If anyone has been on Discord in the last month, I can't tell it.

It doesn't sound like anything significant happened Hammer Duplet. We'll see. (Unless my post get's hidden.) Smoky doesn't need changes. We just need more module slots.

Looks like a 90%-crap update to me. Maybe I will like the 10% of good stuff, or maybe it will just make everything worse. Why do Devs love Isida so much? Isida stink.

Over and over I post. I can't find them if they were moved, and of course I can't see them if they are hidden. I give up.

From the wiki: Mine "Deals between 1200-2400hp when driven over." Mines do 1800 damage per mine on average. My M4 Dictator (Ricosck) cannot usually take two, not four with double armor. With DA active, I often drive over mines intentionally to clear them when there is only one, or two if I'm not under fire, and assuming I have a repair kit available. With enemy Saboteur active, it is easy to explode five or six mines at once (counting burn-spots before the respawn). I never survive that, even with 30% protection equipped. All mines deal the same damage (1200-2400) regardless of source. At least, we haven't been told differently by any official announcement.

http://en.tankiforum.com/index.php?app=core&module=help My complaint is the search functions do not seem to work. Exceptional effort is required to find something you know exactly. It is impossible to find something you can only remember with vague generality. If posts get moved, it is exceptionally difficult to find them. Certainly not worth the effort.

Interesting. On the first page of this thread, I find the following (cut-and-paste): ------------ CooperO 8634 posts Profile Posted 16 Mar 2015 - 10:45 List of reported issues in 2019 The list will be updated on a weekly basis Players are being sent to matchmaking battles that are nearly finished (< 2 minutes left on the clock) Rank range in matchmaking battles is too wide Teams in matchmaking battles are not balanced It's hard to earn stars because of the above three issues and the minimum amount of score required to get stars Garage descriptions of drones and alterations don't contain enough information about the statistics It takes too long for the EN Wiki to receive official information from the developers after new updates The weekly mission ‘finish in top 3 15 times’ is too hard and takes too long to finish, it's impossible to change the mission It is unclear what modification a hull or turret is, because of gear score, shot colors and XTs Edited by CooperO, 23 Jan 2019 - 20:37. ------------ Does Coop have a time machine? Obliviously, no time travel need be assumed. I'm just guessing, but editing the time stamp would get the new post listed in the posts on the first page. I would never have thought to look on the first page, which is four years old now, for updates on recent complaints. I speak only for myself, but I don't find it useful, and I don't accept it as justification for hiding posts.

It is hard to complain about MM for Deathmatch, except for the fact one is likely to face all 14 turrets. (Yes, I mean 14, counting mines, especially for players with the Saboteur drone.) And, the fact we can only mount three protections. I have stated in other posts how I think MM balance can be improved, and I have explained why it cannot be successfully done. I've also tried to provide arguments why most suggestions are unhelpful even if implemented. For instance, I think considering gear score (GS) for balance is worse than just being random. Here is an example of why I think GS is meaningless and why high-level Legends are not a problem in rank comparison. I brag some, but Will Rogers liked to say it ain't braggin' if you done it. As you can see, I am quite capable. (M4 Ricochet-Dictator, no drone this round.) I've pointed out often that as a Marshal and, now, Field Marshal, I'm often playing against high level Legends. I honestly think that is fair. Ricosck was fully upgraded M2 well before reaching Marshal rank, and I had the equipment upgraded to full M4 well before I achieved the Field Marshal rank. Note that not only did four of the primary opponents have full 50% protection against my Ricochet, four were level 13 Legends and up (to 40). Obviously, their better garages didn't matter. If you look up GS, you really can't tell anything because you have no idea what they had equipped in that match versus what you see when you look them up. My quick check found gear scores between 6708 (level 3 Legend) to 8926. Ricosck was 8420 as equipped in that match. Skill mattered. These were obviously skilled players, but I apparently had the edge in that particular match. I say it that way because I had three good protections for dealing with the most significant opponents. Sure, I can change, but that loses battle time, and it can only be done once. I'm saying I got lucky. I had the skill to take optimal advantage of that luck, but a different map and everything else the same would have had different results. If some of the players had different equipment for that match, the outcome would have been different. Note that skill comes from playing time, and I also complain about how much time is required for daily and weekly missions. The majority of players do not play an average of 7 hours per week. Since the Challenge began, I seem to be playing 8 to 10 per week, average, which is two or three more than I was before. It is a lot. It will not get me to 2000 stars (as you can see). I agree missions should encourage playing time, and regular play, hopefully daily, but too much time burns people out. If you want to be skilled at this game, play. Skill with a given set of equipment takes time, and changing to different equipment will take more time. I encourage significant play time, but I think 4 to 6 hours per week should be the target, not 10 to 12. Most people cannot afford it, even if they do it. (Some can, and I say more power to 'em, but not most. I spend more time on these untrustworthy forums than I can afford.) I'm emphasizing that equipment levels and rank levels were not significant in this match. I find that generally true. Of course, a match or two earlier, Rugby on Kunger, Ricosck was the highest rank. There, rank mattered. Equipment like Ricosck should not be facing Colonels. I was on the winning team, 7 goals to 1. I ranked 2nd (by 5 points) to a Marshal. I didn't look anything up, but I bet equipment level was not the difference between first and second place finish. Yes, my team out gunned the other team, but that was mostly the bad balance that we all complain about in MM. The lack of balance is the big problem, and I see no reasonable chance of fixing it. I think Tanki's rank consideration in MM is about as good as one can hope for, at least if one complains (as I do) about typically waiting in queue for specific battle modes for around 90 seconds each match. I think Tanki's considerations for balance, whatever they may be, stink. Balance seems to be bad more often than one intuitively expects from random matching according to rank. MM is broken, and missions and other perqs need to be decoupled from MM requirements. A final note, I can vouch for the activity of every player in that battle. All were fighting. I saw it. One did not get a star reward. The "activity" requirement, as it is deceptively labeled, is wrong. It is absolutely unjustifiable and needs to be ended. Nicola_M If you care to comment, I'd appreciate your feedback.

