You have to admire the way the Dev's are treating the player base like a bunch of petulent children. "Okay we'll try it your way, lots of players on big maps, but when it doesn't work just remember I told you so!" "We tried it your way last time with increased armour and better overdrives and what a disaster that was, but you don't listen do you?" Unsurprisingly this "experiment" is just as poorly thought out and recieved as the last one. Every game is now TDM because unless you are very lucky capping a flag/scoring a goal/playing the objective of the game is pretty impossible. Assault is defender 70-0 every game despite Hopper. You can't cap a flag if there is a Titan sitting on the base with 3 Isida/Dictators surrounding it. I know I've been trying. Rugby is either 5-0 in 2 minutes or 0-0 after a very boring 7 minutes of TDM. Lots more Magnums and Shafts now that it's a stalemate game from the off, Great fun to be constantly spawn killed by the rain of shells or the campers with Shaft. Lots of these "large maps" are not very large at all, full of buildings and terrain they are very cramped with 32 players in them. You've dusted Berlin off and brought it out but only use half of it for Rugby, why? If you are going to continue these experiments are you going to make them remotely sensible? 10V10 X10 miuntes 20% increase in armour across the board might be a more middle of the road approach instead of these wild swings. Funniest sight so far was 6 Isida/Dictators hiding behind a building healing each other while 5 Magnums poured fire on them from the other side of the building?

I've been thinking for a while now that it would be good to see how much damage your opponent is doing to you. I know I could get someone to shoot at me and tell me what they are doing but it's not that easy really. The reason is that for a while now I have been doubting that some of my modules work. I have 40 odd% against Rico but Rico still kills my light hull with 3-4 shots with module and DA. 50% railgun and it hardly does a scratch, DA and I can be hit forever. Anyone else experience this?

Surely the dev's have been at this long enough to know how it was going to be? Perhaps this is them grasping at straws as Tanki circles the plug hole. Can't post now going to look for another game to spend my time and money on.

We can but hope? But then MM was universally hated and we still got that! Today I got stuck with more Jug and CTF missions? What is the point of Jug when it's the weakest tank on the battefield? Okay, so I have to shoot at it for a month before making a scratch with Vulcan but I was spawn killed twice by Viking/Thunder as the Jug. I usually pause briefly when I get killed in Jug mode so I don't end up being the Jug. Long time since I played railgun and I suck at shooting rockets. But with this mode being so frantic I got caught out a couple of times. I'd like to see Jug get some different weapons. How about a 4 barreled Twins turret or twin Vulcans? CTF was as pants as it has been for the last two weeks. The whole team shooting at a wasp from across the map as he closes in and takes the flag, drops his bomb and heads back to base. A typical game saw my entire team head off to the other base leaving me, Hopper/Vulcan to defend the flag. What the hell am I supposed to do? I can't kill them fast enough and I sure as hell can't block them. I can use my overdrive to stun them but as the stun has worn off before I get back down to ground level they have picked up the flag again and they're off. Yes I could have changed to a different combo but I'm interested in how this experiment effects my current favorites. What was going through the minds of the dev's when they came up with this? I suspect a good deal of Vodka was responsible! I can't think of any other game where the dev's would change random parameters without prior warning and dump it on the players! Maybe it's being done as a bet just to see how much crap they can dish out to the players and still keep them. I'd love to see the playing stats for the two weeks to see how much of a dip it took. You took six maps out of rotation but didn't put any back in. Are they coming back? I'm sure getting fed up of playing the same maps time and time again. Try actually listening to the players. Try a sustainable game economy. Surely you can understand that 10,000 players paying £1 is better than 100 paying £10. Release the buyer only equipment into the shop for Xtals a few months after you've made your money from the buyers. This free to play but pay to win environment is toxic. Once this experiment has finished leave the damn game alone for 6 months barring minor tweaks to even things out, then take stock of what needs to be changed to make the game better for the players. If making the game better for the players isn't where your plans are heading then close down the game and save us all a lot of time and heartache.

