Review [Issue 43] VLOG Analysis: The Unity Tanki Part 3

[Thekillerpenguin 1,731]

VLOG Analysis: Unity Tanki Part 3

 

We've seen a lot of interesting things regarding the Unity Tanki (or should I say Tanki X?) in the past few weeks- graphics, sounds, its name, and more! There's a hefty amount of information to cover, so take a probiotic, drink some warm water, and let's digest what we've seen so far!

 

Note that I've skipped quite a few things due to redundancy- if we've seen something before, I've omitted it. This is due to length constraints- the page would take a huge amount of time to load otherwise. I've also separated the article with spoiler tags for convenience.

 

 

 

---

 

This is a Wasp-Twins with what appears to be Winter paint. Now we have a front view of the new Twins- there are three blue lights, with a small one next to each barrel and a single large in the center. This is presumably M0 Twins, since there aren't any metallic parts.

 

---

 

 

These are the boxes at the back of the Blue team base in Rio. They're now more detailed- besides the improved textures, you can read "small arms ammunition" on the large boxes and "7.62 mm 20 cartridges" on the medium boxes. Now, this is pretty unsuitable ammunition for a tank turret, with the exception of possibly Vulcan*, but you can see how much detail the developers put into the new Tanki. For things as insignificant as some old boxes that are barely noticed in battle.

 

*It's unknown what caliber bullets Vulcan fires. My best guess would be .50 caliber (used in heavy machine guns), but 7.62 x 51 mm or 7.62 x 39 mm bullets would be possible, although the latter two would do pretty much nothing to a tank. Heck, even .50 caliber rounds don't do significant damage to tank armor.

 

---

 

 

This is a Hornet-Twins on Sandbox. We've seen both of these before, but thanks to the quality, we can see that Twins appears to have an ejection port. Why, you ask? We'll answer that later.

 

---

 

 

This is a view of the new Silence. While the playable area appears to be similar to the current incarnation, the outside is drastically different. Instead of a barren desert, Silence appears to be located at some sort of a railway station.

 

---

 

 

A nice shot of Smoky-Wasp in the Blue team base on Silence. The props here are essentially updated versions of what we currently have, but the massive increase in quality of the textures and lighting make it feel very different. The sun also shines on the map differently, giving it more of an early morning (or late afternoon, take your pick) feel.

 

---

 

 

Smoky-Wasp versus Thunder-Hornet, two formidable combos for rapid assault. As we've seen before, Smoky produces quite a bit of muzzle flash and smoke when fired, which could make engaging enemies quickly a bit complicated. It appears to produce a small plume of black smoke at the impact site, so it'll be easier to see if you get hit by a Smoky.

 

---

 

 

This is an odd area. There's a tunnel on the bottom half, similar to the winding ones underneath Silence or around Future, but there's a section on the upper half filled with boxes and a few red lights. Well, at least the lights look cool.

 

---

 

 

This is an overhead view of Sandbox. It's even easier to see how much more detail there is in the surroundings- the water tower, the forests, the nearby village, some shipping containers, a river, a warehouse, and even a small pond. This level of detail is incredible compared to what we have now, which includes a few houses, bushes, and a skybox.

 

---

 

 

As stated in the VLOG, the bushes and grasses in the new Tanki are now 3D models and will sway with the wind. You can see how detailed these bushes and grasses are. Also, take a look at the other props surrounding the map (which is Kungur, by the way). There are evergreens, deciduous trees, power lines, houses, and more.

 

---

 

 

This is the Wasp-Twins from earlier on Rio. Take a look at the area outside the boundaries, the graffiti on the walls, the grass, and the very detailed trees. These trees will have accurate hitboxes now, so all you Shaft campers out there can enjoy hiding your laser sight on these trees while still being able to shoot through select spots.

 

---

 

 

This appears to be the Smoky-Wasp from earlier, continuing its fight with the Hornet-Thunder. It's not really clear right now, but Thunder appears to be different from the current version, with a bulkier barrel, boxier rear section, and two protrusions on the top (more on those later). The player's health is extremely low, and the Thunder just righted itself from a sideways flip, so you can guess what happens next...

