Hm, just a while ago you said it sucked and asked for it to not be put in the game.

Vulcan's been balanced a lot since its first iteration in the test server. I like how it is currently; I might get M2 Vulcan on the real servers.

Ricochet is a very powerful turret for defenders, attackers, and midfielders alike, but it's often considered a "noob" turret- a weapon that doesn't require much skill to use effectively. Well, that's not always the case. There's quite a bit more to this turret than meets the eye, something Rico fans know and love. Let's examine this mid-range powerhouse and see what makes it a devastating weapon in the right hands. The History of Ricochet Ricochet was introduced with Freeze, Thunder, and the other Tier 2 turrets back in the old Tanki, before the rebalance and graphic updates. It was the second-to-last M0 turret to be unlocked, and the second-latest M3 since it was unlocked at Third Lieutenant. This version of Ricochet is a bit different from what we're used to- the projectiles traveled considerably slower and there was more recoil. At this point, Ricochet was mostly regulated to combat at medium-close ranges, since the shots were very hard to aim. It was also great for parkour- Wasp-Rico could climb walls fairly easily. After the large updates that followed (rebalance and graphics updates), Ricochet had its stats adjusted to what we see today. The projectile speed was increased significantly, the recoil was reduced (to the anguish of parkourists), and the other parameters were tweaked. The physics update further reduce the ability of parkourists to climb walls. Recently, the developers decreased its energy consumption, effectively giving it more shots per clip. Basic Stats Throughout M0-M3, Ricochet retains some key characteristics: The projectiles can bounce off of surfaces to hit enemy tanks. This is the ricochet effect that the weapon is named for. The bouncing has quite a bit of auto-aim, but it only works effectively against vertical surfaces. Very high damage per second due to the good damage per shot and high rate of fire. The DPS is pretty close to that of Freeze or Isida- certainly more than Thunder or Smoky. It uses ammunition. The ammo bar represents how much energy the weapon has left. When it gets too low, the weapon can't fire, and you'll have to wait for it to recharge. The recharge is a bit on the slow side as well. The plasma balls it fires take some time to travel. This increases from M0 to M3, but the delay is still significant. Relatively high rotation speed. Lots of impact force. Each shot carries a mediocre amount of force, but the rate of fire more than makes up for that. Ricochet has the highest vertical auto-aim angles in the game, making it easy to hit enemies that are on significantly higher or lower elevations than you. Ricochet has quite a bit of recoil. It's nothing to worry about if you're using a medium or heavy hull, but if you're using Wasp or Hornet, it'll decrease your acceleration noticeably when firing forwards. On the bright side, this recoil lets you stabilize yourself when jumping from high surfaces. And, of course, it's good for parkour when mounted on Wasp. Pros and Cons Pros: Ricochet can mow down most enemies fairly quickly if you can land hits consistently. Even Mammoths will take quite a beating from a someone unloading a clip into them. The bouncing effect of its rounds allows you to hit targets that aren't in your line of sight; very useful for clearing out tunnels and taking out camping enemies. The impact force makes it very hard for a scoped Shaft or a Railgun to aim at you. Cons: Ricochet has limited ammunition. While it's easy to destroy enemies with it, you'll usually be low on ammo afterwards. If you don't have enough ammo to take out an enemy, you're going to be in big trouble if you can't run. The range of this weapon isn't that impressive. It's enough to deal with enemies at medium range, but you can't hit enemies at long ranges like you can with Thunder or Railgun. Rico shots take time to travel. This makes it hard to aim at enemies the further away you are, since you have to lead your shots. You can hit yourself with your own rounds if you're not careful with the bouncing feature. This usually isn't a problem, but accidental self-destructs when low on health aren't uncommon. Because Ricochet's impressive DPS is mostly due to its rate of fire, you need to keep a constant line of sight to your target to damage them effectively. The ricochet effect can mitigate this to some extent, but