Yep.

Bye Abraar, you'll be missed :( Thanks for all you've done for the clan.

Thanks Selena for adding the 'To be continued' bit! I'll just have to do a fourth part, I guess :P

Important: Whilst you are reading this, I, the author of this article, will be somewhere in the heart of North India, which is not known for providing access to reliable Internet connection. Therefore, as I won't be back 'til the 17th August, do not expect me to be able to read or reply to your responses and feedback until then. Thanks! ~ GoldRock. Read the first part here. Read the second part here. HQ of Military Operations, Magistral. The following Emergency Territorial Action Board meeting was in full swing. However, this time, the atmosphere was one of buzzing anticipation, almost excitement. "Tankmen, we have found the source of our mysterious enemy." grunted Generalissimo Fyodor in gravelly tones, and he shifted his worn-out M3 Mammoth slightly to one side. The stress of the ongoing war had taken its toll on the ETAB chairman. At that moment, he wished he was taking a relaxing stroll through the sandy streets of bustling Iran (which he had given the order to secure early on in his career) or taking a pleasant, non-violent tour of the new, award-winning sector code-named Future... He would retire as soon as he sorted out this mess, he mentally noted to himself. Collecting his thoughts, Fyodor pressed on with his speech. "This is where their source is located. We managed to get this information from the key enemy leader we captured at Kungur". He pointed towards a map in front of him, first at the spot indicating the location of Kungur (which had a small label next to it reading 'Secured'), and then at a small area not far away. "This is their source" repeated Fyodor. "Sector 23". A dramatic silence, and then... "Erm, what exactly is this source we're dealing with, sir?" asked the Commander seated on his left. "Well... we don't know," admitted the Generalissimo, "it could be anything. It seems the hostile forces we'd captured in Kungur self-destructed at this point of the interrogation like there was some sort of automatic sequence in place triggered by the attempted extraction of this information..." The anticipation of the board members had changed to a sense of apprehension. "Someone clearly doesn't want us to know." finished the Generalissimo menacingly. ~~~ Military base located at Kungur, the following week. "Orders have just come through from HQ. We need to perform a grid search of Sector 23" Captain Lyonid declared to his squadron. There was a collective groan at this - grid searches involved splitting the squadron into pairs and combing a sector in directions perpendicular to each other, like a grid, and was often tedious and boring work. Lyonid continued: "We might as well get it over with now... Go on, get your equipment ready." The squadron members reluctantly got to their tracks, and made their way over to their designated barracks. Once the squadron has assembled outside the military base, Lyonid led the way to Sector 23. The journey was fairly uneventful, with the squadron's formation only being broken once, so they could change direction to avoid having to go through a nearby minefield. For the last leg of the journey, Lyonid ordered his squadron to use up their standard stocks of N2O fuel - they would not be able to use it once they searched the sector anyway, as it was a no-supplies designated area. This was largely due to the fact it was located under a growing hole in the ozone layer, and they did not want to pollute the surrounding environment any further than it already had been. Lyonid had been told it was once a booming industrial sector, but the owners had gone bankrupt and the sector had fallen apart. Nowadays, it was mainly an abandoned area; the perfect place for furtive activity to take place unnoticed, little known to Lyonid... ~~~ Outskirts of Sector 23, a little later. "Right, this is it..." said Lyonid uncertainly, the sentence trailing off into nothingness. The squadron were gazing upon a collection of old buildings, almost ruins, with a crumbling interconnecting bridge overhead. Lyonid snapped out of his mesmerised state. "Right - let's split into pairs, then. You can go with, erm... him, and you two can keep each other company..." Lyonid ordered, pointing out members of his squadron. Altogether, they had formed five pairs; one heavier hull each to a lighter tank. "So, let's split up. Pairs 1 and 2, head over to the north side of the sector. Pairs 3 and 4, stay here at the south. Myself and Third Lieutenant Volkov, pair 5, will make a beeline for the centre of the sector. Once we're all in position, I'll give the word, and we commence the search. Any questions? No? Good, let's go." ~~~ Pairs 3 and 4, south side of Sector 23. The two pairs watched the others depart, waiting patiently for the order to start their search. Business as usual. A Wasp/Freeze in all-black paint darted from one building to