 

---

 

 

Boom. That's the explosion of a Thunder shot combined with the explosion from a tank, well, exploding. It's very large and bright.

 

---

 

This is a Dictator-Smoky on Kungur. Dictator's back end is quite different from the current version- besides the exhaust pipes, the radiator is smaller, and underneath it are what appears to be two flaps covering the exhaust ports. From the gameplay that we've seen in the past, the two rectangular exhaust ports open and light up when Speed Boost is activated instead of the exhaust pipes. Why? I'm not sure. It would probably be more visible than having the comparatively small pipes venting heat.

 

---

 

A Dictator-Smoky after firing. Note the shell, which is golden and appears to have a slightly rounded tip. It seems like my prediction about Smoky's shell was correct. However, one of my other predictions wasn't...more on that later.

 

---

 

 

This is a Hammer-Wasp with Winter paint on Silence. Notice the destroyed tank on the right- it's a Shaft-Wasp. In addition, contrary to what I thought before, Hammer only has a light on its left side, instead of one on each side.

 

---

 

A DM match on Sandbox. On the right is our previously seen Hammer-Wasp in Winter, while on the left are a Hornet-Railgun in Red and a Thunder-Wasp in Inferno. You can see Hammer's muzzle flash and projectiles- the flash is brighter and the projectiles are more yellowish.

 

It's kind of odd for Winter and Inferno to be used on M0 tanks. I wonder why they're available here- maybe the devs just wanted to show off. :)

 

---

 

 

Same battle as above, but this time the Railgun's firing. The firing trail seems to be a mostly straight line, similar to the original Railgun effect before the visuals update.

 

---

 

 

And here's where one of my shell casing predictions was wrong. Take a look at Twins here- it's ejecting blue shell casings! I originally thought that the blue shell casings were from Railgun and Shaft, but apparently not. I'm not exactly sure why a plasma weapon would need shells, but then again, we don't have plasma weapons in real life, so anything goes. :P

 

Upon further reading, there's no reason for a railgun to have shell casings in real life- the entire projectile is accelerated and fired. In ordinary weapons, explosives (hopefully gunpowder, don't use C4 as a propellant) are used to launch the bullet, the part of the cartridge that hits your target. What's left is the casing, which is just a piece of metal used to hold the bullet and propellant together. No propellants in railgun weapons = nothing needed except the "bullet".

 

---

 

 

A Firebird-Hunter clad in Winter engages a Ricochet-Viking (?) with an unclear paint (possibly Dragon). The rank of the Viking is hard to see, but it looks a bit like Recruit.

 

---

 

 

A good look at a Viking-Thunder. As you can see, Thunder's barrel is shorter, while the rest of the turret is wider and more bulky. You can also see an exposed section of the barrel in the middle.

 

---

 

 

A Thunder-Viking on Speed Boost. Similarly to Dictator, the flames don't come out of the exhaust pipes (which I think are the grey boxes with openings pointing sideways); instead, they come out of 2 vents on the bottom.

---

 

 

A Freeze-Wasp clad in Inferno. Now we can see the front end of Freeze. It has two blue lights, one large one to the left side of the barrel and one smaller one to the right of the base. Wasp appears to have a small blue light (similar to the current M3 version) as well.

 

---

 

 

A Hunter-Railgun in Winter inside the tunnels of Silence. This is a good view of Hunter's back end. The vents have been added in the bottom center and a radiator has been added on the back of the front surface. It's less angular and more squat than the current Hunter.

 

---

 

 

This is a Mammoth-Shaft with Prodigi paint on Rio. Mammoth's profile is about the same as before, but the details seem to be very different. I'm actually not sure if this is a M0 Mammoth or not, since it has quite a few metallic parts.

 

Shaft now has some cool looking blue lights, similar to Railgun. It's bulkier (note the protrusion near the barrel) and less sleek than the current version, which seems to fit with the general design aesthetic in Tanki X.

