Overview
This guide is designed to be the best guide possible for loading up and deploying a Sunderer, from the mobile spawn point to the ever-elusive gun truck setup. A lot of this *will* be opinions, though they are formulated with many hours of gametime to back them up. Included in this are basic certifications, weapons, strategies, deployment tips, and even pointers on how to kill people while inside the ‘combat bus’.
The Basics of the Sunderer.
The Sunderer. We all know it, either as hardened drivers of one, frequent deployments onto one, or as the guy who’s constantly blowing them up to stop an advance. However, quite a few people don’t seem to use them as effectively as you would think. We’ve all seen it. Sunderers rushing tanks. Sunderer’s deployed in awful spots. Sunderer’s barrel rolling down cliffsides. It all happens, and this guide is my personal attempt at seeing a few more of these venerable vehicles used well, used effectively, and more importantly, deployed in the proper manner.
For starters, the Sunderer is one of the heaviest armored vehicles in the game, second only to the Galaxy. While this seems like an awesome thing, it has two major disadvantages against it, which balance this. It’s slow, and it’s really freakin’ huge. You can’t miss an enemy Sunderer barreling towards it’s destination, nor can you miss a friendly one that haphazardly barrels into you and your friends. It’s big, it’s tough, and most importantly… it’s extremely effective. Spending the 50 certs into the Sunderer Automated Mobile Spawn system pays for itself in large battles, of which is in itself an indispensable tool for any assaulting force, or a recently removed defense. With that, though, has two different styles of deployment that I will cover, as well as a third style which is rarely seen… the ‘gun truck’. When set up properly, a Sunderer, with heavy armor, two turrets, and a squad of friendlies behind it, it can be set up as an amazing point defense vehicle, or even a roving harrassment truck that will definitely earn you some certs, and maybe an annoyed message or two. However, I want to talk about the first strategy you’ll need in a Sunderer, and that’s driving it.
Driving the Sunderer.
Regardless of how you have a Sunderer set up, or even if you don’t and just pulled one from the start, fresh outta the box, you’ll need to know a few things about driving this monster before you do anything.
For starters, it will seem like a very, very sluggish vehicle. This is incredibly deceptive, however, as it is only beaten in speed by the Lightning tank and the Harrasser buggy on even ground. What is sluggish about it, though, is it’s turning. This thing turns about as well as a speedboat in a lake of ketchup, so, don’t expect pinpoint turning. It will require you to stop and reverse a few times for tricky positioning and along narrow roads, and that’s something that a lot of people simply don’t so, leading to either a Sunderer rolling down a cliff, or coming to a dead stop against a tree.
With that said, though, there are a few things you can do to help combat these shortcomings, to get to where you’re going a lot faster.
Don’t be afraid to use an embankment for a turn. The Sunderer’s sheer weight and size means that, while it doesn’t turn unless you *really* want it to, you can ‘bank’ it off of a hill, cliff, or other sloping terrain to toss the weight to one side, allowing it to turn slightly better, and with better speed. This is still ill-advised on narrow roads, however, as overcorrecting even the slightest will send you bouncing either off the road, or into another embankment, ruining your built up momentum.
Hills are your friend. If at all possible, travel down a hill. The Sunderer can build up an astounding amount of speed doing this, and while you lose practically any ability to turn doing this, if you need to get somewhere fast, this is the way to go. A side note to this is that the Sunderer is only beat in hill-climbing potential by the Vanu Magrider tank, so, for tricky deployment spots, use this for an opposite effect.
Finally, don’t be afraid to go where the terrain is rough. The Sunderer is an incredibly, amazingly stable vehicle, able to resist flipping over even when tilted almost 70 degrees. Unless you barrel it off a cliff, it is damned near *impossible* to tip one of these onto its sides or roof. Use this to it’s advantage and keep some sickness bags for your passengers.
Deploying the Sunderer on the Offense.
Deploying a Sunderer on either offense, or defense, requires a little bit of different thinking than you would think. This secion will cover the tips and tricks of the offensive deployment, when you need more bodies to throw at an objective to capture it.
For starters, I sincerely hope you have the S-AMS station before even attempting this. Otherwise you will be sorely disappointed. If you do, however, whenever the Sunderer is *completely* stationary (even 1KPH speed will not allow this) you can press ‘B’ (default keybinds) to deploy it, allowing you to use the terminals on the side to resupply, change classes, and allowing your empire to spawn on it, giving the driver a small amount of XP per spawn.
Once you figure that out, the second most important thing is positioning. A lot of people like to place them in spots where it makes it the easiest to get to the objective, and while this is great, sometimes these Sunderers wither away under turret fire, rockets, enemy tanks, and those pesky C4 bricks. The key thing to remember is to treat your Sunderer like a miniature base. You want to place it somewhere where you can reach the objectives without watching your deploying minions eat machine gun fire, but also somewhere where it is easily defensible. A defensible Sunderer is a complete pain to kill, but usually makes getting to the objectives a little bit of a tactical challenge.