Yep, agree with all of that. The beauty of TO was that it was a simple game that relied on gameplay to keep you playing. Hull/turret/paint that was it, one overdrive that took ages to charge but if used well could give full supplies to all of your team. Games were 15 minutes long which got you invested in the outcome and you chose the battle from a list of ongoing battles. Don't like a map? Don't play it. See a team that's losing, so go join their team and make a difference. When the battle ended you had the choice to play again on the same map or find another. Many games started with the same players as the last one. Then the game went mobile and we got stuck with this ongoing downward slide from a great game to something you play for a few minutes on the toilet. Which seems odd to me because the original game would have been far better for mobile than the overly complicated mish mash we have now. None of this is helped by the refusal of the developers/owners to come clean about updates and say "oops we screwed that one up, sorry we put it back how it was". With a few days left of this experiment I can't wait for it to finish. I had a weekly mission to kill 500 tanks which has taken me two weeks to complete, I'm sick and tired of playing against tanks I can't kill but can still kill me in one or two shots (I play almost exclusively light hulls Wasp/Hopper) No drone for this experiment, why waste the batteries? Games are more unbalanced with players leaving immediately if they're not on the winning side, or find they are playing against a hull they don't like ( I can't stand Viking but I'd not get much playing done if i quit every battle they were in! ). I still predict that 6V6X5 is here to stay and the rest is a smoke screen to keep the sheeple looking the other way. Oh and all the maps you took out were the ones I enjoyed playing on because you had to think about it, be able to drive, and actually have to play to be any good on them. I spend quite a bit of time on the forum and while I remember a few posts about not liking a particular map I don't remember any demanding they be removed other than Archepeligo which is still there unfortunately. I wonder what would happen if Tankimobile had a separate server, was split off from the main game. Could we go back to battle lists and longer games?

Isn't this experiment over yet? I got stuck playing CTF missions and I doubt I'l finish them. Firstly MM keeps putting one team in first who would cap a flag before most of my team were even playing. Who wants to spawn into a new game with the other team already in your base? Constant one sided battles, 5 minutes of being swamped for 200 Crystals! No thanks. I'm trying to complete a "gain 1500 points" mission. not going to happen when I'm on the losing side of a 3 minute 5-0 battle. Seems the Magnum players have got this experiment sussed. My light hull on DA was getting one shotted by Mag. Maybe someone shot me first though. Quite often I'll die without knowing what hit me and have to look to see who killed me with what! Game lag? Just like Shaft hits me without the laser pointing at me, Isida killing me round corners, and Freeze killing me just by driving past! Viking on SB is as fast as Hopper on SB. Vik/Isida chased me down while I was trying to back away from them. Vulcan is no fun to play on this experiment, it's like trying to flog them to death with wet spaghetti. You shoot at them for ever and just when you're making a dent they hit a repair kit and the tw*t with EMP Gauss kills you, again. Tanki, you really need to have a look at some of your maps with respect to which mode they are played. Some are so biased that it's nearly impossible to win unless the opposition are total noobs or your team actually has a few players who know how to play. When this 6V6 is implemented (as we all know it will be) the maps will play a more important role in the already very unbalanced game.

It was like this long before hopper came out. I don't know why everyone is against it. Most of the people playing it can't drive for toffee and if you can't turn your turret it's even harder. If you can drive it's good fun though ?

