Got one worth 4236 but screenshot didn't save :/

The wall; a much overlooked part of Tanki. They offer the game so much diversity, and you probably owe them more than you might think. In this article, I will try to highlight the ways in which you can use walls to your own advantage, but also show you why I, and other tankers, have a grudge against them! Walls come in many forms in Tanki, from one of the numerous barriers in Parma, to a side of a house in Island. It is very tough to find a map without a wall and that is why it is a good idea to learn how to use them. This can be done in many different ways and utilising walls, like many other props and items in Tanki, can help you to defeat your enemies. Cover: For those of us who play XP often, this comes naturally. It is the perfect way to avoid an enemy’s shot and requires a lot less effort than the tactical dodge. Most of the well-known XP/BP maps have a plethora of walls, which can all be used to optimise your chances of winning. Getting behind a wall when an enemy is shooting leads to them wasting a shot. You can now take a hit from them (or kill them), go for the flag and get a capture. Hiding behind a wall is the most basic instinct of a good tanker in a sticky situation. Just make sure there aren’t any enemies behind the wall though! Hiding Place: Have low health? Need to wait to use a health supply? Look no further than behind a wall! Players least expect you to be sat in the corner of the map, just waiting; they have much more important things to do than scour the map for a single player (unless they have a cool paint or were Godmode_ON of course!) If you do come across an enemy tanker, then you are probably done for. Furthermore, if you are caught by a tanker on your team, they may think you are multing, so perhaps pretend you were just taking a back route! This is obviously most effective in DM, where no-one really minds if you’ve sat out of the battle for 30 seconds. Once you’ve got your health back, you can go back into the thick of the battle without having to add another death to your score. Blind spot: As was expertly shown to us in V-Log 40, you can use corners to dodge enemy shots. This idea can be transferred to walls as well. Once you have gone behind a wall, a chasing enemy can no longer see your movements. This allows you to stay still, wait for them to go around the corner, and then move back to where you were, therefore confusing your enemy and hopefully outwitting them as well. Also, one can drop the flag in a 1 vs 1 XP match in order to keep your whereabouts secret. If you subsequently hide behind a wall, then pop out and shoot, they will have no idea where you are, giving you an advantage for the rest of the battle. Map Item: The maps in Tanki all need to be different, else there would be no point if having any. Therefore, the maps need to look different and have unique features. Walls enable maps to be exclusive amongst other maps. Parma is a great example of this. Without walls, Parma would basically just be an empty map on two levels. Not much good for XP right? The same can be said for Ping Pong and Duel; these much smaller maps rely on walls to make the gameplay much more exciting. Battle Lines: As an item on a map, walls can be used to mark out sides in team battles. The walls in Ping Pong and Farm are the defining feature for the red and blue teams. You know that you are crossing into enemy territory when you go past these walls but one can also tell how well the team is doing by how far the enemy has come past these walls. If they hold you back from ever crossing the barrier, then you are probably on the back foot! Effective Turret Use: There are two turrets in the game which use walls more than most. Ricochet is the obvious one. Without walls, the unique property of Ricochet to do, well, just that, would be lost. Tankers who have mastered Ricochet will continually be bouncing plasma balls off of walls at preposterous angles, in order to take damage from an enemy. The other turret is Thunder; the splash damage element of Thunder really helps to enhance its gameplay. Enemies perhaps hiding behind walls can be hit by using splash damage against a neighbouring wall. So watch out when you’re hiding, as a Thunder can easily use the other walls to defeat you! Parkour: Buildings are obviously the main feature of parkour; at least they are the destination for a parkourist. However, walls can offer two roles in parkour. Firstly, they can be a much more intricate landing spot for a tank due to their small surface area. For example, the walls in the centre of sandbox make for simple yet effective parkour. Trying to land such tough jumps is a major skill but it is a very hard art to prefect; you have to be almost inch-perfect! In addition, walls can be used to get to another destination. A wall jump (demonstrated here by SwiftSmoky) can be used to get you to a higher building next to the wall in a unique way. This is mainly used by Wasps in Noise or Hornets in Monte Carlo. Support: No, walls won’t shoot at enemies for you, but they may stop you from tipping. Especially in XP, if you are going to be tipped, but then are on your side up against a wall, your opponents shot hasn’t really done much. Unless they then ram you into the wall to stop you restabilising yourself, you can flip your tank upright and get back to the game. Although, watch out, shooting in the wrong direction when propped against a wall can lead to you tipping yourself! Problems with Walls: However, we must remember that walls aren’t always our friends. I have had numerous irritating encounters with walls that, honestly, have led to me rage quitting. Walls are obstacles, and we have to remember this fact. When you’re exiting the base, be careful if you are driving backwards, as you can’t see any nearby walls, there is a possibility you might hit one. This will doubtless slow down your escape, leading to the ultimate failure of the attack. During a gold box (here comes the rage), try not to hit a wall as it is dropping. Even worse, a thin one, which tips you before you even have a chance to try and get the gold. You will just have to sit there, watching those crystals drop helplessly out of your reach. I cry every time. So tankers, walls enable Tanki to improve the gameplay of our maps and make them all unique. We can utilise walls in order to hide from, block or subsequently dodge enemy shots. Just remember, using walls in battle can give you a great advantage over enemies, a great height in parkour, or a great flood of tears when a gold box is dropping!