A good spot has two things: Cover, and concealment. Cover is things that not only hide you and your Sunderer, but incoming bullets/rockets/whatever. Concealment is something that hides it, but an errant bullet or rocket will still hit it. Cover is obviously the most desireable, but, sometimes concealment just has to work. With that said, though, you want to find something that keeps you out of the line of sight of any turrets, spawn rooms, or other places that enemies tend to frequent. Adding another layer of complexity is the fact that, for a *really* good spot, it needs to be somewhere that an enemy Light Assault cannot get to easily, and somewhere that enemy vehicles have to work towards to access. Obviously a good defensible spot is never going to be the closest to the objectives, but, finding a place that is a good mix between the two is a great way to get your fighters into a place quickly, and for longer, more drawn out battles, moving to a more defensible spot, while leavin your fighters with a bit of a walk, will ensure that you remain as effective as possible.
Another side to this, is the utility slots on the Sunderer, as well as the weapons. These vary *wildly* on the circumstances, and are almost based on personal preference.
My personal favorite utility slot is the Deployment Shield, as, no matter where you put it, this is basically free, and *recharging* health for the Sunderer. So long as it’s deployed, you get the shield. You can’t go wrong with a more durable Sunderer, especially when you can’t move it.
The Vehicle Ammo and Vehicle Repair certifications are absolutely indispensible if you’re moving a Sunderer along with an armor column. People will flock to it for repairs/ammo, and you get a nice chunk of XP. While this loses effectiveness greatly when used with a lone Sunderer, if there’s a friendly vehicle/vehicles around, this is a great thing to have. Please note, though, the Vehicle Ammo cert does *NOT* replenish the Sunderer’s turrets ammo. You have to find another Ammo Sunderer or an Ammo Tower to resupply yourself.
Mine Guard and the Reinforced Armor certs are something I personally do not use, and while a lot of people swear by them, I personally have not ran over enough mines, nor have I been in a situation where having Reinforced Armor would have saved my Sunderer. These do have advantages against explosives and mines, though, so if you expect to hit a lot of mines, or get hit by a lot of Engineers and Light Assaults when deployed, these can be useful.
In my personal opinion, the Gate Shield Diffuser is absolutely, 100% useless. 99% of the time, if you break through the shield, there’s always a mix of tanks, Heavy Assaults, and Engineers just waiting for someone to enter. The 1% of the time there isn’t, it is an incredibly, *incredibly* effective tool, but I have not had enough experience to see this reliably.
I’m sure there are a few other Utility certifications I’m missing, but, I haven’t had enough experience with them to use, nor have I seen them used well enough to be of any note.
Chassis Upgrades are something that some people swear by, while others see it as useless. Personally, I swear up and down by the Rival Combat Chassis, as a Sunderer is, in m opinion, more vulnerable when moving than it is deployed. Being able to move around quicker through the turns, bends, and jumps is a nice thing to have. Racer High Speed Chassis is near useless, as while going in a straight line is useful, the Sunderer loses so much speed turning and moving around in a non-linear fashion that it’s much better to be able to retain speed while doing those things, then to have to slow to a crawl just to make a turn.
As a side note to these, going up hills will slow you down no matter what, and neither chassis will affect it’s already-amazing hill climbing ability. Expect to slow to a crawl going up a steep incline.
The last thing you’ll need to figure out, is the guns. The Sunderer can employ a multitude of turrets, from ‘one-size fits all’ machine guns, to dedicated grenade launchers and flak cannons. These should be chosen strictly on what you expect to encounter on the battlefield, as all have their uses.
The M20 Basilisk is possible one of the most underrated turrets in the *entire* game. A lot of people dismiss it for being weak, and ineffective, and while it’s damage pales in comparison to more dedicated turrets, the ability to effectively hurt anything and everything you could ever run in to is something that’s not to be taken lightly. Many a Lightning has died to these, thinking they are completely and utterly useless.
The G30 Walker, while seeming to be a faster firing, lower damage version of the Basilisk, has more of a role in killing infantry *and* aircraft. It’s accuracy and rate-of-fire allows it to eat infantrymen for breakfast fairly easily, and the damage falloff allows a skilled gunner to swat aircraft from the skies like flies. Another all-purpose turret, though it pales against armor compared to the Basilisk, especially up close.
The G60 Bulldog is the go-to turret for killing people, and an incredibly evil tool in the hands of a good gunner. It behaves much like a mortar, allowing for indirect attacks against ground targets, and it’s splash damage ensures almost no infantryman is safe. A direct hit is the *ONLY* way to damage enemy tanks, and while it doesn’t seem to do too much, it definitely hurts. This thing is my go-to gun for ground targets, as it’s range, splash, and damage is indispensable against anything with wheels, treads, or legs.
The M40 Fury is a turret that many people swear by, being very similar in function to the Bulldog, but more specialized in vehicle kills. A lot of people will call me ugly names for saying this, but… hear me out. The Bulldog, with it’s massive splash, is a people killer by nature. The Fury, able to lob multiple grenades at once, with minimal splash, is more suited to taking on enemy vehicles. While it is more than capable of annoying infantry, it’s small splash reduces it’s effectiveness at such, but, makes it a more than capable vehicle destroyer. Put a few belts of grenades into a tank and watch ’em melt.
