Written by superfly_cox

• Note by the author: this is not a guide for Tank Whores. I will not be going over strategies for increasing your kill totals. Rather this guide is for how to fight in armor and how to use armor for your team’s success.
  
  
• Note by the editor: this is not a guide that sets out the rules of how to play. Everybody plays his own game, by his own tactics. This guide just gives a bunch of very good advice. Take it or leave it, but definitely read it!

Armor is the most important element to winning in BF2. Airplanes are more dominating than armor but they aren’t as essential to winning. The reason for this is because planes aren’t going to help you cap or defend flags. Therefore, if you see an empty APC, grab it. You’ll be more effective than as a foot soldier, you’ll prevent the enemy from getting it, and you’ll be helping your team win.

Once you get into armor, your have a responsibility! Not everybody can drive a tank, so if you are lucky enough to get one, then you need to understand your role!!! You have three basic responsibilities:

1. First is to engage other armor. This is your first priority. Armor will tear infantry to shreds. Even if you die in the process, you need engage the enemy armor to give your teammates a chance. Tank whores will often not do this which gives a bad name to those who truly enjoy armor combat.
   
   
2. Support. Your job is to support your team’s attempts to take enemy flags. Don’t rush in because you will become a C4 sandwich. Capping flags is not your job, you are not suited for this. Many people complain that armor spawn rapes, but this is not the case. The job of armor is to pound the flag and allow your infantry to move in. Ignore those that complain that you are raping because you are not trying to cap the flag. Basically they are asking you to make it real easy for them to kill you...
   
   
3. Defend! I know this is not popular but somebody needs to defend those crucial flags. Most maps have spawn points where armor spawns. Usually if you lose this, you will lose the game. Defend these at all costs. Armor is slow, don’t use it to joyride around the map. This doesn’t mean that all armor should defend! But at least one armor unit should be assigned to a key base.

There are differences between the USMC, PLA, and MEC tanks, try to get a feel for them. Tank cannon fire needs to account for distance. In other words the projectile will lose altitude over distance you need to learn how to aim higher at longer ranges.
Learn to shoot on the run. This isn’t too hard to do.

All of these guys float. Different rates of fire. I prefer the quick fire APCs as they are more effective against ground troops. APC Cannon fire does not lose altitude over distance so you are a very effective long range weapon. The only thing you need to learn is how to lead your target as you fire. Also, APC cannons overheat very quickly so learn how to fire in bursts. You will get in many more shots through conservation than through rapid fire then wait for overheat.

If you’re going to use armor then for gods sake please be an engineer. There is nothing worse than a sniper in a tank.

Both Tanks and APCs do a great amount of splash damage. When fighting against infantry don’t aim directly for them with the cannon but at the wall behind them or the ground. If a Spec-Ops is rushing you and he’s too close to get a clean shot then aim at any object that is close to you and the splash damage will kill him. If somebody is hiding behind a corner then pound the ground right next to the corner and you’ll often get a kill. If you’ve played as infantry you know how people hide from tanks. Using this knowledge you can get lots of kills where you shoot without seeing the enemy!

Armor should never stand still. You don’t have good vision (especially tank) and are begging to become a C4 sandwich. One of the greatest joys of a Spec Ops is to blow up a tank. They will rush you relentlessly so always be in motion.

Two strategies for repairing your tank. First, is to go prone and crawl underneath the front of the vehicle. Then keep spinning around as you repair to ensure that nobody sneaks up on you and takes your tank. Another strategy is to be in constant motion as you repair the tank so that nobody can get a good shot at you. Always be ready to press the “e” button should you fall under enemy fire. There is no greater sin than to be killed while repairing a tank and essentially gift wrapping it for your opponents.

The engineer should always enter the tank holding his wrench. The way armor combat works, you’ll often blow up that enemy tank as you are down to two bars and are starting to burn. Having the wrench out makes the difference between death and being able to repair your tank back up to full health.

Armor should stick together, especially if there are engineers in the vehicles. You will be less vulnerable to attack. Also you will heal each other! Don’t stick too close or a jet will ruin the party!

Armor is not made for capping enemy flags. You’re too slow and have too poor a field of vision to be able to protect yourself from enemies that are spawning around you. The only time you should ever go in to cap a flag is if you are in the company of friendly infantry or if there is a UAV overhead.

Don’t use armor to destroy enemy commander assets! For those of you who haven’t tried, it takes forever to destroy artillery guns( link) or UAV( link) with a tank. Leave that work to Spec Ops, otherwise there will be problems with the Spec Ops Union.

