Overview
Driver and Gunner’s guide, knowing environmental threats and your combat vehicle’s capability is essential.
Basic Knowledge of Combat Vehicles
Combat vehicles, including APC and IFV, are fun to play. Powerful against hostile forces, and protected by armor, you can be a major threat on battlefield. However, before jumping into one of them, make sure that you know these basic knowledge as a crewman.
1.NEVER be one man army
Yes, you have great firepower, but you can’t dominate the battlefield on your own, and you even can’t capture a single flag. Going deep behind enemy lines alone not only cut your support from friendly units but also provided your enemy with the opportunity to sneak behind you. Always advance with friendly infantries and vehicles, let them be your bodyguard.
2.Don’t SOLO a vehicle unless you’re really experienced
Grab a heavily armored M2 Bradley and score a lots of kills? Yes, sure you can, but it’s more likely to end up being turned into a giant fireball. After V10, waiting time was introduced when switching seats, you cannot play hit-and-run that fast. What’s more, one manning a vehicle means that you can only spot enemies your own, it’s not difficult for an experienced anti-tank role to flank behind and kill you. What’s worse, you lost the capability of chasing damaged hostile vehicle or escaping stronger enemies.
IMHO, I may only solo a vehicle when I have lots of friendly units around, covering my side and back. And we’re fighting on open field, which gives me good line of sight with my guns.
3.Be a good spotter for your team
Your weapon sight is magnified, which means that you can see enemies far far away. So, don’t just open fire when seeing lots of hostile forces coming in, inform your teammates, speak up first. Because doing so alerts nearby friendly units, and they will be ready to engage.
Front and turret armor are the thickest, side armor the second, and rear armor is the thinnest. Check Bubba’s guide for better understanding, this is how your enemies engage you. Just DON’T LET THEM GO BEHIND YOU!
5.Be a battlefield taxi
You’re a personnel carrier, do your teammates a favor, drive them to the front. Infantries are your friends, carry them to their destination and we can begin attacking/defending fast.
6.Avoid using vehicles if your team doesn’t have many tickets
Yes, this is critical. When both teams only have few tickets to spend, better not use precious IFVs that much. If you got destroyed, that’s 15~25 tickets lost for your team, which will change the result of the game.
7.A straight road is always mined.
Yes, when fighting with militia/insurgents, the roads are NOT SAFE after few minutes of the beginning of round.
New Vehicle Health & Armor System in V12
In Alpha V12, OWI introduced component damage into gameplay. There are two new hit boxes : engine and ammunition. To be simple, those are just two more health values derived from just vehicle health. On driver seat, you can see vehicle and engine health. Ammunition health is invisible to the player.
And here’s the consequence if you took too much damage. Your vehicle will blow up when vehicle or ammunition health reaches zero, the latter one is caused by ammunition cooking off. When engine health goes down, it will affect driving performance of the vehicle, and you will not be able to move if it reaches zero. (Engine could be repaired to 50% health with repair tools carried by crewman, but needs repair station for further maintenance)
In the new Jensen’s Range, armor thickness, engine and ammunition compartment are depicted with transparent models. General speaking, forward hull and turret have the thickest armor. While side, rear and top armor are thinner. Ammunition compartment are usually located deep inside hull, so it’s not easy to trigger ammo cook off effect with low penetration capability weapons. For engines, some vehicles have them on the front side(ex:M2 Bradley), some hide them in rear side of the hull(ex:T-72).
Let’s talk about the “penetration and damage” mechanism. According to the developers on Reddit, this is the current version of damage calculation: Each shot has it own penetration capability, and it’s based on ammunition type, range, impact angle and armor thickness of the impact point. Incoming round will do full damage to respective component if it penetrates armor, or it will not do any damage. It’s all or nothing, based on the result of penetration calculation formula.
Now you learned the way to deal with incoming fire. First of all, it’s always good to face your enemy with the thickest armor. And it’s also good to keep a distance from enemy tank, since AP use kinetic energy to penetrate armor, the further away you stay from enemy, the lower speed and penetration capability for enemy armor piercing rounds. What’s more, if you force your enemy to shoot you at steep angle, like placing enemy tank at your 2 or 10o clock, incoming rounds may bounce off and do no damage.(Ricochet effect).
Driving – Terrain Awareness
As a driver, you are the essential key to the survival of your vehicle. A good driver is even more critical than a good gunner. A professional driver knows how to maneuver in different battlegrounds while staying hidden, also the good overlooking spots for the gunner, and the last one : he knows when to advance or to retreat.
When advancing in the battle field, we have different terrain conditions, including open field, forest, long grass field, mountainous area and urban area. Those places are far different from each other, and some or them are ideal for vehicle fights, but some are not.
It’s the best place to play vehicle battle, you have maximum maneuverability, good line of sight, and it’s pretty easy to spot enemies at far distance, also no need to worry about infantries with RPGs. Wheeled IFV could play hit and run easily here. But, you also got little cover, which means that whoever see the opponent first may win the match. And a well placed anti-tank missile launcher can F you up with no difficulties.
Map Examples: Al Basrah (Outskirts), Gorodok, Yehorivka, Kohat, Belaya, Chora
Almost the same as open field, however, since infantries can prone in the grasses and hide themselves from you, be cautious when driving in this area. Do not let anyone with RPG or IED to hit your rear armor after you drove by.
Map Example: Kokan
Not a ideal place to stay in, you always hit a tree and stop, which always drives the driver crazy. And it’s subject to being flanked by hostile troops with RPG or IED. However, it provides you with decent cover, which makes it a good place to set ambush. Make sure that you have friendly infantries nearby, if you really want to drive into the forest. As the driver, just don’t drive too fast, steer carefully and you should be fine.
Map Examples: Operation First Light, Mestia, Fool’s Road, Yehorivka
From a gunner’s aspect, you can cover a big area on a hill top. However, as the driver, mountain climbing is your ultimate nightmare, you’re extremely slow even when holding down “Shift”. (Press and holding down Shift is like shifting to low gear, which gives you better torque)
What’s more, do not drive onto the ridge line directly, since your gunner may not be able to aim down with the main gun. And it’s pretty dangerous since everyone on the other side of ridge line will see you instantly.
Map Examples: Mestia, Kohat
Absolutely not a nice place to be in, you should avoid driving on the street alone. Apartment buildings, alleys, turn corners are lethal to you, since anyone with RPGs can attack you from any directions. Do not stay in urban area without infantry support, it’s always better to stay away from close quarter combat and engage your opponents at greater range.
However, due to the obscured line of sight in urban warfare, wheeled combat vehicles could flank hostile vehicles and troops easily. You can play hit-and-run, especially with the BTR80/82A and Stryker.
Map Examples: Al Basrah, Belaya, Yehorivka, Sumari, Narva
Driving – Lowering Profile and Maneuvering Between Covers
Vehicles are BIG and LOUD, everyone can see or hear you easily. It’s so important to be not only fast but also maneuverable. People get surprised and confused when being attacked without seeing an enemy. So, it’s crucial to take cover, switch locations and attack from different directions. Here we have some stories to tell:
Aside from the noise from a running engine, it also generates smoke, especially the MT-LB. For example, you’ve set up a perfect ambush location behind a wall, but, if you forget to turn the engine off, black and grey exhaust smoke will blow your cover instantly.
For tracked vehicles like MT-LB, Bradley and Warrior, remember that you’re so loud that it’s pretty impossible to be sneaky. It’s better to always assume that your enemy has already noticed your presence.
Tree lines and bushes can block visual contacts perfectly, however, they are NOT cover. You will take damage if the enemy just spray the area with high caliber ammunition. Walls, buildings and even wreckage are good, it’s easy to place yourself around those solid objects, which covers your side and rear armor for better protection.
If you’re asked to defend a flag, it’s also good to build HESCO walls around the vehicle. Doing so can turn your APC/IFV into a powerful fixed turret. (Sandbags are not the best choice, since a single hand grenade is enough to tear it down partially)
Your vehicle is BIG, it may not fit the cover perfectly. The picture above shows how a Stryker blew his own cover by driving too close to a wall, which gave me the chance to fire at his side armor. Generally, it’s good to only show your enemy the turret. However, if your side of rear hull became exposed, it’s possible to be targeted by a skilled opponent. In the worst case, getting one-shot by a missile or tandem RPG.
Yes, I mean hull-down. Game objects are your best friend, they are completely invincible in this game. It’s the best to take hull-down locations behind small humps or hills. As the driver, you can just simply drive up, let gunner take the shot, then go back into cover. Picture by Max Smith
However, make sure that the down elevation of your main gun is enough, sometimes it’s impossible to shoot target below due to hull pitch angle.
You are the driver, you know the health condition of your combat vehicle. Retreat if necessary, it’s always better to RTB, rearm and repair than staying at a fixed location, begging to score a kill with low vehicle health.
Your engine noise is loud, firing weapons is even louder, tracers can also tell opponents about your presence. It’s always good to shift firing locations after scoring few kills. Remember this: Although you’re the most powerful combat machine on the battlefield, you’re also the top priority for hostile anti-vehicle units.
7.Check the map frequently
Check the map, plan ahead!
Gunning – Know your weapon
Currently, there are 4 types of vehicle mounted weapons.
And they could be found on these vehicles.
Coaxial Machine Gun – Bradley, Warrior, BTR80, BTR82A, MT-LB, BRDM
Heavy Machine Gun – Stryker, MATV, BTR80, MT-LB, BRDM
Automatic Cannon – Bradley, Warrior, BTR82A, MT-LB
Guided Missile – Bradley
Aka “Coax”. Good sidearm against infantry and soft target. It overheats slowly and could be used to suppress an area at distance. However, since it’s not that accurate at long range battle, it’s okay to not use it when playing low profile, because firing coax also gives away your location to the enemy with tracers.
Good against light armored vehicles, trucks and infantry. M2 fires slower than Russian KPVT/NSV, while the later has limited magazine size. Although HMGs overheat slowly, it’s still a big problem for the gunner if the gun became overheated and jammed in critical situations. Make short bursts and it should be fine. When engaging armored vehicles, it’s better to avoid their front armor, since HMG bullet only does little damage.
