JSYK, it says the pic is unavailable. Is that intended?

Bad combos. The turret/hull matches no one wants in their team. The one's who users are called noobs. The ones we cringe at. However, Tanki is supposed to be a balanced game, and balance’s synonym is equality, which in turn means “nothing worse than the other”. This rule applies to maps, turrets, hulls, and chest hair, so why not combinations? For the first time ever, the devs have ‘officially’, unwillingly or willingly, denoted a combination as not suitable for battle. I’m talking about Vulcan/Wasp of course. Them saying Vulcan goes on medium and heavy hulls gives a clear indication of it. In addition to the aforementioned, Ricochet/Wasp and Firebird/Mammoth will also get a test drive. PS: In this arduous journey to the center of the gameplay, I am accompanied by my loyal servant friend, @CombatCat2. I’m going to go ahead and say that without his incessant complaining, I would’ve never been able to keep going forward, and my keyboard wouldn’t be smashed to pieces in extreme annoyance. Without further a due, ladies and gentlemen, welcome to a special eeeedition of…Tanki Online Mythbusters! No rights reserved Wasp/Vulcan The die-too-fast It is common knowledge that weapons with high DPS such as Vulcan or Twins should go with stronger hulls. So what would happen if we put the king of DPS on the lightest tank around? An explosion? A server crash? A tall Fen-Harel from a parallel dimension? Read on to find out. Day ONE Silence CTF, 15 minutes, summer day. The best battle till now. Note to self: if CombatCat2 (hereafter referred to as ‘CC’) gets top score with a combo, it’s proof that combo isn’t as bad as it looks. Now, if you read those two lines and immediately charged into Tanki with Vulcan/Wasp, you’re bound to call me a liar after a few minutes. Even with Mammoth, Vulcan isn’t made as an offensive weapon. And with Wasp, defensive is crossed out too. There’s not much difference between middle fielder and attacker in Silence, so what was left? S as in Support. Granted, one of the most obscure gameplay styles known to but a few tankers to whom Isida has no more secrets. Here’s the “official” definition of support: “To give aid or assistance to your teammates.” Which, when applied in the battlefield, turns into “Use your teammate as shield and tell the enemy he’s tastier than you.” Consequently, while the enemy Hammers and Thunders are busy blowing a Mammoth up, you can stay in back and put Vulcan’s convenient long range to good use. Another, maybe slightly less known asset is the fact that, out of all the guns, Vulcan is the one you notice the less when being shot by it, especially if your sound is turned off. Think about it, you don’t notice your health decreasing until it’s gone. The expression “less than a bug” is commonly used to describe when you’re nothing compared to your enemies. But a bug is also small and inconspicuous. With some skill and tricky manoeuvring, I managed to get some kills without dying. The trick is to wait for your allies to launch an offensive, then follow in their wake. If you’re lucky, you can even get some nice kill steals. Long story short, united we stand, divided we fall. Worked very nicely, entertaining to use. Definitely try it out for yourself. Day TWO Next on the list (not like I had a list) was a Stadium DM. True, the open space and relative lack of cover was useful, but I spent most of time serving as target practice for Rails. With my Wasp, I barely had the time to deal about 5 damage before I was blasted to bits. Overall, Vulcan/Wasp performed rather poorly in DM (since there isn’t any ally shields). If my kills weren’t stolen, they were non-existent. Now, I have absolutely not the slightest parcel of an idea of how I got this more-than-decent score. (Plus, they were way higher ranked.) Now it's time for the famous uber-popular Polygon CP. For no reason in particular, Vulcan/Wasp seemed to have forgotten how to fight. Camping on the higher plateaux of Polygon was worse than I thought, for I was always kicked out by bigger meanies who wanted my spot. On ground, if I was shooting at an enemy and that same enemy happened to hit me on the side with his turret, I’d end up upside down. But hey, it’s Wasp we’re talking about. Even though the middle provided a huge target, the location you’re at when shooting at it usually was somewhere dangerous. All in all, Vulcan/Wasp is heavily dependent on team-mates to succeed. CombatCat2's opinion: Wasp/Vulcan is an…..interesting….combo. I actually could find ways to make it work decently. CTF was probably the worst. Even putting aside the fact that I was listening to Kev telling one of his stories, I struggled to make it cooperate. I did manage to get 1 flag capture, but it was very difficult, and it also wasn’t easy for me to get kills, which probably isn’t surprising. I did better in TDM, quite possibly because I insisted on it being one of my favorite maps: Iran. It started slow, many more deaths than kills, but it slowly got better, which might be thanks to a few drop boxes. Double damage works great paired with Vulcan, even against Kev. I ended in 3rd place on my team, with a D/L above 1.00, even though I was on the losing team. I found DM to be even better yet, but it may have just been the match I was in. It was on Island, and there were a ton of ricochets. I did a lot to them, especially when the double damage boxes came. But even without the boxes, I managed to grab some kills. Wasp/Vulcan wasn’t a good combo for me, but I can see how some people might be able to make it work. Extremely aggressive players (like me) will struggle with it because of Wasp’s lower health, and Vulcan doesn’t really do enough damage to rush into a horde of enemies and come out alive. Wasp/Vulcan should be used more for medium range combat, as it didn’t work at all in close range, and struggled at long range. It can be a powerful tool in the right hands, but it wasn’t in mine. CTFs: 8/10 TDMs: 9/10 DMs: 6/10 CPs: 5/10 Total: 7/10 Verdict: Myth