Tank has two types of machine guns. First is for the driver (right click). This machine gun is devastating. It has a rapid rate of fire and is incredibly accurate even at long range. Learn to use it and it will be even more effective vs. ground troops than the cannon. The second is for the Machine Gunner. I don’t recommend you spend much time as a machine gunner in a tank because if the driver is doing as he should and is constantly in motion, you aren’t going to hit much. However, if the pilot stands still then you’re a sitting duck. You can’t win…

Armor needs time to get going, especially on hills or rough terrain. Once you stop it will take you a bit to take off again thereby leaving you pretty vulnerable. If you stick to the roads, you will travel much better.

If you want to cap a flag then call for UAV ahead of time. You just don’t have the visibility to enter an area and protect yourself from spec ops and anti-tank kits spawning around you. Also, use UAV to your advantage to find those hidden soldiers. Its amazing how quickly infantry will hide when they hear a tank approaching. Often times you’ll enter a base and it’ll appear totally empty when all of a sudden UAV appears overhead and you’re surrounded by a dozen red dots! Anways, use UAV to approximate where those suckers are hiding and fire your cannon into the suspected hiding place (splash damage will ensure a kill even if you’re close). For instance, fire your cannon inside of a building (aim for the ceiling of the room) to take out the guy who is prone inside. If you see a red dot on top of a building, aim at whatever object you see on the roof (water tower, etc) and the splash damage may take out the guy who is prone on the roof.

A supply crate will ensure that you trump any armor combat that you may enter. A tank with supply crate will beat any other tank or apc. Call for them if you are planning on camping a position (perfectly legit armor tactic). If you happen to meet up with a tank that is sitting on a supply crate, don’t try to take him out cause you’ve got no chance. Aim for his supply crate to take it out, pop smoke and retreat. Once you’ve repaired yourself you can try another attack. Commanders, the tank is the most important element for winning popular boards like Sharqi, Karkand and Mashtuur. Even if armor whores piss you off, take care of your tanks, give em plenty of supply drops. If you lose your tank on these boards (enemy steals one or they take base where it caps) you’ll be in for a raping”

Use it when you’re in trouble but it often doesn’t do much good. That enemy tank will still know where you are and the attack choppers don’t have much of a problem with it. It is however fairly effective against anti-tank infantry but only if you use it early enough. If you’re down to 25% health and use it then its too late. Even if they don’t see you, they’ll get you. Smoke can be effective against choppers, but usually its too late.

These things are so powerful!!! They kill APC in one shot and Tank in two! When entering an enemy outpost, use your tank cannon to destroy the tow so as to prevent enemy infantry from taking you out.

Don’t do it unless you need a ride. The machine gun windows are weak because you have very limited field of vision. Also, APC gets destroyed too easily to warrant a multiple fatalities. If you want to ride along and shoot stuff try the Blackhawk.

A direct hit from artillery will destroy any armor. This used to be rare in earlier versions but has since been changed so that you have a much greater chance of having an artillery shell hit you if you are near the artillery barage. Commanders, use your best judgement when deciding to put artillery fire on friendly armor.

Assume that it’s a spec ops soldier with C4 loaded belly. Drive backwards, directly away from him while trying to fire. Remember that if the Spec Ops wants to live he will need to jump out and let the vehicle role towards you before he detonates. By driving away from him, the only option you leave him is suicide bombing; plus you give yourself more time to kill him.

In the words of the immortal Kenny Rogers: You’ve got to know when to hold em, know when to fold em. Destroyed Armor is no good to your team. Better to retreat and repair than to fight a losing battle. Also, if your team has lost the spawn point where you got the armor, the other team will now have an extra armor unit to fight against you.

If you’ve read this far then you probably will understand that you shouldn’t stand behind the tank!!!!

There is nothing more frustrating than having someone steal a vehicle you are repairing. Please don’t do this. If you do, then I usually will hunt you down and stick a grenade up your butt.

Anti-tank infantry are the single most dangerous element for armor. They are small, they can hide, they strike for a lot of damage and you only have a split second to hit them before they hide again!! When dealing with 2-3 anti-tank infantry that have mounted an organized attack on you, retreat. There’s really not much you can do. You may take out 1 or 2 but they’ll get you. The best thing to do is retreat a safe distance and pound away from there so as to provide support for friendly infantry to attack.

Be aware, they will run at you from all directions. So long as you are in constant motion and are always looking around you will be fine. Awareness is the key.

SPLASH DAMAGE!!!!!!

Bad news. A good attack chopper will always beat a good armor pilot. Your turret doesn’t aim that high. You can try shooting them out of the sky but the bad news is that even a direct hit from your tank is not enough to destroy an attack chopper. And a good chopper pilot/gunner will not let you get off that second shot.

