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Keep in mind that your vehicle uses energy for both shields and boosters. Sometimes though you need to get to a location faster, or you haven't encountered enemy resistance yet. At these times its okay to spend your boosters, as long as you keep conservative about its usage. Energy will come back, but if you happen upon an enemy tank, one mortar will give your armor a critical hit.
It is also worthy to note that your gunman might have seen an enemy that you haven't yet. He may be trying to hit the bogey but cannot because you're driving like a mad man up and down ravines at top speed.
Which brings us to another important strategem to keep in mind. Be wary of taking on rough terrain. Though it may seem a cinch for you, its hell on the gunman and you are more likely to be seen by the enemy. Shrikes will especially spy you trying your acrobatics and will drill you good for it. Stay in deep canyons and hide behind mountains.
Strafing your vehicle back and forth gives your tank an advantage when being fired upon by enemy tanks or infantry. Though any movement at all by your tank when your gunman is firing mortars will completely screw up his shot, keep that in mind. Such movements should be reserved for when it is absolutely necessary to prevent any further degradation in shielding, or if the vehicles main armor is in jeporady.
Strafing can also be handy for things like crossing bridges or navigating rough terrain.
Strafing will NOT save you from missile locks, don't bother.
Rotating a tank is a difficult thing to do, they have a slow turn rate and when you're being attacked you don't have such time. Combining strafing techniques and forward/backward motions can help to turn the vehicle faster and provide an advantage in tank to tank combat.
Rotating can also foul up your gunman's aim, the safe bet is to wait for his shot and then try the maneuver.
Remember, you may be there for the ride but the ultimate goal of your tank is to do damage to the enemy. Always remember your role is to support the gunner.
The availability of any flat terrain at all is a boon to a tank driver. Anyone who attempts to cut across country while blatantly trying to cross large mountains and hills or a vast range of moguls is in for a bumpy ride.
This can ruin your gunner's aim, decrease your tank's cruising speed, and give the enemy a chance to thrwart your mission.
Don't cross rough terrain unless it is deathly necessary to do so in order to gain a tactical advantage or to access flat ground.
There can be a few advantages to being on high rocky terrain. For one thing, the enemy tanks and infantry have to deal with it as well. The second is that the higher you are, the harder you are to hit from below. It might take an enemy tank or heavy a few tries to hit you with a mortar round. However, an enemy Shrike is bound to see you and has a clean shot at such an altitude. And infantry will definitely get you with missile launchers if they're within range. My suggestion is, don't do it unless your defending your base. It is folly to attempt in enemy territory.
Traversing rough terrain can be devastating to a tank's energy and armor. Make sure you use boosters a little when going up steep parts and go as slow and careful as possible when coming back down. If you take your time when coming down you can come down anything, even a 90 degree angle slope.
You CANNOT outrun a missile lock, don't even think about it. Don't panic. Using up your booster energy isn't going to improve your situation as it will decrease shielding and give the missiles something to chew on. Likewise, strafing back and forth or trying to get behind a hill isn't going to throw the bastard off. Especially don't attempt to run into rough terrain, too many potential Beowulf veterans die this way. Driving up rough terrain will only do one thing, throw off the aim of your gunner.
For those of you who may nay-say this wisdom as a falsehood, I will provide some ballistic statistics. According to Stratos Group's Unofficial Guide to Tribes 2, the missile launcher has a shot velocity of 288kph and the Beowulf Assault Tank has a top velocity of 133kph. While it is possible to outrun missile locks in other vehicles such as Shrikes (380kph) and Bombers (360kph), it is NOT possible for you as a tank commander. You wouldn't escape with perfectly flat terrain, even if you weren't already panicking and attempting to hug a nearby ditch or hill.
However, do not despair, if your gunman isn't a completely idiot he can shoot down those missiles with the tank's built-in machine gun. There is enough time, if there aren't already too many missiles coming your way, for the gunner to swivel and gun down a missile before it hits. However, he isn't going to hit anything but dirt if you lose your cool and swerve the vehicle in a vain attempt to somehow miss the incoming missile. </rant>
Run over them if they're close enough. And make sure you give your gunman as little movement as possible for his shots. Also, it is important to note that if there is an enemy in the field capable of firing rockets, decreasing the range between the both of you can throw off his ability to get a lock. Missile launchers must have a minimum of 40m to fire, anything less and they cannot lock.
Avoid them if you can, and especially many of them at once. Or, if it is possible to do so safely, give your gunman a chance to mortar them. Again, this requires little or no movement on your part and patience.
Don't panic, be patient, be careful, and give some thought to your gunman and what he must be going through as you careen into an embankment and nearly flip the tank over in a race to avoid a missile faster than you.
The machine gun can be used to take out aerial targets such as Shrikes and Thunderswords. It can also in some cases, if aimed correctly, be used to defeat infantry. You can use your machine gun on an enemy tank, but in close combat its not worth wasting your turret energy on that when you could be dropping a few mortars in their lap. And if you're having to deal with a psycho driver you aren't going to hit the enemy any better with a machine gun than you would with a mortar.
Mortars are useful for taking out infantry, turrets and other tanks.
There really isn't much to aiming a machine gun, just aim a little ahead of the object that you're attempting to hit and fire.
Mortars require proper aiming, so wait until your driver stop moving altogether or very little. Throwing mortars when you know for a fact you can't hit anything only wastes your turret energy and gives your position away to distant enemies. Too many gunners think they'll hit a target several hundred meters away behind a mountain which they cannot actually see while their driver is going vertical up that very same mountain. It annoys the driver, can possibly even harm the vehicle if misfired into the side of the mountain, and is really nothing more than wishful thinking.
If you aren't level, don't bother firing. Most of the time it is impossible to hit your target if your tank is at an odd angle. Many try and find that they can get within one hundred meters of their target, if that, but they'll never hit it because they can't angle their turret that far over. It is up to your driver to realize this and get the tank level again. However, driver's are usually worried about something else, like the tank chasing you or the incoming missiles or they're just taking the tank out for a ride and could care less that they have a gunner. So, just tough it out. The solution isn't to wildly throw mortars, for reasons listed previously.
Use your machine gun to destroy missiles if you act fast enough and your tank driver isn't out of control. Aim for their heart, you should see them as an incoming ball of fire. If you put a good round of bullets into one it should explode prematurely. This takes practice and hopefully your driver gives you the chance to take locked missiles out before they inevitably do damage to your tank.
I've been able to hit at least two incoming missiles out of five even when my tank driver is trying to flip the tank over. If he were to sit still I would have hit at least four of them. Missiles don't really hurt until at least three of them get through, by then your shields are down and one more should damage your armor. Of course, if your driver is using up boosters it'll be sooner than that.