Finally, we have the G40 Ranger. This is a turret you don’t see often, but, it’s ability to scare off and kill aircraft is a must have, especially for a deployed Sunderer. Many pilots will run from incoming flak, or risk an explosive death.
Deploying the Sunderer on the Defense.
Not a lot of people do this, but, a Sunderer could be exactly what you need to help push an attacking force from a point. With two turrets, lots of armor, and mobility, it can be made into a formidable force for attackers to overcome, especially with waves of defenders rushing from it.
For this setup, I’ll only focus on the guns and utility slots, as chassis upgrades are a moot point when you’re only moving across a single base, if at all.
Once again, the Utility slot is a widely variable setup. Friendly vehicles will love you for Ammo or Repairs, and a Deployment Shield isn’t a bad idea in any situation. However, this is the one time I can effectively recomment the Reinforced Armor, as most of the things trying to kill you and your fellow empire members will be of the exploding variety. Usually on a defense, there are more Engineers to go around than ever, and so making the Sunderer that much more durable makes their jobs much easier.
Guns is another short one, as it all depends on what’s currently harrassing your fellow defenders. Aircraft don’t like Ranger turrets, and tanks don’t like Furies. Infantry absolutely despise the Kobalt, and the Basilisk and Walker turrets can effectively damage anything.
However, for this setup, there are a few more niches to consider for deployment. Getting shot at becomes an inevitability, so, choosing your guns and placement becomes more and more important. If you put specialized turrets strictly for air or ground targets, pick a spot that complements existing turrets. The more things shootning at enemies, the more likely they are to stop being an attacker and start being a corpse. You also want to place your Sunderer somewhere where it’s guns can not only compliment existing turrets on the base, but, somewhere where, if need be, friendlies can use it as cover. A lot of the times, you don’t want your Sunderer to be shot at at all, but, on a defense, it’s an inevitability. You might as well place it somewhere that friendly forces can use it for cover to keep them from getting shot, as well as resupply and redeploy to.
A defensive Sunderer also can be used as a mobile turret system, moving around a base to reinforce where enemies are anticipated to be.
The ‘Gun Truck’ Setup.
This particular setup is something that has been a pet project of mine since I started the game, and that is simply to set up a Sunderer as the ultimate ground-attack vehicle. While it lacks the sheer firepower of the Lightning, the mobility of the Harrasser, and the effective durability of the MBT’s, it’s versatility and sheer presense makes for an interesting and amusing vehicle to simply grab and go shoot things with.
First off, unlike your other Sunderer uses. this absolutely, 100% requires three people. A driver and two gunners is indispensable, otherwise you’re losing 50% of your combat effectiveness immediately, if not more.
Secondly, this setup absolutely requires the Rival Combat Chassis. Getting in and out of a bad spot is vital to vehicle combat, and the Sunderer loses so much speed when going anything but a straight line that you need to make up for that by being able to zig and zag faster than normal.
Utility is an interesting slot for this, as either Nanite Auto Repair or Reinforced Armor is key. Being able to heal on the move is an amazing ability, but, so is being able to soak up more damage. I don’t recommend the Deployment Shield, as stopping movement in a vehicle battle is almost certain death.
The guns for this all have their uses, and it all depends on what you plan to shoot at. A jack of all trades loadout allows you to hit nearly any target effectively from the same vehicle, but you lose overall effectiveness. However, specializing with two of the same turrets, while leaving you vulnerable to one form of damage or the other, is absolutely monsterous, and highly recommended. Two Ranger turrets makes the Sunderer on par with the Skyguard for sheer air damage, not to mention being able to effectively engage two aircraft at once. Two Furies or Bulldogs makes it a mobile artillery platform, able to rain death from afar onto targets that would never see it coming. And finally, if you’re feeling brave, two Kobalts give the Sundere an unparrelleled ability to kill infantry, though your number one counters can easily drop you like a sack of potatoes. It all depends on what you see on the battlefield, and what you feel needs to be killed first. This setup requires absolute battlefield awareness, either through looking at the main map, or having a squadmate run ahead and scout things out. It’s extremely difficult to pull off, but, if done, you can make the Sunderer one of the most versatile and feared weapons on the vehicle combat stage.
Deploying this is a little tricky, as you not only have the usual things to worry about that kill Sunderers, but your own driver to worry about. A good driver makes or breaks this setup, as sticking behind things to bait enemies is key, but driving into a group of unexpected tanks is near-instantaneous death. Your driver should be familiar with how the Sunderer drives, as well as the terrain and location he’s driving on, and how he’s getting to where he’s going. This varies from setup to setup, as anti-ground Sunderer’s can move along with tanks and the like, while an anti-air Gun Truck can branch off, find a spot to sit, and use it’s view to spot aircraft and subsequently swap them from existance.
Finally, your gunners must be competant as well. This goes without saying, but, since the Sunderer is not designed to be a main battle tank, you absolutely need good gunners. Stick them with guns they know how to use, and have them know what they can and can’t engage. Only shoot at things your turrets can damage, and *NOTHING* else.