Vehicle armour replenishes in Battlefield 3

Vehicle armour in Battlefield 3 will replenish if kept out of the line of enemy fire, DICE has revealed.

However, according to a new post on the official Battleblog, the vehicle will be disabled once it passes a certain damage threshold, with fire and smoke indicating that it's about to explode.

Unlike in previous Battlefield games, you'll still be able to fire a vehicles' weapons while it's disabled, allowing you to lay down covering fire while engineers attempt to patch up the damage.

A range of new vehicle customisation options are also incoming. There are over 80 unlockable specialisation upgrades spread over the 12 different vehicle classes, with each class offering three unlock slots: one secondary weapon slot, one gadget slot and one upgrade slot.

As with the weapon upgrade system detailed last week, the new set-up lets you tailor each vehicle to suit your way of playing.

For example, a fighter jet can be kitted out with anti-air missiles for dogfighting or laser-guided air-to-ground missiles to blitz enemy tanks.

Similarly, you'll be able to equip IR flares to dodge missiles, or instead take your chances with a fire extinguisher in the event that you get hit.

"I think the ability to kit out your favorite vehicle depending on the situation combined with the new dynamics we've added to vehicle damage and repairs makes for a lot of interesting choices for players," explained lead vehicle designer Patrick O'Shaughnessy.