In my experience, if I see a Shaft-Wasp, I know to be careful since the user almost always knows what they're doing- if they didn't know how to capitalize on its strengths, they'd use another combination. :)

Unfortunately, your proof is not sufficient to take action. The best proof is a video which clearly shows the violation. Quality of the video must allow moderators to easily understand nicknames and ranks of all the players.

Yes, I did watch it. The VLOG isn't a super serious legal document or press release- there's nothing saying that they can't play pranks or make jokes in it. Developers are human too, they likely just wanted to have some fun on April Fool's day like a lot of other people.

I'm pretty sure it was an April Fool's joke.

Semyon's left Alternativa (and by extension Tanki), and the new community manager is Cedric. He will be posting news and VLOGs from now on.

Just FYI, Shaft had the ability to hold a full charge long before the laser sight was added (I think that was added not very long after it was introduced, certainly by the time the graphics updates came). The laser sight update instead completely eliminated the idle sway, which made it much easier to snipe at a distance. :)

Night. The city of Kungur sleeps. Well, not exactly, since anyone actively driving a tank is probably not asleep, and any civilians there probably fled in terror when tanks started materializing out of nowhere and destroying each other. In any case, you're driving a Firebird-Hornet, a brutal close-range combination that can annihilate groups of enemies. You notice after spawning at the Red Team base that most of the enemy team is preoccupied with your teammates, who are busy engaging them on the right side of the map. You see an opportunity to sneak into the Blue Team base from the left- after all, most of your enemies will drive straight to where their (besieged) flag is, hoping to get there before your team's ludicrously effective drugging Isidas and Hammers do, and they won't be watching their flanks. Or backs, for that matter. An easy task, you think. Your hands sweat coldly as you pop a Double Damage, pick up a Speed Boost, and drive out of the safe confines of your base, well on your way to wreak havoc. Until you drive past a building and get one-shotted by a waiting Hammer. You slam your keyboard furiously. 50 crystals down the drain. When you respawn, you end up on the right side of your base. Hungry for retribution, you pick up a Double Armor, activate a Double Damage, and storm over to where you died. "This guy won't get the drop on me twice", you think. But on the way you get shot from the side, cutting your health in half. Furious once again, you press the worn-out 1 key on your keyboard, rapidly refilling your health. The enemy Hammer retreats behind the building behind the flag, keeping its turret at you in defiance. After picking up a Speed Boost, granting you the oh-so-powerful 234 drug combo, you drive over to the Hammer's hiding spot, ready to burn him/her to a crisp. And then you get sniped by a Shaft hiding on the left border of your base that you didn't notice because you were so distracted. Then you press the ESC key, click Yes, and ragequit. Stealth isn't very common in Tanki. Most of what we see in ordinary battles is a camping Shaft hiding in bushes with a nice camouflage paint. That's stealth, sure, but only one type of it (I've already covered it in A Guide to Camouflage, now more than a year old!), and staying still in bushes isn't horribly useful for players on offense. This guide will teach you the best ways to infiltrate bases and stalk enemies, perfect for players who want to sneak in and grab a flag or destroy those unlucky enough to wander into their area. Ever played a stealth-oriented game, like Splinter Cell or Metal Gear Solid? In the former, you can avoid detection by staying out of sight, hiding in shadow, or climbing on ceilings or walls, while in the latter, you can use camouflage, stay out of sight, or walk around in a cardboard box. Alas, there are no ceilings/walls to hang on (although I guess some parkourists would disagree) or cardboard boxes to hide in in Tanki, so we'll have to do with camouflage and staying out of sight. Let's get camouflage over with. My previous guide to camouflage goes over this topic pretty in-depth, but it was written with camping in mind. If you plan on infiltrating enemy territory, you're going to be hiding at times, so camouflage isn't useless, but at the same time you're going to be moving (which reduces the benefits of camouflage) and doing so over varied terrain (so no paint will match perfectly with your environment at every time). In general, you should be using paints that have good protection (unless you're really confident in your abilities) and are not horribly conspicuous. For example, think of Urban. It doesn't blend in perfectly with grass/bushes due to the grey, and doesn't blend in perfectly with concrete due to the green, but it does not really stand out a whole lot on any sort of terrain- a tank with, say, In Love will be visible on any environment, so never use that. Yes, even the lovely INT Spring Showdown paint sticks out on a sore thumb. When sneaking into enemy territory, make sure you hide behind cover and survey the area before you advance, especially if there are enemies nearby. For example, let's say I'm sneaking into the Red Team base on Kungur from its left side (my right). Take a look at this picture. The wall I'm hiding in is a nice spot for small hulls like Hornet or Wasp to hide in, and you will be invisible to enemies spawning at the base. Now that you're safe, look around for any enemies present, and make a decision on where to go accordingly. If the coast is clear, I might decide to go up the front ramp and enter the base that