Prowler tank has got to go

Prowler is just a liability for TR, and will never be used properly due to deceiving looks.
I noticed this years ago and it's in plain view.
Basically it has the largest frontal hitbox from all the tanks. It has no defensive capabilities. Defensive capabilities in this game are size (Lightening), mobility (Magrider), or an ability (Vanguard). Prowler does not have any of these and because it is the prized target of your enemies, while being easiest to hit, it should not be in the direct line of sight, in area of heated combat, as it will always be the first get destroyed from all the targets and ultimately should be more so treated as a Light tank that simple conducts the role of reconnaissance and flanking, by being solo operated with a Ranger flak AA as top gun, since a second crewmember is only a liability and does not benefit off of Barrage.
But it just doesn't appear to be a light tank, it is too expensive for one, and people simply suicide it due to deceiving looks. Kingsnake was another illogical addition that further bolstered its suicide use.

Combined arms will not work within outfits. All outfits are infantry force and at best they may attempt including air since it can keep up with infantry, but it requires too much energy from leader because they also have to include personal trainings.
No outfit will ever attempt to organize a tank unit, so CAI should be reverted.

Now as for Prowler you can't remove it but it is due for a rework and this is a hard one because speed is a pointless attribute in PS2, you're just moving in faster to die and it neither has the suspension for fast offroad traverse. Prowler design more so resembles a Heavy tank design but that'll be a strange unit for TR.

Some time ago I came up with a more sophisticated idea of instead reworking the Prowler into TR's new AMS, replacing their NS AMS (Sunderer) or keeping it unlocked as a legacy vehicle for those who already have cosmetics unlocked, which I will explain.
I know that TR would then lose some AMS deployment positions because the Prowler is too wide and has trouble moving over obstacles such as tank traps, but at the same time the unique Sunderer deployment positions are out of date, and is no longer a mastery of coordinated outfits but already replicated by all players, so pretty much everyone takes their time to deploy their AMS in hard to reach areas and it may as well be more straightforward, where it's either in plain view or only accessible when ANVILed for both Sunderer and Prowler.


The Prowler AMS concept goes very well with TR and will barely change their playstyle, since the currently Prowler already has trouble engaging Vanguard or Magrider by iitself and requires more tanks to work together.
So, by taking away the Prowler tank, TR would be left with Lightening as their go to MBT. Lightening is the ideal MBT design and ultimately will not be able to beat Magrider or Vanguard by itself, only together they can destroy the enemy, Strength in Unity... That is one trait of TR.
Prowler AP gun only deals 20% more DPS than Lightening AP gun or 40% with Barrage... It's not much different. Therefore TR without their Prowler tank would barely change if not improve in tank warfare as it'll be more straightforward to understand.
Lightening tanks are single seaters so you'll see TR having more tanks on the battlefield... Displaying their military might and mass production of practical and well engineered traditional designs... Another TR trait.

Prowler AMS concept came from its ability to already be able to deploy, all you need to do is add an infantry terminal.
The weapon choice of an AMS Prowler would be a hard one because it also includes a top gunner and the main gun is in question.
One idea would be to keep its 120mm cannons, but remove the gun stabilizer to only be able to fire when stationary, but at the same time it may be awkward for enemy to engage a deployed AMS with twin 120mm cannons.
Another idea may be to change its main guns into smaller caliber versions, and ultimately if you change the main gun, it can be anything just the question is what.

Unless anyone else has a better suggestion, one way or another the Prowler must go.

prowlers just garbage at this point. Worst tank of the 3, not counting chimera for obvious reasons. Just revert it to what it was before. Or admit the tr mbt is meant to be the lightning.

What they make namitz available to prowler too. A good buff for it.

Yeah that is the question, how do you make people understand the Lightening is the MBT, cause you can't really tell people what to do and it'd have to be somehow straightforward, the design, but Prowler one way or another looks like a heavy tank, with those thick tracks and double cannon, an upgrade off of Lightening, you know... Meanwhile nobody understands that it only deals 20% more DPS than Lightening lol, due to size has trouble utilizing terrain to hide its hull, and pretty much the only upside of Prowler over Lightening is its ability to equip an AA weapon, allowing you to combat both air and ground by yourself, good when flanking since you're susceptible to air, but the tank is rarely customized like that.

I came up with this suggestion some time ago and forgot to mention one more thing...

If the Lightening became the TR's MBT, a Sunderer cannot work with it... It does not match height nor traverse. For Sunderer, it'd be like supporting an ant pretty much. It's 4x larger and it cannot neutral steer. It'd be entirely off.
The Prowler would be a more ideal AMS combo with Lightening as both height and traverse match.

So, the NS Sunderer would not go with TR, if their MBT was the Lightening. Hence why it was suggested to remove it from TR afterwards or keep it as legacy vehicle for those which already have the cosmetics, to understand what I fully meant.

Yeah, no.
It just the majority of TR is ... special... those who actually are playing together (f.e. DIOR) wreck enemy armor collums.
Deployment became passive and that velocity buff is still very strong.
Barrage being changed while beeing mobile is a straight DPS increase.

The only tank that needs "to go" is the Cimera. Or at least needs a few little new treats...

You are telling me, that the tank, that outguns all other ones in the game by a wide margin is the worst? Are you serious?

I've also noticed DIOR using the Prowler tank very well, but they're just 4 players and that's it, like nobody else on TR knows how to utilize this asset properly, by that I mean randoms cause no other outfit attempts a tank unit. So, for the sake of TR as a whole, Prowler needs to go.
It just leads to tank battle losses for TR and the very few that know how to operate it, cannot overturn this, so it's pointless keeping it. The TR players won't change and the same story continues.

