Before I dive into what the Vanguard does in Planetside 2 I want to comment on some basic tank knowledge of practical use that can help you in any video game with Armored Fighting Vehicles.

The core aspects of every Tank

1. Mobility
2. Firepower
3.Protection

No tank has unlimited amounts of one of these catagories without sacrificing another. They are pretty simple to understand and make up the core of how tanks in Planetside are balanced.

4. Training
5.Communication/Teamwork

No matter what technology you may face no fancy gun or overpowered engine can compensate for a tank driver/commander/gunner(whatever) who lacks the abilty to use it effectivly. Team work is the key to success in just about everything. However do not confuse this with numbers. I'd rather be talking to a good buddy in the gunner seat of my Vanguard than trying to work with a zerg of 20 or so tanks.

All of these factors come togeather to make a good(or bad) tank. Historicaly Training has been the most importaint. "Crazy" feats that a player pulls in a video game aren't much different than tank "aces" you hear about from the second world war. Typicaly if you do really good in a tank its a combination of you preforming well, your tank being a solid weapon, and the enemy pretty much having no idea what to do.
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This is your Vanguard, there are many like it but this one is yours. Without you its useless without it you will probaly exit your spawn room and get hit by a volley of Prowlers.

What makes you different from those pesky TR Prowlers and weird Vanu Magriders. Well if we look back to our 3 keys to every tank it is that the NC went big on the firepower and armor part of the set. The Vanguard is the slowest MBT usualy haning around 30-40 kph(without upgrades) unless you go down a hill or drive in a straight line for a while. Its armor is second to none as is its per shot damage. This however is not a reason to be reakless. The Prowler and Magrider can out run you and if they are smart enough that means they can flank your tank or get away from it faster than you can. Talking about speed brings me to my first point.

1. Mobility

Know when to turn around and just run away. I can't tell you how simple it is and how often people just don't get it. If I ever feel I don't have the upper hand in an engagement I don't just sit and let things happen to me.When the heavy assualts start noticing you or a handfull of tanks head your way just leave. Drive away to a safe spot, regroup with a friendly tank, or try to rearange those odds that were put out of your favor. What I mean by this is get around the enemy. If you are facing a tank and both you and the enemy have 100% health, both stock tanks, and hit wit every shot you fire the Vanguards armor and 150mm gun usualy let you win. However life is cruel. Perhaps you might of gotten hit by a heavy assualt rocket or maybe winged by a single AT mine? You would most certainly lose the fight head to head then. So you could back up and repair somehwere safe or you can rearange the odds. The easiest way to do this is to drive around the enemy. Shots to the sides of a MBT deal more damage than shots to the frontal armor. Shots to the rear of a MBT deal even more damage. So while our Red and Purple friends are busy plugging away at your buddies on the ground you can drive around that hill or rock or whatever and put a shot into his side from 200 meters. Half health or not you got yourself an advantage. The enemy is going to have to find where you shot them from and then try and hit you. By then you probaly got 2 shots onto them and are grinning from ear to ear. Most tank zergs(zerg is used to define a large group of un organized and steriotypicaly stupid players) follow roads to the letter. When you map out where to go look at the map and find that gaint spam of friendly tanks. Now whatever you do try to stay where it is not. Anybody can rack up quite a kill score by simply being where the zerg's tunnel vision isn't looking. Just because you are in the slow tank does not mean you can't be mobile.

2. Firepower

Welcome to the Vanguard with the highest one shot damage of all the MBTs. The Prowler has the lowest damage because it fires two shots and the magrider is somewhere in the middle. This means like all high damage weapons you will destroy at long range provided you land your shots. Ok so say you've used your mobility and found a nice rock with a view of some Prowlers shooting away at easy infantry kills. Fire a round then back up. At range the Prowler is at such a disadvantage if he sees your tank at say 200m and wants to hit you he may shoot one round at you before you get behind your trusty rock and he misses his second shot. So he has only done half his potental damage and you have droped one nice 150mm round about the size of your little sibling onto his head for the same price. Magriders are similar. Since they lack a turret they have trouble shooting at you if they move back and forth from cover as they have to reposition their gun more than you would if you could still keep your turret facing the same direction as the target. Always try to take advantage of the enemy missing shots and try not to miss yours. Because you have high damage and reload slowly that means the implications of missing a shot are multiplied for you. Compared to a fast firing Prowler or Magrider.

3. Armor

It is a pretty straightforward thing, but don't count on it if you don't have to. It can help to have a lot but it most certainly didn't save this tank.

-The Vanguard mounts a plethera of tools and weapons. But as a new player there are several things you can grab right off the bat without much hassle. The stock Taitan HEAT gun has an ammo storage increase upgrade thata costs one cert point. It is much advised as the Vanguard caries a small ammount of shells. The second 1 cert upgrade is 1.25x optics for the main gun. I recomend this because even though the magnification is slight it still slows down your mouse sensitivity like any old magnification scope does. This will help you keep a steadier hand for those long range shots. The same two upgrades are avalable for the Basilisk(the seondary weapon for the gunner) and I advise them as well. The last one cert upgrade is the aquisition timer. This gets pretty expensive because it reduces the ammount of time after you spawn a Vanguard to when you can spawn another, but the first upgrade is one cert and shaves of some time so there isn't much reason not to get it.

-The rest of the stuff allows you to mount up for different combat roles and make yourself more specialized. For example you might want to go into a fire support role more often and deal less with tanks. So you might buy the HE (High Explosive) gun that does more AoE damage agaisnt infantry and put a AT missile launcher up for your gunner to give you some protection from enemy tanks. There are tons of posible combinations for YOUR style of play and I recomend finding what you like best and then certing into it.As I find more specific details about all the Vanguard weapons and play around with them more myself I hope to add a better section on all the Vanguard weapons.

- The only thing I want to go over in more detail right now is the faction specific utility slot abilities. The NC mounts a Shield that absorbs incoming damage for around 4 seconds for the first upgrade. It can be used once every sixty seconds. I found this really usefull when a large mob of heavy assualts or Prowlers started hitting me and I needed to get out of a spot quick. It can also save your life if an enemy ESF(Empire Specific Fighter) makes a pass at your rear. Be weary though the Prowler and Magrider get their own abilities. I think the Prowlers lock down ability which lets it imobilize itself for defense and RoF buff is kind of counterproductive for an anti armor role because it limits its mobiity(one of the Prowler's strengths is how fast it is) but that ability does let it put major hurt on our poor infantry friends. The Magrider gets a speed/mobliity boost. I have honestly never seen this put to use against me when I am driving a Vanguard and I don't have a VS account so I don't see much of a threat in it, but don't underestimate the Magrider's ability to advance on your posistion quickly or dodge your shots with sudden bursts of speed.

The final basic skill is knowing your role. Don't camp spawn rooms or biolab doors if you don't have to. Your job is to provide fire support to the infantry when enemies cluster up and to kill enemy tanks. Leave the spawn camping to the infantry. If your team is attacking a biolab or perhaps some area where its too close quarters for you tank to survive more than 3 or 4 seconds of heavy assualts spamming you with rockets move around the perimiter of the territory and kill enemy tanks coming to reinforce or better yet hunt down attacking enemy sunderers for a heafty sum of XP. You and a pal working togeather with one tank or even pairing up with two can singlehandedly affect a battle over a territory by cutting the flow of enemy sunderers or MBTs into the area. And remember to always find ways to fight smarter not harder. This guide is not set in stone or the "right" way to do things, but I do hope all fellow NC players can use these tips to fight better and keep the MBT a powerfull tool in Planetside 2.

Good Luck and Good Hunting