The temperature is 0.0 until something heats or chills it. Thus, +100% or -100% is equivalent in this instance to +1 or -1. Yes, it is written a bit confusingly, but after decades of technical writing, I assure you, it never gets easy.

I appreciate the feedback. Perhaps there is enough here to get the Devs thinking. The last sale was when it became obvious. I expect such a good sale prompted lots of players to try it out. Now it is becoming obvious how effective it is. It is showing up more often, especially in Assault. It is a problem, but, heck, how many severe problems does Tanki have at the moment? MM, Missions, etc., and no progress to show for it, just more promises of new stuff and eventual improvements. I can say one thing good about drones and alterations: One can only equip one drone and one alteration at a time. Small condolence as it may be.

Defect in balance: MINES! Blue Assault mode is now a walk in the park if a few team members have the Saboteur drone. I can make it through multiple defenders but never have enough health remaining to make it through the multiple mines. Yes, we can equip mine protection, for hundreds of thousands of crystals, and then we have protection against one fewer big gun. Assault needs to be removed from the missions, or mines need nerfed. Perhaps the mine-free zone around the blue assault point needs to be made several times larger. Mines are everywhere now, either from Saboteur drones or from Magnums. Fantastically, despite most higher-ranked players having several thousands of mines, drones and Magnum and overdrive don't use them up. Mines, mines, everywhere there's mines Do this! Don't do that! Did you eat some mines?

The "100%" here is being used equivalent to "1". It is not 100% more; simply 100%, which is equal to one whole, or 1. The rest of your statement has me say, "Who can know?"

Glad I could help. And, stock is inferior to Incendiary. I hadn't previously run the numbers. In my opinion, Smoky should always be equipped with Incendiary, Assault, or Cryo depending on the player's objectives and preferences. A precision Smoky expert is probably best off with the Assault rounds. Most others will be served best with which ever of the other two best suites their style. I keep forgetting our topic is MM. If we have more, we should take it to the Alterations topic.

Urgent defect in balance, MINES! Blue Assault mode is now a walk in the park, if a few team members have the Saboteur drone. I can make it through multiple defenders but never have enough health remaining to make it through the multiple mines. Yes, we can equip mine protection, for hundreds of thousands of crystals, and then we don't have protection against the big guns. Assault needs to be removed from the missions, or mines need nerfed. Perhaps the mine-free zone around the blue assault point needs to be made several times larger. Mines everywhere now, either from saboteur drones or from Magnums. Fantastically, despite most higher-ranked players having several thousands of mines, drones and Magnum and overdrive don't use them up. Mines, mines, everywhere there's mines Do this! Don't do that! Did you eat a mine?