Sacrifice thy teammates f'r the good cause, and the heavens shall reward thou with a high score! Ricochet/Wasp The Unstable Take Ricochet, a gun with infamous recoil. Mount it on Wasp, the lightest hull around. Done? You just got yourself a combo that spends more time flipped than not. Getting a decent score with this combination seemed to be a difficult task… Day THREE …Which is exactly why we joined a drug war, equipped as if for some parkour. As expected, we had to endure quite a bit of “haha noob”, “lol u noob”, “get out noob”, “gold bill pls admin”, “lol”, “flag bhind the bulding” and “hi kerved”, to name a few. However, I’m proud to say we kept our cool, and did not go completely haywire (except for the smashed keyboard bit. But that doesn’t count anyways). The Polygon CP displayed a weather suited to getting wrecked with Rico/Wasp. Clear blue sky, beautiful landscape, relaxing sounds of explosions and screams, perfect day. Gameplay-wise, I obviously refrained from going to the middle. I mean, it’s not because I’m doing something stupid that I am stupid. End of conversation. Back to topic, it was actually quite “fun”. Normal gameplay with Wasp proving a bad strategy (Zipping around the battlefield whilst shooting-on-the-go isn’t something Ricochet excels at), I gave camping Shaft-style a try. It wasn’t too shabby, but most of the time I only managed to get a few hits on enemy tanks before they moved out of my line-of-sight. At that point I felt I got enough of Polygon, so I switched to Fort Knox TDM. Close-rangers were an unwanted hassle. The other turrets rarely hit me, Ricochet’s high knockback proving itself rather useful. However, Firebird/Hornets acted like cats to a mouse. Consequentially, staying inconspicuous was a must, for as soon as your cover is blown you’re a sitting duck. Of course, attempting to prove that lead-firing Rico on Wasp isn’t that bad is a lost cause, so instead I mainly focused on more creative gameplay styles. Ambushing didn’t turn out well, even the element of surprise unable to make up for Wasp’s simply desperate health. After quite a few fails, I guess you can say I invented a new gameplay. I’m too lazy to come up with something creative, so I’ll name it “the mobile turret strategy”. It consists of something similar to Railgun’s peek-a-boo. Camped at someplace more offensive than Shaft spots, and switched places every time I was spotted. Even though it felt like a poor tactic, my 2nd place in the scoreboard proved me wrong. PS: A Gold Box actually dropped. It would’ve been great writing juice if I caught it, but unfortunately my Wasp wasn’t strong enough to push that Hunter. Blame Newton. Next up was the Serpuhov CTF. Charging into the heat of battle, plasma blazing, usually resulted in high chances of winning the TWR Lowest D/L ratio record. Middle fielder wasn’t too great either, puny health ensuring I was less dangerous than a bug to my enemies. Long-ranged Railguns were a pest. I was confined to the sides of the map by enemy Thunders and Smokies, who, combined with the lightness of Wasp, were devastating. I tested (and failed) relentless times until I finally fought with a peculiar gameplay style. It’s basically just the “mobile turret” adapted to team matches. I lurked in the non-existent shadows, hiding behind props and bushes, patiently bidding my time. As soon as some poor meanie had the misfortune of passing near me, I jumped out of nowhere and pound him to death before disappearing again as fast as Fen when he sits behind his desk in the classroom. An obvious downside is the sheer boringness when no tanks are in sight. Or when a Gold Box drops, you don’t notice the notification because your sound is turned off, and you’re left waiting behind a building like a complete doofus. Day FOUR Unfortunately I was unable to obtain much information from this TDM. Fort Knox was crazier than a crowd listening to Hog singing “Let It Go”. When I joined, some gears in people’s minds popped and soon the battle was crowded with Ricochet/Wasps, and you couldn’t move two steps without being hit by a dozen fluffy orange balls. It was a true “ricopalypse”, as put by Shadow-what’s-his-name . You see kids, that’s why revealing too much information on the chat is dangerous to you. Highland DM was our next stop. Again, I used the "Mobile Turret" strategy, and my score was quite decent. Do note that I’ve made a whole lot of alliances with people, and it was worse than the Hunger Games. No matter where I aimed, I always ended up hitting an ally. As you may have guessed, the alliance didn’t last long. Fellow butler friend @DarkShadow916 “accidentally” hit me, and soon it was a free-for-all bloodbath. My favorite type of bathing, just saying. CombatCat2's opinion: Honestly, I never really thought of Wasp/Ricochet as a bad combo...until now. Maybe it was because I have both M0 and Kev insisted on no protections, maybe because I'm not the best player, but either way, but Wasp/Rico a great way to get killed...over and over...a lot. I didn't do much CTF with it, but let me say that you can't cap a flag with M0 Rico/Wasp. Even cutting out Kev's smack talk, CTF was probably the worst with Wasp/Rico for me. I had better "luck" in TDM, still failed, but better. Even my favorite map, Fort Knox, couldn't save me this time. Then there was DM. I did the best and worst here. I got considerably more kills, but died a never-ending death. I struggled greatly to find a decent tactic with this combo, mostly because I died some ten thousand times. Railgun did most of the damage in CTF and TDM game modes, and of course Kev’s Ricochet took a few of my nine (million) lives. DM had a variety of threatening turrets. Thunder was a major killer, Firebird was another lethal weapon, and Railgun was (as always) a fear machine, but the big threat was druggers. Apparently Thunder + Double Damage = major death (there’s your math lesson for the day). I couldn’t find a way to get past the long-range high-damage turrets. My wasp was too vulnerable and my tactics too aggressive. Maybe