Recently, we've experienced a radical change in the function and properties of paints. The separation of paints and protections has happened, something that will no doubt have an impact on gameplay and our buying habits. The community's response to this has been less than warm, to put it lightly. This update will take some time to get used to, so I've written this guide to explain precisely what has happened, how to adapt to it, and maybe a few tricks too. Let's get started, shall we? What in the world has happened to my garage? As of July 14th, 2016, all paints in the game have had their protection(s) stripped away from them. Yes, this means that the awe-inspiring Zeus, the tough and reliable Prodigi, and the multish In Love paint are now no more useful than your stock Green paint. Your Jade will no longer protect you from Shaft and Smoky simply by the virtue of being brown. Your Inferno will no longer scare the pants right off of Firebird and Freeze users up close (ok, maybe it still will for a while). Examples of legacy modules. Names aside, their graphics resemble M0 modules since they lack modifications. But don't fear. The developers may have basically ripped the spine out of your paints, but they have taken the ripped spine and improved it, allowing it to work on its own. I'm not sure where I was going with that metaphor, but don't worry, you still have your paint's protections. For every single protective paint you had your garage, you now have a protection module with the exact same statistics and micro-upgrade potential. This means that if you have Africa, you now have a legacy module titled "Module Africa" with the old Africa's micro-upgrade level, and you can micro-upgrade it to 38/38/30/45 protection if it isn't already. So in a way, the paints that you bought in the past are still serving you loyally...even if they're missing their spines, since now their disembodied spines are protecting you. Spooky. You did not receive any protection modules corresponding to non-protective paints for what I hope are obvious reasons. Since you can't actually have no module (similar to how you can't have no paint), everybody's been given a "Zero" module with no protections that doesn't show up as a module when the resistance interface is opened (more on that later). I recommend that you don't use it in combat for reasons that should also be obvious. So you've kept all your old paint's protections. That's good, because you can't really buy those protections anymore (at least not with the unique "____ LGC" title), especially if you have a paint with 4 protections. The garage is now filled with a wide array of protection modules defending from 1-3 turrets, with an equal amount of protection against each turret (e.g. 10-10-10). Examples of modern protection modules. As you can see, they're quite expensive at M3. Modules are named after a type of animal (e.g. "Shark", "Ocelot", "Kodiak") with some mysterious letters afterwards. Each module has 4 modifications, just like a turret or hull, unlocking at different ranks. M0 modifications have uniform 10% protections, M1s have 15%, M2s have 25%, and M3s have 35%, all by default. They can be micro-upgraded up to the level of the next modification just like hulls/turrets, and M3 Trio modules can be upgraded to the esteemed 50-50-50, previously only available on Generalissimo paints like Zeus and Clay. Each module costs the same as the others of the same modification and category. For example, M0 trio modules cost 5000 crystals, M0 duo modules cost 2500 crystals, and M0 mono modules cost 1000 crystals. A large portion of modules tend to unlock at certain ranks, so their unlocks are not as staggered paints are. As for the paints themselves...this is the part that most players are up in arms about. As far as I can tell, paints have kept their original unlock ranks, but the prices have been adjusted. And by adjusted, I mean that some paints are extremely cheap and the others are really expensive, and these prices are not as indicative of rank as they were previously (Safari costs 75,000 crystals despite being a low rank paint that's widely considered ugly too). For example, Hohloma (formerly ~91k crystals) is now a whopping 300,000 crystals, Inferno (formerly 160k crystals) is now 440,000 crystals, and Zeus (formerly 250k crystals) is twice as expensive at a massive 500,000 crystals, enough to buy an XT. Even the lowly but useful Lead paint, previously only 2,000 crystals, has been increased to 25,000 crystals. On the other end of the spectrum, Rhino now costs 35,000 crystals, Clay is 10,000 crystals, and Savanna is only 8,000 crystals. While it is true that having the expensive paints no longer gives you any gameplay advantage, it seems unfair to many that paints that were previously relatively accessible are now almost impossible to obtain if you don't buy crystals or save up for a very long time. The paints judged by the developers to be the most aesthetically pleasing, regardless of rank, have generally had their prices boosted, like Sakura (previously quite affordable, now 180k). If you want a cool paint these days, you'll have to be very thrifty with your spending. What's changed in terms of gameplay? In the past, if I was using Thunder and saw a Mammoth coming my way with Emerald, I'd probably try to avoid that Mammoth since Emerald had really high Thunder protection by default. In the same vein, I probably wouldn't try to engage a Titan-Shaft with Jade in a Shaft duel. But now, since paints are no longer intrinsically linked with their protections, you should try to stop always associating, say, a Prodigi user, with Railgun protection. The vast majority of players have purchased at least some paints before the update, meaning that someone with Prodigi has a fairly good chance of having or currently equipping a Prodigi module. However, with this update, it is possible that an opponent with Prodigi either bought it as a paint after the update (in which case they don't have the Prodigi module) or does actually own a Prodigi module but is currently using something else (in which case you might be able to take them down with Railgun). To allow you to figure out who has what protections, the developers have added several new features. First, if you open the Tab screen, which displays the scoreboard, an icon and number next to the names of the enemy team will show how much protection each opponent has against your turret. If you see a lot of big numbers, you should probably switch turrets. If you see no numbers, then great! For some reason, the scoreboard also shows you how much protection your teammates have from your turret, which is rather irrelevant. The percentage of protection is also displayed next to an enemy player's name in-game as long as you are close enough to see it, so fans of close-range weapons don't really need to worry about not knowing an enemy's protections against you. As useful as the scoreboard is, it doesn't show you all of the protections that the enemy team has, and having to check Tab all the time might reduce your situational awareness. An example of the resistance interface. As you can see, although the turrets Emerald protects from are displayed, the percentages aren't. This isn't a big issue for the new modules, but you'll have to remember the percentages for the legacy modules, similar to how it was before. Also, the text on the interface is team-colored. The R key previously did nothing in Tanki. Now, if you hold it down, it shows the resistances and micro-upgrade level of all enemies within visual range and all teammates, via a panel that appears on top of their name. It will display how many