I got stuck with a couple of CTF missions today so the experimental games today were- Chase The Flag! Dull, dull, dull. Back in Tanki's heyday I made countless crystals playing CTF in Massacre with Dic/Rail and Titan/Vulcan exclusively as goalkeeper. Now it seems the game is grab the flag and hide it, 'cause the other team's got ours. Not even an attempt a defense and when you try you're swamped by 5 players from the other team. When did this change? What happened to a fattie on the flag a couple of mid fielders and a wasp or two making heroic runs at the other side. 15 minute battles ending 1-0 or a 1-1 draw. Now it's 5-0 in 3 minutes what changed? One good thing to come out of this experiment is that I'm playing less Tanki. Instead fo sitting and farming a few thousand crytals I now do something else, what's the point in playing? The challenge has been given to me on a plate, the missions are sometimes a bit of a joke, and with everyone on double HP it's no place for a dedicated Vulcan player. It's like trying to tickle them to death. Titans on 20,000 odd points and me doing 44 points a shot or less. They'll die of old age before I kill them. Not helped by me really enjoying playing the despised Hopper so everyone shoots at me as soon as they see me approach the flag. I'm not usually one to harp on about the "good old days of Tanki" but I think CTF was better back then, made more sense, and made for some very intense games. One thing missing from today's MM that was a feature of the old system was the ability to switch sides. Games were unbalanced back then too but with 15 minutes on the clock it was common for players to switch to the losing side to even things out. One good player switching sides could turn the tide of the battle making it much more enjoyable for all. I would search for the one sided battles and join the losing team on purpose and I know lots of other people who enjoyed playing the game for the game's sake did the same. I don't think players are as invested in a game that only lasts 5 minutes and a MM system that puts the first to spawn in a place to cap the flag before the other team is in the game. Are players playing the game for the rewards instead of playing a rewarding game?

But the mid level tanker is free to dominate the opposition because he has one upgraded combo. No matter how MM is done it's going to be unfair to someone which is why tanki were told not to do it but did it anyway. I always thought the whole point of the game was to reach Legend rank and play at the highest level. Which at the time I did it took quite a bit of effort. Now with experience points X4 and above happens much sooner with less chance to build a decent garage. This is a concious choice made by the developers to milk a bit more money out of the players. With this in mind there is no system that will work fairly other than GS. If a player wants to play a high GS combo then it's only fair that they play with other high GS combos. If they don't want to play with the big boys use something else.

Experimental games today were played in control point mode. YAWN, this experiment is getting really boring now. Same four maps, same bunch of Vikings who can't turn their turrets, Firebird every other turret, every game a whitewash. Nice to see Dictator making a comeback. was my favorite hull for a long time back when Dic/Rail was a combo you could play with. The thing is too damn big for small maps but great for shooting over obstacles with Vulcan. Also nice to play sneaky again. Got really fed up of everyone's tank being outlined in yellow all the time. Very hard to use stealth in this game anyway without that. Maybe I'll go back to Wasp/Smokey again and creep round the map sniping Shaft players? Some tweaks to consider when this experiment is, finally, over. Why do the hulls turn faster than the turrets? Nerf all the hull turning speeds and buff the turret speeds to compensate. I have spent a lot of time and effort into learning how to drive my hull AND turn my turret. All a player has to do is spin in place to keep up wih me strafing him in a circle. Reward skill in the game. Put the auto pause feature on turret turning instead of movement. Nerf all protection modules back to 35% and allow four modules to be carried. MM by gear score not rank. Hornet's overdrive would be very useful if it showed where the enemies mines are. Mines are such an underused part of the game that when they are used they dominate and then everyone complains. Emphasise teamwork, skill and gameplay over having the most OP combo and killing the most. Yes I know it's a shoot the tank game, but it's not just a shoot the tank game. I have played many games where I have completed the objective but killed none or very few and have come last in the team with a very low score. Will there be another experiment? 10 minute 10V10 games with a 20% armour buff and a 10% overdrive and drone nerf would seem a good start. Not alowing buyer only gear would be good too. SOOO sick of being killed by Gauss EMP. How do you think people would react to that?