it's still easy for Wasp-Railgun to take you out from cover. Possible combinations Let's see how Ricochet does on different hulls. Ricochet-Wasp Wasp-Rico was once thought of as more of a parkour tool than an actual combat tank. It's actually quite good in the right hands. Wasp is fast and maneuverable; combine this with Ricochet's high damage output and you have a great hit-and-run combo for medium range. This does have its downsides, though- the recoil will tend to make driving and firing difficult, and the necessity of maintaining a line of sight to your target will make avoiding fire harder. How it does in different gametypes: CTFs: This is a good combination if you want to get to the front lines quickly and fight, but it's not the best combo for capturing flags. The recoil means you'll have to drive carefully on inclines, and that tends to slow you down, something you don't want as a flag capper. Focus more on supporting your teammates; you can provide cover fire and pick up the flag if the flag holder dies. DMs: Not that good for DMs. Like many other Wasp combos, it's very difficult to survive for long with enemies all around you and no allies. TDMs: Survivability isn't quite as much of an issue here, so use this combo to sneak behind enemy lines and cause havoc. If you die, enter the enemy base via a different route. CPs: Not very effective here. You can get to points quickly (and maybe dispatch an enemy or two), but when it actually comes down to holding them, you won't last very long. It's not impossible to use this well in CPs, but it's a lot easier with other hulls. Special Notes: This is good for parkour. You can use Rico's recoil to climb over small obstacles by shooting down. Ricochet-Hornet This has a reputation as bad as Mammoth-Shaft, since most, if not all of us have seen low ranked Hornet-Ricochets who somehow haven't learned to turn their turret. The fact that those players can often do decently gives this combo (and Ricochet by extension) a bad name. Ignoring that, this can be a pretty useful combination for tactical players. It's good for sneaking into bases and destroying defenders when they're not looking or distracted- you can be a distraction yourself, allowing your teammates to grab the flag. How it does in different gametypes: CTFs: Hornet's extra stability means you should be a decent flag capper, but again, it's not a choice combo. Stick to backing up your teammates or infiltrating enemy territory. DMs: Still not that suited for DMs, I'm afraid. TDMs: Since you don't have to capture flags in TDM, focus on attacking your enemies. Note that survivability is more important here than in CTFs- if you plan on attacking enemies from the front, use a heavier hull. CPs: See my comments for Wasp-Rico in CPs. Special Notes: Ricochet's recoil isn't much of a problem with Hornet. While this makes it easier to drive, it also means you can't parkour as easily. If you plan on using this combination, please, for the love of your deity of choice, do turn your turret. Most people hate non-turret-turning Hornet-Ricochets, so you'll get a lot of dirty looks from your enemies and the rest of your team. Ricochet-Hunter This combo isn't very common, but it performs well and ought to be more popular. Hunter is a universal tank (as I've said before in previous guides), so you can use this for just about anything (except sniping). It excels the most in rapid assault; get to the front lines quickly, unload into the nearest unaware enemy, and move on. If you die, rinse and repeat. Hunter has enough health to let you deal quite a bit of damage while still being able to keep the pressure on your enemies. How it does in different gametypes: CTFs: Hunter can capture flags, but not especially well. Leave the flag capturing to your more speedy Hornet and Wasp teammates- you can still rack up a lot of points by attacking enemies and defending. DMs: A bit better for DM use than the previous combinations we've reviewed so far. If your ammunition gets low, run to the nearest safe spot. You don't have teammates to cover you when you run out of ammo, so running away is key. TDMs: Good for most uses. If you need to flush out campers, Hunter-Rico is a good combination to use. CPs: On single point maps, this still isn't particularly good. On multi-point maps like Stadium, it's great, since you have enough speed to reach a point quickly and enough health to hold your own against an enemy or two. Special Notes: Hunter is slightly taller than Viking and Hornet, so you might find landing hits