steps of MUs they have on their turret, hull, and paint, which can come in handy for determining how strong an opponent is, what module they are currently wearing (good to know if it's a legacy module since you can recognize the name), and icons showing what turrets their module protects against. A panel of your resistances will also be shown above your supply indicators. The icons are different from the protection icons used in the past, and they'll take some time to get used to as well. Just try to remember the icons of the turrets that you use the most often. I've already gotten accustomed to the icon for Shaft. :) What should I do in combat? Many players seeing the first image will think that I have 45% Shaft protection, but a look at the resistance menu shows that I actually have Urban's module equipped instead and am perfectly capable of being one-shotted by a Shaft. Most people in Tanki are still going to instinctively associate certain paints with their protections, so you might be able to still ward off Shafts with only Jade or Railguns with only Prodigi. This won't work if your enemies look at the Tab screen and see nobody with 45% Shaft/Rail protection, get close and notice that you don't have 45% Shaft/Rail protection, or destroy you and realize that you were an easier kill than they thought, but it's still worth a try at the moment.You are now free to use whatever paint you want in combat since the protections are handled by the modules. If you really like the look of a certain paint, go ahead and equip it. If you disliked the look of a paint with good protections, you can now just use the protections and wear something more visually appealing. If you really liked the look of a low rank paint but couldn't use it due to its obsolete protections, then you'll be happy to put it on and equip a good module (our current vice-dictator is probably happy about this). If you're a staff member or have any sort of special paint, feel free to use it any time you want. Although I'm not sure if anybody would willingly wear Spectator...As a corollary to the above, camouflage is now a lot more viable since you can combine good protections with good camouflage paints. For example, you can now combine the camouflaging properties of Digital with the protection of Prodigi. If you're a sniper, want to infiltrate enemy territory, or just want to get the drop on your enemies, this will come in handy. You can reference the Guide to Stealth and Guide to Camouflage (outdated, but still handy) for stealth tactics and what paints to use in what environments.Paints can be useful as anti-camouflage too. If your goal on the battlefield is to tank damage and attract attention, consider putting on a flashy paint while having your teammates use camouflage. This way, enemies will focus on, say, an extremely conspicuous Dictator-Vulcan with Team International instead of a sneaky Smoky-Wasp with Forester.The resistance interface is useful, but it also clutters up your screen. Due to the position of the R key, you also won't be able to turn your turret as well with it held down. As such, don't use it if you're in immediate peril.It pays to check the enemy team's resistances in depth before you switch turrets. The last thing you want is to accidentally switch to something that a big chunk of the enemy team has high protection against.If you're scouting in enemy territory undetected, check out the comprehensive resistances and micro-upgrade level of problematic opponents. You can then relay the information back to your team. Since the resistance interface creates a large, visible panel, you can also use it to help find hidden enemies.Remember that you can't see the resistance panel of enemies that have broken line of sight or are too far away, so if you want to see someone behind cover, you'll have to angle your camera to get at least a bit of their name into view.Check the scoreboard every once in a while. You'll want to know if your enemies switch to something that counters your turret, especially if you're using a long range turret since the protection your enemies have won't be readily apparent. What should I buy in the future? From now on, the only reason for you to get a paint is because you really like the looks. Although cheap camouflage is useful, buying paints should not be very high on your list of priorities. Modules typically aren't cheap, and you'll want to be putting your hard-earned (or bought) crystals into those, or into other equipment. Few tankers have the cash to shell out on anything other than the cheapest paints, and using Green from Recruit to Generalissimo is now a valid and the most economical option.If you're starting from scratch and would like to get paints for camouflage, stick with Forester (which is now 2500 crystals) for nice camouflage in most common maps, Tundra (5000 crystals) for winter maps (White can also work), Desert for sandy maps (4500 crystals), Metallic (100 crystals) for concrete maps, and Urban (7500 crystals) for universal camouflage. Dirty (3500 crystals) may also be useful in brownish maps like Madness or in the muddy portions of larger maps. These are the best camouflage paints for your buck. Others may be useful for camo as well, but the ones I've listed here are generally readily accessible and are under 10k each. If your really want to save crystals, just use Green. It blends in well enough most of the time. And while it looks plain, it's surprisingly inconspicuous.Mono, Duo, and Triple modules all have M0-M3 variants, but triple modules have superior protection, especially noticeable at the M3 modifications. Mono and Duo are cheap, sure, but they only have 50% and 100% total protection, respectively, at M4, leaving you vulnerable to a wide variety of turrets. At lower ranks, Mono and Duo modules are more economical since protection isn't as important and you may only need some protection against a few annoying turrets. Try to get triple modules at M3 ranks if you can afford them, since they are the only modules that can match the most powerful legacy paints like Zeus and Clay. They're really expensive, but a good sale can slice the price in half...or at least to a degree where they're not going to bankrupt you. If you can't afford those, double modules are a good substitute since most of the early M3 paints only had significant protection from 2 turrets anyway.While the legacy modules are not available for purchase anymore, most of them can be substituted by a module with similar protections now. For example, if you wanted to buy Needle previously, you can now buy a triple module with Ricochet, Smoky, and Shaft protection instead. While this is more expensive than Needle, it has similar protections and is actually superior at M4 since it can go to 50-50-50. You can think of the modules as being Generalissimo versions of previous triple protection paints, costing 250k just like Clay/Zeus used to be and having 50-50-50 at full MU.The new modules have a dizzying array of protection combinations. If you want module with protection from any 3 turrets, it probably exists. Since all the protection percentages are standardized, no module is "better" than the others, meaning that you can just pick whatever you think will be the most helpful. Some modules will protect you at close range, others at medium range, still others at long range, and then the rest in-between. Personally, I would recommend that you generally use a module that will protect you from threats that you will encounter at your preferred engagement distance since it's hard to have a "universal" module with only 3 protections, but the time-tested Thunder-Railgun-Shaft combination (now reincarnated as "Griffon T-A"), something that has proven its worth in many paints, still exists.There is now a single module with mine protection, called "Spider-S", with up to 50% protection at M4. This is good, since you no longer need to get a special paint or Premium to protect yourself from those pesky death frisbees. Slap one on a Mammoth, pop a Double Armor, and steamroll through crowded minefields with ease. Unfortunately, it doesn't have any other protections, so it's best to use it only for minesweeping and then switch to another module for combat. The Spider module is also handy for parkour if you don't mind not having Railgun/Hammer protection. Plus, it's only 50,000 crystals at M3.You can't buy paints with 4 protections anymore. Since you're now limited to 3 protections at most, you won't be able to run with a single "universal" paint like Picasso/Africa unless you have bought one before the update. This won't really bother you if you were planning on buying, say, Prodigi, since a M3 Griffon T-A module is a close approximation and probably superior if you didn't care for Prodigi's relatively insignificant Firebird resistance. If you were planning on buying a 4 protection paint with significant resistances...yeah, you're out of luck. I bought Jade not long after the update was announced, and although I bought it a full month before the update ended up rolling out, it paid to be over-prepared. Anything else I should know? Legacy modules aren't always superior to modern ones. I bought Swamp when I was a low ranker, and now I'm stuck with a legacy module with 10% protection that doesn't have any modifications and is completely inferior to a current M0 Mono Twins paint. I suppose you can't expect much mercy to be given to a paint that only cost 500 crystals, but yeah.Don't try to memorize all the module names. As far as I can tell, the format for the names is "[animal] [Letter1]-[Letter2]", with "Letter1" being either T, D, or S (standing for Triple, Double, or Single) and "Letter2" being a letter indicating the variant of the paint (there are multiple Double or Triple modules for each animal name). The animal name doesn't seen to have a big correlation with the protections, and different variants can be completely different. Just look at the icons in battle and look up the names when you need to reference it somewhere.Remember the protections of the old paints if you can. The appearance may not be indicative of protection anymore, but if I see someone using "Irbis LGC-50", I'm probably not going to engage them with Isida. Your knowledge will still be put to good use, don't worry.The resistance interface still works in Shaft's scope mode. Probably not very useful, but cool to know. Who knows, it might help you notice an enemy approaching through thick bushes.If you're using a long range weapon, memorize which enemy has which combo if you can. Since most people aren't going to be switching paints in combat (instead switching their modules), if you memorize that, say, Night-Sisters is using M3 Hornet-Railgun with Blue paint, and you're using Shaft, you can just check the scoreboard every once in a while to make sure that she hasn't switched to a good Shaft protection paint. Fortunately, she currently doesn't own any. :ph34r:You can see the resistances of "ghost" tanks. Not especially useful, but cool.The formerly-protective paints now have flavor text for their garage descriptions primarily based off of the old descriptions prior to the update in 2014, excluding the paints added later, of course (they have flavor text too, just not the traditional ones). They are fun to read, and some of the descriptions have useful information- for example, Forester's description references its camouflage benefits.If you managed to buy a paint before the update and find that it's now really expensive, count yourself lucky. Those lucky Generalissimos who bought Zeus or other players who bought Stormbringer/Prometheus prior to the update now possess the third most expensive paint in the game, an excellent module, and all for literally 1/3rd of the price of what buying Zeus + a equivalent triple module costs now. Heck, you'd be very lucky to have Sakura or Spark.Kits still include paints at the moment. Because paints now range from dirt cheap to bankruptcy-inducing, certain kits are now either a lot cheaper or highly expensive. As of 7/29/16, they now include protection modules that approximate the protections that the paints included in them used to have- for instance, the "Touche" kit contains M3 Wasp, Railgun, Prodigi, and M3 Griffon T-A. Griffon T-A, as mentioned before, is a pretty good substitute for the Prodigi module. The "Turtle" kit contains M3 Hunter, Smoky, Clay, and M3 Kodiak T-F. The last of these is a close substitute for the Clay module and is functionally identical when fully micro-upgraded. The discounts on these kits have also been increased. While they are generally more expensive than they were before, they allow you to save more crystals. As long as your kit of choice doesn't have a super expensive paint, they are well worth the money.Smoky's protection icon is now a lightning bolt. Don't confuse it for that of Thunder, which looks more like a starry explosion reminiscent of the one on the Double Damage box.There are apparently a few ways you can make the resistance interface continuously appear without having to hold down the R key. Fen-Harel recommends that you hold Alt after pressing the R key and then simultaneously let go, which is probably the best method. I find that if I use the prt sc button on my keyboard to activate Lightshot (a screen capture software) while holding down the R key, then immediately cancel the screenshot by pressing esc, the interface will become "stuck" and act as if the R key is held down until I press R again. I'm sure that's not the only way to do that, so try things out yourself. This might be handy for scouting, probably not so useful in a firefight.Some of the old paints available during the past holidays (mostly variations of the base Holiday paint) are now available for purchase in the garage. This isn't really part of the paint update that this article is about, but I figure that it's still worth noting since it's paint related and occurred about a week after it. The original version of In Love is now available as First Love. These paints range from somewhat affordable ("Night", the Halloween 2014 paint, is 35k) to stunningly expensive. Case in point, the most expensive paint in the game is now "Golden Star", which is a paint from one of the past Tanker's Day (I think) celebrations, equal in price to 1.5 XTs. It and Frost (from NY 2014, 2nd most expensive paint) are only available to Premium players and likely won't receive discounts, like XTs, but you don't get super missions for them like XTs. You'll have to wait until you get a Premium mission to purchase them if you don't buy Premium directly. If you see someone with either of those paints, you know they have deep pockets and aren't too concerned about sticking out like a sore thumb or looking like a pizza. I'm not kidding, Golden Star really does look like a pizza when you think about it. I don't know about you, but I'm not paying 750k to look like a pizza. And that's about it for this article. Did you enjoy it? Have any corrections? What paint is suddenly the most valuable in your garage now? And would you be willing to pay 750k to look like a pizza? If you've got anything else to add, feel free to post it below. For another view on the same update, check Fen's review of the Paint Separation update here. Thanks for reading, and I'll see you next time!

