Tank Basics

[WEZEL]

Best advise.....Never ever trust a weasel 

[Yankee67]

Best advise.....Never ever trust a weasel 

Or a jinx.  I think I still owe you a pink T34-85.   

[Muzzy]

Spent some time tanking and had very little success. I could get to a good firing position but even when I had the drop on a tank I wold inevitably get nailed because I couldn't get rounds on them fast enough. By the time I get my gun zeroed he's already got 2-3 hits and I'm dead. When I asked for advice I got the inevitable "practice", but how does one practice when you can only get 3-4 seconds of useful time before you're dead?

[The Fugitive]

ranger built a tank practice arena. The old link was here, http://bbs.hitechcreations.com/smf/index.php/topic,330590.msg4336987.html#msg4336987 but the download isn't any good any more. Ranger may still have it tho if ya ask him nicely 

The point is you can practice KNOWING the ranges with his setup. That way when you are in the game it will be easier to identify the range and hit on the first or second shot. Ranging is what kills me. Too many people are just too good at it for us lowly fighter jocks   

[Muzzy]

Sent him a PM. I found that simply changing all the drones in the offline arena to tanks has at least given me some experience in ranging. Of course, the guns are different for each tank, so the process is very different. For now I'm sticking to the T-34 unless someone could recommend a different tank to try.

At the very least, I know what a ricochet looks like.

[pembquist]

t-34 85 is like the spitfire of tanks. It is fast, its turret is fast, the HVAP rounds have a nice flat trajectory. I don't know if it is considered gamey but when I used tanks 87.3 percent of the time I would be shooting from the commander position and by sticking with one tank you basically would just get the hang of it without popping into the gunsight. I always found it harder to use the tanks with the super optics because my ranging would be way off. It seems important to be able to hit in one or 2 shots if the aggressor, one shot if on the defense, and be able to shoot on the move. It seems to me there are at least 3 different kinds of tank game in the game, the long range slugfest, the sneaky undersea warfare and the spawn mayhem furball. the t34 85 is a good all arounder. The spawn mayhem is a great place to work on your aim as the driving distance is usually short if not backwards, it might seem stupid but it really tunes up your aim and reactions, also it is a lesson in lag and its frustrations. The gunsight is important to shoot below trees and to make sure you are shooting over a berm instead of at it. The super optic tanks can see your tonsils while their tank is just a blurry speck so don't stand still if you are out ranged. The M4 76 is high profile but has a great rate of fire and the gunsight is bright and has good magnification and involves no dial turning.

I had very brief exposure to the old manual transmission version of GVing and I think, (someone will correct,) you had to shoot from the gunsight and you could have another player as a gunner. That was more fun as it was harder and scrambly where as cruising around plinking from the commander posititon with the asdw keys seems like just another video game. The thing is I suspect you put yourself at a severe disadvantage if you are a purist and get in the gun for every shot. Just my opinion.

[Muzzy]

Any other comments on gun vs commander's position? Gun position seems to work better for me, because I can see the target better, but is there a case for using the commander's position?

[The Fugitive]

From the commanders view you have a wider view and can scan the area better. Some people will shoot from there as well. I've heard some people mark the screen with a grease pencil or a piece of post-it so they know the gun point.

Personally I like to view from the commanders position and jump to the gun once I had someone spotted.

[pembquist]

In the commander position you can shoot over a berm at a target that the berm blocks the view of from the gunsight. The commander position has ten times the visibility and can rotate to see other tanks without waiting for the turret to traverse. Also beware that if you go from commander to gun sight before the turret has finished rotating you will be pointed in a different direction than you were in commander. Also depends on tank, T34 gunsight vs full zoomed in commander not such a big difference imho. I find it easier to drive at highspeed and shoot from commander vs tunnel vision gunsight, (always shoot just as tank lurchs from terrain.) OTH gunsight imperative to look under trees, gunsight checks that shot over berm will go over berm, gunsight make repeat longrange shots easier to adjust.