another, unnoticed. A shadow flickered across the ground in front of the pairs, and startled, they looked around for its source. It seemed to have come from one of the buildings... apparently, the area wasn't completely abandoned. The pairs expertly aimed their weapons towards the building in unison, instantly alert. With a silent motion of his turret, a Dictator/Thunder from pair 3 beckoned for his Hornet/Railgun partner to follow, and they slowly advanced towards the building, the fourth pair holding its ground. As they drew nearer, there was a sudden commotion of sound and light behind them, and they whirled around only to be frozen to their places from behind by the unnoticed, all-black Wasp. Helpless, they looked on as pair 4 was ambushed by a large group of assailants in black paint - the pair was burnt to a crisp, skewered with long-range shells, and stuck with flashes of red lightning before they had time to react. Their hollow, charred frames were thrown into the air seconds later as they blew apart. The Hornet/Railgun from pair 3 desperately tried to turn to meet the Wasp, charging up his weapon, but the shot missed widely whilst the Wasp danced around the pair, showering them with ice. Soon after, the Hornet exploded, debris knocking both his Dictator/Thunder partner and the Wasp/Freeze attacker off-balance as they span away from the scene. The Dictator/Thunder, by a stroke of sheer luck, landed on his tracks, and fired once at the Wasp, who was still skidding across the ground, blowing him apart. He felt brief satisfaction, and then desperately tried to radio the rest of his squadron for back-up... when the assailants of the fourth pair turned their attention to him. He never stood a chance. ~~~ Pairs 1 and 2, heading towards the north side of Sector 23. The two pairs trundled over the rough urban terrain towards the north side of the sector. Suddenly, there was static interference over their radios, which cut out after a couple of seconds. "Blimey, we need to replace these things; getting a bit faulty, it seems," commented one half of pair 1, a large Titan/Smoky. "Probably just the humidity," replied his Wasp/Isida partner indifferently, and the Titan shrugged. Little did they know that the static was the result of an attempt to radio the squadron from a certain Dictator/Thunder, cut short in his last moments... "Nearly there, n-" And then there was chaos. First of all, the Wasp/Isida was hurled into the air as he was ripped apart from beneath by a well-concealed mine. Then, the remaining three turned and fled as they were gunned at from ahead by hidden Shafts. One by one, they were picked off, until the last survivor, the Titan/Smoky turned to face the direction of the enemy fire. "I won't go down like this!" he bellowed, and fired towards a nearby building, hitting a hidden sniper. Lightning crackled, and the sniper was hurled backwards off his perch behind the building, down into the empty space below the edge of the sector where he was ripped apart by the pressure of the drop. A fleeting feeling of triumph crossed the Titan/Smoky's thoughts as he saw the effect his critical hit had, and then he was blasted apart by 4 different radioactive orange shells, taken to the turret. ~~~ Pair 5, the centre of Sector 23. All was going well. Captain Lyonid and his partner, Third Lieutenant Volkov, had made it to the centre of the sector without mishap. Lyonid checked his radio, which had emitted a couple of seconds of static at one point on the way (he kept telling his squadron not to lean onto the side of their hulls containing their radios since they might accidentally broadcast for a bit, but they never listened), and activated the broadcast setting. "Pairs 1 and 2: do you read me, over." No response. "That's odd," commented Volkov, frowning. Lyonid sighed - their radios were probably acting up again - and broadcasted "Pairs 3 and 4: do you read me, over." Again, no response. "But this is even more odd," pointed out Volkov, a look of fear on his face. Lyonid turned to look at what he was pointing, and he instantly wished he hadn't. Ahead was a scene of destruction. Destroyed tanks littered to landscape, and signs of fierce fighting were clearly evident. The buildings here had been utterly demolished, though the overhead bridge remained intact. Two trenches had been carved into the rocky ground a fair distance from each other, but they looked as though they would provide minimal cover in a battle. "How nice of you to join us," a voice echoed from behind the pair, "we always appreciate a little company." Lyonid and Volkov whirled around, and they saw a group of all-black tanks standing before them. "Ah... you must be Lyonid! The distinguished brother of the famous Leonid... who we disposed of at Forest". There were unpleasantly appreciative laughs and whoops from the group. Evidently, the tank at the front of their group, who had said this and who was now sneering at the pair, was their leader. Anger filled Lyonid's