I'm not sure I follow. Did you read? The following assumes I understand your question. Incendiary rounds and standard are the same for regular shots, 535 hp average (M4). The critical for standard is 800 hp. The critical for incendiary is the same as the regular shot, 535 hp average, plus instant 0.5 temperature, thus 75 hp per tick (0.25 second) until a repair kit is activated (see note below), or until it inflicts 1500 hp and is back to 0.0 temperature after five seconds (assuming no friendly Freeze). So, instead of 800, 2035. Given this translated statement, "Discretization of own temperature recovery - once per second." It seems incendiary will always give at least 835 hp (assuming no supplies initially) even if repair kit is activated perfectly. Supplies are part of the game. If you don't use them, embrace the suck. If you do, get better at it. (Generic statement, not directed at you.) The statement (translated) is "Flamethrower-protected modules, “Double Damage” and “Double Protection” supplies affect burning damage.", but it won't matter for a Smoky, since it is an instant 50% max temperature. Burn rate is 300 hit points per second, or 75 per tick. Cooling resolves per second, 0.1 per second, so without a repair kit or overdrive, full temperature will inflict 3000 hit points (300 per second for 10 seconds). I'm still not sure exactly how DD affects burn rate in this case. It doesn't seem to me that DD doubles burn rate to 600 per second, but maybe. Maybe that is why death always seems certain when attacked by a DD Firebird and not having DA active. DD Firebird would do over 1400 hp in the first second, and a full 2000 in the second, and if the fire ends then, 6000 more burn damage, which would take out anything that didn't have a repair kit. This game has gotten complicated. This statement is based on my guess: If you activate a repair kit during the second you eliminate the cause of temperature increase, the initial 1000 repair occurs, but the burn doesn't stop, and the temperature doesn't drop, and you don't get the rest of the repair. I'm not sure of that, but it seems so to me so far, and I avoid using repair kit while burning until I know the fire or incendiary is no longer a threat. The repair kit "reduces burning or freezing affect", but nowhere can I find by how much. It never seems to be much for freeze, and burn seems to be too little if too fast, and sufficient if one can afford to wait at least two seconds. Again, I'm guessing. Does anyone know if the "reduced" amount has ever been officially quantified? The incendiary round hits at the same rate as the crit for smoky (one per five, average). It does standard damage rather than the crit damage, but it instantly heats the target to 0.5 temperature. That will result in 1500 hit points without supplies. It will take five seconds. If you have double armor, it will only do 750, but the crit would have been only 400. M4 Smoky does an average of 535 hit points per shot and 800 when it is a critical (doubled if you have DD, halved if target has DA). For burn, I assume the incendiary doesn't set the target to 0.5 temperature if the target has protection against fire. It is clearly defined for rate affect versus rate-based heating, but with the instant heating, I haven't a guess yet. Does 50% protection set burn temperature to only 0.25? I don't know. It might be 0.33. It might still be 0.5. The difference in the fraction matters in burn time. The amount is decreased by the amount of protection. That is, instead of 300 per second, with 50% protection, it would be 150 per second. Perhaps these comments should have been in Alterations. Oh well.

Read this: https://ru.tankiwiki.com/%D0%A2%D0%B5%D0%BC%D0%BF%D0%B5%D1%80%D0%B0%D1%82%D1%83%D1%80%D0%B0 If you are awesome enough to read Russian, cool. Otherwise, be sure you have automatic translation turned on in your browser. (Like Google Translate in Chrome.) Gorgo pointed out how much more damage the incendiary round does for Smoky. :blink: (That does assume the target does not have Fire protection.) This one is worth your perusal as well: https://ru.tankiwiki.com/%D0%A3%D1%81%D1%82%D1%80%D0%BE%D0%B9%D1%81%D1%82%D0%B2%D0%B0

Solid advice. I don't much like the concept of Shaft and have never used it, but I suspect a player who developed the appriate skills could generally out do better than average Smokies. (Of course, I think the top 1% Smokies can beat anybody in almost all one-on-one encounters. My son (Donut70 [what can I say, I am a proud dad]) prides himself on beating Rails and Shafts nearly all the time. His speciality was hitting them on the run. He'd spot the sniper and ping the corner, causing the miss, at full speed.

