Thank you to everyone for taking the time to read and comment on my post. It started by me trying to understand why I'm not playing as much as I used to. And I came up with the point above. I then thought what I would do to change the issues I have. As I said I don't assume I have the answers, they were just my initial thought. It's very interesting to hear others opinions of what might work and what won't. None of mine by the sound of it :) but that's fine, they were just a starting point for the discussion. For those of you who have look at the equipment on this account, just to let you know this is my alt account where I set myself the challenge of not buying anything, just using micro-upgrades. I have another Legend account that has several M4s, so don't feel sorry for me :D

I'm a regular casual player, by that I mean I play most days, (it used to be every day but it's less these days) but for only 1/2 - 1 hour at a time. So what is stopping the fun? 1. Missions - I enjoy playing CTF, occasionally CP, rarely Rugby and Assault. I hate DM. That's just me, I'm sure everyone has their favourites. But missions sometimes force me to play modes I don't want to. If I get DM I always change it. But I usually end up having to play modes I'm not fond of if I want to complete all my daily missions. By the time I've complete the missions I don't have much time, if any, to play a fun CTF game. And I need to complete missions to get supplies. And we all know you can't play TO without supplies these days. 2. Match Making - There are some maps I like, other not so much. But MM doesn't let you choose. If I'm put in a map I really don't like I'll leave, but I don't like doing that and leaving my team short. Then you have to wait all over again to get into another game. 3. Ranks - It takes ages to rank up when you are a casual player. It's going to take a over a year before I rank up. Ranking up gives you a sense of progress. Also I'm having to play against players with M4 equipment but won't be able to upgrade my equipment for 2 or 3 years - that's not fun! I understand having a good crystal / experience ratio and not being a high rank with poor equipment. But some of us can manage it so why should we be punished for the kids who don't understand you can't get every M2 equipment. 4. Alterations and Drones - Tanki used to be a simple game. Easy to play - hard to master. You didn't have thousands of combinations to choose from. Just pick a turret and hull, then go kill some tanks. Chess has been around hundreds of years, no-one thought what we need is to create more pieces to keep people playing it. I understand that TO wants Legends to keep buying but just keep that limited to paints and skins. 5. Players that leave a battle - When a team goes behind, players start leaving and the battle goes really one-sided. That's really not fun for either team. I don't claim to have the answer to fixing these issues, but while I'm here, here are my ideas and suggestions :) 1. Missions - Have just three types of daily missions, Number of Kills, Score Points, Earn Crystals in any MM battle. You could have random targets with different rewards. 2. Match Making - Bring back a sort of battle list. You select mode and map, but not team. When the battle is full (or maybe a 2 minute countdown) TO splits the players into two equal teams. You could limit the maps that can be picked so the lists fill quicker. And maybe rotate the maps available every hour. If you had a choice of say 6 maps you should be able to find one you are happy to play on. You could keep groups, but the opposition gets a stronger team since the group will probably play better than a bunch of individuals. 3. Ranks - Increase experience earned (and crystals?) from battles. 4. Alterations and Drones - They aren't going to be removed, but maybe a couple of MM battles without them and supplies disabled. How about disabling protections modules as well. 5. Players that leave a battle - If you leave a battle, you can't join another game for 1/2 the time left in the battle you left. I would also change the first weekly mission to be 'Finish 30 battles' to encourage players to finish battles. TL;DR - Let me play the mode and map I want, and just have FUN!

I started the experiment using the old paint system where I felt low rank paints were a waste of crystals since you had to replace them with stronger paints at higher ranks. With the new protection module system it might have been worth buying an M0 module and MUing it. But I had ranked too far to get M0 modules when the change occurred so didn't want to buy an M1 module. It's also buying something! So I am going to continue without a protection module which will put me at a disadvantage, although I should have more crystals available to upgrade my hunter quicker. I'm glad you enjoyed the article. And I do agree with you that having just a single combination isn't the way to go. But this is an alternate account and on my main account I do have few more combinations. I agree, as you say, at M3/M4 you do need to limit your garage. Having said that, if you have played Tanki before and know what combination you like, having an account with just that combination is a good way to get a strong tank without buying.

Well TO has just ruined my year long experiment :angry: With the recent changes to MUs where the total cost is the same as the next modification I can see no reason why tankers won't MU rather than save for the next modification. Therefore I will have lost the advantage of having the strongest tank possible all the time, but at the expense of having to spend twice the amount of crystals to those who saved for the next modification. Also with the reduction of levels I will have to wait longer before I have enough crystals for each MU rather than being able to use the smaller increments earlier. I have proved that using MU you can get the next modification at a much lower rank than it unlocks. After I had fully upgraded both smoky M1 and hunter M1 I was saving crystals until hunter M2 unlocked. When it finally unlocked I had saved 153K crystals and was able to upgrade it to 44/50, now 9/10 very quickly. I should have it full MUed whilst still a Captain - 8 ranks before M3 unlocks :) With smoky M2 not unlocking for another 3 ranks I should have saved enough to MU up to M3 very quickly too. I will continue with this experiment but I don't know how effective this method will be under the new system, I don't intend to start again to find out!