Don't forget about these other heinous crimes! As you can see, before the revisionist l00minati developers censored the garage description of Python, the process used to make it was revealed shamelessly in full detail! A poor python was starved, fed inedible food, and decapitated just so you can have some Freeze and measly Shaft protection! The developers promote illegal activity! Despite their claims of eco-friendliness, the Jade paint depletes precious and rare natural resources! Maybe this awesome brown jade came from jade mines run by corrupt officials using borderline slave labor! Maybe it protects you from Shaft because the snipers are so shocked by your immoral coating, jerk! The l00minati devs promote obliterating forest animals with tank weapons! You can't even use the carcass afterwards, what a waste! If you buy this, you buy this because you hate Smoky the Bear so much that you want to destroy his precious forests! You will contribute to the destruction of animal habitats and the extinction of woodland species! And last, but not least, The developers steal property from the civilizations of old! This paint was sacred, grave robber! How can you claim to imbue others with creative power if you steal ideas from others! That's not creativity, that's plagiarism! Why am I using so many exclamation points! #MOONSILENCEWASFAKEDDECK9WASANINSIDEJOB WAKE UP SHEEPLE

Monte Carlo is still a Shaft fest (with a few Railguns too) The objective of Monte Carlo CTFs these days seems to be to get a few Shafts on the upper levels before your opponents can and then shut down all their efforts completely. Now that I think about it, the same goes for Stadium, although the problem is probably even worse since you can't really attack the flag carriers without exposing yourself, not to mention that virtually all the supply drops are in the open. It's fun to play on those two maps if you're on the winning team, but it's frustrating to be on the receiving end of a Shaft/Railgun army- you can't even step foot outside of solid cover without getting Railgunned, sniped, or both.