Yes, there is a place, but it is very hard to find. I stumbled upon it after it was mentioned in the latest Vlog. http://en.tankiforum.com/index.php?showtopic=366739&hl=+html5%20flash&page=1 Tanki Online Forum → General → Game Discussion → ResourcesHTML5? Flash? How to play Tanki Online on either version Started by Stratosphere, 17 Dec 2017 02:52 Yes, HTML5 is too glitchy for reasonable play. I can't get it to even try to load in IE. It loads in Edge but never gets past the "loading" screen. Chrome works, but god-aweful. Opera is based on Chrome, so it works, but with extra annoyances like permission-requests during play. Firefox is supposed to be most HTML5 compliant, but many graphics didn't work, and frame rate was too low to play and ping too high. R-key doesn't work. G-key doesn't work. Etc. Not ready for prime time, but Devs say they are driving it anyway. "Better than Flash in every way." We shall see. It seems likely one's computer matters as much as which browser. I'm using Win10. Who knows how much bios matters.

Nicola, I'd offer some help if I could, but my 4.5M experience tells me equipment isn't significantly important on average. Yes, in a given battle, it can be the determining factor for things like one team with all long range and the other all short range and other imbalances inevitable in the way Tanki is matchmaking. However, across six accounts, with OKDad70 playing fairly diversely over the years (and each of the other specialized on certain equipment), I think I've got a clue. Is this your only account? Do you have significantly more than 1.3M experience? Rank matters, but only so much. Equipment usually doesn't matter enough to be a concern. Just keep fighting and saving and make wise decisions, mostly buying during big-discount sales. Look at X-O. X-O really is good. I look at X-O as what I intend to be. X-O has 2.28M experience on that account, not counting possible others. Given that I have double that experience (total), I have to admit X-O is better than OKDad70, and better than Ricosck. Maybe by the time I have 2.3M experience with Ricosck I'll be better than X-O, but not today. If we opposed each other, it would be with roughly equal garages, but I doubt I'd come out ahead in the wins column. That is the nature of competition. And it wouldn't matter if I was playing the OKDad70 account or the Ricosck account. Now consider TURBO_FENIKS. I've played him a couple of times, and I couldn't tell a significant difference from other players. I assume 23.3M experience gives Feniks the edge. Given those stats with Wasp-Firebird, yeah, very good player. I presume Feniks likes speed and a flash-and-dash style of play, hit and run. Feniks has a lot of hours with lots of equipment. I started playing multiple accounts because it was easier to start over and specialize on something different than to get rank-appropriate equipment and learn from scratch against players who know their equipment. Variety was fun. (The way things are now, it takes too much time to keep one account growing to be able to play multiple accounts enough to keep any skill on those; so I don't.) Look at Feniks' achievement list. That is an exceptionally good player, and again, I couldn't tell a significant difference in battle. Such advantages as Feniks obviously has show up long term, not specifically in most battles. That's all I got. Maybe there is something useful for you in it.

Well, Nicola, I did read your post. It seems to me you were saying you had 50% Twins protection, which I assumed was because you don't equip the stable plasma alteration. I find 40%-Rail protection to be more than enough to clobber Rails. I don't have problems with Viking or Titan and my Twins. I don't have problems with Rails with my Rico-Dictator. Your sarcasm is not helpful for anyone. I can't suggest anything but working on your style and your skills. Your equipment and their rank is not your problem.

Regarding your complaint about Seyhn, you describe it as though you were fighting 1v1. I hope not. And, you are complaining (if I understand) about match making. MM battles are always 8v8. (Well, of course we know they are sometimes 8v5 or even 9v6, but those are mistakes that Tanki is supposedly fixing.) In an 8v8 battle, each team will almost always have at least one Rail or Thunder. Almost always one Firebird or Freeze. The other turrets make regular appearances, but protection against Rail, Thunder, and Firebird are paramount requirements. Some matches need other protections, but those three are indispensable in ones garage. So, I find myself baffled by why you were so affronted by Seyhn. Consider this: If Seyhn equipped Twins in that or the next battle, do you think things would change? With your 50% protection against Twins, I would hope so. It is another example of why GS is so meaningless. Another thought, for pro battles, Field Marshal Ricosck can make battles with range from Legend to 3-star, default is 2-star to Gismo. Seems fair to me. In pro, of course, I could tighten the range, but for MM, the typical rank spread is not a problem. (Yes, sometimes the rank spread is a problem, but is a small part of the gross problems MM has.) I've explained above why I think Marshals can hang with high level legends. It is only self-serving to want to exclude Legends from battles. I consider it unfair for 1 and 2 stars to have to face ranks above Commander, but 3-stars and up have the access required. Prior planning can adequately address the likely equipment differences. Considering experience also doesn't help. Sure, no one has more experience than the Legend109, but I have 4.5M experience across my six accounts. Playing as 2LT Sarek_V, I still have the huge advantage of four-years' experience. That is a factor that simply cannot be accounted. No, Legends should not be excluded from playing with other players who have M3 equipment available to them.

