How to ACTUALLY use the Main Battle Tanks - A BF2042 Guide 

I think it should add towards the scoreboard column which currently tracks ammo resupplies, heals and repairs. Say every 5-10 seconds you have a target tagged you get 1 point here. At least then your efforts will be reflected to your team. Also give them an assist for every kill achieved in the vehicle kill, not just one of them.

100% agree. If I got points and assists for lazzing a target that was killed I would do it a lot more.

There is a setting that passengers can use in the menu so that their aim isn't adjusted by the movement of the vehicle. I don't know what it is called off the top of my head, but it definitely exists! I have been using turret lock for looking around points lately because, as you said, it catches people off guard a lot. Thanks for adding your tips here!

Yeah, I completely agree! I mentioned this in my Wildcat guide and didn't want to repeat myself here. Giving the enemy an extra tank can completely ruin your team's chances of winning. Thanks for your support!

I love SOFLAM interactions. It's one of the instances of teamwork really coming out shining. I would strongly recommend STAFF shells of you have a friend to help. If you are interested in more SOFLAM antics, I made a video with Timeless Gamer where he was a recon, and we were trying a bunch of different tactics for dealing with vehicles. It was an awesome time!

Play bf4 man it has even more depth than 2042

I need to redownload that one on my console and see if anyone is still online. I played the campaign more than multiplayer. BF1 was my first real jump into BF multiplayer.

A friend recently told me about this and he was ashamed that I didn't know about it already xD

Bruh what have I been doing

He's also the best mathemagician I've ever had the pleasure of knowing!

It is such a unique amazing tool in this game and can make enemy armour and choppers fold really quickly. But all of that doesn't matter because no one wants to waste their time doing it to have the rare opportunity to be given a single assist and a little bit of EXP. It's so upsetting! Did you know that if an Engineer hits a SOFLAMed fully manned Condor for the 6-kill, the poor Recon only gets one assist? It's crazy! Thanks for your support Aberbear! Hope you are well!

Thanks for commenting :) I'm really glad that you enjoyed it! I hope it helps!

Thanks! I'm really glad it could help! Hope to see you on the Battlefield!

Thanks man! I'm glad that you enjoyed it!

The staff shells are an absolutely blast. Any opportunity when I have a recon friend tagging vehicles, I will absolutely bust them out! Timeless is great! I'm glad that you agree!

Thanks! I'm glad you enjoyed it! 4:46 - I would normally never bail like this, but I knew I had a passenger so they wouldn't be able to get in. 7:02 - Cabal and I did a test, him with the HEAT and me with the MPAT, the MPAT won, but only by 6 damage. The HEAT is definitely too powerful in my opinion and it is so cheesy xD 17:41 - Fair. I use it if I know I am safe and will often still put down a smoke just to be completely safe.

Thanks Henti, I hope it helps! It was awesome randomly playing with you the other day! Thanks for your support as always!

@@marzipandan767 Yeah it was cool!

Thanks for the support! I'm glad that you enjoyed it!

Thanks! I am very glad that you enjoyed it! Hope it helps :)

Oh yeah, the second seats especially should be constantly on the lookout for Lissiles! I still think Lissiles are good but definitely not overpowered, as some would make you believe.

@@marzipandan767 couldn't agree more from both sides of that fence. I do really well with them and they are very effective but I never find myself being oppressed by them when in armour, they're much more lethal against aircraft since you can't tank the first shot. It is mostly balanced though since aircraft are much harder to hit. The only issue I have with them is the desync which makes them sometimes appear to be somewhere they're not but that's something that affects the user too

@@damienmcdonald7610 Yeah I am really hoping they can fix that or make it much better for the people who have it really hard. It's frustrating when it happens but I'm lucky enough that it doesn't happen to me too much. Whenever I am nailed out of the sky by the Lis I am always fine with it. They outplayed me and I failed to dodge them. It is totally fair!

@@marzipandan767you gonna do vids for other heavy amour vehicles to?

@killerfroggaming6397 we'll see. I'm working on something now, which I'm pretty excited about. But I've got so much footage to go through that it's gonna take a while to come out.

