Paladin is a good kit - you will like it. Have Smoky M3 but have not bought the alteration. It might be useful in some specific situations (one vs one or maps with lots of ramps) where the impact will have huge effect. But I don't see it as widely applicable.

Game economics. Winning a battle is the single most important factor to getting the lions share of the battle-fund. Once a team has the lead, and in the proper map - they try to defend. Set up a nice kill-zone and let the attackers break themselves against the defense. Red Noise is perfect for this. It is very hard for blue to get up the ramps if 2nd level is well defended. The battle fund keeps going up because Red is killing the Blue tanks. All you need is a 1-0 win to grab a bunch of crystals. Does not always work - but works often.

why would you "have to" MU (without discounts)? Advantage - early performance upgrades for a lot of crystals. Disadvantage - costs a LOT of crystals for each step - especially if you use speed-ups.

True. But using same turret for every battle can get boring. And mid/long range weapons don't always adapt so well to the smaller maps. Having two M3s before hardcore MU-ing gives some flexibility.

If you are only getting one more m2 kit (before saving for M3s) get Atlas. Smoky is one of best M2s and then you have a long wait for M3s. And (if I read correctly) you already have Hunter M2? Then Northerner would be a waste - you don't need two M2 medium hulls. Get the Titan.

OK - but this is Sandbox... so if you're not back at far fall you could probably use the "V" key for reveal?

I bought Guardian and it is a good kit. However, I already had medic kit with Viking M3 beforehand. After using Hornet M3 you might find Titan too slow. Guess it depends on what you like doing. Except for small maps Titan is best on defense. If you really want Smoky, the Paladin with a medium hull might be best for you. Then buy Titan later on during a sale. Also keep in mind Smoky will not be useful long-range - the "weak" damage is only 10%. That's very low. But if you find Thunder satisfactory for longer ranges Smoky will do great at mid-ranges.

IKR? And what's the damage of each Striker missile? Waaay higher than a Twins bolt.

And if enemy hits "V" key won't someone in trees be revealed?

But the overall crit damage was lowered by a lot. M1 critical used to be 510. Now it's 350. Turret is still good - but don't rely on the 1-in-5 chance of critical to turn the tide. it's only about 10% better than a regular shot (within max range.)

I agree. The difference between M3 & M4 (turrets) is around 19%. But that is offset by the protection module min of 35%. being able to switch away from the protected weapon is important. Plus MUs take sooooo long. Baby steps. To continue to compete we need to eventually MU, but that is not my highest priority. Almost have my "prodigy" module. After that I can look at MU-ing my equipment further.

I guess it depends on the competition. And the rest of the garage. And willingness to go hard with supplies. I think we can all agree it's not the Isida Alterations. :D :o :wacko: :blink: All things being equal I don't see what you are seeing.

oh - my bad. My appologies. And thanks for getting my hopes up :angry:

Not sure about that. Evenings seems more like 50 / 50. Lots of supply-enabled battles because tankers who rarely bought pro-Pass to play drug battles now need to do so in order to get a specific battle-spectrum. They don't like the "Battle Button".

Wait... did that change recently? I thought it was: Energy capacity +4 seconds | Damage per second -30% | Healing per second -15% | Self-healing % doubled So less damage, less healing, more self healing (up to 20% total)... no?

Devs implemented HEALING with the turret. healing team-mates and self-healing to survive in combat. Both. So for me healing in general is the defining characteristic. Not just healing teammates. I guess we will disagree on this.

I'll accept that.

Riddle-me-this... Why does hammer get what seem to be two useable Alterations while Isida gets... well... this is a public forum and I don't think I can use the proper terms to describe what is being offered to Isida users.

Saw a tanker mid-last year around Captain rank - with Prodigy. So let me get this straight... he archived an account that had one of those OP discontinued kits. Then brought it out of storage one year (or more?) later to dominate the mid-ranks? I mean... wow...

Of course. But then Striker can easily use a DA to counter the DP. If supplies enabled the striker is just as likely to use...

They already increased the re-load time and nerfed the critical. What more do you want them to take away?

Maybe protection module? 35% - 50% can make a HUGE difference.

So your solution is.... .... .... supplies?

Northerner is definitely a good kit. However, I would be compeltely shocked if you could buy the Kit in Shop before unlock rank of Captain. Chevy Chase in X-mas Vacation shocked... "If I woke up tomorrow morning with my head sown to the carpet, I couldn't be more surprised". I think the Shop just allows you to skip the wait on the rotation.

If you can afford it. I guess since they've raised the ranks for M3s (and many of their corresponding kits) it gives more time to save for the M3.