I got on today to play a few matches, but I'm at an absolute loss.

I got destroyed so easily. Unmanned Installations shot at me from a ridiculous distance, and there was seemingly nothing I could do about it. Lord knows I didn't have the firepower to destroy them myself, so I had to resign to staying as far away from them as I could. The problem with this though was that THEY WERE EVERYWHERE. There was no escaping them.

Then there were the AVers. Oh Lord, I've never been so frustrated over a lack of game balance. I know that the top Tanks can cost around 1 million ISK. Why is it then that AV is dirt-cheap in comparison? Any regular Joe can pull out AV and turn me into scrap metal. What particularly annoyed me was the AV Grenades. They destroyed my so called 'Tank' in 3 seconds flat.I had no time to escape, and even my Modules were useless. WHAT USE IS A TANK THAT CAN'T ACTUALLY ENGAGE INFANTRY?!?!

I'm finding it incredibly hard to make a profit, even by running Militia Tanks. All I have remaining is 3 Somas and 907 ISK. I don't know what I can do: I'm at my wits end.

Where am I to go from here?

Absolute drivel.

Knock out all of the turrets you possible can young tanker. All they serve to do is allow an enemy team control of a specific area if captured. Turrets are are in my opinion one of the most limiting factors of where you can operate your HAV, especially areas within sight of Railgun Installations.

When piloting spend your time learning the maps so that you get a greater understanding of which kind of turrets cover which specific areas and which bits of terrain you can use as cover while still remaining active on the field. Perhaps you can develop a process for certain maps where you deploy a Railgun tank initially to destroy specific turrets that you find most hindering, after which you deploy your main tank and use those thoroughfares freely.

In fact I am absolutely sure I saw you in a tank over the weekend driving first a blaster tank and then a rail tank after I ambushed you.

Soma before the tank changes were ******* awful....hell they still are. I spent a game mauling some poor tankers trying to make their Soma a presence on the battlefield....... it did not go well for them at all.

I'm currently using a 500,000K ISK Advanced HAV and usually averaging around about 300,000 ISK per match in gains. Not often I lose a tank unless I am doing something particularly unintelligent since I usually limit myself to 1 HAV per day before logging off.

Can most often make 900,000-1.2M ISK per day before losing that HAV.

I normally deal with them with a Blaster using a hillside or terrain feature as cover with the intention of being able to pop in and out of cover, destroy the turret, and not have to use my Armour Hardener.

That being said at your stage of the game it might be best to use a Railgun to destroy them from a distance, recall your HAV, and then bring out that tank you would normally use without the risk of turrets. Play around with your fits and make specific variations of your tanks for certain roles. Don't feel like you have to stay in one tank for the whole match once you have called it in.

Also just one quick tip for you as a new player......

'Never treat your HAV as if it can tank damage even if it can'

As counter intuitive as it sounds I try to treat my HAV as though it were not able to sustain a large amount of damage this is why rather that moving into open terrain I prefer to sit in sockets, behind hills, or near other forms of cover. The best way to tank damage is to not be hit in the first place.

Also if fighting another tank, especially an Armour HAV, never rush in always try to have a plan in mind.

E.G- Take a Shield HAV.......they have no barrel depression which means they cannot aim down without driving onto something to angle the hull. Pulling a Shield Tank onto rough terrain where you can end up below their turret will secure your a win. Consequently if you ever wish to drive shield tanks.....DON'T EVER GO INTO ROUGH TERRAIN, if you have to always try to be on equal level or lower than the enemy.

I had a very good match today by following True Adamance's advice. At the beginning of the match, I called in a Rail Tank and set about destroying as many Installations as I could. I managed to destroy 3, then I retreated and called in a Blaster Tank. I played smart and managed to get 8 kills! I also skilled into Enanced Armour Mods, and I'm now running two Enhanced Armour Hardeners on my Madrugar G-1. It's nice because my cooldown time doesn't feel so long.

I only lost one Tank, and so I managed to make about 60K profit. I lost the Tank though to a Grimsnes which had a passenger who was manning a Railgun. It chased me all across the map and stayed above me so that I couldn't shoot at it. Whenever I was able to briefly position myself so that I could shoot at it, it would just fly up again. Eventually, I drove past some Swarmers who weakened me enough for the Grimsnes to get the last shot in.

Any advice on how to counter Drophips like these?

Mail me in game later today or other day.
I'm usually online around 18-20 EVE Time.

We can squad up, have a chat etc. Grab other tankers and we might do something cool.