Tips for urban armored combat?

[morant]

I struggle with armor in and around urban areas, particularly when supporting an AO. Always tend to get easily destroyed from close in. 

Any tips to help me be more effective with a tank when fighting in a town? I know teaming up with infantry and operating together is ideal, but let's not pretend that it happens frequently. 

[jwilly]

7 hours ago, morant said:

I struggle with armor in and around urban areas, particularly when supporting an AO. Always tend to get easily destroyed from close in. 

Any tips to help me be more effective with a tank when fighting in a town? I know teaming up with infantry and operating together is ideal, but let's not pretend that it happens frequently. 

This of course is a game, but CRS has made an effort to make it realistic.

It's realistic for tanks to be easily killed by infantry in urban environments.

Sounds like you're having a realistic experience.

Quote

I know teaming up with infantry and operating together is ideal

You're already aware of the best tactic for staying alive longer.

An alternate tactic is, operate with other tanks, which cover you and each other.

[jwrona]

My advice? Ask to follow/watch the best tanker you’re online with. You’ll start to learn when they charge the town and when they stay back.
 

if you can’t, Finding a friendly FMS to park nearby is good: friendlies will flow in front of you, killing off things as they run out, you got a good ammo supply right there, and if something starts cutting them down, you can support the infantry. 
 

The biggest mistake I see, by both allies AND axis, in all the tiers: parking in front of the AB gate or something before CPs are even hot. Remember with each CP capped, the likelihood of being killed by inf/atg’s goes down as there’s a limited number of places they can spawn from. Let’s say you can view the inf spawns and the veh spawn in an AB: they still can bring paks, sappers, etc out of depots behind you. 
 

and unless you’re engaging things or driving right down Main Street, for the love of god, use your #2!

[undercova]

13 hours ago, morant said:

I struggle with armor in and around urban areas, particularly when supporting an AO. Always tend to get easily destroyed from close in. 

Any tips to help me be more effective with a tank when fighting in a town? I know teaming up with infantry and operating together is ideal, but let's not pretend that it happens frequently. 

Spawn a Sherman ! 

[fidd]

My advice is to never be the "tank guy in front", position only behind friendly FMS's, and never enter a town itself unless all cp's are friendly. If you kill an ei with a tank, the very next thing he spawns will be a sapper, ATR, ATG or RPAT, with the specific purpose of killing your tank. The only way to prevent that is for him having to spawn well away from you, which basically means the AB. Actually I think outside of town is every bit as dangerous as inside town, due to bush-tunnels and heavily foliaged terrain. It is a "quality" of this terrain that all engagement ranges (in flat-terrain) tend to be very short in any case, and once RPATS are in (bazookas etc), in our current terrain, any tank is exceedingly vulnerable unless he has a good screen of infantry ahead of him, and to the sides. That's why I enjoy fighting with the British CS tanks, they force you to be much more circumspect about entering a town full of RPATS, ATG's and enemy armour, and if you're to support your infantry, that necessarily puts you behind your own FMS's.

The other wheeze is to use a CS vehicle to follow a regular tank around, clearing ATG's sappers and RPATS, that might engage him. That's a bit more dicey if he enters town.

Edited February 18, 2021 by fidd