Thanks for the kind words! I'm glad that you were able to get something out of it! I appreciate the sub!

Thanks for commenting! It is always reassuring when people who know the tanks inside and out agree with this!

That would have been a big mistake xD I think it would have detonated it.

I think APS is much more valuable because of things like Attack choppers and 25mm APDS on the CAV both tools which will tear through you very quickly if you don't have APS. In most cases when you activate it if it deflects more than one projectile, you'll get more out of it than repair. Repair can also be interrupted which can be quite significant if the enemy has some sort of weapon that pings for a small amount of damage, like Anti-Armour bullets or 25mm passenger cannon on the Attack chopper. Just my thoughts though, definitely use what you think works best for your play style. I agree the other smokes are very underwhelming. Thermal is completely better, especially since Javelins are common and do very good damage. You are welcome! I think knowing the numbers is very important so you can figure out what you want to do. It is worth noting that they are not the be all and end all. For example, the HE rounds shoot much faster than MPAT rounds, so they are much closer in damage to the MPAT... They are pretty OP in my opinion xD STAFF are a blast if you have a dedicated spotter. If you have a friend you can convince to spot for you, I would strongly recommend it for a few games! Thanks for the great long comment!

Thanks! I'm glad that you enjoy them :)

Thanks! I'm always happy to have people who understand these weapons jump in and agree. It's very reassuring! Oh absolutely, if you've ever been randomly one shot by a rocket, a bit of loose C5 is mostly likely the culprit. Or if you've ever been killed by a pistol in a tank, they shot C5, and it counted as a kill with the pistol.

I completely agree with keeping moving, C5 is so deadly to MBTs. It's a little lessened since the movement buffs, since you can stop and start much faster. I think it is much easier to get tunnel vision with the secondary weapons for sure, but I think if you can train yourself to avoid doing it, you'll be glad to use the secondary.

It really is a good idea to get into switching to your machine gun while reloading and once you get into leading your shots with it, it becomes quite deadly. Happy gaming anyway 👍

I did a test yesterday to check this and you are right, the damage differences are quite minor when you consider the increased rate of fire of the HEAT rounds. Me and Cabal both took tanks, I had MPAT and he had HEAT, we raced each other with shots to the side until one of us died. The MPAT shells won, but it was only by 4 health, which is a much smaller victory than I was expecting. I will say the HEAT do have a disadvantage when it comes to dealing with longer ranged targets since the rounds drop very rapidly. Also they cannot one shot aircraft, which is something I love doing with the MPAT shells. But yeah, HEAT rounds are pretty great. I still think they are too easy to use against infantry :/

@@marzipandan767 oh yeah that drop is tough, I like to run away in those situations and try to find a closer firing position.

Thanks I appreciate the support :) I am glad you enjoued them!

I agree 100% with what you are saying, but they feel so cheesy to use. You hardly have to aim them at all, you are practically guaranteed the kills against infantry. Cabal and I did a test, MPAT vs HEAT in a 1v1 tank slug-fest and at the end the MPAT won but with only 4 health remaining. I honestly think that the HEAT shells shouldn't be that effective against vehicles.

Fair, but what are your second and third seats? The HEAT rounds are amazing, and honestly a little broken. They should be much weaker vs armour than they currently are :/

Thanks Timeless! Could you elaborate on what you mean by a dedicated gunner?

Oh right sorry -- what I meant was if we could have a mode where tank play was like "Hell Let Loose" whereby one player controlled the main turret i.e. was a dedicated gunner vs the driver / gunner combo we have now. Just think it would be fun, especially if you could change shells and use more advanced functionality :D Like I say silly pipe dream, never going to happen.@@marzipandan767

I completely agree. They dropped the ball in 2042 in this respect, considering that one of BFs unique aspects was how you could shape the map through destruction. Even up to BFV, the destruction was great. They just focused on bad aspects during development, like the tornado.

It's just a waste :/ And it is sad to see so many people resort to it. Thanks for the comment elf!

I think destructible environments is one of the major areas of improvement which I would like to see in the next iteration. It was one of the main reasons I picked up battlefield to begin with, so I really hope the current DICE notices that it is an important feature. Thanks for the comment!

