Not true.

Do you mean "...droppng ability for ASL" in general? For any reason? I ask this because Hunter is not the only problem. A camping hornet with OD and DD can kill most tanks trying to cap. Flag returned instantly. Same with Viking. And these tanks don't even need to be near the flag carrier - unlike Hunter.

Sure non-buyers can "do well", but overall - "Buyers" still have an advantage in container-events like WAR. To get the max # containers you need to own both Battle Pass and Premium Pass

The Crit-hit represents a 50% damage boost over average damage of a regular hit. Yes - the autocannon allows that boost more often. But at same time all non-Crit shots (majority of shots) take an 85% reduction. It balances out fairly evenly. Your suggestion just redistributes the damage in a different way - making it less like a smoky by nerfing the main aspect that makes it a smoky.

With everyone gunning for stars... no matter what the battle-mode, players act like it's all TDM. Why try to cap a flag (and die often) when you can sit back and jusy destroy tanks. Viking OD excels at this.

One or two dictators on same team as mammoth and it will have that many ODs. Plus the supply drop that boosts to 100%. Why you think there are so many vikings in battle even though it has slowest recharge? Mammoth is hardly the strongest. Hornet OD is way, way more versatile.

I think many of the alts need attention. Mortar is ridiculous - especially when combined with Viking OD. FYI... I have all the smoky alts. Incendiary is better than autocannon.

Autocannon takes away 85% of the damage of all shots except for critical - so yes - without the critical, autocannon would be completely useless. Not sure what about that you don't understand. Why don't you answer my question? What alts you mention above subtract 85% of the stock damage in order to give a benefit to the turret?

Was your question rhetorical?

Do any of the alts you mention reduce the stock damage by 85%? ???

They are not supposed to be an improvement, but at least a few of them are better than stock. How? - kits in shop let buyers get equipment 2 ranks faster - then they can MU that equipment to next M-level way faster than non-buyers - Drones. Very expensive - so buyers likely have multiple drones that are upgraded way faster than non-buyers could afford - Challenges - battle-pass allows unlocking Gold tier which gives 3x the rewards or more

Alteration are not supposed to be an improvement. "Alterations are modifiers that allow a player to alter gameplay features of turrets while keeping them within the overall game's balance. For example, an alteration can weaken one characteristic in favor of strengthening another one." "Buyers" have othe methods of getting an advantage.

Without critical the turret + alt would then be useless. It only tickles targets until a critical is reached.

Does Mortar alteration work with Viking OD (lays 15-20 mines)? Or is it like Smoky auto-cannon & Viking OD ... reverts to stock...

It's quite the feat - they've managed to make it a lot more complex (all the new layers) while simultaneously dumbing it down by a few magnitudes.

1) Not sure how you are getting hit by it again if under cover - but - even if you do you are not dead since you used the RK. You still have options. 2) IMO Shaft has higher kill rate and as Rail fires faster could have a higher hit rate. Gauss slots in the middle as it really needs the snipe to do much. It's regular shot is fairly weak and when forced up close it's even weaker than rail - since it can self-damage significantly with that large and powerful splash effect. We'll have to agree to disagree on this one.

I'm getting more errors with HTML5 than I did with Flash... ?

What do you mean "not even a second before..."? If you are comparing to Rail "delay" then it's 2 seconds for Gauss. And Rail can start that "delay" under cover while Gauss needs to be in the open. Rail can fire every 3.7 seconds. Gauss can snipe every 5 seconds. How is using a repair kit when hit by a gauss shot a "waste"? It's likely doing > 50% of your health. Use the RK to survive (at least one more shot) and move. No different than a hit from any other high-damage turret that does not kill you outright. It's a tank game - it's inevitable that you WILL be hit. It's what happens after that first hit that is important. A "snipe" shot that deals a lot of damage to one target just should not be doing a huge amount of damage to other targets in the vicinity. Guess we have different philosophies on this. You want to reduce the chance of getting off the shot outright. I want to to reduce the collateral damage that comes from actually getting that hit.

Last time they gave us a new map they gave us archipalego... ? so... I'm thinking... ?

Why is this a problem? In many (most?) cases it does not result in a kill on undamaged tanks. Why do you need to know you are being locked on? If you just assume you are being targeted by someone, from somewhere, and act accordingly, you will be hit less often Shaft can pretty much do the same thing - only it DOES result in a kill. Users of shaft have found a way to get around the laser (hide it until needed). And there's many maps they don't even need to do that - can kill someone as they spawn in the open. Have been killed many, many times this way by shaft. I use Gauss on my other account. Some battles it does very well. Others - not so well. A lot depends on the map and your team. I don't get killed by Gauss any more than by any other turret - on either account. Not sure why it's such a thorn in your side...

Triple and quad kills are the problem - not single players taking a snipe-shot. Suck it up butter-cup : take the hit, use an RK, and move under cover.

That is issue with OD, not turret. As we both know Rail is even more efficient with that. The tweak Gauss needs is an adjustment to the damage range on Splash - does too much out too far.

All modes. Getting it multiple times different battles different modes.

Even without a laser, I have yet to be one-shotted by a Gauss. Can't say the same for Shaft though...

Shafts damage is still significcantly more than Gauss average damage. Same with Striker salvo. The shaft laser can be hidden - does not require a lock-on. Different mechanism type.