At using railgun... something which has not one thing in common with real tanks. At least Thunder is believable. Hanging by your toes and sticking your gun barrel through walls...? Shaft is like a mobile DUAP tank-killer, without the weight. Railguns on M1 are up to 115, and getting a 230 hit on an M1 Viking or Titan or even some Mammoths is almost always fatal.

All you need is one player who knows their stuff, and nobody jumps and grabs the flag! Much less TWO jumpers at a time. :wacko:

Click-and-shoot makes everybody an expert marksman. Do they really want that? I was on Monte Carlo,got 80 hits, we lost because the other players couldn't stop anybody just jumping over and jumping back with the flag. :o I would have had 120 kills, taking out everybody on the bridge, everybody shooting from the lower level, everybody respawning on the back row. It is a great spot, but the first time you miss, you die. TWO other noobie shafts, one with a damn Mammoth, wanted to "push me out of my spot" as if it was some magic location that had turkeys sitting out there for the plucking. The pushing cost us three flags, me three respawns, and unknown number of lost points. LEAVE YOUR FELLOW PLAYERS ALONE. Don't bump them, climb on them :angry: , or try to squeeze past in front of them. If they are doing good, they will help. If they are doing crap, at least it is not in your face. If you want to maximize your points, let them be.

The one case where it is not only acceptable, but you might do it several times in a battle ;)

Basically, if you don't like shaft, don't use it. Just thank your deep cover when your opponent explodes in front of you. Case closed

Using my shaft skills, I prevented a 17-16 win from becoming a 17-32 massacre. And yet every noob on the team wants to walk in the tiny space between my hull and the edge. < :-P They are, as I said, in a hurry to die a second sooner. When the hordes come marching through, they say, "Didn't we have the bridge covered?" Yeah, until you moved me from my spot where I could pot anybody...

Like any noob with a railgun can score a one-hit kill. Rant on dumies, rant on, and I'll see you in my sights...

Twins is really good for two scenarios: 1) small maps like Iran where you can spray a whole nest of squatters 2) Polygon CP, and here's how you do it : -- Equip a Hunter or Viking with M1 Twins, and upgrade to about level 7 range (less than 3000) -- Then join with an Isida, who sits in the hole and keeps you alive as you rotate around on the center of the CP. The only thing that can slow you down is another Isida or a freeze. I held position firing for THREE MINUTES before getting railgunned. There were 6 enemies attacking and each one got dosed as they came in range or into the pit. Against equal foes, three players held that center for more than 5 minutes for our color. The only worry is that your foes will quit early and give you a lower battle fund. ;)

Using shaft with anything but Hunter (moving) or Viking (sitting) is problematic : Titan and Mammoth are too slow, they just take longer to die. Using shaft with Wasp, you need incredible Weight upgrade not to tip over. But it can be done. And Shaft against railgun only works when you can see them coming from a distance. Or shoot them in the Dome while they are hiding. :D

What kind of "skills"..? Dancing around with a railgun? (the really over-powered weapon) A shaft sniper has to find a spot where he can shoot unimpeded by view, by fellow players, or by enemy snipers. Playing Monte Carlo with flame thrower, I somehow scored 20 kills in 15 minutes. In the same time, I had 40 kills with shaft. There is, however, always one newbie who bumps your aim at a critical time, lets a railgunner through, who proceeds to kill you all, losing the battle and hundreds of crystals. When you see a teamie with that light going out into the distance, do NOT bump him in your hurry to get killed a half second sooner... :-(

As many others have said, Firebird is better when you can get out of your enemy's line of fire. Mammoths can't jump dodge.

Both Titan and Mammoth are too slow, and their armor is a joke against multiple enemies with railguns or ricochet -- the "inherent armor" on these two need to be raised DRASTICALLY if they are going to be used in most battles. My Viking with Double Armor is much faster, 10 times as maneuverable and just as protected as Titan M1 (which I now regret buying).

Viking is too slow, so you wind up using Speed Boost a lot. A well-armored Hornet is fast enough to avoid quick attackers, and a smaller target. (If you've ever been shot in the "toe" on Esplanade, you know what I'm talking about!)

deleted

Shaft is good for two things: potshots and one-shot,one-kill guarding a flag in the open (e.g. Berlin). But too many games become static as each side waits for somebody to cross no-man's land. In a small, mobile game, you can't RELOAD fast enough or rotate fast enough. In distance games, e.g. RIO, two shafts can hold an entire side of the battle (this makes the rooftop route very popular). Monte Carlo is strictly shaft and railgun, but you see the quick tanks slip through somehow. The best thing about shaft are the "toe shots" or "through the knothole" shots, which you can't even see with other weapons. -- I killed two guys in a row who looked out through a tiny "safe hole" in the wall < :-O Also, you get a lot of eye-to-eye time with other snipers. (Looking into a laser is sometimes the last thing you see.)

deleted

deleted