There is no way to balance vehicles when they compete for the same role as a dropsuit. All versions of a role need to be equally powerful or you need to use the best one to be competitive. Right now blaster tanks are the best fitting for slaying infantry. Try an Ambush match if you still require convincing. MLT Somas cost about what any other ADV suits cost, are more powerful than any PRO suit, and require zero SP. STD HAVs bump the price, SP, and power level. That's why ADV and PRO vehicles are totally unthinkable. You can't balance these two as long as they are sharing the same role.

It's not just tanks though, dropships need to stop competing with infantry for kills and start assisting infantry make assaults. I've said it many times before, but it bears repeating. The best weapon a dropship has is a squad of mercs armed to the teeth.

Differentiation is a good idea.

Why does a game get boring? Because it doesn't have enough challenges to master. DUST has one basic game mode and one way to achieve it. Slay infantry by shooting face with the highest DPS available. Fun for a while, but it pales after a few months. Give vehicles new roles of their own and you vastly expand a players options for fun AND make combat more complex and fun for everyone.

It's going to require game development.

Without destructible environments tanks won't have much to do. Defenders need to be in possession of fortifications at he start of a match to give them a reason to blow stuff up and breach walls.

Communication will need to be improved before a dropship pilot can entice and load assault squad for an effective drop, especially in public matches.

We will need new game modes that either require or benefit greatly from vehicle use. We need infantry rooting for vehicles on their side, not cursing them for hogging all the kills.

You will know when you have gotten it right because you will be able to lift all artificial vehicle limits.

You won't find six tanks in Ambush and you may find none, simply because players won't have much to do in one. In other modes you will find a natural balance as players decide for themselves that there are already enough of some type of vehicle for the job and they would find slim pickings if they called in another.

CCP, please acknowledge you understand this vital point.

You simply can't have one class of infantry killing suit that splits its opponents into two classes, one that can't touch it, and the other that can, but now at a big disadvantage to defending itself against other infantry.

That split magnifies its advantage over enemy infantry by splitting it into two groups. If you chose a weapon capable of fighting the tank you are still vulnerable to the tank but now you make yourself even more vulnerable to other infantry.

The tank suit doesn't have to make any choice. It is equally effective at killing AV infantry as it is killing AI infantry.

Thats because infantry is still infantry

A guy with a PLC is the same guy with swarms who is the same guy with a FG, they are all meat in a bag

As for no adv/pro hulls then its going to stay like this, you really think vehicle pilots in std hulls will like to get instablapped by proto AV? if you want that you should back to pre 1.7 days when that was the norm

We have proto mods/turrets but no hulls, infantry on the otherhand have proto everything

If im fighting tanks i can use rails, they are crap at killing infantry, if i want infantry dead il use the blaster but i give up my tank bashing ability

Whats the problem?

You don't really give up your tank bashing ability with blasters. You can still fight tanks as well as infantry. Plenty of people manage it as the blaster tank can take advantage of its turret speed to dance around a rail tank and stay away from its main gun.

Tanks are just meat inside a small bag inside another bag.

The problem is the blaster tank is great at everything while its main opponent is crippled against it.

The problem is demonstrated by the fact that we have a vehicle cap and without it we would get Ambush matches with 100% tanks on at least one side. When you have to artificially limit a role you know it's OP.

So now you think you know how to tank? Problem is, doing that doesn't work on a real tanker.

The problem is, he can't destroy you with his AR.

Just to address one small point in your post.

Anyone who suggests adding the tier system to vehicles does not represent the opinions of the rest of us as nominally sane vehicle users.

Vehicle tiers would be hillaribad, and anyone who argues that is not worth listening to.

You don't really give up your tank bashing ability with blasters. You can still fight tanks as well as infantry. Plenty of people manage it as the blaster tank can take advantage of its turret speed to dance around a rail tank and stay away from its main gun.

Tanks are just meat inside a small bag inside another bag.

The problem is the blaster tank is great at everything while its main opponent is crippled against it.

The problem is demonstrated by the fact that we have a vehicle cap and without it we would get Ambush matches with 100% tanks on at least one side. When you have to artificially limit a role you know it's OP.

Yes i do

I do not have a blaster which can inflict over 1k of pure dmg against another tank, against a shield tank or even a maddy if i cant break the regen or the rep rate i wont kill it, i would need help from AV or another tank or even an ADS

We had a vehicle cap when vehicles were pure crap, what does that prove?

It doesn't matter if another tank can counter you or not, that question is irrelevant. Lets just say I concede your point and rail tanks are your natural predator that you can never escape.

Your role then is 100% AI. You compete directly with infantry for infantry kills. Therefore your fitting must be balanced with any other person playing that role. That means you are just as vulnerable one-on-one with any other infantry unit. No fair saying that only some small percentage of infantry can hurt you when you can hurt them all. No fair saying that if they can hurt you they can't hurt other infantry.

Forget for a moment the outward aspects of your suit and concentrate on the role. Design the balance with the thought that your opponent gets to chose which role you play and which role he plays after you make your choices. If you make one all powerful he will chose that and give you the weak one. Do that honestly and you will see that tanks can't be AI focused and still remain recognizable as tanks.

Last i checked a Tank isnt an Infantry suit

I may compete with infantry for infantry kills but thats because i fitted up my tank to do so with enough defense to try and keep of a tank attack or live long enough for backup

New eden isnt fair

Outward appearance aside, your blaster tank is playing the part of a dropsuit. It shares the same game role of infantry slayer as any other dropsuit. The role is the relevant factor here, not the shape.

When someone chooses to shoot others in the face they have the option of many suits. Each has different strengths and weaknesses, but all are somewhat balanced against each other such that there is no clear winner. You can go heavy, Assault, or Scout depending on your play style.

Or you can go blaster tank. It fills the same role.

If you go that route you get a fitting with far more eHP, DPS, and speed than any other option. It is immune to the majority of your opponent's weapons. It's so superior that there is no reason not to choose it if you want to win the fight.

There is a reason Ambush is a tank fest, it's the clear choice. So yeah, keep it the same and we will get DUST WoT.

If multi-level cities solve everything we can eliminate vehicle caps and everything will be fine because nothing will be so demonstrably better that everyone will want to use it.

But no, most levels are dominated by open ground.

Tanks as they are today aren't meant to go hunting infantry one at a time. That's not their role. They don't use their main gun to kill one infantry unit at a time. So why do DUST tanks do that? Because CCP doesn't have a real role for them, that's why.