"Ram" is currently available in garrage, check again. Most of the time probably Polygon and Sandbox. However, not because I like them that much, but because most battles are created there. You can see the full list of my fav maps in my 1st post: http://en.tankiforum.com/index.php?showtopic=275750&p=5589897 With a proper combo I could play on Serpuhov, Barda or Desert maps, though these are less frequent, Desert and Barda in particular.

Worst advice ever. I don't care about notifications. If someone aks questions here, (s)he should also follow the topic. If I ask a question and somebody who doesn't follow the topic answers me, his answer is probably useless to me anyway. Quoting the entire post while referring just to one sentence (as you did above) is against the netiquette. Too many quotes make posts hard to read and take too much space.

austen_pierce, totally agreed. There are more, but let others discover them. ;) The most important is IMO cleaning the thunder's camping site. Because all other turrets need either wait for him to drive out of cover or go on the wall (which might be impossible if he placed many mines). Rico can hit him from the ground level.

No point in quoting text I am not referring to directly, as I do now. TheRollingSlab, if my fire dmg is reduced by 30% and thunder damage is reduced by 30%, talking about paints it pointless. Unless people use paints with higher thunder protection than fire protection, which seems unlikely to me (unless they just use what they have, as in my case - only Sandstone and In Love in garrage). I can see twins-titan combo dominating the battle often (especially if healed by isida hidden behind it), so I am surprised by what you said. "Destroyer" is unlocked too late for me to buy it as first M3 kit. I have not found the "Giant" kit on tankiwiki nor in garrage - is it still available? What is inside? I am thinking about buying "Medic" soon and "Prometheus" later, but this way I will not have any medium or long range turret for quite a long time.

Don't forget about MUs! The more crystals you save now, the more MUs you can buy right after obtaining your "Paladin"! The sooner you buy MUs, the better you perform. So think twice if you really need a secodn M2 kit. TheRollingSlab: I have edited my previous post, so please scroll up. I'm not convinced to freeze and fire kits unlock at higher ranks. IDK, maybe it is worth waiting? What about twins kits? Is "Cardinal" still available?

DragonOfStorms: If playing XP/BP is fun for you, buy "Mosquito". Otherwise, save crystals for M3/M3 kit. Minotaur is strong and I am sure it is enough till you unlock the kits at Brigadier - Lieutenant General ranks. You can also make an alt acc dedicated to XP/BP. There is a new kit with hornet M1 and rail M1, you could start with it and later buy 'Tornado" or "Mosquito". P-Shooter: No need to troll this topic if you don't like its idea. Edition: AbsoluteAlpha: Yeah, what about using thunder at ranks higher than brigadier? People don't have much thunder protection now, but I don't know how it looks like later. TheRollingSlab: So, you are trying to say that people don't use fire or freeze protection in Polygon CP battles? If they do, the protection argument is irrelevant. If I could afford buying a paint separately (not in a kit), it would be fire-freeze protection paint. There is always 3-4 fires/freezes in Polygon CP battles, while usually not more than 1-2 thunders. Isida-viking combo is slow, and thus limited to small or medium maps (defense only on big ones). In Polygon CP isida needs to hide behind campers or die quickly.

player_2015_tanker: Did you use it or your opinion is based on the stats only? P-Shooter: And only your pleasure, troll.

If you want and got enough skill/knowledge. I used wasp-rail and later hunter-twins later (why twins? because I always deal max damage I can and do not get killed just before my turret reloads). You can try it, why not? Though you could buy some cheap stuff like "Lizard" kit (4k crystals only) or Firebird M1 (about 7k, less if you wait for a sale). You could even buy both on a sale and obtain a titan-firebird combo, excellent for small maps and good for Polygon CP also. TheRollingSlab: Well, I don't know your playing style or maps you most often play on. Why do I want thunder? Because of splash damage. In Polygon CP there is always a crowd at the point. Medic is an option too, though I will not buy both (vik overlaps again). There is also "Healer" kit with hornet and isida (both M3). Why is hornet M3 not so good in your opinion?

austinmyles: TBH, I'm currently sick of rico a bit, since I played it for... 4 months? ;) Rico is a good turret, but also has some drawbacks. The biggest is probably its limited clip size. Matt071021: Well, it is not like I must have the thunder, I just thought it is a good turret for earning crystals. My way is to earn as much crystals as possible to buy all turrets and hulls. ;) But I realise that it will be a long process and I don't want to stick to 1 or 2 maps, because my tank totally sucks elsewhere. I played many hours with isida on my 1st account, a lot with rico on this acc, a bit with rail on another one. So, I'd like a new turret. Bulldozer has mammoth M2. I don't want to buy more M2, since it will be replaced by M3 eventually. My way is buy one M2/M2 kit and then buy only M3 stuff. The reason why "Master of the taiga" looks tempting to me is: good hull, decent paint and short range turret which is good in all formats and on all small and medium size maps, though I might buy another one. Thanks for your thoughts, guys. P-Shooter: Yes, it is, but it does not exclude learning from others' experience, huh? With your attitude this entire topic would be redundant. "Thanks" for not helping.

Any arguments to back this up?

It was hard only at the very end (at WO4 and WO5 ranks), though it is my 2nd colonel account (I abandoned the 1st one for some reasons), so I had some experience.

None. I made it to WO5 with m0, then bought "Boar". This way I saved a lot of crystals.

I got 490k crystals and I'm close to rank up to brigadier. My current tank uses "Boar" kit. I usually play on Polygon (CP), Noise (CTF, CP), Silence (CTF, CP), Sandbox (CP, CTF), Hill (CTF), Island (CTF, CP) and Highland (CTF) maps. I like Kungur, Aleksandrovsk and Wave maps, but this combo is not effective there. When I created this account, I wanted to buy "Raiden" kit, mainly for Poly CP battles. But there have been some new ones introduced recently. "Master of the taiga" is tempting, however there is no point in buying both (vik 3 overlap). "Boar" was great up to Major rank, it is still OK (I am still ranked in top positions if there are no hard druggers), but using it up to Lieutenant General might be hard (more people will have m3 tanks). I could also buy "Man-o-war" kit right now to acquire thunder and hornet m3 (both are usefull) and buy "Master of the taiga" later, though the total price for both is about 690k crystals and there is no thunder protection paint in any of those 2 kits. What would you suggest?

austen_pierce, I need to add one thing. In Polygon CP there are 2 major camping spots - the tunnel in the pit (there is usually a heavy hull with twins or fire and 1-2 isidas behind him) and on the wall under the big ramp (thunders like to camp there). Rico is very good for cleaning both using the bouncing feature.

What do you think about the upcomming paint/protection update (watch the 2 latest V-logs if you haven't)? I consider it kind of unfair to low- and mid-rank players, who cannot buy the highest tier 4-protection paints (africa, lumberjack, etc.) now, while highest rank players can and will gain advantage when the update comes.