Where is the Tank on the BF
Rock/Paper/Scissors Food Chain?
Tanks aren’t as all powerful as you’d think. Certainly in BF 1942 Tanks
were hard to take down. In BFv air dominated and armor was the main target by
Hueys. In this rendition of BF the balance is so that anything can take down
a tank. Here are the things you must be looking out for.
1. Air Power: Whether it by Aircraft or Helicopter air power is probably the
single most effective way of being taken down. As a tanker you find that even
if your skills are above average, your mostly taken down by enemy air more
times than not. While you can not take down a jet pilot (Unless you get
extremely lucky) you can defend yourself against a helicopter pilot. The arch
of the modern tanks is not nearly as much as in prior BF games, you have a
good shot at taking down enemy Helicopters. Most of the time you have to wait
for their on-coming charge and hope they miss. If they do miss, chances are
they are going to turn around and charge again. You must try to hit them as
you see the helicopter profile (side) on the turning spin. If they are once
again facing you, your best bet is to try and maneuver and hope they miss
again. In trying to maneuver you must look for the helicopter nose and try to
make it overshoot you. If their nose is too high on their turn around you
should make a break towards them so they miss. If you miss with your tank
shell use your guns from the tank. This is done two ways, from within the
tanker view or switching to secondary position and using the mounted machine
gun. You should only use the secondary position if you are sure there is no
one else around. You don’t want to lose your tank in enemy territory. One
problem arises when you try to get a shot on air. Sometimes your turret
cannot fire because the enemy unit is out of the range of movement of the
turret. You can use hills/uneven terrain to extend your turrets range of
movement, thus giving you a shot you didn’t have before. Even if you don’t
kill the enemy choppers this way, more times than not you will deal out
enough damage to the opponent that will have them going back to repair/rearm.
2. Infantry Units- Softies are very dangerous to a tanker, probably more so than
enemy armor. They are second on my list because of the effectiveness of both
Spec Ops and Anti-Tank kits. Where infantry excels is on Urban Combat maps
where they can be anywhere and everywhere. The only exceptions where infantry
units are not as effective are on wide open maps such as Zatar Wetlands. In
any other situation you should be vigilant of infantry. When you encounter
infantry units your first priority is the Anti-Tanker. They are the ones who
will do the damage from far away. You can tell who the AT guys are by the big
AT device they carry on their backs. Exterminate them with extreme prejudice.
Depending on the situation this is how you attack infantry. Always fire your
machine guns first as sort of a range finder. If they run in pairs your best
bet is to fire your tank round first. Sometimes infantry run into places
where your guns have no effect. They might even be near you and you might be
in danger of retaliation. This is where “Splash Damage” comes into play
against infantry. If you fire your tank round on a object nearby the enemy
soldier, there is a chance that the explosion from the tank shell could
kill/wound the soldier. Most of the time it’s only one shot that will do them
in. To know if your shot was effective check your shot indicator to know if
you’ve damaged the enemy. In tight situations splash damage is a tankers best
friend. AT isn’t your only problem. Spec Ops guys are running around
everywhere with their powerful C4 charges. They are easier to take down
because they have to get close to you and get out of range if they want to
get a kill and avoid suicide. Desperate Spec Ops will suicide in order to
render armor less effective. The only time where Spec Ops are the most
dangerous is when they use fast moving jeeps as “Jihad Jeeps.” They attach C4
onto the fast moving jeeps and run them into your armor by either kamikaze
with them or guiding them into you jumping out to avoid the suicide and thus
getting a legit kill. You should assume all jeeps are possible Jihad jeeps
and thus deal with them accordingly.
3. Enemy Armor- By no means is Enemy Armor less of a threat than the first
two, however there are some weaknesses of enemy armor and knowing them is
what is going to make you a great tanker. First of all it should be your
first priority to attack enemy armor not head on, but by surprise. You fair a
better chance this way. Taking a tank one by one is not so hard, taking on an
armor column is another beat all together. For that, you need the element of
surprise. Here listed is a picture of the most vulnerable areas of armor.
You’d think that the front of the tank is your most protected part, and then
you’d be wrong. While the back side may offer more damage opportunities, the
front can be just as dangerous. You should only go for the tread if you are
sure you can hit them, otherwise if you waste a chance to get a shot in it
could be the difference between defeat and victory. At long range you should
only be concerned with moving and getting a shot in on the enemy armor piece.
Don’t try to get a 10 shot at long ranges, it will kill you. There are 20
bars on an enemy armor unit. If you know the 10 shots well, you will only
need two shots to kill an adversary. Knowing this is a huge advantage. KP has
made up a chart on the damage areas on a tank with one shot on various
positions on the tank.