Kev found something that worked, but I for sure didn’t. All in all, Wasp/Ricochet is definitely not the best combo of them all. CTFs: 6/10 TDMs: 7/10 DMs: 5/10 Total: 6/10 Verdict: Myth If thou lay-to it correctly, thou can perfectly lay-to ricochet/wasp in hurlyburly and acquire an agreeable score. As long as thou don't charge into the foe base such as Sir CC, thou'll be in one piece. Most of the time. Firebird/Mammoth King of Boring Renowned as “Worst Combo Ever”, “super-duper-super-super-super […] boring”, Fire/Mammy has quite some titles. Even my little sister would understand why this combo is bad. Firebird’s burn needs a few seconds of firing to activate, and a few seconds is something Hornets on nitro don’t give to “bunkers on tracks”. PS: A minute of silence for 100 crystals, used to buy the ‘Orange’ paint. May they rest in peace in Tanki heaven. Or respawn. That’d be great. :3 Day FIVE My first impression when I joined a Noise CTF was . In my “fat orange blob” (thanks @EpicTroll99), I felt like the 2015 Phileas Fogg going ‘round the world in 80 days centuries. First things first, I tried attacking. After climbing a few ramps (I was on blue team), the battle was over since two years. Slight exaggeration. Still, the battle was…monotonous. The opposite team comprised a few Railguns, and I was defenceless when pitted against them. After miserably failing a few attempts CC style, I decided to defend, and see how that went. I received less deaths, but it was even more dull. I could’ve gone AFK for an hour, I’m sure no one would’ve noticed. Why? Noise is renowned for the extensive number of defenders on the blue side, and I only received one or two points per enemy jumping into the mass of blue defenders (quite foolishly, I must say). So, my gameplay basically consisted of pressing spacebar. I ended up playing ambush-style, which was better but still worse than Hog’s interpretation of “Monster”. The results were unsurprising. *Note that this is the results of the next battle, but it it similar the the results of the previous one. Although the Noise CTF was a 5-star hotel compared to the upcoming Cross TDM. First of all, players took an eternity to arrive, and it was mostly just me VS CC, which often ended up in something similar to one of the infamous Comic Captions pic. Once some people joined, the upper arch of Cross became unsafe for me, due to younger Wasp/Thunders and XPs beating up this ol’ Mammoth. I was resigned to the lower houses, trying to spawn-kill some joining tanks. That didn’t turn out too well, Cross’ large open bases enabling them to back off while mockingly watching my desperate attempts to even scratch their hulls. The bottom of my hull took quite some mine blasts in that battle. Well, so long as to have a hull destroyed by mines, might as well be the one I never use. I was last on the scoreboard. No surprise. With these rather negative results, Mammoth/Firebird’s last hope was now lying in a Polygon DM. Day SIX Me, with my unexperienced mind, I was thinking, “heh, there’s always those fat Mammies in those fat Polygon DMs during a fat drug war, right?”. Little did I know, drug wars were no longer. Plus, I conveniently forgot the fact that I was on an “article mission”, and that drugging was a no-no. Polygon DMs being more popular than Cross TDMs , the battle became full rather quickly. Now, this time there was no alliance. Maybe. Kind of. Yes, did form a team comprised of me, her, CC and a bunch of other ‘dudes’. But I was completely out-of-my-mind annoyed about the sheer lameness of my performance with this boring combo, and respecting an alliance wasn’t the top one thing I preoccupied about. What more, CC was way ahead of me in the score table, which shocked me to the core. I was completely, entirely, fully, totally, utterly, wholly helpless against everyone single other tank in the battle, even Mr. OtherMammoth/Firebird. I spent about 9/10 of the time respawning or driving. The other 1/10 is the time I spent getting frozen to death or blasted to shreds. Don’t use Mammoth/Firebird. Unless you want to learn the definition of “boring” the hard way. CombatCat2's opinion: I have never hated Mammoth more. Even with both M1, Mammoth/Firebird greatly failed me in TDM and DM modes. TDM was….well….it was awful. I couldn’t get close enough to the enemy to attack. A lot of Hornet/Thunders and Hornet/Railguns could kill me from a safe distance. And of course Kev’s map choice didn’t help me at all. Cross is not my map. DM was….better. Again, I couldn’t get close enough to kill most of the time. However since there were more people to kill, I could deal a bit more damage. I did, however, do exceptionally well in CTF. Of course the start of the battle wasn’t the best. Since Kev created a new battle for each of the matches, it always started as 1v1. Mammy/Fire vs Mammy/Fire kinda sucks. And capping a flag with Mammoth is extremely agonizing. Well, maybe not so agonizing since Kev couldn’t stop me (for once). Once there was enough people that I didn’t have to try to attack with an extremely slow tank, I could play some marvelous defense. Sitting on the flag, burning everyone who passed to a crisp. I did better than Kev, which is a big deal since I could finally get him back for all the smack-talking I get, and I claimed first place on my team, which won. Honestly, Mammoth/Firebird is a rather good combo, if you can bear not going anywhere and aren’t aggressive (to an idiotic level) like me. Defense in CTF will be successful in most cases, but be cautious of DM and TDM modes. CTFs: 4/10 TDMs: 5/10 DMs: 5/10 Total: 5/10 Verdict: Reality Boring Finally done! Now I can get back to my Halo now! So there you have it! Three combos, three adventures, three general failures, two opinions, one kid and one cat. Feel free to comment below the signature about your personal experience with the combos, the article, or how bad CombatCat2 is(he's going to get me back on this). Blah blah blah, everyone knows Brute and Grunt butt-kicking doesn't wait, so CYA!