Haha thanks! I appreciate you saying so!

Well, I hope that this video can help in some way. It's still very difficult, but with practice, you can minimize your risk and learn to help support your team with them! Hopefully, the upcoming movement changes will make the MBT way more viable! I appreciate your support!

Sometimes if I see there is one available on the spawn screen, I'll quickly drop to a point on the map, pull up the tablet and call it in. It doesn't work all of the time, since other people sometimes get it, but it works often enough. I wish there was a way of knowing what was available without having to pull the tablet up.

It's so risky. If they steal your tank, it is so bad for your team. I'll only do that if I have a passenger so that I know it won't get stolen.

@@marzipandan767 and the worst part is you will not gotta play tank again till it's destroy.

Thanks man! I was lucky that the enemy TOW player didn't notice my APS. If they had hit that, I would have lost for sure! Yeah, not everyone is super aware of the tools on these vehicles, and that is a shame.

Thanks man! I'm glad to hear you enjoyed it! Thanks for commenting!

​@@marzipandan767 can the gunner o spotter use the soflam like in BF4?

They can be countered by flares and thermal smoke if you use their lock on. They can also be countered by APS, but so can ever tank shell. Only the CAV, the TOR, and MBTs have access to APS. The great thing about STAFF shells with a lock on is you can shoot (and hit) without line of sight, provided your recon spotter keeps them tagged. Give them a try if you can have a dedicated recon :)

@@marzipandan767 that is so informative. Thanks!

@@deepblue2 I'm glad I could help :)

Bro... I was making a pass with a jet at the same time a vehicle was spawning from the sky, hit me, brought the jet nose down, and I crashed. not a good outcome when you are in a dogfight :(

Man, I would have loved to see that from the ground, I bet it would have looked amazing xD

@@marzipandan767 I just can't describe how I was angry at myself for so many times that happened

@@cyclonous6240 It's easier than you would think to do. There are too many distraction on the BF, and sometimes you just get squished by your own drop xD

Thanks for the support as always Golden! Hope you enjoyed the video!

@@marzipandan767 I’ve found more success being aggressive with the TOR if I’m vehicle hunting, but I think that’s because I do not have a competent squad willing to play in a tank to use all the seats effectively, especially the mortar/turret slots. For taking out infantry, the RAM usually feels better to use given its excellent survivability and the 105mm howitzer melting infantry. So I’ve always found the MBTs to be in a sort of rock and a hard place. They’re a bit of a jack of all trades assault vehicle when kitted out and crewed. Almost like a mini-MAV for your squad.

@@Goldendroid I'm always happy when I see a TOR out of spawn actually playing it as intended! Good work with that! The EMP grenade it comes with is also amazing to just completely counter enemy armour. I do think MBT are in a weak state. I'm looking forward to the update coming soon, just the increased acceleration and turn speed are going to improve them so much!

Thanks for the lovely comment! I really appreciate your support. I do have a few more BF videos in me, but I must warn you that 2042 content is definitely drying up, and with it, a lot of the interest in these videos is slowing down. This isn't just happening to me, but seemingly all BF creators. So unless something changes, I'll likely have to look for greener pastures. I really enjoy making videos so I'll probably keep at it, but I'm just letting you know that it might start to deviate from BF content.

You mean how do you use the 3rd person mode in vehicles. I'm not sure on console but on PC, you use the C key.

@@marzipandan767 thx 👍

It's the prevalence of C5. Too many classes have access to it, and it's too effective. Considering that DICE's stance on vehicles/infantry balance is that it should be very hard to solo kill vehicles as infantry, it's very odd to me that C5 is as strong as it is. I genuinely think it should be changed or removed from some classes.

⁠@@marzipandan767well it’s not just that, the aiming, the customization and amount of equipment you can use, the way the tanks move, everything feels less responsive, doesn’t feel as snappy as on bf4, and I’m playing on controller btw

It is high risk, I agree, but you have to admit that it is much easier to use than the launchers, and right now, it dominates as most users' anti-tank choice. I just think that it doesn't promote good play from the user or the victim, and with some tweeks, it could make the game much more enjoyable for everyone. Just my thoughts, obviously, you can disagree. Thanks for commenting!