Appreciated.

Nicola, sarcasm does not become you. Did you even read what I wrote? Long range Rail versus short range Twins rarely falls to the Twins. Look up OKDad70 and tell me I don't know what I'm taking about when it comes to Twins. You indicate you have 50% protection against Twins. Huh? How much protection against Rail? None? Not my fault. Not Tanki's fault. Rails have been blasting you since your first day. Why didn't you ensure you had adequate protection? Field Marshal Ricosck has a full set of M4, and 14 protections with over 30% (Rail protection at 43%). As an engineer, I can afford to spend some money on the game, and I used to. OKDad70 has a solid garage which included about $100-$150 per year for three years. I stopped spending money on Tanki, and I've been playing Ricosck almost exclusively lately. I talked myself into springing for Premium for Ricosck during the last half-off sale, but I never spent money on Ricosck before. Frankly, not being able to fight Rails is nobody's fault but your own. Ricosck has M4 Ricochet and Dictator. OKDad70 has M4 Twins, Thunder, and Vulcan, and M4 Viking and Titan. I assure you, with any combination of that equipment, I can clobber high level Legends, but I also get clobbered plenty. The biggest factor is skill! I'm being redundant, but I want it clear: The most important factor is skill. The second biggest factor is playing style, and some styles stack up badly against some equipment. I brawl. I want to get in close, push you around, and gaze into your eyes as I crush you. That doesn't always work out well against long range weapons and players with the appropriate skills to keep me at some distance where my plasma is less effective. The third important factor is luck, yes, dumb luck. If you are out skilled and overmatched in style, well, too bad. You ain't getting lucky today. However, what explains Ricosck dominating a better team in a Rugby match? Just dumb luck of being in the drop zone every spawn and getting the line to the enemy base every time. Why? No idea. I do greatly thank the Isida that kept me healthy much of the time, and the other player who was actually working toward scoring while the rest of the team was doing whatever it was that gave the opponents such good stats despite a five goal loss. Such extreme dumb luck is rare, but it is all too often the only thing that matters. It is just dumb luck whether I get on the team that scores seven in under five minutes, because I could just as easily be on that losing team, beaten in under five minutes. Finally, while I'm sure you've never had the opportunity to see me write it before, I've repeatedly offered suggestions for balance, and repeatedly explained how impossible it will be to achieve. Therefore, I have repeatedly requested Tanki abandon the emphasis on match making. Routine balanced battles are a pipe dream. Tanki needs to allow nonprivate pro battles open to more than 12 players to qualify for the perqs. I fully agree that MM is broken. It is totally broken, and there is no hope for fixing it in the current system. Tanki needs to quit requiring it for missions and other perqs.

Viking4s nailed it. Plus, there is also the fact you are a sniper. The higher the ranks, the better able opponents are at dispatching snipers. Magnums are particularly hard for Shafts to deal with. Further, the longer players have played, the more likely they have acquired good Shaft protection. One eventually gets fed up with being spawn-killed by far-off Shafts. In my experience, snipers like to lose. If you insist on Shaft and sniping, you will have to chose between K/D and helping your team expeditiously. Don't get me wrong, snipers can make the difference in a match, but the ones who just camp and watch for the easy shots, not so much. You have enough experience on Smoky that I'd encourage you to work on your skills with it. Don't get the speed (autocannon) alt. If you are a precision shot, the standard setting is your friend, and the assault rounds can keep rails from ever hitting you. The cryo rounds seem to me the best alt if you get away from standard or assault rounds. My son (Donut70) is (was, since his duties keep him from playing nowadays) a Smoky specialist. He routinely proved the value of it, despite the constant malign. If you are a skill and strategy player, the Smoky is the best turret. If you prefer Shaft, well, you have two kits open to you: CentaurHornet М3, Shaft М3, Mars, Eagle M3 338 107 crystals SniperViking М3, Shaft М3, Needle, Eagle M3 447 300 If you prefer sniping, the Viking is probably better. If you can learn to fight melee (with distance), the Hornet is probably better, but as is, light hulls are at a significant disadvantage. And since you already have the M3 Viking, the Centaur is your obvious choice, even if you never use the Hornet. Oh, disclaimer: The garage no longer offers me kits, so I cannot see which ones are current. (There might be a wiki page for it, but updates are sometimes weeks behind with things that change on a regular rotation.) So, check your garage. Finally, you are in the right place to voice your thoughts on the subject, and I hope you get better feedback than I'm offering, but the match making system is not the problem you are experiencing. You are just at that middle hard spot.

Another one. (rolling eyes) GS means nothing. My Ricosck account has full M4 at Field Marshal (built up to it while Marshal). Ricosck can equip a gear score anywhere between 1800 and 9300. It is meaningless. GS cannot help with match balance. GS is no indication of balance. An M4 Wasp is the same GS as an M4 Titan. In most situations, the Titan is a much more formidable enemy. All M4 turrets are the same GS. Some turrets are obviously worth a lot more than others, especially in the hands of skilled specialists. Frankly, the equipment level isn't nearly as important as most people pretend. Ricosck was my third account. (Second is strictly Smoky-Hunter.) I started it because Ricos Suck! (Particularly so when one hasn't developed skills yet.) {Ricosck has become my primary account because of the problems imposed on Viking and Twins, and I recently bought Premium on sale for it, but I spend no cash money on any of my secondary accounts except this (and it is my primary now).} I was upgrading Viking, but focusing on saving up my crystals. The Boar kit (currently 152350 crystals, obtainable from Warrant 5) suited my needs. As soon as I had the crystals saved, and the rank, I got it and started upgrading. I was fully upgraded long before I reached the rank of Marshal and was able to improve to M3. My fully upgraded M2 equipment was quite capable of dealing with the M4s of Gismo and Legend. Fully upgraded M2 equipment had me finishing battles anywhere from first to last, that is still true with fully upgraded M3 equipment. As OKDad70 with M4 Twins-Viking, as well as Ricosck with M4 Rico-Dictator, I mostly find myself in battles with high-level Legends (as high as level 109), and the biggest factors are playing style and skill, with dumb chance and random luck mattering more than equipment level. I've finished battles as the utterly dominate player, and I've also finished after being totally whooped. The dumb-luck factor and how important it is in the majority of battles is something I've complained about in these forums often. Again, equipment level is not the key. Skill and style and matchup of opponents, those are the important factors. GS is meaningless. Another factor on high-level Legends: How many levels do you think are required to have multiple M4 hulls, turrets, and protections? Drones are pricey, but 200,000 experience per level, and 40,000 crystals for each rank-up. How many crystals are typical per experience point? The current leader board of top 100 has GOR_VRAM (Legend20) with 212,315 experience and 715,404 crystals earned. Gor has Premium, so double crystals and extra experience, but I suspect most players with millions experience and active daily will be forking out a few bucks every few months for the frugal Premium. The maths work out at over 3 crystals per experience point, skewed as it may be for a single player for a single week, with Premium; still, Gor earned three-quarters million crystals in one week. Isn't that enough to obtain any M4 turret, hull, or protection (not counting speed-ups)? Gor was able in one week to afford any M4 upgrade desired. Obviously most players are not playing enough to obtain a new Legend level in one week, but it seems clear a Legend level is more than enough for a new M4 item. I suspect most Legends above Level 5 have pretty much the garage they want and use. I assume most of them spend crystals on upgrades and new items with most sales. I assume most high-level Legends do not maintain surpluses of millions of crystals. Of course, I suspect by about level 25, there just isn't much left to spend crystals on. If I recall correctly, Maf (Legend16) has mentioned that he has 50% protection on all 14 modules. What else can a player need? (Of course, that is a driver for the Devs to keep introducing the next new thing.) Repeating the bottom line, GS is meaningless for balance.