FOREWORD:
With the recent readdition of the Tank Crewman and the reintroduction of the tank™ (worse™)… once again comes the age old tribulatory pair, Pvt. Gunner and Pvt. Driver. The wiki on the role is both deprecated and archived, there exists no fancy new tutorial in-game, and there (to my knowledge) exists no guide both neither in this forum, or that of the bygone era.
To give Pvt. Gunner and Pvt. Driver at least something, I’ve created this quick summary. By no means a comprehensive guide, but rather a rundown of the most obscure and important things to know about being a TC in the STEEL DIVISION.
THE BASICS:
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Tank Crewman unlocks at a global population of 200 if command hasn’t bought an ARC (Techweb). If they do, the tank is locked out of the game for the remainder of the round.
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You can get the tank and its components in the Vehicle Bay, far west of the hangar. There you will the console which buys the tank and a printer for hardpoints.
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Tank Crewman live in the refitted storage closet south of the platform, but there is also a preparation room just north of the cryopods. The vendors have all you need.
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It is mandatory to have a crowbar, welder, and wrench with you to perform repairs on the tank. The crowbar removes hardpoints, the welder repairs them. The wrench fully repairs the hull to 100% after a preliminary welding job.
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Familiarize yourself with the Vehicle tab in your client’s tab section. There you can check the health of your hardpoints, the status of your weapons, and perform various other actions based on whether you drive or shoot.
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@Catzonwheelz - To repair the tank’s turret, remove it first with a powerloader. It is recommended (even as much as mandatory) to bring the one in tank bay down to the FOB for the repairs. The turret’s health is the “smoke launcher” in the status screen.
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The tank can’t be melted, destroyed or blown away. When it is fully busted, it can be entered by xenomorph (not humans) from any side. It can only, however, be exited from its back.
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Communication can be very hard in the midst of battle, but it’s very important to have good rapport with your partner. Make sure to change the text highlight settings and add their name in order to it to ease hearing them in the sea of radio clutter.
Snowplow?
TL;DR: IT DOESN’T MATTER
Every hardpoint on the tank takes damage at the same time. The snowplow doesn’t give any damage reduction or take it away; the amount of slashes it takes to bust your treads are the same with or without. It still is worse than any damage reduction granting armor hardpoints.
THE DRIVER:
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Never bother trying to break walls by driving into them. This especially includes resin walls. Whilst you can break walls after a long time of trying, the attempt damages your hardpoints and leaves you vulnerable to attacks.
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Whilst you can’t break walls, you can break resin doors, regular doors, windows and other forms of obstacles such as containers and debris in one try. This is especially useful to clear thick resin doors, or the cluttered streets on LV759 Hybrisa Prospera, and should be done if you have nothing else to do.
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Drones, hivelords and queens will always build walls around you the first chance they get. Some can build walls from afar, including the hive eye. Hivelords with resin whisperer can be especially dangerous. Be very mindful of resin, with or without incendiary ordnance.
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Ramming T1s, T2s and T3s pushes them (to the side). Ramming the queen stops you in your tracks. There is no stun associated with ramming an enemy, ramming an enemy against a wall does nothing, and the damage/effect is rather negligible for such a slow vehicle.
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The tank’s primary function is a big, mobile wall, use it to block enemy entrances and exits alike. This even applies in death, so always follow the rule: “If it breaks, break it to plug a hole”.
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The tank’s primary function also includes blocking teammates and bullets. Always try to keep firing lines and high traffic spots open. The greatest place to be is surrounded by allies from both sides as aliens will use you for cover otherwise.
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The driver can activate smoke grenades integrated into the turret’s frame, allowing for a smoke-covered retreat. Doing so will shoot two grenades from the back in a bifurcated pattern. Since the tank can’t be seen by a xenomorph’s thermal vision, this can somewhat hide a tank’s retreat or attack.
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Be mindful of your gunner and where they’re can and can’t shoot. The tank is designed to always have blindspots, and it is your duty to mitigate their effects. Should you ever realize that you are being attacked in an unfavorable position, retreat.
The tank, in spite of its name, is not a good damage sponge. It takes only a few swings from a swarm of aliens to break components, the worst of which are the treads. There are >no< replacements, so do your best not to bust any components.
Treads?:
TL;DR: PERSONAL PREFERENCE
Robust treads have 500 health as opposed to 300, and take half the damage from acid. They, however, take 5 tiles as opposed to 3 to reach max tank speed. This makes the tank more sluggish to maneuver and easier to punish.
Positioning?:
TL;DR: STRAIGHT LINES
Avoid turns with a burning passion. A straight line will always be faster than a curve. Hence, when choosing a path to patrol, make sure to plot it on a straight line, A-B. This is especially important when trying to cover cave entrances and other flanks.
Barricades?:
TL;DR: OUTWARD-FACING GOOD!
Contrary to what one might expect from the 3x3 size, the tank shimmy through barricades with only one or two tiles wide foldable barricades! If the barricades are facing in the direction you are going, as in away from you, they will not be destroyed as you pass them, as long as there is at least a 1-tile opening in the MIDDLE of the tank. The same does not apply to barricades facing you, though.
Binocs?:
TL;DR: UHHHHH
Binoculars as the driver are very important. Being able to view ahead where the action is, what the action is, and where you can go is detrimental. Any driver worth their salt will tell you how much better playing with binoculars is. It also, however, scrapes along Rule 5: Mechnical Exploits. Is it allowed to play binoculars in a tank? I don’t know. I’m not online staff.
THE GUNNER:
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To fire a hardpoint, you need to first cycle or select it in the Vehicle tab. This has to be done every time you get seated, so don’t forget and lose an opportunity to shoot. Just press that sweet, sweet “cycle hardpoint” button.
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Gimbal is your best friend, and should be preferably active. Reason for which is that it is inherently impossible to know where the driver will drive, or when they will turn. The turret can never turn as quickly as enemies can relocate.
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Currently, the only guns with IFF are the LTAA AP Minigun (as of this PR), the M56 Cupola, the Grenade Launcher and the DRG-NF Flamethrower.
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The DRG-NF Flamethrower and the Grenade Launcher both have a minimum range, with both stopping around two tiles short of full vision range.
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Additional ammo can be bought by requisitions should you ever run out. Starting out, this should be your first goal, and a good sign of things going well.
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Despite popular belief, all hardpoints can be effective in their respective roles. Every combination of hardpoints has some use. Think of the tank as a large, slow specialist, play into the strengths instead of the weaknesses, and things should go fine.
As a starter build, try :
DRG-NF Flamethrower, Grenade Launcher, Overdrive Enhancer, Tank Treads.
THAT'S ABOUT IT. GOOD LUCK OUT THERE, PVT. DRIVER AND PVT. GUNNER.
- Capt. Andrea Mae Samona, 2nd Colonial Marine Tank Battalion, Colonial Marines Tech Manual