Simply put, heavy tanks should have a driver and a gunner seat. The driver drives the tank but doesn't control the turret. The gunner controls the turret but doesn't drive the tank. (The hatch can be a third seat.) In order for a heavy tank to be fully functional, this would ultimately require that each heavy tank have two players. While a single player could use a heavy tank, he could not both maneuver and fire its weapons, reducing it to the status of a very expensive mobile turret of badness. Heavy tanks are currently balanced only by resources. This is complicated by the fact that heavy tanks are not so much more expensive than other tanks that there are actually less of them fielded. Usually there are less competent tank commanders than a team's resources are capable of supporting, and so tanks on both teams are fielded at close to a 1:1 ratio. As a result, resources are drained by losses and replacement tanks, not the initial purchases, and heavy tanks will always cause more casualties than they recieve, giving their team the advantage in tickets and frequently resources, as well as map control. The key to this suggestion is that players and tickets are far more valuable than resources. If a heavy tank requires two players to use in combat, a team with heavy tanks will only be able to field half as many as they could of other vehicles, and fielding tanks at a 1:1 ratio to their opponents will drastically reduce the number of supporting infantry on the ground, as well as the number of supporting vehicles like artillery and apcs. Additionally, if a heavy tank loss costs two tickets instead of one, that mitigates their ticket advantage over other tank types and to a lesser extent those pitiful grenadiers. Ultimately, this suggestion would allow the hypothetical scenario of light/medium tanks fighting heavy tanks at a 2:1 ratio to occur with frequency, and reduce the number or effectiveness (but importantly not both) of heavy tanks on the battlefield. Consequences. Why would anyone want heavy tanks when you can instead have two medium tanks? Several reasons: Ironically, the single heavy tank is less expensive. It also allows you to use railguns and nuk–I'm sorry, HIT missiles, the most powerful weapons in the game that probably get too much limelight right now because heavy tanks dominate the battlefield. Furthermore, in confined spaces it is easier to fit two or three heavy tanks than it is four or six medium tanks, and those heavy tanks focus firing on a medium tank will kill it faster than medium tanks focus firing on a heavy tank. Also, what happens if the gunner is a Grenadier with Armor Detection, Vehicle Armor and Defusal, while the driver is a Scout with Vehicle Speed, or Engineer with Vehicle Cooling? =O "But I like my heavy tanks as they are!" That is why they invented the hunger strike. =D Pros: -Heavy tanks have a disadvantage. -Medium/light tanks and grenadiers have a true numerical advantage. -Demands a semblance of teamwork/cooperation. Cons: -Demands a semblance of teamwork/cooperation. -1st-person driver seat can't see aftwards; reverse at your own risk. Alternatives: -Alter research tree. -Crippling disadvantage for heavy tanks, such as cost or speed. -Rename heavy tanks to 'Win Tanks', add smiley face decals.
This has been discussed, and from what I've heard from Red Orchestra... People only drive the tanks alone, then switch to shooting, because it's such a pain in the ass to aim good when someone else is driving, especially when his ping is about 200.
Use the search function No, really though, try shooting your RPG out of the top hatch. This won't work as things are.
Shooting out of the top hatch is difficult because of the turret. A gunner who controls the entire turret would only have to worry about the movement of the chassis. Nonetheless, I suppose I should've searched. My computer's been dead for the last 3 months, so I haven't seen any of the threads since May.
read the first paragraph, tl;dr, impossible in source and will, and has been proven, to suck, and will make heavies shit.
Try using a rifle from the second seat as an actual weapon on a moving tank. Then come back and suggest this.
