Titan = somewhat moveable object Mammoth = immovable object

When you're using Shaft defensively, it's probably a good idea to use a heavy hull, like Mammoth or Titan (Dictator if you want), since people are going to start firing at you often if you do your job right. The weird thing is that I see most Shaft players using Hornet when all they're doing is camping around in one spot. You use Hornet for its speed, and if you're not taking advantage of that speed, I don't really see the point. I also occasionally see Wasp-Shafts. They're sitting ducks when they're sniping and can't move, so it's open season when I see a lot of them around.

M1 Smoky is actually great for me. I get crits regularly, and it can take out just about anything. I just went 15-0 on Highland using M1 Smoky/M0 Hornet. It's not very rapid fire, but still decently quick, enough to knock around Shafts and Railguns.

It IS possible to use Shaft as an offensive weapon, but it requires a lot of skill and quite a bit of luck. Most Shaft users just find their sniping spot, stay there, and zoom in, waiting for an enemy to show up. That's good and all, but it's not offense. To be offensive, you need to get behind enemy lines. Then zoom, snipe, move, repeat. The only issue is that a single Rico/Twins/Smoky can end you if they see you. I like to be a couch potato when I use Shaft, but I've seen some really good offensive Shaft players.

Quiet you, you're already dead. :ph34r:

Hmm? They didn't mention buffing Smoky at all in the VLOG; the only time it's mentioned is when they note that Thunder now has the same vertical aim angles as Smoky.

I think they need to give Smoky a slight buff, since it seems to be just a little underpowered. Some extra crit damage would be great.

From what I've heard, M2 is a pretty good tank, but unfortunately you're going to meet M3 Vikings a few ranks later, and M2 Dictator can't really put up a good fight against those. So I guess most Dictator users put their Dictator in the back closet for a while, until they get to Generalissimo and can get M3 Dictator, which is plain awesome.

The new update ruined Titan for me. Titan went from a hull with high health and decent mobility to medium-ish health and brick mobility. Mammoth was a brick before this rebalance, and now it's still a brick after the rebalance. If Titan continues to be this way, I'm probably going to switch to my M1 Mammoth. :ph34r:

Hmm, I didn't notice that Shaft was buffed. Is M1 still a good buy? I'm looking to one-shot some M1 light hulls and M0 medium hulls with it.

Dictator was really buffed in the update. It now has a ton of health, and pretty good speed too. And, as always, it looks awesome, especially with Picasso. Thunder-Dictator is now a great combo, both in looks (M3 Thunder actually looks pretty good) and performance (good speed, high health, high damage output).

I tried out M3 Smoky in the test server. It was epic. Great knockback, really fast fire rate, and high crit chance. It's really good on Hunter or Hornet.

Hmm? They actually decreased their speed, and nerfed their health, by the looks of it. It basically ruined Titan for me.

I've checked out the new changes: here are my comments: Hunter is losing ground compared to Viking; you might want to lower Viking's speed very slightly to counteract the difference of the health increase. Dictator is now an EPIC tank. Extremely stable (I can fire a Railgun perpendicular to the axis, and it barely budges), very high health, and pretty great speed! I still absolutely love the look of it. Titan has been nerfed more than it should have been. Before, its advantages were very good health and OK speed, but now, it's just good health and bad speed. I'd rather use Mammoth! Hornet is now a bit more overpowered. Freeze and Firebird have been nerfed considerably. For Freeze, that's OK, but for Firebird, it might be a little bit too much. Isida is now overpowered.

^so much. Good thing Rico's damage will be nerfed in the next balance update.

Dictator's the best tank for stacking due to its height, so it's useful for parkour. If you need to get up on that really high ledge on Highland, a Dictator making a ramp is a great choice.

Thanks to a few TDMs on Highland, I'm at 8139 crystals. EDIT: Make that 8648.

Update: I now have 7,516 crystals. 6,804 crystals to go. Vettefan, I only have M0 Wasp. Is the FireWasp + Combe combo still useful?

Urgh, I really want to get M1 Shaft from the 20% discount, but I'm going to have to work REALLY hard if I want to get to 14,320 crystals by the time the discount starts. I only have, what, 6,204 crystals right now. Things are not looking very bright for me right now.

Upgrading your M0 turrets is OK if you only do it a little (1-2 levels), but anything past that will hinder your crystal income by a lot.

Rico. Rico all the way. Hunter has good mobility, but it can take more punishment than Hornet, and as such you'll often win against Hornet-Ricos. Rico itself is both overpowered and cheesy, but I don't really care. If you can't beat them, join them.

Well, maybe I'm just more lucky than you. :P

Hm? I have M1 Smoky, and I get crits every 3-5 shots.

Smoky's critical chance actually DOES increase the more hits you land on a target. Your base percentage depends on your modification of Smoky, but as you land hits on a target, your crit chance increases. Once you get a crit, the chance goes below zero, and you'll have to increase it again by landing more hits.

Shaft. All. The. Way. The other stuff is somewhat unrealistic for me to get (I'm not going to rank up to WO3/WO4/Colonel anytime soon), so Shaft is the way to go. I absolutely love Shaft, and I think more people should get the opportunity to use it. :tank: