Lightning Tank Hunter

[Landtank]

How do you guys feel about the Lightning Tank Destroyer cert option? I searched for a similar thread but found nothing so sorry if this has been brought up.

Personally I think that it would be AWESOME if it had a fixed gun, like a German WW2 Tank Hunter, similar to a StUG or Marder II. Not open turret, but it would be awesome if it had a powerful fixed gun. Very effective defensive vehicle.

Something like this:

But obviously with a more fixed turret, my photoshop skills aren't quite up to par with this particular subject :P

[OutlawDr]

Sounds good, kinda like the old lighting (fixed turret).
Im sure we'll see plenty of similar turret customizations with these types of tradeoffs.

[Bags]

I don't understand why this is appealing.

Originally Posted by OutlawDr

Sounds good, kinda like the old lighting.

The old lightning neither killed tanks nor had a fixed gun.

[Meriv]

Originally Posted by Bags

I don't understand why this is appealing.



The old lightning neither killed tanks nor had a fixed gun.

Which was his role? in PS1

[Bags]

Originally Posted by Meriv

Which was his role? in PS1

The lightning's role was to die to everything except infantry who don't have AV.

[Ajaks]

Originally Posted by Meriv

Which was his role? in PS1

The role of the original lightning was as a light tank/scout but it wasn't very good at the scout part, or the light tank part for that matter. It was too slow to be a real threat to buggies, and it was an easy kill to any armed ground vehicle or anything that flew. Since you couldn't drive it in rexo or carry a passenger and it lacked speed it was a poor choice as a transport. It was only really effective against infantry unless they were carrying AV.

It's 75mm was good for parking it on a hill and spamming into a base, but since it was so weak any kills were from pure luck, it was really more of an easily dealt with nuisance than anything else.

It gained semi-relevance once Oshur broke up since it was the only "armor (I use that term loosely)" allowed there, but it was usually just skeeter/AV/CE bait.

But at the same time I always though the lightning was a fun little tank, as long as you didn't expect anything out of it. Driving/gunning that thing actually took a bit of skill, not alot of skill, but enough to give you a unique experience compared to anything else out there.

[Soothsayer]

Originally Posted by Ajaks

The role of the original lightning was as a light tank/scout but it wasn't very good at the scout part, or the light tank part for that matter. It was too slow to be a real threat to buggies, and it was an easy kill to any armed ground vehicle or anything that flew.

I would say that it was a nemesis to the skyguard because they were roughly the same speed and the skyguard had nothing that it could do against a lightning, short of the gunner bailing and engaging with AV.

Unfortunately, the fury was even better at taking out skyguards, so it lost points in the arms race on that score IMO.

Lightnings were also pretty good against clumps of snipers since snipers were typically away from the armour action that would shred their defenses.

On the OP topic, for me to support a fixed turret on the lightning it would have to be able to one shot a vanguard from head on. And I don't want any veh to be one shotted except maybe for an AV hit on a flash. I voted 5 in the "how many shots to kill a tank" thread. So from that it follows that I don't want a fixed emplacement turret on the lightning.

[OutlawDr]

Originally Posted by Bags

The old lightning neither killed tanks nor had a fixed gun.

Well bags, you see thats why I used the word "kinda" since the turret had limited moment. Also it looks like I beat you to the edit.

Seriously though, a turret with this type of tradeoff and/or thats more effect against tanks than other turrets is a bit of a no brainier. I'm sure we'll see stuff like this.

[Meriv]

Since it is fast and has no armor i would compare it to the french light amxs, more flanking than ambushing like a tank destroyer

[Lorgarn]

While initially I like the idea, but it's most likely an extremely biased opinion since StugIII is one of my favorite tanks of the WWII. I'd have to come back after a bit of thinking. But again, I kind of like the idea initially.

[Landtank]

A powerful fixed gun would be easy to balance, especially considering the lightning's weak armor.

The Tank Destroyer cert is IN the game, I'm just curious as to how it is implemented.

And the lightning was actually very effective, you just had to use it right. Hang back and suppress infantry.

[Bags]

Originally Posted by Landtank

And the lightning was actually very effective, you just had to use it right. Hang back and suppress infantry.

In six years I never saw one used "right". You can't surpress infantry because it dies to like 10 lancer shots and 5 phoenixes.

[GreatMazinkaise]

Originally Posted by Bags

In six years I never saw one used "right". You can't surpress infantry because it dies to like 10 lancer shots and 5 phoenixes.

You could run Lightning swarms pretty effectively, though it was more of a gimmick than a valid tactic.

Most Lightnings were battle taxis and ineffective tower campers.

[Fortress]

Originally Posted by Bags

In six years I never saw one used "right". You can't surpress infantry because it dies to like 10 lancer shots and 5 phoenixes.

I used the lightning quite a bit, and did very well with it. Its only role is being a 12mm sniper tank that hugs friendly base walls while being always in reach of a repair silo. In those conditions, it can rip apart 2-3 outstretched infantry or snipe 1 peeking out of cover before pulling back and repairing. Pull it under any other circumstances at your peril.

That said, putting a fixed gun on it is the worst fucking idea I've ever heard, and will get that poor thing murdered so fast it's nearly incomprehensible.

[Landtank]

Well I never had a problem making it work, not my loss. Anyways, not the topic.

Meriv, while I agree about the speed thing, I feel that that's the original turrets role.

The tank destroyer turret should be different enough to be used in a whole new way.