Add a Seat Retake Window for Vehicle Crews

Respecting your time, the short version is:

SEAT RETAKE: a 15–20 sec window for Engineers who leave a vehicle.

Teammates can still take the seat, but during that window the original

Engineer can retake it, and the teammate gets moved to the next free seat.

IF:

An ENGINEER driver/gunner leaves the vehicle, even if not repairing,

because sometimes it’s faster to hop out and kill someone nearby, then:

1. Any Teammates can still take that seat.
2. The original Engineer gets a 15–20 sec SEAT RETAKE window.
   (Exact timing can obviously be discussed)
3. If the original Engineer retakes the seat, the teammate who took it
   gets moved to the next free seat, like F1 > F2 > F3 etc.
4. If there are no free seats, that teammate gets moved outside,
   preferably behind the vehicle.

More detailed version / reasoning:

I think vehicles could really use a short “seat retake” window for drivers/gunners who hop out for repairs or a quick outside play.

Right now, if I leave the gun to repair, a teammate can instantly take the seat. Then I can’t get back in, the tank loses cover, and repairing starts feeling risky instead of helpful.

Same with the driver seat. Enemy anti-steal seems to work, but teammates can still take control right after I hop out. Because of that, I often feel like I need to reverse way farther than I normally would just to repair safely. And even that doesn’t fully solve it, coz someone can still spawn in and take the seat.

I know someone could say “just fight on foot then”, but that’s not always the point. If I’m tanking, I’m usually running Engineer with tank/gunner perks. If I wanted infantry play, I’d probably pick a different path, like AT with more rockets.

Also, having to redeploy just to get back into my intended role feels a bit rough, even if it only costs one ticket.

A possible fix: if a driver/gunner exits the vehicle as Engi, they get a short SEAT RETAKE WINDOW, maybe around 15–20 sec.
During that window, if someone takes the same seat, the original operator can replace them and get that seat back.

I don’t think this should be repair-only either. Sometimes you hop out for a few seconds to clear someone hiding near the tank, deal with a guy jiggle-peeking with a lock-on, or stop an enemy torching the vehicle up close. So it might be better if it’s tied to recently leaving the seat, not only to the repair action.

It could work kinda like replacing bots in vehicle seats but the player who took the seat gets moved to another free non-driver seat. They only get kicked out if there are no free seats.
If they have to be kicked out, sending them out the back would probably be the safest option in most cases, since tanks are usually played with friendlies behind and enemies in front.

Extra condition idea:

If another Engineer takes your seat, but you were also an Engineer when you left the vehicle and you are still within your 15–20 sec window,

• your SEAT RETAKE should have priority.
• The other Engineer’s own retake window could still run in the background, in case the original operator doesn’t come back in time.
• Also, I think retake should still work after death, as long as the player is still within their own retake window.

Overall, I think this would make vehicle play smoother and make it less awkward to repair or make quick plays around your own vehicle.

I’d love to hear your thoughts and get a discussion going on this.