Camp and defend, stil with smoky Titan/mammy it's good enough :) save up those crystals! For now!

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Welcome, readers, to Reporting - My Story. You might know a bit about life as a reporter, and how we work, but this issue I thought I'd share some of my personal thoughts on being a reporter, and how much it has impacted how I see and have experienced the game. You may also know that reporter applications are currently open, so if you are debating whether to apply, this might be of interest! I still remember first seeing the advertisement for applying to become a reporter, about half a year ago in Summer 2014. At that time I was still relatively new to the forum, but I was interested in getting a staff position somewhere, somehow. I was rejected from a few other roles for various reasons, including low-rank and age, but I had heard that there were some reporters younger than myself, so I thought I'd give it a shot. The first step of the application was sending in all the basic stuff - name, location, contact details, reasons why I wanted to become a reporter... As well as a short extract on something that I'd written. Now, my English isn't all that terrible, but in all honesty, I wasn't really a keen writer before I joined. I'd written up some reports at school, did English to GCSE (and dropped it as quickly as I could for A level), but other than that, nothing. So, I didn't really have a reserve of my own work, and when I was asked for an extract, my choice was limited. In the end, I went for writing something from scratch. I wanted something that would stand out, but also something where I could "show off" as much as possible, so I wrote about the experience of going to the toilet and then realising there was no toilet paper. Unfortunately I didn't keep a record of what I wrote, which is probably for the best since I would cringe reading it back now! It was a long wait to hear back, but I heard back good news eventually, and I was through to the second stage of the application - I had to write a full length article, that would be published if I was successful. I spent a long time deliberating over what to write about. The newspaper had already been well established, with hundreds of articles already written and the obvious topics done already. But, inspired by a topic that @Vettefan22 had started recently, I sought to try and answer one of the most hotly-debated questions - which is better out of Firebird and Freeze. Having no real writing experience before meant this was quite a challenge, and my article went through numerous drafts and even then I wasn't happy. In the end, I posted the best I could. It was published, and I received a lot of feedback - positive and critical, but it all helped. The final product is here, and that was it for my first month - I was now a full Reporter. The next issue I continued on from comparing Firebird and Freeze, by comparing Smoky and Thunder, which would ultimately lead to the "Comparison" series. This was quite a lengthy article, but since Smoky and Thunder were two weapons that I was actually struggling to decide between at the time, and I enjoyed writing this very much. The other major project that was kicked off in Issue 26 was "Continue the Story", an ongoing competition where each month players would write the next chapter to the story, the best being chosen to be the "official" continuation and the basis for the following chapter. The first chapter was by far the most fiercely contested, with many entries, and I enjoyed reading them all. When it came to picking a winner however, the job wasn't as straightforward. I had narrowed it down to two entries, and although I was leaning towards one myself, there was not total agreement in the reporters team. In the end, I went with @DarthvaderjonGTR's entry which, looking back when the final product was completed 4 months later, wasn't a bad choice! Issue 27 was a big issue for me, as I published 4 articles. The first was the 3rd comparison on Twins or Ricochet, which like the others was a pleasure to write. I was learning about the weapons myself as I wrote, and so I think this has actually helped me to become a better player. My second article was my Garage Analysis, inspired by similar works elsewhere in the forum and press archive, which was also quite fun and simple to write about, and I have kept it updated with my purchases since. However, soon the number of new items I've purchased will merit a Garage Analysis Part Two, so watch out for that! Maximising Your Tanki Experience was a bit of an odd one, and looking back I don't know why I felt compelled to write about it, but nothing similar had been done before, so I guess it was still something worth doing! The fourth and last article I published was on the recently introduced Smart Cooldowns, written shortly before the month's deadline. Putting something out quick on a major update that had just been released was a good idea, and thanks should go to @hogree who convinced me to do so with a 10,000 crystal bribe, though I don't think I've received them yet... *wink wink nudge nudge* ;) ;) ;) The Comparison series came to a close in Issue 28, finishing off with Railgun or Shaft. But as this series ended another began, and the game mode series began. This hadn't actually been touched on much before, which I thought was surprising! The first one was of course Deathmatches, which I found quite challenging since I don't play much DM at all! The only other article I published that issue was something that was suggested by @blackopspaul, on how the ranks in Tanki compare to those in real life. This was definitely an interesting one for me, since I knew literally nothing about military ranks before. Don't forget to keep suggesting in the Newspaper Requests topic. The final few months have been very busy for me and the newspaper as a whole, as we recruited some more reporters that added even more variety and content to the newspaper. The two articles I enjoyed very much were my two interviews on @AbsoluteZero and @SwiftSmoky. I talked with @AbsoluteZero about the very common problem of mults and saboteurs in the game, and about his new kick system proposed. @SwiftSmoky talked to me about his Parkour Fighting, something which I had heard about but hadn't fully appreciated. The quality of his answers was very high, and his explanations were detailed, making this one definitely an interesting read. The other major thing for me that commenced last issue was my Dissected series, which allows me to get really deep into an analysis of a particular item. The first I decided to dissect was Thunder, as this is my favourite weapon. I really enjoy doing this, and I hope it gives you deep insight as well I definitely plan to continue this series. My plans for the future? Well, it's unclear - university is looming for me, and that means less and less time for Tanki and writing. We'll have to see as things pan out, but I love my job and I hope I will have time for it. Becoming a reporter has really been impactful and has brought so much to my experience in Tanki. It has allowed me to not only improve my own game knowledge, but also to get to know a lot of great people and the community as a whole a lot better. I might not be on the forum, or even playing the game right now if it wasn't for becoming a reporter. Thank you for reading, and hopefully this gives you some inspiration to perhaps apply while the opportunity is there for the taking! Apply here: http://en.tankiforum.com/index.php?showtopic=245513 All past reporter work can be found in the newspaper archive, but here are mine:

