- last post: 01.01.0001 12:00 AM PDT
nice suggestion, but a cautionary tale:
My first few days in halo PC Multiplayer were a series of transitions. Aside from learning to shoot all over again, i had to learn to fight vehicles all over again. On Xbox, the ghost is murder to a tank. The 360 trick described above works perfectly, as the tank turret turns slower than it does in Halo PC, even with scroll speed turned all the way up. Your ghost can actually "outrun" a turning tank turret indefinatly in Halo Xbox. But in Halo PC, this has changed. The tank turns considerably faster, and its turret too.
As mentioned in the guides, most people use shees to fight tanks now, and vice versa. Aside from being slightly faster than the nimble ghost, they have a much wider range of movement. An erratic flyer can get right over the top of a tank, above the axis of his shot, and stay there. Turning his nose straight down, the shee pilot can then tear into the tank with a will close or long range, only moving as the tank pulls backwards to bring him back into firing position.
That trick, coupled with the Fuel rod to knock out a tank's shields, is the most used method for hitting a tank unawares. I say unawares because you have to get into that cozy down the throat shot position. A good tanker is always moving these days, to avoid the sniper scenerio also described above. Most will spot you now, making it a race between the shee to get safely overhead and the tank to get a sweet spot kill.
There are times, though, when a shee is not available. But this doesn't leave you without options. Heavy weps are your best friends against a tank. the Fuel rod can typically kill in three shots; the rocket in one. If you miss the sweet spot and the tank is still moving, swap to pistols. His shields and health are already down so its better to finish him now and risk dying in the process than jump skulk around waiting for the rocket to reload, the fuel rod to cool off, etc, while the tank recharges his shields, gets his wits about him, or just plain gets mad enough to storm you and take his chances.
While not as proficient as I'd like to be (everyone has a weakness) the Rocket hog can serve as a decent tank buster as well. You need to get closer to the tank than most sane drivers want to...then again; tank busting in an overgrown jeep is not a job for sane people, now is it?
The ghost has passed to the bottom rung of the tactics laddar for me. While still capable of killing a tank, she doesn't have the non-shielded firepower to finish the job quickly. But the 360 trick can still work (sort of) as well as other things. Instead of circling the tank forever (or trying to) close as close as you can with the tank and unload right in his face. the tank has a wide skirt (the area around it upon which it cannot hit anything) so a vehicle close enough and small enough--and nimble enough--might avoid the fire from it's turret. For the 360 trick, hit him just long enough for his shields to fall--and dismount. With luck and timing, the tank driver will continue tracking your ghost, giving you the extra time to bring your pistol to bear for a fast no shield kill. Or, lol, if you have a fuel rod, you've just made yourself a poor man's Banshee.