Battlefield: Bad Company 2/Vehicles

Vehicles have separated the Battlefield series from other games. Since the beginning, players have been able to enter tanks, planes, and ships at will and use them to play the game considerably differently each time. Bad Company 2 has continued that tradition, though not to the same extent. Air vehicles are restricted to rotary-winged aircraft. Although F/A-18s, A-10s, and the occasional transport plane appear, none of them are flyable.

Vehicles, just like weapons, gain stars. Unlike weapons, however, stars are awarded by category - obtaining 7 kills with a Humvee and 3 kills with a Vodnik will earn the bronze star for all vehicles in the light vehicle category. The number of kills required for each category is listed to the right of each vehicle category.

Light
Light Vehicles are perhaps one of the hardest vehicles to manage, primarily due to their lack of health and the vulnerability of machine gunners to sniper attacks.

Light vehicles are all extremely fast and are difficult to aim at. As such, the largest vehicles can be used to try and obtain the Wheels of Hazard pin.

Light vehicles come in two main flavours. Armoured cars consist of the US Humvee and the Russian Vodnik and Cobra. The Cobra is the more common of the two Russian cars and appear on desert maps. The Vodnik replaces the Cobra for arctic maps. There is very little difference between the three armoured cars and are virtually interchangeable.

HMMWV 4WD
The HMMWV (High Mobility Multipurpose Wheeled Vehicle), more colloquially known as the Humvee, is a vehicle often underused due to its many vulnerabilities. It is equipped with an XM312 machine gun, effective against infantry. Although a variant which contains a BGM-71 TOW missile launcher is seen in single player, it is unavailable to the player outside of the console-specific Onslaught mode.

Humvees are often ignored by players for two major reasons. The first is the vulnerability of the gunner to sniping weapons. Since the Humvee drives at such a considerable speed, it can prove difficult to aim its machine gun at passing infantry, all the while providing enemy snipers a clear view on the gunner. Even the driver can be killed if a lucky shot with the M95 anti-materiel rifle is scored.

The other reason humvees are ignored are due to their fragility. Only a single shot from a tank is enough to destroy a humvee, and these lightly-skinned vehicles only appear on vehicle-centric maps where main battle tanks dominate. Even without the tanks, however, a well-aimed M2 Carl Gustav shot or an RPG-7 will be more than enough to eliminate a Humvee, and their speed can be negated via a tracer dart.

Humvees seat four players - a driver, a gunner, and two passengers who can use their standard weapons from the back. This high capacity and speed can make it more effective as a transport to squads looking for a quick way forward.

The multiplayer map Laguna Presea can prove effective for players wanting to safely use a Humvee - if positioned close to the bridge leading toward the Soviet spawn point, it can effectively support friendlies from this position. It is, however, quite vulnerable to rockets from this position. Arica Harbour can also be effective for Humvees, where they can exploit the up-close vulnerability of snipers after using their speed to run past the tanks.

Official Description: ''High Mobility Multipurpose Wheeled Vehicle (HMMWV or Humvee) with 4WD capability is used as a personnel and light transport truck by all branches of the U.S. Military. It seats four and is armed with a .50 caliber Heavy Machine Gun (HMG) in a 360-degree weapons ring mount.''

Cobra 4WD
The Cobra is more or less identical to the American Humvee, and appears on desert maps. Like the Humvee, it is extremely thin-skinned, and cannot take much of a beating. It can be used as a mobile emplacement to try and take down helicopters, but this leaves the gunner vulnerable to sniper fire. The Cobra's speed and large size make it an appealing target, and therefore can be often used as a distraction to enemies attempting to leave their spawn point.

The high capacity of the Cobra allows it to act as a troop transport. It can carry a lot more players than the Quad Bike and has a lower centre of gravity, making it far more stable in hilly terrain. Since the Cobra can seat 4, an entire squad can spawn inside it. By flanking the enemy similar to a quad bike, the Cobra can allow for easy flanking attacks by allowing the squad to spawn inside it and then hop out to attack the enemy base.

Using the vehicular armour specialization can prove effective for Cobras, Humvees, and Vodniks, as it allows them to withstand a single rocket or tank shell. The specialization isn't enough to deter mines and C4, however, which will still destroy the vehicle in a single hit.

