It's nice to see someone writing about the relative merits of kits, and you've done a lot of good work here. Unfortunately, you haven't covered the effect of hull-based overdrives, which are now pivotal to gameplay - I seriously recommend you rewrite the article to include this. Also, you should have mentioned the affordability of these kits. To buy Keeper as soon as it's available, you will need to have acquired 16400 crystals by the time you've earned 3700XP - i.e. you'll have either needed to be a buyer, or been very lucky with a container. Firefly on the other hand is available from 7100XP, which is easily sufficient time to have acquired the 20050 crystals you need. You need to buy kits as soon as they're available, of course, to maximise the time you will have dominating. You don't want to be using them against higher-ranked opponents - you should be looking at the next kit at that point. One other thing: if you are lucky with the crystals, then buying two kits can work well. Two of my accounts have both Firefly and Cupid. The Firebird/Freeze protection helps, and the wasp/Viking can be selected according to whether it's a large or small map.

19-4: Supplies - M - 125 19-4: Paint - Garage (Hohloma) , Supplies - DA - 125 18-4: Gold Boxes - 5 18-4: Crystals - 3500 18-4: Supplies - DA - 125 , Supplies - SB - 125 18-4: Supplies - RK - 125 , Crystals - 10000 16-4: Supplies - SB - 125

Oh, now why didn't you say so! :wacko:

13-4: Paint - Football (Denmark) , Supplies - SB - 125 13-4: Gold Boxes - 5 12-4: Gold Boxes - 5 11-4: Gold Boxes - 5 , Supplies - DD - 125 , Supplies - M - 125 5-4: Supplies - M - 125 5-4: Supplies - SB - 125 4-4: Paint - Garage (Carbon) That's just 2 crystal rewards in the last 41 containers opened - I've opened 24 since the last one. Some Gold Boxes this week, which coincided with the Cosmonauts Day event (did others get GBs too this week?) And very few rare (or rarer) containers recently: 2 rare/r containers in the last 28, both of them crappy paints. I'm getting more and more convinced they nerfed containers in January (when they reduced the number of containers as weekly rewards).

I'll continue to post here, as I cannot trust your external link (nothing personal!) 3-4: Supplies - DA - 125 2-4: Supplies - DA - 125 , Supplies - SB - 125 29-3: Batteries - 50 , Supplies - SB - 125 29-3: Batteries - 50 28-3: Supplies - DD - 125 26-3: Supplies - SB - 125 , Supplies - DA - 125 , Supplies - DD - 125 So, to summarise the last 14 containers: 4x125DA, 3x125SB, 3x125M, 2*125DD, 2x50Batteries. That's it.

22-3: Supplies - DA - 125 22-3: Supplies - M - 125 22-3: Supplies - M - 125 20-3: Supplies - M - 125 19-3: Crystals - 3500 19-3: Supplies - DD - 125 Batteries - 50 16-3: Gold Boxes - 5 Not a great week for anyone, really. I disagree that buying anything, even a battle pass isn't a waste of money. You shouldn't need to spend anything in this game. Ask yourself what you're going to gain? There's no pride any more in going up the ranks - you just meet stronger tanks at the higher levels who either 1) got the kit before it became difficult to do so or 2) have bought it. There's no such thing as a fair game any more at the higher ranks. I'm working on a strategy to become and remain dominant in the new regime, but it probably won't last into the higher ranks. We non-buyers may just have to become content with abandoning accounts at say rank 15 and starting all over again.

15-3: Gold Boxes - 10 15-3: Batteries - 50 15-3: Supplies - SB - 125 13-3: Batteries - 150

Hi Nicola, You're absolutely right that drones and batteries can suck people into buyer addiction. If you're reading this, kids, don't do it! I've not spent a brass cent on this game. It says 'free online game' on the website, and I'm confident in my ability to avoid paying for it. Not that I've anything against buyers - they're absolutely necessary to keep the game operating - my quest here is how to be dominant as a non-buyer.

Drones help if you have an already dominant tank. I was just pwned by a tanker named Outline, who has a Freeze M2 +Wasp M1. He can keep the hull in almost permanent double armour using the assault drone. As he can move quickly, he's always getting to the next victim to top it up again. My Viking M1 was no match. But how many batteries do I need before I buy one? Well, Since 25th Jan (the last major change to containers) I've played 25 battles per week. Each battle lasts 7 minutes, so I would use 175 batteries per week. Also in that time, I've received around 55 batteries per week (containers, daily mission rewards, challenge rewards, etc) So I would expect to use a net of 175-55 = 120 batteries per week. So if I had 600 batteries say, they would last for 5 weeks - not really worth the outlay of 20,000 crystals to buy a drone. But if I wait until have 2000 batteries, then these would last for 17 weeks, which may make it worthwhile.

13-3: Paint - Shop (Barber Shop) , Batteries - 50 13-3: Crystals - 25000 10-3: Supplies - All - 100 , Batteries - 50 8-3: Supplies - M - 125 8-3: Supplies - M - 125 , Batteries - 50 6-3: Supplies - RK - 125 , Crystals - 3500 1-3: Crystals - 10000 Since they reduced the number of containers for weekly rewards on 25th Jan, I've opened 60 boxes, and the average crystal equivalent per box is 2367, which isn't significantly different from before. I'll need to open maybe 300 for a better comparison, but that will take a very long time at this rate.

1-3: Supplies - DD - 125 , Crystals - 3500 1-3: Supplies - DA - 125 , Crystals - 10000 1-3: Paint - Football (Switzerland) 28-2: Supplies - All - 100 26-2: Supplies - SB - 125 26-2: Supplies - DA - 125 Good news - A rare container, for once Bad news: Football paint

I don't win many containers these days: 25-2: Supplies - DA - 125 22-2: Batteries - 50 , Supplies - RK - 125 , Supplies - M - 125 , Supplies - All - 100 22-2: Supplies - DA - 125 22-2: Supplies - M - 125 , Crystals - 3500 16-2: Paint - Football (Senegal) Early indications show that the probability of winning supplies in containers has fallen since the recent upgrade, but it's too soon to be sure.

