Please add Skylark and Deathtrack to MM! They are fun and wonderful maps. Big, but not too big, and varied in landscape. (Also, gauss didn't need a buff.) :ph34r:

How come I can't enter battles? I can open my accounts, and go to the garage or battle tabs, but the 'play!' buttons for any of the battle modes do not work; nothing happens. It's been like this for a while--at least, since I discovered it a few days ago.

For sure. I'm not claiming the Isida is better now, in the sense of it's easier to get a good score. It definitely felt harder with my M2, actually, than it used to. But the turret doesn't suck. And one should have to work to get a top score. I always have to work my butt off. And my scores are seldom 'exceptional'. But I'm always at/near the top. Do you have any screenshots of exceptional games? It'd be cool to see them.

Find the turret that's fun for you. I love Isida. And to me challenge is fun.

So, I know posting screenshots of one's good battles is a bit self-congratulatory, but it's fun. I think more people should do it. Celebrate a win! Anyway, I've been playing Isida the last couple days to see how bad it sucks. You tell me. These are from an account with an M2 Isida/M2 Hunter. 18 MUs on the Isida. Basically no garage supplies were used. Look at the ranks. The next couple are from an account of mine with an M0 Isida/M0 Viking (5 MUs on the Isida). Again, no garage supplies were used, except in this case for an occasional speed boost, to capitalize on the Viking's nice speed and to reach enemies before they killed me.

Funny. I also play the smoky quite recklessly and aggressively. I'd have a much better k/d ratio if I played peekaboo and sniper, but I love to get in the thick of it and dogfight with the enemy, show them how to really use a hull and a turret, and the landscape. Doesn't always work, but I usually have a good score, and a not-so-good ratio 'cause I die a lot. My lag's not that bad yet, but it's been slowly and inexorably getting worse, so I suppose it's only a matter of time.

Well met indeed. Yes, I think we have similar mindsets about Tanki play. I see that this account of yours focuses almost entirely on smoky. I'm guessing you're good, and I hope I don't fight against you. (At least until I get the M2 smoky. I'm lusting for it, but not going to buy a kit.) I'd rather fight with you. When the striker came out, I added it to the WO1 account I use to play shaft, but I've decided to make a brand new account for striker and bring my skills up in sync with the ranks. Besides, every now and then it's fun to start a new account and play with the noobs.

Thanks! I will put more focus on this tactic. I had somewhat discounted it, but now I'll give it a real try. I like the striker. It's got character, and it's not easy to master, which is appealing to a certain subsection of players including myself. Which is why this account (my first one) has always stuck with the smoky/hunter, and why I like the vulcan (played on a mobile hull), and why I play the shaft on a hornet, and why I love the isida. And why I don't own a firebird on any account. I do think the striker could use a few more tweaks to place it on even footing with the other turrets. My worry (if you can call it that) is that those who stick with the striker and get good will skew the data. I suspect that's what happens to the smoky; a higher percentage of (the small number of) users are quite good with it, and make it seem like the turret is too good.

I really like LittleWillie's recent post of suggestions on how to get good at Striker. Having said that, I want to also say that it is really hard to aim single missiles. Not only is there no help from any auto-aim feature, but there's no barrel to look down at all, and in any case the missile does not fly centered; it flies off-side to right or left. This makes it even harder to aim accurately, and extremely easy to miss tanks that are near, especially the small ones. It would be nice if there was just a little help in the programming, to make that turret competitive. With self-damage, slow-moving missiles, and slow reload, it's very hard to be competitive now. So many missiles are wasted. (And I know how to aim. I'm freaking good with the Smoky, and pretty good with the Ricochet's slow-moving balls.) (And speaking of aiming, I just left a battle (on an alt) where I achieved lock-on on a hornet with a speed boost activated. The hornet was going so fast that without any cover, just moving right to left on the edge between short and medium range, it avoided all four missiles. That's not a very good lock. Especially given how tricky it was to achieve that lock.)

I think you meant to say vulcan is being nerfed, which is actually not true (in the way you meant it). It's very easy to kill a medium tank, or even a heavy. You just need to stop firing for a second or two so your tank cools down. Vulcan is not intended to be a non-stop continuously firing turret, as twins is. You actually might need to do a little manuevering to stay alive, or pay attention to your tank.

Maybe read LittleWillie's post two posts above yours? It's a comprehensive primer on how to use the turret effectively.

Pretty effective. You're going to have to MU it, to go that long distance. Just give it a handful of MUs every time there is a sale on them. I now have mine up to 46/50, and that's enough. Getting good with the smoky, that's a different matter. If you put in the work to get good, the smoky rules. No question.