Guess the Reward! This contest has made a fantastic debut, with over 500 entries in total! However, only a select few of the best, or luckiest, tankers have won and here they are: 1st Place - 15,000 crystals: @Randy_Roads with a total deviation of 8! 2nd Place - 10,000 crystals: @Nekromaniac, @Baby_Sam and @HUGHIY with total deviations of 9! 3rd Place - 5,000 crystals: @serovburek and @dinc3 with total deviations of 10! Well Done to all! This issue's picture was taken three seconds before the end of the battle; here it is: The selected players are: weekago gamefive OMG319 Contest has closed. Results will be announced in the next issue! You have until 20th May; Good Luck!

9817

I have a good idea, just not the skill :/ ...

9657

9597... Beat you to it :P

9595

These two garage statistics aren’t on our minds much when we’re playing in battles, but perhaps you use them more than you might think you do. There are numerous ways you can use these two stats to your advantage and I’ll show you some of them in this article. Recoil: Stabilising yourself: Often in battles, especially XP, you will find yourself on the side of your tank. Those of you unfortunate to have Isida, Firebird or Freeze in this situation are pretty much done for. However, any turret with strong recoil is able to tip itself back upright, allowing you to enter back into the battle. Certain guns like Rail have a very strong recoil, so with a lighter hull you may have to be careful to avoid flipping onto the other side of your tank. Also, if you have a heavier hull, then it can be tough to re-stabilise yourself with a weaker turret such as Ricochet or Smoky. Tricks: Recoil is a bit like self-destructing with Thunder. It is the opposite of impact force because the force is used on you. However, this force can enable one to pull off some pretty cool tricks. The simplest trick you can achieve with recoil is a flip. This is best done with Railgun as it allows you to fire one, quick shot and so do a flip or barrel roll. Another trick is to make yourself balance on the back of your tank using Twins. The constant recoil from each shot allows you to stay in the air, pulling off what looks like an intricate balancing act! Parkour: One of the basics of parkour can be quite simply put as ‘shooting behind you’. This is in fact utilising the recoil of a turret such as Railgun. As you got through the air, the recoil gives you that extra boost to ensure that you get to where you want to go. This is the basis of most parkour, especially the Dictator and mine trick which is used so often. Without recoil, one would have to rely on the supporting parkourists, who may alone not be enough to make the stunt work. Gold Hunting: Not many of us know that recoil can be quite useful in gold hunting. Obviously it can’t be used all the time but there are certain opportunities where the strong recoil of Railgun can be used to get a gold box. This can be done in two ways. The first is only really for Sandbox. When the gold is dropping around the outside, you can use a small wall jump to gain some height. You will then probably be going slightly off-target from the gold, but with a shot to the side of you, you can flip on top of tankers waiting under the gold, greatly increasing your chance of getting it. Furthermore, if you want to get on top of other tanks but there are no ramps or ledges, you can charge up a shot and quickly change the direction of the hull to lift one side of the tank up, enabling you to spin onto another tank and so ride into the gold box with a height advantage. Penetration Power: Double Kills: The main advantage of penetration power is that you can shoot one enemy, yet the shot will continue on and can possibly hit another enemy. With the correct timing and a rare opportunity, you can get double or triple kills on small maps. In larger battles, such as Polygon, it is often possible to kill two or three tanks with one shot. This allows you to not only get some additional XP, but also to take a number of tankers away from a control point or the enemy base; making it easier for you to capture a flag or control point. Easier Shooting: With some turrets, it is harder to hit long range opponents when a teammate is in the way. Ricochet balls can hit your teammate and even Thunder shots, leading to a wasted shot and no enemies damaged. The same can be said for Isida at short range. However, with Railgun’s penetration power it is possible to hit the enemy tanker through your own teammate every time. Therefore, you don’t have to worry about teammates getting in the way. Rank ups: When not using Railgun to rank up, tankers normally have to use a turret with the ability to kill multiple enemies at once. This job fell to Freeze, Firebird or Thunder. However, you would generally need tankers in a massed huddle to do this effectively which can look quite messy. With Railgun’s penetration power, tankers can go into a neat, straight line and the ranking tank can shoot them all in one go. This is a much ‘cleaner’ rank up than a Firebird killing a group of tanks. Disadvantages: Recoil and penetration power aren’t perfect however. As I said earlier, recoil is like self-inflicted impact force. This means that, at the right angle, it can lead to you tipping especially if your tank has already elevated slightly by an enemy’s shot. Recoil can also force you off aim. If you take a shot with Ricochet and are moved slightly by recoil, your next shot won’t be as accurate as you would hope for. Eventually, if you didn’t move your tank, you would possibly find yourself in a very different position to the one you started in. One turret is immune to this though. Vulcan’s gyroscopic effect enables it to stay on target despite recoil which gives a large advantage to any tanker using it. The compromise you have to make when utilising penetration power is that the damage you do is decreased as the number of tanks you have hit increases. The final tank you hit will take significantly less damage than the first tank you hit. This can only be stopped by micro-upgrading M3 Railgun’s penetration power to full which is a very expensive process indeed. I hope this article has opened your eyes to two of the more overlooked garage statistics. Despite the fact that they are generally in the background, they can be used to give a tanker an advantage in battle, reach new parkour heights or just have an awesome rank up!

