Why doesn't TR use the Prowler more? No flaming please...

[Cease]

Ok I was thinking about this. Normally when people start talking about why there are no Prowlers they make direct comparisons to the other tanks, but never seem to consider its purpose -- Heavy Armor Support. Let me try to explain where I'm going with this.

The common response is the Prowler doesnt match the firepower of a Vanguard.

"Vanguards can one shot grunts."

Ok, but how often do you see a Vanguard taking one shot and moving to the next target? More often than not if a Vangard shoots at you, they will fire more than one shot to make sure they got ya. The Prowler can kill grunts easily in two hits. I don't really thing the difference in firepower is all the MUCH of a difference in this regard.

And doesn't the fact that so many Magriders don't even have gunners sort of show that for Heavy Armor Support, is a lot more about its prescence than it is about it's firepower?

"Hard to fill all gunner spots on a Prowler."

The MG is a nice addition, but generally adds little in the big picture. All you really need to be effective is 1 gunner for the big guns - same as the other empires.

I guess what I'm really trying to say, is that when I'm gunning for a Vanguard, I'm generally shooting at grunts, AMSs, turrets, doors, etc. While I do shoot at other enemy tanks, the majority of my time is spent shooting at other things other than enemy tanks. Things that the Prowler could be just as effective at shooting.

A question for you Van and Magriders... would you say the majority of your deaths in your tank have been from other tanks? From my experience the majority of my deaths while gunning for a Vanguard has come via mines.

I sat waiting on my turn to come up in the V-Term queue last night on NC/Markov. I was number 16. Out of the 16 vehicles I watched come out - 8 of them were Vanguards. This wasn't some special operation... this was your typical Tuesday night zerg warfare. I've noticed this now a few nights actually. Whenever there is a large queue of vehicles I observe what comes out. The majority of them are Vangards.

I don't think the key here is the cannon firepower so much as it is numbers. Heavy Armor Support DOES make a difference. I've never seen TR even make an attempt to use a Prowler to the extent that the NC and VS do, so I think its "suckiness" might be a little exaggerated.

I remember a while back we had night where my outfit all got Prowlers. We had like 6 fully manned Prowlers. We had a blast and did really well, but this was a "special" night. We went out of our way to get that many Prowlers. Whereas for NC and VS that many tanks is actually quite common.

So to wrap it up, while I agree the Prowler is probably the weaker of the 3 tanks, I still think its VERY much capable of providing Heavy Armor Support if more were used.

Opinions?