Song: Reapers - Muse (Heck yeah! Reply to me if you like muse too :D ) Year of Grammy: 2016 Category: Best Rock Album Gonna be really interesting here because normally you don't see rock songs parodied :ph34r: Hope you guys get as much of a kick listening to this as I had making it :)

Added a video to my guide! Hope you guys enjoy it :D Original link to post is on page 3 by the way, to anyone interested Edit: updated link to my new video. Changes made.

heheh thanks bud :D appreciate the support!

Hey guys you forgot Monte Carlo :D

Congrats to the winners :D I enjoyed all the stories, especially the last one by . That was pretty funny

Great article! Thanks for sharing the advice :D DISCLAIMER: I more or less played through my mid ranks with Hornet Rail M1 (and later on, M2) in Monte Carlo, more specifically as midfielder/support. As such, my advice will be centered around that particular map's playing style, although some tips can apply to battles with an abundance of railgun and (perhaps) shaft players. How would you describe mid-ranked gameplay? Exciting, and dangerous! I fell in love with the Monte Carlo map almost immediately- the abundance of clear shots with my railgun excited me greatly, and it gave me joy to see the playing field evened between me and the druggers of the time. At the beginning, the fast-paced action of other railgunners dazzled me to no end (and costed me dearly), and it wasn't until I developed my own tactics that I began pulling better scores in the battles I participate in. Specializing in Monte Carlo had its advantages and disadvantages though- I naturally felt at home whenever I play on Monte Carlo, but felt somewhat frustrated playing in other battles. Sure, the railgunning skills transfer over nicely, but kill-stealing and midrange tankers spelt doom for XP users (Looking at you, Polygon DM). Nonetheless, I love my combo and would love to play until I reach M3, and then some more ;) How did you approach the gameplay of the mid-ranks to try and be a successful player? The advice below is long, so please bear with me. I hope you may find it helpful. At the very beginning (WO3 and a bit before that), I learned how to "charge up" and aim at enemies behind cover, but was still shaky in my abilities. At that time, I would sometimes create an empty Monte Carlo CTF map, where I would dedicate roughly 2-5 minutes just firing at the enemy flag over and over again behind cover. The distance between the two sides here made tanks very hard to hit without prior training, and so I prioritized hitting the enemy over staying behind cover. This would mean that, of the 1.1s for railgun charge-up, I would spend about 0.2s behind cover, and come to a stop outside cover before shooting. (Roughly estimating here.) Better to hit an enemy and possibly take damage than to sit around and never hit anything! Somewhere in my time here, I learned to hug the rock. The rock gives life to the XPer and grants it infinite survivability behind its study frame. O great rock from the tanki gods, praise be you and your unbreakableness! [end praise, resume discussion] Maybe around the WO5 range, though, I started contributing more to the team. My hits happen more often now, and I could aim reasonably well. I have a mental record for how long it has been since my opponent has fired, and if he is dangerous then I would attempt to charge up to hit his tank before he even leaves cover (and hope to catch him). Although it happened in abundance in the early stages, people have learned by now that jumping off on a Monte Carlo ramp with a defender on the other side is usually a no-no. The enemies are also tougher now, and most carry M1 equipment to battle. The important thing I learned here is, perhaps, to "bait" for the enemy's railgun shot. I would move side-to-side behind cover while I am charging, and if I am lucky with the baiting then I would be rewarded with a beam of harmless energy passing my my tank. Of course, I still get hit once in a while, but that's how we learn and get better, no? Third Lieutenant was a major jump for me again. I started seeing red-star ranks in battle. Things became even more fast-paced, and M2s also started coming along. I felt like I was at a major disadvantage with the M1 equipment now, so I saved up to buy the Tornado kit later on. I had to accept that players are more experienced now and sometimes my baiting tactic will be foiled by an enemy I didn't see earlier on. To help with this, I would now modify baiting by only leaving a tiny bit of my tank out, and retracting it the moment I see blue or purple appearing from cover. When I'm not baiting, I would ALWAYS move my tank from side-to-side. The bits of my tank that appear from one side to the other will keep the opponents guessing on where I would be next, and by the time they find out it *should* be too late for them. An important tactic learned here would be to think like your opponent! What would he target? Is there an enemy attacker that always go over the ramp when he respawns? You have to anticipate well to survive in Monte Carlo, as every decision you make can mean the difference between winning and losing. Oh, and here's a little extra tidbit: Shaft dodging and a bit more! CHARGE UP BEFORE LEAVING COVER. This is the golden rule for it. If you don't press space early enough, your tank will meet the angry end of the lazer beam. Move from one side of the cover to the other side. This is very important during normal parts of the battle, and even more so when under shaft pressure. If you did it right, the shaft beam will now move from one side (of the rock) to the other, stay on one side perfectly, or stay in the center of the rock. When you see the shaft reacting (or not reacting), make your move. You have roughly 0.1-0.4 seconds as your window of opportunity/attack. Strike him, anywhere is fine but turret is best, and he will fire off blindly. Rinse, repeat. IF MAP HAS 2 OR MORE SHAFTS TRAINED ON YOU: you're screwed. :ph34r: Just kidding. You'll die once or more perhaps, but try to target the shaft with lower health. Move about lots, and make sure to stay out of their beam. After you respawn, try to go for the left side rock on your base, or on that area opposite to your base's ramp. (see below image) These two locations are slightly better for your survival against shaft. The left rock hides you from the shaft at enemy base, which is the most likely one to be a heavy and have an isida healing it. The other route exposes you to mid and close range tankers, sure, but it stops the shafts from targeting you, and can also allow you a plan of counterattack on their base snipers. The right rock just sucks because a shaft can target you directly from the enemy base. Remember: a shaft trained on you is one less shaft trained on your team. Have too many loose beams around, and soon a lot of players will leave your team. Target snipers as much as you can, as too many of them will eventually lock down your base. Here's a sample of prioritizing for me (as reference): enemy flag-bearer > drugging tanker in base > enemy isida > enemy appearing from down below > ramp charger > shaft > normal railgunner = light hulls (easy frags) Phew! That was quite a mouthful. Okay, next I came about to Second Lieutenant. I bought the Tornado kit at this stage! M2 Hornet and M2 railgun pair together like a dream. Great speed, great drift, great power, I just loved it! Ranking up still was hard though, but I enjoyed railgunning so much more after getting this kit. As a plus, spark looks great. Anyways, back to the advice/journey! Somewhere along the lines, I learned to dodge by drawing an arc around my rock. (see pic below) So what does this mean? As long as the opponent is not on top of the ramp, I will always be behind cover while he is exposed. This creates a major advantage for me, as I can bait endlessly and never get hit (theoretically, and only by that one person- mind you, there's plenty of railgunners elsewhere on the field!). I start seeing people target me more often, which is nice because it shows that I'm doing my job right :D Aside from that, I have also picked up firing up when I'm on the move (shots are reloadable, not so much for health), shooting in the mid-field platform (great for enemy field awareness, as you're targeted by everyone but can also shoot at everyone. Done right, and you alone can wipe out and spawn-kill enemies at their doorstep), and filling niche roles when they're missing (support for flag capture, counterattacking area opposite our base ramp, midfield, etc). A tactic I have picked up is to calculate roughly the time needed to move from one place to another, and use that effectively to maneuver between positions when the enemy is reloading. I'll need some examples for that, I suppose. If I follow up on this, I'll add it in for you guys :) And now here I am! I look forward to what the future rank-ups can teach me on. And finally, sum up your main advice for mid-ranked players in one sentence! For all those Monte Carlo lovers out there: embrace that rock, and never let it go! Random out. EDIT 2.0: I have made a video for my guide! It is a bit rough without the fancy animations and whatnot (I've never liked those things much anyways), but I think it got to some things I wanted to say but couldn't/didn't. After all, a picture is worth a thousand words, am I right? Enjoy! I spent way too much time editing for this video than I should have... :D EDIT 3.0: I forgot to edit sound in my video- so just turn off the audio to enjoy a video without sounds of excessive tapping and such. EDIT 4.0: Sound is in! Chose two random tracks.

