Because of the changes in the last major patch I've decided to try my hand at using the Lightning and I was wondering what is the best Defensive slot option against vehicles? Thanks in advance for answers!
Well i suggest Stealth or radar. With stealth you have a good chance do get dedectet to late from your enemy. Radar protects you from enemy light assaults. If you are playing your AV tank more in a drive by style, you can also think about side armor or mine guard.... or repair... So it depends how you play your lightning....
I generally park a ways a way from my target preferably in a location that lets my retreat to cover before I take to much damage
Well, I'm not that experienced and mostly taking stuff out of my WoT Playbook, but in that situation, you're either peakabooming (ie, Peaking out a single second to fire, then reversing back into cover) which is far less common here, or the more traditional version where you simply sit with your front to your target and reverse the higby away when your hp is low. So side or frontal armor.
Stealth by far. Regen means little when you're in a Lightning, for if you die you will die from such a burst that death is inevitable. To that effect, I would suggest that you use racer 3 for your AP lightning. Trust me, the playstyle is hilariously fun. They can't see you on your radar as you zoom around with superior positioning and a rad AV gun. Besides, STEALTH RACER LIGHTNING AP sounds awesome. Also, you can just drive over landmines at top speed and not be hurt by them.
In this case, stealth does a really great job, because the enemy dont see you on the map. If you stay on a position where enemy infantry could be near -> radar.
Mini-map show vehicle only at 100m, if you are at 101m or more of anybody, stealth is useless. So, if you prefer snipe enemy vehicle, don't take stealth. If you're a camper, take radar. If you prefer fight face to face, take frontal armor If you prefer dogfight, take side armor (and rival) In any situation, remember your lightning is FLAT, use Hull-down tactic a lot.
Racer + Autorepair is a deadly combo for mid/long range strafing runs on targets out in the open. Racer let's you get in, fire a few rounds, and get out fast enough that nothing but a Harasser can catch up w/ you. It also let's you continue to repair without stopping at all, so if you're being pursued by something bigger and nastier than you you can just keep on running and self-repping. And on Lightnings specifically, autorepair is FAST. I often run fire suppression with this as well for even faster repairs. Rival + Stealth is also quite deadly. This is good for more of a "Flank and ambush" playstyle. Since it lets you maneuver around tricky obstacles in the areas that have more cover and rougher terrain and still maintain a pretty good speed. And if you get spotted you can zoom back behind cover and get out of your enemy's LOS and off the minimap faster than you could w/ other setups. This setup requires adequate cover/concealment for it to work effectively though. I also use fire Suppression w/ this loadout. FWIW I never use any form of armour. The Lightning's not designed for up-front slugfests with MBTs and none of the armour options will give you enough of an edge to matter against them. And against smaller vehicles I've found maneuvering and initiative to be more important than how much punishment you can take. For most cases IME autoreapir and stealth both play much more to the Lightning's strengths (speed and maneuverability) and are much more useful.
Very good strategys, probably i copy/paste them in my "Lightning strategys threat" thx Erendil. I just can add this one: We (gamez clan) often use the lightning in groups, and as long you stay moving, you are deathly, if you stop your vehicle.... it is most times no good idea.
As some people mentioned above, the auto repair on the lightning is quite fast ~11% max rank, making it VERY useful, as even a small amount of time behind cover will allow you to heal up to a good level. Fire suppression is also a nice 12% boost in 5 seconds. And it also gives you that extra HP boost to win some fights that you wouldn't of otherwise, also good to make up for damage if you're getting shot while running to cover. For frame I used to swear by the rival chassis since the reverse speed was better, and this meant being able to dodge shots better, but now that both reverse and forward speed are the same, I'd say going for racer is probably a better idea in the end. I've never really been a fan of running stealth on lightnings since if you're going to be close enough for it to matter, you're probably better off using an MBT, and yes I know the projectile speed is pretty bad on lightning AP (assume you'll be using that if you're going for AV) but the small vertical profile the lightning has makes you a much harder target at range, especially if you're moving around. In general, try to not get too close to enemy tanks if you can, or only do so to finish them off, as if even if you're not missing any shots against an MBT, they'll still be able to kill you anyways if you're getting into a face to face fight.