 

---

 

 

A Hammer-Viking shortly after firing. There appears to be a light on the front of Viking. Hammer's shell casing can be seen in this picture, and it looks like the black cylindrical one we saw in the first article of this series. The reloading animation seems to involve the metallic cylinder underneath the top rail rotating as the piston (?) in the back moves back and forth, presumably inserting new shells.

 

---

 

 

This is a M0 Viking-Thunder in the process of deploying Double Armor. You can see that extra plates of armor are telescoping out on the sides. I'm guessing that we'll have to pay close attention to determine whether or not an enemy is using Double Armor or not since it appears to be less conspicuous than Double Power or Speed Boost- the plates are the same color as the paint, apparently.

 

---

 

 

This is the same Viking from above with Double Power deployed. Now we know why the Hornet-Thunder a few images above had two protrusions coming out of the turret- those angled pieces are actually raised panels that cover the spinning, glowing canisters.

 

In addition, the Double Armor is now fully deployed. The plates cover ~75% of the treads.

 

---

 

 

This appears to be a Viking-Ricochet with Prodigi paint. Speed boost is active, and Double Armor seems to be recharging. The developer controlling this tank is being attacked by a Vulcan.

 

---

 

 

The same developer is now engaging that pesky Vulcan. Ricochet seems to have a brighter muzzle flash, but more importantly we can see that it ejects shells now, similar to Twins. The video is pretty blurry, but they appear to be the pointed blue ones that we saw in the first article of this series. Now we have accounted for all of the shell casings!

 

---

 

 

A Hornet-Smoky engaging a Dictator-Thunder with Winter paint on Sandbox. About half a second later...

 

 

...both of them engage each other in combat. Both Thunder and Smoky explosions/muzzle flash produce quite a bit of smoke, making things somewhat hard to see. Notice that the health bar, which was absent in the above image, is now present, with about a third of the health gone (consistent with Thunder's current damage). This leads me to think that the health bar will be hidden until you take damage. The reload bar will also apparently fade away when reloading is complete.

 

---

 

 

In the same battle, the Dictator is now fighting a Hornet-Isida, while the player is still a ghost. The Dictator gets destroyed, but the player finishes off the Isida with a Smoky shot.

 

---

 

 

This also appears to be the same battle. We can now tell that the Isida is wearing Prodigi paint. Both Double Damage, Speed Boost, and Double Armor appear to be active- notice the glowing exhaust ports, the red glow on top of Isida, and the plate of armor on the side.

 

---

 

 

Remember the enemy that the Ricochet-Viking from earlier was fighting? Well, it looks like Semyon was behind the wheel of that Vulcan! He appears to be driving a Dictator with Double Power activated. The paint appears to be Winter, but I'm not sure.

 

 

 

 

 

---

 

 

A view of the garage. The currently equipped tank is a Hammer-Hornet with what looks like Needle paint. It doesn't look exactly the same as Needle to me since the details are larger.

 

It might be me, but this view of the garage reminds me of the green screen background used in the older VLOGs, with the catwalk and sunlight.

 

---

 

 

Back to Sandbox! A Hornet-Firebird decked out in Inferno is picking up supplies. You can see that the supplies now break apart once they are touched by a tank. This might also explain why the Gold Box models seen previously were opening up.

 

Double Armor seems to be already deployed (note the armor plate on the side of the treads), and Double Damage seems to be in the process of deploying.

 

---

 

 

The same Hornet (supplies seem to be off now) spewing out some napalm. The stream seems to be more narrow and sparse, but a bit more realistic.

 

---

 

 

A Hornet-Smoky engaging a Wasp-Railgun (which is driving into a wall for some reason) on Silence while being attacked by an Isida. Isida's beam seems to be wider and less defined than before. Shortly afterwards...

 

 

The Hornet satisfies his lust for destruction. Interestingly enough, the destroyed Wasp is burning, which is something new. The previous destroyed tanks we've seen in the VLOG don't appear to be burning after death.

