Not really. You just get used to the tank stopping to shoot.LordHypnos wrote: Wait, so is there a technique to it then?
The mid sized tanks are random yes. In order of annoyance I would say the vulcan one that spits a flurry of bullets and then stops is the easiest to deal with. You can micro and macro dodge that pattern as the situation dictates.LordHypnos wrote: As for RNG it actually seems like there's a lot. A lot of places you get different patterns from tanks on different playthroughs (actually, I think it might just be random which type of tank spawns). I haven't noticed too much which combinations are harder, but I bet some are. I do usually actually dodge those parts a lot on reflexes, and streaming and stuff, of course (since I think all patterns in these cases are aimed to some extent).
The burst tank is in the middle. Easy by itself, but take care of it quickly or get overwhelmed.
The twin firing tank I hate the most. If you're not careful, especially on hard/2nd loop, it can pin you and is hard to cut back against.
Of course they rarely ever show up by themselves so the best advice is to kill them as fast as you can, even if you just pop the head off. Certain parts of the game can be easier or harder depending on which tanks show up. This is most obvious on stage five from the opening until the two heavy helicopters.
Yeah with the cannons on stage four just presume you're going to get EMP'd. If you have a good route (meaning you quick kill those fuckers) you should get EMP'd twice on stage four and never on the boss.LordHypnos wrote: Also which option appears first when you kill a carrier enemy seems to be random, and that can be pretty rough, actually, at times. Also there's whether the big turrets in stage 4 shoot the electric pulse or the explosion spread thing. There are probably other things I'm not thinking of. Most of it isn't too bad, though.
As far as which option appears - the only time I have a different plan based on which option appears first is at the start of stage five.
Vulcan
Spoiler
Rocket
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Spoiler
Do not pick it up yet. Take care of the remaining small tanks.
If you're timing is good (it's not strict) you can rocket the first tank, pick up the option for a rocket recharge and then rocket that asshole again for the quick kill.