cannon don't have big explosion, so you will miss a lot of kills. And extra damage against Vehicles In my opinion is not worth it.

2. Decide what better suit you.
Short distance prowler:
- stealtch + radar/firesuprresor + speed + vulcan
Long distance prowler
- stealtch +anchor + speed + halabard//basilisk

3. Find a good gunner and have him on TS.

4. Basilisk is very good weapon. It's effective against all target Air/ground vehicles and infantry.

5. Remember that you are quite delicate against higher BR player. C4 on Light Assault, Tank Mines and AV turrets on engineers. EFS witch rockets. Other tanks.

What? I just got a 195 kill streak with the L100 HE.

Or drive too close to a building, or a bridge, or anything at all. Damn fairies are everywhere. I run full proximity radar just for this.

Which tank are you wanting to play? I can give you general tips but nothing specific without knowing.

I assumed he meant MBT. Lightning is a HE god, although I prefer to use the standard gun for that.