Battlefield 3

[sixpacked]

Reminder of the patch for PS3 available today. Work can't go by soon enough.

[Ashasx]

Whatever. I love this game.

My only problem is the collision detection. Dice needs to take a look at Bungie to figure it out.

[vektor]

Originally Posted by BlackEleven

You can still set off the C4 after you die and respawn? That's super lame...

I say that as someone who usually destroys in a tank. Tanks are damn near unstoppable when you use them right.

I often play with a dedicated 3 man tank team, all three of us equipped with repair tools and using teamspeak. Driver has guided shell, reactive armor, and thermal vision (makes spotting mines super easy), gunner or CITV seat have the proximity sensor. The guy in the CITV seat usually gets out and repairs damage while the other two cover his ass. If he does happen to die, the others can hold the enemy off until he can respawn in the tank. Or run away if the enemy is all over.

Occasionally a really good helicopter pilot will be able to take us out in one pass before we can shoot with him down with a guided shell, or we'll get rushed from all sides by 3+ guys with C4/rockets or a second tank will flank us while we are fighting another tank, but that's about the only ways we end up getting killed.

my only complaint about the game is unkillable tanks, I'll play an entire round of rush where I'm the only guy trying to take out a single tank but it's impossible. This kind of imbalance ruins the matches when I'm on a team of idiots who don't realize we are losing solely because of a single tank.

[sixpacked]

Originally Posted by vektor

my only complaint about the game is unkillable tanks, I'll play an entire round of rush where I'm the only guy trying to take out a single tank but it's impossible. This kind of imbalance ruins the matches when I'm on a team of idiots who don't realize we are losing solely because of a single tank.

Not anymore, first impressions of the patch are saying that tanks are much easier to kill now. 1 Javelin hit is a disable, 2 tank shells destruction, etc.

[3 Justin 3]

Oh please, tanks were pansies before the update. Tanks lasted about 30 seconds in my games, they were made of paper.

[HPLovecraft]

Originally Posted by 3 Justin 3

Oh please, tanks were pansies before the update. Tanks lasted about 30 seconds in my games, they were made of paper.

Everyone plays the same game here with the same updates. It's been the overwhelming opinion of the BF community for quite awhile now that tanks are overpowered.

[Ashasx]

Tanks are certainly OP on Infantry maps like Seine, but I think they're quite fine on Firestorm and Caspian.

Hard to find the sweet spot.

[gottabekd]

I didn't feel tanks were overpowered. A decent engineer can take out a tank. Or you know, other tanks.

I think some of the helicopters are overpowered. The IGLA/Stinger are absolutely useless. You can have 3 guys shooting heat seakers, and the helicopters just brush them off like flies.

[CaptainCrunch]

Shouldn't tanks be one of the hardest things to kill in that game, especially if they represent modern main battle tanks.

With the M1A1 in real life they are probably as close to invulnerable as you can get, its a 50 50 chance that a man portable anti tank system is going to do anything but bounce off, and with a direct front fire from an opposing tank your choices are worse. Since the start of the M1a1 rollout I don't think that a single one has been completely destroyed by direct tank fire and that includes taking 125 mm kinetic tank rounds.

The Soviet next generation tanks are very much the same way.

A tank is a infantry lawnmower your outranged and outgunned, if your running up to a tank, the only thing that should happen if the tank crew is alert is that you die..

I think that the only thing that a main battle tank fears except for other tanks are missile carrying helicopters.

[Coys1882]

Originally Posted by CaptainCrunch

I think that the only thing that a main battle tank fears except for other tanks are missile carrying helicopters.

Crunch - what about land mines? Would those only serve to immobilize it or is the armour on the bottom thin enough to be penetrated?

[CaptainCrunch]

Originally Posted by Coys1882

Crunch - what about land mines? Would those only serve to immobilize it or is the armour on the bottom thin enough to be penetrated?

Depends on the mines. most of the standard mines are designed with mobility kills in mind as oppossed to a catostrophic kill.

However with IED's that goes out the window as they are pretty much wiring anything they can find together and triggering them electronically.

a lot of IED are built around things like artillary shells wired together and command detonated, wire enough together and it doesn't matter how heavily armored you are.

The thinnest armor on the tanks are located underneath and on top of a tank, that's why missiles tend to be so effective, and that's why a lot of the U.S. strategy around anti tank warefare is based around precise submunitions that can be fired from artillary or dropped from airplanes.

Now there was a rumor that a M1A! was significantly damaged by an RPG 29 which is a duel warhead anti tank weapon that the American's refused to let the Iraqi military buy because they were afraid that it would fall into insurgent hands.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RPG-29

There's an old saying that warheads will always defeat armor . . . eventually, there will be more effective counters created to deal with the M1A1's chobham armor.

The next generation tanks will probably be fitted with electronic reactive armor. a advancement on the current explosive reactive armor on the 1-90 tank.