Perhaps try and wait behind some stronger tanks, let them weaken the defence, then nab the flag. Or, if there are no Freezes, try to have a fast Isida behind you.

Read Part I here Power Ryan’s bag was almost full now. Clothes, washing essentials, some basic food supplies and bottles to collect rain water in. There was one thing that he didn’t need to pack though, his power. It had been his secret for as long as he could remember, not even his horrible mother or dead father had known about it. He had woken up with it one morning, as if he had always had it. He didn’t quite know how to control it at first, his actions being erratic, but eventually he mastered his power. His power to control wind and rain, sun and clouds. His power to control the weather. It went with him everywhere, followed him even and he could always feel it. Ryan didn’t know where he would go. He had no grandparents or aunts or uncles. He had never been christened so he didn’t have any godparents either. For once Ryan regretted his father’s arguing with his mother over the whole Christianity thing. He did have one option though; in Year 5 he had created a friendship, a strong one at that. He had moved the next year to Hereford while Jack was left in Colchester. It felt to Ryan as if he had left his father there too. Ryan had £250 from the emergency fund he had saved up all his life. He was smart like that, always prepared, although he knew that he would have to have run away some day. It was going to be more than enough to pay for the bus journeys up to Colchester, and back again if Jack had unfortunately moved house. But Ryan didn’t have many other options; he needed the help of someone else. Jack There was a knock on the door. Jack stretched and stared at the clock in the sitting room, 10:00 am it read after Jack’s eyes had adjusted to waking up. Another knock, louder and more persistent. Jack was used to not answering the door; the taxmen had almost given up pestering him. It was only him though. His mother had died in a car crash over a year ago and his father was never found after the incident. Just like Ryan’s dad. Jack lived in a little bungalow worth no more than around £35,500. The money owed on it was too much for Jack to pay off seeming as he had no income and living in the most deprived area of Colchester, there wasn’t much money to be found, or stolen. Jack waited for another minute or so, but it seemed that the man at the door was now gone. Suddenly a face appeared at the dirty window. Jack jumped. It was a familiar face, not one that filled Jack with dread or fear but with hope and happiness. It was Ryan; after seven long, life changing years, Ryan. Jack jumped up and rushed to the door, slipping on a blanket heaped on the ground. He shoved the bent paperclip into the door and twisted it for a bit until there was a faint click and the door creaked open. Ryan strolled in as if viewing the property with an estate agent. It was cold and full of damp. The solitary three rooms in the house didn’t look at all appealing. In the kitchen was a fridge, microwave and counter along with plastic cutlery and a polystyrene plate that hadn’t been cleaned since the last meal. The bathroom was almost bare. A filthy, yellowed toilet and sink stood in each corner. They certainly made you want to hold it in. There was also a cardboard tube from a toilet roll that must have run out weeks ago. Finally there was a sitting room in which the sofa was a bed and a dusty clock sitting opposite ticked, making the only noise in the house. The two friends made a rather awkward embrace before Ryan finally broke the silence. “Nice pad, when’s you’re mother coming home?” “Never,” Jack replied mournfully, “died in a car crash, and you already know the rest.” Ryan didn’t but he nodded anyway. He felt like he had been perhaps a bit too forward with the whole Mum thing. However, he knew Jack could make a good companion for his journey. “I’m going to Egypt,” he said, “I’m gonna stop that meteorite.” “Very funny” “You think, ‘cause I know where that thing’s gonna land and I can stop it.” “Just leave it to the authority and its missiles, there’s nothing anyone else can do. Wait, how would you stop it anyway?” “There’s something I ain’t told anyone, ever. But I’m going to let you into my confidence. I,” Ryan stumbled over his words; he had never told anyone this and it came as a shock to his system that he was about to. He was having second thoughts about the whole companion thing. A lump had formed in his throat and he wanted to run for the door. “I can control the weather.” Too late, the damage was done. Jack laughed. Before he knew it, the most ferocious storm had gathered outside, then it turned to intense sun and then snow. All before Jack’s amazed eyes. Ryan was used to the changes in the weather by now. Jack was astounded, he couldn’t understand it. The pavement outside his house was wet, but everywhere else the ground was dry. “That’s you, d-d-doing