C5 is only high risk on certain specialists. Believe me if c5 wasn’t available on spiderman and flying squirrel I wouldn’t be all that upset getting killed by it because at that point I didn’t properly check my surroundings. As things stand c5 is an ez win gg button when using those two. Trust me the overwhelming majority of my tank deaths are due to the spiderman/flying squirrel C5 cheese. I rarely lose battles against other tanks and the only other threat are engineers specifically lis but I know how to shoot down lissiles. Plus if I get in a very bad spot I just pop APS to blast the rockets I cannot shoot/dodge. Its always been c5 thats my biggest killer. You know how easy it is to kill the average tanker when a tank shows up and everyone starts running TOWARDS the tank not away.

Occasionally, yes, xD his ticks include Angel's, who don't know how to use his loadout crate, people who use the jets as taxis, and people who abandon vehicles.

@@marzipandan767 all I do is gun for people @ImYourGunner and I completely understand the rage. Either they use them as taxis, they drive into the middle of everything, or they try to be xXSniperTank420Xx

GUILTY :< lol

@@marzipandan767 :

@@AiR1DaN When I was recording for my passenger seat guide found myself in streamers MBT on the mortar POD. I thought to myself "This is going to be some great footage". They then proceeded to climb on a hill in our spawn and camp the whole game. I checked while I was playing, and they were streaming this... I think they got something like 11K 0D. I can't think of a worse stream to watch xD

The ram is one of my favourite vehicles I wouldn't say the rockets are I direct upgrade since the MPAT refreshes much faster and has higher velocity, the main advantage the rocket pods is the higher burst damage but only if you hit all of your shots. I think they're both really good at different things and are both capable at fighting pretty much anything

@@damienmcdonald7610 I swear the rockets have a faster velocity, but I could be wrong! What I'm getting at, is the missiles are much better against infantry, whereas the MPATs are just average.

@@ToasterTron2000 yeah I do agree, they have decent splash damage and the fact that they burst fire is pretty handy too. I think the ram is better against infantry in general with it being much faster and more agile and it has APS too. It is also great against other armour as long as you play smart using cover and sneak attacks. I have tier 1 with the ram, m1a5, t28, nightbird, Apache and hokum they're all great vehicles in the right hands

Well said! I personally am a wildcat main. Run it with 30mm and anti tank missiles. Let's you creep up on aircraft so you can actually kill them.@@damienmcdonald7610

The agility of the RAM is really what makes it an absolute force! If you can keep moving whenever you start to take too much fire, you can absolutely crush enemy teams. More people need to use the team deploy beacon that it comes with! That being said, it only takes 2 MPAT shells to kill you in a RAM. So if you don't have APS up or don't get away fast enough, you aren't going to last long.

They come back after a replenish time, which varies from round to round. You can see the circle in the bottom right after you fire the round, which indicates how long left until a round is replenished. For example HEAT rounds take much longer than MPAT rounds. Hope this helps!

I think two main things changed: 1. They made the tank turret speed restricted. This means you can't just whip the turret around 180. Which I think is a sensible choice honestly. 2. They made the acceleration of larger vehicles way too slow. It does look like the upcoming changes to vehicles will make this much better. I am hoping that it makes tanks more viable. Hell, just looking at how much smoother they turn gives me lots of hope!

Is that true? It does far less damage…

The rate of fire increase isn't enough to make up for the damage loss. Also at longer ranges you'll really notice the drop and slower velocity making it much harder to hit distant vehicles and aircraft

@@Goldendroid No, it is an objectively false statement.

I have never lost a duel with a enemy tank using heat shells. Hell I take out tanks using HEAT+TOW and they never had a chance of taking me out. The only threat a mbt can pose to another mbt is MPAT. I have only ever had a enemy MBT engage me with STAFF like twice.

