User blog:Zealot Guy/How to use a armor in BF3

Preparing for combat
If you're going in expecting to be using armor exclusively, pick out your kit. Engineer is probably your best choice. Bring your repair tool, you'll need it. As far as weapons go, a compact weapon for close quarters will be a good choice. When you exit your tank for any reason, your biggest threat will be enemies near by, so think defense when on foot.

As for your tank load out, consider the situations you will most likely encounter. Are you probably going to encounter many opposing tanks? Guided Shells may be a good choice. Is the range of engagement large? Consider Zoom Optics. Will there be many foot soldiers to worry about? Thermal Optics and a Coaxil MG may be in order.

Driving
Although lacking in glamour, a good portion of your time will be spend moving from one place to another. Driving may sound simple, but there are a few easy things that are often over-looked.

For instance:
 * Stick to roads and paths. The last thing you want is to get your tank stuck someplace and have to abandon it. Staying on roads is faster than trying to take a shortcut, too. It also prevents bumpy rides from messing with your view of what's going on around you. Roads also allow you to move faster, reducing the chance of being hit by air units and ground units alike.
 * Look around. Scan the area in front for mines and traps, as well as for enemy forces.
 * Over head cover is something you should plan to use. Get under trees and even inside of large buildings. Enemy air units are a huge threat mainly because it's hard to fight back against them using a tank.
 * Don't drive over big stuff. Like I said before, getting your tank stuck on something is annoying and embarrassing. Just drive around.
 * Use the water. If you're in an IFV, don't forget your vehicle is amphibious and can float.

Tank v. Tank
When it comes to tank-on-tank combat, there are a few rookie mistakes you must avoid if you want to survive. First, nose forward. The sides and rear of the tank are weakly armored unless you have the Reactive Armor on. Even so, the Reactive Armor will break after a hard hit. If your enemy makes this fooling mistake, take the chance to fire on the treads and rear of the tank. If you can, get behind them before engaging. If your have the Guided Shell equipped, make that your first shot.

The smartest thing to do is attempt to cripple the enemy tank without letting yourself be crippled. Once the enemy tank is immobilized, finishing them is easy. Take advantage of your speed to move quickly to their flank for the final blow. Watch the radar to see if the crew attempts to bail. If they do, good, fighting lone foot soldiers is easy when you have a several ton, bullet proof cannon on treads.

Tank v. Infantry
While fighting foot soldiers is easier than fighting against another armored vehicle, it's still very dangerous. Watch out for engineers and support units. As of yet, C4 persists even after death, so a block stuck to your tank is a death sentence. The best thing to do is maintain a distance from the enemy and keep yourself from getting boxed in. If you're going to park yourself while, say, capturing an objective, align yourself with a clear exit path. That way, if the foot soldiers get too close or you suddenly take a hard hit, you have a way to get some distance.

All armored vehicles have a weakness, and that weakness is their enormous blind spots. Anything right next to you as well as directly behind you is difficult to see and impossible to hit. Even things directly in your front can't be hit. You must maintain a distance from foot soldiers or you will be overwhelmed.

Tank v. Aircraft
To put it simple, don't do it. It's generally a bad idea to try and engage aircraft while in a tank for two reasons:

1. They are out of reach. Choppers and jets fly beyond your firing arc when trying to attack you. The best thing you can do is try to get under something because if your tank becomes crippled out in the open, you will lose it.

2. They've got specialized weapons against you. The choppers are designed for air-to-surface combat. The rockets, chain guns, missiles, are all for killing shit on the ground. And so are you. All of your weapons are also designed for attacking ground targets. You are at a major disadvantage.

But you didn't come here to hear me say that. You need a viable means of fighting off air-craft. My personal favorite method is the CITV-Guided Shell combo. Equip your guided shell and have a friend lase the target with the CITV. Then fire away. Choppers are generally too slow and will get killed by the shell by either it hitting them, or crashing trying to avoid it. As for jets, they can usually out-run the shell but it will get them to disengage.

Even if you don't have the guided shell, simply using the CITV to lase enemy choppers causes many players to panic, dump flares, and take evasive maneuvers. If you want to get really fancy with your mind games, don't actually get a lock. The pilot will probably start doing all sorts of tricks to try and avoid being locked on to. Either way, they will disengage.

One more thing
DO NOT, under ANY circumstance, abandon a FUNCTIONING VEHICLE!!!! If you do, I WILL take it and I WILL KILL you with it!!!!! Your ENTIRE TEAM will SUFFER for YOUR MISTAKE!!!!