I suggest kicking them out gradually, whilst opening the applications. Also, I can write a small "advertise" text to put on the main page, e.g. "Do you want to join the best club in the world? Then..." Of course, it'll be better than that

Shocking.

Great!

A lot of people in the list are quite inactive. In fact. many I have never seen since I joined the club.

@CC Thanks for the magnet doduobird, was dueling lordmostafa and generally getting rekked, when... Gleaming in the sunlight, a thousand shades of gold thanks to lordmostafa for unparalleled generosity

JSYK, he's got one post. Just throwing that out there, up to you for what you're going to do 'bout it.

snap! I mean I meant to forget.

I'm working on that He's dying xD

edited the post, check again ;) xD

2.5 hours and a lot of hand washing later, I present, "Revenge", representing my friend @CombatCat2 And another 1 hour later, "Out of the Shadows", representing, obviously, @DarkShadow916 critics?

Opposite! On the vid pic we can clearly see your tank was white. More seriously, I wasn't referring to anyone in particular, just throwing a joke out there.

Maps. Whether for arcade style killing, clan wars, eating chicken or miserably failing parkour stunts, they're an essential part of the gameplay. Ranging from tiny Islands to gigantic Montes, maps can be found in various shapes, sizes, styles, and chicken densities. As you probably have already guessed, this article is on said maps. More precisely, the different sizes of maps. Maps are roughly defined into three categories: small maps such as Sandbox, medium ones, and of course, the large ones. There is and always will be the random ones in the middle, the ones that don’t belong to any of the categories. As such, it’s probable you see a map which has been classed as “small”, even though you think it’s rather medium. It’s inevitable, so kindly do not complain about it. List of small maps Small maps are, generally speaking, the most popular class of maps. Due to its cramped size, gameplay is quick and active. There is hardly a distinction between “defender” and “attacker”, therefore players must be ready to switch roles at any time. If you were to take an in-depth look at the wiki, you’d notice that the small maps class is also, coincidentally, the smallest group of maps. Ironically, they’re fairly popular when compared to the medium and large ones, being small and easy to navigate. Think about it the number of large maps and medium ones that you’ve never played in your whole career. Quite astonishing, no? When it comes to drugs (omitting Repair and mines), Double Armor is often the best choice. You can come to this conclusion by proceeding by elimination: Double Power requires peek-a-boo tactics to unlock its full potential, and unless you’re using a short-range turret, using it in a map like Island is risky. If in fact you are using short-rangers, then Double Power would be equally good, if not better. Nitro isn't that simple though. With the recent update, it can now make your turret turn faster, a distinctive advantage when charging into a mass of enemies, something that happens often on small maps. However, the faster travel speed is near useless. As such, the drug is useful at ½. Not the best. Consequently, Double Armor is best, giving you that extra health to survive in the dangerous plains of Combe, or the treacherous routes of Sandbox. Take a Mammoth, put a Twins on it, get a DA and you've got yourself a winning one-man team. The small maps class is divided into two sub-classes: The “Combe” style, and the circular ones. Let me explain, nugs and nuglets. (copyright Fen 2014) Think for about 5.7 seconds about the small maps. Notice something peculiar? Many of them are entirely or partly constituted of a main, circular pathway going around the map. Sceptical? See for yourself. This particularity, along with the fact that the routes are narrow, means mines are especially effective. In CTFs, a Hornet can easily swoop the flag and place a mine on its flight path. The map being small, the road will, by definition, be smaller. As such, the pursuers will have less space to dodge the mine, and more than likely will go ka-boom. Even if they do manage to avoid it, the valuable time they spent doing it is more than enough for the capper to reach his base, which is quite close. Morale: no mines=no join small map battle. Therefore, one of the most effective ways of playing in a small map battles like Island CTF is to constantly switch roles. Go for the flag when a mine is available, and stay at base as defender when it’s recharging. Enter here Combe, Wave, and Hill. As you can see, they use the same texture, common props, a relatively same gameplay, and a similar organization. In fact, they're so alike that the distracted tanker would think these three pictures are from the same map. Did the devs get lazy when creating these? The world