Engineer questions: tank mines, C4s, utility pouch and others

[simmi]

Hi guys, I am thinking of starting to use engineer class for one special purpose only. Vehicle killing... mostly Sundies. I play LA almost exclusevely and since the GU08 patch I can't kill a sundy with a light assault by myself. It seems engineers can still do it with tank mines and 3 C4s. So here are my questions.

I have 1000 certs to spend.
1). Should I unlock C4's or tank mines?
2). What do you use most for killing vehicles?
3). Do you need to place tank mines near sundies or stick it on them?
4). When you place tank mines on a sundy that's deployed, do the tank mines explode or does the sundy have to be moving for them to explode?
5). Do you need to somehow detonate a tank mine like C4s or do they auto detonate after a certain time? If the latter, then how long does it take for them to auto detonate. Also how many tank mines can you place before they auto detonate?
6). What is the maximum # of tank mines you need to place to ensure you kill A) a stock sunderer B) a fully mine guarded sunderer?
7). Do you find it easy to be able to sneak to a sunderer and kill it with tank mines?
8). Do you ever place tank mines at the ground level of a ground level of a tower knowing that a sunderer or tanks will walk through that place and explode? Are tank mines easy to spot for tank drivers or do they look out for them?
9). Also what level should I upgrade my utility pouch to in order to kill a stock sunderer with tank mines/C4? It seems I can already carry two tank mines without having a utility pouch? How does the configuration work? ex: do I upgrade both level of tank mines and 1 level of utility pouch? both level of C4s and 1 level of utility pouch? or 3 levels of utility pouch and 1 level of C4/tank mine?

Please number your answers corresponding to the question/s you are answering. Thanks
Sorry for the somewhat noob questions.

[leifnielsen]

1) If you're going after Sunderers mostly, go with C4. It takes 3 C4 to kill a standard Sunderer.

2) C4. If I don't have enough C4, I'll use what I do have and then finish it off with my AV turret.

3) This question is kind of irrelevant. You can't really use Tank Mines the same way you do C4. I suppose you could still throw the tank mines down and then shoot them. Not sure how effective that is.

4) I believe they changed Tank Mines in one of the previous updates so that they will no longer explode by throwing them under a stationary vehicle. The vehicle has to be moving.

5) I don't use Tank Mines but I don't think they auto detonate based on time. They will detonate or disappear if you go too far though. (Such as another zone). I'm not sure how many you're allowed to place either but I think it'll let you resupply at least once before they start disappearing.

6) Not sure how many Tank Mines it takes to kill a standard Sunderer, but I believe it takes 9 to kill a fully Mineguarded Sunderer.

7) Negative. You can sneak up and lay tank mines next to a sunderer all you want, but it's not gonna blow up until it starts driving somewhere.

8) Experienced Tank drivers will watch for tank mines. Especially on bridges and tight pathways. They also increased the size of Tank Mines now so they're even easier to see than before. Your best bet for maximum effectiveness is to place them at the top of a hill on a main road or some place where they're not going to see it from a distance like around a tight corner or rock. Be clever.

9) Cert C4 all the way, then upgrade utility pouch to the one that says you can carry one extra C4. I think that's level 2.

Questions aside, here are some tips:

One of my favorite things to do when I have squad leader is to get as close as I can to a heavily guarded enemy sunderer, lay down a squad beacon, redeploy, spawn on the beacon and steer my drop pod to land right on top of their sunderer, throw 3 C4 as fast as I can, jump off and blow it. (Works 70%-80% of the time.)

Another really good strategy is to spawn a Sunderer, place 3 C4 on the front (usually I try to angle them so they're on the underside in order to protect them from incoming fire.) Drive towards the enemy Sunderer or MBT you want destroyed, gain as much speed as possible, line it up, jump out and let your vehicle run into theirs, then blow the C4. Crazy fun. You should see the look on their non-existent faces. It's great. (Works 95% of the time...Every time.) Note: Some people like doing this with the ATV, but the problem is that since the ATV has such a small profile, there's not very many places to put the C4, so if somebody shoots at you, 1 stray bullet blows you away and that wastes your valuable C4 resources. I'm REALLY interested to try this strategy with a Galaxy sometime.

If you are able to sneak up to a deployed enemy sunderer and place all your C4, you can back off, wait for a large group to spawn and then blow away all of them at once.

[simmi]

Those are helpful tips.
As for #3) Check out this video: TMs Engineer Certs Explosion Montage & 2x Station Cash Giveaway - Op: Desert Devil - Planetside 2 - YouTube. He blows up the tank mines by throwing grenades at them or using the underbarrel grenade launcher. Seems to work pretty well for him

Also my other question is:
Do tank mines disappear if you die?
Do tank mines disappear if you change classes? Ex: place tank mines then switch to light assault?

[oosik]

Those are helpful tips.
As for #3) Check out this video. He blows up the tank mines by throwing grenades at them or using the underbarrel grenade launcher. Seems to work pretty well for him

Also my other question is:
Do tank mines disappear if you die?
Do tank mines disappear if you change classes? Ex: place tank mines then switch to light assault?

Tank mines do not disappear if you die or change classes. If you max out your utility pouch you can carry 5 tank mines, which in most cases takes out all but a few sunderers. When using tank mines I just blow them up with my nighthawk. Yes, it causes a suicide, but I feel it is worth it since you gain a lot of points and eliminate a crucial enemy spawn point. If you place new tank mines and your old ones have not detonated, the new replaces the old, oldest placed first.

[Obstruction]

sticky grenades make great detonators for placed explosives, AT mines or C4.

harrasser makes a good carbomb. you can put the C4 in the rumble seat.

also note you can place both AT and AP mines as passive traps and then resupply a third time to carry your C4.

[camycamera]

oh yeah... that' why i cant kill sundies with 2 C4 on the back of it because of the buffed health... DAMNIT.