I did a test yesterday to check this and you aren't wrong here, it is pretty 'even'. The HEAT shells put up a very competitive fight with their increased rate of fire, but the MPAT shells sill came out victorious (albeit barely). Me and Cabal both took tanks, I had MPAT and he had HEAT, we raced each other with shots to the side until one of us died. The MPAT shells won, but it was only by 4 health, which is a much smaller victory than I was expecting. It's quite a shocking. I will say that the MPAT shells are better at range since they don't drop quite as much and the HEAT shells cannot one shot aircraft, which is quite disappointing. But yeah, thanks for commenting this! It was a good thing for me to check. I do think the HEAT shells are still a bit OP vs infantry, considering you barely have to aim.

I completely agree, spawn camping tanks are the worst, and I am not sure why there isn't some kind of timer for the spawn zone. It really is a waste of a tank :/

I agree for the most part but people camp with tanks because the moment they ptfo they are insta killed by the supremely OP infantry.

I agree xD Someone on reddit the other day said this exact same thing, and this was my response: ------------------------------------ Real talk. I don't disagree. Hear me out. DICEs intention clearly is that vehicles should be a team effort to take care of (or it should be really difficult to solo them). You can see this in their design philosophy with Engineers in this game. You CAN solo tanks as an engineer, but it's difficult. The exception to this philosophy is C5. You can solo everything other than the CAV with three pieces (two if you get the rear of most vehicles). What is worse is they give C5 to everyone (other than medics), and it is so effective that almost all Assualt and Recon (and even a lot of engineers) are guaranteed to be equipped with them meaning that so many of their interesting tools don't get used. You want to know why no one plays with the SOFLAM because it's so much more efficient and effective to equip C5 and just banzai rush a vehicle than to use a tool that relies on teamplay. I also think that it is way too easy to use compared to other AT options. I'm a fan of the high skill, high reward way of thinking. C5 also encourages crap behavior in tanks since many players will just resort to camping with these vehicles since they know that getting close and playing the objective usually just end in a C5 death, because it gives no warning and tanks are too slow to react to the speed of C5. It is too effective compared to other weapons. I think a nerf could look like one of the following (not all): -Have its damage decreased but increased if thrown on the rear. This means you can still get the kill, but you need to be more tactical about it and can't just run in for an easy suicide attempt. -Only allow one class to run it. I don't care which class. It just sucks that everyone has it. Anything so that it is less prevalent. - Reduce the throwing range so it requires players to get much closer in order to secure the kill. Feel free to disagree with me. Hell, feel encouraged. But I agree with this post. -------------------------------------------------------- Another way to nerf would be as you suggested, maybe they could work like the rocket launchers, you start with 2 but can carry 3? So, it encourages you to work with a support player to get some ammo first?

@@marzipandan767 I do like the sound of the reduced damage for non tactical placements and the reduced carry capacity. It makes sense for engineers to carry it (although I find AT mines so much more fun now) but I'll admit I do like to have it when I play Mackay or Sundance. I think another good idea would be to make it only sticky when placed and if thrown it just bounces off since it's not THAT sticky right?

@@damienmcdonald7610 None sticky could be a good idea too! Just have it roll off of moving vehicles? Either way I think more players being encouraged to try different strategies would be much healthier for the game.

@@damienmcdonald7610Mackay and Sundance having c5 is the exact reason why vehicle gameplay is abysmal.

@@marzipandan767Agree on all but I would modify one point, assault cannot be allowed to have c5. Anything to get the most op anti tank option out of the hands of the two most broken specialists with practically zero counterplay options. Preferably only engineer should have c5. Make em pick between rockets or c5. All your other points are great.

I don't agree. I think vehicles can be strong in the right hands, but people can also get really good at dealing with vehicles. BF isn't a Milsim, it's an arcade-y FPS which takes some of the realism out for convenience/fun sake and I kind of prefer that. A lot of BF competitors lean into the realism too much for my liking. I get that those games are perfect for others, but for me the BF series lies in that perfect spot.

@@marzipandan767 i know its an arcade shooter, but dice has said it themselves that they want squad play and they dont want tanks to be taken out by just 1 person. But 1 person in a tank can take out entire squads? theres balancing issues that makes the game not as fun and why this game dosn't have a ranked mode and never has. I like battlefield being arcady but having huge advantages because youre in a chopper farming and get 60+ kills in a game or a tank getting 40+ kills just isnt fun. I love infantry gameplay but i find im often just in a chopper or vehicle since theyre so over powered.