Using Third Person for Tanks

I'm pretty sure most know this, but in any case ... here a few of the things one must consider in regards to Third Person Camera in combination with Tanks.

1. It absorbs recoil forces on the Tank. Your gun will not jump up in the Vanguard or Lightning. And in case of the Prowler there is a recoil pattern pushing up, which is always the same pixel movement.

Which is why Lightnings and Vanguards can unstuck themselves in first person using recoil, but not in third person.

2. Any steering action through your rotation keys has a drag effect on your projectile. The stronger the steering action, the further the drag.

3. In Third Person the turret lags roughly 500ms behind your mouse actions. However, if you have no motion on the mouse the turret is vertically stabilized and linked 1:1 to your first person aim.

4. Because the shell still originates from your camera some Tanks, especially the Lightning have issues if there are small bumps between you and the target. This has mainly todo with the fact that the camera is mounted slightly lower than the gun.

5. If you practice this a lot and have experience with the drive model of your Tank or it's unique "corks" regarding turret lag or steering drag you can successfully hit 80%+ of your rounds on Vehicle sized targets that are 350m or more out.

6. Gundepression can be an issue if there are objects behind you, making your third person camera go crazy.

I'm used to doing this on the Vanguard and can reliably hit a moving Sundy with a Titan AP at ~400m and less, while moving on my own at maximum speed through medium terrain.

The Lightning is a bit harder because it is so flat and has such a low profile. The position of it's first person camera and thus the origins of the shells is also not the best. But otherwise the Lightning is the ideal Vehicle for using this and I'm currently training myself to get as good as in the Vanguard.

I'm by no means good at this, but if even I can get the hang of this ... I'm sure others will to and will definitely become better at this than I will ever be ...

Anyone who is serious about tanking should watch the vid. Your 3rd person aim is already fantastic. I like how you turn, and pause just long enough to kill the drag effect. That was really impressive.

It's easier on the Vanguard, the "weaker" steering power and slower speed actually allows for a more forgiving fire on the move. Also I think the lag difference is ever so slightly better on the Vanguard. Than you got the longer reload, which again plays to your advantage, it gives you more time to look around.

Problem with the Vanguard however is that you need to plan "strafing" runs, because you lack the agility to just respond as stuff appears before you. I did many Sundy run byes with the Vanguard often hitting all rounds, despite the target being in some cases over 400m out and actually moving.

But once it's a hunt, because they try to run ... this trick is almost a sure kill on the enemy unless you need to disengage or shift priories to something more dangerous to you. And if you chase down a Sundy more often than not they are at the same mobility disadvantage as you. Though in same cases you probably will need to hold your trigger finger until you can let go of the steering keys for a moment.

I found it more challenging on the Lightning but also way more enjoyable ... only real problem I have is losing traction in the worst moments ... it's annoying as **** if you actually can hit while moving ... but can't move through the actual terrain at a good pace!

Being able to circumvent recoil, I would consider exploiting a bug in the game.

Just tested this, but I can't reproduce it and I've recoil on every shot with nearly all weapons I've tested in 3rd person.

It's not like that third person firing on the move or absorbing recoil through it hasn't been reported or mentioned ... I've reported it as a bug shortly after Launch.

The same goes for gear skipping, invert reverse steering for tanks, hot seat tricks and all the other small tricks in the game. Look at the reverse maneuver of ESFs, it's practically the same, it was/still is a bug in the flight model.

I keep saying that Vehicle combat, especially armored warfare is the most unfinished part of the game, well besides a strategic meta game ...

As for rapid firing weapons, its not on all and if it has recoil in third person it's actually a consistent pattern(example Prowler Maingun). You should also know that it doesn't circumvent CoF blooms, so the Vulcan still has it's cone in third person to my knowledge.

We've been asking for a proper stabilization system for ages ...

I'd class this as acceptable except that you have to go download a third party software and run an overlay to make it happen. If they don't want to stabilize turrets, fine, but give everyone a third person central indicator. In any case, something needs to change.

I actually don't need that indicator ... I just prefer it over my monitors centering function(Samsung MD230). It's a giant cross overlay to help adjust screen centers for machines. My screen set is an Industrial standard setup and other gaming screens have better options build in.

Yeah, its not exploiting a system as much as it is dealing with a broken system. The whole thing doesn't really work and we all come up with creative says to work with what we have.

I use a piece of paper. I doubt I'll get banned for 3rd party overlay of this sort. I'm not all fancy like aesir.

Depending on how your screen is shaped, may I suggest thin wire or cord? I rather stick something to the bezel than the actual screen ...

I think I've seen it before but I'm digging that battle station. A bigger surprise is there isn't a tank screensaver/ background on any of the screens. So if I don't want to tape something to the center of my screen I guess the best options is to just try and memorize the third person cross hair huh?

I'm more of an Anime nerd than a Tank nerd ... And you don't need any third party program, gaming screen or somehow mark the center of your screen physically ... use the reload circle and hit marker as an indicator ... it's what I did for the longest of times.

What to do you mean by gaming screen, is that some sort of special monitor?

Yeah, some gaming Monitors actually have such an overlay function build in ... one part of the current Asus Gaming Monitor series actually has this if you scroll down the feature list.

http://www.asus.com/microsite/2013/lcd/GamingMonitors/fast.htm

The video shows that you have a red aim point, while in third person. I must be blind, but my prowler does not seem to have one of those.. ??

And neither has any of the other Tanks in game, it's an overlay. While it makes things easier for very long ranges, for medium ranges it is not required. The reload circle and your hitmarker can also be used as indicators for this.

And like I said, the Prowler will jump up every shot, but always by the exact same motion in third person, making it easier to compensate for it compared to first person.

All the things shown in the Video are possible, even without the use of that marker ...

This explains so much.

Thanks for the vid, one of the best times I had was in early in the game running around with lightning at top speed.
And now I've unlocked racer and ap rounds for my toons.

Nice vid, would really help people looking into practicing with 3rd person aiming. One thing to note though unless it was changed recently, the lightning turrets are off-center. The round will go to the left of the center of screen when stationary, not much of an issue against armor but you will need to account for this against small targets such as infantry.

Would be helpful if you were to re-test this in VR in case by some miracle they finally got around to fixing that in the last update. It was enough me to re-consider using the lightning more because I could see it messing with my 3rd person aiming with Prowler and Vannie.

This is interesting to say the least. But I foresee this getting fixed in a patch now. The only thing I'd say to them fixing it is to 'fix' the reverse maneuver on ESFs as well. This is basically the tank equivalent (since most maneuvers are done in 3rd person). So if they tank this away from tanks, take it away from ESF's too.


Personally I'd rather them take 3rd person away from all vehicles except for passengers (non-gunners) in Sundies and Galaxies. That is if they fix anything, fix it all so everything is on the same page.