Game balance, yeah right

I thought I'd aim todays play at TDM mode. It certainly lived up to its name TEDIUM! I managed 5 or 6 games before I gave up. Soooooo boring. Viking 10 of the 12 hulls, no surprise there, Rico and Twins abound. I had a TDM mission today and I pressed the change button gleefully. I really don't like this mode or DM. I liked to teamplay in Tanki when I first started playing. Now it seems that instead of 12 strangers playing a game of football, where everyone knows how to play and what the rules are, 12 players walk on to the pitch 3 have a football, 3 have a frisbee, five are wearing boxing gloves, and one is just sat there licking the goalpost! As requested after 4-5 days here are some of my thoughts. 1. Where there any occasions when I was spawn killed and useless to my team. Yes but no more or less than before the experiment, Spawn killing is caused by an imbalance in the match. The winning team charges overdrives faster, activate supplies so they overlap, and kill more players. The losing team drops members so it's harder to fight back and the cycle continues. Radically changing one or two game parameters is not going to change this. But Tanki, this topic has been discussed to death in the forums. Spawn killing is a game balance issue and you don't seem to want a balanced game. A balanced game is not going to be as profitable to you in the short term. Keep everyone guessing, buying the latest turret or alt of whatever is going to generate revenue until players are fed up with it and leave. Surely you can see it's not a sustainable model. I would love to see your figures for the last year or so for the special bundles in the shop. £10-15 a time then up to £50-100 a time! Did you make more money selling more for less? A balanced and fair game surely will attract more players. Individually they will pay less but together you will make more. 2. Overdrives and drones. Overdrives and drones now control this game almost entirely. Overdrives have to be the most contentious aspect of the game particularly with the release of the Hopper hull. I would love to see overdrives scrapped entirely, some of them seem to me to be a push button substitute for skill. Drive up in Hunter, stun everybody in sight, bull your way to the cap. Where is the skill in that? I'm a big fan of Hopper but it has made some game modes a bit of a joke. Drones give such an advantage that it's very hard to play without one. But that's the point of them really isn't it. Make a boost that's only available by paying for it. Sure you can play a drone FTP but you'll never be able to keep it in batteries for more than a few matches a week. 3. Team gameplay Team gameplay was almost non existent before the experiment and I'm at a complete loss as to how you thought it would change. The same arguments that were put forward when they dropped frrom 15 minutes to ten are still being used. Now at 5 minutes they are even more potent. The lag in the game and MM dropping people in a seemingly random times means that one team can have capped a flag/point/whatever before the other team is even in the game. One player quits and before the game has even begun it's 6V5 1-0. Not exactly the best way to promote teamplay patrticularly with less than five minutes to try and turn it around I suggest the game has a countdown before which nobody can move or shoot until both teams are represented. Dump the challenge every month and bring it out 2-3 times a year. It's not promoting team play, quite the opposite. All players are out to score stars not play the objective. If you really want to promote teamplay make the missions more game mode orientated. Score goals and cap points instead of do damage and play X games in Mode X. Missions could be rank/experience/GS related. Play 3 games in siege is not exactly a difficult mission for a legend. 4. My interest in this game is already waining. This experiment has not changed that for better or worse. Change seems to be the only constant in Tanki, dangling shiny trinkets in front of the players while stabbing them in the back. It's been like this for a while now and I puppose most of us are used to it and put up with it as there isn't a similar game to Tanki we can move our allegiance to. I would bet real money that 5 minute 6V6 will be the norm from now on. I would be more interested in this game if a version of it were available where it had no overdrives,drones,alts,drugs, just a hull a turret a paint and decent gameplay. Don't tell me to play pro battles. If I create a battle of those parameters I sit in it alone for 30 minutes. MM is a mess but you can't have mobile without it I suppose. 5. Improve these changes? Yeah, stop messing around with the game. If you really want to please the players and not just the payers gradually tweak the PTW features down. Dull down the overdrives so they are not the most important feature of the game, make the drones less effective but still useful. Buff the hull armour by 15-20% just to keep up with the increase in damage of the turret alts, change the freakin maps once in a while! There's what 30 available maps 20 of which are probably playable in MM so why are we playing on the same 8 maps all the time. You bring out a new map, Yay, but it's just island X3. Lazy Tanki, very lazy. On the subject of maps some of them are wholly unsuitable for the game mode being played. On an equal footing game, for example, Rugby you have maps where one goal is on high ground and the other on low ground giving an advantage to one team. Massacre is a perfect example of a good map for this type of game as it's the same for both sides but you took it out. Tanki, fix the things that need fixing and leave the rest alone. Turn down the PTW side of the game and encourage the gameplay that we all came here for in the first place.