emotions, and it must have shown on his face, for their leader said quietly, in a dangerously threatening tone: "Go on, then. Attack us. Let's see how much longer you'll last than your brother." None of the group laughed this time. ~~~ HQ of Military Operations, Magistral. "What do you mean, they've taken Captain Lyonid? Spit it out, kid!" Generalissimo Fyodor shouted, not quite believing what he was hearing. The unfortunate messenger stammered: "Erm... w-w-well, the se-search party s-sent to S-S-Sector 23, sir..." Generalissimo Fyodor's eyes blazed as he leaned in toward the messenger. "Yes?" The messenger finished lamely: "...d-didn't return t-t-to base". But the meaning was enough to the Generalissimo. Lyonid had been captured by the enemy, and was probably being held hostage. "Send the message to prepare a complete attack force, I'll see to this myself," said the Generalissimo, buckling on his weapon. The messenger realised what the Generalissimo was planning to do. "But s-sir, you can't go in t-th-there y-yourself, it's too d-dangerous!" he pleaded, aghast. Fyodor's vehement look of disgust was answer enough. ~~~ Unknown location, Sector 23. "This," said the all-black enemy leader, "is an area we call Factory." It wasn't hard to see why. All around him, inside the dilapidated buildings, Lyonid could see hundreds of tanks being manufactured; hulls, turrets, armour, tracks, and all sorts of other parts were being made... "We were going to call the area Abandoned Factory, but we figured it's not really abandoned anymore, now that we're using it." The enemy leader chuckled as if he had just told a very funny joke. And sadly, it was very funny by his standards. "You see," continued the enemy leader, recalling their brutal attack on Lyonid's squadron, "we're allowed to be inhumane, as we're tanks!" At this, he burst out laughing, and his all-black guards did the same. Volkov and Lyonid groaned almost at the same time. They didn't know what was worse - the fact that they had been taken hostage by a mysterious enemy with no means of escape, or their enemies' sense of humour. ~~~ A few hours later, just outside Sector 23. Generalissimo Fyodor glanced over his equipment, checking it was securely in place. All around him, his troops were doing the same. There was a palpable nervous atmosphere surrounding the troops, as here and there they glanced nervously at their leader, whose expression was set. "Right, we need to strike as soon as possible," the Generalissimo growled, "so we have the element of surprise over our unknown enemy. Whatever happens, do not abort the attack. This is all or nothing." He swallowed, which was uncharacteristic of such an experienced, battle-hardened leader, and gave the order to move in. ~~~ Unknown location, Sector 23, immediately afterwards. "So, anyway..." said the enemy leader, "do we really need you alive?" This question was directed at Volkov, as Lyonid and him were led towards another building. "Erm, well..." Volkov trailed off, appealing to his senior. "Don't you dare lay even a track on him!" snarled Lyonid in response. The enemy leader wheeled round until they were face to face, his guards black-painted hulls creaking menacingly as they did the same. "Excuse me," whispered the enemy leader with malice, "but d'you really think you're in a position to be giving threats?" Lyonid gave him a very ugly look in response, but said nothing. "Good..." the enemy leader purred, and then turned to his guards; "Kill the common soldier. He is of no use to us." Volkov and Lyonid dived away from the enemy leader and his guards at this point, and let off a volley of shots in their direction, dealing considerable damage to them. But two Thunder shots from the all-black Mammoth guards later, and the commotion was over. Volkov's destroyed hull lay some distance away, Lyonid restrained between the two Mammoths, looking on in horror. Panting heavily with black marks now visible on the front of his hull, the enemy leader commented. "Ah, look who it is! Just the right moment, too!" Lyonid wrenched his gaze from Volkov's corpse to see his allies storming towards the outer buildings of the sector. ~~~ Unknown location, Sector 23, during the attack. Generalissimo Fyodor and his troops were involved in a desperate struggle. All around them, tanks in black paint emerged from buildings, firing as they advanced. The Generalissimo was rammed on one side by an Isida, leeching off his health by zapping him with bursts of red lightning. He turned his turret and fired, destroying the persistent Isida, but the splash of his Thunder had dealt significant self-damage. Checking his health bar, he saw that it was just past the halfway mark... but he'd been in more dire situations before. He pressed on, taking building by building and destroying the clanging machinery which was churning out parts as they went. The force was nearing the centre of the sector as they furiously duelled the all-black defenders... To be continued...