You'd still need heavy armor to deal with projectiles but electric armor would be really effective in dealing with things like FPG's and missile penatrator warheads

http://www.wired.com/science/discove...urrentPage=all

[HPLovecraft]

Originally Posted by CaptainCrunch

Shouldn't tanks be one of the hardest things to kill in that game, especially if they represent modern main battle tanks.

With the M1A1 in real life they are probably as close to invulnerable as you can get, its a 50 50 chance that a man portable anti tank system is going to do anything but bounce off, and with a direct front fire from an opposing tank your choices are worse. Since the start of the M1a1 rollout I don't think that a single one has been completely destroyed by direct tank fire and that includes taking 125 mm kinetic tank rounds.

The Soviet next generation tanks are very much the same way.

A tank is a infantry lawnmower your outranged and outgunned, if your running up to a tank, the only thing that should happen if the tank crew is alert is that you die..

I think that the only thing that a main battle tank fears except for other tanks are missile carrying helicopters.

Even with the nerf in the next patch, they'll still likely be one of the hardest things in the game to take out. Besides, gameplay needs to take precedence over realism. A military simulator BF3 is not.

[vektor]

The problem was that sometimes it was literally impossible to do anything about a tank.You say that a skilled engineer should be able to take one out, but sometimes it just can't be done. This is especially in the Bazaar if the their are people supporting the tank it can be completely impossible to do anything about it, this kind of imbalanace is not acceptable. Sure a tank may be incredibly hard to destroy, but a guy with a little torch standing behind it shouldn't restore damage sustained from rockets smashing into the tracks on the side if you want to get into realism.

However, the new patch made it much much easier to disable them, if you hit the tracks they will be disabled which is nice. Only problem now is the vehicles will be smoking and you can fire rockets at them without having any clue whether they are destroyed or not and you won't see the little damage indicator in your reticle, then they'll just explode randomly and credit won't be given for destroying the tank.

[BlackEleven]

They definitely nerfed the tanks in the update. One rocket disables, two destroys. Also, the chopper can distract the guided missile with flares.

They're nowhere near as powerful as they used to be. One thing that was nice about the tanks was that they could get rid of the helicopters easy. I think the helicopters are really going to be a menace now.

[vektor]

Originally Posted by BlackEleven

They definitely nerfed the tanks in the update. One rocket disables, two destroys. Also, the chopper can distract the guided missile with flares.

They're nowhere near as powerful as they used to be. One thing that was nice about the tanks was that they could get rid of the helicopters easy. I think the helicopters are really going to be a menace now.

I find they are easy to handle if you just hold the lock and wait for the guy to shoot his flares before firing then get the lock again and fire. That or kamakazi them with a jet. Maybe it's just me though, I never have a problem with helicpters.

[sixpacked]

Originally Posted by vektor

I find they are easy to handle if you just hold the lock and wait for the guy to shoot his flares before firing then get the lock again and fire. That or kamakazi them with a jet. Maybe it's just me though, I never have a problem with helicpters.

True dat. Last night me and a clan-mate in an M1A1 shot down the enemy Havoc 4 times on Caspian with the guided shell. Just wait till he pops flares, re-acquire and free points. LOL. Tanking now requires you to be more cautious/alert. Don't just barge into a flag, and get ready to reverse in a hurry. Plus now you can get massive repair points, with the repair tool being slowed down/tank damage. That is as long you can stay alive.

[RW99]

I don't care about being realistic about it, I want more engaging gameplay. Teammates and enemies shining tactical lights and lasers in your eyes for the sake of being realistic is just stupid.

[HPLovecraft]

Originally Posted by vektor

I find they are easy to handle if you just hold the lock and wait for the guy to shoot his flares before firing then get the lock again and fire. That or kamakazi them with a jet. Maybe it's just me though, I never have a problem with helicpters.

This relies on him being close enough to you that the second missile can reach him before he can use flares again, of course.

[vektor]

Originally Posted by HPLovecraft

This relies on him being close enough to you that the second missile can reach him before he can use flares again, of course.

don't fire the first rocket, they usually spaz and fire the flares before you fire the rocket or a teammate fires a rocket. Just get the lock without firing so they panic and fire the flares, then reacquire, there is no possible way for them to fire the flares again if you begin locking on immediately after they fire the first set. It's all about timing, if you wait 4 or 5 seconds until after they fired then it's too late.

[HPLovecraft]

Originally Posted by vektor

don't fire the first rocket, they usually spaz and fire the flares before you fire the rocket or a teammate fires the rocket. Just get the lock without firing so they panic and fire the flares, then reacquire

Yes, I do that. But they can use flares again after a short while, and if you aren't close enough, they'll use the flares again before the rocket reaches them.

And, if they're any sort of half-way decent pilot, they'll try and put distance between themselves and the ground at the same time as they use flares, to be ready for the second shot.