at medium range slightly more difficult. It's not a big concern, since you can rock your tank forwards to angle your shots lower if necessary. Ricochet-Viking One of the more common pairings with Ricochet. Viking-Rico is generally quite solid and reliable, especially at M2. Viking has enough health to take advantage of Ricochet's heavy damage output and enough speed to avoid being a target for Shafts and Railguns, so it's easy to see why this is popular. How it does in different gametypes: CTFs: At this point, you can forget about grabbing flags unless you're drugged up. This is a solid attacking, midfielding, and defending combo. DMs: Viking's quite suited for DMs- enough health to destroy most hulls in a 1 versus 1 confrontation and enough speed to avoid attracting the attention of everybody in the map. As such, this is pretty good. TDMs: Great general-purpose combatant, but note that you won't be able to run away from light hulls easily. CPs: Good for attacking points that are only being contested by 1-2 people. Since Ricochet has no crowd control capabilities, you shouldn't bite off more than you can chew- while you can survive long enough to unload a clip and get a kill or two, you might not survive for long enough to recharge a lot. Running away is harder too. Special Notes: Viking's flat. This can make hitting far away enemies easier, since you don't have to worry about your shots passing over the turret of your target as much. Ricochet-Dictator Not all that common, like a lot of other Dictator combinations. This is nevertheless a great assault tank. You can take impressive amounts of damage before getting destroyed, giving you plenty of time to empty a clip and reload before attacking again. Dictator's height also complements Ricochet's vertical auto-aim angles- more on that later. This is also my personal favorite, although Hunter-Rico is a close second in my opinion. How it does in different gametypes: CTFs: Need a distraction to occupy the entire enemy team? Look no further. If you can enter an enemy base unnoticed, you can go on killing sprees, which will divert attention away from your team's Hornets and Wasps. It's also good for flushing out defenders and destroying flag carriers in stalemates, since you're just that durable. DMs: See my comment for Ricochet-Viking in DMs. They're pretty similar in this regard. TDMs: Since distractions aren't as important here, focus on destroying as many enemies as possible. You shouldn't really have a problem with that. Stick to the front lines, but retreat when your health gets low- you don't have enough speed to protect yourself from fire. CPs: Dictator's ratio of health to speed makes it a good choice for single-point maps like Polygon. You can hold points pretty well, and you have enough speed to get there quickly enough to prevent the enemy team from recovering from previous attacks. Special Notes: Dictator is tall. This means it's a bit harder to aim at medium range, since a lot of your shots will pass over your enemies. You can compensate for this by rocking forwards slightly when firing. The height helps if you need to attack enemies on higher elevations, and the auto-aim angles let you attack enemies at close range without firing over them. Ricochet-Titan Titan's great for pushing people, and Ricochet packs some serious firepower at medium and close ranges. As such, Ricochet-Titan is a great combo for storming enemy bases. It's slow, but if you can get there with most of your health intact, you can do some serious damage. It's also good for defending. Note that you will mostly likely run out of ammo at some point since Titan will let you survive for a long time. If that happens, take a tactical retreat if possible or sacrifice yourself and impede your enemies. How it does in different gametypes: CTFs: This is great for both defense and for limited offense. You shouldn't focus too much on attacking your enemies if your team's defense is weak without you. If your team can guard the flag without your help, feel free to sweep the enemy base clean of defenders. DMs: You can take on almost any enemy in a one-on-one situation, but Ricochet starts to run into problems when you're trying to engage multiple enemies. TDMs: Since defense isn't crucial, focus your efforts on attacking your enemies. If you can get into the enemy base undetected, you can spawn-kill quite a few enemies before going down. CPs: If you only need to deal with a few defenders on a point, this is excellent. If there are a lot of defenders on a