:lol: I like many players, but I don't really do favouritism.

Yep.

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They do? Oh, right; I assumed it'd be like an NS battle in that sense ^_^

Well, thanks for saying I suck through PM... Check my response in which I have requested a duel with you.

Nah mate, he's pro.

*OFF :huh:

Nope, if you leave a battle, you can join again up to 5 minutes after with the same combo you were using, and your score will be saved.

^This. It happens to me when I join an Iran battle.

So much for organisation ^_^ You know, if you're going to do something like this, it really needs to be spot on in terms of planning and execution, especially as it's not official... so popularity isn't guaranteed. You might as well call it off now, unless you set the date for a while away and attempt to find players who can play then. Which will take a lot of re-organisation.

Important: Whilst you are reading this, I, the author of this article, will be somewhere in the heart of North India, which is not known for providing access to reliable Internet connection. Therefore, as I won't be back 'til the 17th August, do not expect me to be able to read or reply to your responses and feedback until then. Thanks! ~ GoldRock. Welcome to my monthly review of all that has been going on in the Breaking News topic on the forum! This is the second in the series, and quite a bit longer - a lot more has been going on this month, and I'm here to put a twist on it! - Do not take this article seriously; it is very difficult to do so anyway. - Any apparent reference to any person, living or dead, is purely coincidental and unintentional. 3rd July 2013 - Isida Discount! So, the devs decided to introduce a 50% discount on Isida right after I'd bought Isida M2! 30,000 crystals down the drain! Obviously, it'd be illogical to warn player about discounts earlier, otherwise they might be able to save crystals and buy more for the discounts. You see, the devs realise that warning players about discounts earlier will mean they have to start thinking about how many crystals to save. This will inevitably involve some mathematical calculation, and this might give players a headache (or a heart attack, depending on how much energy a player needs to use to do maths). So the devs are being considerate here, guys! Yes, the devs realise that they were about to fuel the already overpowering legion of vampires. So how can we combat this imminent threat? Well, Professor Mike K. K, who happens to be 999 years old, has performed some groundbreaking research, and has come up with a solution to combat these horrifying vampires: "put garlic on ur tank only 999999 crys hhhhh" Unfortunately, he had to post this revolutionary discovery through an alt account, as a lucrative operative from the North Italian mafia had blocked his main one... again. "he no see my genius hhhhh" responded Prof. Mike, when asked about the subject. 9th July 2013 - Viking and Hornet Discount! And so soon after, the devs introduce another sale on two of the most popular hulls in the game. Hornet was clearly so overused that there needed to be a sale specific to it, in order to make it even more so. However, there's no denying that these sales received positive reactions overall, and so they are worthy of FBI's thumbs-up: I wonder what that small print says? I have very poor eyesight, you see. I'm sure it's nothing important, anyway. 14 June 2013 - Level Designer Competition is over! Well, the devs chose the winners in the end... Future, Abandoned Factory and Industrial, which were then implemented into the game as Future, Factory and Platform! Well, 'Abandoned Factory' was a bit of a mouthful, and we already have Industrial Zone and Zone, so 'Industrial' would sound just a tad unoriginal. In fact, these maps demonstrate a future platform for the game, showing off a virtual factory of new props. You've just got to like those map names, 'specially due to the intended puns they can offer. 15 July 2013 - New FAQ on Livestream! There's a new FAQ over at Livestream? Right, that's good... Tssk, ambiguous title! You guys at Breaking News need to proofread more - I've proofread this article on your own work, you know *rolls eyes in patronising way* 16 July 2013 - Update 169: Friends List added! Possibly one of the best updates of all time, the friends system was long anticipated by many. Before it was released to the public, it was supposedly tested with 40,000 friends on one account, to check the system can function with so many friends (reliable source for this fact = a lucrative North Italian mafia operative). Still, ratings were messed up for a bit, and so there were some really mad Generalissimos - that's never a good thing, these addicts loyal players are at the very core of Tanki's revenue close community! In other cases, this update wasn't found to be so useful, as shown by these posts from the update topic: Ah, well. They'll find friends/stop shouting their heads off soon enough, I hope. 17 July 2013 - Bruce Lunga has resigned from his job! I'm sure most of you know about Bruce having to step down from the position of Community Manager due to other important things in his life, leaving Semyon as our main CM now. He has done so much for the English community. I am sure that Semyon will be able to do a great job on his own, but Bruce's contributions won't be forgotten. In his non-shared office with his now non-shared role, Semyon quietly celebrated the self-removal of his fiercest rival with an extra glass of vodka for company. Sorry, I just couldn't resist adding that bit! 20 July 2013 - Masters of Parkour results are in! So in first place, that lucrative North Ital... Whatever, you get the idea; it's SuperMario95 I've been referring to all along. An excellent entry, and more importantly, the staff's rep was saved. A staff mastermind directing some of his fellow peasants players to perform different stunts, as it should be! 21 July 2013 - New Tanki Online Wiki Page! Behold, a well-organised English encyclopaedia on Tanki! Well, it's still in-development, and there aren't really any in-depth articles about gameplay and the like on there yet, but it's a great base to work on. Well, there are a series of changes about to hit Tanki in the foreseeable future, so brace yourselves! The developers appear to have got into the swing of things, with a variety of updates making progress. It's a shame this wiki isn't advanced enough to replace those well-paid Consultants... yet. Eheheheh. 22 July 2013 - Vote for your hull sale, and 24 July 2013 - Discount on Friday! Now this was an interesting idea. Wasp and Mammy (the cool version of the name Mammoth) were neck and neck when the voting was ending, but it looks like some Wasp voters used cheat software to multi-vote more than other voters did, because they were knocked down to a fairly clear second after false votes were discounted, with Mammoth having 7% more voters in the end. But in an unusual act of kindness, the devs decided to give both Mammoth and Wasp a 50% discount, even though the votes gap between the two was distinguishable enough, and left Dictator trailing behind with a 25% discount. It is suspected that as both hulls are favoured by a certain Dutch Consultant, some fresh farm produce was again* sent at a hugely discounted fee to Perm, Russia, which may have influenced the devs' decision a little. *See last month's article for previous allegations made against this notoriously corrupt mastermind. And so, this month's review of the Breaking News is brought to a close. Thank you to the guys at Breaking News - I had a lot more to write about this time round! What did you like? What d'you think? Feel free to comment about any possible improvements, or to ask for clarification on parts of the article if needed!

