Air Date: April 1, 2011
In this video I show the easy way to get a tank which does not involve summoning the army after you. It still has its hidden dangers but I explain how to bypass those in the video and also in this description. Without further delay lets get to it and describe the process.
The tank we will be after will not appear until you start Ray’s “Arm’s Shortage” Mission on Stanton island. Before triggering Ray’s mission make sure you have a single car inside your Stanton island safe house garage. Another nice to have item will be at least one police bribe spawning at your safe house too.
Go begin the mission by talking to Ray in the Belleville park bathroom and then drive to Phil’s place located on the northern edge of the island. During this mission I speak with Phil to get things started and then make sure I block the main gate entrance with the barracks OL truck. This way you can block off enemy attacks from one entrance and toss grenades over the truck to kill the Columbians without them shooting at you. The only thing you need to watch is when a few enemies magically spawn from behind the crates next to Phil.
After everyone is dead and you talk to Phil the Barracks OL truck, which was most likely destroyed by the end of the mission will be removed and you will have access to a locked tank to the right from where Phil was standing. At this point you will not be able to drive the Tank, however you will be able to push the tank with your character and steer it by pushing it from the back or front on the sides. This is the part of the process that is extremely tedious. Begin by pushing the tank out of the gate, around the building, and up to the main highway. Hills tend to be an issue when you are pushing the tank. Just make sure nothing is in your way, like a tree or a car, and keep pushing. If it seems stuck on an incline you can start pushing it up the incline using a zigzag method. This is where you angle the tank at a 45 degree angle push it until it reaches a side walk or wall, then turn it in the other direction to push it upward at another 45 degree angle. By using this method you will be able to inch your way up the incline.
One you are on the highway steer the tank to the right and push it along the road in the right lanes to avoid traffic getting wedged in front of the tank. Keep doing this until you reach the first intersection you come to which is at the street which runs between the hospital and the stadium. The idea here is to steer the tank through a neutral neighborhood so Columbians will not start shooting at you. If we went the opposite way by the construction site, you would have enemies firing at you all the time. The primary goal of the route outlined is to minimize this situation.
Push the tank diagonally through the intersection. Bear in mind you can push the tank through and over traffic which gets in front of you. If people start getting in your way and wedging themselves you can jack their car to move it out of the way. Bear in mind to never stray too far from your tank or it will vanish! Once through the intersection keep pushing the tank down the right side of the street, going in the same direction as the traffic.
You will be able to push the tank straight through the next two intersections until you reach a T junction, just around the block from your safe house. This is where it becomes a little bit of a pain. Push the tank as far as you can up the hill at the left of the T intersection. You will need to do the 45 degree angle zigzag pattern to get it to the top. Along the way, watch out for traffic coming towards you down the hill. You may need to jack a car and park it a couple feet in front of your tank to block oncoming traffic down the hill. Try not to make the cops angry. If you get a wanted star run around your tank until the cops go away. If a pedestrian gets mad at you and tries to smash their way through traffic let them go, even if it means moving the tank out of the way. If they flip their car and it blows up near your tank, it will destroy your tank.
As you work your way to the top of the intersection try to maneuver your tank to be facing a hard right to round the very tight corner. The idea here is to get it facing down the street for easy pushing toward your hideout. As you push it down the street you will be confronted by some Columbian Cartel gangsters here. It always happens but cannot be avoided what will happen is as follows and shouldn’t worry you. You will need to kill off all the gang members coming after you, which will be around three or so, and this will get you a wanted star and a visit from a solo police officer who will chase you around. Most of the time the police are a pain to deal with but having one cop after you will make the gang members not appear again. If drivers get scared when the cop first comes, get out of the way. They could run you over which puts you in a prime position to get busted.
Now comes some strategy. The cop will only try to hit you with melee attacks and those only take out a couple points of health / armor per hit. Lure the cop away from the tank and loop around some cars to get a good distance away from him, remembering not to stray too far from the tank. Then immediately run up to the tank and push it a little until he catches up with you. Once he does stop pushing the tank and lure him away once again. You might have to pause the game to get your thumb back on the analogue stick because this will work your thumb away from a good grip while playing. Once you get the tank in front of your alleyway that leads to your safe house push the side to get it lined up to go down the ramp. Once it is lined up push the tank straight down the alleyway and stop the tank when it is close to your garage but not directly in front of it. Take this time to get one of your police brides to make the police threat vanish.
Your safe house garage will not open for the tank you are pushing so you will need to fool it. Leave the tank in front of the garage but with enough room to pull your other vehicle out. Open the garage and position your car as close to the right wall as possible, so that it is half in the garage and half outside. This will force the door to stay open. Now you can finish the job but pushing the tank all the way into your garage until it hits the back wall, to ensure it is completely inside. Now get in the other car blocking the garage door and back it out of the way. The garage door will close. Get out of the car, save your game if you want, and then return to the garage. The tank will now be unlocked.