Hard Won Tank Lessons

[Muzzy]

1. Tankers are not all grumpy,grouchy whiners. They actually exercise huge amounts of restraint given the white knuckle levels of frustration they endure.

2. Trees are great except when they aren't. They can conceal you but they also hinder your movement and field of view. Hiding in them is a mixed bag.

3. Hills are generally awesome. Good for hiding or popping up to get a look around.

4. If someone has you dialed in there's not a lot you can do. A defensive run only works if you can very quickly dash for cover. A good tanker will nail you unless you can drop smoke or otherwise throw off his aim.

5. Whoever hits first wins. Unless they miss

6. Sometimes you can stand in the open and bang away. If your lines of sight are good, and they're not looking or can't see you as they go by, you can blast away to your heart's content, until they see you. Then you die.

7. There's nothing worse than an enemy in the midst of your lines. Hard to see and probably spawn camping.

8 Seeing is everything.

9. Be sure to thank your Storch pilots. They get nothing but give you everything.

[Muzzy]

10. I'm not cut out to be a tanker. I spent most of last night padding the scores of Tyfoo and NKL5 and despite the efforts of 1ijac and Lefty the frustration levels are just too high, and I honestly doubt I'll see much in the way of improvement. Basically, if I move I get shot. If I stand still I get shot. If I'm hiding I can't see the other guy approaching and I get shot, and if I get a shot, I miss and get shot. Oh, and if I follow someone else in an effort to learn where to position myself, I get shot first. Not my idea of a fun night.

[mustng2]

Muzzy, me and my squad mates are also transitioning to GV.  Although my k/d is only about .15, it used to be lower and I am finally getting over the "no one can do this" feeling much the same way I felt first time I tried to snow ski.  There is light at the end of the tunnel.  Hang in there.  You do well in planes, so I know you can do well in GV with practice.

[Muzzy]

No, I don't have the patience for it. I've spent a lot of time trying to accomplish something and three hours of eating lead for one kill just isn't worth it.

[WWhiskey]

I'm out of town till Saturday , but if your willing,, I'll go tanking with you!
I think I can show you a lot easier than telling you!

[JimmyD3]

I'm out of town till Saturday , but if your willing,, I'll go tanking with you!
I think I can show you a lot easier than telling you!

Well said WWhiskey. For me its just practice, practice, practice. Learn to use the Zeiss gun sight and ranging method, pick one tank and get good in it. (I'm still working on the "get good" in it.  )

[pembquist]

Hey Muzzy it may well not be for you but I'd give it a little more of a chance but maybe not a solid block of Caldera of Death time. I am by no means expert but I manage to have fun. What took me from bewilderment to fun enough was abandoning hope and driving exclusively either the t-34 85 shooting HVAP or the little grey panzer for a while. The t-34 is spitfireish and the little grey panzer is a little hard to see and makes you concentrate on being sneakier. It might be passive aggressive but I also enjoyed trying to get on bases and the occasional long range m4 75 barraging. It's a time sucker and maybe more transparently a waste of time contrasted against the flying dimension of the game but I have had a few transcendent moments in a cartoon tank which is about all you can ask, and you know how bad my aim is.

[mikev]

10. I'm not cut out to be a tanker. I spent most of last night padding the scores of Tyfoo and NKL5 and despite the efforts of 1ijac and Lefty the frustration levels are just too high, and I honestly doubt I'll see much in the way of improvement. Basically, if I move I get shot. If I stand still I get shot. If I'm hiding I can't see the other guy approaching and I get shot, and if I get a shot, I miss and get shot. Oh, and if I follow someone else in an effort to learn where to position myself, I get shot first. Not my idea of a fun night.

HA Muzzy frustrated ?  i go threw this every night in the air. somedays i just log for an hour then log back in after i clear my head . nobody said it was going to be easy . tanks are like flying bombers only  after you drive for 10 to 20 mins the end is quick.

[Muzzy]

HA Muzzy frustrated ?  i go threw this every night in the air. somedays i just log for an hour then log back in after i clear my head . nobody said it was going to be easy . tanks are like flying bombers only  after you drive for 10 to 20 mins the end is quick.

Yeah I was just thinking that this is kind of how newcomers feel on a regular basis. Of course I'm too old to remember what it was like when I was learning ACM, and it was Air Warrior on a Pentium when I was at that level. I suppose I have to remember that there's a learning curve to this.

[Muzzy]

Well I can pretty much use the tank for attacking bases. Last night I had some fun sneaking on to a base and taking a few shots at landing airplanes. At one point a couple of planes tried to gun me down, but they both augered. Then one of them upped a storch and I nailed it with my main gun before his buddy found me with a shell.

So, tank vs buildings: easy. Tank vs planes, occasionally fun. Tank vs tank....can't stand it.

I don't think I have the reaction time to really work the tanks. I still can't see them coming and I'm still getting killed pretty much tan every time I go up against another tank. When I do spot a tank, I can't get my shots on target fast enough. Once I heard one coming around a hill, tried to get a bead on him....fired three shots at close range and missed. He turned, paused one second and killed me with one shot.