way. If there are enemies there, I might decide to drive around the perimeter and enter the base from the sides or back. Use your judgement. Of course, no plan is perfect, and respawning enemies or unseen campers can easily complicate your plans (sometimes fatally). If I were to enter from the front, I'd stop by the red area to survey the place once again- remember to adjust your camera to get a good view the the interior of the base. If you see any enemies, use your judgement once again- if they haven't noticed you, just keep hiding behind the building and wait until they pass and you have an opening to enter. If not, floor the gas pedal and run in before anything has the opportunity to spot you. If I was sneaking in from the perimeter, I'd survey the base from the yellow spot before continuing my trip to the back or jumping in. It's worth noting that you don't always have to stop to look around- turn your turret and adjust your camera angles (turning it upwards in particular lets you see past buildings and walls) while you're driving. To sum the basics up: -Don't use a paint that will give away your position easily -Take a moment to look at your surroundings before you make your trip, you don't want to step on a hidden mine or get blown up by a camping Hammer, do you? -Hide behind cover if an enemy gets close -Remember to keep your eyes peeled for any threats that you haven't noticed, and constantly inspect your surroundings even when on the move. Recommended Turrets and Hulls Not all equipment is suitable for stealth missions. Let's talk about what you should and shouldn't use. Your choice of turret should either kill quickly, be subtle, or both. Muzzle flash, explosions, and especially plasma balls will give away your position very easily, especially on night maps. You should not be using Twins, for example, since it takes many shots for it to kill something and every one of those rounds is glowing neon blue/violet/yellow/green. Vulcan is also a pretty bad choice since its stream of bullets and very audible sounds are not conductive to surprise attacks- it also doesn't kill exceptionally rapidly. On the other hand, Smoky doesn't kill particularly quickly, but it's quiet, has little muzzle flash, and doesn't produce huge explosions upon impact, making it a nifty stealth weapon in the right hands. Shaft is also very useful despite its laser sight since the laser beam can be hidden, and its low muzzle flash combined with its one-shot kill potential makes it a terrifying weapon for stealthy players- I regard Wasp-Shaft as the perfect stealth assassin. If you plan on using a close range weapon, Hammer is probably the most conductive to stealth since its shotgun pellets are less visible than the stream of napalm/freon/nanobots produced by Firebird, Freeze, and Isida, respectively. It is, however, very loud, so it can draw attention to yourself from your enemies if there are no Hammers on the enemy team (if they hear your shots, they will know it's an hostile Hammer). If you don't plan on remaining stealthy for long (e.g. if you're sneaking in to grab a flag or to just go on rampages), your choice of turret is less important since blowing your cover has less repercussions. If you're planning on doing that, just take whatever works best for you. Now for the hulls. This is more simple. You should use something that's fast and not conspicuous. Naturally, Wasp and Hornet are suited for stealth missions, since they have small profiles and are fast enough to move between cover rapidly. I personally like to roll with Hornet since it's better in a direct fight if you get caught, but if you like using Wasp, then all the more power to you. Hunter and Viking are maybe OK for stealth purposes since they're not horrifically slow and have more health, but I would rather use ditch stealth and go for more active playstyles with those two tanks. And while I adore Dictator as a heavy assault tank, it's really bad for stealth due to its huge hitbox. Oh, and you should ideally not be using heavy hulls for stealth, since they are really slow and can be spotted easily. Other notes: Buildings make great cover, but you need to readjust your position to hide from advancing enemies. Take a look at this image. My tank is safe from being seen by foes in the large red zone just in front of the ramp, but I would be seen if someone decided to head to the large green zone. To remain unseen, I would drive to the small green zone to the right of the building. Same goes for the large and small orange zones. Really, just use your head. It's hard to stay unseen when enemies know you're there. Let's say I was camping at the building in the previous image. If I destroyed someone there once, they would know to either avoid that area or storm over and try to destroy me. To remain stealthy, I would leave the area and maybe hide in the place under the bridge, close to the Speed Boost drop zone, and attack them from behind as they search for me pointlessly at the building. Note that enemies can also change their camera angles to find you even if you're behind cover. If you are discovered several times and your opponents grow wary, your stealth will be a lot less effective. If that's the case, I recommend that you ditch your stealth equipment, switch to a devastating assault combination, and obliterate them with superior firepower while they're busy searching for ghosts. That's not subtle at all, sure, but it's a unexpected tactic that can catch your opponents by surprise. And doesn't that sound a little like stealth.... That's it for this article. Did you have trouble reading this? Don't worry, I'll make it readable and adjust the formatting once the April Fool's celebrations are over. Hopefully you learned a thing or two for this. Thanks for reading, and I'll see you next time!