that.” fumbled Jack as he pointed to outside. “Yep” Jack was shocked, he couldn’t believe what has just happened, and if Ryan was serious about this, what if he was serious about stopping those missiles. But he couldn’t just follow him there. Jack thought through everything they would need, especially the money. But Ryan was his oldest friend, and he wasn’t going to leave him now. “What do you need?” “First? Lunch.” The Plan After eating their lunches of stale bread and slightly-off cheese, Jack and Ryan slumped down onto the sofa and began to discuss the plan to go to Egypt. Ryan told Jack of how he went to the library and found out the co-ordinates of the meteorites predicted landing place from some science website. They decided that they would have to get on a plane but they soon realised Ryan’s emergency fund wouldn’t stretch that far. Accumulatively, Jack and Ryan had £175 but they found out it would be £200 each to go to Egypt. Apparently dying next to one of the Seven Wonders of the World was popular seeming as it was going to be the end of the world. Two days later and Jack had his bag packed; it went next to Ryan’s in the hallway. There were supposedly four days until the meteorite struck. They had decided that the best way to get to Egypt with hardly any money would be to smuggle themselves onto a plane. He had no idea how, but he guessed Ryan had an idea. There was another knock on the door and Jack called Ryan who was resting in the sitting room. The taxi had finally arrived and it was time for them to leave. “Why would you two young lads want to go to the airport on your own when the world’s about to end?” enquired the taxi driver as they got in. Jack, who had always been a good liar, especially so after the authorities began to become suspicious of him, replied: “Oh, my brother and I, we are going to Edinburgh to spend our last days with the family.” It appeared to content the driver despite the fact Jack and Ryan looked little alike. They all stayed silent after that. The roads were deadly silent and it creeped Ryan out. No-one walking home, no children playing. The world had almost become a ghost town. It soon would be. If you were alert enough, you could occasionally see an adult peering out of a window from behind the curtain. Once they were on the motorway there were a few other cars, all packed full of items. After over an hour driving in the stuffy taxi, Jack and Ryan tumbled out, paying the driver his rip-off fees. Yet who could blame him, wouldn’t it be good to go out of this life rich? The airport loomed over them, at least there was some commotion here, the slight hum of doors sliding open as people came and went, most with tears in their eyes. Once inside, Jack and Ryan stared at the glowing electronic boards showing the few flights in and out of the country. Finally they spotted the one which said: EGYPT, 3:30pm, on time That was all they needed to see. They walked into the toilets and there they hatched the second part of their plan. They knew they would have to steal uniforms and pretend to be flight attendants. They looked old enough so that would be fine. Luckily, in came two attendants chatting to one another. Suddenly, they both found themselves crumpling to the floor. One had been hit by a metallic bin and the other, one very ancient copy of the Bible. Flight No-one had recognised or seen anything unusual about the two ‘trainee’ flight attendants. They served coffee normally and spoke in the pleasant yet slightly patronising tones that flight attendants have to talk in. Then a message came from the overhead speakers: “Seatbelts on please, we are coming in to land in Cairo, if you look out the window to the left, you will be able to see the Great Pyramids of Giza. Do stop off there once you have landed, it is a great place to see before the end of the world.” By now Ryan had realised that most of the people on this plane wanted quick deaths, they had also worked out where the meteorite would hit first and had come to be the first to be relieved of their hard lives. Jack had worked out, using a laptop and the plane’s free Wi-Fi that if they stopped in the shabbiest looking hotel in the area, they could just get their money to stretch far enough. There probably wasn’t going to be a return journey for them. Finally, the plane began to tip downwards and then land on the runway. Ryan and Jack allowed the passengers to file out before having to go round and clean up. What happened next could not have been expected at all. It turned out that the real flight attendants had decided that they would get their yearly pay in one massive chunk and as it was almost the end of the world, Flybe gave them each £20,000 in a sealed suitcase with a combination lock on. They were both in awe, but pretended to be completely cool about the whole situation. They were sorted; they had money, and a good amount of time. All they needed now was to get it right; else it would be the end for all.

