Review [Issue 76] Beyond M3: Field Tests III

[Hex 11,520]

 

 

 

 

Choosing the way you play and what you play with are two of the most influential steps a tanker goes through in the beginning and middle stages of their career. Both decisions are relatively quite easy, but it is the final stage where most tankers face difficulties. While micro-upgrading at beginner stages is easier, making an item M4 is a difficult task, considering that doing so eats up hundreds of thousands of crystals, usually per upgrade. Plus, the decision of which turret or hull to M4 first itself is a hard one, especially if someone plays with a wide variety of combinations.

 

This article series aims to clear these last-stage confusions, paving way for a more cost-effective and strategic account.

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Introduction:

 

You might already remember what am I basically doing in this series, but again, let me explain what I will actually do:

• I'll select a fully-upgraded M3 (so yes, M4) combination to play with and a map to play in.
• I will play with that combination on one map with supplies on but no alterations enabled, just the stock.
• While playing, I'll grab notes and take pictures; then explain my findings and tests in an article, like this one.
• Note that I have slightly altered the format of the series, now there's no longer a no-supplies part. This is because it's just impossible to play with no supplies at such a high level and besides, if you are going for M4s, it means you have enough supplies, so there's that.

That being said, let's jump right into the field!

 

Wasp-Isida:

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My first impressions regarging this combination in CTF mode were really mixed up - like, Isida is pretty strong now, but at the same time, other energy-based weapons could easily pick me off as a Wasp. One more thing to note is that Wasp is  very light and fast - and this makes Wasp unstable. Though it is agile and swift, you can't drive straight with someone shooting you from the sides or behind. Pair that up with Isida, and you literally have no control if you begin to side-flip or become unstable.

 

What's more is that both of Isida's alterations are pretty much useless - well, in most cases they are. So that's okay, seeing as I'm not allowed to use alterations in this review series.

 

Theory:

• Can Isida be effectively used with Wasp? Can it get high on the leaderboard while simultaneously racking up points by killing/healing people?
• What about instability?

 

Experiments and Tests:

Brest was a good idea for using this combination with supplies. First of all, it's a big map, so you have plenty of places to hide if you get separated and then continue with your teammates, once they arrive.

 

 

Well, let's see how can this puny combination survived in such battle conditions!

 

Battle Result - Brest CTF | Wasp-Isida + Kodiak T-F + Supplies

 

I was quite shocked by this result when the battle finished because I hadn't pressed 'Tab' to check my scoreboard occasionally in between the battle. Wasp really served me well!

 

 

The module of choice in this map and battle mode was pretty much Kodiak T-F for me, which has protections against Railgun, Thunder and Ricochet - and what's amazing is that half the enemy team consisted of these turrets. So that was a win-win for me.

 

To start off the battle, I got up on this platform area and tried to heal as much as I could to gather up points. I would constantly switch between snipers operating here. Sometimes, I would just be hanging around shyrik_86, the Hornet-Railgun-Prodigi and getting multiple спсs in the chat every now and then. While in other times, I would hide behind another fat Mammoth on the other side, 345serg. Five minutes into the battle and I already amassed up a grand total of... a hundred points!

 

 

Yeah, not that much, but still really helpful for those two snipers there. They pulled off some streaks at the end and helped our team capture one flag in the beginning.

 

By the way, for my paint I chose the not-so-camoflagy Tiger. Being a pesky little Isida, I wanted to strike death and fear into the heart of my enemies, but oh well...

 

After a few minutes, I felt the urge to go and attack. Thus, I paired up with a Mammoth-Ricochet-Urban, valerahanykaev. Try pronouncing that name Cedric! After that, I don't really know, the battle took a seriously demanding turn. The enemy team apparently got fed up and captured two to three flags in quick succession. Angry, the Mammoth and I attacked and captured one more flag, in which he/she displayed some really sportsmanlike characteristics. They gave me the flag in the middle of the map, secretly telling me to go and get this flag back to base while they stop the incoming attackers. The whole plan worked out, and the whole team cheered after that.

 

 

Then, things got pretty serious. A lot of people in the enemy base changed to Isida/Freeze and started to defend, while laying mines like it's a hefty Save The Gold. Note that the enemy team's score was 3-2 to us here, meaning that he had approximately eight minutes to capture two flags to get the win.

 

Due to those mines and the team's score being down by one flag, my team started to lose it. Some players on my team took things pretty seriously, but when failure struck, they simply rage-quitted. New players did join, but most of these didn't have strong equipment; ultimately rendering our team weak.

 

The enemy team took a huge advantage of this turn of events and managed to capture a whopping six more flags - with most of the work done by the top three people in their team.

