The range seems to be about half the height of the minimap at maximum zoom (just less than the width). As for avoiding detection, if an enemy is crouched or prone (or walking at a speed as slow or slower than crouching) then they will not show up on the minimap. (No source for any of this, just my own observations)

I started on an empty server playing Operation Firestorm (conquest large) with a 1 player start, and drove the EOD bot all the way from the US deployment to the RU deployment, and beyond -- to the very edge of the map on the opposite side. Based on this, I am confident that the range of the EOD bot is effectively infinite, or at least as large as the very largest Battlefield 3 map so far. So, I'm not sure why you're losing control of the bot, but range is not the reason.

You can see them, even without the night vision. You can see the 3d model of the tanks mines, though they can be hard to spot when driving fast. Se this wiki, that has pictures of them: http://battlefield.wikia.com/wiki/IRNV_scope

Apparently, the trick to this ribbon is: You can only get the M-COM defender badge by killing an enemy as they are planting the bomb on the M-COM station. You'd think that killing an enemy very near the M-COM station would be enough, but noooo. The only thing that counts here is killing the enemy as they plant the bomb. So if you want to get this ribbon, some suggestions are: Play Squad Rush, where the teams are 4vs4 and the odds of the kill happening during the bomb plant are higher simply by virtue of the tiny teams. Play as support and "mine" the M-COM with C4, but stay near (and out of sight, obviously) so you can hear the telltale beeps of the M-COM bomb being armed by the enemy. Favor the Operation Metro or Caspian Border maps as those have 8 M-COM terminal as opposed to the standard 6. Obviously, stay near the M-COM at all times. Camp the M-COM so you have line of sight to it, but the enemy does not, then just be sure to wait until they are physically arming the bomb before you fire. Video of that technique below. Kind of a dumb design for this ribbon in my opinion if an avid player doesn't get it in a ton of hours of all kinds of play, but whatevs, man.

You are not imagining, it takes longer to resupply explosives (including grenades). I'm pretty sure the reason is game balance, since these weapons inflict quite a lot of damage and too fast resupply would make players with these weapons too powerfull.

The FRAG perk, achieved at rank 20, has this description: Additional MOLLE grenade pouches allow the soldier to carry a larger amount of hand grenades and 40mm grenades. When you equip the frag perk: You get 1 more grenade, going from 1 to 2. I believe you only get 1 more 40mm grenade, going from 4 total (1/3) to 5 total (1/4)

It means that you have hit the enemy. This is especially important when firing rockets at enemy vehicles, since frequently after you fire you have to hide to avoid dying so you can't see if you got a hit. It does not mean, however, that you have disabled or destroyed a vehicle, so also be alert for the "vehicle disabled" and "vehicle destroyed" notifications coming up on your screen

No. There is nothing in place (unless I've missed it) to host a game of BF3 on your own server. This is for the best as hosting one's own server opens up the potential for great abuse.

The Kobra sight is a russian red dot sight, and the Reflex sight is an american red dot sight. The PKA-S is a russian holographic sight, and the Holographic is an american holographic sight. Holographic sights have a more open sight line but you aim down the sights slightly slower than red dot sights. Red dot sights are more confined, but aim down the sights the quickest of any scopes. Holographic (Holo) Kobra (RDS) Reflex (RDS) M145 (3.4x) PK-A (3.4x) PKA-S (Holo) PSO-1 (4x) All the above screenshots were taken at roughly the same 145 meter position from a capture point, so they should reflect equal distances.

For engineer: If you repair it you will see an round icon of the current health and total health, in the middle of the vehicle. However this is not clearly visible with all the icons in BF.

If you scroll over them you can actually see the description of each tag and how to get them

There is currently no way to view your ping while in the game. There have been complaints about this, but that's the way it is at the moment. Of course in battlelog you can browse servers by ping, and you can usually assume that if your ping is low to the server it will also be low while in a game on that server.

Hold, don't tap, circle. When he says now, tap R1.

The icon flashes when the vehicle is under fire/in combat - this is to provide a pre-emptive measure for poor souls who would spawn into a vehicle that is near its end.

You can have a maximum of 2 claymores deployed at one time. Additionally, claymores (unlike mines) do not survive your death, so plan accordingly. As of the December 6th patch, claymores now survive your death.

No it is not. The only way you can play by yourself is to play the single player campaign.

If it is a star, then it means that they are the squad leader. If it is an ammo clip or something like that, then that means that this person has a squad perk equipped. So, in order on the above picture, we have: Squad Sprint Squad Flak Squad Explosives Squad Cover Squad Suppression Squad Frags Squad Ammo

No, C4 can only be detonated by the thrower using the fire button or by yours or enemy bullets. C4 could be detonated on MW2 by double-tapping reload, but no such shortcut exists in Battlefield, likely because of their desire to make the game 'realistic'.

I just investigated your question on my server (standard - not hardcore in case it matters) with a couple of M1 Abrams tanks. I haven't confirmed these numbers for other vehicles, so results might be different for other vehicles. The magic number The number for disabling looked like 50%. I would have guessed it was that, but I'd never tested to be sure. A 52% tank was fine, and a 50% tank was on fire. Bleed effects Once the tank was disabled, I had a grace period of a few seconds before health started bleeding. It seemed like about a 10 second period. But 50% was the point where it started bleeding. Once it starts bleeding you have to either get it repaired or, failing that, bail out before it explodes. Audio cues Down to about 60% damage I heard a slow klaxon-like sound (like an angry little alarm clock). From 50-60% the klaxon got very fast. At 50% and below, once the vehicle was on fire, the "woop-woop" alarm sound was added. Heal effects When a you repair a vehicle's health to the point that it's no longer disabled, all adverse effects from disabling are repaired too. When a vehicle is anywhere above a disabled state, after avoiding additional damage for a few seconds it'll slowly regenerate its health back up to 100%. In my tank testing it took about 12 seconds of non-damage before regeneration started. Other Though a disabled vehicle's movement is impaired, its weapons function normally.

By going through all the weapons in battlelog, the following weapons can have extended magazines attached to them. All Support weapons (except for the QBB-95 and MG-36). The PP-2000, PDW-R, MP7, AS Val and M5K. All Shotguns. So not many at all, and all of the ones that can are either a LMG, SMG, or a Shotgun.