T̄͛ͧ̋͏͍̱͔͕̯͟Ă̛̗̝͒ͪ̔̕N̸͓̲̘̔ͤ͑̑̚K̛͔̣͎͍̰̄͒̐̽̅͡I̭͚̻̭̬̥ͦ̓̂ͭͤ͐ͮ͡ ̵̦̰͈̖ͧ̅̅̄̅C̵͉̖͇͙̆̍͊̌ͤO͖͖̦͖ͪ̓̓͑̂̈́N̅̑͛͗̏҉̴̫̦͈̪̫͔̘̱S̘ͭͦ̉P̏ͥ͂̊͏̻̻̻̝͢ͅI͕̟̪͑͑̈́ͨ͛ͤ̈́̚͘͟R̷̜̤̥̬͓̗ͪͩ̓ͧͭ̊́͋͠͝Aͨ͊҉̸͓͙̖̪̙͙͖C̘̠͖̱̔̈̎͒́̄ͪ͝Y̛͕͚ͦ̄̍ͯ͌̽ͧ̂͘ ̖̹̠̯͙̹̳̜̝̈́ͦE̊ͦ́ͥ̄ͧ̄ͣͦ҉҉͕̟̗͚̦̰̲̝ X̧͙̦̫͓̠̌̔̓ͥͩͩ̓͊̀̕ͅ P̨̲̠̤͈̠͛ͨ̿͂̅̚͞ O̝͍̻͈͍̮͗͋ͪ͒̕͢ Ș͔̜̲̖̰͎̍̒ͯ Ę̡̧̰̞̗̾̅̉͐ D̨̃̿͏̬͕̯͇͡ !!!1!!111!1!ELEVEN tankers!1! you have been mislead by the 3v1l l00minati developers for ages on the most important topic of all time!!! you remember Moon Silence, right? Guess again!! it never existed! many of your fellow trusted tankers will say "what? no, I played on Moon Silence, it was real!" No. they're shills, paid in gold box drops by the 3v1l l00minati developers and cannot be trusted (now you know why people ask for gold boxes!)!1! but then they will say "but there are pictures of Moon Silence!" but those pictures have been faked! greyat and i have risked great personal harm in bringing this topic to you and revealing the TRUTH™ to tankers all over the world. read this topic and spread the word. WAKE UP SHEEPLE first let's look at a "screenshot" of moon silence (original picture by @King.Ghost) looks cool. right? well there are several problems in this picture what is holding the container to the ground? there is no gravity in space, so the container would have floated off the wasp had to drive in order to get into the air. engines need oxygen to run, and everybody knows that there is no oxygen in space the windows in the house would have exploded due to the pressure difference the sand on the ground would have floated off why are the stars visible in the background? they are actually really faint and would not show up in a photo without a long exposure time, so obviously it was faked and look at this do you see it now? no? how about now? as you can see, there is a triangle on the roof. Everybody knows that the l00minati loves triangles. DAE CONSPIRACY?!!1! and this? obviously (@Yisroel.Rabin) you can also see trees and bushes in the lower left corner, they would have all died if they were actually in space deck9 was an inside job !1211!!1 ok readers!!@!!!121 through detailed research and analysis we have determined the truth behind deck9!!@!!11!!121! it was not removed because of unpopularity, it was a plot by the 3v1l l00minati devs!1!1!!!! notice that semyon has an avatar with a halo understand that avatars with halos indicate association with the developers and now for the important part 1!@1211!!!1 he mentioned deck9!@!!12 and what more he said deck9 would be removed!@131! the developers have hidden something very important in their avatars can you see it? no? they thought they could hide this from us how about now? that is none other than the dreaded 3v1l l00minati symbol!!!!!1!!!!11111 do you still not believe in this conspiracy?!!! then look at this do you see it?!! no? do you see it now?!! as you can see, the 3v1l developers have freely admitted that they are part of the l00minati!!!11!! nothing they say can be trusted!!11!! nobody in the administration can be trusted as they are all part of the l00minati!!11!!! not even our glorious dictator elhamster!!11!!! remember tankers, trust NO ONE, and spread the news of the truth to others!!!111! the 3v1l l00minati and their gold box shills will no doubt attempt to deny these revelations, don't believe them!!!! MOON SILENCE WAS FAKED DECK-9 WAS AN INSIDE JOB WAKE UP SHEEPLE