Note that although in-game the Cobra appears to be able to seat 5 players, it can only seat 4.

Official Description: ''A light armored 4WD vehicle utilizing Humvee components, the hull is designed to increase protection against small arms fire and indirect artillery bursts. It is armed with a .50 caliber Heavy Machine Gun and configured to seat 4.''

Vodnik 4WD
Though commonly found in single player, the Vodnik is almost never found in multiplayer. It is identical except aesthetically to the HMMWV and the Cobra. Follow standard tactics when using the Vodnik. As its main appearance is in Port Valdez, special care must be taken to avoid the Bradley IFV and enemy engineers. The armour specialization can help considerably with this vehicle given its main appearance in a vehicle-centric map.

Official Description: ''High Mobility Multipurpose Combat Vehicle with 4WD. It seats 4 and is armed with a 12.7mm caliber HMG in a 360 degree turret.''

Quad Bike
The Quad Bike is a disposable vehicle designed to traverse a lot of distance quickly. It has the least amount of health of all the major vehicles and only carries two people. The passenger, who sits on the back, can use his or her weapon while the driver is delegated to driving the vehicle.

Obviously not a combat vehicle in any way, the Quad Bike is mostly used to flank opponents during Rush games. As most will be focused on an attack from the front, it can be relatively easy to get in around the back. A simple two-man team can, with enough teamwork, set a charge on an M-COM and force the defenders closer to their objectives, allowing the rest of the team to take ground.

Because Quads are so fast, their manoeuvrability is not the best. They fly off of the smallest hills and have a relatively high centre of gravity, making them difficult to control. Their small size makes them poor roadkillers.

Since empty vehicles leave icons on the minimap, it can be prudent to destroy your vehicle when you can, or at least drive it off the map so it can't be easily spotted on the enemy's minimap. Defenders often observe their maps and locate vehicles that appear to be out of place.

Official Description: ''An Ultra-light Tactical Vehicle used in combat, reconnaissance and logistic support. It allows 2 individuals to increase their mission effectiveness by assisting in moving over any terrain, in all weather and at any altitude.''

CAV
The CAV is basically a heavier Quad Bike; it has about the same speed but a considerably lower centre of gravity, making it far more manoeuvrable and responsive. The grenade launcher can turn to face any direction, but the speed of the CAV prevents its effective use against enemies to the side. The machine gunner has very little arc, and anything it can hit can also be roadkilled by the driver.

Because of Harvest Day's wide open terrain, this vehicle is ideal for zipping around and running circles around tanks. It can also roadkill any enemy snipers, making this a great vehicle to get both the Car Warfare pin and the Wheels of Hazard pin.

Outside of Harvest Day, however, the CAV is less useful. Its speed is its only defence, and in the far tighter quarters of Port Valdez and the vehicle-centric Heavy Metal it often comes under fire too often to survive.

M939 Truck
Most likely added for consistency's sake on the multiplayer version of Cold War, the truck is next to useless on this map as it has very little armour and has no inherent weapons. It is also extremely slow and can be easily destroyed in the cramped close-quarters combat that is Cold War. It spawns close to the Russian team's spawn. To access it, the Russians must simply follow the path from their spawn. It is to the left just before a sharp right turn into the town.

Heavy
Heavy vehicles are by far the most common vehicle and will be the source of most of your vehicular kills throughout multiplayer gameplay. Heavy vehicles come in two major flavours - infantry fighting vehicles and main battle tanks.

The former, often abbreviated to IFV, are notable for their high capacities and their autocannons. Autocannons fire considerably faster than a tank's main gun, but it causes considerably less damage. IFVs are also bristling with machine guns; one remotely operated on a 360 degree mount, and two gun ports to the sides. A fully-loaded IFV is next to impossible to attack stealthily and must be destroyed with long-ranged anti-tank weapons. Because all the guns on an IFV are remotely operated (or heavily armoured in the case of the side machine gunners), the gunners are immune to sniper fire.

A subcategory of IFVs are self-propelled anti-aircraft guns. Mobile AA guns are equipped with grenade launchers instead of autocannons, and the main gunner has an anti-aircraft weapon instead of a machine gun. Needless to say, mobile AA is effective against enemy helicopters. As of this writing, however, the American anti-aircraft vehicle - the ACV-S - does not feature in any maps. The Stalker IFV is also rumoured to feature in a future map, as it appears in the game's graphics fankit.

