Review Scrutinized: The All-New Overdrives!

[Hex 11,520]

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hello readers, and welcome to yet another Special article from the Newspaper! In this article, I'll be taking a look at the new Overdrives revealed in the previous V-LOG, speculating on how they'll fit into the game strategy-wise, and basically theorizing on what impact they'll have on the game.
 
Without further ado, let's get right in!
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Wasp:
 
Starting off with Wasp, let me just say that if they actually implement this effect in the actual game, it would be absolutely insane to see one of these bombs go off. Like, just look at it:
 

 
Mesmerizing, isn't it? A small and a fast hull, designed for reconnaissance and killing players on its way to the flag, will now be able to drop a bomb which has an explosion vastly larger than that of Magnum. The effect produced is also very realistic - it throws out a huge shock wave on all four sides and emits a very deep sound, incredibly similar to a real life bomb.
 
As for what this will actually do, in the V-LOG, it was told that once a Wasp uses this Overdrive, a bomb will be dropped and an explosion will appear, which will disrupt the players chasing the Wasp, allowing it to easily escape. One more thing that I noticed is that you can't see through the explosion to the other side, leaving no way to tell where the Wasp or the group that took your flag went after using the Overdrive. If you're in the right position, you can use this Overdrive, disable the enemy chasing you, and immediately hide behind a nearby building on the way to your base. If you're lucky, the enemy will not see where you went and you'll be able to waltz behind him/her to your flag.
 
If we talk about a single battle scenario, let's say you are a Wasp in the map Kungur. There's about three people defending the Red base, and you're on the Blue side. You have your Overdrive ready, and want to bring the flag to your base in order to capture it. The most challenging thing here will be to form up a couple of attackers, especially in a random battle. One thing you could do in this situation is to go for the flag when the highest number of people are attacking simultaneously. Let's say five of your teammates are going for the flag. Each one has a different hull and different turret, all suited for attacking. Due to your speed, you took the flag first and are escaping for your base. Behind you, there are three enemies hot on your tail, but your teammates couldn't manage to kill them. Let's suppose that you were escaping through the middle. Once you are close to the ditch in the middle there, you used your Overdrive, shoot once, go over the ditch as a shortcut and make your way to flag. Due to the blinding blast and the fact that it disrupts people around it, it is possible that someone fell into the ditch, while others had to stop, wait for the blast to subside and then go after you. In this time, you successfully captured the flag.

 

 

Even though we can start to be super-hyped about this Overdrive, there are a couple of things which are still not known:

• It is not known whether the blast itself and the shock wave it produces will cause any damage.
• Even if they cause damage, it hasn't been told whether the blast will have self-damage probabilities.
• If you weren't in the blast zone, and if you drove through it after, it is not known whether a case like that would cause damage.
• It is not known whether the shock wave will have impact force; which could be used in Parkour.

 

 

Hornet:

 

While Wasp's Overdrive will be visible even to the farthest galaxies in the universe, the one for Hornet is really the opposite - being a ninja on the other side of the map, doing the Overdrive and seeing where the defenders are. If you're wondering how will this "being-a-ninja moment" look, here you go:

 

 

This Overdrive will allow you to see each and every tank, behind each and every wall, prop or building. Seeing how this Overdrive works, this is more of a pre-attack thing you can do instead of being in one. One more thing the Hornet that uses this Overdrive needs to realize is that this effect is not only for himself/herself. It will allow all teammates - as said in the V-LOG - to see behind walls.

 

Now, the most effective way you could use this Overdrive is in situations where both of the teams have each other's flags. Just a simple press on a key will allow you to see everyone behind everything, and then, you can coordinate with your teammates and go return the flag. However, there is one more thing included with this Overdrive. 

 

The person who activates this Overdrive as a Hornet gains the ability to deal damage to anyone, whilst ignoring any sort of protections they have! Do note that this feature is only for that person who activated the Overdrive, not any tanks surrounding the Hornet. This is where it gets pretty serious. After you gave everyone on your team to see behind walls and other props, all of you can surround the flag while you can so much damage as literally no one will have protection from you in the effect time of your Overdrive. The turret choice of course, lies on you. Burn everyone as a Firebird or rain lead as a Thunder? 

 

 

When you activate this Overdrive, a circle of sky-blue pulses will generate around you, indicating that your team now has the ability to see behind objects. As a conclusion, you'll basically be equipped to deal full damage to anyone.

 

 

Hunter:

 

Hunter, in my opinion, probably has the most effective Overdrive when it comes down to attacking, defending and even mid-fielding. Once the Overdrive is activated, Hunter generates an electromagnetic pulse, which disables all supplies being used in the radius of effect. All tanks who have been affected by this pulse will then have their supplies go on cool-downs. Seems like the perfect counter to Dictator's Overdrive, doesn't it?