Are you tired of shooting up enemies with a stable but all-too-predictable hull? Annoyed of playing with wasp because of the incessant flipping? Fear no more, because we now have a new hull- Superball! (picture this ball-ish droid thingy, with a turret at the top and no legs. Ignore the tank, that smoky-viking's not to scale) (photocredits to google and Mr Incredibles) Superball provides an all-new form of gameplay to tanki, as this hull has superior maneuverability over all other hulls. No longer in need of hull-turning, this sphere-like hull can turn to any direction almost instantaneously (albeit with a little bit of inertia physics in play). Tired of staying on the ground? Fear not, for Superball will bounce off terrain when dropped from a height (or when subjected to high impact forces)! Rolling through Massacre CTF (literally) has never felt better than with this tank! Hate that troll on the enemy team? Try rolling over him! I don't know what that does, but it seems fun enough to try! Now, this super-fun superhull is unlocked at the rank of Grefeiter for a lowly price of 314 159 crystals. Buy yours today! (194 words)

@randomperson123456 Why don't polar bears eat penguins?

Moar reviews! Loved this article; I gotta say that it almost swayed me to buy the kit :D I really appreciate these detailed reviews on what to buy, because in all honesty kit-buying can make or break an account! It's a HUGE crystal investment, and I need all the info I can get to make informed decisions and not cry over wasted crystals.

Video gameplays from exemplary players? Clan wars first person perspective gameplays? Maybe we can bring in some video articles! I mean, it's an online newspaper anyways, so why not take advantage of the format? I would really love to see pro gamers in action (to learn new tricks and tips by literally seeing things the way they did), and right now I daresay that most Youtube videos are filled with nothing with montages of trickshots (meh) and, god forbid, filler animation to make videos look flashier :ph34r: Those animations usually give me a headache -.- Anyone here share the same thoughts as I do?

Just bought M2! love the hulking-ness of this beast. Dunno why though, I seem to have trouble figuring out which end's the front, a problem I never had with hornet...

Hey guys, been lurking on this forum for a while now. Love the discussion. Can anyone help me choose between Firewall and Ram? I'm close to rankup, and was previously very inclined towards Firewall but not so sure now. You see, I have spent a huge amount of time on Monte Carlo CTFs, and consistently rank within top 3 if no one's drugging. I miss the adrenaline rush that comes with close-range weapons though, after experiencing it first-hand a couple of times in battle (firebird m1), and on my alt account where I used Wasp/Freeze m0. Reading the product kit review for Firewall sealed the deal for me I think, but then I came across the Ram kit on this forum. I never used heavy hulls before (too slow for my liking), but would really want to start playing more in Polygon battles, where Railgun just doesn't deliver enough for me. I'm looking for a kit that can last me all the way into M3, and preferably fun to use as well. I'm open to all kit suggestions though. Thanks in advance for the help! Edit: Ranked up; now have ~190k crys, enough to buy all but minotaur kit

Player HAHAYOUMAD has been banned for a day. Reason: Deliberate inaction, helping the opposing team, against your own team, conspiracy with the players of the opposing team (sabotage) Reported to the tech support for temporary block

Vitas anyone? Allegedly my friends played this song in sync with 3 phones, and managed to crack a beer bottle midway through.

Unfortunately, your proof is not sufficient to take action.