The best defense is to hide. Smoke helps but not that much. If a chopper is in front of you and is lining up a shot, go towards him at a 45 degree angle. Never drive away from him. If he’s behind you then go directly backwards towards him. Choppers have more trouble adjusting for objects that are close to them than those that are far way.

If you do insist on shooting them down, don’t bother with your main gun or your “built-in” machine gun. The easiest way to take choppers down is by knowing what flight paths choppers usually take and using your mounted machine gun to shoot them down. If you see a smoking chopper that is heading back for repair get into the mounted gun and shoot at it. The trick to it is not let it overheat and keep a good bead on it. You will know when its taking damage as that extra “X” will show up in your crosshair.

All mounted machineguns are from .50 caliber type, which were originally designed to use against armor. Since the development of better platting for armor the effect against this type is minor, but in battle this caliber has shown to be very effective against minor armored vehicles like helicopters. If your unlucky you will have a good chopper team that will bank quickly and TV-rocket you. The chances are more in your favor that the pilot will head for repair.

Please don’t be dumb and start shooting at choppers that are not smoking (damaged) as all that will happen is your fire will draw them to your position and you will get shot up. 1)

Don’t worry about it. You will die from these but there is nothing you can do about it. They are fast and you are slow. Don’t spend your time trying to hit planes. A general rule to know it that planes will often bomb spots where they know people will be instead of specific objects. So stay away from the flags and other areas that make juicy targets for jets.

If you think that a plane is lining you up for a bombing run then pop smoke and turn 90 degrees immediately. Another tactic is to pop smoke and go immediately in reverse. This second tactic has the added advantage of being faster than the turn so use it if you feel that they are right on you. Tanks reverse quite well and much better than apcs so don’t try the reverse tactic with the APC.

With the latest patches the only way to take out a mine is with the Engineer’s Kit Via wrench.

Any time you want to destroy a transport vehicle and be certain to get the kill(s), hit it with a couple of machine gun rounds first and then fire the main gun. The main gun alone will destroy a transport, but only after a short delay which leaves time to escape. If you hit it with a few machine gun rounds first, the main gun will blow it up immediately and you are guaranteed the kills. 2).

Aim for the rear or for the forward treads. Sometimes there are critical hits (one shot kills). It happens, its not skill just chance.

Be calm, the battle is in your favor. Even if you take a first rocket hit from the APC, locate the APC and take your time to aim carefully. If you miss on that first shot you are usually dead!!! So make sure you hit him. Take the cannon damage and hit him again. His rocket takes a long time to reload so you shouldn’t have any problem just absorbing the damage and taking him out. If you miss then he will reload that rocket and two rocket shots is usually enough to blow you up.

The only way you will ever win this encounter is with surprise. As APC you are more maneuverable than the tank. Use this to surprise the tank, make quick attacks then retreat. The key is getting in the first surprise shot with your rocket then hiding long enough for your rocket to reload. Don’t fire rocket then start pounding away with cannon because you will give away your position. Fire rocket, retreat until your rocket is 75% reloaded and then go back into the fight. Two rocket shots and continuous cannon fire after the second rocket are enough to take out a tank before he can kill you.

Assuming that two full health APCs are directly facing each other (firing the opponent’s front armor), it is cannon fire that determines the winner. You only get one rocket in the fight, the reload will not be completed before someone dies. You have to assume that both drivers will use the missle and both missles will hit - essentially, think of it like ‘as soon as i enter into a APC versus APC fight, i’ve already lost one rocket’s worth of health.’

Let’s say that rocket does 75% damage. The remaining 25% has to be taken care of with the cannon. The smart APC driver starts firing his cannon as soon as he sees his opponent, meanwhile carefully aiming his missle to make sure that it hits. that way, his initial burst of cannon fire does the 25%, and the rocket will finish the enemy off.

Many people try to fire the missle as soon as they engage, but while guiding the rocket home, forget to keep up their cannon fire. In that case, even if you’re the first to hit with the rocket, your opponent will beat you. Why? He hit you with his cannon first, while you were worrying about the rocket. By the time your rocket did its 75% and you’re starting to use your gun, he’s already took you down to 60% and one rocket away from killing you. 3)

When your team is winning, try to hide somewhere and ambushes the first tank / APC that get in front of you.
For example in Strike at Karkand, when you are MEC in a T-90, on the south base in the following situation:

                  |           |
                  |           |
                  |           |
         _________|           |
                      Enemy   |
                        ||    |
                        ||    |
          _________     \/    |__________________
                  |                              |
                  |                       <= you |
                  |                              |
                  |           ___________        |
                  |           |         |        |

( replace by screenshot)

When the passes you, just drive behind them and shoot them in the back! It’s a very useful spot for armors.4)