No, you can't. M2 hulls are allowed 20% protection, M3 Wasp 10% protection, and M3 Hornet no protection. Prodigi has 46%, which is straight out- all hulls are supposed to be a 2 shot kill in XP/BP, and Prodigi can allow someone to survive an extra shot.

I ranked yesterday to Lieutenant General on Short Bridge in a very small rankup party consisting of @Contradiction and I on Short Bridge. We then proceeded to have a quick 1v1 with Hornet-Shaft vs. XT Hornet-Rail. http://prntscr.com/bfo0j3 As you can see, Contradiction is pretty handy with XP. I managed to tie by the virtue of spamming arcade shots :D

I think mines are powerful enough as-is. They're not instakilling death frisbees at the higher ranks, but they still work as area denial. If you drive on a mine, it's usually your fault, and you take all of the damage. If they had splash damage, a single errant player next to you stepping on a mine could damage or destroy you too, which isn't very fun.

I'm sure that kits will still exist, but I think that the paints included with them will be replaced with the new Protection Modules, since paints will be cheap and cosmetic after the update and the protection is what people are looking for in kits. Or they might still include paints in them for the looks, who knows.

M2 Mammoth is basically inferior to M2 Titan, but at the same time, it's not bad by any means. It's not as fast, sure, but it has essentially the same health and is a good deal cheaper. You don't use heavy hulls for the speed, so it should serve you quite well should you choose to get it. However, you should take a look at the combination as a whole to decide whether or not to get it. Blacksmith is a nice paint both aesthetically and in terms of protections. Vulcan-Mammoth is essentially a static gun turret when used effectively- you set up in a camping spot, find targets, pop out a little, and light em' up. It's a fantastic defender (the Spring Showdown tournament had both teams using it for defense), great for fire support (very annoying on Polygon CPs), and can hold off many opponents on maps like Monte Carlo, but you will often struggle in close range or extreme ranges (where Shafts and Railguns can knock off chunks of your health) and the slow speed can be an issue. Mammoth can be used well with other turrets in your garage (Shaft, Twins, even Ricochet, etc.), so it's versatile in that regard. Vulcan is less so, being best used with relatively healthy hulls (Viking and up, although Dictator is a better fit IMO). Blacksmith comes in handy for maps with Shafts, Railguns, and Vulcans, such as Monte Carlo, so it can be used in any battle where you're struggling against long range weapons. Basically, if you like playing with heavy hulls, want to have a huge presence on the battlefield, are willing to drug, play on relatively open/large maps, and don't mind using a cheesy combination, Vulcan-Mammoth is a great combination. If you like to stay mobile, capture flags, fight at close/extreme range, and win with Skill™, you likely won't enjoy it as much.