I think Stinger would be proud. M2.5 Shaft/M3 Hornet/Digital with minimal drug usage in a 15 minute game- it's really nifty for fighting offensively, Shaft packs a punch (especially against Railguns), and with Digital you can pull back to camp when your health runs low. I can't wait for M3 Shaft- if I can do this with M2.5, I shudder to think how powerful M3 Shaft is.

If you get chosen (which might take a while), they'll send you an email with instructions and a one-time use invite code. My understanding is that you'll then be able to download the game client and can then use the code to create/activate? your TX testing account.

Yes. It will probably receive less attention than TX, but it will still be updated and available to play.

Shaft + Thunder would be very nice. See a cluster of opponents at a distance? Bam, multikills. Hammer + Twins would be insanely powerful within its range, but it would probably flip your tank in a few shots. Stick it on a Mammoth and nothing will even touch you- opponents would be blasted backwards into oblivion. Railgun + Smoky would be essentially a Railgun with a faster reload and critical hits. One shot kills from Railgun without double damage. Firebird + Isida would be virtually unstoppable at close range (unless you get the attention of the aforementioned Hammer-Twins...) with the afterburn and crowd control capabilities + self healing. You would be healing yourself faster than anything could damage you, although there's nothing stopping you from getting flipped/blasted across the map by Hammer or Railgun mashups, or maybe one-shotted by Shaft combos.

I think it's because a lot of us here have gotten used to and appreciate the current stats of Dictator and Titan- those who like Titan as a heavy hull may not like it becoming a medium hull, and the same goes with Dictator. I love how Dictator is currently- maneuverable, tough, but not too slow with an excellent appearance, and I'm not a big fan of heavy hulls. In TX, since it's now the new "lighter" heavy hull, I would have either use it as a heavy hull or buy Titan as a replacement. In addition, from the information on the fan TX wiki, Titan will serve the same role as Dictator in terms of health but will apparently have worse turning speed, while Dictator will have better turning speed compared to Titan. If this is indeed the case in the final game, Titan will be a watered-down Dictator and Dictator will be a superior Titan, which doesn't seem to be right for game balance. We'll see how it works out in practice when the open beta starts. At least they didn't touch the stats of Hunter. :)

Unfortunately, we don't know a whole lot more about Tanki X than you guys at the moment, so such an article will mostly likely not happen for the foreseeable future. Maybe new features once the open beta starts.

Yes. Tanki X is still in development and is currently undergoing closed beta testing. After you reserve your username, when the open testing starts (at this point there will be no personal invites since everyone is invited), you will be able to jump in and play directly without having to worry about somebody else taking your username.

I think that people here are concerned that the RU players will be even more pro than ours. My impression is that the RU team has more seasoned players, but I know that our team will give it their best shot and won't go down without a fight, and who knows, that may just be enough to win. :)

I'm supporting International. I like our community, the paint looks better, and there's a fellow reporter on the team, so why not? :)

I think it's a glitch/mistake, seeing how many people are getting it.

I don't have one, sorry.

You can sign up for closed beta testing on the Tanki X website, but you're not guaranteed to get it. Not sure how I feel about Dictator and Titan switching roles...I like Dictator how it is currently since it's durable and stable but still more versatile than the heavy hulls. If it had the same/similar statistics as Titan, I probably wouldn't like it as much.

It should be, if everything goes according to schedule. :) We do have schedules for each issue. My understanding is that issues typically come out on the first and third Fridays of each month. There are sometimes delays due to IRL issues or other factors, but that isn't very common.

I wrote a guide to Hammer a while back. Hopefully you'll find it useful.

You can in fact send gifts to yourself. Why would you want to? Dunno. Maybe you want a nice holiday gift but have no friends :P

M3 Shaft + M3 Hunter + Sandstone.

Yeah, about that...