Originally Posted by Figment
See, Higby says rivals, not equals. And even if you equal the main cannon, the AV gun is still pointless compared to getting a second tank. Less or equal power and ONE tank hull, or equal power, but twice the endurance by having two tank hulls. No matter how much you try to twist and turn it, NOBODY who can get their own tank at the same time, will opt to gun an AV gun on a tank. No serious armour outfit would even consider it. They'd all get AA guns, especially if the new Liberator is supposedly so good at fighting ground vech. AI gun is probably almost pointless enough to not consider gunning as well if you have a main gun with the rate of fire and damage dealt as we saw in the demo (three accurate shots in as many seconds, no way infantry can kill a tank by then). On top of that, infantry can always be easily targeted by the main gun, aircraft cannot. AA will be the only useful secondary weapon.
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Malorn mentioned it above, and so does your quote of Higby - an AI mortar is an incredibly useful weapon that cannot be replaced by the AI of the 'main' or driver gun.
The driver gun is direct fire. Try getting to infantry in defilade with that. A mortar is incredibly useful there - I can see it being a requirement for any attack against hilly or complex terrain.
Although maybe not relevant to PS2 (Teller mine or engineer satchel charge equivalents not available to PS2?), but an AI dual/quad mount is extremely useful for 'hosing' tanks down if swarmed by enemy infantry - try doing that with a 150mm shell with less griefing
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An additional dedicated AV weapon may not be as useful, but there are AV missiles that also provide that top-down attack (think the Javelin in the US Army*). Again, useful for AV hull-down situations - terrain and enemy composition dictates the load outs - as it should. Of course, infantry AV weapons may also get to hull-down AVs (ah my Phoenix, how I loved you), but if the range is long and activity is hot I can see an AV missile load out. Of course, you *could* just get Libs/Reavers too, but we are talking possible uses, not what you would necessarily use.
I think the Beta will reveal the possibilities of all this stuff, and more.
* Edit: Clarified the Javelin is a weapon in the US Army, not PS2.