 

---

 

 

To Sandbox once more! A Mosquito is targeting the player's Dictator-Thunder. The player seems to be trying to use Thunder's impact force to knock his/her opponent's aim off, but it doesn't work.

 

---

 

 

Huh, back to Silence. The Hornet-Smoky is in another firefight, but he/she doesn't survive this once, being pummeled by Ricochet shots. What's interesting is the tank in front of the Hornet- notice how it's on fire, but it hasn't been destroyed yet. I suspect that this may have something to do with Smoky- maybe a new animation for critical hits?

 

---

 

 

Semyon, still using his trusty Vulcan-Dictator, gets torched by a Firebird-Wasp. The flames seem to be more reddish than the current M0 Firebird. Unfortunately for him, his tank doesn't survive.

 

 

 

 

---

 

 

A Dictator-Hammer picks up a Double Armor box by smashing into it. Dictator now has a flat blue light on its front side, similar to Viking.

 

---

 

 

A Smoky-Wasp in the garage. Not an unusual sight at this point, but you can see a small blue light to the left of the Smoky's barrel.

 

---

 

 

It morphs into a Ricochet-Viking with Winter paint as the text shows up. You can see that there are a few new details on Ricochet- possibly two lights.

 

---

 

 

A Firebird-Hornet with Inferno assaults a Hunter-Twins. Getting hit by Twins looks like it'll be more annoying due to the huge puff of plasma after impact.

 

---

 

 

A Dictator-Vulcan unloads some lead at its surroundings. The detailing on the Dictator is quite different from what we have now. The Vulcan is ejecting lots of small shell casings too. The blue light doesn't seem to be visible here for some reason.

 

---

 

 

The Rico-Viking from earlier transforms into a Mammoth-Shaft with Prodigi. You can see the detail changes on Shaft now- it's more bulky, has extra parts, and different textures. As for the Mammoth...well, it looks a bit like a Titan to me now. It's flatter and has a different very different front end. Hopefully this won't be confusing in the final game!

 

---

 

 

A team of tankers rolls out from the Blue Team half of Rio's beach. It appears that the shore is now blocked off, so you can't suicide by driving there. From the left to the right, there is a Smoky-Wasp with Winter paint, a Viking-Thunder with an unclear paint (most likely Green), a Freeze-Wasp with Inferno, and a Hammer-Titan (?) with Green. They are fighting against...

 

---

 

 

Another team of four tanks. There is a Vulcan-Viking with Winter paint, a Twins-Titan with Prodigi (currently obscured by the Vulcan's barrels), a Viking-Thunder with Green, and a Hornet-Railgun with Green. Notice the two blue lights above Vulcan's barrel.

 

---

 

 

A Mammoth-Shaft with Prodigi pops into a street in Rio. The differences in Mammoth's design can be seen immediately.

 

---

 

 

A Viking-Thunder gets Railgunned by a Hornet. The new tank explosions create quite a bit of smoke and shake the screen, which looks and sounds a lot better than the current version.

 

---

 

 

The Hornet repeats the same thing to a Smoky-Wasp, this time while using Double Power. It appears that each tank (or at least each class of tank) will have different explosion animations- the explosion and smoke from a destroyed Wasp is smaller than that of a Viking.

 

---

 

 

The Mammoth-Shaft from earlier. The panel behind the barrel is now raised, which could be the Double Power animation for Shaft. The design of Shaft is reminiscent of the version shown in the Tanki Online 2.0 beta- there's a pipe on the side of the barrel.

 

---

 

 

The new Shaft scope. It's a lot smaller than the current version and more detailed. The green arcs surrounding the central sight spin around as it charges, which is a useful visual indicator.

 

---

 

 

The Hornet-Railgun reflects on his life choices as he notices a laser sight pointed at him. Railgun's charging animation seems to be a bit less round than the current version.

 

---

 

 

Not one to be intimidated by a Railgun when driving a Mammoth while wearing Prodigi paint, the Shaft fires. I'm willing to bet that a good chunk of the muzzle flash here is from the magic of video editing, but it's still a lot more impressive than the current version, which is a rather puny yellow/orange flare.

