[Turdicus]

Malorn has some great ideas, and as for the OP there might be something to consider regarding role recognition. It looks like the different turrets on tanks and the like will actually have different models depending on the weapon. I don't know HOW different, but there is potential for it to be radically different. An anti air weapon mounted on the vanguard could very well be a huge missile pod. Speculation of course, but this is what it looks like based on the customization footage.

That would help alleviate your worries about recognizing the roles of vehicles on the battlefield.