Guide [Issue 35] Everything to do with... Protection!

[mcmonkey25 717]

Protection is the garage stat we rely on most apart from damage. Without protection, we would all be sitting ducks and one-shot kills, certainly a leap away from the diverse game we love today! So, in this article, I’m going to tell you the different ways protection crops up in the game and how you can make the most of it.

 

Protection, which can be seen as your health points, is what allows you to survive an enemy’s shot. It is one of the most basic elements of the game, much like damage. There are several ways in which protection appears in the game:

 

Survival: If you have low health points, you will die. Simple enough, eh? Having enough protection to survive an enemy’s attack is vital to being able to destroy that enemy and then move on in the battle. The larger the protection you have, the more chance you have of defeating enemies. However, this doesn’t mean that when you have a heavy hull you should immediately go and capture the flag because you might survive. You need to know how to take the least damage, which tanks to destroy first and which enemies you can leave for a while. This is obviously dependent on paints and other factors like reload; but perhaps I’ll talk about that another time.

 

Micro-upgrades: Protection is the first garage statistic for every hull and is generally seen as the first one tankers micro-upgrade. It offers tankers of lower ranks the ability to match the protection of higher modifications (if they have the crystals!) One can also gain an advantage over similar modified opponents due to the small protection advantage. Having crystals left in the bank to micro-upgrade equipment is always a good idea as it can give you that little edge over an enemy.

 

Supply: Supplies are an element of the game which have always added some diversity. Love them or hate them, the game definitely wouldn’t be the same without them. The protection supply allows a player to, at any moment, give themselves extra protection for a limited period in the battle. Whether this be through a drop or a supply, it can significantly boost a player’s chances of surviving a skirmish. However, you must ensure to use it at the correct time during battles. If you equip before your actually fighting, you will be wasting the supply, and although this can’t be helped in most DMs, you could lure a player towards the box before grabbing it yourself. Optimising the time you have with the protection supply on means that you increase your chances of surviving for longer.

 

Gold Boxes: The majority of gold boxes that drop inevitably end up with a huge pile of tankers where shots are being fired left, right and centre. In order to get the gold, it definitely helps to not die before you can catch it. Having sufficient protection means that you are less likely to die when the gold box is dropping and so have more chance of catching it. So, once you are sure that you have enough protection to survive the flurry of shots dealt , you can focus on using your gold-hunting skills to catch a nice 1,000 crystals.

 

Parkour: Although protection during parkour has almost been made redundant due to Parkour mode, protection can still play a key role in larger stunts. For the Rio skyscraper competition, the winning entries involved a very large number of tankers. This meant that supporting Shafts and Railguns would have to deal damage to the main parkourist. Without reasonable protection, the parkourist would have been killed pretty quickly, but through the use of micro-upgrades and protection paints, he was able to survive and complete the spectacular feat!

 

Paints: Talking of protection paints, this could be seen as another protection appears in the game. Paints offer us, as we know, that little extra protection against certain hulls. Whether this be the 10% for the most basic paints like Marine and Magma to the large protections of paints such as Lumberjack and Africa. With paints equipped, tankers can make sure they have a better chance of surviving attacks against certain turrets. This also gives tankers the opportunity to personalise how they protect themselves. In a battle with a lot of Freezes and Firebirds? Try Inferno. Got a couple of Railguns irritating you? Prodigi will do the trick. You can decide what to protect against depending on the other turrets around you; and with equipment change in battles, it is even easier to keep up with the conditions on the battlefield.

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Disadvantages: This may sound weird to many tankers, but sometimes the protection on your hull can be annoying. How many of us have been in that situation when a gold box is dropping where we have half health and unable to utilise a health supply. If there are no self-destructing zones, you will either have to wait the ten seconds (decreasing your chances of getting the gold) or get someone to kill you. However, the more protection you have, the longer it may take for you to get killed by an enemy; and by the time you respawn, you’ve almost certainly missed the gold box. Furthermore, all garage statistics provoke a compromise. In the case of protection on hulls, it is a balance between having lots of health, or a quick hull. If you do choose protection, you will have to remember that it will be considerably tougher to get away with the flag, and you become less mobile (and so effective) when using turrets like Freeze and Firebird. However, if you are happy being a defender, then it is a sacrifice you are probably willing to make!

 

So tankers, when it comes to choosing a new hull to buy or equip, cast a thought to its protection and how it may or may not suit your playing style. Note the compromise but also be aware of the great benefits a heavy hull can bring! 

Edited July 30, 2017 by Hexed

[seriol_killer 7]

First again, nice guide as always 

[Lankbouv 6,347]

Good article, the disadvantages hit home with me.  once I wanted to self-destruct with thunder as a gold fell, but I had clay on at the time, so it took me too long to kill myself ^^

[Darren4Turbo 4,913]

Nice guide @mcmonkey25  :D

[dilsharox 2,395]

nice

[stanzhang 3,291]

Nice

[liverpoolaum 811]

nice

[skuyzy 695]

"Supplies are an element of the game which have always added some diversity. Love them or hate them, the game definitely wouldn’t be the same without them..." yes, it would be much better, in my opinion. I personally enjoy pro battles without supplies so much, much more than regular battles. Battles without supplies forces you to actually think and be aware of anything before making a move, rather then press a button and go berserk.

Edited June 2, 2015 by skuyzy

[SwiftSmoky 8,445]

The micro upgrades came out after the skyscrapers competition, didn't they?  :huh:

 

Also I proved that it is possible to climb a skyscraper with a team of only 3 tanks (2 twins-dictator, 1 wasp), so it is possible to climb skyscrapers without using supplies at all ^_^

 

And another thing about protection in parkour: The combination of fully upgrading Wasp M3's protection and using the MOP paint (30% mines protection) you can survive 3 mines, which results in really high jumps :D

[slycleaversmart 1,154]

First again, nice guide as always 

yes agreed.