Send a PM to :)

Will do for this coming issue :)

I would say viking m2, and at base m3, isida and Thunder are both ok. Both need MUs

Thunder viking m4 and isi viking m4 both work amazingly well :) Thunder only really so if you are on the red team.

Fairrrrr :p I really want lumberjack but I'm so put off by its looks

It's a mistake to judge which combination is better based on who would win one on one :)

Just accept it, you were arguing that your entry was good enough and it has been agreed that it has :)

Nice one Alklines, looks pretty nice I suppose :) quite stand out though

No worries :) guides, stories, interviews, you can write about all sorts!

Let them do so :) they will still only get in if they are good enough!

Fair :)

They are definitely on the RU wiki, might be on EN one havent checked

Firebird damage has not been directly affected, only by afterburn. What has not happened is 'damage has been doubled', and you do not 'kill people in half the time' I think this is a misunderstanding, I am looking from an overall perspective, you are thinking only of the afterburn, in which case I can see your point

:) I don't play that much, but it means when I do I can drug drug drug and earn XP quite fast :p I might be doing a garage analysis Part 2 in the coming months, my garage has progressed quite a bit since this was published!

Honestly, I think rock is an amazing paint, offering nice short-medium range protection. Clay is also a great choice as you said, offering medium-long protection :)

It does become stronger, and you kill faster even though damage is the same that's right, but when you said earlier that Mickey was wrong, he wasn't :p if you read what Mickey was responding to, it was a post that said firebirds damage had doubled, which is clearly hasn't

Afterburn and damage are completely different. The actual damage hasn't been changed - the damage while burning has been doubled, and the time the tank will burn for has been halved

I misread the protections my bad :p

Ones short range ones long range simple :) Personally prefer Thunder

Looks awesome :) also quite like the look of Cherry and Rhino

Personally I prefer paints that give you protection from a certain range, for example rock gives great short-medium protection, clay gives great medium-long range protection and prodigi gives great long range protection. Honestly I don't rate most of these paints, for example how often do you need both isida and railgun protection? The combination of protections that a paint gives you should be a factor, as well as the actual amount of protection they give you :) Just my opinion :p also I hate the look of lumberjack...

