From a programmer perspective, this isn't a difficult process to fix the bug unless the original code is already horribly written. It is as simple as adding an extra boolean parameter to the projectile/weapons. Secondly, supply use is frequent in the game thus all interactions should be as intuitive as possible, thus it doesn't make sense to leave a bug like this unchecked. Third, Double Armor is frequently used, thus not having DD against them after death is quite a detriment.

Posted a much condensed version of this quite a while ago, didn't get noticed by many people.

The gameplay of Tanki revolves around one keyword: damage. A player's skill in Tanki is largely presented by how much damage they can do and how much damage they can dodge within a specific situation. While this is a healthy and natural way to distinguish the good from the great, the game is limited in depth especially if a player is playing alone. The fact that battles can go up to 10+ players per team for CTF and 20+ players for DM limits how much agency a player has on the battlefield since his damage will only be a small portion of total damage dealt during the whole match. In addition, this game has little game knowledge requirement (general damage range of weapons, weapon cooldown, HP, etc.) for one to consistently do well. Even with a large selection of maps, Tanki has a lower learning curve than most PvP games. So how can we fix this problem of limited gameplay depth? Here are a couple ideas: The inclusion of more hulls/turrets. Most other popular PvP games have an abundance (some goes up to 100+) of playable characters and specific mechanics for each character. Tanki can simply enlarge the selection of equipment. Encourage more team play. If Tanki becomes a more team oriented game, then elements such as weapon composition and teamwork will be more important for players to master. A strict competitive game balance. The recent change to unify the rank to obtain M3 equipment is a step in this direction to make this game truly competitive by making all M3s the same power level. While it is understandable that this is not happening in lower ranks (to encourage more purchases of equipment. Ex: Freeze M2 at the lowest possible rank is fantastic against the players with only M1s, but the player will have to buy other M2s or micro-upgrades after reaching higher ranks as Freeze M2 is worse than most other M2s), this is letting some players get an innate advantage before the game even begins. The addition of more utility. Obviously, I left the fourth point unexplained for a reason. This is the way I believe this game can make its next push without a complete overhaul of the current system. The other three points require massive changes in the game's current features or the developers' visions. What is Utility? Utility in game design is an element of gameplay that is not based on damage but other effects that impact how damage is dealt. An example of utility in the game right now is the slow on Freeze, allowing the player to minimize enemy retaliation if utilized currently. The slowing effect does not add extra damage onto the turret, but it significantly reduces the opposition's chances in fighting back. With this definition in mind, there are a few other sources of "utility" in the game such as Shaft's scope, Isida's healing and status removal; and Vulcan's "gyroscope". All these features do not add extra damage numbers to the turret but instead allows the player to have an easier time dealing damage. Imagine playing Shaft without the scope with the damage unchanged; it's a much more difficult endeavor to hit targets far away. This is just a simple example of how something that is not "damage" can significantly impact gameplay. Why More Utility? Tanki doesn't have ubiquitous utility across the board for all equipment. While all turrets have something special about them, most of them just "deal more damage" instead of some actual interesting effects. Hulls are just a mess right now with the M3 changes to the point that the developers in their own V-LOG don't even have a satisfying answer to the question of "why would anyone get Hornet if Wasp has the same HP and is faster". (To reply to the specific answer giving in the V-LOG, maneuverability is something that can be mastered through experience, but