Vehicle guides and tactics.
Battlefield 3 has an amazing variation of ways how to kill people. Guns, grenades, sharp knives, building destruction, rocket launchers, mortars, claymore mines and land mines. Some of the best though, are the vehicles.
70 ton main battle tanks that can fire SABOT amour piercing rounds, guided shells and shells that spit out thousands of metal balls. Think a shotgun attached to a tank. Ouch. Infantry Fighting Vehicles that have chain cannons, machine guns and anti tank rockets. Jet aircraft that can be used for air to air combat and ground assault. Buggys and jeeps that can transport you over the battlefield and rain death with a .50 cal machine gun.
My personal favourite though, the attack choppers. Literal angels of death that can peek up from behind a range of hills, rain down 30mm cannon fire and unguided rockets as standard and get the hell out of there. Spend some time in them and you will get the some of the following toys to play with.
Air to Air missiles
Guided air to ground missiles
TV guided missile
You also get a range of defensive perks to help you keep it in the air. These apply to both the pilot and gunner. One of my favourite setups is the fire extinguisher and flares. This can pull you back from being disabled and flying like a drunk, to enough health to allow you to get out of there and repair. The gunner has the flares so they can hopefully stop the damage being done. But if not, you know you have a fighting chance of escaping and repairing.
The most important part of piloting the chopper is knowing which targets to go after, keep moving and always make the opposing teams chopper your priority if it’s airborne. 9 times out of 10, it’s been the opposing chopper that has brought me down.
So, the first point, knowing which targets to go after. Say you have a gunner you’re able to talk to. You have your unguided rockets and air to air missiles. They have the 30mm cannon and the guided missile. Your best bet is to let them lock on with the guided missile, fire it and then start an attack run with your unguided missiles. By the time the guided missile reaches, you’ve probably done enough damage for the vehicle to be destroyed. The gunner can also use their cannon as the guided missile is “fire and forget” once it’s locked on and fired, it’s going to hit its target. Remember, getting the kill is not the most important thing. You can get a TON of points for the vehicle damage and kill assists.
The second point, keep moving. Don’t hover in this game, You will not be long for this world if you do. If you don’t get taken out by and RPG some chancer in a tank will probably have a pop at you. Plus if you are static, and you get locked onto, you have to build up momentum. If you are constantly on the move, you’re probably going to be able to escape a hell of a lot easier. It helps if you have a gunner with flares. They can pop them whilst you try and lose the lock.
Losing the lock can be achieved by getting out of range, the person locking onto you being killed or using the environment of the map. If you’re close to a set of buildings or a hillside, you can fly behind them to shield yourself. Remember, you cannot tell which direction you’re being locked onto so try and find the most remote part of the map to hide. Nothing worse than flying behind a building to find the guy with the Stinger is standing on the roof.
Another good point is, keep it low and fast. Sweep in for attack runs over a set of flags rather than hovering around one. Keep your eye on the mini map for any vehicles that have been spotted. Let your gunner worry about the infantry. This will also help you defend against jets as they will be wary to follow you into a built up area. If you’re up high, you’re easy meat for them.
The third point, Air to Air is tough with choppers. You need communication with the gunner. Try and get above them, at long range go for a lock on but close in, defo use your unguided rockets. Also, when you do have a lock and they have not fired their flares, only fire one air to air missile. This will make them fire the flares and you can try and get closer (reduces missile flight time) and take them out. This also helps as by the time you have re-acquired lock on, you should have both missiles available to you. Instant kill. And remember, the gunner’s cannon is very powerful. Try and keep the chopper from moving around excessively as this will hinder them in hitting the target. Take only the action you need to avoid getting hit.
Tanks
Tanks are incredibly valuable in this game. They can roll over terrain, blow holes in walls and buildings and run over hapless fools trying to plant C4 on you.
The primary role for them though is support. Taking down tanks and other armoured vehicles. They are also valuable for suppression and area denial, especially attacking during a Rush match. They have a number of perks that can be useful including coaxial machine guns, smoke for disengaging a lock on, proximity scan, reactive armour and thermal sighting. They also have a secondary seat for a gunner to use the mounted .50 cal and a third seat for a “commander” of sorts.
However, with such great power, you know that every guy with a rocket launcher, C4, helicopter or ground attack jet is going to be gunning for you. The most common mistake I see is tank rushing into an objective. If they’re lucky, they’ll get a couple of kills before either being C4’ed or becoming a rocket magnet. That’s even if they get near the objective. Chances are they would have been disabled or blown up by anti-vehicle mines.
The most effective way to use a tank is to be aware of your surroundings, know that you can reverse and not get hung up on a building or concrete column. Also, have a gunner with you covering your rear. If you’re looking forward, you won’t see the guy running up behind you with 3 packs of C4 to ruin your day. Also, don’t park up close to buildings or walls. Chances are someone will drop C4 on you without being seen. This is where the proximity scan perk comes in. It allows you to see movement around the tank. Great for built up areas such as Karkand or Sharqi Peninsula.
Be aware that they also have a speed “boost” as standard. This is controlled by the driver and is unlimited. Handling does suffer though so don’t try taking any corners at high speed.