So many guides have been written about choosing the best turret, and best hull for your particular style and niche in the game, that it is often forgotten that there is a third key element to any successful combination. Paints are absolutely essential, giving you significant protection from multiple enemy weapons. However, as with turrets and hulls, your paint selection must fit your styles and combinations. Just as certain turrets or hulls are great and indeed worthless in particular maps, paints are often misused, mismatched with the user's combination choice and current map. ____________________________________________________________________________________ What to choose From my own personal experience, the most important factor is definitely the map you are playing in. There is often some misconception and some debate over whether it's your combination or the map that's more important, but for me it's definitely the map. While it's true that if you are using a short-range weapon such as Firebird or Freeze, that you will have to get in close with the enemy, this does not mean that short-range protection paints are the best. The most important consideration to make here is what the enemy is using. For example, playing on a large map like Kungur with the combination Firebird-Wasp, enemy Railguns, Thunders, Shafts... The long range weapons will be your largest threat. If you get in close, will you need the close range protection? The important thing is getting in close in the first case! In general, larger maps favour the longer range paints, and smaller maps favour the shorter range paints. Extra considerations include the structure of the map too however. For example, on a map like Lost Temple, being a large and also relatively open map with plenty of sniping spots, Shafts, Railguns and Thunders will be your main concern. Therefore, something like Corrosion, Digital, Blacksmith, Winter or Prodigi would be decent, with pretty much any combination you use. On a map like Düsseldorf, although it is a large map, it is relatively closed, with plenty of buildings acting as obstacles. Here, I would recommend a paint like Clay, or Hohloma. Ricochet would be a potent threat with the flat buildings to bounce projectiles, as well as the longer ranged weapons that are Smoky, Thunder and Railgun. Although large, Shaft cannot fully be utilised to its full effectiveness. But, say you are now playing a medium-sized map like Silence, where almost any weapon is usable. Now there is no clear optimum choice. What now? The next consideration is now your role in the battle. What you are likely to be doing, and where you will be going, is now the key factor determining the weapons that are likely to be the biggest threat. For example, aggressively attacking in a medium map often involves taking on short range paints like Twins, Freeze, Isida and Firebird. Thus, bringing a paint such as Atom, Rock, Zeus, Lumberjack, Taiga would all be reasonable choices, whatever the combination you are using. Of course, it is important to keep your team diversity. If all your attackers are using short range paints, you might be weak to a defensive Smoky or Thunder, for example, in which case something like Rustle might be handy. To summarise: Identify the map size Identify the map structure What role will you be playing What paints to buy Now we have looked at what paints are generally best for your situation, we need to look at what is best to buy. No single paint is completely universal, so you will have to pick a range of paints for your garage. I won't bother talking about paints below the Brigadier unlock rank, because of course every one will be outclassed by a higher rank paint. There are two types of paint I don't recommend. It is because of the reasons above that I firstly do not personally recommend the non-specialised paints. By this I mean paints that give you protection from turrets at multiple ranges, such as for example, Picasso. The description for such paints describe them as 'all-rounded paint' or 'useful for all situations'. If you are looking for a single paint to cover you for everything, then perhaps something like this is best. There is no particular scenario where you are likely to deal with Freeze, Thunder, Railgun and Shaft simultaneously. If you are using this paint in short range, a short-range specialist like Zeus will outclass this paint. If you are using this paint in long range, a long-range specialist like Prodigi will outclass it too. In different situations, specialist paints will rule the field. It is true that any paint has the potential to be the best in a given scenario - if the enemy was using an equal balance of these four weapons say, then Picasso would obviously be the best choice. But, there will be more scenarios where a more specialised paint is more ideal. Further examples include: Hive Graffiti Jade Note that I don't suggest these paints not because they can never be useful, but because I believe in general there are more useful paints to own. Here are some of my recommendations: Lumberjack is the king of short-range paints, offering protections that almost halve the amount of damage done by the three shortest weapons in the game. On small maps, this paint will give you a significant advantage, and if you force the enemies to have to use a weapon that is not ideal to the map, your team will have the upper hand. Zeus and Rock are also very effective short-range paints, although slightly longer range than Lumberjack. Rock in particular gives substantial protection against three very strong, and common CTF weapons that are Freeze, Isida and Twins, and also has the highest total protection of all the paints in the game. The 15% Hammer protection is not as significant but it still handy, allowing, for example, a Viking user to survive one more hit from Hammer. Although Taiga has more of a spread of protections, notice that the protections are all from weapons of a similar range: Firebird, Isida, Twins and Ricochet. This makes Taiga a very good short-medium range paint as well. At longer ranges still, Clay is a very good choice, offering protection against three longer ranged turrets. Ricochet, Thunder and Railgun are all weapons that are devastating at medium-long range. The second type of paint I don't recommend is those which have overlapping protections with a stronger paint, especially if you plan to MU your paint. Here are some of my paints I don't recommend: Cherry - outclassed by Africa Irbis - outclassed by Rock Emerald - outclassed by Clay Inferno - outclassed by Zeus For example, if you owned a well upgraded Rock or Clay, would you use Irbis or Emerald very often? This is one of the main reasons why I generally don't recommend buying the lower tiered paints, ones that unlock earlier than Brigadier. Once you reach the higher ranks, you'll be buying better paints to keep up with the competition, and you'll rarely use them ever again. Owning one or two paints earlier can be a good idea, and earn you your crystals back, but I certainly don't recommend microupgrading or buying too many. One final note about aesthetics. There will be differing opinions on paints due to players valuing the looks of a paint, and I admit I am one who probably does value the aesthetics a bit too much. I won't be buying Lumberjack soon, even though it is a great protecting paint, purely because it makes my tank look like a shirt. But, if you can, don't forget that practicality is the single most important reason for choosing a paint. Thanks for reading as always! And I welcome any thoughts and feedback below.