point, something like Thunder would be more useful. Special Notes: Take advantage of Titan's pushing power. In conjunction with the high impact force that Ricochet provides, you can push enemies off of ramps or ledges easily. Ricochet-Mammoth This was the combination featured in the old M2 Heavy Tank kit that many remember, where it was included with Inferno and other paints. It's a great combination for taking on one or two enemies at a time, but this is really not for crowd control. How it does in different gametypes: CTFs: This is mainly useful for defense- you can sustain a lot of damage from attackers, and Ricochet's high damage output lets you take out enemy flag carriers with ease if you can hit them. Besides that, it's not too versatile. It's not fast enough to provide constant pressure on the enemy team DMs: Good DM combo for small maps. You're guaranteed a few kills per life if your enemies are in reach. TDMs: See my comments for Ricochet-Titan in TDMs. CPs: About the same as Ricochet-Titan in CPs. Special Notes: This is a good counter to Smokies and Hammers, since you'll be barely affected by impact force and can rotate your turret fast enough to take them down. Ricochet Tactics Remember the non-turret-turning Hornet-Ricochets? They're a good example of what NOT to do with Ricochet. If you want to be effective with this turret as you go up the rank ladder, take these tactics into mind. Leading your shots: Ricochet projectiles take some time to travel. If your target is far away, they might not be in the path of your shot by the time it reaches them. To mitigate this, fire your shots slightly towards the direction they're traveling in. If you do it correctly, you can land hits at surprisingly far distances. This is hard to master initially, but once you get used to it, it makes using Ricochet much easier. Utilizing the ricochet effect: This is something that doesn't get capitalized as often as it should. Ricochet projectiles will bounce off of any non-tank surface they hit, but if the surface isn't vertical, it will bounce off at an odd angle. If you're on level ground and you fire a shot at a vertical wall, the shot will stay at your altitude. You should keep an eye out for vertical walls because of this- they're much easier to accurately hit enemies with. Note that bounced shots have some degree of auto aim, which will help you out. You should use this when you want to attack an enemy that isn't in your direct line of sight. For instance, if he/she's hiding behind two vertical walls, fire your shots at the back one. If angled correctly, they'll bounce back and forth between the two surfaces until they hit. This is really useful when fighting in tunnels, like those in Silence or Noise. Knowing your Ricochet's damage: Ricochet destroys things quickly, but knowing exactly how many shots it will take to down a target will make your job a lot easier. Here's a quick rule of thumb: Wasps will take 5-6 shots, while Hornets will take about 6, occasionally 7. Hunters and Vikings will go down in 7-8 hits. Dictators take 8-9 hits. Titans and Mammoths can take almost a full clip before going down. Assorted Tips: If you run out of ammo, head to cover so you can recharge in peace. This is easier said than done for users of medium or heavy hulls, since they're slower. If there's no cover available, just head to the quietest spot in the vicinity. If you don't attract any attention to yourself, you should be able to get enough ammunition to start fighting again. Ricochet needs a (somewhat) constant line of sight to deal damage, just like Twins or Vulcan. Be very careful of players using peek-a-boo tactics. Use your camera to help you out. If you need to hit enemies that are close to you by bouncing your shots, orient the camera so it's looking down at you. This will let you see nearby enemies from behind walls. Ricochet makes a unique sound when the rounds bounce and another unique sound if the rounds hit a tank. If you're trying to hit an enemy from behind cover, listen closely. If you're not hearing any hit sounds, you're not hitting anything, and you should probably do something else. If you do hear hit sounds, keep firing. Ricochet is the premier assault weapon due to its high damage potential and lack of self damage. As such, try to be the tip of the spear in combat- you can engage enemies very quickly within your effective range, and your teammates can clean up anything you've missed. Ricochet against other turrets: This will tell you what to do if you're engaging other turrets