there is no way to make your tank go faster at top speed no matter how good you are.) Adding utility would help to answer this problem and introduce interesting mechanics for the otherwise boring hulls. Another reason to add more utility is to force more macro-level decision making and teamwork. For example, if there is an effect that allows Freeze to intensifies its slow for a short time and completely stop a tank, skilled players will utilize this when there are teammates around to take advantage of the effect instead of us whenever-ever. Also, players will also have the opportunity to count the cooldown of some of those utility effects, encouraging more effective communication in the team chat by telling your whole team to take advantage of your opponents' cooldowns when possible. In addition, some of those effects can be chained by activating them one after the other, so the team that can setup the utility combo will perform better. How Can We Add Utility? So here is when we can get really creative. Utility effects can be as bizarre as possible as long as it yields healthy gameplay and balance. Here is some utility ability ideas for hulls that can hopefully make each hull more unique rather than the current iteration of hulls that puts them into pointless "classifications" based on the max HP. Hornet: Strength in Numbers - Creates a shield for self that lasts for 1-5 seconds depending on the number of nearby allies. While the shield holds, 30% of damage taken by you is dealt to the healthiest ally nearby and you are immune to projectile knock back. (CD: 90 sec) Wasp: Blur - For the next 3 seconds, increase max speed by 50% and damage taken by 20%. (CD: 20 sec) Viking: Last Stand - For 5 seconds, your tank cannot be moved by any means (recoil, projectile knock back, tank collision) other than physics/gravity. Lasts even if destroyed. (CD: 45 sec) Dictator: Dire Command - For 10 seconds, 50% of damage sustained by nearby allies (including self) and enemies are delayed until the end of the effect's duration. (CD: 120 sec) Hunter: Hunt - The next tank you damage will have its HP bar revealed to you (but not your allies) for 30 seconds or until it's destroyed. (CD: 30 sec) Mammoth: Stampede - For 8 seconds, you and your nearby allies gain speed based on the number of HP left, gaining 1m/s speed per 50 HP. (CD: 180 sec) Titan: Colossal Strength - For 5 seconds gain 30% increase in hitbox and increased damage output based on your current health percentage (40% increase max.) (CD: 75 sec) All the numbers here are off the top of my head and will need play test to determine balance, but this is the general idea of what can be done in the game. Each ability supports the unique identity of the hull while presenting new opportunities. Mammoth can help the front line engage the enemy easier. Titan can draw more aggro from enemies to protect fragile allies. Wasp goes even faster and harder to hit. Hunter can actually hunt more effectively and allows team to also take advantage with proper communication. Ideally all hulls will have multiple utility abilities to choose from so that people can pick the one that fits their style. Abilities can be added to turrets and give them more depth than "press space to fire". The problem I am worried about is how Tanki will have this implemented. If Tanki implement this similar to alterations, then those abilities will come with a high cost, but this completely ruins the whole purpose. The purpose to add more utility is to make every hull and turret have more agency in the game without the need to spend large amount of crystals in a system similar to the current micro-upgrades, thus making the game more skill reliant and less "Pay to Win". If implemented correctly this will also allow more interesting eSport matches and help Tanki pick back up its dream of becoming a spectator eSport game. The best way I can see to implement this is to have them unlocked as you earn exp points with a hull/turret, so there is still a sense of progression for the players but not more burdens on their crystal budget. No matter whether any similar changes will be brought into the game, I hope this game will only get more interesting and skill reliant as time progresses. Not seeing progress in this direction makes me worry about the longevity of the Tanki project.