 

Most of the times, I would try to stop people from taking our flag through the middle. But, as you can see below, when you're using Isida and there's three Vulcans and Railguns defending the base, you can't really do much.

 

;-;

 

 

Here's an awesome display of teammates gathering up and attacking like professionals, but unfortunately, even this fully upgraded convoy failed to capture flags.

 

 

That was pretty much it for this battle.

 

 

 

Hornet-Thunder:

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Slightly better than the previous combination, but again, Hornet still lacks health and the steadfastness required to push through tons of Twins and Smokies firing at you with no mercy. On the other hand, however, was Thunder - a very deadly turret when in the right hands. It can deal so much damage  within a minute that the enemy team simply doesn't stand a chance if it doesn't use supplies or backs up with Isidas. But it still has one major problem... Since it has been a major turret in all of Tanki's history, protections against it are way too common, especially with the current module system. You go into a medium battle, and literally half the people in it have Thunder protection. It is quite annoying to deal with this, and it really becomes a problem if you're not using a Thunder module yourself to protect from splash damage. Nonetheless, Hornet-Thunder can be a great combination, but the probability of finding a perfect battle to play with it in is very minute.

 

Theory:

• As aforementioned, will Thunder be able to cope with the massive amounts of protections on the enemy team? If so, how?
• What about splash damage? Sure, there is an alteration that removes it, but it also ends up removing the splash damage ability altogether. How does this change effect Thunder?

 

Experiments and Tests:

Testing this combination required a small-medium map that would have lots of cover and ways to divert to a different course; and what better map that would fulfill these needs than Red Alert?

 

 

So... Here are my notes for this combination:

 

Battle Result - Red Alert CTF | Hornet-Thunder + Badger T-B + Supplies

 

This is, in fact, a very solid result, albeit the low score total (which is probably because of the reduced standard battle times and scores). The fact that I maintained a 2.00+ K/D while being the easiest hull to destroy in the battle was a feat within itself.

 

 

In preparation for this battle, I went with the good 'ol Kodiak T-C module, which was perfect for this battle. Providing protections from Railgun, Thunder and Twins, this module can really up your game in a medium sized map, provided that people are actually using protections in it. I did change my module mid-game though, but more on that below. Of course, you do have to look good too, so I chose the classy and elegant Emerald. Ahh, the deep shades of green in that paint mix so beautifully with XTs...

 

Starting off the battle after spawning on this side, I immediately popped a Double Damage owing to the fact that about six people were attacking my base before I even realized it. This cheeky Magnum, who had already killed four of my teammates, couldn't escape the wrath of my Thunder!

 

 

Soon after, the enemies pulled off a capture that was honestly quite an amazing display of teamwork and sticking to your roles in the battle. Two Vikings, with two Isidas backing them up attacking our base from the far right side and destroyed two of our defenders. Noticing this, I immediately put on some supplies and tried to damage the attacking enemies as much as possible. However, while fighting off the remaining two Isidas, none of us even noticed that a pesky little Hornet-Freeze came right in from behind us, picked up the flag, jumped down from our base' platform and went straight for the capture. I'm telling you, distraction always works!

 

The score was now 0-1 in the favor of the enemy team. Now, at this point, my team probably came into its senses and started to defend and attack more efficiently. During the battle before this point, two Gold Boxes had already fallen, both of which I missed by a literal centimeter because a Thunder shot made my tank jerk to the opposite side. But hey, the battle itself was very intense and people keep coming right in, providing for both, an enjoyable and a skillful experience.

 

Half of the time had already passed at this point, the score was still 0-1. Then, Ressoto, who was the same combination as me, came right up to me and looked like as if they were signalling me to attack. So, I equipped a Speed Boost, picked up a Double Damage on the way and followed them straight into the enemy base. There, another Freeze from my team was already picking off the remaining defenders, but both of them ended up dying due to a Magnum shell. I picked up the flag and went reversed straight back to my base.

 

 

Unfortunately, in this time, the enemies had also stolen our flag and taken it back to their base. Both sides were trying their best to return their flags but since I had two defenders and a massive Isida on my side, it was proving very hard for them to return their flag. I kept shooting into the enemy to somehow deal damage to the flag bearer through splash, and eventually, after what seemed like an hour in standoff, our flag was returned and I captured the flag.

 

 

Soon after this, my team began dominating the other team, making two-three of their players quit the match. In a non-pro battle, this usually signals a complete shutdown of the other team, and that is what happened. My team captured three more flags, making the score 4-1 and completely taking over the enemy base.

 

 

Right after, the fifth flag was captured and the battle ended, but this really proved to be one of the most intense battles I've ever been in.