0

10

*cough* Who told you that one? *cough* A man just assaulted me with milk, cream and butter. How dairy.

Speed. We all love it. That ability to whizz around maps, outrunning other tanks in order to make breath-taking getaways with the enemy flag. Or in parkour, to make sure you go the extra mile (sometimes literally) and get to your favoured destination. Speed is a key part of Tanki Online and will always remain so. So strap yourselves in, buckle up and get ready for your quick tour of everything about speed in Tanki Online. Uses: Speed is all around us in Tanki Online and we have begun to become almost oblivious to its prevalence in the game; so let us just take a moment to think about the game without it. All tanks would go at the same speed. You wouldn’t be able to outrun anyone else, yet nor them you. Game balance would be massively disrupted due to only one key factor of differentiation in hulls (the protection), the only solution to which would be only one hull and no choice. Or, an even more dramatic scenario; no speed and no movement. Everyone would be sitting ducks, just rotating their turrets and shooting. Dull; very dull. I hope that I have now made you see how vital speed is to Tanki Online. And you can utilise speed in many ways… Flags: It is undeniably easier to make a getaway with the flag (when there are no defenders) with Hornet or Wasp. One can grab and go in an instant and before anyone knows it, you’re back in your own base and have captured the flag. That feeling when you outrun a tank’s turret turning so they can’t shoot you is just brilliant. My advice is; if you’re looking to get the flag quickly, equip a fast hull and try to get in there before anyone else notices. If you can slip past the key defenders, then the hardest part of the task will be over. Facing off: When you’re one versus one with an enemy in any scenario, it can be really handy to be light on your tracks. Dodging an enemy’s shot gives you precious time to reload or run off (if you’re that kind of player!) Moving in one direction, then quickly going the other way increases the chance of your opponent missing. Also, against turrets with slower turret turning, you may be able to ‘outrun the turret’ meaning that you can keep on moving and not lose any health. Parkour: We’ve all tried it once or twice. Perhaps the ramp in Canyon (R.I.P) or 2042. Moving as fast as possible and jumping, perhaps with a flourish of a spin at the end. Speed is essential to parkour; you need the moment to get to those incredible spots. It’s very rare to see a mammoth achieving exceptional height (See Fig. 1). Running up a dictator or hitting a mine perfectly relies on the speed of your hull. The quicker you are, the further you’ll go and the more you can do. Tricks: Speed can also be used to achieve small, yet useful tricks during battles. Monte Carlo is a prime map for this, where speed allows you to access the best route in and out of the enemy base. Without speed, we would all have to take the long way round, which is much less exciting. Another trick is the difficult ‘edge jump’. This involves hitting the edge of a wall (or other flat surface) with your tracks and continuing to move forward in order to perform a small jump upwards (See Fig. 2). This trick can help you to reach a more advantageous position or perhaps get in or out of the enemy base in a quicker and more interesting way. Without speed in this trick, it would be very difficult to make it work; I certainly couldn’t imagine a mammoth doing it! Racing: Need I say more? Speed in Practise: This next bit is for all you lovers of Wasp or Hornet. These quick hulls can be utilised in many ways during battles, depending on your playing style and the map size. In large maps, I would advise attacking. With so many players in the battle, it will be tough for you to get in and out of the base with the flag, a job that would become close to impossible if you were using a slow hull. You just wouldn't be able to get away! One of the best turrets for this sort of thing is freeze. If you are able to quickly cover your opponents, then the job of them chasing after you becomes a whole lot tougher. As I