The thing is, after almost two weeks of practice at this, I have had zero improvement. That's the very definition of frustration and it makes it very hard to to want to continue despite all the encouragement.

[mikev]

Well I can pretty much use the tank for attacking bases. Last night I had some fun sneaking on to a base and taking a few shots at landing airplanes. At one point a couple of planes tried to gun me down, but they both augered. Then one of them upped a storch and I nailed it with my main gun before his buddy found me with a shell.

So, tank vs buildings: easy. Tank vs planes, occasionally fun. Tank vs tank....can't stand it.

I don't think I have the reaction time to really work the tanks. I still can't see them coming and I'm still getting killed pretty much tan every time I go up against another tank. When I do spot a tank, I can't get my shots on target fast enough. Once I heard one coming around a hill, tried to get a bead on him....fired three shots at close range and missed. He turned, paused one second and killed me with one shot.

The thing is, after almost two weeks of practice at this, I have had zero improvement. That's the very definition of frustration and it makes it very hard to to want to continue despite all the encouragement.

ha but as you continue to be frustrated just think of it as I do . you always get a shinny new tank or plane to try again.
  A couple of questions do you play with stereo sound? stereo sound " well separated " can help with the location of approaching tanks . the other question is what do you use for ranging on your tank? when a tank approaches you need to range fast and accurate I use the mouse and the mouse wheel to good effect and can get range  with 1 miss only .
 another thing  if your shooting down planes and they up a tank after you  remember they prob know where you are. time to run reposition and shut down and listen. sometimes you cant  due to other planes keeping track of you . but ranging and accuracy of the shots are the key.

[The Fugitive]

Well I can pretty much use the tank for attacking bases. Last night I had some fun sneaking on to a base and taking a few shots at landing airplanes. At one point a couple of planes tried to gun me down, but they both augered. Then one of them upped a storch and I nailed it with my main gun before his buddy found me with a shell.

So, tank vs buildings: easy. Tank vs planes, occasionally fun. Tank vs tank....can't stand it.

I don't think I have the reaction time to really work the tanks. I still can't see them coming and I'm still getting killed pretty much tan every time I go up against another tank. When I do spot a tank, I can't get my shots on target fast enough. Once I heard one coming around a hill, tried to get a bead on him....fired three shots at close range and missed. He turned, paused one second and killed me with one shot.

The thing is, after almost two weeks of practice at this, I have had zero improvement. That's the very definition of frustration and it makes it very hard to to want to continue despite all the encouragement.

Muzzy, I am just learning tanks and have had some lessons with some of the best. What you have to understand is most of these guys do nothing but tank. They KNOW there spots as well as a dog who has peed on it and knows his own scent. They know when there site is set at "X" distance that a tank filling 2.73 of the first triangle is 2737 feet away and know that with the angle of their tank that if they aim just a bit high right it will blow the gun off the top.

These guys KNOW it because they have done hundreds of thousands of runs in these tanks. How many runs have you done? Have you even done your first thousand yet? Never mind, I checked.... almost  It will take time. As it is, now I only have a chance when we are on Greebos map and there are LOTS of guys to cover me.

Don't give up yet, it will come eventually. Learn to jump from commanders spot to gunners quick.... or learn to shoot from the commanders spot. Hang back from the "front" the GV are attacking from and watch what they are doing. You won't get a ton of kills but you'll learn to find the targets and where to park, and how to park.

[WWhiskey]

A long time ago,, ( really long time ago)
 I would up, get killed by IDK who,, but it was instant tower,, I'd re up and drive a little way, bang tower,, I couldn't see who or what was killing me and thought, that guy must think I'm an idiot!
this went on for a whole day,, till I figured out I could zoom in ,, then it went on for many more days, but eventually I figured it out, sounds like,your having the same troubles , but it will come!

[Randy1]

Muzzy, the problem is we try to drive tanks like we do a fighter.  Charge in,  merge, then shoot the red.  Its the charge in that makes us lousy tankers. 

Best I can tell, good tankers don't charge most of the time.   They sit and wait.  Ever see a battle between two spawn camps?  Doggone boring.  Nothing happens.  These guys must have giant hemorrhoids from sitting too long.   Both sides just wait for tanker fodder like you and me. 

Tankers are good guys as you posted so it makes it more almost fun to get blasted by someone you never see.

I have gotten more kills in a tank this tour then any before this.  Not saying much but I have gotten better.

A couple of things that have helped this rookie.
Travel with the range set to zero.  If you run into a close tank you are ready.  A far tank would have to be ranged anyway.
Try to go nose on since the nose is your best armor most of the time.
If you park, try to park in a place that you can reverse back to a safe place.
I travel using the tank sight switching back to the commands view then back again.  The advantage of traveling using the gunisight is if you see a tank you can fire quicker but it does have a limited view if you are ranged by a red.

I watched Dr7 for a bit.  When Dr7 is parked he is deadly to the red.  When he is traveling, he is just as vulnerable to a hidden tank as we are.  Well almost anyway.

[WWhiskey]

Set your range to 800 for traveling, you will still hit an upclose
 tank, probably in the turret and you'll never hit anything at zero, tanks appear bigger than they are in the scope!