in combat. Against Firebird: Ricochet's damage output is high, sure, but it's not strong enough to compete with a Firebird at close range unless you have a lot more health. Hit Firebirds with as many shots as you can when you're out of their range, and start backpedaling when they get too close. Against Freeze: Freeze still deals more damage than Ricochet, so you're probably not going to win the damage race. Treat Freezes like Firebirds. While they're not as powerful, they can immobilize you, which can mean certain death. Against Isida: Isida's damage per second is somewhat more than Ricochet's, but the self healing is the main problem. In general, if an Isida is leeching health from you, it'll take a few more shots for you to destroy them, so try to eliminate them from a distance. Against Vulcan: Vulcan is the new kid on the block in the turret world, but it's already established itself as a devastating mid-range weapon when used correctly. In terms of damage per second, it's slightly less powerful than Ricochet, but it has superior range, it isn't affected by impact force, and infinite ammunition- something you should be very wary of. Fortunately, it has a lot of downsides too. To fight Vulcans, get as close to them as possible and try to circle strafe them- they won't be able to turn their turret quickly enough to hit you. Don't try to attack a Vulcan head-on unless the distance is short or there's cover, though- otherwise, it's suicide. Against Twins: Twins is somewhat less powerful than Vulcan or Ricochet, but it makes up for that with truly infinite ammunition- it can fire forever with no strings attached. If you have enough ammo, you should be able to win against a Twins of similar health, but you should be very careful if you're running low. Twins also has lower projectile speed and range- if you're good at aiming and maneuvering your hull, you can exploit that to destroy Twins users without getting damaged at all. Against Ricochet: Ricochet vs. Ricochet combat boils down to who has more ammunition and who has more health. Use every single advantage you have over your opponent- are you better at leading your shots than he/she is? Are you in a better position to hit them with bounced shots? Try to maneuver your hull well if you're using a light hull- if your opponent isn't particularly good at aiming, you can dodge quite a few shots. Against Smoky: Smoky is Ricochet's main rival in close-to-medium range combat. Ricochet does have the upper hand in terms of damage per second, but Smoky enjoys infinite ammunition and high impact force. You'll usually win if your Ricochet is fully loaded, but you need to run if your clip is dry. Be careful if you're using a light hull, since Smoky can mess up your aim easily. Against Hammer: You will definitely not win a fight against a fully loaded Hammer at close range- while Ricochet also deals a lot of damage per second at close range, Hammer takes the cake easily. On the bright side, Hammer has limited ammo too. If you can stay far away enough from a Hammer to avoid getting 3-shotted, you can close the distance and pelt them with shots while they're busy reloading. Against Thunder: Dealing with Thunders is similar to dealing with Vulcans. They will be a big issue at medium to long ranges, but not so much up close. They'll hit themselves with splash damage if you get in their faces, and you'll have no problem finishing them off. This is even more apparent if they're using Double Damage- you can use a Double Armor to counteract their extra damage, drive right next to them, and watch as they blow themselves up with their doubled splash damage (assuming they don't use DA too). Against Railgun: Railgun is a big annoyance at medium and long range, since they'll use peek-a-boo tactics, which, as we've discussed earlier, is really hard to deal with using Ricochet. Stay away from open areas while you get close to them. If you can catch a Railgun by surprise, they won't stand a chance. Against Shaft: Shafts (generally) don't use peek-a-boo tactics, but they do have a scope, extreme precision, and infinite range. Get close and unload your clip into them, moving if possible. The impact force will make it extremely difficult for them to aim properly. ...and we're done. I hope you learned something from this guide. If this helped you out with using Ricochet, that's great. If this helped you out with fighting Ricochets, well, that's also great. If you have any comments or corrections that you'd like to make, post them below. Thanks for reading!