A somewhat annoying bug(?) that the damage of a projectile is calculated on hitting an enemy instead of on projectile creation. This is understandable since there is Double Armor in the game so it's much simpler to calculate all the damage when a projectile hit a target, but this indirectly makes Double Damage weaker. If a tank launches a projectile (striker missiles/twin shots/ricochet) while having Double Damage activated but dies before projectile hits the target, the projectile will not deal double damage since the server checks the supply status of the tank on projectile impact, and a dead tank doesn't have supplies activated. Suggestion: Check the damage of a projectile twice, once on projectile creation for Double Damage, once on projectile impact for Double Armor.

Hello, OneeSama here. I have posted two articles on this forum two months ago: a quick guide for beginners and a post about Isida nerf. I haven't really been active here since then on the forums here, but I did participate in a couple of newspaper contests and hopefully I have done well for the ones that haven't announced the winners yet. What I really want to talk about today is attitudes. Tanki Online is a game with a younger player base than most other online games I take part in. With that said I do enjoy playing games with younger peers. I started gaming by playing Nintendo games with younger family members, and I haven't stopped playing with them to this day. With younger age, however, comes with impatience, rage, and impulsiveness. This is observable throughout the entire gaming world, not just Tanki. There are reporting and moderating systems in every gaming community for a reason. I don't want to talk about the cheesy "don't get angry at a game" rant people give when facing rage and toxicity. What I want to talk about is how do we approach a game like Tanki Online and how we get the most fun out of it. What Gaming Is We play video games for different purposes. Some play to pass the time. Some play to hangout with friends. Some play to satisfy an addiction. I unfortunately fall into the last category. The sole reason I picked up Tanki is to fulfill my gaming desire while I am transitioning to a new computer without any other games installed. No matter the purpose, gaming became the solution to all of us because it is fun. It fills us with energy when we are feeling down. It provides a platform for people of all ages and backgrounds to enjoy something together, to enjoy some simple, innocent fun. The recent rise of competitive gaming has given change to this ideal. We as gamers are attracted by the idea that not a single second of our gaming experience will be the same from now on. We face different opponents in different battles, and we can wield different setups into combat to determine who are the better players. Everything will be exciting, if we play to win. If we play to win, then we will think actively about strategies. We come up with ideas about the best ways to win, and we stick with those ideas. Words like "meta" becomes a keyword in every gaming discussion, and the equipments and playstyles in the game are compared and ranked; eventually we come up with the idea of how the game should be played, and we segregate those who don't follow those hidden rules. We type "noob shaft" when a player uses Wasp and Shaft in close range combat and does poorly. We tell them they suck. Sometimes we tell them to kill themselves. We explain to them that the game is not supposed to be played this way, and the fact that he is playing the game like that is ruining our experience. The worst part? They don't listen. They keep doing what they are doing, and they hinder our performance and rewards. This is what we see now across gaming communities. For games like Super Smash Brothers there are character tier lists. For card games there are ranked tiers for decks. For games like Tanki there are optimized setups which we perceive are the correct ways to play the game. Yes, we might have won more games. We might have trumped more opponents, but what else comes of this? Winning is certainly fun. We don't feel good when we lose. We don't feel good when our opponents type "GG noobs" as they leave the battle triumphant. We want to crush them. We want to squish their bodies, mutilate their flesh under a falling chunk of concrete, and watch their blood splatter across the walls. We want them to beg for mercy as we take away their final hope of victory. This is the reason why toxicity exist in every online game. We play to win, not for enjoyment. When we play a single player game, we defeat the final boss and say "hm, that was an enjoyable experience." When we play a multiplayer game, we defeat the opponent and say "damn those guys sucked" and move on to the next battle. The difference here is that we are no longer playing the game for the gaming experience but to pursue a sense of self-fulfillment. We think that if we won a game we will become better than our past selves, but deep inside we know it's not true. After a gaming session, when we head back to real life, nothing has changed, and we all have felt this feeling of emptiness. So why don't we enjoy the game for what it is? We play games for fun, so why don't we try something new? Why don't we try to experience something different, something unique, something other players who are purely focused on winning aren't enjoying? Departure from Tanki Online Personally, I will be leaving this game temporarily. It is not because any of the recent changes nor any negative experiences with the game. This game has a fantastic concept and I hope the developers can realize their vision of an action packed shooter game. About the recent changes, I think it's something people will just have to adapt to. We can have players cry about the game not being Free-2-Play friendly, but eventually the screaming will stop, and the game can continue to develop on its merry way. I want to thank the developers for creating this game as it has provided me with dozens of hours of entertainment and a community to share my experience with, but I don't think this game perfectly fit my taste as well as my future plans for my gaming career. I will be streaming other games starting in around three weeks. Maybe Tanki will get some offhand spotlight then since it is a game that definitely deserve more players, but unless that happens I will be bidding farewell to the game. For any of you interested in my gaming endeavors, I have recently started to produce video game guide articles on Reddit under the name of u/Kappacitance, and I am planning on opening up a blog website as my collection of guides grow. For the rest of you all, I have enjoyed being part of this game, and I hope I will be able to see you guys again sometime in the future.

Scoreboard should show more than the score and D/L at the end of the game (it would be too much to look at in the middle of the battle) such as Damage Dealt, Healing Done, Flags Captured, etc.

Speaking of being low rank. Low ranks' opinions matter. I can imagine if I played this game for years and Isida just got gutted like that I would be upset no matter what turret I main since the change is simply overwhelming. A lot of times you can tell how a game is balanced by asking the new players' perspectives; a lot of the responses will be quite interesting as well as helpful for the developers.

I should probably look up the sales dates then.

Personally, I'm quite pleased by the upcoming Isida nerfs. Based on personal experiences in Tanki as well as in other games with similar "Healer/Self Heal" elements, gutting Isida's healing as well as self-heal ratios is a step in the right direction. Evaluating the Status Quo: What's Wrong? The Isida turret has the design many other similar PvP games contain: a way to counteract damage dealt, and this gameplay element is necessary to balance other turrets. For example, if Isida's don't exist, chunking people with Shaft and Railgun damage would be hands down the best way to play the game due to the absurd range of those two guns and consistent damage (no range based damage fall-off). Most guns such as Hammer, Firebird, and Freeze would be subpar when on the vast majority of maps minus maybe Gravity. The presence of a tank that can keep everyone healthy is in itself a balance measure. So what happened with Isida so that the game developers would want to deploy the nerf gun? Let's draw some comparisons with two other PvP games: 1. StarCraft: Regeneration and healing are built into every race of the franchise. Zerg players don't expand creep for the looks: the global regeneration buff from having creep everywhere makes every unit the player produce much more durable and thus more efficient. Terrans have their medics, so it's pretty straightforward what they do. Protoss has regenerative shields outside of their HP pool. While they do not regenerate their HP back after taking damage, the shield does come back a while after not taking damage and allows the player to get a lot out of the unit if played correctly. What Tanki is doing differently: While Tanki's healing theme is similar to StarCraft's "get-the-most-out-of-each-spawn" approach, Tanki failed to keep the healing universal. Only Isida players have access to healing abilities instead of letting all players regenerate passively. This results in a world where damage won't "stick" on the Isida player, but every other turret in the game will still take damage as normal. 2. League of Legends: While all champions (aka playable characters) have access to passive regeneration, straight-up healing is mostly relying on the support player (I'm simplifying the team dynamic a lot here). They are the ones who can generate massive value out of your other players by applying shields, heals, and buffs over time; they can essentially win the game for the team if the team incorporates the support characters better than the opposition.The drawback, you guessed it, they are extremely weak on their own. Most support champions will die to anyone in a 1v1 situation since they do not do enough damage out of their abilities since most of them are heals and shields. In order to let supports do their work, the team has to protect them. What Tanki is doing differently: Isida is probably the best dueling turret in the game with high DPS and self-heal ratio, able to win most 1v1's if the enemy tank doesn't have enough HP to live through one full discharge of the Isida turret. I think the reason why Tanki did this is due to the lack of "utility" in the game. Since the theme of Tanki is "Damage", it is difficult to come up with interesting effects for Isida while having it remain competitive. For example, lowering Isida's damage but allowing it to speed up allied tanks would not make the gun attractive to play since Isida players would feel useless when playing on their own due to the lack of damage. What these factors generate is an extremely oppressive play style for Isida. The oppression here is different from being one-shot by Shafts or Railguns because at least there is a chance for you to hit back. Isida's oppression is different. It often gives the opposing team the feeling of not being able to counter the Isida as whittling down an Isida bit by bit is difficult or outright impossible, and one-shot/burst damage kills are challenging to pull off as Isida turret can be combined with hulls with high HP pool as well as double armor. This is a textbook design mistake if there ever is one. Nerfing Isida: How it's Done While this nerf will probably not bring the perfect balance, it does answer the key issues raised above in the following ways: Isida will not have as much dueling/sustain potential. This directly lowers the oppressiveness the Isida bring to the table in terms of damage dealing. Now Isida players would need to think carefully about taking damage as it would be more difficult to be healed back without another Isida backing it up. Isida's healing on other tanks will be much slower, forcing them sacrificing their potential damage if they want to heal. For example, currently, a wasp can be brought back to full health in about 3 seconds (using fully Micro Upgraded M3 stats); after the nerf, it would take about 4 seconds. Time spent healing is time spent not doing damage, and thus, not regaining its own health. The time difference would be larger when healing heavier tanks as well, further limiting Isida's options. Isida still retains its identity as the premiere healer in the game. Isida will still yield great value in team battles and still counteract long range chip damage. Isida will continue to impact team battles but in the way it is designed to. What About the Others: Implications Nerfing the only natural healing component in the game would definitely bring changes to rest of the players as well as cause further implications down the road: How bold can players play: currently, players can charge into the enemy base and rely on Isida's healing to keep them alive, resulting in extremely bold behavior. A tank running into the enemy base to capture a flag without giving it a second thought due to the Isida heal is a commonplace occurrence. Now, a little more thought is going to be put into decision making: when to go in, when to get out. Players are now forced to play around reload timing a bit more, which would make the game a tad more skill based than it is right now. Team Compositions: while I'm nowhere close to being a clan player and haven't watched any e-sport matches, I think this point would still apply. In order to maintain a nice cycle of healing, more Isidas must be in a team than before as Isida is now more vulnerable to damage, deals less damage, and heals less. When deciding which guns to use, a team might now have to think about the trade-off between having more damage or having more healing. Having players to make this kind of decision is almost always beneficial to any game, increasing gameplay diversity. EXP Rate for Isida: Isida's exp gain will definitely take a hit. Less damage means a lower amount kills, and less heal would also mean less EXP. While Isida did get buffed in the respect that less energy is consumed per second, the reload nerf on the fully Micro Upgraded M3 as well asheer shear amount of reduction on the healing stat would still be more impactful factors. Math here for anyone who wants to see it (25% loss in potential EXP!): Conclusion The Isida nerf is overall beneficial for the Tanki community; however, for all you passionate Isida players out there, you won't be having as much fun after the nerf since the EXP rate as well as dueling potential has been reduced. Isida is a sacrifice for the goal of establishing more balance in the game, and I genuinely hope that Tanki developers would also take a look at other games when designing new gameplay elements so significant design mistakes such as this one will not happen again.

I've played other tactical games (StarCraft 2, Dota 2, LoL, Duelyst, as well as made some mini guides for them) so I guess I'm naturally more inclined to notice those things. Also game economics (in this case crystal management) is always something I'm interested in no matter it's from the player or the dev perspective.

Hello! This is OneeSama, otherwise, you can address me as Donald, and I've played this game for a month. After a month of gameplay as a free to play player, here's a guide to help beginners to get started and avoid making mistakes in terms of managing crystals as well as gameplay. GET STARTED - THINGS TO LEARN FIRST Key Ideas People Have Trouble With Learn the controls. Some controls such as movement are fairly obvious, but others are not. Commands such as drop flag with 'F' or 'DELETE' to self-destruct are not always used when necessary. The game does a good job showing new players to press 'DELETE' when upside down, but many still frantically call out for help in chat. Try out the WASD control if you aren't using them. There is a slight difference in terms of quality of life features. In WASD control, you can turn your turret, move, and fire at the same time: something the arrow keys don't allow in the game (maybe a bug?). Learn combat patterns. How many shots does it take to shoot down a Wasp with a Smoky? How many seconds can my tank endure a Firebird? Before getting into a duel or engage on a pack of enemies, thinking about this can often avoid unnecessary deaths. Pick up dropped supplies, even if it is out of your way. That double armor or speed might mean life and death when running into the enemy base for flag capture. Off hand note: there is a difference between team chat and ALL chat. Use TAB to switch between them after you hit enter. Don't give away where enemy's flag is! SLIGHTLY MORE ADVANCED GAMEPLAY TIPS Ways to Improve Quickly Turn your turrets. From my observation, many new players don't turn their heads when attacking. Turning your turret allows you to deal damage faster without the need to turn your slower tank. Also, you can peek around corners as one of the in-game tips has already pointed out. Use CAMARA CONTROLS, so you can see over buildings and walls. The best way to outplay an enemy is to know where he is at all times. When you are running around a building trying to get a kill on an unsuspecting target this is the best way to make sure no one stops you. Memorize drop zones, especially repair boxes. Knowing where free supplies are maybe can help you develop a good pathing habit to always think about where you go in, and where you come out. For example, in the map Brest, it is better to jump from the enemy base down towards the center when capturing flags as there can be repair box as well as speed boost present. Team Battle Tip: Always kill the Isidas first. A full discharge of an M0 Isida can heal a Mammoth to full HP. If the healers go down, so does the amount of potential HP that they bring. For Isida players: you are not the front-line. Charging into five enemies when playing Firebird may be OK, but with Isida, it's most likely a bad call. Stay on the back-line, heal your front-liners at max range so Thunders don't destroy you. Supply Usage: Use them at key moments. This point seems rather obvious, but a lot of players do tend to use supplies on a whim (maybe after they died to the same tank way too many times) and not think about maximizing the value. It is good and often necessary to use a double damage to kill off the enemy flag carrier and return the flag, but it is not wise to use a DD to try to shoot a Mammoth down across the map with a Smoky just because he killed you three times in a row with Shaft. Again, it seems obvious now, but you will be surprised how many players forget about this. CRYSTAL MANAGEMENT Better Gear Means More Wins And more wins mean more crystals, which means better gear. Micro-upgrades are often not worth it. If you trouble visualizing how much fully upgrading a hull or turret costs, look