 

 

As I said, if I say what this supply could do whilst attacking, you could pretty much go on an attack with your teammates, have the base surrounded and activate this Overdrive once the enemy pulls out their supplies or uses the Overdrive currently in the game. This would render the tanks under your effect useless and help your teammates take the flag back to their base. 

 

If you're mid-fielding, this Overdrive will help you deal with onslaughts of enemies approaching your base. If we bring a scenario into play, let's say that you are mid-fielding on the map Molotov. Suddenly, a group of enemies approach and begin to kill you. In this case, I'd suggest to use your Overdrive first! This will disable and put the enemy's supplies on cooldown, immensely increasing your chances of killing them before dying yourself.

 

For defense, I'd say there needs to be one Hunter in the team now - as a defender. If you're in a small map, let's take Molotov again for example, that Hunter would literally disable supplies of an entire enemy army right inside your very own base, provided that all of the enemy attackers were close to you. 

 

An interesting thing is that the effect of this Overdrive suits itself really well, as you can see below:

 

 

You can safely say that Hunter will become more popular now, as its Overdrive sounds and looks really effective!

 

 

Viking:

 

Viking's Overdrive is simple, but it could prove to be really effective in some situations. Once activated, it will allow your turret to have a faster firing rate, but remember, this is only for you and not for any other tanks surrounding you, including teammates.

 

 

If this Overdrive is activated in groups, it will definitely be more effective and productive than a single Viking. Coordinating this type of teamwork in random team battles is quite hard, but I'd really suggest doing this when you're playing with your friends, family or clan.

 

Let's compare two scenarios. You're a Viking-Smoky present in a battle with a lot of people using Viking. Now, if you go to the enemy base alone, do your Overdrive and start firing, you will notice a change in firing rate, letting you think than you can take a load of enemies out. But, the the thing, this Overdrive doesn't affect your health, so you will have the same amount of health you had before doing the Overdrive, provided that the enemies didn't sink it in the first place. In a nutshell, you'd die. However, if you went to the same base with a couple of Vikings, and all of you did your Overdrive there, you'd basically be doubling your damage output, which will be quite unfortunate for the team opposing you.

 

Thus, the only good and smart use for this Overdrive is to use it in the perfect situation, preferably simultaneously with other Vikings on the battlefield.

 

 

Dictator:

 

Essentially speaking, Dictator's Overdrive will be the one that's in the game right now - the so called 'Zero Supply'. The only major thing which will change is the effect it produces - which, from a halo of blue energy, will be changed to a Christmas-like, sea-greenish and definitely a cool upward-flowing stream of light.

 

 

If we talk about a bit of strategy, note that once a Dictator does this Overdrive, everyone surrounding it in a certain radius will also become a part of the effect. This effect is the same as before, all five supplies activated upon pressing the key.

 

The strategies will now completely change as I see them, as most people don't use Dictator at all. Now, in any team, there needs to be at least one Dictator so that it can give its teammates a full set of supplies. Also, Dictator users be ready to get hammered down by a truckload of tankers wanting you to use your Overdrive - since you're the only ones that can do this now!

 

That is pretty much it for Dictator.

 

 

Titan:

 

Titan's Overdrive fits both offense and defense - it's essentially a force field generated around the tanks surrounding the Titan as well as the Titan itself. It will add another layer of armor onto a tank.

 

 

How can this be used for offense? Suppose you're attacking in a group of three Titans towards the Red base in Silence. All three of you go from the right side, activate your Overdrives one-by-one - as in a sense of one activating his/her Overdrive after the effect of the previous one ends. We haven't been told the duration of this Overdrive yet, but it feels like it will be enough for you three to get out of the Red base easily. There, an Isida can help you on the way upward on the right-side ramp and then to the flag.

 

Good for offense right? Even better for defense! That's right, in maps such as Silence or Noise, at least half of the team is always defending the flag. If one Titan activates its Overdrive in the midst of the group, basically half of your team will be half-Godmode_ON for a certain period of time, meaning that the opposition will stand no chance of getting the flag.

 

 

Mammoth:

 

Honestly speaking, Mammoth's Overdrive is just shocking. For a very short period of time, Mammoth will have the ability to become invincible and to instantly kill anyone it touches, irrespective of the victim's health, tank, hull and even protection. Under the influence, if someone gets touched by a Mammoth, that someone dies. But, this package does come with a huge opposing force, and that force will make your Mammoth even slower than it is. 

 

The effect however, really suits the type of Overdrive:

 

 

This is phenomenally useful - as Alex said in the V-LOG - for people who want to capture a lot of Gold Boxes. The main strategy here would be to find the Gold zone, equip a Double Armor and Speed Boost, stand somewhere close to the zone and then just push everyone out of the way. Each tank you touch will die, clearing the immediate area with no external help at all!