This contest has ended. No more entries can be submitted now. Important: Whilst you are reading this, I, the author of this article, will be somewhere in the heart of North India, which is not known for providing access to reliable Internet connection. Therefore, as I won't be back 'til the 17th August, do not expect me to be able to read or reply to your responses and feedback until then. Thanks! ~ GoldRock. Think you have a good sense of humour? Do you know how to tell a decent joke? Well, this contest is for you! All you have to do is create a Tanki-related bit o' humour! The prizes will be: 1st place: 50,000 crystals 2nd place: 25,000 crystals 3rd place: 15,000 crystals All winning entries will also be featured in the following issue of the newspaper! _____________________________ Rules: - The entries can be anything humourous: extended jokes or simple one-liners, memes, gifs, photos of creations, and short videos are all permitted as long as they are related to Tanki, and are your own work. Obviously, some of these examples would take more effort to enter with than others; any exceptionally detailed or time-consuming entries will be appreciated, but they will ultimately be judged on how funny they are perceived to be. Use your imagination! - All entries should be PMed to @Lhamster. The closing date for this competition is 25th August, and results will be announced at the start of September, when the next issue of the newspaper is released. Entries will be judged by myself, and possibly by others in the newspaper staff too. - Any plagiarised entries will be disqualified. - By 'related to Tanki', I do not mean you can post random tank-related jokes; the entries must be centred around specific aspects of the game, and so the relation to Tanki should be made obvious. - Entries containing profanity, insults, racism, religious or sexual content etc. are not permitted. - If you have any queries, PM me. However, I am likely not to respond until the 17th August, so if the query absolutely can't wait, feel free to PM another reporter, and I'm sure he or she will try to help solve any problems. Good luck, and see you in the battle!

Yep, the most obvious sign was the fact that it says he has just been destroyed on the right-hand side. Also, the arrow rating number is red with a down arrow indicated, which usually happens when you are destroyed. Not to mention he also has drugs available in the bottom-left hand corner. Nice one, though I wasn't fooled :P

That's nice. (EDIT) You're still not banned?

Oh, right ^_^

I don't quite get it... What is the game?

Erm, what?

Don't make up things without evidence.

This really is the best solution, I've discovered. Lags are greatly reduced on Stand-alone Flash player, and my FPS has been bolstered from 10-20 to 20-40.