I guess I could confirm a lot of the tips in the thread with my personal accounts, so here goes.
DO NOT PLAY AGGRESSIVELY. I cannot reiterate this enough. I've seen so many people hop into our armor and get destroyed within sixty seconds. Just because you're in a tank and you think your invincible, you're not. Never fool yourself. Stay back a bit and provide anti-armor for your team, and kill the occasional infantryman that might stumble upon you.
If you move into an area filled with armor and infantry there is absolutely nothing you can do. It won't kill you to sit back destroy armor, help kill off infi etc. Only when it's safe, move up and help capture the objective. If done right you can play what I call passive aggressive tanking.
For my loadout I run sabot, coax hmg, IR smoke, and reactive armor. Personally I've used the sabot since the day I unlocked it back in October. It is a smaller and lighter round so it travels faster and further, and has less of a drop off and does plenty of damage. Of course you still have to deliver a well aimed shot, although it still packs a punch hitting armor at a 45 degree angle.
Any self respecting tanker runs coxial HMG. Although this is self explanatory I'll explain it anyway. Anti-infantry, simple right? Since there is a shell limit and most maps are infantry heavy, such as Dawnbreaker, you'll need something to aid your gunner especially if he gets overwhelmed or if you don't have one.
Yes, I do run IR smoke still. I find it far more forgiving than using active protection. Granted active protection if used correctly will save your ass especially if you're aware of the incoming rockets, both dumb fire and lock-on. However if you're in an intense firefight with another tank and a couple infantry start shooting javelins at you the IR smoke can be deployed immediately after the rockets are airborne. Plus the light show can be used as concealment and allow for a quick retreat behind cover, or a "OH SHIT, WE'RE GETTING THE HELL OUT OF DODGE" situation.
Reactive armor is still the best upgrade you can run. Granted it doesn't stop rocket damage like it did in BF3, it still does lessen the damage of incoming rockets and tank shells. Which honestly is the only downside of using it.
I can't think of anything else to say, I've basically shared most of the strategies I use when tanking, and I can say I've been successful and racked thousands of kills. And I know I didn't include my opinion about optics, it just depends on the map and what you prefer using and might be familiar with. Happy tanking and see you on the Battlefield.
Sent from my iPhone using NGU