may never know. In contrast to the other sub-class, mines have little to no use here. Technically having no pathways at all, the only “mineable” locations are the openings into both teams’ bases in Combe, and the small route through the middle ruins in Wave. Problem is, the openings are rather large, and most experienced players know the openings are a mine hotspot, and will do everything in their power to avoid tripping it. Something to keep in mind is that when you are going down the slopes present in these three maps, you are completely exposed and vulnerable to any enemy long-ranges on higher ground. The angle of the slope prevents you from shooting back, so I recommend you make sure the coast is clear before going for that flag. EDIT: UPDATED AS OF APRIL 24TH, 2015: Technique for Ricochet to use in Hill, by @magnaboy Most of you reason like this: “light hull=big map, heavy hull=small map”. That is only partly true. When used correctly, light hulls can do wonders for your team’s score in circular maps. Wasp's unmatched speed enables it to zip around the battlefield, and it makes an excellent flag-catcher. In addition, most of the small maps have little to no slopes to flip the Wasp with, which is always good. Contrastingly, Wasp is a big no-no in Combe style maps. The fast speed plus the sloped hills will often result in flying through the air, and when a railgun beam hits you in mid-air, you got to be lucky to land back on your tracks. In addition, the open space means less cover, something that Wasps heavily rely upon. Wasp's cousin, Hornet, is an equally good choice in circular maps. Still enough speed, and an extra bit of health. Do note that Hornet is larger, making it slightly more prone to tripping mines. In Combe & co, Hornet is better than Wasp, being more stable, but it's still risky. But as they say, no pain no gain. These two versatile medium hulls are usually a good choice anywhere, and small circular maps aren’t an exception. The speed still allows you to travel the map relatively fast, and that extra health gives you a higher chance of survival. In addition, the small size of the map means the limited speed is less of a hindrance. In Combe & co, medium hulls are, generally, speaking, the best choice. Being a lot more stable then Wasp and Hornet, they’re still quick enough to travel the length of the map with relative ease. In circular maps, it performs decently. However, just like Hornet, its large size makes it an easy target for mines. On the other hand, it does not need to fear from Shafts, which are usually dangerous due to its, once again, large size. Probably not the best in circular maps, their overly exaggerated fatness making avoiding inconspicuous mines a tough job. Plus, these maps offer a lot of cover and obstacles, making it difficult for a Mammoth to fight against, say, a peek-a-boo'ing XP. One strategy for Heavies would be to rely on ambush, although a medium hull could do that almost equally as well. Performs generally similarly to Mediums in maps like Combe, except for the fact that the slow speed gives the enemy more chances of hitting you when going down a slope, but that’s balanced with more health. Titan's strong power comes in handy in small maps, where often you'll get into a standstill with your own allies. In maps like Combe, if you time it right, you can even push enemies off the ledge! Despite what many of you might think, close-rangers aren't always the best in small maps. True, Isida can do ravages in Island. But a Freeze/Dictator duelling an XP (Hornet/Railgun) in Ping-Pong doesn’t do well (trust me, I'm talking from experience). Furthermore, the cramped space in maps like Duality restricts Freezes to circle their enemy, a tactic essential to their effectiveness. Firebird and Freeze perform well in Hill, Wave, and Combe. A common tactic for close-rangers is to wait behind a hill as such: Not too bad for a beginner, eh? The enemy is unable to hit you unless they throw themselves right in front of your gun. The open area also gives full liberty to Freeze’s circling of death. However, Isida fares much better than his cousins, the limited space available preventing enemies from shaking off your beam too easily. With the short distance and the (usual) abundance of enemies, an Isida in a small map is a force to be reckoned with. Do note that if it performs amazingly when on the offensive, same cannot be said for the defensive (healing your allies). You'll probably be killed before you have the chance to heal a noticeable amount of health. Good in Combe, Wave and Hill, the contrary in the rest. the open space in those three maps assures Twins its full potential, as there are no cover to hide or peek-a-boo behind. The contrary is said for the circular ones. Abundance of obstacles and elevations makes Twins a sitting duck when pitted against Smokies, Rails, Thunders or even Ricos. Again, the