 

Other uses of this could be used for attacking, but since Mammoth isn't a hull made for attacking, I doubt anyone will use it. On the other hand however, we have the 'drug-wars'. Consider a Silence battle, and you're a Mammoth. You want to capture a couple of flags for your team, so you take two Isidas and go attack the Red base. Those two Isidas will help you stay alive till you reach the enemy base, and from that point onward, you can use your Overdrive, push and instantly kill anyone in the way and make way back to your base or simple pass the flag to someone faster.

 

 

 

 

Advantages and Disadvantages:

 

I'm pretty, pretty sure these Overdrives will cause a lot of change in the game; and that they will have some pros and cons as well. Here are some of the advantages I could think of:

• First of all, these will completely change how a battle goes, how it progresses, what strategies are used in it, what counters are being made for the attackers, what tactics are being used for the defenders and so on.
• Not only that, but it will definitely make the game much more variable, and battles way more fun than before. Let's be honest, how cool it would be to see tanks getting electrocuted by a sturdy Hunter or see a huge nuclear explosion go off set by a puny little Wasp?
• These are giving each hull their own unique taste, and depending upon the types of players, every hull will now be used in the game, as each one has its own Overdrive, and each one is still as good.
• Hull usage will become a lot more balanced. People will switch over to different hulls as Viking's (which is probably the most popular hull in the game currently) Overdrive is not that good when compared to other ones, and this applies to all modes.
• It would make attacking a lot harder, and same goes for defense. This basically means that there would be more kills, generating more fund, increasing the chances of Gold Boxes and ultimately turning out bigger funds in the end.
• Simultaneously, it will make attacking and defending a lot more complicated and challenging, which leads me to my next point.
• New strategies and ways will need to be developed in order to counter people using these Overdrives, one way is to use your Overdrive.

 

As for disadvantages:

• People will basically be hammering into Dictator-users more because it will be the only hull to have the current Overdrive. Before, every hull had it, but in the future, Dictator-users might have to cope with this.

Other disadvantages basically pop out when the feature is tested or released, so there's really no way to predict these from this point in time.

 

 

Merging 'Em:

 

What I basically mean by this is that you can merge two or more types of hulls, go on attack, user your Overdrives and basically being more effective and efficient than before.

 

Let's take an example: If a Titan, a Hunter, a Dictator and a Wasp go for an attack at the same time and have their Overdrives ready, you'd basically be a four-man army! Like, just before you enter the enemy base, the Dictator uses its Overdrive and gives everyone full supplies. Then, the Hornet enables x-ray vision for everyone and gets the power to deal damage irrespective of the modules it's opposing. The Hunter then takes out the supplies of the enemy team and on the way back to the friendly base, the Wasp goes nuclear, disabling the incoming enemy tanks from getting their flag back.

 

Feels way more intriguing now, doesn't it?

 

 

Counters:

 

So this is pretty much self-explanatory. You can counter each Overdrive with another Overdrive. How? Well, according to what we know right now...

 

If a Hunter disables some of your teammates' supplies, a Dictator can put them back on in no time. Similarly, if a Titan is giving some tanks a protective force field, a Mammoth can kill them instantly by touching. 

 

In the same way, more or less, each Overdrive looks pretty balanced in my opinion, seeing as the best ones have a disadvantage, whereas the mediocre ones can be countered very easily.

 

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So, what do you guys think? Are you looking forward to these upcoming Overdrives? What are your opinions on them, what do you think they will change the most in the game? Share your opinions, suggestions and critics in the comments below!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Hex 11,520]

Hello readers, here's yet another Special review from the Newspaper. In this one, I'll be taking a look at the Overdrives featured in the last V-LOG. Hope you have a good read, enjoy the article and find it interesting. See you around next time!

[Kurt_KurtDGreat 2,259]

Lovely article! Can't wait for the update, some change is very much welcomed from my side tbh ^_^

[a7x_Pedro48 13,999]

Hunter:

 

Hunter, in my opinion, probably has the most effective Overdrive when it comes down to attacking, defending and even mid-fielding. Once the Overdrive is activated, Hunter generates an electromagnetic pulse, which disables all supplies being used in the radius of effect. All tanks who have been affected by this pulse will then have their supplies go on cool-downs. Seems like the perfect counter to Dictator's Overdrive, doesn't it?

 

Even teammates?