Western Autocannons fire powerful rounds at slower rate while Russian ones have insane rate of fire. There are two ammo types, Armor Piercing (AP) and High Explosive (HE). AP for vehicles and HE for soft targets. Be advised that when using AP rounds against infantry, it’s capable of penetrating hard covers and kill people behind. HE rounds are also good against hostile strongholds, since it has splash damage. However, they overheat easily if the burst isn’t controlled.
4.Guided Missile
Anti-Armor Missiles should be reserved for armored targets only. Be sure to keep the crosshair on the target before missile impact, and remember to hit “R” to reload. The maximum range of TOW missile is 1.5 km, and Bradley carries 2 of them.
Always aim for weak spots!
Turret Stabilization
Most turrets have dual axis stabilization in V12, its purpose is maintaining a stable firing platform on a moving vehicle. By pressing “Z” in the gunner or commander seat, turret stabilization function could be enabled. And it’s indicated by “STA” or “STABILIZED” label in the scope picture.
About Gunner’s Reticle
Gunning – Threat Categorization
In V11, range does not affect the capability of AP rounds or other kinetic energy related weapons. So a 30mm AP round will do the same damage at different ranges. Here we have categorized threats for combat vehicle’s crew, sorted by level of seriousness when fighting face to face.
Vehicles:
Heavily armored IFV (Bradley & Warrior) > Wheeled IFV (BTR82A) = Tracked IFV (MTLB with 30mm) > Wheeled IFV and APC(BTR80 & Stryker & BRDM)….etc
BTW : LOGI TRUCK is your HIGH VALUE TARGET
When taking armor thickness into consideration :
Anything on your back >>>> Side > Front
HAT >> LAT > Scout (If he’s not behind you and you’re not aware of him)
Normally, you should take care of those guys running around with RPG launchers first before attacking normal infantry units. BTW, remember that a Russian HAT (RPG-7 w/ Tandem HEAT) can always one shot you.
Missile Launcher (TOW) >>>> SPG-9 > Heavy Machine Gun
(NEVER MESS WITH MISSILES, NEVER)
Coordination Between Driver and Gunner
As the driver
1.Keep the gunner updated about vehicle health
You’re the only one who knows whether your combat vehicle can keep fighting or not. If you feel that it’s necessary to fall back soon, it’s necessary to inform the gunner about vehicle health.
2.Inform the gunner about new contacts
If you see any new targets, or something popped up on the map, it’s better to tell the gunner soon as possible. What’s more, crewman kit got binoculars, it’s also a good tactic to get off the vehicle and play scout for the gunner. It will always work especially on open maps. (Kohat, Gorodok, Al Basrah…)
You are the driver, you’re responsible for bringing the vehicle in and pulling out safely after heavy firefight. You need to take these factors into consideration:
(a)Known Threats: Including enemy vehicle and FOB.
(b)Terrain Condition: Make sure that you can maneuver your ride smoothly before rolling in.
(c)Friendly Units Close By: Infantries are your best friend, remember that?
Generally speaking, keep the “observe the battlefield – roll in – take shot – fall back” cycle going. The longer you stay in the front, the greater change you got F’ed by hostile forces.
It’s a critical survival skill, always face your primary threat with front armor for the best protection.
5.Let the gunner know your plan
Keep him updated about your plan, do not drive your own and speak nothing. Let the gunner know that he can tell you to stop to engage targets, and you will be his companion throughout the whole battle.
As the gunner
You don’t want to end up having no ammo during the fight, right? Check the color of your ammunition counter, it changes from white – yellow – orange – red, than black when it became empty. Tell the driver about that and he could prepare himself, planning the route back to main in advance.
2.Inform the driver about new contacts and how you would like to engage it
You got a magnified scope, use it to find enemies. Also, you can obtain target info from not only map but also from radio channel. Check target type and tell the driver about your engagement plan: roll straight in, hold position or else.
3.Let the driver know your plan
Tell him about it and sort out the best option together.
Coordination Between Combat Vehicles and Infantries
When fighting with infantry unit, it’s necessary to:
1.Keep enemy stronghold suppressed
2.Cover friendly infantry’s flank
3.Keep them updated about new contacts
4.Let them know your plan
If you are the infantry unit:
1.Cover team vehicle’s flank
2.Let friendly vehicle know that you’re moving in
Conclusion and more references
More great vehicle guides↓
[link]
[link]
Since TANKS are coming soon, will keep this guide updated later on.
Have fun!
Guide for newbies : Overcoming Squad Culture Shock
[link]
Faction Visual Identification Guide
[link]
Target Acquisition and Survival Guide for Newbies
[link]
Anti-Vehicle Guide for LATs and HATs
[link]
SPG-9 Recoilless Rifle Guide
[link]
TOW Missile Guide
[link]
TANKS Guide
[link]
Preparing your first game as squad leader
[link]
Helicopter Pilot’s Operation Manual
[link]