????? I'll lend you some crystals so you can buy one of you like?

Nope, quite conversant with the damage specs of the turrets, I think you missed my point. You spawn in your wasp at 2000 points and are untouchable for a few seconds, you can shoot and activate one supply. You are faced with Viking/Thunder M7/20 on full drugs 1020HP is the max damage it can do X2 for DD plus 5% for the equipped drone and if you didn't equip DA you're dead. Anyway this is getting a bit off topic so I'll leave it here?

Todays expermental games were in Siege Mode. Much like Control points the extra HP helped to keep this game better balanced. I only saw white washes when there were a bunch of Titans on one side. Games are too short to make muck of a comeback though and most ended 1-0. Sadly not many players are using tactics, or much sense, to play this mode. Most just charge at the capture point spamming drugs and ready to hit the overdrive key as soon as they are in range. I got so bored of this I equipped Striker (which I suck at playing, I kill myself so often I may as well be playing for the other side!) and got in some long range target practice. I'm still certain this is tanki's way of smokescreening 5 minute 6V6 battles into the norm in the hope that the mobile version will somehow save the day. I'm sceptical of the list of maps removed as well. I'm sure there are maps just as large still in play.

Yes they are, the common game theme is to occupy the oppositions base and spawn kill as much as possible while one player caps flags/bases/whatever. You spawn on 2000 hp, You can be one shotted by Magnum, shaft, railgun, thunder, smokey, gauss, and killed instantly by firebird, freeze and isida. Depending on what alt and drone is used. Legend battles are drone/alt/drug heavy. The occupying players will invariably be on full drugs. This is not speculation this happens in legend battles all the time.

Not a hopper fan then huh? Personally I freakin love it. Fast maneuverable, stable and a great strafing platform. An overdrive that can be used equally offensively and defensively. How is it any different to players using thier overdrives to cap flags or take points? Mammoth overdrive was the only way to score in rugby a while back. I see Hunters stun all the defenders and waltz in for the flag/point/objective. I used to use the titan dome to cap flags! Not to mention Titan in siege mode. I get killed by Mammoth and hunter's overdrive all the time, I don't have either hull and if it really bothered me that much I'd get them and beat them at their own game. Paid 100 cry for my hopper and have been grinding crystals and upgrading it for months near 7/20 now.

As a counter to being one shotted or insta killed by 70% of the available turrets. Today's experimental games were rugby. First, generally the winners keep winning and the losers lose. First goal is usually the decider the winning team then steamrollers the opposition, a couple of players leave as there is no fun in being spawn killed, and the game rolls up 5-0. On the odd occasion that both sides played as a team the games were really enjoyable but too short. MM kept trying to put me into battles 3-0 down with 2 minutes to go. A mult on your team has much more of an effect on game play, so does the player who ignores the game mode and just heads to the opposite base to play TDM. 6V6 is going to need some teamwork to make it work or else every game is just going to be a 3 minute white wash. One of the games was 5V6 TDM leaving me to score goals freely for a couple of minutes, but it was pretty dull. I have noticed a marked lack of Magnums. Usually there is one or two on each side but I've not seen more than a couple in 20 battles. I guess now it's not the most OP turret in the game nobody wants to play it. Lots more twins and Hammers though. The double armour is widening the gap between buyers and FTP. Buyers are damn near indestructable FTP are playing effectively with double armour equipped all the time and are still pretty easy to kill. Never mind the double armour thing will only last another week or so. My fear that every game was going to be full of Viking/rico's with stuck turrets hasn't dome true yet. Lots of Vikings but not so much overdrive. I'm guessing that short games and less kills have made the chrge up pretty slow. Also with the smaller maps and less players to shoot at 14 seconds is too long anyway. So, Assault is totally turned on it's head. As a defender the best I managed in a game was a draw the rest were 70-notverymany whitewashes. Attacking is just grab a flag and drive to the base and bully your way in. Contol points I think is better but only because you live long enough to capture a point. Rugby is good as long as both teams are playing Rugby but even then most times it's a 5-notverymany outcome.