Main battle tanks, by default, have only a remote machine gunner (and thus, as aforementioned, is immune to sniper fire) and a main gunner who also drives the tank. Unlike previous games, the driver does not have a coaxial machine gun; the driver must equip the Alternate Weapons specialization in order to obtain one. Tanks are best operated from a safe distance, as with only a single gunner and usually no coaxial weapon, are vulnerable in close quarters to C4. An anti-tank mine or two will also destroy a tank. It is rumoured that the Black Eagle tank - originally in Bad Company 1 - is to feature in a future map.

BMD-3 Bakhcha
The BMD-3 is a powerful and flexible vehicle primarily effective against infantry. Its armour isn't the best and it takes considerable damage from anti-tank infantry and stationary AT weapons, but its high elevation allows it to act as as an anti-aircraft emplacement in the event of an aerial attack.

Choosing the alternate weapon package specialization will equip this vehicle with a KORNET anti-tank missile launcher, giving it an added punch against enemy armour. This missile is quite powerful and often means the difference between victory and defeat in a fight against an Abrams.

The gunner gains control of a remotely operated rooftop machine gun. Since the machine gun is operated from inside the tank, it is impossible for snipers to snipe the gunner. The 360 degree arc the machine gun has allows a BMD to attack several enemies at once. However, the 360 gunner cannot angle the gun low to strike enemies close to the tank, allowing it to be easily flanked.

This flanking weakness is mitigated by the introduction of side gunners, who can use built-in machine guns to the left and right sides of the tank to prevent flanking attacks. The side gunners don't cause as much damage as the 360 degree machine gun, but the difference is negligible.

M3A3 Bradley
The Bradley is identical in all respects to the BMD, the only difference being the green crosshairs that are generally less obtrusive as the BMD's. Like the BMD, the Bradley can be equipped with a TOW launcher capable of putting considerable dents in enemy armour. Since the Bradley appears in non-vehicular maps such as Valparaiso Rush, this specialization's use is far more situational.

As with the BMD, the Bradley's autocannon causes considerable damage to infantry, but not as much against a tank. A fight between a Bradley and a T-90 generally leans toward the T-90. Tactical use of specializations, as well as a missile upgrade, can help even the odds or even tilt them in the Bradley's favour.

The Bradley appears in Squad Deathmatch games as a neutral vehicle, able to be claimed by any of the four squads.

BMD-3 Bakhcha AA
An anti-aircraft variant of the BMD-3, this anti-aircraft variant makes only one appearance at Port Valdez. It isn't particularly powerful, as its main weapon is passenger controlled and doesn't cause a lot of damage against vehicles. Its main power, as its appearance suggests, is against the AH-64 Apache and UH-60 Blackhawk helicopters the Americans have. The ZU-23 mounted on the roof has a full 360 degree arc and has very high elevation, allowing it to easily shoot down helicopters. A skilled helicopter gunner, however, can critically damage it and possibly kill the gunner before he can shoot the heli down.

The solution, therefore, is to attempt to hide it in a position so that it is able to cause damage to the heli after it makes a pass over the advancing armoured column. If spotted early by the helicopter, it can be easily destroyed. Although a helicopter can take many shots before it goes down, it is by far the most reliable way of clipping the wings of a helicopter. KORNETs, TOWs, and AT4 missile launchers require extreme skill and luck to score a hit and tracer darts can be removed by the oft-equipped smoke countermeasures specialization. Stationary machine guns, while effective, are generally either vulnerable to sniper fire or have a very limited arc. The BMD-3's AA abilities, therefore, are second to none.

Against ground threats, this anti-aircraft vehicle isn't a slouch. Its grenade launcher is identical in terms of damage to a standard BMD's autocannon. The grenade launcher, however, does not have a wide arc, making it far more vulnerable to flanking attacks if on its own. The side gunners help against flanking attacks considerably, but most players do not put enough importance on this vehicle to protect it.

If equipped with the alternate weapon specialization, this vehicle gains a light machine gun effective against infantry. This is generally overkill, however, as the grenade launcher already causes considerable damage and has considerable splash radius.