 

 

 

Viking-Firebird:

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Ah, the lovely combination of Viking-Firebird... Being deadly, fierce and almost impossible to escape from, this combination can really knock the senses out of your enemy. If you make the kill, well and good, but if not, let the afterburn do the work and kill your enemy. This ability of Firebird makes it so annoying to deal with, making it look like a serial killer on the battlefield - just absolutely slaughtering enemies one by one. Whether it be DMs, TDMs, CTFs or just any mode, Firebird remains a vital part of any team, a must have. Although - and obviously - you need a map of appropriate size to play, something along the likes of Noise, Silence, Iran and so on.

 

Theory:

• Will Viking prove stable enough for Firebird to circle and strafe around its enemies, while also keeping its turret locked onto the enemy in case of a large impact?
• If so, what is the best strategy for Firebird to take out multiple enemies shooting at it at once?

 

Experiments and Tests:

Before putting this combination to the test, I picked Tribute as one of the candidates for the maps. I started out with Polygon, but eventually ended up in Tribute due to the small, confined spawn zones and abundance of supply boxes.

 

 

Well, here are the results of the test.

 

Battle Result - Tribute CTF | Viking-Firebird + Kodiak T-C + Supplies

 

What? Oh, you noticed Hny93? 18-0, haha.

 

 

Okay, so, I was planning to choose a different module this time, but the best thing was that almost half of the enemy team were using either Thunders or Railguns - so I just went with Kodiak T-C, yes, again. If you don't remember, it serves protections against Thunder, Twins and Railgun, three of the major weapons usually used in a medium map like Tribute. As for the paint, I picked up Lumberjack, which I don't know why people hate and call it a "tablecloth", but honesty, I like it, the reddish theme, the design, everything. It just looks so good and contrasts the XTs beautifully.

 

Nonetheless, to start off the battle, which I had joined about two minutes late, I started to pick up some of the remaining supply boxes and headed off into the enemy base, killing three people along with Hny93, who was our team's only Isida, up till bukaneer changed to it as well. All it took was a Magnum shot to came straight down on me and I was back in my base...

 

 

Annoyed, I equipped a Speed Boost, picked up a Double Damage and then activated a Double Armor. Now bearing all three supplies, I was ready to go and capture some flags, which eventually I did after killing two people with the help of 7_YouTube_7, who was also the same combination as me. The way I captured the flag was pretty clutch, because since all the spawn points are so close together, people spawned very quickly and were hot on my tail. Nevertheless...

 

 

...I made my way behind the enemy base, at which point nearly all my supplies ran out. Luckily, a Speed Boost was dropping there, which I could use to get to the flag and out of the enemy base as quickly as I can. Just behind this yellow building was a set of two mines, which I don't know how I survived, but I did. I popped a Repair Kit, picked up a flag, attracting every single person on the other team towards me. I camped a bit as I had only half health left from the tons of Smoky and Thunder shells being shot at me. Eventually, my teammates made it to where I was, including an Isida, which healed me up, making me good to go. I was crossing the bridge on the right side of the map, when suddenly a Viking-Ricochet appeared in front, and so I had to jump down. Fortunately, my Double Armor was ready at this point and I equipped it, which also ended up saving me against that Ricochet. Now, almost a minute later, I finally made it to my base and...

 

 

...captured the flag! It was one heck of a capture. Now, the battle had only three minutes left, and so I decided to make some kills. We were already winning at this by a score of 3-1. I picked up and equipped some of my own supplies and killed two enemies.

 

 

The rest of the battle was pretty much me just trying to kill people. Here's an example, me and another Firebird roasting each other (no, pun not intended) while a teammate rests flat on their back in the background.

 

 

Boom, the battle is over, you've earned three hundred and sixty-four crystals.

 

 

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So there it is - the third installment of this series. I will be open to questions, suggestions and comments below.

 

See ya!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Hex 11,520]

...and yes, this topic is a year old :ph34r:

[Mustard 531]

...and yes, this topic is a year old :ph34r:

I didn't even notice. I knew there was something funny about those funds :D

Great article nevertheless.

Edited June 1, 2018 by Mustard

[GrandExecutioner 1,403]

This was actually pretty useful. :D

[LUCIFER1_the_dark 1,230]

Pretty useful for m2s to decide the m3 combos they should aim for.

[Magenta 5,165]

...and yes, this topic is a year old :ph34r:

I feel you, bro, don't worry :P.

[Quarks 2,255]

...and yes, this topic is a year old :ph34r:

Have you been multing around again? Bad reporter, bad

[thunderevenge 39]

lol what im doing is simply MUing my equipment once every time theres a sale so most of my equipment are 10+/20 micro upgraded im not even going for a particular turret

[Person_Random 4,991]

Can't relate.  Still in my M1 ranks...