I wish more posts on the turrets were this intelligent.

As a Smoky user, Ricochet has always been the bane of my existence, more so back when it was OP and every second turret was one, but Smoky requires a precise aim on the move and getting constantly battered by those incoming balls is very frustrating. That's why I bought Spark back in the day and brought it up to 38% rico protection. Gives me time.

Riddler, are you a deliberate troll? Or are you, as I suspect, actually an employee of Tanki? You are making everyone who is actually unhappy with this upcoming update seem ridiculous by association with your ridiculously overdone and childish complaints. Please stop, or put some actual thought and reasoning into your posts. Please.

Both of these responses are pretty nonsensical; instead, just apply the principle of "follow the money."

I agree, but I think it obvious that by making everything boringly uniform across the board, they are preparing to introduce a whole plethora of options to specialize by paying for it. The current alterations are just the beginning.

I agree with you completely. Back when they changed the micro-upgrade system, they said it was more intuitive. No, it was just dumber, and greedier, in the stupidest way. People prefer variety and options, there can be no argument about that. Speaking of which....

You are right. I have a lower account devoted to playing shaft. There are two glitches that are both very common, and have been around for quite a while. The first glitch is that when entering snipe mode, the turret will automatically move in a certain direction. For me it's usually straight up, sometimes straight down; I don't seem to experience a sideways move. The only way to deal with this--and it wastes precious seconds, during which I've been killed many times--is to move the turret in the direction it's already moving. That frees it up to be able to move it back in the other direction and put it where it should have been in the first place. Very, very frustrating. The other glitch that happens a lot to me is that after I take the snipe shot and exit sniping mode, my turret refuses to move right if I try to. Movement to the right is just stuck, impossible initially. Since I move my turret a lot, this is also very frustrating. The way to deal with it is to briefly move the turret left; this frees it up to then be moved right. I sure wish the developers would fix these. Shaft does not have the time to waste, especially if you play a more mobile style.

I have to disagree with you. Smoky's whole purpose is midfield/support, and it's outstanding for that. You have to keep your tank in constant motion, though, sometimes functioning at close range and sometimes at long. Smoky is very versatile. I have a slew of screenshots where I'm first or second top scorer in ctf's, even though I captured no flags in those battles. The score was all destruction in a support function.

Hey, get Lord-of-the-Snipers to give some tips. He uses smoky almost exclusively, it seems, and his kill/death is insane with it (up around where yours is, actually.) I play a very aggressive smoky style, with mediocre drug-use, so although I'm a top scorer with the screenshots to prove it, I die a fair bit and have a low-ish kill/death. My two top tips: 1 Get your aim to where you can hit 90% of your shots, even while moving (and turning your turret, obviously.) Every smoky shot counts. 2 Move constantly. Become a dogfighter. Closing, retreating, circling then doubling back as they turn, in and out of cover, moving unexpectedly. Shooting the whole time. Your hull should almost never stand still, and nor should your turret.So many people play with uninspired tactics. Smoky is maybe the turret that benefits most from inspired tactics. And be an opportunist. So many times I've taken a potshot at someone in passing, a short-window-of-opportunity/high-skill-shot, knowing I didn't have the time to devote to killing him--and that was the killing shot. Also smoky is awesome for putting a little damage on everyone you see or pass, and gaining a share of xp when your teammates kill him. With the rate of fire there's no opportunity cost to doing that. Deathmatches are awesome crucibles for honing your dogfighting skills and aim, and for sucking until you do. Smoky benefits from some micro-upgrading. I feel like you used to do a lot of railgun. I played against you once or twice in Alexandrovsk, where your style was camping/peek-a-boo. I don't think smoky is a good peek-a-boo camper, FYI. You lose out on the very important rate-of-fire. (I notice that at the moment you have isida equipped. My second favorite turret--use it on my second-highest account--this is my highest and it's smoky/hunter only. Smoky rules.) Good luck.

You're amusingly ignorant. Except that smoky is a great kill-stealer.

I wonder if they were hoping for the exact opposite. Hoping that everybody would give up on MUs, since they are now wickedly expensive and almost useless, and instead buy tons of supplies to compete. After all, you get a better bang for your crystal with supplies, even though you have to keep on hitting them--then they run out and you have to buy more! Ka-ching! That model is more likely to lead to purchasing crystals with real money--or at least, I think they are hoping so. It's more like an addiction model. And of course, the minority who really want to upgrade their tank effectively, will also have to purchase now.

Yes, tanki is hoping we all come to that conclusion and buy some, increasing their financial bottom line. Why do you think they did this hurtful update? It sure wasn't for us!