I’m a believer in the following strategy for tank (wraith or scorpion) piloting on BTB.
1)Secure the tank. 2)Put your back to the rear edge of the map, preferably on high ground or in a corner. 3)Blast away with your one shot kill machine and rack up points. 4) Win the game as a result.
Granted this is not full proof but works more often than not. Sure, you can still be Spartan lasered, killed by another tank, etc. etc. but the dumbest move with a tank is to drive as fast as possible towards the middle of the map where all of the above weapons are just as valid AND you have to deal with the possibility that every foot solider out there can creep up on your six and grenade you. And yet this dash to the midfield is what I always see. While this surprises me a little, I chalk it up to the common Halo player mentality that has no patience whatsoever and finishes every game 14 kill and 17 deaths. Pretty commonplace.
More surprising to me is the number of times a teamate will start to mess with me during, a frenzy of consecutive kills from my position high up and in a corner. Blocking my view, constantly shooting me with a dmr, sometimes paralyzing me with the plasma pistol. Is this because they get frustrated waiting for the tank that I have monopolized due to my lack of death? Is it because they want me, despite my success, to engage MORE and move around?
What do YOU do 1) with a tank and 2) when a teammate has one for a long stretch of time. Fill me in please.
You are doing it right. People that betray because they didn’t get to drive the tank are sub-human. Halo man…what are you gonna do?
> What do YOU do 1) with a tank and 2) when a teammate has one for a long stretch of time. Fill me in please.
It depends on the map. On Hemmorrhage, I just hang back near the base and kill anyone who comes near. Then, once the enemy Wraith is gone, I go occupy their base. Usually get Riots and the occasional Rampage.
On Rasu, due to the Scorpion’s lack of Boost and splash damage, I hide behind our base and snipe Falcons, Warthogs, and the like. Then, as soon as the enemy tank comes into view, I take that down.
If a teammate aqquires a tank, I just leave them be. Even if they aren’t that good, they can do better for the team than I can standing there shooting our own tank.
If I get a tank, I usually just shoot stuff. I try to get in a position where I can’t be easily boarded, but in a position that allows a good view of the map.
If a teammate gets the tank, I let 'em have it. Sure, I’d like to have the opportunity to use one in game, but they got to it first, so they get to use it.
Here is the best stratagy for a tank: Camp
and your tactic is the correct one. However many believe that they will get big kills when using a vehicle. This is not necessarily the case.
People don’t like defensive Scorpion/Wraith drivers on Haemorrhage that hang around their base because if both teams Scorpion/Wraith drivers do this and are decent pulling a flag can be very difficult for either team.
Arguably it is a cheap strategy given the lack of cover afforded to offensive players, large explosion radius of Scorpion/Wraith and allies spawning nearby.
People get frustrated with these defensive players when they are on the other team so they attack teammates that do the same.
A large part of the problem is that Haemorrhage is a terrible map when used with the Reach sandbox and people mistake exploitable, poorly balanced maps in Halo Reach as being good.
At N1cholas" People DO love their dam* hemmorhage. “Slayer on Hemmorhage” almost always wins the vote.
Your perspective was interesting, but I think that teamates attacking you for the integrity of the game gives them too much credit. I think they just want the tank and/or want the kills you;re getting.
The long range of the gun, the limited view and slow turn radius all combine to make “back to the wall” your best strategy IMO. As one poster said, if the field is clear, maybe you set up back to the wall of your opponents side of the map, but 1) its risky getting there and 2)I still get spawned on my 6 and then grenade-boarded.
If you are sitting at the back of a big map with a Wraith in a slayer game, and all the fighting is going on at the other side of the map (or otherwise out of view), you are not likely to get any kills at all. A Wraith is not a Sniper Rifle.
Puntificator, you are correct, and that’s most often when some idiot teammate starts shooting me. My guess is that they’re frustrated that I wont engage more aggressively.
My line of thought is that the battle locations will ebb and flow so if I’m behind blue base and all the action is going on at red base, by the time I arrive, the battle may have moved AND I’ve compromised the tank’s safety in getting there. On a related note, my teammates should have the brains to retreat or at least not dash toward the other team’s side, richer in weapons, vehicles resources when their own tank is based in the other direction.
Basically, it’s a question of patience. Id rather keep my defensible position even if I dont see targets for a few minutes, knowing that I most likely will eventually.
I don’t touch the vehicles in BTB. But I would rather have a tank cover my butt when I am near the middle. If there is nothing going on around your base, then it would nice to be a teammate and help each other out by moving up a little. When the enemy is in the middle third of the map, then sitting at the back can be good. But when your team is all up in the middle third and keeping the enemy at bay, then it does no one any good for you to be sitting back there afraid of dying.
Now, since I don’t touch the vehicles, I also don’t care what my teammates do with them as long as they don’t get jacked. I won’t shoot at them as long as they don’t betray me.
Oh…and I love facing tanks that sit in the back of the map. They make for such easy targets with my Sniper or Laser.
With the Wraith on Hemorrhage I like to move up to about the line going perpendicular across the map if you extend if from the cliffs on either side. There’s a little hill on both sides of the map you can use to block DMR or Sniper fire at you, while still using the Wraith mortar effectively from long range. You can usually line up a good shot on any oncoming vehicles in that location as well. I’ll occasionally go on forays into the middle of the map to protect someone, or if my whole team is moving up, but you have to be careful not to be flanked in the Wraith.
With the Scorpion, you want to have nice straight angles for as far away as possible for “tank sniping”. On Rasu I try to sit in the front corners of the base, and on Boneyard you want to get back to the edges of the map. On Rasu you want to make sure to take out the other tank as soon as it shows itself, and occasionally bombard sniper positions, and the sniper spawn if you can. On Boneyard, if you are on the wall side you need to watch the fence area or people dropping down from the ship, and take out snipers on the top middle structure. If you are on the cliff side, you pretty much need a couple of guys to protect your flank on the building in order to maximize your effectiveness.
Engaging the enemy in fisticuffs range is not recommended when I have a tank.
When possible, I suppress the enemy base with constant Wraith bombardment.
It appears to help increase the odds of a OSK if I boost just before firing a mortar at another tank.
This also helps with hit-prevention as depending on the range, the boost will cause my Wraith to no longer occupy the area being shot at.
It’s better to harass an enemy armed with a powerweapon than engage the other lackies without just for the kills.
Even if you can’t kill the enemy, you are preventing them from making clean shots and that can make all the difference for your team in the long run.
You also make yourself a more immediate threat to the enemy and they will often concentrate their fire your heavy armour, which allows your team to capitalise more easily on their own encounters.