I and apparently others have experienced the game screen suddenly freezing in the middle of a battle. Here's a picture of what happened to me- I was just entering scope mode with Shaft to snipe an opponent, and nothing unusual happened, so I'm not sure what caused the problem. http://prntscr.com/bdpus9 The game basically froze- the gameplay you're seeing on the screen is what I saw for many minutes afterwards. However, the match continued, as I could hear points being captured/lost, tanks being destroyed, and the killfeed was updating. The battle fund, score, and time continued to update, but the status indicators for the points did not. The buttons on the top of the screen (Garage, Friends, etc.) worked. I also heard the sound of my hull and turret constantly rotating. I was not kicked out for inactivity, so the system apparently registered my tank moving despite me not being able to do anything in the battle. I was able to leave the battle after it ended. After I left the battle, I went to the Garage and saw that the 3D view of my tank did not load, instead being a flat grey square. Upon trying to enter a battle, I instead saw a grey screen and the "An error has occurred" dialog box- maybe the same happened for the garage, but the error message wasn't in the frame. The computer that this occurred on was a laptop running Windows 10 with 4 GB of RAM, 2.16 gHz processor. The internet was a Wi-Fi connection but was of good quality, and I was using standalone Adobe Flash Player 15. I don't think that's possible- I've tried in the past to no avail. Shaft is capable of sniping Railgun barrels, but only if they are poking out of cover, not through the level geometry. In your battles, it's possible that you being apparently shot through a wall was the result of a lagging Shaft sniping a formerly exposed portion of you.

I think you're mistaken. This is a page from the wiki explaining how Railgun works, written by Issho_Fujitora himself. It looks like he got the statistics from the developers, so it's more than likely to be correct. According to that page, the damage is mostly due to the Random Number God with some mortal interference keeping it mostly centered. I'm pretty sure that any correlation between angle and damage that you've noticed is just coincidence- you can try it out with a friend in a private battle to see for yourself.

Check my edit, I misunderstood what he meant.

No, it is the same. Not sure where you got that idea from :| EDIT: Ah, I see what you mean. That was a post I made ~2 years ago (when I joined Tanki), before I understood the mechanics of Railgun. I thought it dealt damage based on range, but I found out a while ago that it deals random damage from a range consisting of the minimum to the maximum, with a normal distribution. If you upgrade the damage to the point where the average of the max and min damage is higher than the health of a given target, you're fairly likely to get one-shot kills. But since it is possible to deal both the minimum and maximum damages, you will occasionally deal comparatively little and extra high damage. I thought you meant the idea of Railgun dealing different damage depending on which part of the tank you hit, which I think we can all agree isn't the case.

M0 Hunter is literally the worst hull in the game. Even with micro-upgrades, there is no reason why you should be using it at Warrant Officer 5, the rank when the 1st piece of M2 equipment is unlocked and several M2 kits are available. It's not hard to see why a) everyone is sniping you, and B) why you're not surviving very well. Shaft is designed for high power. That's why it can destroy light hulls in one shot and heavily damage medium hulls at all modifications. Otherwise, it would be less useful than Railgun. It comes with a lot of downsides, like a extremely low field of view in scope mode, glacial rotation speed, low unscoped damage, inability to fire while scoped, slowest full reload speed in the game, laser sight when scoped...yeah. With good situational awareness, you can avoid Shafts in quite a few situations by seeing where they're looking or whether or not they're scoped. And Thunder wouldn't be my first choice of an anti-Shaft weapon, something like Ricochet, Hammer, or Twins at close range would be superior when combined with good maneuvering (standing still at close range with a Shaft aiming at you is a death sentence).

Google Drive isn't an image hosting service. The next time you take a photo, upload it to a photo hosting site like imgur.com, and then paste in the URL of the image (not the image page) into the field provided by the forum photo button.

If I were you, I'd go for either Minotaur or Northener, maybe leaning towards the former if you don't mind the cheesiness of M2 Twins.

Would you mind specifically pointing out the insults/swearing that you say Mafioso has made/said? I can't seem to find any.

They probably saw your email in the queue and decided that they could send you a brief response and get it over with before tackling their more typical work. Doesn't mean that they aren't busy. Well, you're not going to accomplish anything that way. :lol:

It should work admirably with all 3 of them. It might be a little too slow for use with Firebird on larger maps, but otherwise, as the most versatile tank in the game, it can be used with anything quite effectively.

That's not very likely to happen. M3 Dictator has been something of a status symbol for players since the beginning of TO due to its high unlock rank and price (it used to be the ultimate tank). There has only been 1 kit containing M3 Dictator in the past, and that was maybe 2 years ago. It seems like the developers still want to keep M3 Dictator as a trophy for Generalissimos.

Well, you're out of luck. TX fundamentally runs on the Unity engine, and there currently isn't a way to play it without installing Unity. Supposedly the developers are working on making a mobile version of the game, so if that comes out, you may be able to play TX on a phone or a tablet.

Well, at M3, all the other turrets and hulls become powerful too, so a drugging M3 Thunder-Mammoh wouldn't be very much like Godmode_ON since you don't have a 90% damage resistance paint. Everything else would be able to do a lot of damage to you too.