profuseness of vertical walls in circular maps gives Ricochet a distinct advantage. Performs decently in Combe and co, but loses its bouncing ability. Thus, Twins would be better in that case. Le small-map player par excellence. His middle name is "small map". Not really. With a Double-Power on, he can one-shot at least half of the enemy team (unless you're having a 4v4 Mammoth fight). As if that wasn't enough, the numerous walls in circular maps seem like as if they were placed there expressly for Hammer to hide behind when he's recharging. Also, the three-shot-then-charge particularity isn't much of a disadvantage any more, as you can find enemies in abundance. In Combe and co., it is still very good. Even though there is no cover, it can still act like a Firebird and charge t straight into the heat of battle. Plus, you can use its high knock-back force to flip enemies when thy're flying in the air, in Hill and Wave. Railgun and Smoky, due to the high quantity of walls, barriers and other props, perform quite well when using the peek-a-boo tactic, or when shooting on-the-run (hit-and-run). Sandbox XPs are fairly popular, and it is not rare to find one in the top few of the RU servers. Thunder will need to watch out when playing in smalls, as to not damage itself. In Combe, Wave and Hill it is powerless against ramming enemies. In brief, its destructive power can be put to better use in larger maps. Shaft is near useless in circular maps, with no open spaces. Though it’s still possible for it to camp at the end of one of the “corridors” (the paths lining the sides of the map) of Sandbox and snipe any enemies that turn ‘round the corner. In Combe, it is classic to see a Shaft camping near his flag, poking his barrel out of the small opening in the walls. It’s quite hard to avoid its beam, except if you manage to speed down the slope when he’s pointing it somewhere else. In Wave, it can be used atop of one the hills, but it’s extremely risky, as the user is completely exposed. Not recommended. In Hill, no Shaft. No explication needed. Maybe not such a wise choice. The long warm-up time makes it quite hard to fight against a peek-a-boo Railgun, Smoky, Thunder or even Ricochet. The map is small, and removes Vulcan's advantage of long range. Additionally, Vulcan's slow turning speed when shooting renders it near useless in dogfights, something small maps are renowned for. DM: Usually ruled by the close-rangers, who can find prey in abundance, the reduced size in their favor. They are unstoppable when fully drugged. Paints that protect against those are useful. TDM: In small maps, skill tends to make a greater difference in the outcome of the battle. With the limited amount of players, every tanker counts. As such, modifications of turrets are more important then in Large, or even Medium maps. Joining the team with the most high-rankers is usually a good strategy to adopt. CTF (not available on Duel): Requires a fast tank in circular maps, preferably equipped with lots of mines. In Combe, Medium hulls can do the job just fine, when Light Hulls often flip before capturing the flag. CP (not available on Duel): Bears a resemblance to Gold rushes. As in other maps, mass-killers like Firebird or Thunder have an advantage. Otherwise, similar to TDM. Island, Ping Pong: Close-ranger hotspots. Paints that protect against those will definitely come in handy, e.g. Marine, Lava, Storm. Alien, Jaguar, Electra, Loam, Irbis, Inferno, Lumberjack, etc. Wave: Often played by XP/BP, as such paints like Forester, Tundra, Digital, etc, are recommended. Sandbox: Very popular map. Freeze, Firebird and Isida can be shrugged-off with easily 'mineable' pathways, and Shafts are a very rare sight. As for Thunder, the small size of Sandbox makes it easier to ram him. Consequently, paints with protection against Smoky, Railgun, Twins and Ricochet are more than welcome. Duality/Duel: Extremely rare. As their name suggests, they are pretty much only use for 1v1 or 2v2 duels, and usually paints are forbidden in those. Combe: Mostly played by close-rangers and Shafts. Rarely Twins and Ricochet, and almost never Smoky, Thunder or Railgun. Paints like Storm, Lead, etc., are useful. Hill: Popular with all sorts of weapons (besides Shaft). There is often a Freeze in both teams, and paints that help you cope with those will make it easier to capture flags. As this article comes to an end, I'd like to hope that it'll help you pocket an extra bit of crystals. Drive safe, eat well and see you on the battlefield! Sources Map views: http://en.tankiforum.com/index.php?showtopic=211476 Title and undertitle pictures: Kevred ©2015 Turret and Hull pictures: en.tankiwiki.com Beautiful Freeze-Behind-Hill picture: amazing, exceptional and humble artist Kevred "Overly large helping of the credit": MM2 Ideas: Creativity. Inc Bureau, 007 Street of Imagination, Republic of Invention, Middle of Nowhere

