Sniping Tanks using spotters

This maneuver is very time consuming, but well worth the effort to both execute and to learn. This involves creating a line of tanks and strategically placing them out of sight of the enemy's tanks, but still in range of them. A scout is used to then spot for the tanks, allowing your own tanks to get the first shot off

Process

• First you will need to gather at least 3 tanks and control them so that they will all hit the same tank(s). It takes 3 shots to kill a tank in 1 volley.

• Know where your opponent's tanks are sieged.

• Siege your tanks where they can hit the opponent's tanks, but where he cannot see your tanks. After seiging, use a spotter, like a wraith or a floating building to scout his tanks. The best method to do this is to use the fog of war as a checkpoint, position and siege, then spot the tanks.

• Micro tanks in groups to focus fire on 1 tank(3 to a group).

Practice

First and most importantly, learn to move your tanks in a block. You need to move lines of tanks, and keep them in lines for this maneuver to work to it's full potential. Moving tanks 1 by 1 is too slow and leads to disaster. Another crucial part of this trick is memorizing the distance. An easy method is to use an SCV or something cheap to check his vision. Where that unit dies is the farthest their tanks can see. All you need to do is siege a tank line right before where it died so that your tanks will be able to hit their stray tanks. As you grow more experienced, you will not need to sacrifice a unit and will eventually memorize the magic distance. The time to set up the tank line will also decrease and you will be able to do it quickly.

Practical use

• Breaking weak tank lines
• Expanding map control
• Cutting his unit count
• Sniping key buildings

Drawbacks

Tank sniping is rendered useless if he has a floating building or something else extending his own vision. It is also a time waster because you have to constantly siege and resiege. This also distracts you from the map and might cause you to miss an incoming drop.

Other usage/Combinations

There are many variations of tank sniping that are very helpful as well. One example is to use the terrain to allow tanks to get closer and allow more tanks to shoot.

Using wraiths as a spotter

Wraiths make the ideal spotter. They are quick, stealthy, and can finish off tanks. Most of the time, there will be a couple tanks alive with only about 12 health. Wraiths are ideal for sniping these critically injured tanks and preventing them from getting another shot off.

Using terrain

Often times, the terrain will obscure vision so that it is reduced to less than 10 matrices. When this occurs, you can exploit this by putting more tanks behind this wall, then sniping, allowing for more damage.

Sniping Buildings

The use of the tank's range is not limited to just sniping units. They are very useful for sniping buildings. Experiment on a couple of maps to see where tanks can reach, say, their refinery, preventing their gas income.

2cm Drop

This involves using the tanks range as cover fire in order to clear a landing zone in the enemy's base. Dropships act as a ferry to carry units over the wall, while tanks below prevent the opponent from getting too close. Once the landing zone is secured, the tanks on the ground are then ferried up to push even further. This is a very effective way of using the tank's range to it's fullest potential.

Fodder

When used with vultures, tanks will be able to send off more shots while vultures and mines absorb the opponent's shots.