I think its time again to revisit supply crates and how they screw up the battlefield and how to resolve it.

First, what are supply crates? They are that grey box that the CO can drop anywhere. As an SL, you can use the "t" key and use the commo rose and request supplies in single player and multiplayer games.

What do supply crates do? They repair health, give supplies (clips, nades, heavy ammo), and repair all types of armor. That includes railguns, FAVs, and CO assets. The only repairable object they will not repair is other supply crates.

How are supply crates used? This is a commonality that most supply crates are used for repairing armor. This tends to be the most benificial since armor repair (engineers) are the hardest to find and mid-infantry maps. Your always within earshot of a medic and usally a support. This is also the same reason armor pilots should be their own engineer. But some novice COs and upon request will drop supplies for infantry squads. This is most commonly used for supplies only. The medical benifits are overshadowed by the over use of medics on our server.

There also serves a second us of supply crates to use as a step to jump to commonly out of reach places. They can also be used to block paths that FAVs commonly travel in hope to destroy or 'flip' the FAV and discontinue it's progress.

The point?

The point of this thread is to discuss supply crates and how they can cause you trouble. Usally you'll find enemy armor sitting on crates for continued repair. This yeilds a sit and bombard tactic you commonly find on Berlin and Camp G. Since 1 engineer will not be able to out shoot the repair rate of 1 supply create on front armor. Even if you manage side armor shots. They'll usally either kill you before your 2nd shot, or they'll retreat and repair quickly with the aid of the supply crates.

This poses a major problem on 2 fronts. First you have a makeshift goliath effectivly removing attritional damage. That'll require atleast 2 engieers working together to overcome. More if there are more supply crates. 2nd. This causes a wall to overcome. Supply crates allow armor to sit and built a rally point for the enemy team to work from. It causes your team to take a treached position and become worried about your movements into view. This causes your defensive bonuses to falter and mean next to nothing.

The basic idea, is to destroy the crates. This causes the repairs to be done by the driver or on demand. This limits the tactical defense of armor since attrition becomes a factor to any AT hit. Even hits for 10 damage begin to add up and become a worry. Anything below 55% can cause you to easly become a single hit target.

Overall, always destroy crates first before you shoot the enemy armor!

Sometimes you need to worry about uses of a crate. Can I benifit from it? Usally enemy dropped crates are to far away to be of any use and should always be destroyed on site. But sometimes they are smack in the middle of the road between flags. I find this crates a double win. They are great for you and allows you to place a farther defensive line. 2ndly, they provide a bait point and draw out enemy armor into the open, making them easier targets. Crates in the 2nd case don't play as much of factor since the flanks of this armor are more open and overcome the repair rates much easier.

When in doubt, do you have the flag? Leave it. Is it an enemy flag? Destroy the crate.

Since most crates are unreachable, how does one destroy them? Easy. Everyting causes damage to a crate in the same fassion a walker takes damage on its vents. Although some weapons will destroy it much faster.

The best way to destroy crates are engineer AT weapons. Since the crate doesn't move, they are easy targets for pilums and rockets. Armor main and secondary weapons also serve as great ways to remove these pests. Walkers and tanks main cannons make quick work. The walker's rockets also work, but have trouble hitting the target due to the natural motion of the rockets. The tank's secondary MG also works great, but tend to have trouble if your driver is always in motion. The APC driver is a excellent remover via the main MG. It takes about 90% to heat rate to destory a crate. Thats about 3 seconds. don't bother with f3-f6, they hit next to nothing while in motion and require twice as much hits compared to the main MG. PK rockets are the most common weapon on the field that'll be able to remove crates. The trick is to hit the crate square on, taking usally 4 hits, but in some cases 5. The effetive range is placed about 30 meters since deviation any further out causes some rockets to miss, requiring a 2nd volley sometimes. Lastly, the Ganz HMG is about the last weapon that can remove a supply crate with anything less than 2 clips at a decent range.

I left RDX out of this, Its very effective, but usally ends up suicidal. Since crates you want to remove are behind enemy lines and you mst drop cloak to do so. I do not recommend using this unless you have experience in these sort of tactics.

In closing, This helps me out as a armor pilot. Being able to have an advantge on the enemy makes my life easier. But it also makes my enemy smarter, You know how to effectivly use this tactic against me and limit my tactical moves.