Currently, it's M3 Shaft, M3 Hunter, and Jade paint. I'm 1/3rd of the way there. :lol:

Twins is, to some, a controversial weapon. Its ability to fire forever with no drawbacks makes many regard it as a "noob" turret fit only for unskilled players who don't know how to aim and are too lazy to take their hands off the spacebar. Regardless of its reputation with regards to skill, Twins has established itself as a solid turret for drug-heavy and intense firefights due to its consistent and unending damage output. Let's see how we can optimize this thermodynamics-violating, plasma-spewing, double-barreled terror for maximum damage and utility. The History of Twins Twins has been in Tanki Online since day one. As one of the three Tier 1 turrets, it was meant to be an alternative to Smoky and Firebird, but inferior to the devastating Fear Machine, which we know today as Railgun. It had similar statistics to the version seen after the rebalance, which, compared to the current version, shoots slower, has lower projectile speed, and has more ranged damage but less up close. After the introduction of the Tier 2 turrets, Ricochet became its spiritual successor and superior at higher ranks due to its notably better damage output. The rebalance upped its stats to make it an effective weapon against Tier 2 turrets, but it wasn't granted any new abilities like Smoky and Firebird were. Since then, it has been adjusted a few times. One update a few years ago increased the rate of fire significantly. The latest of these balance updates occurred about a year ago, when its damage at medium range was toned down, but the damage at very close distances ramped up by a large amount. That update made it more of a close range weapon than a long range one. Basic Stats Throughout M0-M3, Twins retains some key characteristics: Twins can fire forever. While this is technically true for Smoky, Thunder, and Railgun too, you won't really notice that on those 3 weapons since they fire a lot more slowly. The reloading bar on the HUD just shows the wait time between each shot. There's no overheating like there is with Vulcan. Twins has the second fastest rate of fire in the game out of any projectile weapon, just behind Vulcan. It can fire 4 shots per second at every modification. The impact force per shot is quite low, but when you can fire 4 shots per second, the overall impact force over time is impressive. This makes it good for pushing players or flipping them on ramps. The range is... lacking. It's significantly lower than Ricochet's, and the damage starts dropping rapidly after just a few meters. At the end of its absolute range (when the plasma balls start dissipating), it deals very little (if any) damage. The shots travel rather slowly, and much more slowly than those of Ricochet. Attacking enemies at medium distances is more challenging because of this. The rotation speed is the fastest out of all the projectile weapons. This makes it easy to rapidly switch between targets. Pros and Cons Pros: Twins has the highest theoretical sustained damage over time out of all the turrets due to its high damage output at close range and lack of reloading. Firebird, Isida, Freeze, Ricochet, and Hammer are more powerful, but they lack the ability to fire forever, which cuts their overall damage per second by a lot. This makes it a good choice in battles with lots of drugging since you won't be bothered by enemies using Repair Kits. If they're using something more powerful than you, they will run out of ammo if you use a Repair Kit and if they're using something weaker, you should win anyway. The rate of fire allows you to switch between enemies very quickly. The impact force impedes the driving of light hulls. While not quite as much as Vulcan, it's still significant. Twins is very forgiving when it comes to accuracy. 1 or 2 missed shots aren't going to make a huge difference against a wide variety of enemies. Cons: Roughly half of the turrets in the game can engage a Twins user past their effective range. This makes it quite useless in battles on large maps where you are exposed to Shafts, Thunders, and Railguns. Even Vulcans can take you out without sustaining much damage. The low projectile velocity makes it easy for light hulls and even medium hulls to dodge your shots at medium range. Even if they hit, they won't do much damage. Twins is not very subtle due to the constant, annoying sound and luminous plasma balls. Most players will know where you are if you start firing. Possible Combinations And now, let's see how Twins does on different hulls... Wasp-Twins Please, don't use this. Unless you're wrestling or playing in a BT match. There are better combinations out there. How it does in different gametypes: CTF: Not very good as a flag carrier since Twin's damage per second in a short time frame is relatively low compared to other medium ranged weapons. It also needs a constant line of sight to deal damage, which means that if you need to fighting someone off along the way, you will be vulnerable to attack too. TDM: You won't survive long enough to do much killing. DM: ^ CP: You won't survive long enough to do any meaningful capturing or fire support. See the trend here? Special Notes: Not much to note here. Hornet-Twins Not that common, and for a similar reason as to why Wasp-Twins is uncommon. To use Twins optimally, you need to be able to survive for long enough to dish out damage and capitalize on its infinite ammo. With Hornet, being exposed while firing means that you will take a lot of fire and not survive for very long. Also, it looks like a slug. How it does in different gametypes: CTF: Better than Wasp-Twins, but still definitely far from my first pick. DM: Far from my first pick. You'll be outgunned by a lot of combinations. TDM: ^ CP: Less crazy than Wasp-Twins, but not by much. Special Notes: Not much to note here. Hunter-Twins A component of the Vandal kit seen at times at higher ranks. Hunter is a good deal more robust than the light hulls, but it's still not quite healthy enough to serve as a great mount for Twins. That said, Hunter-Twins isn't bad. While you won't really win in a head on confrontation with heavier hulls + stronger weapons, this is a nice combination for serial Railgun-slaying on maps where you can flank or sneak into the enemy base. It's fast enough to keep up with fleeing enemies and can take some punishment. Overall, a very offensive-orientated Twins combination. How it does in different gametypes: CTF: You might snag a few flags with this, but it's best used as an attacker, as you can sow chaos and destroy Shafts/Railguns, paving the way for your teammates to grab the flag. Can also double as an OK defender and midfielder. DM: I'd still use something heavier. DMs are rife with heavier hulls that can deal with Hunter-Twins quite easily. TDM: Use as you would in CTFs. Just don't try to capture (non-existent) flags. CP: You can hover around the point and provide fire support, but I would still use a heavier hull. Special Notes: Not much to note here. Viking-Twins Part of the (in)famous Minotaur kit, Twins-Viking is a formidable yet simple to use combination. Viking has good survivability and can tackle most other combinations in a straight fight. It's not too slow, so you can get close to enemies for optimal damage output. How it does in different gametypes: CTF: Capturing flags is more or less out of the question in most situations since Viking is quite slow. Melt down defenders with some good ol' plasma fire, support your team's flag carriers by keeping everyone pinned in cover, and cover your teammates when they run off. It can also serve as an decent defender. DM: Not bad. Maybe not quite as deadly as a Twins-Mammoth, but the extra mobility can come in handy in battles with lots of close range weapons. TDM: Use how you would in CTFs. CP: You'd still want more health for holding control points in Polygon CPs, but you can use this to cruise around and deal with enemies trying to capture points. Special Notes: This is most commonly seen at medium ranks since the Minotaur kit that contains M2 Viking and Twins is popular. M2 Twins is possibly the best M2 turret along with M2 Smoky due to its very good statistics. Dictator-Twins Not uncommon despite its rather awkward looks and handling. Dictator is a good mount for Twins from a statistical perspective, having high health, good maneuverability and decent speed, but in practice its unusual shape raises some problems. Dictator's turret mount is located high up on its back end, which can give you a good platform to shoot at higher elevations from, but Twins' low velocity and range means that if an enemy is at an elevation high enough that Dictator's height is an advantage, you won't do a whole lot of damage. This height also makes it hard to use at close quarters, where you will find that enemies right next to you will be too low for Twins to hit. Unlike other weapons, you can't rock your turret back and forth to counteract this (you can get maybe 2 hits for every rocking motion you do), so it's not good up close. How it does in different gametypes: CTF: Mostly for fire support. On medium to large maps, ranged weapons such as Railgun and Shaft are popular with defenders, and you may have difficulties with getting close enough to deal with them without sustaining heavy damage in the process. It's good for escorting/covering flag carriers since Dictator's large hitbox and height allows you to body-block the fire of enemies and shoot over teammates. Also nice for defense. DM: Quite good. Maybe not as devastating as a Twins-Mammoth, but enemies with ranged weapons will be a little less annoying. TDM: Use how you would in CTFs. CP: Use similarly to Twins-Viking. It is quite good for holding down the point in Polygon due to its extra height- this allows you to fire from lower elevations onto higher ones fairly easily. Special Notes: Normally, I would suggest driving Dictator backwards at close quarters due to the location of its turret. However, if you do so with Twins and someone is right next to your turret, you won't be able to hit them. Therefore, you can drive backwards at medium range to lower the distance of the turret to your target (helpful for Twins); but if you need to deal with someone up close, try to keep them in the front of your hull, between the two tread "prongs". You can then ram them and prevent them from moving easily. Titan-Twins Featured in the Cardinal kit, Titan-Twins can be used similarly to