Hello comrades,
I thought about that since a while and I thought to share my 2 cents:
Let’s face it: tanks won’t be repaired by the infantry. Either they don’t have the tools equiped or the tank gets abandoned before a successful repair. I successfully repaired two tanks ever since it is a deal.
The feature is nice without doubt but doesn’t get the attention it deserves.
So I’d like to suggest:
Give infantry (or maybe tanks?) A small amount of XP (3-5 XP) once a kill was done when infantry was right next. Might change someone’s mind about grey zoning alone?
Give tankers a notice that they are being repaired while sitting inside. That might turn the tide for a tanker while he is hopefully giving the last shot to destroy his opponent.
Let tankers give a quick chat option for “need repairs” so that the tank, currently visible with a blue tank icon on the mini map, changes between a wrench and the tank icon itself.
Give engineers the ability to repair tanks without having tools equiped. Maybe with a timer to avoid 4 stacked squads coordinating themselves with one being an invulnerable tank.
4.1 (or 5) how about a mechanic squad able to perform repairs as mentioned in point 4. No backpacks possible but instead a permanent repair tool kit. They could receive special perks like faster repairs or something like that. The repairs could be limited to 10 times per soldier as medics are restricted. Maybe with the ability to supply vehicles with ammunition (although it’ll be highly unrealistic) or the ability to free stuck tanks (although I don’t know how this could be feasible as tanks gets stuck simply with the game itself).
Anything that encourages mutual support and more teamwork is desperately needed.
As an addendum to 4.1/5, instead of a separate mechanic squad it might be interesting to give engineers an additional “build” option that might be a crane or pulley to “unstick” tanks…and reset them to the nearest level point within 10 meters or something. I would make the cost on par with the current MG nest cost, since I think Engineer IIs usually aren’t using MG nests anyhow.
I don’t know how many times I’ve seen tanks abandoned because they drove into a trench or off one of those far too narrow bridges in the Pacific, but you are SPOT on that it would be neat to have a way to help those tanks out of their predicament.
1st one is pretty interesting - we could certainly do right with discouraging greyzone camping.
2-3 are unlikely to happen in random battles, meaning You’d need a group of coordinated teammates.
As for 4 - we already have the trains in Berlin, where engineer can repair its turrets. So, there is some logic in allowing engineers to repair the tanks as well. But, it’s an oddity - hammer basically can be used indefinitelly, while the repair kit can be used once (or twice with perk). Repair kit has to have a redeeming feature over repair hammer - like, it is faster to repair with a kit, than a hammer?