said before, try to nab the flag before anyone notices, making sure that there is a very small number of enemies around. Then, use a nitro, or just the basic speed of your tank to move quickly out of the enemy base and into a safer part of the map. It is harder to tell what to do in medium-sized maps. Attacking is a good idea because of the speed advantage; but if you want more diversity to your play, midfield can also work well. Zipping around the edge of the enemy base, perhaps with Smoky or Hammer, can be just as satisfying and productive as getting captures. If the enemy team can't get out of their base, how are they meant to get your flag? And if they go on the offensive, you have that great speed to handle a controlled retreat from the midfield to your own base until reinforcements arrive! Small range maps are a completely different ball game though. As you are fast, you can quickly move from attack to defence, with or without the flag. The choice of where you play is completely up to you, as long as you are sure that you are a versatile player. You must be able to be a reliable defender but also a hard-headed attacker. Having one of your teammates dying continually and getting nowhere is of advantage to the enemy team only. The best turrets for this is either Railgun or Firebird. They are both good at attacking or defending (especially Rail, where you can take a shot from one base to the other with ease.) This means that you can quickly swap position in accordance to how well your team is doing and so ensure the best possible outcome. Advantages: As shown, speed can be used in many ways. It helps us to move around maps quicker than others, or get to place we never thought we could reach. Used correctly, speed is one of the best things in the game, topped only by protection, health and damage (in my opinion). Speed offers hull variety, essential for great gameplay and game balance. There is also a very definitive pattern when it comes to speed. One can easily grasp the concept of which hull is fastest. We all learnt, from very early on in our Tanki careers that Wasp was fastest, then Hornet and so on. Speed isn’t complex but is still a very effective tool and almost any high ranker would recommend learning how to master it early on. Disadvantages: Obviously nothing is perfect and speed does have its downsides. The faster you go, the less control you have; especially when it comes to Railgun. As you move, you have to look around, charge up and take an accurate shot. This can be hard when you’re moving quickly as from when you charge up, to when the shot fires, you will have moved a fair distance. Most skilled XP/BP users (unfortunately not me) have mastered this, but it can take time. Also, the faster your tank is moving, the more erratic your movements when you try to turn. This causes a lack of control over the tank which leads to small mistakes such as perhaps failing to pick up the flag or accidentally hitting a wall. However, these can all be mastered with practice. The main disadvantage of having speed is the compromise you have to make. The speed of a hull will always be proportional to the protection it has; faster hull means a weaker hull. This gives you a choice which is all down to preference. If you have a playing style more attributed to speed, you should choose a faster hull. If you prefer to ‘camp’, defend or generally stay around the edge of the enemy base, then there is no need for speed. You should stick with a heavy hull that offers you the protection you want. So, what have we learnt? Speed is great. It can be used in all manner of ways to do awesome tricks, captures or kills. But, you must be aware that speed comes at a cost; practising is the only way to master speed. Make sure to keep to your own mixture of speed and protection so that you can enhance your gameplay as much as possible!

I like Lemonade above all other fizzy drinks so would have to say Sprite...

Bye man :( Good luck in real life...

9057

Way off :P PUM has 130k

I'm a reporter on my probation... -9

Nope... Are you a member of staff?

Sorry :( 10

Congrats to for becoming a FB mod!

Don't even have it PUML Lumberjack

It's ok 0