Vulcan does it much better than either of those 4.

Vulcan + Wasp + N20 + ramp = tons of barrel rolls. Might be useful for parkour.

M1 Hornet isn't much stronger than Wasp. You might as well save your crystals for now.

I don't like the look of Magma. It looks like a burnt chocolate cookie with orange filling. Ah well, 3,000 crystals for 20% Hammer protection is a pretty good deal, so it's a good choice for low ranks. I used M3 Dictator/Rail/Jade on a Monte Carlo CTF yesterday on the test server. Needless to say, it did really well.

Hornet-Shaft isn't a particularly good combination at M1. You already have M1 Wasp, so there's no need to buy M1 Hornet in a kit.

There's already a "What to Mount On: Wasp" article here. Next time, try searching the Newspaper Archive first. :)

Post your submissions here when they're ready. The due date's in the main post.

The same could be said for Twins. I'm confident the community will find new ways to use Vulcan once it gets released.

The test server's actually still open right now (at least it was this afternoon); they just took out the machine gun and added Hammer paints (and all other paints) for testing. You'll have to recreate your accounts, but it's still open.

WOOOOO-[k stopping so I don't get warned for flood] If your information is correct, then that would be generally great. The only problem would be people flipping over too easily with Railgun again; with Smoky, things would be back to normal. I think that the best compromise would be the following: Restore the impact force of both Railgun and Smoky to pre-change levels To stop excessive flipping, make shots to the turret of a hull have somewhere around 80% of the default impact force. This would fix the flipping, but it would let you keep the impact force for non-turret shots. Might be hard to code, but it would probably solve the controversy. Smoky might have reduced impact force at the moment, but the test server M3 Smoky still pushes light hulls a lot. I managed to make a M3 Viking miss multiple times, so while it's not as powerful as it was a while ago, it's still great. The poor light hulls that don't pack Smoky protection are in for a nasty surprise.

It seems like my definition of skilled =/= your definition of skilled. In my book, you're skilled if you can use your turret and hull to their full potential. Most of the Shaft users I'm seeing these days are more chaff than wheat; not hiding their laser sight, using a light hull for camping, not using arcade shots, etc. The Shafters who know how to use Shaft to its full potential are the ones who are both deadly and interesting opponents to fight. Sniper duels with these people are intense and fun, something that's becoming more rare these days. I think we should leave the "Shaft is for noobs/not for noobs" argument behind at this point. I don't think debating that will get us any further.

It's only been a day since this issue of the newspaper has been published. I don't think anybody's in that much of a hurry. And that's good, since the best ideas usually aren't rushed.

Hmph, I haven't seen many high-quality Shafters recently. Most of the Shafts I've been fighting against aren't that skilled, honestly. I wonder why.

I prefer Hammer's old look. The current one looks like a woodworking tool to me, for some reason. Anyway, I haven't seen many Hammers around recently. I guess they're more common at high ranks. Either way, I'm not going to need Hammer protection for a while.

Thunder's great for just about any game mode. In CTFs, you can blast groups of defenders with splash damage from a distance. In CPs, you can do the same (especially on single-point maps). It's good for getting kills/points in DMs and TDMs too, so you really can't go very wrong with it. As for maps, try to stick to medium-large ones so you can take advantage of your range and avoid self damage. As a dedicated Shaft user (I prefer mine with Hunter for mobility), I'm here to say that your Thunder unfortunately won't fare very well at sniping. If you're far away, Thunder's more of a minor annoyance than a real threat. If you want to attack Shafts from long range without using a Shaft yourself, Railgun's just about the only option. And even that doesn't always work if you're up against someone who knows what he/she's doing. ;)

