Note: The following is just a hypothetical question, I dont support such a change and only ask this question out of interest. Recently there have been discussions about the upcoming changes to the MBT ESAV secondary weapons regarding their effectiveness vs both infantry and armour. Currently all ESAI weapons(PPA, cannister, marauder) do 0 damage to armour, what would happen if ESAV secondaries did 0 damage to infantry? Would this change the tank meta significantly or would everyone just switch to halberd full time(cant beat the versatility)? Would mixed loadouts become viable(eg. HE main plus AV secondary)? Or would AI secondaries raise to prominence leading to a river of tears from infantry players who cried that AV secondaries where "too effective" at AI duty?
if your saying if they nerf the ES AV secondaries to the point where they are useless, then yes, every person would use the halbird. They are ready do (after the next patch they will) People who drive MBTs alot look for the ability to kill armor and defend themselves from infantry. AI secondaries are a crutch armor vs armor.
I didnt say ESAV secondaries would be nerfed to be useless, but in this hypothetical they would not damage infantry. There is a big difference. It would be even more interesting if the AV secondaries(which now did 0 damage vs infantry) were buffed in AV capability beyond the halberd. Not sure what you mean by this. Did you mean to say that AI secondaries are a liability in armour vs armour? What if MBTs are forced to take AI secondaries to deal with infantry, then they are only a liability if you come up against an opponent who has pulled a highly specialised AV loadout with little AI capability?
Everyone would just use the Halberd. It can kill infantry when you need it while having solid AV damage at all ranges. If you then nerfed the Halberd to having no AI damage then we would use the Basilisk. If you then nerfed the Basilisk to having no AI damage then we would use the Walker. Having a gunner with the ability to protect against infantry while also helping you kill enemy armor is invaluable. AI secondaries are only used in two situations: 1.) You're soloing your tank and want an AI secondary to switch to 2.) You want to infantry farm and won't be fighting tanks
Make dedicated AV weapons do only AV damage? Make dedicated AI weapons do only AI damage? No... you're making too much sense. But, seriously, as Alarox identified, most players would go for the 'generalist' weapons then, so they have maximum flexibility. (Unless they have a specific load-out/build in mind...) Personally, I support this idea. But the AI capabilities of pure AI weapons and the AV capabilities of pure AV weapons would need to be well beyond the 'generalist' weapons to make them viable choices (and fun to use).
Am I the only one thinking that a Tank should be able to defend himself against Infantry, should the terrain support this? I'm all for reversing the rear weakspot buff, I'm all for buffing mobility on Tanks and their capability to fight while being mobile, I'm all for a limited ammunition "side arm" for Tanks to defend themselves against Infantry(not farming, defending), I'm all for terrain design were Tanks will be severely at a disadvantage against Infantry, aslong as there is also terrain were Infantry is at a severe disadvantage against Tanks, or terrain were it's best to use Infantry and Tanks combined (semi-dense terrain, forests). Instead of all the balance coming from the power of the counters, we actually could have Infantry being the best at close to medium ranges (AV and AI), we actually could have Tanks being the best at medium to long ranges (AV and AI), the power, range and availability of AA could be limited to where you can actually effectively use them, You know, this could be a combined arms game. That is all ...
I'd love the idea if, and only if, it is applied accross the board. ESF rockets hurt infantry OR tanks but not both, same with nose gun, same with Lib weapons, rocket launders, MAXes etc. It would force specialiszation or generalization (but much poorer vs. specialized set up) builds which I'd love to see.
I can see your point about versatility but right now there's not really a downside to taking the versatile halberd. If the enforcer was strictly AV and buffed for that role, could you always take the halberd knowing that if you face off with a AP+ESAV you will lose? You could just as easily specialize with your secondary and run HEAT so you have some AI capabilities.
If all the AI weapons got buffed to the point where they slaughtered infantry sure, but right now most of them require you to get within 50m where you're now vulnerable to getting instagibbed or just pounded with rockets till you explode while at the same time you might get a couple kills, lol. This is in addition to the fact that any AV vehicle will also immediately destroy you, so if given the option between pure AV or pure AI, at this time it would be AV with no question, even if it is a ******** suggestion to begin with.
Flash News! After the patch which ES AV Weapons gets nerfed against Infantry, guess what will be on the list? The Halberd! Because everybody is going to switch to it. Probable patch notes: "The Halberd was performing too good against Infantry as an AV weapon, so we decided to "balance" it. Now it takes 2 direct hits to kill Infantry without Flak Armor." The moment when Infantry becomes "Tankier" against AV weapons than vehicles itself...
A Vanguard would not loose and a Prowler would not care. The Vanguard has the shield and higher resist values making up for the damage disparity and less than 9% of Prowlers actually have gunners because of lockdown DPS rates far exceeding the use of a secondary. Basically, it would cause a massive imbalance for Magriders as they would be forced to use the AV only secondary to compete with other tanks where the other two are not impacted as much leaving a lot of Magriders vulnerable to infantry.