^ *rankup, not promotion

List of Previous Chapters Chapter I, The Crimson Blades -Part I -Part II -Part III Chapter II, The Titancore -Part I -Part II Twenty-Seven Years and Fifty Days “The boundaries which divide Life from Death are at best shadowy and vague. Who shall say where the one ends, and where the other begins?” Edgar Allan Poe * “How is he?” “He’s waking. But his blood pressure is dangerously low.” “Dangerous?” “Hopefully not.” A sharp pain is felt in my right forearm. My eyelids flutter open, but soon close again as a result of the unbearable white light with which my eyes are met. “He’s awake! Quick, the corneal tranfuser!” A cold feeling enters from my palm and makes its way to my mind. The room dims, and I open my eyes for the second time. The surroundings are shrouded in a strange purple cloud. “Don’t worry, the effects are only temporary. You won’t be seeing life in purple in a few minutes.” A man standing next to me laughs, but the joy quickly dies with the impending silence I’m demonstrating. He has what is referred to as a timeless face. Indescribable and amazing. Standing next to his is a woman in a white cloak, somewhere in her thirties. By her body language, I’d assume the man is more than a friend for her, although clearly Mr. Joker doesn’t have the same feelings. “Welcome to Anavara. You are safe here. It’s great to see you again. You must have many questions, don’t worry, listen to me attentively and you’ll find all the answers you’re looking for,” the man takes a deep breath, as if preparing to run the marathon, “after the disaster of the Titancore, our people found you floating in space. We put you in a temporal-statior, and you’ve been asleep until now. He pauses, waiting for me to talk. “What about the others?” My voice sounded unusually deep. His expression darkens for a second, but the crisped smile immediately comes back. “We’ve found no one else but you. The records of the escape pod indicate someone put you in it, but it’s likely that same person perished, along with the entirety of the armies.” The woman speaks for the first time during my wake. “Andros, the queen is requesting you to discuss the recent sabotage of our generators.” “Tell her I’ll be there in a sec.” He turns his attention back on me, but I’ve lost the little bit of happiness I managed to scrape. “You...you’re dead!” He looks at me, eyebrow raised. “What?” “The Crimson Blades! I destroyed the ship you were in!” “The Crimson Blades…that band of ruffians? I haven’t dealt with them for thirty years!” In my stupor, I don’t notice that my brother Andros is twenty-two years old, and that what he said did not make any sense. “What? You were in one of their ships!” I protest. “I have no idea what you’re talking about. Erexa, is his mental fully recovered?” The concerned looks at a screen. “Yes Andy. I've checked and double-checked.” I'm baffled. Is Andros lying? Or maybe he isn't Andros. After all, he's incapable of providing me with any proof, my DNA having been surgically altered after an accident in New London. That’s when a question springs from my logic, so obvious I'm surprised I didn't think of it earlier. I measure my words, dreading the answer. “Andros…how long was I unconscious?” The latter remained expressionless. His lips barely moved when he replied, “Twenty-seven years and fifty days” I’m forty-four years old. I hear the heart monitor’s beep as it flatlined. *** “His mind is going into mental arrest. The neural implant isn't responding anymore.” Erexa stayed calm despite the tense atmosphere. I put my palms on Arshton’s chest, trying to push air into his lungs. “That won’t work Andy, it’s his brain’s problem, not his lungs. Give him a bio-electrical sting.” I do as told. “Is it working?” “If a brain level of only 2% is normal, than yes. Unfortunately it isn't, so stop staring at me!” “Well you’re the doctor here! Do some-“ Arshton’s eyes suddenly open, making me jump back. “Arshton…Arsh, how do you feel?” I ask, worried. He doesn’t reply. “How’s his status?” “Fully normal, except for a high brainwave activity, but that’s compared to you.” Somehow her humour fails to amuse me. I still owe Arshton so much, and I know I’d never forgive myself if he died right in front of my eyes. If someone deserves to live after death, it’s him. I am fighting a civil war, and I want him by my side. I gasp for air as I'm suddenly lifted off the ground. Two inhumanely powerful hands grip my throat and fling me to the wall. A stabbing pain shoots up my spine as I hear the cement walls crack on impact. “Andy!” Red spots dancing in front of my eyes, I lift my head to see Arshton