I have now fully micro upgraded my Hunter M1 and Smoky M1. Both well before the unlock rank. Modification Unlock Fully Micro-Upgraded No. of Ranks Early Hours Played Experience Smoky M1 1st Sergeant Master Sergeant 1 16 24056 Hunter M1 WO 4 WO 2 2 57 88089 Hunter M2 Captain Third Lieutenant 3 138 223625 Smoky M2 Colonel Second Lieutenant 5 158 257602 For the first time I am now saving crystals as I can’t upgrade anything for a couple more ranks. This will mean when I reach Captain I should have built up a good fund to upgrade my Hunter M2 straight away. There have been a couple of changes to TO that might affect my progress. First the paint / protection separation. Previously people would buy a low rank paint that gave minimal protection that would later be replaced by a better paint at the higher ranks. Thus ‘wasting’ crystals on paint they no longer use. Now you can buy your favourite protection module at a low rank and keep it by upgrading as you progress. I have no protection – just a micro upgraded Hunter, which is good against all turrets rather than just 3 of a protection module. But I don’t know if I’m now at less of an advantage with this system. The other change is the recent balance. More specifically the change to unlock rank. I now have less time to micro upgrade my M2s before they unlock M3. Now when I reach Marshal rank I will be facing people with M3/M4 equipment so will lose the advantage of having a micro upgraded M2 before other people can get an M3.

I’m not sure how I can prove I haven’t brought any but I promise I don’t. I’m just doing this as an experiment for myself so there really isn’t much point in me breaking my own rules. I complete the three missions everyday which gives me supplies, and I complete the weekly mission chain to get even more supplies. As I said in the article I admit I use supplies, they are part of the game. If I am given them, I’m am going to use them! I use supplies to help my team win and me to get higher up in the leader board, both to get a good crystal return at the end of a game. In tight games or where I am low on the leader board I admit I will use more. If my team has a big lead I will stop using them altogether. Currently my stockpile of supplies is growing as I receive more supplies in a week than I use.

Thanks for all the positive comments about the article everyone. Yes me too :) but it's a long way off. It will be interesting to see if it still works at higher ranks. Yes M0 hunter is rubbish. And M1 unlocks at a high rank compared with the other hulls. But each micro upgrade step is quite large so it gets easier to play as you approach M1 Smoky M1 unlock early so that wasn't too bad.

I have created an alt account where I play Tanki without buying anything. I’m not talking about just not buying crystals with money, I mean I don’t buy Turrets, Hulls, Paints or Supplies – nothing! I have a nice green smoky hunter tank which I just micro-upgrade. Once it has been fully micro-upgraded and I reach the unlock rank I get the next modification for free :) So what are the advantages / disadvantages? Well the obvious disadvantage is the cost of micro-upgrades is twice the price of just buying the next modification. But I would argue it’s not as bad as it first appears. You see I don’t have to save my crystals to buy the next modification, as soon as I can afford the next micro upgrade I buy it. Therefore I have a much better tank than I would have just saving the crystals. Better tank -> more kills -> more experience -> higher score -> more crystals. So how is it going? Well so far so good. Currently k/d of over 2.5 without being a heavy camper. I regularly come in the top 3 places in my team in battles, often first place. Now at the early ranks this could be because I’m not a total noob, but I’m no pro either, on my main account I’m at General rank. And I do drug, not excessively, I do try to use them tactically rather than just automatically applying them as soon as I can. Of course I don’t buy supplies, just get them from completing missions. Another advantage is I can get the equivalent modification before I reach the rank it becomes available. (Although kits so far would have been available at similar ranks) See below for my progress so far. Modification Unlock Reached Full Micro-Upgraded No. of Ranks Early Smokey M1 1st Sergeant Master Sergeant 1 Hunter M1 WO 4 WO 2 2 I will see if I can continue to get them fully micro upgraded before the unlock rank. What about no paint? Well at low ranks it’s not a problem. The protection they give is quite low and only against one or two turrets. And a micro upgraded Hunter is much better than any paints. M0 Hunter has 105 hp whereas a fully upgraded M0 has 173.8 hp – 65% better! And this will give you protection from ALL turrets and mines. Although it takes time to reach full upgrade, for a large part of the time it will be better than any paint. The other thing with low rank paints is you will probably replace them at higher ranks and they will sit in your garage un-used and un-loved, just wasted crystals. The only disadvantage is when I unlock the next modification if I had a paint I would immediately get the protection whereas I have to wait to micro-upgrade. The other thing I’m not sure of is at higher ranks will players see a green tank as a mult and want me to leave, or an easy target to pick on? I don’t know, I will find out later how it goes. So would I recommend other people doing something similar – YES! You don’t have to stick with smoky-hunter pick your own combo but then micro upgrades only. I would also say this works best as an alt account. When you start out you want to try all turrets and hulls to see what they can and can’t do and to find your own playing style. Also it’s nice to have different combos to keep things fun. Have you done anything similar? Will this still work at higher ranks? Let me know your thoughts.