up on the wiki. For earlier ranks, you go up so fast you don't get much value out of having your railgun doing 10 more damage as the next modification would be available rather quickly. Just because you get the next modification for free doesn't mean it's worth it. You spend about double the crystals for what is of the same power level as the next modification. The crystals you get from winning matches with MU's don't match with your investment. Product Kits: The beginner kits for M0's are nice since they give a discount while providing a wide variety of gears to try out, but don't buy more than one since there's quite a bit of overlap between them. The later kits for M1's are not always worth it. Look at the price tag and what you are getting. Paints are not something F2P players should go after, they have no protection and they don't make much of a difference. For example, the EXTERMINATOR kit isn't worth it as the price of the kit is higher than the price of the hull plus the turret. The FIGHTER kit is as the kit price is 10000 crystals cheaper than the price of the hull plus turret combined. To view a list of all kits including the ones not currently available in the cycle, use the wiki. Be wary of impulse purchase: Just because Smoky M1 is available and you feel like you can boost your damage a bit doesn't mean you should buy it! Try to come up with a plan for what you want to buy, how much do you have to save up. Look up prices beforehand so you are not surprised how expensive things are! For example, my plan for the purchases I made this weekend was to use 33000 crystals I saved since I started to afford the TSUNAMI kit, get another 19300 crystals for Viking M1 before getting to Warrant Officer 1, and then use Hammer M1 and Viking M1 to farm SIMOOM kit for the rank of Third Lieutenant. No other purchases will be made, besides those planned ones. Pick a setup, stick with it. Don't expect to be able to collect all the guns and hulls in the game. This goes back to the impulse purchase point. Even if you feel like getting that Shaft M1 would be fun to play for a while, it is rather better to play what you have now and have enough crystals to buy Shaft M2 when the time comes. Don't always play with people with ranks under you! You get more battle funds from playing with higher ranks and even if you might not match their gear you can still outplay them with skill. This would improve your rate of crystal gain which nicely plays into that is going to be explained below. Finally, for those of you many people out there, you can calculate your crystal gain from games by looking at your EXP GAINED to CRYSTAL GAINED ratio at the end of a match. If you can get about one to one in terms of exp gained to crystal gained, you can expect to get that amount of crystals as you rank up. For example, if I somehow achieve the one to one ratio, from the beginning of Warrant Officer 2 to Third Lieutenant, I can expect 116000 crystals as that's the number of EXP required to rank up from WO2 to Third Lieut. If that's not enough for your purchasing plans, make sure you are doing daily missions (replace supply rewards for crystal rewards with the free replace) as well as trying to catch gold boxes. Don't count on gold boxes, however, as it is quite difficult to catch them consistently. CONCLUSION (TL; DR) FIRST THINGS FIRST: Basic mechanics of the game such as controls is a big component of player skill. Don't be that guy who still don't know how to turn a turret! OTHER TIPS: Being observant in the game is important, but the process thinking about the game from a strategic standpoint, even when not playing the game, may help improve your play - helping your macro and micro decision making. CRYSTALS: Manage them like they are real money. You won't spend hundreds of Dollars (or Euros, or Pounds, whatever you prefer) on a whim, so don't do that here. A little planning can go a long way!

CONTEST ENTRY: Song: Pharrell Williams - Happy Year of Grammy - 2014 Category - Best Music Video