Mammoth-Twins, but it's more mobile. This lends it for use as a "steamroller" - you can push the front lines back, slowly but surely. How it does in different gametypes: CTF: Great for defense and pushing enemy defenders back. If you can find a good position to fire from, you can also cover flag carriers as they make their escape. Just be sure not to accidentally body-block them or hit them by accident (impact force can be annoying). In defense, Titan's very impressive pushing power, combined with Twins' impact force, can prevent enemies from getting to your team's flag. DM: Stay in an area with lots of commotion and you can rack up a lot of kills. Just don't stray too far from the action, since your range is limited and infinite ammo is less handy when you don't have as many things to shoot at. TDM: Your objective in TDM is to kill things, which Titan-Twins is very handy at. Watch out for ranged opponents and you can do fine with frontal assaults or guarding your home base if there's a lot of traffic there. CP: You can stay on control points to guard them against enemy assault or hang around the sidelines to douse all your opponents in plasma. You can stay in or near the points if there's a lot of action and you can get a good firing angle on your opponents; but if not, it's not too troublesome to get out of there. Special Notes: Not much to note here. Mammoth-Twins The quintessential slap-brick-on-spacebar combination due to its massive protection, which allows you to make full use of the infinite ammo. Live forever, fire forever, kill forever. How it does in different gametypes: CTF: Sit on your flag and murder any enemy that dares wander in. If your team's defense is already good enough, consider starting a slow invasion of the enemy base- respawning enemies are a reliable source of kills. DM: Use similarly to Titan-Twins in DMs. TDM: See my comments for Titan-Twins in TDMs. CP: See my comments for Titan-Twins in CPs. Special Notes: Not much to note here. Twins Tactics Lead your shots: Twins may have a fairly decent range on paper, but the reduced damage and slow velocity prevent you from taking full advantage of that when you're too far away from your opponents, especially against light hulls. If a player is driving across your screen quickly (I mean, you won't really have to lead your shots on Mammoths), shoot ahead of them. This is tricky to get right, but will make Twins a much more deadly weapon when done properly. Suppress your enemies with sheer volume of fire: Since you can fire forever without any penalties, take advantage of that to keep enemies pinned in cover by shooting where you think they will pop out. This obviously doesn't work at a distance, but it's useful if you're capturing a point with enemies nearby or trying to protect a flag carrier. It also doesn't really work if you and your target are not on the same elevation since the auto-aim will not aim at the correct spot. Don't fire if you have no targets to shoot at: An oft-repeated joke is that Twins is to be used with a brick on the spacebar to facilitate firing forever. That may be applicable in heated firefights, but in many situations, giving away your position with unnecessary firing is not very helpful. Your thumb/2nd finger (if you're using mouse controls) will also become strained after a while. And a brick on your keyboard might damage it, who knows. ...but keep firing otherwise: If you're fighting multiple opponents at once, there's no need for you to stop shooting before turning your attention to another one, unless your ears are tired of the sound or something. You're not wasting any ammo (or hurting yourself), and unlike Vulcan, the rotation speed while firing is identical. Assorted Tips If an enemy is on top of a ramp and you are on it, you may be able to flip them over with a combination of ramming and Twins' impact force. If your opponent decides to try to go forward and shoot you, charge them as soon as the bottom of their tank is exposed and shoot. With luck, your shots will hit the underside of the front of your enemy's tank and flip them over on their treads, or at the very least keep them upright for a few seconds. If you're using a hull that's relatively short (Viking or Hornet), this is easier. Twins is possibly the best weapon for stabilizing your tank during long jumps, at least if you're not using a heavy hull. This is because you can adjust the angle of your tank at any time by firing - due to the very fast reload speed, you can make adjustments as often or as occasionally as necessary. On maps like Madness, drive off an edge and shoot forwards, making sure your turret is centered, until your hull is a few degrees lower than horizontal (with light hulls) or about horizontal (with medium hulls) and firing in short bursts if you need to as you descend. Twins projectiles are large and bright. While this is normally a downside due to the high visibility, you can blind scoped Shafts at close range with the sheer intensity and number of the plasma shots. With this and the impact force knocking them around, Shafts will find it hard to engage you even from the front. If an enemy that you're fighting uses a Repair Kit or gets healed by an Isida, keep firing. The lack of reloading and infinite ammo means that you don't have to worry about "wasting" any of your damage by shooting a target that is being repaired. Twins against Other Turrets What should do when you're engaging other turrets in combat? Read on to find out more. Against Firebird: Firebird has much higher DPS than Twins, but only while its fuel lasts. A Firebird with a full tank is more than a match for a Twins at close range, but a half-empty or empty one is easy prey. Try to keep Firebirds at an arm's length. By backpedaling and shooting simultaneously, a pursuing Firebird will be slowed down by the impact force and will find it hard to reach you. Against Freeze: Freeze's constriction effect can somewhat counteract the slowdown conferred by the impact force since you will find it harder to run away. It will also lower your turret rotation speed but because Twins rotates very quickly, this may not be as much of a problem. Freezes are annoying, but are usually not a significant threat since Twins can deal a similar amount of damage. Still, try to keep your distance from them. Against Isida: Isida is known for being incredibly powerful and annoying at close range, and you will find it a little hard to deal with a fully-charged Isida. However, just like Firebird, it has a limited supply of energy/nanobots. An Isida that's low on energy is easy prey for Twins. With a strong hull and/or an Isida paint, it's pretty easy to outlast an Isida's barrage and gun them down. Against Vulcan: Prior to Vulcan's introduction to the game, Twins was the closest weapon to a machine gun. With the appearance of an actual machine gun in the game, Twins now has a worthy opponent for medium ranged fire support. Vulcan is more powerful at a distance than Twins, thanks to its instantaneous bullet velocity and better range, but it is unanimously inferior at close range due to its sluggish rotation speed, gyroscope, overheating, and lower maximum DPS. So, when attacking Vulcans, try to engage them within a few meters. Approaching them at range will tend to end up in you getting shredded. Against Twins: Twins duels, like many other turret duels, depend on health and not being hit. However, dodging may prove useful at medium range. Against Ricochet: Twins' older brother hits harder, is better at range, and has a nifty ricochet effect, but it lacks Twins' infinite ammo or incredible damage ramp-up at close range. Try to get close to Ricochet users. This sounds suicidal, but due to Twins' excellent damage at close range, you can often win. Otherwise, try to dodge their shots and outlast them. Against Smoky: Smoky is inferior in close range damage to Twins, but it is a threat at medium and occasionally long ranges. It doesn't need to have a constant line of sight to you to deal damage, so Smoky users with medium and light hulls can pummel you from cover. In general, try to get close to Smokies, but if they hide in cover, suppress them with a barrage of fire to protect yourself while you get close. Against Hammer: If you're using a medium or light hull, approaching fully-loaded Hammers at close range can be fairly suicidal. However, if you're using a heavy hull or significant protection, by all means, do so - Hammer is incapable of destroying heavy hulls or heavily protected enemies with a single magazine, making them easy prey if they stray too close. Hammer's effective range is also lower than that of Twins, so you should be able to stay safe while destroying them at a distance. A good anti-Hammer weapon in general if you can survive the initial attack or have some unfortunate teammate eat the pellets for you. Against Thunder: Thunder can deal high damage from just outside Twins' maximum range and can afford to pop out of cover only once every few seconds, making them problematic at a distance. However, they are especially vulnerable at close range due to their self damage. Try to suppress them with constant fire if you can. Against Railgun: Railguns have zero damage drop-off, can fire on the move, and only need to expose themselves for a split second before attacking if they're in cover, so they can be a Twins' worst nightmare at a distance or even at medium range. Avoid areas with lots of Railguns and try to sneak up on them instead. They are much less threatening if you catch them by surprise and without cover. Suppression can also come in handy. Against Shaft: Shafts are even more annoying than Railguns at extreme distances due to their incredibly high damage and scope. Again, avoid Shaft-infested areas and try to attack from elsewhere. They are typically dead meat up close. Suppression can be useful while approaching them. That's it for this guide. Do you have any comments, corrections, or suggestions? Post them here. Thanks for reading, and I'll see you next time!

Some good hunting with Hornet-Shaft. It's tricky to use, but can pay off in spades on medium sized maps.

To quote : "Certain people tend to burst their ideas all over the forum and expect immediate reaction from the dev team. This is simply impossible. And even if it is possible, some ideas are never going to happen. This is where ' they don't listen to our ideas ' comes from. It is more like ' they refuse to immediately execute my idea so I will draw some more attention '."