What’s New?

The Battlefield 3: Armored Kill expansion pack emphasizes vehicle combat across vast and varied landscapes. Specifically, the focus is on tank battles, requiring players to brush up on their armor tactics. With the addition of four new maps, six new vehicles, and several new assignments, there’s plenty here to sink your teeth into. Here’s a quick summary of what you can expect from some of the new features.

New Maps

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01-001 The four new maps are one of the most exciting additions to Armored Kill, each supporting six unique game modes, including the new Tank Superiority mode. These new maps are huge, harkening back to the massive tank battles on classic maps like El Alamein, Kubra Dam, and Dragon Valley. With so much terrain to cover, vehicles play a vital role when it come to moving your troops around the battlefield and securing objectives. You don’t want to be stuck on foot in the no-man’s land of these sprawling landscapes, so always look for a vehicle or hitch a ride from a teammate.

Tank Superiority Mode

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01-002 The Tank Superiority game mode is a variant of Conquest, but there’s only one flag in the center of the map. In that sense, it plays much like the Air Superiority mode from Battlefield 1943. However, instead of racing around the map in airplanes, each team only has access to tanks and the new tank destroyers. Each team’s base spawns two tanks and six tank destroyers, putting a maximum of 16 vehicles on the map, all fighting for control of one flag. Spawn times for vehicles have been reduced to two seconds each, making sure there are plenty of armored vehicles to go around. As in Conquest, the team that controls the flag initiates a drain on the opposing team’s ticket count. But even when controlled, the flag does not act as a spawn point—you can only spawn at your team’s base. When one team’s ticket count reaches zero, the match is over and the team with the most tickets is declared the winner. While tank combat is the focus of Tank Superiority, players aren’t limited to driving around in vehicles. Each soldier class has access to the full range of weapons and gadgets supplied by their customized troop kit. In these battles engineers are the most practical class, given their ability to destroy and repair vehicles. However, recon soldiers can also make their presence felt by deploying SOFLAMs and laser-designating enemy vehicles for Javelins and other laser-guided munitions. MAVs can also come in handy for spotting enemy vehicles. Without the support of infantry, winning a round of Tank Superiority can be tough. So even if there are no vehicles available at your base, you can still play an important role in securing a victory when deploying with the appropriate gear.

Tank Destroyers

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01-003 The new tank destroyers are essentially infantry fighting vehicles (IFVs) fitted with large tank cannons. Although faster and more maneuverable than tanks, the tank destroyers lack the thick armor of their bigger, badder counterparts. As a result, it’s important to keep a defensive mind-set when driving one of these vehicles, particularly when facing off against enemy tanks—always keep the tank destroyer’s thick front armor facing your target. In addition to dishing out some serious anti-tank firepower, tank destroyers can also serve as troop transports. Unlike the IFVs, in tank destroyers the passenger positions are not fitted with weapons. Still, hitching a ride in one of these armored vehicles is always preferable to hiking across a dangerous battlefield.

Mobile Artillery

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01-004 The new M142 and BM-23 mobile artillery units launch volleys of high-explosive rockets over great distances, giving each team the ability to bombard targets from across the map. Each vehicle is capable of launching up to six rockets in quick succession. From the gunner position, use the ladder-like reticle to adjust your aim, moving the rocket tubes both vertically and horizontally. When making vertical adjustments, the higher the pitch of the rocket tubes, the farther the rockets will travel. The rockets are by no means precision weapons and greatly benefit from the assistance of a forward spotter, helping you adjust your aim. If your rockets are falling short of the target, increase the pitch of the rocket tubes. Likewise, if the rockets are overshooting the target, reduce the pitch of the rocket tubes. When fired at great distances, the rockets impact beyond your visual range. So if you don’t have the feedback of a forward spotter, you’re firing blind. After firing six rockets, the vehicle automatically begins the long reload process. During this time the vehicle is completely defenseless unless fitted with one of the unlockable weapon upgrades. At close range mobile artillery units are vulnerable to attacks by infantry, tanks, and aircraft. So keep these units back from the front lines where they’re less likely to be harassed by enemies.

Gunship

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The gunship is a new gameplay concept introduced by Armored Kill, rewarding one team with a powerful airborne weapons platform. In Conquest matches there is one control point on each of the new maps that spawns a gunship. Once captured, the control point grants the controlling team access to the gunship. During Rush matches, the attacking US team always has access to a gunship. Unlike in other aircraft, there is no pilot position in the gunship. Instead, the aircraft orbits around the map on its own with two crew positions accessible from the Spawn screen. Each gunner position is equipped with a port-mounted cannon as well as a top-mounted anti-aircraft turret. The 25mm cannon is capable of rapid fire, spitting out up to 30 rounds of high-explosive rounds in quick succession before entering a short reload phase. The 105mm cannon is essentially a tank gun mounted on the side of the aircraft. This heavy weapon fires one armor-piercing shell at a time, capable of disabling most ground vehicles with a single hit. In addition to serving as an awesome ground-attack aircraft, the gunship is also a mobile spawn point, dropping troops over the battlefield along its circular flight path.