punching Erexa in the jaw before running out the room. “What the hell was that!” “I don’t know! How am I supposed to know?” She’s cupping her jaw with both hands, lips stained with blood. “Go to the infirmary station, I'm heading after him.” Erexa’s protesting becomes fainter as I head down the aisle, following a path of destruction. I stop at the entrance of the Armory as I hear a ruckus inside. One tought crosses my mind. He’s armed now. Pulling out my knife, I hide behind a corner whilst signalling a level one security breach. Sirens blare as I charge through the broken doors. A bullet whizzes a centimetre from my face as I roll into cover, behind a box of grenades. Cautiously peeking from the side, I see Arshton standing calmly at the other end of the room, a pistol in his hands. His eyes are blank. “Brother! What are you doing?” I get up, determined to confront him. Contrarily to what I expected, rogue Arshton immediately runs off through the emergency door, which was ironically unlocked when I signalled the security breach. Following him, I comm Erexa. “Erexa Ardeen.” “Erexa! Situation status?” “Oh, you can’t be asking about me, right? You never care about me.” “The base’s situation!” I reply promptly before fully comprehending what she said. A sigh emanates from the comm unit. “Two dead, and four demolished doors. The computer systems are tracking him, he seems to be heading towards the auxiliary power generators.” “You mean the generators the whole base is depending on?” “Yep, those ones.” “So…if I don’t stop him in time he’s going to disable our entire complex.” “Uh huh.” “And we’re all going to die asphyxiated.” “Exactly.” I silently curse. Women…not even the most perfected machine in the galaxy can understand them. I run to the generators as fast as my legs permit, which is fortunately quite rapid. That’s when all the lights turn off. “Crap.” I continue my way to the lowest level of the complex. The backup lights, although red and rather dim, guide me through endless staircases and corridors, until I finally reach a titanium plated door. And there’s a man-shaped hole in it. “Crap.” I adjust the rifle I picked up on the way to maximum capacity, although I’m hoping I won’t have to use it. I charge into the room just as all the emergency lights turn off as well, leaving me in complete darkness. “Crap.” I’m in a room filled with highly explosive generators, along with a madman that I am unable to shoot. I always knew I shouldn’t have thrown away that lucky charm Erexa gave me. I walk deeper into the darkness, each of my footsteps echoing around the vast chamber. A cold feeling creeps up my back as I turn around as a fist comes my way. My reflexes fail me, and I’m knocked to my knees. The bitter taste of blood filling my mouth, I scramble to get up, before another hit sends me on tumbling into the wall. I roll from a stab of his knife before jumping up again. I never would’ve guessed those gymnastic classes would come in handy someday. He fires a few harmless pistol shots at me, but they’re easily avoided with a few additional rolls. I swipe my nose to find my hands covered with blood. “Oh my gosh, Arshton you complete nincompoop!” His eyes empty, he starts charging towards me. I detec his dim silhouette in the dark, growing bigger by the second. I stand firm, planning to sidestep and send a fist to his stomach, however I underestimated his speed and soon I’m lying on the ground again, my head throbbing. “That’s it, no more cake for your birthday then!” I hide my distraught in humour, even though technically the only person I’m hiding it from is myself. Cursing for not having the intuition of bringing a stun rod with me. I’m completely helpless against the out-of-this-world power that is my brother. Fortunately, even a madman needs rest, and I take the occasion to think the situation through. What did Erexa say? A low level a brainwaves…that’s when I understand. It’s so simple, but so complicated at the same time. I duck as another swipe of his 4-inch steel blade cuts a gash on my forehead. Hot, damp liquid spills down from my front, and blinds me. Not thinking, I shoot at the direction of the sound. A large thump is heard. “No.” Swiping the red liquid away, I see Arshton’s body lying on the floor, his chest punctured by a bullet. My bullet.

I was referring to you...

k, beautiful, especially like that gleaming, elegant white tank

nice edits (pun intended)

^where did that come from?

You have a lot of things to cut...

^ Your bookmarks bar is a MESS

That's a rule of the current contest :mellow:

Some respect Be careful what you wish for... :ph34r: