WEll, I GUESS, I mean, the China thang sounds fishy, but fine, I suppose.

Tell us something about Texas that makes us think you're Texan now, and you get on the list.

Well, the quoting of the word "frustration" in your posts tells me you are of inclination to find it distasteful that I would complain. Make no mistake, I ADMIRE the cooperation and team work, and frankly, I find it a challenge worth undertaking, I just wish I could do better given the lot of my equipment, for skill is not something I believe I lack. I am happy to say that they were most certainly NOT drugging, at least what I could discern (I was too far to see the ornaments), and they were dispatched on occasion by base raiders, thus no super shields or health packs being used prodigiously or constantly. This brings up an excellent point, the idea of ranks and classification and the notion that a cubby hole is of import when seeking niche to play. First, let me start off by saying I'm better than most at my rank in a shaft, period, end of story, no discussion. Two, I don't skype, I don't have a circle of friends I play Tanki with, and in fact there is only one other person to date I have ever consistently ever teamed up with. Three, being a shaft, I tend to adapt to the teams game play, but only as much as it makes sense to. There is no reason to go find games with "your" rank predominantly, if skill is your only concern. Shafts rank MUCH slower than most, we earn less than most, thus we have been playing more than most people at our rank, and we have a completely different set of priorities in game than any other platform. The only other turret(s) that might have such unique paradigm are freeze and firebird, and that is again the unique manner of engagement, and the perils involved in that method of combat. The only place rank plays a real role is wealth and available equipment, this I WILL concede. Benny's buy stuff, we all know that, so longer you play, the more money you got (or you buy for real), and of course somethings ARE NOT available until later ranks, thus yes, M2 is not within my purview yet. Other than that though, shafts are better players on the whole than most average players, at least into the ranks I am, if they standardize on that platform. Yep, you heard me, auto aim is for chumps, sorry, truth hurts. We gotta stop, aim, charge, loose a shot, lots of moving parts in our game play, so shafts are a completely different beast, complicated even at times when making decisions in the moment. Arcade shooting is also an art, given the reload times. So the point here is that if a shaft says it is "frustrated" there is good reason for it, and not because it can't compare to the opposition, but rather there are real factors at play that need to be addressed in terms of game dynamic, solutions we need to come up with. Your suggestions are appreciated, but don't be so quick to push people around into rankings, I have seen plenty of higher ranked players whose sack lunch I stole, ate, and regurgitated back on them, over and over, in a single game. I have also had battles where it was all I could do to defend myself at times by lower ranked aggressors that understood how to exploit my platform's weaknesses. Rank only counts in the beginning and much later on down the ladder, but I find in the middle its anyone's game in terms of simple rank matching. In this game ,the shafts ruled the roost (they were the important defenders) thus all my focus was on getting rid of them. Little crossed the map that wasn't being hammered by shafts. IF they made it at all, they were so beat up that any tank in the base to dispatch them easily. These guys were very good shafts too, and while I agree most shafts are not very good, comparatively speaking, ESPECIALLY vs other shafts, even the bad ones at my rank can do enough damage to stop some flag rushes. Also, I hate drugs, so I'm a little at a disadvantage most of the time.

I'm guessing these guys REALLY did have experience, they were good, and they had expensive shafts, M2s and probably some MU, the reloads on them were REALLY fast. It's darn Isidias behind them that were the problem. Tried sniping those first, but by the time I could a got off at one of them after killing the isdias, at least one was back and healing them again, SO FRUSTRATING.

I had not noticed this thread, but I too have noticed some moments where for whatever reason my tank has gone up like matchstick for no good reason. I figured it was glitched out rail shots that maybe didn't have trails behind them, or shaft shots from extreme angles I couldn't see, but it happens a bit too often. I'm guessing some of it must be this. IT really needs to be fixed.

Um, I'm sure it's late, and it's been said too many times, but if staff reads this sort of thing, fix the shaft bugs, please. Please . . . . no, really . . . . please.

HTown, you till dry or you had to get out of Dodge? I guess I should ask ClutchCityColtsFAn too. You guys not neck deep in the muck?

You made me laugh when I had no reason up until that point, +1 for you. Yes, I agree whole heartedly that this issue remains a rather unplesant, and seemingly timed occurence, usually the WORST time, mind you, to have the barrel decide to go bird watching without your consent. The other player is right though, 5 or 6 shafts on a team that has an otherwise aggresive make up of other players is nearly undefeatable, so long as the shafts are good too. Your point, I have to simply applaude, because I can nearly see your jaded face dismissively mouthing that comment you typed while taking a swig of some bitter drink. It's annoying as hell. Speaking of guarding entrances, talk about a royal pain, shaft on shaft, you trying to clear a path for the flag runners and some big chunky hulled shaft pointing back at you with a ISIDIA behind it, short of finding a DP and a DA lying around, full charging, and dropping a bomb on that unit, it simply CANNOT be dislodged. I played one either yesterday or the day before, three shafts, two isidias, NO FLAGS for our team, and heaven knows they were trying, but those shafts were damn near indestructible. In fact, since DA's nearly fell close to my position, I had to pray for a DP, pick it up, and wait for my team to engage at close range, distract them, and then I could drop a round on them, only times I could pick them off. So for all the "noob" sayers, yeah, laugh all you want, and post your stupid looping gif, you don't do that when five of those things are hanging around, of this I'm certain. Danny, I fear there are those trying to shelter you from the lowliness and pettiness of the world that surrounds you. While the effort is noble, and very well in intentioned, if you are going to live among those people, you need to know what they are really saying, not to emulate them mind you, but to know who you are dealing with. Thus I shall be the bad person that does away with a touch of innocence and explain a few things to you. First off, babies, where they come from. I'll keep it short. There are these birds, called storks, and in the divine creator's wisdom, he purposed them to live among mankind and help deliver new generations of men and women since time eternal. This of course means the babies are brought to the door steps of homes upon purist white wings, as unblemished as the soul of the tender child joining the new family it will soon come to call it's own. Those wings that carry that child, they fly, that's wings do, thus, the "F" in "ftw" is really fly. People fly to have children, and one day you too will find someone to fly with. You will love flying. Flying is like nothing else in this world, and once you fly, you will want to fly often. Of course, when the stork sees you flying, there is a good chance they will in turn fly you a child, and then you will have to tend to that child, thus, while flying is of great interest to most, one should use caution when flying with one's partner, lest you make a mistake that alters your life forever, and leaves wishing you had not flown with abandon. Not to say you will not want to fly one day to have children of your own, it is quite likely one day both you, and the one you are flying with, will WANT to fly into the company of storks, but parenting and raising a child is no easy task, so when you do start flying, always keep in mind that a stork MIGHT see you, and if they do, you might end up with a child, and then everything changes. Protect yourself when flying and only fly with people you trust, that you know are responsible, and won't attract the undue attention of storks. As for the rest of the letters "tw", well, it is a way of saying if you are IRRESPONSIBLE, you will be attracting, or have witnessed the attraction of another person, of the storks of the world, and you/another will be forced to endure the consequences, perhaps being inundated with the deliveries of the storks and have to suffer the huge burdens of what all those deliveries mean. So "tw" mean "the world", and as such, "fly the world" basically means the whole world should be burdened for their irresponsible behavior, a sort of curse. It's not very polite or nice, though it's not the worst thing one could say, but still very unpleasant and you'd do well to abstain from saying it. I hope this helps and good luck.

Doh, fixed the post above.

So, I've been hammering away at this when time permits, and now I have something to show for it. Not completely done yet, but a few screen shoots. DISCLAIMER: I know some of the buildings are not current, I have an idea for those. I know some features are not currently implemented per say, I assume they can be made functional within the nature of my map. I know it's really big. That was the point. http://fogofwarxxx.wix.com/fogofwar#!custom-map---suburbs/crj1

Now now, relax, who says carpet bagger anymore anyways? It's a joke. That reminds me, I think I played the other day on a map you were on. By the time I realized it though, and I went looked you must have left, that or I was just seeing things. I DID see HTown in Serpuhov the other day.

As well you should be, carpet bagger.

I see, so there are rules they are goig to put into place for events organized by players, very well. For the record btw, it's "Club", not "Clup". You want to make a club, a group of people for the purpose of doing something together.

Yeah, um, never played Magistral I think, I'll havea look. Of course, we're gonna wanna big map, we love the long shots right? Explain this apply for tournament thing? What is this all about?

Yeah, something where a number of shafts agree on a time and we all try to get together and play shaft on shaft.

Update: Added a song to the playlist.

Curious, anyone interested in playing a Shaft on Shaft team setup game? All Shafts, capture the flag and/or control point type setup? I'd think it would be interesting to see the dynamics of a movement based strategy game of purely shafts, on both sides, and how the play would pan out. I'd skip the TDM just because it's lame to chase each other around when everyone would really just try scope each other, long stand offs as someone scopes in and can'ttake the shot but doesn't want to recharge for the chance that someone comes along soon after, so, um, yeah, no all shaft death matches (though I guess it could be rather ruthless if there was coordination between teams).

Ha, I've seen that combo before. IT's rather bizarre, They can't turn their turrets, EVER, or they flip. They zoom into a base behind the flag runner and try to scope the chasing threat. It works I suppose toa degree, most really useless once the other team catches on. It looks ridiculius, this is for certain.

Point in case, the mine I dropped. This is something I think that should be delineated. MINES and even to a point the sped ups are not the sme as the health, DP, and DA issue. Mines shouldn't be seen like the rest of supplies. They are force multiplier that are egalitarian in that all cane use them, they all do the same damage, and they are not part and part parcel to your tanks abilities per say. As for ruinning or staying, M3 MU'd Shafts, well, I don't know, so I will remain silent on the matter, but again, so long as everyone is playing by the same rules, then yes, so be it, shafts are at a disadvantage close quarters, you'll hear no complaints from me, in the end, it's about offering some level of trade off. The greatest threat shaft of all is the open that can rest against a building, with an Isidia close at hand. I have played games where I drop three full charged shots on a Mammoth and nothing doing, it will NOT die. There was a convenient DP nearby and that was the only thing finally that would kill it. never the less, I see your point, and perhaps at that level it is a necessary evil, but I'll refrain from making a judgement until I actually get a chance to play at that level.

The fair skined Lucy asks that we revert to the turret, so be it, but I will say this, the turret and hull combination is of import in terms of Shafts, but again, the conversation sprung from my format battle idea, thus point taken. I must admit, there is something mildly comical about a female player Using exclamation points to draw attention to her desire to discuss shafts, but then, I won't say another word, people are rather touchy around here lately about that sort of thing. All said and told though, the discussion of drug free play is important to shafts since we are often left sitting ducks in scope, and the reality is even if we whiff the scope and zoom out, were usually hit once, probably twice before we can even start moving, which makes life rather impossible for shafts. In brighter news, I was involved in a battle yesterday in Serpuhov that inculed a rather fiesty rail with all drugs and me on the red team camping on the back wall. As always, if they can get by me and into our base, they love driving up the ramp and shoot at me from behind. PRO TIP: back up but at a rightward angle and fall on the landing between the two ramps and drop a mine. Since the two ramps are offset each other, it makes it nearly impossible to drive around the mine. Point in case, my aggrevated rail I had sniped 5 times prior. He was zooming towards the bottom ramp, arcade shot him and backed up onto the landing. Dropped a mine, and backed up the second ramp. Apparently this rail was confident it could take the hit from the mine sheilded, thus it did, and, to their credit, the tank did not die. It lands ungracefully half up up the ramp and I land a full charged shot on them. THEY didn't die (can you spell DRUGS?), well, I speed forward and past him on the back wall shelf, all the while lining up that very special arcade shot, and then, and only then, with the rail swinging to take a shot on me, do I loose a arcade shot that finally but the dog down. Moral of the story, one, smart cool downs were a VERY good idea, otherwise it would be flat out ridiculous, and two, yes, shafts can square off in arcade. (and three, well, drugs suck, I hate them).

Fine, I was making a point, not being exact, but Wasps are far too fast and agile for tanks in areality based environment.

Bravo! Now that's the truth. I hate rails with attitudes, "I'm the bombdiggty, look at me, I nail you all the time, noob." IF there was ever a unit in this game that could be named noob, it's that one. All the range, all the damage, all the impact force, oh, and yeah, auto aim to boot. Which leads me to the following. If you keep up with the Drugs thread here in the forums, apparently there is a push on EN3 for a Pro Pass no drugs group. I love this idea. I'll try to add the link later here to the post. Excellent idea. I don't know if I can muster the crystals for it, but I'm going to try. That said, I have been toying with an idea of a format battle that would be called CP (chemical propellant) format. It would be limited to Smokeys, Thunders, Shafts, and Firebirds (they get to stay because those exist in real life too). Basically any turret that emulates some sembalance of reality. No Rico, Twins, Rails, Isidias, or Freezes. Hulls are all good except Wasps, lets get real, tanks that go 80 mph and turn on dimes are just not real. Any paint job you want, any combo of those turrets and hull otherwise, and of course, NO DRUGS, except ONE THING, mines. Thoughts?

Only if you like older brothers, and they they're not into that sort of thing, 'course, that's kinda gross AND creppy, so, um, as you were.

I have found that well timed arcade shots when an enemy has been softened up by someone else with a hit or two DOES sem to yield kills very often, and I like my name showing up four times in a row on the upper right side. Oppenents and teammates all be like . . . WHAT???!!! Dat be awe shaft, hell no! Okay, that was out of character for me, but I had to. As you were.

So thoughts on reality. After playing now for a week or two since the changes to the equipment stats, I have found the following to be true. 1. Lower rate of fire, lower kill count. Used to score high in games due to the number of kills I made. Now it's seems my D/L hovers in 2.0 to under 1.0 even sometimes. I used to sport a 13 18, hell, I made it into the 20s a few times. Bottom line, lower score, lower team ranking per game, lower payout. 2. Arcade shot HAS increased my survivability IN BETWEEN scope periods. What does that mean? If I take a shot and I'm waiting to charge and I see someone sneaking in, I have been able to kill them off in a full blown arcade shot dog fight. This is nice, but it DOESN'T make up for the lose of kill count in scope. 3. One thing I DID NOT plan on, since the arcade shot is more effective now, I have more opponents coming in hot with drugs when they do engage. This has further reduced the number of arcade kills I get since many for shielded and DP'd, and since I don't drug really, I fight as is, I lose those fights very often. That is all. As you were.