It's time to announce the winners of the Design Your Own Tank contest! Before I start, I want to make a quick announcement. I've changed the prize system- I honestly didn't expect this many people to submit entries to the contest. Because, I'm dividing the works into 2 categories- Digital Art and Physical Art. Each will have their own top 3 and consolation prizes. This way, more people will be able to get something for their hard work. I really enjoyed looking through all the designs submitted for this contest, and I had a hard time choosing. Digital Art 1st place: @MetalMann- for "Dominator" and "Bastion" (it can be viewed here). 30,000 crystals. 2nd place: @shadewarttt- for "Jaeger" and "Marauder" (it can be viewed here). 20,000 crystals. Note: I've re-uploaded his picture to Imgur since the original site loads pretty slowly. 3rd place: @eragon33- for "Acadia" and "Allegro" (it can be viewed here). 10,000 crystals. Consolation prizes of 5,000 crystals each go to the people in this spoiler. Physical Art 1st place: @Vortimus- for "Eliminator" and "Invasion" (it can be viewed here). 30,000 crystals. 2nd place: @filipiar- for "Tsar" and "Rhino" (it can be viewed here). 20,000 crystals. Note: I've re-uploaded his picture to Imgur since the original site loads pretty slowly. 3rd place: @frederik123456- for "Flash" and "Steel Eagle" (it can be viewed here). 10,000 crystals. Note: I've re-uploaded his picture to Imgur since the original site loads pretty slowly. Consolation prizes of 5,000 crystals each go to the people in this spoiler. Quick note: I'll try to get the crystals for the winners sent as soon as possible, but there might be a delay. Try to be patient. Don't be disappointed if you didn't win much. For those of you who have gotten a 5,000 consolation prize, remember that you can get quite a few things for 5,000 crystals. You could buy a PRO pass, which is really handy to have these days, or you could buy quite a few supplies, which are also handy. Even a cheap paint. Whatever you do with those 5,000 crystals, I hope you enjoy them. If you still don't feel happy, remember that 1 consolation prize gives you the amount of crystals in 5 gold boxes. You shouldn't be disappointed if you didn't win anything at all, either. You've all sharpened your drawing skills (digital or physical) by taking part in this contest, and that's a good thing. If you're in school, it might help you out with making your projects look nice. I'm willing to bet that a lot of you had fun when drawing your designs, and that's a reward in itself. If you want to continue drawing tanks or other subjects, you can go over to the Your Creativity section of the forum. You can post your pictures in the Creativity thread, or you can make a thread of your own if you have at least 3 drawings. If you liked looking at the submissions for this contest, you can also head over there to look at more amazing artwork. I might do this contest again some time in the future. It's been an amazing experience to create and manage this, and I hope you've gotten something out of it. Thanks, and I'll see you next time. :)

I think it's Atom.

Here's my feedback. Pros: Vulcan can mow down most tanks pretty quickly. The infinite ammunition and the high rate of fire is very nice in this regard. The gyroscope makes it harder for Smokies, Hammers, and Railguns to mess with your aim. The only exception occurs if one of those weapons hits you in the turret; your aim will be shifted upwards. The overheating occurs only after prolonged firing; you can probably destroy a Viking or Hunter before it overheats. The weapon cools down pretty quickly. Cons: The spin-up time is pretty long. This lets light hulls slip past you easily, but it's good for game balance, so I'm fine with this. The overheating is an issue if you're using a hull with little health. It's good for game balance here, but a heavy hull can basically fire for as long as the user wants, especially if drugs are allowed. Rotation speed is pretty slow when firing, and not many people are used to the gyroscope. My suggestions: Figure out a way to make the overheating more of an issue with heavy hulls. Perhaps you could make a separate "overheat" parameter which deals damage partially based on the percentage of your health, instead of using temperature, which is really not a problem for heavy hulls.

That's perfectly fine.

Gotta say I love the current iteration of Vulcan. Pretty much infinite range, good DPS, gyroscope helps with aiming against Smokies, and there's nothing like unleashing a storm of lead against unsuspecting enemies. My main problem with it is the recoil. It makes you highly unstable while firing with a light hull (M3 Hunter is somewhat affected too), and with something like Wasp, it's enough to make you miss entirely. The other stats are balanced, like the low-ish impact force and the long spin-up time. Speaking up the spin-up time, there's nothing like attacking a group of unsuspecting Vulcans with Wasp-Freeze. If they see you for a second or two, they won't be able to fire in time, and the rotation speed when firing is pretty bad too. Hilarity ensues. I might purchase M2 Vulcan on the main servers the next time a sale comes up.

Not sure why we get a free M3 Viking during Vulcan testing instead of the free M3 Hunter we got on the Hammer testing. I'm going to buy M3 Dictator and M3 Hunter on the test server right now so I can use something I'm more comfortable with. I don't like how M3 Viking handles.

Enjoy the newspaper, folks!