Oh, and if anyone is actually reading this from the game team 10-15% buff to all the tank armour would have been enough and give light hulls four protection module slots. Still loving playing against Viking /Rico with the fixed turret alt?

Just finished an hour or so of rugby matches. I witnessed actual teamwork in all of the matches and not all of them were a whitewash. The side winning still creamed the other side as usual 'cause no matter how good you play it's near impossible to make a comeback when you spawn into the other team on full drugs in your base. I doubt that the format of the short battles or stupidly uprated armour was the reason, more likely the time of day, but it was nice to play with a team instead of on my own with 5 others! On the subject of the removed large maps, there are maps that have a larger footprint than those removed and plenty of them are larger than stadium so what is the reason behind this? It doesn't seem to be counteracting the lag issue, the maps removed are not the easiest to play but that's kind of the point isn't it?

Yes they will. small maps 6v6 and 5 minute battles will be the norm. The rest is just a smokescreen to keep people off the scent.

Day two of the "Experiment" 3 minutes is long enough for an assault battle. Attacking team can win 70-10 easily in that time. CTF now consists of chasing the flag carrier trying to do 10,000 points of damage before they can cap the flag on the tiny map. Control points is actually better now you can survive long enough to capture a point. Now that everyone has twice the HP Magnum is finally a balanced turret! BUT, all this double HP, jug game 14 seconds of vikings shooting no-one cause they are all dead in the first 5 seconds, is just smoke and mirrors to cover the real reason for this trial. To drop the big maps, limit the battles to 6V6 and kill the time to 5 minutes. All the rest of the experiment will be dropped but short games on short maps with short teams is here to stay.

Too soon to have formed much of an opinion on this experiment but a few things popped up. Having Vikings sit perfectly still for 14 seconds makes them easier to kill. If you have a couple of titans on your team in a capture game you'll win. Double armour is too much. I already miss the large maps. It took skill and cunning to play those maps well. Mines will become much less effective which is a pity as they are a much under rated and under used part of the game. 20 seconds and 7 minutes before, 20 seconds and 5 minutes now. Tanki's maths doesn't addd up, proportionally we will be spending less time in battle and more time waiting.

Small maps, less players, less time. Sounds like another tweak for the mobile players to me. Small maps = big churn, fast frantic play, kill as many as possible and ignore the objective of the game so every game is going to be TDM regardless. Whatever happened to the teamwork and tactics in Tanki? Don't bother telling me to play Pro battles, worse than MM most of the time. Why spend 15 minutes getting spawn killed by cheats and druggers for a couple of hundred crystals? I agree that the hull armour could do with a rework, Light hulls can get one shotted by 70% of the turrets and killed in no time by fire/freeze/isida but doubling it? Will I get one kill with Vulcan doing half damage in 5 minutes? Wait? Viking was the only overdrive you got right! it takes ages to charge and it's over in a few seconds like they all should be. More energy for the turrets that kill you fastest? To keep up with the 14 seconds of overpowering overdrive no doubt. Great, every game will consist of Viking/Rico and not one of them can turn their turrets. Tanki, stop changing the things that actually work and fix the things that don't. Stop the buff/nerf cycle, fix the lag issues, tune down the overdrives and drones to make the game less about them and more about how you play, not what you play with. MM still needs to be working with how good the player is and not how high ranked the player is.

Stadium assault, 7 campers on my team defending the base. Other team managed to cap several flags with a Titan/firebird combo. These are legend battles and you guys still have no idea how to play the damn game?