Skip the Basilisk and go right for the Enforcer or the Halberd. While the Basilisk is not a bad weapon, you'll disincentivize people from gunning for your tank, assuming (perhaps correctly) that you have a limited amount of certs invested in the vehicle. The Enforcer is extremely powerful against vehicles, while maintaining limited anti-infantry capabilities, while the Halberd is good against vehicles and can one hit kill infantry. Good luck, but not too much luck!
Do not buy the canister. Do not waste 200 certs for Thermal on your Vanguard Basilisk. Continue saving and purchase the Enforcer or Halberd.
Vanguard or not, thermal really throws me off in any vehicle. It's not bad, but just meh. As a second passenger, I would like to zoom in to spot distant enemy vehicles, infantry or aircraft to notify the driver, but the thermal completely cuts your long range visibility. Also, since spotting is mandatory, I have rarely found use for thermals for finding nearby enemies. You can use it at night, but zoom is also good for that issue, since you can look closely to objects, nearby or distant, press q to see if that's an enemy. Zoom is also a better choice for a more accurate shooting, obviously. In my opinion the basilisk is better off with an ammo capacity upgrade. On top of that there are better guns to use on a Vanguard. As a main battle tank you'll be fighting a lot of enemy tanks, and you will need something that can give more firepower. The basilisk doesn't really do much damage to them, and will run out of ammo quickly. If the enemy battle tank has a bigger secondary gun, you are at a disadvantage. Enforcer or halberd is a great weapon of choice, since not only does it deal great damage to enemy tanks, it also can dispatch infantry with one shot. Only downside is the aircraft, and may have a hard time if the pilot knows how to dodge rockets. Another great choice I recommend is the Walker. This thing is an excellent anti air gun, and can easily scare off light aircraft. It also gives the tank some chance against liberators with some maneuver from the driver. This gun can also damage tanks, and due to its high rate of fire and large clip, it's also effective against infantry. The only downside of this gun is that it has a higher elevation angle so you can't target enemies that are close up or under your elevation. However this is usually a problem for sunderers, a particularly tall vehicle, and not much of a problem for a significantly flat tank. Kobalt and canister is a great anti infantry weapon. Both have little difference when it comes to killing infantry. However, putting an anti infantry weapon on a main battle tank is highly disadvantageous, since the gunner can't do **** against other armor, whereas all other tank weapons kill infantry well. Not worth it. Tl, dr: Use Enforcer or Walker. Thermal < Ammo capacity.
The problem with the Basilisk is that, while it is versatile, it is bad at everything. I wouldn't waste certs on thermal. You should just upgrade as soon as possible and put those 200 certs toward another secondary. If you want to solo your tank then use the Kobalt/Walker. For AI and AA respectively. (gunners still work though) If you want to get a gunner then use a Halberd/Enforcer. For AV, but also good AI in the right hands. It also depends on what weapon you're using for your primary. Do you plan on using HEAT or AP?
On the basilisk, yes, the COF on the basilisk is pretty terrible against anything thats further than thermal range. However the basilisk on a tank is pretty bad, you're better off going with a dedicated AA, AI, or AV, even the canister is better than the basilisk at AI IMO. Only vehicle where the basilisk is good is the sunderer where you can get 2 of them, 2 of them is a surprising amount of DPS against anything in the game.
basilisk is a close range weapon, it's good on sundies but very bad on tanks. range is the only defense mechanism tanks have.
Moin Thermal is always worth it and I put it on every weapon except MBT mainguns. Zoom is useless if your gunner has good aim and a proper mouse sensitivity. Pubgunners get even more tunnel vision with zoom on their weapon. The Basilisk on the Vanguard has it's uses, as it's a good alround weapon and can serve as a bandaid AA against hovering aircrafts. I run my Sunderer with dual Basilisks (including magsize and ofc thermal). You don't want to use zoom on your Basilisks. They are a short-mid range weapon, everything beyond thermal range is out of optimal range anyway. That said, I would recommend the Halberd for your Vanguard if you have a decent dedicated gunner and the Enforcer if not. I would unlock both thermal and zoom 2/3 and ask your gunner what he wants. I always prefer thermal. Always.
I bought the canister a long time ago before I knew what I was doing, and I didnt test it in VR so, needless to say, I misinterpreted what sort of weapon it actually was (this was also back before detailed weapon info, when it just had dmg/accuracy/whatever bubbles filled in i believe) When I discovered it was a shotgun I was disappointed, but, I had spent my budget (I dumped a buncha SC into decked out an AI and AV weapon loadout for a van) and ended up just sticking with it. Never really used that loadout much back then (took a long break since), but just yesterday I pulled it. I had canister on with my AP maingun to be more versatile, and, maybe the gunner I had was jesus christ, sniper of the lord, but he was MOWING enemies with it. I mean, we werent even like right up on a spawn, and he was just literally killing any infantry within a reasonable distance with it. I did pick up a Kobalt just now though because I imagine its more 'noob friendly', and its only 100 certs. Prolly backseat the canister But still, that gunner I had was a murder shack on a hill of punishment with a bloodshed moat using that canister.
The description of your Canister gunner amuses me. All AI specific weapons suffer in versatility, and often don't give you enough of an edge to make it worth taking over an alternative. I would say this: Ask yourself what you die from most in your tank. If you can narrow down what your biggest threat is, maybe that will help answer what you want your secondary weapon to be. Again, it also depends on how good your gunner is, as well as your primary weapon. For example, if you run HEAT it gives you more options against infantry, so an AA or AV secondary would help (or even HE if you roll that way). If you run AP and struggle to pick off infantry, then maybe an AI weapon would help. The Basilisk is a jack-of-all-master-of-none. It does reasonable sustained damage against all targets but has fairly limited range. It's not very accurate, however this actually helps you when your gunner isn't spectacular. Optics are personal preference, use them to taste or to suit the ranges you're engaging at.
I'm a fairly dedicated tanker for NC, and I use thermal basilisk on my Vanguard. As others have said, beyond thermal range the Basilisk isn't generally effective anyways, and against vehicular targets, scope isn't really necessary. The two greatest dangers (currently) to my Vanguard are: 1. Air and 2. Infantry with rockets or c4. The Basilisk is the best gun at countering both of these factors, and with Thermal, the gunner has a much easier time spotting infantry targets, especially at night. For every encounter with an AP Prowler where I wish I had an Enforcer, there are 5-10+ encounters with infantry or air where I'm glad I ran the Basi. Especially since the Vanguard lacks a Vulcan or (ridiculously overpowered) PPA or Saron equivalent. You'll need a decent gunner to get the most out of it, but it's an excellent tool in the right hands.