 

 

 

 

---

 

 

A Vulcan-Mammoth in Inferno, dangerously low on health, fights a Hornet-Rico on Sandbox. The Mammoth loses, and the explosion apparently has enough force to tip the corpse on its side.

 

---

 

 

A Dictator-Railgun with Prodigi jumps off the bridge in Kungur to escape the wrath of a Hunter-Thunder, also clad in Prodigi paint.

 

---

 

 

A Wasp-Shaft in Orange paint scouts an odd area. It's walled off by concrete, includes a nice grove of trees, and has shipping containers. It doesn't appear to be part of a map that we know, but notice the concrete wall and structures in the background. This leads me to think that this is actually the outer area of Silence, behind the Red Team base- in the current version, it's just desert, but it appears that the developers did a lot of work modelling the area outside the playing field. The developers presumably turned off the killing fields to let the player in the video explore the area.

 

---

 

 

The same tank is back inside Silence, which again seems to suggest that the mystery area is outside the map. Note the crumbling health kit box.

 

---

 

 

A Vulcan-Mammoth destroys another tank on Sandbox. What's interesting here is the fact that the Mammoth starts glowing after overheating, instead of turning red. I suspect that this glow will replace the red burning animation that we currently have whenever your tank's temperature is above normal. I'm not a big fan of it.

 

---

 

 

A Viking-Twins tests how close he/she can get to a Shaft's laser sight without getting sniped. Doesn't end well. Shaft's laser sight seems to be a darker and more vivid red now, but it could be the lighting.

 

---

 

 

A view of the soft treads. Besides looking more realistic, these should make aiming on edges a bit easier- since the treads will now mould themselves to grip edges, you won't swing as much when your tank is on a diagonal edge.

 

 

 

---

 

That's about it. Did I miss something? Did I make a mistake? Do Antarctic land birds, small horses, and ashy colored felines get along? What is the mathematical limit of Fen's height? If you have the answer to any of these, reply below. Thanks for reading, and I'll see you next time!

 

Edited July 29, 2017 by Hexed

[Quarks 2,255]

Well written TKP. The only thing I would disagree with is the "flap" on shaft. Instead of it being the double damage indicator, but a visible representation of sniping mode. Besides that, well done.

[yoshi-1 1,096]

Nice! :wub:

[Flexoo 6,980]

I am not very satisfied with their current changes to Flash, that even make me think about leaving, but Tanki X looks really alluringly. Nice job TKP. Great choice of v-log pics to analyse.

[Raphael2 3,263]

Great analysis, very enjoyable article to read

[lukey0 27,543]

Nice analysis TKP! ;)

[Eragon 13,876]

The programmers certainly did a great job in the terrain and map textures and environment, they probably used Unity's asset store for some of the resources. However the tanks themselves and the explosions from the turrets I would consider rather dull. Considering that TankiX will run on a separate client I would have expect more detail, especially the explosions. I was looking forward for the explosions and visually effects to look something close to GTA 4's. However the current explosions details are rather lame. Lets hope they are improved since they are one of the most important key features. 

[Zenyth 6,494]

Awesome stuff. I love the supply effects except the armor plates thing. Also Shaft's raised panel might be scope mode indicator. I like soft treads too.

Realism finally making inroads into the game.

[viratno2 146]

U rock man. When is the new vlog's analysis coming? the game however, rocks in graphics IMO. Much more realistic.

[wow349 4]

Love the maps : Look Good, Play Good.

[suhrusai1234 1]

awesome check out my channel
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCxDb_3n73L9h8C6llS792NA
My vlog information videos in the spoiler
English spoiler

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=knHLfAnoieQ
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qXNkDUb5YeE

Russian spoiler

 

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HXcS6ZSsS_0

 

 

[DragonOfStorms 2,706]

Wow. Semyon looks really annoyed/focused on one of those...

[genak138 950]

Which V-Log is this picture from?

[BOLTZ55555 95]

t

This is a hornet-smoky killing a wasp-smoky with critical hit. that is why there is fire burning on the front of the tank