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[Mephansteras]

Yeah, it was a really small rail tank, more of a buggy than a tank.

that's a strange combination, when you overtier to the point you are only a weapon on wheels you wouldn't use the one weapon that limits mobility...

And yet I see that combination pretty often at lower tiers.

[Girlinhat]

Rail buggies are really terrifying.  Quick enough to zip around to throw fire from multiple angles.  You have to stop to shoot, but low tier fliers are EASY picking, and if you can get first shot on an enemy tank it's either dead or crippled.  You're also such a small target that you can be 'low priority' tiny and in the back as all the noobs focus on big frontal fights and ignore the one buggy that's tearing them apart.

[Zrk2]

Yeah, it was a really small rail tank, more of a buggy than a tank.

that's a strange combination, when you overtier to the point you are only a weapon on wheels you wouldn't use the one weapon that limits mobility...

And yet I see that combination pretty often at lower tiers.

The worst ones are the high-tier rails strapped onto some helium blocks.

[Octobomb]

Yeah, it was a really small rail tank, more of a buggy than a tank.

that's a strange combination, when you overtier to the point you are only a weapon on wheels you wouldn't use the one weapon that limits mobility...

And yet I see that combination pretty often at lower tiers.

The worst ones are the high-tier rails strapped onto some helium blocks.

Railsats are horrible. SMG sats or plasma sats are bad but killable. But you have to stop for the SMG accuracy. If you stop, you die. They can end up with 5+ kills easily.

[Neonivek]

Well... Rail Tanks are incredibly obvious... I mean they shoot a highly visable red beam and everything

[Rose]

You just need to look at the fog more carefully.

[Girlinhat]

You just need to look at the fog more carefully.

And at the edges.  The middle of the screen has the most fog.  This was extremely true in previous versions, but recent updates only lessened it, it's still very much true.

As someone who's done a rail sat, shooting enemies sometimes relies on seeing their glow.  Railguns in particular are bright when charged, as are hover blades.  You can see the glow well beyond the fog distance.

[crazysheep]

While you can see the glow beyond the fog distance, you can't actually reliably hit them since the fog got updated to block shots beyond render distance. On the plus side, you know where your enemies are hiding now.

iirc removing the fog is a cheat/hack/exploit/whatever it's called, so there's no legit way to do it. But I may be mistaken.

[Flying Dice]

Well... Rail Tanks are incredibly obvious... I mean they shoot a highly visable red beam and everything

This is your easy indicator of good vs. bad rail players. Vehicles stand out enough against the terrain and sky that you don't need to zoom to spot them, so your reticule should never be aimed directly at the location of an enemy unless you're slow-dragging it for a shot or using your reload time to aim in. It's physically painful to see people camp at choke points with their lasers going straight where enemy tanks can see them, and then wondering why nobody comes through.

Likewise, the actual shot is even more obvious than the laser, so if the situation is anything except "I just killed/crippled a lone enemy vehicle", you need to relocate. Basic shoot-and-move tactics combined with ingrained fear of rail snipers can let you hold a flank against a third of the enemy team in low-tiers where you can one/two-shot them and there aren't any good medics, at least in my admittedly limited experience.

[LoSboccacc]

Sometime I just make that beam very visible on purpose.

If I am near my forces to distract people and leave room for gunbeds to close on plasma

If i am far to slow down the enemy advance and to try rerouting them where my ally are.

[Mephansteras]

Proper understanding of rails is an important skill.

[TolyK]

Basically, all I do against rails is to fly behind cover and pop out to fire a volley at them or their designated medic, then move along cover to a different spot.

That being said, I've played only about 20 minutes with rails. :p

[Flying Dice]

So I've been wondering what sort of reward you get for killing the boss in those matches. Pleasantly. Surprised.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

That's the final stroke at my lingering doubts over the potential for grind. WG can suck it.

Also, anyone more experienced here up for a little critique? I just hit T5, and this is what I'm in:

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

I've tried to build it to eat more fire than a railtank should really be taking, since medics tend to be... less than reliable; the chassis and superstructure supporting the guns/around the cockpit is all orange, and I've got cyan ablative in the front/green in the rear. Went with the 8-wheel pattern because 6 either feels unresponsive with only front steering (+ that's super-vulnerable; lose the front wheels and you're done) or way too twitchy and unstable with front+rear steering. With 8 it's stable, has great straight-line speed, decent handling, and if the front wheels are blown off, I can spin around and drive backwards.

[LoSboccacc]

well since it's a tank, probably no sense in making it bigger and with more rails, however, consider putting a skirt around your rail front so that first shot will land on cubes and not on the pillar sustaining the weapon

[SHAD0Wdump]

I've tried to build it to eat more fire than a railtank should really be taking, since medics tend to be... less than reliable; the chassis and superstructure supporting the guns/around the cockpit is all orange, and I've got cyan ablative in the front/green in the rear. Went with the 8-wheel pattern because 6 either feels unresponsive with only front steering (+ that's super-vulnerable; lose the front wheels and you're done) or way too twitchy and unstable with front+rear steering. With 8 it's stable, has great straight-line speed, decent handling, and if the front wheels are blown off, I can spin around and drive backwards.

Firstly, how many cubes between the back wheels and the pilot seat? Any tri-forcing?
 That's really my primary concern beyond the potential for plasma splash bleeding through to the seat mount since it looks a little narrow back there.
 The reason I focus on the wheels is because when any non-basic cube gets damaged by plasma, 80% of the damage converts into an SMG/railgun like algorithm directly onto the mounting cube and eats its way through your tank, and when plasma hits directly, it hits very very hard.