In terms of soviet armory, Prowler is like PT76 in the PS2 environment. It is a light reconnaissance tank and Lightening is the MBT. But people just think Prowler is a heavy breakthrough tank due to appearance, and use it that way, so obviously it gets wrecked and this won't change as it's not straightforward. Customization is also to blame.

the only real downside to prowler is that their special ability is "bigger hitbox". change that and there would be no problem with it. its a glass cannon compared to other MBTs, sure, but its still tougher than a lightning, and has a higher burst dmg from other MBTs.

removing the prowler only hurts those that DO know how to use the prowler and its amazing power. i would say, instead of removing the prowler, give us abilities that actual lean into the aspect. remove Rampart Projector and replace it with a counterpart to our default Anchored mode: the replacement to rampart projector could enhance our closer quarters capability, even if its something as small as a deployable reactive armour that can take an infinite amount of dmg, in a single shot, for further explanation, it can either completely tank a MBT round for the prowler before dissipating and needing a recharge, or a single round from the top gun, no matter how little dmg, before dissipating (recharge time would need tinkering for balancing). this would be a fun mechanic to work around and would require timing the shield. but does not leave the prowler at a complete dissadvantage if the player mistimes the reactive armour. this is of course an idea that can be shot down if considered too weak/powerful but all im trying to say is the prowler is a viable tank if played right, we just need a single ability rework, aside from that anyone with an hour or two of experience can make the take on most threats in a 1 on 1 and the prowler only gets better in a team.



edit: realized my explanation of a possible redesign kinda sucked so rewriting it.

effectively this reactive armour gets 1 heath. but any dmg over the health of the shield is not given to the prowler because the health bar of the prowler and the shield is not directly connected.

Lightening is indirectly tougher than Prowler due to size obviously, it's harder to hit and has an easier time utilizing terrain to its advantage like making its hitbox smaller with the usual hull down position. And it's simply ideal for frontline combat.

And no my suggestion won't be taking away the immense potential from Prowler, it has none.... It's just, I guess since CAI you need a group to work with but the Prowler is so complicated that it actually requires the tank unit to be really experienced in the tank warfare. Know what they're doing and act individually based on common sense... A usual follow the leader tank squad will not work with Prowler. Lightenings would be substantially better, but because Prowler looks like a direct upgrade off of Lightening, you see them choosing it, just to rush in and die since you follow the leader, with a stupid random top gunner who didn't want to pull their own tank but would rather give away your position by randomly firing and ultimately both dying because the Prowler has no defensive capabilities, no escape.

It is a mess and it'd be rather better to figure out how a Prowler AMS (my suggestion) together with a Lightening tank as a combination could grant strength comparable to an experienced Prowler unit.

_______________

The reactive Armor idea could be OK but at the same time it'd make no sense. At this point just buffing the Prowler while it has a design issue feels weird.
And it'd be best if the Sunderer rework all went to the trash bin cause it doesn't look like devs have any interest in developing it further to possibly mimic tank components as invisible hitboxes, cause that'd be a large project that'd exceed their capabilities since the devs didn't display anything amazing so far.

Prowlers are fast, which is silly when you consider that they have a deployed mode. Change the deployment ability to a built in Turbo. Double down on what's already good about them and chop of what isn't.

The real reason why everything will always be permanently busted is the health pool damage model.

It can't be faster because it doesn't have hull nor suspension designed for fast off-road traverse. It'd have to be a whole new design but don't forget you have cosmetics and it won't work. Prowler as the hull must stay the same, hence why I ultimately suggested it becoming an AMS to replace the NS AMS after inspecting all perspectives. Explained below:

You have in mind giving tank components, like separate hitboxes as weak spots? For that the velocity of cannon rounds would have to increase greatly and optics, but that doesn't change the fact that Lightening hitbox is still smaller and harder to hit. And Magrider would become this tank destroyer, unless it gets reworked, which it should, since it shoots through the ground because its main gun is touching the ground lol. The Magrider has plenty of room at the top, where the secondary gun is, that should be changed into the main gun, and the fixed gun should instead be this lower caliber fully auto support weapon which is obviously controlled by driver. So, vice versa design for Magrider.

My favorite part is everyone agrees that the Chimera is trash. lol

Like "We don't agree on the faction MBTs, but we can agree that Chimera is a POS"

*Insert Arm Wrestling Meme*


https://imgflip.com/i/9byymo

Everybody loves Chimera destroying Bastion Hull components while being invisible. That was a genius design choice.

Yeah, Chimera is a trash design. And I am pretty sure one wheel of a chimera has more mesh than the entire Prowler hull... Great for performance.

https://imgflip.com/i/9bz4ux

Playing a Chimera is truly cursed.
It is wildly unstable and flips whenever you hit a pebble, but it can somehow climb a mountainside second only to the Magrider.
It has a huge silhouette combined with a dubious amount of armor, and mostly anemic weapons, means that it is not even remotely a close range brawler.
It is, however, mildly okay as a scout tank taking long range potshots at already damaged enemies and then running away before getting erased by revenge A2G because its 2nd gunner can't fire on aircraft attacking from the rear.

Prowlers are the worst? Maybe skill issue on your end lol

Prowlers have been outperforming in everything for the past 10 years, even after 2-3 nerfs. Check PS2alerts stats for KD, KPH etc for all alerts recorded. It's the best AA in the game as well, can 1 shot ESF at 1000m range, something even the colossus cannot do .

No. And there's no skill in playing vehicles in this game mr a2g main.

Chimera aside, they're the worst.

V5!

To be fair, the game should not reward skill so much as teamwork and tactics.
As otherwise the game becomes dominated by tryhard sweatgoblins who effectively destroy the value of teamwork towards general objectives.
This, of course is the general state of the game, and has been for some time.