[Possibility 282]

Damn, can't wait for da update

[Hex 11,520]

Hunter:

 

Hunter, in my opinion, probably has the most effective Overdrive when it comes down to attacking, defending and even mid-fielding. Once the Overdrive is activated, Hunter generates an electromagnetic pulse, which disables all supplies being used in the radius of effect. All tanks who have been affected by this pulse will then have their supplies go on cool-downs. Seems like the perfect counter to Dictator's Overdrive, doesn't it?

 

Even teammates?

I don't think so.

[Blackdrakon30 2,943]

All tanks who have been affected by this pulse will then have their supplies go on cool-downs. Seems like the perfect counter to Dictator's Overdrive, doesn't it?

 

Even teammates?

I was actually wondering the same thing earlier. I would assume not, since Tanki would receive a lot of sabotage complaints, but it would add an interesting strategic aspect to it. So we'll just have to wait and see.

[lucky-007-lucky 231]

Can we test them in test server?

[Hex 11,520]

Can we test them in test server?

As far as I can tell from watching the V-LOG, these Overdrives are in the designing and testing phase. They might be testing those in the Test Server, but no one knows for sure.

[Magenta 5,165]

You didn't say what happens when two enemy mammoths with overdrive touch each other...

[GuidoFawkes 2,361]

You didn't say what happens when two enemy mammoths with overdrive touch each other...

yeah... that's like saying it has a spear than can pierce through any shield and a shield that no spear can pierce through. at least one of it has to be a lie.

[Viking4s 10,791]

You didn't say what happens when two enemy mammoths with overdrive touch each other...

yeah... that's like saying it has a spear than can pierce through any shield and a shield that no spear can pierce through. at least one of it has to be a lie.

You can only speculate right now. There 3 options though:

1. Nothing happens - both are equally indestructible - you would both push for the gold, the first to die would be the one that has activated the OD the latest. During this time both clean the place of potential competitors.

2. Both dies together. In that case nobodies happy because you are suppose to be indestructible.

3. One dies and the other lives - on which criteria? Many possible reasons: lag (you can expect some weird result with lag); bad programming,... In that case nobodies happy because you don't know why.

 

[GuidoFawkes 2,361]

I'm also wondering if mammoth becomes invulnerable to impact as well...

[Hex 11,520]

You didn't say what happens when two enemy mammoths with overdrive touch each other...

I only wrote about what they told us in the V-LOG. As we have no information about that case yet, it hasn't been mentioned in the article.

[Mjro7 2,837]

i think the game will be boring after this update hm..

[The_Pakistani 16,768]

So current overdrives (Activation of 5 supplies) will only be for dictator? Other hulls will get respective overdrives?

[marc.jp_44 20,837]

Wasn't this Contra's old series?

[Viking4s 10,791]

So current overdrives (Activation of 5 supplies) will only be for dictator? Other hulls will get respective overdrives?

Yeap, you got it right.

[GuidoFawkes 2,361]

Nives has talked about someone having godlike abilities this coming haloween... I'm guessing it'll be Godmode_ON with all 7 overdrives. and if he'll be able to use them without chargung lije how he uses drugs then omni destructor for mammoth overdrive would probably overrule invulnerability, because thats the only way we could kill him. and even if he only has 1 overdrive, its gonna be mammoth because thats all he ever uses. and charging probably wouldnt apply to him so there'd be no other way to kill him other than with our own mammoth overdrive.

Edited September 18, 2017 by GuidoFawkes

[The_Pakistani 16,768]

Yeap, you got it right.

[DragonOfStorms 2,706]

Well, looks like this is the nail in the coffin for my Viking :( First it gets Hunter's stats, and now this...

 

Great article though!

[GuidoFawkes 2,361]

does this mean that a couple railguns can hide behind a mammoth on overdrive and fire at enemies without having to be worried  about getting fired back at? I'm not sure because i never use railgun but... when you fire through 1 team mate the damage for the enemy in line is damage x penetration%. but when you fire through 2 enemies the damage for the second enemy is damage dealt to the first one x penetration%. so irregardless of penetration power you'd still deal 0 damage to the mammoth and whoever hides behind him?

[Hex 11,520]

does this mean that a couple railguns can hide behind a mammoth on overdrive and fire at enemies without having to be worried  about getting fired back at? I'm not sure because i never use railgun but... when you fire through 1 team mate the damage for the enemy in line is damage x penetration%. but when you fire through 2 enemies the damage for the second enemy is damage dealt to the first one x penetration%. so irregardless of penetration power you'd still deal 0 damage to the mammoth and whoever hides behind him?

No one knows yet, we will have to wait for further explanation.

[QuinnP 105]

Not looking forward to me woverdrives

[Hex 11,520]

Well, looks like this is the nail in the coffin for my Viking :( First it gets Hunter's stats, and now this...

 

Great article though!

Hopefully the developers will balance out everything so everything stays the same  ^_^