I was rather hoping for something more insightful than "Well don't play it, then"

So much about this event which is unfair: 1. Charging you 5000 crystals to play, and you don't even get to keep the paint afterwards. 5000 crystals aren't easy to come by these days, what with the reduction of containers for daily missions. 2. Rewarding winners with a paint rather than anything of any use, like crystals, containers, etc. So this is a contest for paint collectors only. 3. Not rewarding those on the winning side who have below-average scores. 75% of you will get nothing for your 5000 crystals, not even a paint. 4. Making it a contest of who plays more games (the more you play, the more stars you earn), rather than, say, the average stars earned per game, which would show who the strongest team is. The winning team will be the addicts who can aim for 2000 stars over a month. Even if you're very good at the game and earn, say, 2 stars per battle you play, you'd have to play 1000 battles over 28 days - that's 71 battles per day. At 5 battles per hour, that's playing for over 14 hours per day, plus breaks. Well, play it if you want to, but it's a lot of effort for a 25% chance of receiving an animated paint, for the cost of 5000 crystals.

15-2: Supplies - DA - 125 15-2: Supplies - RK - 125 15-2: Supplies - DD - 125 , Crystals - 3500 15-2: Supplies - SB - 125 , Supplies - SB - 125 13-2: Crystals - 25000 12-2: Batteries - 50 11-2: Supplies - DD - 125

Same here, so far, but it's too early to say whether they nerfed containers when they reduced them in weekly rewards. I'll have a better ides when I've opened 200 or so, but that's going to take a while at the current rate - maybe 4 months. I'm also annoyed they removed containers from challenge Tiers 1 and 5. That's two containers most players would have got in the first week.

5 XT rewards is astonishingly lucky (although I would trade them all for the 1 million crystals you could have won in an exotic). How many containers did you open around Christmas time?

8-2: Supplies - All - 100 , Supplies - DA - 125 8-2: Supplies - All - 100 8-2: Crystals - 3500 8-2: Crystals - 10000 5-2: Crystals - 3500 5-2: Gold Boxes - 5 5-2: Crystals - 3500 4-2: Crystals - 3500 , Crystals - 3500 4-2: Supplies - M - 125 3-2: Crystals - 3500 2-2: Gold Boxes - 5 2-2: Gold Boxes - 5 1-2: Crystals - 3500 1-2: Supplies - DA - 125

29-1: Paint - Container (Retina) , Supplies - DA - 125 29-1: Gold Boxes - 5 28-1: Supplies - RK - 125 25-1: Batteries - 150 25-1: Supplies - DD - 125 25-1: Crystals - 3500 The problem with the data here is that folks tend to post when they get good rewards, but less often when they get bad rewards, which skews the results. I've posted every one of the 862 boxes I've received, which is a reasonable sample, and I've recently posted some useful stats on reward probabilities and how they've changed. Is there anything you need to know, particularly? I'm disappointed they recently reduced the numbers of containers in weekly missions, as not only does it reduce the weekly crystals for most ranks, but it will now take longer to gather the stats on how the rewards are changing. It's important to know this, as people buy containers and want to know what they're likely to get. If a few other folks can commit to posting every container they receive,that would help.

ok, at my estimate of a Normal Container having an average crystal equivalent of 2,881, this update becomes advantageous at Generalissimo and Legend ranks only. For a more conservative estimate of 2,500 crystals per Normal container, it becomes advantageous from Marshall rank upwards. And if you're as unlucky as Wolverine and get a measly 2,000 crystals per container, then this update becomes advantageous at Colonel upwards. Two other considerations: 1. You don't have to use Weekly Containers - you can bank them and use them at higher ranks for a higher reward - a plus point for the upgrade. 2. You are less likely to pick up the big game-changing crystal rewards, and you are less likely to get other desirable non-crystal stuff (paints, shot effects, XT) if you like that sort of thing. This is a minus point for the upgrade.

You're quite right, and I hadn't forgotten it - I just wanted to keep the answer simple. The update will affect lower-ranked tanks more, as you say. There may be a point at higher ranks where it makes no difference, or is even advantageous. I'll do some number crunching.

Yeah, these spells happen. I opened a 25k container on 20th Feb, then not again until 9th July - 249 containers later. I can only wish you better luck.

24-1: Batteries - 50 , Supplies - DA - 125 23-1: Supplies - M - 125 23-1: Supplies - M - 125 , Supplies - M - 125 , Supplies - M - 125 , Crystals - 25000 23-1: Gold Boxes - 5 23-1: Crystals - 3500 Four 125 Mines in a row. <_< Has anyone else had long sequences?

Thanks Ostrica, but you're fooling yourself if you think that the Tanki office pays any attention to what you send them. Almost without exception, every update they've made in the last 2 years has been very poorly received by the community, and folks have made it known on these forums. I've not seen any evidence that they have ever listened to the feedback here; indeed, they seem to be crushing the community every few weeks with yet another poor update. But don't just take my word for it. Ask anyone here. And when you finally agree that they don't listen and don't care, please tell them so.

I include crystal equivalent from premium days (2,500 per day) and gold boxes (1,000 each). I've opened 855 containers since they started, and logged them all. I've received 1,948,500 in crystal rewards, 215,000 in premium daily crystal rewards and 300,000 in gold boxes, a total of 2,463,500 crystals (equivalent), or 2,881 per container. Maybe I'm lucky, but it is a very big sample.