I think the idea of running Stealth on a Lightning is not so much to hide from the targets you are trying to engage, as to hide from something else, which just happens to pass by. With Stealth ranked a bit, you are far less likely to garner the attention of a passing Lib or ESF than if you didn't run it, which makes flanking without being noticed quite a bit easier. At least it's saved my bacon running even a low rank of Stealth a good number of times and if you can break LOS, it'll allow you to hide that much easier, as you won't show up on the minimap to pursuers once the Q-spot wears off. Though it's always a question of different loadouts for different playstyles and situations - knowing when to pull one over the other is one of the "real" things you gotta' learn, if you want to "ride the lightning" proper.
I agree that distance sniping load outs should have Stealth equipped. If you like to get into the thick of fights and battle, side armor is great so you can keep a good rate of speed moving across your enemies while having some added protection.
I suggest stealth. Then get some non-faction colored camo. Then keep a distance of 50-100 meters from the bad dudes so that your empire colored stripes don't stand out too much. Enjoy having 3 enemies watching you, wondering why you're team-killing that tank and not shooting at you until after you're in a position where you get the kill and are still able to get behind the nearest hill (and then disappear from their maps and get out alive). Same story with the Harasser, Lib and all other non-empire specific gear.
I don't think Armour actually gives that much of a boost though - if you think about it, a 5-10% increase in resistance is only around 50 points of damage from a stock dumbfire rocket. I think that's a lot of "opportunity value" spent on resisting only a small fraction of the enemy damage compared to maybe being completely mini-map invisible until spotted or being able to repair your vehicle on the fly. I guess the 5-10% could mean a difference in a pinch, but it also seems very situational as optimally you don't want anyone shooting at you in the first place when driving a Lightning.
It's an increase of 5-10% to the normal resistance. I don't know the exact numbers for each, but if a vehicle has 50% resistance to something, and the armor increases it by 5%, then it has 55% which is a 10% reduction in damage. Many vehicle resistances are even higher which means even larger increases than that.
Relative to your current resistances, adding 5% resistance is 10% more, but against the incoming damage it's still only a 5% increase. Even if it was a 10% reduction, when it takes only around 5-6 hits to kill a lightning from almost any angle, you aren't really mitigating a lot of shots running armour. You're still looking at 5-6 hits to kill you, regardless of the 10% increase or at very best it will allow you to survive a single big hit more, provided all shots land on the sides, that are actually armoured. Compared to the utility value of the alternative options, it just doesn't seem offer enough versatility or survivability in any scenarios, but those where your force either already has the numerical upper hand or the enemy cannot muster enough AV weapons to put those 5-6 big hits on you. Regrettably I don't have any practical experience with armour, as it's always seemed a really bad deal to me, but maybe I should give it a try, though I rarely encounter scenarios where I've thought "Wow, if I had front/side/top armour, I'd have survived that". Usually I'm thinking "Wow, if those guys hadn't noticed me, I'd have survived" or "Wow, if I could have gotten away and repaired, I could have fought back".
IMO, stealth. Being removed from the radar, believe it or not, acts as an actual cloak for alot of your opponents until you start shooting. Amazing as it sounds ive sat next to enemy tanks after running out of ammo just to see how long it take for them to notice me, its like they are confused or something. ESF pilots are particularly blinded by this upgrade for some reason. Of course it wont fool anyone whos paying attention in that way, but it will always help to flank an enemy armour column - something crucial in a lightning as head to head 1v1s with an MBT pretty much any other AV vehicle are strongly not advised. It also helps you to escape an enemy tank once youve lost line of sight they cant follow you as easily. Once spotted its no help tho, so if sneaking around isnt your thing its probs not such a good idea, but then again an AV lightning realy is like a ninja tank imo.
