I have come to appreciate the team effort that DUST requires to be effective. As of now, the blaster tank is the most feared warfare agent against infantry. Given that DUST is primarily an infantry battlefield, infantry should have the means to neutralize tanks with enough teamwork. Infantry can use forge guns and fluxes to work the shields of a tank but usually mighty madrigals are the culprit with its tough high armor HP and efficient repair modules.

The heavy machine gun and the forge gun are the infantry equivalent of the blaster and rail tank. But I would not dare to say that the swarm launcher is the equivalent of the missile tank. Infantry need something else.

How about an anti-tank guided missile? This would be a heavy bazooka-style weapon that launches a single missile capable of destroying a tank with a direct hit if and only if the tank is low on shields. The missile guidance system will only target tanks marked with the "Attack" squad instruction. No direct line of sight is required. The missile will be able to readjust its trajectory slightly to follow a tank in evasive mode but won't make sharp turns. Although no direct line of sight is required, these are not swarm missiles.

SPECS
Direct damage per missile: 6000 - 8000 (-95% against shields)
Splash damage per missile: 200 - 300 (-95% against shields)
Clip Size: 1
Max Ammo: 2
Charge-Up Time: 3 seconds (to set up the weapon, lock-on via squad instructions required)
Reload time: 8 seconds
Range: 500 m (full trajectory, limited by fuel, explodes automatically if runs out of fuel)
Maneuverability: Low (Wont be able to readjust trajectory to follow dropships or LAV like swarms do).

As far as I can see, this weapon should not take armor tanks on its own but will key in a squad strategy towards such goal. Teammates still need to work together to take care of the target's shields and to re-supply ammo.

Hell no this is a terrible idea....... single shot missile, guided, with 6000 direct damage only favours shield tankers, completely invalidating armour tanks and future armour tanks.....not to mention wholly invalidates a Vehicle players core skills, their fits, and ISK investment.....

I'm all for AV getting some love but that is a ridiculous suggestion.

Right, some of those clowns might survive 6k dmg... make it 10k.

Hell no this is a terrible idea....... single shot missile, guided, with 6000 direct damage only favours shield tankers, completely invalidating armour tanks and future armour tanks.....not to mention wholly invalidates a Vehicle players core skills, their fits, and ISK investment.....

I'm all for AV getting some love but that is a ridiculous suggestion.

Forge guns deal with shield tankers and have the added benefit that can be used against other vehicles as well. It isn't guided because of the speed of the energy blasts. A single, experienced forge gunner can bring hell to a shield tank but have no chance against a good armor tank. These tanks also laugh at swarms which can do 1800 worth of damage por shot with a much precise guidance system.

Moreover, the -95% nerf against shields means that for every 100HP, you nerd the missile damage by 2000. I mean, 200 HP on your tank and this weapon is useless. How long does it takes to recharge 200HP of shields? Precision timing is required to utilize the weapon's full potential. I suggested 6000 because I felt that a good tanker would be able to deal with this. If that's not the case, then reduce the damage to whatever amount makes this weapon useful while giving armor tanks a fair chance. What would that number be in your opinion?

The balance I feel is in the limited maneuverability of the guided missile. The "guided" element is introduced to require squad instructions (which hurts the entire squad that I bet would prefer to keep their bonus donut).

Yes develop a weapon specifically designed to unbalance and wholly invalidate armour ground vehicles....because.....what? You are lazy and can't co-ordinate a half decent AV response.... get in an MLT tank which wholly invalidates the 15M SP I put into my HAV, or that you cannot come up with and suggest some meaningful balances and tweaks to established AV vs Vehicle models?

Here is the thing, shield tanks have to worry about forge guns, I feel that armor tanks have nothing to worry about because swarms are barely effective against them although they are effective against dropships. This weapon will have no chance against dropships and will require pinpoint timing to be effective against armor tanks due to the massive shields nerf and limited maneuverability.

If 6000 damage seems excessive to you, what would be a good number to give both, this weapon and armor tanks, a fair chance?

What armour tanks have is a broken rep system that is now passive, allowing for constant reps at a level that should be exclusively reserved for a short term active module like it used to be.

If Armour reppers went back to being actives like they were we would not see nearly such durable HAV as we do now.

As I say Forges are not Anti Shield Weapon, they are Hybrid Rail Tech, and Hybrid Rail gets efficiency bonuses against Armour..... we have no anti shield AV weaponry.

Adamance is right, quit being jackasses and use your noggin. Your proposed weapon devastates armor tanks, but does nothing to shield tanks. Every single AV weapon currently available does bonus Armor damage, except for the Plasma Cannon (lol) and the Blaster, which can hardly be called AV. What we need is a long range, high-alpha anti-shield weapon, like a Pulse Laser Turret, instead of more generic missile anti-armor weapons.

Here is the thing, shield tanks have to worry about forge guns, I feel that armor tanks have nothing to worry about because swarms are barely effective against them although they are effective against dropships. This weapon will have no chance against dropships and will require pinpoint timing to be effective against armor tanks due to the massive shields nerf and limited maneuverability.

If 6000 damage seems excessive to you, what would be a good number to give both, this weapon and armor tanks, a fair chance?

Forge guns deal with shield tankers and have the added benefit that can be used against other vehicles as well. It isn't guided because of the speed of the energy blasts. A single, experienced forge gunner can bring hell to a shield tank but have no chance against a good armor tank..